So Very Wrong About Games

"You two are idiots."-QuinnsWe are live (on tape)! With special guest Quintin Smith aka Quinns from Shut Up & Sit Down. Also featuring guest appearances from French Canadian snack cakes, passive aggression, wonderful prizes (none for you, sorry, all gone), and the man who saved your life, Vasili Arkhipov! Also some feedback and noise from the megagame next door. Oh, well.Games Played Last Week: -Irish Gauge 8m34s (Tom Russell, Capstone Games, 2014)-Mandala 10m39s (Trevor Benjamin & Brett J. Gilbert, Lookout Games, 2019)-Warband: Against the Darkness 15m20s (Micah Fuller, Dyskami Publishing Company, 2015)-Ragusa 18m29s (Fabio Lopiano, Capstone Games, 2019)-Flash Duel 22m43s (David Sirlin, Sirlin Games, 2010)-Cowboy Bebop: Boardgame Boogie 27m17s (Josh Derksen, Thomas M. Gofton, & Aron Murch, Jasco Games, 2019)-Glory to Rome 29m37s (Carl Chudyk, Cambridge Games Factory, 2005)-Labyrinthos 31m07s (Lindsey Rose, Dog Might Games, 2020)-Quacks of Quedlinburg 36m03s (Wolfgang Warsch, Schmidt Spiele, 2018)-Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea 42m22s (Mark McLaughlin & Chris Vorder Bruegge, GMT Games, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Boardgame anime! 48m24s-Kemet 1.5 in English 50m38s-Cooper Island 51m17s -Arkhipov Day on October 27th 51m36s Audience Questions 54m31sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The saturation point is the point at which you can no longer dissolve a deck of cards into a bottle of water. I am told that in summer, it feels hotter than it is really is because of all the board game particles diffused throughout the air. It gets really hard to breathe sometimes--my cousin nearly choked on a cube, once. The dewpoint, I think, is the temperature at which a full copy of Catan will coalesce out of nowhere. Join us for our podcast about science.AYURIS: Thunderstone Quest 2m22s (Mike Elliott, Bryan Reese, & Mark Wootton, AEG, 2018)Games Played Last Week: -Teotihuacan: Late Preclassic Period 4m06s (Rainer Ahlfors, Andrei Novac, & Daniele Tascini, Board2Dice, 2019)-Tigris & Euphrates 6m07s (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)-Cockroach Poker 8m36s (Jacques Zeimet, Drei Magier Spiele, 2004)-Sidereal Confluence 10m22s (TauCeti Deichmann, Wizkids, 2017)-Slide Quest 12m27s (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)-Obscurio 13m24s (L'Atelier, Libellud, 2019)-Mental Blocks 16m49s (Jonathan Gilmour & Micah Sawyer, Pandasaurus Games, 2019)-Conspiracy: The Solomon Gambit 19m17s (Rob Daviau, JR Honeycutt, Justin D. Jacobson, & Eric Solomon, Restoration Games, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Time Machine, Redux 22m42s-Tajuto: Fresh Take on Buddhism 25m58s-Pfister's Bizarre Rewriting of History, Again 29m15s-Doesn't he know that Scott Pilgrim's the best fighter in the province? 31m31s-Warhammer Underworlds Beastgrave: Pre-Made Decks 32m33sTopic: Market Saturation 34m12sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The cube trundles onward, marching inexorably--if haltingly--towards its ultimate destination. It is told it must explore, and so explore it does. The other cube conquers, but that is not this cube's concern. They met once at a party. It seemed nice, but that was long ago, and the cube must explore, not mingle. Sometimes it does not explore; sometimes it scores for some quantity of non-explore things. These things it does not understand, but it knows that points are good, and so it does those things. The explore cube also cares about farms, for some reason, and mushrooms. Near the end of its track, it pauses--not for lack of mushrooms, this time, but out of an uncharacteristic self-doubt. Why does it do these things, it wonders. What mad god intersperses these random tasks so? And down from Olympus comes the pronouncement of the cube's controller--perhaps that very mad god, or perhaps merely a lesser divinity in thrall of some yet more powerful, some yet more capricious deity--"BECAUSE THEME."Games Played Last Week: -Shards of Infinity 2m38s (Gary Arant & Justin Gary, Stone Blade Entertainment, 2018) -The Bridges of Shangri-La 4m33s (Leo Colovini, Uberplay, 2003)-Vengeance 9m22s (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2018)-Slide Quest 12m03s (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)-Gaslands: Refuelled 14m02s (Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Walker deploys facts, CMON travels in time 18m00s-More Warhammer Underworlds 21m58s-More Sidereal Confluence 24m20s-Foundations of Rome 25m44s-Mark must resist Obsidian Protocol 26m07s-Blacklist Games' Hour of Need 27m19s-Root RPG 28m34sFeature Game: Tapestry 29m06s (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark thinks it is colossally unfair that he gets so much flak for speaking French when mediocre game designers get to throw around a word like "tableau." Then again, Mark and Walker can't quite agree on what a tableau constitutes. Mark seems to define it the way that American judge famously defined pornography--he knows it when he sees it--whereas Walker is more conspiratorial about tableaus (Tableaux? Tableausies?), seeing them everywhere and lurking behind every player board or suite of special powers. Nothing seems to inspire disagreement among geeks like a taxonomy. AYURIS: Street Masters 2m17s (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2018)Games Played Last Week: -Attribute 5m27s (Marcel-Andre Casasola Merkle, Z-Man Games, 2002)-Pax Pamir: Second Edition 7m33s (Cole Wehrle, Wehrlegig Games, 2019)-Air, Land & Sea 9m57s (Jon Perry, Arcane Wonders, 2018)-Shadows of Malice: Revised 2nd Printing 13m27s (Jim Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2019)-Undaunted: Normandy 17m10s (Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2019)-Infinity 21m44s (Gutier Lusquiños Rodríguez, Corvus Belli, 2005)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Root's solitaire expansion 23m54s-Donning more Purple 24m42s-Mark pleads for strength in the face of Aeon Trespass 26m27s-John Company 2nd edition: Mo JoCo Fo Sho 28m14sTopic: Tableau-Builders 29m10sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adorable little pudgy robots soar through a blazing pink sky, stubby arms outstretched as they speed towards their destination--a yellow planet in the distance. "GIVE ME YOAR COOOBS" bellow the aliens upon arrival. "POINTZ 4 COOOOBS." A robot obliges, and a sonorous "cha-ching" resounds through its programming. But the robot is now a drifting derelict, its home ship long gone. It is now doomed to tumble through inky pinkness until its energy reserves burn to nothing. It begins to wonder, "Why have I done this? What is my purpose? What is this all for?" And the cosmos replies with a whisper, "It is for 1-4 players."Games Played Last Week: -Hellboy: The Board Game 2m03s (James M. Hewitt & Sophie Williams, Mantic Games, 2019)-Mech Command: RTS 4m37s (Chris Gabrielson, Bad Crow Games, 2018)-Modern Art 8m06s (Reiner Knizia, CMON, 2017)-XenoShyft: Dreadmire 10m21s (Michael Shinall, CMON, 2017)-Among Thieves 12m32s (Floyd Pretz, Indie Boards & Cards, 2019)-Barenpark 15m58s (Phil Walker-Harding, Lookout Games, 2017)-Pax Renaissance 19m35s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Walker getz Dized 21m50s-Kemet 1.5 22m49s-Terra Mystica expands, why no Gaia Project? 24m32s-Vengeance: Director's Cut 25m35s-Co-op Trick-taking 27m38sFeature Game: Black Angel 28m26s (Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, & Alain Orban, Pearl Games, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We return to games of weeks past, for the most part, to see if our initial impressions persist. We were young and foolish in past weeks, of course, whereas now we are older and foolish. Whether our errors mature like fine wine or spoil to the vinegar of harsh insight is up to you. One thing is certain, though--our metaphors certainly aren't getting any sweeter.AYURIS: SEAL Team Flix 2m09s (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, WizKids, 2018)Games Played Last Week: -Kobayakawa 5m46s (Jun Sasaki, IELLO, 2013)-Black Angel 7m25s (Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, & Alain Orban, Pearl Games, 2019)-Human Punishment: Social Deduction 2.0 9m05s (Stefan Godot, Godot Games, 2018)-Teotihuacan: Late Preclassic Period 12m40s (Rainer Ahlfors, Andrei Novac, & Daniele Tascini, Board&Dice, 2019)-Import/Export 17m52s (Jordan Draper, Dark Flight, 2017)-Rangers of Shadow Deep 21m37s (Joseph McCullough, Self-published, 2018)-Horizon Wars 23m13s (Robey Jenkins, Osprey Publishing, 2016)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Vague intimations of important podcast news-Evil Dead 2 made whole? 25m26s-IGA Nominations announced 27m07sTopic: Card-Driven Games 28m24sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Card Crafting System returns once more, its heaps of mylar inserting into our gaming life. I would say it darkens our door, but the things are mostly transparent, so the idiom doesn't quite fit. One wonders whether and how one could sleeve a Card Crafting game, given that the games largely consist of sleeves already--but once one has witnessed the recursive horror that is sleeve sleeves, you cannot doubt the persistence and ingenuity of the Cult of Sleeves. They will, like life, find a way--perhaps sleeving each insert before inserting them into an ur-sleeve that will smother us all. The horror.Games Played Last Week: -Tiny Epic Mechs 1m32s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2019)-Yokohama 2m45s (Hisashi Hayashi, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2016)-Risk: Mass Effect Galaxy at War Edition 7m43s (Andrew Wolf, The OP, 2013)-Pulsar 2849 10m37s (Vladimír Suchý, CGE, 2017)-Antidote 13m06s (Dennis Hoyle, Bellwether Games, 2013)-Human Punishment: Social Deduction 2.0 14m33s (Stefan Godot, Godot Games, 2018)-Villagers 18m21s (Haakon Gaarder, Sinister Fish Games, 2019)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Sidereal Confluence expansion? 20m12s-New Orleans (gotta have a campaign) 21m11s-More Steding: Gugong expansion 23m16s-Pandemic system offshoots staying in print 23m53s-Successors Kickstarter launched 25m40s-Jagged Alliance expansion 27m59sFeature Game: Edge of Darkness 29m10s (John D. Clair, AEG, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are happy stories. Stories of social serendipity, where you like them and they like you, and all opinions are as one and there is harmony. Where no awkward conversations need be had and no unfortunate lines drawn. Where no one is annoyed, and no one is harassed, and no one must bury their preferences so as to placate another. These are not these stories.AYURIS: Food Chain Magnate 1m37s (Jeroen Doumen & Joris Wiersinga, Splotter Spellen, 2015)Games Played Last Week: -Gugong 3m50s (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2018)-Infinity 4m37s (Gutier Lusquiños Rodríguez, Corvus Belli, 2005)-Slide Quest 7m34s (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)-Rhino Hero Super Battle 11m41s (Scott Frisco & Steven Strumpf, HABA, 2017)-Tiny Epic Mechs 13m40s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2019)-Horizon Wars 16m50s (Robey Jenkins, Osprey Publishing, 2016)-Calimala 20m39s (Fabio Lopiano, ADC Blackfire Entertainment GmbH, 2017)News (and why it doesn't matter):-Hansa Teutonica Big Box! 21m52s-After the After the Empire Kickstarter 23m00s-Blacklist Games goes 8-bit with Bomberman and Contra 24m15s-Asmodee bought something again (again) 25m27s-Mark Rosewater “Why Diversity Matters in Game Design” 26m41shttps://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/why-diversity-matters-game-design-2019-08-19 Topic: When, Why and How to Exclude People 27m32sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So. Many. Games. Even after careful curation and surgical editing, Mark and Walker talk about thirteen different games they played last week, not even counting the feature game. It was truly a good week. New games! Old games! Co-ops, minis, dexterity, wargames! Come join us at the cornucopia of amusement that is this week's SVWAG.Games Played Last Week: -Beasts of Balance 1m29s (George Buckenham & Alex Fleetwood, Sensible Object, 2016)-Teotihuacan: City of Gods 3m32s (Daniele Tascini, NSKN Games, 2018)-Obsession 4m19s (Dan Halladay, Kayenta Games, 2018)-Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral Zone 6m31s (Mike Elliott, WizKids, 2019)-Pandemic: Fall of Rome 11m10s (Matt Leacock & Paolo Mori, Z-Man, 2018)-Pandemic: Rapid Response 12m25s (Kane Klenko, Z-Man Games, 2019)-Concordia 16m18s (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2013)-Pulsar 2849 19m26s (Vladimír Suchý, CGE, 2017)-Lords of Hellas: Dark Ages Expansion 25m01s (Adam Kwapiński, Awaken Realms, 2019)-Just One 28m06s (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)-Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan 28m41s (Matt Calkins, GMT, 2011)-Tannhauser Revised Edition 31m22s (Daniel Clark, J. R. Godwin, William Grosselin, & Jeff Tidball, Fantasy Flight, 2010)-Core Worlds 34m22s (Andrew Parks, Stronghold, 2011)News (and why it doesn't matter):-https://www.patreon.com/svwag-Puerto Rico reprint 35m43s-How to earn success with Successors 36m57s-Gloomhaven digital early access 38m51s-Those without SEAL Team Flix, you have failed 39m28s-The Tiny Epic brand goes Ultra Tiny 40m21s-A Tapestry of distribution 41m01sFeature Game: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Warcry 42m33s (Uncredited, Games Workshop, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is gaming other than an outlet for vicarious experiences and thrills? To enjoy the simulacrum of killing, adventure, high finance, and impressing feudal lords? We can thus assert with great sincerity that ours shall be the very best GenCon coverage, in that we didn't go. Why trust the easily-misled first hand accounts? We know from both philosophy and science that sense data deceives. You can put your faith in our reflections, completely unbiased by any experience.AYURIS: Kemet 1m15s (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2012)Games Played Last Week: -Kemet 3m57s (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2012)-Tower of Babel 5m41s (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 2005)-Q.E. 10m09s (Gavin Birnbaum, Boardgametables.com, 2019)-The Ares Project 11m53s (Brian Engelstein & Geoff Engelstein, Z-Man, 2011)-Mech Command RTS 14m28s (Chris Gabrielson, Bad Crow Games, 2018)-Import/Export 20m14s (Jordan Draper, Dark Flight Games, 2017)News (and why it doesn't matter):-How many Cyperpunks does one need? 25m05s-An actual Eric Lang joint: Ankh 25m33s-More Fiasco 26m51s-Everyone can relax, Mark has been made whole 28m28sTopic: What We Would Have Done at GenCon 30m39sLou Zocchi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXZbdZNuRIw&t=5sAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices