So Very Wrong About Games

One is reminded of those memes that plot definitions on two axes, asking to what degree the reader is a purist or a rebel--the setting purist and the mechanical purist would say "Descent is a dungeon crawler." Perhaps the setting purist and mechanical rebel would say "Dungeon Lords is a dungeon crawler." Invariably these memes revel in the reductio ad absurdum, so I have to imagine the setting rebel and the mechanical rebel would say "Hopscotch is a dungeon crawler."01:43 AYURIS: Batman: Gotham City Chronicles (Frédéric Henry, Monolith, 2019)Games Played Last Week: 03:39 -By Stealth and Sea (Nicola Saggini & David Thompson, DVG Games, 2020)08:26 -Altar Quest (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2020)18:17 -Gods Love Dinosaurs (Kasper Lapp, Pandasaurus Games, 2020)19:34 -Yedo: Deluxe Master Set (Thomas Vande Ginste & Wolf Plancke, Board&Dice, 2020)24:50 -The Court of Miracles (Vincent Brugeas & Guilhem Gautrand, Lumberjacks Studio, 2019)27:15 -Nidavellir (Serge Laget, GRRRE Games, 2020)32:38 -Frenemy Pastry Party (Jesse Li, Mizo Games, 2019)34:52 -Marvel United (Andrea Chiarvesio & Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2020)37:25 -Eminent Domain (Seth Jaffee, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2011) News (and why it doesn't matter):43:59 Board Game Arena Opus Magnus: A new game every day in December 45:11 Topic: Dungeon CrawlersAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is the nature of the Walker who cries wolf that if he repeats the claim often and consistently enough, it might come true eventually. Despite the unrelenting constancy of Chinese New Year, some games do actually get produced--just only after they have emerged from their purgatorial delay in the never-ending holiday. So it is with Tidal Blades; after claims of "any day now" for years, it finally arrived, like some unwieldy piece of oversized deluxe... well... is it flotsam or jetsam? We must review it to find out. Games Played Last Week: 01:16 -Magic Realm (Richard Hamblen, Avalon Hill, 1979)07:30 -Funkoverse Strategy Game: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (Prospero Hall, Funko Games, 2020)11:53 -Hansa Teutonica (Andreas Steding, Argentum Verlag, 2010)13:28 -Beyond the Sun (Dennis K. Chan, Rio Grande Games, 2020)20:00 -Terra Mystica (Jens Drögemüller & Helge Ostertag, Feuerland Spiele, 2012)21:50 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios Tsantilas, CMON, 2020)24:29 -Trekking the World (Charlie Bink, Underdog Games, 2020)25:26 -Civilization: A New Dawn—Terra Incognita (Tony Fanchi, Fantasy Flight Games, 2020)News (and why it doesn't matter):32:57 The Zenobia Award for underrepresented designers of historical games33:53 Reality Shift! MAGNETS!34:59 No more Star Wars miniatures for Fantasy Flight37:51 The Crew: Mission Deep Sea38:33 Tom Russell's Dual Gauge40:13 Caverna: Frantic Fiends41:50 David Thompson's Soldiers in Postmen's Uniforms43:04 Feature Game: Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef (Tim Eisner & Ben Eisner, Druid City Games, 2020)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Clearly the hosts secretly wanted to have a movie podcast, or perhaps just a podcast devoted to the movie Aliens. To their credit, they at least did not devolve into merely parroting quotes from the film, which is a behaviour as obnoxious and it is difficult to avoid. Rest assured they offered their poor paraphrases and hackneyed delivery while actually playing the Aliens game. It was a bad call, listener, it was...Crap. 02:37 AYURIS: Catacombs 3rd ed. (Ryan Amos, Marc Kelsey, & Aron West, Elzra Corp., 2015)Games Played Last Week: 04:34 -Rome & Roll (Nick Shaw & Dávid Turczi, PSC Games, 2020)07:48 -Dice Forge (Régis Bonnessée, Libellud, 2017)09:48 -Martian Dice (Scott Almes, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2011)11:28 -Asgard’s Chosen (Morgan Dontanville, Mayfair Games, 2013)13:57 -Aliens: Bug Hunt (Ryan Miller, Upper Deck Entertainment, 2020)21:12 -Spirit Island: Jagged Earth (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2020)23:38 -FlickFleet (Jackson Pope & Paul Willcox, Eurydice Games, 2018)27:01 -Civilization: A New Dawn—Terra Incognita (Tony Fanchi, Fantasy Flight Games, 2020)30:29 -Hellenica: Story of Greece (Scott DeMers, Mr. B Games, 2019)40:00 -Eminent Domain (Seth Jaffee, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2011)News (and why it doesn't matter):41:37 Brazil: Imperial42:39 Upzone and Immersive Battle Atlas: Cheap terrain for minis and RPGs46:09 burncycle by Chip Theory Games46:52 Four Humours; can Phlogiston be far behind?47:52 Paper Dungeons48:32 No games based on two minutes of a movie49:49 Topic: BoxesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We have an unwritten constitution here at SVWAG, which we know causes some people from jurisdictions with written constitutions to get a little mystified and/or twitchy. Trust us, it works! We get to claim a rich constitutional history all the way back to 1215 and the Magna Carta, or at least we will, once we figure out what King John had to do with podcasting. It's the kind of arrangement that works until you have a constitutional crisis, which we have about as often as those places with written constitutions; except we tend to settle ours with sidelong glances and lots of utterances along the lines of, "So... how do you, uh... think this works?" Games Played Last Week: 01:51 -Welcome To New Las Vegas (Alexis Allard & Benoit Turpin, Blue Cocker Games, 2020)03:50 -Escape the Dark Sector (Alex Crispin, Thomas Pike, & James Shelton, Themeborne Ltd., 2020)07:06 -Via Magica (Paolo Mori, Hurrican, 2020)08:59 -Cthulhu: Death May Die (Rob Daviau & Eric Lang, CMON, 2019)12:16 -Gods Love Dinosaurs (Kasper Lapp, Pandasaurus Games, 2020)19:18 -Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 (Rob Daviau & Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2020)19:50 -Letter Tycoon (Brad Brooks, Breaking Games, 2015)21:33 -Terror in Meeple City aka Rampage (Antoine Bauza & Ludovic Maublanc, Repos Production, 2013)25:23 -Sakura Arms (BakaFire, BakaFire Party, 2018)29:18 -BattleCON: Unleashed (D. Brad Talton, Level 99 Games, 2020)33:42 -Exceed Fighting System (D. Brad Talton, Level 99 Games, 2016)News (and why it doesn't matter):36:40 Arcade1Up's Infinity Game Table37:19 Feature Game: The Castles of Tuscany (Stefan Feld, alea, 2020)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the daylight savings, it's got to be. You give us an extra hour in the week--through the magic of time travel--and we'll take it to play eleventy new games. The geniuses (Canadians, for what it's worth) who invented standard time probably didn't take into account the havoc it might wreak on our podcasting. So many new games! Not enough time for the topic! We will endure.01:08 AYURIS: Calimala (Fabio Lopiano, ADC Blackfire Entertainment GmbH, 2017)Games Played Last Week: 02:29 -High Rise (Gil Hova, Formal Ferret Games, 2020)07:02 -Cthulhu: Death May Die (Rob Daviau & Eric Lang, CMON, 2019)08:00 -Keyflower (Sebastien Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R&D Games, 2012)10:23 -Civilization: A New Dawn—Terra Incognita (Tony Fanchi, Fantasy Flight Games, 2020)16:50 -Feierabend aka Finishing Time (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2020)22:37 -Gatefall (Jack Dire, Jack Dire Studios, 2020)28:07 -The Castles of Tuscany (Stefan Feld, alea, 2020)32:09 -Cosmic Colonies (Scott Almes, Floodgate Games, 2020)36:37 -Seastead (Ian Cooper & Jan M. Gonzalez, WizKids, 2020)42:20 -Wingspan (Elizabeth Hargrave, Stonemaier Games, 2019)43:21 -Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 (Rob Daviau & Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2020)News (and why it doesn't matter):45:58 Announcing new bonus show: The C.U.R.E. Files46:45 Ex-Blizzard employees founding Warchief Gaming47:49 Horizon Wars: Zero Dark expands with Operation: Nemesis49:29 Walker hates d20s50:18 Frostgrave becomes Stargrave, uses d20s50:59 Chinese New Year has begun51:33 Topic: Lifetime GamesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The unofficial motto of SVWAG has always been, "stop trying to make fetch happen." Similarly, you can't just make up words out of thin air--it's not like they're holidays or anything that can be conjured ex nihilo (Happy Arkhipov Day!). What's an Arnak, anyway? Can you lose ruins of something that never existed? I suppose a fantasy is a good pretext to give us an arm's length distance from generations of pith-decked looters and graverobbers. Relatedly, Walker desperately wants to coin the term "Azteckian," but Mark's not having it.Games Played Last Week: 01:32 -Quantum (Eric Zimmerman, Funforge, 2013)04:15 -Infinity Gauntlet: A Love Letter Game (Seiji Kanai & Alexander Ortloff, Zman Games, 2020)07:34 -BattleCON: Unleashed (D. Brad Talton, Level 99 Games, 2020)12:52 -Sakura Arms (BakaFire, AEG, 2017)15:05 -Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War (Thomas Lehmann, Rio Grande Games, 2010)16:52 -Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers (Klaus-Jürgen Wrede & Bernd Brunnhofer, Hans im Glück, 2002)18:27 -Alhambra (Dirk Henn, Queen Games, 2003)20:12 -Pavlov's House (David Thompson, Dan Verssen Games, 2018)27:17 -Luxor (Rudiger Dorn, Queen Games, 2018)29:25 -Quetzal (Alexandre Garcia, Gigamic, 2020)News (and why it doesn't matter):32:24 Descent: Legends of the Dark34:28 Dragonlance digression36:38 More Knizia from Grail Games37:59 Too many Kickstarters! Yedo, Freedom Five, Frostpunk, Darkest Dungeon, Grand Austria Hotel, Crash Octopus, Kabuto Sumo, Sakura Arms38:51 Arkhipov Day: Ocotber 27th39:01 Feature Game: Lost Ruins of Arnak (Elwen & Mín, CGE, 2020)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In honour of Arkhipov Day (October 27th--he saved your life or that of your forebears, he deserves a day), we turn to reflections of how games model war. Even themeless euros often include war as a convenient backdrop for the processing of cubes, so it is hardly restricted to one genre of gaming or another. That said, gaming is not unique--pretty much any medium can boast of a plethora of war narratives. 01:17 AYURIS: HATE (Raphaël Guiton, Jean-Baptiste Lullien, Alexandru Olteanu, & Nicolas Raoult, CMON, 2019) Games Played Last Week: 04:41 -Darkest Night (Second Edition) (Jeremy Lennert, Victory Point Games, 2018)10:40 -Quantum (Eric Zimmerman, Funforge, 2013)14:58 -7 Wonders Duel (Antoine Bauza & Bruno Cathala, Repos Production, 2015)15:58 -Lucky Numbers (Michael Schacht, Ravensburger, 2012)16:47 -Keyflower (Sebastian Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R&D Games, 2012)17:03 -The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (Thomas Sing, KOSMOS, 2019)17:58 -For What Remains (Paul Low, David Thompson, & Ricardo Manuel Luis Tomas, DVG, 2020)22:27 -Black Rose Wars (Marco Montanaro, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2019) 28:05 -Horizon Wars: Zero Dark (Robey Jenkins, Self-published, 2020)31:53 -Underwater Cities (Vladimír Suchý, Rio Grande Games, 2018)News (and why it doesn't matter):39:35 Finishing Time not ready for prime time41:32 Patreon: sign up for a year and get two months free42:24 October 27th is Arkhipov Day42:29 Topic: Reckoning with WarAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I never knew a kid who had any kind of fort. In grade school I heard of a kid who could form Voltron, but that may have been an extravagant lie. My mom's friend's kids had a Sega Genesis, and that was pretty rad. I keep acquiring more games in the vain hope that it will make me popular, but it hasn't worked yet. Maybe one or two more Street Masters expansions will do the trick. I am told to be popular you have to wash your hair at least once every two weeks.Games Played Last Week:02:21 -Black Rose Wars (Marco Montanaro, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2019) 14:07 -ELO Darkness (Tommaso Mondadori & Alberto Parisi, Reggie Games, 2018)17:33 -Sakura Arms (Baka Fire, AEG, 2017)20:23 -Wits & Wagers (Dominic Crapuchettes, North Star Games, 2005)22:06 -Too Many Bones (Adam & Josh Carlson, Chip Theory Games, 2017)27:43 -Nanga Parbat (Steve Finn, Dr. Finn's Games, 2021)30:17 -Scythe (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2016)32:19 -Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization (Vlaada Chvátil, CGE, 2015)34:59 -A Feast for Odin (Uwe Rosenberg, Feuerland Spiele, 2016)37:09 -Pandoria (Jeffrey D. Allers & Bernd Eisenstein, Irongames, 2018)News (and why it doesn't matter):39:42 Street Masters: Tide of the Dragon on Indiegogo41:03 Core Worlds: Empires and new solo mode42:38 Neuroshima Hex! 3.0: Troglodytes jumping the shark?44:11 Horseless Carriage from Splotter44:45 Does Mega-Gargant mean nothing?!?46:06 October 27th is Arkhipov Day46:52 Feature Game: Fort (Grant Rodiek, Leder Games, 2020)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mere framing of a question can subtly or overtly determine the answer. There's an old joke about a monk who asks his superior, "Can I smoke while I meditate?" He is told no, as that would be sullying an act that is meant to be free from worldly concerns. The clever monk decides instead to ask another superior, "While I smoke, can I meditate?" So it is with boardgames! Framing can have tremendous consequences.01:55 AYURIS: XenoShyft: Onslaught (Keren Philosophales & Michael Shinall, CMON, 2015) and Dreadmire (Michael Shinall, CMON, 2017) Games Played Last Week:04:35 -Assault on Doomrock: Doompocalypse (Christopher Niewiadomski & Tom Stasiak, Beautiful Disaster Games, 2017)06:47 -Alma Mater (Acchittocca, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, & Antonio Tinto, eggertspiele, 2020)11:50 -Spirit Island: Jagged Earth (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2020)15:13 -Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan (Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini, Hans im Gluck, 2019)17:36 -Inhuman Conditions (Tommy Maranges & Cory O'Brien, Web published, 2018)23:43 -First Class (Helmut Ohley, Hans im Gluck, 2016)26:35 -Argent: Summer Break (Trey Chambers, Level 99 Games, 2014)35:55 -On the Edge (John Nephew & Johnathan Tweet, Atlas Games, 1994)News (and why it doesn't matter):40:23 Sakura Arms from Level 99 Games42:27 Armada by Mantic43:27 Groundhog Day by Prospero Hall44:10 Renegade and Hasbro monetize your childhood: G.I. Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony44:53 Nerd Alert: First Monday in October46:57 Topic: Subliminal BrainwashAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Social standards of behaviour are often subtle and variable, but we can all agree that children are often blind to their subtle nuances. Like, don't be a massive jerk--that's one of those tricky nuances that often escape the notice of your average child, what with many of them being borderline sociopaths kept in check only by their relative powerlessness and incompetence. Then again, perhaps Mark is the sociopath for not being able to tolerate the annoyances of child behaviour. Then again, perhaps both are true, and Mark is merely a giant, sociopathic man-baby. All that said, no human deserves to be subjected to Monopoly.Games Played Last Week:01:20 -Monopoly (Charles Darrow & Elizabeth J. Magie Phillips, Hasbro, 1933)06:55 -Pendulum (Travis P Jones, Stonemaier Games, 2020)16:53 -The Crew: The Quest for Planet 9 (Thomas Sing, KOSMOS, 2019)17:48 -My City (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2020)19:35 -Flick ‘Em Up: Dead of Winter (Gaëtan Beaujannot, Jonathan Gilmour, Jean Yves Monpertuis, & Isaac Vega, Pretzel Games, 2017)21:51 -Cthulhu Wars (Sandy Petersen & Lincoln Petersen, Petersen Games, 2015)24:25 -Pandoria (Jeffrey D. Allers & Bernd Eisenstein, Irongames, 2018)28:06 -For What Remains (Paul Low, David Thompson, & Ricardo Manuel Luis Tomas, DVG Games, 2020)News (and why it doesn't matter):30:48 HeroQuest, and much history of Hasbro38:14 Quartermaster General: Total War expansion38:42 The Last of Us39:55 GMT makes good on recent errata40:49 Grand Austria Hotel gets grander?41:21 For Sale expansion and Autorama43:14 Dragonland reprint44:15 Feature Game: Flotilla (J.B. Howell & Michael Mihealsick, WizKids, 2019)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices