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Episode 8: Designers and tariffs
23 Plays5 days ago
Yes, tariffs need to be discussed. What impact do we think we will feel in Australia?
We also discuss our favourite designers, and what stands out about them.
Also, lots of games, and even a dive into Warhammer!
Recommended
Transcript
Easter Break and Family Board Games
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome everyone to episode 8 of Mate Let's Play and I'm joined by one of my mates, it's Shane as per usual. How you doing mate? I am fantastic and enjoying nice extra bit of Easter long break um and for those here in Australia a good little tip to do is take those three days in between the end of Easter and Anzac Day and you get a nice break. But it's been good, it's been really good.
Board Games with Family
00:00:39
Speaker
its ah I've been getting back into some board games, which I'm sure we can chat about throughout this episode.
00:00:45
Speaker
Yeah, sounds good. I'm back at home now too. I've got a little bit of a different break. I had to get my kids back to boarding school on Tuesday and then got back into Bemiga. And then today I had an exam, so I didn't go to work today.
00:00:59
Speaker
So I go to work tomorrow, then I have Friday off. So I work one day in the last three weeks. So I'll take that. Rookie error, mate. You should should have just plugged in an extra day for annual leave.
00:01:12
Speaker
all. Yeah, in hindsight, might have a smart option, but ter not to worry. But yes, plenty of board games have been played over the last couple of weeks.
Work and Family Gaming with Flip 7
00:01:18
Speaker
and We'll get to that in a moment. But I guess probably the big thing is, unfortunately, it is a lot of basically one or two games because when you're with your kids on a holiday and they only want to play one game,
00:01:29
Speaker
Well, that's the game that you play. So there's been a lot of that. But we'll get into that. But we'll we'll kick off, I guess, with yourself. What have what have you actually been – it's nice to hear that you've been playing games because for a while there it was – It's just work. No, it's just been work and I haven't been playing any games. Although, you know, I did play a couple of games at work with the team and um they ended up purchasing the said game we were playing, Flip 7. I think I mentioned that in an episode previously. Yeah, yeah.
00:01:55
Speaker
um And ah they're they're all enjoying it, apparently. They're enjoying playing it with their friends. um yeah So I'll probably kick off with a bit of game play with the family, believe it or not.
00:02:08
Speaker
I actually got some games to the table with the family and um it ah was wonderful. We ended up playing just a night where we had all the boys home um and we played Flip 7.
00:02:23
Speaker
which they all loved. They thought it was excellent. And um they said, oh it's just blackjack. it Just blackjack, Dad. Just blackjack.
Secret Gambling and Family Poker
00:02:32
Speaker
But I uncovered not really. Yeah, no, not really at all.
00:02:35
Speaker
and But what I uncovered, though, was my two boys... are a little gambling blackjack fiends on some app that must be going around. Oh, righto. They've been playing that secretly unbeknownst to me and Lauren.
00:02:48
Speaker
And then we got out of Josh and he's been playing it since he was about 16. I was like, mate, what's going on? For real money or just play money? No, no, just play money. Okay, because that would be an even bigger discussion if it was for real money. Absolutely, it would be.
00:03:03
Speaker
thenm then Then I'm finding out he's trading his rust skins and his ah backs actual money. He's been he wins these run and I know what rust is at some Video game and he's been playing they get these certain skins in it.
00:03:16
Speaker
They're quite valuable. We get them so he ends up selling them on yeah He's up money down. This is great. It's a great little ball game not uncovering this these little dirty habits my boys have got behind the scenes But yeah we played flip seven they love that I had to get the gang out after that so given that I was saying this is blackjack. This blackjack. I said well, this is poker so um we dismally failed in the game first up and then we they said, oh look because you know that game took almost five minutes to for us to lose, can we go again?
00:03:51
Speaker
So we had another go and we ended up winning. Yeah, nice. Which then led on to us, they said, oh dad, like let's play blackjack poker.
00:04:03
Speaker
For real now, for reals. And so I went and got the iron clays and said it set us all up as a family and that was good fun. We, about an hour playing blackjack and poker. Josh, Josh killed, killed us all.
00:04:16
Speaker
um He went all in pretty much every hand. Experienced. Yes, obviously.
00:04:23
Speaker
um And then, yeah, so that was a great day of board games
Playing Trajan and El Paso with Friends
00:04:28
Speaker
with the family. um I had a day with Ingrid and Shane and Kevin um at Ingrid's house and, um,
00:04:38
Speaker
We ended up playing Trajan yeah by Steffenfeld. I haven't played it before, but I thought Steffenfeld can't be too bad.
00:04:51
Speaker
And really good game. Enjoyed it. It's just a mankala type of five-tribe mechanism where you are moving these little cylinder discs of different colours just around a circle,
00:05:08
Speaker
you know You drop them off as you go, and then wherever you land with your last one, that's your action you're doing. And then you go out to the board and do the action. And there's other other ways where you can either double down on you know using two actions, and then that might trigger this, and that might trigger that.
00:05:25
Speaker
Typical point salad by Steffen Feld. Very enjoyable. I was about halfway through, and I yeah, I like it. I like it. So if you can imagine, there's a lot to do out there on the board. um so you can you can do focus on one thing which is what I did I focused on military and don't don't do what I did and you've got to do a little bit everything as a typical Steppenfeld game is you you should be doing a little bit of everything on the board um but no very much enjoyed that one so um on our rating scale if we're going to kick that in ah certainly that's for everyone I can't see not many people not liking that game
00:06:05
Speaker
um And always good company with Shane and Ingrid and and also now Kevin. with Kevin come along for the first time. And then we played El Paso. So I did the teach at El Paso.
00:06:17
Speaker
um Thanks to VR, you and I have a review to do on that game. So we might hold off on my thoughts on El Paso until you've played it a few times. Sounds like a plan.
00:06:28
Speaker
And then went around past Nick's house. ah The other night, Monday night it was, um after his busy weekend of ah church services.
00:06:41
Speaker
And man, that boy can cook. he did us yeah He did us a smash burger. And it was probably the first burger I've eaten months months and months and months. of lot yeah And honestly, the best burger I've ever eaten by far.
00:06:57
Speaker
It was delicious. Nice. um Apparently he does a really nice Chicago-style deep pan pizza as well. So authentic. okay So I'm looking forward to one of those. But we ended up, that's not this is not a food episode. This is ballgame episode.
00:07:12
Speaker
um We played El Paso again, so I'll hold off on that. But we also played Hansa Teutonica. That's been our game for what was meant to be all of March.
00:07:25
Speaker
think it was all of February because I was off for all of March. um So we got back into that, played another game of that. That is a good game. it It can be really mean. And um there's a couple of mean moves played against me.
00:07:38
Speaker
um and Because yeah normally it's just Phil and Pastor Nick going at each other for whole game. Just mean. then they do He doesn't mean move back. He doesn't mean move back. and And generally I sit there and turtle in the corner and just build this mass of ownerships of all these cities.
00:07:53
Speaker
um But they they they're cottoned on to that this game. And they blocking me a few spots. But tap it was good. It was very good game. um I think I came third in that one. Passed to Nick Groxett all the time. he he just sees the Matrix in that one.
00:08:07
Speaker
I think it's his favourite game. So, yeah, a lot of ball games for me to actually talk about for once. Yeah, nice. haven't had a few days like that in a long while.
00:08:19
Speaker
a Well, I had a bit of an interesting... couple of weeks obviously like I mentioned I was away with the family so April I haven't played a new game in April like every game I played in April is a game I've played before which is very unusual for me but it has been good and the game that got played the most while we were away on holidays is Trio which I've obviously recently spoken about little card game and it the reason it got played so much is because my family are very competitive even though they pretend not to be And the game doesn't go for particularly long, like a round probably takes five to 10 minutes max.
00:08:55
Speaker
And everyone thinks they're really close to victory or they think they've been Delta shithand and we' pardon the French, but Delta bad hand. ah So when you lose, you just be like, well, let's go again.
00:09:09
Speaker
Let's just go again. I'll get this time. i'll get this time. Or we'll keep playing. We got to keep playing until I win is a sentence that I heard a lot from people in my family. So we just continually played trio like 40 times over the course of the two weeks.
00:09:23
Speaker
And, it There were some nights where it was like, you know, 11 or 12 plays of it in a row, just waiting for my daughter to win round. And it's not like where those sort of people that are go, okay, well, we'll pander to her and we'll let her win. Nah, like you got to win-win.
00:09:39
Speaker
So we kept playing until she won one and then she did. And then she won like three in a row because she's like, well, I don't want to stop because I keep winning. So it's just It was non-stop. But, yeah, we just played a lot of Trio.
Exploring Arapa Mine and Other Board Games
00:09:50
Speaker
My son and I played a lot of Arapa Mine. Actually, a funny story about Arapa Mine, and I've talked about it for a bit lately, but really enjoying that game. And it's actually in Alpha on BGA, which is very exciting.
00:10:03
Speaker
But I played um on BGA and I'm like, hang on, these aren't the rules. And I'm like, is this another one of those games where I've learned the rules incorrectly and I'm playing it wrong, like Flip 7? Flip 7. And no, it turns out I'm not.
00:10:16
Speaker
It turns out that there's some optimal move that you can do in the real in the base game that means that someone can't find out where one of your shapes is. And I'd never heard, obviously, I'm not smart enough to figure these things out, but people out there are.
00:10:30
Speaker
So they've made adjustments to the game. So the new version is actually going to be different to the version I have. so that So one of the shapes has changed color with one of the other shapes. So that's that part of it sorted.
00:10:41
Speaker
But then I'm like, i don't understand. I'm getting all these... this information but it seems like my opponent is getting the same information and he's getting my information i'm getting his and it turns out i've only ever played a two-player version and i was playing two players so i thought that it would be how i know it but it's actually a multiplayer version where one it's like a one person's gming it so they've got the setup of where all their shapes are and everyone gives everyone asks a question but everyone gets information from everybody and it's the first person to get it right wins.
00:11:13
Speaker
And it's such a different way of playing it. I'm like, this is super cool. So there's it's like it's two different games that are very similarly related. So I played a lot of Arapa Mine both in both ways.
00:11:26
Speaker
And Raphael just loves that game. And I think he loves it because he wins every now and again because he figures out where all my shapes are. And I win every now and again because I figure out where um my shapes are.
00:11:37
Speaker
But what never happens is Raphael never assumes he's correct and says, Am I correct? Every time he says, am I correct? He's correct. I, on the other hand, every now and again, assume I've got everything sorted and I don't, which means he wins those games.
00:11:51
Speaker
So he wins it as often as me. And half the time is because I've stuffed up. So he could just wait it out and go, dad's not going to get that. And sure enough, he's right. So ah yeah, both of those games got a lot of play on holidays.
00:12:03
Speaker
I did, speaking of Stefan Feld, I did find a copy of Carpe Diem, which if most people, when they list their favourite Feld game, is generally either Castles of Burgundy, Trajan, or Carpe Diem. So we've covered three of those.
00:12:18
Speaker
Yeah, except that I haven't played it yet. And part part of the reason I haven't played it is the same reason why probably you don't own it. And that is that, man, it's a stinker to look at. It really is.
00:12:29
Speaker
And I got the new version. So similarity similarly to Castles of Burgundy, they had their standard and and original version, which is not particularly great looking. And then Aliyah did their 10th anniversary where they were the 20th anniversary, whatever it was. Yeah, and that was just as bad.
00:12:46
Speaker
and And it's just bland. Even the box is bland. It's just white with some words on it. But apparently there's a good game inside that box, so I'm looking forward to diving a little bit deeper into that.
00:12:58
Speaker
But I also picked up – found a store that had all these Aaliyah games for some reason. It was a toy store. So i actually picked up Las Vegas Royale, which obviously you own and we've played before. Great game. Classic games. So I got that to the table a few times with the kids and there was a lot of arguments and lot of FUs going on when someone pushed someone out of an area and whatnot. So that was good fun. So, yeah, lots of games, lots of little games. I only took really little games with me except for the Anarchy, which I never got to the table because that's – Thankfully, I guess, in a family holiday, I didn't really ever have the time to sit down and play a solo game, which is awesome.
00:13:33
Speaker
That's good. Yeah, being a time with the family. It's interesting you mentioned the change-ups from that game, A Rapper Mind.
00:13:45
Speaker
I wonder if all the alpha version on BGA has uncovered this because the same things happened with El Paso. So I think oh really they've uncovered some, so you know we can talk offline, but there's there's a powerful um building you can build, which is just game-changing. Everyone just goes for it. however However, now they've changed the rules. So that building now, instead of being able to do both actions, there's a slash there. So you can only do one or the other.
00:14:17
Speaker
And then also, too, you can't trash. So well tell you the rules when you're learning and ah So it's the 2A building in in El Paso. um It's got a line going up and down, which means you can do both moves. Either or. Yeah, yeah. yeahp Where it needs to have a slash.
00:14:35
Speaker
So they've now updated the new building tile that comes out of that as a slash. So you can do either or because it's powerful otherwise. And then the other the other powerful move was there was no limit on cards you could trash out your hand.
00:14:49
Speaker
And there's a few double goal tokens that you can get, which gives you points to the end of the game for how many cards you've trashed. um Okay. So now they've limited that to five cards so only that you can trash out of your hand.
00:15:02
Speaker
Right. And it's not in the rule book, so when you do have a bit of play for the first time, um consider those two things. And you you'll know what I mean when you see that two-way building. it is it's a It's a game changer.
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah, right. and you do with that I'm very interested to try El Paso for a few reasons. Firstly, because ah I've played Great Western Trail a few times and I still don't get it. Like, it still doesn't. I do okay. Sometimes I win and sometimes I win by a while and I look at it and i go, I don't understand what I did differently this game to the game where I just got beaten by 17.
00:15:36
Speaker
yeah But I've played Great Western Trail in New Zealand and I really like that game. It changes a few things and a lot of those changes I really appreciate in comparison. So I much prefer the New Zealand version, but a watered down version of the main game, it sounds exciting to me. it might be something I can get to the table.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I hate Great Western Trail with a passion and all the guys know that. So I shall save what I think of El Paso for when after you played it. It's hopefully next episode we can we can talk about it at El Paso and do a bit of a review from both of us and our own standpoints. And I've actually got quotes from everyone that I've played it with too. So Ingrid and Shane and Phil and also Pastor Nick, they've given me just some quotes and what they think of the game as well. Yeah.
00:16:26
Speaker
um That's something new that we can hopefully bring to you guys, our three listeners now. um Our whole three listeners. is we can we We can give you some reviews of board games that are coming out thanks to VR distribution here in Australia. that Yeah.
00:16:45
Speaker
Other than that, I'm back home now. So we've we've uncovered a new...
Introducing Warhammer to Son
00:16:52
Speaker
craze that's going to probably take over my household in the next six months. And I kind of did it to myself, but I knew that this was eventually going to happen. And that is that I have introduced Raphael to Warhammer.
00:17:06
Speaker
Good luck. yeah Now, I want to preface that by saying that I've never played Warhammer. I've never really had an interest in playing Warhammer. You know as well as anyone that I don't like fighting McFight fight games.
00:17:18
Speaker
So, I mean, this that's all it is. It's all it is. It's the ultimate fighting McFight fight. fight Yeah, so, but my son, he's his room, half of his room is memoir 44 figures playing out battles that he's created for himself.
00:17:33
Speaker
And yeah we were down on holidays and he was like, oh, i want to buy some more miniatures, but I want to get into like mech style miniatures. You know i want to bring some sci-fi. And I'm like, dude, it's World War II. Like, you know, it's not quite, you can't really just make it up. And he's like, but that's what i want to do. and I'm like, all right.
00:17:48
Speaker
I said, look, there's this system. It's called WAMR It kind of does what you're wanting to do. Maybe we can go into the store and have a bit of a look. I hit up DG and G Money, who I know are right into it, and they've said the same thing. Just go into a Warhammer store and and just see. And the bloody Warhammer guy was awesome and has ruined it for me now because Raph just goes in there. I ask so what told him our situation. He's just gone, well, you know, best thing he can do first up is build his first mini.
00:18:18
Speaker
So here's a free mini, get going. So he sat him down, gave him the pliers to get all the bits out and just seeing the excitement on Rath's face when he started clicking the things together and it's like, oh my gosh, this is like a space marine. How awesome is this?
00:18:30
Speaker
And then of course the inevitable, know, what do you need to do to get into this? And oh, well, you've got to buy this $300 ultimate starter set. And so we've made a rule. So again we haven't played it yet and it'll be, it's getting delivered up here. So we won't have it for a few weeks, but we've made, I've made a rule with him that We'll get the ultimate starter set.
00:18:49
Speaker
He's paying for half of it. I'm paying for the other half. um He's not allowed to get any more content at all. Warhammer, not allowed to get any more content until all of it is painted, until he has played out both factions in their entirety.
00:19:04
Speaker
He understands all of the lore, and there's a reason why he wants another set rather than just going, ooh, more. More is good. More is great. So I'm hoping with those parameters, it's not going to get out of control, but...
00:19:16
Speaker
in the near future I'm going to be learning how to play Warhammer. So that'll be fun. Well, enjoy the rabbit hole. Although the minis do look amazing and it's like some of those minis are worth a fortune.
00:19:28
Speaker
um Well, to to be honest, I was amazed, like not amazed, amazed isn't the right word, but it was very cool to watch him build the mini. Yeah. And like sentimental attachment to that mini, he's not let it out of his sight since then. Like he's showing everybody. So, yeah.
00:19:45
Speaker
But, you know, kudos to that salesman. He had you at Build This Mini. Oh, you're not wrong. He knew you had it. You weren't leaving that store without the ultimate set. I can tell you right now.
00:19:58
Speaker
No. And actually I felt sorry for the guy in the end because he was such a good employee and he was like he gave him so much free stuff. He gave him a book on law. He gave him a book on that's like all all the bits and pieces. And Raph walked out of there with like four or five things. Hadn't spent a cent.
00:20:13
Speaker
And I said to him, I said, oh, well, I guess we'll buy the ultimate set, but I can't fit it in my baggage to go home. So can you organize to ship it to Bemiga? And he's like, yeah I'll just order it off the website. I said, but don't like, then you don't get to sell it. He's like, oh, we're all one company.
00:20:27
Speaker
So it doesn't matter. Just order it on the website. So I've never walked into a shop, had such great customer service and wanted to spend money and then wasn't able to because we had to order it online. So yeah, I felt kind of sorry for the guy, but at the same time, he still cost me money. yeah.
00:20:44
Speaker
So, you know, job well done. Well done to that salesman. And, you know, that's perfect. Like that's missing in today's society is that that good customer service where he's, you know, he was probably Raph I don't know how old he was, but yeah many, many years ago he would have been Raph. So he's just probably passed on a great feeling to Raph.
00:21:05
Speaker
Not you. ah But a great experience for you Yeah. You can look back on as well. And just you know and when he's building his 500th Mini and it's cost you about a million dollars, ah you can look back at that moment and say thanks to that guy in that store.
00:21:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. I did make me think it's, it's, I've often commented about how frustrating it is seeing all these board game stores eventually becoming Warhammer and magic stores. Cause obviously that's where all the money is, but it did make me realize why. And that is because you can't do what he did on board games.
00:21:40
Speaker
You can't just rock up to a board game shop and they go, Oh, here's a new component component for your game that you can just have. Like it doesn't work like that. No, but it is missing though in board game stores though.
00:21:51
Speaker
Like the amount of times I'm actually i'm actually selling board games in a board game, and you're probably the same. Like I'll be in a board game store and someone's, you know, sitting there looking at a game and I'll start chatting with them.
00:22:03
Speaker
And then eventually you find out what type of games do you like and they're walking out with the board game that you've recommended. um yeah Recently in Adelaide i was I was in a board game store and, you know, the the the salespeople are just sitting behind the counter.
00:22:16
Speaker
And um this lady said, oh, do you know anything about board games? And said, oh, no, a little bit. No, little bit. and You know, started chatting to her and she was wanting to buy a board game for her and her daughter to play that night while they were in Adelaide.
00:22:30
Speaker
And um so I ended up finding them a nice, I can't remember what game it was. Was it The Crew? So something easy. It was just an easy card game. um And, you know, she appreciated the time.
00:22:45
Speaker
Meanwhile, the other two salespeople sit behind the counter. ah Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it definitely doesn't have the community feel that like Warhammer does, I guess. And similar to what you were just saying, while we were chatting to the owner or to the person behind, the mine might be the owner, whoever the guy was, there was a father and son in the store as well.
00:23:04
Speaker
And they've caught wind of what's going on. And the sun, you've never seen someone so keen to share their experience with us. Like he was just beaming to tell Raphael about, oh, this is how I started. I got this set and you can do this and you can do that. And when you first paint, they'll look great to you. But in six months time, you'll realize they look terrible. And here's something I've just painted. And he was just, he he was beaming just to.
00:23:28
Speaker
and to tell someone else about his experience and and the dad's just looked at me and said it's a lot of birthday presents and a lot of Christmas presents mate. Yeah. like Fair enough. Raf's done until he's 21. Yeah pretty much yeah until he gets his own job but he yeah yeah but it was it's it was a cool experience and it made you're right it made me think that I get the money that gets dumped into it because of that community, because of the fact that how you do things in the hobby, like the guy said, he said, this hobby is more about collection and painting than it is about playing.
00:23:59
Speaker
People play, but the other part of it, they're they're the two bigger parts. and And that fascinates me to think that people would prefer to spend money on the collection as opposed to the experience. But the experience is the collection and the and the painting and whatnot. Yeah.
00:24:14
Speaker
ah So we'll be interested to see how we goes. He's got a bit of a creative brain. like He's a pretty good – he's done a few artworks in the past, so he definitely doesn't take after me in that regard, which is good. He takes after Helen, which is a massive advantage.
00:24:26
Speaker
So we'll see how he goes. But I'll report back once we get the the block of – what do they call them? Sprig things of minis that we have to build? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:24:40
Speaker
I went down that path with Blood Bowl. and probably It was at the last Briscon. And yeah know there was all this talk talk about Blood Bowl and um amongst our you know our little gaming group.
00:24:54
Speaker
And I thought, oh, there was a guy selling it at Briscon. ah I'd sold a heap of games, so i was well up. I thought, oh, I'll go and buy myself the starter set for Blood Bowl.
00:25:06
Speaker
And even that's like a rabbit hole. I look back at some of the guys in our group. i think you And they're all buying every single team that you can own. And then then they're painting them up and, God, they look they look really cool once they're all painted up. um And there's a Blood Bowl league that's been started in Brisbane North.
00:25:25
Speaker
And I joined it, but i just I just couldn't devote the time to it. um and But you could, you know, we're all going around to a mate's house. There's five games of Blood Bowl going on.
00:25:35
Speaker
um It was cool, cool fun. And then, you know, you're seeing all these really cool minis being painted on the table. um And, you know, i must admit, I painted my minis, so my team. I painted them in the Port Adelaide football colours. Of course you did.
00:25:53
Speaker
But then, you know, I trickled some grass behind, you know by their feet as well. So, you know, it looks really authentic. And I really enjoyed sitting back and painting all those. So it's I totally get why there is not only is there a hobby in the game itself, but there' then the next hobby is building the minis and painting the minis.
00:26:12
Speaker
yeah because there's, i don't know how many teams are out there, but something like 16 or 17 teams. It's ridiculous. Good game, though. Yeah, and when I bought the Ultimate Starter set, I did look at the Blood Bowl season, whatever they're up to, whatever it is, and I thought, oh, gee, I wish I could get him into this, because I think that would appeal to me more than Warhammer, but we don't need two of them, so we'll just settle ourselves with 40K and see how we go from there. Yeah.
00:26:40
Speaker
But anyway, that was ah that was my little... That went for a bit longer than the board games I've played, so we should probably yeah stay on topic and switch over to talk about the news, for which there is plenty.
Impact of Tariffs on Board Game Companies
00:26:52
Speaker
I
00:27:04
Speaker
Frontier Games is no longer... Final Frontier, yeah. Yeah, Final Frontier Games, which... you know i I am lucky enough, I do own a copy of Coloma and ah feel sorry for everyone that's backed the latest edition of Coloma because they're at the moment I don't know know if they're getting their game at all, let alone their money back. It doesn't look good. No, I nearly backed it but then I was lucky enough to get a second-hand copy through the marketplace so I didn't.
00:27:31
Speaker
So, yeah, i was bit the same. i was I got the notification because I had followed the project. Yeah. And I was like, oh crap, then had to go and double check where didn't accidentally back it.
00:27:42
Speaker
Like, no, no, I haven't lost anything. And also Greater Than Games as well. I've gone by wayside as well. haven't heard that one. Yeah. So it's, I mean, obviously this is all to do with the tariff situation that has sort of spawned it. Although whether that's being used as a scapegoat, I'm not sure, but it doesn't, mean, it doesn't appear as though it is, but it's clearly had a significant impact on company profitability, I guess.
00:28:10
Speaker
Yeah, I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about the tariffs and there was one designer that's on there and they were talking about, you know, what's the impact of the tariff tariffs for for their company.
00:28:22
Speaker
um And given they're a worldwide seller um and he said, look, for our business, 60% of our market is US market. So that's going to have a significant impact, you would think, on on on that type of business where, know,
00:28:40
Speaker
60% of your sales are now going to attract and and also too, this designer, 100% are built out as out of China. you know They're not building elsewhere um because it's just not feasible for them to build what they want to do at ah at a cost price, but also to the quality out of China is much better than what they can build um in their own country.
00:28:59
Speaker
sorry So you know whatever whatever tariffs going to be whacked onto board games now for them to come to America, that's 60% of their business. that they've got to try and now find funding for really.
00:29:11
Speaker
And the only way to find that funding is to pass the consumer. And I think it would be naive to think that because we're in Australia, we'll be immune to it as well because and if if it was me running the business and I don't know how how the logistics of all this work, I would imagine that I would increase the cost of my recommended retail or MSRP or whatever it is, wherever you are,
00:29:34
Speaker
across the world to lessen the impact of what it is in the US. Yeah. Because it's wholesale price that it's coming in at or like, or manufactured price coming in at. So you're, you're, you're adding that bit later.
00:29:47
Speaker
I mean, why would you have a system where, you know, in Australia, for example, the game's only going to cost us 70 bucks, but comparatively in the US it's going to cost 150. I can't imagine a company doing that. I imagine that that would go, okay, it's 110 across the board.
00:30:01
Speaker
So I think, initially i was kind of sitting back going oh well it doesn't affect us and then the the enormity of the tariffs on the on on such a small company small business uh sort oriented uh you know conglomerate board games aren't huge business even the biggest business in board games like asmodee is not a huge business uh so know the impact is you're seeing it right in front of our eyes it's shocking it's Maybe my wife is not even into the hobby. I'm like, I just said, I just got an email. These people are out of business because of the tariffs. And and another one went down and yeah that's Jamie Stegmaier is suing the president.
00:30:42
Speaker
Oh, is he? Yeah. He's part of a group of designers that no one else has been mentioned, but Jamie being Jamie, he's always very transparent with everything that happens with his business.
00:30:55
Speaker
He's he made a post and said, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm suing the president and suing the government for the, the incorrect application of tariffs and so on and so forth. So it's, it's crazy. And yeah, I, it's, I don't think, I don't think Australia is immune to it, unfortunately. No, no, i think so. I don't think we are neither.
00:31:12
Speaker
Um, and you know, even for our Australian designers, you know, again, the S would still be their biggest market over, ah over Australia.
00:31:24
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. By far. Um, So, no, it'd be interesting to see how it all plays out. i um How do you feel about Kickstarter now? Well, yeah, I'm more than i'm well than wary. I'm um not backing anything.
00:31:40
Speaker
And not only am I not backing anything, I've also pulled out of the Cthulhu Death May Die Come On Kickstarter. I was the biggest Kickstarter I've ever been a part of. And that's because, come on, there's a lot of rumour rec circulating that they're not in a good space. And and honestly, I've already, i don't know whether it's luckily or unluckily, but I did the the monthly payments for that.
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah. So my theory is I've still got about four or five monthly payments left. I'd rather not lose that money. then spend that and hope that I get the game. So even if I don't get a refund for what I've already paid, I think I'm better off not paying the additional money and maybe getting a game at the other end.
00:32:25
Speaker
So um it was a big decision because, you know, I love Cthulhu Death and Die. It's in my top five. And, know, I was really looking forward to all that exp expansion content, but it's just, you know, as I've mentioned a couple of times in the last few months, we're trying to buy a house.
00:32:38
Speaker
I can't just, show money away to a to a possibility of maybe getting a game in a couple of years. It's just when there's a lot of speculation. And I guess the flip side of all of that is that I love this hobby and Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general is a way for people to get their product out that they don't have another avenue for.
00:32:58
Speaker
Yeah. So if we all stop using it, that also stops that from being able to happen. So it's not like I've just gone, oh, well, bugger it, I'm not going to do it anymore. It's like i don't I don't want to not do it anymore, but until there's some certainty and clarity around what's happening, it's just too big of a risk for me.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, I am ah certainly haven't. It's certainly put the kibosh on my Kickstarter purchasing for now. Although, you know, I did back that one from Game Found, that Rome game.
00:33:32
Speaker
And to the designer's credit and to the guy's credit that runs that, he was running the campaign, he actually did a, he put a post out and a YouTube clip to say that he's fine, his business is fine, even with the tariffs, his business is going to be fine and that, you know, he's going to fulfil and he's going to continue to be able to fulfil uh you know into the future so um so i thought that was really good by him that he came out and said that because i must admit i was like oh here we go well yeah and and it was only 100 bucks right it was only 100 bucks that game so like it's not like i've gone 500 bucks you know balls deep in a bloody cthulhu box but um it's uh it's um only a hundred dollars so
00:34:21
Speaker
Yeah, and that's why the Cthulhu Deathmater I1 is the only one I've gone ahead and cancelled because it is such a high price point. ah But they're the other ones, to their credit, a lot of companies have said that they'll either wear the costs or they will hold off on US s distribution that distribute everywhere else in the world.
00:34:40
Speaker
Correct. So there's a lot of there's a lot of Kickstarter projects that I've currently backed that I'm confident of receiving. But, yeah, backing new ones at the moment is, I just feel for those people who rely on that because I can't be the only one. I know i'm not the only one who has just said, no, not anymore, not for a while. And, yeah, so I really hope we miss out on the next Gloomhaven because no one's backing Kickstarters, you know?
00:35:06
Speaker
Well, to your point, though, a lot of the a lot of the Kickstarters that are put on are generally funding helping fund what were the previous Kickstarters, that it might be just falling a little bit short or there there's been some added costs that come along. So they utilise the next Kickstarter to kind of fund fund and finish off the other one.
00:35:26
Speaker
um yeah So you know there's going to be a lot of those that are not going to be happening now. So I reckon we're going to be in for a few more falling over yet. That's right. And I guess Come On is always known for that because Cthulhu Death May Die is like one of about nine or eight or nine campaigns they've currently got running.
00:35:43
Speaker
I'm also in for Cthulhu Dark Providence and also the Marvel United. can't remember what that one is as well, but they were pre-orders. So I don't even know how that factors in. Like, they, because they're they're now in jeopardy as well, but I've got no We don't get information, you don't get updates, you don't get comments like you do on Kickstarter or GameFound.
00:36:04
Speaker
They're just there. So there's so many unfinished products with kate earth Come On. And given that their name's been dragged through the mud, rightly or wrongly, it has been, if they were to put out a Kickstarter tomorrow, it would I guarantee it would be their least funded Kickstarter they've ever done.
00:36:18
Speaker
So that's not going to help them backfill those previous ones because they're not going to get the money that they've been sort of counting on in the past. No, I agree. but roof It's ah interesting times, mate. Interesting times. so See where we go with it.
00:36:33
Speaker
um But any other news? I don't think I've heard anything else out there at the moment. What about you? It's all about tariffs. It really has just been about the tariffs. and it's yeah We apologise for bringing it up on this podcast, but it feels like you can't not talk about it. It's it's the biggest thing impacting the hobby probably, well, so definitely since I've been in it, I can't imagine there's, like, it's COVID boosted this hobby.
00:36:57
Speaker
COVID gave this hobby a new breath of life and this is threatening to take us back to darker times than well before COVID. So, yeah. COVID covid was the the the birth of solo gaming.
00:37:12
Speaker
Really? Yeah, yeah. ah And just people trying to find the hobby. Like, we needed we need to do something. We're at home all the time. So, yeah, it's... Yeah. Anyway, is is what it is. We can't – we have no control over It's nothing to do with our government. We can't go and speak to our, you know, parliamentary members or whatnot.
00:37:30
Speaker
No. Yeah. Control what you can control, as they say. Hmm. So maybe indie games. You can't control anything, mate.
00:37:41
Speaker
Indie games and local publishing. We'll see how we'll see how that runs. Yeah, yeah. Print plays. Hmm. Well, if if there's no other news, I guess we'll that we'll get on to speaking of publishers, we'll get on to a bit of a topic of the week. you Got anything else to add or we'll just go straight into that? Got no other news, mate.
00:37:59
Speaker
Let's just jump into our, just our quick topic on designers. So...
Exploring Game Designers and Their Influence
00:38:13
Speaker
Yeah, we've done a few top 10 lists, which I'm sure you're aware of if you're a regular listener. So we're not going to do a top 10, but we just thought we'd talk about some designers that are of interest to us and why, know, what brings us back to their designs.
00:38:28
Speaker
We mentioned Stefan Feld before, and he's an interesting one because I've cast as a Burgundy for the longest time was the only Feld game I've ever played. and I didn't love it initially, so I didn't really have any desire to find other failed games.
00:38:43
Speaker
But when I was standing there in front of Carpe Diem, I'm like, well, it's got to be all right. Like, I love Castles of Burgundy now, so it's got to be good. It's made by the same guy, and it's got a bit of critical success, so let's give it a go. And, you know, that's, to me, that's a sign of a good designer when the only reason you would buy a game is because their name's on the box.
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah. But it's it's interesting, though, because we both didn't really, we weren't really big fans of Castles of Burgundy until until they brought out that blinging box, right? so Yeah.
00:39:18
Speaker
And I must admit, like whilst I liked Trajan, God, it was ugly. There was nothing to it. It was seamless as anything. um And the board looks discuss like just looked horrible.
00:39:32
Speaker
but you know And that's probably, I said to the guys when we were playing, I said, this is crying out for a Castles of Burgundy upgrade ah just a you know to really bring it into the next century.
00:39:43
Speaker
so but i would you know And hearing what you're thinking of Carpe Diem, would we play those Steffenfeld games if we probably hadn't played the blinged out version of Castles Burgundy? going to say no.
00:39:55
Speaker
Yeah, definitely not. I wouldn't have gone looking for them. and And then the opposite side of the spectrum with with him as well is that I've seen Bonfire set up on a table and I've seen Civilution set up on a table and I look at them and go, it's too much. I don't want that.
00:40:11
Speaker
So like it's not even this. I'm fine with crunchy games and fine with heavy games. With the over-the-top sprawling games, that's where I kind of tap out. There are obviously obviously obvious exceptions. but So, yeah, I don't think I would have ever really and looked at a Feld game before and gone, ooh, if it wasn't for you know that ridiculous version of Castles of Burgundy.
00:40:33
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you. um I'm interested in Civilution, though, I must admit. I like game games. like to play it. In fact, just to go back on the tariffs real quickly, ah think that'll be what the big change in the hobby will be is that ah Well, for me, and I assume for many others, it'll be a situation where ah won't be buying games unless I've played them or unless you're more familiar with them than just taking a chance. There'll be less taking of chances just in the future, I think. Yes, yes.
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah. That's good. Good call out, Stefan Feld. What about some other ones for you? One of them for me would have to be, as I turn around and look at my shelf, I'll leave i'll leave the bur or i'll leave one of them to last. I think Carl Chattuck.
00:41:19
Speaker
Got to love Carl Chattuck. um His games are brilliant. His card games, I just love them all. I'm still yet to play a GNC, um which is meant to be a little bit heavier than your glory to Rome. But you know Red 7, fantastic little card game.
00:41:38
Speaker
Over within a few minutes, Gloria to Rome speaks for itself. Innovation, it's just love it. Just love innovation. um And what I do have up there is a little-known board game that he's done, and it's called Blood of the Northmen.
00:41:55
Speaker
um Yet to play it, but it's it's a Viking area control game. It's not Blood Rage, but but it's something similar. I think there's some card play in it.
00:42:07
Speaker
um I picked that up on eBay. I was just searching Carl Trattuck and see what games might have come up. And, yeah, this board game came up, Blood of the Northmen, with its expansion in shrink.
00:42:19
Speaker
So I grabbed that. okay So I'm desperate, and I think I mentioned in a previous episode, Carl just needs to come out with a Mafia-style Glory to Rome card game, multi-card use.
00:42:33
Speaker
That would be good fun. um But, yeah, Carl Trattuck. one of my designers that i like.
00:42:41
Speaker
Well, it's funny. My favorite game is by Uwe Rosenberg, and i i know that I'm an Uwe Rosenberg fan, but there's also a fair chunk of his games that I'm not... I wouldn't say I dislike. I pretty much like any of his games, but not not ones that I would go, oh, I can't wait to play that again. Like, I really like Caverna, but yeah it's never I never got played.
00:43:02
Speaker
I found Agricola too. Caverna was like the better version of Agricola for me. So that's why I'm interested to see what the Awakened Realms version, whether it changes my opinion on that. That's amazing.
00:43:16
Speaker
It does. But i was I was chatting to Joe and Shannon about Bouvet once because we played Feast for Odin. And they're like, is he your favorite designer? I'm like, oh, I'm not sure. And they're like, well, what other games do you like of his? I'm like, oh, I don't know.
00:43:29
Speaker
Caverna, Patchwork, Nova Roma. Oh, sorry, Nova Luna. um And I just like listed off about 12 of his games, like Halitau. like Le Havre. like, yeah, okay.
00:43:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. but He's up there. He's up there. and And I recently got Black Forest, which I quite enjoy, even though I've only played it solo, but I quite enjoy that. It's like a, it's a, again, he does solo modes really well.
00:43:55
Speaker
and which is another good thing when you've got ah yeah a struggle to get new games to the table. So, yeah, it's I can't go past Uwe. He's a standout for me. At the very least, I'm interested whenever a new Uwe title comes out to to look at some playthroughs and try and work out whether it's right for me.
00:44:13
Speaker
For example, that Oranenberger Canal, I haven't played that. I don't know whether that one's going to be one that I will chase after, but I'll definitely play it if if I see someone else with a copy of it. Yeah.
00:44:25
Speaker
and that's like there are There are some examples of his games that I ah don't jump all in for. yes Yeah, okay. I've only ever played feastvo Feast Road and and I've only ever played it on BGA, so I need to play it for reals so I can really understand that game.
00:44:43
Speaker
But I can see why you like it. Another one I like, Eric Lane. Yeah, yeah. Blood Rage. ah My favourite game of all time, or one of my favourite games of all time is The Godfather, Corleon's Empire.
00:44:58
Speaker
There's so many fun moments in that game that it's not funny. But then you've got Cthulhu, Death May Die. so So Eric Lang's another good designer that I like. and ah like He's done a he's done ah more of a ah version of an entry-level type of Blood Rage game. Have you seen it?
00:45:16
Speaker
around it's yeah i have it's like um is it him and phil walker harding that yes yeah yeah yeah it looks really good just as an entry level um you when we're speaking of entry level games like hill passer um you know it's it's similar they call it like an entry level blood rage so yeah like my little blood rage my little blood rage yeah that's it um But no, Eric Lang is a really good designer and i love beat-em-up games and The Godfather, you know, some of the experiences I've had with that game, um you know, where you're throwing everyone in the Hudson River after a big bomb explosion in the car.
00:45:57
Speaker
it's ah It's really cool, really, really cool.
00:46:02
Speaker
That was a big arm, sorry. oh I think we're leaving the obvious one to last, so I'll carry on with... I want to mention Isaac Childress, and I know that Isaac Childress has a couple of games that aren't Gloomhaven slash Frosthaven slash Jaws of the Lion, but it's not even so much that... like if If he came out with another something haven, I don't even know if I'd buy it.
00:46:27
Speaker
i really don't. i I'm sure I would play it eventually, but... that when you play Gloomhaven or Jaws of the Lion and to a lesser extent Forest Haven, and I'll explain why in sec, but it is it's remarkable how much has gone into those games.
00:46:42
Speaker
And it all works so well. Like it is an enjoyable time, regardless of your opinion of dungeon crawlers, your opinion of card play versus dice play or whatever else, the way that it all works together, the amount of depth, and then the support that I'm going to mention another one later that you're going to hate me for, but similar in a similar vein, the support that he gives the community,
00:47:04
Speaker
to the point where he he actually goes through and verifies user-generated maps and um scenarios, and then he will tweak them a little bit and then put them back out. So it's like an ongoing forever.
00:47:17
Speaker
yeah there's this There's more and more to come. And the reason I didn't put Frosthaven in that same basket is I really do think no one is playing Frosthaven who hasn't played Glimhaven or George of the Lions. I really think...
00:47:28
Speaker
it's It's for the fans rather than for the hobby, I guess, if that makes sense. I agree. And then there was that little mini box game that someone designed, which he then ended up so whatever yeah which he ended up ended up getting behind and backing and bringing it to to life. So, yeah, he does a lot for the community.
00:47:46
Speaker
Yeah. yep Yeah. so Someone who he's, he's developed, developed a system. People love it. And rather than go, right, cool done. He's gone, no, I'm going I'm going to invest more and more time into, into the people who love my games. So you got it. You appreciate that.
00:48:03
Speaker
You do. don't know what it is today, but my neighbors have decided to, every one of them is mowing their bloody lawns.
00:48:11
Speaker
Why aren't they all at work? Anyway, dirty stopouts. Um, Before we get into our joint one that no doubt we're going to talk about, um it'd be remiss of me not to mention ah the person's games behind me where I pretty much have a whole Kalex shelf devoted to them, I would think. Yeah. And that's Martin Wallace's games. um I like his games.
00:48:34
Speaker
They're great. um I own, think it's about 26 of his games now. Yeah. um sorry and I got a new one back off of Lucky Phil. He sold it back to me. So Nanty Narkin's back in my collection,
00:48:50
Speaker
and um which means I may end up back in that Cthulhu expansion to it yet. um But you know Martin is just fantastic. He supports the community. Whenever he's in Brisbane, you can sit down and yeah how many people can say they've played a game with Martin Wallace?
00:49:10
Speaker
Not many people. and then and or Everyone in Brisbane. Yeah, yeah. and or That's right let let's say how good he is. He doesn't care who sits down and plays these games with him and tests them. um and And then you're sitting there playtesting games with him and you know he was a few months ago, was at my house, we're playtesting the new expansions for Bloodstones with two new factions and um His games are just really good. I like them. It took me a while to get into brass because I couldn't understand it, but then once I gropped it, I gropped it. and And then, you know, then you uncover his games pretty much have a similar theme, a similar mechanic or a similar something. And once you once you've worked out what that is, you can say, okay, that's kind of based off this, or that's kind of like this game.
00:50:00
Speaker
So, but, you know, for what he does for the Brisbane community, he comes out to our play game days, I'm pretty sure he's coming along to Briscon in May, ah which you know I'm sure he'll be bringing along a couple of his games to playtest.
00:50:16
Speaker
um But no, thanks for all his support he does in our community here in Brizzy. so And he signs my board games too. Yeah, there you go. Not many people can say they've got a signed copy of Unk Morpok.
00:50:29
Speaker
You could even cut off the signed copy, but not many people can say they've got a copy of Unk Morpok. Correct. So, no, Martin Wallace. ah Probably my favourite ballgame designer.
00:50:43
Speaker
There you go Well, I have two little quick mentions before we get to the obvious one. ah One really quick that you won't you won't like me doing this one, but i I'll stand by him, and that is Dan Halligan.
00:50:55
Speaker
And you're probably thinking, who's Dan Halligan? Let me guess. I am thinking who's Dan Halligan. if it's sit If it's shit real congruence, better not be. No, no, no. It's another game you can't stand.
00:51:06
Speaker
he and It's similar to what I was saying about Isaac Childress, the amount of influence he has on with the community and and and allowing changes to his game and different rule sets and everything.
00:51:18
Speaker
It's Obsession, the guy who made Obsession. you've you've never come across a game that has more, has a designer who has stuck with it as long as he has. So he just is always in the in the BGG threads. He's always, every every time there's a new expansion or something coming out, there's this new rule sheet in there, which, you know, changes a few things or explains why you should try these. Or if you like this style of game, you should do this. If you like that style game, you should do this. Yeah.
00:51:47
Speaker
And he's just honest. Like he says, if you don't like games like this, then don't buy this game or you know don't play with this expansion. This expansion isn't for you. This expansion is for people who like this to happen in their games and just really, really transparent and open with the community. So big ups to Dan Halligan for that.
00:52:02
Speaker
But the last one I wanted to mention, which is a guy who you mentioned, Martin Wallace, has similar mechanisms. This guy has seemed to be the only one out there to do this. And it's so cool when he does it in Manhattan Project Energy Empire. He does it in Cryo, Whistle Mountain, Andromeda's Edge, Dwellings of Eldervale. And that's Luke Laurie with his brilliant bringing your workers back, not being a boring turn.
00:52:29
Speaker
And it went to the nth degree in Andromeda's Edge to the point where almost all every other turn seems boring in comparison to bringing your workers back. But right from yeah back in Manhattan Project Energy Empire, whenever you brought your workers back, they did something. It was it was a useful move.
00:52:45
Speaker
And I'm shocked that he's kind of the only one who does that. Like, he doesn't have a copyright on that. Anyone can add that into their games. But for whatever reason, they don't. And I love that. I love that he just... Works out ways to make it work. Whistle Mountain is cool when you bring ships back and you put them on the on the grid and you get all the information. Sorry, you put them out onto the grid, but then when you bring them back, you get what's on your board. It's so much good stuff. So, yeah, I think it's almost that's almost his shtick, but he puts it in every one of his games and it makes sense in every one of them and makes the games better. So I really, really like Luke Ory's games. so
00:53:19
Speaker
Yeah, good one. Good call. All right, let's do it. Yeah. Obviously we're thinking about the designer of Monopoly. Yes. Yes. yeah what What's her name again? I, uh, I don't recall.
00:53:33
Speaker
No. Um, the young gentleman actually was the first Kickstarter I ever backed was by this board game designer. Um, and, uh, that is Shem Phillips and Garfield games.
00:53:49
Speaker
They do so much for the board game community. It's not funny. They produce yeah brilliant games. Um, And if you're involved with their Discord thread, they're heavily involved in the chat on the in there, encouraging everyone. They've got a new podcast out as well, which is brilliant to listen to. Totally recommend it.
00:54:08
Speaker
um And for me, they are so welcoming as well. I know when I first started engaging Shem and and also Sam, ah I think it was your 40th birthday. We organized Chaos Order through them. No, it was Wayfarers.
00:54:27
Speaker
Wayfarers, right? About a year before it came out. We had a game Wayfarers. That's right. That's right. For your birthday. and that was um because I think I was playtesting it at the time. and We organized for your birthday to come along and play that. and they you know They were very welcoming on that one as well. They came along.
00:54:43
Speaker
and when Whenever they release games, it's only released... whenever they do release games it's only released ah to a certain group of people within their Discord thread for their playtesters. And so for me to then go to him and say, look, do you mind if we do this for Steve's 40th birthday? They were like, no, let's do it, let's share it because it wasn't out to anyone else, anyone else could see it. So um just the way they support the community um is brilliant. sign And they've been very welcoming for us.
00:55:12
Speaker
Yeah. I also, yeah we always talk about Shem, but Sam McDonald, his his fingerprints are over so much of the of the great stuff. And I wonder whether they're their working arrangement is that Sam comes up with all the crazy ideas and Shem is the guy who's like, let's just tone it down a little bit. like let's I don't know. i just I feel like that might be it because...
00:55:34
Speaker
Sam is a genius. If you ever have a chance, to as we have, have a chat with Sam or listen to him on the podcast or just talking about board games in general, the industry, you're never going to, people talk about Cole Worley and yeah, I'm not going to deny that, but I put Sam McDonough right up there with him as far as someone who understands the entirety of the industry, not just about board games. yeah It's yeah it incredible.
00:55:57
Speaker
they are They are both brilliant. And, um you know, when you talk about, So, you know Chaos Order, for example, thats it's that's Sam's fingerprints all over that one. um So... and Because I know that Shem, he wasn't really involved in in the design of that one.
00:56:15
Speaker
um Yeah. But I know he did, you know give you know, give some feedback on the game, on the side, but Sam was sam was trying to create his, you know, total Chaos game, and it certainly is that.
00:56:29
Speaker
um But I just think what they... the time they give. um You know, you may not, haven't been in the Discord for for quite a while, but every now and then I'll pop in and just make a little comment down.
00:56:42
Speaker
The next thing you know, oh, Shane, Shane, how are you? yeah They're all firing at you, so it's really good. So hopefully they're coming down to Australia for um the convention in Sydney.
00:56:56
Speaker
um So hopefully i'll get to meet meet them finally face-to-face because I've never met them face-to-face. It's always been via VC. Yeah. But, yeah, what was your first Garfield game?
00:57:08
Speaker
but was what was the one Was that the one you backed or had you previously owned something else? No, no, it was First Light. First Light was my first Kickstarter. There you Yep.
00:57:20
Speaker
And love that game.
00:57:23
Speaker
i My first was Raiders of the North Sea, which I had won. I won. So when Board Game Oracle was a thing, there was also another Australian price checking website that was not as clean as Board Game Oracle, but it was a really cool community. And every month the guy who ran it, I think his name was Raphael.
00:57:43
Speaker
Actually, his name is Raphael. ah He used to give away a game to members of his site once a month. And I got Raiders of the North Sea. So that was the first Garfield game. And man, that game, that was what what a game to start with then.
00:57:59
Speaker
you And the love affair began. And then when I got architects and then all through the West and then obviously circadians as well. Yeah, so much good. well it's It's hard to find a bad game. There are some games that yeah I don't like as much as their other ones, and we've talked about on previous episodes how they've gone much heavier in the South Tigris series, but they're still good games. Wayfarers is top 20 for me, and I haven't played enough of the other two to really have a strong opinion on them, but they're all yeah they're great. And then the redux of shipwrights was good, so, yeah, they just they can't miss.
00:58:35
Speaker
No, they can't. And... ah Look, I've even got some of their old ones. Like I've got Bethel Woods. And there's a very old Shen Phillips game somewhere around the place.
00:58:46
Speaker
Can't see it right now it' just to put my hand on it. But really it's an ugly-looking cover. ah No, can't find it. So might have to wait for another episode.
00:58:59
Speaker
um But, you know, I like them so much where, you know, Sam Phillips, Shen's brother, is a, and artist He's the artist, right? He does a lot of the artwork for ah First Light and Chaos Order.
00:59:12
Speaker
and so He's also said that all the anthology series? that that yeah all Yeah, correct. That's all his art there. So I liked it so much that I ended up reaching out to them one day and asked Sam, because Sam did tattoo art as well, to design me a tattoo based on his artwork.
00:59:31
Speaker
so you know And I wanted the Mexican tattoo. Day of the Dead Girl. So he drew it up in his artwork and I've got it tattooed on my arm. That's how much I like them. There you go.
00:59:44
Speaker
There you go. I just saw your ah your your wife walk past. Is she just as happy as you are with the fact that you've got a tattoo of a board game designer's artwork or a board good board game artist's artwork instead of like something of her?
00:59:56
Speaker
na no, she's she's she likes it. Okay. I've even named her, so. Yeah.
01:00:06
Speaker
Hilarious. No, they're good. you got to You've got to love um the board game designers that you know really are involved in the community. ah Yeah, 100%.
01:00:19
Speaker
Good one, mate. That's really good. Yeah, well, that'll wind us up, I think. That'll wind us up. Just over an hour. We had a little bit of negativity in there with the tariffs, but finished with a lot of positivity around the board game designers, so it worked out well.
01:00:30
Speaker
yeah Yeah, at the end of the day, just a chat. It's good to chat about the tariffs. And we'll just see how it all plays out. Yeah. another Nothing else we can do. No.
01:00:41
Speaker
Well, to future board games, let's let's so I'll get some El Paso played and ah this week. And I also got the um the sixth edition of Catan. And I am in the camp of played Catan once, didn't like it. So I'm interested to see whether that was way back when, like way back when I started in the hobby. So interested to see now whether I still just go there or whether there's actually something there that goes, oh, you know, was this isn't too bad. So I'm very keen to try that out.
01:01:08
Speaker
Well, all I... I've never played guitar, and it's never really interested me to even jump in and play it. ah But I intend to try and get a game of Nantie and Arking to the table ah now that I've got that back in the calyx.
01:01:23
Speaker
um But I will continue playing El Paso. um Try the solo version too, so we can talk about the solo version. Tell me what you think about Sue. um And certainly recommend um Spotify Country and Western playlist while you're playing the game.
01:01:40
Speaker
Not happening. That's great. It's so good. Having Johnny Cash playing in the background, especially the song Boy Named Sue, and you're you're playing against Sue, so so it's it's quite funny. yeah Get the theme going, mate. But so I don't intend to... What else am I doing? I just wanted to call out BrizzCon as well.
01:01:59
Speaker
So the guys, Joe and Stu, for BrizzCon, I believe there's only Sunday tickets left, very minimal Sunday tickets, so it is a sellout. it So congratulations ah to Joe, Stu and also Kylie.
01:02:14
Speaker
It's exciting. I'm really looking forward to BrizzCon. I've got my little stack of games that I'm going to be selling off for the Bring and Buy sale. um And so then also to um with BrizzCon, we've got 16 giveaway games from VR ah Distribution. I mean, how cool is that?
01:02:33
Speaker
They have been so supportive. um and There is a copy of El Paso to give away. um and two copies of Flip 7, I believe, from when I saw it in the box before. So thank you to VR Distribution.
01:02:46
Speaker
But, yeah, well done to Joe, Stu and Kylie. I can't wait for Briscon 2025.
01:02:53
Speaker
You should also mention we're not sponsored by VR. They just do a lot of stuff for for us, for the hobby. for yeah it's Yeah, so it's just it's all kudos. It's not pay for comment or anything like that.
01:03:05
Speaker
That's for sure. definitely not. Imagine if someone paid us for comment. That would be hilarious. Good luck. I'll finish with one little anecdote about your country music. My kids this year have been going to a boarding school because we live in a remote community, and they'll be going to boarding school on Rocky.
01:03:21
Speaker
And my son, when he went to this boarding school, he loved basically just hip-hop music. And he still does. it's still his passion. But he's definitely broadened his musical horizons since going there, which has been great. But he told me that he likes some country music songs.
01:03:34
Speaker
And now I'm looking for other boarding schools. like I just can't help it. It's not allowed. It's not possible. There are four good country music songs and that's it. And even then, I've said four because I'm lenient. I can only think of two.
01:03:48
Speaker
Unless you count Ween's 12 Golden Country Gretes as a country music album, which is basically just a piss take of country music. There are no good country music songs, in my opinion. yeah the opinions of the The opinions of Mate Let's Play are not my not the opinions of myself. but you just Just do me a favour. Just Spotify playlist, Country and Western, but start off with Marty Robbins, El Paso.
01:04:13
Speaker
Great. Okay.
01:04:17
Speaker
I have to start a burner Spotify account so no one can see. I can have a bit that turns up on my Spotify wrapped at the end of the year. Gosh. Jeez, you played a lot of country and western, Steve. 2025 wrap.
01:04:29
Speaker
twenty twenty five yes but do our review next week. What was the positives and negatives of El Paso? Well, the negative was I had to listen to this music while I played it. yeah Yeah. It's good fun.
01:04:41
Speaker
I did it. I did it. It was good. All right, mate. Until next time, mate. Take care. Same to See you, mate.