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Episode 5: Another top 10 list. This time it's their go-to's for board game content
28 Plays13 days ago
Join Shane and Steve as they discuss their top 10 Go-To's for board game content, as well as discussing games they have been playing, and any news that is on their radar.
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Transcript
Early Start & Late-Night Gaming
00:00:11
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Make Let's Play. I'm here again with Shane. How are you, Shane? Good morning, Steve. I'm excellent. How are you, mate? Yes, very well. We just keep getting earlier and earlier with our starts.
Top 10 Board Game Content Creators Preview
00:00:24
Speaker
So 7am on a Sunday morning sounded like a bad idea when you mentioned it, but, you know, we didn't finish. I played Gloomhaven last night with my Gloomhaven crew and we finished at around 11.30. I'm like, that's that's I can do this. It's fine.
00:00:37
Speaker
So here we are. I was tucked in bed peacefully at 9.30 and out by 9.35 and up at 6am. So on to my second cup of coffee. i say It's lovely.
00:00:49
Speaker
It's lovely. And I've done my list. I've done my list for today. I'm ready to go. yes but Speaking of lists, today we are going to do another top 10 lists. I guess we like top 10 lists because today we decided to do our top 10 go-tos for board game content.
00:01:05
Speaker
So we'll get to that a little bit later in the show. But yeah why not spruik some of the people that we generally try to listen to? So if you only listen to us, and God bless you if you do, there are plenty of other board game content creators out there that might be just a smidge more polished and professional than us. Maybe just a smidge, just a smidge. But I'm actually looking forward to hearing your list just in case there's a content creator out there. I'm not aware of yet.
00:01:32
Speaker
So yeah, me too. So exactly the same reason. So, Well, we'll get into that later, but before we get into that, we'll talk about some games we've been
Solo Play Insights: Castles of Burgundy
00:01:41
Speaker
playing lately. And Shane, I hear that you've been playing games this week.
00:01:44
Speaker
I have played a game. game. A game. So, listeners, I'm letting you down. I got one game of Castles of Burgundy solo done, and it was fantastic. Really enjoyed the system.
00:01:59
Speaker
Very easy to manage. Basically, you've got nine cards, which you which are your AI. And you've got and you've got to use the AI system to basically complete those cards.
00:02:11
Speaker
So it'll always take a tile from the board every round. And so every time it rolls a dice, so what you do is you flip a card over and it might have yellow, green, I'll just use the colours, a castle and a sea.
00:02:27
Speaker
And you will roll roll the dice. It only has one dice, but it also takes the white dice as well. And the white dice... you've got two two cards on the on the solo player mat that you pull out.
00:02:39
Speaker
And the white dice between one and four will be going for the left-hand side card. Between ah ah then five and six, it's going for the right-hand side card. You then roll one of the the red dice.
00:02:50
Speaker
The red dice then matches where it's going to be pulling the first tile from on on the actual board. And so it's always going for the tiles that are on its player mat of choice.
00:03:03
Speaker
Let's call it a player mat. me And then if it doesn't, it can't pull a tile because all the tiles are gone. It has tiles in the reserve throughout the day game as well. So it's picking tiles up and putting them in the reserve.
00:03:14
Speaker
um And then also too, the the tiles themselves have different actions for the AI, which is slightly different to to what the actions are for you as a normal player.
00:03:28
Speaker
um Really simple. And then once it's built a card, the card goes off and it scores points. So you've got low, medium, and height hard points that you can score it. So, for example, um it might score 14 points once completed or it might score 18 points once completed.
00:03:44
Speaker
So you're trying to get ahead of it and you're thinking, oh, yeah, I'm really doing well. And the next thing you know, within the next round, it's completed a card, 18 points, it's right behind you again.
00:03:56
Speaker
And yeah it is really good. You can play it with just the base game. or you can add in the Vineyard expansion, and that's a different set of cards. So the cards are made up of nine nine cards, and that is it, and it does last throughout the game.
00:04:12
Speaker
I knocked it off in my first play in about an hour and 20 minutes, but I yeah think my next play is going be lot quicker because I'll be used to it because i'm I'm constantly checking, like okay, what does this tile do when it when puts it down? Okay, it does this.
00:04:27
Speaker
um And I think now I'll be a little bit quicker. But I intend to play it today. It's still set up on my table. It's been set up all week. I've been away for work. So the plan was to play it again. And ah really cool. I really enjoyed it. um one of Probably one of the most easiest AIs I've used here to to be that quick.
00:04:49
Speaker
And it was close. That game was 190 versus 176.
00:04:53
Speaker
ah versus one seventy six aye And I played it on easy, so this time I'm going to try and play it on medium and see if it gives a bit bit more of a challenge to me. so I was just thinking, like as far as ah Castles of Burgundy, you could just almost, because you just get points doing anything in that game, you're going to randomly accumulate points.
00:05:15
Speaker
And I was just thinking, I think you played 25 turns all up, right? There's five rounds and five... Yes, that's it. Yep. So... If the AI didn't do anything else other than just get nine points a round and you just had to catch the AI, that would be tough.
00:05:32
Speaker
I think medium is going to be pretty tough. And then you got hard. so Yeah, that's cool. So did you win or lose? I won. that Yeah, I won. So you won by 14. Okay. Won by 14.
00:05:45
Speaker
So looking forward to my next play, which will be, you know, this afternoon. i intend to set it up and have it So Castle Burgundy's solo play. Recommend it. That was interesting. i had a couple of people reach out to me when I posted it, ah just a photo of it all, and they all said they didn't even haven't even unpacked the solo version of it yet, so they're going to give it a go as well. So hopefully they have already.
00:06:05
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm.
Exploring Hadrian's Wall & Its Successor
00:06:07
Speaker
Well, staying on theme, I played a game solo this week and it was a teach, ah which was interesting. ah So as we are well aware, Hadrian's Wall is one of my favorite games and it was taught to me by yourself.
00:06:23
Speaker
And what I remember about that teach more than anything was firstly, we didn't actually play the game. You only taught me the first round because I was in the middle of teaching other games at a board game day. um But what stood out was in that halfway through that first round, I was like, oh, man, I love this.
00:06:42
Speaker
It really stood out as this is going to be cool. And i so ah sit down to learn the ah the anarchy. I keep making its name wrong. The anarchy the other day.
00:06:53
Speaker
So this is, the I guess, the spiritual successor to Hadrian's Wall from Bobby Hill. And I don't have the same experience. Oh, really? So I started learning it at 9.30 p.m., which probably goes, you know, probably not the smartest move I've made.
00:07:11
Speaker
Read through all the rules, set up all the things, sort of get a gauge for what is going on in the game, start playing and forget everything that I've just learned and have to continually go back to the rule book.
00:07:22
Speaker
And then I finished round one 11.30 p.m. o And I went, all right, bedtime. So I took a photo of it because we needed the table the next day. So i couldn't leave it set up.
00:07:34
Speaker
So I took a photo of it and and had every intention of setting it back up the next day and finishing it. That didn't happen. I got to the next day and I thought, I'm just going to start a new game. Yeah. Because i am in between then and that that time, I realized that I'd actually made a mistake in the first round anyway.
00:07:50
Speaker
ah So I set it all up and I played it again and I played it all the way through. and I i ah need to play it more before I can make a judgment call on it because it is far, so much more going on than Hadrian's Wall.
00:08:04
Speaker
And Hadrian's Wall is kind of touted as we have a heavy rolling right. um And this is this is on some other level. it's And it's i ah the way I described it last night was it's like if you played Architects of the West Kingdom and then went, ooh, I'll play Scholars next.
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, it's just they're not the same thing. And it really, it's, I i think I'll enjoy it because i it's still very, very much, oh, I'll put this here, get that, that helps me get this, and this gets me that, and that sort of thing. And and the combat is a bit better because the one thing that,
00:08:43
Speaker
sort of frustrates me in Hadrian's Wall sometimes is you can really do well setting up your cohort so you're not going to take any hits and then you draw cards out and you draw seven on one side. Yeah. And you're like, oh, it doesn't matter how good my cohort is. It's not going to hold up to that.
00:08:56
Speaker
um But I guess that's the same for everyone if you're playing in a multiplayer game. um In this one, you have most of the information about what's going to happen when when it comes to combat. So you have these combat cards, and the first two of them are face up, so you can literally see exactly what's going to happen.
00:09:13
Speaker
And then the next one's face down, and it gives you on the back, it gives you some idea of what you need to be ready ready for. And then the next one's face up, and the next one's face down, something like that. There's only six attack cards, but you only put out so two in the first round, three in the second, four in the third, et cetera, et cetera.
00:09:30
Speaker
So I do like that because you can go, right, well, I need to have this and this ready so I can defeat that one. need to have this and this ready so I can defeat that one. I think I've got enough to cover whatever this is going to be, and then I should be able to cover this one as well. So you're kind of betting on what those...
00:09:47
Speaker
unknown cards are going to be and how hard how difficult they're going to be. um And there's many different ways to defend. So you've got yeah your knights and your soldiers and your craftsmen that you can put out to defend each area of your castle.
00:10:05
Speaker
And you've also got walls that you can build. You've got a moat that you can build and and a gate. that will all help. And then you've also got these resources that you could just, you know, invest in, which are things like throw stones or put up covers over your house and and these sort of things. So there's a few different ways to get around and some things require, know, some sort of protection, some some require other things. So that's a really cool thing.
00:10:31
Speaker
And I gravitate towards that purely because it's something easy to focus on. So in this game, there is so much to do that, almost all of my turns was like, right, before I do anything else, I've got to make sure that I can defend all of these things.
00:10:46
Speaker
And then I'm going to defeat the castle that I need to defeat this round. And then whatever is left is when I'm going to go and explore the rest of the board. Uh, So, but some of that explore, some of the mechanisms are super cool though. Like there's a St. Valentine's section where you are essentially to ah picking up two cards and looking at numbers and you're just, you're determining one as a male and one as a female. And if you get the same number, you generate a new surf and it's a way to also, so it's like you're, you're making babies.
00:11:18
Speaker
Um, And if you don't get the same number, you just leave the numbers like three and six. And then the next time you might get a six in the female, so you can then finish off one. And so that's kind of cool. There's a addition section where you can draw two cards and they have two different numbers on them. And you're trying to add up to a certain total. And, you the higher the total, the more valuable or the lower the total, the more valuable. And then middle cards like four, five, six, seven are not that powerful.
00:11:45
Speaker
there's there's you can make beer beer helps you in certain ways uh there's you can get flags and if you get two flags next to each other you get a bonus and all these it's just heaps and i i've talked about all of those things i just spoke about are in one section at the bottom of the right hand sheet there's it's there's too much so i'd love to play it a few more times and get my head around it but I've really got to be in the right frame of mind. It hasn't grabbed me like Hadrian's did.
00:12:14
Speaker
As far as i our system as goes, I would say at this stage, it's definitely not for everyone. um And I'm still not 100% sure it's for me. It's a fear it's going in the same way as some of those some of the heavier Shen games have lately where I've kind of just gone, yeah, I appreciate it's a good game in there somewhere.
00:12:36
Speaker
But um I don't know if it's going to hit the table all the time like the other ones have. So we will see. But the NRK is a wait and see at this stage. Okay. I kind of imagine it
Lighter Versions: Ark Nova & Great Western Trail
00:12:47
Speaker
to, I mean, Hadrian's Wall is a pretty heavy roll and write as it is.
00:12:51
Speaker
So if you're going to go that next step, yes, it would be a heavy roll and write. But even if you think the the the thoughts we had when we went from Architects to Paladins. Paladins is a totally different game compared to Architects. It's a lot more heavier.
00:13:06
Speaker
So hang in there, I reckon. Yeah, i mean there was enough in there to enjoy. think that a crunch for you. Just when I finished, rather than being like, whoa, that was cool, I was like, oh.
00:13:18
Speaker
That was the response. It was like, I got there. I got to the end.
00:13:25
Speaker
So, yeah, we'll see. But, yeah, definitely key to try to get. i think I think a great learning, though, is do not try and learn heavy game at 9 o'clock at night. No. Yeah, that's that's that's probably the big thing to take out of this. Good key key takeaway for you.
00:13:39
Speaker
Well, I've played nothing else, mate, the whole week, so it's just been Castles of council Burgundy, and as far as I'm concerned, it's for everyone that game. so I agree. All right. yeah Good work, mate. Well, um any news that you've seen around?
00:13:56
Speaker
Well, I mean, probably the news that um, is getting around on almost every channel at the moment, which is the, uh, the lighter version of Ark Nova coming out this year. Uh, so Ark Nova, one of my favorite games, I think it was in my top 20. I can't remember. I might've either just been missed either just on or just missed the list.
00:14:15
Speaker
I think it was there. I think it was like 17 or something. Yeah. Um, and there's been a bit of a trend of these lighter versions of the same game coming out, kind of the opposite of the anarchy, I guess.
00:14:27
Speaker
Uh, Like, you know, Great Western Trail's got El Paso coming out. Yes. which And obviously Pirates of Maracaibo and then the House of Fado and, you know, all those ones that, um what's his name?
00:14:41
Speaker
Vyfata Lacerda has been doing all the live versions of his bigger games. So this is becoming a bit of a trend, I guess. And I really like Ark Nova. don't know. You're so-so on Ark Nova, aren't you? No, I'm a no on Ark Nova. I'll avoid it like the plague.
00:14:57
Speaker
Right. Well, it's interesting though, this game, i wonder, because my issue with Ark Nova again is because it goes for a while, it's very hard to table. So I almost exclusively play it on BGA now, which is a shame because it's really good on the table, but it just takes minimum two hours. yeah And I mean minimum. I mean, there's like, it's probably going to be three, maybe four if you've got more, a lot of players. So I'm interested not so much in the lighter version, but I'm hoping it's a shorter version just so it can table it. And
00:15:28
Speaker
you know, it may, it may even be the terraforming Mars effect. Like it, you know, it always gets compared to terraforming Mars and terraforming Mars was one of my favorite games for the longest time.
00:15:39
Speaker
And then terraforming Mars, uh, Ares expedition came out yeah and I've never played the physical version of terraforming Mars ever again. in fact, I sold it. Uh, and so, you know, this could be similar thing for Ark Nova, but,
00:15:54
Speaker
So um yeah I'm interested to see what they do differently and how, whether it's just an easier entry point or whether it's ah like a modified shorter version. So, yeah, that's probably the one thing that stood out for me.
00:16:07
Speaker
That's interesting because I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. And I wouldn't mind having a look for it just to maybe have a go of it. I'm actually playing El Paso at the moment because I'm not a great Western Trail fan at all.
00:16:19
Speaker
Yeah. Only because I think the the first few times I've played it, I really need to actually play it more in the physical. I've only ever played it once physically and I didn't like it at all.
00:16:31
Speaker
And then every other time I've played it on BGA and I'm just clicking buttons. And honestly, even in El Paso, I'm just clicking buttons. I kind of don't know what I'm doing. So apparently that's coming out near the end of the year.
00:16:46
Speaker
I think it might even be sooner. I think it might be in the next couple of months. So well um ah I would like to actually, you know, one of us in the game group that we have, hopefully we'll buy it and we can um ah give it a go live um because, ah you know, that I wouldn't mind trying that and then going to Great Western Trail again and seeing if can, you know, change my thoughts on it because everyone else likes it.
00:17:08
Speaker
Yeah, it took me a while at Great Western Trail. I wouldn't say... I'm a bit the same. I i don't i bounced off the original. I really like New Zealand, though. Okay. I've got New Zealand and I play that every now and again. And it's it does a few things differently to the main game, which I appreciate, which in the main game, i just could never figure out how to put it all together.
00:17:32
Speaker
But in in ah New Zealand, like I can. So I'm also very keen for El Paso because... it it might be the answer, you know. That's what I'm thinking. It the difference. So, yeah, very keen to check it out.
00:17:45
Speaker
um I don't know if you've noticed. What about you? What about some news from your audience? Yeah, I don't know if you've seen this around the traps, but Palo Mori, who's famous for Blitzkrieg, Caesar, ah Chaos Society, and Libertalia, which is a game I love playing, um he's gone out and started his own new publishing company.
00:18:06
Speaker
Oh, yep. And here's a new game coming this year, sometime in spring. or um And I reckon RAF's going to be all over it.
00:18:18
Speaker
Okay.
New & Digital Board Games: Discoveries & Plans
00:18:19
Speaker
And it's called Battlefields of the Neapolitanic Wars. And it's based on a game system. poleonic yeah napoleonic wars yeah napoleon um and it's based on a war game system um you know, within the Napoleon battles.
00:18:36
Speaker
um And they're all themed, so you can, you know, choose your mission, which one you want to go on, and then you recruit your force that goes out.
00:18:47
Speaker
But you've got to recruit your force compared to the different battles. So similar to like Undaunted, you know, how you start with a different set of cards every every mission. um Whereas this is ah basically those...
00:19:04
Speaker
Baker Light tiles and they'll, you know, will form a soldier, a different type of soldier or your captain, et cetera. And it's that blind. So that you put them out on the board and they face down and then you flip them up and someone will come up and want to go to battle with you. And then you'll flip them up over and there's dice rolling as well within it.
00:19:26
Speaker
Um, I reckon it looks really good. Um, I'm trying to think of the game that is a Japanese game that's very similar. ah can't think of it right now, but it's quite complex.
00:19:39
Speaker
I've played it a couple of times and it's very enjoyable, but it's again those Bakelite tiles and you know you'll go up against someone else and then you'll flip your tiles over and whoever has the strongest army will win the battle.
00:19:55
Speaker
So it looks good, um but and it's apparently very easy to learn, so to learning that system. um And, you know, you choose your mission, you choose your map, and then you you pick your force and off you go.
00:20:09
Speaker
um So, yeah, that is Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. That sounds interesting. And I do like how he does war games. Like that Blitzkrieg was great. ye Yeah. Caesar was, what I probably prefer Blitzkrieg, but I actually only own Caesar.
00:20:27
Speaker
But again, it's, you do get a fairly full game and it only takes sort of 20 minutes. Yeah, it does. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah. It's coming out this year. Did you also know that June Imperium has a digital game?
00:20:43
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I didn't know. I stumbled across this last night. i don i don' We can utilize it as any time you want. That's fine. I don't have Steam, though. It's on it's on um Apple as well. ah Can you get it as an iPad version?
00:21:01
Speaker
Yeah. done Done. I will be jumping on that because it looks awesome. Yeah, it's pretty good. it's and its They've got the Rise of Ix on there now, too. I don't think they've got the next expansion yet.
00:21:13
Speaker
So, but that's okay. Rise of X is good. It brings the techs and the, uh, dreadnoughts in. So I'm good. And then apparently AI is awesome.
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's, I probably, ah think I play against mediums when I play against the AI and I do, you know, I probably win more than I lose. um So I could bump it up to hard, but it's definitely not a cakewalk. It's, you know, you've got to think, you can't just press buttons and assume that the AI is going to make dumb decisions.
00:21:42
Speaker
and And it's you know like um the ticket, I always go back to the ticket to ride app and there's like the names on those characters. I, know, this is a family friendly show. So I'll call him C dot hunting bot.
00:21:55
Speaker
And I'm like, ah they knew what they were doing. like That's Alan Moon, you cheeky bugger. um But then like there's Jane and we all hate Jane in that game because Jane rushes the game. She doesn't care about getting a tickets done.
00:22:08
Speaker
She's got a persona. Like they, their their AIs have a persona, but in dude Imperium, you don't have that, but you do have, it's clear that in the coding somewhere, there is, there are strategies that get attached to the AI. So that's, it makes it feel a bit more lifelike, you know, someone specifically going for something.
00:22:31
Speaker
So that's kind of cool. Yeah. I stumbled across it last night and I thought, Oh wow. Thought it was new. Yeah. Obviously not.
00:22:43
Speaker
i Actually, while you're on Steam, this one's not on Steam. This one's not on Apple though, so you might not be able to get it. But the Brass Birmingham app on Steam is fantastic. And it serves the purpose of, I love brass, but it's hard, again, hard game to table.
00:23:01
Speaker
yep and So whenever I do table it, it's like, oh, shit, i'm going to remember all the rules. yeah Well, so it's almost like training. I'll jump on and play brass every now and again. And it's just just to remind myself of, right, that's how all the rules work. So if I teach it tomorrow, I'll be right.
00:23:15
Speaker
So, yeah. and Okay. um so um So you can get Steam on Apple. Oh, no, you can get Dune on Apple.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yeah. period I don't think you can get Brass Birmingham yet. ah Okay. That could be wrong. All right, well, I'll download the app today for the iPad, and you'll see me add you as a friend later.
00:23:55
Speaker
On the Kickstarter front, anything you've seen? Not really, no.
Kickstarter Highlights & Priorities
00:24:00
Speaker
um Nothing that's jumped out. um I watched the crowdfunding episode on Dicetower the other day, and yeah, even then I was just like, there was a few things that sort of went, oh yeah, that looks interesting, but nothing that made me pull up the page and yeah dig deeper. So um yeah, I'm a little bit skint on Kickstarter news, but what about yourself?
00:24:23
Speaker
Well, I think and the Dicetower helped one. uh, one game get over the line in the end because I think it wasn't looking like it was funding at one point and then it it all it ended up being everyone's game of the week.
00:24:35
Speaker
Um, was that the one that, yeah, Mike Delisio picked, I think, cause he was saying, i can't believe it hadn't funded. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then, then the rest of them all picked it as well. And, um, I remember. It was a detective game, detective card game.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah. Um, but no, that's funded. It did fund in the end.
00:24:55
Speaker
One I've seen, this a bit of a show for your family, mate. One I've seen is um I think Helen might enjoy, only because Helen's an artist. But um on Kickstarter the moment, i don't know if you've seen this game called Artistry.
00:25:11
Speaker
No, it doesn't really go. It's got four days to go and the base game standard edition is $62.00. The deluxe edition is $120. And then you've got... This is what caught my eye.
00:25:26
Speaker
It's just a ridiculous, spectacular edition. It's called the jewellery edition. The jewellery box edition. It's $316 Aussie. It's dumb. But... so it's just dumb but the The board goes from being cardboard dual layer to this really nice, looks like glass, I think it's acrylic, dual layer acrylic with really nice gu yeah glass feet that stick out.
00:25:55
Speaker
It looks stunning. So you can understand why they call it a jewellery box edition. um it's It's got over 5,500 backers so far and it's made 820-odd grand.
00:26:06
Speaker
um But what you're doing is you're creating a masterpiece by gathering materials from the board. And you do that by spending artisans that you're in your hand that you collect throughout the game. So these are you know the artisans might start off as apprentices and they're they're looking, you know when you spend their card, it means you can go to the board and get these really nice ah baker-like tiles and pick them up.
00:26:33
Speaker
And then you're trying to build what is like ah there's a a tableau of cards in front of you that um have certain patterns on it and then you're trying to build that pattern to then create the masterpiece and gain renown the artist that has the most renowned the well you know sorry the artist that has uh hits 20 renowned first ends the game and then you just tally up the points from you know all the masterpieces that you've created um Think of Azul, think of Harmony, where you've got those really nice Bakelite tiles that you've got to put in a bag and draw them out.
00:27:07
Speaker
and That's what this this game does. And you can also then also upgrade your gathering and upgrading your artisans ah throughout the game as well. So you you know they become more experienced, which gets you better tiles to create better masterpieces.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah. It looks really good. does. I've just been scrolling through it as you've been talking about it, and I've already sent the link to Helen.
00:27:37
Speaker
Because it's ah it looks stunning. mean, the spectacular, that jewellery box edition does look – it looks fantastic. It's probably one of the nicest. It just caught my eye, and I went, wow. And I like – I missed that one. that's That's good. Good pickup.
00:27:51
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you've four days. I must ask, though, did you – get your champions of Midgard, did you? No. No. No.
00:28:02
Speaker
Well done. there's this There's this thing called a house that we're trying to buy.
00:28:08
Speaker
I need to make some smart decisions here. Well, certainly that jewellery box edition is not a smart decision. I would definitely go to Deluxe. if I was going to jump into that game, because they the standard edition doesn't have the Bakelite tiles.
00:28:20
Speaker
It just looks like it's got wooden tiles. um And you want to have that Bakelite in that bag. You want to hear the clunky clunky. For sure. So haven't decided I'm going to back it yet, because um
00:28:33
Speaker
I don't own any type of games like that, because it's you know similar to like the camp like Canvas. um And what was the other one that came out? can't remember it now. Funny story, Helen didn't like canvas.
00:28:46
Speaker
Oh. Because. I think you have mentioned that. Yeah, yeah. It's because you're not making the best artwork, you're trying to match up symbols. So she's like, i don't want to put that with that. That looks terrible.
00:28:57
Speaker
So when we played it, it changed to let's make the best artwork. So then we all and we will vote on whose artwork is better. Well, you have to you have to send me a message if Helen, you know, jumps in and backs it.
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah, will do. That's it for me. That's all I've kind of seen around the place. All right. Well, on that note, let's ah move over to the top 10 go-tos for board gaming content.
Top 10 Go-To Sources for Board Game Content
00:29:40
Speaker
So I mentioned the topic to the year at the end of our last episode, well, offline at least anyway, and I worded it exactly like I worded it then, and that might have been a mistake at the time. But because I worded it that way, I've actually changed my list slightly to more accurately reflect reflect my top 10 go-tos for board gaming content as opposed to top technical boardges board game content creators.
00:30:05
Speaker
And that won't really come clear until I basically just added one to my list that wasn't there before. So when I get to that one I'll explain why, it'll be pretty obvious. um But, Before we obviously jump in, I'm also going to throw the the big caveat out there and say that I've excluded anything that I've been a part of in the past. So Board Game Barbecue, no On Board Games podcast, even though I'm a guest on that every now and again, and obviously no Chinwag and no this.
00:30:33
Speaker
So I've left those four off. um I have as well, except for one, only because it would be impossible to live lose or keep off this list.
00:30:44
Speaker
Yeah. for me and um okay i understand that yep and i didn't i didn't have the caveat of anything content wise so i went the creator um however potentially there could have been one that might have been it wouldn't have hit my top 10 though so it uh it would be number 11 so fair enough All right, well, let's ah let's kick it off. I'll go first this time, if you like.
00:31:12
Speaker
So my number 10 is a YouTube channel that does a lot of teachers of board games in quite a comical style, but like still very informative, and that's Knights Around a Table.
00:31:25
Speaker
Not sure if you're across Knights Around a Table. I'm not. Ryan from Knights Around a Table is... what quite good. He's quite comical. he He often has like little running jokes throughout his teachers, but also his ah the way he uses graphic design is quite cool too. So whenever he says you can't do anything, ah big X comes up and a noise like a So it's very clear what you can and you can't do.
00:31:50
Speaker
ah he does do a fair few Euro teachers and makes them interesting. So if I'm looking for a teacher of a game and I see Knights Around the Table one, it's actually my preferred teacher of games in front of Rodney, in front of, um, uh, Paul Grogan, John gets games.
00:32:08
Speaker
Yeah. I go to Ryan first. So yeah, that's, that's my number 10. Never heard of it. Thank you very much for sharing. I will be, uh, ah checking it out today. It's excellent. Very good. My number 10 is a solo board gaming channel.
00:32:26
Speaker
And I've followed this guy for a number of years now, and he's he's kind of known as the go-to for solo board gaming, and that's um the channel is called Box of Delights by Ricky Royal.
00:32:42
Speaker
And Ricky Royal is a solo board gamer, solo board game designer. ah He made Renegade. Might be one of the games you might have heard of in the solo world.
00:32:52
Speaker
um He's currently um developing another one very similar to the Renegade system. and um But he does really good playthroughs for solo board games.
00:33:04
Speaker
um if you want to And the solo heavy board games. So he's certainly famous for you, Cloud Spies, Too Many Bones. um and most recently Molly House.
00:33:15
Speaker
So if you want to learn how to play what are complex games and complex solo systems, he is fantastic at teaching those. So Ricky Royal, Box Delights. Nice one.
00:33:27
Speaker
Another one that I'm not familiar with, so good stuff. ah My number nine is Shelfside. So Shelfside, really interesting. I came across them years ago when I'd started playing Gloomhaven because they did these hilarious every Gloomhaven character ever videos.
00:33:46
Speaker
And they were just, yeah, they weren't great production. They were just a couple of uni kids mucking around. And it was hilarious. So i I followed their channel from that point.
00:33:57
Speaker
And what they've turned into is like a really good review channel. So they they do a lot of games and they do like a reviewer score. So I don't know the the origins of the reviewer score, but what I think it is is they'll review a game and they'll be like, okay, this game deserves to be a 10 or deserve to be an eight or whatever.
00:34:16
Speaker
But then they'll give their individual scores. So it's not them as the reviewer giving us the score. It's what they think the game as within the hobby should be considered as ah as a score.
00:34:28
Speaker
And then they say, but for me personally, I have this game lower or higher or whatever else. they quite thorough they're quite entertaining they do a lot of discussing about the game and then cutting to them playing the game a bit which i appreciate so uh yeah the and then they and then then and now and again they do some cool things like they did this mission they live in um like the san francisco bay area and they did this mission where they wanted to go to you know x amount of board game stores in one day and play a game in each of the spots and You know, that's great and all, but what was cool is that I went to San Francisco a couple of years ago and I went to a couple of board gaming stores and I'm like, ah, I've been to that store. I've been in that room. that's So, yeah, very cool.
00:35:08
Speaker
So, yeah, Shelfside is my number nine. Definitely worth a watch, especially if you're playing. And if you play Gloomhaven, go into their history and find their – they've got a playlist of all of the Gloomhaven characters and I guarantee you'll have a chuckle if you've ever played it.
00:35:23
Speaker
Another one I have not heard of, mate. So Shelfside, is it? Yeah. Okay, taking notes. Another one i'm going to look at today. Thank you. This is great. Yeah. Let's do a top 20 next time.
00:35:35
Speaker
My number nine um is my go-to teacher for board games, um and that is Watch It Played, Rodney Smith. But also, too, that channel has a lot of other content on it.
00:35:49
Speaker
which are very enjoyable. So, yeah, certainly for me it is Rodney Smith teaches games really well. So it's I think the the other channels that they show, they show top tens, they show ah what's new, they show a people's choice.
00:36:08
Speaker
So there's plenty of content on there. Matthew Jude is hilarious. um So, yeah, recommend what you played on YouTube. Yeah, good one. I nearly had it on my list, but I ah went with Knights Around Table just just on the on the idea of teaching games. But yeah, definitely as far as other content goes. And you know Paula Deming is also amazing. So yeah, they they got a good crew.
00:36:33
Speaker
ah But speaking of a good crew, my number eight is another YouTube channel, and that is The Brothers Murph. Surely you're familiar with Brothers Murph. I am familiar with Brothers Murph. Yes, i am.
00:36:45
Speaker
And they would been a bit higher. but would have been a bit higher a couple of years ago for me that, and it's not necessarily anything they've done. It's just that I've found, you know, a lot of podcasts that I listened to more frequently. And I've gotten to the point with the brothers Murph where when they do, they do a lot of lists and I find myself sort of, sort of skipping through them and jumping game to game.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yep. I like their content more when they're just talking about the hobby rather than doing the top 10 lists. And it seems like they're more now doing the top 10 lists because they're quite funny. they' They're very comical. They do every now and again, they'll do some skits and little 60 second shorts and whatnot. And they're great.
00:37:24
Speaker
But yeah I kind of, yeah, where I'll sit down and watch other content creators do top 10 lists all day, know, every day of the week. With Brothers Murph, I find myself sort of skimming through them a bit. So, yeah, I dropped them down a little bit because of that.
00:37:38
Speaker
So, yeah. um Didn't make my list. and And i know I know exactly what you mean with they would have been higher, you know, two years ago. it actually would have been higher for me two years ago, but i actually unfollowed in the end.
00:37:52
Speaker
I just found i wasn't I wasn't watching their channel as much. Similar. i was just flicking through and I wasn't getting much out of it. So, yeah. I was doing a bit of edit on my subscriptions and yeah, just decided to unfollow.
00:38:06
Speaker
Funny story though. um Once I was watching one of their feeds and I can't remember what they were fundraising for, but um I was watching it live and it was during bushfires happening here.
00:38:19
Speaker
um And they were like, oh yeah. um And people were like fundraising for whatever they were. And I thought, well, i'm going to go on a different tangent here. So, I actually donated to the New South Wales new south wales Rural Fire Service um under the name the Brothers Murph.
00:38:36
Speaker
And then i let I let them know and I sent them the little thing and they were like, oh, that's really cool and whatnot. and that But since then, every now and again, i get these marketing mail from New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
00:38:51
Speaker
And it's always, if it's like a casual one where they're trying to like, you know hey, you should come and help us. That's always like, hey, brothers, because I put brothers in as my first name and Murph in as my second name.
00:39:01
Speaker
And then every now and again, if it's a more serious one, they're like, dear Mr. Murph. so but So every now and again I get reminded of that. So that's kind of cool. Very cool. My number eight our first podcast.
00:39:18
Speaker
um And that is Sporadically Bored by Dan Hughes and Mike Delisio. um I've been listening to those two for a number of years now.
00:39:30
Speaker
And um Mike comes on. in not dice tower mode, Mike, and quite funny. And Dan Hughes is hilarious.
00:39:41
Speaker
um I like a podcast that, you know, talks about board games in a funny way, but also too can take the piss out of a board game and can have a good laugh and talk about the board game scene. And these two do it really well.
00:39:57
Speaker
They play off each other ex you know really well as well. And, um ah Over the years, they've just gotten better and better. And I like it. It's a really good podcast. ah They come out once every few months. I know they they joke about that themselves.
00:40:13
Speaker
And, yeah, it's ah it's a good one. So recommend it if you haven't listened to it. Well, I'd like to say that I haven't, but my number seven is Sporadically Bored. Oh, no way.
00:40:26
Speaker
Yeah, so not not an exact crossover, obviously, because you were eight and I was seven. But yeah, yeah, for the same reasons you said. its what What I pick up on that is you can really tell that they're good mates. Yeah.
00:40:36
Speaker
Because they rib into each other all the time and there's lots of ongoing jokes. and And it's been really interesting listening to them as they've gone through the creation of, um of let's, I made you mixtape.
00:40:49
Speaker
the game that they're producing because they always, they're like, we don't want to be self-serving, but going to talk about this game again for the for the next 10 minutes. and But it's been cool because it's kind of like you're listening to the the ongoing saga of that, like over the last couple of years it's been going on and, you know, all the trials and tribulations that come with making it, but they do it in a way that's entertaining, not like ah not like you're not reading a designer diary, which is fine if you're into that, but it's, yeah, it feels a bit more homely just having a chat sort of thing.
00:41:20
Speaker
Good one. Yep. Totally agree with everything there that you just said. My number seven is the tabletop gaming magazine.
00:41:30
Speaker
Oh, yes. I thought it was ridiculous. Yeah, I spoke about it last week. Plenty of content in there. Plenty of content creators adding their flavor into games.
00:41:41
Speaker
um I spoke about it last week, so I won't talk about it too much again, but totally recommend it. And... I just had my April edition arrive and it's talking about SETI for you, Steve.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, I noticed you posted that. So, um yeah, it's it's definitely worth checking out. It sounds interesting. i should I should probably do that because I don't read enough.
00:42:08
Speaker
um Well, my number six, this is a really really interesting one. I had to include it on here, even though hi its i watch almost every single video that this guy puts out.
00:42:20
Speaker
And I reckon I agree with half of them, maybe less. ah But because his videos are so bloody easy to watch, I watch every one of them, and that's three-minute board games. yeah So Jay from three-minute board games, he and I have different tastes in games, have different opinions of what's good and what's bad. Sometimes we have crossover.
00:42:39
Speaker
But I – and he also has, a I guess, a ah more – I wouldn't say negative, but a more cynical view of the of the yeah hobby than I do as well, and specifically some other content creators that I i really enjoy.
00:42:55
Speaker
So it is quite interesting that it's very different. But i do there's a few things i love about him. I love the three-minute system because ah even if it's a game I don't even care about, I'm like, it's only three minutes.
00:43:06
Speaker
you know I watch it. And sometimes you can get a lot of good out of that. But he did a video recently which was on the Board Game Hall of Fame. that has the the two Hall of Fames that have been done in the last year, which was ah the Board Game Geek and the Dice Tower one.
00:43:22
Speaker
And it was really interesting because he had a different take on He's like, find me another Hall of Fame where they're not people. We shouldn't be putting games in the po Hall of Fame. We should be putting people in the Hall of Fame. and His topic, he the the name of his and the episode was like, you know, why the Board Game...
00:43:40
Speaker
um you know, the two board game Hall of Fames are wrong, you know, and I'm like, oh, here we go. This is to be a real negative take on it. But it was actually like a super positive take on the hobby. And it was amazing where he just talked about, you know, Alan Moon should be in there, you know, um Stefan Feld and all these, like these people should be in here. And he got it down to 10 people, which was, i think it was 10. Actually, no, it might have been more. It was like, it might have been 20, but it was a mixture of creators, creators,
00:44:07
Speaker
designers, other people and in and around the hobby. And it was so good. And yeah for for all of his dislike of the Dice Tower, he said that like e Tom Vassell has to be in there. He absolutely has to be there. and And so it was rather an unbiased opinion. And it was such a great video.
00:44:27
Speaker
and it was one of his longer ones. So even his three-minute board game content is great. But that was a standout video for me. I thought that's the best he's ever done. So, yeah. Yeah. That's three-minute board games.
00:44:37
Speaker
And since when does an Aussie and a Kiwi ever agree on anything, mate? Yeah, that's fair. No, going to look at that episode. That'll be a good one to watch, so I'll look out for it.
00:44:50
Speaker
ah My number is six um is the Dice Tower. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, it is the Dice Tower. Tom and the team. They've been go-to for me since I started, they got me into the hobby.
00:45:04
Speaker
They literally got me back into the hobby in 2017. Would have been higher couple of years ago, like probably would have been number one couple years ago. Yeah. Quite easily.
00:45:15
Speaker
I just think over the over the last few years, it's just lost a bit as far as I'm concerned and, um, But I love how Tom is so open to bring any creator into the hobby and give anyone a chance.
00:45:28
Speaker
um And, you know, he does that with his board game news. You have all these different content creators come in there. um The board game breakfast as well, different content creators coming in. um So i just love the fact that he gives and people a chance to to show their wares.
00:45:43
Speaker
um But, yeah, number six, the ice tower. Excellent. one I did expect that to be high. That was it interesting. that's um That's all good. Number six, I'm just very very keen to see the five that you've got in front.
00:45:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, the five, they're gold. They are gold. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm going to stay, i'm going to go back to a podcast now and ah probably would be higher if it wasn't for the fact that ah the episodes just go for so long, but they are entertaining from start to finish. It's just, it's very rare that you get to sit down and listen to an episode start to finish. And that is the secret cabal.
00:46:20
Speaker
Very entertaining, very good characters and in the show, all come with a bit of a different angle on board games. You've got the guy there that wastes all of his money on Kickstarter.
00:46:31
Speaker
You've got Steven, who's the yeah the practical joker that's always making very inappropriate jokes all the way through. And, know, you've got Jamie and who's just like a decent all around host, which is really good.
00:46:45
Speaker
It's just interesting content. They really dive deep. What I like about them is they talk about all the games they're playing, but then they have one highlight game that at least a few of them have played. So you get differing perspectives on the one game.
00:46:59
Speaker
does It doesn't hurt that they love a lot of games that I like. You must like them because they're Martin Wallace fanboys, that's for sure. my ah And they and they probably probably more than anything too is that they they understand the community that they've got and they appreciate the community and work and organise to...
00:47:18
Speaker
you run events and be involved with the community as much as they can. So, yeah, I'd love to do that. I've done that in the past podcasts that I've been involved in and it it is quite rewarding but also and and also a lot of work. So I appreciate it from both ends with them.
00:47:34
Speaker
Kind of one of the reasons why when it was with the Board Game Barbecue, that was so important because I'm like, that's what we need in Australia. So, yeah, Secret Cabal is fantastic. That's good, mate.
00:47:46
Speaker
That's good choice. That was your number five, right? It was my number five, yes. Excellent. My number five is The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast. Yes. Every time I listen to that intro, I'm like, oh, my interests suck. Yeah.
00:48:01
Speaker
So it's the best intro going around. I love it. um Yeah. So everything you just said, i agree. We have an absolute crossover here, mate. Number five for me. It is such a good show.
00:48:14
Speaker
Everything you said, I can't say any more to that. Yeah. So enjoyable and I do, you know, sometimes when I'm going for a long drive, that's what's going on. yeah It puts me to sleep some nights as well as I, you know, chuck a little headband over my head and listen to a podcast as I nod off and having Jamie in my ears, just sweet.
00:48:37
Speaker
a Good choice. Yeah. Great, great podcast. um Not my favorite podcast though. There's two in front of it. I've got one. Two and a half. oh there's two There's two in front of it as well. Yeah. I've got two in front of it as well.
00:48:49
Speaker
I wonder. yeah I wonder. And, One of them is number four, which is a podcast about the industry, less so about the games. and This might be another crossover. Who knows?
00:49:02
Speaker
ah But this one, i really enjoy Stephen Bonacore and he's the way that he is on podcasts. He's very entertaining, very professional, very knowledgeable. And when he's joined by Corey Thompson and sometimes, very rarely, but sometimes Ignacy from Tech, you get board games inside art, which is just a different style of podcast. Like you spend the first 20 minutes learning about that all of the stuff that no one else talks about.
00:49:28
Speaker
which I really appreciate that someone's out there sharing that information. it Sometimes it can be boring, but most of the times it's not. Most of the times there's some level of interest there. and the And because of the type of in industry news they talk about, quite often you'll get like an ongoing saga over many months and you just kind of get updated on things and how things are going. You know, companies going into foreclosure and who's going to buy them and who's picking up this and that sort of stuff. And you sort of, okay, that's that's kind of cool. And, you know, Corey just just became a part owner of Gen Con. So you hear about all the in in ins and outs of how that all works and stuff like that. But the other thing that they do similar to Secret Cabal is that they are very aware of their audience and they appreciate people asking questions or answering questions that they have and just makes you feel part of the community really easy. So, yeah, the boy and obviously, you know, they...
00:50:20
Speaker
I don't know whether it spawned from this, but I found out about the Podfather Gaming Cruise via this channel and ended up going on one last year, and it was phenomenal. So, ah yeah, ah definitely make probably made it go up a couple a couple of spots just because I have that personal connection now with the guys. So yeah Board Games Insider is my number four.
00:50:42
Speaker
It's a good podcast. it It didn't make my top ten. It'd be just sitting outside. um But I do agree. It is a good one to listen to. And it's on my regular feed. So whenever there's a new episode coming out, I get notified.
00:50:55
Speaker
um ah Good choice, mate. My number four, it's a bit of a channel on YouTube. And it's a bit of a website. It's a bit of a podcast. It's a bit of an app.
00:51:05
Speaker
It's Board Game Geek. It's a bit of everything. My number four. yep ah When you yeah know look at how to play games... I often watch them when they're looking at playing a game. Like I'll i'll try and search and if Link and the crew do a playthrough of it, Lauren and I will sit there and watch it because Lauren just loves watching Link play board games.
00:51:28
Speaker
Yeah, right. and And so we'll watch it and then go off and play it. She learns really well by watching them play as a system. and But then you've got your board game geek app that just completely keeps everything going for you.
00:51:42
Speaker
um you have their website.com. And their channel has plenty of content on there as well. So BoardGameGeek, my number four.
00:51:53
Speaker
That's interesting. i I considered a few of the content creators who are part of BoardGameGeek as separate content creators, but BoardGameGeek as a whole may or may not show up on my list moving forward.
00:52:07
Speaker
My number three is a comedy podcast that is a game show, trivia show, based on based on the board game hobby. And and this game is broken.
00:52:18
Speaker
And a couple of people that we've already mentioned are regulars on there. So the brother Brothers Murph, Paula Deming, Matthew Jude, and Dave Lutzer. It's just, it's so well done. It's polished.
00:52:30
Speaker
they The questions are great. The humour is excellent. And if you came to the... trivia night that I ran at the R U OK to Play weekend in Brisbane.
00:52:42
Speaker
you would know that if you'd watched, if you'd listened to the This Game is Broken podcast, you would have done a lot better than everybody else because I might have stolen a lot of that from them. It's it's great to just have people joke around and make a trivia show about the hobby rather than speak about specific content. They're actually just making ah making a comedic trivia show. It's like watching, you know, like an improv board game and comedy show so yeah love it this game is broken is my number three nice good one um my number three is um it's not for everyone i was just going to put it out there there's a fair bit of you know there can be a fair bit of swearing in this podcast um so if you are offended by that then i'd recommend you do not do not listen um because it probably could put you off but
00:53:35
Speaker
this This person just does so much for the industry and um interviews really, really well. And he'll have a lot of board game designers on, a lot of publishers on, and he's got a very, very good radio voice.
00:53:53
Speaker
um He's obviously a polished actor as well. and And that is Five Games for Doomsday by Ben Maddox. and He's quite famous for, you know, if you're stuck on a deserted island, what five games are you going to take with you and to the cabin?
00:54:11
Speaker
And then the designers will then talk through the cabin. But then also too, he has, those ones are quite clean. isn's There's not much swearing in those. But then he has his own news section in the podcast as well, which ah not in the same podcast, it's a different one.
00:54:27
Speaker
um and him and another ah host go on. And um it can get a little bit sweary, but it's quite funny. Like, ah actually I actually like have a good laugh. And, um you know, you kind of leave your brain at the door and have a listen.
00:54:40
Speaker
um So, yeah, five games for Doomsday. don't know if you've listened to that one. I have. not Not a lot, though. So I didn't make my list just because I'm not a regular. But, yeah, you're right. I don't know why I'm not a regular. It is quite ah interesting.
00:54:54
Speaker
and he does a couple of them on – is he – He does a few YouTube versions of his five games ones too. yeah Yeah, I don't follow the YouTube. I probably should actually look it up and see what it's like. But um it's it's good for me because you you hear what board games, actual designers are are in their top five and what they're looking at.
00:55:12
Speaker
and Because then you think, okay, well, how can I get that game? A game might pique your interest. um ah But, you know, also to he's a massive Martin Wallace fan as well. Yeah, that doesn't hurt.
00:55:25
Speaker
That doesn't hurt. and My number two... Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah that that was my number three. That was my number three. Okay. My number two is a crossover and it is BoardGameGeek. But I'm specifically speaking of the website here.
00:55:38
Speaker
ah So I can't leave it off the list. This is why I said my go-to is for board gaming content rather than board game, because I don't consider BoardGameGeek's website a content creator, even though it is.
00:55:49
Speaker
But you don't think of it in the same way as a person who makes content. um But you can't leave it off the list.
BoardGameGeek & The Dice Tower Impact
00:55:56
Speaker
I don't think there's been a day in the last five years that I haven't gone on to BoardGameGeek at least once.
00:56:02
Speaker
ah So, and and whether that's because I want to read up on a rule, whether that's because I'm part of a couple of chains in Australia for, you know, trading games and whatnot.
00:56:13
Speaker
ah whether it's just because some other content creator has a guild and, you know, that's where you go to answer questions or, know, read about things or rules clarifications. It's just, it's got everything. So ah yeah, board game geek, I nearly got number one, but yeah, just just missed out. But yeah, that's...
00:56:33
Speaker
Everything you said about it is great, but yeah, I'm specifically talking about the website, which is also, ah even though it's not necessarily the, it's pretty clean now. It never used to be that clean, but tom it was still, the information came through, even though that the website itself might not have been the greatest.
00:56:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:50
Speaker
Good choice, mate. um My number two is a podcast that, um, Actually, I don't go to them actually for board game content.
00:57:03
Speaker
I just go to them for a laugh. If I've had a bad day at work or, you know, just I need to have a big chuckle and a big giggle. um they They do talk about board games and they they do actually talk about them in a very jokey sense um but also to provide, um yeah know, their own top 10 list, their own top five lists.
00:57:25
Speaker
um And that is Jerry and Garby. from the Board Game Snobs podcast. It is hilarious, fantastic.
00:57:36
Speaker
They have Dan Hughes and Mike Delisio on every now and then as well. They drag them in. There's not much you can say about them. They're just funny. Really good podcast.
00:57:47
Speaker
And if you want to just leave your brain at the door and just have a massive laugh, recommend them. So... And it's and you know' you're not actually laughing about board games.
00:58:01
Speaker
It's just other stuff you're laughing about that they talk about. Half the time they're not even talking about board games. You get through three quarters the episode and then they think, oh, we probably should talk about a board game. So, yeah, board game snobs. i don't know if you've listened to them, Steve, but they're really good. Well, I did actually on your recommendation and it was one of those things where I feel like you you need to that you need to have the backstory like you need to have you need to listen to them a bit to get a bit of a gauge for who they are because one off off the cuff i didn't find it that funny but it was almost like you know when you watch flight of the concords and you don't laugh but then six weeks later you're quoting the funny bits from that episode even though you didn't really laugh out loud through it that was kind of the vibe i got that like if you if you knew them and you knew
00:58:46
Speaker
yeah, you'd probably, you'd appreciate it a lot more. So I needed to, and i actually put it on my my rotation, but and it was one of those ones where I was like, well, still got four Kabbalah episodes. So I'll skip them for now and I'll go listen to the next Kabbalah episode.
00:59:00
Speaker
Yeah, well, I woke up one night, think it was a couple weeks ago, and just couldn't get back to sleep. So i thought I'd chuck a podcast on, or chuck them on. And within the first five minutes, I'm laughing, but laughing in bed.
00:59:15
Speaker
Lauren wakes up. you like okay? And I said, I'm so sorry. sorry They're just that is's talking about it. And I'm sort of literally laughing out loud. and i'm like Not really loud. I think it was like two in the morning.
00:59:26
Speaker
But I was having a massive chuckle in bed and Lauren's like, are you okay? And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm okay. And they were talking about um apparently there's apparently there's people you can hire in Australia that will come to your funeral and
00:59:45
Speaker
you but They basically just blurt out everything that you want to say at your funeral. It could be secrets and things like that. And they were talking, think it was Garvey was talking about how he farted in a car once and when people were off in a service station getting food, he'd just met these people and the fart stank, stank the whole car out.
01:00:10
Speaker
So he was trying to work out a way two and they were walking back and he's trying to air the car out. So he goes and confronts them and faces them and it tries to delay them getting in the car so the car can air out a bit more.
01:00:25
Speaker
And then they got in the car and the driver of the car said something about, oh, there's a lot of sulfate smell around this area. So then they then girls they had a massive debate about sulfates in the area versus Garby dropping dropping a fart.
01:00:43
Speaker
But that yeah, no. So things like that just make me laugh. Just no brain. It's good. Yep. Very cool. Well, number ones. So my number one is the Dice Tower. I actually disagree with you, Shane. I actually think it's gotten better.
01:01:01
Speaker
almost since the addition of Mike Delisio and Chris Yee, I actually enjoy watching Chris Yee more than anyone on that channel.
01:01:13
Speaker
Yeah. Which, when he first came in, i found him really abrasive and hard to watch. But now he he's just got my sense of humour. Like, he's he's a kid who grew up watching The Simpsons.
01:01:24
Speaker
He uses that kind of... I don't know how to describe it, but he every now and again, I'll be watching an episode and i'll I'll like make a little joke in my head and then he'll make the same joke. I'm like, oh my So, you know, I really enjoy the the new content creators. There's a couple I don't enjoy as much, but, and of course, Sam's awesome. So it would be great if Sam was still there, but I i think it's gotten bigger and better since Sam left.
01:01:51
Speaker
not because of Sam, just because they brought in Mike and Chris and and Wendy and Camilla. so i But, you know, I've also got to go back to the fact that I came across the Dice Tower as a podcast before I came across the YouTube channel um by accident.
01:02:08
Speaker
The first podcast I listened to board game content-wise was there was an all-in episode back when they had Mandy and Suzanne and ah Tom and Eric and a whole bunch of people.
01:02:19
Speaker
I remember that one. And they did their top 10 games of the year for whatever year it was. That was the first episode I heard. And then they mentioned the YouTube channel. So I went to the YouTube channel and that's kind of where – Like you, I sort of found 10 games everyone should own and 10 best family games and that set me up for the hobby.
01:02:38
Speaker
But to think that that that was, you know, what, six, seven years ago now and they are still the one content creator that I will sit there and watch an hour and a half long top 10 episode and sit through all of their top 100 episodes.
01:02:52
Speaker
Like, I don't do that for... Any other, any other, no, well, I guess no other, no other YouTube channel creates anywhere near as much content as them. And I, and I take in almost, my not all of it, but I take in more than half of the content they put out. I watch. So, um which is probably five times more than anybody else. So yeah. Dice tower just um yeah.
01:03:18
Speaker
The hobby would not be the same without them. So yeah. Yep, good one. um It's a the Dice Town. I agree with Chris Yee. Chris Yee is quite funny. and And Mike, I think Mike's brilliant.
01:03:31
Speaker
I mean, he's featured technically in there to in my top ten twice three times, yeah really. um And Mike I actually connected with when he had his solo channel.
01:03:44
Speaker
Okay. and Which I think still around if you ever want to. think he did a solo teach of Paladins. and Viscounts back in the day. um And, yeah, no, good choice, mate. And I've even played Last Light with Chris Yee one time, and that was good fun.
01:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, good choice. My number one. Now, this guy this guy's not for everyone because his videos are long.
01:04:14
Speaker
They are long. They're on YouTube.
01:04:17
Speaker
However, the way he teaches a game and um then goes through the playthrough himself and dedicates three or four hours sometimes so on videos, his dedication to the ah heavy gamers industry, so if you're into heavy games, this is pretty much everyone's go-to person, I would think, um is Edward from Heavy Cardboard.
01:04:46
Speaker
YouTube channel. he He's really good. um Massive fan of Glory to Rome.
01:04:58
Speaker
But you know he teaches games like ARX really well. Age of Steam really well. um And I'm watching at the moment...
01:05:10
Speaker
um ah I started watching a ah playthrough of Molly House, which is the new Cole Whirly game, which is currently en route to my house. um and But the the the amount of time this gentleman and also to his crew behind them at the heavy cardboard group dedicate to the industry, it's just hours and hours of their time. They're dedicated to showing people how to apply play a game, i'd play a heavy game.
01:05:40
Speaker
um And it's really got they really got me into heavy games and learning how to play the really really difficult games that I probably would never go near.
01:05:53
Speaker
So, yeah, heavy cardboard. There you I think our lists stand out for the gap the ones that didn't make the list. Like, as you were talking about heavy cardboard then, I thought you were going to say Paul Grogan because he would tick all those boxes as well.
01:06:09
Speaker
He goes really thorough teaches and I feel bad that he's not on either of our lists, but yeah, he's such a great content creator. The fact that we didn't mention neither shut up and sit down nor um no pun included, which are some people's absolute number ones, you know, there's so many other great, like think of Thema. I took them off because I, I, I, again, a bit like brothers birth, I kind of, kind of scan their videos, not so much watch them from start to finish. So,
01:06:40
Speaker
I dropped them down a bit because of that. But, you know, brilliant Australian content creators. There's so many. There's so many out there. And it's – there's – well, even the podcast. um we've We've missed plenty of podcasts as well that know potentially could have made the list.
01:06:59
Speaker
um Like, you know, we mentioned Sam Healy before. Sam's got the flip side of board gaming. Yep. Which is –
01:07:08
Speaker
you know It's a fairly new YouTube channel, but I do watch that and only because I like Sam. um And then also too, you know in Australia, we have not only Thinkathema, but Meeple University.
01:07:22
Speaker
Yep. and another good Another good, if you want to learn a game, the way they teach games is another ah good go-to for me as well. Yep. Plenty out there, but I'm really happy with my top 10.
01:07:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And, yeah, there's like actually Onboard Games, which is the one I discounted because I've been on it a handful of times. so It's probably not as well known as some of the other ones we mentioned, but it's also really interesting as well. Eric is a really good host, um and they always have – he always has a – he's a doctor in psychology.
01:07:59
Speaker
um So he'll often have a topic about like about the hobby in a different way of just like the topic is, you know, great games that we like. It's, it's you know, the the the science behind, um you know, Kickstarter stretch goals and why they're a thing. And, you know, so bit more of the, you know, the philosophy side of board games, which is really interesting too. So, yeah, if you haven't heard of that one, definitely listen.
01:08:24
Speaker
Yeah, there's so many, so many. Good stuff, mate. Well done.
Humor & Anecdotes in Gaming
01:08:30
Speaker
I have a ah funny little anecdote to finish with because it happened last night during my online play of Gloomhaven. So shout out to Thomas Rosner who tom brought this to my attention because I didn't know this was a thing. And maybe, you know, in the geek fandom of the world, maybe I'm going to lose people here because maybe this is a thing that everyone else knows and I just found out last night.
01:08:51
Speaker
So we're playing Gloomhaven. And I'm the scoundrel. And I had my but my round goal was to make sure that there was an enemy on the map at the start of every round.
01:09:04
Speaker
So I was going last in this round and we just killed the last enemy in this room. So I decided that my battle goal was more important. So I went into the next room and opened the door. um And in that room, there was like seven snakes and and about four or five vermeling archers.
01:09:22
Speaker
And here I am, the scoundrel, standing in front of all these people. And Thomas just goes, ah, you've Leroy Jenkinsed it. And I've gone, oh, okay. And i I didn't know what that meant. So I played my turn and luckily pulled an invisibility card. So I went invisible, which is great because I didn't get killed instantly.
01:09:40
Speaker
And then while while everyone else was playing their next turns, I go onto YouTube and Google Leroy Jenkins move. Are you familiar with the Leroy Jenkins move? No, mate. No, not at all.
01:09:53
Speaker
Okay. so in the game of Warcraft, ah World of Warcraft, like probably 15 years ago, there's this group of people sitting outside this room trying to plan whether or not they need to go into this room.
01:10:08
Speaker
And one of the guys says, oh, yeah, well, Leroy needs to go in there. And Leroy's AFK. It literally says Leroy AFK. So he's not even in the conversation. He's off off getting a cup of tea or something.
01:10:20
Speaker
And they're having this really in-depth discussion about what they need to do when they go into this room. And, you know, well, you know, what's the percentage chance we have of victory? And the guy's like, I've crunched the numbers. It's like 32.33 repeating. Like they're really getting into the nuts and bolts of how they're going to go into this room and get what they need to get and get out.
01:10:40
Speaker
And while they're all discussing this,
01:10:44
Speaker
Leroy comes back from his AFK and just runs into the room and just goes, Leroy Jenkins! And they're like, he's just run into the room.
01:10:56
Speaker
And that' so they all have to run into the room as well because they're a team and they just get slaughtered. They're just wiped out. And they're like like, you're such an idiot, Leroy.
01:11:07
Speaker
he's like, I'm sorry. i didn't know what I was doing. And then at the end he just goes, yeah, fried chicken.
01:11:16
Speaker
I'm losing my mind. Everyone's trying to think about their Gloomhaven turns and I'm just piercing myself laughing. So if you're not across the Leroy Jenkins move, you know what you've got to do after listening to this podcast.
01:11:27
Speaker
Go and find it. It's it's well, but two best two and a half minutes you'll spend today. I will ah be looking that one up. it set reminds me of something is as well where my number one YouTube channel, Heavy Cardboard, he's got a um I don't know if you've watched it before, but he's actually got a Glory to Rome.
01:11:45
Speaker
kind of a, don't know, it's a whiteboard behind him and it just says Glory to Rome. And every now and then he'll go and chuck a you know a one up there, two up there, three, and then cross it. And I was thinking, I do i didn't get it.
01:11:57
Speaker
I was like, why is he doing that? He's not playing Glory to Rome. He'd be playing another game. But what it is, in Glory to Rome, when you when you you're playing, and i think it's the Prince card,
01:12:13
Speaker
you're basically stuffing someone up, right? You're basically saying FU, right? Or you're combating an FU and then you're you're basically doing an FU back. So, and that's, you know, yeah it's where you are saying glory to Rome.
01:12:28
Speaker
In the game, you say glory to Rome, right? And so, I didn't know. that twigged to me. So, every time he's Every time you are saying glory to Rome, you're saying a few to the opponent.
01:12:41
Speaker
But also in his games when he's playing, when he write when he's stressed and really pissed off about a move, he'll go up and write write the digit there because he's saying glory to Rome back to that person without saying it. yeah ah Fantastic. So when I tweaked on that, I went, oh, that's brilliant.
01:13:00
Speaker
I love it. So yeah i probably need I probably need that up in my house somewhere. Yeah. But a good good episode, mate. Thank you so much. And a good top 10 list too. It was something to be different.
01:13:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And yeah hopefully people who listen to this still continue to listen to us after listening to the other 20 content creators we just told them to go and listen to. Anything going to hit your table next week, mate, just quickly?
01:13:26
Speaker
ah Well, probably worth mentioning an eight-player game of Last Light today, which is happening. That's a monster. So we've got... we've got Five people at the table have played it before. Two people are board gamers that haven't played it, and one is new to board gaming. So it'll be her first modern board game, except for Flip 7, which she played when she was here last time. So it will be interesting to see how it goes. But yeah if there's ever a game to play at eight players that doesn't outstay its welcome, it's that's last luck.
01:13:54
Speaker
Still will be done within an hour, or bang on an hour, I reckon. Yeah. um All about yourself. All have, well, apart from... Castles of Burgundy, which I'll be playing today in a solo play.
01:14:06
Speaker
I have an Amazon box here that needs to be opened up, which contains Mistborn from the US. So I am super happy that it's here. So I'm going to unbox it and have a bit of a read of the rules, and hopefully that might hit the table this week. There is a board game night, local board game night on Wednesday night, so I'm going to try and get myself there in tent.
01:14:32
Speaker
until next time Leroy Jiggy thanks take care