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Episode 25: Our 2nd annual top 13 of all time list
80 Plays11 months ago
Okay, so we recorded this in mid November. So yes, it is a bit late, but we are kind or re-booting the pod this year, so this will be a great start.
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Transcript
Board Games as Events vs. Casual Play
00:00:00
Speaker
Okay, so you want to eat, you want to go to a fancy restaurant. Right? Obviously it's an experience, it's a wonderful thing, but you don't do it every day. You eat more like sandwiches and board games are the same, right? Like you can't play TI4 every day, but you can play a shitload of BGA games that aren't TI4. So TI4's coming to BGA. Yeah, but even so, right? Yes, we'll play more TI4, right? But even then,
00:00:25
Speaker
you're still not going to play as much as like whatever else you've been doing like space base or Azul, you know? Yeah. There's a fair chance I have like 15 TR games on the go once. Oh yeah. And yeah, that's glorious purpose, right? Yeah.
00:00:58
Speaker
Sorry, I was trying to agree with you, Steve, by saying what's the best game you've ever played, but it might not be the one you want to play the most. Yeah, or even like, because I haven't played Feast for Odin a lot in the last year, but it's still one of my favourite games of all time.
00:01:18
Speaker
SIDE means more to me as a game. But SIDE is lower than Feast of Rodent. There's a spoiler for everyone. But yeah, it's lower than Feast of Rodent again, but like, it doesn't have the same, Feast of Rodent doesn't have the same sort of sentimental value that SIDE does.
Ranking Games: Personal Connections vs. Best Ever
00:01:34
Speaker
But if I was to make a list of the best games I've ever played, I think SIDE would be number one, even though it's not my favorite game.
00:01:42
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's it. Maybe we've got it to find the list Is it the best games like our 13 best games or is it our 13 favorite games? Or is it what does it mean to you? Like as you get older right like for scythe for you, right? Steve yeah, like how many times have you played scythe with like lots of different people at taught scythe and You know like things like that, you know
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, hundreds. Hundreds, you know. So it means they mean more to people because of stuff like that. Yeah. There's a couple of months. But then when I look at my shelf right now and I see size and I'm like, I want to play that right now. Like, and I felt I probably played size once in the last year. Yeah, there's a couple of months that I haven't played this year at all. However, I didn't want to move them from the number because I didn't think it was fair.
00:02:33
Speaker
So I've left them there. So I've got two that are exactly the same where they were last year. I thought it's not fair on me to move them because I haven't played it, but I love them both. And one of them is a game coming up very soon.
00:02:48
Speaker
Well, it's one of those things too. Like, like, sentimental attachment to a board game is, it shouldn't really be a thing, but it kind of is. And then you sort of like, like you said, Shane, like, I feel bad leaving this off. Like, who are you hurting? Like, I actually had to look at my list a few times and go, why do I care so much that this game is dropping off the list? Or why do I care? Like, why does it matter? I don't want to know.
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, I listened back to the last year's episode, because I can't fucking believe it. I've been doing these lists for five years. And I lost the data from last year. So I don't have because I did the whole list, right? Yeah, but so I've only got the top 13 from last year. I've lost all the other data, unfortunately. But anyway, I was good. I was looking for all that and I was listening to the episode and just our absolute shock and horror reaction to when Dave said TI4 was his number two gap.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah, I remember we did that, yeah. I was just like, how bizarre, how cool is that? Everyone was just like, no, what? What was number one again?
Challenges in Maintaining Game Rankings
00:03:53
Speaker
I didn't know, I can listen. You were number one. I can't see the big shoulders. Yeah, that's right. Make a list this year.
00:04:06
Speaker
Which is good. And I actually really, as I said, I really struggled to put the list together because I haven't been playing that many games. And a lot of the games I've played this year were new games that we played once because they came in and Kickstarter or someone got the brand new hotness game or we've chucked up a BGA game and I'll just click some random buttons and give it a go. Like heat. I still have no fucking idea what's going on at heat, but I don't have them coming second.
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah. We almost need to start another game. I couldn't get around the corner. Very basic rules. Yes. Yeah, that'll happen. Yeah. That's what I put that thing. I'm like, probably now's a good time to stop and work out how to play the game. Cause if you don't understand from now, you're not going to do very well. Yeah. But, uh, anyway. Which is exactly what's happening. But yeah, so I, a lot of my past favorite games, I haven't played much.
00:05:00
Speaker
And a lot of the games I have played have been one-off new games, which I can't add to my favourites list, because I haven't got the plays, I don't know what they're like. Just, you know, crack them out of the Kickstarter shrink and give them a run on the table and they're fine, but nothing's gone. Well, that is the best game I've ever played. I need to get on that again. It's really bizarre. The one thing I noticed when I did my thing is this is probably the first year where when you go down my list,
00:05:30
Speaker
Like if I only own 10 games and they were my 91 to 100, fuck this and good games. You know, like the last few years, it's always a few games that you're like, oh yeah, like if I was to do a list from 100 to one, which I have done in the past, you know, the first 50 or so, they're all right. But it wouldn't be like, oh, I'd love to play that game again. But it's just, you know, just the sheer quantity of games.
00:05:58
Speaker
I'm a bit the same, Dave. I didn't play a lot of new games in the last year, but probably in the last two years I did. So it's kind of like now, and a few of those have had a few repeat plays now and this and that. Yeah. Man, there's a lot of good board games. It's interesting because I know you guys were doing the pub maple to try and rank your games. I heard that that was going on.
00:06:20
Speaker
And I decided I wasn't going to do that because there's a few games I actually don't own that I was thinking, will that make my list? So I wrote down a heap of games that I didn't own and then thought to myself, okay, if I had this one and this one to choose from, which one I want to go grab off the shelf or play with people. So I actually got a few that I don't own on my list. City and Big Show was one of those things.
00:06:44
Speaker
Too soon. Could well be. What was his number? I tried. Was it at number four last year? I have tried to buy that for you twice now. I know you have. Second I see someone post it up, I'm on it and I fail both of them. So is Joey. So is Joey C. And Benora beat me. Yeah. Yeah. I'm even tempted.
00:07:08
Speaker
You can buy the highest number game. Sorry. I was going to say, you can actually buy overseas and unboxed like piecemeal put together sitting in the big shoulders from all the leftover bits. I'm even tempted to buy that just so I can have it. Anyway, next. This year was allegedly the year that the reprint was coming, but I haven't seen much happening. Yeah.
00:07:38
Speaker
Although I did see someone, it might have been some YouTube person that I follow.
00:07:47
Speaker
put up a video of A City of the Big Shoulders play recently, which is very unusual. So maybe that's
Board Games and Personal Milestones
00:07:53
Speaker
a sign. I didn't watch it because I haven't watched most of the last couple of weeks, but it was there. So I wonder whether that's like a bit of an inkling towards there's new stuff coming. It's on the horizon. They licensed it out to Queen the Games, which is, I think, Dutch.
00:08:13
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. So look, it should come back again. Like, I don't know what happened with the publisher initially, but it's well worth a reprint. Hard to do well on Kickstarter. And you could, like, you can imagine if not only if they did it on Kickstarter, but if they
00:08:30
Speaker
just made a few little changes to the production of that game. Like you wouldn't need to do a lot, but just a few like get rid of the paper money for one, like it'd make a killing on Kickstarter. Yeah, definitely. And just a couple of little tweaks added some new companies and things. Yeah.
00:08:51
Speaker
Well, welcome to the board game chinwag folks. It's a little 10-minute interlude to start us off. That sounds great. We've got the original cast, the OG cast. Every time I log in, it says Steve Dave Shane. I'm like, oh, that's right. That's where all this started.
Traditions and Top Game Lists
00:09:08
Speaker
So then we added G money.
00:09:11
Speaker
and then everyone else followed, but yeah. Well, hello to everyone. It's quite good to be back, I guess, but sort of, not really. I'd rather be on holidays, but yeah. And welcome back and happy birthday. It was a terrible introduction. Yeah, cheers. Yeah, that's been great. Played Dead Reckoning and Thunder Road Vendetta, a couple of games of herd mentality. Yeah, it's been a good day. And it's almost been a year since we started the podcast too.
00:09:39
Speaker
I think last time we did the top 13. Top 13 was episode two. Technically episode three with the hidden episode. And it was Halloween. Hidden episode. Zero episode. Well, we did 13 because it was Halloween. I was chatting to my brother. He'd bring me to say happy birthday, obviously. And I said I was doing the top 13 games. He's like, why 13? How random is that? And I'm like, oh, because last year we did it on Halloween. And this year we're not.
00:10:08
Speaker
but why not, why change it? So there we go. Yeah. They can't tell us we're like everyone else doing our lists. That's right. Oh, this podcast is not like anyone else. Like I don't think anybody's up in that illusion. I think the sheer like this disinterest in getting an audience probably puts us aside from most. Turn off now. Turn off now.
00:10:36
Speaker
I'd be disappointed if you continue listening. Speaking of professional podcasts, that was G Money and Dave here and Shane's here. I probably should have done that too. We're doing our top 13 games of all time.
00:10:54
Speaker
Yeah. I will say one thing, though. I did listen back to the last episode, like I was saying. And it was a little disappointing that we didn't really talk about our games much because we spoke about horror movies instead. So we just kind of raced through our list because we're like, it's been a while. We've been on for a while. We've been on for a while.
00:11:15
Speaker
And then we have Adnan as well. Also on the professionalism, I've got someone at my door, so just give me two seconds. Great. I'll take the chicken out of the oven in a minute too. Who's going to his door at Emerald at 8.30 in the night in the middle of the night on Sunday? I'd be worried. I'm an assassin. Yeah. Yeah. Someone's just done a random birthday present. Random birthday present drops.
00:11:43
Speaker
What happens when you miss the country folks? Come and drop the deuce on his doorstep and let it rain. I have some bacon bites. Oh, bacon flavored bites, Steve. Bacon flavored bites, yes. Cadbury roses and a 10 pack of P-Max. There you go. Oh, what a gift.
00:12:08
Speaker
Everyone on the ground. That's a slightly slightly random.
00:12:20
Speaker
Welcome to the real world, jackass. Just stop recording now and eat your snacks and then zip. I'm just going to sit here and listen, eat my bacon bits. Yeah, we need it. Yeah, we need it in the background for the whole thing. Just, Steve. Oh, yeah. Don't do it. Don't do it. I'll bite into it really loudly next to the mic whenever you guys say a game. And then people are like, what was the game?
00:12:50
Speaker
Something with the big shoulders? No one's going to ask that. That's fair. Very good. Well, I guess we should just get into the swing of it, eh? Yeah, probably. Let's kick it off. So yeah, top 13 games.
Memorable Gaming Experiences and Favorites
00:13:08
Speaker
I guess we'll do honorable mentions and all that later because we don't want to give anything away.
00:13:15
Speaker
So I guess I'll kick off. My number 13 is one of the three new games to my list. It's a game that I now own and it's a game that I am playing with you guys on BGA and you guys have no fucking idea what's going on. I do. You do? Yeah. You're only winning because you got two goals from the left and right and they don't know what they're doing.
00:13:38
Speaker
Um, well, well, I'm talking about heat pedal to the metal. Is that what we're running? Well, no, I thought you meant project unknown. You were actually right. Cause I don't know what the fuck I'm doing in that game. Like didn't we just have this conversation? Yeah. Heat pedal to the metal. I really enjoy it. I think it's, um, maybe by the same people who did Flum Rouge, which I didn't hate, but it wasn't that great of a game. And it felt like they just sat down and gone, right.
00:14:06
Speaker
Now let's make a good game. You can definitely tell it's the same style of game, but it's so much more clever. And I haven't even really used a lot of the components yet. There's weather and there's events that you can have happen to your car. I haven't even touched any of that stuff. Just a straight up game. I love it. Been playing a heap of it. So heap, pedal the metal, kicking off the list. Are we going to do one each and roll it around? Mix it up.
00:14:37
Speaker
All right, Dave, you do your next four then. All right, cool. This is how prepared I was 20 minutes ago. I wrote a list of 13 games. Now I'm putting them in order. Number 13 for me, Lunch Money, talked about it a bunch of times. Still played it, played it a couple of times throughout the year. It's just the old favorite. We always have it on hand.
00:15:07
Speaker
And I still never played it with any of you except for Jimmy. Yeah. Before the big TR4 game at Christmas. Done. It's definitely not on BGA. Or not your vision. Or you could just log in and swear at each other for like 30 minutes. That would be the same experience. It'd be the easiest tabletop simulator to do. You just literally add in photos of cards and then you have a deck and that's it.
00:15:36
Speaker
But no, that's not happening anytime soon. So yes, pre-TI Christmas game sounds perfect. Cool. Lunchtime. I guess we'll officially keep it somewhat sane and go to G-Money for your number 13. Rightio, number 13. I put this on the list because I've played like 60 games of it in the last two years. It's Kingdom Death Monster.
00:16:01
Speaker
I don't know if I really like the game. It's fine. It's good. But playing it with the people that I play it with, it is, every game is amazing. And it's been like, it's been like the mainstay for the last like two years. So I don't know if I would, I could, I don't think I could play it with anybody else other than those people. Yeah. It hasn't even moved since last year, mate. Same spot as last year. Oh, well, I didn't even know. I didn't even know I did a list last year.
00:16:32
Speaker
Are you tracking us? Are you monitoring us, Steve? Well, like I said, I listened to the episode, so I thought I'll write down the run's list because I forgot mine. Why would you listen to this? You pumped up our numbers. We pumped them out in like 10 minutes. It was a really short listen. It was great. Like is someone making you do it or? Cause I'll stop them. Gun to my head. It's like a war crime.
00:17:00
Speaker
Ah, no, love it. Born for this. Righto Shane, number 13. Number 13 is my first Shem Phillips game. Probably won't be anyone else's. I'm sure we'll have plenty of Shem Phillips on this top 13. Is a brand new one to my list as well, Scholars of the South Tigress. Been playing that a heap. Don't tell me that. I've toured it a heap.
00:17:29
Speaker
and I really, really enjoy it. Such a good game. Yeah, so good. It's not up there. There's another, maybe another one or two on my list, but it's certainly climbing. It's one of my favorites. It's certainly knocked off a couple of the West Kingdom ones out of the pack. But yeah, that's it, number 13, Scholars. There you go.
00:17:55
Speaker
I'm very keen to see it on BGA because like I've never played Hadrian's Wall and I know that's now on there. And even the couple of games I've had of that I played solo BGA games of Hadrian's Wall just because it looks and is so cool. I can't wait for Sculls because that's also one of my favorite Garfield's. But it's very hard to get to the table to explain to new people. I haven't. Mine's in the post at the moment. It should arrive on Monday or Tuesday. So yeah.
00:18:24
Speaker
You fancy folks with your early copy up there or down there? Not fair. What have I ever done to you, Garfield Games? You should be giving me those games early. So I can play them with my massive game group of not many. Awesome. Very keen to see that game. All right. Is that it? We're done. That's one round, isn't it? One round. Can I go home? Can I go home now? Well, yeah. Well, next point.
00:18:53
Speaker
Should we, should I, should I kick off with 12? Oh, yes. Take that Steve or documenting things in reverse order. My number 12 has a stack of expansions. Um, it's an economic game.
00:19:21
Speaker
by Freebin' Freeze and it was on my list last year. I think it was number 12 last year too. From memory, it's Power Grid. Really enjoy that game. Every time I've played it, love the game and the people I've played with. Pastor Nick teaches it the best and yeah, fantastic game. Number 12, Power Grid.
00:19:47
Speaker
Was he correct, Steve? Was it number 12 last year? No, he was incorrect. It was number 13. Back straight, man. Garbage. Don't even start off the rest. Yeah. Get out. Aren't you at home? No one does this from home. It's only you. Right. I break into the same person's house each week. I'm in a budding car park. Where are you? But only once every two months, right? Yeah, yeah.
00:20:18
Speaker
Who is that next? Is that G Money next? Is that me again? You got the easy job. You always go third in a state job. Okay. That's not even right. Running a podcast apparently. No. Warhammer Underworld is my 12th. I've been playing this for like yonks. Spent way too much money on it. But it's been a mainstay for the last probably three or four years.
00:20:47
Speaker
Itches that little painting and models and car deck building and stuff like that. It's just glorious. Do I do the nerd thing and tell you it was also on your list last year? You're gonna anyway. No, I just thought I'd leave it at that. Okay, no, I won't. You did homework. Yeah. Good thing someone did. I don't have a real job. See, you guys have got real jobs.
00:21:18
Speaker
Number 12 for me, probably wasn't on my list last day. Yeah, Steve. I don't know why we ended up playing so much of this. I think it fits into that five people that are looking for a bit of an interesting game but don't have a heap of time, which is Space Base. We ended up playing a whole ton of Space Base this year. It was the go-to game. The group would come around and we'd
00:21:45
Speaker
got a couple of extra people on a Monday night. So often we'd have five or six people, just space base. That was it. It was all we were mentally prepared for. It teach was really easy. We very much considered throwing in some of the expansion cards, but we still haven't. I think we played a half a dozen games just based and we played two games at night sometimes. So yeah, space base. Great game. Great game. Good choice.
00:22:12
Speaker
My number 12 is another new to my list game, the second of three, also a game that I've played on BGA with you guys and, well, Helen's not here, but I don't know Helen particularly well, only from this podcast and meeting her a couple of times in person since.
00:22:29
Speaker
And I love how frank she is when she said, I played Earth, hated it.
Learning Curves and Gameplay Differences
00:22:34
Speaker
Don't ever want to play it again. I'm like, cool. I'm glad I spent that time to teach you that game. It's like that, Helen, to Vengecimal. No, Earth is great. I really enjoy it. Another game coming up later in my list has a few similarities. And this is kind of like a faster version of that game, but different enough.
00:22:57
Speaker
Realistically, it's probably the reason that Terrafony Mars has dropped out of my list, spoilers, because just the Tableau building, like the way that the cards trigger and you build your engine depending on what other people are doing as well, like it's that simultaneous play. Yeah, it's so great. So yeah, Earth is a number 12.
00:23:22
Speaker
I'd be very interested to see it played in person. Like I found with BGA either real time or turn based. I've often just done random clicks of shit to try and get through turns. Like I don't really follow on the strategy yet. There's so much you're like, Oh, I've got eight yellow cards. All right. I'll just click that one. And then that one does that one. And they bounce with each other. And then there's just all this stuff happening, but it kind of doesn't feel like it goes anywhere. And that's because I haven't really played it enough to figure out where it's actually supposed to go. Hmm.
00:23:51
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely, I mean, as I would say, most games definitely pick up something in person. But that being said, I have played Earth once in person, which was at the Dice Tower Retreat. I've since bought it and I have it now, but I've unpunched it, but haven't got it to, it was supposed to get to the table today, but four hour game of Dead Reckoning killed that idea. But yeah, it's,
00:24:17
Speaker
I get what you're saying, although I guess I went into it learning the game first and then went to BGA to play it second rather than just sort of find that BGA find my way for me, I guess.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, because BGA is a bit like that, right? Like if you couldn't take the time to like sit there and think, what do I actually have to do here? It's like, oh, I don't have to think I could just click this button and move on with my life. Great Western Trail for me. I was elected to lead, not to read. Choose number three.
00:24:58
Speaker
So yeah, that was my, anyway, that's my number 12. So I'll go to my number 11, because we're doing the snake drafting. And this is my first, and possibly only, Sham Phillips game. It's not my only one. I was getting cold. I can't back that up with any facts. Yeah. And it is Viscounts of the West Kingdom.
00:25:22
Speaker
I feel like I'm the only one who really rates this one in the West Kingdom series. It seems to always be everyone's third, but I think it's a work of genius. I honestly do. The way that the castle works in the middle, the way that how the transcripts work. And then like every now and again, I'll just muck around with it and just go crazy building buildings and forget the rest.
00:25:45
Speaker
Because I always just think the castle is too strong. But if you go and build buildings and then all of a sudden all of your moves are maximized, jeez, it's a good game. And it's very hard to beat someone who does that. So there's more depth to it than just the castle. But the castle is so much fun. So I was like, I could just do the castle and be happy. So Viscount's great game, my number 11. Has dropped a little bit, though. It was my number seven last year.
00:26:15
Speaker
Thanks for the sound effects, Shane. Sorry. I've got stuff going on. I'm trying to do two things at once. Well, please, let this go and do the others. This is at the bottom of the list. You're a successful man. I don't know how to do it. Look, number 11 for me, dead reckoning. I know you mentioned that you played it today, Steve, so it usually probably doesn't take four hours to play.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah. We actually got a couple of games of it in this year and I'm really trying to get the group together enough to play one of the campaign missions through. Yeah, I'd love to do that. Yeah, just because they would add so much uniqueness to each deck and to like how you actually work together would be great. So I also had the new Kickstarter come through, which I don't have yet, still with Joe, but
00:27:11
Speaker
the map and the new insert expansion that's coming. So just the game map I think will actually make it quite nice and you know they're always quite tactile and good to throw the cubes and stuff around but yeah it's such a great concept of the game where you upgrade your cards with the extra cards and you research and you buy the ship upgrades and you put them in the sleeves and you just tends to be hunting through your deck trying to find the game breaking card that you get all
00:27:39
Speaker
all the while you're trying not to get sunk or to shoot other people's ships down. So it's just lots of fun. Like it's a really enjoyable game every time we play. Yeah, today was great. We had I had I had a raft next to me and he's like, Dad, look what I've built. And he's showing me these two cards that are just like, I'm going to go and kill everyone cards. And meanwhile, Seb's doing my strategy of just being as far away from everyone else as possible, not wanting to get involved in any fighting.
00:28:07
Speaker
And it was like, at one time, both Seb and Helen were so angry at Raph and I because we both attacked them at times. And Helen got really unlucky when I attacked her. I attacked her with next to no strength and she rolled two of the double damage hits.
00:28:27
Speaker
Um, so that she sunk and she's like, I can't believe you sunk me. I'm like, I, you did all that. I didn't hardly any of that work. So she got, there was a point where she got cranky and then the point that said was so angry that he got attacked that he just, on his next turn, he's like, right. Well, I've got eight movement and I'm attacking bloody everyone. This is great. This is why this game's awesome. Any chance. Very fun and light sandboxing, but yeah, definitely shame that we can get you into a game for sure, man. Yeah. Now, even if we look at something over the Christmas break for all together,
00:28:57
Speaker
be really cool. A hundred percent. It's a game that does really well as a once off and you can play it and have fun. You can pick it up really quickly. But like, I've got the two campaigns sitting there already in the third months ago and they're about six games each. And just, I really want to crack into them. Hmm. Oh, is that me? Yes, indeed. All right. Puerto Rico.
00:29:26
Speaker
I like it still. It was the game that got me into board gaming. Birthed a lot of, you know, those mechanics that other games use from it. Yeah, don't play it much anymore, but still got good memories. And thanks for the teach, by the way. I quite enjoy it too now. Is it on BGA? Yeah, I think I'd draw it. Sure is. Borritorico.
00:29:54
Speaker
Next time you have a game going, gee, chuck me in. I've never played it. Will do. Thanks, mate. I think you'd be surprised how many mechanics you go, oh, yeah, that's familiar. They took this from this. Oh, hang on. No, that's not how that works. Oh, I'm next. My number 11 actually pipped space face out of my top 13.
00:30:24
Speaker
only purely because I've been playing crap ton of it on BGA, and I'm generally playing three games on my way into work, three games on my way home from work. I scored 160 on it one day. I've gone nowhere near that score since then. I think my next best score is around about 137, and that is Azul. I am a competitive Azul. Competitive Azul is mean.
00:30:54
Speaker
I'm almost calling someone a fucker on the train. After someone has pinched my line, they can see I'm going for this one time. Fuckers take it. I'm like, I'm not being a prick to you. This is in my head. I don't even know who this person is. I'm really enjoying it. I taught it at an R U OK day in a boardroom.
00:31:19
Speaker
I told it to two groups. Both those groups loved it. To the point, four people have gone and bought the game since, who were non-board gamers. One person stopped me one day in the hall and said, my boyfriend just bought us all. Because I liked it so much. He bought it for his birthday. So, yeah. So, look, that has to make my top 13. I like it. Lauren likes playing it with me. But I don't play it mean with me. And you're playing real time on big G8? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:31:50
Speaker
I'm like, how do you get three games of Azul in on the train? Yeah, real time. Generally, I set up two or three players, not into four, and we can get two or three games in. But yeah, God, it can be... Yeah, God, there's some arseholes out there. Right arseholes. And you're up again, mate? Is that me again? No, it's me. No, that's Shane again.
00:32:19
Speaker
Number 10, number 10 is a new game. And it's actually kicked out another game. And I couldn't have two Lucerdes in my top 13. I thought that was too much. So on Mars is out, on Mars got punted from last year's list. And my number 10 is Calm Barn EV. I've played that about five times now this year.
00:32:48
Speaker
And every time I hear it's being played, I'm jumping in. So that was my, you know, I had to, you know, if anyone was playing Odd Mars, I'd probably go, yeah, no, enjoy that one. But Kanban EV, yep, I'm in. And, you know, I've played it every time with Shane and Ingrid, who are just fantastic people in our community, and just the best time playing that game with those guys, so. Kanban EV is in my number 10. Thank you, Mr. Lucerda.
00:33:22
Speaker
All right, my number 10 is Nemesis. But I feel like we're pretty lucky when it comes to Nemesis, as we have a good friend who has an entire painted set with all the expansions, knows all the rules, plays all the stuff. We just get to sit back and enjoy it. And because of that, we have awesome games every time we play it. And it's just super fun. He is the best narrator of that game too.
00:33:50
Speaker
Seeing him do that game at Briskon was brilliant. Speaking of experiences we want to do, I still have not played Nemesis. And every time you guys talk about it, I'm like, I want to be in this. I want to be at the room where it happens. Let's make it happen. Well, because he's even upgraded it now. So he's got the cards that let him take control of the aliens and actually run things. So it's even better. We played it just recently. I still reckon that's the best game we've ever played of it.
00:34:22
Speaker
agree. My number 10 is just got a negative mention from Shane. So sorry about that, Patel. But on Mars, number 10. That's my lacerda for the list. It's definitely the one I liked the most. I've only played carbon once and I did enjoy it. So I'm sure it's great. But on Mars is the one that I would go to and I've taught a few people and
00:34:46
Speaker
With the limited cull that I just had of my in-shrink lacerters that I couldn't get to the table, I've managed to actually move all the rest of the Mons I only have on Mars now. So that's my one, but it's still a great... I'm very space heavy in this year's list. I don't know if that's an awful thing for me, but definitely on Mars is a fantastic game. I still haven't played the expansion, and I don't even know if it will, to be honest. I don't know if it needs it. It's such a complete package as it is.
00:35:17
Speaker
Well, speaking of games played this year, my next game is the game I've played the most this year, and the game after that is the game I've played the second most.
Most Played Games and Mechanics
00:35:27
Speaker
So it's a... Is it our first crossover? I think? Space Base. Space Base. Played the most? Yeah, most played game this year, which is not that surprising. How many is that? 51.
00:35:45
Speaker
Jesus I reckon I mean I do I do track my board game arena games as well Which will be account for a few of them, but also it's like the go-to game in our family It's like we're having a family game night, which we should have every week probably more like every second week
00:36:01
Speaker
it's almost it'll be every it'll be playing at every second family game night so it gets a lot of table time for all the reasons you said mate it's easy kids love it they understand it so like we could just throw it on the table and go quite often we'll play two games back to back because one of the kids will be cranking they didn't win
00:36:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's great. So, Space Base. Another game that gets thrown at the table a lot is Dice Throne, which I like, but I have the opposite feeling with that. Like, I need to have a break from Dice Throne. I can't just keep going back and back and back, where every time Space Base hits the table, I'm like, yep, I'm up for this right now. So, yeah, that's my number 10. And my number nine, second most played game of the year is Ark Nova.
00:36:44
Speaker
largely because of EGA, but also the physical game gets out every now and again at home. But yeah, that's just a game that, like if I'm, it's become my new terraforming Mars app, where I used to, if I was lying in bed and I had just wanted to do something before going to bed, I used to always play terraforming Mars. Now I just play solo, arced over, and then I go to bed. I don't even bother trying to find other people. I just see if I can beat a hundred
00:37:12
Speaker
Yeah, great. Arknova, great with people, great solo. Number nine. So that's your secret. That's why you're so good at that game. You play it solo and just didn't learn all the strategies to come up with us. It's kind of funny. It's weird. It took a while for it to click for me, but unlike Terraforming Mars, which it gets compared to a lot, in Terraforming Mars, sometimes you really want to prolong the end of the game.
00:37:39
Speaker
Like you really just want to keep accumulating points, but because no matter how you accumulate points in Ark Nova, that's pushing the game towards its end, it really is a race game. Like you can't sit around and try and do cool stuff all the time. You've got to be like, well, I really need to get some conservation points and really need to get some appeal. Like, so I guess, yeah, that's, that's why I always feel like I'm rushing the game, but I'm like, well, no, that's kind of what the whole game is. Like,
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah, so it's a strange one. And like I said, it gets compared to Throwaway Mars a lot, but I don't think it should as much as it does. Even though I just did. I mean, there's cards and then you played them and that's, you know, there's a comparison there, but... Yeah. Yeah. I just... And there's tags. There's lots of tags.
00:38:34
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I always get, I think sidetracked about, oh, I've got like a five cost card that needs like three tags. Well, obviously that's my game plan. I start with that card. I'm going to work towards getting that card and then three calls away through the game. I still haven't got it. Well, now I'm screwed. I'm getting this animal out no matter what happens. People got to come to my zoo and they're going to see one animal. It's going to be this one. Giant pandas.
00:39:03
Speaker
So my number nine is definitely been on my list. I do actually play a fair bit on BGA and thoroughly enjoy it. Haven't managed to get the real copy out for a little while now, which I'd like to rectify as well. Um, hopefully with some of you gents soon, but barrage. Hmm.
00:39:21
Speaker
So the expansion has recently been included in BGA, and I've been playing Heaps with them. It adds a fair bit more depth to that game, even though there's a lot to begin with. But it's so enjoyable, and I think I mistakenly called it my favorite worker placement game. Last time we did the list, we got roundly flogged for that one, because that was wrong. But it's a really tactical area control game that's buried in a Euro worker placement.
00:39:51
Speaker
So I love it now. I'll play barrage a lot and not, I don't think there's a solo play on BGA, so I haven't managed to get that see, but I'll often just chuck up a two player real time game and try and knock that out in about 40 minutes. Fantastic. If you get the time and you want to play with my bling set, with the coins and everything, I'm down.
00:40:14
Speaker
You start building a list for this Christmas trip. You'll have to set up in the bedroom slash office and just, you know, we'll just play games our whole weekend. That's 16 days, mate. Plenty of time. Righto. My next one is Kahnbar and Eve.
00:40:35
Speaker
I played an absolute monster of that game this year. And it is the smoothest of all of the assertors. And it's just, yeah, it just goes down really, really, really well. That's another crossover. It does. Absolutely agree with you, Guy. My number nine is another new one for the list.
00:41:05
Speaker
And for those that know me, I own 23 of this person's games.
00:41:12
Speaker
I'm sitting on my shelf currently. I mean, delivery people. I think there is only about 15 of those games, but Shane does have them all. He's got a couple of doubles. I needed a few extra screws. I bought the game. Bought another copy of the game. I just did a decking, that's now my decking screen.
00:41:39
Speaker
No, no, all jokes aside, this one I've played quite a few times this year, and it's just so much fun that we have when we play it, and it's a game where you've got to play it max player count. You can play it really nice, but it's best to play it super mean because it's the only way to play it, and that is a Discworld Unk Morpok.
00:42:03
Speaker
by Martin Wallace. It's an older one, or you can play an anti-narking, which is set more in that brass era with all the tutors, et cetera, but Discworld, Unkmallpox set in space with really cool things that are happening and really mean cards that you can throw at each other. It's area control. Everyone's got their own wind conditions.
00:42:32
Speaker
So throughout the game, you're trying to work out who, okay, you're going for that win condition. So you try and block them the whole time. And we played another game day, one day with myself, Shannon Ingrid and a couple of other person that played, but we had such a good time. Right next door to us was Martin.
00:42:52
Speaker
he was doing one of his games and at the end of it he could just see we're all having fun and all like you know calling each other names etc and yeah so number nine Discworld Unk-Morpok great game if you haven't played it happy to teach you guys and actually this would be a cool group to be honest be really good
00:43:20
Speaker
Number eight. Number eight's another new one. I've always liked the game. I just never liked the version I had or I thought it was really poorly produced. And that is Castles of Burgundy is my number eight. It's just rocketed up the charts ever since it's done that bling out version. I love playing it.
00:43:44
Speaker
My family loved playing it. Lauren and I play it on BGA just the other night. She's an Adelaide. I'm here. Get this text message. Wanna play Castles of Burgundy? Yes, I'm in. So, it sat on my table, probably set up for about three weeks. We were playing it all the time. And I only just packed it away on Friday to set up another game. Castles of Burgundy, the new blinged out version.
00:44:13
Speaker
Don't even bother with the other versions because they're crap. Take that everybody. I'll just go and burn my copy of it, Angela. Yeah, just play mine. Yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. Rodeo, back to me for Spirit Island. Did not like it as much when I started playing it, but the more I've played it,
00:44:42
Speaker
Recently, it is just a, it's probably taken pandemic away from me now, like as the great co-op, like, you know, defeat the villainy type thing. Lots of expansions, always a good time, great co-op. Yeah, enjoy that game a lot. Yeah, I need to play that more.
00:45:11
Speaker
It was on my list for ages. It was one of my favourite games. It clicked and I loved it. I don't think I've even pulled it out in the last 12 months. Yeah, and I've played it with a few people here and there. Every time has been great. You just want to play it again, again, again. Do you play it solo G? I've played a little bit solo. But I just find interacting with people is where it's at for me in that game.
00:45:43
Speaker
It's interesting to hear because I've only played that game solo because it gets so renowned as a great solo game. It didn't grab me. Again, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't like I was like, whoa, this is a great solo game. But I'd be keen to try it with people for that exact reason that you're saying. It does seem like it should be like we have more islands and you can do more things. It seems like a game that would work well with people around.
00:46:10
Speaker
I don't think it works well with true solo. Like if you just play one spirit and you're playing a very cut down version of the game, like the interaction and the combos between the spirits is really out. So if you can play sort of three or four handed solo, it's awesome. Yeah. Mental load and the time that it takes you to figure all that stuff out. It's hard to play that many, but that's where the game really shines.
00:46:40
Speaker
I did see a post about a guy that played an eight player, an eight handed solo game. And it took him nearly like two days outside of sleeping. He was just playing Spirit Island for two days. And he didn't win. He couldn't figure out what to do. He couldn't come to a conclusion. His spirits weren't working together. How much were you giggling over that load joke, Shane?
00:47:08
Speaker
You had a nice little giggle there, didn't you? I did. I did, because Dave just went too hard as well. It's hard, mate. Yeah. Ha ha! Yeah. Well, Life's a Rich Tapestry, so that's my number nine. Are we on nine, honey? Whatever we are. Yeah, eight. Talked enough about tapestries. Yeah. My favorite stone mire game.
00:47:37
Speaker
That's the only one that makes my list. And I play a fuckload of it on BGA. I've got three or four games going all the time. I play all the tournaments. It's just not very good at it, but I really enjoy it. I don't know what it is. There's lots of tracks and lots of resource management. Click in there. So just click to that, which gets you this building, which builds your little mini-map. Yeah. It does it for me, tapestry. Very hard to play in person though, like the
00:48:02
Speaker
It's unwieldy and there's too many fiddly bits, but the BGA version of it is phenomenal. My number eight is the last new game to the list. And it is definitely at the moment, it is the game that if I look at my shelf, it's the one I want to play. So what I'm saying, let's have a game of this. I had a game of it today. And I also want to play it with you guys because I reckon that would be
00:48:32
Speaker
out of this world, and that's Thunder Road Vendetta.
00:48:37
Speaker
The first time I played it was at the Dice Tower Retreat at the start of my holiday. I played it a couple of times at the retreat. I was lucky enough to buy a copy out of someone's boot in a car park in Pasadena when I was in America, so that was kind of cool. He was very confused because I messaged him and said, can I pick this up tomorrow? And he's obviously got in my profile and was like, you do know it's local pickup only, right? I'm like, yep.
00:49:03
Speaker
He's like, where are you? Because he's probably thought Australia, he must have his wires crossed or something. But he was a very confused and friendly man that I met in the car park of a Target in Pasadena. So yeah, and played it a few times, played it in the States, played it a few times since we got back. And every time I played this game,
00:49:23
Speaker
there has been a situation towards the end of the game to decide who's going to win or lose that has come down to like an opportunity dice roll or a crazy combo or something like it's never just, I don't think it's possible in this game to have like a runaway leader or anything. For all money, my daughter was going to win today.
00:49:44
Speaker
She was cracking along the side of the track with two cars and then she went over a hazard flipped it over and it was an earthquake and Every car fell one spot to the right which killed two of her cars And then she lost she was eliminated from the game. She eliminated herself from the game
00:50:00
Speaker
In the very first turn, my son's very first turn, he flipped over a hazard and it was a hole in the ground and he fell through the hole and died, like one of his cars. So like, and he was, initially he was mortified, but it's like, no, no, crazy shit, like that's just gonna keep happening for the next half an hour and then we'll be done.
00:50:18
Speaker
And it's just that. The best way I can describe it is people who play Zombicide quite often talk about how Zombicide, it's a game. You just can't take it seriously. You just got to have fun with it. And even with that, I still didn't really love Zombicide, where this is my version of that. This is a game where if you come in here going, right, I'm going to strategize, I'm going to work out how to win this game, you're probably not going to like it. But if you're just willing to have a bit of fun, my gosh, it's just so good.
00:50:46
Speaker
So Thunder Road Vendetta, I'll definitely be bringing that one to Brisbane and it'll be like, I'll be that annoying kid when you're like, what do you guys want to play? I'll be like, Thunder Road Vendetta, Thunder Road Vendetta. So be prepared because, yeah, it's great. Yeah.
00:51:02
Speaker
I'll be in for that. And I love this story about you buying it over in the States and the guy was questioning, oh, you know, it's local pickup. If that happened here in Australia, the role was averse. There was an American over here saying, and we googled where this person lives and you know, it's like, yeah, no, I'm over on holiday. We're like, fuck you, you are not, get lost. And you think it's a scam. Where's the FedEx person? Whose sister is this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Scam blocking. Not in the States.
00:51:32
Speaker
Was so funny my kids like we were playing this whole day and I'm like, oh we're just We're starting the day with a drive to Pasadena and they're like, why are we doing that? I'm like, oh, you know, I just thought we'd you guys wanted to see what an American targets like didn't you? That's great. That's good When I was seven, I'm sorry
00:52:00
Speaker
I was going to say brief interlude. So my wife wasn't aware of that scam and she was selling a dress the other day online. And she goes, Oh, this person said they're not available with their friend or something. It's going to come around and pick it up. And do we have pay ID? Uh, scam. That's a well known scam. You can't sell the dress of that person. Oh, they seem so legit. Got it.
00:52:29
Speaker
My uncle's brother's monkey, he's coming around to pick it up. Because I'm booked out for the next two weeks. I'm Santa Town. Sorry, Steve. You're right. So my number seven is another Shem game and it is Paladins of the West Kingdom.
00:52:53
Speaker
and say it overtook Viscounts, they did swap roles, both outstanding games with Paladins.
00:53:01
Speaker
just, I think the new expansion, now that I've played with it a few times, that game was already just a bit of a mind fuck. But now with that, the new one, it's just, there's so many more things you can do with grabbing the resources off cards and then obtaining the cards later and getting the, you know,
00:53:24
Speaker
the workers that get put out on those cards to get the resources, you get them back into your supply to use again. A few times now I've played that game where I've got into a loop where I'm just acquiring workers to the point where I end up having to throw something back because I just don't have anything left to do with them, which is crazy because that game is so tight at the start. But if the combos work well, you're just sitting there and you're like, I've got seven workers left and I've got no spaces.
00:53:51
Speaker
It's great. So it's just combo-tastic and Paladins is awesome. So that's my number seven.
Resurgence and Affection for Classic Games
00:54:00
Speaker
My number seven is also crossover has been mentioned, but Art Nova. I'm enjoying the learning experience of playing the game. So I think that's the first. Oh no, there's another one. Not the only new game for me, but it's
00:54:15
Speaker
I like it. I think probably more than terrifying Mars or anything like that. It's just something around the slow burn and the build up and the competing tracks and they meet in the middle. Like, as you said, it's a race game and I still haven't quite mastered it. And so I'm enjoying every play of it and keen to play it more, which for me is a sign of good game. All right. Is that me now?
00:54:41
Speaker
Cool, Paladins of the West Kingdom is mine. Whoo! Bang on. Cross over, pew pew pew! See previous notes. That's all you're giving us. Yep. Alright, um... Sorry, I just... No time. I'm just gonna fess up on something though. I fucked up my number 13.
00:55:12
Speaker
It's not scholars, it's wayfarers of South Tigris. Okay. So, I'm just gonna call it now. Wayfarers. Wayfarers, not South Tigris. I assume you're talking about wayfarers, because... Yeah. I thought you were talking about wayfarers. Yeah, that's the one that hasn't been released yet. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's why, as I'm saying, my kickstart was arriving on Tuesday. So, you guys were talking about it, like, it's like, we've been playing scholars all year, like, you fucking bastards. I've played it like 10 times.
00:55:43
Speaker
I taught it six times in two days. No, no. So Wayfarers... It's better than Wayfarers. Wow. So there you go. Sorry. So fess up 13 Wayfarers South Thirography. Number seven for me is, same as number seven for last year, Dwellings of Ildavale. Great game. Every time I've played it, it's a great experience. When you're rolling all those dice,
00:56:12
Speaker
all of that one time and you see one or two sixes come out and you've got about 30 dice in front of you. It's just mayhem. Really enjoy it. It may get punted though if I don't play it again this year because I played a game yesterday and I might talk about that game at the end because it's very similar to dwellings. It's no smurf. Okay.
00:56:38
Speaker
So number seven, do you want things to be able to bow? I'm not gonna talk about it too much, because my number six is the same as last year. TI4, again, experience game, and I play with you guys all the time. It's always the best experience. I'm really shit at it, but I still enjoy it. And that's the main thing. That's why I like board games, is for the experience. So I am really looking forward to the TI4 event at the end of the year.
00:57:08
Speaker
to get it for them. Number six. And even the moment to give you, I was still talking about the moment with Steve, and that moment, the recent moment at the board game day, the IUK day that you guys taught, there was a similar moment, so that's why I like it. Sorry, G. No, no, you're right, mate. Mine is Lost Ruins of Arnak.
00:57:37
Speaker
I don't think it's really that good of a game, but I like it and I play it all the time. I don't know why. I'm literally playing it in BGA right now. I've got 85 plays of it on BGA. All to completion. I always go to completion. And just really enjoy it. I don't know why.
00:58:08
Speaker
Sorry for being naive, but why wouldn't you go to completion? What am I missing? It was just a play on words. Coming. He has to fake it sometimes. I need to firmly put my head back in the gutter where it belongs and listen for those things. You know who you're talking to. Thought the expansions for Anak were good, but just like the original.
00:58:39
Speaker
Well, similar to you, Jima, my number six is a game that I hate playing and love playing and continue to play and stay mostly with you. Yeah, that's pipeline. Fucking pipeline. Yeah, it's a great game, except it's not. It's a fucking terrible, annoying, frustrating game. I really like playing. I would imagine it's like getting circumcised as an adult.
00:59:07
Speaker
That's how I would pitch a pipeline. But there's an end to that. Once that's completed... Yeah, there's an end to that. Let's do it again. Yeah, chop more off this time. I don't think you got it all the first time. It makes me so happy and sad.
00:59:32
Speaker
Mostly sad. So forever. But a little bit happy. Just enough to hold you, to play it again. And see if you can do better. It's like, it doesn't improve. You don't get better. You don't get better outcomes. You just fucking play it again. No, you get hurt more. Yeah. It's like watching Serenity. It's like this time Walsh won't die. And he dies every time. That's the edge timeline. Circumcision the board game from now on.
01:00:07
Speaker
Which direction are we going? It's me again, isn't it? Yeah. So this next game is...
01:00:15
Speaker
has been my favorite something of the something, something game forever. I don't think it's ever been in, nothing's ever been in front of it out of those games and it's Architects of West Kingdom. It's just so great. There are very few games out there where if I've got five or six people, I think I know the perfect game because usually that just adds more load, more time, all that shit.
01:00:44
Speaker
and architects is like kind of the opposite. I don't want to play it at two or three. I want to play it at like four, five or six. It's quicker and it's more fun and it's just more interesting to see. And I know we've had a game going since before I went over to the USA, which is unusual for architects, but I'm also really interested to see how that game ends because everyone's doing some real random stuff. So like, I don't know whether it's clicking buttons or people have actually got some wacky strategies, but I have no idea who's winning that game.
01:01:13
Speaker
So is that the game that Helen's like 27 days overdue? Is that that one? Look, I don't want to I don't want to say I've already I've already had a crack at Helen already tonight. I'm not going to go for a second time. Yeah. Oh, it's a rebuttal. Oh, it is.
01:01:30
Speaker
I thought I was going to be the guy that slowed everyone down when I went overseas for eight weeks, but apparently not. To be fair, actually, I don't like the game anywhere near as much on BGA. It's one adaptation where I'm like, it does it perfect, but Architects is such a quick fire game when you're playing it live.
01:01:52
Speaker
that when you've got to wait a day for your turn, you kind of lose that brilliance of the game. So I play it on BGA because it's still a great game, but I would I'd rather play it real time or obviously in person. But yeah, the best of the West, that one or the South or the East or the North.
01:02:11
Speaker
And to be fair to Helen, she honestly forgot that she is playing BGA games with us. Yeah, I just think it's great because it's at the top of my list, firstly, because it's the longest game and also because it starts with A. So every time I open BGA, I always click onto it first, just because that's how I refresh the games. I'm like, oh, no, still Helen's turn. Next game. And my number four, I am sure
01:02:37
Speaker
There's a reason why we haven't heard about this game yet because I am sure it's coming up on other people's lists. I won't talk about it very much, but it missed my list last year. It was one spot out of making it last year and it's rocketed up to number four due thanks to a few couple of plays with some people in Emerald and that is Dunin period.
01:02:58
Speaker
just a brilliant game, just seems to get better with the expansions. I'm really keen to see what Dune Uprising does from all accounts. It's better than Dune Imperium, even though it's just like a revised version of it. And it works with all the expansions too. So I'll be very keen to check that out. But Dune Imperium, no one's ever had a bad game of it, I'm certain. It's not possible. So I think I've won it like twice.
01:03:26
Speaker
But I don't care. It's just great. That's my number four. Did we skip over a few? Are we on number four? Yeah. I think so. Well, we're on five and four. Oh, no. I was supposed to do six and five. Yeah, six and five. Let's see. I was supposed to do six and five. My mistake. All right. So, you know, I'd heard any of that.
01:03:50
Speaker
So my number six game of all time has as a crossover. And I had the pleasure of playing with all of you wonderful people this year, which I can't say that about many games, and that is Dwellings of Eldervale. And when you say you wonderful people, you mean the group that you're talking to, not the listeners?
01:04:10
Speaker
Well, is it one and the same? No, we've already proved it on and none of us actually listened to the show. That's fair.
01:04:18
Speaker
No, but yeah, Dwellings is awesome. It's just, yeah, when I when I first got it, I loved it. And I thought this is going to be a great game. But there's always that part of me that go, am I just caught up in the ridiculous overproduction and, you know, crazy rolling and stuff and the sound bases and all that. But it's got staying power. It's so good. It's there's a lot. It really is a euro with a with a mirror trash skin over the top.
01:04:45
Speaker
So if you look at it and see all the big monsters and the sound bases, you probably think it's going to be this smash and bash game. And it can be, but it also can be a Tableau building card game. Yeah, so good. Dwellings is my number six.
01:05:01
Speaker
I'm very surprised that's the last time you hear that game too. And my number five is, they're the best of the West, Architects of the West Kingdom. Best game by, I'll just edit the other one in, I spoke way better about it then. That's my number five, Architects. Oh, it's all going to shit now, isn't it? Yeah, don't edit it. We were doing so well up to then. We're professionals.
01:05:31
Speaker
But no one cares. Like you could leave that in there. No, no one's going to complain to the bloody office. You can complain about this. Who too? You got to listen to it first before you complain. I'm not doing that.
01:05:52
Speaker
So my number five then is a game that actually I got out of strength this year and we have then played a ton. I reckon we've played seven or eight times in the last couple of months. It's an older game but it checks out. It is Eclipse. So keeping with the heavy space thing for me, our gaming group has just latched onto Eclipse pretty hard and everybody's into it and we're all
01:06:18
Speaker
either learned or refreshed. I think there'd only been one or two people that had even played it before we cracked it out. And it's great. It's every game is sort of almost building that story narrative that you get out of TI. I think we were almost at the end of the
01:06:35
Speaker
Everybody's had a go at every race combination at the moment. In the base game, there's only the six races. And on the other side, you've got the Terrans, which are the standard vanilla, which everybody gets access to. So I think there's a whole bunch of expansions that are either coming or that came out through the Kickstarter that I need to try and track down. Phenomenal game. We've been playing five or six player games of it.
01:06:57
Speaker
regularly throughout this year and enjoyed each one. And as far as a big, heavy box space theme game goes, like two and a half hours, three hours tops. I think we played six players with a couple of new players and we maxed out about four. That was the longest one we had, but yeah, it's thoroughly enjoyable, tech tree building, bit of rolling dice, bit of marketing around. So thoroughly enjoying Eclipse at the moment.
01:07:27
Speaker
Oh, that's me. Who is you? What are we up to? Five? Yes. Five. Guaranteed. Brass Birmingham is five for me. Um, it was a game where I played it a couple of times and I did not understand it and it frustrated the hell out of me. So I stopped playing it. Then I wanted to play it again because everyone said it was good and I kind of like learned how to play it properly. And then I realized it was really good. And then I played a lot of it and I was really happy. The end.
01:07:57
Speaker
I know that feeling. I could, you could, yeah, it was like you were reading my autobiography about that game right then. That's exactly what happened with me. Same thing. Yep. Happened with me too. And I was playing with Dave one night at the fair and it, I got it three quarters away out of the game. I finally got it and I went, ah, there you go. Twig. I like it. Yeah. Oh my God.
01:08:27
Speaker
Number five has... It's actually gone, it's dropped from the list a little bit. And that is This War of Mine. I think it was my number two last year. Yeah, cracker. It is a cracking game. It's never going to drop out of my ten. I haven't actually got it to the table for a while. I've only ever got it to the table once this year for myself. I've played solo.
01:08:57
Speaker
I think I lost that one. Still yet to win it on my own. But I'd really like to play with you guys, actually. Me and Gee Money played it one night and we had a great time. We lost. I can't play this, but we lost. So yeah, number five, this war of mine hasn't dropped out of my top 10. My number four, it's another one that's moved.
01:09:26
Speaker
from number one. So it's now my number four. And that is Too Many Bones. Love the game.
01:09:39
Speaker
That's just another one that, this is where I did this test. If I had this game or this game, which one am I going to go and grab it off the shelf and play? So that's how I kind of worked out my top five. And yeah, too many bones is, it's a lot of time to invest in it, especially when you're playing on your own. So now my number four, still the best produced game out there. Yeah, take that environment.
01:10:12
Speaker
It's so true though. Like I got all the unbreakable stuff. I got all the unbreakable stuff and it's still just seeing there. Like I haven't even bothered to start because it's just like the mental workload to be able to go, right, let's get this whole thing going again. It's kind of why I dropped out of my list as well because it's just, I love that game, but finding the time is the big thing. And that's like another game on my list that's actually now out of my list and sold.
01:10:53
Speaker
I'll go back to number 4 which is Twilight Imperium 4th edition.
01:11:02
Speaker
um best experience for like big game never bad just epic has all the best parts of board gaming all rolled into one but gotta play it with the right people but when it sings it's a lovely tune to listen to very nice
01:11:31
Speaker
Sorry, that's me. My dog was snoring in the background. Hopefully you didn't hear that. So we actually already mentioned this one as well. Nemesis is number four for me. It's a game that just keeps getting better and better. We'd be well into the twenties in terms of games played, I think of Nemesis. And the game we played two months ago was the best game that we've ever played. It was thematic and the story sort of told itself that it was tight right until the end.
01:12:01
Speaker
We have multiple winners, which also doesn't happen very often. Um, but it, it comes down to one person taking one action can potentially save or break the entire game. Um, and you don't actually even care whether you win or not. Like it's just the thrill of playing that game and the tenseness and the atmospheric field, the whole thing. Um, great experience. So definitely getting the nemesis.
01:12:29
Speaker
Well, I can't believe it. It's come back to me and number four still hasn't been mentioned. So everything I've said about Duninperium before in its wrong place, still accurate. It's a brilliant game. I'm sure we'll hear more about it soon. But yeah, number four is Duninperium. We'll go straight on number number three.
01:12:48
Speaker
uh this game is i really actually i enjoyed listening to ug money talk about this game after i've got a chance to teach it to yourself and dave because when sometimes when you have like a bit of a love affair with the game you're like i wonder whether other people
01:13:06
Speaker
like really get into it like I do. And you sort of go, oh, this is such a great game. I'm going to teach you how to play. And then they're like, oh, yeah, that's good. And then maybe you never play it again. But listening to you talk about what you liked about a Feast for Odin just made me smile because I'm like, that's what I love about Feast for Odin. It's like a massive sandbox game, a worker placement game. And it's just a gift that keeps giving. It's been around for years. It's always been one of my favorite games.
01:13:30
Speaker
But yeah, Uwe Rosenberg, magic. It's just, if you're going to play one of his games, play this one, take the time to play it a few times so you can understand it and you'll never regret it. So a feast for Odin, my number three. And whatever you do, don't go into a blind and try and figure your way through it. It will not happen. It has a few options at the start.
01:13:59
Speaker
And same for me, Steve, I've had a game go on constantly since you told it to us. It's a thoroughly enjoyable game. I absolutely peed the other day. I think I got 42 and the other guy claiming of 220 something. That's it. I always thought like I hit 100 the first time I'm like, wow, I am like the God at this game now. And then you go into BGA and you're like, oh no, no, I let me know.
01:14:26
Speaker
Haven't got this one clocked out. Well, funny you mentioned, Steve, my number three is June Imperium. We, again, this is probably the most played game in our gaming group. Um, multiple blinged out copies where everyone's got all the stuff, but it's probably Troy's favorite game as well. And we play it and we play it a bunch of times lately. And again, it's hard to have a bad game with that.
01:14:52
Speaker
It keeps everybody in the hunt till right at the end. The cards are great. The expansions had a lot of fun mechanisms and highly recommend as the card drafting game to play. Hey, guess what? My number three is Dune Imperium. I learnt that in the uprising box, they put the three major settlements behind the shield wall.
01:15:21
Speaker
and you can blow up the shield wall you can also get sandworms like dreadnoughts they count as two but if you win with it with if you win with sandworms you get double the reward and if you blow up the shield wall you can take them into the thing you can take them into the main cities did you see the picture someone put up today on of the actual models of the actual models of the penises yeah yeah i did see that
01:15:49
Speaker
Like what were your great dibs? They really want to see those great kids, don't they? Yeah. Like they've seen the internet, right? They know. Yep. That game has no right to be that good at all. Just, yep. Bonkers good. Love it. More dib. Wow. More dib. Am I going to be the only one that doesn't have Juniperium in there? Top 13.
01:16:20
Speaker
Have to wait and see. I'm pretty sure you are. Can we finish our list? You're debating whether to just put it in there now, aren't you, for no reason? Take out City of the Big Soldiers. I didn't even own that game. It's for a dead Imperium. Stop reminding me of that. My number three
01:16:48
Speaker
Yeah, way too soon. One of the three is a game. It's just so much fun playing it at five players. The table banter that happens in this game is brilliant. There's many table-flipping moments. There's many times where you're calling someone a pretty terse name. And it's an Eric Lang game. It's the godfather Corleone's empire.
01:17:15
Speaker
I don't know if anyone else here has played, I haven't played it with you guys yet. But it's one that we would have a ball with. I played it with your mate. Yep. I played it at your birthday party I think. You did, you did. Or Phil's birthday party, once someone's birthday party. Blew up a whole bunch of people is great. Blew up a whole bunch of people and put a whole bunch of people in Hudson River. Car bombs for the win. It's a very fun game and really enjoy it. And if there's any time where I need a game for five players, it's just cut further. I've only got five.
01:17:46
Speaker
Off we go. Number three. Number two is... No, it's not. Number two is... Yup. Don't tease us. Architects of West Kingdom. Love it. That's another one where I've got five players pulling that out. I'm the same as Steve. I don't like playing on BGA. I'd much rather play in person with the board out to play Matt. It is really good. Really good.
01:18:16
Speaker
mean game as well, and I love it. Number two, Architects West Kingdom.
Top Favorite Games and Strategies
01:18:23
Speaker
Over you, G. Number two, Terraforming Mars. Played that game so much, loved that game so much. Understandable that people move away from it, because Arknova's really good, and I played a lot of Arknova, but it's pretty random.
01:18:44
Speaker
I think. That's just me, though. I'm sure if you play it a lot and you get better at it, you've probably got ways of mitigating that. But I just really, really, really like Terraforming Mars. Final two, Twilight Imperium Force Edition. Whoa! Point to play with you guys in a couple of weeks.
01:19:17
Speaker
That's it. What else can you say? Well, will I be the only one who doesn't have Twilight and Perium 4th Edition on the list? Two games left. My number two is definitely the most played game I've ever owned or played and I
01:19:43
Speaker
I loved it playing it in person, but I actually think I love it more how we're playing it now, even though we've got nothing left to do. And that's Gloomhaven. I have the pleasure of playing it with G Money, Thomas Sabine, Liam. And it's just, it's such a joy every other Wednesday night or Saturday night when we get together and just like dominate because we're all like level eight, level nine, new characters come in at level eight now. So they just like they come in and,
01:20:12
Speaker
just destroy stuff. My credit card's been alive for a long time and has a 100% win rate. It's just, and that's not due to him, that's just due to the fact that,
01:20:23
Speaker
um g money curses and wounds everyone on the map this first turn so they never hit and then when they when they miss they get three damage it's just bedlam but uh you know just most play game love it absolutely love it i had a real tough decision between gloom haven and fifa odin choosing which one and um it's no surprise that after making the choice to go to gloom haven the feast road ended up at three right behind it but it was
01:20:50
Speaker
It came down to that fact that I've played Gloomhaven that much and I still want to go back. So Gloomhaven is my number two game of all time, all times.
01:21:00
Speaker
which means we're under the number ones and it's probably no surprise that my number one it's back at number one after dropping the number two last year real quickly but then returning to its rightful place and really boosted by the fact that Helen got into this game this year we played almost like for probably two months every weekend we played at least one game of this and that is T.O.T. Wakhan City of the Gods it's just
01:21:27
Speaker
wonderful. I've never played a game where you can have a plan and about halfway through the game, you just go, I'm fucked. I've got no idea what's happening. And then you're like, oh, but if I go over there and I do that, and then all of a sudden you just start putting together these turns and you just go, this is
01:21:45
Speaker
Yeah, I just got my second highest score ever. It just seems to come from nowhere, but it always seems to happen. Ah, such an awesome game. You wonder what gets number one on this list, but it is the game that I would never say no to a game of what always offered to teach.
01:22:03
Speaker
It's a lot of heavier games dropped off my list this year. And that goes a long way to the fact that I'm not in a more established gaming group, but also I just can't be asked with the rules overhead these days. TO would be the heaviest game in my list, but I think it's because once you get it, it's so simple. It's such a, it's very clear what you're trying to do. So yeah, TO number one, unbelievable game.
01:22:32
Speaker
Did you do the all-in cool Kickstarter? No, see, I've already upgraded mine.
01:22:38
Speaker
over time anyway, like I've got all the expansions, I've got the upgraded, I've got the BGG bakelite cocoa pieces, got the upgraded, the decorations. So I was kind of like, well, I'm basically paying for a screen painted minis. So it wasn't worth it for me. So I didn't, I didn't, yeah.
01:23:06
Speaker
No surprise, the number one for me, same as last year, Big Shoulders. Still my favorite game to play. You are okay at that game. I gotta ask because we're playing a game at the moment. Because, like, everyone knows you're good at that game. How do you feel when you get a company and everyone just buys your shares? Dave knows what he's doing. Don't buy him, don't put it on his back.
01:23:35
Speaker
And again, because I've seen it so many times, like it's, it's limiting in the fact that I need to change my strategy, but I know how to address it. So that's why I immediately bought another country. I'm like, I can't finish out the game because you guys have done that. It's almost, it was good to start with, but it's like you've hamstrung me. So I need to do something different. So I'm enjoying that game because I have to play it differently than I would normally play it. Normally I'd slow burn, build up, and then just powerhouse it through till the end.
01:24:05
Speaker
Um, but yeah, no can do. So it makes sense. Like it's a, it's a valid strategy for you guys. It's a valid strategy for me, but ultimately I think I'm going to actually hurt you in that game by having all those shares. So not that I'm telling you what to do, but you should probably sell all those shares. I really hope they do come out with a new version this year with a couple of little tweaks and a couple of little extra
01:24:33
Speaker
expansions or something. I don't know. I'll throw a whole bunch of cash at it either way. And if they're out there listening, whoever's got the license, I'll happily, you know, give you a review. Reach out to the board game tunewag for, you know, quality five star and start a review content. Yeah. We'll give you a Reuben sandwich for it. And we are not like you can pay us to, we will say whatever you want. We don't care. Yeah.
01:25:05
Speaker
Send money and script. Shane has to say, there is no way I would ever sell this game. It's so good. I love it. Hey, also with that game that we're playing, right? And I've got the con because it's my number one and I'm going to just use it to complain about City of the Big Shores game. No one bought any of my shares. What have I done to all you people?
01:25:33
Speaker
Did you all like have a word before him? I've got no money. I've got no money. I'm going to come to bed last. And no one's going to buy any of them now that I've said it. And I respect that. I'll buy some next turn G. You better. I think I'm going to lose that game hard because we're in the turn three and I still only have two workers because there was no bloody blue cubes left.
01:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, you could have royally screwed DG in that first turn if you'd taken the blue out of the thing and you didn't leave him in there for him. You're going to screw him. Oh no, we've got all these chairs. You can't screw him. Yeah, that's it. The balance of that game, you screwed. I just want to be fair, that sounds like
01:26:23
Speaker
That's like high level thinking for hours. I'm concerned. Oh, like, what do I need? I need that. Oh, fuck. There's no blue cubes there. Shit. So yeah, I wasn't even paying attention to your strategy. I guess what my number one is. Uh, well, I was looking at your list of last year, the ones you haven't mentioned, uh, could be a few cards in humanity. Be gone.
01:26:50
Speaker
It's Gloomhaven! Oh my god! You didn't even mention Frosthaven. Didn't even think I liked that game. No, I'm actually gonna say it's Gloomhaven Digital Edition. Yeah. Because the Digital Edition changes it completely. Even though that Digital Edition is pretty fucked. That's not great in many respects. That's because you get dirty that they won't let you do the stuff that you want to do.
01:27:19
Speaker
But sometimes they let you do stuff that you shouldn't be able to do and vice versa. Anyway, I agree though at the same time. Yeah. That's because you keep throwing stumps into vases and shit. Yeah. Surprise shock horror. Gloomhaven, I find it adequate as a game. Good choice. Very good choice. My number one is a real board game story. I hated it.
01:27:47
Speaker
And that is shoot real convolence. No, I'm kidding. Actually, I've had another game that rivals that now. That's what I thought you were going before. Yeah, you were talking about Phil's birthday. I'm like, yeah, table flipping moments. I'm like, yeah, I'm pretty sure he's going to flip that table. My number one, yeah, it is a board game story. I hated it. Then met some wonderful people.
01:28:15
Speaker
who told me to try it again, and I did. Ended up buying it, ended up selling it, and thank fuck I've got BGA, because City of the Big Shoulders is my number one. I love the game, it is brilliant. I love playing it competitively, I love playing with DGE and you guys. You've said it all, it's wonderful. I just wish I owned it. So, to any board game chinwag listeners out there that might have that game,
01:28:44
Speaker
Please PM me on messenger. Please. Please do it because he talks about it all the time. I am sick to death of it. Anyway, there we go. That's it. Well, that's it. So we got some stories to tell, Shane. What's going to knock dwellings out of the list?
01:29:10
Speaker
No, no, no. Doing Imperial. I do like that game. I actually forgot about it, to be honest with you. It's hidden now in my board game. I just forget about it. It would have made it in my top 13. But no, Vindication. I played that game yesterday with Phil, Andy and Pastor Nick.
01:29:35
Speaker
And all four of us. It was our first time playing. We all loved it. And it was one of those games where we just went, we want to play that again really soon. So we had four players, we did it under two hours, all new players.
01:29:51
Speaker
to it. It is brilliant. Such a cool game. It's very similar to Dwellings. It is a Euro. I've even set it up on the table today and played a solo play. I watched Grogan's solo play of it. I don't have the solo expansion in the new box that I bought.
01:30:13
Speaker
but it's pretty easy to manipulate it and make it happen. So with everything that I've got there. So I lost that one really poorly. But yeah, I reckon that one's gonna climb. It was cool. Probably one of the best plays of a game that I've had first off in a long while. I even had a joke with Pastor Nick, as I said, I was doing the top 13. I said, this might make my 13. He just cracked up, he said.
01:30:41
Speaker
He said, you're such a cult of the new, aren't you Shane? Well, and look, looking through my list, like I don't think anything brand new has come in. Like Arknove is probably the closest and I think that's still 2022. Like that's still last year. Yeah. It's the cult of the new stuff is a thing. But like I said, all of the games that I played this year that are coming out as new Kickstarter,
01:31:10
Speaker
I only played once, I haven't actually launched onto anything. Void falls, I'm looking at going, I'll probably get into that a bit. Have you guys found anything from this year?
New Games and Market Trends
01:31:21
Speaker
Thunder Road, I guess, Steve, is pretty new for you. Yeah, yeah, and Earth and Heat. It's been a pretty good year for me, but it's really only those three, unless you put... The list keeps going. Wayfares was 15.
01:31:38
Speaker
Foundations of Rome was there, but it was in the late 20s. Yeah, it's the same as you. I haven't played a lot of new games this year.
01:31:50
Speaker
And it helps that like Heat and Thunder Road, the first plays, they were super, they were like really good games. Like there was a fun table. It was a ridiculously insane environment that I was in at the time. So straight away, you've got a memorable moment. And then you play it a few more times, you go, oh no, no, the game actually does hold up. So it deserves its place. But yeah, there's...
01:32:16
Speaker
I'm probably different to you. I didn't get a lot of games this year. So the games that I did get, I've been able to play a few more times. So that's probably why they held up a bit stronger. I think last year I had one new game in my top 13, and that was Ark Nova. This year I had three new games in. So what dropped out? Timmy Bones, Scythe, Terraforming Mars, and Marvel Champions were the games that dropped out.
01:32:47
Speaker
I played Nucleum today. Yeah. It was excellent. It's like brass plus barrage. It's a very good selling point. Yep.
01:33:06
Speaker
Do you have that? No. No, I played with his mate. Because he got it from Essen. He got it delivered from Essen. So when it comes out, I think, yeah, there'll be a fair few plays with that, I reckon. I'm just trying to get a hold of. Yeah, it's really good. Really good. You guys got indication, DJ? You've got it? No, I sold my all-interfield. I'll bring mine around one day.
01:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't like it when I played it. And I played it with G-Money, and I don't think G-Money liked it either. No, I didn't care for it much. Yeah. I wonder whether that, because my brother's just got all the new stuff, and he's been talking nonstop about it. I'm like, I wonder whether we just had a bad setup or something. Because I just remember going, oh, I'm just going to keep doing this, and no one can stop me. And I think I ended up winning by like 40 points or something.
01:34:02
Speaker
But it wasn't enjoyable. It wasn't like it was just kind of going through the motions. But I wonder whether that was just an unlucky table set up, like board set up or something, because, yeah, we seem to be the exception to the rule. I don't know. I'm happy for us to give it a go. I see a lot of people selling it. Like, I sold mine unplayed, but I think I'll... So I'm not the best judge of it, obviously.
01:34:31
Speaker
You see, if you're looking at comparing dwellings and vindication, it really suits many people selling dwellings. You're often selling people selling vindication. You just gave me a great idea because you said selling dwellings and my mind went to realestate.com.au.
01:34:48
Speaker
Wait, I wonder how much it costs to just put a listing up on realestate.com.au for dwellings of elder veil. Just so you can, I don't know. I'm late. It's late in your birthday cake, mate. It's not even a funny joke. But I just had this idea because I was going to make the joke. Oh, you see loads of people.
01:35:02
Speaker
You see, loads of people selling dwellings. Just go to real estate. That was kind of, but then instead of making that terrible joke, I then went, oh, wouldn't it be cool to go the other way and actually sell dwellings on real estate? Stop talking, go do it now. Yeah. Yeah. You nailed it. Yeah, totally nailed it. Yeah, dwellings in Emerald. Yeah. Well, and also I, um, I know we were talking about it the other day, but I have reviewed officially charity party.
01:35:32
Speaker
on Amazon. I'm waiting for it. Excellent. Best thing ever. You read out your review? It was pretty great. And I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. So I can. Yep. Excellent. Fire exclamation mark. So the title of the review is talk about the new hotness. This game is an experience on recommendation from a friend for games that they would not kick out now that they know better. I took a punt and grabbed a copy of this gem.
01:36:02
Speaker
And I was not disappointed. The production value was great and I was able to fill multiple gaps in my collection, even filling in as a monitor stand for a short while. Imagine my surprise when I decided to take it all into a gaming retreat with a slight adjustment to the gameplay became one of the best things of the entire weekend. We added a new step to the game that once you had played around, you had to fling the cards into the open fireplace. Introducing legacy elements into Charti Party made this such a fun experience. The game itself now burns bright in all our memories and a fun time is had by all.
01:36:31
Speaker
You could do worse than purchasing this game and adding your own fun elements. 10th out of 10 would do again. Seriously? And if that sells any more copies, that evil is on you, Ricky Bobby. Do you know how much it's selling for an Amazon right now? Free? $59. I saw it in a shop in LA and it was like $12 or something. Like they had a lot of copies. I bet they do.
01:37:01
Speaker
So Amazon tells me, because I haven't actually got approved for the review yet, there are zero reviews from Australia so far. So I could have the first and only Australian review. I didn't purchase it. I was thinking, if you could just go on and write a review, I need to go on there and go, got this game and then talked about it being a Kickstarter regret. And then a mate of mine bought a copy and used it as a modder stand.
01:37:28
Speaker
Yeah. Negative, negative six out of 10. I'm a week up for knowing this. I rated it three out of five stars. Everyone at your board gaming retreat also goes on there and writes the same thing. There's now 10 reviews from Australia and they're all about the one trip away. It's the board game equivalent of The Rings. Like someone shows it to you, you've got like seven days to pass it on to someone else before you die.
01:37:59
Speaker
But it has a 4.785 rating on Amazon. That's not right. No, a lot of 5 star reviews. So yeah, I hope that does get approved. I'll send it to you guys. I'll send you a link as soon as it comes in. Just like do the uptake or whatever it is. Like this review is helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we burnt it so I can't do it anymore.
01:38:29
Speaker
but it was great. I enjoyed writing that. Hmm. There you go. Well, great lists folks. Great lists. We got through an entire podcast without saying the H word and talking mostly about board games. You know, I can't ruin it now.
01:38:56
Speaker
It's a bit too long since I've been on this podcast and I don't know what the H word is. We mentioned, we mentioned shame. There it is. Fantastic. Yeah, well still being, but you know, it's great. It's been good.
01:39:23
Speaker
I'll tell you what, there's some good games, like looking at our last year's list, there's some good games that didn't get mentioned. Like no one mentioned side that was on both GMoney and I's list. Root, not on Terra Mystica, Root. Haven't played either of them again. Dwellings dropped off your list, Dave. Yeah, we only played it the one time and I think Eclipse sort of took over from it. Yeah, fair. For me, it's in that sort of spot. Like last year where we used to play Dwellings Heaps now, we play Eclipse Heaps. Yeah. Yeah.
01:39:54
Speaker
There you go.