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Episode 21: 2020 was a good year, and Heat is amazing
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Shane (finally) falls in love with Heat: Pedal to the Metal, and Steve rekindles an old flame in Return to Dark Tower.
The boys discuss the year 2020, with some interesting choices made in the annual top 10.
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Transcript
Introduction and Breakfast Banter
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the breakfast edition of Mate Let's Play. How you doing, Shane? I'm excellent. I do have my ham and toast in front of me, so it's good. And a nice Farmer's Union iced coffee.
00:00:26
Speaker
For any Australians out there, it's the best iced coffee to get. Fair enough. And so if you hear any feedback um during the show, it's just Shane taking another bite of his delicious...
00:00:37
Speaker
Toasty. It's just a pity. I will try and mute just in case. i But it is a wee hour of the Sunday morning, isn't it? We do. we're at We're both early starters, which which ah is is handy. So we get it done nice and early. But
2020 BGG Game Selections Discussion
00:00:53
Speaker
let's ah let's talk about games rather than food. it's but This week, this episode, we're doing our 2020 BGG selections, which is a very interesting year for I didn't think it was a great year, but anyway.
00:01:09
Speaker
Well, I guess I've played a lot of games from 2020. Yeah, yeah. And there's a couple in there that sneak around the top 10, top 20 of my list. A former number two or three, maybe.
00:01:23
Speaker
yeah right couple of you yeah Yeah, so So, yeah, but it'd be it's an interesting list, I think. ah So, but before we do that, we always talk about games that we've been playing and I'm not going to hold on any longer because Shane teased a game that he's been playing and I want to hear about. So
Shane's Gaming Experiences and 'Heat'
00:01:41
Speaker
Shane, what have been playing?
00:01:42
Speaker
Well, it is a game that I purchased when it first came out because there was this massive buzz about it. Everyone was going off about this game and I didn't even get it to the table. I just instantly on sold it for the same price I bought it.
00:01:57
Speaker
And, uh, Because figured, am I ever going play it? Probably not. And so I ended up it um' selling it. And then a certain individual naming Steve Shivers just absolutely raves about this game. And everyone that's playing it is raving about it. And I've tried playing it on BGA and I suck at it on BGA.
00:02:18
Speaker
Because i I still didn't have a clue what I was doing. And I think we've talked about it in... previous podcasts that you know it's probably best to play it real life prior to jumping on BGA and learning it because it's a little bit more difficult so and behold walking past EB Games one day and they're having a sale yeah it was 50 bucks 49.95 so grabbed it so it's been sitting there for ages and ages and then I've been a away for work and
00:02:53
Speaker
We couldn't do our Thursday night game nights. We ended up doing it on Friday night. and Myself, Pastor Nick and Andy. And so yeah i said, i Andy, you choose the game. and just to come back and forth. Who's going to play what? I said, know what?
00:03:08
Speaker
I've got heat. Let's get it to the table. Does anyone know how to play it? Luckily, Pastor Nick knows how to play it. He said, that's right. I'm happy to do the teach. And...
00:03:20
Speaker
ah The teaps took two seconds, really, when you think about it. It was such a simple game. I don't know what I was thinking when I wanted to pick it up on BGA. yeah
00:03:30
Speaker
um And i we we were hooked straight away, the whole three of us. We were loving it. And you know you're making the noises as you're changing down the gear. Every time you get to a corner you're spinning out.
00:03:44
Speaker
And we were just having a ball playing the game and The first game took us a little bit longer because we know were trying to learn it. And if we made a mistake, we're OK, but we've learned that for next time.
00:03:58
Speaker
But then we said, OK, let's go again. And the next game took us about an hour. But you could see us near, like we were coming up on the last, we were playing the Italian like italian map.
00:04:11
Speaker
And we were coming up on the last lap. And it was just really quick. So you can imagine when you get good at this game, The terms would really fast versus. um Anyway, we loved it.
00:04:25
Speaker
We were decided in the end that, hey, um we need to play the full campaign. Yeah. Championship. Championship.
00:04:36
Speaker
So we've we've decided we're locking a day. because Pastor Nick's like, oh, we could do a nice, you know, put some, you know, a brisket on the smoker um and just make a full day of it. And i said, absolutely. So we're going to make a full day of doing the championship.
00:04:52
Speaker
um And we did it. We played it with the bot as well. So we had all the cars on the map. Yeah. dramatic not But how easy that bot to use? Yeah, yeah. So good. It actually makes it a playable solo game. Like you could play it yeah with six bots and it, yeah.
00:05:09
Speaker
How easy and simple. yeah if it's If it hasn't reached the Legends line, it goes down the bottom. If it's reached the Legends line, you go the top.
00:05:21
Speaker
It's that simple. And yeah if it's it's two plus the corner is two, it's four. It moves four if it's gone past the Legends line. Just so simple, simple. So I get why you're writing about it.
00:05:35
Speaker
And competitive. Like sometimes those legends, you just can't catch them. And there's always some around where you're at and there's like one or two behind. Like it actually simulates quite well. Or in one game we were playing, there was one car was so far back, but within two moves, it's caught up to us.
00:05:54
Speaker
Yeah, right. yeah And we're like, where did this car come from? and But I love the fact that, you know, when you get into corners, all the cars bunch up. yeah And then then they all start spreading out again. And then it gets to another corner and there's slight little bunch up.
00:06:08
Speaker
But then, you know, eventually everyone starts to pull away a little bit. And um it is super, super cool fun. um We all loved it. and The three of us were just going, this is easy.
00:06:22
Speaker
Let's jump on BGA now and start a game. So we've got a game on BGA going as we speak. um And now that I know how to play it, I'm quite easy to jump on BGA and I get it. I actually get the game now.
00:06:33
Speaker
yeah And so since then, I've jumped on my 3D printer and I've blinged out my copy. I've got a start and finish tyre coming over the track that's got a lap counter on it.
00:06:48
Speaker
I've got um the corner flags on little standees with the numbers printed on it. And then I've got the legends standees as well. So you can see where the legend lines are.
00:07:00
Speaker
um But, mate, it's endless. Like, you can, for the Alaskan map, you can 3D print this big mountain that sits onto the under the board. Yeah, right.
00:07:11
Speaker
And there's also grandstands with little people sitting in them. Yeah.
00:07:18
Speaker
um One of my questions was, did you 3D print the gear before you played it or after? so After. It was after. Because it was instant, right? We just went, yep, nah, we like this game. This is going to... We thought that, you know, we'd play this. And then there was another game we thought we could play in the middle of that, after that. Oh, yeah, Battle of Hoth. Let's do Hei.
00:07:39
Speaker
go into Battle of for a quick game and go back to Heat again um next time. And we thought, that's a great idea. um
'Heat' Gameplay: Real Life vs Online
00:07:47
Speaker
So, but I've also 3D printed um on the, on each player, Matt's got a gear change.
00:07:55
Speaker
So it actually slots up. I was looking at these photos coming through your last night going, oh, I haven't blinged out my copy ah other than extra maps and expansions. And,
00:08:07
Speaker
I haven't gone to a three d i don't have a 3D printer, but you're just making me jealous last night. It was it was it was just like, yep, doing it. um So it's set up today for solo play. I've got it.
00:08:19
Speaker
I'll have all the cars. going run all the cars on the bot and just myself and see how go. But yeah. Did you use the advanced cards?
00:08:30
Speaker
Not yet, no. Okay. Okay. Yeah, we played with the base. recommend them. Yeah, yeah. We played it with the base just for the first couple, and then we're going to throw the advanced cars in the next time. We're playing with advanced cars on BGA at the moment.
00:08:42
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. So we'll get that. in Yeah, I absolutely get the hype, mate. It is a fun, simple game. Yeah, um yeah. Like, you know, the boys love downforce, right? So um Max and Josh walked out here yesterday and said, oh, is this downforce, Dad? Yeah.
00:09:01
Speaker
So now that's a new one's called hate. I said, it's similar still card place. I was explaining it to them and they're like, right, let's, let's have a crack at this. So they're keen to play. Uh, even Laura is keen to play cause she likes downforce too.
00:09:16
Speaker
Well, the first, the first time, cause my kids like downforce as well. And I actually played this with them. um at Meepleville in our Las Vegas when we're on holidays, i was because we went to Meepleville for the day and played games. And I pulled this out and like this was just after I'd bought it from the San Francisco store that we were just at.
00:09:39
Speaker
And I hadn't actually pulled out my copy, but they had a copy there and we played it. And it was the same sort of thing. They were like, oh, is this a bit like downforce? I'm like, well, it is in the sense that you're pushing your car along, but there's no betting. It's just... you just trying to get your car home as fast as you can and and explaining how all the slip streaming and stuff works. And yeah, they they all love it. It's one of the games that we pull out. So I wouldn't be surprised if you have the same luck with your fan.
00:10:01
Speaker
Yeah. um it's ah I think they'll love it as well. And, you know, because that's that's the thing probably, it's probably a little bit different about hate compared to downforce. If you've little kids that want to play this game, is downforce and the betting piece is that a little bit You know, some kids might be a little bit too young for that. I don't know. and Whereas heat's got no bedding in it at all. And you're all about just driving your car as quick as you can.
00:10:30
Speaker
yeah i love the i love the fact that, you know, I was screaming down to a corner in fourth gear.
00:10:37
Speaker
I think I pulled out 12. And I just stopped at the edge of the corner before I get flying around. I think the corner was a two. So it would have just killed me with the massive slide out. Yeah.
00:10:49
Speaker
But, yeah, it's just that thematic stuff. Even the guy said, you're coming down on fourth. I said, yep, I'm fine now. Did anyone have that situation where they they pulled a stress and they were like, it can be anything except a four and I'm fine, and they flip a four?
00:11:05
Speaker
i think I think at one point, yeah, I think Nick, he needed a two, or but he flipped a three, and he was sitting on third gear, so he had to get two stress cards.
00:11:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. into his hand. He wasn't too impressed by that. that i oh I went around one corner and's way too quick, and i had to get five heat cards into deck to bring me back down.
00:11:33
Speaker
yeah Luckily, it was right near the start the game, so I had a lot of cards there, but then I just had to get i had to get rid of them. So then, you know, I'm quickly shifting the end here. Yeah.
00:11:45
Speaker
to get really close in my eye. such a great risk versus reward game like that. Like you hit a, you've burned through a corner and you've taken the lead and you've hit the straight and you're like, yes, you know, like, and then you draw your hand and you draw all those bloody heats that you burned and you're like, I can't move.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, you can't anything. I'm on the back straight and I'm going to go three spaces so I can get rid of all this heat that's in my hand. ah's <unk>s It's, it yes, it punishes you just as well as it saves you sometimes.
00:12:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It was such a good game, mate. Because I think that's in your top 10, is it? Yeah, yeah. I I was in number two last year. Maybe.
00:12:26
Speaker
Yeah, it was definitely up there. Yeah. I love it. I'd play it any time, that game. It's just, we've, ah I mentioned before, I haven't done the 3D printing, but what we've done, because Raff really likes it too, is that we have, that we've got a large form printer where I work.
00:12:41
Speaker
So we've been printing out the different maps. So we've got like Melbourne F1, we've got Adelaide's old street circuit. We've got Basset. Monaco, Monza, but the old Monza that used to have the banked corners from like the 60s and 70s.
00:12:58
Speaker
um What else have we got? And we started, oh we got Zandvoort. We started going, what F1 races on this weekend? All right, well, let's go print that and then we'll play that. But I had to stop because I was spending far too much ink for my work printer. Yeah.
00:13:13
Speaker
We've got about
Crafting Mishaps and Customizations
00:13:14
Speaker
seven or eight, um yeah, of the fan-made maps. There's this New Zealand guy that makes them and it looks just like they're from the game. um Wow, that'd be cool.
00:13:24
Speaker
I'd love to get them. yeah I'd love to get the i gotta to get them. I've got to get them mounted on board because they're rolled up and they're hard to keep flat, but otherwise it's great. yeah Yeah, Adelaide map would be cool.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. it's a bit of a nostalgia. I remember watching the Adelaide GP when I was... A wee boy. I used to. I went to every one of them. so Yeah, right. Yeah. Before the Victorians stole it from us.
00:13:51
Speaker
Dirty buggers.
00:13:54
Speaker
Oh, great. I'm so glad you liked it. Cause I, it is a game. i have a few friends that don't like it um or don't, don't love it. I should probably say like um Eric, who was on the podcasts from onboard games.
00:14:06
Speaker
yeah We played it. We played the championship on that cruise that I went on with him and a few other people. And he just couldn't, it just didn't click for him. And he was like, I just, I feel like it was all luck. I didn't feel like i had a lot of control.
00:14:20
Speaker
um and I had, try to explain to him how you gain control, but then he just dug himself deeper into a hole. So yeah he he still plays it. Like he plays it on BGA with me every now and again, but he doesn't have that absolute affection for it that I do. So um yeah, it's not for everyone, but I think it is.
00:14:39
Speaker
because i I think it's for for for everyone. It's a nice, simple game. um the you know Given the fact that yeah both Lauren and the boys said, yeah, I'm keen for game, that's a big tick for me because they're non-board gamers, right? so But one of the things you know you kind of got to remember is what cards you've spent.
00:15:01
Speaker
There's a little bit of card counting in it because then if you've got a hand handful cards ah What are they called? Not the heat cards, the other one? Stress. Stress cards. You get a handful of stress cards. If you know what's coming in your deck, you just, yeah okay, I'm going to play, in third year, I'm going to play three stress cards.
00:15:19
Speaker
Yeah. And just go bang, bang, bang. So. What I do like about the basic cards, and there are some advanced cards that have it too. i love the zero card. It's my favorite card in the game.
00:15:30
Speaker
yeah because it's one of those things, like you say, you come into a corner in fourth gear and everyone, oh, Shane's going to crash out. And you play like a zero, one and one. And it everyone's like, oh, like okay. You got to run that fine.
00:15:42
Speaker
Like it's a sneaky little, the zero is a sneaky card. Yeah, and there's – because that advanced card's got a a zero in it as well, has't it? Yeah, there's a couple that are like – it'll be like zero, but it gives you an extra slipstream and a cooldown or something. Yeah, cool.
00:15:57
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you can really like double down on that. And it's one of those cards, and you'll probably see this, if if if your group hasn't played it a lot when you do the draft of the cards, it'll probably get left behind because everyone's like, ooh, this one goes eight and this one, know, this one gets – plays three stresses. That's going to be huge.
00:16:15
Speaker
um and then there's this like a lowly zero card there that you no one's touching and you're like i'll take that that's uh and the other the other really good stress card that is often overlooked is an additional heat um but it starts in your hand so you can cool down straight away you don't have to wait yeah you don't have to wait till you get your discards back so it's uh and then you've got an extra heat for the whole game so yeah that is good one Well, mate, we've spent 16 and a half minutes talking about a game that you've raved about for a long time. so
00:16:48
Speaker
We can keep going, but I'm happy to change if we need to. it was There was a bit of drama, though. i I'm a bit devastated for the first time I've wrecked a board. hu
Exploring 'Botswana' and 'Return to Dark Tower'
00:16:59
Speaker
So little standees are made with the corners numbers on them.
00:17:06
Speaker
I put a bit of superglue on just to glue them down. And I thought, yeah, it's been a half an hour, so you think it's going to dry. So one of my photos I took to show you guys, my three was sitting on it.
00:17:19
Speaker
I took the photo and came back later and said, oh, I'll just clean all this up. And the three was stuck to the floor.
00:17:29
Speaker
So thankfully I'm um'm ah a good drawer. So I'll be able least text to the three on there. yeah right it wasn't matter that but it's just on the italian map yeah well at least you didn't pour an entire drink of something you know for a game you've not touched before that was uh oh yeah leave that to the i i my luthier death story the other day the other episode but uh not as bad thankfully um All right. Well, I have been, I've got a couple of games at the table. I've got a new one that I played yesterday with, well, it's not new one, an old one, but I got the Ra expansion, the Traders expansion delivered, the Kickstarter delivered, and with it came Botswana, which is an old Rhinocutia card game that I'd never played before, but I'd only ever heard good things. And
00:18:19
Speaker
I went through the rules and I'm like, man, this is like a really basic game, but sounds really interesting. So I'll play it with the group yesterday that came over. So we had a a nice game day and it it is, it's such a simple game, but geez, it can be mean. It can be like, it can be lucky, but yeah you've you've got, everyone's playing a particular strategy and it's not easy to kind of hide what you're doing. So it's you've you've you've got to try and be sneaky but it's really simple you've got these five animals have you ever played botswana no
00:18:51
Speaker
no i they got five animals, you got like giraffes, lions, meerkats, rhinos, and the one elephants and every, and everyone's hand is all of the cards in the game minus a couple. If you're playing with two, three or four players, you take a couple out, but otherwise every other hand in the game, every and they're from zero to five of each of the animals.
00:19:13
Speaker
And the rule is you must play the card in front of the animal that's on it. So if it's a lion card, it's going to play in front of the lion. but you can take any of the other animals. You don't have to take a lion. You can if you want, you don't have to.
00:19:26
Speaker
um And the round goes until someone plays the sixth card on one of the animals. But what happens then is the round ends and the last card played on every stack is the point value that those animals are worth.
00:19:40
Speaker
So you can collect whatever animals you want, but the point value keeps changing. So you're sitting on meerkats and you've like four meerkats and they're worth five points. And then some bastard plays a zero on it. All of a sudden your meerkats are worth nothing.
00:19:54
Speaker
and get jammed. or maybe maybe you're just sitting there with a five giraffe and you're you're slowly collecting giraffes and hoping no one will notice. And you're just waiting for that turn where it's clearly and towards the end of the game where you can throw a five giraffe down and make all your giraffes worth five. and But then some bugger right before you, usually my wife, finishes a row.
00:20:13
Speaker
So I know I'm getting play my five giraffes and now I'm only getting one for each of my giraffes. So it's a really good timing game. It's a really good like like loads of hands in the air. oh, what did you do that for? And, you know, like it's it's like there was one round where Helen had gotten all the meerkats and um it came around to the person before her who played a meerkat card. So then Helen was like, yes, a and then played her five meerkat, which finished them off. That was a six card.
00:20:41
Speaker
So she scored 25 points and like no one else scored hard. Like everyone else scored like seven or eight points. So she just robbed her head. in one round. So yeah, it it's a really cool game. You play as many rounds as there are people because the more people, the the quicker the rounds go because there's more cards being played. And so, um yeah, we played five rounds and yeah, great game.
00:21:05
Speaker
Simple, Yeah. yeah But also too, it sounds like you've got to keep an eye on what someone's doing. Yeah, 100%. You can't just ignore the fact that they're taking lines. Why are they taking lines? They must have a way to score big on lines. So do I either want to stop them from scoring big on lines or do want to start taking lines as well because then I'll get whatever they're trying to work towards.
00:21:24
Speaker
So, yeah, really, really nifty game. Good little thinking game, but also really, like, that's the rules. What I just said, there are no other rules. That's it. It sounds like a quick game too. Yeah, yeah, like it we five players, two rounds took us maybe 15, 20 minutes. Yeah, perfect. Yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker
So great little game. But that one is the the new game. But I've gone back to another game as well that I love. And i the last time I played, I hadn't played it in a while, but the last time I played it was actually with Dave and G-Money last Christmas.
00:21:57
Speaker
at the I brought it all the way down and it was Return the Dark Tower. Actually, it wasn't. It yeah this was me. I think yeah I came down at another time because I had to, I can't remember. anyway Either way, I had to try and fit it in.
00:22:12
Speaker
We played it at a community place. Yes. It was about a community place. Yeah. Yeah, it was me, you, DG, and And G, yeah. Yeah. yeah And it wasn't a very good game.
00:22:25
Speaker
Like, i I was disappointed. I felt bad because I raved about this game and and the game didn't, really do much and then I killed everyone was gonna say it was over in about 10 minutes we we went were getting along everyone's starting to get into it then I went and hunted down a bloody um a dungeon and died and when one person dies everyone dies so then I felt even worse because I'm like not only has it not been a good game I'm the one that ended it early so I kind of kind of tarnished it a bit you know how a bad player the game can kind of tarnish it
00:22:59
Speaker
yeah um But I got it back to the table and i'm I'm pleased to say that it's gone back up in my estimations again. It is a great game and I've been playing it solo. So I played about three or four games where just one character and now I've gone to playing two characters, which is so much more fun.
00:23:15
Speaker
But it's it's it's always, it's I will say one thing. i love the system. I love how it all works. But you don't realize how, like, it doesn't have that tension that you would expect from it that other games sort of do where, like, I'm just scraping by. If I win, I'm just winning, like, with one skull left. And at the end of every round, you've got to put a skull on the top of the um tower. And if ever you can't, you lose.
00:23:42
Speaker
um and almost every game I'm playing, it's either I've just lost or I've just won, but it doesn't, for some reason, it doesn't feel as tense as it should for how close it is.
00:23:55
Speaker
yeah um That would be my only negative reaction. and that might be because I'm playing it solo maybe in a four-player game it's like everyone's on edge because they realize how close we are to death I don't know but um but taking that aside from it it really doesn't like you've got this huge tower you've got all these miniatures out on the board and you're going and you're battling these miniatures and all that but it's such it's it's like it's like Gloomhaven light It's such a Euro game because it's all about how you play your character. It's not luck. There's no dice rolling. there's
00:24:28
Speaker
It's all about... building up your resources so that you know that you can go into a battle and and yeah and have a good chance of victory. I love the fact that if you don't, if you can't beat a particular enemy enemy's card, you have to take a corruption.
00:24:44
Speaker
And you can only ever have a maximum of two corruption. And if you get a third corruption, you die, which is what happened to me in the um india dungeon that time. ah But when you take a corruption, you also defeat that card. So it still progresses you along in the game.
00:24:59
Speaker
um But then it also hampers you with some negative effect that you've got to try and get rid of later. ah So it is very much, it's it's like, it's not what it looks like, I guess. It looks like it's going to be throwing dice and killing everyone and all that sort of stuff. But it's very much about strategic resource building and and card manipulation, I guess, with regards to the enemies that are coming in.
00:25:23
Speaker
Plus, you can buy... But working together as well, from memory. Yeah, it's a cooperative game. and yeah ah you go You go over here and go and get these resources while I go and I'll go and attack this.
00:25:35
Speaker
Yeah. ah From memory, we were pretty close to winning. Yeah, we were doing well. And then until some idiot decided to go down a dungeon and put can push it a bit too far and die.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yes.
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah. And it's, I don't know, there's something about it that really just resonates with me. I love that you can really just add stuff. So you can have up to four treasures, which give you better so benefits.
00:25:59
Speaker
You have as many potions as you like. You can, if you go and complete these quests, you get... um companions that give you benefits. And you just you get to the end of the game and you've got like 30 cards in front of you. And you're just like, all right, I'm fighting this person, but I've got, I've got one magic benefit. I've got, how what do they call them? a Magic benefit.
00:26:17
Speaker
um advantage. I've got one magic advantage from here and because we're in the mountains, i get two magic I get two magic advantages here and because I've got this, I've got an undead advantage and and then youve got to try and work out whether they match with who you're fighting against. and Or maybe your character is really strong against melee people, but mine's really strong against humanoids.
00:26:36
Speaker
So we'll we'll organize to make sure that we're we're fighting different people so that we can take advantage of our advantages. and Yeah, very tactical game, but just doesn't look at from the box or from the setup. It just, yeah, it's not the cheesy Amerithrash game that it appears to be on the on the surface. So yeah, I'm a massive fan. I'm back into it. I've played it like four or five times in the last couple of weeks and just so happy to get it back to the table. I had a great game yesterday where I had to sacrifice 100 Warriors in order to have the big boss come out.
00:27:08
Speaker
But then, of course, you've just sacrificed 100 warriors and the big boss is out. So then you're like, I don't have any warriors left. So what the hell am I going to beat this guy? So, yeah, it's just awesome. And it's it's got a great table presence too.
00:27:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's outstanding. And I'm not going to lie, I was on um Amazon last night looking at large lazy Susans because the one downside of playing it solo is something happens in the south and you're like, I've got to get up and get around in the south. And and now then a skull will fall over on the other side of the board. You're like, all right.
00:27:45
Speaker
So it's a little bit of an exercise game too because you're continually standing up and moving stuff if you're playing solo. So did you buy yourself a lazy Susan from Amazon? I didn't. they're a bit I couldn't justify because you need one the size of the playmat, which is 80 centimetres, and that's not normal.
00:27:59
Speaker
So you're looking at at nearly 300 bucks. I'm like, I can't buy a $300 Lazy Susan for one game. I used to have one. Like with my old 4x4 table, we used to play Gloomhaven on it, and I made a Lazy Susan.
00:28:11
Speaker
um So I could just go back to doing that. was literally cut out a circle out of a piece of play. um Yeah. what Bought the rotator thing for it, but maybe I need to look at doing that again.
00:28:25
Speaker
Yes, Return Dark Tower. That's my um but my big game that I've been playing. That's good. Fantastic, mate. Any other games for
Upcoming Reviews and Gaming Industry Insights
00:28:34
Speaker
ah No. No? No, nothing. I've been away all week with work, so for me to squeeze in the Friday game night was...
00:28:43
Speaker
a bit of a push given that i didn't get home until late Thursday night. And so the Friday night I'm spending with three mates playing board, two mates playing board games and haven't seen my wife in four days. Yeah, fair call. I did get, I did get Battle the Hoth to the table a couple of times too with Raf this week.
00:29:01
Speaker
Again, has that guy um um he just kills me. Like it's getting to the point now where I'm like, can I play with your guys to see whether it's me or whether, whether the, the, or the ah the yeah empire is too strong.
00:29:14
Speaker
No, it's so so good. I think we played about eight or nine of the missions in the book. I think there's 12. So we're we're working our way through it. and then And then we can start on the scenarios. Like this this like I said the other week, there's so much game in that box.
00:29:27
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I must say there's two games coming that we're going to review. I'm going to hopefully have them for our next podcast to review.
00:29:38
Speaker
um And that is that two more games from Asmodee, which I've given to Andy and his son are playing, which is a Star Wars one. And then there's a card game that Pastor Nick and his family have been playing. Pastor Nick said that he'd love for his children to review it for us.
00:29:59
Speaker
So he's going to record them tap doing in the review and then we'll put it on our podcast for them. So... Yeah, that'd be cool. I thought that'd be a great idea. ah So that's coming up.
00:30:10
Speaker
So thank you, Asmodee. And I'm hopeful that, you know, we'll be getting Battle of Hoth to the table next week in between our game of heat. I'm trying to get to, I've still i got Critter Kitchen to review, which I've read the rules of, but I haven't played yet. So that's another one from Asmodee that I will get to in a future episode. But I actually, yeah when we had the option of the the games that you're talking about, I said, I've got too many as a backlog. I'm just going take a month off getting games so I can catch up.
00:30:43
Speaker
I must admit, because um yes, I did get the email from Asbodee for our next lot. And I said, look, I'll forgo this this month. ah i um And I'll chat to you next month. Yeah.
00:30:54
Speaker
Yeah. yeah
00:31:07
Speaker
Well, with that note, we'll move on to some news and Kickstarter info. If you've got anything, what have you what have you found in the world of Kickstarter? I haven't been on Kickstarter for a while, mate. No, so I've got um got nothing um on Kickstarter or GameFound.
00:31:24
Speaker
So from a news point of view, Essen's on. I know that Essen's on and everyone's raving about Essen. um And for our podcast listeners, the whole two of them, recommend jumping on five games for Doomsday.
00:31:37
Speaker
um Ben Maddox, he's done day zero, day one, day two of Essen. And He's just interviewing everyone. It's just a great podcast to listen to. You're listening to the likes of you know Paul Grogan, Turtsy, and you know it's just good banter that he's got with them all. So jump on it and you can hear what's going on, especially his best mate Martin Wallace jumps on there at one point as well. so It's a things like Essen and obviously Gen Con and
00:32:10
Speaker
and you realize just how far away from the world australia is because it's just such a such an effort to be able to get to one of those things but one day one day um i have one thing that i am very excited for for kickstarter uh one of helen and i's favorite games wonderland's war oh yeah yeah they they're releasing wonderland's war duel which would be really cool because Helen loves it. So if it's a good version of the game, like a little two-player version, it means it gets to the table a hell a lot more because Wonderland's War is a brilliant game, but probably not at two. Like it's fine at two, but it's scenes with more people because it's a combat game, right?
00:32:51
Speaker
yeah So I'm very interested to see. and I'm definitely backing it. um I'm also, um I missed out on Mad Carla, which is the Mancala game that they released in the Wonderland's War universe not long ago.
00:33:04
Speaker
So I'm tempted to grab that as well. so But ah yeah, Wonderland's War Jewel looks really good. looks like it um captures a fair amount of what the original game is. So um I'm definitely going to get on that one.
00:33:15
Speaker
It's got about 13 days to go, so probably about eight or nine days to go when this releases. So yeah, definitely gonna definitely going to be back on that one. so And did you did you hear the other big Kickstarter news?
00:33:29
Speaker
No. Well, it's actually, I suppose, a game found. Either way. um Speaking of Asmodee, remember when all of the um Tariff stuff started happening and looked like Seamon was not going to survive it?
00:33:44
Speaker
Yes. And I cancelled my Cthulhu Death May Die Season 5 pledge, which was the biggest pledge I'd ever made because I went in for the big bloody...
00:33:55
Speaker
um Godzilla and everything. um And I just, I just, it just didn't seem like it was going to happen. Well, Asmodee have taken over the Cthulhu death may die license.
00:34:07
Speaker
So now it'll, it'll get done for sure. But you know, who knows when, obviously i'm not I'm not backing it anymore, so I won't be getting it at least through the Kickstarter, but it's another, it's another big um intellectual property that's left CIMON. So they've lost, I think they've lost,
00:34:26
Speaker
Zombicide now. They've lost um all the blood rage. All that's gone. So, yeah, they're really just sort of downsizing everything at the moment. So, and interesting to see what will happen there in the future. I don't know what they've still got. think I think they've still got Marvel United.
00:34:45
Speaker
um But I don't know what else they're still holding on to. Isn't there a new Marvel one coming out? Did you see something? Well, I don't know. I don't think CMON have put anything new up since the tariff stuff. I think they're just trying to get what they've done yeah they've got done. but um Yeah, so interesting. It's sad, but at the same time, like, if this means that the games will survive, then that's better than them not surviving and everyone doing their money.
00:35:16
Speaker
So happy to see Asmodee coming in. Asmodee is a funny company. I didn't like Asmodee for many years, but they seem to have started to, like, you know, that the they own BGA now. and BGA, everyone was worried about when Asmodee took over BGA about what it had turned into and it's only gotten better.
00:35:35
Speaker
um Yeah, so like they're they're picking up these other games that would otherwise have not been made. So my my frustration and anger towards Asmodee, which was mainly based around the fact that if you had an issue with a game, they just said, too bad, so it's sad.
00:35:50
Speaker
but seems Seems to have, seems to have be waning now. I'm quite happy with Asmodee over the last couple of years. so yeah.
00:36:02
Speaker
Nice. Personal opinion. My opinions of Stephen Shivers don't reflect the opinions of the tabletop, what are we called? Make Let's Play podcast.
00:36:12
Speaker
ah Given we get review copies from Asmodee, but thanks. Yeah, yes. Well, typical that's ah yeah another thing, right? That that was obviously VR ah for so long and then Asmodee, it's now Asmodee. and Yeah.
00:36:23
Speaker
And Yeah, how can I be mad at Asmodee because they look go after us so well. So, yeah, anyway. Very good. Well, shall we jump in to the results of our 2019 challenge?
00:36:36
Speaker
We should, right after I remembered to open that because I didn't.
Game Challenges and Top Picks from 2020
00:36:41
Speaker
Where is my awful score? There it is Yeah, I think you're got to beat me again this week. don't know about that. So I got 2,425.
00:36:50
Speaker
Well, given that Rival Restaurants was 2,184. Oh, shit. I got surprised, though, just my 2019 list. Of my
00:37:09
Speaker
of my highest one was kaloma at seven hundred and eighty eight andloma is a brilliant game Yeah, wow.
00:37:20
Speaker
That was your highest, like your your biggest scorer. Yeah, okay. Yeah, the highest scoring was 788, which was Coloma. And I'll just, I can't work that out. Circadian's first line is lower.
00:37:33
Speaker
like It didn't stick around long, did it? Like it wasn't. it was It's a great game, but no one talked about it for, like, considering how clean it is. And, like, I played it at your house that time and then wanted to buy it ever since and luckily found a copy because I didn't have to go into into the ill-fated Kickstarter.
00:37:51
Speaker
But ah it's, yeah, it it deserves to be high, but it just seems to never get talked about. yeah So as far as I'm concerned, like,
00:38:02
Speaker
of that list, it's one of my favorite games. And so it just says to me, it's, um, just a little sneaky one that no one really knows about. So yeah, check it out. and And I say it never gets talked about, but when it does, everyone's like, oh, such a great game. but You know, whenever i go to a game day, they say, can I bring Coloma? Yeah. i'll bring colo
00:38:24
Speaker
Alrighty. So 2020, you got a dice roll already? Yep. Here we go. I have rolled a five. I've rolled a four. Over to you. Righty-y.
00:38:35
Speaker
Well, i I'm just going to take it. Do an Imperium. um Still in my top ten. Great game. um Claiming it nice and early. Yeah, as you should do.
00:38:47
Speaker
A game that we have history in. don't think I've ever beaten you, and you've certainly beaten me. We have great history with it, and that's probably one of my favourite ballgame moments. Actually, when you look at most of my favourite ballgame moments, you're involved.
00:39:01
Speaker
yeah So, so you know, Dune Imperium, good game. was the only game I've ever – I've mentioned this so many times, but as soon as I left your house, I was driving ballgame store to buy it.
00:39:14
Speaker
Yeah. I'll just take the next one, which is pretty much the same game. Slightly different, Lost Ruins of Arnak. yeahp Yeah. And I like that game too.
00:39:27
Speaker
I had everything for it. ended up moving that copy on though. and But I'm i'm seeing you know this and all the new maps that they're doing for it. Yeah, yeah. And it looks really good.
00:39:40
Speaker
I didn't like it for the longest time. And then I started to come around on it. I think, I don't know what changed. I think ah and if i played it i think I played it physically somewhere recently, like in the last year or so.
00:39:53
Speaker
um I feel like it was with Shane and Ingrid somewhere. Maybe at a game day. Maybe G-Money was there. Maybe I'm dreaming. I don't know. But then I started playing it on BGA a bit more and I'm like, I've i've come around on it. I I don't, I see the similarities Dune Imperium, but I don't consider them anywhere near the same style game.
00:40:13
Speaker
Not the same style of game, but, yeah you know, there was all that hype that, you know, it's very similar. And look, that it's it's a deck builder, so it's technically, technically. Similar make mechanisms, yeah. ah Well, I'm glad you didn't take this one from me because this was another game that used to be like way up in my top 10, but then did get replaced, almost switch out, switch in. I know, Danny. But what a game. And can play this any time. And yeah if you can't go past the ridiculous, unnecessary, totally superfluous, use every sound bases for Dwellings of Eldervale, fantastic game.
00:40:50
Speaker
It is a fantastic game. I don't own the new one because i own Dwellings and, you know, as far as I'm concerned, that's my favourite out of the two. um And every time you build a little Smurf village, you've just got to sing the Smurf song, so...
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah, um ah it is funny, like, because space is not my jam, even though apparently it is, but it's not. And Andromeda's Edge is in space, Dwellings of Elderval is in fantasy. I would much rather the the games be switched um because as cool as it is to upgrade one of your ships to a building, it's not putting a hat on a worker.
00:41:33
Speaker
And turning that worker into a smurf village. Yeah, it it doesn't give you the same joy in your heart, that's for sure. No, no. So my next one is the space theme, and and it's kind of like TI4 Lite, and that's Eclipse.
00:41:53
Speaker
Ah, yes, of course. Yeah, it's ah such a fun game, and it is it is pretty much TI4 Lite, you know, without the negotiation or anything like that. it's It's good.
00:42:06
Speaker
Good game. Fair call. um I am going to jump to our standard Shem Phillips and Sam McDonald mention for the podcast. We've always got to have one.
00:42:18
Speaker
ah And this this is Viscounts of the West Kingdom. It wavers. I have considered it the best, the second best, and the third best of the West Kingdom games at different points. But i I actually think it's the most genius game of the three, whether that means it's the best or not. But I love the mechanisms that they introduced in that. ah they're They're not difficult. like It doesn't add complexity, but it adds this... There's four different games going on at once. and I love how they all work together as well. So...
00:42:52
Speaker
it did something that none of the other ones have done. Like, even though ah I may, like, I think Paladins is probably my favorite now, but so I may prefer that, but it doesn't do anything as genius as what I think fire counts does. I
Memorable Games and Unique Mechanics
00:43:06
Speaker
think it's a very underrated game.
00:43:07
Speaker
So it's my third out of the three. Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:15
Speaker
But good choice, mate. I knew you'd pick it because I wasn't going to, um, ye My next one I'm weighing two ways with, so I'm going to go, I'll go this one first. And that's something that Ingrid and Shane and I play.
00:43:32
Speaker
ah They have a copy and most game days we do try and bring it out and that's Kanban EV. Yeah. Such a good, crunchy, crunchy game.
00:43:44
Speaker
Yeah. I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it's either Kanban or Escape Plan is my favorite Lucerta game currently. So yeah, great game. but One of the few Lucerna games that I'll be like, oh, yeah, I'll have a game of that. The other ones I'm like, oh, I'll pass.
00:44:01
Speaker
All right. Well, just for the mere fact that I've played through the campaign three or four times now, I've got to put jaws and lion on there. What a great way to introduce people to extremely heavy game just so gradually that you don't even realize you're playing a heavy game when you get to the end of it.
00:44:23
Speaker
So good. So many games have copied that blueprint now since then. maybe not as Maybe not in their own version, but maybe with a starter guide, how to play the first five scenarios or whatever.
00:44:35
Speaker
It all started with, well, don't know it all started with Gloomhaven, Jaws and Lion, but it definitely felt like that for me. So, yeah. Choice. ah My next one is another Lucerta, and that's On Mars.
00:44:51
Speaker
was never taking that. so you oh Well, the only way it, because I've played it a few times and I've liked it every time i've played it, but to I've had some really i had a really good moment playing on Mars once and I just ended up snaking someone from the game by just playing one extra card and they actually you had to do a back count because there was no way they thought I could have it. And I did.
00:45:17
Speaker
it was good. Shout out to Adnan. I know that if you're listening to this, I'm making very sad. but like Honestly, i don't i don't know if we're still friends because I don't like that game. like he' He loves that game so much and he hates the fact that I don't like it.
00:45:32
Speaker
So I apologize, Adnan, but it's it's not for me, that one. um Well, I'm going to jump to, I think I've actually got this game on my shirt.
00:45:43
Speaker
You have? i I've got it on my list as well. Right there, right the top. got it I guess if I'm wearing the game, I should probably choose the game and from one of my favorite designers, Ive Rosenberg, and that is Halatau.
00:45:57
Speaker
actually I actually thought to myself, oh, he's actually dressing for the 2020 list today. Totally random. it's just ah It's just a thing of all Ive games. all the time yeah Yes. ah Not my favourite Uwe. Obviously, Feast for Odin being my number one game of all time has that distinction, but one of my favourites. It's up there with, like, Le Havre,
00:46:21
Speaker
Caverna, that sort of game. It's lighter than those. It's bit easier to get to the table, and it's kind of fun. It's kind of, like, it's thinky, but it's not, like, it's not sit there with the air, like these ones. It's kind of like...
00:46:35
Speaker
I'm just going throw this in the field and watch it grow. and And then I'm going to move this weird, like the house moving along, like it the village moving along. It's quite quite fun. So yeah, Halotau, great game. Yeah, cool.
00:46:47
Speaker
It wouldn't be an episode without me mentioning my favorable game designer as well. So my number five is Anno 1800.
00:46:55
Speaker
by Martin Wallace. It is a good, good game. um And the expansion to it is really good as well. Just adds a little bit of flavour. um But um I do have a blinged out set that was all 3D printed where, you know, instead of me having to place all the tiles out individually, ah just bring out a tray and they're already set for me.
00:47:18
Speaker
The tray goes on top and it's nice and easy, to quick quick to set up. and We played a rotten game of it at a game day once. We realised we totally cocked up a ah rule.
00:47:32
Speaker
And it kind of ruined the whole game for us, but we just said, ah, well, it it still was a good, you know, because if we played it correctly, would have been vietnam we wouldn't have scored so many points.
00:47:44
Speaker
So...
00:47:47
Speaker
um yeah it's a game i have only gotten to the table once but i really liked it i don't know why i haven't gotten back on the back out again i've had it for years and it just sits there on the shelf and yeah because i my um my nephew loves it mike and he when he plays it he does the he pisses everyone off because he rushes the end yeah game in how does it work you you've get 10 cards but once you've got no cards left the game ends or something like that correct yeah yeah yeah really id but you A lot of action gives you cards, but he just ignores taking all those actions, sort of tries to minimize the game and wins most of the time too, because he's he's a genius. But anyway.
00:48:25
Speaker
Yeah, know i think the think the rule that we messed up on was every time you take you take ah you build onto your board, you extend your board, you're meant to take cards to your hand as well. And so we weren't doing that.
00:48:36
Speaker
So the card shedding happened really quick and we're like, oh no, this can't be we're missing something. And then we realized what we did. yeah yeah That reminds me, I played Emberleaf for the first time last weekend.
00:48:50
Speaker
That's a great game too. i probably should have talked about that. I'll save it for next week. But we played a rural and we didn't realise because it was going, we're like, this is a really good game. goes a bit long though.
00:49:02
Speaker
And then we got to the last round and I'm putting out all the last um little dangerous areas. And I'm like, I don't have enough dangerous areas. doesn't make any sense because this is the end game trigger. Like, how can we not have enough?
00:49:14
Speaker
We can't end the game. And then we consult the rulebook and it turns out whenever you fill a clearing, you also take one of the things that triggers the end of the game, which meant we would have been finished like maybe an hour beforehand.
00:49:28
Speaker
Good times. But we still enjoyed it. It's just a bit longer than it should have been. ah Comic Hunters is the next one I'm taking. So technically came out in 2020. I got my copy last year.
00:49:39
Speaker
ah when it came out and in a really, really poor version from Spin Master Games, but it's at least it was available. So there's there's a 3D printer um markup waiting to happen.
00:49:54
Speaker
um If you're looking for a Christmas present idea for me, Shane, you can 3D print me all the bits for the Comic Hunters. and I'll look all that up because, yeah, it is that is a piece of crap game like from computer point of view.
00:50:06
Speaker
Such a shame, but great game. Absolutely outstanding game. So, Comic Hunter, I'm still on that one. Nice. Okay, so now um I've just got a stack written on my list, and because I think I've just i've gone through all the ones I really thought were fantastic.
00:50:26
Speaker
I might go with, because I love my card games, as you know, so my number six is going to be four. ah good multi-use cards.
00:50:38
Speaker
Every card's got something you can do. Totally different. like It's similar to yeah and Glory to Rome. um you know Similar to that where you know each card can do so many things. sorry So Fort is my number six.
00:50:56
Speaker
Cool, cool. I'm going to go for a game that I really like that every time I want to play it, people just don't seem keen to play it, which is disappointing. So I'm obviously a bit of a champion for it, but I feel like every time I do play it, everyone has a great time.
00:51:11
Speaker
And it's a bit of a quirky game. i don't know if you played it, but it's picture perfect. Never played it. So basically it's a game where you've got all these figures and every figure, there's these like communal rules about these characters and without that are the figures. And when you select a character, you look at their requirement and it might say, ah don't want to be sitting next to the dog.
00:51:33
Speaker
Or I want to be at the front of the photo. I want to be, and you're basically just designing a photo that you eventually take a photo of and then compare your photo with the with the requirements of each of the characters and if you've achieved all of the things you get victory points and if you achieve some of them you get less victory points and stuff so it's it's just a fun little party game and for whatever reason helen doesn't like it i thought she'd love it and um ah yeah it's a game that plays well at five and six players it's but Yeah, it seems like no one else wants to play it.
00:52:07
Speaker
So I'll put it on my list and maybe when someone, some random person listening to the episode might go, I like that game. well I'd like to try that. If not, fine. I'm used to people saying no, but pitch perfect. Great game.
00:52:21
Speaker
I thought this one been on your list a little bit earlier, but because I know you like this game, I'm pretty sure you do. um And I do. And that's Nidavali. it is a great game, yeah.
00:52:33
Speaker
It is a fun game. Awesome auction mechanics. Sorry, did I take it? Yeah, did, but I left it too late. You're right. That's a great game. You're just building this awesome combination going up with scoring your points, and it's good.
00:52:50
Speaker
Such good game.
Space-themed and Notable 2020 Games
00:52:52
Speaker
That's my number seven. Yeah. um Probably my second my second favourite bidding game behind RAR, I'd say. ah Okay, yeah. Yeah.
00:53:02
Speaker
um I'm going to go with, I'm going to go to space because we all know I love space and I am going to take, there's two that I'm tossing up. They're right next to each other, but I'm going to take the search for planet X. Great little deduction game.
00:53:19
Speaker
I just feel so dumb when I play it with other people. So I prefer to play it alone. I've actually got Search for Lost Species, which is the the second one, and i actually prefer it over Planet X, but they both do very similar things and just just finding out little tidbits of information to try and find out where X is and eventually you'll figure it out if you if you pay attention enough. So yeah, great game.
00:53:44
Speaker
Good choice. i' My number eight, I'm going to stay in space as well. And um this game I've owned for a very long time. It's sitting right behind me.
00:53:56
Speaker
I've got a really nice painted set.
00:54:00
Speaker
And i have not played it yet. And that is Cosmic Frog. Oh, right. Yes. Okay. I've owned Cosmic Frog for since it first came out. um and every frog is painted really nice as well, including ah we've got a cane toad-looking one as well in there.
00:54:20
Speaker
And I'm yet to get at the table. it's It's meant to be a really mean game. I've watched a couple of playthroughs, but I'm inspired because a recent podcast I just listened to, they spoke about it, and they talked about how much fun they were having.
00:54:34
Speaker
So I'm hopeful that... By the end of this year, I'll have gotten that one to the table. Fair enough. um I've not never played it, so I couldn't add anything there. um i'm I'm going to stay in space and take the other space game that I was tossing up, which is Beyond the Sun.
00:54:55
Speaker
commonly referred to as spreadsheets, the board game. It's ah it's funny because when it came out, everyone was like, oh, it's it's a great game. It's a great game. You can play it on BGA. And then I'm like, oh, it's one of those games that's not as good on BGA as it is on the table. And people are like, oh, yeah, maybe. And then I saw it on the table. I'm like, no, it's fine. I play on BGA.
00:55:13
Speaker
It's not a looker. It really isn't a looker. But it's I've still got the physical version and it's still good. um But... Yeah, i don't I feel like this is one of those few games that where it doesn't lose anything going online.
00:55:28
Speaker
So, yeah. Clever little tech tree building game. if you like tech trees, this probably Tech Tree the game is probably more accurate than Spreadsheet the game.
00:55:38
Speaker
There's
00:55:44
Speaker
so many card games on here too that I liked, but I'm not going to take that. I'm going to take... I know you like this one as well, and it's one game that I know my wife likes to play with me, and that's Century Golem Edition.
00:55:57
Speaker
Ah, yep.
00:56:00
Speaker
Very simple game, but fun. Haven't played it for while. Is it a 2020 game? Yeah. Can't
00:56:11
Speaker
find them. Wanna kill list? Is it? There you yeah Alright, I'll... I don't know because i've I've got my list of games I've played from the year and it's not on there.
00:56:21
Speaker
must have. All right. Fair enough.
00:56:28
Speaker
Turns out I don't know how to make a spreadsheet after mentioning spreadsheets. yeah I did see a game that I was going to mention. i will.
00:56:40
Speaker
No, I won't. I'll pass on that. Mainly because... Oh, look, I've got to go this one just for for the lols.
00:56:49
Speaker
This is a train game that hey famously, with my brother and my sister-in-law, I taught them the game. And ah similar to what I was saying about Embelief, we got a rule wrong.
00:57:06
Speaker
And... It became evident about halfway through the game that we we're doing something wrong because it just became like you'd have your turn and you'd score up your points and you go, okay, I just scored 185 points on that one turn.
00:57:19
Speaker
That can't be right. The games ride the rails. um and the score track in Ride the Rails goes ah to 100, and then it's got plus 100, plus 200, plus 300. So you do get big scores in this game, but we were scoring like 180 points per route, and then I think in the end Mark won with a score of like 870 something.
00:57:41
Speaker
um And then we realized what we were doing wrong. So it, yes, it it, you can make big errors in this game, but the game itself is quite cool if you play it correctly, because you're basically, you take a train, which ah it simulates you taking a share in that company.
00:57:58
Speaker
And then you can place those train, those trains out on the track to see for the routes and the more routes means the more valuable your share is, but the trains are limited. So you you can only invest so much and then you end up hurting yourself or if someone else invests in it like you're not getting the return that you were hoping for and so it's and then but you can't get access to other trained companies until you've progressed further along the board so you do have to kind of stretch yourself thin in order to find it found a new company and it's really cool it's but the the biggest issue that i have with the game is that it's minimum three players
00:58:34
Speaker
And that just means it never gets the table. So yeah.
00:58:41
Speaker
Good one. All right. My final one. to one Um, I'm pretty sure it's my number 10 and that is unmatched cobble and fog. Yep.
00:58:53
Speaker
Best of the series. I was, that was the one I was leaving because I nearly chose it, but I was like, the reason my reasoning was that I chose unmatched, I think in the 2018 one. Yeah.
00:59:04
Speaker
yeah So, yeah, but Cobble and Fog is the best version too. The best version of the lot. If anyone wants to get into that unmatched series, that's the one to buy. Righto, yeah. There you go. What did we not choose that was big? marvel No one chose Marvel United?
00:59:19
Speaker
no one chose that. What I was tossing up with was a couple of the Buttonshire games. So Food Chain Island and Skulls of Sedgulic.
00:59:30
Speaker
um Two fun, quick, solo card games that you can sit there and play. Like Food Chain Island, everything's trying to eat everything. But you've got got a combo it all the way up.
00:59:42
Speaker
Whereas Skulls of Sedgulic, it's about matching people in a cemetery. So putting couples together almost. Yeah. um What else did you play through?
00:59:54
Speaker
Did you play through Pandemic Legacy Season Zero? ah No, we're three quarters of the way through
01:00:05
Speaker
it. Raiders of Scythia, I've still not played because obviously I've got Raiders of North Sea fully expanded out. um Yeah, there's some other New York Zoo, another Juve game that could have got a mention.
01:00:19
Speaker
um Mariposa's Project Elite, but that was the redo. Project Elite's a great game. Yeah, that is a great game. The Regicide. Regicide, yeah. I thought Regicide came out later, earlier than that. So, well, no, sorry, later, but obviously it didn't.
01:00:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And have you got, have you got legacy or are you getting legacy?
01:00:43
Speaker
I know. this spot I'm tempted. I just, yeah. What else came out that year? What have you here? um Santa Monica, another great game that was and just flew under the radar. I've got the copy of that ridiculously large box for the game.
01:00:56
Speaker
um Probably the most hated of all Stonemaier games, but I actually quite liked, which was Pendulum. Pendulum. Yeah. Someone slams the door downstairs.
01:01:10
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, plenty of good games. was It was a good year for games, like I mentioned. like I had so many... how many games did I play from that year? Like maybe 60 or 70 games from that year? Yeah, wow. And that unfortunately includes some really crap ones, like Virtual Reef Diver.
01:01:32
Speaker
um
Racing Remarks and Grand Prix Plans
01:01:33
Speaker
the the The game of 2020, remember this? So our good friends at ah when 2D6 was around, um Dan Gluonora was absolutely peddling 18 holes. 18 holes.
01:01:48
Speaker
eighteen holes you blooded I got suck it in. So did I. This game's great. This game's great. He kept saying it. Oh, all right. Give me a copy.
01:02:01
Speaker
It must have been a bet. Dave must have said, you can buy 10 copies, but only if you so if you can sell them in five months or something. And he went hard, and I reckon he got his goal. it was It was on everyone's paper. You sold them at that day.
01:02:15
Speaker
And you know what? It wasn't a terrible game. It was just a terrible setup. Oh, no, I didn't like it. I thought it was stupid. I didn't mind it, but I just, you wouldn't do it for the for the hassle of the continual, oh, set up all these bloody tiles to make this map. and so Anyway, good old 18 holes.
01:02:37
Speaker
All right, well, that'll ah that'll round up 2020. Great year. Looking forward to 2021. Who do you reckon's going to win the Mexican Grand Prix, mate, before we log off? Well, I haven't seen the qualifying because it literally happened while we're recording. So um I don't want to know.
01:02:51
Speaker
I'll go and watch it after this. But hopefully Oscar can return to form, but I'm not hopeful. um ah so I'll still pull for an Oscar win, but I reckon it might be yeah and probably Lando or Max.
01:03:03
Speaker
So hopefully out of those two, hopefully Max and Lando crashes out so Oscar can stay in front. ah They've given the go-ahead for Oscar and Lando to race against each other now, so just don't put each other detriment. Yeah, we'll see. We've seen how that's gone in the past.
01:03:20
Speaker
All right, mate. Have a great weekend. I look forward to catching up with you next week. Yeah, me too. See you, mate. Take care. you, bye.