A pretty solid rule of thumb is that if you've been disappointed in a kind of game, try David Thompson's version of it and see how delightful it can be. Hidden movement got you down? Sniper Elite is the cure. Abstract chunky tiled fighty thing didn't please? War Chest might please. Mediocre skirmish cramping your style? For What Remains is ready to serve. It's a good thing he has styles of games he hasn't explored, lest he just obsolete the remainder of the games industry. Give him time. He'll collaborate with everyone eventually. 
 Games Played Last Week: 01:41 -Beast (Aron Midhall, Elon Midhall, and Assar Pettersson, Studio Midhall, 2022) 07:17 -Iberia (Jesús Torres Castro and Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2016) 11:42 -Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa (Mandela Fernandez-Grandon and Fabio Lopiano, Osprey Games, 2024) 18:16 -Bitoku: Resutoran (Germán P. Millán, Devir, 2023) 23:00 -Kurz vor Knapp (Helmut Punke and Tobias Punke, Zoch Verlag, 2020) 28:06 -Animal Upon Animal (Klaus Miltenberger, HABA, 2005) 29:33 -Bloodstones (Martin Wallace, Wallace Designs, 2023) 
 News (and why it doesn't matter): 38:01 Shipyard reprint from Delicious Games 38:55 In the Gang from KOSMOS 39:56 Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam on Kickstarter 
 40:51 Feature Game: Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

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#295: Federation

A podcast about all manner of hobby games by Mike Walker and Mark Bigney. Bad games don&#39;t go easy on you, so we don&#39;t go easy on them. Thorough analysis via reviews, news, and discussion of topics in gaming. We take context seriously, we value your time, and we&#39;re not into hype. Just because games are fun doesn&#39;t mean we can&#39;t take them seriously, and just because we take them seriously doesn&#39;t mean we can&#39;t have fun.

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After a prolonged period where we have not discussed Kramer & Kiesling (the Kramer & Ulrich duo yielded El Grande, which we mention rather frequently), here we see a bumper krop of K&K; kollaborations. The gibbons are fickle, and even the mighty Wolfgang and Michael must yield to their whims. But fortune (and apes) have at last smiled on them, and we revel in the classic Euro goodness as well as their more recent offering. 
 Games Played Last Week: 01:05 -Monikers (Alex Hague and Justin Vickers, CMYK, 2015) 05:34 -Java (Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, Ravensburger, 2000) 11:31 -Tikal (Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, Ravensburger, 1999) 13:31 -Wandering Towers (Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, ABACUSSPIELE, 2022) 18:30 -Morgan's Magic Map (Gian Andrea Cappuzzo, Rio Grande Games, 2023) 20:17 -Tiny Towns (Peter McPherson, Alderac Entertainment Group, 2019) 22:08 -Sniper Elite: The Board Game (Roger Tankersly & David Thompson, Rebellion Unplugged, 2022) 25:43 -Earthborne Rangers (Andrew Fischer, Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt, Andrew Navaro, Adam Sadler, and Brady Sadler, Earthborne Games, 2023) 35:57 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024) 38:34 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023) 44:41 -Tapple (Uncredited, The Op Games, 2021) 46:04 -G.I. JOE: Battle for the Arctic Circle (Matt Hyra, Renegade Game Studios, 2024) 
 News (and why it doesn't matter): 48:56 CYSMIC update on Gamefound and board game bundling economics 51:03 Ada's Dream from Alley Cat 51:20 So much drama around Wonders of the First CCG! AI art, NFTs, ratings, oh my! 
 53:10 Feature Game: Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024)

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#314: Leviathan Wilds

In the vast panoply of human misfortunes, it is often fruitless to try to rank misery. Was historical tragedy X worse or better than atrocity Y? It seems callous to ask. That said, thanks to the applied research of a retired ethicist with the aid of Reiner Knizia's Zoo Vadis, we have conclusively discovered that it is better to be extorted by a marmoset than assaulted by an armadillo. Thus is human knowledge expanded. 
 01:01 AYURIS: Heroscape (Stephen Baker, Rob Daviau, & Craig Van Ness, Hasbro, 2004) 
 Games Played Last Week: 05:30 -Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, & Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2021) 10:23 -Zoo Vadis (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2023) 15:53 -Marabunta (Reiner Knizia, Space Cowboys, 2023) 22:35 -Feed the Kraken (Maikel Cheney, Dr. Hans Joachim Höh, and Tobias Immich, Funtails, 2022) 26:19 -La Granja: Deluxe Master Set (Michael Keller and Andreas "ode." Odendahl, Board&Dice;, 2023) 31:30 -Sand (Ariel Di Costanzo and Javier Pelizzari, Devir, 2024) 
 News (and why it doesn't matter): 38:45 Calico spinoff: Knitting Circle 39:29 Founders of Reyvick: Richard Garfield and GMT 40:54 Boardgaming has jumped the shark: Winston: Nineteen Eighty-Four  42:56 Expeditions: Gears of Corruption 43:14 Radlands gets 1.2 rules and a new deck 
 44:20 Topic: The One that Broke the Kallax's Back 


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#313: The One that Broke the Kallax's Back

Before the people of Quebec celebrated the Journée nationale des Patriotes (National Patriots' Day), they instead on the same day had the Fête de Dollard. A cynic might speculate that the timing of these holidays was chosen so as to pre-empt the English Canadian Victoria Day, and that cynic would be right. 
 Games Played Last Week: 01:21 -Dice Flick (Rami Gaber, Pegasus Spiele, 2021)  04:49 -A Message from the Stars (Clarence Simpson, Allplay, 2024) 11:21 -Switchbacks (Susumu Kawasaki, Allplay, 2022) 14:23 -Mage Knight: The Board Game (Vlaada Chvatil, WizKids, 2011) 18:29 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024) 19:32 -Priorities (Uncredited, Clarendon Games, 2020) 22:11 -Word Traveler (Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, Office Dog, 2024) 25:59 -Cascadito (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2024) 
 News (and why it doesn't matter): 28:27 Grail Games will be reprinting Marc André's Barony with its Sorcery expansion 28:53 Indonesia reprint from Splotter with a new board 29:51 Black Forest from Tido Lorenze, Uwe Rosenberg, and Feuerland Spiele 30:04 Another Frostpunk game, this time from Board&Dice; 30:28 Walking Dead game from Button Shy 30:39 New expansion for Aquatica, Coral Reefs 30:50 Followup to Oathsworn from Shadowborne and Jamie Jolly: Avalon: The Riven Veil 31:02 Darktide the miniatures game from Games Workshop 31:33 Dungeon Twister 20th Anniversary Edition by Christophe Boelinger and Ludically 32:57 Congratulations to the Golden Geek winners!  
 34:02 Feature Game: Cascadero (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2024)

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#312: Cascadero

It is striking that no one submitted a question regarding the hues of our auras, so allow us to address the issue here and declare that amber is the colour of our energy. I regret nothing. 
 01:39 AYURIS: Capital Lux 2: Generations (Eilif Svensson & Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2020) 
 Games Played Last Week: 03:46 -G.I. JOE Deck-Building Game: Raise the Flagg Campaign Expansion (T.C. Petty III, Renegade Game Studios, 2023) 07:10 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024)  11:27 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024) 14:14 -Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers--Heroes of Waterdeep (Vangelis Bagiartakis and Konstantinos Karagiannis, WizKids, 2023) 16:44 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019) 20:52 -Mysterium Park (Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko, Libellud, 2020) 24:08 -Biohack (Yofiandhy D Indrayana, uchibacoya, 2024) 30:05 -Mage Knight: The Board Game (Vlaada Chvatil, WizKids, 2011) 32:31 -Word Traveler (Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, Office Dog, 2024) 
 News (and why it doesn't matter): 36:23 Regicide Legacy on Kickstarter! Can Badgers from Mars triumph again? 38:30 Dune: War for Arrakis expansion/reprint on Gamefound 
 40:03 Topic: Omnibus Questions Delta Bet

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#311: Omnibus Questions Delta Bet

There is only one novel and commendable Kant pun, delivered in the novel and commendable film Hedwig and the Angry Inch: "I got kicked out of university after delivering a brilliant lecture on the aggressive influence of German philosophy on rock and roll, entitled, 'You, Kant, Always Get What You Want.'" 
 01:41 AYURIS: Mosaic: A Story of Civilization (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2022) 
 Games Played Last Week: 04:11 -Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs (Joe Klipfel and Nikki Valens, Cephalofair Games, 2024) 07:59 -Scrap (Kenny Michael-Otton, Jolly Swagman Games, 2023) 14:52 -Biohack (Yofiandhy D Indrayana, uchibacoya, 2024) 18:42 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024) 23:44 -Wolves (Connor Alexander, Coyote & Crow LLC, 2024) 33:57 -Dungeon Fighter: Second Edition (Aureliano Buonfino, Lorenzo Silva, and Lorenzo Tucci Sorrentino, Horrible Guild, 2021) 
 News (and why it doesn't matter): 38:42 Mythic Battles goes to Egypt 40:07 Vote for the Golden Geek and for the Deutsche Spiele Preis (DSP) awards! 40:44 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag Coming soon: 3-part series on philosophy  
 42:07 Topic: Omnibus Questions Delta Aleph

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#295: Federation

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