Board Game Barrage

It's all well and good playing the newest, hottest games, but that doesn't stop us wanting to go back to some of the old goodies. We're counting down our top five games we want to revisit, to enjoy once more as we did in our youth. Relatively speaking. Before we get all wistful, we also talk about Eye My Favourite Things, On Tour, and Dune. 01:12 - Eye My Favourite Things 06:18 - On Tour 12:28 - Dune 18:40 - Cosmic Encounter 24:44 - Rex: Final Days of an Empire 26:10 - Root 31:55 - Games We Want to Play More 33:00 - Libertalia 34:19 - Ricochet Robots 37:01 - XCOM: The Board Game 39:09 - Ascending Empires 40:16 - Automobiles 42:22 - Kitchen Rush 43:52 - Two Rooms and a Boom 46:17 - Tribune: Primus Inter Pares 48:00 - Seasons 49:53 - Yokohama 50:56 - SpaceCorp 52:50 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 54:19 - Root 55:34 - Container 56:36 - Lords of Hellas

Electronic board games! What will they think of next?! There's been a trend of more and more board games being translated into web and mobile apps, so join us as we make the jump to cyberspace. Before we plug in, we also talk about Heul doch! Mau Mau, Architects of the West Kingdom, and revisit Nusfjord. 01:19 - Heul doch! Mau Mau 05:19 - Architects of the West Kingdom 10:55 - A Feast for Odin 13:44 - Nusfjord 26:26 - Digital Board Games 27:20 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 28:05 - Onirim 29:28 - Concordia 30:56 - Dixit 32:49 - Innovation 33:29 - Ortus Regni 36:41 - The Resistance

We're at the table talking table talk, all the little things that get said while you're playing a board game. Sure, there's plenty to be said in a social deduction or negotiation game, but what about less talky games? What's appropriate and what isn't? Before we say something we regret, we also talk about Everdell, Concordia Venus, and Project: ELITE. 03:58 - Everdell 08:34 - Wingspan 12:07 - Concordia Venus 21:27 - Project: ELITE 25:56 - Escape: The Curse of the Temple 31:13 - Table Talk 37:01 - Codenames

Some games offer an experience so unique, so unlike anything else, that you can't help but take notice. It might be a bold thematic setting, or a set of mechanics that you've never seen before. This week, we're counting down our favourite games that do something ... a little bit different. Before we stand out from the crowd, we also talk about Looting London, and Chimera.

01:05 - Looting London 04:17 - Chimera 09:45 - Unique Thematic Experiences 12:12 - Food Chain Magnate 16:11 - Space Cadets: Dice Duel 18:38 - Long Shot 21:23 - Dungeons & Dragons: Rock Paper Wizard 23:16 - Dead of Winter 26:42 - Pit 28:38 - Millennium Blades 33:11 - Alchemists 36:33 - Chaosmos 40:07 - Ponzi Scheme 42:24 - Space Hulk 45:39 - Adrenaline 47:37 - Diplomacy 51:06 - Sol: Last Days of a Star 53:22 - Captain Sonar

Time to 'fess up. We're admitting to all the transgressions we've made in the world of board gaming. We're not proud of it, but there are a lot of games we haven't played that we should have. There are Kickstarters we've overspent on, and some we regret backing. And what would a good confessional be without owning up to our guilty pleasures? Before we ask forgiveness, we also talk about Excape, Race for the Galaxy, and Biblios Dice.

01:30 - Excape 07:57 - Race for the Galaxy 13:49 - Biblios Dice 20:02 - Board Game Confessions 21:50 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 23:44 - Eclipse 25:31 - Terraforming Mars 29:08 - The 7th Continent 29:42 - Statecraft 30:30 - Tiny Epic Quest 31:42 - Glorantha: The Gods War 32:21 - Rising Sun 34:17 - Zombicide 34:42 - Betrayal at House on the Hill 34:55 - True Colors 35:45 - Hundreds of Horses 39:43 - Through the Ages 40:09 - Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team

Gateway games are an often requested topic, but we wouldn't be us without a big old debate about them first. Are they important? Should you be trying to convert your friends at all? Isn't every game a gateway game if you just talk slowly enough? Before we raise the portcullis, we also talk about Targi, and Catan. 01:25 - Targi 07:19 - Catan 09:35 - Gateway games 17:11 - Forbidden Island 18:38 - Codenames 19:01 - Sushi Go! 22:23 - A Fake Artist Goes to New York 24:56 - Bärenpark 27:47 - Biblios 32:16 - Splendor 35:31 - The Quest for El Dorado 38:12 - Blue Lagoon 41:05 - Dominion 43:57 - Wingspan 47:32 - Converting non-gamers?

It's always sad to see a game go. But sometimes it's just time to move on, to let it be free, to let someone else enjoy its esoteric rules and quirky components. Games leave our collections for many reasons, so let's take a look at some of them. Before we spark joy, we talk about Big Dig, Trains, and The River.

01:18 - Big Dig 05:00 - Trains 09:30 - The Quest for El Dorado 10:17 - The River 19:51 - Why Games Leave our Collections 27:40 - Through The Ages 27:40 - Mage Knight 29:02 - Founders of Gloomhaven 33:49 - Capital Lux 35:25 - Rapid Fire Send-offs

One year, baby! We did it. It's our first anniversary, and we're celebrating by ... putting out an episode of the podcast. We got a couple of reader questions that we thought would be especially pertinent for this occasion, as we look back on the impact Board Game Barrage has had on us. Before we pop the champagne, we talk about The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Forum Trajanum, and Narabi.

04:37 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 08:57 - Forum Trajanum 15:08 - Narabi 21:00 - How has Board Game Barrage impacted us? 32:08 - Do review copies make us less impartial? 33:45 - Hyperspace 35:24 - Shouldn't Mark be the Red Tank? 39:08 - Guest reviews!

2019 is well underway, but with so many amazing games on the horizon, it's hard to know what to look out for. Fear not, listener, that's what we're here for. Join us as we count down our most anticipated games of the year. Before we cast our eyes ahead, we talk about New Frontiers: The Race for the Galaxy Board Game, and Hansa Teutonica.

02:33 - New Frontiers: The Race for the Galaxy Board Game 09:25 - Hansa Teutonica 18:13 - Most Anticipated Games of 2019 18:59 - Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy 22:09 - Glorantha: The Gods War 25:28 - TOKYO TSUKIJI MARKET 28:27 - Sabotage 31:04 - Living Planet 33:26 - Pipeline 36:20 - Escape Plan 38:04 - Res Arcana 39:36 - Barrage 41:03 - ELO Darkness 44:02 - Black Angel 45:18 - On Mars 46:43 - Warpgate 48:54 - Mezo 51:07 - City of the Big Shoulders

Objectivity is a nice goal, but what does it mean for board game criticism? Are there elements of board game design that we can have factual conversations about, without invoking our personal biases? We debate this in the only way we know how. Before we start shouting, we talk about Hyperspace, Gùgōng, and Wingspan. 02:30 - Hyperspace 08:52 - Gùgōng 14:43 - ZhanGuo 17:35 - Last Will 18:06 - Wingspan 21:37 - Innovation 26:26 - Critical Objectivity 26:58 - Nemesis 28:01 - Zombicide 32:01 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 43:04 - Monopoly 43:55 - Formula D 44:42 - Magical Athlete 46:18 - Diplomacy