Board Game Barrage

Not everything has to be a competition, because this week we're talking about cooperation. I know, it's weird, in some games, you're not actually trying to beat the other players! We're counting down our favourite co-op games, "favourite" of course being a relative term in Kalen's case. Before we put our heads together, we also talk about SSH, Just One, and Hamsterrolle.

01:44 - SHH 04:39 - Just One 07:53 - Hamsterrolle 11:32 - Chess 14:12 - Our Favourite Cooperative Games 15:27 - Codenames Duet 17:44 - The Grizzled 19:15 - Kitchen Rush 21:40 - Aeon's End: War Eternal 23:46 - Burgle Bros 25:04 - Chronicles of Crime 29:57 - Exit: The Game 33:30 - Mysterium 35:49 - Dungeon Fighter 38:53 - Spirit Island 42:04 - The Game 43:18 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 45:21 - Gloomhaven 50:44 - Hanabi 52:16 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

There's no love like your first love, and this week we're talking about our early board game crushes. These are the games that first got us into the hobby, that made us want to shout our love for board games to all who'd care to hear. Before we walk down memory lane, we also talk about Key to the City: London, Empires, and Guards of Atlantis.

03:31 - Key to the City: London 09:14 - Empires 15:48 - Guards of Atlantis 29:49 - Our First Board Game Crushes 30:34 - Connect Four 31:33 - Scrabble 32:43 - Acquire 33:22 - Hang On Harvey 34:31 - Risk 36:49 - True Colors 39:08 - Dominion 41:52 - Space Hulk 43:27 - WarCraft: The Board Game 44:16 - The Resistance 46:32 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 47:09 - Alhambra 48:10 - Biblios 49:06 - Cosmic Encounter 50:22 - Genoa 51:25 - Through The Ages

We're doing some upgrades this episode, because we're talking about improving and enhancing the board games we already own through accessories, new components, and fancy inserts. Before we sleeve our cards, we also talk about Keyflower, The Palaces of Carrara, Welcome To...'s Halloween Expansion, and That's Not Lemonade!

01:41 - Keyflower 08:46 - The Palaces of Carrara 12:17 - Welcome To ... Halloween Expansion 15:22 - That's Not Lemonade! 18:50 - Component Upgrades 27:56 - Gloomhaven 33:59 - Archipelago 34:33 - Dominant Species 45:32 - Scythe

Essen SPIEL 2018! Okay, we're not technically at Essen SPIEL, but we've got that Essen FEEL. We're each counting down the five games that we most wish we were in Germany to play this weekend. Before we hand over our Euros, we talk about SPQF, Le Havre, and Scythe: The Rise of Fenris.

02:09 - SPQF 07:17 - Le Havre 12:31 - Scythe: The Rise of Fenris 17:06 - Essen Preview 17:49 - Magnastorm 19:11 - Futuropia 20:27 - Big Shot 22:41 - Gùgōng 24:21 - Shadows: Amsterdam 26:41 - Smartphone Inc. 28:03 - Alone 29:40 - Solenia 30:44 - Tsukiji 31:51 - Teotihuacan: City of Gods 33:26 - Pax Transhumanity 34:53 - Rebel Nox 36:09 - Warpgate 38:35 - Forum Trajanum 39:34 - 1906 San Francisco 44:43 - Scythe: The Rise of Fenris (SPOILERS!)

Board game dealbreakers, we all have them, and they're enough to dissuade us from buying or even playing some otherwise great games. This week, we go around the table and talk about two things each that put us off in board games. Before we start looking elsewhere, we talk about Illusion, and Food Chain Magnate.

02:16 - Illusion 04:46 - Food Chain Magnate 18:05 - Too Many Steps for Simple Tasks 18:35 - 1st & Goal 19:42 - Blood Bowl 21:04 - Baseball Highlights: 2045 21:36 - Automobiles 23:04 - Too Many Variants 23:35 - Agricola 26:26 - Mezo 27:33 - Battlestar Galactica 31:20 - Production Hampering Immersion 32:17 - Rising Sun 33:03 - The Great Zimbabwe 33:52 - Leonardo da Vinci 36:13 - Zombicide 37:20 - Sidereal Confluence 38:16 - Punishing the Leader 38:27 - Power Grid 39:35 - Gravwell 41:14 - Flamme Rouge 41:35 - Suburbia 43:03 - Point Salads 44:18 - Agricola 44:45 - Village 48:10 - Blue Lagoon 52:50 - Roleplaying and Improv 53:27 - Fog of Love 53:58 - Thornwatch 56:22 - Tales of the Arabian Nights

How do you meet other board game enthusiasts? Just loving and owning board games isn't enough if you don't have anyone to play them with! It's not always easy to turn your friends into board gamers, so what are your other options? Well, sit back, as we cast our minds far, far back into the past, when the Board Game Barrage trio was just three separate unos. This is where it all began. Before we gather round the campfire, we talk about Crypt, Fool's Gold, and War Chest.

01:01 - Crypt 03:22 - Coloretto 05:17 - Fool's Gold 08:23 - War Chest 13:47 - Meeting Board Gamers 26:23 - Skull 40:40 - Twilight Imperium

What's your white whale? The one game you've been itching to get to the table for ages, but for whatever reason, just never have? Well, call me Ishmael, 'cause we're counting down not just one, not five, but ten games each that we haven't played, but really want to. Maybe this'll be the kick in the pants we need … but probably not. Before we dust off our shelves of shame, we talk about CIV: Carta Impera Victoria, Raxxon, and Scythe: The Rise of Fenris.

01:36 - Carta Impera Victoria 04:49 - Raxxon 09:28 - Scythe: The Rise of Fenris 15:18 - Games we Want to Play 16:56 - Fog of Love 17:38 - Spirit Island 18:47 - Dungeon Petz 20:16 - Mini Rails 20:45 - Pax Porfiriana 21:42 - Keyflower 23:12 - Dogs of War 24:09 - Clockwork Wars 24:37 - Anachrony 25:24 - Lisboa 26:17 - Three Kingdoms Redux 26:59 - Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game 27:55 - ?!!? 28:50 - The Gallerist 29:36 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 30:13 - Diplomacy 30:58 - For-Ex 31:46 - Project: ELITE 32:40 - War of the Ring 33:23 - Roads & Boats 34:12 - Tammany Hall 35:04 - Fury of Dracula 35:51 - 1880: China 36:45 - Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery 37:41 - Arkham Horror: The Card Game 38:36 - Crokinole 39:32 - An Infamous Traffic 40:38 - Chaos in the Old World 42:11 - Great Western Trail 43:06 - Dune 44:40 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

Asymmetry is a powerful tool for game design, if done right. There's a lot of replayability right out of the box, and finding a playstyle that works for you can be very satisfying. But this dark alchemy has a darker byproduct: imbalance. When so much is different between each player, how do you ensure that things stay fair? Before we nerf plz, we discuss Container, and more Root.

01:40 - Container 12:28 - Root 18:08 - Scoreboard Update 20:04 - Balancing Asymmetry 26:49 - Vast: The Crystal Caverns 27:26 - Cosmic Encounter 30:05 - Scythe 30:55 - Terra Mystica 33:20 - Cry Havoc 40:08 - Cthulhu Wars 44:14 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 45:27 - Rising Sun 47:55 - Sidereal Confluence 49:57 - Diplomacy

Board game rules, unlike other rules, were not made to be broken. They're to be strictly adhered to, trust me, this is going to be totally fun, there's just a few more things to go over and then we can start. Sometimes remembering and teaching rules can feel like a burden, so where's the line? Before we explain the turn structure, we discuss Dairyman, Riff Raff, and Lords of Hellas.

03:30 - Dairyman 07:12 - Blue Lagoon 09:00 - Riff Raff 10:49 - Lords of Hellas 20:24 - Board Game Rules 25:57 - Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team 32:38 - Gloomhaven 37:40 - Mage Knight 39:52 - Root 42:26 - Decrypto

Look, sometimes we lose games. I know. It's weird. It's hard to talk about, to be frank, but it's important to realize that your heroes can have flaws. So, this week, we're counting down our top five games we're bad at! Before we admit defeat, we also discuss Yogi, Orléans, and Blue Lagoon.

01:38 - Yogi 05:25 - Orléans 11:56 - Blue Lagoon 18:28 - Good games we're bad at 20:26 - Santorini 23:50 - Spyfall 26:30 - Captain Sonar 27:45 - Avenue 30:01 - Incan Gold 31:31 - Deep Sea Adventure 32:54 - Splendor 34:38 - Glüx 35:49 - Pictomania 37:12 - Archipelago 39:11 - The Oracle of Delphi 41:45 - I'm The Boss 44:33 - Android: Netrunner 46:35 - Kanban 48:30 - Tigris & Euphrates