In episode 38, we create starting collections with various budgets: $100, $250, $350, and $500! Angela’s brother’s experience of diving into a board game collection from scratch inspired this topic. We all approached our lists a bit differently: beginner friendly games, wide representation of mechanics, foundational games, and the games that bring our friends joy and inspire them to purchase for themselves.

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

Board games and happiness are free at the link in bio

00:53 Capital Lux 2 Generations

03:36 Yokai Septet

08:35 Acquire

11:35 Rumble Nation 

14:30 Molly House

17:30 Starter Collection Introduction

19:44 Angela’s $100 Starter Collection

24:57 Reed’s $250 Starter Collection

33:31 Gillean’s $350 Starter Collection

40:19 Becky’s $500 Starter Collection

In episode 37, we review Patchwork and A Feast for Odin in Polyominoes Part 1! First, we chat about what is bringing us joy: Sea Salt & Paper: Extra Pepper, Ptolemy, the Board Game Community speaking out, and Brightcast.

Patchwork and A Feast for Odin are both Uwe Rosenberg games, and they differ quite a bit in their complexity (1.60/5 and 3.86/5, respectively, on BGG.) Patchwork is a 2-player game in which players are attempting to complete a quilt - or get as much done as they can.  A Feast for Odin plays 1-4 players, and it is a saga in which players seek to make their viking clan prosper.

Why are we discussing these two games together and including such a beefy game in Polyominoes Part 1? Interestingly, Patchwork came from the design process of A Feast for Odin as Uwe explored income from covering up spaces and printing the cost on the tiles (check out “An Interview with Uwe Rosenberg” by Lest My Opinions go Unheard to learn more!) They’re also the only two Uwe polyominoes all four of us have played together.

We all love a polyomino game, and we’re very excited to finally be kicking off this sporadic series with two solid games.Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

00:53 - Ptolemy

03:11 - Sea Salt & Paper: Extra Pepper (with a tangent on Alpine Spice [not a game])

08:32 - Board Game Community Speaking Out

15:30 - Brightcast

18:01 - Patchwork

31:60 - A Feast for Odin

In Episode 36, we discuss games published in 2023! We don’t feel like we’ve played enough 2023 games to create a collective top 10 list, however, we do talk about our collective top 3 games, games we still want to play, games that didn’t live up to the hype, and games we played but didn’t love. 

This week, we turned last pod’s bonus episode into a full episode as the original recording ran longer than a game of Great Western Trail New Zealand, and, with Reed being our #1 listener, we had to sheer our time. We hope this helps, Reed! 

Extra bonus–Gillean keeps us (mostly) on the rails as our host.

Extra extra bonus–Angela shames Malcolm for being bootylicious so we’re boosting his confidence with this week’s episode announcement on instagram.

Find Malcolm on our instagram @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In Episode 35, we’re finally tackling games published in 2024! We start with a cumulative top 10 (the points are made up, but we’re trusting Angela’s calculations) and roll into an analysis of our individual lists, games that surprised us, and games that didn’t live up to the hype.  Our individual top 10 lists varied quite a bit, but we all saw a similar theme emerge. 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies 

00:38 How did we create this list and how many 2024 games have we played?

1:24: Notable 2024 games we did not play and the games we still want to play

7:25 Explanation of how we get to our Collective Top 10

08:16 Game #10

10:57 Game #9 and #8 - they tied!

17:10 Game #7

21:28 Game #6 and #5 - Another tie!

28:20 Game #4

31:57 Game #3

34:36 Game #2

40:46 Game #1

43:35 Fun Facts about our lists

49:44 Things that surprised us about our collective and individual lists

54:08 Games that did not live up to the hype (Was there a game published in 2024 that did not live up to the hype for you?

In episode 34, we review Galactic Cruise by Kinson Key Games! First, we chat about the games that are bringing us joy: Rumble Nation, Gin Rummy, Ahoy!, and Dominion. 

Galactic Cruise is a game for 1-4 players with an expected 90-150 minute playing time. Designing and manufacturing a cruise ship, advertising and catering to guests, and managing the company and our own reputations, we discuss bumping workers, refusing to help our friends, and the value of completing company goals in this worker placement game. 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

Timestamps:

00:44 Rumble Nation

02:40 Gin Rummy

04:06 Ahoy

6:08 Dominion

10:20 Description and rules of Galactic Cruise

12:32 Components, box, art/design, the rulebook, etc

21:07 Game play

50:30 Who is this game for?

56:34 Final thoughts

In Episode 33, we review Endeavor: Deep Sea by Burnt Island Games and Grand Gamers Guild! To start off the episode, we talk about what’s bringing us joy: Crokinole, Trick & Snipers, the Tokyo Game Market, and Cyclades: Legendary Edition.

In Endeavor: Deep Sea, players head individual research institutes with the goal of having the most beneficial effect on the world’s oceans. Over the course of six rounds, players will assemble a crew of specialists to explore the ocean, research dive sites, publish scientific Journals, and conduct conservation efforts. Many of these actions will advance their institute’s attributes (Reputation, Inspiration, Coordination, and Ingenuity) and directly influence their ability to recruit team members, how much effort their team can exert, how efficiently their team functions, and the technological efficiency of their scientific vessels. All of this effort is exerted and attributes advanced in the pursuit of meeting scenario-specific Goals and creating the most positive Impact on the ocean. Be the most efficient at developing your institute and adapting to the scenario, and you’ll succeed in this endeavor–just as Endeavor: Deep Sea has in the homies’ hearts. 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In Episode 32, we discuss our collective Shelf of Shame! To start off the episode, we chat about the games that are bringing us joy: Love Letter: Batman, Spire’s End: Hildegard, Endeavor: Deep Sea, and lower Tariffs in the U.S. which means… Kickstarter notifications.

With so many unplayed games on our shelves, we decided to submit our individual top 5 most-excited-to-play games to Angela to secretly rank them. Angela reveals our collective top 4 games, and we discuss the state of our shelves and how we got to this point.

Excitement, regret, shame, hope, and joy… all of these emotions describe how we feel about our shelves of shame. We’re past calling them shelves of opportunity as our unplayed game count keeps ticking up this year; we knew we needed to talk about it, and one of us may have been feeling like they needed to confess. 👀 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies 

In Episode 31, we review Root by Leder Games! To start off the episode, we chat about the games that are bringing us joy: Moon Colony Bloodbath, The Search for Planet X, Neko Syndicate, Kabuki Tricks, and Joyride.

Deep in the woodlands, an adorable and ruthless war is waging between Marquise de Cat and the creatures of the forest. As the Woodland Alliance spreads sympathy to unite all against the oppressive cats, the Eyrie Dynasties are rebuilding their forces and roosts to take back the forest. The vagabond? They’re out for themselves swaying between aiding or harming the other factions while collecting all of the things. As the war continues, new factions are moving in: the Lizard Cult fills the forest with whispers of the Dragon God, the Riverfolk Company are quickly establishing trade routes to supply the demands of the battling factions, and the Lord of the Hundreds are swarming in and hoarding any and all items they can find to make them stronger. Grounded in the Law of Root with well timed back-stabbing, only one faction–well, unless a vagabond has decided to form a coalition then it will be two–will rule the woodlands! 

The homies enjoy this asymmetric war game and still have much more to discover–but will there ever be time???

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In episode 30, we review Furnace by Hobby World and Arcane Wonders. To start off the episode, we chat about the games that are bringing us joy and discuss tariffs in the US and how they are intersecting with the board game world, including how they are impacting our FLGS. As we discuss in the episode, the tariffs have been ever changing, and, though we recorded less than three days ago, it was just announced this morning that there is another 90 day pause in tariffs, and the overall tariffs on Chinese goods has been reduced from 145% to 30%. If you are uninterested in the tariff conversation or if it’s a little too much right now, you can skip the conversation (timestamps: 12:05-34:40.) The games bringing us joy are: Taluva, Stonespine Architects, Sea Salt & Paper, and Deep Regrets.

Furnace is an engine-builder played over 4 rounds, each with 2 phases: auction and production. Each player has 4 bidding discs numbered 1-4, a starting company, and a start-up card. During the auction, players place their discs to either win company cards or gain compensation. After all cards from the auction have been processed, each player works through their company cards, activating production and/or processing materials to ultimately produce the most money to win the game. Although a bit of a “multi-player solitude” game–as Angela likes to say–we all enjoy this game and appreciate the 45 minute play time. Though–one of us may already be questioning how long we’ll want to keep it in the collection. 

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies 

In Episode 29, we review the Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated. To start off the episode, we chat about the games that are bringing us joy: Bus (1999), The Guild of Merchant Explorers, Tales of Arthurian Knights, and Torchlit.

Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated expands upon the deck-building of Clank!, incorporating legacy-style gameplay. Players will found their franchise of the legendary adventuring company, Acquisitions Incorporated, and shepherd their fledgling treasure-hunters to immortal glory over the course of multiple games by shaping events that transpire before them. The game board, deck, and world of Clank! changes as players make decisions throughout individual games, creating a unique campaign tailored to your adventuring party. Be cunning, be bold, and most importantly, be ready… Unless you’re Reed, in which case, you just watch Angela destroy your hopes and dreams.

Join us on our (largely) spoiler-free adventure and explore the world of Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated.

Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies