Going Analog Podcast

Board games = cardboard. It's in the name of the material itself! But...what about An Age Contrived, a new Euro-style, action-programming strategy game designed by Chris Matthew of indie publisher Bellows Intent? It has magnetic bits, chunky Azul-style tiles, and in the Founder's and Collector's Editions, the player boards are set into solid metal frames. What? And you can shoot those tiles out with a spring/lever mechanism. Whaaaat?   We had to bring Chris on to ask how he balanced the component "wow" factor with manufacturing affordability -- and as a big gamer himself, Chris wanted to talk about how games have surprised and delighted us. We were delighted to chat with him, so give us a listen!   Timeline:

• 4:05 - Going Analog's game pick: Open Season.
• 9:40 - Chris's game pick: Revive.
• 16:36 - Going Analog's topic: An Age Contrived, balancing cool components with high costs.
• 41:20 - Chris's topic: how games can surprise and delight us.

Last episode, we gave a quick recap of North America's largest board game convention, Gen Con 2024. But what everyone really wants to know is, what was best in show? We did our due diligence, played as many games as we could during and after the con (we know -- our lives are so hard), and are ready to report back. Plus, we tapped Twitch streamer Amanda Panda for her top picks, too, so listen up! 

Timeline:

• 5:48 - 2024 Party Games of Gen Con.
• 10:33 - 2024 Light Games of Gen Con.
• 17:59 - 2024 Medium Games of Gen Con.
• 27:30 - 2024 Heavy Games of Gen Con.

We're back from Gen Con! North America's largest tabletop gaming convention is now behind us, but our coverage is just beginning. In this episode, we share our stories from the massive show, plus a few impressions of our favorite games that we got to play. Stay tuned for lots, lots more.

And make sure to check out Magic Mind, the "Mental Performance Shots" that we took to keep us going through the long days and nights in Indianapolis. Our sponsor is offering our listeners up to 48% off a monthly subscription! You'll get Magic Mind delivered right to your home, and you can cancel at any time. Find energy for your long gaming sessions -- plus, you'll be supporting Going Analog! Just go to magicmind.com/ANALOG20 and use promo code ANALOG20 to save up to 48% now.

Timeline:

• 2:13 - Stories from Gen Con 2024.
• 16:57 - The Gang.
• 23:37 - Seers Catalog.
• 30:26 - River of Gold.
• 37:10 - Flip 7.
• 41:36 - Rebel Princess.

It's almost time for North America's largest board game convention, Gen Con! We've been frantically trying to cram in all the hot new games on our shelf of shame/opportunity before we discover...even more hot new games at the big show. We ask the busy Ruel Gaviola (board gaming showrunner, producer, podcaster, and host of several YouTube and Twitch channels) to tell us what he's looking forward to at Gen Con and which cool games he's been playing lately.

Timeline: 

• 1:44 - Gen Con preview.
• 17:51 - our thoughts on a bunch of new board games: What On Earth Are You Talking About?, Landmarks, Biomos, Finca, Clash of Magic Schools, Archeos Society, Evenfall, Pax Pamir: Second Edition, The Search for UAPs.

What's your favorite movie genre? And which board games can you play to relive those feels? We ask performer and board game writer Mx. Tiffany Leigh to chat about this. As someone who worked in movie production and a real-deal old-school video store, she has fantastic movie and game recs! (We got so into the movie topic that we ran out of time for Tiffany's topic -- raincheck!)

Timeline:

• 3:51 - Christina/Shoe's game pick: Galactic Renaissance.
• 14:30 - Tiffancy's game pick: The Taverns of Tiefenthal.
• 24:24 - Christina/Shoe's topic: games for movie lovers.

We were sitting on a new stack of word games, so we asked our editor Mike Zipkin (he of fancy game upgrades and beige game tastes) to join us in covering Word Traveler, Illiterati, Mind Map, and ContraBanter. Plus, upgrading your board games is old news -- how do you upgrade your entire game room?

Timeline:

• 2:00 - Christina/Shoe's game pick: Captain Flip.
• 9:13 - Mike's game pick: StreetCar (San Francisco).
• 16:28 - Christina/Shoe's topic: new word games.
• 48:14 - Mike's topic: upgrading your game room.

Who doesn't love a beautiful nature game? Shoe doesn't, the grump. He just hates nature. But did he like the upcoming Everbloom, designed by our guest Ian Moss (Bunkers & Badasses, Dinosaur Island, Wonderland's War), from publisher Nerdvana Games? (Check out the Kickstarter!)

We also discuss what makes a new deluxe or big box edition of a game worth a purchase.

Timeline:

• 2:50 - Going Analog's game pick: Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy.
• 8:06 - Ian's game pick: Canvas.
• 15:30 - Going Analog's topic: favorite nature games.
• 39:53 - Ian's topic: deluxe and big box versions of games.

We've got so many new board games to talk about this week that we decided to skip having a guest on, so we can just blab and blab and blab about what we've been playing lately. So yup, you're just getting all Christina, all Shoe this episode. And they're ready to dish on what they liked and what they didn't about each of these.

Timeline: 

• 1:16 - The Vale of Eternity.
• 9:19 - Faraway.
• 16:50 - Monumental.
• 24:36 - The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era.
• 32:47 - Heroes of Might & Magic III: The Board Game.
• 45:59 - Converge: Catalysts of Change/Sparks of Hope/Engines of Progress.
• 54:17 - Evergreen.

Legacy games can often light a classic franchise back on fire, as demonstrated by Flash Point: Legacy of Flame's successful Kickstarter.

We asked Legacy of Flame codesigner Ken Franklin (The Mansky Caper, Back to the Future: Dice Through Time, Tsuro: Phoenix Rising) to share some insight into how they turned the long-running co-op series into an evolving legacy experience. And while we're on the subject, what are other legacy games that we're fond of? And on a very unrelated topic, Ken educates us on the recent wave of gameplay-focused, Christianity-themed board games.

Timeline:

• 3:53 - Going Analog's game pick: ArcheOlogic.
• 10:03 - Ken's game pick: Kingsburg.
• 14:57 - Going Analog's topic: The development of Flash Point: Legacy of Flame, plus other legacy games we like.
• 32:37 - Ken's topic: Christian themes in gaming.

The 2024 American Tabletop Awards winners were just announced, so we invited ATTA founder, fellow judging member, and content creator Eric Yurko of What's Eric Playing? to hash them all out. How did Eric, Christina, and Shoe vote?

Timeline:

• 3:30 - Early Gamers category.
• 19:45 - Casual Games category.
• 35:51 - Strategy Games category.
• 53:52 - Complex Games category.