Lens and Veil Podcast

By Garphill GamesLeisure Games

Lens and Veil Podcast episodes

May 18, 2025 EP #15: Lost Ruins of Arnak
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Lost Ruins of Arnak by Elwen and Mín. Lost Ruins of Arnak combines deck-building and worker placement in a game of exploration, resource management, and discovery. In addition to traditional deck-builder effects, cards can also be used to place workers, and new worker actions become available as players explore the island.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:06:03 - Intro
0:06:22 - Overview of Lost Ruins of Arnak
0:11:30 - Discussion of Lost Ruins of Arnak
1:03:38 - Questions for audience
1:04:01 - Weekly Board Game Dilemma
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
1 hr 11 min
April 27, 2025EP #14: Designer Draft
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this special episode they perform a snake draft of board game designers into their 5-a-side team. They each need to choose at least 1 attacker, 1 midfielder, 1 defender and 1 new recruit.
Attackers: Designers who have the ability to make real hits, even if they're not always consistent.
Midfielders: Designers who have a wide variety and are prolific.
Defenders: Designers who mostly stay in their lane, but don't have many duds.
New Recruit: A new designer, or someone who hasn't designed many games.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:04:30 - Draft
0:40:49 - Captains
0:42:34 - Honourable Mentions
0:47:40 - A Dilemma!!
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
51 min
April 07, 2025 EP #13: Golem
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Golem by Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, and Simone Luciani. Golem is an engine building game based on the 16th-century legend of the Golem of Prague, an anthropomorphic creature that Rabbi Loew animated from a clay statue to protect his people. Using a hybrid worker placement and marble selection action system, players will attempt to score the most victory points through three main areas of the game, golems, books, and artifacts.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:06:52 - Intro
0:07:12 - Overview of Golem
0:12:03 - Discussion of Golem
1:08:33 - Questions for audience
1:08:50 - Weekly Board Game Dilemma
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
1 hr 18 min
March 16, 2025 EP #12: SETI
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Tomáš Holek. SETI is a card driven eurogame where you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions, direct their telescopes to gaze into distant star systems and collect promising data to examine and study back home.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:07:55 - Intro
0:08:11 - Overview of SETI
0:12:13 - Discussion of SETI
1:11:40 - Questions for audience
1:11:59 - NEW SEGMENT: Weekly Board Game Dilemma
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
1 hr 20 min
February 27, 2025 EP #11: Cooper Island
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.

In this episode they discuss Cooper Island by Andreas Odendahl. Cooper Island is a worker placement game with a unique resource system based on the height of tiles on your personal island.

📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:04:08 - Intro0:04:23 - Overview of Cooper Island
0:07:06 - Discussion of Cooper Island
0:49:55 - Questions for audience
0:50:16 - What is your favourite overlooked or underrated game?

⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).

Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.

Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.

🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
1 hr
February 05, 2025 EP #10: Era of Experts [Inventors expansion]
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Era of Experts by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. Era of Experts is an expansion to Inventors of the South Tigris which provides 12 unique playable characters to the game. Each character comes with its own special abilities, starting bonuses, and motivations.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:09:15 - Intro
0:09:32 - Overview of Era of Experts
0:09:42 - Discussion of Era of Experts
0:53:11 - Questions for audience
0:53:30 - For which game would you like to either see an expansion or another expansion?
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
59 min
February 02, 2025 EP #9: Body of Books [Scholars expansion]
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Body of Books by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. Body of Books is an expansion to Scholars of the South Tigris which introduces a new black Medicine Research Track, black Dice, and the concept of publishing books. The expansion brings in more of a focus towards engine building and creating interesting combinations of retired translators and published works.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:06:41 - Intro
0:06:57 - Overview of Body of Books
0:07:35 - Discussion of Body of Books
0:45:16 - Questions for audience
0:45:34 - What is your favourite expansion to any game?
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
58 min
January 13, 2025 EP #8: Tides of Trade [Wayfarers expansion]
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Tides of Trade by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. Tides of Trade is an expansion to Wayfarers of the South Tigris which gives players the means to upgrade their workers, recruit traders, and compete for influence over the new red guild. The expansion also includes a flurry of additional cards for each draw pile.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:06:33 - Intro
0:06:49 - Overview of Tides of Trade
0:09:31 - Discussion of Tides of Trade
0:46:40 - Questions for audience
0:46:57 - If you could design a game for any IP (intellectual property), which IP would it be and what would the game be like?
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
54 min
December 02, 2024 EP #7: Scythe
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Scythe by Jamey Stegmaier. Scythe is an engine-building game set in a 1920s era, alternate-history. Players take turns performing 1-2 actions in the race to build up their faction and earn the most coins by the end of the game.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:04:17 - Intro
0:04:31 - Overview of Scythe
0:09:03 - Discussion of Scythe
1:08:19 - Questions for audience
1:08:37 - If you could only play one board game genre for the rest of your life, which would it be?
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
1 hr 15 min
November 12, 2024EP #6: Unconscious Mind
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.

In episode they discuss Unconscious Mind by Laskas, Jonny Pac, Yoma, Antonio Zax. Unconscious Mind is a euro-style game featuring worker placement, engine building, multiple rondels, and cascading effects. Players take the role of contemporaries and colleagues of Sigmund Freud, renowned psychoanalyst, and aim to formulate new therapeutic techniques, establish a practice, grow your clientele, and become Freud’s most distinguished contemporary.

📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?

0:05:12 - Intro

0:05:29 - Overview of Unconscious Mind

0:06:49 - Discussion of Unconscious Mind

1:08:15 - Questions for audience

1:08:41 - If you had one chance to convince someone that modern board games are fun, which game would you play with them?

⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).

Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.

Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam. They also have another game together under development.
🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠
1 hr 17 min

About Lens and Veil Podcast

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🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.