The Dice Men Cometh

Some episodes are just bigger than others, and this one is BIG!

We start of with a review of 7 Wonders: Architects where you are playing architects all trying to construct your Wonder in a more wonderful way than than the other architects. Oh and it plays up to 7. I wonder how they came up with the name? Well, wonder no more…

We then make the jump to light speed and discuss the Star Warsiest Pandemic there ever has been, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars! Will this game do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs? Will Han shoot first? Will Darth Jar Jar make a long awaited appearance? All we know is that Good Games Australia were kind enough to send us this review copy, so may the force be with them!

But wait, there’s more! We talk about the newest little card game to hit our table, with 5211 making an appearance before the biggest news of the whole episode…

How you can win 2 tickets to BorderCon 2023! This sold out tabletop convention held in Albury over the Royal Birthday long weekend is a must on many gaming calendars, so if you want a chance to be there, listen in and enter!

Thanks to our fantastic sponsor LFG!

It’s time for the Dice Men to explore the paradox of quantum superposition as we open a box to see if the cat really is alive or dead in the newest kitty cat game out there…Cat in the box.

This offers a new wrinkle in the world of trick-taking games and Leon does a wonderful job of explaining it, which is a paradox considering he doesn’t really know how to play it…I wonder what Schrödinger would make of that?

We then get partially naked (for audio purposes only) and head on down to the beach; specifically to Maui which is the latest game in the “beach towel placement for fun and profit” genre! Will your towels be the most organised? Will your umbrellas get blown away? Will a sandcrab bite you somewhere you don’t want to talk about?

And lastly we put on our supersuits and review Marvel: Remix which allows you to live out your dream of drawing and discarding cards with the goal of having the most points at the end…with superheroes and villians…

So that’s a full show, which is also episode 350! Can you believe we’ve made it this far? Thanks to all our listeners, all our Patreon backers and of course to LFG as our main sponsor!

Yes, the Dice Men Cometh aims to be educational and this episode is no different, so settle as as we teach you about the birds and….the beeeagles…well dogs at least, as we’re heading to the skies with Wingspan Asia before digging into all things Dog Park.

We start with the latest birdy instalment in the Wingspan saga, but this time it’s an expansion and a stand alone two player game. Yes, it’s got great art, yes it’s got another colour of eggs and yes, if you’re a twitcher looking for something to play with your significant other, it may just be the ticket. In any case, the boys all have their opinions locked and loaded.

We then feature a little segment on the newest Aussie-designed game hitting the crowd-funding market. It’s called SCRAP and we were lucky enough to get an early prototype to review. If you think this game sounds interesting, make sure to check it out on Gamefound and support the Aussie Tabletop industry!

We then fail to let sleeping dogs lie, as it’s all about taking them for walkies in Dog Park by Birdwood Games! Will you become a breed expert? Will you take all your doggos for their walk? Will all your sticks and balls be put to good use? Will Leon complain there are not cats in this game?!?!?!?!

So thanks for listening and thanks for your ongoing support! Of course we can’t do this without our wonderful sponsor LFG, as well as our gaming partners!

It’s time to talk monsters! Have you ever wanted to be a big ol’ monster who gets to smash things, squish minions and destroy crystals? How about punching or stomping another big bad monster? Well if that sounds up your alley, then this episode may be for you! Yes, we’re talking the newest and biggest King of Monster Island box there is…complete with your own personal volcano! Is it any good? Does it compare to King of Tokyo? Do you need both? Leon is madly in love with King of Tokyo, so has he found a new love?

We then travel back in time to the ancient Mediterranean to build our own spectacular Grecian city in Akropolis the new abstracty, tile-layey game from Gigamic. Whose city will be full of houses? Who will have enough markets or temples to satisfy their population? Whose city will grow high enough to kiss the stars? We all know there is only one way to find out the answers to all the questions of the universe…listen in.

So thank you to our sponsor LFG, and also to VR Distribution for sending us King of Monster Island and Akropolis!

Another year, another top list by the top 3 Dice Men in Australia!

Yes, we’re on the top list bandwagon but who else in this business would dare to do something so complex, something so time-consuming and something so mathematical as to create a TOP 15! Yes, not 10, not 20, but a top 15 like the madmen we are! So to make up for a missed list at the end of 2021 we’ve each created a top 15 list of games that were new to us in 2021 and 2022!

Which Dice Man got it right? Why did Mark get it wrong? and what games are glaring omissions from all of our lists? Make sure to listen then let us know just how terribly we all did, or if we hit the gaming nail on the gaming head!

Thanks as always to LFG and all of our wonderful sponsors! Happy 2022 to all our listeners, and let’s all try to make 2023 the gamingest year there ever was!

Here is a special Christmas treat – everybody can listen to one of our latest Secret Patreon episodes!

Please be warned though, this episode is NOT family friendly. There is quite a bit of swearing and adult concepts – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

We hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas, New Year and Holiday season, and we’ll be back soon with more Dicemen madness. Cheers!

So what if we add a little bit of this….a little bit of that….and a bit of something something….what do we get?

Lots of bits actually, and all those bits come together in the form of Bitoku, a foresty fantasy game about taking your path towards transcendence and virtue points. This game is gorgeous, and big, and well, other things too but we want you to listen and not just read this description…so off you go…you can listen now!

Well, actually we also need you to know that we discuss a fantastic little party/ drinking/ RPG game called BARPIG that’s designed by an Aussie who is lucky enough to be living in the Nether regions, or the Netherlands…but either way you definitely want to hear our thoughts as there is even a special deal for listeners who want to grab a copy!

But that’s not all – we draw our 12 or 11 or 13 games of Christmas!! Will you be a winner and get to take home a game courtesy of the Dice Men and all our wonderful sponsors? Make sure to stay to the end and find out!

Tonight the Dice Men are all working together to construct the best damn Green Cathedral this side of the Volga!

Yes, in episode 345, we’re all rival architects vying for the Tsar’s attention in Green Cathedral… Umm Actually, it’s not actually a green Cathedral, it’s actually a Red Cathedral and the game is actually called Red Cathedral!

Which takes us perfectly to our second game of the episode, a game called Umm Actually which is all about being the biggest smartypants this side of the mighty Murray!

But, these games are really just the tip of the gaming iceberg as we also continue our world famous gaming giveaway, the 12 Games of Christmas!!!!

So thanks to LFG and all our wonderful sponsors who help us run the show and giveaway so many games it’s almost criminal. Don’t forget to go and check out our Patreon too – for even more Dice Men goodness (and maybe some bonus competition entries too!)

This week we are visiting two strange and distant parts of the universe! In one game we are space-faring explorers who find a planet filled with lifeforms, and in the other we try salad. Both of these are pretty alien concepts to the Dice Men!

In Circadians: First Light by Garphill Games, we roll our dice all over the planet in search of resources, items and those elusive victory points while keeping the peace – who will rule the planet this time? Well, you better listen in to find out.

We then gorge ourselves on any gamers favourite side-dish, a Point Salad. This game from AEG presents you with simple, yet very important decisions; do I need veggies or do I need a points card? Well, the only way to get points is to have veggies…so maybe I’ll start there, but I need points cards otherwise the veggies are useless….but if I don’t take that card now it won’t be there on my next turn…ARGH…who said these were simple decisions?!?!

But, these games are really just the tip of the gaming iceberg as we launch our world famous gaming giveaway, the 12 Games of Christmas!!!! The competition starts now so you better listen quick to find out how to enter the best damn gaming giveaway this side of the….well you get the idea. So thanks to LFG and all our wonderful sponsors who help us run the show and giveaway so many games it’s almost criminal. Don’t forget to go and check out our Patreon too – for even more Dice Men goodness (and maybe some bonus competition entries too!).

Image courtesy of BGG user @kalchio

We’re really sorry to say, but this episode is our last….in the trilogy of The Dice Men Cometh’s PAXtravaganza! And oh me oh my, have we got a cracker of an episode for your listening pleasure!

We get started with Leon’s world famous question-time, where he grills Garth and Mark about their PAXperiences before we dive headfirst into some interviews we conducted at PAX!

These interviews feature the up-and-comers from Boardgame BBQ in an inception-style interview (as we’re interviewing them, interviewing us about interviewing them again…) and a little Aussie Youtube channel that’s taking over the world, called Thinker Themer!

We want to say how wonderful it is to be part of an ever-growing community of Australian tabletop content creators and in all seriousness it’s hard to get better content then the type that these two creators are bringing out, so if you haven’t already taken a look at what they do – go and do it now!

We’ll be back to our regular episodes now that the PAXtravaganza trilogy is complete, but thank you to everyone who took time out of their PAX weekend to be interviewed by us; who spent time playing games with us and who simply helped reinforce the fact that tabletop gaming is alive, well and going from strength to strength in Australia!

Thanks as always to LFG and to all our listeners around Australia and the world!