The Dice Men Cometh

Yes, yes and yes, we’re back with more of our PAXtravangza goodness and this episode is chock full of interviews from those we love and whose games we play!

This episode features interviews with Launch Tabletop who are on a mission to….well, you’ll just need to listen, as well as so many of the indy developers we simply can’t list them all here!

We feature two of the hidden PAX gems that Garth and Mark discovered in the TDGA Collaboratory space – A little roll and write called Floodlands that came out of nowhere and left a great impression and a radical, bodacious, gnarly card game called Stoked! It’s all about surfing, you grommits!!

Thanks to Charles and the team at LFG! Please make sure to visit their website for all your gaming needs.

Interview Timestamps:9:05 Review of Floodlands prototype25:20 Review of Stoked37:55 Alex Wynnter & TGDA Update46:30 Alannah Kearney and Kate Finch from Launch Tabletop57:10 Steve Dee, Tin Star Games & The Score1:02:15 Steve Clarke & Cargo Hold1:04:10 Jake Bamford, Dapper Cranium Studios1:09:25 Elliot Courtney & Fish Off1:12:10 Galaxy Brain Games & Shifters1:15:25 Karl Lange1:19:35 Keith D Franks III, Cutlass Games1:25:15 Leo Cheung & Parselings RPG1:37:25 Amir Kamal, Game Tribe Design and Natarerra1:41:25 Kenny Michael-Otton, Jolly Swagman Games & Scrap1:44:00 Alex Kenworthy-Neale, 219 Games & Kingless1:48:25 Andrew Carpenter from Five Robots and Logic Engine1:55:30 Jof Croxford, JOF Games & Heroes & Wizards

Welcome to the first in our trilogy of special PAX episodes….Yes it’s a PAXtravangza!!

This week it’s all about big name publishers, distributors and and design studios as we talk to gaming luminaries live from the floors of PAX. Of course, we also review games and this episode is no different….

Welcome to the kitchen and it’s time to make soup…we’re all chefs working together to make the most delicious and appetising soup around…in Too Many Cooks. Do we actually spoil the broth or make the ingredients sing in perfect flavour harmony? There is only one way to find out.

We then rummage around in our PAX bag and find another little game you should be aware of…it’s also delicious and just a bity cheesy. The game is Nacho Pile and we bring it to you in full ASMR goodness for your auditory pleasure. We won’t tell you more, because if we did you wouldn’t listen.

So settle in for the a massive few weeks of PAXtensive coverage of the biggest Australian gaming con of 2022!

Thanks to our ongoing sponsor LFG and to all our friendly distributors and publishers!

Interview Timestamps:35:20 Kim Brebach – Good Games Publishing46:20 Jarrah Bloomfield – Too Many Cooks50:05 James Allen – Drift54:10 Kiddy Shi – Good Games Retail1:01:50 Dann May, Brenna Noonan & Greg May – Quillsilver Studio1:12:45 Britta Fisher – VR Distribution1:19:40 Mark Morrison – Campaign Coins and Chaosium1:23:50 Steph Georgiadis – Let’s Play Games1:29:05 Karl Lange – GUF Studios1:36:15 Wade Dyer – Fragged RPG Universe

Tonight we talk about two games that are basically identical…nearly….well, a little bit….maybe….not quite…actually, we’ll let you decide.

First we find ourselves competing to be the best medieval trader and merchant in a euro that looks so old it could have been designed in medieval Europe. Yes, we get our hands on Hansa Teutonica. Does this game win the title of “most euro looking game”?

We then dive into the latest in real time tagging game thanks to Pandasaurus! Yes, we are going “Wildstyle” which might be a term the kids are using these days, but we’re old and not sure. What we are sure of though is that you will be tagging the city; smacking down cards and generally trying to avoid making mistakes while your competitors seem to have no problem covering the town in their tags!

It’s then time for a quick talk about the recent nominees in the Toy and Game Hall of Fame before we wrap this one up!

Thanks to LFG for their support, and we’ll be back soon on the other side of PAX Aus!!

Welcome to our house, our home, and our studio as this is the first episode of the Dice Men Cometh coming to you live from our new recording digs!

Tonight we whisk you away to the world of Magoria where competing magicians try to win all the fame, and some of the money, in Trickerion! Yes…Garth does a fair bit of talking about this game, but does it thrill and excite like pulling a peacock out of a hat? Or is it long and dull like pulling a dead snake out of a hat? Only this episode will tell you what you need to hear!

And then it’s Trekking Through History, thanks to Underdog Games! In this beautiful game you will be travelling through time on a tour like none other! Will you visit the Mayans or the Aztecs? Have tea and crumpets with a King? Or simply trek through time with only one ambition…victory points.

So thanks to LFG as always for their amazing sponsorship! And thanks to you, our listeners, for spending some time with us this week.

Trekking through History

An example of a Trek

Fancy tokens on an itinerary

Huge magic box!

Garth and his Magic Birthday elixir!

Hello and welcome to a completely regular show of the Dice Men Cometh! We have definitely not got any exciting news to share with you about the future of the show….

But, ha ha, we are revealing as a cultist/ assassin/ cylon because there IS some exciting news…do you want to know more?

Apart from our news, we review not one, but two hidden traitor games in the form of Unfathomable and Patriot.

Unfathomable, which was so generous provided by Good Games Australia, is the spiritual successor to Battlestar Galactica and pits humans against deep ones against hybrids against cultists. Yes, it’s a lovely Cthulhu@Sea adventure for one and all!

Then it’s time to vist the country of Karmonia in Patriot. This is a new Aussie game coming soon to Kickstarter! Will you do what it takes to save your beloved President? Will you try to disrupt the status quo of Karmonia while still being good? Or will you just assassinate the President and watch everything come tumbling down? These choices and more await you at the table!

So thank you as always for listening, thank you to our lovely sponsors and thank you to Edge Radio!

The fate of the earth is in our hands as the Dice Men have been charged with proposing, planning and building the clean, green energy that our planet so desperately needs! Yes, we’re not burning coal, but we are burning our brains in the Vital Lacerda game of carbon emission permits, CO2: Second Chance. Who would create such a heavy co-op euro anyway?

And then, Mark, fresh of the plane from Gencan’t, spills all the beans of the biggest news that Gencon has to offer, before we finish up with a quick-fire review of Gugong; a game of gift-giving, corruption and cubes in Ming Dynasty China.

Thanks to LFG for their enduring support, please make sure to pick up your next game through their store or website!

We’re coming to you LIVE FROM GENCON….sort of, well, we ARE coming to you live from…Gencan’t.

This week were are shooing away bin chickens in the Grail Games release, The Gardens which has so generously been provided by Good Games Australia; before perilously pursuing the heartless darkness in Disney’s Kingdom Hearts Perilous Pursuits; and then finishing up with the latest iteration of Love Letter in Jabba’s Palace. Who walks the walk in a Garden? Who saves the worlds in Kingdom Hearts? Who wears a slave outfit the best? And who gets thrown into the Sarlacc for one too many Goofy impressions?!?

Make sure to check out our wonderful sponsor LFG for all your gaming goodness! And we hope everyone at Gencon has a great time…we will get there one day!

Let them eat cake! And Strudel! And let’s wash it down with some wine and coffee! Now off to our rooms for a good sleep. Sounds exciting, yes? Well, you better listen in to find out, as this week the Dice Men are discussing a game that’s been on their radar for a while, but we’ve finally got it to the table….Grand Austria Hotel. Will it make it into Leon’s euro-ish collection, or be consigned to history as another one and done game to be sold?

We then move onto war…yes, war, with Blitzkrieg hitting the table. This little 20 minute filler game has made an impact on quite a few people, so does it live up to the hype?

And finally, did someone say awards? Of course we need to talk about the recent Spiel and Kennerspiel winners that have just been announced! Which Dice Man picked the winners? Do the winners actually deserve it? Listen in to find out.

Thanks as ever to LFG for their support, be sure to check them out at lfg-aus.com.au.

We would LOVE to tell you all about the first game that we feature on this episode, however we can only tell you two things….we’re teenagers in 1994 who we’ve found a mysterious board game, AND it’s a game that has been generously provided to us by the fine folk at Good Games Australia!

However the second game is one we can tell you all about, as it’s a game of creating wealth, then spending it all to become the most victorious philanthropist! Yes, it’s the current euro hotness, Carnegie. Garth’s best game of BorderCon, this game sees players building departments; sending workers all over the USA and generating delicious and valuable victory points. This game sounds like we’d all like it…but Dice Men can be very fickle.

Thanks of course to our sponsors at LFG, and thanks of course to all of our wonderful listeners!!

This episode is what dreams are made of as the Dice Men talk about not one, not two, but three games (plus we mention some others) in under an hour!

Yes, it’s an SdJ and Kennerspiel spectacular as we start with Living Forest, which may be currently the best value game in town, before moving on to Cascadia (possibly the most hyped game in town), and finishing up with Scout which features some new (and old) mechanics that we know and love.

We then throw our hats in the ring and discuss which games will win the titles on 16 July!

There is so much in this show we won’t bother writing more of a description, except to say thanks to our sponsor LFG!

What a cunning creature

The Boys are back in Albury.

Our first 18XX experience

Late night at Bordercon

Handsome Teutonica