Episode 68: In Training

Host: Mark Teskey  ·  Guest: Martin Fowler

The Gaming Moguls return with Martin Fowler for an all-trains follow-up to last episode. We tackle the age-old debate of what is and isn’t a train game, working through the three classic families (18xx, Age of Steam, and cube rails) and a long list of boundary cases. Like usual, we recap the recent train games we’ve been playing, including 18 Royal Gorge, 1890 Osaka, Stellar Ventures, Chicago & North Western, Railway Boom, and Imperial Steam.

Chapters

Also mentioned

1830: Railways & Robber Barons  ·  Age of Steam  ·  Northern Pacific  ·  Baltimore & Ohio  ·  TransAmerica & Japan  ·  Brass: Lancashire  ·  Container  ·  Great Western Trail  ·  Shikoku 1889  ·  Wabash Cannonball / Chicago Express  ·  Age of Rail: South Africa  ·  Yokohama  ·  Across the United States  ·  Metro X  ·  Tzolk’in  ·  The Voyages of Marco Polo  ·  Grand Austria Hotel  ·  Barrage  ·  Food Chain Magnate  ·  Greed Incorporated  ·  Lisboa  ·  1849  ·  1848  ·  Mini Rails

Connect

Gaming Moguls BGG guild #3431  ·  @gamingmoguls on Twitter and Instagram  ·  [email protected]  ·  [email protected]

The Gaming Moguls return with special guest Martin Fowler. We talk about our Games of the Year (GOTY) and our Designers of the Year. Like usual, we recap the great games we’ve been playing recently and recap our major gaming events of 2025.

Mark, Sobhi and special guest Nick from Talking Cardboard engage in a lot of wishful thinking about what we want to play at Gaming Moguls Summer Muster 2024. As you could predict, Mark wants to play a lot of Euros, Nick wants to play a lot of Wargames, and Sobhi doesn’t dare as long as there are trains.

Mark and Sobhi have a big announcement – MogulsCon 2.0 August 16-18 in Hopkins, MN! We also review games we’ve played and talk about three different space operas – two of which involve a dying sun or planet. We also talk about a couple of our favorite recent 18xx plays and rare Japanese trick-takers.

Note: Slight error fixed from the initial release

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:50 Big Announcement

00:05:32 What We’ve Been Playing

00:05:44 Barrage: The Nile Affair

00:12:34 Shut the Books

00:19:18 The Barracks Emperors

00:25:14 Magnum Sal

00:32:20 The Old Prince: 1871

00:40:39 18SJ – Railways in the Frozen North

00:44:21 Main Topic Intro – A Tale of Two Suns

00:44:50 Sol: Last Days of a Star

00:51:29 Evacuation

00:56:12 Arcs

01:06:51 Wrap Up & Outro

[email protected]

The Mogul Scale Living Document

Mark and Sobhi have a big announcement – MogulsCon 2.0 August 16-18 in Hopkins, MN! We also review games we’ve played and talk about three different space operas – two of which involve a dying sun or planet. We also talk about a couple of our favorite recent 18xx plays and rare Japanese trick-takers.

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:50 Big Announcement

00:05:32 What We’ve Been Playing

00:05:44 Barrage: The Nile Affair

00:12:34 Shut the Books

00:19:18 The Barracks Emperors

00:25:14 Magnum Sal

00:32:20 The Old Prince: 1871

00:40:39 18SJ – Railways in the Frozen North

00:44:21 Main Topic Intro – A Tale of Two Suns

00:44:50 Sol: Last Days of a Star

00:51:29 Evacuation

00:56:12 Arcs

01:06:51 Wrap Up & Outro

The Mogul Scale Living Document

Sobhi and Mark head off for the First Minnesota Muster – a weekend of heavy games, war games and train games and live to tell the tale.. but not all the games could say as much. We also discuss a new favorite of the group – Praga Caput Regni. Finally – we introduce a new recurring segment called “What Makes This Game Great” – in which we write a love letter to Brass.

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:12 First Minnesota Muster

00:09:50 Sidereal Confluence

00:18:38 Trade on the Tigris

00:20:41 Heul Doch! Mau Mau

00:25:53 1880:China

00:35:52 Boast or Nothing

00:37:49 Vinhos

00:46:10 Maria

00:47:50 Age of Steam

00:49:13 Oranienburger Kanal

00:50:15 Tall Tales

00:51:42 Praga Caput Regni

01:03:21 What Makes This Game Great – Brass

01:27:11 Wrap Up & Outro

The Gaming Moguls add a new co-host to the mix – Sobhi Youssef! We introduce Sobhi, talk about what we’ve been playing – then talk about games where the theme is clearly reflected in the mechanisms.

00:00:00 Intro

00:17:43 What We’ve Been Playing!

00:18:28 Fresh Fish

00:24:35 1849: The Game of Sicilian Railways

00:29:11 Oranienburger Kanal

00:35:26 Time of Crisis: The Roman Empire in Turmoil, 235-284 AD

00:37:06 Pax Pamir: Second Edition

00:40:04 The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition

00:42:39 Carnegie

00:44:00 Main Topic Intro

00:53:00 Union Stockyards

00:59:32 Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition

01:03:13 Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition

01:07:04 Europa Universalis: The Price of Power

01:08:47 Die Macher

01:11:12 Heat: Pedal to the Metal

01:14:15 Leaving Earth

01:17:30 Wars of Religion, France 1562-1598

01:21:33 The Gallerist

01:23:05 Lisboa

01:26:27 Snowdonia: Deluxe Master Set

01:28:37 War of the Ring: The Card Game

01:31:46 Innovation

01:33:22 People Power: Insurgency in the Philippines, 1981-1986

01:37:34 Wrap Up & Outro

The Mogul Scale Living Document

Time again for that annual lookback at Mark’s best-of-the-best. It’s probably the most pure list ever – since very few “new hotness” games were played in 2022. Where does Age of Steam land this year? Did Ark Nova crack the list? Is it once again all Uwe Rosenberg?

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:05 Mark’s Top 20 of 2022!

00:08:43 Number 20

00:12:06 Number 19

00:15:10 Number 18

00:17:24 Number 17

00:20:39 Number 16

00:25:21 Number 15

00:28:39 Number 14

00:32:34 Number 13

00:35:07 Number 12

00:38:59 Number 11

00:40:30 Number 10

00:43:48 Number 9

00:47:52 Number 8

00:53:09 Number 7

00:57:53 Number 6

01:01:23 Number 5

01:07:21 Number 4

01:11:25 Number 3

01:16:41 Number 2

01:19:30 Mark’s Number 1 of 2022!

01:23:53 Final Thoughts

01:28:07 Wrap Up & Outro

The Mogul Scale Living Document

Our favorite time of year is when we review our top 20 games of the year to see how our tastes evolve over the year. We count ’em down from 20 to 1 and talk about the ones that almost made the list. To nobody’s surprise – Jake likes the trains and Tom Lehmann – and there are plenty of those on the list. What’s #1 – and are you Team Jake?

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:06 Jake’s Top 20 of 2022!

00:06:35 Number 20

00:09:37 Number 19

00:14:20 Number 18

00:18:44 Number 17

00:21:51 Number 16

00:25:54 Number 15

00:28:57 Number 14

00:32:00 Number 13

00:34:28 Number 12

00:38:31 Number 11

00:41:16 Number 10

00:43:21 Number 9

00:47:12 Number 8

00:50:20 Number 7

00:51:50 Number 6

00:55:18 Number 5

01:01:40 Number 4

01:04:27 Number 3

01:09:40 Number 2

01:14:09 Jake’s Number 1 of 2022!

01:17:13 Jake’s 2022 Runner Ups

01:24:07 Wrap Up & Outro

The Mogul Scale Living Document

Jake and Mark review a cabin gaming weekend and ponder why some cooperative games – especially some very highly rated cooperative games – leave such an emptiness after playing. They revisit Ark Nova with some additional thoughts after more plays, and talk about games that scare us.

00:00:00 Intro

00:04:20 Games We Played!

00:04:24 Castles of Burgundy

00:05:42 CoB BGG Player Aid

00:11:11 Ark Nova

00:21:23 Nemesis

00:36:32 Caverna: The Cave Farmers

00:46:17 Caverna: Cave vs Cave

00:51:30 Dandelions

00:54:19 Age of Steam

01:04:16 18Chesapeake

01:10:20 Wrap Up & Outro

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