Board Game Barrage

Latest Episodes:

#130: And the Award Goes To ... Jul 09, 2020

Show notes

It's award season when we say it is, so we're looking back at the Golden Geek Awards, The Dice Tower Awards, and the Spiel des Jahres nominees. We offer our thoughts on their picks, and how wrong they are. I mean, Wingspan winning "Best Four-Wheel Drive SUV" just seems a bit much. We also talk about Battlestar Galactica, Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, Paladins of the West Kingdom, and The Boss.

01:56 - Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game 08:09 - Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small 12:45 - Nusfjord 14:01 - Paladins of the West Kingdom 19:48 - The Boss 25:03 - Board Game Awards 2019 25:13 - Golden Geek Awards 26:10 - Through The Ages: New Leaders and Wonders 27:35 - Dune 28:35 - Wingspan 29:40 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 30:55 - The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine 33:01 - PARKS 34:30 - Tapestry 35:08 - Spiel des Jahres Nominees 36:16 - Plumber Pants 38:30 - The King's Dilemma 40:10 - My City 40:38 - Pictures 41:27 - The Dice Tower Awards 42:30 - Detective: City of Angels 43:37 - Slide Quest 47:22 - Letter Jam Check out Kellen playing Battlestar Galactica over at Optimal Play: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/662734157

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#129: Fight for Your Right to Party Jul 02, 2020

Show notes

BGBBOB, party edition! For those not keeping up, that's BGB Best of Board Games, which is definitely not the final name (but also maybe is) for our recurring feature where we duel rank games into an incontestable ordered list. This week we confer, fight, and bargain our way to the best fifteen party games. Before we spike the punch, we also talk about Twice As Clever, Wavelength, and 6 nimmt!

01:38 - Twice As Clever 05:17 - Wavelength 05:58 - 6 nimmt! 10:43 - BGBBOB: Party Games 12:28 - True Colors 13:17 - Anomia 16:27 - The Resistance 17:13 - Scruples 20:52 - Balderdash 22:10 - Krazy Wordz 24:38 - Happy Salmon 25:53 - Telestrations 28:17 - Pictomania 28:52 - Codenames 30:33 - Time's Up! 32:30 - Wavelength 35:06 - SiXeS 36:03 - Panic on Wall Street! 38:48 - Detective Club 1:00:48 - The Final List

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#128: The Means of Production with Richard Simpson Jun 25, 2020

Show notes

We're joined by Richard Simpson of We're Not Wizards, who is definitely not a magician, Victorian or otherwise, to talk about the line between game design and production. Should production values be an integral part of the discussion of a game's merits, or should we learn to separate the two? Before we get productive, we talk about Doughnut Dash, Cities, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, and L.L.A.M.A.

07:25 - Doughnut Dash 17:10 - Cities 21:37 - Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra 31:01 - L.L.A.M.A 35:25 - The Power of Production 35:34 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 41:35 - The Last of Us Part II 47:15 - GKR: Heavy Hitters 49:24 - Cthulhu Wars 53:33 - Warhammer 40k 55:03 - Castles of Burgundy 55:29 - Container 56:10 - Tang Garden 58:09 - Krazy Wordz 59:23 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant Check out We're Not Wizards at: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com

Check out Kellen on We're Not Wizards Here: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com/e/boardgamebarrage/

Check out Neilan on We're Not Wizards Here: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com/e/neilan/

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#127: No Stupid Questions Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

We asked for your questions, and you provided! Some of you used Instagram, some of you used voicemail, but however you reached out, your voice was heard. We chose only a few to answer (quality notwithstanding), but we'd love to keep doing this, so keep sending them in! Before we corral your correspondence, we talk about Gloomhaven, Terra Mystica, Bloom Town, and Starlink.

03:25 - Gloomhaven 06:44 - Terra Mystica 09:03 - Bloom Town 18:16 - Starlink 27:20 - Listener Questions! 33:35 - Cyclades, Inis & Kemet 41:28 - Hive

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#126: So Very Wrong About Games Jun 11, 2020

Show notes

I know this is going to come as a shock, but sometimes we get things wrong. As we've worked our way through the hobby, we've discovered that some positions we once held, aren't ones we still do. So it's time to revisit our past transgressions and come clean. Before we admit our mistakes, we talk about Tang Garden, Fast Forward: FORTRESS, and Race for the Galaxy.

02:45 - Tang Garden 14:12 - Fast Forward: FORTRESS 21:04 - Race for the Galaxy 30:51 - Board Game Barrage Math Trade: Part II! 34:15 - When We Were So Very Wrong About Games 51:06 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

A big tip of the cap to our friends at So Very Wrong About Games. Listen to their podcast if you aren't already!!

Special thanks goes to What Does It Eat? for hopefully not being upset that we borrowed a snippet of their most excellent song F.O.S. before our theme. You can find them at whatdoesiteat.com.

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#125: REwrite the Stars Jun 04, 2020

Show notes

Once loved board games will often circle back into the limelight with reprints, but we're also starting to see a lot more get remasters and remakes too. We take a look at this trend, and discuss some re-imaginings our favourite board games, whether it's a full on new version, or just a new coat of paint. Before we re-re-re-repeat, we talk about Cities: Skylines, Colorful, and Maharaja.

03:29 - Cities: Skylines 08:25 - Colorful 15:36 - Maharaja 25:36 - REmasters, REemakes and REimaginings 29:13 - Brass: Lancashire and Brass: Birmingham 31:04 - Kemet 32:53 - Caylus and Caylus 1303 34:31 - Terra Mystica and Gaia Project 36:22 - Through the Ages and Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 37:22 - Dune 40:30 - The REsistance

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#124: Constraints You Can See May 28, 2020

Show notes

While all games have some restrictions, some games are more willing than others to let you go off the rails. For instance, some leave the economy entirely in the hands of the players, free to tank it if they please. We look at how games do (or don't) use player constraints to deliver unique experiences. Before we rein ourselves in, we talk about Tournay, Bullet♥︎, Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons, and Container.

01:46 - Tournay 01:57 - Troyes 07:10 - Bullet♥︎ 10:44 - Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons 17:15 - Container 28:30 - Games with and without constraints 28:51 - Food Chain Magnate 31:14 - Sidereal Confluence : Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 39:24 - Power Grid 40:01 - Flamme Rouge 42:25 - Startups and Zogen 43:02 - Diamant 43:28 - Crokinole 45:56 - Tigris and Euphrates 49:15 - The Estates

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

#123: Filler Up May 21, 2020

Show notes

Sometimes you have a little gap of time between larger, heavier games, and what you need is a palate cleanser, which brings us to the realm of games we lovingly call "fillers". We kick off the very first Ranked Duel Battle of the Boards (definitely not the final title) by ranking our favourite filler games! Before we pass the time, we talk about Aerion, Ingenious, The One Hundred Torii, and Taluva.

04:49 - Aerion 09:54 - Ingenious 10:56 - The One Hundred Torii 14:07 - Taluva 22:02 - Call for voicemail! 22:50 - Ranking our favourite fillers 30:08 - Coloretto 30:24 - Istanbul 31:11 - Shards of Infinity 31:45 - Arboretum 32:14 - Biblios 32:14 - No Thanks! 33:14 - Splendor 33:24 - For Sale 35:08 - Startups 35:30 - Blue Lagoon 37:33 - Zany Penguins 37:45 - The Game 39:09 - 6 nimmt! 39:38 - Twice As Clever 40:49 - Karuba

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#122: Strongest Starter May 14, 2020

Show notes

When you're playing a game for the first time, and barely know what you're even doing, how do you even begin to strategize? That's what we're asking ourselves this week, as we explore some of our approaches to first plays, how we evaluate the game space, and well, win. Before we push levers, we talk about Orléans: Invasion, Zoned Out, Santorini, and Mini Express.

02:03 - Orléans: Invasion 09:48 - Zoned Out 16:42 - Bronze Age 17:54 - Santorini 23:28 - Mini Express 32:40 - How We Approach First Games 37:53 - Troyes 38:47 - 7 Wonders 45:26 - Kemet 48:06 - Barrage 50:05 - No Thanks! 51:13 - Ra

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#121: FANTASTIC Four with Mike Walker from So Very Wrong About Games May 07, 2020

Show notes

Mike Walker from So Very Wrong About Games joins us to talk about games that we add to our collection, not for ourselves, but (gasp) for others. Sometimes you do what you have to placate your so-called friends, and their awful taste. Before we begrudgingly acquire games, we talk about The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Solo, Renegade, and Horrified.

00:15 - A New Tank Appears! 03:53 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 06:15 - Innovation 07:54 - Nemesis 12:21 - Castles of Burgundy 12:50 - Trieste 14:03 - Watergate 15:20 - Watergate Retheme? (Patent Pending, TM, etc...) 17:51 - Solo 20:47 - Renegade 26:48 - Horrified 34:55 - Catering Games to Your Game Group 40:17 - Ankh

Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

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