So Very Wrong About Games

Latest Episodes:

Why Is This Game So Long? Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

We are staunchly body positive here at SVWAG, but we do prefer our bears fat. "Let me have about me bears that are fat," said Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, or he would have, had he known about the glory that is Fat Bear Week. I guess Caesar wouldn't have been totally down with the democratic aspect of the whole voting thing, but whatever! Exercise your franchise and vote for the moist chonkers bears.

https://explore.org/fat-bear-week

01:38 AYURIS: Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (Changhyun Baek, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, DiceTree Games, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

03:29 -Magical Athlete (Richard Garfield & Takashi Ishida, CMYK, 2025)

10:29 -Revive: Call of the Abyss (Helge Meissner, Kristian Amundsen Østby, Eilif Svensson, and Anna Wermlund, Aporta Games, 2023)

13:19 -River Rats (Mathijs Jansen & Robin Stokkel, Four Suits Studio, 2025)

20:16 -Yokai Septet (Muneyuki Yokouchi, Ninja Star Games, 2018)

24:56 -Amun-Re: The Card Game (Reiner Knizia, Super Meeple, 2017)

31:25 -Regicide Legacy (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, and Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2025)

34:58 -Light Speed: Arena (Leonardo Alese, James Ernest, Tom Jolly, and Emanuele Santellani, Tablescope, 2025)

37:51 -Everdell Silverfrost (James A. Wilson & Clarissa A. Wilson, Starling Games, 2025)

42:16 -ORBIT (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:05 Dogs of War on Gamefound

48:51 A Billion Suns 2E open beta with Mike Hutchinson's Planet Smasher Games

50:23 Twilight Imperium 4th ed. digital edition on Steam

51:42 GAMA Game Store Day: November 1st

53:22 Special edition of Terra Mystica by Steamforged Games

54:10 Topic: Why Is This Game So Long?

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Star Wars: Battle of Hoth Sep 16, 2025

Show notes

We tempt fate and refer to a number of third rails in the hobby community. For one, we acknowledge a loss in Regicide Legacy, which reliably summons the chattering mobs. Further, we mention both Star Trek and Star Wars, so undoubtedly we get a detail "wrong" that will "justify" a detailed response.

Look, we're experts here. We completed the Kobayashi Maru in under 12 parsecs. We're regular callers to Car Talk with Martok. Don't test us.

Games Played Last Week:

01:06 -Galactic Cruise (T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, and Koltin Thompson, Kinson Key Games, 2025)

05:30 -Spectres of Brocken (Aaron Lim, Web published, 2022)

15:58 -Rumble Nation (Yogi Shinichi, Hobby Japan, 2017)

18:49 -SILOS (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025)

26:09 -Hot Streak (Jon Perry, CMYK, 2025)

28:16 -The Gang: Jokers and More (Uncredited, KOSMOS, 2024)

32:37 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

35:12 -High Tide (Marceline Leiman, Underdog Games, 2024)

37:14 -Bombastic (Robert Hovakimyan, Bitewing Games, 2025)

40:01 -Regicide Legacy (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, and Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2025)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

45:52 Federation: Piracy expansion

47:03 Flow movie gets its Flow board game

47:49 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast Twitch feed.

48:45 Feature Game: Star Wars: Battle of Hoth (Richard Borg & Adrien Martinot, Days of Wonder, 2025)

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Nostalgia Sep 09, 2025

Show notes

"Well, that was your mother

And that was your father

Before you was born dude

When life was great

You are the burden of my generation

I sure do love you

But let’s get that straight"

-Paul Simon, "That Was Your Mother"

01:34 AYURIS: Nucleum (Simone Luciani & Dávid Turczi, Board&Dice, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

04:04 -SILOS (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025)

09:34 -Ayar: Children of the Sun (Mandela Fernandez-Grandon & Fabio Lopiano, Osprey Games, 2025)

17:46 -Ichor (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025)

24:24 -Kingdom Rush: Elemental Uprising (Alara Cameron, Helana Hope, and Sen-Foong Lim, Lucky Duck Games, 2023)

27:02 -Carolingi (Christoph Cantzler & Sebastian Freudenberg, Sea Cove Games, 2024)

39:17 -Giants Moving Tiny Furniture (Ian Clayman & Ken Gruhl, Exploding Kittens, 2025)

42:59 -TowerBrix (Simon Thomas, KOSMOS, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

45:36 Shackleton Base Expansion: Below. Above. Within.

47:07 Burned on Gamecrafter October 14! https://www.thegamecrafter.com/crowdsale/burned

48:02 Container reprint, a little more minimalist this time

49:03 Topic: Nostalgia

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Light Speed: Arena Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

On this day of Labour, we offer our solidarity to you. We also offer our labour, because we don't take many days off. No union for us in the opinion mines! I'd complain to my manager, but since that's me, I guess I'd be inclined to ignore it. Classic conflict on interest. The gibbons only complicate the org chart in unhelpful ways.

Games Played Last Week:

01:01 -Hot Streak (Jon Perry, CMYK, 2025)

04:13 -High Tide (Marceline Leiman, Underdog Games, 2024)

09:23 -Hyperborea (Andrea Chiarvesio & Pierluca Zizzi, Asterion, 2014)

12:55 -Tianxia (Antonio Petrelli & Daniele Tascini, Board&Dice, 2025)

20:37 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

27:49 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024)

29:43 -So Clover! (François Romain, Repos Production, 2021)

34:24 -Figment (Wolfgang Warsch, CMYK, 2025)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

39:42 Kasper Lapp's INK

40:37 Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

41:22 Adam and Brady Sadler's The Malice of Light Adventures from Twintale Studios

42:51 Suna Valo by Andreas Odendahl

43:14 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed.

43:40 Feature Game: Light Speed: Arena (Leonardo Alese, James Ernest, Tom Jolly, and Emanuele Santellani, Tablescope, 2025)

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Trick-Taking Games Redux Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

I've always chafed at the conventional wisdom that young goats are good at trick-taking games. Or, at least, ones where you are not incentivized to go null. Do they hold their cards in their cloven hooves? Do their dead eyes come to life when contemplating the vagaries of trump suits?

It must be true, though, because I have it on good authority from a cartoon rabbit that tricks are for kids.

01:23 AYURIS: Envelopes of Cash (Andy Schwarz, Envelopes of Cash LLC, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

03:57 -Ginkgopolis (Xavier Georges, Pearl Games, 2012)

08:48 -Vaultbreakers (Valentino Mori, Vaultbreakers Games, 2024)

13:07 -Sidereal Confluence (TauCeti Deichmann, Wizkids, 2017)

17:46 -Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, & Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2021)

20:01 -Hot Streak (Jon Perry, CMYK, 2025)

21:47 -Signal (Jasper Beatrix, DVC Games, 2025)

26:36 -KINGs: TRICKTAKERs (Hiroken, Joyple Games, 2023)

32:40 -Quantum (Eric Zimmerman, Funforge, 2013)

-Fromage (Matthew O'Malley and Ben Rosset, Road to Infamy Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:52 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed.

39:49 Hanami by Keymaster, reprint of Reiner Knizia's Samurai, on Kickstarter

40:51 Topic: Trick-Taking Games Redux

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fate of the Fellowship Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

Losing a component is rough. Knowing that one of your games is incomplete is like having a permanent absence in your soul. It's one thing to eschew that one added expansion--that's a triumph of restraint. But that missing block in Viking See-Saw will taunt you forever, a blight on your consciousness that can never be healed. Maybe I'm exaggerating.

Games Played Last Week:

00:52 -Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, & Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2021)

04:37 -Riftforce: Beyond (Carlo Bortolini, 1 More Time Games, 2022)

09:44 -Unstoppable (John D. Clair, Renegade Game Studios, 2025)

3D printed tokens: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1851400332/

14:27 -Signal (Jasper Beatrix, DVC Games, 2025)

20:35 -Viking See-Saw (Reiner Knizia, itten, 2021)

23:19 -Dune: Imperium--Uprising (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023)

28:32 -MicroMacro: Kids--Crazy City Park (Johannes Sich, Edition Spielwiese, 2025)

29:35 -Champions of Midgard (Ole Steiness, Grey Fox Games, 2015)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

31:57 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed.

32:57 Ryan Laukat's Song of Silveranth

33:42 Feature Game: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2025)

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Starting Over Your Collection Aug 12, 2025

Show notes

Inigo: I am waiting for you, Vizzini. You told me to go back to the beginning. So I have. This is where I am, and this is where I’ll stay. I will not be moved.

Brute: But the Prince gave orders —

Inigo: — So did Vizzini — when a job went wrong, you went back to the beginning. And this is where we got the job. So it’s the beginning, and I’m staying till Vizzini comes.

-The Princess Bride

(who knew Inigo was a Black Sabbath fan?)

02:39 AYURIS: Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

05:32 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024)

10:08 -The King Is Dead: Second Edition (Peer Sylvester, Osprey Games, 2020)

13:28 -TEAM3 PINK (Alex Cutler & Matt Fantastic, Brain Games, 2019)

18:02 -Rebel Princess (Daniel Byrne, José Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Peláez, and Tirso Virgós, Zombi Paella, 2023)

23:00 -Fives (Taiki Shinzawa, CMYK, 2025)

26:53 -Bargain Hunter (Uwe Rosenberg, Valley Games, 1998)

31:14 -The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2025)

32:48 -Line of Fire: Burnt Moon (Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2025)

39:22 -Cosmic Frog (Jenna Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2020)

45:05 -Planepita (Eisuke Fuijinawa & Kazunori Hori, SzpiLAB, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

47:15 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed.

[EDIT: Mark says the wrong date on the show. The correct date is September 25th.]

48:35 Expansions! For Freedom: The Underground Railroad, Twilight Imperium 4th, Thunder Road: Vendetta, and another edition of Shogun because why not?

51:08 Update on CGE's Harry Potter-themed Codenames: CGE pledges 100% of profits to appropriate charities

52:14 Devir pledges to replace racist imagery in Ace of Spades

53:09 Topic: Starting Over Your Collection

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Vantage Aug 05, 2025

Show notes

"We don’t ask that you stop loving your fantasy world. We ask

you stop paying money for the privilege to dream of it. If

you want to read the [Harry Potter] books or watch the movies, consider

buying second-hand or renting them from a library. Small

changes can make sure you never put your hard-earned

money into JKR’s hands."

-Blacklist CGE zine

Games Played Last Week:

01:01 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 1998)

05:49 -Tiletum: Prospect for Silver (Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini, Board&Dice, 2025)

10:10 -Endeavor: Deep Sea (Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray, Burnt Island Games, 2024)

18:03 -Through Ice and Snow (Fernando Eduardo Sánchez, 2Tomatoes Games, 2024)

22:41 -Hot Streak (Jon Perry, CMYK, 2025)

27:39 -The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2025)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

41:05 New Doom board game(s) by Modiphius

41:46 High Tide by Marceline Leiman

42:20 SVWAG's statement on boycotting Czech Games Edition and in support of trans and non-binary gamers

Blacklist CGE zine: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10BUxxRO08jS9ZFnfnt0dnMPEZi5lrwke

44:15 Feature Game: Vantage (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2025)

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SVWAG Con Report Jul 29, 2025

Show notes

A chief misgiving Mark has about the con is that he is a terrible playtester. He was able to play two unpublished games, and while the designers were gracious he is seldom able to offer anything of much substance. "This game," he might say, "has cards. And other things." Past that, for some reason, when confronted with a prototype his faculties often fail him.

01:48 AYURIS: Arborea (Dani Garcia, Alley Cat Games, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

05:00 -Phantom Division (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, Phantom Horizon, 2026)

14:38 -Westphalia (Amabel Holland, Hollandspiele, 2019)

23:33 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios Tsantilas, CMON, 2020)

27:19 -Ankh: Gods of Egypt (Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2021)

33:25 -Rise & Fall (Christophe Boelinger, Ludically, 2024)

38:15 -Space Cadets: Dice Duel (Geoff Engelstein and Sydney Engelstein, Stronghold, 2013)

43:06 -Outlive (Gregory Iliver, La Boite de Jeu, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

N/A

45:22 Topic: SVWAG Con Report

Chef Ashlee: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068315809451

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#369: Take That Jul 22, 2025

Show notes

The purest juxtaposition that reveals the absurdity of "take that" effects can be found in many of your heavier games and some consims with cards. You gather the resources, marshal your forces, laboriously haul those troops hither and yon, and then sometimes have to manage some activation tokens or whatnot to finally get it on. And then your opponent plays the "nuh uh" card. Fun!

01:19 AYURIS: Daybreak (Matt Leacock & Matteo Menapace, CMYK, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

04:35 -Star Wars Unlimited (Jim Cartwright, Tyler Parrott, Daniel Schaefer, & Jeremy Zwirn, Fantasy Flight Games, 2024)

09:33 -Steam Power (Martin Wallace, Wallace Designs, 2024)

16:20 -Spot It! Bluey (Denis Blanchot, Jacques Cottereau, Guillaume Gille-Naves, & Igor Polouchine, Blue Orange, 2025)

19:15 -Mosaic: A Story of Civilization (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2022)

21:47 -TowerBrix (Simon Thomas, KOSMOS, 2024)

25:46 -Walk the Plank: Deluxe Edition (Shane Steely & Jared Tinney, Mayday Games, 2017)

28:36 -Bomb Busters (Hisashi Hayashi, Pegasus Spiel, 2024)

32:47 -Paint the Roses (Ben Goldman, North Star Games, 2022)

38:24 -Kinfire Delve: Scorn's Stockade (Kevin Wilson, Incredible Dream Studios, 2024)

41:55 -Transgalactica (Daniele Tascini, Devir, 2025)

49:15 -Phantom Division (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, Phantom Horizon, 2026)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

55:14 Looking forward to SVWAGCon!

55:43 Topic: Take That

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