Meeple Nation Board Game Podcast

We first fire off a few mini reviews. The first game discussed is Vast: The Crystal Caverns, then we discuss Nathan's sadness over missing out on Captain Sonar. Then we discuss the dirty little secrets of playing with house rules. Is your favorite space on the Monopoly board Free Parking? Do you enforce certain variable rules when you play a game, in the rulebook or not? Two Captains in Firefly? Is this madness? Listen to find out.

We blitz through a new set of games we've played in the last few months. Games discussed: Quadropolis Ravenous River Legendary: Big Trouble in Little China Thief's Market Mottainai Codenames: Pictures Cry Havoc Listen to our 5 minutes reviews of some fantastic games.

It's the cold war and you are a 20 year-old mastermind spy, controlling your network of the three spies you have across Europe. Gather your spy camera, tracking device, lock picks, and other gear, position your spies correctly, use your dice wisely, and complete missions. Covert is a game for 2-4 that will take a few hours as you compete to be the coldest war spy in the world.

Mystic Vale uses an innovative card crafting system designed by John D. Clair. Druid clans attempt to cleanse the curse upon the land...and competing to do it better than the other clans by gaining the most VP? Meeple Nation takes the system for a spin with mixed results. Does the theme matter? Does Ryan need to put a dollar in the swear jar for invoking the term Multiplayer Solitaire? Listen to find out.

Fantasy Flight and Games Workshop broke up. What will happen with their kids? We discuss this, get stuck talking about theme again, cover three different awards, introduce our favorite Kickstarters, and tell you what we liked most about issue 73 of Counter Magazine.

Friedemann Friese delivers not just 1 new game, but 504 new games in a single, but heavy, box. 504 is a bundle of mechanisms and bits that you combine together using a flip book to discover the ruleset of the selected world. Each world uses three of nine possibilities, configured in a specific order to designate how to gain money, gain points and win the game. Different worlds use different components from the box. It is a brilliant design that will appeal to a specific type of player. Brent might just play it another 491 times.

We sit down with game designer Tim Fowers to talk about four different social games. We first talk about Cockroach Poker, then Grifters, followed by Don't Mess With Cthulhu, and finally Coup: Rebellion G54. Tim also leads us in contrasting Cockroach Poker and Coup and we talked about this design space and why we like these types of games. We now have shirts available through Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L2WOF2I

Your hosts talk about the use of rating systems to evaluate board games including the flawed rating system on the popular Board Game Geek website. We discuss 1-10, thumbs up, stars, among others. Nathan prefers the 3-7 rating system within a 1-10 shell. Brent and Ryan are still trying to figure it out. Give us a listen, and maybe you can help us find a review system for our humble podcast.

We've all had that experience. Yes, that one, where a perfectly fine game was ruined by other players. Perhaps last time it was their attitude, or Kingmaking, or someone who refuses to put down their phone. What to do, what to do. We talk about these isssues as we remind ourselves not to be "that guy."

Barbigra Time to celebrate! Barbara is back from GenCon 2016 just in time for our news episode, brand new games in hand. We discuss our plays of Unusual Suspects, Codenames: Pictures, and Ta-Da!. We also talk about all the spanky new games released or announced at GenCon. Our Highlights include Mansions of Madness 2ed., Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Star Wars: Destiny, and Cry Havoc. We also discuss Thunderstone having a 3rd edition and the potential frustration of loyal Thunderstone players at having their copies become outdated. Nathan has a long list, and Ryan and Brent engage in a bizarre definition dance.

The old Jarl has died. Fearsome trolls, draugrs and a smattering of monsters are attacking from all sides. The Vikings need a champion to repel the surmounting threats and lead the people to glorious victory. Are you that champion? Champions of Midgard is a Viking era worker placement game with dice combat. Your workers collect viking dice, gold, wood, and food, prepare boats for launch, and prepare the way to fight the monsters. You roll your Viking dice to fight the monsters, and the Viking leader with the most glory after 8 rounds is declared the new Jarl. Good times. Ryan is down with the theme, but can the mechanics hold up to Brent's scrutiny. Find out in this week's podcast.

Ragnarök has arrived. We're all going to die, but we're going to die in a blaze of glory and celebrate our victories in Valhalla. Oh, and my clan is going to die better than your clan. Blood Rage is a strategic area control game with card drafting designed by Eric Lang. Blood Rage comes with some truly fantastic minis (viking and monsters) and slick, easy to teach rules. Friend of the podcast, Sam Aho, joins Ryan and Nathan to discuss the carnage, monsters, and strategy, including the Kickstarter exclusives and the rad insert by The Broken Token.

It is a dark time after the last Great War in 1920's Europa where large mech war machines are all that remain from the the capitalistic city-state known simply as "The Factory". When the Factory goes dark and shuts it's doors, the leaders of the surrounding countries set out to make their claim upon the region, hoping to control the secrets and win over the people. In this amazing "4x" game, players will gather resources, claim territory, and battle with massive mechs. The paths to victory are varied as the starting player positions as each player attempts to maximize their actions to gain popularity, power, and money. Join the dudes as they discuss Scythe by Jamey Stegmaier and Stonemaier Games.

We speak with Craig Nybo, author, musician, and designer of various board games. Quirky Engine Entertainment publishes under a few different games including 3 Headed Giant, Gangrene Games, and GameARama. Games include Eyeball Boxing, Trash War, and Hoagie. We also speak with Mike from Epic Puzzles and Games, a nice store that supports the board game community in the greater Salt Lake City area.

Ryan, Nathan, and Brent sit down to discuss the News and current Kickstarters including: Bluffing in Sheriff of Nottingham Mystic Vale Guildhall: Fantasy AEG does Deckbuilding a little wrong Clout will again be released from Crash Games A new Buffy the Vampire Game Magic's Next Release, not called Eldritch Horror Counter Magazine, issue 72 with 120 Pages of Articles and Reviews

We continue our coverage of the fantastic two player games available right now. Star Realms: Colony War was a sure hit with us, but Brent and Ryan discover even more difference in their play styles even in a game they both enjoy. Does Colony Wars stack up to vanilla Star Realms? Find out as we discus the game from drastically different angles. We also cover Onitama, Hive, Tides of Time, and Pinata (formerly Balloon Cup).

We have four interviews from Game Industry professionals! 1:00-7:30 Joshua Githens of CGE Games 7:31-19:22 John Binkley of Bink Inc, Makers of Trekking the National Parks 19:23-36:29 Michael Coe of Gamelyn Games 36:30-46:55 Luke of Sea Pig Games

Two player games are the perfect pastime to spend with your significant other, your soulmate or a random guy at the park. We love our two player games so much, we devoted several new podcasts to the topic, gushing about some of our new favorite games. We discuss 7 Wonders: Duel, Patchwork, Star Wars Risk, ...and then we held hands, and Horrible Hexes in this episode. Hold hands with someone close by awkwardly and with no regrets as you listen.

Brent and Ryan finally get around to editing more interviews from SaltCON 2016. Here are five great interviews recorded back in March. Enjoy! 0:00-1:11 - Introduction 1:12-14:38 Kris McClanahan from Deeply Dapper talks about his geeky products for sale at his Etsy store or at www.deeplydapper.com 14:38-24:57 Chris Urinko of Daft Concepts talks about his current projects on sale at Etsy and www.daftconcepts.com 24:58-32:42 Dale Tolley, designer of Cheesonomics, from Eagle-Gryphon, talks to us about game design and his future plans 32:43-38:19 Matt Saunders, designer of Mow Money, published by Mayday Games, talks about his game. Follow him on Twitter @Matt_Saunders 38:20-47:28 Shaea and Alex Bernard of the Saint George Board Game Convention talk about their inaugural year and what they plan for their 2016 convention. Find out more at www.stgcon.org

Bang! Loses its lawsuit against a copycat game, We talk many Kickstarters, Cthulhu Realms Eats My Batteries is not an expansion, Brent Rants about CMoN, Kickstarter Exclusives, and the Boardgame Bubble

At SaltCON 2016 we sat down with Greg Spence and talked about inserts, how he started the company, and many of his offerings, including his impressive convention schedule. You can find them at their website http://thebrokentoken.com or at Origins, GenCon, BGG.con, or many of the other conventions they have scheduled.

Kennerspiel des Jahres T.I.M.E Stories 0-7:03 Pandemic Legacy: Season One 7:03-9:56 Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King 9:57-11:45 We announce our winner of the Kennerspiel des Jahres 11:46-15:02 Kinderspiel des Jahres Leo 15:03-21:41 Mmm! 21:42-25:18 My First Stone Age 25:19-27:50 Brent's opinion of which should win 27:51-29:29 Spiel des Jahres Karuba 29:30-36:27 Imhotep 36:28-42:52 Codenames 42:53-47:56 Ryan tells us which game will win 47:57-48:59

The fantastic Dan Wells, author and avid gamer, joins the Nation! Dan Wells is a fantasy, YA, post-apocalyptic author known for the Partials series and his new book, Bluescreen a futuristic science-fiction cyber-thriller. He also writes the John Cleaver series. The first one, I am not a Serial Killer, has been made into a movie starring Christopher Lloyd, Laura Fraser, and Max Records. He is a co-host of the Writing Excuses podcast. Dan is also a long-time boardgamer. We discuss his favorite board games, his love of storytelling in games, and what he thinks makes a game great. We reminisce about ancient role playing games, Decipher CCGs, and the new Pathfinder Adventures app. We also talk a little Kickstarter.

This bonus episode was recorded by Brent while he attended BGG.Spring in Dallas on May 29, 2016. He sits down with three of the Spiel des Jahres judges and discusses game eligibility, judging criteria, the selection process, and the differences between the three awards. We then review the nine nominated SdJ games for 2016.

Matt and Barbara join us for another News episode. We talk of Hero Realms, Pathfinder App, Cthulhu Realms App, Descent: Road to Legend App, Campaign Manager, Game Bags, SpielSoap, two versions of Caravan. We also report the newly announced Spiel des Jahres nominees including Codenames, Imhotep, and Karuba.

You're in the trenches in the first World War, trying to stay alive long enough to return home with your grizzled old friends. The threat are bullets, combat, toxic gas, night, winter, and rain. The only way to survive is a little planning, teamwork, and a whole lot of luck. The Grizzled is a cooperative game for two to five players from Fabien Riffaud and Juan Rodriguez. We've had mixed experience with the difficulty of this game, but most of the buzz is that it is hard to win, especially with five players. The great thing is that this little game is fun, even you lose.

In March, at SaltCON 2016, we sat down and talked with Seth Hiatt of Mayday Games. We talk about a number of their products including Twist of Fate, a microgame that is finishing up on Kickstarter at the time this podcast is released. Seth talks about manufacturing, shipping, and the benefit of being Euro Friendly.

This week's podcast come to you from Skye, the largest and most northerly major island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, with soft sand beaches, gently sloping hills and impressive mountain. We're not there, unfortunately. Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King is an economic, territory building game from Mayfair Games. For 2-5 players and for 60 minutes, Isle of Skye will task you to create the best kingdom in your effort to lead y our clan well enough to become King. This is a tile laying game, but the real game involves a unique scoring system and mastering a shifting economy. This game seems like it will be a hit for your intrepid hosts, but you're going to have to listen to the podcast to find out for sure.

We interview the awesome dudes, Seth Jaffee, Michael Mindes, and Andy Van Zandt, from Tasty Minstrel Games (www.playmtg.com) at SaltCON 2016. We've got the insights from a game designer, an owner and a developer. Seth caught us up on his game designs, his work on the Eminent Domain series, and his future releases. Michael talks about the latest releases of TMG and what we can expect in the near future. Andy talks about what it means to be a game developer, his latest projects, and how he likes living in Utah. Don't miss a second of this insider episode.

We’ve hit another 5th episode so it is time for Industry News! Don’t forget to enter our contest on Meeple Nation Off Air on Facebook. 0:00 - 0:47 Introduction 0:48 - 3:07 Mombasa, World 192 of 504 and Ryan hates Stocks 3:08 - 4:59 Contest for Gold West from Tasty Minstrel Games - Ends May 1, 2016 5:00 - 5:53 The Grizzled: At Your Orders 5:54 - 7:51 Star Trek Frontiers 7:52 - 10:12 Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition - Road to Legends Companion App 10:13 - 13:30 Charterstone 13:31 - 16:50 Santorini Kickstarter ends April 27, 2016 16:51 - 18:15 Legendary Encounters: Alien Expansion 18:16 - 19:23 Codenames Pictures 19:24 - 20:39 Legend of the Five Rings LCG coming in 2017 from Fantasy Flight Games 20:40 - 22:24 Mistborn: House War 22:25 - 23:16 Galaxy Quest 23:17 - 24:17 Munchking CCG 24:18 - 24:58 Political Kickstarters are bad 24:59 - 26:06 C.O.G. (The Cabinet of Gadgetry) 26:07 - 28:07 Star Trek: Ascendancy 28:08 - 29:21 Star Trek Panic 29:22 - 31:29 Ave Roma on Kickstarter until May 4, 2016 31:30 - 32:31 Daft Concepts Kickstarter for Yakitori ends April 22, 2016 32:32 - 34:58 Xibalba, currently on Kickstarter through May 8, 2016 34:59 - 35:42 Ghostbusters: The Boardgame II on Kickstarter through May 9, 2016 35:43 - 36:48 Dark Moon: Shadow Corporation 36:48 - 37:20 En Route on Kickstarter through May 12, 2016 37:30 - 40:09 Shadows over Innistrad 40:10 - 45:17 Counter Magazine, January 2016 45:18 - 45:59 Contest reminder and Outro

One thing we know for sure: Saucermen are jerks. Except that Brent, for some reason, likes the Saucermen. Something is wrong with Brent. Might be that alien tech sticking out the back of his neck. Rocket Patrol unite. We have to rescue Brent! Space Cadet: Away Mission is a 1-6 player cooperative adventure game with Retro spacemen fighting aliens, slugs, and space bugs on a modular board. The aliens, including Saucermen, Leaders and a Brain-in-a-jar, act in specific, rule-driven patterns. The game is scenario based with random setups and random encounters, which allows for great replay value.

Months worth of work goes into running a board game convention. We sit with the Organizers of SaltCON and discuss the past, present and future. Join us in our newly formed Facebook Group, Meeple Nation Off Air, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/MeepleNationOffAir

This week we interview the members of HUGG, Herriman Utah Gamer Girls, a board game club of women. I use the word interview loosely, as HUGG takes over the Nation, explaining their love of heavy board game, strict competition, and the importance of integrity of the game. The worst insult within their group is that someone "isn't a real gamer." We found out quickly that they are all real gamers. Find out how the group was formed, their favorite games, and a little trash talk about who is the most competitive.

Join Meeple Nation as we host a live podcast as a panel at SaltCON, a board game convention in SLC, Utah. We talk to several guests about how they approach attending conventions, including the big one--the long CON, whether that is GenCon or BGGCon or another convention. We grilled two professionals, Ryan Bruns from Mayday Games and Ben Hillyard from Daedalus Productions about attending conventions as a dealer. We also interview Claudine Finlay and Julie Balazs from HUGG about why they love gaming at CONs. Also, we interview Brent Mair. He's kind of a big deal.

Meeple Nation celebrates episode 100! We talk with Barb and Matt about reaching this milestone, talk SaltCON, our local board game convention, and discuss board game news of the day, including new or newly announced games, Kickstarters, and some related events. Games discussed include Goonies, a possible new fantasy version of Star Realms, Pack O Games 2, and expansions to Mysterium, Dominion, Imperial Assault and Dead of Winter. Join the Nation as we look forward to the next 100 episodes. Pack O Games 2 Kickstarter ends April 2, 2016 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/713947418/pack-o-game-set-2-wee-strategy-games-for-on-the-go The Manhattan Project Energy Empire ends April 7, 2016 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/miniongames/the-manhattan-project-energy-empire-board-game Darklight Memento Mori ends March 28, 2016 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/53406598/darklight-memento-mori-miniatures-dungeon-crawler The Lazy Gamer ends March 31, 2016 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/878938288/the-lazy-gamer

Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game, is a cooperative game for 1-4 players based on the Warhammer property from Games Workshop. This Fantasy Flight game is played mostly with cards, with a few supporting items such as custom dice, and health and exploration tokens. Each player takes the role of one of the four heroes in the box and uses unique Fight, Explore, Aid, and Rest cards to survive the dungeon and kill the evil nemesis. Our games took 30-120 minutes to complete. Ages 14 and up.

In October of 2015 we noticed a number of threads complaining about games that get used up or cannot be replayed for other reasons. We sit down and talk about these games

Everyone likes expansions, right? Especially good ones? This episode we talk expansions for games we have already reviewed. Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition, is the first expansion for this popular dice game. It adds a slightly accelerated start with new black leader dice, and new starting planet and factions. We first discussed Roll for the Galaxy in Episode 37. Firefly has a number of expansions, including the big box Kalidasa. If you want more Firefly reach back into our archives and listen to Episodes 9 and 12. Star Wars Imperial Assault now has a smaller box expansion, Twin Shadows, and a bigger expansions, Return to Hoth. We discussed the base game in Episode 61.

It has been six months since we last discussed Kickstarter, and Jeff Siadek joins us to explain why publishers use Kickstarter. Jeff's project, Battlestations Second Edition! Tabletop Starship Simulator, is currently on Kickstarter, with an end date of March 3, 2016. This is Jeff's tenth kickstarter, with a relaunch of his flagship game, Battlestations. His company, Gorilla Games, has been around for twelve years, and Jeff has been in the industry even longer than that. Join us as we discuss Battlestations, and how Kickstarter is allowing Jeff to make this game even better.

No one likes a lying cheaterface when playing board games, but what about all of the games that have made lying, cheating, and bluffing core mechanics of game play. This week on Meeple Nation, the primes discuss games with these mechanics such as Sheriff of Nottingham, Coup, Werewolf, Cockroach Poker, Intrige, Lifeboats and Illuminati. We all hate cheating as a mechanic, but find out our take on Bluffing and Lying as core mechanics and hear a few stories of cheaty-cheaterfaces in our past games. Nate owns up, and Ryan finally agrees to let it go. Brent just shakes his head in judgment at us both.

This week we review the game, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

This week, we discuss all things Pandemic, including spoiler free talk of Pandemic Legacy. Luckily, we have Barb and Matt back to keep things from getting too hostile. Everyone seems to like this game, except for Ryan. What's wrong with Ryan? Join us to find out. We cover Pandemic (2008) by Matt Leacock, including the expansions In the Lab (2013) and On the Brink (2009). We also discuss Pandemic: The Cure (2014) and Pandemic: Contagion (2014). And finally a bit about Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (2015). Again no Spoilers.

Your caravan arrives in the fabled Sultanate of Naqala. The sultan is dead. Do you have what it takes to maneuver the five tribes, invoke the old Djinns, and gain enough influence to fulfill the prophesy and become the new sultan? Five Tribes is a clever, meeple-heavy work placement game where the workers are already in place on the table and you use a Mancala-like movement on your turn to maneuver the five tribe and gain points. Designed by Bruno Cathala and released in 2014 by Days of Wonder, Five Tribes is a game played best with player of the same experience level and low analysis paralysis.

We finally review Mysterium! For this seance, we all put on our Medium caps and find meaning in our dreams, conveniently provided by the ghost player in the form of full art cards. Mysterium was designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko. The English version was released in 2015 by Asmodee. The Meeple Nation Primes are joined by Barbara and Matthew Allen as we gush about this outstanding and unique gaming experience. Saying Mysterium is like Clue meets Dixit just doesn't do enough to convey the awesomeness of this game.

In this episode we talk about our gaming year, including a review of what goals we completed from those we set back in Episode 33. What were our gaming highlights? Can Brent's highlight be Ryan's lowlight? What are our plans for 2016? Join us while we enter the new year. Let us know what you are wishing for!

This week, we travel to ancient Egypt and try to win over the big guy, the Pharaoh, with dice. Favor of the Pharaoh,by Tom Lehmann and Bezier Games, is a re-implementation and re-theme of To Court the King. We liked the first version well enough, are were excited to see what Tom came up with. Spoiler--we all thought it was fabulous. We loved all the options available to randomize each game. We loved the custom dice, the pool building, and the bonus tokens. The quality components and free randomization app make this game top notch. We recommend everyone in the Nation give it a try.

In this weeks podcast, we travel to the ancient Japanese Imperial court, were the Emperor has entrusted us to care for his bamboo garden--home of a giant panda bear, the symbol of peace. Add in some dice rolling, territory building, farming, tile placement and some killer panda bear minis and you have Takenoko. Come for the high-quality/cute components--stay for the solid game play, or vice versa. We cover both Takenoko and the expansion Takenoko: Chibis, which add a Miss Panda figure, baby panda disks, and new tiles and cards.

Surviving on a deep space mining expedition on Titan is hard enough without Nathan always trying to kill you. Sure he's infected, but he doesn't have to be such a jerk about it. Join Meeple Nation as we dissect another hidden role gem like Shadows over Camelot and Battle Star Galactica. In fact, Dark Moon originated from a homebrew game called BSG Express, based on the game, Battle Star Galactica . So how does Dark Moon hold up? Well, the shields are damaged, life support is failing, and Nathan has a stupid grin on his face. Listen to find out what happens next.

This week we continue our discussion of November gaming, concentrating on Brent's report of BGG.con in Dallas. He talks about his work in the game library, hot games, Codenames LARP, the Puzzle Hunt, Poker Tournament and Game Show. He also explains his experience with Ponzi Scheme, Fische, Flupen, Frikadelen, Fresh Fish, and Rattlebones.

In this week's and next week's podcast, we cover the ins, outs, and triumphs of our recent foray into three gaming events. Meeple Nation (mostly Brent) and the Northern Utah Gaming Guild (again mostly Brent) helped organize and run an Extra Life event to raise money for Primary Children's Hospital. We raised just over $1400 over the 24 hour event. And we gamed. Hard. Among the many games played among the 60+ attendees, we discuss the plays of Ghostbusters, Codenames, Dead of Winter, The Game, Pathfinder, and many others. At one point, Pandemic Legacy and T.I.M.E Stories were set up next to each other, and they had to play so as not to spoil info for the other table. Leave it to Ryan to walk up and blab secrets all over the place. Ryan needs to keep his mouth shut! The next week Brent was away but Nathan and Ryan visited the International Games Day at the Library.