Three Moves Ahead

Rowan Kaiser, Cassandra Khaw, and Greg Tito join Troy to talk about a return to the city-building genre with Banished from Shining Rock Software. Alternate titles: Tales from Rowan-oke, Miners & Minors.

Troy and Rob mark episode 250 by looking at a new game from Proxy Games and Matrix. Does Pandora live up to its ambitions as a spiritual successor to one of strategy gaming's most beloved titles? Listen as they look at the old wine in not very alien wineskins. Plus some kind words for everyone that has gotten us this far.

Mohawk Games' Soren Johnson joins Troy and Bruce to talk about Drive on Moscow, the followup to last year's Battle of the Bulge. Bruce gives some insight from behind the scenes and Soren explains why writing a good AI is a large undertaking.

Polygon's Danielle Riendeau joins Rob and Troy to talk about the long marches and difficult decisions in Banner Saga. Well-marked spoilers are present between 30:58 and 38:26.

Rob and Bruce revisit SSG's classic Korsun Pocket in this first episode of 3MA's Winter of Wargaming. Rob tells us how the game holds up to someone seeing it for the first time and Bruce explains what made Korsun Pocket unique and important at its release in 2003.

Rob and Troy go deep into Roman history to talk about the expansion to Total War: Rome II - Caeser in Gaul. Have Creative Assembly turned their trireme around? Listen in to see if Rob is less irate and hear Troy drop the best sound bite in the history of the show. Alternate title: You've Got Some Gaul

Tom makes the bold claim that the traditional RTS is dead by the hands of MOBAs. Troy still likes Civ and Rob discusses his space minivan as well as pushing through the less savory parts of SimCity.

Andrew Groen and Taylor Cocke join Rob to talk about the eSports scene in 2013. The crew discusses how the different games have evolved and where they'd like to see eSports go in the future.

Julian, Bruce, and Rob sit down to discuss their favorite things from 2013. Rob and Bruce look forward to a Winter of Wargaming. Bruce and Julian argue about Waterdeep.

Pieter de Jong and Tomislav Uzelac join Rob and Bruce to talk about the Black Turn expansion for Unity of Command. They go in-depth on the Eastern Front and principles of scenario design.

Campo Santo's Nels Anderson joins Rob, Rowan, and T.J Hafer to talk about the Crusader Kings 2 Sons of Abraham expansion and why it speaks to so many people outside the traditional grand-strategy sphere.

David Heron and Rowan Kaiser join Rob to talk about the Enemy Within add-on for XCOM.

Rob, Fraser Brown, and TJ Hafer have come away from Blizzcon feeling like Blizzard is more of a strategy studio than it's been in years.

Soren Johnson joins Rob and Troy to discuss the meaning of the RTS format, why the traditional genre definition is too narrow, and his new studio.

Jon Chey, formerly of Irrational and now of Blue Manchu, joins Julian and Rob to discuss Card Hunter.

Rob and Troy field some listener questions, revisiting space games, and whether they prefer more abstraction or more theme.

Julian Murdoch and designer Rob Daviau join Rob on vacation to talk about playtesting, feedback, and making games work.

Bruce Geryk brings Tom Chick back to the show so they can grill Ilwinter's Johan Karlsson and Kristoffer Osterman about Dominions 4 - the latest version of their "So You Wanna Be A God?" Fantasy Conquest Game. Learn about new empires, new powers and why everything is just a bit different for them.

Firaxis designer Ananda Gupta joins Rob, Troy, and Bruce to discuss his upcoming expansion to XCOM and his storied design career in PC and board gaming.

Nick Breckon joins Rob and Troy to talk about one of the greatest wargames ever made.

Everything changes in this Very Special 2-hour Three Moves Ahead event. Rob, Rowan Kaiser, and Fraser Brown gather to talk about Rome and destroy a grave threat to the Total War series. But then the next morning they realize they've gone too far and they're all like, "What have we done?" But nothing will ever be the same again, they've been marked forever.

Soren Johnson, Ryan Kuo, and Michael Hermes join Julian today to talk about iOS asynchronous board gaming. Neuroshima Hex is the star of the show and leads the panel to other recent additions such as Eclipse and A Brief History of the World.

Rob and Troy discuss how rebellion and discontent have been represented in strategy games, and why they can be so crucial.

PC Gamer's TJ Hafer and Gamesbeat's Jason Wilson join Rob to discuss Europa Universalis IV. Spoiler: they loved it.

Idle Thumbs' Sean Vanaman and former Escapist editor Tom Endo join Rob to explain the appeal and hurdles of Dota 2 and lord management.

Ed Beach and producer Dennis Shirk sit down with Rob to discuss their thinking behind Brave New World, and making a better Civilization V.

Rob, Troy, Fraser Brown, and Rowan Kaiser talk about the latest Civilization expansion.

Tom Chick joins Rob to talk about their feelings toward Company of Heroes, and why they both feel a bit disappointed. Tom thinks the game's economy is broken and it's become too armor driven, while Rob is really depressed by the faction design. And yet Rob still likes it, while Tom finds it ultimately pointless.

Evan Lahti joins Rob to talk about Red Orchestra 2: Rising Storm (a totally LEGIT strategy topic). They discuss why it outstrips Heroes of Stalingrad, how it does faction design right, and the role of asymmetry.

Bruce and Tom join Rob for a late-night chat about Wargame: AirLand Battle, Cold War tactics and politics, and Rob's overwhelming awfulness at this game.

Troy and Bruce team up to discuss the track record of railroad games through strategy history, from 1830 through Railroad Tycoon and Rails Across America and beyond. How do these games distinguish themselves from each other? What is the attraction? Does Ticket to Ride count?

Relic's Quinn Duffy and former Relic producer and friend of the show Shane Neville join Rob to talk about Company of Heroes past and future.

Rob talks to the Paradox brain trust of CEO Fred Wester and VP Shams Jorjani to discuss publishing, Paradox's approach to the business, and whether reviewers are the enemy.

EU IV lead Thomas Johansson and freelance writer Joe Robinson join Rob to talk about their recent adventures with a massive EU IV multiplayer session.EU IV lead Thomas Johansson and freelance writer Joe Robinson join Rob to talk about their recent adventures with a massive EU IV multiplayer session.EU IV lead Thomas Johansson and freelance writer Joe Robinson join Rob to talk about their recent adventures with a massive EU IV multiplayer session.

3MA Producer Michael Hermes and GWJ editor Erik Hanson joins Rob and Tom to talk about Victoria II: Heart of Darkness. Rob is reconsidering some of his earlier, harsher views on Victoria while Tom argues that it is a towering achievement of game design that speaks to real-world politics in a way few others have ever attempted.

Paul Dean joins Rob to talk about their shared frustration with the state of strategy games among the stars.

Tom Chick and Rob talk about the rise of early access programs, whether it's a good thing, and what it means for their work.

Andrew Groen and Sean Sands join Rob to discuss how Heart of the Swarm has changed StarCraft 2, and the evolving competitive landscape. (Cover image: Enrique Espinoza courtesy MLG)

Tom Chick joins Rob and Troy to talk about campaigns in RTS games, particularly StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.

Troy, Julian, Dave Heron, and Rob talk about the role of extraordinary disruptions in strategy games. From acts of God to the acts of Khan, why don't more strategy games include disruptions? And should they?

PAX East 2013 was host to the second ever Three Moves Ahead panel, and this time we took on interface design. Troy and Rob were joined by Rob Daviau (IronWall), Eric Lee Smith (Shenandoah) and Nels Anderson (Klei)

Chris and Rowan Kaiser join Rob to dissect SimCity and its many quirks.

Bruce and Troy welcome Paul Rohrbaugh from <u><a href="http://www.hfdgames.com/" target="_blank">High Flying Dice Games</a></u> to the show to talk about what it means to be a desktop wargame publisher? Why do desktop games support greater variety in conflicts? Is there a limit on what can and cannot be done? What does a desktop consumer look like? And stay tuned to the end for a pretty cool wargame story.

Rob Daviau joins Julian, Rob, and Troy to talk about games that are more about social interaction than mechanics. Traitor games, party games, and negotiation games.

Awesome Out of Ten's Fraser Brown and PC Gamer's T.J. Hafer join Rob to talk about Paradox's March of the Eagles.

It's just Troy and Rob this week as they reflect on Cold War strategy games and the unique challenges and temptations of that setting.

2x2's Tomislav Uzelac joins Bruce and Rob to talk about designing Unity of Command, scenario design versus systems design, and where the series goes from here.

Jon Shafer joins Rob and Troy to talk about his new project, <b><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jonshafer/jon-shafers-at-the-gates">At the Gates</a></b>, and the role of map evolution.

Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor joins Rob, Troy, and Julian to talk about Total Annihilation and the Supreme Commander series, as well the problems currently facing Gas Powered and their <b><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaspoweredgames/wildman-an-evolutionary-action-rpg">Wildman Kickstarter</a></b>..

It's old home week on Three Moves Ahead as the full panel assembles to talk about their favorite games and trends of 2012, and Tom Chick crashes the party to bury the hexagon, not to praise it.