Boardgame Mechanics

Episode 83 - Top Games of 2018 revisited part 1

Introduction:   

• Zany Banter!!

News:

• Taxi Derby by Skipshot Games. 14 days to go and $34 - modular board. Players are picking up passengers and trying to deliver them to locations as fast as possible. If cops are alerted the taxis will need to our run the police. Customers require certain upgrades to their taxi before they will be able to be picked up. 
• Mr. Meeple Board Game Shirts. 2 days to go and $18 for one of the shirts and $34 for two shirts. 
• Burgle Brothers 2 from Fowers Games
• Tabeltop Ink - Jillian Schmett
• Root Digital

Games played:

• Jason - Lisboa
• Joel - Rajas of the Ganges
• Jason - Portals and Prophets
• Joel -  Horrified
  • Honorable Mention - Black Angel

Revisiting our 2018 top 10 part 1: 

Jason:  10 - Everdell: probably be higher on the list now. One of the few on this portion of the list I have played since we did this list.
Joel: 10 - Villainous- Good, but too weird for most situations

Jason:  9 - Gearworks: this would be off the list. Haven’t played it since and in hindsight probably shouldn’t have been on here.
Joel: 9 - Guardians- Still really good, but my taste in games continues to evolve. 

Jason:  8 - Spirits of the Wild: played this a lot since this list. I still enjoy it. It is a quick and fun 2 player game.
Joel: 8 - Temporal Odyssey- Moved this to a friend’s house. Again, taste in games has changed.

Jason:  7 - Spell Smashers: still agree with this pick. Haven’t played this since the original list was made but definitely want to. 
Joel: 7 - Gizmos

Jason:  6 - Legend of the Cherry Tree: one of my favorite push your luck games. Still under the radar and I love it. I have played this a lot since making this original top 10.
Joel: 6 - Western Legends

Closing: 

Root, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Teotihuacan, Chronicles of Crime, Gugong, Underwater Cities, Newton, Dice Throne Season 1, Imaginarium, Architects of the West Kingdom, Palm Island

BGM Blog 9

By Jason

How I Teach Board Games

Something that I have been pondering on recently is the best way to teach other players board games.  In most instances (not all, but a lot) I am the person that teaches people games.  This means that I usually set the game up prior to game day and do the following:

1. Read the rules
2. Read the rules again
3. Set up the game according to the rulebook
4. Play a two player game solo
5. This will help ensure that I understand the mechanisms and actions to better explain
6. Learn end game triggers
7. Learn end game scoring
8. Review the rulebook for anything that is a bit odd to ensure proper understanding

After I have done all of this I put the game away and am ready to go for game night. 

Fast forward to game night….

When all of the other players show up I bring the game out and set it up as I did previously when taking the game for a test run.  I try to not read from the rule book because I know that it turns some players off so I just explain the game from what I remember of my trial play and initial passes thru the rule book.  This works to give players a full understanding of how the game works.  If they end up having questions that I didn’t happen to explain I will then crack open the rule book to find the answer to their question.  Then we start playing.  I like to use the rule book only for card clarifications and maybe some obscure rules that show their head once or twice over the course of a game.

There are some wrinkles that come up sometimes.  These would simply be players that ask to explain the game while also explaining the theme.  Why are we doing this?  Why does this action do what it does? Why is the art the way that it is?  You guys all know me. I am mechanics over theme all day long so when these players ask me to include them in explanation it trips me up.  It causes me to not be able to explain the game as effectively as I would normally because I am trying to think of thematic ties as to why we are moving this cube from this space to that space when a six is rolled.  Tricky I know.  I do my best and sometimes I think I even do a good job but it is rough.

The way I teach games may not be the way that you would teach a game and that is alright.  It is a personal preference on how we tackle this.  Sometimes it even depends on what types of players that you have in your game group.  It is best to teach them the way that they like to be taught and not the way that you particularly like to teach i.e explaining the thematic ties.  Just some thoughts.

BGM Blog 8

by Jason

Board Game Media Loves to Complain

Earlier this week I was watching an episode of Chit Chat from a prominent review channel, that has some men and meeples fighting, and they were recapping their GenCon experience. I am always interested to hear what people think the highlights of certain conventions are which is why I clicked on this episode. At the very beginning of the episode these reviewers were talking about how they had to take a week off after GenCon to recoup from the busyness and exhaustion and this got under my skin. It is these reviewers JOB to go to cons (free of charge), play board games, review and preview games and do all things board game related. These certain people don’t have to go to a day job to make ends meet and do their board game stuff after working a full day...THIS IS THEIR JOB. Hearing media complain about a job where they are playing games all day gets under my skin.  I would love to play board games all day including all of the new hotness that is coming out three years from now and then have the nerve to complain. In their defense maybe their butts get tired of sitting at the gaming table or they ran away it of their favorite beverage and that really ruined their day. Or maybe, just maybe, these men are just tired from fighting meeples all day. I know I would be. 

Episode 82 - Gamer Advice

Introduction:   

• Zany Banter!!

Return of a game…. Pai (asmodee) owns…. 

News:

• Rune Stones Rudiger Dorn and Queen. 6 days left and $45. Rune Stones is a deck-building, hand management game. In Rune Stones, every card has a unique number on it. Two cards are always played together, and the higher numbered card is removed from the player's deck. You have to be careful which cards you buy and how you play them to not lose your best cards. Players will use their cards to gather gems, forge them into Artifacts, then combine those into Rune Stones, which grants a special ability for the rest of the game. The more artifacts used in making a Rune Stone, the more points it scores, so players must decide whether it is best to gain abilities early or save to score more points.
• Free Market NYC by Unique Board Games LLC. This is an auction and trading game where players are trying to be the best capitalist. $49 and 4 days left. 
• Speaking of a free market….. Amodeus errr. Asmodee bought Lion Rampant Games….
• TIL employees who work for FFG for five years get their likeness in a piece of art for one of their games
• Tapestry
• BGG

Games played:

• Jason - Agra
• Joel - Edge of Darkness
• Jason - Queen Bee
• Joel -  Homebrewers

Gamer Advice: 

• Joel - If you are new to the hobby, give a game a couple months. 
• Jason - Playing old games is acceptable. 
• Joel -  Don’t play with people who need convinced to play. 
• Jason - No need to be cult of the future. WRONG!!!!!! Kidding. 
• Joel - Don’t force a game.
• Jason - Be willing to try games that are outside your wheelhouse. 

Episode 81 - GenCon Post Mortem

Introduction:   

• Zany Banter!!

News:

• Sleeping Gods Red Raven. $70 and 20 days left. Seems to be the next game like Above and Below and Near and Far. 
• Fiasco! 
• SHASN!
• Trial by Trolley

Games played:

• Jason - Skull King
• Joel - Jambo
• Jason - Helios
• Joel -  Balloon Cup 

Joel Recaps GenCon:  

• Con Cons:  Lines, cosplays, crowds, and mystery boxes. 
• STEFAN FELD!!!!
• Homebrewers, Legendary 007, Parks, Terror Below, Obscurio, Cartographers, Foodies, Watergate, Crusoe Crew, Black Angel, Abomination, City of Big Shoulders, Edge of Darkness

Closing: 

Episode 80 - Disappointments

Introduction:   

• Zany Banter!!
• Katie takes the co hosting reins because Jason is under the weather. 

“This podcast will CHANGE YOUR LIFE All your wildest dreams will come true with this. Unless that dream is to meet Stefan Feld, in which case, sorry.“

Games 7,8, and 9. 

1 Root  

2 Anachrony  

3 Harry Potter Battle of Hogwarts  

4 Blackout Hong Kong 

5 Reckoners 

6 Dice Throne (season 1 and 2...but that counts as one)

7 Teen Titans Deckbuilding Game 

8 Chronicle of Crime 

9 Teo…  Tay-oh-tee-wah-cahn

News:

• Tattoo Brawl: No Paint No Game. $29 13 days left. Hand and resource management game. Players are taking on clients and trying to put the type of tattoo they are wanting in them to earn a pay day. Kind of mean as you can steal stuff from other players. 
• GWAR vs Time $60 plus; deck builder, add’l merch, bring Gwar to GenCon 2020
• JOEL- RIP Richard Berg, HEX saga…. Dwarves in Trouble… Yokai City of Crime. 

Games played:

• Katie - Bohnanza Ladies and Babies expansion
• Joel - Little Town
• Katie - Naga Raja Hurrican Asmodee 
• Joel -  Dizzle 

Top 3 disappointments: 

• Joel - Descent
• Katie - World’s Fair 18-whatever (1893)
• Joel -  Betrayal At the House on the Hill 
• Katie - Vinhos
• Joel -  Gearworld: The Borderlands
• Katie - 7 Wonders/Dominion

Closing: 

Joel - Agents of Smersh, Android and Netrunner, Arkham Horror, Mysterium, Doomtown Reloaded, L5R, Rise of Augustus

Katie - Scythe, Captain Sonar, Dragonsgate College, Star Wars Destiny, Broom Service, Castles of Burgundy

• Jason - Rialto
• Jason - Favor of the Pharaoh
• Jason - Kingdom Builder

Jason - Formula D, Century Eastern Wonders, Letter of Marque, Mombasa

Episode 79 - GenCon Preview

Introduction:   

• Zany Banter!!

News:

• Smartphone Inc. on Kickstarter by the time the episode drops. Since the page isn’t up not a ton of information. 
• Just One wins the Spiele and Wingspan wins the Kenner 

Games played:

• Jason - Rare Roses
• Joel - Villainous
• Jason - Vinyl
• Joel -  Boss Monster- Rise of the Minibosses

GenCon Preview: 

• Joel - Artemis Project
• Jason - Driving
• Joel -  Sierra West
• Jason - Parking
• Joel -  Silver
• Jason - Not Wanting Press/Crowds

Closing: 

City of the Big Shoulders, Parks, Barrage-- not mentioned on show, but if you read this, check those out too. 

Abomination -- this is a game, but also a good description of this episode. 

Episode 78 - Mr. Werewolf Himself, Ted Alspach

Introduction:  

• Stump Jason Game

Jason’s Frugal Corner:

• Jason - Vinhos First Edition $30 on BGG compared to $89 for the EGG version. 
• Joel - Caylus for $15

News:

• Copenhagen Roll and Write is now on Kickstarter. This is a roll and Write version of the recent release Copenhagen. This has 8 days left and is $20
• DinoGenics 2nd Printing. $68 19 days to go. There is an expansion available as well and upgrades of you already own the first edition. 
• Robinson Crusoe:  Escape from Despair Island

Games played: 

• Jason - PARKS
• Joel -  Palace of Mad King
• Jason - Draftosaurus
• Joel - Silver

Ted Alspach Interview:

Closing: 

Everyone is in Board Game Media!

Blog by Jason

I am a huge fan of board games (clearly since I am part of this podcast) and am a member of a lot of Facebook board game related groups.  While browsing through the posts in these groups I have started to notice a trend:  EVERY MEMBER OF THESE GROUPS IS A CONTENT CREATOR!!  This is a bit of hyperbole but not much.  I see on a daily basis new people stating that their YouTube channel is up and running and they are doing a new video type that has never been done before or there are people stating that they have started their third podcast to talk about roll and writes with the theme of farming in space.   Now, don't get me wrong I am happy that people love this hobby that I enjoy so much but do we need more board gaming content? Do we even need our channel in this overabundance of board gaming content?  Probably not but we will keep pressing on as I am sure that all of these new people will do.  Everyone is trying to be the next Dice Tower or Watch It Played and, who knows, maybe a few of us will make it.  In the meantime though maybe people can just be fans of games without starting a podcast/YouTube channel every other second.  I mean, tons of people love listening to music but not everyone is starting aband...only nine out of 10 of them are.

Episode 77 - BGM Con Recap

Introduction:   

• Zany Banter!!
• STUMP JASON

News:

• Pret-A-Porter 3rd Edition KS. This is selling for $60 and has 10 days left. I am so pumped for this. 
• 18 Holes by SeaBrook Studios. $41 15 days left. This is a game where players work together to build an 18 hole golf course. Then play cards to try to be the first player to get the ball in each hold to score points but watch out for hazards. 

Games played not at BGM Con: 

• Jason - Crusaders
• Joel - Airline Europe
• Jason - Lost Cities 
• Joel - Boss Monster

BGMCon Recap: 

• Attendees: Joel, Jason, Katie, Lauren, Brandon and Josie (Joel’s parents there but didn’t play games, boo)
• First game - Museum (J,J,K). One that Joel said he wants to buy. 
• Second game - Merlin (J,J,B).  Castles of Mad King Ludwig was at another table. Joel loves Merlin. 
• Third game - Scoville (J,J,B,J). Very fun game that Jason really enjoyed. Joel thinks it is fine. 
• Last game - Railroad Revolution (J,J,B). One of Jason’s favorite games of the Con. 

Closing: 

We're sorry Mr. Feld. Jason will keep his distance.