Ambie and Crystal discuss a couple games they played recently, including The Lord of the Rings, Fate of the Fellowship and ONDA. Then, we talk about setup time - how it can make a game harder to get played, and ways to mitigate that time.
When playing games it's easy to fall into the trap of over-anaylsing turns, or questioning whether the move we made was the right one, or even allowing people to roll back whole turns - so we're asking if maybe we've been wrong this whole time, and we should just ... embrace it? Are mistakes interesting? Before we have any regrets, we talk about Apiary, Wizards Cup, and Wroth.
02:43 - Apiary 13:43 - Wizards Cup 20:41 - Wroth 31:37 - Mistakes are fun?
Hark and hearken, good folk, to a tale most joyous! Lo, after many a season spent in patient longing, bold AC doth at last return to the noble realm of tabletop role-playing! With great fanfare and mirth, he unveil’th his much-anticipated Planescapes campaign, and his fellowship of players taketh up the dice once more. As the Lords do revel and wax rhapsodic o'er the delights of their newfound quest, they dost turn back the wheel of time, revisiting a discourse of yore, nigh eight years past, wherein was debated the merits of sandbox tales versus the guided path of on-rails adventures. Sit thee down, pour thyself a flagon, and partake in their merry musings.
Dave is driving but his hands aren't on the wheel. This week we second guess our team mates, sing some songs and hopefully swipes right.
This Game is Broken is a comedy board game panel show with Matthew Jude, Dave Luza, Paula Deming, Nick Murphy and Mike Murphy. We play a lot of nonsense games full of role playing and trivia as well as other fun stuff which can be found at the links below.
It's the crown jewel of the UK board conventions and we've not long been back from UK Games Expo 2025 and this year sees a lot of changes and the biggest it's ever been. Check out our first of two episodes covering the show where we talk through our experiences, the games we've played and the stories that happened. Strap yourselves in, this is going to be a long one.
OUR PLAYERS - JP, Adrian, Davey & Becky
OVERVIEW In this episode you'll learn all about what we got up during the biggest ever UKGE.
We generally frown on ad hominem here at SVWAG, ensconced as we are in our glass houses. In the case of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (known affectionately as "Ja-Jay" by no one), though, who wrote extensively about proper methods of childhood education, we shall report that he confessed to rather callously sandbagging his lover into abandoning their children (Rousseau claimed there were five of them, though records are tricky). Way to be a douchebag, Jay-Jay.
01:47 AYURIS: City of the Great Machine (German Tikhomirov, CrowD Games, 2023)
Games Played Last Week:
03:36 -River Rats (Mathijs Jansen & Robin Stokkel, Four Suits Studio, 2025)
08:08 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024)
This week Shelley and I check out the SECOND of the Kennerspiel des Jahres nominees:
Endeavor: Deep Sea by Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray from Burnt Island Games and Grand Gamers Guild
then have fun with a bunch of short-legged dogs in
Clash of Corgis, a self-published game from Deric Drazich
Thanks as always to our sponsor Bezier Games!
You can support the podcast directly by becoming a sponsor www.patreon.com/garrettsgames OR you can check out our estensive list of games that no longer fit on our shelves, but belong on your table:
On this scenic detour, Tom and Matt are chatting about RULES! What are they? Who made them?! And what do they want with my PIN number?!?
This is a companion podcast to the most recent video on the YouTube channel - ‘The Board Game With No Rules’ - and is a more loose and daft excursion into the wild world of rulesless games.
Efka opens our review of Eternal Decks with "This is the main candidate for Game of the Year 2025" and if you need a better endorsement to learn about a cool new board game, I can't think of one. And I'm Efka. This and more in this week's Talk Cardboard.
Hey now, and welcome to episode 322! Today, the gang kicks things off with a call to action for all you Cabalists -- we need your help coming up with ideas for The Best of The Cabal! Check out the Discord for all the details. Then it’s on to all the games we've been playing lately, including The Breach, Unmatched Adventures, Last Light, A.D.E.L.E., and our feature review of Galactic Cruise. After that, Tony T delivers another incredible Tabletop Gaming News segment, and the gang wraps it all up by playing a live round of Insider right here on the show. The Breach: 00:06:32, Come Sail Away!: 00:16:02, Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze: 00:25:43, Last Light: 00:35:52, A.D.E.L.E.: 00:45:14, Galactic Cruise: 01:11:18, News with Tony T: 01:54:34, Insider: 02:55:30. Check out our sponsors Restoration Games at https://restorationgames.com/. Game Toppers at https://www.gametoppersllc.com/. And CGE at https://czechgames.com/.
In our annual Spiel des Jahres special shows Ben talks to the nominees. This time it's the Kenner Spiel des Jahres with Ben having a chat with Carl de Visser and Jarrat Gray about the game's development and their hopes for the award.
Tom, Julie, and Eric run through the nominees for the German Game of the Year awards before focusing on the episode's main topic: box covers. How does what you put on the front of the box attract a particular audience? We also have a tale of horror? as well as a question from the mailbag, and of course our usual assortment of Roses, Thorns, and Hula Hoops.
00:50 - Summer is Here?
03:07 - Spiel des Jahres Nominees - Bomb Busters, Flip 7, Krackel Orakel
10:04 - Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominees - Endeavor: Deep Sea, Faraway, Looot
12:03 - Kinderspiel des Jahres Nominees - Cascadia Junior, Le Clan des Souris, Top die Torte