Boy, what a year it's been for accumulating games that we can't play. The shelf of shame, the collection of games we own that are yet to see a single play, has been steadily growing, and it's about time we pruned it. We check in on the games most deserving of that first play. Before we take a walk of shame, we talk about Sonora, Troyes Dice, Macao, Quantum, and Rurik: Dawn of Kiev.
01:49 - Sonora 04:17 - Troyes Dice 07:14 - Macao 08:22 - The Castles of Burgundy 09:41 - Quantum 16:30 - Rurik: Dawn of Kiev 30:55 - Shelf of Shame update 40:12 - Star Wars: Rebellion 40:59 - Maracaibo 42:04 - Stock hold'em 45:25 - Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia 47:10 - Antike II
Put on your thick socks, wrap yourself in a blanket, and get comfortable with us in front of the fire. We're using our patent pending formula (aka BGBBOB) to find the best heart warming comfort games. Twelve board games enter, and ... twelve leave, but arranged in the scientifically correct order. Before we get comfortable, we talk about The Castles of Tuscany, Cooper Island, and SCOUT!
02:41 - The Castles of Tuscany 12:32 - Cooper Island 20:02 - SCOUT! 31:02 - Dominion 32:12 - Lost Cities 36:16 - Patchwork 36:42 - Telestrations 38:50 - Wizard 40:06 - The Game 43:09 - Coloretto 44:05 - San Juan 45:43 - Scrabble 47:52 - Sushi Go! 52:25 - Biblios 55:11 - Splendor
At least in some things, you've got to give a little to get a little, but what would you give to get what you want? We're coming up with our big board game compromises, the things we'd happily trade away to fix some of our biggest frustrations. Before we deal with the devil, we talk about Lost Ruins of Arnak, Ohanami, and Beyond the Sun.
01:49 - Lost Ruins of Arnak 02:39 - Dune: Imperium 13:47 - Ohanami 13:47 - The Game 21:53 - Beyond the Sun 22:42 - Innovation 27:52 - Through the Ages 38:38 - Board Game Compromises 39:22 - Cthulhu Wars (aka Squares vs. Circles vs. Triangles) 42:49 - Kemet 46:14 - A Feast for Odin 48:14 - Brass: Lancashire 48:14 - Brass: Birmingham 48:47 - Nemesis 49:20 - Biblios
Essen SPIEL is the latest of the conventions in 2020 to go digital, which is convenient for us, because we weren't about to fly to Germany any time soon. We perused the upcoming games that were showcased as part of the event, and picked our favourites to talk about. It's a top 5! Before we virtually convene, we talk about Babylonia, VeiledFate, and Dune: Imperium.
02:29 - Babylonia 15:09 - Veiled Fate 25:37 - Dune: Imperium 35:35 - Essen SPIEL 2020 Preview 37:58 - Paris 40:05 - Paleo 41:32 - Beez 43:06 - Venice 45:11 - Clever hoch Drei 46:44 - Coyote 48:33 - The Red Cathedral 50:05 - Master Word 51:56 - Troyes Dice 53:05 - Faiyum 54:32 - CloudAge 55:55 - Krazy Pix 57:34 - Anno 1800 59:52 - Polynesia 01:01:10 - Beyond the Sun
We weren't going to let Kellen have the last word on what makes the perfect $100 collection, so the 139 squad is here to finish it out. Forgot the premise? You've lost all your board games, and only have $100 to rebuild it; what do you buy first? Before we make every penny count, we talk about Cosmic Encounter Duel, Hundreds of Horses, Billionaire Banshee, and Floor Plan.
03:45 - Cosmic Encounter Duel 11:53 - Hundreds of Horses 14:21 - Billionaire Banshee 17:50 - Floor Plan 23:08 - Mark's $100 Collection 23:53 - Biblios 24:40 - Arboretum 25:49 - The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine 26:34 - Race for the Galaxy 27:31 - The Estates 28:30 - Are You A Robot? 30:37 - Christina's $100 Collection 31:14 - Innovation 32:28 - Coloretto 33:24 - SiXeS 34:31 - Hanabi 36:00 - Troyes 39:54 - Neilan's $100 Collection 40:35 - Blue Lagoon 41:59 - Twice as Clever! 43:17 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 44:43 - The Resistance: Avalon
It's an awful notion, but bear with me. What if you lost your entire board game collection, and had to rebuild it from scratch? Here's the catch, you only have one hundred dollars. We try to predict what the Red Tank would do, before he talks us through what makes the cut, and why. Before we rebuild, we talk about 5211, Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan, and Cóatl.
03:10 - 5211 10:35 - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan 10:35 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 21:13 - Cóatl 26:15 - Sagrada 26:47 - Reef 29:37 - Ghost Turkey Registration 30:43 - Board Game Barrage Merch! 31:33 - Zero to One Hundred: Red Edition 36:16 - Azul 36:16 - Splendor 37:02 - Codenames 38:58 - Innovation 41:06 - Dune 44:32 - Hansa Teutonica: Big Box 46:17 - Telestrations 47:50 - Oink Games
Slow and steady might win the race, but it doesn't make for an exciting board game. Pacing is a vital component of most entertainment mediums that doesn't often get applied to board games, so we're going to climb and climb and climb and climb ... and then rapidly descend down the roller-coaster of emotion that makes for some of our favourite games. Before we set the pace, we talk about Bus, The Game: Quick & Easy, and Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun.
02:27 - Bus 21:40 - The Game: Quick & Easy 28:34 - Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun 41:50 - Teotihuacan 45:45 - Pacing in Board Games 50:53 - Fast Sloths 52:20 - The Estates 53:39 - Taj Mahal 54:03 - Kemet 54:29 - Rising Sun 55:22 - Food Chain Magnate 55:46 - Archipelago 57:47 - Escape Plan 58:39 - Troyes 1:01:28 - Splendor 1:01:58 - Dogs of War 1:01:58 - Cursed Court 1:03:07 - Time's Up 1:04:08 - The Voyages of Marco Polo
Blessed are the forgetful, because they don't have to play memory games? After all, games with a strong memory component often get a bad rap in the hobby. We look at some of the reasons why very few games want to test your memory, and just to be otherwise, we discuss some of our favourite games that do. Before we walk our mind palaces, we talk about Fort, Under Falling Skies, and Tellstones: King's Gambit.
01:47 - Fort 10:15 - Under Falling Skies 17:56 - Tellstones: King's Gambit 29:37 - Ghost Turkey 2020 32:52 - Memory as a Game Mechanic 38:43 - Carnival of Monsters 39:38 - Inis 42:01 - El Grande 45:51 - Modern Art 47:50 - Tigris & Euphrates 48:43 - Time's Up! 51:09 - Cthulhu Wars 53:08 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 56:03 - Aeon's End 57:24 - Dune Check out Optimal Play's Tellstones playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3x7oZRfCs0
We often build up the idea of what a game will be before we play it, whether for bad or good, and the reality of the game itself might deliver something we weren't expecting. We take a look at what often leads to our expectations being shattered, and mention some of the games that most defied them. Before we expect the unexpected, we talk about SHŌBU, Pan Am, and Planet Unknown.
02:35 - SHŌBU 08:55 - Pan Am 17:58 - Planet Unknown 25:46 - BGB Perpetual Math Trade 27:02 - Board Game Expectations 27:37 - Terra Mystica 28:14 - Brass: Birmingham 32:56 - Macao 36:02 - Railroad Rivals 36:26 - Ragusa 37:02 - Sanctum 38:33 - Unmatched 40:38 - The 7th Continent 47:07 - Stamps 47:41 - Square on Sale 48:33 - Glory to Rome
We return to our much loved feature from 2018, all about our favourite mechanics. This week, a mere two years later: auctions! We look at the good and bad sides of auction mechanics, and discuss our favourite games that feature them. Before we inflate the bid, we talk about Fleet: The Dice Game, Iwari, and Modern Art.
04:57 - Fleet: The Dice Game 11:02 - Welcome to Dino World 13:47 - Iwari 21:53 - Modern Art 33:10 - Auction Board Games 36:25 - Archipelago 38:18 - Biblios 39:03 - Watson & Holmes 39:51 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 40:35 - Power Grid 42:06 - Santiago 43:26 - Genoa 44:23 - Square on Sale 45:49 - Taj Mahal 51:29 - The Estates 51:29 - Container 53:05 - No Thanks! 54:32 - Bausack 55:06 - Fresh Fish
It's an unprecedented trio of hosts, but we're no less heated about our biggest board game bugbears. In fact, we're so upset about these little annoyances, that we couldn't help but order them in a list for your amusement ... BGBBOB style. Before we get bugged by bears, we talk about Calico, Telestrations: Upside Drawn, and Pendulum.
01:42 - Calico 09:05 - Telestrations: Upside Drawn 13:14 - Pendulum 25:17 - BGBBOB: Board Game Bugbears 28:54 - Merchants & Marauders 32:03 - Archipelago 32:53 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 40:26 - Broom Service 42:50 - Race for the Galaxy 46:19 - Power Grid 49:25 - Decrypto
It would be hard for us to be as invested in this hobby as we are, if we didn't think there was something important underlying it. We share some of the lessons we have learned from board gaming, and some of the ways in which it has genuinely changed our lives. We also talk about Tyrants of the Underdark, The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples, and Nemo's War.
02:28 - Tyrants of the Underdark 08:00 - The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples 14:48 - Nemo's War (Second Edition)
Some games are built to last, and no, we're not just talking about the ... R-word. For others, the high highs of early games must give way to the dawning realization that all is not well. We look at reasons we might end up moving past games we once held in high regard. Before we overstay our welcome, we talk about Sandstone, Ctrl, The Fox in the Forest Duet, and Unmatched.
02:41 - Sandstone 11:09 - Ctrl 14:12 - The Fox in the Forest Duet 18:42 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 19:54 - Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume One 24:16 - Dice Throne 32:27 - Games Getting Worse with Time 38:50 - Innovation 39:47 - Mysterium 40:20 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 41:18 - Camel Up 43:05 - Shadow Hunters 43:38 - Container 45:52 - Five Tribes 47:32 - Mark's Menagerie Mixup 48:20 - Dungeon Fighter 48:20 - Tumblin-Dice 48:20 - Coconuts
Hot days call for hot questions! To counter the California heat wave, we get breezy with a round of hot questions. We take a long hard look at games we love, but don't play, and give our takes on the theme to end all themes. Before we get heated, we talk about Ctrl, New York Zoo, and Renature. 01:40 - Ctrl 07:06 - New York Zoo 15:24 - Renature 18:23 - Blue Lagoon 26:11 - OLWLG Math Trade 28:01 - Hot Questions! 28:17 - Can you have a favourite game you don't play anymore? 30:14 - The Resistance 32:36 - Cosmic Encounter 37:19 - What's the theme to end all themes? 39:52 - Sabotage Thanks to Guanye for sending us the Jixia Academy pronunciation clip. Watch us play New York Zoo and Renature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4qab78TtUwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihutcOJmCwc Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord
It's a Social Deduction BGBBOB! For those that don't know what that means, it's a Board Game Barrage Battle of (the) Board...games, where we pit all of the best social deduction games against each other in a fight to the DEATH! Or at least, a fight to be on our definitive ranked list. Before we release our social butterflies, we talk about Gemblo, and Quest. 02:54 - Gemblo 07:16 - Quest 15:46 - Camp Capstone 17:33 - BGBBOB: Social Deduction Games 20:11 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 22:06 - Timebomb/Don't Mess with Cthulhu 26:48 - Two Rooms and a Boom 28:02 - Detective Club 30:27 - A Fake Artist Goes to New York 32:01 - Insider/Werewords 35:01 - The Resistance/Avalon 35:35 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 39:05 - Spyfall 43:26 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 45:33 - Shadow Hunters 48:26 - Saboteur 1:01:12 - The Final List Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord
Some board games (and board game podcasts) thrive on chaos, which absolutely isn't the same thing as randomness. All of this has happened for a reason, it's just ... hard to tell what those reasons are exactly. Before we blame the butterfly, we talk about Path of Light and Shadow, Jixia Academy, and Chaos in the Old World. 00:47 - Chaos in board games 03:44 - Innovation 05:54 - Guards of Atlantis 07:21 - 6 nimmt! 11:06 - Path of Light and Shadow 21:30 - Chaotic board games 21:42 - Broom Service 23:05 - Wiz-War 26:33 - Space Alert 28:49 - Jixia Academy/Hanamikoji 34:34 - Chaos closing thoughts 35:05 - Cosmic Encounter 35:52 - Mission: Red Planet 37:12 - Colt Express 38:02 - Libertalia 40:26 - Scythe 41:59 - Chaos in the Old World 43:50 - Cthulhu Wars Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord
Things got a bit heavy last week, so let's take things down a notch by exploring the other end of the scale. Light games are just as important for a board game collection, after all. We discuss what light games offer that heavier games don't, and mention some of our recent favourites. Before we lighten the mood, we talk about Reef, Clans of Caledonia, and Tutankhamun.
02:34 - Reef 09:18 - Clans of Caledonia 15:00 - Tutankhamun 22:01 - Light Games 23:48 - Werewolf 25:37 - Vast: The Crystal Caverns 26:28 - Ingenious 27:21 - The Quest for El Dorado 30:40 - Twice As Clever 33:24 - Dice Fishing: Roll and Catch 36:11 - Cacti 37:35 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 38:04 - Deep Sea Adventure 38:49 - Flamme Rouge "Complexity bias in BGG" by Dinesh Vatvani: https://dvatvani.github.io/BGG-Analysis-Part-2.html
Monique from Before You Play is with us to get heavy. We're discussing the allure of heavy games, and who better to talk us through them than a Vital Lacerda fan who loves to not just play them, but teach them? We dig into why we enjoy the occasional heavy game, and why you should too! Before we play, we talk about DURIAN, Animal Kingdoms, and Brass: Birmingham.
02:01 - Introducing the Lavender Tank! 10:03 - DURIAN 16:25 - Animal Kingdoms 23:40 - Brass: Birmingham 31:45 - Heavy Board Games 42:13 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 43:46 - A Feast for Odin 46:02 - 18XX 47:42 - On Mars 52:07 - Escape Plan 54:49 - Lisboa 55:32 - Vinhos Deluxe Edition 56:38 - Archipelago 1:04:04 - Scythe
Even if the price is right, it might not be right for you. We all have different thresholds where a board game we're interested in crosses from, "maybe I'll wait for a sale" into "sure why not" territory, but where is that magical line? Has what we're willing to pay for games changed over time? Before we get sticker shock, we talk about Twin Tin Bots, Ticket to Ride: New York, Whale Riders, and Dead Reckoning.
02:20 - Twin Tin Bots 07:37 - Ticket to Ride: New York 14:36 - Whale Riders 22:55 - Dead Reckoning 39:30 - Teotihuacan: City of Gods 41:38 - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan 45:30 - Food Chain Magnate 48:15 - An Infamous Traffic 48:57 - This Guilty Land 49:33 - Oink Games 50:17 - DURIAN
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