It's time for another action packed episode of The Secret Cabal! This time we dive head first into Mansions of Madness! Then we go back in time and discuss what we thinking about Magic The Gathering Arena of the Planeswalkers one year later. Then the gang talks about artwork and artists in the board game industry and how it impacts a game.
In this show, we talk about Agamemnon, Junk Art, Back to the Future, Terraforming Mars, Codex, and Great Dinosaur Rush. We answer questions about teaching kids to lie and more, hear a tale of betrayal, test out a new segment Biopsy of a Game, and hear about Geoff's Ghostbuster adventures. Finally, we end the show talking about games that would make a great game show!
Chronicler is a small game with large aspirations. Tell the story of your civilization through the tools and structures you choose to build in 20 minutes or less. Tune in to learn what we love about Chronicler and why it deserves the Major Fun Award.
Shelley and I get Rome: Rise to Power with its trademarked 'Rise to Power' dice placement system, as well as the cute mice/cat/dog cheese-getting game that is Go Da Cheese.
Rome: Rise to Power by Elad Goldsteen from Golden Egg Games
Ambie, Cassadi, and Crystal discuss Chicago & Northwestern, German Rails, Onami, and Legendary Encounters: Firefly, along with our "Accessory" of the Week - school items, games that are school related, and the origins of the word "rule." We also announce our contest winner!
A review of Ice Cool written by Stephen Conway. Ice Cool is a dexterity game where players will take turns flicking their penguins through a 3 dimensional school trying to either catch fish or catch the students skipping class.
In this episode, we talk about The Others, Hit Z Road, Energy Empire, The Pursuit of Happiness, The King's Men, and The Ravens of Thri Sahashri. We hear a board game biopsy, hit the sweet spot, answer a pile of questions, and end the show with our top ten games to get role players into the board gaming hobby.
My Village is a game where players tell the story of an entire medieval community. Will your village focus on commerce, a magnificent church or a town council? Your decisions wind the clock forward; your decisions ultimately decide who lives and who dies.
Shelley and I finally get a chance to play the 3rd nominee for the 2016 Spiel des Jahres, then try out a Michael Schacht card game with cool mechanisms but bad graphic design.
Imhotep by Phil Walker-Harding from Kosmos
and
Crimson Crush by Michael Schacht from White Goblin
Oh dear! After a metaphorical explosion of our recording equipment at Gen Con '16, this is all we could salvage from our two live shows. Please don your protective masks and take turns passing the blasted husk around.
The first 30 minutes of this ash-smelling podcast feature Paul, Quinns and our miniatures columnist Eric Tonjes discussing some highlights from the show, including the Runewars Miniatures Game, Pandemic: Reign of Cthulu, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Conan and the real-time tile laying game of 4 Gods. Exciting, right? Not as exciting as the second half, friends! Paul and Quinns were able to snag an interview with a little designer by the name of Vlaada Chvátil.
But this doesn't have to be a disaster-cast. Did you go to Gen Con, or have some otherwise transcendant board gaming in the last few weeks? Why not leave us a comment telling us all about it!
Opener: Geeklists for the podcast Season 12, my Extra appearances, and Session Reports
Just a solo show this time, something like the old "Session Report & Feedback" episodes I used to do. I wanted to get something out relatively quickly, before I make my move to France. This fit the bill, and it also let me get a show out with better sound quality. (My switch to a Mac has presented me with some challenges to the multi-person shows, whether over Skype or in the same room. I'll figure it out.)
It didn't take too much thought to come up with a unifying idea for this episode: changes. Of course my big change is the temporary relocation to France, which will have unknown impacts to my hobby. The other changes are to this podcast, which happened already--new shows are posted to the same old audio feed, but on the web they're at a slightly different location, in my Season 12 geeklist. You should subscribe to that. Also my "Extras" geeklist, which is where you'll find my guest spots on other podcasts and video shows. Finally, if you like this session report episode, then you really should be subscribing to my (mostly) weekly session reports that I post in geeklist form on BGG. Got all of that? Good! The other changes I note are to the hobby itself. While those things can be a consternation to old farts like me, who still think in terms of email lists and 1990s German Games, these are clearly changes for the better. We sure seem to have more people playing games than ever. If Kickstarter products and mini-filled "thematic" games aren't my favorite things, I can at least agree that this rising tide is lifting all of our boats. I think so, anyway. Kickstarter produced a nice Medici reprint, and you can get more 1990s German than that! My local Barnes & Noble already had a decent game section, and now hosts a monthly public game night. The other day I went to Target to buy a game for my brother's family, and while there I was amazed at that the second-largest retailer in the US has Hanabi, Magic Labyrinth, Rolling America, Ticket to Ride, Spyfall, Qwixx, Codenames, Evolution, Catan, Machi Koro, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Forbidden Island, Dixit, Sheriff of Nottingham, King of Tokyo, and Pandemic. Probably even a few more of "our games" that I missed. Wow! Closer: The mainstreaming of our hobby at places like Target and Barnes & Noble. -Mark
Wow, Gen Con was exhausting but we're back in the swing of thing and it's time for a new episode. First we give a recap of our experiences at Gen Con 2016! Then we take a look at the hottest game from Gen Con, Cry Havoc. Then we look back at Forbidden Stars one year later. And finally, knowing that gang loves to define words, they decide to talk about to commonly used word "streamlined".
It has been a Long and Winding Road getting to our 100th Episode. We want to thank everyone for all the support as we made it to this milestone and […]
The Networks, Play Me, (The King's Men), Exposed, Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails, Klank, and Tavurua. Mr. Counter takes a look at Emerald, Eric tries to guess favorite games of college students, a tale of Treachery is spun, and we talk about press-your-luck games. Finally, we end the show talking about what our go-to game is when traveling.
Ted Alspach, Scott Caputo, Joe Huber, Matt Leacock, and Susan McKinley Ross join the gamers around the table for a discussion of the SdJ and KdJ winners, then we delve into where the sparks and ideas for designs come from.
Ambie, Cassadi, and Crystal discuss Dark Moon, Puerto Rico, and Quantum. We also discuss the Spiel winners as well as past Spiel winners we enjoy, and the origins of the word "win."
AnmeldenThe Secret Cabal
Rolling Dice and Taking Names
