We do full bonus shows on Patreon but for something special we've released this one for everyone to enjoy. But it wouldn't exist without the kind and generous support of our backers. Thank you so much. To find our Patreon follow the link in below or head on over to Patreon and give us a search.
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.
We are coming out of the gate almost hot for 2025. We got a very solid Board & Dice game to the table prior to the holiday break called Minos: Dawn of the Bronze Age. This game is like other Board & Dice euros where you really need a plan going into your turn knowing all so well that it is going to be modified at some point. So, you better have a Plan B ready to go. There is a twist to the dice drafting where you need higher numbers move you up a track, but higher numbers also mean you end up possibly not getting all the actions you want because you get bumped by lower numbers. However, you never loose out on doing the action which is nice. Lots going on with this game, so as with similar games, you can’t do it all.
Thanks for putting up with us through 2024 and we hope your 2025 is off to a good start.
It's a Christmas show full of seasonally appropriate cheer and some board game nonsense.
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.
In addition to having to struggle with new hardware on account of gravity murdering his tablet of 10+ years, we now must try to adjust to capturing the sweet, sonorous tones of the elusive Jimbo. It's hard to get audio levels right when the mic's compressor itself swoons from sheer bliss.
02:43 AYURIS: Revive (Helge Meissner, Eilif Svensson, Anna Wermlund, and Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2022)
Games Played Last Week:
06:28 -Civolution (Stefan Feld, Deep Print Games, 2024)
19:45 -Race for the Galaxy (Thomas Lehmann, Rio Grande Games, 2007)
Yes we have been around for twelve years and there is nothing stopping us now. Well, server crashes, hacking of the site, strife among hosts, those might but we are still here. I wondered if we would make it to 10 years, but we are just now hitting our stride.
Really interesting games in this episode, especially Diluvium. If you get a chance, give this one a play.
Thanks for all the support over the many years, we really do appreciate it.
Mike hosts a show full of opposing wavelengths, Amazon lucky dips and help with finding components.
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.
This Game is Broken is eternally thankful to our Sponsors
We're trying this YouTube thing in earnest, now, doing the video podcasting thing. This is our inaugural attempt at plastering our mugs on the internet in a podcast form. You have to be where your audience is, and also, Mark hopes that a link to a video can serve in lieu of his having to travel to see anyone ever again.
16:55 -Trudvang Legends (Jordy Adan, Fel Barros, Guilherme Goulart, Eric M. Lang, Marco Maggi, Francesco Nepitello, Umberto Pignatelli, & Fabio Tola, 2022)
20:38 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024)
23:31 -Wonderland's War (Tim Eisner, Ben Eisner, & Ian Moss, Druid City Games, 2022)
26:33 -SCOUT (Kei Kajino, Oink Games, 2019)
28:49 -Fromage (Matthew O'Malley and Ben Rosset, Road to Infamy Games, 2024)
News (and why it doesn't matter):
33:05 Witcher 3's card game Gwent getting a physical version from No Loading Games
34:57 Hachette distributing MicroMacro Crime City in North America
35:19 Reiner Knizia's Ape Town from Piatnik
36:22 Shut Up & Sit Down form "Strategic Partnership" with Play to Z Games
37:35 Feature Game: D.E.I.: Divide et Impera (Tommaso Battista, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2022)
All of our musical references are at least a decade out of date, even when we attempt to reference contemporary artists--I must assume, because Mark knows her name, that no one listens to Billie Eilish anymore. We think Drake is suing Kendrick Lamar over claims he plagiarized a board game design, but the details elude us.
01:43 AYURIS: Gatefall (Jack Dire, Jack Dire Studios, 2020)
Games Played Last Week:
05:09 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024)
07:45 -Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard (Gaëtan Beaujannot, Olivier Cipière, and Geonil, Mandoo Games, 2023)
11:28 -Chronicles of Avel (Przemek Wojtkowiak, Rebel Studio, 2021)
13:49 -Han (Michael Schacht, ABACUSSPIELE, 2014)
16:12 -Splendor Duel (Marc André and Bruno Cathala, Space Cowboys, 2022)
18:41 -Battalion: War of the Ancients (Paolo Mori and Francesco Sirocchi, Osprey, 2024)
23:23 -Rats of Wistar (Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia, Cranio Creations, 2023)
25:12 -Galactic Renaissance Expansion: 5th Player (Christian Martinez, Matagot, 2024)
Hope those that celebrated the recent holiday had an enjoyable and were able to get some board gaming in with the family during that time. Seldom do we get two similar games to the table at the same time, but we did for this episode. Both Yro and Castle Combo are very similar in style and mechanic, so it was nice for us to be able to compare to games against one another.
The new Thunder Road expansion is out and this expansion takes you out of the wasteland and into the Demolition Derby arena where more chaos will reign. Maybe that is why they called in Carnival of Chaos. Since there is no finish line, it is nice that there is a “timer” to help end the game and not just wait on elimination of everyone but one player.
Finally, there is a look behind the curtain as you will experience the pain that Marty goes through in trying to explain a game to me. We have all had the experience where the game isn’t clicking or you are explaining the game and you get nothing but blank stares back. Well, you get to experience it in RDTN style during our discussion of Battalion: War of the Ancients.
Thanks for listening and see you during the anniversary show next time.
Nick is here to take us through some board game design, mysterious taglines and his internet history.
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.
This Game is Broken is eternally thankful to our Sponsors
When you are obliged to cite your sources is a fraught question, full of nuance. Even in academia there is some disagreement as to when yo quote, when to paraphrase, and when simply to assume common knowledge. Like the preceding sentence, for example--I assume it is common knowledge not requiring a citation, but then again maybe not, and were I using footnotes here I would comment on the absurdity of citations in episode notes (to say nothing of footnoting episode notes). And don't get me started on ibid, supra, and all their blighted ilk! Safer, I think, just not to ever read anything, and thus one's incoherent nonsense is indisputably one's own.
It has been brought to my attention that the timestamps are off ever so slightly and that this is due to these commercials that are being injected into the episode. I do not know how long they are or how many. We are trying to come up with a way to manage this, but until then, the times are maybe 30 seconds to a minute off.
Here are the top tile laying games as we discussed in the show.
Appreciate you listening and be sure to join the Discord channel
Apparently there were scrapped plans for the Gorn (the lumbering rubber lizard suit dude Kirk fights in that famous episode) to show up in other Star Trek properties. One plan had a Gorn show up as Worf's guest to Riker's bachelor party in Nemesis, and frankly despite how awful those latter movies were I would have been all over that. I can only imagine that the plan was abandoned when the props department couldn't get a styrofoam cocktail to look right.
01:42 AYURIS: The Wolves (Ashwain Kamath and Clarence Simpson, Pandasaurus Games, 2022)
Games Played Last Week:
03:49 -Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders (Tim Eisner and Ben Eisner, Druid City Games, 2024)
10:28 -Mass Effect: The Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz (Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon, Modiphius Entertainment, 2024)
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.
This Game is Broken is eternally thankful to our Sponsors
Thrill to the latest superhero epic, "X-Men: Layover in Dulles." When the Blackbird is grounded due to an unexplained indicator light (meddling from the sinister Magneto? Who can say?!?!), the elite group of heroic mutants must navigate the perils of terminal D. Wolverine is having problems with the metal detectors again, which is troublesome as he is smuggling Cuban cigars. Rogue must battle the temptation of the 15-minute massage station. Panera bread keeps getting Cyclops' order wrong. It's epic, it's exciting, it's eight hours long!
01:42 AYURIS: The Great Wall (Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Robert Plesowicz, & Łukasz Włodarczyk, Awaken Realms, 2021)
Games Played Last Week:
04:43 -Don't Rock the Croc (Uncredited, FoxMind, Unknown)
07:52 -War Story: Occupied France (Dave Neale and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2024)
13:20 -Barcelona: Passeig de Gràcia (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2024)
20:27 -Mass Effect: The Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz (Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon, Modiphius Entertainment, 2024)
27:04 -Freedom Five: A Sentinel Comics Board Game (Richard Launius, Adam Sadler, and Brady Sadler, Arcane Wonders, 2024)
Only three games in this episode and one of them is an expansion. So, you thought it would be a short episode? Nope, we make up for this in our extended, over the top discussion on Hegemony. Don't be scared by this game and the length. It is one of those games that just flowed and was easy to understand. Admit that each faction is different, but not to the point that you sit there and say that you have no idea what is going on with them. You can see how it all comes together in my opinion.
Looking to play a Mario Kart style game on the tabletop, then give Dungeon Kart a try. Little too chaotic for me and Marty and that might just be we are enjoying the simpler racing games. We appreciate what the game is pulling off and if you want that mayhem on the table, then give this a try
Thanks for listening and appreciate the support as always.
It's time to play some actual party games as Matthew takes the gang through rounds of Just One, Insider, On a Scale of Zero to Trex and Tapple!
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.
This Game is Broken is eternally thankful to our Sponsors