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

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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

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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)

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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

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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=U4qab78TtUw https://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

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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

Check out Before You Play at: https://www.youtube.com/BeforeYouPlay

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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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It's award season when we say it is, so we're looking back at the Golden Geek Awards, The Dice Tower Awards, and the Spiel des Jahres nominees. We offer our thoughts on their picks, and how wrong they are. I mean, Wingspan winning "Best Four-Wheel Drive SUV" just seems a bit much. We also talk about Battlestar Galactica, Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, Paladins of the West Kingdom, and The Boss.

01:56 - Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game 08:09 - Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small 12:45 - Nusfjord 14:01 - Paladins of the West Kingdom 19:48 - The Boss 25:03 - Board Game Awards 2019 25:13 - Golden Geek Awards 26:10 - Through The Ages: New Leaders and Wonders 27:35 - Dune 28:35 - Wingspan 29:40 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 30:55 - The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine 33:01 - PARKS 34:30 - Tapestry 35:08 - Spiel des Jahres Nominees 36:16 - Plumber Pants 38:30 - The King's Dilemma 40:10 - My City 40:38 - Pictures 41:27 - The Dice Tower Awards 42:30 - Detective: City of Angels 43:37 - Slide Quest 47:22 - Letter Jam Check out Kellen playing Battlestar Galactica over at Optimal Play: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/662734157

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BGBBOB, party edition! For those not keeping up, that's BGB Best of Board Games, which is definitely not the final name (but also maybe is) for our recurring feature where we duel rank games into an incontestable ordered list. This week we confer, fight, and bargain our way to the best fifteen party games. Before we spike the punch, we also talk about Twice As Clever, Wavelength, and 6 nimmt!

01:38 - Twice As Clever 05:17 - Wavelength 05:58 - 6 nimmt! 10:43 - BGBBOB: Party Games 12:28 - True Colors 13:17 - Anomia 16:27 - The Resistance 17:13 - Scruples 20:52 - Balderdash 22:10 - Krazy Wordz 24:38 - Happy Salmon 25:53 - Telestrations 28:17 - Pictomania 28:52 - Codenames 30:33 - Time's Up! 32:30 - Wavelength 35:06 - SiXeS 36:03 - Panic on Wall Street! 38:48 - Detective Club 1:00:48 - The Final List

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We're joined by Richard Simpson of We're Not Wizards, who is definitely not a magician, Victorian or otherwise, to talk about the line between game design and production. Should production values be an integral part of the discussion of a game's merits, or should we learn to separate the two? Before we get productive, we talk about Doughnut Dash, Cities, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, and L.L.A.M.A.

07:25 - Doughnut Dash 17:10 - Cities 21:37 - Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra 31:01 - L.L.A.M.A 35:25 - The Power of Production 35:34 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 41:35 - The Last of Us Part II 47:15 - GKR: Heavy Hitters 49:24 - Cthulhu Wars 53:33 - Warhammer 40k 55:03 - Castles of Burgundy 55:29 - Container 56:10 - Tang Garden 58:09 - Krazy Wordz 59:23 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant Check out We're Not Wizards at: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com

Check out Kellen on We're Not Wizards Here: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com/e/boardgamebarrage/

Check out Neilan on We're Not Wizards Here: https://werenotwizards.podbean.com/e/neilan/

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We asked for your questions, and you provided! Some of you used Instagram, some of you used voicemail, but however you reached out, your voice was heard. We chose only a few to answer (quality notwithstanding), but we'd love to keep doing this, so keep sending them in! Before we corral your correspondence, we talk about Gloomhaven, Terra Mystica, Bloom Town, and Starlink.

03:25 - Gloomhaven 06:44 - Terra Mystica 09:03 - Bloom Town 18:16 - Starlink 27:20 - Listener Questions! 33:35 - Cyclades, Inis & Kemet 41:28 - Hive

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I know this is going to come as a shock, but sometimes we get things wrong. As we've worked our way through the hobby, we've discovered that some positions we once held, aren't ones we still do. So it's time to revisit our past transgressions and come clean. Before we admit our mistakes, we talk about Tang Garden, Fast Forward: FORTRESS, and Race for the Galaxy.

02:45 - Tang Garden 14:12 - Fast Forward: FORTRESS 21:04 - Race for the Galaxy 30:51 - Board Game Barrage Math Trade: Part II! 34:15 - When We Were So Very Wrong About Games 51:06 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

A big tip of the cap to our friends at So Very Wrong About Games. Listen to their podcast if you aren't already!!

Special thanks goes to What Does It Eat? for hopefully not being upset that we borrowed a snippet of their most excellent song F.O.S. before our theme. You can find them at whatdoesiteat.com.

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Once loved board games will often circle back into the limelight with reprints, but we're also starting to see a lot more get remasters and remakes too. We take a look at this trend, and discuss some re-imaginings our favourite board games, whether it's a full on new version, or just a new coat of paint. Before we re-re-re-repeat, we talk about Cities: Skylines, Colorful, and Maharaja.

03:29 - Cities: Skylines 08:25 - Colorful 15:36 - Maharaja 25:36 - REmasters, REemakes and REimaginings 29:13 - Brass: Lancashire and Brass: Birmingham 31:04 - Kemet 32:53 - Caylus and Caylus 1303 34:31 - Terra Mystica and Gaia Project 36:22 - Through the Ages and Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 37:22 - Dune 40:30 - The REsistance

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While all games have some restrictions, some games are more willing than others to let you go off the rails. For instance, some leave the economy entirely in the hands of the players, free to tank it if they please. We look at how games do (or don't) use player constraints to deliver unique experiences. Before we rein ourselves in, we talk about Tournay, Bullet♥︎, Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons, and Container.

01:46 - Tournay 01:57 - Troyes 07:10 - Bullet♥︎ 10:44 - Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons 17:15 - Container 28:30 - Games with and without constraints 28:51 - Food Chain Magnate 31:14 - Sidereal Confluence : Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 39:24 - Power Grid 40:01 - Flamme Rouge 42:25 - Startups and Zogen 43:02 - Diamant 43:28 - Crokinole 45:56 - Tigris and Euphrates 49:15 - The Estates

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Sometimes you have a little gap of time between larger, heavier games, and what you need is a palate cleanser, which brings us to the realm of games we lovingly call "fillers". We kick off the very first Ranked Duel Battle of the Boards (definitely not the final title) by ranking our favourite filler games! Before we pass the time, we talk about Aerion, Ingenious, The One Hundred Torii, and Taluva.

04:49 - Aerion 09:54 - Ingenious 10:56 - The One Hundred Torii 14:07 - Taluva 22:02 - Call for voicemail! 22:50 - Ranking our favourite fillers 30:08 - Coloretto 30:24 - Istanbul 31:11 - Shards of Infinity 31:45 - Arboretum 32:14 - Biblios 32:14 - No Thanks! 33:14 - Splendor 33:24 - For Sale 35:08 - Startups 35:30 - Blue Lagoon 37:33 - Zany Penguins 37:45 - The Game 39:09 - 6 nimmt! 39:38 - Twice As Clever 40:49 - Karuba

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When you're playing a game for the first time, and barely know what you're even doing, how do you even begin to strategize? That's what we're asking ourselves this week, as we explore some of our approaches to first plays, how we evaluate the game space, and well, win. Before we push levers, we talk about Orléans: Invasion, Zoned Out, Santorini, and Mini Express.

02:03 - Orléans: Invasion 09:48 - Zoned Out 16:42 - Bronze Age 17:54 - Santorini 23:28 - Mini Express 32:40 - How We Approach First Games 37:53 - Troyes 38:47 - 7 Wonders 45:26 - Kemet 48:06 - Barrage 50:05 - No Thanks! 51:13 - Ra

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Mike Walker from So Very Wrong About Games joins us to talk about games that we add to our collection, not for ourselves, but (gasp) for others. Sometimes you do what you have to placate your so-called friends, and their awful taste. Before we begrudgingly acquire games, we talk about The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Solo, Renegade, and Horrified.

00:15 - A New Tank Appears! 03:53 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 06:15 - Innovation 07:54 - Nemesis 12:21 - Castles of Burgundy 12:50 - Trieste 14:03 - Watergate 15:20 - Watergate Retheme? (Patent Pending, TM, etc...) 17:51 - Solo 20:47 - Renegade 26:48 - Horrified 34:55 - Catering Games to Your Game Group 40:17 - Ankh

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