Shelley and I try to sync our minds and then make potions with random ingredients in two of Wolfgang Warsch's latest games:

The Mind from NSV

and

Quacksalber von Quedlinburg from Schmidt Spiele

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Shelley jumps out of her comfort zone to check out the fun little new memory game from Stronghold Games, then I can't roll to save my life in the new Schmidt Spiele dice drafting game.

Memoarr! by Carlo Bortolini from Stronghold Games

and

Ganz Schön Clever by Wolfgang Warsch from Schmidt Spiele

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Shelley and I head out west, hoping to avoid major difficulties in the dice drafting game

Pioneer Days by Matthew Dunstan and Chris Marling from Tasty Minstrel

and then get all abstract like Mondrian in

De Stijl by Lucas Gerlach from Quick Simple Fun Games

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A few weeks after Tony Boydell and I sat down over Skype, Shelley gets her chance to tell the world her favorites of 2017. Here's the list:

Honorable Mentions:

Codenames Duet

Palace of Mad King Ludwig

Santa Maria

Noria

Pulsar 2849

Transatlantic

Majesty of the Realm

Concordia Expansions

Top Games:

Rattaneer

Altiplano

Terraforming Mars - Hellas & Elysium

Ethnos

Azul

Riverboat

Heaven and Ale

Gentes

Rajas of the Ganges

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Shelley and I delve into two smaller-box card-based games from different areas of the world this week.

Riga by Stefan Risthaus from Ostia Spiele finds the players gaining commodities in the Baltic and then building structures in other Baltic area cities.

Rataneer by Hisashi Hayashi from Okayzu Brand has the players steering competing boats of rat pirates through various actions to gain money and assistance, then plunder the oceans and trade in stolen goods!

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Shelley and I have a great time with Scythe and its expansions, then do some action selection as we attempt to gain commodities in Carthago.

Scythe

Scythe: Invaders From Afar

Scythe: The Wind Gambit*

From Stonemaier Games and designed by Jamey Stegmaier and *Kai Starck

Carthago: Merchants and Guilds by Bernd Eisenstein and Ralph Bienert

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Tony Boydell's on board this week from across the pond for a discussion of some of 2017's best (and worst) games. Here are some of the games we touch on Tony's Lists:

Top 10 of 2017

Nusfjord

Azul

Calimala

The Cousins War

Mini Rails

Gentes

Fox in the Forest

John Company

Seasons (revisited)

kingdomino

Bottom feeders

Gier

Fast Forward games

Doug's Lists:

Top 11:

Azul

Altiplano

Biosphere

Codenames Duets

Gentes

Heaven & Ale

Iquazu

Majesty: For The Realm

Pulsar 2849

Riverboat

Santa Maria

Honorable Mention for various reasons:

Palace of Mad King Ludwig

Rescue Polar Bears

Cousins' War

Destination X

Calimala

Really Don't Like:

Agra

Feuville

Merlin

Montana

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Shelley and I finally get back to Nusfjord to do it proper justice, then head over to Dr. Finn and design Flower Shop windows. We also get previously reviewed titles to the table in Rococo and Azul!

Nusfjord by Uwe Rosenberg from Mayfair Games

The Little Flower Shop by Steve Finn from Dr. Finn's Games

as well as

Rococo by Matthias Cramer and Louis & Stefan Malz from Eggertspiele

and

Azul by Michael Kiesling from Next Move/Plan B Games

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Shelley and I meander around the country in frustration, then head into the forest where I enjoy taking tricks and Shelley continues to be frustrated.

Keyper by Richard Breese from R&D Games

and

Fox in the Forest by Joshua Buergel from Renegade Games

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Shelley and I enjoy a couple of fantasy-themed games this week, collecting sets of tribes to gain majorities in Ethnos, then developing resources through ring manipulation of actions in Noria!

Ethnos by Paolo Mori from Cool Mini or Not

and

Noria by Sophia Wagner from Stronghold Games, Pegasus Spiele and Edition Spielwiese

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Shelley and I look back to Mac Gerdts' older title Concordia, then take on his Essen 2017 release Transatlantic

Concordia Gallia/Corsica by Mac Gerdts from PD Verlag

and

Transatlantic by Mac Gerdts from PD Verlag

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Shelley and I move in circles around the Round Table, then head south for some fun with alpacas!

Merlin by Stefan Feld and Michael Rieneck from Queen Games

and

Altiplano by Reiner Stockhausen from dlp Games

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Shelley and I check out the innovations in Friedemann Friese's other "Fast Forward" games, and I finally win Finished!

Games on tap:

Fast Forward Fortress

Fast Forward Flee

and

Finished!

all from Stronghold Games and designed by Friedemann Friese

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Shelley and I had a fantastic time getting

Fast Forward FEAR by Friedemann Friese from Stronghold Games

and

Rajas of the Ganges by Inka and Markus Brand from R&R Games

to the table

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Shelley and I get two excellent Stronghold Games to the table!

Pit Crew from Geoff Engelstein

and

Terraforming Mars, both the Hellas & Elysium board expansion and Venus Next expansion by Jacob Fryxelius

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Shelley and I enjoy a co-op, then grit our teeth to get through a game so you won't have to!

Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature by Jog Kung and Huang Yi Ming from TWOPLUS Games

and

Feuville by Udo Peise from Huch!

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Shelley and I take on one HUGE game, as well as one excellent game this week:

Agra by Michael Keller from Quined Games

and

Riverboat by Michael Kiesling from Mayfair/Lookout

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Shelley and I get all Tetris-y again with the second nature-themed tile-laying game from Uwe Rosenberg, then plan out our estates in preparation for the King's visit.

Indian Summer by Uwe Rosenberg from Stronghold Games, Edition Spielwiese, and Pegasus

and

King's Will by Hans-Peter Stoll from ADC Blackfire and with development by Spielworxx

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Shelley and I check out a western state, then head into space this week!

Montana by Rudiger Dorn from White Goblin Games

and

Pulsar 2849 by Vladimir Suchy from Czech Games Edition

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After a quick correction about misreading some rules regarding last week's episode, Shelley and I get 2 games from Emanuele Ornella to the table for this week:

Pioneers from Queen Games

and

Okanagan from Matagot

Support the podcast on Patreon www.patreon.com/garrettsgames

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