Sorry, people, no episode this week. Mark explains why.

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We puzzle over the practices and intentions of game designers this week as though we were archaeologists trying to divine the practices of ashen Pompeiians. Why did these authors insert this mechanism into their artifact? Was it a mating ritual? Was it an obeisance to some vengeful, long-dead god? Was it to shoehorn in player interaction? Or was it to placate a Kickstarter audience? Oh, sorry, that one is redundant with the obeisance to a god thing. Also the mating ritual thing, if you think about it.

Games Played Last Week:
-Wavelength 1m12s (Alex Hague, Justin Vickers, & Wolfgang Warsch, Palm Court, 2019)
-Carcassonne: Gold Rush (Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, Hans im Gluck, 2014)
-Unmatched: Battle of Legends 12m56s (Rob Daviau, JR Honeycutt, & Justin D. Jacobson, Restoration Games, 2019)
-The Menace Among Us 15m41s (Jeff Gum, Smirk & Dagger, 2019)
-Barenpark 19m19s (Phil Walker-Harding, Lookout Games, 2017)
-Vindication 20m41s (Marc Neidlinger, Orange Nebula Productions, 2018)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Fallout: Shelter--from promotional money-sink to... ? 30m39s
-Wiz-War NINTH 31m50s
-Inis in SPAAACE 32m27s
-Hansa Teutonica Big Box MIA at Spiel 33m43s
-DEI: Divide et Impera 34m17s
-Titan is, actually, kinda BIG 35m35s
-All the best to Chad Jensen 36m53s

Feature Game: Cloudspire 37m44s (Josh J. Carlson, Adam Carlson, & Josh Wielgus, Chip Theory Games, 2019)

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You can replace the Mark and Walker voices with lovingly-rendered miniatures with the SVWAG Host Minis add-on, which you can have for $35, but only if you pay for it before you know what they look like and before you know the content of the episode. You can also buy the SVWAG playmat, metal coins, realistic resources, microphone first-player marker, and custom insert. This is a free podcast that can cost you a zillion dollars. Decide now, though!

AYURIS: Root 2m02s (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2018)

Games Played Last Week:
-Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave 3m41s (David Sanders, Games Workshop, 2019)
-Era: Medieval Age 8m23s (Matt Leacock, eggertspiele, 2019)
-Ghost Blitz 12m03s (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2010)
-Menara 13m23s (Oliver Richtberg, Zoch Verlag, 2018)
-Unmatched: Battle of Legends 14m01s (Rob Daviau, JR Honeycutt, & Justin D. Jacobson, Restoration Games, 2019)
-The Menace Among Us 19m38s (Jeff Gum, Smirk & Dagger, 2019)
-Hit Z Road 22m01s (Martin Wallace, Space Cowboys, 2016)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Infinity Defiance defies innovation? 25m35s
-Beyond Humanity: Colonies has glowy bits 28m30s
-Vengeance: Director's Cut 30m35s
-Small World of Warcraft 31m16s
-Blacklist Games' Hour of Need 32m54s
-More Teotihuacan (with better titling) 35m11s
-More Karl-Heinz Schmiel with Tribune 36m26s

Topic: The Cost of Upgraded Components 37m46s

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Fatherhood is the overall theme of this week's episode. Imagine Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle, except with the father played by Vladimir the Great and the son by Svyatopolk the Accursed. "When you coming home, dad?" asks the Accursed, to which the reply is "I don't know when. But we'll get together then, son." And then, the son allegedly murders several of his siblings in a vicious power struggle. Just like in the song! Folk music of the seventies is more bloodthirsty than many people recall. Remember that Cat Stevens song about the wars of the Diadochi? It was even better than his acoustic rendering of the murder of the Romanovs.

Games Played Last Week:
-Letter Jam 4m01s (Ondra Skoupý, CGE, 2019)
-Codenames: Duet 8m22s (Vlaada Chvátil & Scot Eaton, CGE, 2017)
-Spirit Island 9m57s (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2017)
-The Crusoe Crew 13m02s (Shuky, Makaka Editions, 2019)
-UGO! 15m28s (Ronald Hoekstra, Thomas Jansen, & Patrick Zuidhof, IELLO, 2013)
-Carcassonne 17m49s (Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, Hans im Gluck, 2000)
-Undaunted: Normandy 20m56s (Trevor Benjamin & David Thomspon, Osprey Games, 2019)
-Cloudspire 23m14s (Josh J. Carlson, Adam Carlson, & Josh Wielgus, Chip Theory Games, 2019)
-Era: Medieval Age 26m42s (Matt Leacock, eggertspiele, 2019)
-Terraforming Mars 31m26s (Jacob Fryxelius, Stronghold, 2016)
-Ulm 32m15s (Günter Burkhardt, R&R Games, 2016)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Pharaon Afterlife Prepping 34m19s
-Patreon Content Galore 35m34s
-Scared by High Frontier 4 All 36m01s
-Square Off NEO & SWAP 38m07s
-Valkyrie Outrage 39m34s
-Francis Tresham Obituary 41m33s

Feature Game: Rurik: Dawn of Kiev 43m10s (Stan Kordonskiy, PieceKeeper Games, 2019)

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SHUX has passed, but the memories have not. Your hosts give a final rundown of some of the goings-on during the august October event.
Mark asserts that no one is less competitive than he, no one by a long shot, he is much less competitive than you and if you disagree he will fight you. Unless you are a child or infirm, in which case he will still fight you out of a grudging sense of duty and respect, but he will pull his punches. Some of them.
Editorial note: the hosts neglected to repeat that Air, Land & Sea was a review copy received from the author. They apologize for the oversight.

Added SHUX dig: The Quacks of Quedlinburg 2m18s (Wolfgang Warsch, Scmidt Spiele, 2018)

AYURIS: Yellow & Yangtze 5m38s (Reiner Knizia, Grail Games, 2018) and Tigris & Euphrates (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)

Games Played Last Week:
-Durance 8m05s (Jason Morningstar, Bully Pulpit Games, 2012)
-Aftermath 10m33s (Jerry Hawthorne, Plaid Hat Games, 2019)
-Mysthea 13m09s (Martino Chiacchiera & Marta Ciaccasassi, Tabula Games, 2019)
-Guards of Atlantis II: Tabletop MOBA 15m57s (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2020?)
-Blood on the Clocktower 19m19s (Steven Medway, The Pandemonium Institute, 2019)
-Sine Tempore 27m43s (Luca Bernardini & Andrea Colletti, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2018)
-Air, Land & Sea 33m27s (Jon Perry, Arcane Wonders, 2018)
-Mr. Lister's Quiz Shootout 35m24s (Uncredited, Big Potato, 2015)
-SiegeStorm: Siege Mode 38m34s (Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla & Marcin Świerkot, Awaken Realms Lite, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Barrage Expansion 40m50s
-Erica Bouyouris' Scott Pilgrim and Steven Universe Offerings 42m16s
-Calico Cuteness 44m13s
-Arkhipov Day on October 27th 44m29s

Topic: Competition and Competitiveness 44m53s

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"You two are idiots."
-Quinns

We are live (on tape)! With special guest Quintin Smith aka Quinns from Shut Up & Sit Down. Also featuring guest appearances from French Canadian snack cakes, passive aggression, wonderful prizes (none for you, sorry, all gone), and the man who saved your life, Vasili Arkhipov! Also some feedback and noise from the megagame next door. Oh, well.

Games Played Last Week:
-Irish Gauge 8m34s (Tom Russell, Capstone Games, 2014)
-Mandala 10m39s (Trevor Benjamin & Brett J. Gilbert, Lookout Games, 2019)
-Warband: Against the Darkness 15m20s (Micah Fuller, Dyskami Publishing Company, 2015)
-Ragusa 18m29s (Fabio Lopiano, Capstone Games, 2019)
-Flash Duel 22m43s (David Sirlin, Sirlin Games, 2010)
-Cowboy Bebop: Boardgame Boogie 27m17s (Josh Derksen, Thomas M. Gofton, & Aron Murch, Jasco Games, 2019)
-Glory to Rome 29m37s (Carl Chudyk, Cambridge Games Factory, 2005)
-Labyrinthos 31m07s (Lindsey Rose, Dog Might Games, 2020)
-Quacks of Quedlinburg 36m03s (Wolfgang Warsch, Schmidt Spiele, 2018)
-Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea 42m22s (Mark McLaughlin & Chris Vorder Bruegge, GMT Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Boardgame anime! 48m24s
-Kemet 1.5 in English 50m38s
-Cooper Island 51m17s
-Arkhipov Day on October 27th 51m36s

Audience Questions 54m31s

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The saturation point is the point at which you can no longer dissolve a deck of cards into a bottle of water. I am told that in summer, it feels hotter than it is really is because of all the board game particles diffused throughout the air. It gets really hard to breathe sometimes--my cousin nearly choked on a cube, once. The dewpoint, I think, is the temperature at which a full copy of Catan will coalesce out of nowhere. Join us for our podcast about science.

AYURIS: Thunderstone Quest 2m22s (Mike Elliott, Bryan Reese, & Mark Wootton, AEG, 2018)

Games Played Last Week:
-Teotihuacan: Late Preclassic Period 4m06s (Rainer Ahlfors, Andrei Novac, & Daniele Tascini, Board2Dice, 2019)
-Tigris & Euphrates 6m07s (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)
-Cockroach Poker 8m36s (Jacques Zeimet, Drei Magier Spiele, 2004)
-Sidereal Confluence 10m22s (TauCeti Deichmann, Wizkids, 2017)
-Slide Quest 12m27s (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)
-Obscurio 13m24s (L'Atelier, Libellud, 2019)
-Mental Blocks 16m49s (Jonathan Gilmour & Micah Sawyer, Pandasaurus Games, 2019)
-Conspiracy: The Solomon Gambit 19m17s (Rob Daviau, JR Honeycutt, Justin D. Jacobson, & Eric Solomon, Restoration Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Time Machine, Redux 22m42s
-Tajuto: Fresh Take on Buddhism 25m58s
-Pfister's Bizarre Rewriting of History, Again 29m15s
-Doesn't he know that Scott Pilgrim's the best fighter in the province? 31m31s
-Warhammer Underworlds Beastgrave: Pre-Made Decks 32m33s

Topic: Market Saturation 34m12s

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The cube trundles onward, marching inexorably--if haltingly--towards its ultimate destination. It is told it must explore, and so explore it does. The other cube conquers, but that is not this cube's concern. They met once at a party. It seemed nice, but that was long ago, and the cube must explore, not mingle. Sometimes it does not explore; sometimes it scores for some quantity of non-explore things. These things it does not understand, but it knows that points are good, and so it does those things. The explore cube also cares about farms, for some reason, and mushrooms. Near the end of its track, it pauses--not for lack of mushrooms, this time, but out of an uncharacteristic self-doubt. Why does it do these things, it wonders. What mad god intersperses these random tasks so? And down from Olympus comes the pronouncement of the cube's controller--perhaps that very mad god, or perhaps merely a lesser divinity in thrall of some yet more powerful, some yet more capricious deity--"BECAUSE THEME."

Games Played Last Week:
-Shards of Infinity 2m38s (Gary Arant & Justin Gary, Stone Blade Entertainment, 2018)
-The Bridges of Shangri-La 4m33s (Leo Colovini, Uberplay, 2003)
-Vengeance 9m22s (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2018)
-Slide Quest 12m03s (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)
-Gaslands: Refuelled 14m02s (Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Walker deploys facts, CMON travels in time 18m00s
-More Warhammer Underworlds 21m58s
-More Sidereal Confluence 24m20s
-Foundations of Rome 25m44s
-Mark must resist Obsidian Protocol 26m07s
-Blacklist Games' Hour of Need 27m19s
-Root RPG 28m34s

Feature Game: Tapestry 29m06s (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2019)

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Mark thinks it is colossally unfair that he gets so much flak for speaking French when mediocre game designers get to throw around a word like "tableau." Then again, Mark and Walker can't quite agree on what a tableau constitutes. Mark seems to define it the way that American judge famously defined pornography--he knows it when he sees it--whereas Walker is more conspiratorial about tableaus (Tableaux? Tableausies?), seeing them everywhere and lurking behind every player board or suite of special powers. Nothing seems to inspire disagreement among geeks like a taxonomy.

AYURIS: Street Masters 2m17s (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2018)

Games Played Last Week:
-Attribute 5m27s (Marcel-Andre Casasola Merkle, Z-Man Games, 2002)
-Pax Pamir: Second Edition 7m33s (Cole Wehrle, Wehrlegig Games, 2019)
-Air, Land & Sea 9m57s (Jon Perry, Arcane Wonders, 2018)
-Shadows of Malice: Revised 2nd Printing 13m27s (Jim Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2019)
-Undaunted: Normandy 17m10s (Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2019)
-Infinity 21m44s (Gutier Lusquiños Rodríguez, Corvus Belli, 2005)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Root's solitaire expansion 23m54s
-Donning more Purple 24m42s
-Mark pleads for strength in the face of Aeon Trespass 26m27s
-John Company 2nd edition: Mo JoCo Fo Sho 28m14s

Topic: Tableau-Builders 29m10s

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Adorable little pudgy robots soar through a blazing pink sky, stubby arms outstretched as they speed towards their destination--a yellow planet in the distance. "GIVE ME YOAR COOOBS" bellow the aliens upon arrival. "POINTZ 4 COOOOBS." A robot obliges, and a sonorous "cha-ching" resounds through its programming. But the robot is now a drifting derelict, its home ship long gone. It is now doomed to tumble through inky pinkness until its energy reserves burn to nothing. It begins to wonder, "Why have I done this? What is my purpose? What is this all for?" And the cosmos replies with a whisper, "It is for 1-4 players."

Games Played Last Week:
-Hellboy: The Board Game 2m03s (James M. Hewitt & Sophie Williams, Mantic Games, 2019)
-Mech Command: RTS 4m37s (Chris Gabrielson, Bad Crow Games, 2018)
-Modern Art 8m06s (Reiner Knizia, CMON, 2017)
-XenoShyft: Dreadmire 10m21s (Michael Shinall, CMON, 2017)
-Among Thieves 12m32s (Floyd Pretz, Indie Boards & Cards, 2019)
-Barenpark 15m58s (Phil Walker-Harding, Lookout Games, 2017)
-Pax Renaissance 19m35s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Walker getz Dized 21m50s
-Kemet 1.5 22m49s
-Terra Mystica expands, why no Gaia Project? 24m32s
-Vengeance: Director's Cut 25m35s
-Co-op Trick-taking 27m38s

Feature Game: Black Angel 28m26s (Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, & Alain Orban, Pearl Games, 2019)

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We return to games of weeks past, for the most part, to see if our initial impressions persist. We were young and foolish in past weeks, of course, whereas now we are older and foolish. Whether our errors mature like fine wine or spoil to the vinegar of harsh insight is up to you. One thing is certain, though--our metaphors certainly aren't getting any sweeter.

AYURIS: SEAL Team Flix 2m09s (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, WizKids, 2018)

Games Played Last Week:
-Kobayakawa 5m46s (Jun Sasaki, IELLO, 2013)
-Black Angel 7m25s (Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, & Alain Orban, Pearl Games, 2019)
-Human Punishment: Social Deduction 2.0 9m05s (Stefan Godot, Godot Games, 2018)
-Teotihuacan: Late Preclassic Period 12m40s (Rainer Ahlfors, Andrei Novac, & Daniele Tascini, Board&Dice, 2019)
-Import/Export 17m52s (Jordan Draper, Dark Flight, 2017)
-Rangers of Shadow Deep 21m37s (Joseph McCullough, Self-published, 2018)
-Horizon Wars 23m13s (Robey Jenkins, Osprey Publishing, 2016)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Vague intimations of important podcast news
-Evil Dead 2 made whole? 25m26s
-IGA Nominations announced 27m07s

Topic: Card-Driven Games 28m24s

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The Card Crafting System returns once more, its heaps of mylar inserting into our gaming life. I would say it darkens our door, but the things are mostly transparent, so the idiom doesn't quite fit. One wonders whether and how one could sleeve a Card Crafting game, given that the games largely consist of sleeves already--but once one has witnessed the recursive horror that is sleeve sleeves, you cannot doubt the persistence and ingenuity of the Cult of Sleeves. They will, like life, find a way--perhaps sleeving each insert before inserting them into an ur-sleeve that will smother us all. The horror.

Games Played Last Week:
-Tiny Epic Mechs 1m32s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2019)
-Yokohama 2m45s (Hisashi Hayashi, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2016)
-Risk: Mass Effect Galaxy at War Edition 7m43s (Andrew Wolf, The OP, 2013)
-Pulsar 2849 10m37s (Vladimír Suchý, CGE, 2017)
-Antidote 13m06s (Dennis Hoyle, Bellwether Games, 2013)
-Human Punishment: Social Deduction 2.0 14m33s (Stefan Godot, Godot Games, 2018)
-Villagers 18m21s (Haakon Gaarder, Sinister Fish Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Sidereal Confluence expansion? 20m12s
-New Orleans (gotta have a campaign) 21m11s
-More Steding: Gugong expansion 23m16s
-Pandemic system offshoots staying in print 23m53s
-Successors Kickstarter launched 25m40s
-Jagged Alliance expansion 27m59s

Feature Game: Edge of Darkness 29m10s (John D. Clair, AEG, 2019)

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There are happy stories. Stories of social serendipity, where you like them and they like you, and all opinions are as one and there is harmony. Where no awkward conversations need be had and no unfortunate lines drawn. Where no one is annoyed, and no one is harassed, and no one must bury their preferences so as to placate another. These are not these stories.

AYURIS: Food Chain Magnate 1m37s (Jeroen Doumen & Joris Wiersinga, Splotter Spellen, 2015)

Games Played Last Week:
-Gugong 3m50s (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2018)
-Infinity 4m37s (Gutier Lusquiños Rodríguez, Corvus Belli, 2005)
-Slide Quest 7m34s (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)
-Rhino Hero Super Battle 11m41s (Scott Frisco & Steven Strumpf, HABA, 2017)
-Tiny Epic Mechs 13m40s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2019)
-Horizon Wars 16m50s (Robey Jenkins, Osprey Publishing, 2016)
-Calimala 20m39s (Fabio Lopiano, ADC Blackfire Entertainment GmbH, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Hansa Teutonica Big Box! 21m52s
-After the After the Empire Kickstarter 23m00s
-Blacklist Games goes 8-bit with Bomberman and Contra 24m15s
-Asmodee bought something again (again) 25m27s
-Mark Rosewater “Why Diversity Matters in Game Design” 26m41s
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/why-diversity-matters-game-design-2019-08-19

Topic: When, Why and How to Exclude People 27m32s

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So. Many. Games. Even after careful curation and surgical editing, Mark and Walker talk about thirteen different games they played last week, not even counting the feature game. It was truly a good week. New games! Old games! Co-ops, minis, dexterity, wargames! Come join us at the cornucopia of amusement that is this week's SVWAG.

Games Played Last Week:
-Beasts of Balance 1m29s (George Buckenham & Alex Fleetwood, Sensible Object, 2016)
-Teotihuacan: City of Gods 3m32s (Daniele Tascini, NSKN Games, 2018)
-Obsession 4m19s (Dan Halladay, Kayenta Games, 2018)
-Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral Zone 6m31s (Mike Elliott, WizKids, 2019)
-Pandemic: Fall of Rome 11m10s (Matt Leacock & Paolo Mori, Z-Man, 2018)
-Pandemic: Rapid Response 12m25s (Kane Klenko, Z-Man Games, 2019)
-Concordia 16m18s (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2013)
-Pulsar 2849 19m26s (Vladimír Suchý, CGE, 2017)
-Lords of Hellas: Dark Ages Expansion 25m01s (Adam Kwapiński, Awaken Realms, 2019)
-Just One 28m06s (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)
-Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan 28m41s (Matt Calkins, GMT, 2011)
-Tannhauser Revised Edition 31m22s (Daniel Clark, J. R. Godwin, William Grosselin, & Jeff Tidball, Fantasy Flight, 2010)
-Core Worlds 34m22s (Andrew Parks, Stronghold, 2011)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-https://www.patreon.com/svwag
-Puerto Rico reprint 35m43s
-How to earn success with Successors 36m57s
-Gloomhaven digital early access 38m51s
-Those without SEAL Team Flix, you have failed 39m28s
-The Tiny Epic brand goes Ultra Tiny 40m21s
-A Tapestry of distribution 41m01s

Feature Game: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Warcry 42m33s (Uncredited, Games Workshop, 2019)

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What is gaming other than an outlet for vicarious experiences and thrills? To enjoy the simulacrum of killing, adventure, high finance, and impressing feudal lords? We can thus assert with great sincerity that ours shall be the very best GenCon coverage, in that we didn't go. Why trust the easily-misled first hand accounts? We know from both philosophy and science that sense data deceives. You can put your faith in our reflections, completely unbiased by any experience.

AYURIS: Kemet 1m15s (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2012)

Games Played Last Week:
-Kemet 3m57s (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2012)
-Tower of Babel 5m41s (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 2005)
-Q.E. 10m09s (Gavin Birnbaum, Boardgametables.com, 2019)
-The Ares Project 11m53s (Brian Engelstein & Geoff Engelstein, Z-Man, 2011)
-Mech Command RTS 14m28s (Chris Gabrielson, Bad Crow Games, 2018)
-Import/Export 20m14s (Jordan Draper, Dark Flight Games, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-How many Cyperpunks does one need? 25m05s
-An actual Eric Lang joint: Ankh 25m33s
-More Fiasco 26m51s
-Everyone can relax, Mark has been made whole 28m28s

Topic: What We Would Have Done at GenCon 30m39s
Lou Zocchi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXZbdZNuRIw&t=5s

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Failure can be a fortuitous thing, which is very good for Mark, as he is well accustomed to failure. While this week's review of Pax Renaissance is certainly not on the scale of, say, penicillin, it did give him the opportunity to play one of his top 20 games more. As to whether Walker profited or suffered from this development is a deep and abiding mystery solvable only by listening to this week's episode.

Games Played Last Week:
-Gaslands 2m29s (Glenn Ford & Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2017)
-Space Hulk 3rd edition 4m56s (Richard Halliwell, Games Workshop, 2009)
-Horizon Wars 7m37s (Robey Jenkins, Osprey Publishing, 2016)
-Time of Crisis 10m30s(Wray Ferrell & Brad Johnson, GMT, 2017)
-Q.E. 12m30s (Gavin Birnbaum, Boardgametables.com, 2019)
-Lords of Hellas: Dark Ages Expansion 15m12s (Adam Kwapinski, Awaken Realms, 2019)
-Getaway Driver 16m12s (Jeff Beck, Uproarious Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Goodbye to Richard Berg 18m17s
-Spyfall through time 19m35s
-The unfolding Golden Bell situation 20m28s
-Walker shills his auction 23m53s

Feature Game: Pax Renaissance 24m14s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)

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We can pretend that our adult pastimes are more sophisticated and evolved from the trivialities of mere children, but really, let's admit it--it's all the same. We can't claim any degree of superiority when compared to the antics of ankle-biters. Let's be mature about it and lean into the juvenalia, shall we? My doll is better than your doll. My doll has the Plasmanator Meltotron. You can't hit my doll, it has an invisible everything shield!

AYURIS: Keyflower 1m58s (Sebastian Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R&D Games, 2012)

Games Played Last Week:
-Pax Renaissance 4m25s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)
-Root 4m27s (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2018)
-Neuroshima Hex! 3.0 6m46s (Michal Oracz, Portal Games, 2006)
-Modern Art 8m30s (Reiner Knizia, CMON, 2017)
-Quadropolis 12m30s (Francois Gandon, Days of Wonder, 2016)
-Lords of Hellas: Lord of the Sun 14m03s (Adam Kwapinski, Awaken Realms, 2019)
-Men at Work 17m53s (Rita Modl, Pretzel Games, 2019)
-Rhino Hero Giant Edition 18m57s (Scott Frisco & Steven Strumpf, Sugorokuya, 2018)
-Piratenbillard 20m36s (Reinhold Wittig, ABACUSSPIELE, 1959)
-Joraku 22m47s (Iori Tsukinami, Tasty Minstrel, 2015)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-CMON's "Teburu": The future? 25m17s
-Mental Blocks at Gencon 30m47s
-Real-time medical follies with Rush M.D. 32m07s
-More Carl Chudyk in the Aegean Sea 33m09s
-Dragonball Zed 34m58s
-Spiel des Jahres winners 35m51s
-More Aristeia! 36m56s

Topic: Tabletop Miniatures Gaming 38m03s

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"May you get everything you want" is nothing short of a curse, I think, and so this week we curse you with your own desires. You wanted us to play Middara, so we did. You wanted more information about Sol: Last Days of a Star, so we oblige. As you weep, surrounded by the wreckage wrought by your own wishes, don't come to us for solace, for we are but the accomplices of your own self-destruction. Also, if that weren't terrifying enough, intergalactic scorpions!

Games Played Last Week:
-Men at Work 1m43s (Rita Modl, Pretzel Games, 2019)
-Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1 5m48s (Clayton Helme, Brooklynn Lundberg, Brennon Moncur, & Ian Tate, SUccubus Publishing, 2019)
-Dinosaur Island 12m44s (Jonathan Gilmour & Brian Lewis, Pandasaurus Games, 2017)
-Planet 14m11s (Urtis Šulinskas, Blue Orange, 2018)
-Rangers of Shadow Deep 17m38s (Joseph McCullough, Self-published, 2018)
-Pax Renaissance 19m39s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)
-Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Dawn 20m16s (Felix Mertikat, King Racoon Games, 2018)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Conan. Again. 25m46s
-Good compatibility news about Quest for El Dorado 26m19s
-Kingdomino gets a roll-and-write 26m51s
-Yggdrasil needed a campaign 27m44s
-Through the Ages expands after 16 years 28m56s
-Support for Meltwater's Erin Lee Escobedo's mom 29m50s
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kirsten-beat-cancer

Feature Game: Sol: Last Days of a Star 30m39s (Ryan Spangler & Sean Spangler, Elephant Laboratories, 2017)

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Since tableau-building today is very much what auctions were twenty years ago, we take a look at both in this week's episode. The Pax games continue ever onward, even as most of our favourite auction game were published 10+ years ago. Mark resists the urge to go off on a tangent about the Trolley Problem, which allows Walker to resist the urge to send Mark's teeth off on a tangent from his mouth. Compromise.

AYURIS: 1m32s Hyperborea (Andrea Chiarvesio & Pierluca Zizzi, Asterion Press, 2014)
Orleans (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2014)
Altiplano (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2017)

Games Played Last Week:
-Thunderstone Quest: Barricades Mode 4m14s (Mike Elliott, Bryan Reese, & Mark Wootton, AEG, 2019)
-Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 9m01s (Cole Wehrle, Wehrelegig Games, 2019)
-Sol: Last Days of a Star 17m16s (Ryan Spangler & Sean Spangler, Elephant Laboratories, 2017)
-Skip-Bo 21m36s (Hazel "Skip" Bowman, Mattel, 1967)
-LAMA (aka Wrath of the Appliances: Rise of the Killer Kameras) 23m10s (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2019)
-Glen More 24m32s (Matthias Cramer, alea, 2010)
-Among Thieves 26m53s (Floyd Pretz, Indie Boards & Cards, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Planned obsolescence in Quest for El Dorado? 31m50s
-Pacific Rim could defy expectations? 32m35s
-Tariff reprieve? 33m10s
-Knizia's Babylonia shows promise? 33m45s
-Will Mark sap the fun out of Principle Dilemma? 34m42s

Topic: Auctions 36m46s

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I swear, one dude gets his arm cut off in a cantina and we're still harping on about it forty years later. Have a sense of proportion! I got beat up in high school twenty years ago, but you don't hear me whining. That dude should have done what I did--rounded up a posse and threatened retaliation if any assault persisted. He could have rallied those pushed around by laser sword-wielding hermits and made the galaxy safe for... hold on, I think I just started writing fanfic.

Games Played Last Week:
-Antike II 1m33s (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2015)
-Council of 4 3m42s (Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini, CMON, 2015)
-Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 6m18s (Tobey Ho, Grey Fox Games, 2014)
-Gaslands: Refuelled 8m06s (Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2019)
-Rangers of Shadow Deep 10m04s (Joseph McCullough, Self-published, 2019)
-Beasts of Balance 12m51s (George Buckenham & Alex Fleetwood, Sensible Object, 2016)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Die Macher Die Hards Disappointed 14m24s
-Flotilla invents the post-apocalypse 16m36s
-Ticket to Ride: The Musical? 17m22s
-Dance Card (High School 2.0) 19m00s
-Bloomberg article follow-up by Eric J. Francis 20m27s
https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/c7pnf7/i_wrote_that_bloomberg_article_on_luxury_board/

Feature Game: Star Wars: Outer Rim 23m57s (Corey Konieczka with Tony Fanchi, FFG, 2019)

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