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Oh man, oh man, it’s time that we ask you (yes, you) to tell us (yes, us) what your favourite games are, because for one time a year, it doesn’t matter what we think about games, but you better be ready to tell us what you think about games. A lot of you did, so here it is, the listener top 20! Before we ask you to do all the work, we talk about Emberheart, Gods & Mortals, and Feya’s Swamp.

If you don’t want to miss an episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Google Podcasts/Stitcher/Spotify, or add our RSS feed to your favourite app. Reviews and subscriptions really help us and would be greatly appreciated! To download the episode directly, click here.

If you’d like to discuss anything in the episode, please do so in the comments below, visit our BoardGameGeek guild, join our Discord, or Facebook Group! Any feedback is also always helpful. If you’d like to show your support for the show, we also have a Patreon with some fun rewards, and a merch store!

Timecodes:

01:30 – Emberheart
14:11 – Gods & Mortals
23:46 – Feya’s Swamp
33:38 – Listener Top 20
37:14 – A Feast for Odin
37:55 – Agricola
38:32 – Terraforming Mars
39:17 – Guards of Atlantis II
40:09 – Concordia
42:05 – Tigris & Euphrates
43:16 – Blood on the Clocktower
44:00 – El Grande
44:47 – The Castles of Burgundy
46:12 – Inis
47:38 – Race for the Galaxy
48:06 – Arcs
49:08 – Ark Nova
49:30 – Root
50:06 – Innovation
51:11 – Spirit Island
52:05 – Ra
52:51 – Brass: Birmingham
53:26 – Dune: Imperium
54:04 – Hansa Teutonica

Thank you to Heart Society for generously letting us use What’s On Your Mind, Kid? from their album Wake the Queens.

The post BGB Podcast #358 – Our Listeners’ Top 20 Board Games of All-Time 2026 appeared first on Board Game Barrage.

French board game publisher Don’t Panic Games has continued its expansion into the North American market, telling BoardGameWire the success of several recent titles had reinforced its confidence in the strategy.

The company has made a name for itself providing French localisations of games including Final Girl, Champions of Midgard and Fantasy Realms since it was co-founded by current director Cédric Littardi in 2013.

But Don’t Panic has also found success publishing its own titles such as Chess-like abstract game Above – and said the performance of that, and several other recent games, had persuaded it to bring more of its titles to North America.

Emma Recher, who will head up a three-person team at Don’t Panic’s new US office in California, told BoardGameWire, “Several recent titles have reinforced our confidence in expanding more directly into the US market.

“Games such as Don’t Wake Up Cthulhu!, Red Panda, Luminis, Maiko, and Above have been especially encouraging for us, and the early response to Spyworld has also been very promising.

“That is one of the reasons we are beginning this US expansion with titles such as Spyworld, Luminis, Above, and Maiko, which are also the titles highlighted in our North American launch announcement.

“We also have additional releases planned each quarter this year, including Don’t Drop the Soap! toward the end of the year.”

Recher also works with Japanime Games, which has distributed licensed Don’t Panic titles such as Attack on Titan: The Last Stand and Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade into North America.

Don’t Panic said those licensed titles would continue to be distributed by Japanime, while the French company’s historical and war line, including Fighters of the Pacific and Fighters of Europe, will continue to be distributed by Ares Games in the US.

Recher said, “What the new US office changes is that Don’t Panic can now directly support additional English-language titles that were not previously represented in the market in the same way.

“For retailers, that means broader access to the catalog, closer communication, more direct follow-up, and stronger on-the-ground marketing support.”

Don’t Panic added that it would be supported in the US by Double Exposure, which will represent the company at both major and smaller conventions – adding that it had a “robust demo schedule” planned over the next few months.

When asked about Don’t Panic’s decision to expand further in the US despite ongoing uncertainty over the country’s tariffs policy – and its effect on board game publishers working in the country – Recher said, “Like many publishers in tabletop gaming, we are watching the tariff situation very carefully. It creates uncertainty across the supply chain, from manufacturing and freight planning to wholesale pricing and retailer margins.

“Our approach is to stay flexible: planning conservatively, reviewing sourcing and logistics options on an ongoing basis, and working closely with our partners to protect continuity of supply as much as possible.

“The current environment is challenging for everyone in the industry, but we believe the best response is to remain pragmatic, adaptable, and transparent with our partners.”

Last summer Don’t Panic bought the IP for Anastyr and Hel: The Last Saga from board game crowdfunding major CMON, which has been selling off its portfolio of games as part of a fightback against heavy losses.

That deal came just 18 months after CMON had itself acquired the pair of titles from financially-devastated board game crowdfunding specialist Mythic Games, which gave up on fulfilling the two Kickstarter campaigns worth a combined $3.2m.

Don’t Panic has offered backers of Mythic’s Anastyr crowdfund “preferential pricing” on pre-orders of its own version of the game, Anastyr Chronicles, and said in a comment shared on Mythic’s Hel: The Last Sage Kickstarter page that it would make a similar offer when it releases its version of that title.

The post French publisher Don’t Panic Games to bring more titles to North America, launches US office first appeared on .