So Very Wrong About Games (Mike Walker & Mark Bigney)

We present to you a specially chemically-enhanced episode. Walker has been doping specifically in preparation, eschewing any sustenance other than military-grade lozenges. Mark will be performing his hosting duties while fully immersed in a tank of benzocaine oral painkiller. It is a good thing that the International Olympic Committee has no sway here in SVWAG studios, or we would likely get disqualified for the podcast luge event.

Games Played Last Week:

01:30 -Raising Robots (Brett Sobol & Seth Van Orden, Nauvoo Games, 2023)

08:26 -Omen: Banks of the Styx (John Clowdus, Small Box Games, 2024)

11:40 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019)

13:47 -Cryo (Tom Jolly & Luke Laurie, Z-Man Games, 2021)

17:33 -Formula D (Laurent Lavaur & Eric Randall, Asmodee, 2008)

18:39 -Riftforce (Carlo Bortolini, 1 More Time Games, 2021)

22:36 -Piazza Rabazza (Guido Hoffman and Jens-Peter Schliemann, Zoch Verlag, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

25:37 RoboRally Transformers: can Autobots get drunk?

27:12 An expansion to Unfathomable, the Battlestar Galactica re-theme

27:52 Burned was too pure for this crowdfunded world

28:19 Etherstone from ThunderGryph Games by Virginio Gigli and Simone Luciani on Kickstarter

29:11 Avatar: The Last Airbender co-op deckbuilder

29:43 Feature Game: Kutná Hora: The City of Silver (Ondřej Bystroň, Petr Čáslava, and Pavel Jarosch, Czech Games Edition, 2023)

51:24 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)

Everything's gotta be a competition. "I've seen better walls," scoffs the ingrate. "I've had darker ages," insists the depressive. "Well, I'm a Time Duke," growls the superstar Duke (esq., O.B.E.). It's all right, people. We can accept the superlatives without making it a contest.

Games Played Last Week:

00:58 -Dark Ages: Heritage of Charlemagne (Adam Kwapiński & Andrei Novac, Board&Dice, 2021)

08:04 -Horizons of Spirit Island (Eric R. Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2022)

09:10 -Keyflower (Sebastian Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R&D Games, 2012)

13:02 -Spots (Alex Hague, Jon Perry, and Justin Vickers, CMYK, 2022)

14:07 -Gatefall: Lost in the North Woods (Jack Dire, Jack Dire Studios, 2022)

17:52 -Time Barons (Jon Perry and Derek Yu, WizKids, 2014)

19:44 -Light Speed (James Ernest and Tom Jolly, Cheapass Games, 2003)

23:37 -Tiletum (Simone Luciani and Daniele Tascini, Board&Dice, 2022)

25:21 -Summoner Wars (Second Edition) (Colby Dauch, Plaid Hat Games, 2021)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

28:09 Walker hates embargos, forgets about the thing

28:29 RPGs let you do anything, so why re-create TV scenarios? The Walking Dead RPG

29:33 New Dark Crystal card game, Walker unimpressed

29:50 Mighty Mighty Boards customer service

30:08 Great Western Trail: New Zealand with SHEEP?

31:31 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

32:32 Feature Game: The Great Wall (Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Robert Plesowicz, & Łukasz Włodarczyk, Awaken Realms, 2021)

It is October, the month of Fat Bear Week, Decorative Gourd Season, Halloween, and Arkhipov Day! Sure, it has less candy than some of those other celebrations, but I'll wager neither a corpulent bear nor a kid dressed as a pirate has ever saved the entire human race. 

01:00 AYURIS: IKI (Koota Yamada, Sorry We Are French, 2015)

Games Played Last Week:

03:38 -Valka (Brooke Penrose, Terrible Games, 2024)

07:16 -Bus (Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wiersinga, Capstone Games, 2019)

09:47 -Warpgate: Beyond (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2022)

12:33 -Dinosaur World (Brian Lewis, David McGregor, & Marissa Misura, Pandasaurus Games, 2021)

16:02 -SCOUT (Kei Kajino, Oink Games, 2019)

18:18 -Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard (Gaëtan Beaujannot, Olivier Cipière, and Geonil, Mandoo Games, 2023)

20:11 -Cthulhu: Death May Die--Fear of the Unknown (Rob Daviau, Eric M. Lang, and Marco Portugal, CMON, 2024)

22:57 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019)

25:04 -Hamster Roll (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2000)

27:02 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

28:22 -R (Seiji Kanai, Kanai Factory, 2011)

31:03 -Lost Cities: The Board Game (Reiner Knizia, Rio Grande, 2008)

35:21 -Vengeance: Roll & Fight (Gordon Calleja, Noralie Lubbers, & Dávid Turczi, Mighty Boards, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:57 Friedemann Friese's Fishing: trick-taking

39:37 Mac Gerdts' 7 Empires

40:40 Reiner Knizia's Cosmolancer: Kingdoms, again

41:48 Burned relaunches on crowdfunding October 23 from Jon Moffat and Stone Circle Games

42:15 Daniele Tascini's Transgalactica

42:29 Chonkers Party: phat animals

42:50 Walker on Boards and Brews

43:14 Join us in celebrating Arkhipov Day on October 27th

44:22 Topic: Our Favourite Factions

Some randomness is accepted nearly uncritically by many gamers. Conventional deckbuilders have exceptionally high variance as a rule, but no one bats an eye. We accept that anything martial might have mixed results, even after repeated attempts--in fact, many protest when the wound-making is too deterministic. Tiles from a bag? Sure. The instant that locomotion is involved, though, your typical gamer gets all shirty. 

Magical Athlete would like a word.

Games Played Last Week:

02:52 -Don't L.L.A.M.A. Dice (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2021)

06:00 -Lacuna (Mark Gerrits, CMYK, 2023)

08:25 -Picky Eaters (Tanya Basu and Avi Setton, Le Fou, 2024)

14:42 -Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2023)

15:43 -Time Barons (Jon Perry and Derek Yu, WizKids, 2014)

19:07 -Kemet: Blood and Sand (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2021)

21:40 -Shards of Infinity (Gary Arant & Justin Gary, Stone Blade Entertainment, 2018)

25:36 -Merchant of Venus (Richard Hamblen, Avalon Hill, 1988)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

32:44 Firefighters on Duty; real-time co-op from the team behind Kitchen Rush and Rush M.D.

34:08 Infinity: Endsong--new rules and units for free (as always with Infinity)

35:26 Dorfromantik goes competitive with Das Duell

37:12 Match of the Century by Paolo Mori--Spassky vs. Fischer's 1972 chess championship

39:36 Turbo Kidz--real-time blind racing

40:41 Sunrise Lane by Reiner Knizia and Horrible Guild

41:09 DM-less roleplaying in Bramble Trek

41:28 Mass market fare by Games Workshop--Space Marine and Combat Arena

43:22 Granblue Fantasy skirmish board game

44:05 Feature Game: Expeditions (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2023)

We are very proud of our strict editorial standards here at SVWAG. Among them is our firm stance on Monty Python references, which are very firmly circumscribed. Philosophers are mentioned all the time, but never the song; and similarly we discuss Mozart here (in two different media!) without any kind of passing gesture to his decomposition. People have tried to smuggle in other references to the show, but those responsible have been sacked.

Games Played Last Week:

01:34 -Dice Hospital: ER--Emergency Roll (Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert, Alley Cat Games, 2022)

02:35 -Joan of Arc: Orléans Draw & Write (Ryan Hendrickson and Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2022)

04:46 -Tinderblox (Rob Sparks, Alley Cat Games, 2020)

06:36 -Similo (Martino Chiacchiera, Hjalmar Hach, & Pierluca Zizzi, Horrible Guild, 2019)

08:21 -Crazy Tower (Alexis Harvey, Félix Leblanc, Manuel-Lucas Bergeron Duhamel, & Mathieu Auger, Synapses Games, 2020)

09:30 -Glenn Drover's Empires: Galactic Rebellion (Don Beyer and Glenn Drover, Eagle-Gryphon Games, 2016)

17:40 -The North: Provenance (John Clowdus, Small Box Games, 2020)

20:45 -Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down (Second Edition) (Felix Mertikat, Grey Fox Games, 2021)

27:21 -Radiant: Offline Battle Arena (Jack Murray, Heel Turn Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

31:00 Marceline Leiman points out hidden barriers to minoritized people and the importance of accessibility

32:59 Freaky Frogs from Outaspace by Friedemann Friese

33:45 Metal Gear Solid from Emerson Matsuuchi finally being piblished by CMON

35:58 Tankersly, Benjamin, and Thompson reunite with Albert Monteys for Witchcraft! 

36:34 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

37:46 Feature Game: Lacrimosa (Gerard Ascendi and Ferran Renalias, Devir, 2022)

1:00:13 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: Amadeus

"Robert! This here is velvet--not velveteen. A gentleman must learn the difference."

-Gilbert Fontaine de la Tour D'Haute Rive

Games Played Last Week:

01:53 -Fishing (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2024)

08:04 -Revive (Helge Meissner, Eilif Svensson, Anna Wermlund, and Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2022)

10:46 -SCOUT (Kei Kajino, Oink Games, 2019)

14:33 -MLEM: Space Agency (Reiner Knizia, Rebel Studio, 2024)

16:53 -Unconscious Mind (Laskas, Jonny Pac, Yoma, and Antonio Zax, Fantasia Games, 2024)

20:10 -SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Laskas, Jonny Pac, Yoma, and Antonio Zax, Czech Games Edition, 2024)

28:27 -Kollide (Uncredited, Relatable, 2024)

31:12 -Gun It (Randy O'Connor, Randy O Games, 2024)

35:14 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)

38:08 -Gudnak (Timothy S. O'Brien and Ian Oliver, Chaotic Great, 2024)

42:19 -Good Puppers (Chris Cieslik, Asmadi Games, 2021)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

44:20 The System Works: BGG improved plague counters, Rise & Fall replacement part

45:50 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

46:05 If you or someone you know has lost games in the West Coast fires, please reach out 

47:05 Feature Game: Thunder Road: Vendetta--Maximum Chrome (Dave Chalker, Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Brett Myers, and Brian Neff, Restoration Games, 2023)

Thunder Road: Vendetta--Carnival of Chaos (Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, and Brian Neff, Restoration Games, 2024)

Walker was all like "there's this card effect in Successors" and Mark was all like "nuh-uh" but Walker was like "yeah, fer sure" and Mark goes "no way" and Walker says "way" and that's a 100% accurate transcript.

01:53 AYURIS: Dice Realms (Thomas Lehmann, Rio Grande Games, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

04:07 -Lorenzo il Magnifico (Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, and Simone Luciani, Cranio Creations, 2016)

10:55 -Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (Changhyun Baek, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, DiceTree Games, 2023)

17:00 -Darwin’s Journey (Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, ThunderGryph Games, 2023)

21:23 -The North: Provenance (John Clowdus, Small Box Games, 2020)

27:03 -Sail (Akiyama Koryu & Korzu Yusei, Allplay, 2023)

28:18 -MLEM: Space Agency (Reiner Knizia, Rebel Studio, 2024)

31:15 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

36:48 -Successors 4th Edition (Richard H. Berg and Mark Simonitch, PHALANX, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:25 Lifeboats reprint: Plank of Carneades

47:27 Mike Hutchinson running a survey on Gaslands: https://forms.gle/8DjmJDxpaivpsznW7

48:06 Eric Lang and Ken Grul's Life in Reterra from Hasbro

48:24 Please support us on Patreon, if so inclined! www.patreon.com/svwag

51:02 Topic: The Patrons' Top 20

In the vast panoply of human misfortunes, it is often fruitless to try to rank misery. Was historical tragedy X worse or better than atrocity Y? It seems callous to ask. That said, thanks to the applied research of a retired ethicist with the aid of Reiner Knizia's Zoo Vadis, we have conclusively discovered that it is better to be extorted by a marmoset than assaulted by an armadillo. Thus is human knowledge expanded.

01:01 AYURIS: Heroscape (Stephen Baker, Rob Daviau, & Craig Van Ness, Hasbro, 2004)

Games Played Last Week:

05:30 -Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, & Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2021)

10:23 -Zoo Vadis (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2023)

15:53 -Marabunta (Reiner Knizia, Space Cowboys, 2023)

22:35 -Feed the Kraken (Maikel Cheney, Dr. Hans Joachim Höh, and Tobias Immich, Funtails, 2022)

26:19 -La Granja: Deluxe Master Set (Michael Keller and Andreas "ode." Odendahl, Board&Dice, 2023)

31:30 -Sand (Ariel Di Costanzo and Javier Pelizzari, Devir, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:45 Calico spinoff: Knitting Circle

39:29 Founders of Reyvick: Richard Garfield and GMT

40:54 Boardgaming has jumped the shark: Winston: Nineteen Eighty-Four 

42:56 Expeditions: Gears of Corruption

43:14 Radlands gets 1.2 rules and a new deck

44:20 Topic: The One that Broke the Kallax's Back

Our guest host this week is the estimable Mark Besada of the Golden Geek Award-winning podcast, Board Game Barrage! Known as the Green Tank because he is more swole than the Hulk (rumours persist that Lou Ferrigno learned all he knew about bodybuilding from Mark), he nonetheless exudes generosity and hospitality. 

Unless you throw down in Ghost Blitz, that is. Then it's Go Time.

Games Played Last Week:

02:31 -Skytear Horde: Monoliths (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2024)

07:39 -Lords of Scotland (Richard James, Z-Man Games, 2010)

11:27 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024) [EDIT: The "Ironclad" character was erroneously referred to as the Ironborn. We apologize for the error and look forward to your many, many correction emails]

17:11 -Distilled (Dave Beck, Paverson Games, 2023)

21:51 -RelicBlade: Adventure Battle Game (Sean Sutter, Metal King Studio, 2015)

30:23 -Sky Team (Luc Rémond, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

34:05 -Ghost Blitz Mini (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2010)

39:55 -Arcs (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:00 Atlantis Exodus has an "apotheosis track"

47:18 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

47:36 Feature Game: Captain Flip (Remo Conzadori and Paolo Mori, PlayPunk, 2024) and the Spiel des Jahres

1:18:14 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: Ripley

A review of So Very Wrong About Games, not actually by Werner Herzog:

"To listen to SVWAG is to court madness. One host is beholden to the delusion that if he utters sufficient words in a short period of time he may stave off his inevitable death, whereas the other grapples with the false consciousness of refusing to acknowledge life's meaninglessness. Collectively their banter serves as a cruel rebuke to evolution, a bitter mockery of humanity's purported superiority over a nature they despise and denigrate. It is reason's death rattle in the face of pure chaos. Thank you for recommending Rhino Hero Super Battle, I enjoyed it with my family very much. Four stars."

01:20 AYURIS: Agricola (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2007) and Agricola (Revised Edition) (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2016)

Games Played Last Week:

04:25 -Ceres (Gustaf Sundström, Artipia Games, 2023)

10:22 -Daybreak (Matt Leacock & Matteo Menapace, CMYK, 2023)

13:59 -Raising Robots (Brett Sobol & Seth Van Orden, Nauvoo Games, 2023)

16:02 -Demon Ship (Malev Da Shinobi, Black Site Studios, 2023)

19:58 -Hyperborea (Andrea Chiarvesio & Pierluca Zizzi, Asterion, 2014)

26:19 -Vaalbara (Olivier Cipière, Studio H, 2022)

29:03 -Septima: Shapeshifting & Omens (Robin Hegedűs, Mindclash Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

36:45 Preview of Phantom Division Relaunch on Gamefound

38:24 French Revolution! 1793 Patriots & Traitors on Gamefound 

39:21 Redevelopment of Omen: A Reign of War from John Clowdus and Small Box Games next year

40:16 Topic: Mindclash Games

No topic is off-limits for the upcoming return of our Omnibus Questions, as we demonstrate in this episode by tackling such issues as pre-Reformation papal indulgences. And if you were to guess which host brought up that little historical nugget, you'd be wrong!

Possible questions: who would win in a street fight, J.G. Fichte or Nietzsche? Do sheep poop? Who is the best member of Team Avatar? (Fichte, yes, and Appa, respectively) 

02:17 AYURIS: It's a Wonderful World (Frédéric Guérard, La Boîte de Jeu, 2019) and It's a Wonderful Kingdom (Frédéric Guérard, La Boîte de Jeu, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

06:23 -Orléans: The Plague (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp games, 2023)

13:59 -Antiquity (Joroen Doumen & Joris Wiersinga, Splotter, 2004)

20:30 -Just One (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)

22:51 -Green Team Wins (Nathan Thornton, 25th Century Games, 2022)

23:47 -Quest (Don Eskridge, Indie Boards & Cards, 2021)

28:38 -Sidereal Confluence (TauCeti Deichmann, Wizkids, 2017)

32:53 -Fast Sloths (Friedemann Friese, 2F-SPiele, 2019)

35:59 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019)

37:38 -The Big Push: Trench Warfare on the Western Front in World War One (Renaud Verlaque, Hollandspiele, 2017)

42:14 -Robinson Crusoe: Collector's Edition (Joanna Kijanka and Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games, 2024)

45:43 -Wabash Cannonball (John Bohrer, Rio Grande Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

48:28 Adventure Time RPG on crowdfunding

49:27 Business Time! Embracer group spins off Asmodee (with debt), Goliath acquires Lucky Duck Games 

51:06 Munchkin Big Box solves our problems

51:43 Topic: Favourite Mechanisms

No cats were harmed during the recording of this episode. Official SVWAG cat Chandler (aka Potato aka Chan-Chan aka The Chan-Man) had his dignity challenged when Mark laughed at his strange partially-shaved body, but we don't think that counts. Official SVWAG dog Bruno (aka The Dog) resents human non-walk activities, but again, that probably doesn't count. The editorial gibbons and the HR gibbons colluded to classify Mark and Walker as "sub-animal automated speakboxes" and then took Labour Day off.

Games Played Last Week:

01:10 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

03:30 -Amun-Re: 20th Anniversary Edition (Reiner Knizia, Alley Cat Games, 2023)

05:52 -Everything Ever (Nathan Thornton, Floodgate Games, 2023)

10:28 -Sushi Boat (Dario Massarenti and Francesco Testini, Japanime Games, 2023)

14:49 -Fit to Print (Peter McPherson, Flatout Games, 2023)

20:58 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

22:18 -Lunar Rush (Steven "Skippy" Brown, Dead Alive Games, 2023)

29:03 -Aegean Sea (Carl Chudyk, Asmadi Games, 2023)

37:16 -Lacuna (Mark Gerrits, CMYK, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

39:08 Snow Planner--dice worker-placement ski resort

39:48 Rats of Wistar by Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia

41:09 David Thompson and Nils Johansson's Battle Card

42:46 Apology--Aegean Sea cannot be a feature game

43:45 Feature Game: Race to the Raft (Frank West, The City of Games, 2023)

People have favourably described our physical appearances as "borderline tolerable" and "just short of hideous", and that was just our mothers. In light of this, we put ourselves forward as candidates for all manner of game show. Mark is quite fond of Rice-a-Roni and thus would be more than happy to just have a consolation prize, and Walker just wants to spin something as hard as he can. Better reinforce your props.

01:43 AYURIS: Archeos Society (Paolo Mori, Space Cowboys, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

03:16 -Ethnos (Paolo Mori, CMON, 2017)

08:20 -Wizards of the Grimoire: Shifting Sands (Cole Banning & Joe Banning, Grimoire Games, 2025)

12:14 -Jenga Maker (Uncredited, Hasbro, 2022)

16:20 -Click A Tree (Uwe Rosenberg, Skellig Games, 2025)

18:15 -Street Masters: Tide of the Dragon (Scott McFall, Adam Sadler, Brady Sadler, and Mitch Schroeder, Blacklist Games, 2022)

22:15 -Crafting the Cosmos (David Gordon & TAM, Office Dog, 2025)

23:48 -Scape Goat (Jon Perry, Indie Boards & Cards, 2020)

28:41 -Shuffle and Swing (Robert Hovakimyan, Bitewing Games, 2025)

32:31 -Bebop (Robert Hovakimyan, Bitewing Games, 2025)

39:53 -El Grande (Wolfgang Kramer & Richard Ulrich, Hans im Glück, 1995)

44:03 -Crokinole (Uncredited, Mayday, 2025)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

47:19 Phantom Division returning and editorial challenges

47:55 Early Registration for SVWAGCon for patrons! www.patreon.com/svwag

48:20 G.I. Joe Heroscape--will Transformers follow?

52:53 CMYK game show: Perfect Line hosted by Deborah Norville

54:26 Ark Nova spin-off Sanctuary

54:54 StarCraft miniatures and board games incoming

55:14 Alley Cat games sticking to crowdfunding, skipping retail

55:37 Topic: 20th Century Games

From Wikipedia:

"Boglins were a series of toy puppets distributed by Mattel. They were created by Tim Clarke, Maureen Trotto, and Larry Mass, and licensed by Seven Towns. The original run of Boglins was released in 1987, coinciding with a "creatures" craze that included Ghoulies, Critters, and Gremlins. Boglins were goblin-themed hand puppets made of flexible rubber and could be manipulated to represent speech and facial expressions."

Games Played Last Week:

01:26 -The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (Thomas Sing, KOSMOS, 2019)

03:38 -Cartographers: A Roll Player Game (Jordy Adan, Thunderworks Games, 2019)

05:27 -Res Arcana (Thomas Lehmann, Sand Castle Games, 2019)

08:41 -Tribes of the Wind (Joachim Thôme, La Boîte de Jeu, 2022)

10:20 -Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum (Pauline Kong, Haymen Lee, and Marie Wong, Hot Banana Games, 2023)

13:20 -Switch & Signal (David Thompson, KOSMOS, 2020)

16:06 -SEAL Team Flix (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, WizKids, 2018)

18:30 -Star Fighters: Rapid Fire (Michael Dunsmore and Jordan Nichols, Alley Cat Games, 2023)

22:10 -For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game (Wilhelm Su, Self-published, 2021)

24:47 -Oak (Wim Goossens, Game Brewer, 2022)

28:28 -Messina 1347 (Raúl Fernández Aparicio & Vladimír Suchý, Delicious Games, 2021)

31:01 -Cysmic (Jason Blake, Star Reach Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:20 RIP Klaus Teuber, inventor of Catan. Dan Thurot's obituary: https://spacebiff.com/tag/klaus-teuber/

39:23 Vladimír Suchý and Delicious Games: Evacuation

39:39 Ultimate Innovation: Age 11 for each expansion, Unseen Expansion 

41:15 The List is back! www.sowronggames.com/episodenotes

42:26 Feature Game: Gatefall (Jack Dire, Jack Dire Studios, 2020)

As ever, and with no clue what a lang syne is (much less an auld-y type configuration), we embrace the new year by commemorating the old. We would venture that the new year only truly begins once SVWAG has given its imprimatur on the best game published in the preceding year. The Julian Calendar was abandoned in favour of the Gregorian, and it is evident that the Gregorian should be abandoned in favour of the SVWAGgering Calendar. 

Games Played Last Week:

01:34 -Kutná Hora: The City of Silver (Ondřej Bystroň, Petr Čáslava, and Pavel Jarosch, Czech Games Edition, 2023)

06:53 -Voidfall (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2023)

07:57 -K2 (Adam Kałuża, Rebel Sp. z o.o., 2010)

09:35 -Cover Your Assets (Brent Beck & Jeffrey Beck, Grandpa Beck's Games, 2011)

11:52 -Assault on Doomrock: Ultimate Edition (Tom Stasiak, Beautiful Disaster Games, 2023)

16:53 -Road Trippin (Uncredited, Guilt Free Gaming, 2021)

19:42 -Evacuation (Vladimír Suchý, Delicious Games, 2023)

28:05 -Solar Titans (Phillip Gee and Xian Wu, SunnySideUp Games, 2023)

31:03 -Tiny Mini Golf (Kamis Kamiński, Self-published, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

Nothing to see here.

34:25 Topic: 2023 Year in Review

35:04 Mark and Walker's Top 10s

52:28 SVWAG 2023 Game of the Year

53:37 Special Categories

Mark's enthusiasm for Dungeon Scrawlers is telling. Whereas most children enjoy mazes, drawing, or even colouring, Mark instead as a child enjoyed the programmatic, deterministic mundanity of connect-the-dots. Straight(ish) lines and ascending natural numbers only, please. No doubt at a similar age Walker was already pursuing his jock/theatre kid synthesis, doing a number from Gilbert & Sullivan as his endzone dance after scoring a touchdown. 

01:13 AYURIS: Soldiers in Postmen's Uniforms (David Thompson, Dan Verssen Games, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

03:32 -Tindaya (Lolo González, Red Mojo, 2022)

06:41 -Radiant: Offline Battle Arena (Jack Murray, Heel Turn Games, 2019)

09:07 -Formula D (Laurent Lavaur & Eric Randall, Asmodee, 2008)

12:15 -Undaunted: Battle of Britain (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2023)

16:39 -Orléans (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2014)

18:48 -Witchcraft! (Trevor Benjamin, Roger Tankersly, and David Thompson, Salt & Pepper Games, 2023)

23:49 -The Red Cathedral (Israel Cendrero & Sheila Santos, Devir Games, 2020)

26:13 -Castles by the Sea (Jon Benjamin and Michael Xuereb, Brotherwise Games, 2023)

31:12 -Sherlock Holmes: Baker Street Irregulars (Cédric Asna, Makaka Editions, 2019)

33:32 -Dorfromantik: The Board Game (Michael Palm and Lukas Zach, Pegasus Spiele, 2022)

38:51 -Ragnarocks (Gord!, Grey Fox Games, 2022)

41:44 -Princes of the Renaissance (Martin Wallace, Mercury Games, 2016)

50:00 -The Taverns of Tiefenthal (Wolfgang Warsch, Schmidt Spiel, 2019)

52:19 -The Crew: Mission Deep Sea (Thomas Sing, KOSMOS, 2021)

53:40 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

57:47 -Dice Miner (Joshua DeBonis & Nikola Risteski, Atlas Games, 2021)

58:50 -Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers--Heroes of Waterdeep (Vangelis Bagiartakis and Konstantinos Karagiannis, WizKids, 2023)

1:00:55 -Viking See-Saw (Reiner Knizia, itten, 2021)

1:03:20 -Thunder Road: Vendetta (Dave Chalkers, Brett Myers, Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Jim Keifer, and Brian Neff, Restoration Games, 2023)

1:07:25 -Splendor Duel (Marc André and Bruno Cathala, Space Cowboys, 2022)

1:08:51 -Crazy Tower (Alexis Harvey, Félix Leblanc, Manuel-Lucas Bergeron Duhamel, & Mathieu Auger, Synapses Games, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

1:10:35 Terraria board game by Paper Fort Games

1:11:09 Witchcraft! on Gamefound

1:11:14 Heroscape to be re-resurrected by Renegade Games

1:12:32 Regicide Legacy Badgers from Mars

1:13:46 The Smurfs: Hidden Village board game

1:14:26 Conquest Princess: Fashion is Power

1:15:08 Worms board game by Mantic

1:15:34 Gloomhaven 2nd Edition will have an upgrade pack

1:16:47 Board gamers: Be good allies during Pride Month and oppose book bans

A pretty solid rule of thumb is that if you've been disappointed in a kind of game, try David Thompson's version of it and see how delightful it can be. Hidden movement got you down? Sniper Elite is the cure. Abstract chunky tiled fighty thing didn't please? War Chest might please. Mediocre skirmish cramping your style? For What Remains is ready to serve. It's a good thing he has styles of games he hasn't explored, lest he just obsolete the remainder of the games industry. Give him time. He'll collaborate with everyone eventually.

Games Played Last Week:

01:41 -Beast (Aron Midhall, Elon Midhall, and Assar Pettersson, Studio Midhall, 2022)

07:17 -Iberia (Jesús Torres Castro and Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2016)

11:42 -Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa (Mandela Fernandez-Grandon and Fabio Lopiano, Osprey Games, 2024)

18:16 -Bitoku: Resutoran (Germán P. Millán, Devir, 2023)

23:00 -Kurz vor Knapp (Helmut Punke and Tobias Punke, Zoch Verlag, 2020)

28:06 -Animal Upon Animal (Klaus Miltenberger, HABA, 2005)

29:33 -Bloodstones (Martin Wallace, Wallace Designs, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:01 Shipyard reprint from Delicious Games

38:55 In the Gang from KOSMOS

39:56 Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam on Kickstarter

40:51 Feature Game: Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

I was originally going to riff on Ginsberg's Howl, but I confess I had completely forgotten what a monster of a piece it is--redolent in imagery and references that are very much of a time since past. I considered then moving on to Nelson's On the Road Again, and faced the opposite problem--man, that song has some simple lyrics. I guess Shelley and Shakespeare are the sweet spot.

01:24 AYURIS: Praga Caput Regni (Vladimír Suchý, Delicious Games, 2020)

Games Played Last Week:

03:56 -Shadowrift (Jeremy Anderson, Game Salute, 2012)

06:41 -Jetpack Joyride: Deluxe Edition (Michał Gołębiowski, Lucky Duck Games, 2019)

10:18 -Barcelona (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2023)

14:22 -Regicide (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, & Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2020)

17:17 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Sotirios Tsantilas, Artipia Games, 2016)

20:33 -Ready Set Bet (John D. Clair, AEG, 2022)

26:32 -Aegean Sea (Carl Chudyk, Asmadi Games, 2023)

34:52 -So Clover! (François Romain, Repos Production, 2021)

39:02 -Northgard: Uncharted Lands (Adrian Dinu, Shiro Games, 2022)

40:35 -Forest Shuffle (Kosch, Lookout Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

41:39 Borderlands: Mister Torgue's Arena of Badassery looking oddly pedestrian

43:18 Can't Stop! talking about MAGNETS

44:51 Tabletop miniatures games contain multitudes: setting vs. mechanisms

47:58 Topic: Gaming on the Road

As employers, we gamers are a strange lot. We are expected to feed our workers, house them, give them their raw materials; we tell them where to go, when to work,a nd for how long; we subject them to fires, predation, starvation... and on top of all this, in some games we appear to confiscate all their wages! At least in Food Chain Magnate we occasionally allow them to go to the beach. Under strict supervision. Until we permit them the sweet release of death. I mean, until they "retire." Yeah, that sounds better.

Games Played Last Week:

01:24 -Air, Land, & Sea: Spies, Lies, & Supplies (Jon Perry, Arcane Wonders, 2022)

02:59 -Tinners' Trail (Martin Wallace, Alley Cat Games, 2021)

06:09 -Skytear Horde (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2023)

11:31 -Great Western Trail: Argentina (Alexander Pfister, eggertspiele, 2022)

16:57 -The Stygian Society (Kevin Wilson, APE Games, 2020)

21:56 -Company of Heroes (Bryan Kromley, Bad Crow Games, 2021)

29:05 -Voyages (Matthew Dunstan and Rory Muldoon, Postmark Games, 2021)

31:53 -Woodcraft (Ross Arnold and Vladimír Suchý, Delicious Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

33:58 Potential SVWAG-Con poll! https://forms.gle/R7pDHNnx5EQXgSUh8

34:40 Support content creators that you like! Reach out and thank someone.

35:26 Wabash Cannonball by John Bohrer to be reprinted by Rio Grande

36:33 Ethnos by Paolo Mori to be reprinted by Space Cowboys: Archeos Society

38:24 General Orders: WWII by David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin

39:29 Guards of Atlantis II reprint with new content on Gamefound in April

41:22 Ravensburger consolidating Quest for El Dorado with Vincent Dutrait art and new expansion: Dragons, Treasures, and Mysteries

42:18 Feature Game: IKI (Koota Yamada, Sorry We Are French, 2015)

1:07:15 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: The Last of Us (eps. 1-5)

Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is running a Kickstarter. It is trivially easy to string together quotations going back to the dawn of human civilization lamenting how the youth are ruining everything, how the good old days were so great, and wishing we could go back to the golden age. See, I blame it on the baby boomers aging and succumbing more and more to nostalgia. See, in the good old days, before the boomers, we had things in perspective.

01:51 AYURIS: Anno 1800 (Martin Wallace, KOSMOS, 2020)

Games Played Last Week:

03:37 -Yucatan (Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2023)

14:06 -Skytear Horde (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2023)

15:44 -Sorcerer City (Scott Caputo, Druid City Games, 2020)

20:50 -Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers--Heroes of Waterdeep (Vangelis Bagiartakis and Konstantinos Karagiannis, WizKids, 2023) 

25:36 -Dorfromantik: The Board Game (Michael Palm and Lukas Zach, Pegasus Spiele, 2022)

26:15 -The Red Cathedral: Contractors (Isra C. and Shei S., Devir, 2022)

30:06 -Judgement: Eternal Champions (Gunmeister Games, Creature Caster, 2022) 

36:27 -My City: Roll & Build (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2022)

40:51 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

43:25 -Tinderblox (Rob Sparks, Alley Cat Games, 2020)

45:03 -Radiant: Offline Battle Arena (Jack Murray, Heel Turn Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

48:41 Monopoly Scrabble. What?

49:42 Follow-up: Soldiers in Postman's Uniforms still available!

50:24 Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles episodes 3 & 4

51:27 "Dinosaurs, everybody!" VelociRapture by Xoe Allred

52:51 Knarr by Thomas Dupont, already available on BGA

54:30 Topic: Top 10 Revisited & "Golden Age"

Walker and Huey voted to end the game early, but there were then procedural questions as to whether that warranted a runoff in the French Presidential style. Chip III repeated his preference for a ranked-choice voting system, but he couldn't decide whether his second choice was a single transferable vote or first past the post. Meanwhile, Mark gerrymandered the rest of the table into one sprawling district, and made three new districts intersect at his spine so he got three votes to everyone else's collective one. He moved, seconded, and veto-proofed a motion to the effect that everyone else should stop talking.

00:59 AYURIS: Cryo (Tom Jolly & Luke Laurie, Z-Man Games, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

03:23 -The Witcher: Old World (Łukasz Woźniak, Go On Board, 2023)

11:55 -My Father's Work (T.C. Petty III, Renegade Game Studios, 2022)

15:09 -City of the Great Machine (German Tikhomirov, CrowD Games, 2023)

20:47 -Gang of Dice (Reiner Knizia, Mandoo Games, 2022)

23:10 -Tinderblox (Rob Sparks, Alley Cat Games, 2020)

24:29 -Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition (Muneyuki Yokouchi, Bézier Games, 2022)

28:23 -Just One (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)

33:49 -Deception: Murder in Hong Kong (Tobey Ho, Grey Fox Games, 2014)

40:32 -Jenga Maker (Uncredited, Hasbro, 2022)

48:14 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

53:28 New Can't Stop is being published by Playte Games (magnetic enclosure!)

[EDIT: The episode erroneously attributes the publisher as Tanuki games, but that is the retailer; the publisher is in fact Playte. We apologize for the error.]

54:17 MicroMacro: Crime City - Showdown

55:07 Barrage: New Lands on Kickstarter; new maps

55:36 Planta Nubo by Keller, Odendahl, and Rosenberg

55:56 Apiary by Stonemaier; yet another missed zombibees opportunity

56:52 Battlecrest Year Two by Button Shy 

57:37 Topic: Ending Games Early

Is there a difference between a fruit salad and a fruit cup? I mean, the first question is whether a fruit cup contains a fruit salad, or if the contents are some other substance; then one can query whether the cup and its contents are a gestalt whole. Let us not forget the prospect of a fruit cup of Theseus, whereby each fruit piece is removed and replaced with an equivalent fruit (I would ask what an equivalent fruit is, but that's getting sidetracked)--is it the same fruit cup? Heraclitus would say you can't take a bite of the same fruit salad twice. There's the somewhat absurd possibility of a fruit cup of Damocles--presumably the fruits therein would have been prepared by Procrustes. 

What I'm getting at is melon is gross.

Games Played Last Week:

00:53 -Just One (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)

01:04 -So Clover! (François Romain, Repos Production, 2021)

04:17 -Green Team Wins (Nathan Thornton, 25th Century Games, 2022)

08:19 -Decrypto (Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2018)

12:08 -Horseless Carriage (Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wirsinga, Splotter Spellen, 2023)

25:57 -Mosaic: A Story of Civilization (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2022)

28:34 -Planet Unknown (Ryan Lambert & Adam Rehberg, Adam's Apple Games, 2022)

31:47 -Capital Lux 2: Generations (Eilif Svensson & Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2020)

33:48 -Wizards of the Grimoire (Cole Banning and Joe Banning, Grimoire Games, 2022)

36:53 -Ra (Reiner Knizia, 25th Century Games, 2023)

42:53 -Tiny Turbo Cars (Hjalmar Hach, Alessandro Manuini, Jonathan Panada, Laura Severino, and Giulia Tamagni, Horrible Guild, 2022)

47:46 -Blazon (David Conklin, 25th Century Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

51:45 Ad-free episodes at www.patreon.com/svwag

52:00 Paolo Mori shopping a reprint of Dogs of War

52:48 Support your favourite creators at the BGG Golden Geek Awards!

53:55 Movie rights of Trickerion, Anachrony, and Terraforming Mars sold

55:22 Regicide 2nd edition: now with bards!

56:12 Heavy Gear RPG 4th Edition on KickStarter

58:21 Feature Game: Revive (Helge Meissner, Eilif Svensson, Anna Wermlund, and Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2022)

While we pride ourselves on editorial standards here at SVWAG, we have no shame when it comes to pandering. We thus present to you the episode of SVWAG with the most cat discussion yet. The good news is that Chandler (aka Chan-Chan aka Potato aka SVWAG Cat) is doing extremely well. Could a co-host stint be far behind? Perhaps a guest appearance by Bruno (aka SVWAG Dog)? Whatever we think the market wants.

Games Played Last Week:

02:20 -The Siege of Runedar (Reiner Knizia, Ludonova, 2021)

03:27 -Radiant: Offline Battle Arena (Jack Murray, Heel Turn Games, 2019)

04:26 -Sakura Arms (BakaFire, Level 99 Games, 2022)

05:35 -Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes (Paolo Mori, PSC Games, 2019)

06:36 -Green Team Wins (Nathan Thornton, 25th Century Games, 2022)

08:24 -Imperium: The Contention (Gary Dworetsky, Contention Games, 2021)

10:08 -Ankh: Gods of Egypt (Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2021)

14:14 -SEAL Team Flix (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, WizKids, 2018)

16:49 -Cosmic Frog: Find Muck (Jim Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2023)

21:45 -Mindbug Beyond (Skaff Elias, Richard Garfield, Marvin Hegen, and Christian Kudahl, Nerdlab Games, 2023) 

23:07 -Neuroshima Hex!: The Year of Moloch (Michał Oracz, Portal Games, 2021)

24:30 -Robotech: Reconstruction (Dr. Wictz, Strange Machine Games, 2023)

30:44 -Challengers! (Johannes Krenner and Markus Slawitscheck, 1 More Time Games, 2022)

36:48 -Heaven & Ale (Michael Kiesling & Andreas Schmidt, eggertspiele, 2017)

39:36 -Night of the Ninja (Justin Gary, Brotherwise Games, 2021)

44:14 -The Resistance (Don Eskridge, Indie Boards & Cards, 2009)

48:25 -Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, & Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2021)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

52:27 Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

54:15 Wolves by Coyote and Crow Games

55:46 Keep the Heroes Out Boss Battles in October

56:29 Shards of Infinity: Saga on Kickstarter

57:53 Upcoming reprints: Gloomhaven Buttons & Bugs, El Grande, Calimala, Tigris & Euphrates

59:37 American FTC underscores importance of disclosure in media

1:02:48 Stupor Mundi on Board Game Arena prior to crowdfunding

1:04:12 Dogfight!: Rule the Skies in 20 Minutes! Not by Paolo Mori

1:05:05 Feature Game: Ra (Reiner Knizia, alea, 1999)

While we hate to confirm your most reductive of preconceived notions, snow removal in Canadian cities is no joke. The fleet of vehicles required to allow for daily life in even a small Canadian city after major snowfall is impressive. The balletic dance of some of their formations while in operation calls to mind the precise of mid-air refuelling.  

01:03 AYURIS: Ra (Reiner Knizia, alea, 1999)

Games Played Last Week:

04:07 -Mistborn (John D. Clair, Brotherwise Games, 2024)

09:17 -Cerebria: The Inside World (Richard Amann, Viktor Peter, István Pócsi, Frigyes Schőberl, Nick Shaw, & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2018)

13:40 -1793: Patriots & Traitors (Jason St.Just, Sound of Drums, 2024) 

20:35 -Navegador (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2010)

26:43 -Galactic Renaissance (Christian Martinez, Matagot, 2024)

29:25 -Cyclades: Legendary Edition (Bruno Cathala & Ludovic Maublanc, Open Sesame Games, 2024)

39:24 -Whale Riders (Reiner Knizia, Grail Games, 2021)

41:06 -Figment (Wolfgang Warsch, CMYK, 2025)

46:01 -Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam (John Brieger, Michael Dunsmore, & Tony Miller, Allplay, 2024)

49:53 -Portmanteau: A Cooperative Game of Linguistic Fusion (Robert Fisk, Doghalla Games, 2025)

54:26 -Dragon Valley (CW Karstens, Diamond K Games, 2012)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

1:01:56 Dragon Valley: Advisors & Quests, 2012

1:02:27 2001: A Space Odyssey 1 vs. all

1:03:13 Paolo Mori and Alessandro Zucchini form Ingenioso Hidalgo for Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars

1:03:53 Feya's Swamp from Helge and Anselm Ostertag

While we have little experience with Ed Sullivan's TV offerings, his legacy is a fascinating one. While he capitulated to pressure during the Red Scare, he did show remarkable courage in platforming African American performers despite opposition from his sponsors. Quite surprising is that the illness that eventually killed him was kept a secret from him by his family, a practise that was already frowned on in the United States by the seventies but is still widespread in many parts of the world. 

Games Played Last Week:

01:36 -The Vale of Eternity (Eric Hong, Mandoo Games, 2023)

04:28 -Voidfall (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2023)

08:42 -Radlands (Daniel Piechnick, Roxley, 2021)

10:11 -Mindbug Battlefruits (Christian Kudahl, Marvin Hegen, Skaff Elias, and Richard Garfield, Nerdlab Games, 2024)

14:36 -ICECOOL Wizards (Brian Gomez, Brain Games, 2024)

19:32 -Ratyl (Andy Gallagher, Busy Dad Games, 2023)

25:46 -Agricola (Revised Edition) (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2016)

29:42 -Almost Innocent (Philippe Attali, Kolossal Games, 2023)

31:18 -E.T. The Extra-Terestrial: Light Years from Home Game (Propsero Hall and Brian Kirk, Funko Games, 2022)

33:55 -Dune: Imperium--Uprising (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023)

38:16 -Word Traveler (Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, Office Dog, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

41:11 Earth Reborn by Christophe Boelinger possibly to be expanded

44:31 Vladimír Suchý and Delicious Games go to Resafa

45:12 Feature Game: Galactic Renaissance (Christian Martinez, Matagot, 2024)

While we pride ourselves on our internationalist focus here at SVWAG, we have been remiss in our multilingualism lately. While we reliably rendezvous with French on a semi-regular basis, a skosh of Japanese here and there, a quantum of Latin periodically, and whatever language AYURIS pretends to be, our Spanish could use some work. We thus devote ourselves to utter three whole words of Spanish in this episode.

01:30 AYURIS: Dwellings of Eldervale (Luke Laurie, Breaking Games, 2020)

Games Played Last Week:

03:36 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

06:40 -Successors 4th Edition (Richard H. Berg and Mark Simonitch, PHALANX, 2022)

12:10 -Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)

13:13 -TRICKTAKERs (Hiroken, Joyple Games, 2021) [EDIT: Mark mistakenly claimed that there is no English edition, but this is incorrect]

16:40 -Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2024)

22:03 -The Plum Island Horror (Hermann Luttmann, GMT Games, 2023)

26:36 -Sky Team (Luc Rémond, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

28:45 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

35:42 -Gaia Project (Jens Drögemüller & Helge Ostertag, Feuerland Spiele, 2017)

37:47 -nana (Kaya Miyano, Mob+, 2021)

40:48 -Murray the A**hole Frog (Jenna Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2024)

46:04 -Jenga Maker (Uncredited, Hasbro, 2022)

48:32 -Arcs (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

55:33 Game Brewer, publisher of Stroganov, Oak and Gugong, calls it quits

55:51 Star Wars: X-Wing and Armada terminated by Atomic Mass Games

56:56 Hans im Glück starts asserting its ownership of the word "meeple"

57:30 Mike Hutchinson and Planet Smasher Games' possible future products: Perilous Tales/Gaslands XL box sets?, Space Gits merging dexterity and miniatures, and more

59:26 Topic: The 180

The shift from Beckett references to low-grade puns might strike one as jarring, but it is important to note that both hosts have essentially been twelve going on sixty for most of their lives. If it's not juvenile and/or obscure, it is difficult for the hosts to process--they become disoriented and frightened. In such circumstances, a nice Star Control II reference will probably calm them down. Hey, there's one of those in this episode, too!

Games Played Last Week:

01:52 -Great Western Trail: New Zealand (Alexander Pfister, eggertspiele, 2023)

07:03 -FlickFleet: Xeno Wars (Jackson Pope & Paul Willcox, Eurydice Games, 2022)

13:04 -White Castle (Israel Cendrero & Sheila Santos, Devir Games, 2023)

16:38 -Forgotten Depths (Peter Albertson, Void Knight Games, 2022)

20:37 -Omicron Protocol (Brendan Kendrick & Bernie Lin, Dead Alive Games, 2022)

29:09 -Among Cultists: A Social Deduction Thriller (Stefan Godot, Godot Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:40 Rafter Five: Dexterity from Oink Games

39:23 Expandalone to Wizards of the Grimoire (aka Bookie-Bookie Pew-Pew) on Kickstarter: Shifting Sands

41:00 Feature Game: Voidfall (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2023)

"'Well, I remember it as though it were an episode ago'

Said Walker the Host as he reeled back to clear whatever foreign matter

May have nestled its way into his mighty throat

Many a poor design had met its demise while staring point-blank down

The cavernous barrel of this awesome critical machine

Truly a wonder of nature, this urban gamer

Walker the Host had many a story to tell

And it was a frequent occasion such as this that he did

...

'Say Bigney, do you wanna play games with me?

Say, Bigney, do you wanna play games by my side?

Ah, Bigney, do you wanna play games with me?

Say, Bigney, SAY, BIGNEEEEEY'"

-Walker the Host, lesser-known variant of Tommy the Cat (Primus, 1991)

02:12 AYURIS: Bitoku (Germán P. Millán, Devir, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:32 -Imperial Miners (Tim Armstrong, Portal Games, 2023)

07:34 -Imperium: Legends (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Osprey Games, 2021)

12:00 -Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)

12:39 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

16:41 -G.I. JOE Deck-Vuilding Game: New Alliances--A Tranformers Crossover Expansion (Dan Blanchett, Renegade Game Studios, 2023)

21:58 -Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods (Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia, Cranio Creations, 2023)

30:33 -Sky Team (Luc Rémond, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

33:51 -Messina 1347 (Raúl Fernández Aparicio & Vladimír Suchý, Delicious Games, 2021)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

40:53 Next Valiant Defense game by David Thompson illustrated by Nils Johansson: Guadalcanal

41:42 Tiny Epic Crimes misallocation shenanigans

42:48 Please support us on Patreon! Or don't, that's cool. Two new bonus episodes coming this week! www.patreon.com/svwag

43:23 Topic: Updating the Canon

We get introspective this week, or at least as much as the editorial gibbons allow. If we get too deep they get nervous, and as every podcaster will tell you, nervous gibbons are bad for the show. Walker, Mark alleges, is a masochist who sacrifices himself on the altar of speed, which may or may not mean game flow; Walker counters that Mark abuses the takesies-backsies. 

01:50 AYURIS: Imperium: Classics and Imperium: Legends (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Osprey Games, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

06:13 -XenoShyft: Dreadmire (Michael Shinall, CMON, 2017)

11:24 -Raccoon Tycoon (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2018)

16:01 -Dwellings of Eldervale (Luke Laurie, Breaking Games, 2020)

20:37 -Code of Nine (BakaFire, Z-Man Games, 2012)

22:47 -Akropolis (Jules Messaud, Gigamic, 2022)

25:47 -Ortus Regni (Jon Sudbury, Jon Sudbury Games, 2014)

29:11 -Rallyman: DIRT (Jean-Christophe Bouvier, Holy Grail Games, 2023)

38:21 -Resist! (Trevor Benjamin, Roger Tankersley, and David Thompson, Salt & Pepper Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

41:14 Support us on Patreon! Tons of exclusive content and bennies at www.patreon/svwag 

42:41 Mike Hutchinson's Hobgoblin on Kickstarter

43:34 Walker's Who Asked for This? Call of Duty: The Board Game by Arcane Wonders

44:39 Walker's Who Asked for This? The Last Spell: The Board Games

45:23 Path of Civilization by Fabien Gridel, simultaneous play Civ game

45:48 Altay: Dawn of Civilization by Paolo Mori and Ole Steiness, deck-building/kingdom-building

46:14 Revive: Call of the Abyss expansion

47:15 Bitoku: Resutoran expansion

47:36 Ernest et Célestine, co-operative back-drawing from Space Cow

48:27 Non-Key game from Richard Breese: The Glade

48:59 Topic: The Games Must Flow

We haul ourselves off of our deathbeds to deliver this episode unto you. Prospects for our recovery seem dim, but we would sooner die than deprive you of that which is most sacred--namely content. Of course, illness may yet claim us, but we are far too stoic and noble to complain.

01:49 AYURIS: Stroganov (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:46 -Hissy Fit (Levi Robertson and Chris Stone, Stone Age Distractions, 2023)

06:53 -Finished! (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2017)

12:01 -City of the Living (Sebastian Bleasdale and Reiner Knizia, Trick or Treat Studios, 2024)

15:07 -Legacy of Yu (Shem Phillips, Garphill Games, 2023) 

20:27 -Bus (Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wiersinga, Capstone Games, 2019)

24:51 -Battlecrest: Metronn Base Game (Dustin Dobson & Milan Zivkovic, Button Shy, 2024)

28:59 -G.I. JOE Deck-Building Game: Raise the Flagg Campaign Expansion (T.C. Petty III, Renegade Game Studios, 2023)

31:25 -Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs (Joe Klipfel and Nikki Valens, Cephalofair Games, 2024)

As a certain talk-show huckster was wont to say, we train people how to treat us. Without absolving other people of their own responsibility, we can nonetheless take a certain amount of responsibility for entirely predictable reactions to our own decisions. "Don't feed the troll," goes the internet wisdom, and wise it is--Mark routinely fails to heed that good advice in the face of taunting by Walker. That said, Walker cannot claim to be long-suffering about Mark's mythological digressions while simultaneously goading him with mythologically-themed games. 

Games Played Last Week:

01:41 -Demon Ship (Malev Da Shinobi, Black Site Studios, 2023)

06:05 -Space Base (John D. Clair, AEG, 2018)

10:22 -Snap Ships Tactics (Josh Derksen, Snap Ships, 2023)

15:00 -Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)

19:39 -Quantum (Eric Zimmerman, Funforge, 2013)

23:00 -Orléans Stories (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2019)

26:18 -Dracula vs Van Helsing (Maxime Rmbourg and Théo Rivière, Mandoo Games, 2023)

29:02 -Caverna: Frantic Fiends (Karl-Heinz Kettl, Jürgen Mayrhofer, and Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

32:10 After Us, a game of post-apocalyptic apes, features NO GIBBONS. #nogibbonsnosale

32:55 Disney Lorcana price woes; allegations gouging

35:21 Orléans: The Plague. Diverse token printing woes!

36:54 www.patreon.com/svwag

37:54 Agricola 15 is the gift that keeps on taking--redundant components with the expansion

40:39 Check out Howie of What Does It Eat on Judge John Hodgman #630

41:12 Regicide giveaway on Twitch! Saturday, August 26th at 12:00 PM.

41:41 Feature Game: Nidavellir (Serge Laget, GRRRE Games, 2020) 

Nidavellir: Thingvellir (Serge Laget, GRRRE Games, 2020)

Nidavellir: Idavoll (Serge Laget, GRRRE Games, 2022)

Who is this Wilmot? What wares is he housing? Few answers are offered. We are merely told, rather imperiously, that we work at his warehouse. Sure, we have weekends off, but on occasion the fickle demiurge Wilmot commands us to speak in monosyllable, or move seats, or hide secrets from our colleagues. One shudders to imagine what terrible fate befalls those foolhardy enough to flout his edicts.

Games Played Last Week:

00:41 -Terminus (Earl Aspiras and Tom Volpe, Inside Up Games, 2024)

10:15 -Hour of Need (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2022)

13:40 -Animal Upon Animal (Klaus Miltenberger, HABA, 2005)

14:01 -Ghost Blitz (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2010)

14:50 -Green Team Wins (Nathan Thornton, 25th Century Games, 2022)

15:45 -Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2023)

21:39 -Robinson Crusoe: Collector's Edition (Joanna Kijanka and Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games, 2024)

28:29 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024) 

34:39 -Deep Rock Galactic (Ole Steiness, MOOD Publishing, 2022)

37:04 -Quartermaster General: East Front (Ian Brody, Ares Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

44:49 Phil Walker-Harding, Dr. Finn, and Devir Game's Cities

46:15 Feature Game: Wilmot's Warehouse (Ricky Haggett, Richard Hogg, and David King, CMYK, 2024)

We here at SVWAG take pains to differentiate between two conflated ideas. We say "approachable" for rulesets that are easily learned and internalized, reserving the similar-sounding term "accessible" to refer to games that are usable for people with disabilities.

Relatedly, MICHAEL WALKER IS BACK.

02:43 AYURIS: Oak (Wim Goossens, Game Brewer, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

04:25 -Friday (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2011)

07:12 -Fast Sloths (Friedemann Friese, 2F-SPiele, 2019)

10:56 -Ghost Blitz Mini (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2010)

12:11 -For Sale (Stefan Dorra, Uberplay, 1997)

13:52 -Primal: The Awakening (Tommaso Mondadori and Alberto Parisi, Reggie Games, 2024)

18:19 -Corporate America (Teale Fristoe, Nothing Sacred Games, 2013)

23:10 -Guards of Atlantis II (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2022)

25:57 -Arcs (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2024)

33:00 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024) 

35:33 -Combat Commander: Europe (Chad Jensen, GMT, 2006)

40:08 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

42:06 -Wilmot's Warehouse (Ricky Haggett, Richard Hogg, and David King, CMYK, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:31 Until Proven Guilty: cooperative storytelling

46:55 More Root factions: bats and frogs

47:35 Planet of the Apes cooperative miniatures game

48:24 Barrage legendary box

48:38 Great Western Trail El Paso

48:55 Liège of Games is Walker's source of news: https://www.youtube.com/c/Li%C3%A8geofGames/videos

49:13 Unmatched Adventures: TMNT and cross-license games

51:07 Topic: Michael Walker Revolutionizes Physical Therapy

Tiebreakers are arguably a kind of endgame scoring. I respect the fact that they are invariably necessary (I mean, if for no other reason than if they're omitted some smartass like me will complain). That said, clearly if the scoreboard goes to 200+ I don't imagine we'll be hauling out the second tiebreaker condition all that much. Frequently the endgame conversion of resources to points already serves as a tiebreaker anyway. 

01:48 AYURIS: Nidavellir (Serge Laget, GRRRE Games, 2020)

Games Played Last Week:

04:57 -FlickFleet (Jackson Pope & Paul Willcox, Eurydice Games, 2018)

11:55 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024) 

14:21 -Altay: Dawn of Civilization (Paolo Mori & Ole Steiness, Ares Games, 2024)

17:19 -Wizards of the Grimoire: Shifting Sands (Cole Banning & Joe Banning, Grimoire Games, 2025)

21:23 -Risk 2210 A.D.: Frontline (Mike Gills, Renegade Game Studios, 2025)

32:57 -Calimala (Fabio Lopiano, Alley Cat Games, 2024)

37:20 -Ransom Notes: House Party Edition (Josh Roberts, Evan and Josh's Very Special Games Company, 2023)

40:16 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024)

42:57 -Regicide (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, & Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

45:15 New Meltwater by Capstone Games

46:19 Open registration for SVWAG Con (July 25th-July27th) on Eventbrite! https://tinyurl.com/25s6p5jd

47:24 Topic: Endgame Scoring

It is a well-known fact, observed by Infinity: the Game, Across the Spider-Verse, and Undaunted: Battle of Britain, that a Sikh man in uniform is always a good look. So here's to pilot Singh in his Hurricane! Not to mention Sergeant Singh in his power armour, and Captain Singh in his Spider-Man movie (in my heart, it is his film).

Games Played Last Week:

01:01 -The Defence of Procyon III (Dávid Turczi, PSC Games, 2021)

11:02 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

14:49 -Beyond the Sun: Leaders of a New Dawn (Dennis K. Chan and Joseph Summa, Rio Grande Games, 2023)

19:50 -Thunder Road: Vendetta (Dave Chalkers, Brett Myers, Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Jim Keifer, and Brian Neff, Restoration Games, 2023)

25:07 -Sherlock Holmes: Baker Street Irregulars (Cédric Asna, Makaka Editions, 2019)

27:26 -It's a Wonderful World (Frédéric Guérard, La Boîte de Jeu, 2019)

31:48 -IKI (Koota Yamada, Sorry We Are French, 2015)

34:41 -Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

36:30 Doggerland; 15,000 BCE

36:58 Further confirmation of Paolo Mori's Dogs of War 2nd edition

37:29 Adventure Time RPG from Cryptozoic

37:43 Monty Python Zombicide? Wha...?

38:30 FISH FISH FISH! Nusfjord Big Box

39:37 Aristeia! will see more in the future; Corvus Belli's history of being consumer-friendly

42:23 Planet Unknown: Supermoon expansion and reprint on Gamefound July 7th

43:14 Feature Game: Undaunted: Battle of Britain (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2023)

1:04:54 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: Fast X

After a prolonged period where we have not discussed Kramer & Kiesling (the Kramer & Ulrich duo yielded El Grande, which we mention rather frequently), here we see a bumper krop of K&K kollaborations. The gibbons are fickle, and even the mighty Wolfgang and Michael must yield to their whims. But fortune (and apes) have at last smiled on them, and we revel in the classic Euro goodness as well as their more recent offering.

Games Played Last Week:

01:05 -Monikers (Alex Hague and Justin Vickers, CMYK, 2015)

05:34 -Java (Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, Ravensburger, 2000)

11:31 -Tikal (Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, Ravensburger, 1999)

13:31 -Wandering Towers (Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, ABACUSSPIELE, 2022)

18:30 -Morgan's Magic Map (Gian Andrea Cappuzzo, Rio Grande Games, 2023)

20:17 -Tiny Towns (Peter McPherson, Alderac Entertainment Group, 2019)

22:08 -Sniper Elite: The Board Game (Roger Tankersly & David Thompson, Rebellion Unplugged, 2022)

25:43 -Earthborne Rangers (Andrew Fischer, Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt, Andrew Navaro, Adam Sadler, and Brady Sadler, Earthborne Games, 2023)

35:57 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024)

38:34 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023)

44:41 -Tapple (Uncredited, The Op Games, 2021)

46:04 -G.I. JOE: Battle for the Arctic Circle (Matt Hyra, Renegade Game Studios, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

48:56 CYSMIC update on Gamefound and board game bundling economics

51:03 Ada's Dream from Alley Cat

51:20 So much drama around Wonders of the First CCG! AI art, NFTs, ratings, oh my!

53:10 Feature Game: Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024)

Colour nouns are essentially arbitrary; how one decides to chop up the visible spectrum of light is a matter of contingent taxonomy. Some languages have one noun for both blue and green, for example. English has a word for light red (pink) where other languages don't. Russian similarly has a word for light blue. And then there's magenta, which we can all agree is a scene and a half. 

Games Played Last Week:

02:35 -Fruit Fight (Reiner Knizia, CMYK, 2025) 

06:55 -Fives (Taiki Shinzawa, CMYK, 2025) 

09:49 -Figment (Wolfgang Warsch, CMYK, 2025)

12:49 -Duos (Johannes Schmidauer-König, CMYK, 2025) 

16:17 -Sidereal Confluence (TauCeti Deichmann, Wizkids, 2017)

19:24 -Fishing (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2024)

24:36 -The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era (Josh J. Carlson, Michael Gernes, Logan Giannini, Ryan Howard, Salem Scott, and Josh Wielgus, Chip Theory Games, 2025)

32:24 -Storm Raiders (Shem Phillips, Arkus Games, 2025)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:55 Mythic Games in trouble (again), crowdfunding commitments unfulfilled

40:37 Monolith's Reichbusters: Reloaded

41:10 Cardboard Ghosts by Amabel Holland and CRC Press

41:46 Lord of the Rings Pandemic! Fate of the Fellowship

42:06 Crawling Chaos by Mike Hutchinson on Kickstarter

44:15 Endless Winter expansion crowdfunding soon

44:28 Rebel Princess: Happily Ever After

44:44 Feature Game: SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Tomáš Holek, Czech Games Edition, 2024)

"L'enfer, c'est les autres," wrote Sartre, which translates into "why don't nobody wanna play with me?" You see, Sartre only liked his consims and other historical wargames, but people didn't want to join him--possibly on account of there having been less history back in his old-timey days. His angst over unplayed games was the key inspiration of his existentialist philosophy. Camus tried to show him that the answer is to play with randos with his work "The Stranger."  

01:52 AYURIS: Tribune (Karl-Heinz Schmiel, Spielworxx, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

06:33 -Imperium: The Contention (Gary Dworetsky, Contention Games, 2021)

09:57 -Distilled (Dave Beck, Paverson Games, 2023)

17:25 -Quartermaster General (Second Edition): Total War (Ian Brody, Ares Games, 2020)

22:26 -Sniper Elite: Eagle's Nest (Roger Tankersly and David Thompson, Rebellion Unplugged, 2022)

28:53 -Tapple (Uncredited, The Op Games, 2021)

30:29 -The Great Zimbabwe (Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wiersinga, Splotter Spellen, 2012)

36:52 -Guards of Atlantis II: Tabletop MOBA (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2021)

41:07 -Hanamikoji (Kota Nakayama, EmperorS4, 2013) 

43:49 -Darwin’s Journey (Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, ThunderGryph Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:16 Thank to Warmboy, our Discord, and all our listeners

47:18 Walker is disgusted by How to Lose a Guy in 10 DMs

47:53 Planet Unknown reprint/expansion

48:50 Shards of Infinity on crowdfunding

49:52 Ryan Laukat's Creature Caravan

50:28 Mythic Games' serial quasi-extortion; 6: Siege and all upcoming projects 

55:40 Cysmic's many versions; people ask for economy but back the toys

58:44 Walker's patience is running out along with his shelf space

59:30 Faiyum: Privileges expansion

1:00:31 Topic: Right Game, Wrong People

Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, claimed that you never step in the same river twice; for it is not the same river and you are not the same person. Such as it is with games! They are reprinted and thus reborn, all along some blurred spectrum of redesign spanning from carbon copy all the way to entirely new design.

Let us not forget Heraclitus' student Cratylus, who evidently thought Heraclitus some kind of squish, insofar as he is credited with countering that you cannot step into the same river once.

01:25 AYURIS: Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles Episodes 1 & 2 (Richard Amann, Thomas Vande Ginste, Viktor Peter, Wolf Plancke, & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

03:32 -Rats of Wistar (Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia, Cranio Creations, 2023)

09:15 -Voidfall (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2023)

11:00 -Faiyum: Privileges (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2023)

15:04 -Horizon Wars: Midnight Dark (Robey Jenkins, Precinct Omega Publishing, 2023)

22:52 -Burned (Jon Moffat, Stone Circle Games, Unpublished)

26:36 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

30:40 -Trick Shot (Second Edition) (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2023)

35:05 -Napoleon's Conquests (Bruno Lamotte, Fellowship of Simulations, 2023)

42:47 -Splendor Duel (Marc André and Bruno Cathala, Space Cowboys, 2022)

43:42 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

47:23 War Story: Occupied France; narrative game by David Thompson, Dave Neale, and Osprey Games

49:02 Keyside: Richard Breese and 

49:37 Turing Machine on Boardgamearena and designer's notes on BGG

50:49 Terra Pyramides by Kiesling & Kramer

51:06 Moby Trick

51:25 Halo miniatures game by Mantic Games

52:02 Gaia Project Expansion announced, again 

52:49 RIP Bryan Ansell, co-founder of Games Workshop

54:05 Topic: Out of Print Games Revisited

Walker: But, indeed, sir, we make holiday,

to see Freedom Five and to rejoice in its triumph.

Mark: Wherefore rejoice? What delight brings it home?

What enjoyment follows it to the table,

To grace in fun times its board presence?

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!

Games Played Last Week:

01:08 -Freedom Five: A Sentinel Comics Board Game (Richard Launius, Adam Sadler, and Brady Sadler, Arcane Wonders, 2024)

10:51 -Things in Rings (Peter C. Hayward, Allplay, 2024)

13:46 -City of the Six Moons (Amabel Holland, Hollandspiele, 2024)

19:56 -Lost Cities: Rivals (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2018) 

22:58 -Through Ice and Snow (Fernando Eduardo Sánchez, 2Tomatoes Games, 2024)

29:54 -Don't L.L.A.M.A. Dice (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2021)

32:24 -Cockroach Poker (Jacques Zeimet, Drei Magier Spiele, 2004)

37:03 -The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth (Antoine Bauza & Bruno Cathala, Repos Production, 2024)

39:42 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

40:18 Twilight Struggle 20th Anniversary Hall of Fame Edition

41:25 Richard Garfield and CMYK revamp Magical Athlete

42:19 Tons of upcoming Devir releases  

44:49 Amazing hidden movement: Burned is back on Kickstarter

45:31 Feature Game: EGO (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025)

When is a thing like another thing? Is Albedo like Core Worlds? Is Cat Blues like Rummy? Is Through the Desert like Go? Is a nudge as good as a wink to blind bat? Are all Roll & Writes inferior to Roll a 6, Win a Cookie? Is Christophe Boelinger France's Vlaada Chvátil? Probably, because it's all just like Mage Knight in the end. 

Games Played Last Week:

04:46 -Street Masters: Tide of the Dragon (Scott McFall, Adam Sadler, Brady Sadler, and Mitch Schroeder, Blacklist Games, 2022)

09:45 -Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector's Edition (Ted Alspach, Bézier Games, 2022)

13:55 -Cat Blues: The Big Gig (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2024)

22:14 -Moon Colony Bloodbath (Donald X. Vaccarino, Rio Grande Games, 2025)

28:03 -Albedo: Space Pirates! (Kai Herbertz, Herbertz Entertainment UG, 2018)

35:43 -Malediction (Leo Cunha, Nicole Lobo, and Daniel Pettersen de Lucena, Loot Studios, 2025)

39:46 -Hey, That's My Fish! (Günter Cornett & Alvydas Jakeliunas, Bambus Spieleverlag, 2003)

40:55 -Parks: Roll & Hike (Henry Audubon & Mattox Shuler, Keymaster Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

44:04 Tariffs impacting the hobby

45:12 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

46:23 Zombie Princess, a riff on Spades, by Bézier and Ted Alspach

47:05 Feature Game: Rise & Fall (Christophe Boelinger, Ludically, 2024)

If you can choose to be the regular version or the spicy version, you obviously choose the spicy version. I mean, sure, the capsaicin may sting, but one assumes that the canonical version is caliente. Put another way, would you prefer "SVWAG" or "SVWAG en fuego?" The choice is clear. It is a corollary of sorts to Winston Zeddemore axiom that when someone asks you if you are a god, you say yes.

Games Played Last Week:

01:33 -Under Our Sun (Maximilian Lichtner and David Poluda, tabletopper games, 2024)

06:05 -Cosmic Frog (Jenna Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2020)

09:34 -Ankh: Gods of Egypt (Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2021)

14:20 -Trio (Kaya Miyano, Cocktail Games, 2021)

17:17 -Don't L.L.A.M.A. Dice (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2021)

18:58 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

21:02 -The Vale of Eternity: Artifacts (Eric Hong and Mathieu Rivero, Mandoo Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

25:06 If you know of games lost in the L.A. fires, let us know!

26:28 Topic: Year in Review 2024

27:43 Walker and Mark's Personal Top 10s

48:50 2024 SVWAG Game of the Year

52:24 Special Categories

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)

30:20 -Hallertau (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

34:30 Tales of the Arabian Nights 40th Anniversary Edition

35:11 Powerboats ripped off by Rebellion's Joyride? In any case, cite your work! 

38:44 Topic: Tempo Control

The episode notes will be released in installments. The base pledge, "Generic Non-Sequiturs," will give you the first two sentences and the last sentence. But don't miss out on the "Forced Macross Reference" add-on pack, which gives you sentence five; or the "Austen Allusion" pack featuring sentence four. The ultra-limited "Stupid Kant Wordplay" pack will never be reprinted (until, let's face it, next week's episode notes, when you'll be subjected to some more regardless). Pledge now!

01:29 AYURIS: Vienna Connection (Jakub Poczęty, Przemysław Rymer, Ignacy Trzewiczek, & Jakub Łapot, Portal Games, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:21 -Mindbug Beyond (Skaff Elias, Richard Garfield, Marvin Hegen, and Christian Kudahl, Nerdlab Games, 2023) 

05:59 -Abandon All Artichokes (Emma Larkins, Gamewright, 2020)

06:49 -Crazy Tower (Alexis Harvey, Félix Leblanc, Manuel-Lucas Bergeron Duhamel, & Mathieu Auger, Synapses Games, 2020)

09:03 -Empires: Age of Discovery (Glenn Drover, Eagle-Gryphon Games, 2015)

13:22 -Ierusalem: Anno Domini (Carmen García Jiménez, Devir, 2023)

16:31 -Raccoon Tycoon (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2018)

19:26 -Agricola 15 (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2022)

20:49 -Cacti (John Clowdus, Small Box Games, 2020)

23:22 -Company of Heroes (Bryan Kromley, Bad Crow Games, 2021)

23:22 -Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game (Nick Niotis and Argyris Poungouras, Mythic Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

34:18 Our take on the Quackalope v. Into the Unknown controversy: Pay-to-play infomercials and editorial content shouldn't mix in board game media 

38:41 Anti-cookie propaganda from the pie partisans

39:10 Spiel des Jahres nominees: Dorfromantik, Fun Facts, and Next Station: London

Kennerspiel des Jahres: Challengers, Iki, and Planet Unknown

41:11 Portal continues to support Neuroshima Hex!: The Merchants Guild

41:21 Catalyst Game Labs kicks off new board game division with Overlords in Training, 

41:53 Battletech starter set in Target

42:52 Topic: Completionism

In logic, conditionals are always true if the antecedent is false. You can't falsify the conditional if the conditions aren't met. For example, if Mark can bench 500 pounds, then vinegar tastes like cotton candy. Rest assured that I ain't benching that much, so don't worry about it; the conditional is true. Similarly, I can invite pretty much whoever I want to SVWAGCon. Fareed Zakaria, Olivia Rodrigo, and Jordan Mechner? Sure, they're all invited. They don't know about us, but it's all good.

Games Played Last Week:

04:00 -Finspan (David Gordon & Michael O'Connell, Stonemaier Games, 2025)

07:51 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024) 

11:16 -Marvel Dice Throne Missions (Gavan Brown & Nate Chatellier, Roxley, 2025)

13:28 -Star Trek: Into the Unknown (Max Brooke & Michael Gernes, WizKids, 2025)

21:51 -Lunar (Masato Uesagi, Allplay, 2024)

23:25 -Lone Wolves (Yasuyuki Nakamura, Wonderful World Board Games, 2024)

27:57 -Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2024)

33:00 -Duos (Johannes Schmidauer-König, CMYK, 2025) 

35:35 -Creature Caravan (Ryan Laukat, Red Raven Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

41:00 Early Registration for SVWAGCon for patrons! www.patreon.com/svwag

42:37 Space Gits on Kickstarter soon! A dexterity miniatures game of drunk orcs

43:48 Feature Game: Rebirth (Reiner Knizia, Mighty Boards, 2024)

The editorial department of So Very Wrong About Games has several sub-divisions, and admittedly the orgchart gets a bit baroque at this point. The rules errors office is technically a sub-branch of the fact checking desk, but it is funded out of the game design sub-budget. This muddies the line of accountability, and as anyone who works with gibbons can tell you, this is not ideal. 

03:53 AYURIS: Lacrimosa (Gerard Ascendi and Ferran Renalias, Devir, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

05:20 -Endeavor: Deep Sea (Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray, Burnt Island Games, 2024)

08:30 -Hanabi (Antoine Bauza, ABACUSSPIELE, 2010)

13:55 -Thor (Reiner Knizia, Heidelberger Spieleverlag, 2002)

16:39 -Quin (Brian Rooney and Taeleen Woodard, Arch & Gravity Publishing, 2024)

21:12 -Hamster Roll (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2000)

24:33 -Gun It (Randy O'Connor, Randy O Games, 2024)

30:20 -Spirits of the Forest (Michael Schacht, ThunderGryph Games, 2018)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

33:44 Project K: The League of Legends Trading Card Game

35:42 Dragons Down: Natives and Legends on Kickstarter

36:26 Assault on Doomrock: Party Hard expansion soon on crowdfunding

37:11 Gamers in need after Los Angeles fires: https://www.gofundme.com/f/our-home-is-gone-we-need-your-help

38:11 Topic: Only at Certain Player Counts

David Hume argued that all ideas are either simple or complex, and that in turn all complex ideas are merely composed of simple ideas. He wasn't a huge fan of some of those complex ideas; he used the example of a chimera, where you take a lion, a snake, and a goat (three simple ideas, but we can quibble with that later if you like) and smush them all together to get a complex idea. Hume was sceptical about complex ideas, to say the least.

We can agree or disagree with Hume on many fronts, and indeed this is a podcast fundamentally aligned with German Idealism; but we would happily ally ourselves with the Humeans to declare with one unified voice that "phygital" is an abomination that must be purged.

01:37 AYURIS: Ultimate Railroads (Helmut Ohley & Leonhard "Lenny" Orgler, Hans im Glück, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:43 -Witchstone: Full Moon (Martino Chiacchiera & Reiner Knizia, R&R Games, 2023)

11:57 -Lacuna (Mark Gerrits, CMYK, 2023)

16:20 -Dice Miner (Joshua DeBonis & Nikola Risteski, Atlas Games, 2021)

18:11 -Pavlov's House (David Thompson, Dan Verssen Games, 2018)

25:06 -Marvel United (Andrea Chiarvesio and Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2020)

30:05 -Demon Ship (Malev Da Shinobi, Black Site Studios, 2023)

36:47 -Caverna: The Forgotten Folk (Uwe Rosenberg & Alex Wilber, Lookout Games, 2018)

42:03 -Pocket Master Builder (Wei-Min Ling, MaiMin Games, 2022)

46:30 -Flick of Faith (Paweł Stobiecki, Jan Truchanowicz, & Łukasz Włodarczyk, Awaken Realms Lite, 2019)

49:45 -Oros (Brandt Brinkerhoff, Aesc Games, 2023)

56:08 -Fantasy Realms: Deluxe Edition (Bruce Galssco, WizKids, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

58:38 Walker complains about marketing copy buzzwords

59:55 Digital "ownership" vs. "actual" ownership as applied to Altered

1:02:11 Tiny Laser Heist!

1:03:28 Magic: the Gathering Heist at GenCon; persons of interest and incriminating t-shirt 

1:04:58 Richard Garfield's Spynet reborn as Shadow Blades

1:05:56 IANAL, Farms Race and Fair Use

1:11:46 Topic: Cruel Betrayal of Expectations

I was donating blood while wearing my Transformers Converse shoes, and two different phlebotomists commented positively about them. "We have won the cultural argument," I said, deliberately burying the lede that demographic destiny is probably the chief cause. I suspect that the same forces explain increased societal acceptance of toys, and board games are not immune. Thank goodness!

Games Played Last Week:

01:22 -Guards of Atlantis II Arcane Hero Pack (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2024)

07:56 -Creature Caravan (Ryan Laukat, Red Raven Games, 2024) 

10:46 -Marvel Dice Throne Missions (Gavan Brown & Nate Chatellier, Roxley, 2025)

15:55 -The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era (Josh J. Carlson, Michael Gernes, Logan Giannini, Ryan Howard, Salem Scott, and Josh Wielgus, Chip Theory Games, 2025)

26:21 -Dungeon Kart (Michael Xuereb, Brotherwise Games, 2024)

30:50 -Star Trek: Captain's Chair (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, WizKids, 2025)

34:47 -Keyflower: The Merchants (Sebastian Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R&D Games, 2014)

40:47 -Rush M.D. (Athony Howgego, Konstantinos Kokkinis, & Dávid Turczi, Artipia Games, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:34 Yokohama Duel 2nd edition by Synapses Games

46:56 Helldivers II board game by Steamforged Games

49:02 New content for Inis and Tiletum

50:02 Early Registration for SVWAGCon for patrons! www.patreon.com/svwag

50:41 Feature Game: Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition (Ian Cooper, Play to Z, 2024)

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)

16:15 -The LOOP (Maxime Rambourg and Théo Rivière, Pandasaurus Games, 2020)

20:57 -Cryo (Tom Jolly & Luke Laurie, Z-Man Games, 2021)

24:37 -Flip 7 (Eric Olsen, The Op Games, 2024)

26:23 -Rebel Princess (Daniel Byrne, José Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Peláez, and Tirso Virgós, Zombi Paella, 2023)

31:05 -Tiny Laser Heist (Evan Katz and Josh Roberts, Evan and Josh's Very Special Games Company, 2024)

37:54 -D.E.I.: Divide et Impera (Tommaso Battista, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2022)

44:42 -Modern Art (Reiner Knizia, CMON, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

48:13 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

49:15 Ingenious goes vertical: Einfach Genial 3D

49:58 Clans of Caledonia's long-awaited expansion: Industria 

51:26 Star Trek Ascendancy: The Gorn!

52:41 Topic: Opening the Box Downers

Despite the welcome relative absence of anthropomorphic animals this week--aside from some sundry ducks in Lorcana--we see a lot of animals and various critters this week. We eschew sacrifices to a dodgy snake in Imperium, we fling sheep with abandon, we throw down with some wrestling bugs, and that's on top of comparatively mundane animal husbandry in Keyflower. Mark offered some unflattering comparisons between Walker and various animals during Crokinole, but that doesn't quite count.

Games Played Last Week:

02:22 -Space Alert (Vlaada Chvátil, Czech Games Edition, 2008)

04:58 -Imperium: Horizons (Nigel Buckle and Dávid Turczi, Osprey Games, 2024)

09:17 CMYK's Magenta Series: Duos (Johannes Schmidauer-König, CMYK, 2025), Figment (Wolfgang Warsch, CMYK, 2025), Fives (Taiki Shinzawa, CMYK, 2025), Fruit Fight (Reiner Knizia, CMYK, 2025) 

12:21 -Heap-O-Sheep: The High Flying Game of Flingin' Sheep! (Dominic Yard, Fat Brain Toy Company, Unknown)

16:48 -Crokinole (Uncredited, Mayday, 2025)

19:36 -Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam (John Brieger, Michael Dunsmore, & Tony Miller, Allplay, 2024)

24:28 -Disney Lorcana (David Iezzi, Ryan Miller, and Steve Warner, Ravensburger, 2023)  

32:40 -Keyflower: The Farmers (Sebastian Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R&D Games, 2013)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:24 Agricola: Dead Harvest from Awaken Realms

39:07 Rest in peace, Rodger MacGowan, prolific designer and artist

40:01 Chris Farrell has a substack! https://chrisfarrell317.substack.com/p/week-of-feb-24th-2025

40:52 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag 

Patreon perk: early registration for SVWAG Con!

43:03 Feature Game: Beyond the Horizon (Dennis K. Chan, Adam Hill, Ben Pinchback, and Matt Riddle, Cranio Creations, 2024)

We return to the bizarre cant of Letterkenny, invoking specifically the term "ferda," which is a contraction of "for the boys/girls." It is a great way to punctuate a sentence, especially if you do not wish to be understood--but that is true of all cant. Relatedly, if you haven't already, please do peruse our own glossary on sowronggames.com! We are not above our own cant, especially given our penchant for acronyms.

Games Played Last Week:

02:07 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

05:48 -Too Many Bones: Unbreakable (Josh J. Carlson, Adam Carlson, Logan Giannini, and Josh Wielgus, Chip Theory Games, 2023)

11:14 -El Grande (Wolfgang Kramer & Richard Ulrich, Hans im Gluck, 1995)

15:03 -Asgard's Chosen (Morgan Dontanville, Mayfair Games, 2013)

19:07 -Wild Tiled West (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023)

24:33 -Dawn of Ulos (Jason Lentz, Thunderworks Games, 2023)

26:41 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

28:04 -Kabuto Sumo: Total Mayhem (John Brieger, Michael Dunsmore, and Tony Miller, BoardGameTables.com, 2022)

31:46 -Just One (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)

32:31 -Perfect Words (Paul-Henri Argiot, TIKI Editions, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

34:32 Cheap 3D Catan and Ticket to Ride at Costco

36:34 Bitewing Games to crowdfund Knizia's Cascadeo and Cascadito

37:44 Flatout Games' Nocturne and anthropomorphic animals

39:58 Tiny Mini Golf--generate and then play mini gold courses

40:56 PSA: Friends don't let friends go into Games Workshop lifestyles blindly

45:15 Feature Game: Barcelona (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2023)

On October 27th, 1962, a man named Vasili Arkhipov saved the world. Literally. Had he not stood up to his commanding officer and refused to launch a nuclear warhead during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the resulting retaliations would have obliterated all human life. Probably the marmosets and gibbons, too. We here at SVWAG think the man deserves a holiday in his honour, especially given that we all owe our lives to him. October 27th is Arkhipov Day.

Games Played Last Week:

01:05 -Undaunted: Stalingrad (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2022)

05:56 -Voidfall (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2023)

25:58 -Louis XIV (Rudiger Dorn, alea, 2005)

29:46 -Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game (Jacob Fryxelius, FryxGames, 2023)

33:26 -Trailblazers (Ryan Courtney, Bitewing Games, 2023)

37:08 -Argent: Mancers of the University (Trey Chambers, Level 99 Games, 2015)

46:06 -Planet Unknown (Ryan Lambert & Adam Rehberg, Adam's Apple Games, 2022)

48:50 -Cockroach Poker (Jacques Zeimet, Drei Magier Spiele, 2004)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

52:32 Haunted Lands by Ludus Magnus

53:24 Check out sowronggames.com: Searchable episode notes, SVWAG profiles, the Canon, and more!

54:29 Arkhipov Day: Oct. 27th. Celebrate Vasili Arkhipov and his having saved the human race! 

55:30 Feature Game: Zoo Vadis (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2023)

"This here's a jam for all the gamers

Tryin' to do what those rulebooks offer

Get shot down 'cause you're overzealous

Take too long, opponents get jealous

Ok, smarty, go to a party

Games are on the menu for everybody

You wanna play a game that's more complexer

But you're standin' on the wall like you was Poindexter

A game is laid out, one not played out

The options unfold and your mind just spins out

They say you should take your turn or get removed

So come on, gamer, and just bust a move"

-Young MC, noted foe of analysis paralysis

Games Played Last Week:

01:10 -Evolution: Climate (Dominic Crapuchettes, Dmitry Knorre, & Sergey Machin, North Star Games, 2016)

05:57 -Tiny Epic Crimes (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2023)

10:20 -The Fox Experiment (Jeff Fraser and Elizabeth Hargrave, Pandasaurus Games, 2023)

13:45 -Undergrove (Elizabeth Hargrave and Mark Wootton, AEG, 2024)

15:15 -Votes for Women (Tory Brown, Fort Circle Games, 2022)

17:52 -The Gods Will Have Blood (Daniel Bullock, Lock Horns Games, 2023)

21:56 -Green Team Wins (Nathan Thornton, 25th Century Games, 2022)

23:40 -Fun Facts (Kasper Lapp, Repos Production, 2022)

24:31 -Just One (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)

24:39 -So Clover! (François Romain, Repos Production, 2021)

25:55 -Duhr: The Lesser Houses (Jenna Felli, Devious Weasel, 2018)

30:47 -No Thanks! (Thorsten Gimmler, AMIGO, 2004)

32:37 -Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (Changhyun Baek, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, DiceTree Games, 2023)

38:58 -Road Trippin (Uncredited, Guilt Free Gaming, 2021)

41:00 -Star Trek: Away Missions (Andrew Haught, Mike Haught, and Phil Yates, Gale Force Nine, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

47:35 Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon by Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Magone, published by Sorry We Are French 

48:04 Amabel Holland in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/the-personal-political-art-of-board-game-design

48:36 Zombie Sniper. That is all. 

48:59 Jenna Felli's upcoming game Murray the A**hole Frog (trans designer and trans artist) and upcoming novel Serpent Ascending 

50:24 Co-op Dungeon Scrawlers?! 2together by OldChap Editions

51:24 Andy Schwarz's "Financial Reckoning" for Envelopes of Cash: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/envelopesofcash/envelopes-of-cash/posts/3995962

52:47 Assault on Doomrock: Ultimate Edition accidentally published with crypto-fascist imagery. Burn the "Banner of Kekistan" 

54:48 Feature Game: Arborea (Dani Garcia, Alley Cat Games, 2023)

We are storytellers here at SVWAG. This week, we tell the stories of mismatched plagues with dead llamas posing as European dudes, of quixotic strivings for yet more skirmish games, of famous philosophers who hustled cards. Of course, if you wish to hear different stories, the power is yours! You have but to submit your questions for the upcoming Omnibus Questions episode, and all your idle demands shall be satisfied!

Games Played Last Week:

02:33 -Scrap (Kenny Michael-Otton, Jolly Swagman Games, 2023)

09:12 -Root: The Marauder Expansion (Nick Brachmann, Patrick Leder, Cole Wehrle, and Joshua Yearsley, Leder Games, 2022)

14:29 -Cartographers: A Roll Player Game (Jordy Adan, Thunderworks Games, 2019)

16:52 -Lacuna (Mark Gerrits, CMYK, 2023)

19:21 -The Edge: Dawnfall (Michał Oracz, Krzysztof Piskorski, and Marcin Świerkot, Awaken Realms, 2018)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

27:26 dlp's Orléans 10th Anniversary Edition, Walker has grievances

30:47 Star Control II sequel, Free Stars: Children of Infinity, on Kickstarter

31:56 Feature Game: An Age Contrived (Chris Matthew, Bellows Intent, 2024)

The mighty weremoose is a solitary creature, peaceable until roused to anger. Its only known predator is the American military deciding to once again invade Canada for reasons. When threatened, the weremoose rises to its full bipedal height of 6 meters, whereupon its sheer Chad-esque magnificence causes other creatures of the forest to quail and flee. Soldiers in the presence of this manifestation of the weremoose have been known to spontaneously reconsider their enlistment and retire on the spot.

Games Played Last Week:

01:45 -Cysmic (Jason Blake, Star Reach Games, 2023)

12:26 -Summoner Wars (Second Edition) (Colby Dauch, Plaid Hat Games, 2021)

16:21 -Weather Machine (Vital Lacerda, Eagle-Gryphon Games, 2022)

18:02 -Skytear Horde (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2023)

21:04 -League of the Lexicon (Stavros Damos and Steven Noble, Two Brothers Games, 2021)

26:02 -Turncoats (Matilda Simonsson, Milda Matilda Games, 2021)

28:20 -Tribes of the Wind (Joachim Thôme, La Boîte de Jeu, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

33:01 Three Ring Circus by Fabio Lopiano and 

33:54 Silver Bayonets by Joseph McCullough gets the Canada expansion by Ash Barker

34:58 Mantic wins best title award: Dungeon Saga: Origins Legenday Edition

35:19 Gatefall Monsters on Gamefound

36:00 Allies have to do a better job making gaming spaces inclusive, especially at tournaments

39:53 Feature Game: The Wolves (Ashwain Kamath and Clarence Simpson, Pandasaurus Games, 2022)

Solidarity, dear listeners, on this most august September Labour Day. Of course, Labour Day is the labour holiday invented for the US and Canada so as to undermine global solidarity. Nearly everywhere else celebrates International Workers' Day instead. One must marvel at the ingenuity of inventing Labour Day so as to undermine global labour solidarity. 

02:29 AYURIS: Rolling Heights (John D. Clair, AEG, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

06:59 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)

09:49 -Flowerfall (Carl Chudyk, Asmadi Games, 2012)

11:51 -MicroMacro: Crime City--All In (Johannes Sich, Edition Spielwiese, 2022)

12:29 -Who's the Banana? (Chris Cieslik, Asmadi Games, 2009)

14:52 -Dodo (Frank Bebenroth and Marco Teubner, MOSMOS, 2020)

19:00 -Life in Reterra (Ken Gruhl and Eric M. Lang, Hasbro, 2024)

21:48 -Windmill Valley (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2024)

25:12 -Ra (Reiner Knizia, alea, 1999)

28:28 -River of Gold (Keith Piggott, Office Dog, 2024)

33:06 -Spectral (Ryan Courtney, Bitewing Games, 2024)

37:07 -Bargain Hunter (Uwe Rosenberg, Valley Games, 1998)

41:53 -Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2024)

45:15 -Heat: Pedal to the Metal (Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen, Days of Wonder, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

47:18 Kronologic series: Paris 1920, Cuzco 1450, and Babylon 2500

48:15 Topic: Game Mastery

Some important editorial notes!

-the game walker mentioned is Völuspá, and no we don't know what work those accents are doing;

-SVWAG does not engage in the eating of seal meat (no one's thought to offer, really);

-we hope that Undaunted 2200: Callisto will follow in Battle of Britain's excellent example of having a badass Sikh pilot.

Games Played Last Week:

01:02 -Nocturne (David Iezzi, Flatout Games, 2024) 

03:24 -Cosmic Encounter (Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge, Bill Norton, Peter Olotka, and Kevin Wilson, Fantasy Flight, 2008)

12:20 -Spectral (Ryan Courtney, Bitewing Games, 2024)

15:13 -The Edge: Dawnfall (Michał Oracz, Krzysztof Piskorski, and Marcin Świerkot, Awaken Realms, 2018)

22:20 -Darwin’s Journey (Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, ThunderGryph Games, 2023)

24:50 -Life in Reterra (Ken Gruhl and Eric M. Lang, Hasbro, 2024)

28:06 -Undaunted: Battle of Britain (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

34:55 English Sakura Arms now owned by Japanime Games; third time's the charm?

37:03 Res Arcana Duo expandalone 

37:48 Natera: New Beginning: cute and only somewhat anthropomorphic

38:53 Lords of Heaven from PHALANX: Crusades revisionism or culturally sensitive?

40:55 Feature Game: Deep Rock Galactic (Ole Steiness, MOOD Publishing, 2022)

One of the under-appreciated virtues of an auction game is that each session can provide its own economy. While daunting to new players, who don't know what things might be worth, their flailing speculation actually helps determine what things are worth. If they buy that share of red for a squillion moneys, guess what, that is what that market would bear. At least for now, that is. Some jerk might then get the next share for two cents and a smile, but watching those economies develop differently every time is part of the magic.

Games Played Last Week:

01:22 -Snow Planner (Akashi, Soragame Studio, 2024)

04:24 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

05:45 -Guards of Atlantis II (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2022)

10:27 -Iberian Gauge (Amabel Holland, Capstone Games, 2017)

18:17 -Medici (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 1995)

23:08 -CATAN: Starfarers Duel (Klaus Teuber and Benjamin Teuber, KOSMOS, 2023) 

28:46 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

31:08 Star Realms 10th Anniversary edition and Star Trek Star Realms 

31:41 Satoshi Matsuura illustrates Yield 

31:56 Iliad and Ichor from Reiner Knizia and Bitewing on Kickstarter

32:53 Imperial Borders--massive numbers of troops on a massive map from Larry Summers

33:44 Feature Game: Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2024)

There's no time no time at all we must get to the games there's been so many all the time one after another hurry hurry we must get to all of the games

01:26 AYURIS: Riftforce (Carlo Bortolini, 1 More Time Games, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

03:07 -Septima (Robin Hegedűs, Mindclash Games, 2023)

10:42 -White Castle (Israel Cendrero & Sheila Santos, Devir Games, 2023)

16:25 -Paku Paku (Antoine Bauza, Ravensburger, 2017)

20:45 -Nekojima (David Carmona & Karen Nguyen, Unfriendly Games, 2023)

25:02 -Catch the Moon (Fabien Riffaud & Juan Rodriguez, Bombyx, 2017)

27:25 -TEAM3 GREEN (Alex Cutler & Matt Fantastic, Brain Games, 2019)

30:58 -Piazza Rabazza (Guido Hoffman and Jens-Peter Schliemann, Zoch Verlag, 2022)

33:43 -Tumblin' Dice (Carey Grayson, Randy Nash, and Rick Soued, Eagle-Gryphon Games, 2004)

35:38 -After Us (Florian Sirieix, Catch Up Games, 2023)

43:12 -Raising Robots (Brett Sobol & Seth Van Orden, Nauvoo Games, 2023)

46:49 -Moonrakers (Max Anderson, Zac Dixon, and Austin Harrison, IV Studio, 2020)

52:14 -Great Western Trail: New Zealand (Alexander Pfister, eggertspiele, 2023)

53:09 -Tiger and Dragon (Hashimoto Atsushi, Oink Games, 2021)

56:21 -Mosaic: Wars and Disasters (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2023)

1:01:00 -Ready Set Bet (John D. Clair, AEG, 2022)

1:03:12 -Fairy Tale (Satoshi Nakamura, Z-Man Games, 2004)

1:05:04 -Hollywood 1947 (Travis Hancock, Facade Games, 2023)

1:08:46 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

1:11:08 -Daybreak (Matt Leacock & Matteo Menapace, CMYK, 2023)

1:17:37 -Arborea (Dani Garcia, Alley Cat Games, 2023)

1:19:48 -Nucleum (Simone Luciani & Dávid Turczi, Board&Dice, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

1:25:25 Anno 1800 Expansion

1:25:54 "Pop culture" That's Not a Hat

1:26:33 Albedo available as print and play!

Cards: https://kaiherbertz.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/albedoprintandplayfullcolor.pdf

Rules: http://hespiele.de/downloads/albedo_en.pdf

1:27:35 City of the Living: Prosperity (by Reiner Knizia) with zombies

If you replayed all the published SVWAG episodes back-back, it would take over 355 hours, or almost 15 days. This is not necessarily how we would recommend you spend your time. Indeed, for our purposes, we are equally wrong regardless of whether anyone is there to hear it; while we sometimes engage with Western philosophy due to Mark's academic background, the realm of the koan is beyond our purview. 

Long story short, feel free to re-download all our episodes to your heart's content. I'm sure it would help us with some algorithm somewhere.

01:41 AYURIS: Autobahn (Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Mangone, Alley Cat Games, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

05:06 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)

11:30 -Valka (Brooke Penrose, Terrible Games, 2024)

17:01 -Keep the Heroes Out!: Boss Battles (Luís Brueh, Brueh Games, 2024)

21:43 -Undaunted 2200: Callisto (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey, 2024)

29:36 -CATAN: Starfarers Duel (Klaus Teuber and Benjamin Teuber, KOSMOS, 2023) 

33:38 -Rise and Fall (Christophe Boelinger, Ludically, 2024)

40:54 -Martian Dice (Scott Almes, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2011)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

42:20 International Gamers Awards announce their 2024 winners

43:18 German wooden monstrosity: Drachentreppe

44:59 David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin Line of Fire: Burnt Moon; in the Undaunted 2200 setting

46:12 Topic: Replayability

Two crowdfunding campaigns stand before you. One only tells lies, the other only tells the truth. Both claim to be innovative and to be able to deliver on time. How do you decide which one to back? Or wait, a crowdfunding campaign launches but during the funding period every individual component is replaced by a new one; is it the same campaign? Or wait, there are five crowdfunding campaigns on one side of a track and one campaign on the other, and this trolley...

02:25 AYURIS: Imperium: The Contention (Gary Dworetsky, Contention Games, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

03:56 -Tapple (Uncredited, The Op Games, 2021)

06:43 -Undaunted: Battle of Britain (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2023)

08:14 -Oh No, Volcano! (Phil Walker-Harding, Buffalo Games, 2023)

10:58 -The Siege of Runedar (Reiner Knizia, Ludonova, 2021)

16:04 -Sakura Arms (BakaFire, Level 99 Games, 2022)

18:17 -Autobahn (Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Mangone, Alley Cat Games, 2022)

22:35 -Sidereal Confluence: Bifurcation (TauCeti Deichmann, WizKids, 2022)

25:55 -For What Remains (Paul Low, David Thompson, & Ricardo Manuel Luis Tomas, DVG, 2020)

30:38 -Cosmic Frog: Find Muck (Jim Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2023)

34:43 -Root (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2018)

36:48 -Tigris & Euphrates (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:30 Avatar: The Last Airbender Crossroads of Destiny by Prospero Hall

39:10 Spy x Family Love Letter, because of course

39:53 Kaiju Table Battles by Amabel Holland

Designer diary: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/149425/designer-diary-kaiju-table-battles-or-queer-love-l

41:18 Topic: Credibility in Crowdfunding

Trust the launcher.

01:28 AYURIS: Darwin’s Journey (Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, ThunderGryph Games, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

03:49 -Iron Forest (Brian Gomez, Brain Games, 2024)

10:22 -Slide Quest (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)

14:00 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024)

17:08 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)

19:23 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019)

23:12 -Endeavor: Age of Expansion (Jarratt Gray, Burnt Island Games, 2020)

28:05 -Windmill Valley (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

32:35 It's already Lunar New Year

33:33 From Fortress America to 2045, Walker makes associations

37:21 Second Zenobia Award winner: The Porters, by Lucas Cockburn, Neco Cockburn, and Alex Goss about unionization of black Canadian rail workers

38:57 Topic: Sheep in Wolves' Clothing

There is only one novel and commendable Kant pun, delivered in the novel and commendable film Hedwig and the Angry Inch:

"I got kicked out of university after delivering a brilliant lecture on the aggressive influence of German philosophy on rock and roll, entitled, 'You, Kant, Always Get What You Want.'"

01:41 AYURIS: Mosaic: A Story of Civilization (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

04:11 -Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs (Joe Klipfel and Nikki Valens, Cephalofair Games, 2024)

07:59 -Scrap (Kenny Michael-Otton, Jolly Swagman Games, 2023)

14:52 -Biohack (Yofiandhy D Indrayana, uchibacoya, 2024)

18:42 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024)

23:44 -Wolves (Connor Alexander, Coyote & Crow LLC, 2024)

33:57 -Dungeon Fighter: Second Edition (Aureliano Buonfino, Lorenzo Silva, and Lorenzo Tucci Sorrentino, Horrible Guild, 2021)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:42 Mythic Battles goes to Egypt

40:07 Vote for the Golden Geek and for the Deutsche Spiele Preis (DSP) awards!

40:44 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag Coming soon: 3-part series on philosophy 

42:07 Topic: Omnibus Questions Delta Aleph

An auspicious palindrome of an episode number! Granted, in triple digits one encounters a palindrome every ten episodes or so, but I'm sure the numerologists amongst us have special enthusiasm for the mighty TRIP THREE. I mean, primes, and threes, and all that. Anyway, it'll be a minute until we reach episode TRIP FOUR, so let's savour this while we can.

01:10 AYURIS: Mille Fiori (Reiner Knizia, Schmidt Spiele, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:06 -Lunar Rush (Steven "Skippy" Brown, Dead Alive Games, 2023)

08:53 -Dragons Down (Scott DeMers, Mr. B Games, 2024)

16:20 -Things in Rings (Peter C. Hayward, Allplay, 2024)

26:00 -EGO (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025)

33:37 -Keep the Heroes Out!: Boss Battles (Luís Brueh, Brueh Games, 2024)

37:20 -Mexica (Michael Kiesling & Wolfgang Kramer, Rio Grande Games, 2002)

40:22 -Avatar: The Last Airbender--Aang's Destiny (Patrick Marino, The OP Games, 2024)

43:47 -Formula D (Laurent Lavaur & Eric Randall, Asmodee, 2008)

45:18 -Aquatica: Coral Reefs (Ivan Tuzovsky, Arcane Wonders, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

50:22 Risk 2210 A.D.: Frontline expansion

51:49 New version of Diplomacy: Era of Empire

52:42 Axis & Allies: Battle for the Deep 

53:41 Trilogy of Bitewing Knizia games: SILOS, EGO, and ORBIT 

55:20 It's time for another Mission: Red Planet reprint

55:49 Join us in celebrating Arkhipov Day on October 27th

56:08 Topic: Expectations in Crowdfunding

It has come to our attention that there has been a great deficiency in SVWAG through the years, namely our shameful neglect of the French language. The sheer Gaul!

Games Played Last Week:

01:34 -The Isle of Cats Duel (Frank West, The City of Games, 2024)

04:28 -Res Arcana: Lux et Tenebrae (Thomas Lehman, Sand Castle Games, 2019)

08:00 -Worldspanner Factions (Brett G. Murrell, Worldspanner, 2024)

17:44 -The Crew: Mission Deep Sea (Thomas Sing, KOSMOS, 2021)

20:30 -Atiwa (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2022)

23:33 -My Favorite Things (Daiki [Nilgiri] Aoyama and Pepe_R, Play for Keeps, 2015)

31:03 Endeavor: Deep Sea (Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray, Burnt Island Games, 2024)

37:35 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024)

39:39 -Dro Polter (Paul Schulz, Oink Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

41:34 Fort Circle Games' First Monday in October by Talia Rosen available for pre-order

42:28 Stranger Things Risk...?

43:10 APE Games to reprint Whale Riders

43:38 Kasper Lapp's Our Secret Society

44:04 Formaggio, expandalone to...

44:18 Feature Game: Fromage (Matthew O'Malley and Ben Rosset, Road to Infamy Games, 2024) 

Before shouting about toys professionally, Mark taught ethics at a health sciences university. He discussed matters of life and death, of cutting edge controversial technologies, of war and politics, and matters of fundamental rights and duties. He has learned two lessons from those experiences: never ever talk about animal rights with a pit bull owner, and his views on Mass Effect are vastly more controversial than any of his other views. In this episode, he is at least smart enough to stay silent about dogs.

Games Played Last Week:

01:54 -Street Masters (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2018)

07:45 -The Barracks Emperors (Wray Ferrell and Brad Johnson, GMT Games, 2023)

15:08 -Dune: Imperium--Uprising (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023)

17:58 -Tank Duel: Enemy in the Crosshairs (Mike Bertucelli, GMT Games, 2019)

28:09 -Lunar Rush (Steven "Skippy" Brown, Dead Alive Games, 2023)

32:27 -Regicide (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, & Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

34:44 Modiphius' upcoming Mass Effect game by Eric Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon

36:49 Ares will publish and distribute new Mega Empires (further descendants of Mega Civilization)

38:17 Heroscape: Age of Annihilation from Renegade Games--prepaints and all your money 

44:57 Street Masters Kickstarter buyer's guide redux

48:15 Feature Game: Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (Changhyun Baek, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, DiceTree Games, 2023)

I never really understood the term "undead." I mean, it's a binary, right? If it's not dead it must be alive, at least in the context of things that could or were once alive. The negation never seemed to be doing enough work to imply what it was intended to imply. That is, until Walker and Mark got sick. They're not dead, but going straight to "alive" seems a rather hopeful exaggeration. Undead seems appropriate for now.

01:47 AYURIS: Carnegie (Xavier Georges, Quined Games, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

03:48 -Legacy of Yu (Shem Phillips, Garphill Games, 2023) 

07:30 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019)

09:12 -Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs (Joe Klipfel and Nikki Valens, Cephalofair Games, 2024)

15:03 -Stonespine Architects (Jordy Adan, Thunderworks Games, 2024)

17:23 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

19:21 -Black Rose Wars: Rebirth (Andrea Colletti, Diego Fonseca, and Marco Montanaro, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2024)

21:47 -Almost Innocent (Philippe Attali, Kolossal Games, 2023)

25:52 -Paint the Roses (Ben Goldman, North Star Games, 2022)

28:50 -Fromage (Matthew O'Malley and Ben Rosset, Road to Infamy Games, 2024)

32:40 -Dragonbond: Lords of Vaala (Jack Caesar and Alessio Cavatore, Draco Studios, 2023) 

37:52 -City of the Living (Sebastian Bleasdale and Reiner Knizia, Trick or Treat Studios, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

42:31 Micro Macro Bonus Box has come home

43:26 Age of Innovation balance adjustments for Illusionists and Navigators

46:22 Don't Starve the board game

47:26 Upcoming from Alex "Green Team" Cutler: Don't Skip Leg Day and Box Top Pinball Haunted House from Pandasaurus

48:44 Walker cuteness weakness: Kyoto no Neko

49:30 Railroad Tiles from Horrible Guild

50:38 Lots of content on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/svwag

"Somethin' tells me it's all happening at the zoo

I do believe it

I do believe it's true

The monkeys stand for honesty

Giraffes are insincere

And the elephants are kindly but they're dumb

Orangutans are skeptical

Of changes in their cages

And the zookeeper is very fond of rum

Zebras are reactionaries

Antelopes are missionaries

Pigeons plot in secrecy

And hamsters turn on frequently

What a gas, you gotta come and see

At the zoo"

-Simon and Garfunkel, "At the Zoo", clearly written about contemporary board games

01:39 AYURIS: -G.I. JOE Deck-Building Game (T.C. Petty III, Renegade Game Studios, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:28 -Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)

06:05 -Trolls & Princesses (Pim Thunborg, Game Brewer, 2023)

13:14 -Imperium: Legends (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Osprey Games, 2021)

17:11 -Neotopia (Orlando Sá and André Santos, Arcane Wonders, 2023)

24:27 -Trailblazers (Ryan Courtney, Bitewing Games, 2023)

28:21 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

34:21 -Whirling Witchcraft (Erik Andersson Sundén, Alderac Entertainment Group, 2021)

37:41 -Cosmoctapus (Henry Audubon, Paper Fort Games, 2023)

40:00 -Paku Paku (Antoine Bauza, Ravensburger, 2017)

42:59 -R (Seiji Kanai, Kanai Factory, 2011)

45:46 -Yura Yura Penguin Mini (Yabuchi Ryoko, Self-published, 2022)

48:06 -Innovation (Carl Chudyk, Asmadi Games, 2010)

54:25 -Don't L.L.A.M.A. Dice (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2021)

55:11 -Almost Innocent (Philippe Attali, Kolossal Games, 2023)

57:59 -Albedo (Kai Herbertz, Herbertz Entertainment UG, 2017)

59:39 -Zoo Vadis (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2023)

1:07:02 -A Feast for Odin (Uwe Rosenberg, Feuerland Spiele, 2016)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

1:10:15 Attribution is incredibly important, especially in new media

1:12:00 Doctor Rat: deduction 

1:12:37 International Gamers Awards ceremony: https://www.internationalgamersawards.net/ceremony/2023-ceremony

1:13:23 Warhammer: The Old World is coming back in 2024

1:14:43 Little Plastic Train Company's Deluxe Board Game Train Sets: Wave 2 on Kickstarter 

1:15:29 Duel of Ages' redevelopment, Worldspanner: Factions by Brett G Murrell, soon on Kickstarter

1:17:05 Topic: Calling It a Win

There are certain portentous events that presage massive upheaval and transformative revolution, both good and ill--Mark regards travel as one of these cataclysmic convulsions (ill), but the same is true of the arrival of the man known as Doctor Stallone (good). Both have coincided in the world of SVWAG this week, a confluence more consequential than the great passage of Halley's comet that prompted the original quote of "Après moi, le déluge." There's just a lot, people.

01:33 AYURIS: Flamecraft (Manny Vega, Cardboard Alchemy, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

03:12 -Dune: Imperium--Uprising (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023)

06:17 -Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods (Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia, Cranio Creations, 2023)

10:08 -Ra (Reiner Knizia, alea, 1999)

13:19 -Skyrise (Gavan Brown, Sébastien Pauchon, and Adam Wyse, Roxley, 2024)

16:37 -Medici (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 1995)

22:13 -Stroganov (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2021)

26:53 -Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes (Paolo Mori, PSC Games, 2019)

29:05 -Radlands (Daniel Piechnick, Roxley, 2021)

31:05 -Root (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2018)

33:40 -Paku Paku (Antoine Bauza, Ravensburger, 2017)

34:26 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios Tsantilas, CMON, 2020)

36:47 -Orléans (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2014)

38:14 -Tower of Babel (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 2005)

39:27 -Telestrations (Uncredited, USAopoly, 2009)

41:11 -Beyond Balderdash (Laura Robinson and Paul Toyne, Canada Games Company, 1993)

43:30 -Quest (Don Eskridge, Indie Boards & Cards, 2021)

46:23 -Calico (Kevin Russ, Flatout Games, 2020)

47:55 -Legacy of Yu (Shem Phillips, Garphill Games, 2023) 

49:51 -BattleCON: Unleashed (D. Brad Talton, Level 99 Games, 2020) 

53:07 -TEAM3 GREEN (Alex Cutler & Matt Fantastic, Brain Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

55:32 Tapple After Dark...? Uh, no thanks

56:28 Race for the Galaxy Roll & Write from Tom Lehman

57:04 Walker tells lies that evoke a greater truth

57:50 Check out Mark's video game podcast, All My Best Friends Are Digital

We turn to yet another discussion of important issues in boardgaming, this time 

WE INTERRUPT YOUR SILLY EPISODE NOTES FOR A SERIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT

It is fat bear week! The possibility of a US federal government shutdown has been averted, and thus the voting public (even foreigners, we won't tell) may vote on which lorge bois of the ursine variety shall take the prize! For those uninitiated, the US National Park Service runs a bracketed competition to determine the preferred corpulent bear. Note: none of these bears are anthropomorphic, nor have any been inadvisably given projectile weapons.

01:20 AYURIS: Ankh: Gods of Egypt (Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

03:45 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

08:23 -3 Ring Circus (Remo Conzadori and Fabio Lopiano, Devir, 2023)

14:36 -Uprising: Curse of the First Age Expansion (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, and Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2023)

16:38 -Sky Team (Luc Rémond, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

24:21 -Green Team Wins (Nathan Thornton, 25th Century Games, 2022)

28:42 -Faeries & Magical Creatures (Glenn Drover, Foridden Games, 2023)

34:22 -Aquatica: Cold Waters (Ivan Tuzovsky, Arcane Wonders, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:08 GameTrayz making a new folding table

39:49 Renegade reprinting Hasbro designs: Nexus Ops, Vegas Showdown, Risk: 2210 and Risk Godstorm

40:53 Sci-Fi Undaunted! Undaunted 2200: Callisto

42:31 Consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

43:25 Topic: Games for Mixed Company 

This episode, as all episodes, is brought to you by our crack editorial team of semi-trained gibbons. Always go with gibbons. Cheaper than interns! More personable than rhesus! Less violent than capuchins! Better hygiene than Mark!

Games Played Last Week:

01:05 -Votes for Women (Tory Brown, Fort Circle Games, 2022)

05:19 -Joan of Arc: Orléans Draw & Write (Ryan Hendrickson and Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2022)

09:54 -Quantum (Eric Zimmerman, Funforge, 2013)

11:54 -Gang of Dice (Reiner Knizia, Mandoo Games, 2022)

14:25 -Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest (Paolo Mori, Stonemaier Games, 2022)

16:49 -Hamlet: The Village Building Game (David Chircop, Mighty Boards, 2022)

21:35 -Claustrophobia 1643 (Croc & Laurent Pouchain, Monolith, 2019)

23:42 -Spots (Alex Hague, Jon Perry, and Justin Vickers, CMYK, 2022)

24:51 -Piazza Rabazza (Guido Hoffman and Jens-Peter Schliemann, Zoch Verlag, 2022)

28:45 -Findorff (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2022)

33:36 -Nemesis: Lockdown (Adam Kwapiński, Awaken Realms, 2022)

37:51 -Blue Lagoon (Reiner Knizia, Blue Orange Games, 2018)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

39:36 Ad-free versions available on Patreon, please alert us to problematic ads

40:05 Reach out to the content creators you enjoy!

40:21 Call for academic submissions! https://boardgameacademics.com/submissions

41:19 Feature Game: Mille Fiori (Reiner Knizia, Schmidt Spiele, 2021)

57:26 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: A Knock at the Cabin

Our first guest host while Michael Walker is recovering is James de Moss, aka Jimbo!

Many a human being has become lost in the deep recesses of Jimbo's sonorous voice, and thus one must take care lest you become consumed by his powerful charisma. Jimbo brings his extensive experience of digital board games, and board game adaptations, to SVWAG.

02:29 AYURIS: Planet Unknown

Games Played Last Week:

06:13 -Skytear Horde: Monoliths (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2024)

09:32 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023)

12:10 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

15:07 -Sentinels of the Multiverse (Christopher Badell, Paul Bender, & Adam Rebottaro, Greater Than Games, 2011)

22:50 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

26:20 -Primal: The Awakening (Tommaso Mondadori and Alberto Parisi, Reggie Games, 2024)

37:33 -Oak (Wim Goossens, Game Brewer, 2022)

39:50 -Gaia Project (Jens Drögemüller & Helge Ostertag, Feuerland Spiele, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

42:50 A sincere thank you for the outpouring of support

43:23 Shapeways has filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations, independent operators left in the lurch

44:40 X-Wing community's efforts in the wake of cessation of official support

47:54 Martin Wallace news: Cthulhu: Dark Providence with Travis Chance, and Casus Belli

49:42 Topic: When to Go Digital

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)

32:13 Behold: Rome (Joe Klipfel, Mythfield Games, 2024)

36:40 -Rebel Princess (Daniel Byrne, José Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Peláez, and Tirso Virgós, Zombi Paella, 2023)

39:00 -Seers Catalog (Taylor Reiner, Bézier Games, 2024)

40:35 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024)

45:00 -Flip 7 (Eric Olsen, The Op Games, 2024)

49:31 -Scholars of the South Tigris (S J Macdonald and Shem Phillips, Garphill Games, 2023)

53:10 -Dogs of War (Paolo Mori, CMON, 2014)

57:33 -Crossbows & Catapults: Fortress War (Stephen Baker, Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, and Brian Neff, Restoration Games, 2024)

1:03:50 -Catapult Feud (Kristian Fosh, Vesuvius Media, 2021)

1:07:23 -51st State: Ultimate Edition (Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games, 2023)

1:08:54 -Ceres (Gustaf Sundström, Artipia Games, 2023)

1:10:02 -Last Aurora (Mauro Chiabotto, Pendragon Game Studio, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

1:12:32 Barony Royal Edition on Kickstarter

1:13:59 Smurfs Roleplaying Games

1:14:16 Reiner Knizia anthropomorphic animals: Money and Nyakuza

1:15:29 Zeo Genesis scalable miniatures games from OG Games Workshp designers

1:16:25 Planepita: dexterity with magnets!

1:17:01 Keep the Heroes Out! digital version delayed, Russian contract confusion

For reasons both personal and highly arbitrary, the SVWAG style guide (authored by gibbons, of course) does not countenance using the word "teach" as a noun, with the possible exception as a casual nickname for a teacher. Thus a game does not, in our parlance, have a "teach" except insofar as you call the person explaining the rules to you "teach". As in, "yo, teach, thanks for doing this thankless job, you make our hobby possible, I'm certainly not going to give you a hard time for any minor rules errors or didactic missteps, lemme buy you a pizza, teach, you incredibly physically attractive hero." 

01:25 AYURIS: Sakura Arms (BakaFire, Level 99 Games 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

04:04 -La Granja: Deluxe Master Set (Michael Keller and Andreas "ode." Odendahl, Board&Dice, 2023)

10:19 -Unchained (David Gregg, Trick or Treat Studios, 2024)

18:04 -Paku Paku (Antoine Bauza, Ravensburger, 2017)

21:34 -Turbo Kidz (Emmanuel Gauvain, Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

23:46 -Nine Tiles Panic (Jens Merkl and Jean-Claude Pellin, Oink Games, 2019)

25:49 -5 Towers (Kasper Lapp, Deep Print Games, 2023)

26:33 -Clip Cut Parks (Shaun Graham and Scott Huntington, Renegade Game Studios, 2019)

28:17 -The Same Game (Wolfgang Warsch, Edition Spielwiese, 2023)

34:17 -Omen: Songs of Far Shores (John Clowdus, Small Box Games, 2024)

38:45 -The Vale of Eternity (Eric Hong, Mandoo Games, 2023)

43:27 -Sentinels of the Multiverse (Christopher Badell, Paul Bender, & Adam Rebottaro, Greater Than Games, 2011)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

49:39 Ninja Division declares bankruptcy, leaves thousands of Kickstarter backers in the lurch

50:57 New Mage Knight expansion! Apocalypse Dragon from WizKids by Phil Pettifer

51:43 Star Trek Star Realms

52:02 Magical Athlete reprint by CMYK in 2025

52:41 Topic: Rules Explanations

Before the people of Quebec celebrated the Journée nationale des Patriotes (National Patriots' Day), they instead on the same day had the Fête de Dollard. A cynic might speculate that the timing of these holidays was chosen so as to pre-empt the English Canadian Victoria Day, and that cynic would be right.

Games Played Last Week:

01:21 -Dice Flick (Rami Gaber, Pegasus Spiele, 2021) 

04:49 -A Message from the Stars (Clarence Simpson, Allplay, 2024)

11:21 -Switchbacks (Susumu Kawasaki, Allplay, 2022)

14:23 -Mage Knight: The Board Game (Vlaada Chvatil, WizKids, 2011)

18:29 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024)

19:32 -Priorities (Uncredited, Clarendon Games, 2020)

22:11 -Word Traveler (Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, Office Dog, 2024)

25:59 -Cascadito (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

28:27 Grail Games will be reprinting Marc André's Barony with its Sorcery expansion

28:53 Indonesia reprint from Splotter with a new board

29:51 Black Forest from Tido Lorenze, Uwe Rosenberg, and Feuerland Spiele

30:04 Another Frostpunk game, this time from Board&Dice

30:28 Walking Dead game from Button Shy

30:39 New expansion for Aquatica, Coral Reefs

30:50 Followup to Oathsworn from Shadowborne and Jamie Jolly: Avalon: The Riven Veil

31:02 Darktide the miniatures game from Games Workshop

31:33 Dungeon Twister 20th Anniversary Edition by Christophe Boelinger and Ludically

32:57 Congratulations to the Golden Geek winners! 

34:02 Feature Game: Cascadero (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2024)

It is Festivus once again here at SVWAG, where we shall once again vent our collective spleen over features of games that irk us. Sometimes we will assert that our umbrage is righteous and ought to be shared, and other times we will concede we are merely motivated by idiosyncratic pique. Our feelings, in either case, shall not be denied.

00:46 AYURIS: Beowulf: The Legend (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2005)

Games Played Last Week:

04:21 -Terminus (Earl Aspiras and Tom Volpe, Inside Up Games, 2024)

08:53 -For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game (Wilhelm Su, Self-published, 2021)

12:41 -Deep Rock Galactic (Ole Steiness, MOOD Publishing, 2022)

15:15 -Harvest (Trey Chambers, Keymaster Games, 2024)

20:44 -Assault on Doomrock: Ultimate Edition (Tom Stasiak, Beautiful Disaster Games, 2023)

24:46 -Tribune (Karl-Heinz Schmiel, Spielworxx, 2021)

29:18 -Charioteer (Matt Calkins, GMT Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

33:59 Peacemakers: Horrors of War, a promising sequel to Dawn of the Peacemakers

35:27 Quartermaster General: South Front

36:37 Valiant Defense: Guadalcanal: The Battle for Henderson Field NOT designed by David Thompson 

37:53 Topic: Game Design Pet Peeves

All I need to know about animal reproduction I learned from Uwe Rosenberg. I suspect many people have The Talk, which in my case was my father teaching me how to play Agricola. Navigating my twenties in utter ignorance wasn't easy, but now that Uwe has told me about the birds and the bees (and the sheep and the pigs and the cows) via Agricola I'm practically a biologist.

01:25 AYURIS: Dead Reckoning (John D. Clair, Alderac Entertainment Group, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

05:10 -Tigris & Euphrates (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)

09:12 -Antike II (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2015)

11:32 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

16:26 -Galactic Renaissance (Christian Martinez, Matagot, 2024)

21:56 -The Vale of Eternity (Eric Hong, Mandoo Games, 2023)

23:58 -Meeple Circus (Cedric Millet, Matagot, 2017)

27:31 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023)

30:48 -Titans Tactics (G. Kelly Toyama, Imbalanced Games, 2013)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

33:59 Please support us on Patreon, if inclined! www.patreon.com/svwag

35:06 Dávid Turczi and Nigel Buckle's pseudo-sequel to Imperium, Star Trek: Captain's Chair  

36:47 Dungeon Fighter will get a Star Trek reimplementation

37:05 Mark's new podcast with Caitlin Bailey, All My Best Friends Are Digital: video games and the stories they tell

37:37 Defenders of the Realm gets a reprint and a facelift

38:10 Topic: Games that Make You Uncomfortable

Let us, following in Andy Schwarz's example, highlight the fine work of Nancy Skinner, a California state senator whose "Fair Pay to Play Act" granted college athletes in California the right to profit from their name, image, and likeness. This forced the NCAA to allow such changes more broadly.

It hasn't been perfect, but let's acknowledge one thing: if someone's gonna be making millions off your name and face, maybe--just maybe!--you should be able to get a cut. 

Games Played Last Week:

01:43 -AQUA : Biodiversity in the Oceans (Dan Halstad and Tristan Halstad, Sidekick Games, 2024)

06:24 -Imperium: Horizons (Nigel Buckle and Dávid Turczi, Osprey Games, 2024)

13:40 -World Wonders (Zé Mendes, Arcane Wonders, 2023)

19:33 -MLEM: Space Agency (Reiner Knizia, Rebel Studio, 2024)

24:14 -Maskmen (Jun Sasaki and Taiki Shinzawa, Oink Games, 2014)

28:27 -The Barracks Emperors (Wray Ferrell and Brad Johnson, GMT Games, 2023)

32:17 -Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City (Naotaka Shimamoto and Yoshiaki Tomioka, itten, 2023)

37:14 -Vengeance (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2018)

40:03 -Charioteer (Matt Calkins, GMT Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

44:29 "Wednesdays with Walker"--streaming on Twitch

45:05 Unpublished Flickateers by Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson

45:55 Storm Raiders by Shem Phillips

46:48 Voidfall Solo Online by Mark Hutchinson! https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3222419/play-voidfall-solo-online-fan-made-app

47:59 Feature Game: Envelopes of Cash (Andy Schwarz, Envelopes of Cash LLC, 2023)

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)

25:22 -Don't L.L.A.M.A. Dice (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2021)

27:56 -Windmill Valley (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2024)

30:32 -The Isle of Cats Duel (Frank West, The City of Games, 2024)

34:22 -The White Castle: Matcha (Israel Cendrero & Sheila Santos, Devir Games, 2024)

37:01 -Battalion: War of the Ancients (Paolo Mori and Francesco Sirocchi, Osprey, 2024)

43:11 -Spirit Island (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

45:31 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

46:00 New content for Snap Ships Tactics!

46:52 Behold: Rome is on The Game Crafter

47:15 Persuasion by Xoe Allred Hollandspiele (PAX Unplugged)

48:11 Topic: Frustration with Randomness

Walker's glorious return portends a bumper crop of games to discuss, so we will forego a feature game or topic this week in favour of a deluge.

02:11 AYURIS: Stationfall (Matt Eklund, Ion Game Design, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

07:08 -Tiny Mini Golf (Kamis Kamiński, Self-published, 2023)

12:46 -Green Team Wins (Nathan Thornton, 25th Century Games, 2022) 

15:33 -Flip 7 (Eric Olsen, The Op Games, 2024)

18:08 -The LOOP (Maxime Rambourg and Théo Rivière, Pandasaurus Games, 2020)

20:20 -Civolution (Stefan Feld, Deep Print Games, 2024)

24:26 -Iron Forest (Brian Gomez, Brain Games, 2024)

27:20 -Windmill Valley (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2024)

28:44 -Dragons Down (Scott DeMers, Mr. B Games, 2024)

36:05 -The White Castle: Matcha (Israel Cendrero & Sheila Santos, Devir Games, 2024)

37:43 -Black Forest (Tido Lorenz and Uwe Rosenberg, Feuerland Spiele, 2024)

40:26 -Dead Cells: The Rogue-Lite Board Game (Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, Ludovic Maublanc, and Théo Rivière, Scorpion Masqué, 2024)

47:44 -Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders (Tim Eisner and Ben Eisner, Druid City Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

51:48 Red Tank media literacy: ask what elements of con hauls were purchased

53:43 Green Team Wins Holiday Party Pack

One has to be careful in buffet situations. There are so many options, and you are pulled in so many different directions. You must differentiate the false urgency from the genuinely pressing, and it is a test of your evaluation and timing skills to successfully navigate your priorities. What to do, and when? How much of what? If you fail to make the wise choices, you might not get through the dessert. 

Games Played Last Week:

02:20 -IKI: Akebono (Koota Yamada, Sorry We Are French, 2023)

08:22 -Inhuman Conditions (Tommy Maranges & Cory O'Brien, Web published, 2018)

13:19 -FlickFleet: Xeno Wars (Jackson Pope & Paul Willcox, Eurydice Games, 2022)

18:09 -Gods Love Dinosaurs (Kasper Lapp, Pandasaurus Games, 2020)

22:35 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

26:00 -Fun Facts (Kasper Lapp, Repos Production, 2022)

31:33 -Sail (Akiyama Koryu & Korzu Yusei, Allplay, 2023)

35:51 -Sunrise Lane (Reiner Knizia, Horrible Guild, 2023)

38:55 -Sky Team (Luc Rémond, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

40:35 Dexterity expansions! Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City and ICECOOL Wizards

41:22 Gaia Project expansion in "late 2024"

42:42 Sand by Devir Games

42:57 Calimala reprint by Alley Cat Games

43:57 Through the Desert on Kickstarter with A Message from the Stars and Switchbacks

44:25 My Favourite Things on Kickstarter: trick-taking and social ranking

45:37 Diablo role-playing and board games

45:59 Dragons Down by Mr. B Games on Kickstarter, inspired by the madness that is Magic Realm

48:35 Feature Game: Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 1998)

Our upcoming convention, July 25th-27th 2025, is in its planning stages! We have a venue but nothing much else yet. Not even a name! Suggestions welcome. Mark quite likes So Very Wrong About Games Fun Times Good Vibes Only Trans Rights Are Human Rights Boardgame Jamboree, but he worries that it might be too pithy. Few things are off the table! Special guests? Maybe! Fabulous prizes? Well, prizes, definitely. More like obligatory prizes.

03:08 AYURIS: Undaunted: Battle of Britain (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

04:49 -Malediction (Leo Cunha, Nicole Lobo, and Daniel Pettersen de Lucena, Loot Studios, 2025)

12:09 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

13:43 -Lone Wolves (Yasuyuki Nakamura, Wonderful World Board Games, 2024)

18:51 -Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape (Alex Olteanu & Marco Portugal, CMON, 2022)

24:01 -Critter Kitchen (Alex Cutler & Peter C. Hayward, Carboard Alchemy, 2025) 

27:59 -Coloretto (Michael Schacht, ABACUSSPIELE, 2003)

29:26 -The White Castle: Matcha (Israel Cendrero & Sheila Santos, Devir Games, 2024)

32:56 -Planet Unknown: Supermoon (Ryan Lambert & Adam Rehberg, Adam's Apple Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

38:59 Bullet big box

40:03 Benjamin Sperling Persuasion roll and write on Kickstarter

40:32 Champions of Midgard 10th Anniversary Edition

41:15 SVWWAG Convention! July 25th, 26th, 27th. Details to follow!

42:21 Topic: How Expansions Can Fail

Generally we here at SVWAG prefer sci-fi to fantasy, especially if it is of the general sort. There is something joyous about the weird flights of fancy that sci-fi can enable, such as Andromeda's Edge with its "Jelluloid Technoblorps." That said, there's something particularly odious about importing generic fantasy into your sci-fi, like space dwarves and space dragons--something Andromeda's Edge also does. Call it a wash.

Games Played Last Week:

01:01 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)

02:14 -Dro Polter (Paul Schulz, Oink Games, 2023)

05:56 -Rise and Fall (Christophe Boelinger, Ludically, 2024)

11:26 -Planet Unknown (Ryan Lambert & Adam Rehberg, Adam's Apple Games, 2022)

16:27 -Undaunted 2200: Callisto (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey, 2024)

18:18 -Irish Gauge (Amabel Holland, Capstone Games, 2019)

22:25 -Jekyll vs. Hyde (Geonil, Mandoo Games, 2021)

26:42 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024)

31:43 -Cthulhu: Death May Die--Fear of the Unknown (Rob Daviau, Eric M. Lang, and Marco Portugal, CMON, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

37:15 From the Voidfall universe Mindclash brings us Revenant by Allan Kirkeby 

39:28 Renegade reprints Acquire

41:03 Please support us on Patreon and take our games! www.patreon.com/svwag

41:53 Feature Game: Andromeda's Edge (Luke Laurie and Maximus Laurie, Cardboard Alchemy, 2024)

"And Blass is reeling from Yves Saint-Laurent's inverted atomic drop! But wait, who's that running towards the ring? IT'S THE BIG O! Oscar de la Renta is coming to the assistance of his tag-team partner! We thought Pierre Cardin had locked him backstage in his dressing room but no, here he is, steel chair in hand! And he levels YSL with one perfect shot to the head!!! Can you believe it? This the kind of action you can only see on pay-per-view in Versailles!" 

01:24 AYURIS: Trickerion: Legends of Illusion (Richard Amann & Viktor Peter, Mindclash Games, 2015)

Games Played Last Week:

04:06 -Deities (Gary Kim, Mandoo Games, 2022)

08:24 -Manhattan (Andreas Seyfarth, Hans im Glück, 1994)

10:48 -Votes for Women (Tory Brown, Fort Circle Games, 2022)

18:43 -Skytear Horde (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2023)

23:29 -Barony (Marc André, Matagot, 2015)

24:49 -Don't L.L.A.M.A. Dice (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2021)

24:59 -Antike II (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2015)

25:54 -Tribune (Karl-Heinz Schmiel, Spielworxx, 2021)

31:20 -Cockroach Poker (Jacques Zeimet, Drei Magier Spiele, 2004)

31:49 -Karuba (Rüdiger Dorn, HABA, 2015)

34:33 -Fealty (R. Eric Reuss, Asmadi Games, 2011)

37:17-Paperback Adventures (Tim Fowers and Skye Larsen, Fowers Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

41:08 Ad-free versions available on Patreon, please alert us to problematic ads

42:05 Shipyard by Vladimír Suchý being reprinted

42:59 The Battle of Versailles: fashion! Gossip! Celebrities! And... rebuilding Versailles. Ugh.

44:33 Potential SVWAG-Con poll! https://forms.gle/R7pDHNnx5EQXgSUh8

45:08 Topic: New and Improved

We offer to you a sampler, a little smorgasbord, a variety platter of content from our Patreon. We hope this will placate you in light of our absence last week. If you'd like more, you can of course support us on Patreon. Only if you want to, though. We'll still be wrong either way.

www.patreon.com/SVWAG

03:46 Pledge of Indifference 2023-07-06 Audio (we also publish a video version)

03:56 Shipwrights of the North Sea

07:17 Tanares Adventures Ultimate Edition

11:41 Cyclades Legendary Edition

18:14 Buttons & Bugs

20:23 Other pledges: Planet Unknown Supermoon, Stroganov expansion 

(Note: Mark did not end up backing Projekt Riese, but Walker did back Cyclades Legendary Edition)

21:23 BLOAT #18

21:44 World Beyond SVWAG--Returnal's storytelling, emergent vs. narrative storytelling, have difficulty with emergent storytelling in video games, but prefer it in board games, Nikki Valens 

34:45 Meta Media--ethical standards of US Supreme Court, Thurgood and Cecilia Marshall, "dicta," rules textualism, For Sale, Tower of Babel: Reiner Knizia vs. Hans im Glück

52:34 SIZZLER #1

Credit to elevenlabs.io for the introduction voice.

The full title of the Spider Lord is Spider the Third, by the Grace of God of the Unfinished Basement, Canada and His other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Subterranean, Defender of the Faith.

01:56 AYURIS: Ginkgopolis (Xavier Georges, Pearl Games, 2012)

Games Played Last Week:

05:02 -Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)

08:12 -Primal: The Awakening (Tommaso Mondadori and Alberto Parisi, Reggie Games, 2024)

12:55 -Beowulf: The Legend (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2005)

19:19 -Pavlov's House (David Thompson, Dan Verssen Games, 2018)

23:26 -Deep Rock Galactic (Ole Steiness, MOOD Publishing, 2022)

24:47 -Capital Lux 2: Generations (Eilif Svensson & Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2020)

29:17 -Trolls & Princesses (Pim Thunborg, Game Brewer, 2023)

32:21 -Dro Polter (Paul Schulz, Oink Games, 2023)

36:47 -Gnome Hollow (Ammon Anderson, Levity Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

42:22 Board Game Arena: Gnome Hollow, Orleans, Darwin's Journey

43:47 Flickering Stars: sci-fi dexterity by Matt Leacock 

44:11 French Republican Calendar from Karate Fight Publishing

45:15 Tikal Legendary

46:19 Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

46:40 Topic: Collection Organization

As is readily apparent from the show's subject matter and our general presentation, we here at SVWAG are stone-cold jocks who excel at the sports and are thoroughly ripped. We trust the launcher and never ever skip leg day.

00:57 AYURIS: Expeditions (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

03:04 -Coloretto (Michael Schacht, ABACUSSPIELE, 2003)

07:16 -Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game (Emerson Matsuuchi, CMON, 2025)

14:20 -Mega Civilization (Flo de Haan, John Rodriguez, and Francis Tresham, 999 Games, 2015) 

30:11 -Star Trek: Captain's Chair (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, WizKids, 2025)

37:38 -Keep the Heroes Out!: Boss Battles (Luís Brueh, Brueh Games, 2024)

40:46 -Until Proven Guilty: The Starry Sky Necklace (Enrico Procacci, DV Games, 2024)

46:46 -Crafting the Cosmos (David Gordon & TAM, Office Dog, 2025)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

48:24 Granddaughter success with Heap-O-Sheep

48:48 Registration for SVWAGCon open for patrons! www.patreon.com/svwag

50:18 Note-taking in Space Alert and Paint the Roses

53:57 Topic: Flexing New Muscles

I find so many mnemonics to be profoundly disappointing. Unless there's a structural element to tie the components together, a mnemonic will not serve to dispositively disambiguate a dyad. 

I assure you, that lamentable bit of alliteration was unintentional.

For example, "I before E except after C" also works qua slogan as "I after E except before C." There are the ones about beer and liquor, feeding or starving a cold, colour of the sky and sailors' states of mind... I recall the structure, but not which one goes with which. Relatedly, is there a mnemonic to remember how to spell mnemonic?

Games Played Last Week:

02:27 -The Voyages of Marco Polo (Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini, Hans im Gluck, 2015)

04:52 -Pulsar 2849 (Vladimír Suchý, CGE, 2017)

07:29 -Faiyum (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2020)

12:01 -MicroMacro: Crime City--All In (Johannes Sich, Edition Spielwiese, 2022)

14:45 -Who's the Banana? (Chris Cieslik, Asmadi Games, 2009)

17:07 -Rats of Wistar (Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia, Cranio Creations, 2023)

19:29 -Raccoon Tycoon (Glenn Drover, Forbidden Games, 2018)

22:05 -Yokohama Roll & Write (Hisashi Hayashi, OKAZU Brand, 2021)

24:29 -Gods Love Dinosaurs (Kasper Lapp, Pandasaurus Games, 2020)

27:05 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)

29:49 -Ratyl (Andy Gallagher, Busy Dad Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

33:51 Monopoly goes to Flavortown

34:38 Zheng He by Greg Engelstein and David Thompson on GMT's P500

35:47 Cyberpunk 2077: more promising-looking than CMON's offering

39:46 Beyond the Horizon: Dennis K. Chan, Adam Hill, Ben Pinchback, Matt Riddle

41:20 Studio Ghibli Othello/Reversi sets: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8405167/othello

43:20 Feature Game: The Vale of Eternity (Eric Hong, Mandoo Games, 2023)

It has been many a year since our early days, our salad days when we were younger and dumb and didn't know what we were doing. Much has changed, in that we are now older and dumb and don't know what we're doing. But the inexorable march of time has at least offered many new offerings in the broad tent of dexterity games, and so it is past time that we focus on one of our preferred genus of toy.

01:26 AYURIS: Golem (Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, & Simone Luciani, Cranio Creations, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:19 -Anachrony (Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2017)

11:11 -Welcome to the Moon (Alexis Allard & Benoit Turpin, Blue Cocker Games, 2021)

15:44 -General Orders: World War II (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2023)

22:16 -Sail (Akiyama Koryu & Korzu Yusei, Allplay, 2023)

25:25 -Burned (Jon Moffat, Stone Circle Games, Unpublished)

28:39 -My Island (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2023)

34:50 -Bloodstones (Martin Wallace, Wallace Designs, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

39:59 Mythic Games sells Anastyr and Hel: The Last Saga to CMON; backers will get base game only

41:44 Renegade Games' Axis and Allies: G.I. Joe

44:19 Ads for Votes for Women pulled from Facebook because they apparently think women's suffrage is contentious

47:00 Carolingi pulled from Gamefound, pre-orders directly from Sea Cove Games

47:59 7 Empires from Mac Gerdts

49:27 Star Trek: Away Missions goes Original Series

51:52 Topic: Dexterity Games Revisited

Once again, a primer on some of the differences between the US and Canada. We Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in early October, in honour of our second governor general, the Right Honourable October G. Thanksington. Rather than turkey and football, we do latkes and rugby. 

Games Played Last Week:

00:55 -Black Forest (Tido Lorenz and Uwe Rosenberg, Feuerland Spiele, 2024)

09:36 -Bargain Hunter (Uwe Rosenberg, Valley Games, 1998)

12:21 -Unreliable Wizard (Kamibayashi, Salt & Pepper Games, 2024)

15:25 -Space Alert (Vlaada Chvátil, Czech Games Edition, 2008)

20:21 -Wabash Cannonball (John Bohrer, Rio Grande Games, 2023)

25:28 -Quartermaster General: 1914 (Second Edition) (Ian Brody, Ares Games, 2022)

29:20 -Lunar Rush (Steven "Skippy" Brown, Dead Alive Games, 2023)

32:51 -Cross Clues (Grégory Grard, Blue Orange Games, 2020)

35:46 -Avatar: The Last Airbender--Aang's Destiny (Patrick Marino, The OP Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

40:26 The Waste of Parts: a post-apocalyptic journey

42:09 Join us in celebrating Arkhipov Day on October 27th

42:19 Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons. Co-op Talisman?

43:19 Feature Game: Undaunted 2200: Callisto (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey, 2024)

It's all Fat Bear Week and puns this week, both of which share one important characteristic--they have distended, pendulous bellies. Wait, that wasn't it.

It's that they are both to be respected for their power and danger. Those people you hear about who try to live with bears always suffer the same fates as the serial deployers of puns, in that they are both found dead and alone. 

Games Played Last Week:

01:42 -Undaunted: Stalingrad (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2022)

04:45 -Don't L.L.A.M.A. Dice (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2021)

08:02 -Can't Stop (Sid Sackson, Playte Games, 2023)

14:23 -Hybris: Disordered Cosmos (Damien Chauvreau, Aurora Game Studio, 2023)

27:38 -Praga Caput Regni (Vladimír Suchý, Delicious Games, 2020)

28:52 -Fast & Furious: Highway Heist (Prospero Hall, Funko Games, 2021)

32:32 -Trolls & Princesses (Pim Thunborg, Game Brewer, 2023)

37:06 -Battle Card: Series 1 (Nils Johansson and David Thompson, Postmark Games, 2023) 

News (and why it doesn't matter):

40:32 A Study in Emerald 3rd Edition by CMON 

41:43 Star Trek: Into the Unknown

43:36 Mythic shamelessly goes in for yet more money, again, for Darkest Dungeon

45:37 Feature Game: City of the Great Machine (German Tikhomirov, CrowD Games, 2023)

The theory of the atom first posited by the pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus in roughly the 4th Century BCE. None of his actual writings have survived. The great thing about the pre-Socratics is that so few of their works are available, you can spend about ten minutes (or less!) and have read as much of their stuff as have the world's leading experts. 

Games Played Last Week:

01:53 -Kingdom Rush: Elemental Uprising (Alara Cameron, Helana Hope, and Sen-Foong Lim, Lucky Duck Games, 2023)

04:15 -Assault on Doomrock: Ultimate Edition (Tom Stasiak, Beautiful Disaster Games, 2023)

06:43 -Caverna: The Cave Farmers (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2013)

07:22 -Hidden Leaders (Andreas Müller, Markus Müller, & Raphael Stocker, BFF Games, 2022)

08:28 -AQUA: Biodiversity in the Oceans (Dan Halstad and Tristan Halstad, Sidekick Games, 2024)

13:05 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios Tsantilas, CMON, 2020)

16:54 -Lacuna (Mark Gerrits, CMYK, 2023)

19:33 -5 Towers (Kasper Lapp, Deep Print Games, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

24:05 Kemet: Rise of the Gods reprint with additional modules on crowdfunding soon from Matagot

25:11 Burned on Kickstarter February 13 from Stone Circle Games and Jon Moffat

25:52 Wandering Galaxy: new Crossroads game from Plaid Hat Games

26:52 Feature Game: Nucleum (Simone Luciani & Dávid Turczi, Board&Dice, 2023)

And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Huey that if Walker moves my games one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Dewey too, because Walker's moved my games four times already this year, and they used to be over by the window, and they could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, Walker switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if Walker takes my stapler then I'll set the studio on fire...

01:38 AYURIS: Witchstone (Martino Chiacchiera & Reiner Knizia, R&R Games, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

04:00 -Skytear Horde (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2023)

05:54 -Wizards of the Grimoire (Cole Banning and Joe Banning, Grimoire Games, 2022)

09:15 -Codenames (Vlaada Chvátil, CGE, 2015)

14:05 -Pala (Jeffrey D. Allers, Cambridge Games Factory, 2012)

19:17 -Circadians: First Light (S J Macdonald, Garphill Games, 2019)

24:33 -Dice Manor (Garrett Herdter, Arcane Wonders, 2023)

28:25 -A.E.G.I.S.: Combining Robot Strategy Game (Cassandra Clark, Sarah Como, Breeze Grigas, Zach Kettell, Ryan "The Boulder" Richford, and Tom Wozencraft, Zephyr Workshop, 2018)

33:18 -51st State: Master Set--No Man's Land (Joanna Kijanka and Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games, 2023)

38:22 -Aristeia! (Alberto Abal, Jesús Fuster, and David Rosillo, Corvus Belli, 2017) 2020

42:48 -SCOUT (Kei Kajino, Oink Games, 2019)

45:30 -Summoner Wars (Second Edition): Starter Set (Colby Dauch, Plaid Hat Games, 2021)

47:22 -Whale Riders (Reiner Knizia, Grail Games, 2021)

52:06 -Empyreal: Far Corners (Trey Chambers, Level 99 Games, 2022)

54:56 -Ark Nova (Mathias Wigge, Feuerland Spiele, 2021)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

56:46 Alleged Phantom Division will allegedly be on crowdfunding "soon"-ish

57:57 Expansion to Radlands

58:27 Santorini: Riddle of the Sphinx and deluxe Pantheon Edition

1:00:34 New Decrypto expandalone edition with new words

1:02:08 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: Barry

Dexterity games, dismissed by many in the board game world as children's toys (whereas, by contrast, we laud them as children's toys), can offer a unique window into the player's soul. A fine dexterity game is a crucible in which one's true character emerges. Are you an assertive, grandiose table-hog capable of great feats but undone by hubris? Are you a small-minded, plodding dilettante lacking in ambition or imagination? Junk Art can reveal all!

Games Played Last Week:

02:11 -Age of Innovation (Helge Ostertag, Capstone Games, 2023)

13:33 -Paku Paku (Antoine Bauza, Ravensburger, 2017)

14:49 -Belratti (Michael Loth, Mogel-Verlag, 2018)

16:47 -Revive: Call of the Abyss (Helge Meissner, Kristian Amundsen Østby, Eilif Svensson, and Anna Wermlund, Aporta Games, 2023)

22:13 -Tetra Tower (Uncredited, Enksy, 2014)

24:27 -Junk Art (Jay Cormier & Sen-Foong Lim, Pretzel Games, 2016)

27:47 -General Orders: World War II (Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2023)

36:30 -Riftforce (Carlo Bortolini, 1 More Time Games, 2021)

37:20 -The Wolves (Ashwain Kamath and Clarence Simpson, Pandasaurus Games, 2022)

39:34 -Cthulhu: Death May Die (Eric M. Lang & Rob Daviau, CMON, 2019)

43:19 -Drags 2 Riches (David Pettifer, Bored Wreckers Inc, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

48:35 Prepare to get uncomfortable: Hollandspiele's Doubt Is Our Product about the tobacco industry

50:59 Aqua, oceanic tile-laying

51:44 Mark laments the market rewarding bad actors: Palladium Games and Steamforged Games

56:19 Feature Game: Daybreak (Matt Leacock & Matteo Menapace, CMYK, 2023)

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.

Games Played Last Week:

01:20 -Versailles 1919 (Geoff Engelstein & Mark Herman, GMT Games, 2020)

12:33 -Mass Effect: The Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz (Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon, Modiphius Entertainment, 2024)

16:11 -Fromage (Matthew O'Malley and Ben Rosset, Road to Infamy Games, 2024)

24:56 -Behold: Rome (Joe Klipfel, Mythfield Games, 2024)

28:34 -Karvi (Torgei Tjong, Hans im Glück, 2023)

30:44 -Revive (Helge Meissner, Eilif Svensson, Anna Wermlund, and Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2022)

35:07 -Castle Combo (Grégory Grard and Mathieu Roussel, Catch Up Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

36:04 Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan re-print and new campaign on crowdfunding

37:06 Sad passing of Kory Heath, designer of Zendo and co-designer of The Gang

38:44 Join us on Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/sowronggames.bsky.social

39:13 Feature Game: The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game (Bryan Bormueller, Office Dog, 2025)

There was A Time Before. Historians no doubt will soon abandon the antiquated notions of BCE and CE, and will instead resort to the infinitely more practical Pre-SVWAG and Post-SVWAG eras. In the dim and distant past of Pre-SVWAG, people had the audacity to release games before we could weigh in on them officially. Whether this was borne of opportunism, undue haste, or some other impulse we will not speculate.

03:40 AYURIS: Khôra: Rise of an Empire (Head Quarter Simulation Game Club, IELLO, 2021)

Games Played Last Week:

05:02 -The Defence of Procyon III (Dávid Turczi, PSC Games, 2021)

08:34 -Catacombs: Red Box (Aron West, Elzra, 2022)

10:40 -Snap Ships Tactics (Josh Derksen, Snap Ships, 2023)

17:03 -Wizards of the Grimoire (Cole Banning and Joe Banning, Grimoire Games, 2022)

19:01 -Super Fantasy Brawl (Jochen Eisenhuth, Mythic Games, 2022)

22:59 -Autobahn (Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Mangone, Alley Cat Games, 2022)

24:57 -Age of Civilization (Jeffrey CCH, ICE Makes, 2019)

29:05 -Mists over Carcassonne (Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, Hans im Glück, 2022)

32:36 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

34:12 -Wonderland's War (Tim Eisner, Ben Eisner, & Ian Moss, Druid City Games, 2022)

38:50 -Agricola 15 (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2022)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

45:11 GenCon happened

45:54 In response to GenCon hauls, ask what was purchased

46:50 EVE Online gets (another) tabletop adaptation by Titan Forge Games

47:36 Pirates of Maracaibo, pseudo-sequel to Maracaibo

48:13 Guilty Gear: The Board Game by Level 99, in point of fact Exceed Season 7

50:08 Colosseum 3rd edition by Fantasia

51:14 Foundations of Rome minimalistic version called Foundations: Metropolis

51:56 GenCon can't express concern over anti-LGBTQ laws and then re-up with Indiana until 2030

53:34 Topic: Games from the Crypt

Successors 3rd. ed, La révolution française, Sword of Rome, Here I Stand, Loopin' Louie, Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg, Gunslinger, Battlestar Galactica, Dark Moon, Colosseum, Princes of Florence, Android, Android: Netrunner, New Angeles, Descent, Imperial Assault, Star Wars: Rebellion, Axis and Allies: WWI 1914, Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Diplomacy, Formula Dé, Inkognito

It is striking that no one submitted a question regarding the hues of our auras, so allow us to address the issue here and declare that amber is the colour of our energy.

I regret nothing.

01:39 AYURIS: Capital Lux 2: Generations (Eilif Svensson & Kristian Amundsen Østby, Aporta Games, 2020)

Games Played Last Week:

03:46 -G.I. JOE Deck-Building Game: Raise the Flagg Campaign Expansion (T.C. Petty III, Renegade Game Studios, 2023)

07:10 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024)

11:27 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024)

14:14 -Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers--Heroes of Waterdeep (Vangelis Bagiartakis and Konstantinos Karagiannis, WizKids, 2023)

16:44 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019)

20:52 -Mysterium Park (Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko, Libellud, 2020)

24:08 -Biohack (Yofiandhy D Indrayana, uchibacoya, 2024)

30:05 -Mage Knight: The Board Game (Vlaada Chvatil, WizKids, 2011)

32:31 -Word Traveler (Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, Office Dog, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

36:23 Regicide Legacy on Kickstarter! Can Badgers from Mars triumph again?

38:30 Dune: War for Arrakis expansion/reprint on Gamefound

40:03 Topic: Omnibus Questions Delta Bet

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.

https://www.youtube.com/@SoVeryWrongAboutGames

Games Played Last Week:

01:08 -This Is Not a Test: Post-Apocalyptic Skirmish Rules (Joseph McGuire, Worlds End Publishing, 2013)

05:17 -The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth (Antoine Bauza & Bruno Cathala, Repos Production, 2024)

11:13 -Iron Forest (Brian Gomez, Brain Games, 2024)

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)

It is a truth universally acknowledged in eurogames that every famous historical man (it's almost always a man, of course) had a retinue of about 2-5 hangers-on whose sole job was to impress him. They did this mostly by doing stuff he did; maybe after he did them, maybe running states he conquered, maybe even by doing the stuff he was credited with. Their names are lost to antiquity. All we know is that they liked solid colours, and that the famous dude was most impressed with one of them. 

Games Played Last Week:

00:54 -Lacrimosa (Gerard Ascendi and Ferran Renalias, Devir, 2022)

06:30 -Tapple (Uncredited, The Op Games, 2021)

07:48 -Forests of Pangaia (Thomas Franken, Pangaia Games, 2022)

09:48 -Wizards of the Grimoire (Cole Banning and Joe Banning, Grimoire Games, 2022)

12:46 -Sentinels of the Multiverse (Christopher Badell, Paul Bender, & Adam Rebottaro, Greater Than Games, 2011)

16:51 -So Clover! (François Romain, Repos Production, 2021)

19:07 -Spots (Alex Hague, Jon Perry, and Justin Vickers, CMYK, 2022)

20:42 -Hemloch: Dark Promenade (John Clowdus, Small Box Games, 2017) HEMLOCH 2011

24:41 -Hanamikoji (Kota Nakayama, EmperorS4, 2013)

25:52 -Vengeance: Roll & Fight (Gordon Calleja, Noralie Lubbers, & Dávid Turczi, Mighty Boards, 2022)

29:12 -Spirit Island (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

29:50 The Pirate Republic: The Africa Gambit

30:15 Guards of Atlantis II can't credit its author on BGG, they're not registered on BGG

30:59 Nine Tiles: Chainsaw Man by Oink Games

32:13 Summer PSA: Be careful of games outside! Cards and tokens will flee and disappear

33:49 Night Witches: Fort Circle Games, Liz Davidson, and David Thompson about the 588th Night Bomber Regiment 

35:16 Feature Game: Darwin’s Journey (Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, ThunderGryph Games, 2023)

Perhaps the greatest lingering question is how and why the Ethnos fantasy races were translated into academic professions for Archeos Society's re-theme. Apparently dwarves (Ethnos) are analogous to photographers (Archeos Society), and orcs (orc board!) are akin to curators. Odd. Halflings into students seems appropriately condescending. 

As much as the comparison stings, though, I can't teally object into making trolls professors. I've met some that truly fit the description.

Games Played Last Week:

03:07 -Race to the Raft (Frank West, The City of Games, 2023)

08:08 -Dorfromantik: The Board Game (Michael Palm and Lukas Zach, Pegasus Spiele, 2022)

14:30 -Too Many Bones: Dart (Adam Carlson & Josh J. Carlson, Chip Theory Games, 2020)

18:10 -Lords of Ragnarok (Adam Kwapiński, Awaken Realms, 2023)

26:58 -Blood Rage: Promos Box (Eric M. Lang, CMON, 2019)

29:23 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios Tsantilas, CMON, 2020)

32:22 -One Deck Galaxy (Chris Cieslik, Asmadi Games, 2022)

35:35 -Amun-Re: 20th Anniversary Edition (Reiner Knizia, Alley Cat Games, 2023)

42:49 -Cthulhu: Death May Die (Eric M. Lang & Rob Daviau, CMON, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:07 From Chinatown to Waterfall Park; simpler?

47:05 Invincible hero deckbuilding game

48:06 Undaunted: Normandy Early Access on Steam

49:40 Nucleum by Dávid Turczi and Simone Luciani

50:29 Feature Game: Archeos Society (Paolo Mori, Space Cowboys, 2023)