G*M*S Magazine Podcast Channel

Welcome back friends to the Boardgame Review Room. In this episode we take a look at 1911 Admunsen vs Scott, a game inspired by the epic race that took place in 1911 and saw the to legendary explorer’s teams compete to be the first human beings to reach the South Pole. This is an asymmetric game for two players in which both try to reach the South Pole using two different routes. Michael Chamberlainand Max Murray sat down and had a go at this game to find out what it is like to play it for the first time. It seems it’s quite good! Hope you enjoy the show

Level 99 has been a company I’ve been very keen on since I learned about Brad Talton some three years ago. I backed their Kickstarter project for Mystic Empyrean and since they’ve had a whole load of projects that have been successful, which is pretty good! They are the minds behind BattleCon, one of the best fighting games out there. Also, of course, its expansion. Pixel Tactics also features as a fantastic game, by the way! Now they are again in Kickstarter with a game called Argent: The Consortium, a game the promises to mix Euro and Ameritrash experiences so everyone has a way to play that suits their tastes. And it sounds jolly good too, with some really cool victory conditions. But don’t let me give you any spoilers before the podcast. Enjoy the show

Nothing like turning history into a game. If done well, they aren’t just instructional, but also terrific fun. That’s what I was hoping with Cornish Smuggler. Apart from the fact that the game looks totally gorgeous, the subject is, to say the least, intriguing. In this game, you’re a smuggler who has to get cargo that fits in your boat, transport it to a secure port– or an insecure port that has a guard you can bribe– and then transport it inland if you want to expand your smuggling business. But, even though all of this sounds very promising, we had to get to play it and try for ourselves. And of course tell you all about it! Hope you enjoy the show

By Dr Mike Reddy00:00 Introduction - http://www.gmsmagazine.com/podcasts/the-boardroom00:02 Interview with Hannah and Ryan of the Counters The Board Game Cafe, Cardiff - https://www.facebook.com/countersBGC00:13 Interview with Tom Nolan, designer of StakBots the card game, and their upcoming KickStarter for the expansion - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/643459158/stak-bots-battling-card-game-expansion00:35 Pandemic: The Cure, the dice game prototype - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150658/pandemic-the-cure - with Michael from the Little Metal Dog Show Podcast - http://littlemetaldog.com/ - and Chris from The Sausage Factory Podcast - http://spong.com/podcasts/tsf/01:08 End credits

Romeo and Juliet in the Council of Verona is a small game from Crash Games that uses the characters in Shakesperare’s wonderful play. During the game, players have to decide where to locate the given characters, in the Council or in Exile. Some characters have agendas. During play, you’ll place some chits on the character to gain points if their agenda is met at the end of the game. Funnily enough, one of the chits is just for bluffing… nice addition! These are not all the rules and it’s indeed not an exhaustive description of the rules. For that you have to listen to the episode (which of course you were going to do anyway, weren’t you?). It is a short game and it’s meant to play quickly. Basically it’s a filler game. That makes me both interested and concerned at the same time because filler games tend to be a bit too light for me. With the extremely notable exception of Love Letter, I don’t tend to take many more games with me when I go out. So we had to try this. And we did. I think you’ll like what we had to say about this game

I backed VivaJava in Kickstarter because I like the guys who publish it, quite frankly. As you may or may not know, I am a fan of games with theme and strange themes usually make for strange games too, so I thought I’d give it a go. After a long time of wanting to review it, we managed to get to the table and see if the game is for us. VivaJava is a game for up to8 people in which the players have to create their own blend of coffee and then sell it. With a bit of bluffing, a bit of negotiation, some worker placement and lovely art direction, you’d think this game has something for everyone so let’s find out! Hope you enjoy the show

By Dr Mike Reddy00:00 Introduction - http://www.gmsmagazine.com/podcasts/the-boardroom00:02 Interview with Hannah and Ryan of the Counters The Board Game Cafe, Cardiff - https://www.facebook.com/countersBGC00:13 Interview with Tom Nolan, designer of StakBots the card game, and their upcoming KickStarter for the expansion - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/643459158/stak-bots-battling-card-game-expansion00:35 Pandemic: The Cure, the dice game prototype - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150658/pandemic-the-cure - with Michael from the Little Metal Dog Show Podcast - http://littlemetaldog.com/ - and Chris from The Sausage Factory Podcast - http://spong.com/podcasts/tsf/01:08 End credits

The Cthulhu Britannica London Boxet for Call of CthulhuKickstarter campaign has been very successful. And it’s not surprising because the team behind it are as passionate as they’re experienced. To find out more about what sort of thinking has gone behind the production of all the writing in this project, I got together wit Stuart Boon, the line manager for the Cthulhu Britannica series of books from Cubicle 7. Apart from making even more excited about the Kickstarter, he also was very reassuring about the content and future of the whole line. Hope you enjoy the interview

Let me make this *very* clear: I don’t like Poker. At all. I find it a pretty pointless game that people take too seriously and doesn’t serve any purpose because I don’t find it fun. I know a lot of people like it. I know a lot of people sing its praises, but it’s just not for me. Therefore, when Sirlin Gamesasked me if I wanted to playtest and review their game Pandante, I was a bit.. err… “meh!”. I was feeling that way because Pandante is, basically, Poker with a few bits and bobs added. The bits and bobs added, though, turn it into a game that I was curious enough to actually say “yes, I’ll review it”. Pandante is like Poker, but with lying, bluffing (no… bluffing more than in normal Poker) and abilities. And Pandas! Lots and lots of Pandas! So I sat down with Michael Chamberlainand Max Murray in the review room and we played it. And we recorded our impressions. If you are on time, you might want to head now to Kickstarter and back this project. If you aren’t on time, you might want to get a copy… it’s been funded, so it should be available. If it isn’t available, get it from someone else. Just make sure you get this game

Dragonmeet comes one more year and things are changing! Things are changing because they’re getting better and more interesting, which is why I thought it’d be a good idea to invite Cat Tobin, one of the organisers and masterminds who’ve put the show together to ask her about the new goodness coming in! This year there is a more comprehensive selection of seminars, traders role playing and board games organised, an art exhibition and a charity auction, this year promises to be really special. Hope you enjoy the interview and it inspires you to come to the show in London

Boxsets where the norm when I got into roleplaying games. The gorgeous boxes from the D&D range and many other games of the mid 80s marked the format that turned my summer – and winter – afternoons and evenings into amazing times. Of course among those boxes were a few Cthulhu related boxes. And, unfortunately, then they went away. That’s not to say there haven’t been *great* game material written for Call of Cthulhu, but boxes? Not as many as I’d like! Enter Cubicle 7! The C7 humans have had the Cthulhu Britannica series goign on for a while and some fantastic products have been released. If you haven’t got Shadows Over Scotland, please do yourself a favour and get a copy. Now they’re upping their game and releasing the London version of their Cthulhu Britannica series, and for that they’ve gone to Kickstarter to get some money. But is it worth backing this? I think it is and thus I’ve backed it, and hopefully the interview with Dom McDower-Thomas, Cubicle 7 mastermind will hopefully help you find reasons to back this project too

Few authors, if any, provide with as many roleplaying games as Jim Pinto. The mastermind behind PostworldGameskeeps churning ideas and turning them into games at a speed that makes the Enterprise seem like a child’s tricycle. Mr Pinto, friend of the show, has been at it again. Now he’s in Kickstarter offering 15 games for a price that is more than reasonable. As always, he offers great value for money *and* great entertainment! Hope you enjoy the interview

Some of us like the sort of retro Sci-Fi look from the 50s and 60s and also love the movies from that time. As someone who’s first sci-fi experience was Forbidden Planet, the cheesy and wonderful future imagined at the time was, and indeed still is, incredibly attractive. That’s one of the reasons I felt compelled to look further into Fortress Moon, a game by Thorin and Alan Thompson. Fortress Moon is a heavy strategy game that, if funded, will come with280 miniatures and a ton of components for a 2 to 4 players experience. In this interview, I spoke to Thorin and Alan about the game and what makes it special. Hope you enjoy it

By Doctor Mike ReddyThis podcast was recorded between the 11th October and the 11th November 201300:00 Introduction02:58 What We’ve Been Playing:02:58 Dungeon Roll (Paco)12:12 Stone Age (Kara)12:48 Love Letter (Kara and Paco)13:15 Fauna (Kara)14:36 Pixel Lincoln (Paco)17:15 Mice and Mystics (Paco)22:33 Battleships: The Card Game (Dr. Mike)26:11 Monopoly Deal (Kara)27:38 Preparation for Essen (Paco and Kara)Paco and Kara tell us of their plans for Spiel in Essen. Of course it is done and dusted now and they are safely back in the UK. Look out for news and interviews about Essen on this feed.30:58 Teaser for Monopoly Wars Part One (Dr. Mike)Dr. Mike teases the interview with Chris Michaud of the Flip the Table podcast, about the virtues of Monopoly; see later in this episode! We will be revisiting this debate with future guests arguing against the dreaded ‘M’ word of gaming… 32:12 More Games Paco has been playing:32:12 Spartacus (Paco and Kara) -Dr. Mike corrects the pronunciation of “gladiator”37:06 CO2 (Paco) including mentions of40:00 Terra Mystica (Paco)40:38 CaRBoNiCiTy (Dr. Mike)48:30 Teaser for the Boardgame Review Room: First Play Reviews (Paco) 53:01 Ladies Slacks [The IT Crowd] (Kara) 54:46 Teaser for Android and iOS Board Games (Dr. Mike)55:53 Words with Friends: The Board Game (Dr. Mike and Kara)57:36 Civilisation (Kara)58:06 In which we cover old ground 58:06 Battleships: The Card Game (redux)58:30 Mice and Mystics (redux) 59:16 Love Letter (redux)01:00:28 Paco believes in Santa!01:00:59 Zombicide01:01:35 Santa IS real, and so is the Tooth Fairy!01:05:00 Essen (redux)01:08:20 BSc Computer Game Development01:11:00 Part Two: Interview with Chris Michaud from the Flip the Table Podcast01:11:46 Introduction and Counters Board Game Cafe 01:13:18 What We’ve Been Playing (redux) including:01:13:48 Nibble Nibble (Dr. Mike)01:15:01 Rhino Rampage (Dr. Mike)01:15:56 Forbidden Island (Dr. Mike and Chris)01:16:10 Forbidden Desert (Chris)01:16:58 Roll Through the Ages (Chris)01:17:57 Forbidden Desert [redux]  (Chris)01:19:02 Dominion (Chris)01: 21:00 Monopoly Wars debate with Chris from Flip the Table01:52:36 The Outro and Belated Goodbyes from Paco and Kar

Compact, light, gorgeous, fun, simple, engaging… Those are words are words any game designer would like to see or hear applied to their game, and indeed a lot of games promise all those things so you, the gamer, will part with your hard-earned cash and buy it. Or get it for Christmas. That’d be OK too. Well, Love Letter, from Alderac Entertainment Group promises all those things, and by damn it delivers them! We sat down to take a look at this game, played the heck out of it and decided to put everything on record so you can make an informed decision about buying it. Because you’ll want to buy it