Of Dice And Men: Recent Episodes
Of Dice and Men
Adam, Chad and Ryan host Of Dice & Men, a podcast on board games (and the occasional random tangent).
Chad, Ryan and Adam talk about what it takes to shepherd casual and non-gamers through the hobby to become the die-hard dice-chucking card-flipping gamers you want/need them to be! How else are you going to get TI4 to the table?
After that we talk about games we've played recently, including Tobago (with the Volcano expansion), New Frontiers, Pax Pamir, Vagrantsong, and more!
(photo from https://www.geograph.ie/photo/5033503 )
Ryan, Chad and Adam discuss the variance between different rounds of board games - specifically how the first and last round can feel and play differently from the rest of the game. Referencing a few examples we discuss good and bad takes on the issue and what our personal preferences are.
After that we discuss some recent plays, including Throw Throw Burrito, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Welcome To The Moon, Roll Player Adventures, and more!
Chad finally got off his butt and edited last month's El Grande episode! Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss the recently-added-to-board-game-arena game, El Grande! See how this 26 year old area majority game holds up to today's board gaming standards as we discuss before and after playing a full game! Could the nobles on the front cover be any more sour? How many Caballeros did Adam put in the Castillo? Find out now!
After that we discuss our recent plays, including Townsfolk Tussle, Samurai, and A Feast for Odin!
Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss production quality! What does it mean? How does it affect gameplay? Are you more or less likely to buy a game because of it?
In the second half we discuss our recent plays, including Splendor, The Colonists, What Do You Meme, and Mastermind?
Adam, Chad and Ryan discuss our theoretical new years resolutions when it comes to board gaming in 2022!
Also discussed - Disney Sidekicks, Joking Hazard, What Do You Meme, Unlock Kids, MicroMacro: Crime City, Rocky Mountain Man, Sleeping Gods, Gaia Project and Terra Mystica
Adam, Chad and Ryan do a deep dive into Beyond the Sun, the tech-tree-focused space exploration game published by Rio Grande. We share our first impressions followed by a post-game wrap up after playing on BoardGameArena - find out what we thought!
Afterwards we discuss a few recent plays, including Dungeon Degenerates and We're Doomed.
The gang talks about board game mechanics that have become distasteful due to over-saturation of the mechanic in modern board game design.
The gang talks about board games that are based video games, and an overly long tangent about super hero movies.
The gang chats about the value, and how to derive the value of board games, and Adam tells us about his family playing "live action Among Us"
The gang talks about the Interruption mechanic in board games and Chad delves into the slightly disappointing Tainted Grail
The gang talks about games we didn't fancy at first, but after a while they grew on us ...like some sort of fungus.
The gang talks about the year 2020, the games they played and the effect the year had on the culture of boardgaming
The gang gets into the Roll & Write genre, discussing what it is and throwing out examples of different variants within said genre.
The gang talk about Role Playing games and the impact the different RPG systems have on the gameplay and theme
The gang plays the Mashup game, where we take 2 games and make a new one out of the combination of them!
The gang talk about redundancy in the board game industry and discusses the redundancy in the board game industry.
The Gang talks about how to run your games online and explores the game Forgotten Waters
The gang shows off some of the board games on their shelves: gems, favourites and sentimental pieces
This fortnight, the gang talks about Board Game Publishers, what they do, what makes a publisher good and of course, what makes a publisher bad. Then we discuss some games including Shadows of Malice and CO2 Second Chance!
The gang welcomes back our guest Chad Boudreau, owner operator of our Friendly Local Game Store Comic Readers, to talk about the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on his business, and if when that get's just too depressing to continue, we'll play one of our awesome podcast games!
The gang returns for a live streamed discussion about our favourite game designers, and how thankful we are for what they've done for the hobby.
Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss how certain global circumstances have affected their gaming and the adjustments that they (and the hobby in general) have made to stay in touch with friends over dice and cards. We also discuss the progress we've made with The King's Dilemma since November, playing an online version via chat.
No, YOU'VE been missing for 7 months! We've been here the whole time!
The guys talk about the Voting Mechanic in board games as well as The Book of Mormon, Spires End and talk about other games and nonsense
NEW CONTEST ALERT! Listen for a chance to win a copy of Ethnos from mrdiceguy.com!
Chad, Ryan and Adam discuss digital board games! The benefits of being able to play your favourite board games using your phone, tablet, or computer, but also the shortcomings of the digital medium compared to sitting around the table with cardboard.
Afterwards we talk about some recent plays, including Mansions of Madness (1st Edition), TIME Stories: Madame, Catan, Defense Grid: The Board Game, and our future plays of Obscurio and John Company.
Details on our latest contest sponsored by Mr. Dice Guy contained within!
Ryan, Adam, and Chad reunite after a long cold "ODAMless summer" to talk about games with an emotional attachment, the games they played over the summer, and a unique and mostly undiscovered game Sarah's Vision.
Chad, Ryan and Adam discuss the genre of drawing board games! Starting from Pictionary and moving forward, we discuss the mental block a lot of players have against drawing games and the ways that modern hits like Pictomania and Telestrations help overcome that hurdle and end with a great time for everyone. Also, why aren't there more exploration or dungeon crawlers that use drawing?
As per usual we close out the show with some games we've been playing lately, including The 7th Continent, Gloomhaven, Tiny Towns, Dawn of Peacemakers, Unlock: Adventures of Oz, and more!
The gang talks about deception in board games and their experiences in an 8 month long game of Ultimate Werewolf Legacy.
After our short hiatus, Chad, Adam and Ryan return to the airways to discuss Board game burnout, that feeling that can overtake some people in the hobby when you just don't feel like playing, discussing or even thinking about board games. It can happen to anyone.
Then we go deep on some games we've played recently including Forbidden Stars, the 40K Epic space combat game that Adam has owned for a while and finally got to play with Chad.
Ryan is your host, Chad your Vanna White, and Adam your lucky contestant as we strap in for another round of Create! That! Game! Chad brings up a random mechanic, theme, and victory condition (thanks to boardgamizer.com) and while Ryan explains the mechanic and a few of its best games, Adam comes up with a sales pitch for the next big board game success!
After we've successfully drained Adam of his last ounce of creativity we discuss a few recent plays, including Ultimate Werewolf Legacy, Factory Funner, Sarah's Vision, and more!
Adam, Ryan, and Chad discuss all the various ways players can influence the outcome of a board game _without actually playing the game!_ That's right, it's metagaming time! Inspired by a recent episode of Space Cats Peace Turtles (an excellent TI4-focused show, check 'em out at https://spacecatspeaceturtles.podbean.com/), we go through the list, starting at "kingmaking" and ending at "stealthing". Are any of these legitimate tactics? Or is it all just in good fun? Find out!
Chad and Ryan discuss one versus many games, games where one player leads an overpowered faction or character against the rest of the table. We dissect both Overlord and Cat & Mouse games, reviewing the best and worst of each sub-genre, and discuss why these unique asymmetric games deserve a category of their own.
As usual, we close out the show with some recent plays, including Fury of Dracula, Love Letter, A Handful of Stars, Spire's End, and more!
Adam, Ryan and Chad take a few moments to discuss the role of narrative and story in modern board games. Whether it's a static story or a collection of random events, storywriting has taken more of a prominent role in board game design. We discuss if we think the tales written in-between the mechanics actually add anything to a game's value, and highlight a few good and not-so-good examples in the hobby.
We close the show with a few games we've been playing lately, including Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Gloomhaven, Treasure Island, Just One, Ultimate Werewolf Legacy, Comanauts, and more!
Ryan, Adam and Chad discuss replayability in the world of board games. What does it mean for a board game to be considered replayable? Are there certain mechanics or genres that produce games that are more replayable than others? Do expansions help or hinder the issue?
We also discuss a few of our recent plays, including Samurai, Gizmos, Tyrants of the Underdark, Railroad Ink, Gloomhaven, Ultimate Werewolf Legacy, and more!
Happy 2nd birthday to us! Join Chad, Ryan and Adam as we celebrate our second year of blabbing on about board games, the people who play them, and the culture surrounding the hobby! Most of the episode is spent entertaining questions from you, the audience, and a few of our favourite podcasts chime in! We also draw for our Chronicles of Crime giveaway courtesy of MrDiceGuy.com, and talk about some recent plays including Western Legends, Kremlin, The Mind, and Telestrations.
A special thanks to all our podcasting friends who contributed to the episode: Punchboard Paradice - https://soundcloud.com/punchboard-paradise Men On Board - https://www.menonboardpodcast.com/ Playing Rough - https://soundcloud.com/user-2432511 Dice Men Cometh - http://dicemencometh.com/ Pod of Love - http://www.allportsopen.com/Podcast.aspx?ID=3 The Drinking Meeples - http://thedrinkingmeeples.com/ Cardboard Reality - https://www.cardboardrealitypodcast.com/ Forgot My Dice - https://forgotmydice.com/ Bridge City Boardgamers - https://twitter.com/bcboardgamers Mega Meeple - https://themegameeple.com/
CONTEST ALERT: Enter our Chronicles of Crime giveaway care of MrDiceGuy.com - details inside!
Ryan, Adam and Chad discuss the highs and lows in our annual Year in Review episode! We give our two cents on the BGG hotness in 2018, discuss this year's Kickstarter success stories, and finally hand pick our best and worst games from the last 365 days.
We wrap up the episode as usual with the games we've been playing lately, including Adam and Chad's play of Twilight Imperium 4, the mad rush of 2018 releases Chad breezed through, and Ryan's dive back into Settlers. No, we won't call it Catan.
Don't forget about our giveaway of Chronicles of Crime with mrdiceguy.com - details on how to enter inside!
NEW CONTEST ALERT! Listen to hear how to win Chronicles of Crime from mrdiceguy.com
Chad, Ryan and Adam discuss the various ways a game night can go wrong for the average group, outside of a poorly designed game. Playing with other humans certainly comes with its own array of considerations, but have you ever had a night wrecked by the theme of a game or the gaming environment? We discuss a few things to look for and your best bet to avoid a negative gaming experience.
After the contest break we discuss Arkham Horror, both the second and newly released third editions. Both games feature investigators looking to defend the city of Arkham from one or more existential threats, but how each game goes about it is quite different. We list the differences and similarities as well as our likes and dislikes with Fantasy Flight's flagship Arkham Files product.
Finally we wrap up the show with some of our recent plays, including Holding On; The Troubled Life of Billy Kerr, El Grande, Chronicles of Crime (our newest giveaway game), and discuss a few new releases!
Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss what to do when players make mistakes while playing boardgames, as well as discussing the ever present classic board game Risk!
Ryan, Chad and Adam have put together their gift recommendations for the 2018 holiday season! Whether you're buying a gift for a work gift exchange, the kids, or perhaps your favourite podcast hosts, we've got you covered with suggestions for any conceivable scenario. Well maybe not for your pets. Forgot that one.
After we make our draw for the winner of our Brass: Birmingham contest (sponsored by Mr. Dice Guy Games) we break out our feature game of the episode, Decrypto! This 2018 release takes on the popular Codenames word-guessing genre, with 80% less words and 80% more strategy. Find out why this game may take the cake in the wordplay genre.
Finally we wrap up with our usual "what did we play recently" section, featuring Discover: Lands Unknown, Secrets, Space Alert, and Chad has a pity party about Chronicles of Crime.
Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss "big games in small boxes" - those games that surprise you with their strategic complexity relative to the smaller-than-normal packaging. Is it possible to get the same level of satisfaction from a card game as a plastic-filled behemoth? Is replayability proportional to the number of components? Does size really matter? We discuss these topics and more!
The second half features A Fake Artist Goes to New York, a big social deduction game in a box the size of your hand. This drawing game gets everyone involved with its approachable theme and ease of play, and doesn't require any artistic skills short of drawing a line for players to contribute. Find out what we think!
Finally we wrap up with some games we've played and want to play, including Ultimate Werewolf Legacy, Pandemic Legacy Season 1, Neanderthal, Discover: Lands Unknown, and more!
Don't forget to get your entries in for our Brass: Birmingham giveaway! Details buried in the episode somewhere.
Photo Credit: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4251729/fake-artist-goes-new-york
CONTEST ALERT! Listen to hear how you can win your very own copy of Brass: Birmingham!
Just in time for Halloween, Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss board games where players take on the role of villains, whether required by the game's theme or mechanics, or where players are just encouraged to become evil masterminds in their own right. We start with the more obvious hidden traitor and one-versus-many board games, and move on to the more obscure as we try to identify which genres are more prone to bring out the evil in their players.
Starting the second half of the show we feature Werewolf, a hidden role game where hapless villagers attempt to rid themselves of a hidden population of werewolves embedded within their village's population. Find out why this psychology experiment from the '80s is still one of the most popular party games around, and how Chad hosts his online variant (which Adam and Ryan may prefer to the in-person version?)
Finally we wrap up with some games we've played at a local 24-hour convention and a few games we're looking forward to, including Twilight Imperium 4th Edition, Stockpile, Pandemic Legacy Season 1, Tiny Epic Quest, Hunt for the Ring, The Mind, Concept for Kids, and more!
Ryan, Adam and Chad argue for 30 minutes about the meaning of a big word. Really.
We take on the topic of "variable player powers" and how that broad categorization applies to games from Cosmic Encounter to Vast: The Crystal Caverns, and everything in-between. Is there a hard line between variable player powers and asymmetric games? We certainly don't have the answer.
As you may have guessed, our feature game is also asymmetric - Root. This recent hit has been the talk of the town, and your three hosts had a chance to play it together. Hear about that game (and Chad's subsequent games since) went, our views on asymmetric games, and what our opinions are on this cutesy woodland creature wargame.
We close the show with some games we've been playing recently, including Detective: A Modern Crime Story, Gloomhaven, and Chad's 5 hour Through the Ages match.
Don't forget to find Mr. Dice Guy's most recent discount code buried within!
Ryan and Chad bring you this episode's topic, Deceptive Cuteness. Starting with a few examples from outside the board game sphere, we demonstrate how games can catch you off guard with their cute themes and/or artwork and follow up with an uppercut of complexity, feelings, or straight up meanness when you least expect it.
Our feature game for the episode is Gloomhaven, a game that Ryan's recently started and Chad has been solo'ing for awhile now. This massive release from two years ago is still wowing dungeon crawlers with its massive tomb of quests. Find out what works and doesn't as your two hosts reflect on their recent plays.
We wrap up with some games we've been playing lately, including Seal Team Flix, Pax Porfiriana, and Detective: A Modern Crime Story. Speaking of Detective, see if you can find the discount code for Mr. Dice Guy hidden in the show!
Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss the topic they've been tiptoeing around for months - co-operative games! From Pandemic onward this style of board game has taken the world by storm, and is distinctively different from the standard competitive game. We discuss trends in the genre as well as our personal picks from the classification.
Afterwards, we discuss a recent co-operative hit, Black Orchestra! This game puts players in the role of German citizens during World War II, attempting to assassinate Hitler from within Germany's ranks. What does this game bring to the standard "4 actions then event" co-op genre? Listen to find out!
Finally we wrap up with some recent plays, including Tiny Epic Galaxies, Star Trek Frontiers, and a few roll'n'writes.
Alert! Keep your ears open for a exclusive discount code from our sponsor, Mr. Dice Guy, available until September 9th!
Ryan, Adam and Chad take advantage of the recent GenCon released to talk about innovative design in board games. Is the future of board gaming bright, or just full of derivatives? Can't it be both?
The feature game for this episode is one of the most innovative and popular releases from 2014 - Dead of Winter. This zombie game stands apart from the others as the first one to really "get it" (according to Adam) - find out what makes it so unique in a sea of flesh-eating clones.
Finally we discuss some games we've played/are going to play, including Factory Funner, Dungeon Lords, Black Orchestra, Seal Team Flix, and Pax Porfiriana.
Adam, Chad and Ryan discuss bidding and the auction mechanic in board games, breaking down the different types of auctions and what they add to the games that use the mechanic.
They announce the winner of the #OnlyAzul giveaway contest and also discuss some of the things they heard about regarding GenCon 2018.
The feature game got the episode is classic game Power Grid, there is a small addition to the segment "Adam Struggles to like Twilight Struggle" and the boys talk about Skip Bo, The Lost Expedition, some of the Graphic Novel Adventures, and what they want to play in the future.
Let Chad, Adam and Ryan take you back to those lazy summer days of gaming with our discussion on Cabin Games; the games of our summer youths and the future of these dusty shelf classics. What common characteristics do these games have? What games from our collections will be the future treasures of the next generation? We discuss this and more!
Also featured this episode is Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition as well as a touch of Imperial Assault. This one-vs-many board game is the epitome of the dungeon crawling genre, but how does it hold up to today's standard of gaming? We highlight the gameplay of it's close cousin, Star Wars: Imperial Assault and dote on the app integrations recently released for both titles.
Finally we wrap up the episode with a summary of some games we're playing and looking forward to play, including one of the newest Unlock entries, Ryan's current obsession with Carl Chudyk, and Adam's newfound love for Through the Ages.
Don't forget our Azul Twitter Giveaway is still going on, sponsored by mrdiceguy.com - check our website for more information on how to enter!
CONTEST ALERT! Listen to the episode to hear how you can win a copy of Azul from MrDiceGuy.com!
Today we'll be talking about a problem near and dear to all of our hearts - shelf toads. The games that do little more than collect dust on your shelves, but you can't bear to part with. What games are more prone to the "shelf toad" status? How can we get them back to the table? We discuss this and more in our mid-July episode.
We take a break to announce our newest sponsorship partnership with Mr. Dice Guy, a local Canadian online game store. Check them out at mrdiceguy.com, and listen for details on how to win a copy of Azul in our twitter giveaway!
Our feature game of the episode is Through the Ages, where we talk about both the first and second editions, why this is a shelf toad in Chad's collection, and what you can do to get a chance to play this great civilization-building game.
Finally we wrap up with some recent plays, including The Big Book of Madness, Twilight Struggle, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, and the latest Terraforming Mars expansions.0
Image credit: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2725254/through-ages-new-story-civilization
In our Canada Day episode, Adam, Chad and Ryan discuss summer games and the challenges of playing board games outside. Which games work well and which you may want to avoid when playing on patios.
The featured game is Azul, the tile laying abstract game designed by Michael Kiesling, that is the number 1 abstract and the number 1 family game on boardgamegeek.com at the time of recording.
We finish off the show talking about Adam's attempts to like Twilight Struggle, Chads first foray into Shadowrun, and Ryan plays a go-getter in Pursuit of Happiness and talks positively about a game hes already forgotten existed.
Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss the benefits of board gaming - from kids' skills with taking turns and graceful winning to adults' learning to work together and expanding your public speaking there's a number of benefits that board games provide. Your three hosts discuss the great number of ways our active hobby improves the lives of its players.
After that we discuss Eclipse, our feature game of the episode. This euro-space-hybrid is soon up for its second edition kickstarter, so we spend some time enumerating how great the first edition is! Space battles, research, exploration, and colorful dice - we've got it all!
We wrap up talking about some of the games we've played and we're hoping to play - Legacy of Dragonholt, The Shipwreck Arcana, Twilight Struggle, Incursion, Arkham Horror TCG, and more!
Ryan, Adam and Chad bring you their first off-the-air podcast episode featuring Diplomacy and Negotiation in board games. Negotiation is listed as a mechanic in board game geek's database, but it's a skill that can permeate almost every game. How does being a good negotiator affect the games you play? Do games that rely on negotiation work for all groups? Will your agreement ultimately end in betrayal? All this and more!
We move on to our feature game, Sheriff of Nottingham. This game has players as merchants attempting to transport and/or smuggle goods to their market stalls for sale all under the watchful eye of the Sheriff, who you can negotiate with, bribe, or otherwise threaten to get your way at the inspection gate. See what Adam and Chad think of this highly-regarded game as we break it down.
We end the show with a few hits of what we've been playing lately, including Dice Forge, Photosynthesis, Dungeons & Dragons, Snow Tails, Jaipur, and Super Motherload, and try out a new segment, "What do you WANT to play?"
Make sure to check our our website, ofdiceandmen.ca, and join our new BGG guild, #3302 (follow the link on our site).
Photo credit: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2996373/sheriff-nottingham
Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss the compulsion to collect collectible games. From competitive and co-operative card games to miniatures and everything inbetween, what makes this subset of the board game hobby so lucrative for publishers? Why do players enjoy going down the rabbit hole of scheduled releases and random booster packs? We'll discuss all this and more!
After the half we talk about one of the newest entries into the collectible game sphere, DropMix. Harmonix's latest money maker, DropMix is a game that uses cards, a custom peripheral, your phone or tablet, and music tracks to allow players to compete, work together, or just pretend they're a DJ for a night. Find out what we thought of this head-bob-inducing game!
We finish off the show talking about some of our recent plays, including Adam's 3-hour foray into Dungeons and/or Dragons, Ryan's recent play of Above and Below, and Chad's canoe trip in Lewis & Clark.
Finally, we say our farewell to our gracious host and local community radio station, CJTR. We'll be continuing our show via the magic of the internet, but no longer will we be broadcasting with the station. We are eternally grateful for the support and start that CJTR has given us and hope you'll continue to enjoy their programming and ours in the future.
Image credit: Eric from What's Eric Playing! https://whatsericplaying.com/ https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3798873/dropmix
Chad and Adam are your hosts this week talking about how co-operative board games take on the "quarterbacking" or "alpha gamer" problem head on through the use of clever mechanics. It's hard(er) to tell someone what to do when there's a timer about to go off or they might be the traitor! We'll list several different mechanics and the games that use them to ensure everyone at the table has a fair shake.
After the break we feature Space Alert, another game part of the Vlaada Conspiracy. This real-time co-operative board game has players in the role of space cadets, tasked with keeping their ship in one piece as they get warped to random galaxies in the name of science! A colorful game that takes 15 minutes to play and has a lot of replayability in the base box, only to be extended by the expansion's campaign content.
Finally we discuss some games we've been playing lately, including Four Against Darkness, Gloomhaven, Clank! In! Space! and the classic Connect 4!
Ryan and Chad take on the definitive topic of Dudes on a Map in this episode. Not quite a mechanic, and certainly not a theme, how does this description so clearly classify a category of board game? We discuss the 'requirements' of such a genre, and discuss the several archetypes evolved within.
Staying on point, Chad and Ryan feature Rising Sun, the most recent 'dudes on a map' game released by CMON and Eric Lang. Where do we think it fits in the Eric Lang Dudes Trilogy? Listen to find out! Afterwards Ryan agrees with Chad on Decrypto, swarms some Protoss in Starcraft The Board Game, and blows up some post-apocalyptic wrecks in Gaslands. Chad defends a mediocre earth in Level 7: Invasion and robs a small bank with the help of his friends in Burgle Bros.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be May 6th at 8 PM CST.
Adam, Ryan, and Chad discuss one of the most diverse components in modern board games - Dice! Starting with the history and spilling over onto modern design, we discuss the ways that little plastic geometric shapes are used in the design and play of games, and some stand out examples of clever dice usage.
After the break we stick with the dice theme and discuss King of Tokyo and King of New York - two games that take the dice-rolling set-collection aspect of Yahtzee and turn it into a slug fest between monsters battling for control of their city. Finally Adam learns how to play cards with a Shopkins game, Ryan rolls some fancy custom dice in Quarriors, and Chad attempts to figure out what his coworkers are getting at in a game of Decrypto.
(Image credit: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3262707/king-tokyo)
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be April 22nd at 8 PM CST.
Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss the different ways that board games take complicated real-life situations and boil them down to the roll of a die or the flip of a card. How can board games capture the feeling of being the leader of a nation during a cold war, a starving farmer in 1600's Europe, or a fire fighter saving a cat from a burning apartment building? Through abstraction, of course!
At the half way point we transition to Terraforming Mars, our feature game for this episode. Terraforming Mars is a fantastic engine building game centered around the theme of, you guessed it, making Mars hospitable to humans. We talk about all the little things that make this 2016 release a stand-out game in a galaxy full of cardboard and cards.
Finally Adam crashes a kid's birthday to play some snake game, Ryan comes up with the party game hit of 2018, and Chad goes on a terrible rant about Spirit Island.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be April 8th at 8 PM CST.
Ryan and Chad deliberate over the various enumerations of editions that permeate the board game landscape. Beyond simple reprints, we chat about re-theming, retooling, re-imagining, and repackaging of games that already existed, and which ones are worth your time and money.
Afterwards we feature a game that has been both rethemed AND repackaged, Shogun - the area control game where attacks are few and far between and battles are resolved with a cube tower. Listen to why this game from 13 years ago is still one of the better area control games out today.
Finally we reflect on some of the games we've played recently, including an epic defeat in Battlestar Galactica, some difficult spirits in Spirit Island, and killing the same lion over and over in Kingdom Death: Monster.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be March 25th at 8 PM CST.
Disclaimer: the board game talk starts at about 8m10s :)
Adam, Ryan, and Chad do their best to get you up to speed with some of the latest trends in board game design as we play "Make Up a Game"! Chad, with the help of boardgamizer.com, comes up with some goofy board game constraints, Ryan describes the mechanic in more detail, and Adam comes up with an entirely off-the-cuff idea for a game! Not only is it a fun way of learning more about some trendy game mechanics, but also a source of inspiration for aspiring board game designers!
After that, we discuss the card game that inspired our impromptu design session, Snake Oil. How does Snake Oil and games like it supplant go-to party staples like Cards Against Humanity? What's involved in convincing a high school cheerleader that he needs a tube of Laughter Grease? Why isn't Adam in marketing? All that and more in our feature game discussion!
Finally we wrap up with some games we've been playing lately, including Here I Stand, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, and Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be March 11th at 8 PM CST.
Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss exactly where expansions fit into the board game ecosystem. Are they honest attempts by the designer to extend the longevity of their creations? Or evil corporate plans to milk the last nickels from your wallets? Why not both? :) We discuss why you as a gamer might be interested in an expansion, and examples of the best and worst kind of board game expansions.
In the second half, we finally have a serious talk about Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition, two of the three hosts' favourite game. Chad gives an "after the first game" perspective while Adam and Ryan plead their case, after which we hold a quick burial for the game, never to speak of it again. Or at least the 3rd edition. We finish the episode off talking about CO2 (currently on Kickstarter), Gloomhaven's helper apps, Keyflower, Azul, and oddly enough, Cribbage.
Ryan and Chad do their best to justify their purchase history as we talk about curating the perfect board game collection. Is it okay to own more than you can play? How much research goes into your purchasing decisions? When do you trade or sell your games? All this and more in our first episode of our new season.
After we're finished feeling better about ourselves, we discuss the 2011 release Dungeon Petz by Vlaada Chvátil (or at least a member of the conspiracy). Listen how using imps as workers fundamentally changes the worker placement game, and learn the best way to ensure your pet doesn't grow too large, get aggressive, and injure your stable workers in an attempt to escape its cage and mutate out of existence. Yup, that all happens in this game.
Chad finishes the episode off talking about Assault on Doomrock, Fog of Love, Terraforming Mars, and Ryan reflects on a recent play of Modern Art.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be February 11th at 8 PM CST.
It's our one year anniversary! Adam, Chad, and Ryan spend the episode talking about our favs and not-so-favs, our highs and lows, and our last year of board games, the people who play them, and the culture surrounding the hobby. We also answer a few questions from the audience, and Adam does his best to give each of them his own personal touch. The questions, not the audience.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be January 28h at 8 PM CST.
Chad, Adam, and Ryan review the year in board games, highlighting the top games released in 2017 and then focusing on our own picks for best and worst board games of 2017.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be January 14th at 8 PM CST.
Chad, Adam, and Ryan discuss one of their favourite topics - role playing games! We also welcome a guest, Chad Boudreau, proprietor of our local gaming store and Game / Dungeon master with 20 years experience. What is an RPG? Where do you start? Why do you care? We answer all this and more!
Our featured game is the End of the World RPG published by Fantasy Flight Games, where the three of us played ourselves doing our best to survive a zombie apocalypse (which our guest Chad GM'd). We also feature clips from our recorded session, and discuss why the EotW is a great starting point for new players.
If you're interested in hearing the entire End of the World RPG session we participated in (from character creation to finale) you can check out https://soundcloud.com/user-101644760/sets/end-of-the-world-rpg
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be December 31st at 8 PM CST.
Stuck on ideas on what to get your loved ones this holiday season? Adam and Ryan have the answer! We take the whole hour to make a few suggestions for stocking stuffers, gateway gamers, serious strategists, and everything inbetween in this, our 2017 Holiday Special!
Image By Levente Fulop from Brno, Czech Republic (The King's Game) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Adam and Ryan discuss the real reason you see your friends nowadays, gaming groups. Is it easier to turn gamers into friends, or friends into gamers? What do you do with the tag-alongs that just wanted to drink beer and talk about the last episode of Glee? How do you avoid fistfights while trying to pick a game that pleases everyone? All this and more!
Afterwards, Ryan and Adam regale us with stories of the cold war with our feature game, Twilight Struggle. Hear why this one time BGG juggernaut is still worth a play in today's post-1990's climate. Ryan wraps up the episode with a few suggestions for those who want a taste of the mechanics without the 4 hour playtime, and a recent recap of his first plays of Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn.
Of Dice and Men is broadcast live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be December 3rd at 8 PM CST.
(image credit: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1125177/twilight-struggle)
Ryan, Adam and Chad set themselves up for a slog through some long-form games, namely campaigns and legacy games. What does it mean to commit to a campaign? Why is Adam chewing on those cards? Find out this and more!
After the break, _we played so many games these last few weeks_! Ryan and Adam feature Unearth, the dice-chucking light strategy game by Brotherwise Games. Adam focuses on his 14-hour game of Twilight Imperium, Chad ruminates over his custom Dread RPG/Psycho Raiders hybrid, and Ryan loses control of Japan in Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan.
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be November 19th at 8 PM CST.
Adam and Chad discuss what they're doing to get ready for an upcoming "gaming marathon" session - 24 hours of gaming takes a bit of prep! How to pick your games, what to pack, when to eat - we'll tell you exactly how to survive & thrive in a gaming environment.
Race for the Galaxy is our feature game for this episode, after which we discuss Adam's nihilistic view of Candyland, Ryan and Chad rolled their own civilizations, and Chad likes 80% of Vast: The Crystal Caverns.
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be November 5th at 8 PM CST.
Chad, Ryan and Adam try to figure out if board games can truly be "spoooooky", or at least which ones come closest. We then break down some recommendations for the upcoming Halloween season, including a few gateway game recommendations and a few for the more seasoned gamer.
Our feature game for this episode is Psycho Raiders - Ryan was betrayed by a mechanic and Chad lit someone on fire with a blow torch. Ryan turns some tricks in the forest, Chad one up's The Martian by growing plants without using his own by-product, and Adam is warmed by the glow of the others' recent gaming experiences.
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be October 22nd at 8 PM CST.
Ryan, Chad and Adam welcome our first-ever guest host, Roxanne Stankievech from SaskGames as we talk about both running and attending public gaming events, and how public gaming helps society at large! (or at least we think so).
Shortly following, Roxanne blasts us through Galaxy Trucker as our feature game, Ryan wonders why no one cheats at NMBR 9, Chad takes little solace in a recent Game of Thrones "win", and Roxanne highlights her experiences with Unlock!
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be October 8th at 8 PM CST.
Adam, Ryan and Chad discuss the dichotomy of Strategy and Tactics within the hobby of board gaming, where certain games may fit on the strategy-tactic spectrum, and why players may prefer one over the other. War of the Ring is our featured game for this episode, Chad gushes over getting lost in The 7th Continent, Ryan gets tired biking uphill in Flamme Rouge, and Chad & Ryan reflect on Ryan's near victory in Blood Rage.
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be September 24th at 8 PM CST.
Chad, Adam, and Ryan discuss the pros and cons of randomness in board games - where it intersects with player choice, how dice are the ultimate simulation engine, and why drawing a card can be tense. Adam also celebrates his recent playing of games by setting a new record for saying Fascist the most on public radio, Ryan stomps on grapes in Italy, and Chad robs the train from Back to the Future 3.
Oh, also Dominion is our featured game. Forgot about that one.
Ryan and Adam take a stroll down memory lane, recounting their favourite board game stories and bathing in a large pool of nostalgia. Speaking of which, the two take on Dracula in Fury of Dracula, and Adam reflects on recent announcements to bring back Twilight Imperium and Necromunda.
Adam, Chad and Ryan peel back the layers of board game complexity in this episode, discussing component, strategic, rule, and social complexity in gaming. We then get lost in the randomness of Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill, Ryan gets into a fight in Yomi, and Chad plays some space checkers in Battle Beyond Space
Adam, Chad and Ryan highlight some of their favourite licensed games (games based on existing TV, Movie, Book, or Video Game franchises) and highlight the pros and cons of piggybacking on an existing IP. Speaking of which, we talk about Gears of War, Chad does his best to defend Xia: Legends of a Drift System from Ryan and loses, and then Chad hunts down Adam in Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space
What's the best rulebook you've ever read? Chad, Adam, and Ryan discuss the best and worst examples of board game rulebooks in the industry, and then battle each other for control of the Great Meadow in their review of March of the Ants. Also mentioned: Canada's Birthday (with our favourite games designed/illustrated by a Canadian), Ryan's first experience with Dread RPG, Adam's over-optimization of Boss Monster, and Chad's unfair experience with, well, Unfair.
Ryan, Chad and Adam discuss the pros and cons of Kickstarter and how it has shaped our boardgaming hobby in the last 5 years. We then lock Adam in a metaphorical room as Chad and Ryan discuss the recent Exit: The Game and Unlock! boardgames modeled after escape rooms and talk about our recent plays.
Hold our hand as Adam, Ryan and Chad escourt you thought the last few epochs from boardgaming history; Pre-Catan (before 1995), the European Invasion (1995 - 2005), and the Thematic Renessance (2005 - 2012). Chad also practices some real-life pandemic while trying describe Ethnos and Adam celebrates his recent playing of Between Two Cities
Chad, Adam and Ryan discuss the successes and failures of storytelling in board games, and feature Battlestar Galactica - I'm pretty sure Adam's the cylon. Ryan also delivers his diatribe against modern euro board game design and Great Western Trail in particular.
Ryan talks to himself for a few minutes and then Chad joins him to chat about clever board game components and what they add to the tabletop experience. We also go back in time to two weeks ago when we played Anachrony, and discuss how Bret Hart almost threw a chair at Chad
Adam, Ryan, and Chad discuss how technology has enhanced and improved board games in the last few years. We also discuss this episode's feature game Mage Knight, and chat about Vast: The Crystal Caverns and Terraforming Mars
Chad, Adam and Ryan drop their meeples on the Worker Placement genre and discuss how badly Ryan destroyed them at El Grande. Also a shout out to Millennium Blades, Argent: The Consortium, and Clank!
Ryan and Chad passive-aggressively make fun of all their friends while discussing all the social nuances of playing board games with other humans. Also included is a review of Clank!, Gloomhaven, the newest TIME Stories expansion, 7 Wonders, Cosmic Encounter and more!
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be April 9th at 8 PM CST.
Ryan, Adam, and Chad discuss various concerns when coercing your friends to come over and play games. Also, Chad self-identifies as a muppet, Ryan divulges his plans for a Degrassi hidden traitor game, and Adam runs our first glitch-free episode.
Ryan and Chad lament over the absence of Adam, and console themselves by playing and talking about playing board games solo. Also we discuss the BoardGameGeek 2016 People's Choice Solo Games results, and give a quick overview of Adrenaline.
Of Dice And Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be March 11th at 8 PM CST
Ryan, Adam and Chad discuss how themes play into the design and enjoyment (or don't at all?) of board games. Also discussed; how on the fence we are with Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition.
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be February 26th at 8 PM CST
Adam, Chad, and Ryan discuss gateway boardgames and the tie to meth addiction. We also discuss Runewars (a game we've all played recently) as well as some local community events.
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be February 12th at 8 PM CST
Our first episode ever! Listen to Chad, Ryan and Adam flub their way through their first live broadcast, where we discuss why we think board games are seeing a resurgence in this digital age, and recount some recent games we’ve played. Also Adam makes for an excellent buzzer.
Of Dice and Men is broadcasted live on 91.3 FM CJTR, Regina Community Radio - our next broadcast will be January 29th at 8 PM CST