The Gaming Moguls: Recent Episodes
The Gaming Moguls
Mark and Jake are the Gaming Moguls. We discuss aspirational board gaming topics for those board gamers that want to get deeper into the hobby. We discuss a variety of topics and offer our opinions and analysis of interest to enthusiast gamers.
Episode 68: In Training
Host: Mark Teskey · Guest: Martin Fowler
The Gaming Moguls return with Martin Fowler for an all-trains follow-up to last episode. We tackle the age-old debate of what is and isn’t a train game, working through the three classic families (18xx, Age of Steam, and cube rails) and a long list of boundary cases. Like usual, we recap the recent train games we’ve been playing, including 18 Royal Gorge, 1890 Osaka, Stellar Ventures, Chicago & North Western, Railway Boom, and Imperial Steam.
Chapters
- 00:00 — Intro
- 01:08 — What is a train game?
- 04:20 — The three families: 18xx, Age of Steam, Cube Rails
- 06:08 — Boundary case: Ticket to Ride
- 15:18 — TransAmerica
- 18:19 — Union Pacific & Acquire
- 20:56 — Stephenson’s Rocket
- 21:27 — Amabel Holland’s Gauge series: Ride the Rails, Irish Gauge, Iberian Gauge, Dual Gauge
- 22:39 — Brass: Birmingham (and a Brass: Pittsburgh tease)
- 26:31 — The Grand Trunk Journey
- 28:35 — Russian Railroads
- 29:21 — Indonesia (3rd Edition)
- 33:12 — 18 Royal Gorge
- 40:42 — 1890 Osaka
- 44:00 — Stellar Ventures
- 48:28 — Chicago & North Western
- 55:43 — Steam Power
- 56:00 — Railway Boom
- 1:01:54 — Imperial Steam
- 1:09:30 — Wrap-up
Also mentioned
1830: Railways & Robber Barons · Age of Steam · Northern Pacific · Baltimore & Ohio · TransAmerica & Japan · Brass: Lancashire · Container · Great Western Trail · Shikoku 1889 · Wabash Cannonball / Chicago Express · Age of Rail: South Africa · Yokohama · Across the United States · Metro X · Tzolk’in · The Voyages of Marco Polo · Grand Austria Hotel · Barrage · Food Chain Magnate · Greed Incorporated · Lisboa · 1849 · 1848 · Mini Rails
Connect
Gaming Moguls BGG guild #3431 · @gamingmoguls on Twitter and Instagram · jake@gamingmoguls.com · mark@gamingmoguls.com
The Gaming Moguls return with special guest Martin Fowler. We talk about our Games of the Year (GOTY) and our Designers of the Year. Like usual, we recap the great games we’ve been playing recently and recap our major gaming events of 2025.
- 00:00:00 Intro
- 00:09:00 Where Have We Been Playing?
- 00:10:20 Age of Steam Con – Europe
- 00:15:47 Snowdonia
- 00:18:00 GenCon 2025
- 00:27:20 Meeting Eric Olsen (Flip 7) at MSP Airport
- 00:32:05 The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition
- 00:44:48 Russian Railroads
- 00:49:45 Steam Power
- 00:54:48 Fromage
- 01:02:12 Babylonia
- 01:09:09 Santiago
- 01:12:25 Vantage
- 01:21:37 Clans of Caledonia
- 01:29:42 Speakeasy
- 01:39:44 Designers of the Year
- 01:42:35 Games of the Year
- 01:46:50 Wrap Up & Outro
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- Spotify
- Google Play
- Stitcher
- Tune In
- Gaming Moguls Board Game Geek Guild #3431
- Youtube
- mark@gamingmoguls.com
- The Mogul Scale Living Document
Mark, Sobhi and special guest Nick from Talking Cardboard engage in a lot of wishful thinking about what we want to play at Gaming Moguls Summer Muster 2024. As you could predict, Mark wants to play a lot of Euros, Nick wants to play a lot of Wargames, and Sobhi doesn’t dare as long as there are trains.
Mark and Sobhi have a big announcement – MogulsCon 2.0 August 16-18 in Hopkins, MN! We also review games we’ve played and talk about three different space operas – two of which involve a dying sun or planet. We also talk about a couple of our favorite recent 18xx plays and rare Japanese trick-takers.
Note: Slight error fixed from the initial release
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:50 Big Announcement
00:05:32 What We’ve Been Playing
00:05:44 Barrage: The Nile Affair
00:12:34 Shut the Books
00:19:18 The Barracks Emperors
00:25:14 Magnum Sal
00:32:20 The Old Prince: 1871
00:40:39 18SJ – Railways in the Frozen North
00:44:21 Main Topic Intro – A Tale of Two Suns
00:44:50 Sol: Last Days of a Star
00:51:29 Evacuation
00:56:12 Arcs
01:06:51 Wrap Up & Outro
- iTunes
- Spotify
- Google Play
- Stitcher
- Tune In
- Gaming Moguls Board Game Geek Guild #3431
- Youtube
mark@gamingmoguls.com
The Mogul Scale Living Document
Sobhi and Mark head off for the First Minnesota Muster – a weekend of heavy games, war games and train games and live to tell the tale.. but not all the games could say as much. We also discuss a new favorite of the group – Praga Caput Regni. Finally – we introduce a new recurring segment called “What Makes This Game Great” – in which we write a love letter to Brass.
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:12 First Minnesota Muster
00:09:50 Sidereal Confluence
00:18:38 Trade on the Tigris
00:20:41 Heul Doch! Mau Mau
00:25:53 1880:China
00:35:52 Boast or Nothing
00:37:49 Vinhos
00:46:10 Maria
00:47:50 Age of Steam
00:49:13 Oranienburger Kanal
00:50:15 Tall Tales
00:51:42 Praga Caput Regni
01:03:21 What Makes This Game Great – Brass
01:27:11 Wrap Up & Outro
- iTunes
- Spotify
- Google Play
- Stitcher
- Tune In
- Gaming Moguls Board Game Geek Guild #3431
- Youtube
- mark@gamingmoguls.com
- The Mogul Scale Living Document
The Gaming Moguls add a new co-host to the mix – Sobhi Youssef! We introduce Sobhi, talk about what we’ve […]
Time again for that annual lookback at Mark’s best-of-the-best. It’s probably the most pure list ever – since very few “new hotness” games were played in 2022. Where does Age of Steam land this year? Did Ark Nova crack the list? Is it once again all Uwe Rosenberg?
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:05 Mark’s Top 20 of 2022!
00:08:43 Number 20
00:12:06 Number 19
00:15:10 Number 18
00:17:24 Number 17
00:20:39 Number 16
00:25:21 Number 15
00:28:39 Number 14
00:32:34 Number 13
00:35:07 Number 12
00:38:59 Number 11
00:40:30 Number 10
00:43:48 Number 9
00:47:52 Number 8
00:53:09 Number 7
00:57:53 Number 6
01:01:23 Number 5
01:07:21 Number 4
01:11:25 Number 3
01:16:41 Number 2
01:19:30 Mark’s Number 1 of 2022!
01:23:53 Final Thoughts
01:28:07 Wrap Up & Outro
- iTunes
- Spotify
- Google Play
- Stitcher
- Tune In
- Gaming Moguls Board Game Geek Guild #3431
- Youtube
- jake@gamingmoguls.com
- mark@gamingmoguls.com
The Mogul Scale Living Document
Our favorite time of year is when we review our top 20 games of the year to see how our tastes evolve over the year. We count ’em down from 20 to 1 and talk about the ones that almost made the list. To nobody’s surprise – Jake likes the trains and Tom Lehmann – and there are plenty of those on the list. What’s #1 – and are you Team Jake?
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:06 Jake’s Top 20 of 2022!
00:06:35 Number 20
00:09:37 Number 19
00:14:20 Number 18
00:18:44 Number 17
00:21:51 Number 16
00:25:54 Number 15
00:28:57 Number 14
00:32:00 Number 13
00:34:28 Number 12
00:38:31 Number 11
00:41:16 Number 10
00:43:21 Number 9
00:47:12 Number 8
00:50:20 Number 7
00:51:50 Number 6
00:55:18 Number 5
01:01:40 Number 4
01:04:27 Number 3
01:09:40 Number 2
01:14:09 Jake’s Number 1 of 2022!
01:17:13 Jake’s 2022 Runner Ups
01:24:07 Wrap Up & Outro
- iTunes
- Spotify
- Google Play
- Stitcher
- Tune In
- Gaming Moguls Board Game Geek Guild #3431
- Youtube
- jake@gamingmoguls.com
- mark@gamingmoguls.com
The Mogul Scale Living Document
Jake and Mark review a cabin gaming weekend and ponder why some cooperative games – especially some very highly rated […]
We’re Back! After a lovely extended summer break – the Gaming Moguls rip into Season Two. We spend the episode […]
It’s Moguls Unfiltered tonight – where we discuss our unplayed games in the BGG Top 100 and what we think […]
Jake takes his shot at listing his top 20 games of all time as of Fall 2021. We count them […]
It’s the holiday season again – that means it’s time to recap what our favorites are for the year and […]
Jake and Mark continue their homage to the great games of years gone by and why they are better games […]
Jake and Mark double down on the Old Hotness this week to discuss an amazing set of midweight games from […]
Jake and Mark have an episode chock full of game plays – and a shocking number of them involve a […]
Jake’s back and he’s got games to talk about. We run through the games we’ve played including Decrypto, Cribbage, Trade […]
It’s guest host time at the Gaming Moguls – we’ve got Craig Taylor from The Train Rush joining us once […]
We made it to Episode 50.. and we’ve decided to do a new “About Us” episode. We originally did this […]
Jake and Mark get back to business! We talk about all the great games we’ve played since the last episode! […]
In Episode 48, Jake runs down his top 20 games as of Fall, 2020. Big changes this year as we […]
It’s that time again – time to revisit the games that spark joy in the Gaming Moguls! This time we […]
Jake and Mark are back with an episode that looks into what it takes to ease people into the next […]
It’s a PLUS-SIZED EPISODE with fan favorite Craig Taylor! Ow. Ow! STOP PUNCHING ME! It’s all the games with the […]
Jake and Mark ponder as to which games would we keep if we had to winnow our collection down to […]
Mark and Jake are back with another Gaming Moguls podcast. As students of the game, they deep dive on their […]
Jake and Mark return to have some mid-summer musings about their gaming adventures during the month of June. They talk […]
In this plus-sized episode, we stretch out for two main topics. The first main topic is a deep-dive into system […]
No doubt about it – expansions are red hot and some games have a LOT of expansions available! The problem […]
In Episode 39, Jake and Mark talk about some of the ways they keep their gaming habits going during the […]
This is the 4th and last in our series examining the 4 quadrants of the Mogul Scale. This time we […]
It’s time to attack the “simple rules/deep gameplay” quadrant. Are these the purest games or are they too chess-y? Jake […]
In this episode, Jake and Mark examine the most controversial area of the Mogul Scale – the high rules, low […]
Simple rules and straightforward strategy? Not just the land of the party games and fillers.. hear Jake and Mark discuss […]
It’s been a great 2019 of gaming – Mark and Jake reflect on their year of gaming and call out […]
This episode, Jake and Mark welcome the third Mogul to the microphone – Dennis! They discuss the games they played […]
It’s been a year! 32 Episodes later the Gaming Moguls are still at it. We reflect on a few of […]
It seems like a lot of games are starting to bubble-wrap the play experience leading to low interaction and no […]
The Millennial Mogul gets his day in the sun to discuss his favorite games as of Fall 2019. Jake breaks […]
Who’s a fanboi? As Jake and Mark approach the one year anniversary of the Gaming Moguls, they revisit their top […]
“I thought that game was pretty tactical” – we’ve heard it a bunch so we muse on what implications a […]
We’re back after an awesome MogusCon ’19 and excited to talk about our experience hosting our first listener con. We […]
Jake and Mark welcome special guest Mogul Ambie Valdés from Board Game Blitz. This episodes topics include: our Goldilocks Game […]
Jake and Mark go after their Shelf of Shame and play a bunch of new small box games that they […]
Jake and Mark do a love letter to small box card games in this episode since they have played so […]
Mark and Jake return after back-to-back trips to GenCon in Indianapolis and MidSumCon in Chicago (a train game convention). Hear […]
Jake and Mark are back with more great enthusiast gaming content. They catch up on a ton of games that […]
Jake and Mark welcome back a repeat Guest Mogul – Craig Taylor from the Train Rush Podcast. Our main topic […]
It’s a quick special announcement with two bits of exciting news! MogulCon 0 will be held in the Minneapolis / […]
Jake and Mark welcome Dan Thurot – the writer at the gaming opinion site SPACE-BIFF! Dan writes some of the […]
Jake and Mark examine some of their favorite games that were first published more than 10 years ago. These include […]
Jake and Mark have a discussion about Euro games that are surprisingly thematic despite being somewhat abstract. They argue about […]
Jake and Mark have a discussion about running a gaming group and the issues surrounding how to run it, choose […]
Jake and Mark talk about our struggles with managing a gaming addiction and a gaming collection in a world that […]
Jake and Mark are joined today by very special guest Craig Taylor. Craig is one of the hosts of “The […]
Jake and Mark (The Gaming Moguls) are back with another lively chat about medium and medium-heavy boardgames. Besides talk about […]
The Gaming Moguls are back after a Spring Break hiatus to talk about their medium and heavy boardgaming hobby – […]
Jake and Mark spend an episode talking about the games they played since they last episode – Grand Austria Hotel, […]
In this episode, Mark and Jake consider improvements to BoardGameGeek’s difficulty rating system and they propose the Mogul Scale – […]
Mark and Jake continue our discussion about all the accessories that make a gaming experience better. This time they examine […]
In Episode 9, Mark and Jake talk about our favorite “in the box” gaming upgrades. They talk about component upgrades, […]
We all travel with our games – Mark and Jake more than most. They discuss their favorite games for travel […]
Jake and Mark look deeper into a pile of games that they played this week. It’s a pretty heavy line-up […]
Jake and Mark deep dive into their least favorite type of games – cooperative games. They examine the attributes of […]
Mark and Jake dive in to a melange of topics this week. After reviewing the games they played, including: Viticulture […]
Oink Games is a publisher of great small box games with amazing design and gameplay that is as good as […]
It's a year end wrap up! We review our favorite plays of the year and games we are most excited about playing in 2019.
Mark and Jake continue their “further down the rabbit hole” gaming adventure this week by discussing a variety of board […]
Mark and Jake dive into their love of chunky wooden bits in games through a reflection on The Estates and Medina. Next we talk about what we want in a two-player deck combat game.