User:Cicerunner

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Offline/Online me

I'm Stuart in real life and often cicerunner online:

BGG - cicerunner
Twitter - cicerunner
Etc.

Board Game me

I decided to "become a board gamer" in December 2019 having been a keen player of games for much of my life but unaware of the existence, success and diversity of modern board gaming. In 2020, I found the Board Game Barrage podcast in February and the discord in April. The podcast and discord community have been my surrogate game group ever since. I'm looking forward to meeting my first "gamers who have become friends" in real life very soon!

BGB wiki

I'm using the BGB wiki as an opportunity to learn the wiki editing skill set, to express my appreciation for the Board Game Barrage podcast and community and hopefully to contribute to it.

I'm keen to get involved in any BGB wiki ideas that other community members are working on so, if that's you, do get in touch.

wiki sandbox

Just trying things out here ...

Episode count: 365

Episode one transcript

Kellen: Hi guys and welcome to the first ever episode of the Board Game Barrage podcast. Board Game Barrage started as an Instagram account and quickly morphed into a website where we do reviews and previews on games and games that are coming to Kickstarter and sort of just talk about the industry in general. My name is Kellen. If you've ever seen any content on the site from a Red Tank, that is me. I'm excited to be joined tonight by my co-hosts Mark and Neilan. Why don't you guys introduce yourselves and sort of talk about your gaming tastes?

Neilan: Sure, I'm Neilan, hi everyone. If you see anything from the website with an Orange Tank, that's me. My tastes I think lean towards, more sort of like heavy Euro puzzly games. I feel like multiplayer solitaire is something that's often thrown around as a bad word but I'm sort of into them. But also social deduction games I like a lot. Yeah. Mark?

Mark: If you see anything on the website from the Green Tank that's me. I consider myself sort of an omni-gamer, I'll play anything. Anything from real light easy to explain and play party games to really heavy Euros or economic games or Splotters and stuff like that so I can play, I'm happy to play, sort of anything in the spectrum.

Kellen: Cool. And I am mostly a social gamer I woulld say. I think I see games as sort of a social construct or a way to explore your friends and your relationship with them. That doesn't mean just social deduction games but it means games that are highly interactive sort of the opposite of multiplayer solitaie; If I wanted to do a spreadsheet I'd do it at work. So, why don't we go ahead and get started talking about some games that we've been playing recently. I'll just get us started with a new social deduction game that I've been really enjoying recently called When I Dream. When I Dream is a game where one player has a sleep mask on. So the game actually comes with a sleep mask and you put that on and everyone at the table is trying to get you to guess the word; Let's say the word is "forest". You'll go around the table and everyone will be giving one word clues to try to direct you towards that word, "forest". So you might hear, "trees", "green", "land" or what have you and you get to make one guess and if you're wrong you move on and if you're right you get that right. That may sound really pedestrian but what actually makes the game so great is that half the table is trying to get you to guess the word wrong, half the table is trying to get you to guess the word right and then some portion is actually trying to flip back and forth for you to guess it right and wrong. So you can imaging what that feels like; You have this sleep mask ...

Mark: It feels very, very bad.

Kellen: Confusing?

Neilan: Yeah.

Mark: Yeah.

Neilan: One of my favourite memories of when we played this most recently is. So there's a table of like 6 or 7 of us and I think the word is something like "toast" and we just got into this great segment, the three of us, of like "appliance", "electrical", "power tools" ... It's like, it worked and it was amazing.

Kellen: Yeah, essentially what happens is someone will give the clue "live", the next person will give the clue "dead" and then everyone will start laughing and you also get points at the end of the round if you can recount your dream and all the words that you guess which I think is impossible?

Mark: I am with you there. I could not believe the first time we played it, you started us off and you recounted your dream, you got got all your words back, right? And I was just thinking this is gonna be something ... (Neilan: We can do this.) ... Yeah, and it came to me and every other person either totally gave up on it or or wasn't anywhere close. But yeah.

Kellen: Yeah, it's a neat game. I think it's a bit over produced. I think, I don't know if it's up there with the heavyweights in that genre like A Fake Artist Goes to New York for me or even Spyfall, which I know you don't like them of the future than that, but I would do When I Dream again. I liked it. Yeah, yeah. I think it offers something different. I think there's something to with this different than the other games are like you said in the genre. Yeah, so that's When I Dream. I would definitely check that out.

Talk about charge Stone. We've all been playing this together recently, we're about half just past the halfway mark through the campaign. So to give some context for this. This is Jamie steak knives, new Legacy game. It's a worker placement game which is pretty unusual for the Legacy. Genre at least the idea being that you are as a group placing buildings on the board which are going to be the worker placement spots, they're going to be evolved over the course of the campaign. So by the time you get to around game of six or seven youth bolts, the Pletely different board from like any other group that's played that game effectively, I feel like we're for the most part, pretty positive on the experience so far with me making a decent extent. Yeah, actually, it's funny like I was really excited about it when I was first announced. No, I just I was sort of swept up in the whole Legacy thing. I'm not there. Any Legacy game? It's a relatively new type of game. So you can imagine all these like, magical places, you think it'll take you. And then so I was going on with really high hopes and then I want to start being released

Early reviews came out, they seem sort of lukewarm and I was right. I sort of got lukewarm about it and wasn't so sure I wanted it want to play it and then you brought it out, invite me to play. And I've been really pleasantly surprised, I think the best thing for me about it or the thing I like the most is, it's a solid game. So solid worker placement game. And there's the Legacy component where you can change things but also the quickness of the games games like your, I will say, I feel that's gone away a little bit as we got further and further, we were all. As how quick was playing early on where as we get to the point now where we play one game of it and it you know, it's like an hour and a half, maybe right. Which is maybe slightly too long for the early promise that I would say but I that's not say how many enjoying sure. I think it's been a really solid game. The thing I like the most about its being funny. It creates funny moment just by the way that little design decisions. Like how do you name cards, that keeps occurring and things like that. It's a, it's a conversation, sort of fun group friend game.

Let me ask you this guy's. Have you ever bought a new game open? The rule book? And thought, I'd love to have a sticker for every paragraph in the rule. Yeah, that's set up. Just getting to read it. You have to actually assemble the rule book because if so, please check out Charter Stone. Yeah, okay. I think that's so I feel like that's sort of something kind of maybe need to have in a legacy gift because I feel like part of the fun is Legacy. Game is unlocking different rules, or different types of pieces or different. You know, mechanisms and if you have them all laid out in a, I get your point. But if you had a male out in the rulebook beforehand, you know, you read up a bottom and then it would sort of take away. Some of that we are six or seven games in, and definitely enjoying it. But I think we're still discovering little rules ambiguities. That sure that real and has said over and over again, that he told us, but half the table is unclear about. I am with you there and I think that's part of the whole unlocking. The rules thing. I think it's part of the parcel of that. He's also never

That's the role they were like yeah, just just trust me guys. I think I'm somewhere between the two of you where I think there was definitely that first game up front. Oh hey sticker. Oh hey. Stick it. Where we felt like we were placing. Stick is more than we were playing the game but that's dissipated a lot as we've. Yeah. Got him further. Yeah. Alright so my game I'm going to start off with surprisingly my most played game of the new year which is the Bob Ross. We are delicious. The only thing was like, did you guys play this? We were not. Invited to laughs. That was one of our secret game nights great. But yeah, it's a it's a mass-market game. You can buy it at Target. I bought at Target. I think it's only available Target. Actually please visit target.com. Yes, that's right. But so it's a it's like a it's a simple set collection. Sort of hand management. It's sort of it's a very much like ticket ride in the way that you assemble had a cards that you draw from a an array and using it to complete, you know, as in tickets, right? Whereas And ticket ride you to complete routes in Bob, Ross, you're completing aspects of a painting. It's a really simple game that I've played a lot with family and friends that I've hung out with recently. It's a really simple game to teach, you know, it's really you can tell us very lovingly produce. I feel like you could have slapped the Bob, Ross name and image on a lot of like subpar games and, you know, cashed in. And I feel like this game. This is like an actual game. There's a mean, it's not there's not enough meat baby.

Satisfy like a gamer quote unquote gamer but there's, I mean, there's enough in there that, you know, I've played a bunch of times. I've had fun and, and yeah, I think people have said it like it evokes, Nostalgia, which isn't the case for me, actually. I've never I've never, I've never seen 11s about rough but you know it's funny is like I just play this again yesterday and I noticed that it was Bob, Ross shows on Netflix. All right, so I put it on, I was just like, it was just like it was it was amazing. Like I was actually like what was that even on? I don't know. Everyone here at least talks about all the time. I never do not fro would point to late 70s. I think that's worth thinking about. I will say like I'm a little bit weird about this because I don't like tickety, right? And feels like a worse version of Ticket to Ride to me. I think that's true. I think you'd that's true, ready? Yeah. So I mean it's a weird but for me but yeah it's cute. The product like to the production values are very good right plastic easel, it's awesome. Yeah. All right so we wanted to kind of broadly Identify some of our

Things from 2017, give you guys an example of some of the things that we like and dislike. We all have pretty diverse opinions. So I think this could be interesting. Yeah, I'll go ahead and start things off with a game that we all play together called battle for Roku gone. It's Roku con right? Took one year of Japanese guys the show's mailed it was clearly pronounced. Right? So powerful Roku gone is a new Fantasy Flight production that kind of snuck in right before Rising Son, and then sort of, as this area control game set in The Legend of the Five Rings Universe, which is a popular card game that Fantasy Flight is also revived this year. It's an area control game that plays in under two hours, sort of loosely based on the Game of Thrones system but simplified and stripped of a lot of the elements. So on each turn, you actually only have these six command tokens that are actually. They tell you what you can do, like rate an army or bring in a Shinobi.

Or have a sea Battle, okay? And what you can do is just choose where the six go on the board and those are all played facedown and then they're all revealed simultaneously and they all happen together when they see this game. So great and so amazing is that there's that tension, you know, I'm setting down a control token and it's pointed at marks units, right? But Mark, doesn't know what I'm doing and it literally could be a bluff. And then Mark will look at me and they'll say, you know, don't you dare or I'll come for you and there's a nice interplay bear. The game place quick. The box is really small. I think I know how the reviewers have hit on that but it was kind of surprising when it came to. The art is beautiful. So if you like some of these area control games, this one is, is refreshing and how simple it is. You know, I think the one thing I would say in the negative is there is a little bit more luck than there would be in a game of a similar ilk because you are being told what tokens you have. So you're available move, pool is sort of more limited than it is in some other games but

I was, I was actually gonna say that as opposed it because, like, one of the things I liked about it, specifically, was that element because I feel like games of this type can get sort of overblown with, like, high-level strategy. Like, oh, this is my plan for the game, and I'm gonna double down in this way possible, but it forces you to attack the to adapt to, like, a round by round. Oh, this is what I drew I sort of have to make this work, but I can pretend to Bluff that I'm still going along. Yeah. But I was trying to do last round like it. Totally. You have to like adapt and change. It's on my list man. So I still love you. I don't know. I know.

14:13 I just, I just Dissenting, I think on this one, in the one game we played I was, I definitely had the least favorable reaction to it. I definitely can see this being a result of me just having played at once. But I just I was, I'm a little worried that it rewards like a defensive posture. The fact that turtling strategy. Exactly. You know, I sort of feels to me like I feel like in a game like that turtling is sort of Of a, an out-of-date way to design a game. Like, and maybe again, this may not be the case with this with battle for World economy. May not even be. It may just be the way I played it, but you gotta rek, I do, right? Yeah. Two three say like, yeah, the third link strategy. One out in the game we play. But I don't think any of us was convinced that was going to be the case, every time I guess, like, I we are you saying you that holing up in Australia? Is not about right, right, exactly. And I just for me, I feel like the games

Chris. I feel like the way to design them now is to force in Iraq -, right? So, that's that I went into this game feeling like I was gonna die was going to like attack or I was just gonna interact, you know, from the get-go of court and that might have the fact that I was, I think you'll the person who didn't like the most or it was Mike's for exclusive strategy, really killed me. And I could tell everyone that's exactly right regard for my own well-being but and I just got I could tell but halfway through that, I was had no chance. I mean, I mean, that's not even a problem. I don't mind being in like a hopeless situation. Try to play as well as I can right after situation. But I just, I just was a little a little bit bad taste in my mouth worrying. That if nobody else would end with me on an aggressive path that it was just not to be very specific students to lose. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. My initial pressure was extremely positive. Like I came out of the wanting to Play It Again. Almost right away? Sure. Yeah, I think.

I think I agree with your thought in general, you know, when a game has Defenders winning ties. I'm always right. Like I would prefer the attacker to win the tie because you're putting yourself out there. Broadly speaking. Yeah, so likes I feel favorite game. Oh my God. Should we move on to another game? Of course, let's talk about Blue Haven, which I don't think is unfair to say it's going to be one of the most popular at least most talked about most desirable games of last year. Kelly. What your The only person who hasn't played, it's true. Well of the three of us. At least I love Gloom Haven. So, I came into it, originally with playing a campaign with Mark and it just wasn't invited the thing. That surprised me about because you used to be good proceed under callers from this perspective of, hey, we're gonna go in beer and pretzels,

Someday, she'll from Monsters but it's so mechanically. Solid, like the decisions are so good. You're like, I wish I could use this card in this way, but I have to be positioned over here. I am. Right. Exactly. And how does it affect the next players, really? Yeah, because you sort of, you know, intuitively like these games can get like, bogged down in convoluted mechanics or like how we are worse is not going. So so so describe it to me. It's a mission-based Dungeon Crawler, right? With a card with a chronic cough driven system K1. Be fair to say, That it's not, it's devoid of Randomness because there was a cards deck system put damage. But for the most part, every decision you made is based on like a full hand of cards that you have, which is your classes Cod, right? And you're choosing between two of them and then you can sort of decide the order of the actions of those cards. So, right off the bat you have this wealth of options available to you depending on the class and each of them is position dependent and has different speeds and different it's just right.

And the cool thing about it being based on a card system as opposed to say, for example, die system is that, you know, the dice have no memory. So right, you know you roll and you may roll good in my robe at, but with the card with a card system, you you know, what's in the deck. So, you know, when you've played a bunch of good cards, you know, that, you know, maybe less desirable cars are definitely coming down right now, exactly. You haven't heard of, like, well, I've missed every time up until now nice about it. Yeah, that's gonna be it. Yeah, and when it hits, it's great, right, you know you deserve, sure. Exactly. Exactly. So is this game replacing any other games, like descent, or any of these other sort of dungeon? Games or are you know credit compared often to like more of a video game experience in a more game format? Sure. I mean I think it's I don't know what the term is. Is it like lifestyle game? I don't know. It's just a game where you can look at Dungeons and Dragons sort of thing. You know what I have? Like a group of people you meet every week and you just play it and it's still fun and there's still like things to explore. It's almost exactly the same the same sort of right. Really. I think it gets Loosely described as like being in a box which isn't I don't think entirely Fair because it's certainly not trying to be a role-playing. Encapsulated. But it captures that feeling like you say, like, we're gonna meet up and go to this familiar place, right? Have a new adventure, right? Aesthetic. You don't worry about a dungeon master, right? Making a story up and and, you know, him having to like, adjust on the Fly. That what your adventures do? You've got something as like, you've got a hundred missions or however, many are coming to box, and you've just got, you know, you meet up and you play and you have this overarching story and it's just, yeah. It's like a think. The Indians box does sort of capture the essence. Definitely leave it, at least has brought feel. Yeah.

All right, so I guess it's my turn. I'm going to talk about the thing. I think this subtitles Outpost or what is it, says, infection at our first 31. It's right. Exactly. This is a game that I actually was not expecting to like it all. I was sort of have been. I feel like burnt out on social deduction games. I've never seen the movie, which I thought was probably to be at least somewhat important to to enjoying it. I heard it was a little bit on the longer side but and you know, need it needs a relatively High player count but

The first time you played it, I just thought it like, ratchet it up that tension to like a crescendo perfectly. Like it was, you know, sort of for me its Darkmoon killer, it does the same thing. Yeah, I'm with you. I think it's like it because we can talk about it forces you to like, even if you're one of the good guys, quote-unquote, there's often times where you can't contribute to a mission, the way you'd want to and you just, you know, same thing with dark moon, where you just roll back da,

And you know, even though you like the most good of the good guys, like you just can't contribute and then people started sort of like cast eyes of you wonder if you're really are on the, on the up-and-up in that first game. We I felt like it built up the tension to like again. The crescendo right at the end of the game where there were co-people. I think it was maybe Nealon and I think we're playing with Dan and we weren't sure, which of the two was the Imposter and then at the very end, we sussed it out, were able to escape and it was like, Like, it was just a really palpable excitement, but I wasn't, I wasn't sure because I'm games like that. It can be very like dependent on this session, right yet. Fragile is aware that everyone uses for this because right every game has the potential to break in horrible. Sure. And then and then we replayed again. Callen. Let's enter. Notice that the first time you played it. Yeah. That's the first and only time I played it. Yeah. And Claire. Right. Right. But it was good. I was thing. I don't know what I was. It wasn't bad guy. Yeah. And I won and how did Harassed for lacan. The last car flipped, I think there's a couple things, one, the board is entirely Superfluous. Yes, I really don't need it. True to we had to make a house rule for it before we even started playing it because there's some finicky things about which car did I contribute and trying to pin people down that's her. And then there is sort of this emergent discussion going on right now about whether or not as a hidden traitor, your best move is to pretend to be good for the entire game. The way that the game ends is actually you get on a helicopter. Copter and you escape. But if a hidden traitor, is on that mission than the hidden traitor wins. And they're actually people who legitimately look believe that the best strategy is to do nothing the entire game and then you have almost a 50/50 shot of including a right after where I wonder about, like whether more games or just bear this out, is that, I mean there is a mechanic that is specifically designed against that in that you get more tests against the infected depending on how well you're progressing. So it's like the balance of the infective. Like, do I sabotage early? And yet reduce the number of tests we get at the end.

No, I just lie low and then get risking picked off just on the card draw and I think we had a fantastic game was an eight-player game. I think you know, full complement of people played it at, like, 10:00 p.m. to midnight or had to be fair. It was a fantastic experience, but for best game of 2017 or best included, think one of the one ready that's games. Okay, that's fair. So the next thing we want to do is go around and talk about games that disappointed Us in 2017. Can't I'll be roses and something else lace. Yeah I think it's like they're saying yeah you can go ahead and start you guys. Yeah I'm gonna talk about tiny Epic Quest which wa

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