Cult of the Old

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. Dear listeners, it is once again time for us to part ways. As we come to the end of our third season, let us reflect on the games we have covered. From the family friendly Ticket to Ride, to the genre defining titles like El Grande and Dominion, and the brutal chance of Blood Bowl we have covered a wide range of genre, mechanism, and complexity. However, no game this season has the reputation for sheer scale and difficulty of our final title. Not only did our last title this season establish its designer as a powerful voice, but it took a venerable genre and turned it inside out. The civilisation style of board games is almost as old as the hobby, and our final title took this genre, stripped out a lot of the fundamentals and made a game that took the world by storm. Join us for one last time this season as we go Through the Ages.Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedPandemicMage KnightCodenamesFrancis Tresham Civilisation Mega Civilisation ProphecySid Meier’s CivilisationNew LeadersThrough the Ages AppCan’t Stop - Playte VersionFlip 7FFG CivilisationMare NostrumImperiumSix Sojourns - Eight Minute EmpireCarta Impera VictoriaCivilisation: A New DawnInnovationArk NovaOther MentionsMatt LeacockBoardgame ArenaDigital Antiquarian Team LinksIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueSkyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. Nate: Well Iain we are almost at the end of the seasonIain: That’s right Nate and the teams have all to play forN: Teams?I: Yes Nate, teams. In no other sport do we get to see the sheer physicality and natural brutality brought out in such a glorious mannerN: This isn’t a sports podcast Iain, it’s a board game podcastI: Can’t it be both? N: I guess it could. If we covered a board game from at least 10 years ago that happens to be focused on sportI: How about a fantasy sport? N: Tell me more IainI: Well Nate, let me tell you about a sport that is not only an allegory for the animosity between many fantasy races but also stands as one of the icons of the British gaming scene. N: Is it from a famous British Publisher?I: You took the words right out of my mouth NateN: Meat Loaf?I: No thanks I’ve eaten. N: Enough of this, let’s get on with the showI: You’re right Nate, let’s tell these fine folks about Blood Bowl. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedWarhammerEpic 40kWarhammer 40kNecromundaWarhammer QuestSpace Hulk   Monsters of the MidwayFootball Strategy Avalon GamesTerror of the Lichemaster (warhammer campaign)Middle Earth Strategy Battle GameMordheimGorkamorkaDuneBlitz BowlDreadballBlood Bowl: Team ManagerKaos BallOther MentionsGames Workshop Ltd.Tabletop Simulator Mod we used Beastie Boys - License to ill American History XThe ProducersTSRTeam LinksIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueskyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. Sometimes you hear about games by reputation. The epic length of Twilight Imperium, the complexity of Vita Lacerda designs, the seemingly simple mechanisms behind the games of Reiner Knizia. These reputations can attract or repel in equal measure, and sometimes they are undeserved. The folklore around some games can be a hindrance to their uptake. However some folk tales are firmly based in reality. The game we are covering tonight is one of those games that I knew by reputation alone. Dry, excruciating downtime, with very little in the way of redeeming features. Despite that description this is a game that has always been available, an evergreen in more ways than one. Now that I have played the game, what do I think? We will get to that. As to what my fellow hosts think, well they are in the ring and ready to fight over the classic that is Power Grid. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedTicket to Ride - Episode Link ImperialRailway RivalsMcMultiPlaybossAge of SteamCity of Big ShouldersChicago ExpressBohnanzaPuerto Rico - Episode LinkFearsome FloorsPlum Island HorrorFish, Flip, and Frikadelen 504Ark Nova SetiThebesRed NovemberPatchworkRaModern Art - Episode LinkFishingOther MentionsBrettspielweltThe story of Power Grid - https://opinionatedgamers.com/2016/07/11/funkenschlag-at-fifteen-the-story-of-power-grid/Team LinksWebsites you can find the cast onThere Will Be GamesIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueskyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. A large part of the culture of the tabletop hobby is tied up with games emulating history. From HG Wells’ Little Wars to the early days of Avalon Hill and the modern expressions of the form in GMT Games, wargames are undoubtedly a large part of tabletop gaming’s history and present. We have covered one of the icons of this genre with Twilight Struggle in Season 1, a game that sat atop the BGG rankings for many years.Our next game this season has never had such an accolade, but has still been a massive presence over the years. Taking the more complicated wargames that were available at the time and distilling them into a fast card driven experience, it crossed the aisle into more  mainstream hobby gaming. Soon it was on gamers shelves everywhere and spawned numerous, and we do mean numerous, expansions, campaign books and more. Pull up a chair and reminisce with us as we look back at Memoir 44. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedTwilight Struggle Ticket to RideBattlecryCommands & Colours AncientsCommands & Colours Napoleonic Commands & Colours series We the PeopleCombat CommanderHeroscapeStar Wars Queen’s GambitBattleloreNetrunnerSamurai BattlesOther MentionsVassal Richard Borg InterviewTeam LinksWebsites you can find the cast onThere Will Be GamesIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueskyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. Over the last two and half seasons of Cult of the Old we have covered some absolute classics. From the brutal farming of Agricola that kicked off our very first season to Catan that began our second we have looked at games venerable and revered, and some that are just past their prime Some of those games still hold their place in the hobby, but many have been surpassed as designers take the original ideas and improve on them ten fold. This is not the case for the game we are covering tonight. Hitting the scene in 1995, the same year as Catan, our next title quickly became a watch word for area control. Though many games have followed in this Grand Dames footsteps, none have managed the combination of simple mechanisms, devilish decisions, and twists of fate that this title nailed. Pick up your caballeros and send them into the depths of the Castillo as we explore El Grande. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedCatan - Episode LinkCivilisationRiskGo6 NimmtHeimlich & CoTorresTikalHeroquestVilla paletti San MarcoMission Red Planet Race for the GalaxyDominion - Episode LinkArcsRootChaos in the Old WorldKemetWallensteinShogunOther MentionsRio Grande GamesZ-Man GamesTeam LinksIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueskyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. The three of us on this cast are purveyors of words. We use them to communicate our thoughts on games in the written or audio form. In doing so we hope to convey the emotions, feeling, and mechanisms behind games we love and loathe. Words have a long history of association with games. From Victorian parlour games to modern expressions of the form in games like Codenames and Paperback Adventures. Of course here on Cult of the Old we are not interested in the modern expressions so much as the origins of word games. We aren’t going to go back as far as the Victorians this episode. We are instead going to go back to the early 20th century. Then a game that was originally called Criss-Cross words was brought to a wider audience. It is then when it took on its modern name which you will already be familiar with. Scrabble. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedCodenamesPaperback AdventuresKriegspielMonopoly - Episode LinkTigris & Euphrates - Episode LinkAnagramsGoSo CloverUpwordsBoggleAcquireLetter JamOther MentionsWords with FriendsRosemary’s BabySneakersTeam LinksIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt Bluesky Nate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. Games come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. As consumers and critics of the form we try and categorise, quantify, and contemplate the flaws and virtues of these forms. We have tackled many games over the first two seasons of Cult of The Old from the heavier economic stylings of Brass, the negotiation heavy stylings of Cosmic Encounter, and the gentle , if grim, farming of Agricola. One category we haven’t touched on so far is that of the party game.These games tend to take a large number of players and lie at the lighter end of the mechanical spectrum. Although not the originator of this style of game, the title we are covering today is arguably one of the most influential. Coming in a blockbuster year of titles it was the lightest of that crop to make a mark, and it didn’t really take off properly until a couple of years later. A game that allows the players to express themselves through art, interpretation and surreal imagery. Welcome to the dream world of Dixit. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedStella on BGAApples to ApplesCards Against Humanity BalderdashCharadesMonopoly - Episode LinkTelestrationsTime’s UpFictionaryMysteriumDixit JourneyDixit Odyssey Once Upon A TimeOld Hellfire ClubScrawlMediumThe Chameleon SpyfallPictionaryCodenamesSo CloverDecryptoConceptOther MentionsDixit online - Tixid Blankety BlankCatchphraseCall my BluffTeam LinksWebsites you can find the cast onThere Will Be GamesIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt TwitterNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. Many of the games we have covered over 3 seasons have an important place in the hobby landscape. From Catan at the birth of the modern board game renaissance, to the success of Monopoly, and the influence of Agricola we have covered many big titles. The game we are covering this episode has one of the farthest reaching impacts of anything we have covered so far. Coming out in 2008 this box of cards took the hobby world by storm, spawning numerous expansions and countless imitators. The mechanism it spawned is still everywhere in the hobby, and continues to be innovated upon. Let’s get shuffling and dealing as we dive into the phenomenon that was, and is, Dominion.Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedMagic: The gatheringSt. PetersburgNetrunner - Episode LinkPandemic - Episode Link Ascension Star RealmsArctic ScavengersThunderstoneTanto Cuore Shards of InfinityRace for the Galaxy Star Wars UnlimitedArkham Horror LCGPuzzle StrikeUndaunted SeriesDune: ImperiumAutomobilesTyrants of the UnderdarkGloomhavenArkham Horror: The Card GameClank Battlestar GalacticaCosmic Encounter DixitStar Wars: Deckbuilding GameMillennium BladesRuthlessQuacks of Quedlinburg Other MentionsDiana Jones AwardGathering of FriendsFortress Ameritrash  Team LinksIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueskyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. Amongst the thousands of games that are released each year into the tabletop hobby, it can be hard to stand out as a designer. Your name rings out less than the games you make, making it hard to carve a space for yourself, let alone a career. For the designer of our next game, this has not been a problem. Dr Reiner Knizia was designing games before the hobby as we think of it today existed and is regarded as one of the best of all time.How do you know what games are his best though? Which game shows off that particular Knizia magic? When did he come to the attention of the wider community? Well the game we are covering on this episode is considered by some to be his masterpiece. A game that sat at the top of the BGG rankings for several years, has been reprinted numerous times, and is the perfect example of some of Knizia’s most famous design tropes. Let’s dip into the refreshing water of Tigris & Euphrates. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.Games MentionedCatan - Episode LinkEl Grande Risk Axis & AlliesDiplomacyCivilizationAcquireGoModern Art - Episode LinkRa Taj MahalLord of the RingsLost CitiesSamuraiAmun-ReThrough the DesertRevenge of the B-Movie Yellow & YangtzeRace for the GalaxyPuerto Rico - Episode LinkDuneGest of Robin HoodHexCarcassonneBabylonia Quest for El DoradoBlue moonOther MentionsDeutscher Spiele Preis Tigris & Euphrates video part 1 - other parts can be found from therehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRCub6Xxng0Team LinksWebsites you can find the cast onIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueskyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. The tabletop hobby has many niches within it. Maybe you are a miniatures person, battling over the table with painted models and buckets of dice. Just boardgames for you? No problem. How about being a dedicated card game player? Within these subcultures things get even more niche, but out of these specialisations seismic shifts can emerge. The 18xx genre of games is a complicated, byzantine, and often misunderstood section of the hobby. These games see players buying, selling, and building trains and train companies in a variety of different ways. The fascination with trains in the tabletop hobby doesn’t stop with this particular class of games though. When our first game this season hit the tables, it became a household name, being translated into 33 languages and, as of 2024, selling 18 million copies worldwide. I’ll be checking your travel pass as we get on board withTicket to Ride. Show LinksBelow are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question. We will also link to previous episodes where we have one. Games MentionedVotes for WomenCatan -Episode LinkRummyElfenland Brass -Episode LinkBagh ChalHnefatafl Monopoly -Episode LinkAge of Steam Memoir 44Ticket to Ride - Legends of the WestLords of VegasSpirit IslandGloomhavenOther MentionsMartin WallaceMasters Traditional GamesAround the world in 80 games bookTeam LinksWebsites you can find the cast onThere Will Be GamesIain The Giant Brain BlueskyMatt BlueskyNate Bluesky InstagramSupport us on PatreonEmail us atcultoftheolduk@gmail.com 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!   Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.    It is the end, dear listeners. As we stare once more into the inky black void of our season break, we contemplate our own mortality and wonder if there is anything out there between the episodes. Such musings can leave us imagining monstrosities that exist in the gaps between seasons. Entities vast and overwhelming that we can barely understand and are wise to not look at directly. Only by coming together in the warm embrace of our listeners can we stand a chance to fight back such Eldritch Horrors.    The game we are discussing for our last episode this season similarly tackles the darkness of the unknown. This game took the mythos of HP Lovecraft and turned it into a co-operative game where investigators take on horrors beyond measure to save a small town in Massachusetts. A game that arguably gave rise to the hobby game obsession with Cthulhu and was certainly one of the earliest co-operative games. Join us on a road trip to the end of space and time, in Arkham Horror.    The original game was designed by Richard Launius, Charlie Krank, Sandy Petersen, and Lynn Wills. We are mostly covering the second edition version created by Fantasy Flight Games and designed by Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson.   Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Call of Cthulhu RPG Battlestar Galactica - Episode Link D&D Gold box Games Pool of Radiance Curse of the Azure Bonds Tales of the Arabian Nights Talisman - Episode Link War of the Ring Twilight Imperium Third Edition  Arkham Horror: RPG Elder Sign Eldritch Horror Star Wars: Outer Rim   Other Mentions   Ride the Lightning - Metallica  Ramsay Campbell Thomas LeGotti    Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Twitter   Matt Twitter   Nate Twitter Instagram    Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old! Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.  “The sky above the port was the color of television, turned to a dead channel”  The famous opening line of William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer, released in 1984. Only a couple of years before in his short story ‘Burning Chrome’ Gibson had defined the term “Cyberspace”. He used it to refer to a global network of interconnected computers. In publishing Neuromancer Gibson helped solidify the genre of Cyberpunk and the rest is history. Or the future. Depends on how you look at it.  Popular culture embraced Cyberpunk. We got films like Blade Runner and tabletop RPGs like Cyberpunk and Shadowrun. These games saw plucky teams of street rebels take on the shadowy corporations that ruled the future of those settings. The title we are covering tonight lets you step into the role of a megacorp, or the hackers that are taking them on. It came from the mind of Richard Garfield, who only 3 years earlier had defined a genre and upset an industry with a little game called Magic: The Gathering. Put on your mirrorshades and jack in as we take a dive into Netrunner.  Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Magic: The Gathering Disney Lorcana Star Wars Unlimited Austin Powers CCG Sim City CCG V:TES Android Android: Infiltration New Angeles  Call of Cthulhu LCG Lord of the Rings LCG Game of Thrones LCG Star Wars LCG Omen: Reign of War   Other Mentions   jinteki.net Null Signal The Peripheral Snow Crash Bladerunner 2049 Netrunnerdb Hearthstone   Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Twitter   Matt Twitter   Nate Twitter Instagram   Support us on Ko-Fi https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!   Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.    What are we looking at this cast?   People love board games for all sorts of reasons. The satisfaction of a well executed strategy. Building the perfect engine. Riding the curve of chance to push your luck just enough. We enjoy the finely honed mixing of mechanism, theme, and setting to produce the perfect game. Our next game this season is none of those. It just wants to watch the world burn.    Having had 9 different editions over the course of its existence this game sees players donning their robes, picking up a staff, and pouring over their spell books. Not for intense wizardry research. Oh no. Just to make sure that your fellow wizards see the wrong end of a fireball and get fried by your lightning bolt. Welcome to Wiz War.   Wiz War was designed by Tom Jolly and has had various artists over the course of its editions.    Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Dungeons & Dragons Cosmic Encounter - Episode Link  Nuclear War Mille Bornes Dungeon Quest Merchant of Venus  Fireball Island Dark Tower Slay The Spire Inscryption Tresham Civilization  1830 Mage Wars Summoner Wars   Munchkin Bang! Arcane Blaster Casters  King of Tokyo - Episode Link   Other Mentions   Interview with Tom Jolly https://web.archive.org/web/20191031005246/http://controlledareagaming.com/2016/09/09/interview-with-tom-jolly-designer-of-wiz-war/   Reflections on the publishing of Wiz War https://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/a-brief-history-of-wiz-war/   Dragon Magazine Cheapass Games Fantasy Flight Games Restoration Games The Duelist    Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld   Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!   Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.    Themes in games have become a hot topic over the last few years. As the hobby expands, people have begun to ask if we can tackle difficult subject matter in the guise of a boardgame. Designers like Cole Wherle try to answer these questions with their titles Pax Pamir and John Company.    Some themes have existed since the dawn of the hobby and the rise and fall of civilisations is one such example. From the original Tresham Civilisation game, many titles have addressed the civ building aspect of this theme. However only one game focuses on the constant wax and wane of history in a very playable time scale. The tense ebb and flow of history condensed down into a tight compact box. It’s a Small World, after all.    Small World was designed by Phillippe Keyaerts, with art from Miguel Coimbra and Cyrille Daujean. It was published by Days of Wonder.   Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Vinci Mare Nostrum History of the World Dominion Age of Steam Power Grid Agricola  - Episode Link Worldspanner Factions Civilisation Pirates Cove Ticket to Ride Memoir 44  Colosseum Cleopatra and the society of architects  Battlelore Commands and Colours: Ancients Commands and Colours: Napoleonics Lords of Waterdeep - episode link Risk Nexus Ops Power Grid Civilization - New Dawn Tempus Twilight Imperium Third Edition Through The Ages Clash of Cultures  Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy   Other Mentions   Days of Wonder Fantasy Flight Games    Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!   Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.    Within any sub-culture certain things become the boogeyman. Films so terrible they are just terrible and become the poster child for the worst the form has to offer. Books so ponderous that no-one can make them to the end and everyone wonders why anybody bothers trying. Board games are not immune from this and it is of course those games that a lot of us grew up with that become the target of our ire.    That does not mean they are not worthwhile discussing and here on Cult of the Old we want to take a look at the history and impact of one of those pariahs. Yes it's time to choose if you want to be the dog or the hat, to hope you don’t go to Jail, and to see if you can get the best value properties. The game that makes Capitalism fun, Monopoly!    Monopoly was designed by Elizabeth Maggie, not Charles Darrow as you will learn in our cast!   Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Monopoly: Ultimate Banking Edition  Catan - Episode Link Pandemic - Episode Link 7 Wonders - Episode Link Risk Modern Art Acquire Power Grid Lords of Vegas Millennium Blades Contract Bridge Kriegspiel Magnate: The First City Monopoly Deal I’m the Boss   Other Mentions   Senet Magazine The Monopolists Dollop Episode on The Landlords Game   Team Links   Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!   Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.    This Episode….   The idea of adventure draws many to different hobbies. Some go scaling mountains, while others hurtle down them. Camping outdoors brings many to the wonders of forests and lakes across the world. Even dry and inhospitable deserts hold wonders to be explored. Much as I don’t mind a bit of outdoors living, a lot of my adventures have been found round the gaming table, exploring strange places and encountering odd folk.    Roleplaying games excel at this kind of adventure but sometimes we don’t want the faff of creating a character or lumbering a friend with the responsibilities of the GM. Sometimes we want something to give us that feeling without all the work needed to run a good RPG. The next game we are talking about attempted to do just that. It’s a game that has been around for a long time and still keeps getting reprinted. We will look at why, discuss its influences and legacy, as we climb the wizards tower to the top of Talisman.   The game was designed by Robert Harris and published by Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games.  It has art from Christos Achilleos, Ryszard Anotnoiszczak, Gary Chalk, and Peter Andrew Jones.    Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Dungeons and Dragons Bugs Bunny Adventure Game Magic Realm Dungeon Mystic Wood Dungeon Quest Dungeon Crawl Classics Agon Deathmatch Island Swords & Wizardry Mork Borg  Mage Knight Catan Episode Link Runebound Expeditions Vindication Heroquest Star Wars: Outer Rim Eldritch Horror   Other Mentions   Talisman Island Bob Harris site Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld   Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old! Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.  When we turn our minds to the subject of influential designers there is surely one name at the top of everyone’s list. Dr. Reiner Knizia. A designer with somewhere in the region of 700 titles to their name. Many of us have our favourite Knizia titles, and the hosts of this show are no exception.  The good doctor is famous for many games and is associated with many mechanisms that feature time and again in his designs. One of those is auctions. In our game tonight we will visit art auctions across the world, buying up the finest pieces, for the least amount of money and making huge profits. Or so we hope. Open the doors and put your finest pieces on display in the classic game Modern Art.    Modern Art was designed by Reiner Knizia with various artists across all the editions.   Show Links Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned Modern Art: The Card Game Monopoly  Bridge Spades Ra Medici Hoity Toity Cafe international Scotland Yard Die Macher  For Sale Furnace Beowulf Hobbit   Other Mentions Ancient Robot Games   Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld   Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!   Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.    Good games being lost in the shuffle is not a new phenomenon as Puerto Rico knows only too well. Overlooked for a Spiel des Jahre award the year of release this game has always had a controversial place in the hobby. Hugely influential but with a setting that could be easily described as insensitive, this game has had a massive impact on the hobby and recently had an attempted re-release to get rid of some of the more problematic elements. We will discuss that, and everything else about this game in this episode.    Puerto Rico was designed by Andreas Seyfarth with art from Franz Vohwinkel.   Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Manhattan Thurn & Taxis Citadels El Grande Ra Taj Mahal Princes of Florence Power Grid Tigris & Euphrates Paths of Glory Crokinole  Eminent Domain San Juan Brass Five Tribes Twilight Imperium 3rd San Juan  Race For the Galaxy  Other Mentions   Puerto Rico Evolver Digital Antiquarian Privilege of Play   Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld   Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old! Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.  The history of TV and film franchises becoming tabletop games has not been one filled with glory. Eager executives and overconfident designers would rush games out to market, only to be met with a distinct sound of disinterest from the gaming public. Despite a few honourable exceptions, like Star Wars Queen’s Gambit and Epic Duels, when our next game came to market, everyone thought it would continue this run of duds. It did not.  Released 4 years after the start of the TV series it was based on, Battlestar Galactica saw players engaging in inevitable betrayal and cunning tactics to win the game for their side. This game of artificial intelligence versus humans is not only on the nose for the current political climate, but, like its parent show, linked to the politics of its time through metaphorical allusions to 9/11.  The game was designed by Corey Koniecza, with art from Kevin Childress, Brian Schomburg, and Wil Springer.  Show Links Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned Battlestar Galactica  Battlestar Galactica the CCG Arkham Horror War of the Ring Mafia /Werewolf Starcraft Betrayal at House on the Hill Shadows over Camelot Labyrinth: War on Terror Twilight Struggle Tortuga 1667 Blood on the Clocktower Dark Moon One Night Ultimate Werewolf The Resistance The Resistance: Avalon  Nemesis Nemesis Lockdown Unfathomable Dune   Other Mentions Fringe Tao of gaming Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky   Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld   Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!   Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape.    For the first episode of this season we are going back to what many consider the beginning of the modern era. Arriving onto the tabletop scene in the mid-90s Settlers of Catan was a breath of fresh air into a hobby that had grown somewhat stale. It made a star of its designer Klaus Teuber, who sadly passed in 2023. Join us as we trade wood for sheep and discuss the relevance this game still has in the modern hobby.    Show Links   Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.   Games Mentioned   Baraborosa Hoity Toity Borderlands Go Magic Realm Dominion Game of Thrones Catan Star Trek Catan Risk Puerto Rico Vila Paletti   Other Mentions   New Yorker Interview Spiel des Jahres   Team Links   Websites you can find the cast on There Will Be Games   Iain The Giant Brain Bluesky Matt Bluesky   Nate Bluesky Threads   Support us on Ko-Fi   https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold   Support us on Patreon   https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld   Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com