Board Game Barrage

As we approach the end of 2024, it's about time we stop, take stock, and dare I say look back at the year that's been. The highs, the lows, the mids - all the stars are here, and we're going to break them down for you with some of our favourite games, and biggest moments, and general assessment of the year that's been. Before we reflect, we talk about Let's Go! To Japan, Mombasa, and The Gang. 01:52 - Let's Go! To Japan 10:17 - Mombasa 15:05 - The Gang 21:00 - Looking back on 2024 22:01 - Arcs 27:54 - Cascadero 29:29 - Slay the Spire: The Board Game 31:17 - Wilmot's Warehouse Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

Gobble Bobble, here comes trouble in the form of a pairing we never thought we'd see - Bob and the Ghost Turkey have delivered us another holiday nightmare. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Before we tuck in, we talk about Tapple, Mini Rails, and Naishi. 05:48 - Tapple 11:07 - Mini Rails 17:45 - Naishi 22:56 - BGBBOB Bird Games 24:45 - ICECOOL 24:52 - Root 26:17 - Rook 26:26 - Songbirds 28:05 - Fancy Feathers 28:15 - The Bird Told Me to Do It 29:09 - Piepmatz 32:17 - Wingspan 32:28 - Penguin Party 33:44 - Angry Birds: Star Wars - Jenga Rise of Darth Vader Game Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

We've been to Las Vegas and back for the very unofficial recurring gathering we like to call BarrageCon (which is really just all of us hanging out at Mark's place). We had a lot of games lined up to play, and I daresay we did a pretty good job of getting through them. Here's our report back, just a bunch of impressions of a bunch of games - including Rise & Fall, Fractured Sky, and Wilmot's Warehouse! 02:26 - Harvest 07:18 - Fractured Sky 18:13 - Penguin Party 22:10 - San Marco 27:14 - EGO 31:45 - Barony 37:30 - Rise & Fall 49:49 - Wilmot's Warehouse 56:45 - Tiny Laser Heist 1:01:32 - Nekojima 1:02:45 - Bottle Imp 1:07:45 - The Vale of Eternity 1:11:53 - Shogun Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

I think it's fair to say at this point, that we've pretty firmly established each of our respective tastes when it comes to board games, whether it's for genre, theme, mechanic, whatever. There's always something, though, right? Something that flies in the face of those rules and boldly proclaims, "I like this, even though..." Before we prove the rule, we talk about Andromeda's Edge, and Karvi. 03:05 - Andromeda's Edge 13:15 - Karvi 23:32 - Exceptions to our Gaming Tastes 24:47 - Through the Ages 26:41 - Ark Nova 30:57 - Stationfall 34:04 - Thunder Road: Vendetta 35:35 - Terra Mystica Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

The Fandango Tank returns! The ever wonderful Mike DiLisio joins us again, this time to collectively cast our minds forward to some things we'd like to manifest into the board game future. We've got a mess of ideas, a veritable mixtape of miscellany that we either want to play, or hope to see more of as the hobby progresses. Before we unspool, we talk about Fishing, EGO, The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth, and Key Market (Second Edition). 02:57 - Fishing 03:03 - I Made You a Mixtape 11:31 - EGO 21:00 - The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth 27:46 - Key Market (Second Edition) 40:49 - Things we'd like to see Please check out the Kickstarter for Mike and Dan's game, I Made You a Mixtape: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabbagedan/i-made-you-a-mixtape Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

So we've done a lot of these drafts before, but I don't think we've done one quite like this. This time we're each trying to draft a set of five games that we think you might agree are incredibly overrated. What does that mean exactly? Well that's up for debate too. What isn't up for debate is that you could win $100 just by voting! Before we widen our delta, we talk about Undaunted 2200: Callisto, Nature, and Barcelona. 03:37 - Undaunted 2200: Callisto 13:10 - Nature 23:00 - Barcelona 31:22 - Overrated Games Draft  37:07 - Nemesis  39:10 - Frosthaven  41:15 - Star Wars: Rebellion 45:19 - Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition 47:37 - Earth 48:45 - Wingspan 51:19 - 7 Wonders Duel 52:24 - Mechs vs. Minions 53:17 - Everdell 55:43 - Crokinole 58:52 - Caverna: The Cave Farmers 59:55 - Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon 1:01:24 - On Mars  1:02:45 - Lost Ruins of Arnak 1:04:13 - Catan Vote for who you think won the draft for a chance at a $100 gift certificate at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/vote Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

I'm in a bit of a quandary here, because Mark told me not to tell you what this episode is even about, but I want this description to be, well, descriptive but he's glaring at me really hard, and making a throat slitting gesture so I daren't risk it. It's about ... board games? Before we get ahead of ourselves, we talk about Binho, Stamp Swap, and First Rat. 03:33 - Binho 07:24 - Stamp Swap 17:04 - First Rat 30:16 - ??? 34:47 - Agricola 34:47 - Bohnanza 36:28 - Patchwork 37:05 - A Feast for Odin 39:02 - Power Grid 39:43 - Friday 40:06 - Fearsome Floors 41:25 - 504 42:40 - Fast Sloths 43:03 - Fresh Fish 44:44 - Ra 45:28 - Tigris & Euphrates 46:45 - Lost Cities 46:52 - Yellow & Yangtze 47:23 - Blue Lagoon 47:43 - The Quest for El Dorado 48:22 - My City 49:13 - Through the Desert 49:28 - Ingenious 50:59 - Schotten Totten Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

We may or may not be going to Germany (who can say), but that's where all the good gaming is gonna be, so that's what we're gonna talk about. It's almost Essen SPIEL! That sure is a lot of games debuting there though, so which ones should you care about? Don't worry, we've done the hard work for you. Before you go back to being eine faule socke, we talk about Nekojima, We're Sinking!, Hues and Cues, and Colorful. 02:46 - Nekojima 09:01 - We're Sinking! 15:31 - Hues and Cues 15:31 - Colorful 22:09 - Essen SPIEL 2023 Preview 22:57 - Æterna 25:32 - Babylon 27:17 - Bus & Stop 28:55 - COSCA: Take Over the Mafia 31:54 - Galileo Galilei 33:41 - SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 34:39 - Fishing 37:19 - AI Space Puzzle 38:59 - Zero to Hero 40:51 - The Gang 42:46 - Golden Cup 45:09 - Black Forest 50:02 - Battalion: War of the Ancients 53:01 - Beyond the Horizon 56:10 - Asian Tigers: A Story of Prosperity 58:16 - Skull Queen 58:38 - King of Tokyo: Origins 59:15 - Penguin Airlines 1:00:18 - Dungeon Exit Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

It's about people, right? Below all the mechanics, after all the rules explanations, beyond every crushing loss and glorious win, what really matters is people we're playing with. Some games make that more apparent than others, and we're here to celebrate that. Before we realize it's about the friends we made along the way, we talk about Arcs, and Luthier. 03:02 - Arcs 19:26 - Luthier 37:11 - Games that make you feel good about people 41:11 - Codenames 42:05 - Decrypto 43:09 - Time's Up! 43:38 - Telestrations 43:56 - Fuji Flush 44:04 - Mino Dice 46:01 - Word Slam 47:00 - Krazy Wordz 47:43 - Just One 48:16 - Pictures 48:44 - Stationfall 51:12 - The Estates 51:37 - Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant 52:16 - The Resistance 52:16 - Blood on the Clocktower 52:55 - The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

The only thing worse than coming away from a first game with a really bad impression, is when it takes a really long time to shake. Imagine all the amazing games you're not playing because of one bad first game! Whether we saw the error of our ways or not, we're reflecting on the times that games left a mark that took a long time to fade. Before we make our impression, we talk about Things in Rings, Yedo: Deluxe Master Set, and Harmonies. 01:51 - Things in Rings 10:29 - Yedo: Deluxe Master Set 24:03 - Harmonies 30:05 - Draft winner! 32:48 - Bad first impressions 33:49 - Brass: Birmingham 33:49 - Hansa Teutonica 34:49 - Agricola 37:25 - Race for the Galaxy 37:37 - Tigris & Euphrates 39:04 - The Great Zimbabwe 39:51 - Ark Nova 41:25 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 42:43 - 7 Wonders Duel 45:29 - Ginkgopolis 46:51 - Arcane Academy 49:24 - Century: Spice Road 50:37 - John Company: Second Edition 52:27 - Stationfall 53:58 - Hanabi 56:10 - Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

It's awards season, which means that Germany's back to tell us what games are popping off over there. And that also means we're back to tell you what we think about what they think. More than that - we're looking through the annals of Spiel des Jahres history to drafting the winningest games of all the winners! Which means you too can be a winner of $100! Just vote! Before everyone's a winner, we talk about Chess, Vabanque, The Mandalorian: Adventures, and Path of Civilization. 04:06 - Chess 10:27 - Vabanque 14:06 - The Mandalorian: Adventures 20:14 - Path of Civilization 31:00 - Spiel des Jahres 2024 Review 36:19 - Spiel des Jahres Fantasy Draft 38:43 - El Grande 39:33 - Codenames 41:12 - Azul 42:29 - Dominion 43:02 - Wingspan 44:36 - The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine 45:22 - The Quacks of Quedlinburg 45:46 - Hanabi 46:21 - Cascadia 47:26 - Just One 49:52 - Camel Up 50:49 - Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King 51:58 - Sky Team  53:04 - Dixit 53:33 - Challengers! Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store Feel Better Walker!!

We've all been travelling about so much recently (some of us may or may not still be) that we often find ourselves asking, "what games should I pack?" Some games are better suited for playing on the go than others, and we're going to get to the heart of what makes a good travel game. Before our arms get tired, we also talk about Regicide, Golem, In the Shadow of Atlas, and DroPolter. 03:56 - Regicide 11:40 - Travel Games 15:47 - Pit 16:13 - Incan Gold 16:24 - For Sale 16:51 - Azul Mini 18:31 - Chess 19:19 - Scrabble Keychain 21:48 - Skull 23:18 - Linkee! 25:32 - Pickomino 32:26 - Marabunta 33:30 - DroPolter 37:38 - In the Shadow of Atlas 42:00 - Golem Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store Feel Better Walker!!

Bob's back from his trip to 2014, and oh the wonders he's seen - games that not only were amazing back then, but somehow we're still talking about today! The counterpoint to our draft of games to last a decade, we're arguing about the games from ten years ago that are still relevant - BGBBOB style. Before we yearn for our youth, we talk about Cyberion, The Plum Island Horror, and Marabunta. 02:33 - Cyberion 09:18 - The Plum Island Horror 28:01 - Marabunta 38:17 - BGBBOB: Games from 2014 39:41 - Deep Sea Adventure 41:43 - Orléans 43:43 - Istanbul 44:47 - Star Realms 47:06 - Patchwork 47:38 - Kanban 50:35 - Evolution 51:26 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 53:49 - Splendor 54:49 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 56:07 - Imperial Settlers 58:10 - Camel Up 59:31 - Alchemists 1:00:23 - La Granja 1:03:09 - Dogs of War Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

More isn't always better, but that's sometimes a hard lesson to learn in the world of board games - we dig into an intriguing listener suggestion about how games (and gamers) can often fall into this trap. Also ... I guess we've got to plan some games for our funerals? It's a double hit of listener questions! Before we dress in black, we talk about Keydom's Dragons, Sagrada Artisans, and Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory. 01:49 - Keydom's Dragons 11:30 - Sagrada Artisans 18:51 - Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory 30:57 - Draft winner 33:56 - More isn't always better 35:25 - Rising Sun 39:18 - A Feast for Odin 39:24 - Patchwork 46:02 - Games for funerals 46:38 - Biblios 46:53 - Time's Up! 47:54 - True Colors 48:18 - Fuji Flush Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

It's back, and it's spicier, more harrowing, and more lucrative than ever before! It's the Fantasy Draft, and this time we're changing things up by asking you not to vote for favourite games, but for the set that you think will still be relevant ten years from now (AKA the far flung future). Vote to stand a chance to win a gift card for one hundred dollars! Before we say things we'll regret in a decade, we also talk about London (Second Edition), and Spectral. 02:58 - London (Second Edition) 12:51 - Spectral 22:10 - Drafting games to last a decade 26:05 - Ark Nova  28:08 - Dune: Imperium – Uprising 29:34 - Cascadia  30:55 - Blood on the Clocktower 32:18 - Heat: Pedal to the Metal 33:56 - Sea Salt & Paper 35:26 - John Company: Second Edition 35:53 - So Clover! 37:08 - Zoo Vadis 38:39 - Stationfall 39:50 - Age of Innovation 42:16 - Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! 43:11 - The White Castle 44:11 - Guards of Atlantis II 46:52 - Sky Team Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

And by guess, I of course mean predict. Okay, you all know whether we're right or not by now, but cast your imagination back to a time where we had only the nominees for the 2023 Golden Geeks, and had to use nothing but our wits to determine the winners. How naïve/prescient we were! Before we divine the future, we talk about Ironwood, Kutná Hora: The City of Silver, and Slay the Spire: The Board Game. 02:41 - Ironwood 10:39 - Kutná Hora: The City of Silver 22:07 - Slay the Spire: The Board Game 37:52 - Golden Geek Awards for 2023 Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

What? Your podcasters are evolving! While we're certainly steadfast in some of our opinions (ahem, Biblios) we were curious to reflect on how we've changed - nay, grown - in the years since we started. What do we feel differently about with regards to the games we like, and how we approach the hobby? Before we moult, we also talk about Twinkle Starship, Pirates of Maracaibo, and Skyrise. 01:45 - Twinkle Starship 12:42 - Pirates of Maracaibo 23:16 - Skyrise 35:23 - How we've changed 39:42 - Diplomacy 47:43 - Nucleum Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

Sometimes a game has a conceit so good, that it's the only description you need to sell someone on it. Let's call it the hook. Do all games have them, or is it something that only a certain subcategory of game can get away with - and why don't they all just print that on the box cover? Before we get the hook, we talk about Havalandi, Courtisans, 12 Chip Trick, and Dune Imperium: Uprising. 02:55 - Havalandi 11:25 - Courtisans 18:59 - 12 Chip Trick 26:10 - Dune: Imperium - Uprising 41:09 - Games with a hook 41:34 - Of What's Left 45:05 - Everdell 47:09 - QE 47:28 - 12 Chip Trick 48:09 - A Feast for Odin 52:25 - Skull Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

Oh man, oh man, I always love this one. It's the latest edition of the Listener Top 20! We asked you all to submit your lists of your favourite board games, and we collected, collated, and compiled all of that beautiful beautiful data using a magical formula to get THIS: The definitive rankings of your collective taste in board games. Before we throw it to you, we talk about Shuffle and Swing, Mythwind, and Cat Blues: The Big Gig! 02:17 - Shuffle and Swing 14:11 - Mythwind 27:07 - Cat Blues: The Big Gig 35:46 - Listener Top 20 2024 38:00 - The Quest for El Dorado 39:00 - Azul 39:14 - Tigris & Euphrates 40:51 - A Feast for Odin 41:26 - Terraforming Mars 42:05 - Agricola 42:13 - El Grande 42:37 - Pax Pamir: Second Edition 43:56 - Inis  44:30 - Race for the Galaxy 44:46 - Dune: Imperium 46:16 - Concordia 46:53 - The Castles of Burgundy 47:25 - Ark Nova 47:50 - Innovation 48:39 - Ra 51:05 - Spirit Island 51:35 - Root 51:46 - Hansa Teutonica 52:00 - Brass: Birmingham Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

We made it all the way to Dice Tower West in Las Vegas (and some of us made it out), and we're ready to talk about all of the amazing games we played over there, between outings for pinball and sushi. If you were there, thanks for hanging out with us! Stick around for talk about Faraway, MLEM: Space Agency, ito, Cascadero, and more! 01:08 - Faraway 12:20 - Medici 19:33 - MLEM: Space Agency 26:48 - ito 35:24 - Cascadero 44:09 - Mino Dice 49:54 - Unboxed 54:36 - Beowulf 55:55 - Of What's Left 59:53 - Hold Your Horses Send us your lists for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20 Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store