Board Game Homies

In episode 69, we review Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory. But, first! We chat about what is bringing us joy:TriquetaBrass: LancashireMagical AthleteCKMahjongIn Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory, each player takes on the role of a socio-economic group– the working class, the middle class, the capitalist class, or the state itself–trying to pursue their own goal to drag themselves out of a failing economy with rising political tensions. This highly researched and thematic game with cards with titles like “Health Crisis,” “Civil Unrest,” “Bid Rigging,” and “Denial of Free Speech” took us a very, very, very long time to get this game to the table. We’ve worked through this very asymmetric game, and we’ve come out on the other side with some differing opinions: one of us loves this game and the other three of us don’t need to play it any time soon, but for different reasons.Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In episode 68, we review both Kabuto Sumo & Cascadia: Alpine Lakes. But, first! We chat about what is bringing us joy:SCOUTNanatoridoriThe Crew: Mission Deep SeaGachapon TrickKabuto Sumo is a coin-pusher dexterity game for 2-4 players where each player takes on the role of a sumo wrestling insect. Players must line up their shot and sloooooowly slide their piece onto the platform, hoping for pieces to fall off the board to claim for future turns, and to ultimately push the other players out of the ring. Cascadia: Alpine Lakes is a puzzly, pattern building game for 1-2 players and is a standalone follow-up to Cascadia. Instead of single hexagons, the terrain tiles are double hexagons AND instead of focusing on the largest groups of terrain types, players are working to stack their terrain tiles at least three levels high to score for the most animal types at the highest elevations. More hexagons, more scoring conditions, and less wiggle room!The homies enjoy both of these games for very different reasons–some of us like fun and then there are the rest of us. Wait, are we talking about Dune 6 player again??

In episode 67, we’ve finally done it: we played Dune Imperium - Uprising with 6 players. We provide an overview of the changes and dive into our experience playing with the 6 player rules. But, first! We chat about what is bringing us joy:Paul DennenNaishiLacunaEpisode 22 Joy GamesFallingDune Imperium - Uprising’s 6 player rules change the game to three v. three, introducing commanders which lead each team. The play of the game is very familiar with a couple of major changes: the commanders and restricting the use of the Swordmaster to once per game. There are some additional changes to the gameplay to incorporate how the commanders play into the overall flow of the game. Reed has been championing this game for so long, did it live up to the hype?Check out these related episodes:Episode 22: Dune: Imperium & Dune: Imperium - UprisingEpisode 45: An Interview with Paul DennenGet to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies

In Episode 66, we chat about what’s on the table with a focus on mostly small box games. This episode has a mix of smaller and lighter games that we are unlikely to review on the pod; it’s basically an extended joy game episode!00:55 Wingspan Pocket08:36 Somnia left off at 13:22 (trick-taker)14:30 Haunted Mouse (trick-taker)20:01 Origin Story (trick-taker)27:36 Bottle Imp @ 6 Players (trick-taker)31:51 Bacon (trick-taker)37:14 Magical Athlete43:06 The White Castle DuelYes, that is Clans of Caledonia driving a 968 Ferrari 330 GTS with Becky as a passenger. Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies *Ferrari photo by MrWalkr (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MrWalkr) and has been remixed. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

In Episode 65, we review Clans of Caledonia and its recent and only expansion, Clans of Caledonia: Industria. But, first! We chat about what is bringing us joy: Cascadia: Alpine Lakes, ASHES: Blackout Protocol, and The White Castle: Bōeki. Clans of Caledonia, published by Karma Games, is perhaps a perfect game. A mid-to-heavy game with a variable economic market, thematic mechanics and gameplay (including distilling whiskey!), and delightful thinking space. Over the course of five rounds, players take turns and pass once they have run out of money and options. All players produce basic resources and have the opportunity to refine their goods using any bakeries, distilleries, or cheese dairies they have built. Players then receive victory points based on the scoring tile of the current round, and then the cycle begins again. Clans of Caledonia: Industria adds more of what we already love (contracts, clans, shipping tiles, round goals, and map tiles), thoughtful mini expansions (market dice, farmer’s markets, additional end game scoring tiles, and contract refill board), and the largest module of them all: the train map with delivery bonuses to explore throughout the game and milestones to strive for and achieve before your opponents. Did we mention this game is perfect? It is. (Just maybe don’t ask Reed… 👀) Get to know us @ https://lnk.bio/BoardGameHomies