SU&SD Play… Eldritch Horror!

quintin and matt's co-op adventures, hammer legends, the worst archaeologist
Eldritch Horror

Inspired by Lovecraft’s impossible dimensions, we’ve attempted to squeeze a game of Eldritch Horror, one of the most epic board games of all time, into a single Let’s Play video! And to make our lives even harder, we squeezed in both the Forsaken Lore and the Under the Pyramids expansions.

Anyone who missed Quinns’ review of this disasterpiece can find it right here. In short, this is an absolutely bizarre game. Alternately epic and personal, scary and silly, too generous or too unfair, it’s a tremendously hard thing to review. But it’s also fascinating to watch. So pull up a pew, get yourself a beverage, and see if this slimy, tentacular box has a place on your shelf.

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Podcast #40: Reiner Knizia’s Relationship Simulator

lovely landos, quinns is googling "nice boxes" again, age of nations, mums vs. speed
Reiner Knizia's Relationship Simulator

Matt, Paul and Quinns have met once again to create a board gaming Voltron! Albeit one with three hearts and no brain. Games discussed in this prestigious 40th episode include And Then We Held Hands, Ra,Through the Ages, FUSE and A Fake Artist Goes to New York. If you’re looking for the Tuesday Knight Games podcast featuring Matt, you’ll find it right here. We also chat about board game boxes and sustainability and end with a lovely interview with Plaid Hat’s lead designer and lead art director Isaac Vega, who wants to tell us all about the new standalone expansion for Dead of Winter: The Long Night. In case you missed our review of Dead of Winter, you’ll find that here!

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Games News! 18/04/16

wait hasbro did what, bauza's brood, happy backers, surprise incubations
Magdalene asylums

Paul: Quinns, what’s going on? Why is there a spotlight? Why’s there a leather chair? What happened to our usual set?

Quinns: Paul, ask me some questions entirely at random!

Paul: Oh God what now.

Quinns: Also I’ve set up a countdown clock and buzzer!

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Review: Brass

eton mess, sticky toffee, profiteroles, coal, misery, top hats
Review: Brass

April 15, 2016 Reviews Brass, Heavy Games, Brass: Lancashire OH MY GOODNESS! Just one week on from Paul tackling Through the Ages, Quinns is cracking open another board game classic. Brass is an incredibly nuanced game of carving out the industries of England’s industrial revolution that dates all the way back to 2007, when Elvis … Read more

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How To Play Memoir ‘44!

bang, ping, ww1 jokes, errant candles, rmble rmble rmble
How to Play Memoir '44

In some ways, Memoir ’44 is the game that birthed SU&SD. Paul and Quinns were playing a long campaign of this definitive game of toy soldiers when they decided to create a board game web series. Historians can find our ye olde review of Memoir right here (timestamp 15:01), filmed on a borrowed camcorder on a sweltering summer’s evening.

A more recent Memoir video we did is our Operation Overlord Let’s Play. While Memoir’s campaign books make it a longer game and the Breakthrough rules are there if you want to make it more tactical, Overlord is what you get if you want an epic experience.

If only all games could be tailored to the same extent! What a world that would be.

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Review: Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization

the waterfall of time, the idea of getting on top of a horse, absolutely garnished
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization

April 8, 2016 Reviews Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization, Heavy Games Steady your socks, folks, this week’s review is a bumper one! Paul has been looking at Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization, the latest version of Through the Ages. To many, this is new iteration of a modern classic, yet … Read more

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Review: X-Wing’s Eighth Wave of Expansions!

dengar's divorce, deadly pootling, fabulous muscles, exactly one squillion
X-Wing's Eighth Wave of Expansions

[Oh my goodness, so many words! Following on from writer Chris Thursten’s awesome article about his first X-Wing tournament, he’s back with seven separate, hilarious reviews of X-Wing’s newest ships.

Chris: As of March, the latest round of expansions for Fantasy Flight’s enormously popular spaceship miniatures game, X-Wing, is finally and fully here. The first – er – wave of Wave 8 arrived in December, so a few of these ships and cards have had longer to bed in than others. Even so, it’s time to round the lot of them up and force them to answer hard questions, like: WHAT DO YOU BRING TO THE GAME? WHY ARE YOU NICE? WHY DO I FEEL COMPELLED TO OWN YOU? And: IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE FOR THE SAME WAVE TO ARRIVE TWICE? WOULD THAT NOT MAKE IT TWO SEPARATE WAVES, LIKE, IN BOTH A MARITIME AND A PHILOSOPHICAL SENSE?

The answer to that last one is evidently ‘yes’, by the way. Haha! Eat it, Heraclitus!

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Games News! 04/04/16

did quinns go overboard on colosseum facts, let us know

Quinns: Oh, wow. Making the news bi-weekly in 2016 was a fantastic decision. We always have so many stories to choose from! Admittedly they’re less new, so technically we’re working with less news, but if it’s new news to you then whoops can somebody get me a tissue I just got a nosebleed FIRST UP, board games once again crept into the peripheral vision of the public eye this month as Russia banned the Polish board game Queue for its depiction of the dismal experience of shopping in USSR-era Poland, with its lengthy queues, poor stock availability and rife black market trading.

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Double Feature: Parade & Incan Gold

treasure dumps, hot hot tents, wanted birds, unwanted birds
Incan Gold

Quinns: You know double-yolk eggs? Those rarest of treasures that whisper “It’s all going to be ok” up from the pan? Well, today you get a double-review! Enclosed within the brittle shell of this article are not one, but TWO of the greatest card games we’ve ever played, full of fatty fun and caloric goodness.

Please ensure your credit card is secured in your official SU&SD fast-draw holster before continuing. We’re serious. These games are very, very good.

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Clutching at Bannisters: A Heartfelt Review of Fantasy Football

slimy seeds, johnny big arm, tony the serviceable tight end, the idiot life
Clutching at Bannisters: A Heartfelt Review of Fantasy Football

[Following in the tradition of Brendan’s Rooky Errors or Leigh’s Month as an Assassin, it’s time for another article on an unusual corner of gaming. This time, the ancient tradition of Fantasy Football.]

Gav: It’s 6:45 on a Friday night, I’ve just got off a flight from Cologne to London and I’m attempting to tether the internet from my phone to my really old, really rubbish and currently really unresponsive laptop. This would be annoying enough if I wasn’t also attempting to manoeuvre through some horrendous London traffic in a beaten-up old jallopy. I know even using your phone (no less a phone AND a laptop) whilst driving is reckless and stupid but there’s an excuse for my idiocy: it’s the evening of my NFL Fantasy Draft.

Before I lose you, let me just say I know how you’re feeling, but stick with me as I explain why game fans will find a fantasy football league interesting.

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