On this week’s BUMPER BOX podcast we’ve got SIX entire GameBoards for you to picture in your head as we loosely describe them with words and, quite frankly, a lot of noises? This podcast is really great if you’re a young child and want to hear a bunch of cool new ways you can make … Read more
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OH BABY! It seems like only yesterday that Twilight Imperium 4th Edition was Quinns’ favourite wargame.
Not anymore! Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy is a 2nd edition of 2011 smash hit Eclipse. It’s also too big, too expensive, and arguably too dry. And apparently, according to Quinns, it’s still absolutely worth it.
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Tom: I need to kick-back, relax, play on some slide guitar, drink a bit too much too cheap whiskey and sing a song about my problems.
Ava: It’s 11am on a Monday. Where is this going?
Tom: We’ve done the heavy lifting here, they can put the pieces together this time. Let’s crack on-
Ava: -WITH THE GAMES BLUES!!
Crikey! It’s a review! At this hour? On a WEDNESDAY?
For this scintillating mixture of performance art and review, Tom got lost in the woods for an entire week reviewing Renature – only bringing a camera and some boardgame pieces into the ordeal. On the 7th day, he emerges from amidst the leaves, and bestows upon us his completed work. Oh no.
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Tom: …and with a flourish of scarlet ‘twixt the layers of briny blue, a beautiful painting I shall perform into existence: With palette in hand, brush outstretched – and a open expanse of canvas still to tame, all that is left is for me to fetch…
Ava: No. Tom. Don’t do it.
Tom: … The Games… Hues?
Ava: There aren’t enough sighs in the world. There’s a short report on Digital Spiel, the un-physical version of what would normally be Europe’s biggest games convention/market/noisy-warehouse. The headline figures are Tabletopia doubling its user base, 148,000 people checking out the website, and 400 companies from 41 different countries showing off their bits.
Matt: ALTHOUGH I feel I’d be remiss not to mention that little old AwSHUX was just a week before Essen, and considering it was a tiny thing we’ve heard Behind The Scenes that it had a pretty remarkable impact across the board! Some of those Essen Kudos-Coins are ours, basically, Ava – and I’ll fight to the death for a handful of those beauties. Quick, say something positive about somebody else before I crush us all beneath the weight of my ego.
It’s podcast time, and you’re all invited! Does our generosity know no bounds? In this ghoulishly 121st episode of the Shut Up and Sit Down podcast, Quinns, Ava and Tom once again settle into the lavishly upholstered podchairs to scream words about boardgames into a wall. NEW YORK ZOO (04:02)! MARIA (19:38)! LITTLE TOWN (40:06)! THE KING IS DEAD (55:41)! These are all words bellowed in an order that one would assume makes them titles for games – and we will run with that assumption to save everyone the embarrassment. We promise they are real and we didn’t just madlibs this podcast’s games into existence. We’re not on that level just yet. Have a lovely weekend, everybody.
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SPACE. Where did it come from? What’s it doing? And why is it so MUCH?
We have no idea, but board game publisher Renegade Game Studios is here to help, offering two great games that will teach us all about outer space- The Search for Planet X and a cute card game called Stellar.
On the one hand, we’re not sure what space did to deserve such generous treatment. On the other hand, space seems awfully dangerous, so perhaps it’s wise for people to stay on it’s good side.
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Tom: Once on a November dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, On a quaint and curious piece of tasty board game lore..
Ava: Tom, it’s well past morning, please just get up and do the games news, will you?
Tom: “’Tis the games news,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door… Only this and nothing more.”
Ava: Yes, so let’s bloody get on with it.
Tom: … nevermore!
Ava: Ooh, ooh. We’re going to bump a kickstarter to the top of the news purely because we really like Omari Akil and the work he’s doing to improve representation in the industry. So there.
Hoop Godz is Board Game Brothas’ follow up to Rap Godz, and is about basketball hoops, rather than hula hoops, surprising nobody.
A Distant Tom: What?!
[Eric Tonjes is Shut Up & Sit Down’s miniatures gaming correspondent. This week, we’re publishing an article from Eric of a rather different nature. Content warning: This piece contains terminal disease and the loss of a loved one.]
Eric: As I write this, I’m looking at a copy of Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 sitting on my bookshelf. I am smiling. I am crying. It is a game I will always love, and I will never know how it ends.
Elizabeth and I got married almost a decade and a half ago. I was already firmly entrenched in my hobbies, painting miniatures and running a weekly D&D campaign. Initially it was “my thing,” and I never tried to make her love games. However, over our early years, she slowly eased into them. We played some Ticket to Ride, some Catan, and soon she was hooked. I remember the first time we finished playing Caverna, which became an enduring favorite. She told me she really liked it, probably in part because she won. I pointed out that she couldn’t say she wasn’t a board gamer anymore. She gave me her little half-smile and said she didn’t know what I was talking about.
Tom: Welcome to the news, this just in: Ava is the best and Tom smells. Hey, That’s rude – get back in your own voice!
Ava: How’s that? Better?
Tom: YES. Now please never do that again. You’ll confuse the readers and unsettle my breakfast.
Ava: I promise. Only if it’s convenient for the purposes of a joke, or I don’t want to be held responsible for one of my opinions.
Tom: Fine. Wait, what?
Ava: I didn’t manage to spend much time at Spiel Digital, it taking place while I was still hungover from our very own online convention. But I’ll be spending the coming weeks poring through what I can to see if I can dig out any exciting announcements. Please drop by the comments if there’s anything you saw that you’re excited about that we haven’t yet newsed-up. The one thing I did catch was a little bit of a preview of the previously teased new Descent box, and it looks like we finally have enough details to give it a news item.
Descent: Legends in the Dark, aims to mark a break from its predecessor, with Fantasy Flight keen to state that this isn’t Descent: Journeys in the Dark: Third edition, but instead the start of a new line within the same universe. The new Descent will be a fully co-operative, app-addled experience of dungeon crawling adventure, boasting an utter boatload of fancy toys to play with. There’s a 16 episode campaign called Blood and Flame, and multilayered 3D terrain and even miniature furniture: clearly attempting (and succeeding, I think) to out-do Heroquest’s recently announced adventure-dollhouse.