Ava: Happy news-time, my greedy fact-fiends. Quinns is busy with the business of podcasting, so only has time for a deep dive into a single plunge pool of news. That means you’ve got me taking you on a tour of Germany, a mission to Mars, a ride on a golem, to an archaeological dig, a meeting with some Prussian generals, for a poke under the games-bonnet and into the dark heart of Mordor.
Just your average Monday, really.
Let’s get a wriggle on, we’ve so much to see.
Last summer, Quinns put out an excitable review of 878 Vikings, the latest instalment in a series he calls “The mac & cheese of wargaming.”
This summer, we’ve uploaded a clash of the (online) titans! Matt and Quinns taking on the streaming team of Creative Assembly, makers of the Total War videogames. And frankly, in the face of total war, we think our team did quite well.
Have a lovely weekend, everybody.
Read More
Our series on the best games that you can play with a 52 card deck continues!
Briscola Chiamata is bound to be a real highlight of this series. An incredibly simple trick-taking with hidden roles, this 5 player game sees a team of 4 players facing off against a 5th player… but someone in their ranks is working for the other side.
Huge thanks for supporting this series, everybody! We’re having a blast with it.
Read More
Ava: Quinns, Quinns? I’ve been wondering…
Quinns: Oh no.
Ava: No it’s fine. I’m just wondering, where does news come from?
Quinns: Well, Ava, when two people love news very much, they get together and…
Ava: I’ve heard enough. Let’s make like Cole Porter and do it. Let’s fall in news.
Quinns: Here we go.
Today, we’re proud to present the finale of Chronicles Month, as we poke our flag into a most elusive game in the BoardGameGeek Top 100.
Crokinole is big, it’s bold, it’s 150 years old, and a good board will cost you $300. Those are some very frightening numbers. Could this ever be a reasonable consumer purchase? Click play, and find out.
Huge thanks to the fine people at Woodestic Crokinole for providing us with a discount on our board. If you live in Europe and were interested in a Crokinole board of your very own, make them your first port of call.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Read More
Header image courtesy of Steph Hodge photography.
Ava: Oooh, it’s officially summer (happy solstice everyone) and I’ve had two sunburn near-misses already. I reckon it’s a perfect time to cosy up with a tasty brew, pop my feet up and lean into a cosy warm bed of news.
No time to sleep though. The news waits for no-one. We’ve got gods, gardens, angels, sharks, sails, aliens, objects and finances.
Let’s have a look.
This weekend, please enjoy a video plucked daintily from our Twitch channel.
For as long as SU&SD has been around, we’ve been fans of Space Alert. Even today, it might well be the most ridiculous, challenging and inventive co-operative game ever… erm, invented.
For anyone who missed it, you’ll find our review of Space Alert all the way back in this SU&SD episode from 2011, where we also reviewed Twilight Imperium and Race for the Galaxy. Classics, every one.
Read More
Fans of our award-winning board game podcast should know that the pod-apult is armed and ready. Contained in today’s payload are impressions of the party game Stay Cool (02:45), the excellent Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid (09:01), the frighteningly intense Letter Jam (21:42), the adorable Welcome to Dino World (29:22), the heavy roll’n’write Rome and Roll (38:19) and the world’s first “boxed megagame”, Vampire: The Masquerade – Blood Feud (43:28). Finally, following on from team SU&SD having recently discovered the joy of using pencils to write on paper, we’ve just now learned about BOOKS! Specifically, the book Top 10 Games You Can Play In Your Head, By Yourself (49:35). Enjoy, everybody.
Read More
Quinns: If you like comics, we’ve got a real treat for you today!
This month saw the release of the book collecting the first five issues of DIE, a fabulous new comic about a group of people who become trapped in their fantasy roleplaying campaign.
Written by Kieron Gillen, creator of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, and breathtakingly illustrated by artist Stephanie Hans, DIE quickly became a series where I’d devour each new issue on the day of release. In two words, Kieron describes it as “Goth Jumanji”. In three words, I’d add that it’s “Very, very good”.
What makes this even more exciting is that Kieron Gillen is a personal friend of mine, and agreed to an interview about not just about the series, but the accompanying DIE RPG, and Kieron’s thoughts on roleplaying games in general. This is SU&SD, after all.
Before we get started, the three preview pages below give a summary of what DIE’s about. Click to see them at full-size!
Ava: Boy! Boy! You there!
Quinns: Boy? I’m 33 years old.
Ava: Tell me boy, is it still Chronicles Month?
Quinns: Oh, absolutely it is.
Ava: Wonderful! Then there’s still time. Head over to Shut Up & Sit Down and fetch me the plumpest, ripest news in the window.