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So Very Wrong About Games#346: 2024 Year in ReviewIf you can choose to be the regular version or the spicy version, you obviously choose the spicy version. I mean, sure, the capsaicin may sting, but one assumes that the canonical version is caliente. Put another way, would you prefer "SVWAG" or "SVWAG en fuego?" The choice is clear. It is a corollary of sorts to Winston Zeddemore axiom that when someone asks you if you are a god, you say yes.Games Played Last Week:01:33 -Under Our Sun (Maximilian Lichtner and David Poluda, tabletopper games, 2024)06:05 -Cosmic Frog (Jenna...2025-01-281h 36So Very Wrong About Games#342: Sheep in Wolves' ClothingTrust the launcher.01:28 AYURIS: Darwin’s Journey (Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, ThunderGryph Games, 2023)Games Played Last Week:03:49 -Iron Forest (Brian Gomez, Brain Games, 2024)10:22 -Slide Quest (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)14:00 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024)17:08 -Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto, Libellud, 2024)19:23 -Set a Watch (Mike Gnade and Todd Walsh, Rock Manor Games, 2019)23:12 -Endeavor: Age of Expansion (Jarratt Gray, Burnt Island Games, 2020)28:05 -Windmill Valley (Dani Garcia, Board&Dice, 2024)N...2024-12-3153 minSo Very Wrong About Games#334: EGOWalker: But, indeed, sir, we make holiday,to see Freedom Five and to rejoice in its triumph.Mark: Wherefore rejoice? What delight brings it home?What enjoyment follows it to the table,To grace in fun times its board presence?You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!Games Played Last Week:01:08 -Freedom Five: A Sentinel Comics Board Game (Richard Launius, Adam Sadler, and Brady Sadler, Arcane Wonders, 2024)10:51 -Things in Rings (Peter C. Hayward, Allplay, 2024)2024-10-291h 06So Very Wrong About Games#331: Our Favourite FactionsIt is October, the month of Fat Bear Week, Decorative Gourd Season, Halloween, and Arkhipov Day! Sure, it has less candy than some of those other celebrations, but I'll wager neither a corpulent bear nor a kid dressed as a pirate has ever saved the entire human race. 01:00 AYURIS: IKI (Koota Yamada, Sorry We Are French, 2015)Games Played Last Week:03:38 -Valka (Brooke Penrose, Terrible Games, 2024)07:16 -Bus (Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wiersinga, Capstone Games, 2019)09:47 -Warpgate: Beyond (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2022)12:33 -Dinosaur World (B...2024-10-081h 14So Very Wrong About Games#322: Michael Walker Revolutionizes Physical TherapyWe here at SVWAG take pains to differentiate between two conflated ideas. We say "approachable" for rulesets that are easily learned and internalized, reserving the similar-sounding term "accessible" to refer to games that are usable for people with disabilities.Relatedly, MICHAEL WALKER IS BACK.02:43 AYURIS: Oak (Wim Goossens, Game Brewer, 2022) Games Played Last Week:04:25 -Friday (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2011)07:12 -Fast Sloths (Friedemann Friese, 2F-SPiele, 2019)10:56 -Ghost Blitz Mini (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2010)12:11 -For Sale (Stefan Dorra, Uberplay, 1997)13:52 -Primal: The Awakening (T...2024-07-301h 07So Very Wrong About Games#320: Slay the SpireOur next guest host during Michael Walker's recovery is Efka Bladukas, half of No Pun Included! Efka is an internationally-renowned board game critic and dog enthusiast, known for his detestation of whimsy and tireless tolerance of Mark's yammerings. He once split a mountain in twain with his bare hands while simultaneously inventing cold fusion, but he's so humble he'll probably deny it--which is proof positive that it's all true.Games Played Last Week:01:37 -Captain Flip (Remo Conzadori and Paolo Mori, PlayPunk, 2024)08:30 -In the Footsteps of Darwin (Grégory Grard and M...2024-07-161h 36So Very Wrong About Games#317: The 180While we pride ourselves on our internationalist focus here at SVWAG, we have been remiss in our multilingualism lately. While we reliably rendezvous with French on a semi-regular basis, a skosh of Japanese here and there, a quantum of Latin periodically, and whatever language AYURIS pretends to be, our Spanish could use some work. We thus devote ourselves to utter three whole words of Spanish in this episode.01:30 AYURIS: Dwellings of Eldervale (Luke Laurie, Breaking Games, 2020)Games Played Last Week:03:36 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)2024-06-251h 15So Very Wrong About Games#316: Le délugeThere are certain portentous events that presage massive upheaval and transformative revolution, both good and ill--Mark regards travel as one of these cataclysmic convulsions (ill), but the same is true of the arrival of the man known as Doctor Stallone (good). Both have coincided in the world of SVWAG this week, a confluence more consequential than the great passage of Halley's comet that prompted the original quote of "Après moi, le déluge." There's just a lot, people.01:33 AYURIS: Flamecraft (Manny Vega, Cardboard Alchemy, 2022)Games Played Last Week:...2024-06-1858 minSo Very Wrong About Games#309: An Age ContrivedWe are storytellers here at SVWAG. This week, we tell the stories of mismatched plagues with dead llamas posing as European dudes, of quixotic strivings for yet more skirmish games, of famous philosophers who hustled cards. Of course, if you wish to hear different stories, the power is yours! You have but to submit your questions for the upcoming Omnibus Questions episode, and all your idle demands shall be satisfied!Games Played Last Week:02:33 -Scrap (Kenny Michael-Otton, Jolly Swagman Games, 2023)09:12 -Root: The Marauder Expansion (Nick Brachmann, Patrick Leder, Cole Wehrle...2024-04-3053 minSo Very Wrong About Games#306: What Brings You BackIt is said that both politics and religion are not good conversational fodder among people you don't know well (and perhaps not even for people with whom you are close), but sadly those are among Mark's favourite topics. The sun having been devoured may cause the astronomers to be delighted, but Mark knows a portent when he sees one, and he is confident some kind of sacrifice to appease violent spirits is in order. Walker escalates things by invoking the divine right of kings, the intersection of religion and politics, but then again escalation is Walker's default instinct. Further...2024-04-0956 minSo Very Wrong About Games#305: Barely AliveI never really understood the term "undead." I mean, it's a binary, right? If it's not dead it must be alive, at least in the context of things that could or were once alive. The negation never seemed to be doing enough work to imply what it was intended to imply. That is, until Walker and Mark got sick. They're not dead, but going straight to "alive" seems a rather hopeful exaggeration. Undead seems appropriate for now.01:47 AYURIS: Carnegie (Xavier Georges, Quined Games, 2022)Games Played Last Week:03:48...2024-04-0252 minSo Very Wrong About Games#303: Kutna Hora: The City of SilverWe present to you a specially chemically-enhanced episode. Walker has been doping specifically in preparation, eschewing any sustenance other than military-grade lozenges. Mark will be performing his hosting duties while fully immersed in a tank of benzocaine oral painkiller. It is a good thing that the International Olympic Committee has no sway here in SVWAG studios, or we would likely get disqualified for the podcast luge event.Games Played Last Week:01:30 -Raising Robots (Brett Sobol & Seth Van Orden, Nauvoo Games, 2023)08:26 -Omen: Banks of the Styx (John Clowdus, Small Box Games, 2024)2024-03-1959 minSo Very Wrong About Games#300: Patrons' Top 20Walker was all like "there's this card effect in Successors" and Mark was all like "nuh-uh" but Walker was like "yeah, fer sure" and Mark goes "no way" and Walker says "way" and that's a 100% accurate transcript.01:53 AYURIS: Dice Realms (Thomas Lehmann, Rio Grande Games, 2022)Games Played Last Week:04:07 -Lorenzo il Magnifico (Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, and Simone Luciani, Cranio Creations, 2016)10:55 -Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (Changhyun Baek, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, DiceTree Games, 2023)17:00 -Darwin’s Journey (Simone Lu...2024-02-271h 17So Very Wrong About Games#297: Envelopes of CashLet us, following in Andy Schwarz's example, highlight the fine work of Nancy Skinner, a California state senator whose "Fair Pay to Play Act" granted college athletes in California the right to profit from their name, image, and likeness. This forced the NCAA to allow such changes more broadly.It hasn't been perfect, but let's acknowledge one thing: if someone's gonna be making millions off your name and face, maybe--just maybe!--you should be able to get a cut. Games Played Last Week:01:43 -AQUA : Biodiversity in the Oceans (Dan Halstad a...2024-02-061h 07So Very Wrong About Games#294: 2023 Year in ReviewAs ever, and with no clue what a lang syne is (much less an auld-y type configuration), we embrace the new year by commemorating the old. We would venture that the new year only truly begins once SVWAG has given its imprimatur on the best game published in the preceding year. The Julian Calendar was abandoned in favour of the Gregorian, and it is evident that the Gregorian should be abandoned in favour of the SVWAGgering Calendar. Games Played Last Week:01:34 -Kutná Hora: The City of Silver (Ondřej Bystroň, Petr Čáslava, and Pa...2024-01-161h 18So Very Wrong About Games#285: Updating the Canon"'Well, I remember it as though it were an episode ago'Said Walker the Host as he reeled back to clear whatever foreign matterMay have nestled its way into his mighty throatMany a poor design had met its demise while staring point-blank downThe cavernous barrel of this awesome critical machineTruly a wonder of nature, this urban gamerWalker the Host had many a story to tellAnd it was a frequent occasion such as this that he did...2023-10-311h 20So Very Wrong About Games#278: Ending Games EarlyWalker and Huey voted to end the game early, but there were then procedural questions as to whether that warranted a runoff in the French Presidential style. Chip III repeated his preference for a ranked-choice voting system, but he couldn't decide whether his second choice was a single transferable vote or first past the post. Meanwhile, Mark gerrymandered the rest of the table into one sprawling district, and made three new districts intersect at his spine so he got three votes to everyone else's collective one. He moved, seconded, and veto-proofed a motion to the effect that everyone else...2023-09-121h 26So Very Wrong About Games#277: Race to the RaftNo cats were harmed during the recording of this episode. Official SVWAG cat Chandler (aka Potato aka Chan-Chan aka The Chan-Man) had his dignity challenged when Mark laughed at his strange partially-shaved body, but we don't think that counts. Official SVWAG dog Bruno (aka The Dog) resents human non-walk activities, but again, that probably doesn't count. The editorial gibbons and the HR gibbons colluded to classify Mark and Walker as "sub-animal automated speakboxes" and then took Labour Day off.Games Played Last Week:01:10 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)03:30 -Amun-Re: 20th...2023-09-051h 03So Very Wrong About Games#275: NidavellirAs a certain talk-show huckster was wont to say, we train people how to treat us. Without absolving other people of their own responsibility, we can nonetheless take a certain amount of responsibility for entirely predictable reactions to our own decisions. "Don't feed the troll," goes the internet wisdom, and wise it is--Mark routinely fails to heed that good advice in the face of taunting by Walker. That said, Walker cannot claim to be long-suffering about Mark's mythological digressions while simultaneously goading him with mythologically-themed games. Games Played Last Week:01:41 -Demon Ship (M...2023-08-221h 12So Very Wrong About Games#274: Cruel Betrayal of ExpectationsDavid Hume argued that all ideas are either simple or complex, and that in turn all complex ideas are merely composed of simple ideas. He wasn't a huge fan of some of those complex ideas; he used the example of a chimera, where you take a lion, a snake, and a goat (three simple ideas, but we can quibble with that later if you like) and smush them all together to get a complex idea. Hume was sceptical about complex ideas, to say the least.We can agree or disagree with Hume on many fronts, and indeed...2023-08-151h 33So Very Wrong About Games#270a: Bonus Patreon SamplerWe offer to you a sampler, a little smorgasbord, a variety platter of content from our Patreon. We hope this will placate you in light of our absence last week. If you'd like more, you can of course support us on Patreon. Only if you want to, though. We'll still be wrong either way.www.patreon.com/SVWAG03:46 Pledge of Indifference 2023-07-06 Audio (we also publish a video version)03:56 Shipwrights of the North Sea07:17 Tanares Adventures Ultimate Edition11:41 Cyclades...2023-07-221h 13So Very Wrong About Games#266: Pent-Up ExtravaganzaMark's enthusiasm for Dungeon Scrawlers is telling. Whereas most children enjoy mazes, drawing, or even colouring, Mark instead as a child enjoyed the programmatic, deterministic mundanity of connect-the-dots. Straight(ish) lines and ascending natural numbers only, please. No doubt at a similar age Walker was already pursuing his jock/theatre kid synthesis, doing a number from Gilbert & Sullivan as his endzone dance after scoring a touchdown. 01:13 AYURIS: Soldiers in Postmen's Uniforms (David Thompson, Dan Verssen Games, 2021)Games Played Last Week:03:32 -Tindaya (Lolo González, Red Mojo, 2022)...2023-06-131h 19So Very Wrong About Games#260: The Game Must FlowWe get introspective this week, or at least as much as the editorial gibbons allow. If we get too deep they get nervous, and as every podcaster will tell you, nervous gibbons are bad for the show. Walker, Mark alleges, is a masochist who sacrifices himself on the altar of speed, which may or may not mean game flow; Walker counters that Mark abuses the takesies-backsies. 01:50 AYURIS: Imperium: Classics and Imperium: Legends (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Osprey Games, 2021)Games Played Last Week:06:13 -XenoShyft: Dreadmire (Michael Shinall, CM...2023-04-251h 15So Very Wrong About Games#257: Just the GamesAnd I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Huey that if Walker moves my games one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Dewey too, because Walker's moved my games four times already this year, and they used to be over by the window, and they could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, Walker switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the...2023-04-041h 07
So Very Wrong About Games#233: HeroscapeWe apologize for the poor quality of Mark's half of the audio this week. We offer two possible explanations. One is that Walker, motivated as he is by spite and malice, engaged in an elaborate act of sabotage so as to undermine Mark in public. The other is that Mark (the editor, mind you) messed up the audio settings. I agree that the latter is too improbable, too conspiratorial, to take seriously--but we include it for the sake of comprehensiveness. Games Played Last Week:01:32 -Twilight Inscription (James Kniffen, FFG, 2022)05:15 -Heaven & Ale (Michael Kiesling & Andreas Schmidt, eggertspiele, 2017)2022-10-111h 05
So Very Wrong About Games#222: Fumbling towards a New NormalWe celebrate the release of a palindrome episode with the glorious news of the return of SHUX, the Shut Up & Sit Down Expo. Perhaps more relevantly, SVWAG are invited guests! Both Mark and Walker will be in Vancouver from September 30th to October 2nd. Now that you know where they will be, you can more efficiently avoid them. Or you could go play a game with them, whatevs.02:54 AYURIS: Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef (Tim Eisner & Ben Eisner, Druid City Games, 2020)Games Played Last Week:05:45 -Vengeance: Roll & Fight (Gordon Calleja, Noralie Lubbers, & Dávid T...2022-07-191h 03
So Very Wrong About Games#217: Let's Get on the Same PageWalker yearns for a universal grammar, a sort of iconograhic Esperanto. That is a bridge too far for Mark, but they nonetheless find common ground on certain time terms and certain graphical conventions. They may be alone, of course, but they would rather that everyone deferred to their intuitions.01:17 AYURIS: The Castles of Tuscany (Stefan Feld, alea, 2020)Games Played Last Week:03:17 -Unsettled (Marc Neidlinger & Tom Mattson, Orange Nebula, 2021)08:45 -Sniper Elite: The Board Game (Roger Tankersly & David Thompson, Rebellion Unplugged, 2022)12:48 -Hidden Leaders (Andreas Müller, Markus Müller, & Raphael Stocker, BFF Games, 2022)15:18 -For Sc...2022-06-141h 09
So Very Wrong About Games#212: Omnibus Questions Charlie AlphaInquiring minds demand to know, and we, your humble servants, must perforce answer. Mark resists the urge to elaborate on Kant and Macross! Walker resists the siren call of nineties hip hop! Such feats of iron will are the least of what our curious and/or trolling listeners deserve.(It's the curious trolls that always get you in the end)01:21 AYURIS: Babylonia (Reiner Knizia, Ludonova, 2019)Games Played Last Week:03:05 -Switch & Signal (David Thompson, KOSMOS, 2020)05:30 -Cryptid: Urban Legends (Hal Duncan & Ruth Veevers, Osprey Games, 2022)09:21 -Horrified: American Monsters (Michael Mulvihill, Ravensburger, 2021)11:48 -Massive Darkness 2...2022-05-101h 14
So Very Wrong About Games#204: RiftforceMuch art is discussed this week, from French Romantics, to pirate stuff, to conspiracist vision boards, to whatever Walker is doing when he uses clothespins on felt. Mark wonders whether he can justify leaving in dead air and calling it "bold use of negative space," but the deeper worry is that too many people would prefer the silence. Games Played Last Week:01:14 -Ark Nova (Mathias Wigge, Feuerland Spiele, 2021)05:46 -Agricola (Revised Edition) (Uwe Rosenberg, Lookout Games, 2016)10:09 -Witchstone (Martino Chiacchiera & Reiner Knizia, R&R Games, 2021)10:50 -Republic of Virtue (Amabel Holland, Hollandspiele, 2021)15:08 -Pulsar 2849 (Vladimír Suchý, CG...2022-03-081h 09
So Very Wrong About Games#194: Our Gaming AutobiographiesWe skip over substantial portions of our hosts' stories, of course. No mention is made of Walker's extensive experience with Gilbert & Sullivan. Mark's stint as the Official Pokémon Master of Canada is glossed over. The deep tribal conflict of Jocks versus Geeks, of which Walker is destined to be the bridge (think Dune but even more messianic), is only alluded to. Someday, the whole story might be told, but you wouldn't believe us. 01:43 AYURIS: Nemesis (Adam Kwapiński, Awaken Realms, 2018) Games Played Last Week:04:27 -Stardew Valley: The Board Game (Eric Barone & Cle Medeiros, CorcernedApe, 2021)2021-12-071h 15
So Very Wrong About Games#193: Praga Caput RegniWe have become feature-hungry here at SVWAG. We debut Walker's Language Corner which, let us be frank, is not apt to be repeated, especially given Walker's aversion to dead languages. We finally name a recurring segment that has been airing unaccredited for years, and we have dubbed in Mark's Rage Theatre. It is Festivus every day of the year, and Mark has some grievances to air. Games Played Last Week:01:18 -Paper Dungeons (Leandro Pires, MeepleBR, 2020)04:40 -Sheepy Time (Neil Kimball, Alderac Entertainment Group, 2021)09:45 -Draftosaurus: Aerial Show (Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, Ludovic Maublanc, & Théo Rivière, An...2021-11-301h 16
So Very Wrong About Games#191: KeepersSometimes your devotion and enthusiasm doesn't translate into research or comprehensiveness. Case in point, dear listeners--The Legend of Korra, a franchise Walker introduced to Mark, is one that Walker loves but--shocker!--is one he has only seen but half of. It is revealed during Mark's unhinged ramblings about he would have "fixed" season 3 that Walker is utterly unfamiliar with what he's talking about, and not for the usual reasons. Masterpiece Theatre will never be the same, and Walker just discovered he's got a lot more episodes of Korra than he thought existed.01:12 AYURIS: Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon...2021-11-091h 20
So Very Wrong About Games#188: Khôra: Rise of an EmpireWe are dangerously approaching peak culture here on SVWAG. In addition to Masterpiece Theatre, we have the return of the pie ranking system, plus now music tie-ins for Arkhipov Day. Could a wine section be far behind? Well, actually, Mark labels most of Walker's in-game comments the wine section. You see?! Yet more culture!Games Played Last Week:01:53 -Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef (Tim Eisner & Ben Eisner, Druid City Games, 2020)02:41 -ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo (Scott Rogers, Ravensburger, 2021)04:38 -For Science! (R. Eric Reuss, Grey Fox Games, 2021)08:40 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios...2021-10-191h 17
So Very Wrong About Games#187: Multiplayer SolitaireIt was a thrill to have a pan-Anglo alliance together to raise money for Food Banks Canada, with many current or prior Commonwealth countries represented either on the stream or in the donations. That is globalism we can get behind here at SVWAG. That said, let us make our next planned fundraising endeavour yet more international: a Kickstarter campaign to fund Mark's acquisition of a Ferrari Portofino. Equally altruistic, yes?02:56 -Posthuman Saga (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2019)Games Played Last Week:04:21 -Galaxy Trucker (Vlaada Chvátil, Czech Games Edition, 2021)10:36 -Barrage (Tommaso Battista & Simone Luciani, Cranio C...2021-10-051h 20
So Very Wrong About Games#183: App AssistanceMARCUS BIGNEYHere comes Fantasy Flight's body, mourned by Michael Walker: who,though he had no hand in its death, shall receivethe benefit of its dying, a place in thehobby; as which of you shall not? WALKERFriends, gamers, hobbyists, lend me your ears;I come to bury Fantasy Flight, not to praise it.The evil that publishers do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones;So let it be with Fantasy Flight. The noble BigneyHath told you FFG was ambitious:2021-09-071h 18
So Very Wrong About Games#182: Soldiers in Postmen's UniformsCultural gaps can be quite tragic, to say nothing of socially debilitating. Mark discovers to his horror that Walker is unfamiliar both with a key game and a crucial character in film history. Thank goodness that this faux pas does not sully Masterpiece Theatre, as that would bring shame to both the Warrior of the Wasteland and Vin Diesel. Games Played Last Week:01:02 -Regicide (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, & Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2020)03:19 -Onitama (Shimpei Sato, conception, 2014)04:46 -Card Capture (Lucas Gentry, Wep published, 2018)07:06 -Flotilla (J.B. Howell & Michael Mihealsick, WizKids, 2019)11:56 -Veritas (James Ernest...2021-08-311h 22
So Very Wrong About Games#177: Omnibus Questions Bravo BravoAbsence, as they say, makes the heart grow fonder, which I believe was an aphorism coined about a gamer's relationship with their prized game collection. Mark finds himself separated against his will from his many many boxes, which makes Walker's occasional reminders of games he left behind all the more painful. Fortunately, Mark has his stable of insect rikishi to keep him company.01:18 AYURIS: Last Bastion (Antoine Bauza, Repos Production, 2019)Games Played Last Week:03:19 -Spire's End (Greg Favro, Self-Published, 2019)05:41 -Regicide (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, & Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2020)05:55 -Race for the Galaxy...2021-07-271h 24
So Very Wrong About GamesInterlude: Transition Summer SpectacularWith Mark out of town, we peek behind the curtain here at SVWAG, offering you insights from the seldom-heard support staff that make this show possible. Walker seems liberated from his overbearing colleague, while others are coping with loss in their own way.Games Played Last Week:00:40 -Shards of Infinity (Gary Arant & Justin Gary, Stone Blade Entertainment, 2018)01:11 -Spire's End (Greg Favro, Self-Published, 2019)02:39 -Lords of Hellas (Awam Kwapinski, Awaken Realms, 2018)04:04 -Carnegie (Xavier Georges, Quined Games, 2021)News (and why it doesn't matter): 05:07 SVWAG HQ after Mark's disappearance06:24 Dune Imperium expands06:48 Terraforming...2021-07-2012 min
So Very Wrong About Games#174: CombosAs far as Walker is concerned, when he says that Mark is a jerk and he smells funny, that's a prime example of a combo. Mark counters that a perfectly sensible combo is a podcast about board games issuing random observations of silly blockbuster movies. In either case, if you want your mind to break and your conception of reality to weaken, we encourage you to investigate short scale vs. long scale. Numbers are meaningless and all is illusion. Another combo!01:45 AYURIS: Cloudspire (Josh J. Carlson, Adam Carlson, & Josh Wielgus, Chip Theory Games, 2019)Games Played Last...2021-06-221h 12
So Very Wrong About Games#173: WitchstoneTitles, as Herr Doktor Doktor Vincent Diesel, esq. O.B.E. could tell you, are important things. They must be recorded for posterity, quite literally in the case of Dogberry: "But masters, remember that I am an ass, though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass." Mark and Walker are bereft of such honorifics; "Gilded Ones" apparently only applies if you go the full gilt route, which sounds way too painful to endorse. Whether philosophers get any titles past "lovers of wisdom" is a matter of some controversy; Mark weighs in all the same. 2021-06-151h 04
So Very Wrong About Games#172: Metarules/ParateachIf Walker doesn't want Mark to speak to excess, he really shouldn't be teeing him up by asking about Macross. Or Robotech either, because the difference thereto is a whole discussion unto itself. Of course, Walker is an accomplished troll, willing to return to any subject once raised. Mark has repeatedly been exhorted to not feed trolls, but really, that's just blaming the victim. At this point it's mostly just mutual trolling, like an ouroboros of nonsense. I think SVWAG might have a new tagline.01:39 AYRUIS: Rurik: Dawn of Kiev (Stan Kordonskiy, PieceKeeper Games, 2019)Games...2021-06-081h 09
So Very Wrong About Games#170: What Prompts Our PurchasesWalker's got this friend with a problem--not Walker, no not at all, a friend, you see, his name is... Bike Docker... and Bike has this problem that he judges a game by its cover art. Mike I mean Bike is so blinded by his prejudice that it causes him to rag on games like El Grande or GMT's entire catalog just because the cover doesn't appeal to his sensibilities. Luckily, there are enlightened people like Mike Walker to guide those like Bike Docker. 01:33 AYURIS: Tapestry (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2019)Games Played Last Week:03:09 -Street Masters...2021-05-251h 08
So Very Wrong About Games#169: Whale RidersOur inaugural Mark Bigney is a Blithering Idiot Fest has arrived, and we can chronicle a minor subsection of things that make evident Mark is a not a smart man. Although this episode is jam-packed with content, even its confines cannot contain a comprehensive accounting; rest assured we will return to this topic in future instalments. Games Played Last Week:01:42 -Kemet: Blood and Sand (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2021)09:24 -Scythe (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2016)10:55 -Finished! (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2017)15:51 -Groundhog Day: The Game (Prospero Hall, Funko Games, 2021)22:27 -Street Masters: Aftershock (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler...2021-05-181h 18
So Very Wrong About Games#167: The Red CathedralFun fact: The Red Cathedral isn't really a cathedral at all, it's a sobor, which isn't really the same thing. Also fun fact: Unsurprisingly, Mark is wrong to say that Fenrir will swallow the moon at the end of the world, as that is patently absurd. Fenrir swallows the sun, which makes perfect sense. Except, of course, for renditions where Fenrir's children Skoll and Hati swallow the moon and sun respectively. I guess we'll have to wait and see who got it right. We value editorial rigour here at SVWAG. Games Played Last Week:01:57 -Veangeance: Roll and...2021-05-041h 02
So Very Wrong About Games#150: 2020 Year in ReviewIn honour of our big, blowout, end-of-year extravaganza spectacular, no expense was spared. Mark put on pants. Walker wore his t-shirt with the fewest holes. The sheep freshly sheared. The palanquin carriers were freshly oiled. Come, thrill to the summary of what was actually a very good year in terms of boardgame releases.Games Played Last Week:02:16 -Guardians (Callin Flores, Plaid Hat Games, 2018)03:46 -Super Fantasy Brawl (Jochen Eisenhuth, Mythic Games, 2020)06:07 -MegaCity: Oceania (Jordan Draper & Michael Fox, Hub Games, 2019)09:55 -Dwellings of Eldervale (Luke Laurie, Breaking Games, 2020)14:59 -Bonfire (Stefan Feld, Hall Games, 2020)19:13 -Caravan (Joe...2021-01-051h 33
So Very Wrong About Games#141: Lost Ruins of ArnakThe unofficial motto of SVWAG has always been, "stop trying to make fetch happen." Similarly, you can't just make up words out of thin air--it's not like they're holidays or anything that can be conjured ex nihilo (Happy Arkhipov Day!). What's an Arnak, anyway? Can you lose ruins of something that never existed? I suppose a fantasy is a good pretext to give us an arm's length distance from generations of pith-decked looters and graverobbers. Relatedly, Walker desperately wants to coin the term "Azteckian," but Mark's not having it.Games Played Last Week: 01:32 -Quantum (Eric Zimmerman, Funforge, 2013)2020-10-271h 02
So Very Wrong About Games#131: Eclipse 2nd EditionOld conflicts are put to bed, taxonomies are shelved, and instead we take refuge in sweeping declarations. Walker focuses on the ad hominem, trying to dissuade people from game design because they are insufficiently hardcore; Mark focuses on games, declaring that you can't base games on random spat out tiles. Nuance is for the weak, and qualifications are for those lacking character. Mostly.Games Played Last Week:02:04 -Too Many Bones: Dart (Adam Carlson & Josh J. Carlson, Chip Theory Games, 2020)06:28 -Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar (Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini, CGE, 2012)09:19 -Russian Railroads (Helmut Ohley & Leanhard "Lonny" Orgler...2020-08-181h 05
So Very Wrong About Games#128: Communication RestrictionsWalker is a force of nature, a pent-up human-shaped mass of pure rage. The only outlet that can sate his furious destructive impulses is the ecstasy of the uninhibited flick--the catharsis of venting all of his power on a disc and then watching it careen around the board (then off the table, off someone's skull, off the floor, under the bookshelf, and then embedded in the drywall). He ten thunders with laughter, even as Huey informs him he missed his target and Dewey calls an ambulance. Is it a wonder, then, that Mark favours flicking games that encourage a modicum...2020-07-2854 min
So Very Wrong About Games#127: Versailles 1919“The game which our enemies have laid before us is, in so far as the French dictated it, is a monument of pathological fear and pathological hatred; and in so far as the Anglo-Saxons dictated it, it is the work of a capitalistic policy of the most brutal and cleverest kind.” –A deliberate misquote of Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau reviewing Versailles 1919Games Played Last Week:01:40 -Nippon (Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro & Paulo Soledade, What's Your Game?, 2015)05:24 -Space Cadets: Away Missions (Dan Raspler & Al Rose, Stronghold, 2015)09:10 -Sonora (Rob Newton, Pandasaurus Games, 2020)14:51 -Godzilla: Tokyo Clash (Prospero Hall, Funko Games...2020-07-211h 01
So Very Wrong About Games#126: I'm 90% SureWalker feels he has missed his calling, and tries out his tight five as an insult comic this week. He directs his barbs at the typical targets--Mark, board game covers, games no one asked for, Mark, media he finds unengaging, and Mark. The latter (and former) does his level best at being supportive in the classic tradition of Ed McMahon, but one remembers why Don Rickles and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog are solo acts.02:03 AYURIS: Talon (Jim Krohn, GMT, 2016) and Talon 1000 (Jim Krohn, GMT, 2018)Games Played Last Week:03:45 -The Voyages of Marco Polo (Simone...2020-07-141h 03
So Very Wrong About Games#124: RondelsWe return, ill-advisedly, to the heavily-mined waters of classification and taxonomy. Mark will put up with it because of his love of Mac Gerdts, and Walker will put up with it because he gets to troll Mark with contrived classifications. 01:10 AYURIS: Gloomhaven (Isaac Childres, Cephalofair Games, 2017)Games Played Last Week:03:24 -Reichbusters: Project Vril (Jake Thornton, Mythic Games, 2020)07:56 -Hanamikoji (Kota Nakayama, EmperorS4, 2013)10:59 -Lords of Waterdeep (Peter Lee & Rodney Thompson, Wizards of the Coast, 2012)14:44 -Cartographers: A Roll Player Game (Jordy Adan, Thunderworks Games, 2019)20:50 -Barrage (Tommaso Battista & Simone Luciani, Cranio Creations, 2019)25:18 -Thunderbolt Apache...2020-06-3057 min
So Very Wrong About Games#121: Aristeia!"Please note that there are only two references to sports in this book... and both are appropriately dismissive. If you wish for sports information, might I kindly refer you to every other aspect of our culture?"-John Hodgman, "The Areas of My Expertise"Games Played Last Week:-Commands and Colors: Napoleonics 1m40s (Richard Borg, GMT Games, 2010) -Wingspan 3m08s (Elizabeth Hargrave, Stonemaier Games, 2019)-Flick ‘Em Up: Dead of Winter 6m05s (Gaëtan Beaujannot, Jonathan Gilmour, Jean Yves Monpertuis, & Isaac Vega, Pretzel Games, 2017)-The Taverns of Tiefenthal 12m47s (Wolfgang Warsch, Schmidt Spi...2020-06-091h 04
So Very Wrong About Games#118: Digital Life After COVIDPodcasts are often a discursive medium, and so naturally we find ourselves touching on many and diverse topics. This week, we delve into poetry and Star Trek, just in case you were under the illusion that we were anything other than unreconstructed nerds. Walker, being part jock, had to be restrained so as to not spontaneously give himself a wedgie.AYURIS: Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done 2m06s (Seth Jaffee, Tasty Minstrel, 2018) Games Played Last Week:-Bullet♥︎ 3m22s (Joshua Van Laningham, Level 99 Games, 2021)-Sapiens 7m10s (Cyrille Leroy, IELLO, 2015)-Legacy of Dragonholt 10m12s...2020-05-191h 12
So Very Wrong About Games#110: Social DistancingRipped from the headlines, as Dick Wolf is wont to say, we present to you the most timely of discussions. Of course, Walker takes us down theoretical tangents once again, whereas Mark rolls his eyes and tried to keep things on track--the standard roles that our hosts always seem to fall into. In Walker's defense, the Kool-Aid Man is a pressing philosophical issue. Fortunately, boardgaming has resolved the thorny matter of his (its?) identity; with such a success, surely Fermat's Last Theorem could have been resolved by boardgames had that nerd Wiles not solved it first. Nerd.AYURIS...2020-03-241h 05
So Very Wrong About Games#108: Clinic DeluxeWarning: there is some implied discussion of the existence of the health care field in this week's review. No jokes were made about current viral events, though, and given the general low-brow nature of this podcast that's a minor miracle. The only jokes about current affairs are related to hip hop, and even those references are dated to over twenty years ago. Games Played Last Week:-Street Masters: Aftershock 2m47s (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2019)-Stephenson's Rocket 4m55s (Reiner Knizia, Pegasus Spiele, 1999)-Lorenzo il Magnifico 9m19s (Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, & Simone...2020-03-101h 00
So Very Wrong About Games#106: Posthuman SagaWould you like a job at Asmodee? Well guess what, if you need any replacement parts from them, you've just been drafted to work as their support staff. Best of all, your salary is nothing! Are we doomed to become ever more curmudgeonly, rambling to young gamers about how "back in my day, we got replacement parts just by sending an email" and the the young 'uns would be all like "Ok, Millennial, but what's an email?"Games Played Last Week:-Quartermaster General WW2 2m25s (Ian Brody, Ares Games, 2019)-Mars Open: Tabletop Golf 5m19s...2020-02-251h 06
So Very Wrong About Games#101: New Year's ResolutionsEventually a charge becomes so tired and rote that it becomes accepted without critical thought--but so often these hackneyed claims are false. Knizia games are themeless is a good example. Canadians are polite is another. The one that rears its ugly head this week is Walker's insistence that he is bullied, which has definitely got to count as attempted gaslighting at this point. On the plus side, a New Year's resolution is made and then immediately fulfilled in the same episode! That is efficiency.AYURIS: Gaslands 5m23s (Glenn Ford & Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2017) Games Played...2020-01-211h 03
So Very Wrong About Games#91: The Cost of Upgraded ComponentsYou can replace the Mark and Walker voices with lovingly-rendered miniatures with the SVWAG Host Minis add-on, which you can have for $35, but only if you pay for it before you know what they look like and before you know the content of the episode. You can also buy the SVWAG playmat, metal coins, realistic resources, microphone first-player marker, and custom insert. This is a free podcast that can cost you a zillion dollars. Decide now, though!AYURIS: Root 2m02s (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2018)Games Played Last Week: -Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave 3m41s (David...2019-11-051h 03
So Very Wrong About Games#86: TapestryThe cube trundles onward, marching inexorably--if haltingly--towards its ultimate destination. It is told it must explore, and so explore it does. The other cube conquers, but that is not this cube's concern. They met once at a party. It seemed nice, but that was long ago, and the cube must explore, not mingle. Sometimes it does not explore; sometimes it scores for some quantity of non-explore things. These things it does not understand, but it knows that points are good, and so it does those things. The explore cube also cares about farms, for some reason, and mushrooms. Near the...2019-09-241h 03
So Very Wrong About Games#85: Tableau-BuildersMark thinks it is colossally unfair that he gets so much flak for speaking French when mediocre game designers get to throw around a word like "tableau." Then again, Mark and Walker can't quite agree on what a tableau constitutes. Mark seems to define it the way that American judge famously defined pornography--he knows it when he sees it--whereas Walker is more conspiratorial about tableaus (Tableaux? Tableausies?), seeing them everywhere and lurking behind every player board or suite of special powers. Nothing seems to inspire disagreement among geeks like a taxonomy. AYURIS: Street Masters 2m17s (Adam Sadler...2019-09-1757 min
So Very Wrong About Games#80: WarcrySo. Many. Games. Even after careful curation and surgical editing, Mark and Walker talk about thirteen different games they played last week, not even counting the feature game. It was truly a good week. New games! Old games! Co-ops, minis, dexterity, wargames! Come join us at the cornucopia of amusement that is this week's SVWAG.Games Played Last Week: -Beasts of Balance 1m29s (George Buckenham & Alex Fleetwood, Sensible Object, 2016)-Teotihuacan: City of Gods 3m32s (Daniele Tascini, NSKN Games, 2018)-Obsession 4m19s (Dan Halladay, Kayenta Games, 2018)-Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral Zone 6...2019-08-131h 04
So Very Wrong About Games#78: Pax RenaissanceFailure can be a fortuitous thing, which is very good for Mark, as he is well accustomed to failure. While this week's review of Pax Renaissance is certainly not on the scale of, say, penicillin, it did give him the opportunity to play one of his top 20 games more. As to whether Walker profited or suffered from this development is a deep and abiding mystery solvable only by listening to this week's episode.Games Played Last Week: -Gaslands 2m29s (Glenn Ford & Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2017)-Space Hulk 3rd edition 4m56s (Richard Halliwell, Games Workshop, 2009)2019-07-3055 min
So Very Wrong About Games#75: AuctionsSince tableau-building today is very much what auctions were twenty years ago, we take a look at both in this week's episode. The Pax games continue ever onward, even as most of our favourite auction game were published 10+ years ago. Mark resists the urge to go off on a tangent about the Trolley Problem, which allows Walker to resist the urge to send Mark's teeth off on a tangent from his mouth. Compromise.AYURIS: 1m32s Hyperborea (Andrea Chiarvesio & Pierluca Zizzi, Asterion Press, 2014)Orleans (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2014)Altiplano (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2017)Games...2019-07-0955 min
So Very Wrong About Games#72: Hellboy: The Board GameThis is not, strictly speaking, the first foray into gaming that Hellboy has done--not even the first in the miniatures genre. There were some Hellboy Heroclix, but let us speak as adults--that's not really saying much. Everyone has been in Heroclix now. 43% of the human population has been represented as a Heroclix figure at some point. Walker has, like, four different versions (albeit two of those are repaints). I hear the "Raging Fury" Walker figure is banned in most tournament play.Games Played Last Week: -Just One 1m59s (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Productions)-Lords...2019-06-1857 min
So Very Wrong About Games#68: Gentes DeluxifiedCredibility, like a butterfly, is a fragile and beautiful thing. Mark is fundamentally opposed to subtlety and ephemeral joy, so he naturally seeks to destroy either whenever he encounters it. When it comes to credibility he does this by routinely making gross over-generalizations. This time he has managed to make an instant replay-esque correction, at least. As for what he does to butterflies, let's just say he manages to make garden parties awkward.Games Played Last Week: -Bios: Megafauna 2nd Edition 3m08s (Andrew Doull, Phil Eklund, & Jon Manker, Sierra Madre, 2017)-Brook City 6m37s (Adam...2019-05-2156 min
So Very Wrong About Games#63: Catacombs 3rd ed. and Mastering a GameHere's the thing, at least as Mark understands it: acquired tastes are weird. Some things are great the first time. Furthermore, some things are easy and great the first time. Take chocolate, for example. Most people start out champs at eating chocolate. Mark tried to get good at something once, but he found out that requires effort. Who has time for ten thousand hours when there's elite-level candy consumption to be had? Walker on the other hand laments Mark's narrow little horizons. AYURIS: Space Alert 2m59s (Vlaada Chvatil, CGE, 2008)Games Played Last Week: -Warpgate 4...2019-04-091h 09
So Very Wrong About Games#62: Calimala and Gaming AmbianceToday is a telling day in the annals of SVWAG, especially with respect to Mark coming to terms with his own essential wrongness. He gets to partially repent for his tonal excesses with respect to the AYURIS; he gets to mull over painful loves lost in Billionaire Banshee; and he gets to realize that once again that while Walker cares deeply about people, he cares mostly about stuffing his face and listening to loud music. Things get real.AYURIS: Champions of Midgard 1m47s (Ole Steiness, Grey Fox Games, 2015)Games Played Last Week: -Die fiesen 7 4...2019-04-0259 min
So Very Wrong About Games#58: A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians and Theme vs. BalanceYou do you, Walker always says, except he almost never does. Mark always says smoke 'em if you got 'em, despite his never uttering those words and frankly not knowing what they mean. He tried smoking once and didn't enjoy it. Why care about such petty things as truth or data when it feels consistent with a narrative you're peddling? Echoes of contemporary politics abound, as we ponder whether a game needs to be balanced so long as it tells a good tale.AYURIS: Rising Sun (Eric Lang, CMON, 2018) 5m26sGames Played Last Week: ...2019-02-261h 19
So Very Wrong About Games#55: Quartermaster General: The Cold War and Real-Time GamesJust as we are told that it's always five o'clock somewhere, we can be assured that Mark and Walker are always wrong somewhere. Time marches inexorably forward, and we mark that passage of time by checking in with the much-loved Quartermaster General series. Mark would happily tell you that time is nothing more and nothing less than a priori intuition, which when internalized allows us to ground the science of mathematics--and then Walker would rightfully point out that it's time for Mark to shut up.Games Played Last Week: -Menara 3m01s (Oliver Richtberg, Zoch Spiele, 2018)...2019-02-051h 01
So Very Wrong About Games#54: Talon and Table TalkSometimes our hosts can't quite understand what the situation demands of them. Walker has been known to approach thoughtful, deliberative games with the oft-repeated demand of "when do I get to shoot LEMME SHOOT." Mark tends to greet new acquaintances with profanity-laden assaults on their life choices, hygiene, and character. These traits perhaps serve to explain how they find themselves in the social circles that they do.Games Played Last Week: -The Quacks of Quedlingburg 2m37s (Wolfgang Warsch, North Star Games, 2018)-Brass: Birmingham 5m18s (Gavan Brown, Matt Tolman, & Martin Wallace, Roxley, 2018)-In the...2019-01-291h 08
So Very Wrong About Games#53: Gloomhaven and What Can a Game Demand?We take endorsements very seriously here at SVWAG. The Ferragamo deal fell through after Walker was seen wearing Fendi, and the whole Burberry fiasco is better left forgotten. Converse was our backup, but suffice to say after Mark's public comments about sportsball that seems like a distant possibility at best.All that said, we endorse Gloomy Companion unreservedly. We don't resort to apps very often, but we don't Gloomhaven without Gloomy Companion employed on a tablet. We've tried others but it suits us the best.Games Played Last Week: -Mombasa 3m14s (Alexander Pfister, eggertspiele, 2015)...2019-01-221h 07
So Very Wrong About Games#52: New Frontiers and Too Many VersionsConstant vigilance is the price of audio quality, and we apologize for how badly that struggle has been going of late. Walker prostrates himself before the altar of Bars, and Bars we achieve, but the nature of those Bars have been fickle. Their shape and pattern cannot be properly contained or channeled, and thus they spurn us and assault your ears. Rest assured that we are consulting the augurs and they are poring over the entrails of many a cassette tape in order to discern how we may appease the Bars. But yeah, it's totally Mark's fault.We...2019-01-151h 18
So Very Wrong About Games#51: Pandemic: Fall of Rome and New Year's ResolutionsPeer influence is a strange thing. For years Mark has been yelling at Walker about various ways he really ought to change, but a single board game now has Walker spewing Macross lore like he's a convert. Perhaps the authors like Erin Lee Escobedo have a point, and board games really can serve to deliver subtle yet powerful influence. Perhaps we could make board games to convince people to like and dislike the right board games...Games Played Last Week: -Telestrations 3m40s (Uncredited, USAopoly, 2009)-Diamonds 4m52s (Mike Fitzgerald, Stronghold, 2014)-Meltwater: A Game of...2019-01-081h 06
So Very Wrong About Games#48: Teotihuacan and How Far Is Too FarAs a new coping mechanism, Mark and Walker decide to expunge their deepest shameful acts of conspicuous consumption and frivolous travel by talking about it on the internet. Now that Tumblr is is divesting themselves of adult content they can't post their Stephen Universe erotica there, so this is the next best thing. Don't tell Mark and Walker that a) anyone is listening, or b) they've been using their real names.Games Played Last Week: -Gùgong 3m33s (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2018)-Quartermaster General: Prelude 4m05s (Ian Brody, Griggling Games, 2018)-Triumph and Tragedy 6m...2018-12-041h 13
So Very Wrong About Games#44: Discover: Lands Unknown and Overused ThemesWe are an easily-triggered group, we geeks, we nerds; so allow us to exercize due diligence and offer the following warnings. Spoiler Alert: we discuss what spoilers are. Meta Alert: we get pretty meta about spoilers. Existentialism Alert: Walker gets pretty existential (parenthetical alert: you might have figured Mark would instead, but he has very little time for existentialism, being more modern than post-modern). Games Played Last Week: -Endeavor: Age of Sail 1m41s (Carl de Visser & Jarratt Gray, Burst Island Games, 2018)-Spinderella 5m06s (Roberto Fraga, Zoch Verlag, 2015)-Everdell 7m38s (James A. Wilson...2018-11-061h 09
So Very Wrong About Games#42: Battle for Rokugan and Gateway GamesReading your audience is a hard thing, and not even just when blasting your errant opinions over the interwebs. Mark couldn't read the room when Walker requested a certain game, and that didn't end well. Walker couldn't perceive Mark's growing misgivings about the feature game. This one time I thought a baby boy was a baby girl and the parents were very offended. Life is hard!Games Played Last Week: -Star Realms 2m19s (Robert Dougherty & Darwin Kastle, White Wizard, 2014)-Amun-Re: The Card Game 4m59s (Reiner Knizia, Super Meeple, 2017)-Endeavor: The Age of Sail 7...2018-10-231h 13
So Very Wrong About Games#40: Gaslands and The Perils of CollectingWe're always wondering about what comes next, always on the lookout for the next big thing--both in games and broadcasting. That's why we're open to being elevated to the judiciary, so the next time there's a search committee feel free to add Mark and Walker to the ol' shortlist. We're open to traveling, so it doesn't have to be any particular country. We hear The Hague is nice? Games Played Last Week: -Mystic Vale 2m02s (John D. Clair, AEG, 2016)-Sentinels of the Multiverse 6m27s (Christopher Badell, Paul Bender, & Adam Rebottaro, Greater Than Games, 2011) ...2018-10-021h 13
So Very Wrong About Games#39: BattleCON and Catch-up MechanicsWe would like to apologize for the poorer audio quality of this episode. The editor (Mark) would dearly like to attribute it somehow to Walker's illness-induced stupor, but try as he might he can't seem to blame the victim on this one. The microphone has let us all down, dear listeners, and all we can do is vow not to repeat the twin errors--the one being the reduced audio quality, the other in Mark not being able to scapegoat the victim.Games Played Last Week: -Street Masters: Redemption 1m30s (Brady Sadler & Adam Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2018) ...2018-09-251h 15
So Very Wrong About Games#37: Sentinels of the Multiverse OblivAeon and Explaining RulesOh, hello there. The door's unlocked--just come on in. Please pardon our informal setting, here, we just want you to be comfortable. I suppose, though, that a tone of complete familiarity shouldn't prevent us from doing introductions. I'm the episode description, and I'm the thing you don't read. Our hosts are Mark Bigney and Mike Walker, and they're the ones you don't respect. Stay with us for a while, won't you?Games Played Last Week: -Aeon's End 1m15s (Kevin Riley, Action Phase Games, 2016), -XenoShyft: Onslaught 4m43s (Keren Philosophales & Michael Shinall, CMON, 2015), -Fast Forward: Fortress 11m17...2018-09-111h 18
So Very Wrong About Games#36: The Voyages of Marco Polo and Walker's Top 10Walker, ever truculent, finally succumbs to the inevitable and submits his top ten. Now we can move on, and it is best we do, as there is no shortage of games to be played! Gencon is over and the new releases flow like sweet chocolate milk. Despite this pressure, Mark and Walker find the time to indulge in old classics of yesteryear, and not just the "classics" from "back in the day" of "2012".Games Played Last Week:-Eclipse 3m00s (Touko Tahkokallio, Lautapelit.fi, 2011)-Dungeon Alliance 4m41s (Andrew Parks, Quixotic Games, 2018)-Outlive 8m16...2018-09-041h 26
So Very Wrong About Games#35: Root and Mark's Top 10We are but slaves to your whims here at SVWAG, and when our massed masters demand that we dance for their amusement, we must perforce oblige. We resisted for a time, but clearly that was folly. The people have spoken, and their demands will be met: we will descend to the realm of clickbait and listicles and present to your our top 10 games. Walker remains dubious of the enterprise, but Mark is confident that slavish obedience is the path to true happiness.Games Played Last Week:-Battle for Rokugan 1m11s (Tom Jolly & Molly Glover, FFG, 2017)2018-08-211h 19
So Very Wrong About Games#33: Thunderstone Quest and Mechanisms We're Tired OfThis episode enters the Fire Swamp, the reputed lair of the R.O.U.S.--the Rodents of Unusual Size. Mark doesn't think they exist. We go in-depth into Thunderstone Quest, a long-serving deckbuilder that is a loyal as a farm boy. Walker announces that take-that cards killed his father, and they should prepare to die. I guess Andre the Giant shows up...? Games Played Last Week:-Gaslands 3m46s (Glenn Ford & Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2017)-San Juan 2nd ed. 5m27s (Andreas Seyfarth, alea, 2014)-13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis 6m39s (Asger Harding...2018-07-241h 12
So Very Wrong About Games#32: Street Masters and EtiquetteThis week we stumble on the terrible, horrifying fact that there are other hobbies than boardgames, and we take pity on those poor lamented souls who are enslaved in their thrall. Just what is scrapbooking, anyway? Walker has a theory, but no one is really sure. We should thus feel blessed that we chosen few enjoy the hobby that we do, and so we discuss ways to try to be decent while doing so. Games Played Last Week:-Clans of Caledonia 1m59s (Juma Al-Joujou, Karma Games, 2017)-Starship Samurai 4m04s (Isaac Vega, Plaid Hat Games, 2018)2018-07-101h 19
So Very Wrong About Games#31: SEAL Team Flix and Getting Rid of GamesA reminder that there is no necessary connection between our feature game and our topic. We would not divest ourselves of SEAL Team Flix, The Only Game that Matters, if for no other reason than we need it on hand so we can talk about it and only it for perpetuity. That, and it's great. Sorry, spoilers! Oh, and Walker was Keyser Söze the entire time.Games Played Last Week:-Cthulhu Wars 1m28s (Sandy Peterson & Lincoln Peterson, Peterson Games, 2015)-Decrypto 5m09s (Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2018)-Gaslands 7m39s (Glenn Ford & Mik...2018-06-261h 13
So Very Wrong About Games#28: Keyflower and Games that Are Too LongYou can have too much of a good thing, which is why Mark always tries to interrupt Walker before he can finish a single sentence. Of course, "too much" is a highly subjective idea, whether applied to game length or pie. This week Keyflower is discussed, which is not too long but can feel too short--except if it were not too short it would be too long. Clear enough. Games Played Last Week:-Star Wars: Imperial Assault 3m25s (Justin Kemppainen, Corey Konieczka, & Jonathan Ying, Fantasy Flight, 2014)-Lords of Vegas 5m31s (James Ernest & Mike Silenker...2018-06-051h 10
So Very Wrong About Games#26: Crisis at Steamfall and Interview with Chris CieslikWalker encourages you to tell friends about So Very Wrong About Games, despite his not listening to the podcast. Mark has recommended it to him, but apparently Walker's contempt for his co-host's opinions is not limited to games, but extends also to the podcast they produce together about games. One assumes Walker also does not read the episode descriptions, which is truly risky, and might create an incentive to make them devoted to discussing his manifold character flaws. Games Played Last Week:-Forbidden Stars 2m51s (Samuel Bailey, James Kniffen, & Corey Konieczka, Fantasy Flight, 2015)-Dice Hockey 4...2018-05-221h 23
So Very Wrong About Games#24: The City of Kings and Interview with Eric ReussAs it happens, games do not spawn ex nihilo, fully armed and armored from Zeus' forehead. I'm certain that's what most of you believed, but it's not true! To confirm this implausible fact, Mark sat down with Eric Reuss, the designer of Spirit Island, to talk about stuff. Walker and Mark also discuss The City of Kings, a game that is a fascinating mixture of euro mechanics, grand adventure, and both excellent and terrible theming.Games Played Last Week:-Kemet 1m25s (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2012)-The Castles of Burgundy 3m22s (Stefan Feld, alea, 2011)2018-05-081h 19
So Very Wrong About Games#23: Mage Knight and Player ScalingThis podcast scales seamlessly from 2 to an in finite number of listeners, but we're not nearly that optimistic. Walker sometimes dreams of a solo mode, but sadly Mark insists on speaking. Mark and Walker again turn to Vlaada Chvatil, a designer who loves idiosyncrasy and detail--sometimes to excess. Walker asks if it would be appropriate to rant, and Mark gladly lets him off leash. Games Played Last Week:-Railroad Tycoon/Railways of the World 1m52s (Glenn Drover & Martin Wallace, Eagle-Gryphon Games, 2005)-House of Borgia 3m13s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2017)-Ex Libris 5m24s...2018-05-011h 09
So Very Wrong About Games#22: Feudum and Euro/Ameritrash HybridizationYou wouldn't like Mark when he's angry, but that's probably attributable to his being fundamentally unlikable at the best of times. At any rate, Walker tries to rein him in from ranting too long about obvious component failures, publisher laziness, and alleged outright theft. Walker, for his part, just wants things to mean something. We are seekers here at So Very Wrong About Games.Games Played Last Week:-Spirit Island 2m10s (Eric Reuss, Fabled Nexus, 2017)-The City of Kings 4m00s (Frank West, The City of Games, 2018)-Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire 6m00s (David Sanders...2018-04-241h 10
So Very Wrong About Games#21: Quartermaster General and Gaming ConventionsMark and Walker delve into matters of criminal justice this week, pondering the balance and tradeoffs between deterrence, retribution, and rehabilitation. Walker seems to think that Bunny Kingdom a form of cruel and unusual punishment, whereas Mark seems to think that any form of travel is necessarily a form of inhumane rendition. Anyway, they're sellouts now, so if you send them free stuff in the mail they'll say whatever you want them to.Games Played Last Week:-When I Dream 3m22s (Chris Darsaklis, Repos Productions, 2016)-Noria 6m09s (Sophia Wagner, Stronghold, 2017)-A Feast for...2018-04-171h 09
So Very Wrong About Games#17: Battlelore 2nd Edition and Board Game Life HacksMark and Walker explore how sophisticated the rejoinder "git gud" can be, perhaps indicating that they are getting good at unhelpful trash talking. Perhaps anything can be an art. Perhaps being a better degerenate is truly the life lesson they have extracted from their years as hobbyists; Mark's experiences have certainly turned him into a fantasy racist. Join us for A Very Special Episode of So Very Wrong About Games.Games Played Last Week:-Path of Light and Shadow 1m05s (Travis R. Chance, Jonathan Gilmour, & Nick Little, Action Phase Games, 2017)-Catacombs 4m02s (Ryan Amos...2018-03-2058 min
So Very Wrong About Games#16: SMOG Rise of Moloch and Games that Shouldn't WorkWalker pretends to tolerate Mark's digression into pronunciation, and in exchange Mark pretends to be surprised to hear that TI4 has problems. Both fail to be even remotely surprised that CMON is in the plastic pushing business, novelty or creativity optional. Games Played Last Week:-Zombicide: Black Plague 4m39s (Raphaël Guiton, Jean-Baptiste Lullien, & Nicolas Raoult, CMON, 2015)-Black Orchestra 6m08s (Philip duBarry, Game Salute, 2016)-Tobago 15m00s (Bruce Allen, Zoch Verlag, 2009)-The Nasty 7 16m07s (Jacques Zeimet, Drei Hasen in der Abendsonne, 2015)-Twilight Imperium 4th Edition 17m10s (Dane Beltrami, Corey K...2018-03-131h 07
So Very Wrong About Games#13: 51st State Master Set and Kickstarter ExclusivesMark and Walker dare the siege perilous in this, their thirteenth installment. Walker shares a rare moment of sincerity, and Mark restrains himself from taunting him for the lapse. Rising Sun is revisited and compared to Twilight Imperium, and shockingly Mark highlights ways in which that is favorable to TI:4. Mass hysteria ensues.Games Played Last Week:-Tigris & Euphrates 2m16s (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)-Inkognito 3m36s (Leo Colovini & Alex Randolph, Ares Games, 1988)-Charterstone 4m40s (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2017)-Barony 9m29s (Marc Andre, Matagot, 2015)-Rising Sun 10m58s (Eric...2018-02-201h 07
So Very Wrong About Games#12: Deception: Murder in Hong Kong and Hidden Game StatesMark has a bit of an identity crisis, but his devotion to his listeners will see him through. Walker, as is his wont, merely patiently rolls his eyes-especially when Mark almost tries to get him to review a game they've only played once. The insolence! Games Played Last Week:-Rising Sun 2m14s (Eric Lang, CMON, 2018)-Sid Meier's Civilization: A New Dawn 11m31s (James Kniffen, Fantasy Flight, 2017)-Domaine 13m27s (Klaus Teuber, KOSMOS, 2003)-Tigris & Euphrates 14m56s (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)-Codenames 15m34s (Vlaada Chvatil, CGE, 2015)-Star Trek: Ascendancy 16...2018-02-131h 11
So Very Wrong About Games#11: Gaia Project and Reskins & Second EditionsMark and Walker switch roles this week in a stunning reversal. Walker avoids telling Mark to "get good," but it's a close thing only narrowly avoided. In Walker's defense, Mark really should git gud--as has been noted by many a scholar and physician. They discuss the redevelopment of Terra Mystica called Gaia Project, and then they generalize to how publishers sometimes mess up new editions of their games. Mark's sanity is questioned throughout; probably a sound policy.Games Played Last Week:-Stone Age 1m17s (Bernd Brunnhofer, Hans im Gluck, 2008)-Corporate America 3m44s (Teale Fristoe...2018-02-061h 07
So Very Wrong About Games#10: A Feast for Odin and AppsMark and Walker address so many questions this week. How many ways can Walker pronounce "coyote?" Why is all of Oceania laughing at CMON? What is the best social and economic system? How condescending can Mark get? Listen up, as all will be explained herein.Games Played Last Week:-First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet 1m59s (Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games, 2017)-Mombasa 3m17s (Alexander Pfister, eggertspiele, 2015)-Blood Rage 5m54s (Eric Lang, CMON Limited, 2015)-Empires of the Void II 7m47s (Ryan Laukat, Red Raven, 2018)-Coyote 11m23s (Spartaco Albertarelli, New...2018-01-301h 05
So Very Wrong About Games#8: Alien Artifacts and KickstarterMark and Walker engage in rampant hearsay, or at least that's what someone told me. They perform a dissection of Alien Artifacts, only to discover that it was a shoddy rubber suit all along. They then discuss their thoughts on Kickstarter's influence on the hobby--is it making games cute but stupid?Also, a friendly reminder that Star Control II is the greatest video game ever made.Games Played Last Week:1:00 -Secret Hitler (Mike Boxleiter, Tommy Maranges & Max Temkin, Self-published, 2016)2:39 -Sheriff of Nottingham (Sérgio Halaban & André Zatz, Arcane Wonders, 2014)5:11 -Keyflower (Sebastien Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R...2018-01-161h 13
So Very Wrong About Games#6: Space Hulk and New Year's ResolutionsMark and Walker spend zero moments wondering what a lang syne is, but instead praise the classic Space Hulk and look forward to 2018 with some gaming resolutions. As is the way with such things, they've probably already been broken--especially the one where Mark tries to be more nice.Games Played Last Week:1:34 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 1998)4:19 -Santorini (Gord!, Roxley, 2016)5:51 -Beowulf: The Legend (Reiner Knizia, KOSMOS, 2005)10:06 -Alien Artifacts (Marcin Senior Ropka & Viola Kijowska, Portal, 2017)13:00 -Tajemnicze Domostwo/Mysterium (Oleksandr Nevskiy & Oleg Sidorenko, Portal, 2013)16:05 -Trivial Pursuit (Scott Abbott & Chris Haney, Parker Brothers, 1981)2018-01-021h 02
So Very Wrong About Games#4: Spirit Island and RulebooksMark (alias Flavor Flav) and Walker (alias Chuck D) disagree about many things, among them Twilight Imperium 4th ed., Spirit Island, GMT Games, and rulebooks. Fight the power, by which we mean listen to this podcast of a couple of white dudes talking about games.Games played last week:1:37 -Pericles: The Peloponnesian Wars (Mark Herman, GMT Games, 2017)4:42 -Great Western Trail (Alexander Pfister, eggertspiele, 2016)6:32 -Sid Meier's Civilization: A New Dawn (James Kniffen, Fantasy Flight, 2017)9:11 -Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition (Dane Beltrami, Corey Konieczka, & Christian T. Petersen, Fantasy Flight, 2017)21:51 -Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 (Rob Daviau & Matt Leacock...2017-12-121h 18
So Very Wrong About Games#1: Kingdom Death and RandomnessMark and Walker talk about how Kingdom Death: Monster (Adam Poots, 2015) is an unrelenting nightmare, and why that's (mostly) a good thing. The featured topic is randomness and how to deal with it, both from a game design and a player's perspective.Games played last week:1:00 Champions of Midgard and its expansions (Ole Steiness, Grey Fox Games, 2015)2:15 Sidereal Confluence (TauCeti Deichmann, Wizkids, 2017)4:17 Orléans: Invasion (Inka Brand, Markus Brand, Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2015)5:28 Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire (David Sanders, Games Workshop, 2017)7:21 Keyper (Richard Breese, HUCH, 2017)8:51 Immortals (Dirk Henn & Mike Elliott, Queen Games, 2017) 2017-11-231h 08