Catch Up On Videos

Spider-Man Magic the Gathering Collectors Pack Opening

Thanks for Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends as word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast, and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find for people looking for a fun Marvel podcast. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, and Spotify or wherever you get your friendly neighborhood podcasts.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you, again, for listening and for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions: How Do You Rank the Marvel Projects?

Join us in ranking all 53 Marvel projects. Now this doesn’t include the Netflix stuff but it maybe should. Let us know your rankings in the comment section. And which one is the biggest shocker for you thus far?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below, or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. And there is now the Facebook page, as well, where you can join in the conversation here. And follow us on YouTube for more content here.

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Plus the news including talking about the Marvel Zombies trailer. And as normal more Spider-Man: Brand New Day to talk about as well such as where Tom Holland is getting inspiration, and is it a good spot?

Marvel Zombies Trailer Thoughts

Thanks for Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends as word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast, and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find for people looking for a fun Marvel podcast. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, and Spotify or wherever you get your friendly neighborhood podcasts.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you, again, for listening and for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions: How Do You Rank the Marvel Projects?

Join us in ranking all 53 Marvel projects. Now this doesn’t include the Netflix stuff but it maybe should. Let us know your rankings in the comment section. And which one is the biggest shocker for you thus far?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below, or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. And there is now the Facebook page, as well, where you can join in the conversation here. And follow us on YouTube for more content here.

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
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Support us on Patreon here

Top 15 Campaign Games I Still Need to Play

15. Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West

I know that I’m going to like this game. So why is Ticket to Ride Legacy lower on the list? Some of it is because it is a legacy game. The two “legacy” games that I have on the list are the bottom two. But also because while I like Ticket to Ride a lot, it’s not a game that I play all that often. I think that the legacy version will likely breath new life into the game for me. But it’s more of a comfort food pick than a really exciting new bite to try. And for that reason it’s lower on the list.

14. Clank Legacy 1 & 2

The other legacy game is actually two legacy games. So did I cheat, I’ll let you decide. But this one is lower on the list because I know that I love Clank! already. And I really like the Acquisitions Inc guys as well, so that is a great theme for me. But it’s like I said for Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West, this is more comfort food. I already know that I will like both of the games. But it’s higher on the list because I like Clank better than I like Ticket to Ride, and because I think the writing is just going to be a great time that’s a ton of fun.

13. Tales from the Red Dragon Inn

Speaking of fun writing, I expect that Tales from the Red Dragon Inn is going to be another game with fun writing. This one is supposed to be a simpler, or less in depth dungeon crawler game and there are some good playthroughs of it. I’d recommend checking otu the playthrough that was done done on Meet me at the Table. They’re one of my favorite channels, and it shows how fast it is to get the game to the table and get playing.

12. Kinfire Chronicles

Speaking of another campaign game that I’ve heard a lot of good things about, we have Kinfire Chronicles. This is again supposed to be a friendlier and easier to get into campaign game than some. I like the look of the aesthetic of the game. And it’s not a mini heavy experience which might make it easier to get to the table. But it’s probably easier to see what it’s like at the table. I really do like how the cast of characters looks like a ton of fun and familiar fantasy but not the completely normal fantasy.

11. Tidal Blades 2

For this one I’ll add a video from Man vs Meeples. But I know more about this one. Some of the previous ones I just went on theme. This one is a dungeon crawler or adventure style game with scenarios where you are in this beautiful world dealing with monsters who attacked a festival and more in the story.

But the mechanisms got me to pick up this game. I like how you add in cards to a grid and then you activate a row or a column. But once every spot in a row or column is filled and you activate it, it wipes. And you have basic actions on spots without cards, but it’s a rising and falling action as you try and play through the scenario and defeat the monsters.

10. Etherfields

Now we’re onto Etherfields. The only campaign game from Awaken Realms that I haven’t gotten to the table. And this one actually left my collection for a very short time. But as I said, I love campaign games so I got it back. I put this one where because I love the theme of it. I have heard that it is rough around the edges but the theme gets me.

You are exploring dreams and each dream is going to be a little bit different. Some of them might be more dream like, but the fun of dreams, at least in a board game is that they can be nightmares as well. And that means that the game is going to have twisted and crazy and surreal scenarios and that sounds amazing to me. I know one element was a bit of a grind, but I believe that there are rules out there now that help fix that.

9. Kingdom: Death Monster

Then we get to one that maybe should be higher on the list. Kingdom: Death Monster is not the grand daddy of all campaign games, that’s Gloomhaven in a lot of ways. But this one is one of the games that really showed what you could do and create a massive game with a ton of expansions and a ton of minis in it. I only have the core box and there is a ton in there.

In this game it’s a boss battler campaign. You start at no one, really you don’t even have language yet. But as you play, you grow you tribe, figure out new things, like ways to make weapons and armor, develop language and more. All that while sending out your hunters to try and defeat boss monsters who are sometimes going to take out your hunters. And that’s why you need to keep growing your village. But Meet Me At The Table has great videos on this as well.

8. Divinity Original Sin

This is a game that I need to play through both as a video game but also as the board game. I had fun watching Felicia Day an Ryan Day play through it on their streams back in the day. So it is a game that I have played some, in the video game. But the board game sounds great for it as well. The theme definitely helps with that as does the fact that this isn’t a grid movement map but more of an area movement game. And I really like how there’s that campaign element and adventure element to it without purely being a dungeon crawler game.

7. Dragon Eclipse

Alright, I kind of lied about having played all of the Awaken Realms campaign games. This is one that might actually get to the table sooner because I think it might be easier to get to the table. I didn’t think of it though, because it just got in. In this game you are collecting dragons and battling dragons. Does that sound a bit like Pokemon, that makes sense. But it’s a game with a fun theme and compared to some campaign games, it’s a campaign game that you can play true solo which is great for me.

6. Nova Aetas Renaissance

You’ll notice and probably already have noticed a trend of the videos that I share here. A ton of them are from Meet Me At the Table. A lot of these games I had already backed before they played them. But this is one that I tracked down because of the channel. I love the 3D nature of the experience for this game. And how, in one of the scenarios a house that is 3D can be taken apart and flattened. But there is more than that as well.

The story of the game is fun. It feels like it mixes up a few things from historical to make fantastical. And then it uses a fun mechanism for whose turn it is. You spend you action points and move around a time track. Whomever is at the end of the track is going to be who activates next. There are some other rules for it as well. So you can’t just stack up turn after turn after turn before the bad guys go, but it’s a fun element to the game.

5. Agemonia

Then we have Agemonia. This is a rare campaign game that I didn’t back right off the bat on crowdfunding. Or I should say a rare one that I looked into a lot and didn’t end up backing. This game seems to have a fun world and setting to play in and that’s some of what drew me in right away for it. But there were other elements that kept me coming back for it as well.

I liked how the maps were in books and that felt different. But also beyond that, as more places are doing that now, the world would change. You draw out a card after interacting with a point and cover it up. That might create a different point of interaction or it might be nothing to do there anymore. And the game play just seems simple enough to be easy to learn and play, but offer some solid choices in combat as well.

4. The Elder Scrolls

Next is another new one to come in. But it’s a fun theme that a lot of people are going to be drawn to. For me it’s less the theme and more that it’s a shorter campaign based off of the Too Many Bones system that I really am excited for.

If you’re not familiar with the system, you level up after missions. Or you can anyways. And as you spend your points to try and level up you get better or unlock new abilities. You can add to base stats, which can be good, or you can add to the specialty dice that you roll. And while this streamlines it a bit from what it was with Too Many Bones, I’m excited for it and the world that the game is set in certainly helps.

3. Middara

Now the top 4 are going to be ones that I really would love to play. Yes, you read that correctly, we’re on #3 and we have four games to go including this one. How is that, I couldn’t pick between my top two. But Middara is very safely into that group. And soon I’m going to be having more Middara come in. I say soon, I expect maybe this time next year.

But Middara is going to be a classic dungeon crawler with a ton of story and a ton of dice chucking. But I really like the theme and look of the game. You go to another world, chosen to go there kind of it’s weird to explain. But you are chucking dice to defeat monsters, level up and become awesome. But the whole aesthetic of the game gives me a really strong anime feel. I’ve heard that sometimes trips up the writing, but overall people really enjoy it. And to me that sounds exciting.

1c. Oathsworn

Next we have Oathsworn. And this, this is the three way tie for first place. Why did I not just remove the last game from the list, because I wanted to mention it too. Oathsworn is another boss battler game. But it is a game that is split into two parts. And that excites me about the game. You get a mystery or exploration phase where you experience a lot of story. And then you go beat up that boss. But if you do well on the story the boss maybe is easier.

And I really like the mechanisms in the game. I kept games that I’d really played off of the list. I did a short demo of this one two years ago at Gen Con and I adored it. There is this great card system where cards have to cool down before you can use them again. And then you decide how many dice you are going to roll, some are required, but the more you roll the more chances you to bust and miss, but the greater a hit could be. Or you could play it safer and draw cards, but eventually that deck of cards will run cold and do you switch to dice then?

1b. Primal: The Awakening

Next tied at the top is Primal: The Awakening. This one is another boss battler game. And this one I should probably get to the table sooner than some. A nice thing about Primal is that it doesn’t need to be a campaign, you can also play it as a one off. And that would definitely make it easier for me to get it to the table.

But this is a game that is all about the boss battle. There is a little story between scenarios and a chance to upgrade, but it’s not going to be nearly as much other stuff as just a pure battle. And the battle is different as well. You play on a tiny board with just four sides of the monster that you can be on. And depending the stance the monster is in, you need to be in specific spots to do damage. Add in card play for this which you can pull of powerful combos, that’s great. Of course, depending on what cards you play, you might trigger a lot of monster reactions.

1a. Arydia

And finally the most recent game to the campaign game collection. This one barely beat out Elder Scrolls for that title, we have Arydia. Arydia is another game that I passed on originally when it was on crowdfunding but then I went back and late pledged it. I just kept on being drawn into one part of the game.

The game is at three different levels. Now I don’t mean that you build stuff up on the table. I mean that you explore the world at three different levels. You explore at a high level where you get general encounters and interactions. Then you can dive down deeper and start to interact with specific characters or explore a location in more detail. Finally, you might then drop into combat which is tactical movement on a map. And that massiveness of the world really drew me to the game.

Final Thoughts

You might think that is enough. But there is going to be another list, probably tomorrow for games that I want to come back to or that are new editions or versions of games that I’ve already played as campaign games. I expect that is only going to make it to ten, but that’s a lot. And this list even didn’t include everything. The campaign in Solomon Kane could have made the list. And I know that I just didn’t see some games on the shelf that would have made sense for the list as well. And there are games that I likely missed too because I don’t think of them as campaign games.

What campaign games do you want to get played? And how do you find time to play them all? Or are you like me where you have more campaign games than you can play?

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Gen Con Felt Smaller

So, for a gen con where everything had sold out completely, Gen Con felt smaller. This could be several reasons for it. I heard of a few people who couldn’t make it because of getting sick ahead of time. But that is a minor percentage of people. I think the reason it felt smaller is that there were fewer choke points.

Last year was the year of Lorcana. And I expect that nothing will match that, at least for a long time. But that meant that there were no extremely long lines. A lot of people went for a lot of different things. So while some aisles at the start of every day had lines, it wasn’t as consistent. And, for example, I stood in line for Devir’s room to get a game (watch the Gen Con Haul video coming up), but that was from 7:30 until 8.

Demoing Prototypes

This is one element of Gen Con that I love every time that I go. I like to try and learn about new games or games that aren’t even out yet. And I got to play three new games that are either coming to retail or crowdfunding. You can pre-order Mistborn from Brotherwise Games on sites like Game Nerdz already. And then the two for crowdfunding we have Defenders of the Dictionary coming to Kickstarter and Stardriven: Gateway on Gamefound which you can find here. I will write more up on all of these later.

Seeing People Again

This year I didn’t meet up with as many people, but the Man vs Meeple event was as fun as ever. But it is great to always see people who I know there. And to meet new people. And to play games with new people and just experience the con that way. Plus it’s always fun to learn a new game and teach a new game while at an event like that. Plus with prizes (again haul video coming up for more details), food, and being off your feet it’s a good time. I got to play Rebel Princess twice and Comic Hunters two games that are now ones that I like a lot.

Going with Friends

So, the past two years I’ve gone to Gen Con by myself. It has been great because I just kind of wander and do my own thing. But this year, going with friends reminded me that it can be nice to do that as well. Going with friends didn’t mean that I wandered and did my own thing that much less. It meant that I didn’t do a car drive by myself. And it meant that I got to meet up with people a bit more. And I got to chat about the day and what people were excited about each evening.

Going in a group made the drive a lot faster. Conversations were had and better friendships were formed. Plus I love hearing people get excited about on a day. What new thing they found or bought. What they want to check out the next day, all of that is great.

Final Thoughts

Now there are more highlights than that. I need to try and think about Saturday and mark down my game plays that day. Because I failed, again to track everything. But I know of a few games that I need to mark down plays for. Including one of the prototypes that I played, actually, I think two of them that day.

Did you go to Gen Con? If so, what were some of your highlights. If not, what do you want to know about from this convention?

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Plus in the news we have a last few Deadpool and Wolverine notes from characters in some later trailers, to the Russo brothers in talks to return. And rumors around what could be announced at San Diego Comic Con.

Thanks for Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends as word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast, and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find for people looking for a fun Marvel podcast. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, and Spotify or wherever you get your friendly neighborhood podcasts.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you, again, for listening and for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions: Who Has the Best X-Men Team?

Who is the person who drafted your favorite X-Men team. Is there one that stood out to you over the others or one you’d like to see most in the movies?

Plus, do you have thoughts on the Russo brothers returning?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below, or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. And there is now the 10 Minute Marvel Facebook page, as well, where you can join in the conversation here. And follow us on YouTube for more content here.

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What’s on the Kickstarter?

So let’s start out by talking about what is on the page, which you can see here. There is more on this crowdfunding page than their other Kickstarter campaigns, which I think is worth calling out a few things. Mainly that, before, add-ons, there are three products that you can back. Some of them are just expansions and there is a core box.

Core Box

The Core Box is almost a must buy if you’re going to back the Kickstarter. Though, you can always mix and match any of the Dice Throne content together. But the core box is where you will get most of the new characters. And what they were announcing new characters for mainly.

If you want to play as the X-Men, you now can. You’ll have a choice of Rogue, Gambit, Storm, Iceman, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Psylocke, or Wolverine. And they have a nice range of difficulty on characters that you can play which they nicely call out now. So if you want more of the Dice Throne game, or you want to start playing it because you love the X-Men, this is a great spot to start.

Missions

Now, Dice Throne is traditionally a competitive game. It’s called Battle Yahtzee by some, though there is much more control over the dice than in Yahtzee. But Dice Throne is not only a competitive game. There are two ways that you can play it cooperatively. The first was Dice Throne Adventures which came out a few years ago. And now Missions is going to offer some of that cooperative game play, but I believe in a shorter game than the Dice Throne Adventures Campaign.

This is the big area of the game that I want to look into. What I like while looking at it is that the villains vary a lot. And the Missions don’t seem to just be X-Men focused. Yes, you have Mister Sinister. But you also battle Thanos. Thanos is going to be more of a Marvel Dice Throne versus Marvel Dice Throne X-Men villain. Though, if you go by the comics, some of the X-Men play a big role in the Infinity Gauntlet storyline.

Deadpool

Finally, there is Deadpool. He isn’t really the last thing, there are add-ons as well. But Deadpool as a playable character coming in his own premium box. I say premium because he comes with the miniature and acrylic tokens that you can upgrade for the other characters. Downside is, if you want it all matching, he doesn’t come with a cardboard standee and he doesn’t come with cardboard tokens.

Deadpool is mainly just going to be another character you can mix in to fight with or against. Now he isn’t a Missions villain, though that’d be great, but for the base competitive game, he’ll be able to be played. What always worries me with Deadpool in games is that he often is taken too meta and it’s either too strong or too annoying to play with.

What Level to Back

So, I want to talk about this because I am still waffling on it. The question I’m asking myself isn’t about the core box, I want more characters always. It isn’t about Deadpool, against more characters. And I do have concerns with Deadpool. Is he going to be broken because he’s too meta or too annoying? I don’t know, but I want to give him a try.

Missions is the part that I don’t know about. Why? Because do I want to play it as a cooperative game. I thought that I did with Dice Throne Adventures. But when I got it, I realized, I didn’t want a big campaign. I like Dice Throne as that head to head battling game, or multiplayer battling game. And Dice Throne Adventures, it might have been great, but it was a much longer mode of the game. So I never felt like playing it.

Missions, on the other hand, I need to look into more. If it offers some of that cooperative play with out too much extra work to play the bad guys, then I’m more intrigued. If I can sit down and play a game in an hour, that is reasonable, even an hour and a half. I just don’t want a lot of sessions.

But, I like the acrylic tokens as well. So if I were to drop backing with Missions, it’d be easier to pick those up. Right now, I don’t have acrylic tokens added as an add-on. If I were to get rid of Missions, I’d likely add those on instead, so it isn’t a money saving move.

Marvel Dice Throne X-Men

Like I said, this isn’t a back of brick. If you want to know if you should back it, you likely already know. Either you back it because you know you love Dice Throne, you back it because you love X-Men, or you know you don’t like either enough to back it and won’t. It’s a bit simpler than some because this is a game that has been out for a long time.

Man vs Meeple has coverage on it if you want to see how the characters play. Maybe you like Dice Throne but you don’t know if you need more characters. Then checking out a video or two is going to help let you know. But for me, it’s always fun to have more. And with everything, I think I figured it out, there are 35 different combinations. So I’ll be trying out new ones for a long time.

Which character do you look forward to playing most? For me, it’s Gambit and Rogue.

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OSCS Meet Up

This is the one with fewer hiccups. The only hiccup would be that I didn’t get to meet any of the OSCS people. The upside is, I had some fun gaming. I got to play two games and hangout. One being Whale to Look that I had picked up. I found, with that game, that a fun game at four players, it is not as fun at two players. I’ll talk about that game soon as it is one that I picked up.

The other game was Tesseract. This is a game that is hard to explain, in theme. It’s a game where players are trying to keep a Tesseract (dice cube) from crumbling completely. Meanwhile the game is working against you causing dice to be lost and containment breaches to occur. It’s Pandemic like, in some ways with a few actions you play. And then adds in a very unique dice cube on top of that, literally above everything else.

Man vs Meeple Meet Up

Now, as I write about this, understand that I had fun at this meet up. There is a lot of good conversation, not a ton about board games that was had. Conversation went from Wheel of Time and other books, Marvel shows and movies, and more. It is refreshing in some ways to not talk about board games all the time.

Now, I did play a board game during that time as well. Scout which is a really fun card shedding game. I like the simplicity of the mechanisms but also the puzzle that you are playing. It’s a very fun game that way and a little game as well. I think that makes it stronger.

The gaming, though, is not what people had hoped. Mainly because for two years in a row the air conditioning decided not to work. I think this time it was worse because the food took a long while to come. So we ended with around an hour to play games. That said, it is a really fun time every year. The conversation is always a blast.

Gen Con Recap Part 2

Overall, these events are always fun. I like them mainly as a chance to meet people and game outside of the normal hours. Some days I really like them, but I don’t want them every day. Sleep and staying healthy at Gen Con are important for me.

But when they do happen, it’s always a fun time. Good conversation and in this case, two games that I wouldn’t have played otherwise. I even played Tesseract twice. It is a game that I plan on getting when it hits retail. I like it that much because it’s just different yet similar. I think my game group would like it a lot.

What events outside of Gen Con do you do at Gen Con?

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Gen Con Highlights

Man vs Meeple Dinner and Gaming

This one has a lot with it because it’s a channel I’ve followed for a while. Then I joined in with their discord. There I got to chat with them but also with the community. So when a community get together was put together, I wasn’t sure I’d go but I’m glad that we did. We had a nice dinner which really was a ton of fun chatting at the table.

Then, I could put this as a separate highlight, we went to the JW Marriot and played Ready, Set, Bet. I almost went and tried to find the game right away. But from AEG, this is a real time betting and party game. It is just a great time as one person (and this can rotate) is the caller of the race. Everyone else in real time is betting and having a great time trying to get their bets in. This game just has so much excitement to it and worked really well.

Walking The Hall With Tablenauts Crew

This was different but similar to MvM (Man Versus Meeple) where it is another channel I really enjoy. But instead of a meal, though they did do that, I was playing a game further down on the list, we just wandered the halls and played game. And one of those games is on the list as well. But it was just fun to have a group of three or four and just be able to sit down and demo as a group.

If there is one thing I missed about not having someone with me the whole time is that it was sometimes harder to demo. Two people you can do a demo of most things, but with one person you are often waiting for more people to show up. So we got in four games that day, but three of them were full plays and it was just fun to hang out, play games and chat.

Dice Tower Live “Top 5”

I really enjoy yet another board game YouTube Channel, The Dice Tower. I talk about them more often because they have a larger team. But at Cons they do live Top 5 lists. Generally for things that are a big sillier, or a bit more negative than their normal ones. I’m not sure why, but they go over the top for them.

This was Top 5 turn offs for games, and bad rule books was on the list, so I agree with that one. It was good for a lot of laughs and generally just nice to sit there and relax. It is in the middle of the day on Friday, but it was a chance to get off my feet from the dealer hall. Which was nice because after that I went and got a heavy game, purchases tomorrow, and well, I was tired after that.

Batman: Everybody Lies with Designer

So the last two are game plays. They are close to being my favorite games played, but they were just fun experiences that stood out. Firstly Batman: Everybody Lies with Ignacy. He went over the rules and we played the prologue scenario. It is a very easy prologue but had so much fun with it.

Plus, since the boxes were opened, we could buy the game cheaper, so we did. And we got Ignacy to sign he inside of the box which is cool. Right now I have it here ready to get played when I have a chance, which hopefully will be soon. It seems like it’ll be faster to play than some of the other Detective scenarios, at least from the core box.

Paint the Roses with Designer

And then Paint the Roses. This was part of the walking around with the Tablenauts crew. And we got to play this deduction game, interesting that both specific games are deduction, in it’s deluxe form. And taught by the designer of the game.

Paint the Roses is a game where you are trying to figure out the conditions and cards other people have for getting the roses painted. You place a tile and then guess every turn. If you guess a card correctly, you move ahead that many spots and the queen moves one. If you’re wrong, you stay still and she catches up to take off your heads. A ton of fun and super pretty.

Final Thouhts

I had an amazing Gen Con. The two things I’d maybe do or change up for next year. Firstly, it is more fun to have people to go around with. Like I said, sometimes maybe could have had a demo with two people, but I just got the rules explanation because I was just one person. Wandering with more people is more fun.

The other thing is that I’d probably schedule another earlier event. I can easily make it there by 8 AM or 9 AM, so maybe on Thursday, schedule something early. Or even a couple of times. Get in a specific game play if they have the earlier time. Thankfully CGE and some of the company specific rooms open earlier, but they are slammed before the dealer hall opens at 10 AM. So having a two hour event before wandering the dealer hall would be fun, and let me pick more specific things.

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The $1 Crowdfunding Pledge

Let’s talk about the $1 pledge level. Why do I pledge at that level sometimes, and how often do I get more?

So what is a $1 pledge? It is basically a cheap way to get the updates on a Kickstarter campaign. With Gamefound you can follow along if you subscribe to it. But Kickstarter, is is $1 and often times it gives you access to the pledge manager as well.

The nice thing about a $1 pledge is that you don’t need all the money at once. If both Final Girl and Marvel Zombies run at the same time – they did – then you don’t need to give both of them a couple hundred dollars right at the same time. You back $1 now you can get one now and save up for the other one later.

But how often do I back for $1, once in a while, and I’d say maybe 2 out of the 6-7 that I did that with, I ended up adding in the pledge manager. One, for sure, that I did was The Witcher: Old World. And I believe there was another that I added. I don’t care enough, most of the time, to do $1 and get the updates.

The Drink

A Negroni again. It’s such a good drink, again a warm day and one that is nice to have on a day like that. But a good drink to have stuff around for. It is really one that I like to sip while grilling as well. On a hot summer day it is refreshing and with some ice in there, it doesn’t feel water down when the ice melts.

Upcoming Streams

Tomorrow I’ll be streaming, I think my plan is more Paper Dungeons. So join for some fun to play along. I’m still working my way through that campaign.

I talked about this on the stream, and maybe I’ll talk about it more tomorrow. But I am getting a gaming table with a topper. That will allow for me to leave a bigger campaign game set-up on the lower level and put the top on when I want to play something else. So once that comes, I am going to be getting back to streaming a larger game.

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124-101

Unplayed Board Games – 100 through 76

100: KeyForge: Call of the Archons

KeyForge has been on my radar for a little bit, mainly because the concept sounded interesting. It’s almost a TCG (trading card game) but you can’t build decks. All of them are prebuilt but also are different. And it’s a two player head to head game, take out monsters, get keys, and first to a number wins. They were on sale around Christmas, so I figured it was time to pick up a few decks to give it a try.

99. Vault Wars

This is one that I backed on Kickstarter because I find the concept funny. And I suspect that the game play is going to be easy enough to get it to the table with my gaming group. Vault Wars is basically fantasy Storage Wars. You bid to get the best vaults to get you the most points or money by the end of the game. I hope it’s a goofy good time.

98. Mage Knight

Probably should be higher on the list, but I’m intimidated by the rules for this game. It is notoriously hard to get to the table and learn. But it’s also supposed to be one of the best solo games out there. And while big solo games can be tricky to get tabled for me. I feel like I need to give it a try.

97: Shadows of Kilforth

This one I bought because Rolling Solo did a play-through of the predecessor to this game, Gloom of Kilforth. It’s a fantasy game and one that kind of has a story emerge as you go. But you play as a hero going out into this dark fantasy world, fighting monsters, getting cards of companions and equipment to see if you can defeat the boss in the end. I like the ideas of the game, I just need to play it.

96. Sentinels of the Multiverse

Sentinels of the Multiverse is on the list for an odd reason, or this low on the list for an odd reason. In 2020 at the Holidays Greater Than Games had a crazy good sale for Sentinels stuff. So I got all of it, or most of it. And I think I paid $75 for all of it. So very cheap. But now I have all the stuff, and it’s a bit intimidating to pull off the shelf. I just need to do it and play it. Because super heroes and super villains are my jam for board games.

95. Narabi

This is a little card game that is hard to explain. You are trying to get all the cards into ascending numerical order. But with that, each card is only allowed to move in a certain way, or has a movement rule on it. So it becomes a puzzle where you can share limited information to swap cards around to see what they can do, until you get it into order. A cool puzzle of a game idea where you see how fast you can do it.

94: Quadropolis

This is an older game that I just got. But Quadropolis is one I’ve had my eye on. It’s a city building game that looks simple but intriguing. I really like the mechanics of how you determine what tiles you can get to add to your city. And Days of Wonder, while not everything is a smash hit for them, has made some of my favorite accessible games like Ticket to Ride, Small World, and Five Tribes.

93: Jamaica

Jamaica, when I heard about it, I knew I wanted to try. But it is not a game that has always been easy to get. When Fantasy Flight Game Center, now GameZenter, was clearing off their demo wall to rebuild it better, it isn’t better, they sold the games. So, I need to do a piece count and then play this, but it’s a pirate racing game, that sounds like a fun time, assuming the pieces are there.

92: Heaven & Ale

Normally I don’t get Euro Games, but again, a sale. Also, one of the reviewers I follow, Ryan from Man vs Meeple, is a big fan of this game. So that recommendation and a euro game about brewing beer, I was interested. And I say that I normally don’t get euro games, I don’t, but I don’t dislike them. So I need to do my best monk brewing beer impression sometime soon.

91. Silver & Gold

Silver & Gold is a roll and write game, another one that I need to try. And one that I think will be a lot of fun, because you get to fill out cards throughout the game. So like Super Mega Lucky Box, you get to use dry erase markers on the cards. And it has this treasure hunting theme, but is more of a shape filling in game. I think it looks like one that is easy enough to learn but still interesting to play.

90: This War Of Mine

I’m intimidated by this game, much like Mage Knight. I’ve heard it it hard to learn. But more than that, this is a game about a fictional war and trying to survive in it. The concept is cool, but also a dark concept. And it’s tough to want to sit down and play a game with story that you know you probably won’t survive. Especially if it’s a harder game to learn and get to the table. But the concept sounds very intriguing and different to try.

89: Boomerang

Not the last time you’ll see a Boomerang on the list. A roll and write game. Won’t say too much about it, looks like a good puzzle of a game, like the one you’ll see coming up. This version just doesn’t look at nice as the other.

88: Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Descent is an interesting one, and this isn’t the big box version of the game that just came out. This one has been out for a little while. But it’s interesting as I do want to play the game, but I mainly got the game so I could practice painting minis. That is something I that I need to get back to doing, and we’re getting close to the point where I might be able to prime them outside. But I do want to try the game, because fantasy dungeon crawl, I like those.

87: MonsDRAWsity

We go from a big fantasy game to a small fantasy game, a party fantasy game. MonsDRAWsity, has one person a monster that they look at and then describe. Everyone else draws the monster. And I believe, the person with the closest drawing wins. It’s a drawing party game, but one that looks silly and fun.

86: WWE Legends Royal Rumble Card Game

Speaking of silly and fun, I’m a professional wrestling fan. It’s true, I mainly just watch the pay-per-views with a group of friends. And the Royal Rumble is the best one. This one is a take that style game where you try and be the winner of the Royal Rumble. Your guy gets tossed out, you get a new one, and the last one standing wins. Clearly I already know the group I want to play this with.

85: Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops

I really like the world of Shadworun. This cyber-punk future where corporations run everything. And you go on runs, hacking into systems, and exposing dirty secrets, great idea. And I’d love to play in a Shadowrun RPG campaign. This is a board game version, and it’s about setting up for a run. I have a massive box of stuff, but how the runners of the Kickstarter handled distribution, there were lots of problems, I’m less excited to play it.

That’s probably not a great reason not to play it. I think that it looks like a fun game. I still love the theme. It’s just harder to get into wanting to play it. Though, I did get the cooperative expansion, so maybe that’d be an easier way to get it to the table.

84: Boomerang: USA

I told you Boomerang would be back. The first, more logically, it set in Australia, but using the system, the designer made more versions. This version just looks nicer than the version I own of Boomerang. Either way, I need to play one or both. And then decide which one I want to keep, if I keep one, because I doubt I’ll want both of them.

83: Palm Island

I don’t know why this one is still on the list. Mainly I think because I play Orchard most of the time when I want a small solo game. Palm Island is a solo game that fits in the palm of your hand. It’s a resource management style game, if I remember correctly. You are trying to build up your engine to get more cards flipped around to flip more cards. I need to give it a whirl.

82: Blueprints

Blueprints is one that my FLGS recommended to me. It’s an abstract game about getting dice to build buildings. This falls into that category of a game that looks like it’ll be an interesting puzzle every time you play it. And I like those games where there is a good puzzle to it. Will the puzzle last a long time for me, we’ll have to see.

81: Specter Ops

Specter Ops is a hidden movement board game. One player is infiltrating a base to get to different objectives and then get out. The other player(s) are trying to figure out where they are and take them down. I like the concept and the theme of the game. This one is just the matter of learning both sides so I can teach it.

79: Crash Octopus

From the company that made Tokyo Highway, a dexterity game that I love, Crash Octopus is another one. This one is about flicking treasure to your ships and balancing the treasure on them. It seems like a silly game and one that will, like Tokyo Highway, look cool on the table. I want to see if it works as well as Tokyo Highway does for my gaming group.

78: 6 nimmt!

I don’t think the first time I heard about 6 nimmt! was from an anime, Afterschool Dice Club, but that is where I learned the most about it. This is a card game about trying to avoid taking points. I picked it up on sale when I got No Thanks! and both of the games kind of fit into that same mindset of figuring out clever play. I hope that this one works as well for my group as No Thanks! did.

77: InBetween

Two of the last three I got because of Sam Healey liking them on the Dice Tower. His and my tastes in game often overlap because we both go towards bigger, Amerithrash style games. The two on this part of the list are not that. InBetween is a two player game that feels, from what I can tell, like Stranger Things. One player is trying to get everyone to one side, while the other player is trying to flip them into the “upsidedown”.

It’s not actually a Stranger Things game. But the theme definitely has that vibe to it, and I think it came out about the same time. So theme wise, I like it. And as a two player game, I should be able to get it to the table.

76: Heroes of Terrinoth

This is another game that I saw on Rolling Solo’s YouTube channel. And it also looks good, card play game from Fantasy Flight, I liked how you level up in the game. And I like that you can pick from a variety of heroes. It isn’t a dungeon crawl game, but it almost has that feel. You pick a scenario, you can move between places, and you fight monsters. Plus you level up to improve how you can do things, which was cool.

75: Codinca

The final Sam Healey recommended game on this part of the list is also small, and it’s abstract. So that’s probably why it hasn’t gotten played. I’m bad about playing my abstract games, even though I normally like them. Codinca is a game where you want to create a pattern.

Final Thoughts

We’re still not into a ton of the big board games. But I do think this will be a section where I can get a lot of games off of the list. Stuff like Boomerang USA and Boomerang, Silver & Gold, Codinca, and Blueprints, all of those shouldn’t be hard to table.

On the flip side, I’m also going to be a bit surprised if I do get This War of Mine or Mage Knight to the table as part of clearing off games. I am very intimidated by both of those rule books. And I’m generally the one learning how to play the games so I know I can. But those two look like beasts to learn and with not great rule books, probably tough to get rules right.

Which one should I play first?

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