OPENING

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There's something special about games where you all have different experiences at the same table. So today I'm going to talk about asymmetry and why it hits so hard. Welcome everybody to episode 8 of the Just Play Podcast. And I'm your host, JP. And as always, I've got a bumper pack episode full of cardboard chat and the usual board gaming nonsense and stuff.

PHASE A: PULL UP A CHAIR

SPEAKER_00 0:32

So yeah, so welcome to the show. First off, in the the kind of pull up a chair segment, I'm just going to kind of highlight, I'm going to change the format around a little bit. So don't worry, everything's kind of going to be in the episode, but I'm going to reorder it around. And the main reason for it is because, you know, if people are watching on YouTube, they want to get straight into the meat and potatoes of the episode. So I'm going to basically front load the episode with the core topic, and then we're going to kind of run alongside everything else. So yeah, no major changes, but I just thought I'd quickly update. So let's waste no time and get straight into business

PHASE B: CENTRE OF THE TABLE

SPEAKER_00 1:06

and get straight into the center of the table. So centre of the tables where I'm going to talk about the main topic at hand. And that is around asymmetry. Asymmetry in board games and what it means, some questions around that. And this actually, this episode was kind of generated by one of my listeners, uh, Stuart. And uh so thank you, Stuart, for for the kind of the idea and the question that you posed, which basically made me want to do a full uh episode on it. And yeah, some people like asymmetry, some people don't. And I just thought it's quite a cool topic uh to discuss and effectively see what you guys think. And yeah, I'd love to get your interactions as always in the comments below and on the socials. So yeah, but you know what I do. So crack on.

What does asymmetry mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:49

So, what does asymmetry mean? Well, to me, there's kind of like um three uh layers to it or three different areas, and I'm no authority right on on asym uh asymmetric games or asymmetry in games. I'll just kind of tell it how I I kind of feel or how it is. So you've kind of got um powers or asymmetrical powers, and in games, um, you know, for example, SETI with the space agencies uh expansion um and terraforming Mars is probably another good example. You've got like you play a corporation which has a power, has a thing, has a something that um interacts with the game slightly differently than everyone else. But fundamentally, you are playing the same game with the same rule set. It's just you know, if you go to that worker uh placement space and uh instead of getting wood, you get this extra thing on top because you have this ability, you know, and and playing like the corporations in in SETI and and in Terraform in Mars, you've just got a little thing that does something better than someone else, and everyone uh kind of has these different player powers. So you've kind of got the the player powers aspect there, which is in many, many games. Um, a lot of expansions to games will kind of add in this uh asymmetrical play player powers uh as an expansion uh as a way to kind of inject a lot of variety in the game. Um so you kind of got that. You've also got um kind of role asymmetry, which kind of blends into a little bit of power and a little bit of the next one. I'll talk about. But role asymmetry is kind of like you're playing the same game world, uh, but not necessarily the same objective or even win conditions as each other. Um, so you know, things like um Captain Sonar might be a good example where you're all playing different roles, and fundamentally you're all playing uh kind of different aspects of the game, but in the same world as in you're all on a submarine. So one will be the radio operator, and one's the captain, one's the engineer, etc. So you've all got your own kind of mini-game, but all working together to do what you need to, and and kind of any um one versus many's fall into this, so Fury of Dracula, where Dracula is playing one game, has got one condition, and you know, the the hunters have got theirs, and again, you're kind of assuming a role which had adds ace uh asymmetry into the mix uh as as it does. Um, and then you've kind of got faction um kind of asymmetry where it can kind of blend into you know, you're playing a full faction like Twilight Imperium, where fundamentally you are playing um, you know, a quite similar game, but you are your faction might be more aggressive, so you're gonna be playing a completely different playstyle in in this game as you would if you like the the space turtles and you've been very turtly and peace. Um, so you kind of got those kind of games. Um, but you've also got um yeah, completely different asymmetry where you go to the other end of the scale where you're playing games like Root or Hegemony or Um Vast, which are very heavy uh asymmetric games. Root, you are playing as a faction of animals in a woodland forest, and you're at war um with with other kind of factions, and the way that you play the game is completely different to the way that um the other players will play the game. So if you're playing the the uh the Marquite cat, um which is the cat faction versus the birds, the uh you're playing a completely different game. One's programming cards, one is literally trying to generate resources and and operate sawmills and things like that. And it's the same in hegemony, right? Hegemony being that you know, if you're playing as the working class um and versus the the state, they are fundamentally different. What you're trying to do and achieve is is different. Um, so yeah, you've kind of got these different mashes, and it's quite hard to box uh asymmetrical game types together because not all of the games kind of sit, but they they typically will will flitter between powers, roles, and and factions and and kind of everything in between, in my experience, anyway.

What are the positives of asymmetry?

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Um so so kind of this this episode really was born out of that question, really, is what do I think about asymmetry in games and do I like them? And well, kind of the answer is yeah, I do. I really like ace uh asymmetry in games. Um, and the reason why I like them is it injects variety into the game. Um, you know, don't get me wrong, I like playing a game where we're all on the same even playing field and we've all got the same things to do, but we get in in the way of each other, things like that. But I just love the fact that you know my particular character, my faction, my my role, or whatever it is, does something better than everyone else at the table. And I think it adds longevity into games. It's I wouldn't say it's easy to do, so don't quote me, I'm not a designer, but it's it's kind of a no-brainer for a lot of games to inject because it it just adds all of the different flavours and varieties. So, what it also does, in my experience, it helps you to learn the different lanes that a game has to offer. So if you play a game, um, you know, let's say a box standard worker placement game like uh Lords of Waterdeep um or you know, insert anything else, agricular uh as an example, you you will pretty much be playing the same um you know game as as you're kind of going through, and you might stick to your usual tropes of well, I always go down this lane, I always collect all of the wood and I always build those houses and always do that thing, and it generates the points because I know it and it's comfortable, and that's what I like to do with asymmetrical player powers. It doesn't force you typically into going to different routes, but it it encourages you. It's like, well, you get a benefit from going down this other lane, so you get more efficient uh doing these things, which might not be your playstyle, or it might not be what you naturally would thought to do, and and I love that. So you kind of go, oh, I didn't realize this was even a strategy that you can actually go and do this thing where I get all the contracts and maybe I can fulfill them easier, or whatever it may be, and it just really helps you learn the the breadth of a game design um by playing all these different factions in different ways. And for me, you know, I'm a big um massive fan of Star Trek Captain's Chair, and it's to the extreme, by the way, and every deck that you play in that game is is fundamentally different, but it's teaching you um yeah the different nuances of the game that you didn't even know existed when you play a specific deck. You know, I played um going through the to boldly go uh captains recently, and and one of them I was just like, whoa, like how how is this working? It's it's just fantastic to learn. Um, I think asymmetry asymmetry can bring you into the game thematically because it feels like you have that power and it feels like you're doing the thing that's that's pretty cool. So it can kind of bring you into that world, especially if it's full ace uh asymmetric um kind of roles and everything that you're playing. Um, like hegemony is a game where you can't help but role play. You can't help it. It's like the game just gets you, you know, being working class, it gets you fighting for the people, it gets you um, you know, uh loggerheads with a capitalist like like there's no tomorrow, and you know, and you're playing the capitalist, and all you care about is money. Like it's it's just designed in a way that just puts you in the shoes of that thing and and makes you experience it. And again, there's just some diamonds of gaming nights that um I've had, you know, experiencing those things, you know, and maybe putting yourself into uncomfortable uh areas as well. I've had a Twilight Imperium game where I played as a super aggressive faction, and it's not my playstyle, and you know, and it's not my favourite faction to play, but I kind of enjoyed you know being a bit of a a knob, but again, it's not something I would would you know generally generally gravitate towards. So so yeah, that that's kind of thing, and I think for new players, it can kind of help people follow a route. Now, it's not always good to throw in asymmetrical like player powers from the off, but for certain games, and a SETI is one of them, space agencies. I think I'll just play it with this expansion for new players because it gives them a lane, and with a game uh especially like uh you know mid to heavyweight euro where there's lots of lanes that you can go in, you won't see them all on your first play, it's just not like possible. So um having that power that says go over there can just give you a nudge into the right direction to get yourself

What don't I like about asymmetry?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

started. So those are the sort of things I I really like. Um, but some of the things I don't like uh around asymmetry is full asymmetric games can be an absolute git to teach. Absolute git. Hegemony to teach, root to teach are are heavy, long experiences where you need people to really understand what's going on. I think one of the worst teachers I've had um in and and I love this game is the Defense Approtion 3. It's an old game, um, and it's just really tough because every everybody's different, every game mechanic's different, mechanisms are different, and if you haven't played as all four of those factions, it's it's it's one of those. And and the best way to kind of get people to learn is for them to learn their own faction independently and come together and play it. Um, but not everyone's gonna do that, and it it it demands a lot of of the players, um, especially if you're hosting like me a lot. Um, I'm the one that usually is you know kind of covering the teach and sorting all that out. Um, I think it can overwhelm players as well, depending on what the game is. I think full asymmet uh asymmetry games can can really overwhelm. Um, and if you haven't played as that faction, you can't help them. And you're just sitting there going, oh, sorry about that. And it doesn't feel good, you know, as a teacher of a game, um, to be able to do that. So there are definitely some cons out there, it's not all sunshine and roses, but I generally on the main really like them. I like what what it does to games, whether it's a power or whether it's full-blown, let's jump in with full um asymmetry. So now the question that actually sparked it was should players always have asymmetric powers in a game or should they be optional for new players? And I think I've kind of answered it really. I think it should be optional. Um, but if the game helps you by having the power, which it can often do, then I'd say I'll be like all for it, throw it in. Um if I think that it will overwhelm the new player, let's get everyone on a new kind of even keel if the game allows it, not all games do. Um, so yeah, so I just find uh asymmetry just really interesting to to kind of talk about and and and kind of share with you guys. And and yeah, but I'm really uh keen to see what you think. Like, what's your favorite um asymmetric game with powers or full asymmetric game? Like, share, I want to I want to know. Um, but yeah, that's pretty much what I wanted to talk about on

PHASE C: JUST PLAYED

SPEAKER_00 12:53

that subject. So let's jump into the next segment, which now is just play, where I talk about the games that I've played and you know ones that have been hitting the table. So let's waste no time. I'm gonna share the screen and get straight to it. First up is the old E, it's

Forbidden Stars

SPEAKER_00 13:06

the Gold E, it's Forbidden Stars, um, from Fantasy Flight games from way back when. Came out in 2015, as it says here. And it is a 4X game, you know, now 11 years old. It's quite highly regarded, you know, 157 overall in the BDG list, and you cannot get hold of this game for love and money. So apologies if you're thinking, great, I like the look of this, it's tough to get hold of, guys. Um, and the reason why I played it is uh I uh went on to Ninja Geek Games' live stream uh a few weeks back, and we had a four-player Forbidden Stars game. He's doing a ye old school uh series where he's going back to Fantasy Flight games from the old and getting them to the table, and it's a really great series, you should definitely check it out if you haven't already. Because for me, FFG in the mid kind of tens, 2010s onwards, um, up until like the late uh 2010s, were just they could do no wrong. They were just smashing out hit after hit after hit under some cracking games. Um, and you know, for me now, unfortunately, FFG are aren't um you know top top of the pile, but that's that's what got me in the hobby, as you know. So Forbidden Stars is a 4x game set in the 40k Warhammer universe, um, which to be honest to me doesn't mean a lot. I'm not really into 40k, but I know it's massive, and I know lots of people love it. Um, but effectively it's it's a 4x game, and in the box you've got four factions that you can play. I played as the ultra marines, we had the chaos marines, we had the the orcs, and the there's some space elves. I can't remember, some people are gonna scream at me, but that's pretty much what it is. So let's jump straight into uh uh picture for those uh watching on YouTube. I'm gonna jump in and show a few things, but I'll explain things as I go along. So yeah, so kind of what I'm showing and what I'll describe is is the the kind of player board or the the the main map, sorry, uh, of all the different kind of things. So, as I said, 4x game. Um, you've got a bunch of sectors, and in the sectors they're kind of divided up into uh systems with planets or or deep space on it, etc. But they're like these squares, so they're quite easy to arrange the whole map. You know, we played uh a four-player, so we had the full um kind of 12 squares, like a three by four um grid uh of different things, and then you're gonna have a starting area um on there and starting in a particular system. The whole point of the game is that you're trying to, I think, get uh four objective tokens, which are littered around the map, um, and you've got eight rounds to effectively do this. And if you obviously you can get there first, you you win. Um, and and it's as simple as that. That's the the win condition. Now, obviously you tie, then you go whoever has the more, and then there's some more tie conditions on there, and so on and so forth. Um, but the mechanics of the game is that you've got these order tokens, and they work similarly in um as they do like in Game of Thrones, and you have these hexagon spaces on on the sector tiles, which is where you place the orders down, and you have four order types, but you have two of each. You actually have eight order type uh tokens, and they are deploy, uh dominate, strategize, and advance. So deploying is where you would um basically build your units and buildings, defensive buildings or or buildings to help you construct more units in the future. Um, you can dominate where you can kind of exploit the the areas that you control and harvest um resources and and do different things, well they call them assets, but resources, and you can trigger your faction ability, which allows you to do a thing, which is always quite cool. Um, strategize, you can upgrade your order tokens so permanently make them better and more efficient, and also you can buy uh better cards for your combat deck, more on that later, and then you can advance where you can move things around, and there's obviously movement rules around that. Um, but the key thing is that break my brain or breaks my brain on this every time I've played it is is we're placing them down in turn order. So people will place an order token on top of yours, and then you might put one on top of theirs, and you end up with these piles of order tokens on on different uh sectors. And effectively, what happens when you actually resolve everything is you resolve them um from top to bottom. So you kind of got a plan in reverse. So the thing that's on the bottom is what's gonna go last, and the thing at the top is what's gonna go first, and that just reversing and the programming involved. Uh it yeah, not gonna lie, it's it took a few, took a few goes to get it right. Um, so you kind of pick one that's uh your colour, your faction that's available, you resolve it, you do a thing, and then next person will pick one and they can, and it can get to a point where none of yours are shown because other players have got theirs on top, so you skip until you can. And that whole um kind of system is is quite unique and fun. I I really enjoyed that aspect of the game. Um, the combat is inevitably gonna happen when you you contest areas and you're gonna have fights for domination because you're trying to get your tokens, your discovery tokens, you need to kick people out and do all sorts of stuff. And and this is for me where again it's it's old FFG, it's unique combat uh mechanisms, but it's a bit clunky, I'm not gonna lie, and it does take ages. We had one round in the game, which took probably the half the length of the stream because we had combats consistently. But what you do is you roll dice equal to like the unit strength um in there, and they'll either have shields or or attacks or um this morale is the other um symbol that's on there, and each unit will kind of generate morale. Morale is your tie break on who wins if you have anything left, and then you play a card each, um, which adds either hits or defenses or extra morale, and it has abilities. If you use that unit type that's particularly there, it'll grant you uh an ability to do different things, and you resolve again, and you do this three times until the third cards have been played and resolve, and then you resolve the fight and away you go. Combat is fun, it just takes a long time. And if you sat there not in the combat, it can be like, Oh, come on, let's get to my turn, please. So it's just a bit like that, really. Um, but yeah, we we had a blast that I managed to pit the victory on a tie break. It was literally a three-way tie, I think. Um, and I managed to win on most units uh on the system, so it's a very tight game. And I had a blast on the channel, and thank you, Mark, if you're watching or listening uh for having me on on the Ninja Geek Games channel and hope to do some more with you in the future. Um, yeah, we had we had a great time. Um, now for me personally on this game, um, I enjoyed it. Uh, I'd play it again, no doubt, because the the banter around the table was just fun. I just think the combat for me is just a bit too clunky. If that streamlined down a bit to make it faster, this would probably rise up my ranks. I am so glad I've got to play this game because I thought it might be lost to the annals of time and history. Um, but uh yeah, it's one of those I I think there are better 4X's out there now that do do it cleaner and a lot better. But it's cool. Like if you're into Warhammer 40k, like this, if you can get a copy of this, then you you you probably should. It's it's good fun. And I think they're doing uh uh a reskin. Uh so same system, games, game system, reskin into like the Cthulhu universe. Now, for me, that again is another IP that I could take or leave. You know, I used to play Arkham Horror Card game a lot back in you know nearly 10 years ago or whenever it was. Um, but generally it's yeah, it's it's one to watch if if you like it. But yeah, glad I played it, not rushing to play it again, um, but would play it anytime equally. So yeah, that's that's pretty much forbidden

Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game

SPEAKER_00 20:44

stars. So next on the list that I got to the table was Zoo Tycoon the board game. So completely different Warhammer 40k to cute animals and and petting zoos. Um and zoo tycoon's one um that I I've kind of had my slight eye on uh for a while now. Um, and it's because people are saying it's a heavy bugger, right? It's a heavy, heavy game. Um, in in terms of you know comparing it to Art Nova, even though Art Nova zoo themed, it's nothing mechanically like Art Nova. And this is based off the the video game, it's an adaptation. Um, and yeah, it's it's quite a crunchy boy. I'm not gonna lie, it's quite a crunchy boy. Um, so but basically what happens is you're gonna play this game over seven years, and then each year you've got four seasons, which is spring through winter, and you're gonna do lots of things, acquiring animals, um, building up your zoo, uh, hopefully generating more revenue and ticket sales, and doing some conservation as well, and ultimately becoming the best zoo in the land, which is of course what we all want to do. And what happens at the end of the game? There are these three tracks. So this is a massive board um in in the center, and again, showing those up on um uh YouTube. So this is a prototype because it actually looks A lot better than this with with dual layer boards now. You've got these m these these three tracks of yellow, blue, and and green. Yellow being your popularity, blue being your education, and green being your conservation. And you are scored at whatever is lowest on the green and yellow track. So if you just go full popularity and ignore conservation, you're going to get penalized, and vice versa. You'll get penalized more on the yellow track if you don't go up it because you're not going to get any money. But yeah, it's it's pretty much this kind of balance of trying to do a bit of this and a bit of that bit of both. Because that's quite thematic in a way. You want to be doing conservation in two. That's why they're there, to kind of um make sure the animals uh are all good and looked after and their well-being is is great. Um so so yeah, so that's pretty much um kind of how the the game or why you why you're doing the game. Um, so yeah, so if I walk you through the the different kind of aspects, really, um, you're kind of gonna start the game in summer. So summer is um yeah, pretty much all about the animal exchange. Now, the animal exchange is a board full of these cool, cute animals, and then underneath, if I can show it on on YouTube, I will, you're gonna see these little symbols of of male and female, which are red and and or green. And underneath this board is a is a sheet, and then if you take the board away, it looks like this this crazy uh Excel spreadsheet underneath with lots of different numbers and symbols. But when you put the animal exchange board on top, you'll notice that it has cutout slots and it will sit you know perfectly on on that area, showing different things. Now, what you do every year is that you shift the animal exchange board around. So you like to shift it up to the left, to the right, down. The idea is that you don't re-go over the same space. So it's gonna consistently change these numbers and values. So what they're for is basically showing your supply and demand of the market. Because in zoos, they they actually trade animals for free, they'll give animals away, they'll get animals uh for different zoos in the world, and it's to simulate that that process. So you're gonna have two actions uh here, one to uh to leave if you want, one to receive, or to have leave to have received, and you go around in a snake draft on on the um uh turn order, and yeah, you're you're getting rid and you're getting animals. And what they do is when you get animals, they come into your um quarantine pens, and you can have up to two species in there, and they kind of sit in your quarantine until you do something about it, and that's where autumn comes. So autumn comes um basically where you're going to be building your enclosures, um, you acquire enclosures for free every round, and if you do uh specific um kind of requirements against the uh the donors that uh are kind of helping your zoo, you can get more enclosures, and obviously you start with a bunch as well. And there are three biomes in the game or the base game. You've got like the the prairie, which is um pretty much like desert, you've got jungle, and you've got the the kind of mountainous trees, which looks like the smoky mountains, and so again, different species uh naturally in different biomes. Um, and yeah, so you're kind of building them uh around. So you assemble them onto your your kind of zoo player board and uh effectively connecting those together to create uh a super enclosure or as super as you want it to be. And each animal has this card. Uh, if I can find a pick, I will show you uh some bunch of these cards. And yeah, so here we go. Here's an example. So on the uh the animal cars themselves, it looks like a little mini table at the bottom. Um, and effectively it's telling you the happiness requirements. So, yes, you have to keep the animals happy. We can't just get a zebra and stick it into the zoo. We have to also keep it happy, and the requirements are kind of the table, it's kind of looking at what is your experience with this type of animal, um, what are the free spaces it has to roam around in in the enclosure, how many shelters have you built um for that animal, and what's the minimum amount of animals that it will want to have in that enclosure to be happy? And you've kind of graded on yellow, light green, and then a dark green. And the idea is you want to bump up these cubes that you'll have on these cards to the top so that the more happier the animal is, the more you're gonna score conservation points and things at the end of the game. But on this card, this card does a lot of heavy lifting in the game, and it's also um it's it's a really good way of doing it, and it's also a very fiddly way of doing it. And if you knock those cubes, it's a pain. And it's telling you, you know, how many animals you can have on an enclosure tile, it's telling you what's the the running cost of of each enclosure tile that has an animal on it. It tells you um is the animal um uh an alpha? Uh so you can only have one male. If you have two males where there's female, they they start to fight and you can't do it. So you've got all these different things you've got to keep a track of. And for your first game, it's a bit like ah, if I'm being honest. Um, but when you get head around it, it's not too bad. But when you put animals in, you're gonna score popularity, um, which is like the yellow symbol, and it's gonna go up the yellow track, and then you um can generate buzz as well for the first species type of the animal you put into your zoo, you're gonna generate buzz. The buzz is like a token that sits on the popularity track, but it it kind of moves ahead of it. Um, so you're always generating buzz for doing different things in the game, and that's gonna help you get more and more revenue. Um, so yeah, that's kind of what's happening there. So you're getting all of these animals, you put them into the zoo, and then you get to winter, and then winter uh effectively is like your cleanup phase, you're paying your taxes if you've um you know got lots of money left in the bank. You never do, it's so tight. Um, you're generating revenue and ticket sales based on where your buzz and popularity um markers are on the track, and and then uh effectively you're yeah, you're kind of resetting the year ready for the next year. And then you move into spring. And spring is where the kind of animals have their, what should we call it, sexy time. And they uh if if they get pregnant, which is uh dice roll, which gets easier the happier they are, um, then basically, yeah, you can generate uh uh a baby and you pull uh a little token out of a bag, it could be male or female, and then that goes into the enclosure. The beauty of this is that animals don't cost you anything to have, and you can trade them during the animal exchange as well. And you don't want to have too many of them um littered around because they're gonna cause you negative points at the end because you didn't do anything with them. So you kind of not you encourage to trade them, you encourage to grow them to become more animals um for you to kind of use and and and see in the zoo. So yeah, and it kind of rolls around seven times and then you're done. Now, I think I'll start with the cons of the game for me. The cons are it's quite expensive game. If you're trying to get this game, it's like 80 quid, but you do get a lot of anime pulls in it, and they do look cool, especially if you get the screen uh printed ones. Um, it's quite fiddly, it's a lot of fiddly bits to it. Um, but if you'd like a heavy kind of you know, economic y zoo style simulation game, it it's what it is, it's just like that the video game in that respect, and um it's doing a lot of cool things. Um, when I played the solo when I first got it, I wasn't that enamoured. I didn't think the solo for me was was where it's at. But when I played a three-player of this um with with friends, the interaction with the animal exchange and how we were kind of going for different things, because you want to be collecting sets of different animals to score conservation, and if you get to like level three animals, which I haven't even obviously uh explained the levels, but if you get to like the best animals, then you can start sending their offspring to um you know to to the the real world jungles and and reintroduce them back into uh their habitats and things like that, and you're gonna get conservation for that. So there's a lot going on. There's a lot going on. This game is not going to be for everyone for sure. I think if you're looking for a light zoo game, do not get this. If you're looking for something that's crunchy and economic and you're trying to balance margins and run a zoo and get the feel uh of at the end of the game having a zoo with lots of animals in, then maybe check it out. So that's zoo tycoon.

PHASE D: JUST ASK

SPEAKER_00 30:15

So let's jump back into the main camera. Um, and I've got a new segment which is effectively called Just Asking, and it's basically where I'm going to house the question from the listeners. So again, thank you for those who add questions in. I'm getting lots of questions, lots of interaction from our Discord server. If you haven't joined the Discord server, why not come and join? The details in the show notes. You just scroll down, click the link, and you can come and join in and talk about cardboard with the rest of us. So so I've got a question from Bakerwoods and Discord. Uh, their question is uh from a recent session, what's my approach to rules disagreements in a campaign games? And is it best to stop and do a Reddit deep dive or house rule for the sake of the flow? Um, this happens a lot if you're playing a especially if you're playing complex uh games um with lots of rules interactions, things like that. And obviously campaign games you kind of want to get right because if you get them wrong and then you go off in a direction, you can end up having a bit of a problem, and it's kind of hard to wreck on you know the five uh games that you had at 20 plus hours, right? You don't want to be doing that. But I'm of the opinion that um I would rather keep the game flowing, and then at the end of the session, if I had four or five questions, I would go into your Reddit, so I would go into your board game geek threads or wherever you need to go to get your answers and get those answers fact-checked um before the next session. So outside of the session, you go, right, guys, we had this thing, we kind of played it wrong, we're supposed to do this, that, and the other, rather than da-da-da-da. And then at the beginning of the next session, I would brief everyone what those mistakes were, and then you could decide as a group, do we correct anything? Do we need to, you know, what do we punish ourselves too much or do we make it too easy? Um, and then course correct things. You know, if you did a session really well and you got loads of stuff, do you give some of it back? Do you just chalk it up to oh well, it's experience, who cares? We're all playing the game and having fun and move on. And I'm of the opinion, just move on, keep the game flowing, and then if you're having a good time, meh, it doesn't matter. So that's probably my answer to to that particular

PHASE E: WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT

SPEAKER_00 32:23

question. So, next is what's hot and what's not. I didn't do this last episode. Um, I think I ran out of time, and and to be honest, I think when I did my recordings, they weren't quite in in that that succession. So I'm gonna jump back and check out the hotness of BGG, and it's this thing consistently changes. And we have five games that are up there. So, what we've got Gunson, uh the battle for Toshi Ran Rambo. Um, so this I don't know much about it, but it looks like uh uh a kind of 4Xy kind of game. Um, lots of like maps and and dudes and and things like that. I like the theme actually. This is a kind of theme I I can I can definitely get behind. Um yeah, it's what two to six players, lots of war, lots of conflict, dudes on a map style game. Sure, but yeah, not really uh heard much about it. So there we go. Magical athlete number two. Magical athlete, I have heard lots about. I have a um did a a kind of just played segment on it last episode, you know all about it. I I really like this game and I should hate it. I should not like this, but I really like it. It's my family go-to game, it's not one I would wheel out from a serious Euro game, buddies. But it's just it's just mad, it's absolute bonkers. Um my family love it and adore it, so it it stays in the collection just for that because anytime I can get my family to play any games, I'm here for, right? Greenwood, not heard of this one either. This is doing well, isn't it? Greenwood, gather companions from different clans to free the mystical creatures of Greenwood. Let's have a look, let's dive in. So, what type of game is this? Uh Diddly do play as primal spirits, lead your companions to save Greenwood. Each turn you face a difficult decision whether to use the abilities of your own companions or to use the abilities of other players' companions or send one of them to the forest improved again. Foresty. Um, although it does have a kind of big board with lots of different locations and nodes that you can go around by the looks of it. Um, but again, the theme for me, there seems to be a lot of foresty theme games at the moment. Not that I've got anything against it. Um, you know, Whisperwood was the other one that's just coming out of crowdfunding. They're just not my IP kind of style thematic uh game go-to, but I would play anything that um yeah, I think is worth a go. And this is kind of midway as well, so it's got a little bit of crunch to it. So maybe one to to watch out for, you know. Um, so that's number three. The from four is the one. Uh DeWan, Becky, who you met on a previous episode. Becky has DeWan. I've seen it in her shelves, and I think this is a lot of people's gateway game. A lot of people are going to this game to um, yeah, as their kind of first game experience. I have no experience on the One. Have you played it? Is it good? Should I should I give it a go? But yeah, it's it's what it is. Uh number five is Avalon the Riven Veil. So I think this came up before, um, and I think this is coming or has been fulfilled on on the Kickstarter or crowdfunding. And yeah, it looks like uh explore the misty tale of Avalon with your faction after the death of King Arthur. So if you like that kind of Arthurian legend, um, yeah, it looks like it could be good fun, but I know nothing about the game, so yeah. So this is not a very successful what's hot, what's not segment, to be honest. I knew of pretty much uh two games and I've played one out of the the five. So sometimes that's the way this segment goes,

PHASE F: JUST ABOUT TO PLAY

SPEAKER_00 35:58

all right? Sometimes that's the way it goes. So now we're into just about to play. So what am I looking forward to? What's coming up that I'm yeah, really, really looking forward to? Well, I've got a game of coffee traders with my good friend Dan, and um, yeah, basically I'm looking forward to that. That's supposed to be a crunchy coffee-making resource management game. Um, and I know Dan really enjoys it, so we've got a game of that coming up towards the the end of the month, and I'm I'm looking forward to playing that. The next one I'm looking forward to playing, and I've played this solo only, is Nippon Zabatsu. Now, I got this game just on a recommendation. Um, I played it solo and I thought this is freaking brilliant. I I really, really enjoyed Nippon. Um, and I'm hoping to get this week, I'm hoping to get a either two or three player of the game and just play it uh in a multiplayer setting, and then I can talk about it on a on a future episode, which uh hopefully I can do. But really enjoying nippon so far, really uh can't wait to to get the full game experience to the table.

A thank you to my latest exhibit in my studio

SPEAKER_00 37:05

But before I go, there's one thing I wanted to kind of say, and I meant to mention it earlier, is uh good friends of mine and and watchers of the show, um Kevin and Rebecca, um, had given me a gift when I went to America last, and they live out in Tennessee, and they got me these. Um, for those that recognise what these are, these are the dice that uh live on the Millennium Falcon and uh Han Solo's dice, and he puts them around. What is the the wing mirror of the Millennium Falcon? And these I got and I pretty much opened the case and I was like, I know exactly what these are, these are friggin' awesome, and yeah, so these now live in my my nerd cave on on the walls. So yeah, Kevin, Rebecca, thank you so much for these. These are absolutely awesome. I love

PHASE G: THE LAST PLAY

SPEAKER_00 37:49

it. So there we go. We've got to the last play. And uh, like always, thank you so much for for watching and listening to this episode. I really appreciate and you know, all you uh guys do that spend the time to watch me and learn a bit more about the the cardboard world. So thank you so much. And if you like the episode, please like, please subscribe, please comment, please engage. Um, it really makes a difference. It really does. You know, small channels uh need that that engagement to kind of boost what's going on. So thank you, thank you for everybody who has done that in the past, and I appreciate it. If you want to get in touch, we've got our socials, we've got our Discord channel, you know where all is. It's all in the show notes below. Um, so please, please do that. And if you want to support the show financially, I have a coffee where uh people, many people support uh throw a few extra quid uh a month or one-off um donations, and that all helps the show keep going, it helps the pay for equipment, it helps to pay for the podcast. And and again, for those that support, you are absolutely bloody brilliant, and uh I love you for it. Um that's it for for the episode. So, all I've got to say is you only grow old when you stop playing. Take care, everyone. Bye bye.