Four Corners Of The Board Podcast

It's that time of year again! Dean and Graeme look back at our picks from Essen 2017 to see how good we are at picking games. We then do our top 10 list of anticipated games from Essen 2018! Will we do any better this year! NOTE : We will be switching to a new RSS feed fairly soon so please update your feeds! http://acrossthegameboard.libsyn.com/rss Also slight name change, we are now called "Talking Across the Game Board"

We are recording this on the day after we returned from MAWGCon II - a week long gaming event! We've got lots of games to talk about : DiamondsDetective Rise of QueensdaleAquasphereVillageRootDopplegangerDiscworld1500Riverboat  

Since last episode was a bit of a negative one, we figured we'd do the opposite this time! What do we do with underwhelming games? How much sway do our family/friends/reviewers have on us going back to a game? We then proceed to our Top 5 Games That Have Gotten Better (games we used to find underwhelming, but now like)

We are getting close to the end now, only a few more episodes! We start this episode talking about some recent plays: Welcome To... Detective Minerva Choose your Own Adventure : House of Danger We then get into the main topic of discussion : Dragonsgate College. The game revolves around a dice drafting mechanism, so what do we think of that mechanism? What about the theme and the rest of the game?

Dean and Graeme have a look at cooling off in the hobby. Do we still consume as much news/media/reviews as we used to? Have our tastes changed? Have we realized we no longer like the same styles of games we used to? We then do our "Top 5 Games we used to love, but don't like as much anymore".

Now that con season is over (mostly) for the group, we get back together to discuss a few games we've played recently : Antiquity Black Souls Waste Knights Battlestar Galactica Flotsam Fight Gloomhaven We then make a fairly major announcement. Finally we have a look at Killing Code : Venice Vendetta. This is a new game that not many people know about. Is it worth your time tracking it down? Listen to find out.

Today Dean and Graeme look at forcing the hobby on friends and family. Have we done this? Has it worked or backfired? What would your family do with your games? Any they would keep? We then do a top 5 "Games That We Would Hope our Family Members Want to Keep"

Dean and Graeme have a look at box covers on this episode. How much does it influence our purchasing decisions? What do we like/dislike on a box? Should the art be consistent from cover to components? Should the art represent what type of game it is? We then look our Top 5 Deceiving Covers (you'll have to listen to find out our criteria for this one!)

Ok, Vacation/Conventions and podcast editing do not mix! In between DTC, family vacations, and GenCon we had to get this episode up. We first talk about some games we've played Lowlands TI4 - Yes, Graeme played it again Rites of Cthulhu Killing Code : Venice Vendetta Sanctuary: Endangered Species Gizmos We then get into the main topic of discussion : Whistle Stop. We have a look at the theme (another train game?). Is it a good next step game? What did we think of the mechanisms? And we end with our final thoughts - and we all agree! Find out if that is a good or bad thing!

Dean and Graeme have a quick look at our highlight from Dice Tower Con, then we get into talking about stress in games. What causes stress? Are there different types of stress? Do we like our games stressful? We then go into our Top 5 Stressful Games that we Love

We are back with our 75th episode! As usual, we start off with some recent plays : Broadhorns Ticket To Ride : Wild West Space Base We then go into the main topic of discussion, Council of Four. This is a game Graeme has wanted since he saw the original a few years ago, and with CMON reprinting it he wanted to get it to the table. What did everybody think of the game? What about the theme and mechanisms in the game? Was it worth the wait for Graeme?

In this episode Dean and Graeme have a look at Cooperative games. Do we favour one type over another? Do we prefer Co-op to competitive? What makes a good co-op game? What about the alpha gamer problem? We then have a look at our Top 5 Co-Op games.

We start like we normally do, but with all 4 of us, and back on schedule! Wow! We look at some recent plays : Star Trek Ascendancy Dice Brewing Demon Worker Antiquity 1960 : The making of a president Concordia Village of Horror Escape Rooms We then look at the main topic of discussion : Heaven and Ale. Do we wish there was actual beer in the box? How well does the theme hold up? What about the different mechanisms? Are there multiple paths to victory? What about our thoughts on it being nominated for the Spiel des Jahres? Is this a game we can all agree on???  

In this episode Dean and Graeme look at our least favourite mechanisms (or mechanics if you prefer). We discuss mechanisms in games, and do we avoid or insta-buy games based solely on mechanisms? We then do our Top 5 Least Favourite Mechanisms but with a Game we like the Mechanisms in (ok, it sounds confusing, but listen to the episode to find out what I mean!)

We are all back together (mostly) - but we still managed to be a week late on this podcast. We start off the podcast by looking at some games we were able to play Whitehall Mystery Gloomhaven Inis 7th Continent Lanterns We then have a deep dive into Noria. We start off with theme (?) and components, and we talk about the main mechanisms of the game - the very interesting player wheel and the "stock market". What did we think of the game? Listen to find out how high (or low) Noria reached?

Dean and Graeme have a look at gamer envy/jealousy. We start off by talking about shelfies - are they to make people jealous of your collection? Have we felt envious of a game/kickstarter/blinged game? What about people going to cons? We then do our top 5 Games in the other person collection we wish we had in ours.

On this episode, Dean and Graeme look at mastering games. What does that mean to us? Have we mastered any games? What does mastering a game mean to the enjoyment of a game? We then do our Top 5 Games We Want to Master.

We are a week late and a host short! Graeme just got back from vacation and Lella just left for vacation so this episode is a little later than planed. Needless to say we start by talking about some games we've played : Ticket to Ride France and Old West Orphans and Ashes Resistance Saboteur 2 Mechs vs. Minions London Twilight Imperium 4 Good Society We then get into the main topic of discussion - Kepler 3042. It's another space game, so how is it different? What about the mechanisms in the game? Is there enough variety? Is it really just an abstract game with a light space theme on top?  

This episode Dean and Graeme look at our collections and collecting in general. How big are our collections? Will we ever stop? Do we have a goal in mind? Do we sell/trade/donate games? We finish with the top 5 games that will never leave our collections.

Well, we promised it, so here it is, our spoiler filled review of Charterstone! But before we get to that, we talk about some other games we've played : Tavern Masters Who should we eat Gentleman’s Deal Raiders of the North Sea We then get to Charterstone - WARNING : THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD. We talk about all aspects of the game which I will not list here. We then give our final thoughts on this legacy game.