There are two board game mechanisms you just can't escape, they're on everyone's mind, flooding the discourse. That's combat, and card draw mitigation. Everyone won't stop talking about them. So we had to weigh in too, not just with what we feel are the best examples of games that have done them best, but some other quirky takes on them too. Before we mitigate our card draws, we talk about Rolling Deep, Eureka!, dnup, and Grinivil.

03:59 - Rolling Deep 15:12 - Eureka! 16:48 - dnup 24:48 - Grinivil 40:10 - Combat mechanisms 41:07 - Kemet 45:00 - Dune 48:40 - Shogun 52:42 - Forbidden Stars 53:51 - Dead Reckoning 54:48 - Gloomhaven 55:12 - Card draw mitigation 56:09 - Dark Pact 57:19 - La Granja 58:26 - Glory to Rome 59:58 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 1:02:07 - Race for the Galaxy 1:02:57 - 7 Wonders Duel 1:06:28 - The Vale of Eternity

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It's been a while since we've plumbed the depths of the bottomless chasm we call "fanmail", so this week we're reaching our hands as far as we can and pulling out some questions that have yet to see the light of say. Before we dig too greedily and too deep, we talk about Politrickers, Marvel Champions: The Card Game, and Banana Governance.

02:19 - Politrickers 10:47 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game 19:13 - Banana Governance 30:33 - Minimum expectations with new players? 40:59 - "Late to the Party" games? 47:19 - Stuff that we're looking forward to! 47:45 - The Danes 56:57 - Purple Haze

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The people demand takes, so get 'em while they're hot. We're weighing in on some possibly bad, certainly edgy opinions, and deciding where we land (spoiler: we're always right). Before we get heated, we talk about Diplomacy: The Golden Blade, and Cozy Stickerville.

01:46 - Diplomacy: The Golden Blade 12:33 - Cozy Stickerville 25:41 - Hot takes! 26:11 - Co-op games are just single player games with an audience 32:01 - Catch Up mechanics ruin competitive integrity 37:39 - Legacy games are a predatory waste of money 41:22 - If a game takes more than 30 minutes to teach, it's a bad design 45:56 - Player elimination is actually a good mechanism 47:36 - Hidden victory points are a cowardly design choice 51:38 - Gateway games Like Catan or Monopoly should be actively avoided 52:44 - House ruling a game means you bought the wrong game 53:10 - Theme is a myth 54:13 - Kickstarter deluxe editions are actively ruining the hobby

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We had such fun collaboratively coming up with our definitive Top 50 list back in December, that we've decided to do it again. In the spirit of award season, we're celebrating the games of yesteryear, or yester-ten-years to be precise. It's the definitive best games of 2016, as decided cooperatively by us! Before we come together, we talk about Shady Lady, In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943 - 1944, and Duel for Cardia.

03:02 - Shady Lady 09:58 - In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943 - 1944 20:25 - Duel for Cardia 27:12 - Games of 2016 32:28 - Krazy Wordz 35:00 - New Angeles 37:20 - The Oracle of Delphi 39:50 - Great Western Trail 42:06 - Scythe 44:40 - Fuji Flush 46:38 - A Feast for Odin 51:42 - Insider 53:48 - Inis 55:57 - SiXeS

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It's long been said that we're the foremost experts in knowing which way the awards winds blow, so we're putting our talents to use guessing, nay, predicting, nay, deciding who the winners in the Golden Geeks are going to be. Before we geek out, we talk about Chronicles of Crime: 2400, Quarto, and Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon.

04:07 - Chronicles of Crime: 2400 12:00 - Quarto 16:13 - Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon 30:16 - Golden Geeks 2025

Travel Games UK: https://www.travel-games.co.uk/

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There are big spiky moments that happen in the meta that is the board game hobby, and the Brass: Pittsburgh crowdfunding campaign feels like one of them. It is after all, a successor to the #1 ranked game on BGG. That's something! Enough so that it sent Mark into a bit of an existential spiral, and we're here to talk him down. Before we catch a falling Wallace, we talk about Hummingbirds, Fendo, and Soothsayers.

06:59 - Hummingbirds 14:44 - Fendo 18:53 - Soothsayers 29:23 - Brass: Pittsburgh crowdfunding

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Oh man, oh man, it's time that we ask you (yes, you) to tell us (yes, us) what your favourite games are, because for one time a year, it doesn't matter what we think about games, but you better be ready to tell us what you think about games. A lot of you did, so here it is, the listener top 20! Before we ask you to do all the work, we talk about Emberheart, Gods & Mortals, and Feya's Swamp.

01:30 - Emberheart 14:11 - Gods & Mortals 23:46 - Feya's Swamp 37:14 - A Feast for Odin 37:55 - Agricola 38:32 - Terraforming Mars 39:17 - Guards of Atlantis II 40:09 - Concordia 42:05 - Tigris & Euphrates 43:16 - Blood on the Clocktower 44:00 - El Grande 44:47 - The Castles of Burgundy 46:12 - Inis 47:38 - Race for the Galaxy 48:06 - Arcs 49:08 - Ark Nova 49:30 - Root 50:06 - Innovation 51:11 - Spirit Island 52:05 - Ra 52:51 - Brass: Birmingham 53:26 - Dune: Imperium 54:04 - Hansa Teutonica

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We made it back in one piece, and all told I think we did pretty well! We got through a heck of a lot of what we wanted to play, and we're here to tell you all about it - including Dark Pact, Totally Human, and Banana Governance, and more!

02:36 - Totally Human 14:04 - Dark Pact 20:56 - Gold Country 28:21 - Staked! 32:58 - Secret Tribe 41:34 - Habemus Papam 50:11 - 3 Chapters 55:22 - Banana Governance 01:02:29 - Hellapagos Submit your games for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20

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By the time you're listening to this, we're probably already in Vegas for Dice Tower West! We're going to hang about all day playing games - which naturally leads to the question of what we're going to play? These are the games we came up with! Before we bite off more than we can chew, we talk about Ghost Lift, Cities, and I, Napoleon.

02:31 - Ghost Lift 08:13 - Cities 14:06 - I, Napoleon 24:40 - Dice Tower West anticipated games 26:05 - Biblios 27:04 - Feya's Swamp / Kaivai 28:26 - Cheese Thief 29:03 - Habemus Papam 31:15 - Wroth 33:33 - Greed Incorporated 35:39 - Dark Pact 38:45 - Secret Tribe 39:52 - Eternal Decks 41:03 - All In: Predictions 42:04 - Cthulhu: Dark Providence 44:14 - Robo Rally Dice Submit your games for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20

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I think it's fair to say that we crushed this last year (although some of us better than others), so it's only correct and right that we should return to do it again. What are the best games of 2026 going to be? Well, only we know, but we're willing to part with that information. Get your fat stacks ready. Before we set ourselves up for failure, we talk about Alibis, Mosaic: A Story of Civilization, and Cyclades: Legendary Edition.

03:02 - Alibis 09:18 - Mosaic: A Story of Civilization 23:25 - Cyclades: Legendary Edition 36:27 - Anticipation Auction 2026 41:18 - The Game Makers 44:25 - Cozy Stickerville 46:39 - Brass: Pittsburgh 50:35 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Trick-taking Game 54:04 - Revenant 56:21 - World Order 59:31 - Dark Pact 1:02:28 - The Great Library 1:03:56 - Spirited 1:05:25 - Realm of Reckoning 1:08:55 - Avalon: The Riven Veil 1:12:57 - La Pâtisserie Rococo 1:14:24 - Nippon: Zaibatsu 1:17:24 - Rewild: South America 1:18:44 - Movers & Shakers Submit your games for the Listener Top 20 at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/top20

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All of this has happened before and will happen again. Everything comes back around, including games you could swear you've played before. Whether they're remakes, reimplimentations, or rejuvenations, we're tackling the world of board game revivals. Before what's old is new, we talk about Agent Avenue, 7 Empires, and Stellar Ventures.

02:24 - Agent Avenue 07:25 - 7 Empires 18:26 - Stellar Ventures 33:52 - Remakes 39:01 - Blood on the Clocktower 40:55 - Zoo Vadis 48:03 - Dune: Imperium - Uprising 54:14 - A Feast for Odin

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