Shut Up & Sit Down

Floating Round My Tin Can

war, space, board games, space crusade, warhammer, space oddity

For me, writing and filming SU&SD is an exercise that frequently swings between excitement and painful nostalgia, a bit like a pendulum that strikes you in the balls on every arc. Or like one of those Newton’s Cradles that strikes you in the balls on every arc. Or like pretty much anything that strikes you in the balls regularly.

The problem I have is that every other game I want to talk about is a
game I don’t have. More than a few of them are games that I did have, but don’t have any more. It’s a sad state of affairs that all I have left of HeroQuest is the board, the dice and so many fading memories.

Well, I have even less left of Space Crusade, Games Workshop’s science fiction counterpart to HeroQuest, released a year later. I barely remember the components, or even how to play the game. Today, looking through old photos, I’ve been trying to remember and trying to avoid that metaphorical whack in the sack.

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Review: Ghost Stories

board games, review, Ghost Stories, spillage

If you’ve watched Episode 1 you’ll have seen a sneaky cameo of the above beauty. Ghost Stories, by Antoine Bauza. Seeing as we only used it for a quick gag, I appreciate some of you may have been left out in the cold, alone, aroused, and hungry for more.

Both you and this game deserve better. Click through the jump for our review of Ghost Stories.

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Keep Calm and Carry A Flamethrower

board games, Excitement, treachery, panic station

Hello, my Lindels! There are far too many games on the horizon that look positively incredibells. Here’s another one landing in the next few months: Panic Station.

Trust no-one and fear everything in a CO-OPERATIVE NIGHTMARE!? I think I need a lie down. As for the actual game, OK- when was the last time you watched The Thing?

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We Have To Go Cheaper

spreading the love, free, Cheapass Games, Hobos

Paul and I get asked all the time where to start with boardgaming. People want to get into the hobby, but at the time of writing there are 52,942 games listed on the BoardGameGeek.com database. Which one should they buy first?

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Season 1 – Episode 2

July 25, 2011 Reviews, Specials Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition), Descent: Journeys in the Dark, DungeonQuest, HeroQuest It’s arrived. The second episode of what the cool kids are calling SU&SD is devoted almost entirely to one enormous game and its expansions. Almost. As well as Descent, we also take a look at DungeonQuest … Read more

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A Terry Pratchett Double Bill

ankh-morpork, discworld, talisman, terry pratchett

Whether you’re a fan of the irreverent English fantasy author, or simply enjoy a game with a nice solid example of punctuation in its name, you can look forward to the release of a brace of titles this season.

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Runewars Just Got Even More Epic

board games, Hobos, fear, runewars

It was only the other day that Quinns and I were lamenting the lack of love that the gaming community seems to have for Runewars. I think this is a great game of grand fantasy strategy, but I don’t know many gamers who have a copy, nor many shops who stock it. For a little while I held a terrible fear that it would fall by the wayside and I spent more than a few sleepless nights clutching at my pillow and staring into the darkness, my bottom lip quivering as I wondered if Fantasy Flight were going to let this game go out of print.

Not so, because they’ve just gone ahead and announced Banners of War, a Runewars expansion that’s bristling with battle and which looks like it not only boasts a great deal of new content, but also a few interesting tweaks.

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Grievous Ninjury

board games, Excitement, Ninjato, Ninja: Legend of the Scorpion Clan

You know what I’d love to see this year? A board game about sneaking into a fortress as a ninja in feudal Japan.

Ah, if only that was happening.

Oh, shit! Wait! Not only is it happening, we’re getting two competing ones. Fight! Fight! Fight!

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Overlorded

board games, spreading the love, Memoir '44, Overlord

Quinns: If you’ve watched episode 1 you’ll have seen Paul and myself getting a bit too excited about WW2 strategy game Memoir ‘44. It’s a two player game, but an expansion, Overlord, turns it into a team game where up to eight players can fight a battle that makes the original game look as pathetic as two consenting adults splashing water at one another in a bath.

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Flipping Great

card games, Kung Fu Fighting, Entry games, Your Kung Fu Is No Match For Mine!

I appreciate that, for a lot of people, this whole board game thing is still a bit mystifying. When we say we enjoy board gaming that might call to mind Monopoly*, Cluedo or, worse still, kids’ games like Snakes and Ladders. Why on earth would we want to play things like that? Well, we don’t, and for exactly the same reason everyone else doesn’t: They’re boring as hell.

But it’s no good knowing what’s bad. What’s good? Even better, what’s a good place to start? There’s a bewildering array of games out there and some are more accessible than others. A poor choice, especially for a beginner, can put a person off games for life.

If you’ve watched out first episode, you’ll have seen one suggestion. Here’s another. This a particularly good game for converting people to the our gaming cause because the rules are so damn easy that it beggars belief.

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