Podcast #108: Beatdown, Madness, Chaos in the Train

Look, I’m really sorry that I sat on the podcast intro music but what am I supposed to do, check every seat for audio files before I sit down? I know it’s a bit crushed and quiet, but if we give it enough love and care then it’ll spring back soon enough, I’m sure – and I can always do my own version of the music for the time being… Oh the podcast is meant to be out… today? I’ll see what I can do…

This podcast may contain traces of trains – perhaps more than a trace, even, as Matt and Quinns discuss both Russian Railroads and 1889: History of Shikoku Railways in the space of just one hour. I know, it’s all getting a bit exciting. Squashed between those discussions like a fun filling in a games sandwich, Tom yammers on about Calico, Pax Pamir 2e and Watergate; games that somehow all contain the same levels of tension and despair in spite of their wildly differing themes.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Tap below for full timestamps and more info!

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SU&SD Take on The Board Game Geek Top 100: 60-41

Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition

Quinns: As we continue our marathon-like jog through Board Game Geek’s top 100 games ever, today I can reveal that we’re out of the weeds. We’ve played every single board game in the 60-41 slot!

Which isn’t to say that we always enjoyed ourselves…

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Review: Russian Railroads

Review: Russian Railroads

Quinns: At the end of last year the rumbling around Russian Railroads became unignorable. Once a day I’d notice my mug of tea trembling as this game’s engine sped across the internet with a roar of hype. I decided to let it pass, though, knowing that if the rumours were true then this train, then progress itself would soon arrive at my sleepy flat.

Sure enough, Z-Man Games recently sent it over. Russian Railroads is a proud, barrel-chested member of a category called “Hard Euros”, and while that sounds like a DVD you’d find in the bargain bin of a sex shop* these are among the least sexy of games. Rather than forcing players to battle directly (which is RUDE), Eurogames offer a proxy-puzzle for players to simultaneously sweat over.

You might remember our review of T’Zolkin: The Mayan Calendar, with its dizzying, rotating gears, or our awe at the piglet maths of Castles of Burgundy, or our more recent video reviews of Caverna or Terra Mystica, each one an impressive eurogame. Today the industry is choked with these hale, rubust puzzles. Stepping inside the creaky carriage of Russian Railroads I had one question lurking at the bottom of my brain like cerebral sediment. “This game’s going to be clever and all, but do we need it?”

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Russian Railroads

Russian Railroads

In Russian Railroads, players compete in an exciting race to build the largest and most advanced railway network. In order to do so, the players appoint their workers to various important tasks. The development of simple tracks will quickly bring the players to important places, while the modernization of their railway network will improve the efficiency of their machinery. Newer locomotives cover greater distances and factories churn out improved technology. Engineers, when used effectively, can be the extra boost that an empire needs to race past the competition.

There are many paths to victory: Who will ride into the future full steam ahead and who will be run off the rails? Whose empire will overcome the challenges ahead and emerge victorious?

Russian Railroads – A game of planning, strategy and optimization for 2-4 Emperors.

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Games News! 04/11/13

The Metagame

The Shut Up & Sit Down Supercomputer: I have spent the week exhaustively probing and sampling the corpses of Quinns and Paul, and have arrived at a conclusion: They are still dead. Therefore I shall continue to transmit the “Games News” as if they were not. I recommend that you all perform the human act of “denial”, as it sounds quite soothing.

Paul: Good morning everybaby!

Quinns: Paul, I cannot believe this. You will remember that two months ago I performed such that the people should buy real-time game Escape: The Curse of the Temple.

Paul: I remember it well, it made me birth eight giggles from my larynx.

Quinns: What a friend. But this week Queen Games has announced Escape from Zombie City. A tremendously similar game of rolling dice and escaping zombies, this time taking 15 minutes instead of 10. Just after I told everyone to buy the first Escape!

Paul: That is the limit!

Quinns: Stow your bum! This story gets even crazier.

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