Village

SU&SD Take on The Board Game Geek Top 100: 101-81

Paul: BoardGameGeek is a titan of the board game scene, one of the most comprehensive and consulted sites the hobby has, as well as a place to which we owe a huge debt of inspiration. It’s also home to the absolute Board Game Geekiest among us, namely those with a monthly allowance for small zip-lock baggies. While we undoubtedly fall into that category too, we appreciate that not everyone does and it’s inevitable that our opinions will diverge, right?

Just what do we make of those most esteemed of titles that are forever locked in an eternal battle for a place in BGG’s Top 100 rankings? This week, we’ll be giving an extensive, nay, exhaustive breakdown of that list, telling you what we’ve covered, what we thought and even admitting what we’ve missed out on. So come with us as we count down the games in a whole week’s worth of analysis and adventure!

Quinns: Ladies and gentlemen, roll up! It’s time for a new series where we take a look a team SU&SD’s board game collections. Come and see! Be amazed. Be aghast. Be envious. Comment with thought-provoking assertions like “why do you have that game it is bad”.

You guys will have seen my collection in the background of loads of SU&SD videos, but I don’t think you’ve seen the work that goes into it. Come with me today as I perform… a CULL.

But before that, let me show you my collection as it stands. It’s both completely ridiculous and not as ridiculous as you might think.

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SU&SD’s Top 50 Games Ever, 2015! The Also-rans

Paul: Aha! Did you think we were done? Did you think it was all over? The sad truth is that, in assembling our gigantic Top 50 list, so many games don’t quite make the cut. We shift them up and down. We debate their inclusion. We resign ourselves to seeing favourites fail to break the Top 50 by the tiniest of margins. That’s how it is, though. You stick in a Codenames and the whole list shifts. Someone has to be number 51.

All the games that follow are good games. We don’t want you think we’ve lost our love for them because they weren’t featured last week. These are our Honourable Mentions.

Quinns: Morning everybody! Our cover photo today is of L’Auberge Rouge (“the Red Inn”), a gorgeous-looking game coming next year from venerable Belgian publisher Pearl Games. It looks like you’ll all be running incredibly creepy pubs.

Brendan: oh god what day is it

Quinns: Brendan?! What are you doing under the desk? The Top 25 wrap party is over. You should be at home.

Brendan: i had the worst dream. i reviewed board games for a living

Quinns: Hey, I’ve got a great idea. You can help me do the weekly Games News! Here, pull up a chair.

Brendan: oh no

Quinns: Here we go.

Warning: Contains opinions.

Quinns: A perk of this job is that I get to decide what qualifies as our top story each week. However, when you have an addiction as life-swallowing as mine, sometimes it isn’t really a choice.

This week Fantasy Flight announced it will be taking Android: Netrunner INTO SPACE, with a new “cycle” of card expansions known as the Lunar Cycle. Now, the moon is a pretty exciting place. This we can agree on. But what’s really exciting is that the Lunar Cycle’s express purpose to tip up the game’s gravity, to encourage new strategies, and produce cards that aren’t necessarily strong, but just weird.

When half the thrill of Netrunner is watching it evolve, and your friends inventing (and then slapping you with) freaky new decks, that’s the best news we could have possibly hoped for.

Once we heard about all the love and awards Village was earning we just had to dispatch Paul and Quinns, SU&SD’s softest city boys, to take a look. This one’s a true simulation the simple life, perfect for anybody who wants to breed horses, dedicate themselves to the church or murder their relatives when nobody’s looking.

Village has an expansion, Village Inn, but Quinns has been a very good boy and not bought it. …Right, Quinns?

Oh, and if you don’t recognise that intro, go and acquire all 17 episodes of The Prisoner immediately. You can thank us later.

Life in the village is hard – but life here also allows the inhabitants to grow and prosper as they please. One villager might want to become a friar. Another might feel ambitious and strive for a career in public office. A third one might want to seek his luck in distant lands.

Each player will take the reins of a family and have them find fame and glory in many different ways. There is one thing you must not forget, however: Time will not stop for anyone and with time people will vanish. Those who will find themselves immortalized in the village chronicles will bring honor to their family and be one step closer to victory.

Village is a game full of tactical challenges. A smart and unique new action mechanism is responsible for keeping turns short and yet still tactically rich and full of difficult decisions. Also unique is the way this game deals with the delicate subject of death; as a natural and perpetual part of life in the village, thoughts of death will keep you focused on smart time-management.

Paul: As well as bouncing between topics like a pinball between flippers, this is an important podcast for us for two reasons. First, we’re announcing an exciting thing and second, we’re also asking you, our audience, an important question about a decision we’re thinking of making. But we won’t make it without consulting you first. … Read more

SU&SD Take on The Board Game Geek Top 100: 101-81

Feature: A Day in the Life of Quinns’ Game Collection!

SU&SD’s Top 50 Games Ever, 2015! The Also-rans

Games News! 15/12/14

SU&SD’s Top 25 Games Ever! #5 to the #1

Games News! 10/02/14

Review: Village

The “Very Third” Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast

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