We here at SVWAG take pains to differentiate between two conflated ideas. We say "approachable" for rulesets that are easily learned and internalized, reserving the similar-sounding term "accessible" to refer to games that are usable for people with disabilities.

Relatedly, MICHAEL WALKER IS BACK.

02:43 AYURIS: Oak (Wim Goossens, Game Brewer, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

04:25 -Friday (Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2011)

07:12 -Fast Sloths (Friedemann Friese, 2F-SPiele, 2019)

10:56 -Ghost Blitz Mini (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2010)

12:11 -For Sale (Stefan Dorra, Uberplay, 1997)

13:52 -Primal: The Awakening (Tommaso Mondadori and Alberto Parisi, Reggie Games, 2024)

18:19 -Corporate America (Teale Fristoe, Nothing Sacred Games, 2013)

23:10 -Guards of Atlantis II (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2022)

25:57 -Arcs (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2024)

33:00 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

35:33 -Combat Commander: Europe (Chad Jensen, GMT, 2006)

40:08 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

42:06 -Wilmot's Warehouse (Ricky Haggett, Richard Hogg, and David King, CMYK, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:31 Until Proven Guilty: cooperative storytelling

46:55 More Root factions: bats and frogs

47:35 Planet of the Apes cooperative miniatures game

48:24 Barrage legendary box

48:38 Great Western Trail El Paso

48:55 Liège of Games is Walker's source of news: https://www.youtube.com/c/Li%C3%A8geofGames/videos

49:13 Unmatched Adventures: TMNT and cross-license games

51:07 Topic: Michael Walker Revolutionizes Physical Therapy

Our guest host this week is the estimable Mark Besada of the Golden Geek Award-winning podcast, Board Game Barrage! Known as the Green Tank because he is more swole than the Hulk (rumours persist that Lou Ferrigno learned all he knew about bodybuilding from Mark), he nonetheless exudes generosity and hospitality.

Unless you throw down in Ghost Blitz, that is. Then it's Go Time.

Games Played Last Week:

02:31 -Skytear Horde: Monoliths (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2024)

07:39 -Lords of Scotland (Richard James, Z-Man Games, 2010)

11:27 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024) [EDIT: The "Ironclad" character was erroneously referred to as the Ironborn. We apologize for the error and look forward to your many, many correction emails]

17:11 -Distilled (Dave Beck, Paverson Games, 2023)

21:51 -RelicBlade: Adventure Battle Game (Sean Sutter, Metal King Studio, 2015)

30:23 -Sky Team (Luc Rémond, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

34:05 -Ghost Blitz Mini (Jacques Zeimet, Zoch Verlag, 2010)

39:55 -Arcs (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

46:00 Atlantis Exodus has an "apotheosis track"

47:18 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag

47:36 Feature Game: Captain Flip (Remo Conzadori and Paolo Mori, PlayPunk, 2024) and the Spiel des Jahres

1:18:14 SVWAG Presents Masterpiece Theatre: Ripley

Our next guest host during Michael Walker's recovery is Efka Bladukas, half of No Pun Included! Efka is an internationally-renowned board game critic and dog enthusiast, known for his detestation of whimsy and tireless tolerance of Mark's yammerings. He once split a mountain in twain with his bare hands while simultaneously inventing cold fusion, but he's so humble he'll probably deny it--which is proof positive that it's all true.

Games Played Last Week:

01:37 -Captain Flip (Remo Conzadori and Paolo Mori, PlayPunk, 2024)

08:30 -In the Footsteps of Darwin (Grégory Grard and Matthieu Verdier, Sorry We Are French, 2023)

13:31 -It’s a Wonderful World: Corruption & Ascension (Frédéric Guérard, La Boîte de Jeu, 2020)

17:34 -Cascadero (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2024)

22:03 -Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers--Heroes of Waterdeep (Vangelis Bagiartakis and Konstantinos Karagiannis, WizKids, 2023)

27:27 -Power Vacuum (Kaleb Wentzel-Fisher, Keen Bean Studio, 2024)

39:03 -Leviathan Wilds (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2024)

43:32 -Primal: The Awakening (Tommaso Mondadori and Alberto Parisi, Reggie Games, 2024)

53:38 -Dune: Imperium (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2020)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

57:55 Walker continues to recover and is doing well

58:32 Leviathan Wilds expansion and reprint soon on Gamefound; uncertainty as to possible fixes

59:22 Flickering Stars by Matt Leacock and Josh Cappel; another sci-fi flicking boardgame

1:00:34 Feature Game: Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

Our first guest host while Michael Walker is recovering is James de Moss, aka Jimbo!

Many a human being has become lost in the deep recesses of Jimbo's sonorous voice, and thus one must take care lest you become consumed by his powerful charisma. Jimbo brings his extensive experience of digital board games, and board game adaptations, to SVWAG.

02:29 AYURIS: Planet Unknown

Games Played Last Week:

06:13 -Skytear Horde: Monoliths (Giacomo Neri and Riccardo Neri, Skytear Games, 2024)

09:32 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023)

12:10 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

15:07 -Sentinels of the Multiverse (Christopher Badell, Paul Bender, & Adam Rebottaro, Greater Than Games, 2011)

22:50 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020)

26:20 -Primal: The Awakening (Tommaso Mondadori and Alberto Parisi, Reggie Games, 2024)

37:33 -Oak (Wim Goossens, Game Brewer, 2022)

39:50 -Gaia Project (Jens Drögemüller & Helge Ostertag, Feuerland Spiele, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

42:50 A sincere thank you for the outpouring of support

43:23 Shapeways has filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations, independent operators left in the lurch

44:40 X-Wing community's efforts in the wake of cessation of official support

47:54 Martin Wallace news: Cthulhu: Dark Providence with Travis Chance, and Casus Belli

49:42 Topic: When to Go Digital

One of the under-appreciated virtues of an auction game is that each session can provide its own economy. While daunting to new players, who don't know what things might be worth, their flailing speculation actually helps determine what things are worth. If they buy that share of red for a squillion moneys, guess what, that is what that market would bear. At least for now, that is. Some jerk might then get the next share for two cents and a smile, but watching those economies develop differently every time is part of the magic.

Games Played Last Week:

01:22 -Snow Planner (Akashi, Soragame Studio, 2024)

04:24 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

05:45 -Guards of Atlantis II (Artyom Nichipurov, Wolff Designa, 2022)

10:27 -Iberian Gauge (Amabel Holland, Capstone Games, 2017)

18:17 -Medici (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 1995)

23:08 -CATAN: Starfarers Duel (Klaus Teuber and Benjamin Teuber, KOSMOS, 2023)

28:46 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

31:08 Star Realms 10th Anniversary edition and Star Trek Star Realms

31:41 Satoshi Matsuura illustrates Yield

31:56 Iliad and Ichor from Reiner Knizia and Bitewing on Kickstarter

32:53 Imperial Borders--massive numbers of troops on a massive map from Larry Summers

33:44 Feature Game: Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2024)

While we pride ourselves on our internationalist focus here at SVWAG, we have been remiss in our multilingualism lately. While we reliably rendezvous with French on a semi-regular basis, a skosh of Japanese here and there, a quantum of Latin periodically, and whatever language AYURIS pretends to be, our Spanish could use some work. We thus devote ourselves to utter three whole words of Spanish in this episode.

01:30 AYURIS: Dwellings of Eldervale (Luke Laurie, Breaking Games, 2020)

Games Played Last Week:

03:36 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022)

06:40 -Successors 4th Edition (Richard H. Berg and Mark Simonitch, PHALANX, 2022)

12:10 -Knarr (Thomas Dupont, Bombyx, 2023)

13:13 -TRICKTAKERs (Hiroken, Joyple Games, 2021) [EDIT: Mark mistakenly claimed that there is no English edition, but this is incorrect]

16:40 -Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan (Gordon Calleja, Mighty Boards, 2024)

22:03 -The Plum Island Horror (Hermann Luttmann, GMT Games, 2023)

26:36 -Sky Team (Luc Rémond, Le Scorpion Masqué, 2023)

28:45 -Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano, Contention Games, 2024)

35:42 -Gaia Project (Jens Drögemüller & Helge Ostertag, Feuerland Spiele, 2017)

37:47 -nana (Kaya Miyano, Mob+, 2021)

40:48 -Murray the A**hole Frog (Jenna Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2024)

46:04 -Jenga Maker (Uncredited, Hasbro, 2022)

48:32 -Arcs (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

55:33 Game Brewer, publisher of Stroganov, Oak and Gugong, calls it quits

55:51 Star Wars: X-Wing and Armada terminated by Atomic Mass Games

56:56 Hans im Glück starts asserting its ownership of the word "meeple"

57:30 Mike Hutchinson and Planet Smasher Games' possible future products: Perilous Tales/Gaslands XL box sets?, Space Gits merging dexterity and miniatures, and more

59:26 Topic: The 180

There are certain portentous events that presage massive upheaval and transformative revolution, both good and ill--Mark regards travel as one of these cataclysmic convulsions (ill), but the same is true of the arrival of the man known as Doctor Stallone (good). Both have coincided in the world of SVWAG this week, a confluence more consequential than the great passage of Halley's comet that prompted the original quote of "Après moi, le déluge." There's just a lot, people.

01:33 AYURIS: Flamecraft (Manny Vega, Cardboard Alchemy, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

03:12 -Dune: Imperium--Uprising (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023)

06:17 -Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods (Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia, Cranio Creations, 2023)

10:08 -Ra (Reiner Knizia, alea, 1999)

13:19 -Skyrise (Gavan Brown, Sébastien Pauchon, and Adam Wyse, Roxley, 2024)

16:37 -Medici (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 1995)

22:13 -Stroganov (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2021)

26:53 -Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes (Paolo Mori, PSC Games, 2019)

29:05 -Radlands (Daniel Piechnick, Roxley, 2021)

31:05 -Root (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2018)

33:40 -Paku Paku (Antoine Bauza, Ravensburger, 2017)

34:26 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios Tsantilas, CMON, 2020)

36:47 -Orléans (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2014)

38:14 -Tower of Babel (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 2005)

39:27 -Telestrations (Uncredited, USAopoly, 2009)

41:11 -Beyond Balderdash (Laura Robinson and Paul Toyne, Canada Games Company, 1993)

43:30 -Quest (Don Eskridge, Indie Boards & Cards, 2021)

46:23 -Calico (Kevin Russ, Flatout Games, 2020)

47:55 -Legacy of Yu (Shem Phillips, Garphill Games, 2023)

49:51 -BattleCON: Unleashed (D. Brad Talton, Level 99 Games, 2020)

53:07 -TEAM3 GREEN (Alex Cutler & Matt Fantastic, Brain Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

55:32 Tapple After Dark...? Uh, no thanks

56:28 Race for the Galaxy Roll & Write from Tom Lehman

57:04 Walker tells lies that evoke a greater truth

57:50 Check out Mark's video game podcast, All My Best Friends Are Digital

All I need to know about animal reproduction I learned from Uwe Rosenberg. I suspect many people have The Talk, which in my case was my father teaching me how to play Agricola. Navigating my twenties in utter ignorance wasn't easy, but now that Uwe has told me about the birds and the bees (and the sheep and the pigs and the cows) via Agricola I'm practically a biologist.

01:25 AYURIS: Dead Reckoning (John D. Clair, Alderac Entertainment Group, 2022)

Games Played Last Week:

05:10 -Tigris & Euphrates (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 1997)

09:12 -Antike II (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2015)

11:32 -That's Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp, Ravensburger, 2023)

16:26 -Galactic Renaissance (Christian Martinez, Matagot, 2024)

21:56 -The Vale of Eternity (Eric Hong, Mandoo Games, 2023)

23:58 -Meeple Circus (Cedric Millet, Matagot, 2017)

27:31 -Mythwind (Nathan Lige and Brendan McCaskell, Open Owl Studios, 2023)

30:48 -Titans Tactics (G. Kelly Toyama, Imbalanced Games, 2013)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

33:59 Please support us on Patreon, if inclined! www.patreon.com/svwag

35:06 Dávid Turczi and Nigel Buckle's pseudo-sequel to Imperium, Star Trek: Captain's Chair

36:47 Dungeon Fighter will get a Star Trek reimplementation

37:05 Mark's new podcast with Caitlin Bailey, All My Best Friends Are Digital: video games and the stories they tell

37:37 Defenders of the Realm gets a reprint and a facelift

38:10 Topic: Games that Make You Uncomfortable