This week we interview the members of HUGG, Herriman Utah Gamer Girls, a board game club of women. I use the word interview loosely, as HUGG takes over the Nation, explaining their love of heavy board game, strict competition, and the importance of integrity of the game. The worst insult within their group is that someone "isn't a real gamer." We found out quickly that they are all real gamers. Find out how the group was formed, their favorite games, and a little trash talk about who is the most...
Mar 30, 2016•45 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Join Meeple Nation as we host a live podcast as a panel at SaltCON, a board game convention in SLC, Utah. We talk to several guests about how they approach attending conventions, including the big one--the long CON, whether that is GenCon or BGGCon or another convention. We grilled two professionals, Ryan Bruns from Mayday Games and Ben Hillyard from Daedalus Productions about attending conventions as a dealer. We also interview Claudine Finlay and Julie Balazs from HUGG about why they love gami...
Mar 23, 2016•32 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Meeple Nation celebrates episode 100! We talk with Barb and Matt about reaching this milestone, talk SaltCON, our local board game convention, and discuss board game news of the day, including new or newly announced games, Kickstarters, and some related events. Games discussed include Goonies, a possible new fantasy version of Star Realms, Pack O Games 2, and expansions to Mysterium, Dominion, Imperial Assault and Dead of Winter. Join the Nation as we look forward to the next 100 episodes. Pack ...
Mar 16, 2016•56 min•Season 1Ep. 100
Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game, is a cooperative game for 1-4 players based on the Warhammer property from Games Workshop. This Fantasy Flight game is played mostly with cards, with a few supporting items such as custom dice, and health and exploration tokens. Each player takes the role of one of the four heroes in the box and uses unique Fight, Explore, Aid, and Rest cards to survive the dungeon and kill the evil nemesis. Our games took 30-120 minutes to complete. Ages 14 and up....
Mar 08, 2016•41 min•Season 1Ep. 99
In October of 2015 we noticed a number of threads complaining about games that get used up or cannot be replayed for other reasons. We sit down and talk about these games
Mar 01, 2016•38 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Everyone likes expansions, right? Especially good ones? This episode we talk expansions for games we have already reviewed. Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition, is the first expansion for this popular dice game. It adds a slightly accelerated start with new black leader dice, and new starting planet and factions. We first discussed Roll for the Galaxy in Episode 37. Firefly has a number of expansions, including the big box Kalidasa. If you want more Firefly reach back into our archives and listen to E...
Feb 23, 2016•42 min•Season 1Ep. 97
It has been six months since we last discussed Kickstarter, and Jeff Siadek joins us to explain why publishers use Kickstarter. Jeff's project, Battlestations Second Edition! Tabletop Starship Simulator, is currently on Kickstarter, with an end date of March 3, 2016. This is Jeff's tenth kickstarter, with a relaunch of his flagship game, Battlestations. His company, Gorilla Games, has been around for twelve years, and Jeff has been in the industry even longer than that. Join us as we discuss Bat...
Feb 16, 2016•40 min•Season 1Ep. 96
No one likes a lying cheaterface when playing board games, but what about all of the games that have made lying, cheating, and bluffing core mechanics of game play. This week on Meeple Nation, the primes discuss games with these mechanics such as Sheriff of Nottingham, Coup, Werewolf, Cockroach Poker, Intrige, Lifeboats and Illuminati. We all hate cheating as a mechanic, but find out our take on Bluffing and Lying as core mechanics and hear a few stories of cheaty-cheaterfaces in our past games....
Feb 09, 2016•36 min•Season 1Ep. 95
This week we review the game, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong
Feb 02, 2016•37 min•Season 1Ep. 94
This week, we discuss all things Pandemic, including spoiler free talk of Pandemic Legacy. Luckily, we have Barb and Matt back to keep things from getting too hostile. Everyone seems to like this game, except for Ryan. What's wrong with Ryan? Join us to find out. We cover Pandemic (2008) by Matt Leacock, including the expansions In the Lab (2013) and On the Brink (2009). We also discuss Pandemic: The Cure (2014) and Pandemic: Contagion (2014). And finally a bit about Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (2...
Jan 26, 2016•35 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Your caravan arrives in the fabled Sultanate of Naqala. The sultan is dead. Do you have what it takes to maneuver the five tribes, invoke the old Djinns, and gain enough influence to fulfill the prophesy and become the new sultan? Five Tribes is a clever, meeple-heavy work placement game where the workers are already in place on the table and you use a Mancala-like movement on your turn to maneuver the five tribe and gain points. Designed by Bruno Cathala and released in 2014 by Days of Wonder, ...
Jan 19, 2016•45 min•Season 1Ep. 92
We finally review Mysterium! For this seance, we all put on our Medium caps and find meaning in our dreams, conveniently provided by the ghost player in the form of full art cards. Mysterium was designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko. The English version was released in 2015 by Asmodee. The Meeple Nation Primes are joined by Barbara and Matthew Allen as we gush about this outstanding and unique gaming experience. Saying Mysterium is like Clue meets Dixit just doesn't do enough to conve...
Jan 12, 2016•30 min•Season 1Ep. 91
In this episode we talk about our gaming year, including a review of what goals we completed from those we set back in Episode 33. What were our gaming highlights? Can Brent's highlight be Ryan's lowlight? What are our plans for 2016? Join us while we enter the new year. Let us know what you are wishing for!
Jan 05, 2016•57 min•Season 1Ep. 90
This week, we travel to ancient Egypt and try to win over the big guy, the Pharaoh, with dice. Favor of the Pharaoh,by Tom Lehmann and Bezier Games, is a re-implementation and re-theme of To Court the King. We liked the first version well enough, are were excited to see what Tom came up with. Spoiler--we all thought it was fabulous. We loved all the options available to randomize each game. We loved the custom dice, the pool building, and the bonus tokens. The quality components and free randomi...
Dec 29, 2015•35 min•Season 1Ep. 89
In this weeks podcast, we travel to the ancient Japanese Imperial court, were the Emperor has entrusted us to care for his bamboo garden--home of a giant panda bear, the symbol of peace. Add in some dice rolling, territory building, farming, tile placement and some killer panda bear minis and you have Takenoko. Come for the high-quality/cute components--stay for the solid game play, or vice versa. We cover both Takenoko and the expansion Takenoko: Chibis, which add a Miss Panda figure, baby pand...
Dec 22, 2015•32 min•Season 1Ep. 88
Surviving on a deep space mining expedition on Titan is hard enough without Nathan always trying to kill you. Sure he's infected, but he doesn't have to be such a jerk about it. Join Meeple Nation as we dissect another hidden role gem like Shadows over Camelot and Battle Star Galactica. In fact, Dark Moon originated from a homebrew game called BSG Express, based on the game, Battle Star Galactica . So how does Dark Moon hold up? Well, the shields are damaged, life support is failing, and Nathan ...
Dec 15, 2015•35 min•Season 1Ep. 87
This week we continue our discussion of November gaming, concentrating on Brent's report of BGG.con in Dallas. He talks about his work in the game library, hot games, Codenames LARP, the Puzzle Hunt, Poker Tournament and Game Show. He also explains his experience with Ponzi Scheme, Fische, Flupen, Frikadelen, Fresh Fish, and Rattlebones.
Dec 08, 2015•37 min•Season 1Ep. 86
In this week's and next week's podcast, we cover the ins, outs, and triumphs of our recent foray into three gaming events. Meeple Nation (mostly Brent) and the Northern Utah Gaming Guild (again mostly Brent) helped organize and run an Extra Life event to raise money for Primary Children's Hospital. We raised just over $1400 over the 24 hour event. And we gamed. Hard. Among the many games played among the 60+ attendees, we discuss the plays of Ghostbusters, Codenames, Dead of Winter, The Game, Pa...
Dec 01, 2015•29 min•Season 1Ep. 85
This episode we offer up advice during this gift giving season. Here are our suggestions. Let us know what you suggest! Party Games Codenames Spyfall One Night Series (Ultimate Werewolf, Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak, Ultimate Vampire, and Revolution) General Games Carcassonne: Star Wars Splendor Dixit Favor of the Pharaoh 7 Wonders: Duel Gamer Gift Pandemic Legacy Stocking Stuffers Bang! The Dice Game Star Realms or Star Realms: Colony Wars Red 7 Timeline in it’s many forms, Timeline: Americana, T...
Nov 24, 2015•43 min•Season 1Ep. 84
This week we discuss a deckbuilder initially released on 2009 from Rio Grande Games. Nathan has embraced and enjoyed this game with his 20 plays so far. 1-5 players compete for scarce resources and they try to build the biggest tribe. Brent's along for the ride and Ryan is a bit hesitant based on theme and some blind selection gameplay. Let us know what you think.
Nov 17, 2015•42 min•Season 1Ep. 83
We interview Richard and Emily Gibbs about their game company which makes accessories and kits to make games blind accessible. Support their Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64ouncegames/braille-rpg-dice-from-64-oz-games Visit their store at http://store.64ouncegames.com/
Nov 10, 2015•28 min•Season 1Ep. 82
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. With dice. Lots of beautiful dice. Yellow, blue, and the unfortunate red-shirt 6-sided dice. In this podcast, we delve into this light dice fest. We all enjoyed the theme, each player taking a role of a bridge crew member from the Original Series or The Next Generation with a unique ability to help overcome the challenges. This game is easy to learn, easy to play, offers a variable challenge level, and allows players to join in at any point in th...
Nov 03, 2015•32 min•Season 1Ep. 81
In this podcast, we discuss the awesome games that are currently hitting our game tables including Arctic Scavengers, Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deckbuilding Game, Liar's Dice, Space Alert, and Machi Koro: Millionaires Row. We also give an update at the goals we set at the first of the year, and we learn that Ryan is a bad friend. We end by covering our anticipated games including T.I.M.E Stories, The 7th Continent, Gloomhaven, and Pandemic Legacy.
Oct 27, 2015•33 min•Season 1Ep. 80
This week we discuss board games with a horror theme that would make for an excellent time at your next Halloween party. The games discussed range from King Of Tokyo and Betrayal at House on the Hill to Gloom and Mansions of Madness to Midnight Party and Ghosts!. Ryan details his dream Halloween Party including plans to play Mysterium in costume, with atmospheric candles, playing up the seance. Apparently, Brent and Nathan aren't getting an invite. These are the games we discussed. Let us know y...
Oct 20, 2015•34 min•Season 1Ep. 79
Tile Placement games are a little too prolific to cover in a single cast, so we limited the games we cover to tile placement games where you are connecting lines from tile to tile. The games discussed include Street Car, Metro, Tongiaki, Fresh Fish, Tsuro and Tsuro of the Seas.
Oct 13, 2015•43 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Ninja Ghosts and Killer Plants of Cthulhu don't measure up to the Alien Shapeshifters who took home the prize. We discuss Smash Up by Paul Peterson. In Smash Up, you combine two factions into one deck and compete for the majority at several locations that offer victory points for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in power when the total power reached the locations breaking point. This game, and the rulebook, offer plenty of humor, great art, and a sense of discovery as you learn how your two factions inte...
Oct 06, 2015•31 min•Season 1Ep. 77
We discuss Specter Ops by Emerson Matsuuchi and Plaid Hat Games. In this deduction game, you play as Hunters guarding a secret base or as the Agent sent in to discover the secrets. The Agent tracks her moves in secret and the other players try to locate and kill the agent using unique player powers and a cool car. This is similar the Scotland Yard in game play, but in a nifty scifi universe.
Sep 29, 2015•38 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Party Games This week we talk Party Games. First we speculate on what defines a party game. Honestly, who knows? Should it play more than 6? Should it involve teams? Should it be 'light'? Then we talk about our favorite party games, why they count, and why we find them outstanding. We talk Codenames, Spyfall, Times Up!, Ca$h 'n Guns, Wits & Wagers, Liar's Dice, Game of Things, and Two Rooms and a Boom! Brent reports on his visit to Saint George Board Game Convention. http://stgcon.org We als...
Sep 22, 2015•42 min•Season 1Ep. 75
We finally review Dominion, the granddaddy of all deckbuilders. Brent and Nathan highly enjoy this new classic and have collected every expansion. We talk about Dominion's legacy and how the expanstion bloat nearly make the game unplayable. Brent discusses his storage solution. Nathan is soon going to have less money is his pocket, recreating said solution. Ryan, though, finds the games' theme lacking and the gameplay repetitious and often lacking in, well, fun. It's 2 to 1 though, so listen as ...
Sep 15, 2015•48 min•Season 1Ep. 74
We talk with Mike Adams, a NUGG member, friend, and color-blind gamer about the challenges of being color blind at the gaming table. Mike is Red/Green color blind, which means he cannot see red and green colors, including the red and green that are mixed with other colors. He has a hard time distinguishing purples and blue because of the missing red within purple. He also says distinguishing between yellow-green and yellow can be tough. Although you can probably guess how this makes gaming diffi...
Sep 08, 2015•29 min•Season 1Ep. 73
