The mere framing of a question can subtly or overtly determine the answer. There's an old joke about a monk who asks his superior, "Can I smoke while I meditate?" He is told no, as that would be sullying an act that is meant to be free from worldly concerns. The clever monk decides instead to ask another superior, "While I smoke, can I meditate?" So it is with boardgames! Framing can have tremendous consequences. 01:55 AYURIS: XenoShyft: Onslaught (Keren Philosophales & M...
Oct 06, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Social standards of behaviour are often subtle and variable, but we can all agree that children are often blind to their subtle nuances. Like, don't be a massive jerk--that's one of those tricky nuances that often escape the notice of your average child, what with many of them being borderline sociopaths kept in check only by their relative powerlessness and incompetence. Then again, perhaps Mark is the sociopath for not being able to tolerate the annoyances of child behaviour. Then agai...
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hwaet! The second installment of our much-ignored segment, SVWAG Poetry Corner, takes a turn for the epic. First we did haiku, and now we discuss Old English epic poetry. Sure the noble limerick can't be far behind? We also discuss the most excellent lifestyle habits of our new idol, Kane Tanaka, who seems to be living her best life on her own terms. You go, Kane Tanaka! Rip off some monster's arm or something. 01:07 AYRUIS: Concordia (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2013) and Concordia Venus (20...
Sep 22, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our cup runneth over, if the cup in question is being filled by tiles laid there by Reiner Knizia. Three Knizia tile-laying games were sampled by SVWAG, which of course made it a good week. One feels that if someone proposed a topic of "Reiner Knizia tile-laying games", the appropriate editorial response would be "narrow the scope, please." Games Played Last Week: 01:12 -Spirit Island: Jagged Earth (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2020) 02:27 -Mariposas (Elizabeth Hargrave, AE...
Sep 15, 2020•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast In remembrance of things past, we bite hard into the madeleine that is large player count gaming. The recollection of not being sequestered into small basements, where... actually, scratch that, we were often in basements in the Before Times. At least I think so. Time is now an illusion. 01:57 AYURIS: A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians (Gernot Köpke & Uwe Rosenberg, Feuerland Spiele, 2018) Games Played Last Week: 03:44 -Time of Legends: Joan of Arc (Pascal Bernard, Mythic Games, 2019) 11:32 -S...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast "Cosmic Frog: World Eaters from Dimension Zero--A Game of Strategic Gluttony." I mean, what could I or anyone else possibly say that could add to that? Games Played Last Week: 01:46 -Spirit Island: Jagged Earth (R. Eric Reuss, Greater Than Games, 2020) 03:34 -Shards of Infinity: Shadow of Salvation (Justin Gary & Ryan Sutherland, Stone Blade Entertainment, 2019) 07:19 -Castle Itter (David Thompson, DVG, 2019) 12:44 -Kingdom Builder (Donald X. Vaccarino, Queen Games, 2011) 14:24 -Las ...
Sep 01, 2020•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast I mean, maybe, possibly, hopefully, with luck, theoretically, given the right group, hypothetically, in time, conceivably, eventually, if I push hard enough, imaginably, as a favour, I could imagine, someday, perchance, play this again. Weather permitting. 01:36 AYURIS: Cerebria: The Inside World (Richard Amann, Viktor Peter, István Pócsi, Frigyes Schőberl, Nick Shaw, & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2018) Games Played Last Week: 04:34 -Istanbul (Rudiger Dorn, Pegasus Spiele, 2014) 06:06 -Bl...
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Old conflicts are put to bed, taxonomies are shelved, and instead we take refuge in sweeping declarations. Walker focuses on the ad hominem, trying to dissuade people from game design because they are insufficiently hardcore; Mark focuses on games, declaring that you can't base games on random spat out tiles. Nuance is for the weak, and qualifications are for those lacking character. Mostly. Games Played Last Week: 02:04 -Too Many Bones: Dart (Adam Carlson & Josh J. Carlson, Chip Theory ...
Aug 18, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast We take a break from heady issues this week; so we instead touch on what constitutes a trick, what friends are good for, and colonialism. You know, light discussion. 02:35 AYURIS: Core Worlds (Andrew Parks, Stronghold, 2011) Games Played Last Week: 04:09 -Fort (Grant Rodiek, Leder Games, 2020) 09:15 -Ascension Tactics: Miniatures Deckbuilding Game (Justin Gary & Ryan Sutherland, Stone Blade Entertainment, 2021) 12:09 -The Voyages of Marco Polo (Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini, Hans im G...
Aug 11, 2020•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast "Put down your chainsaw and listen to me It's time for us to join in the fight It's time to let your babies grow up to be cowboys It's time to let the bedbugs bite ... Talk with your mouth full Bite the hand that feeds you Bite on more than you chew What can you do Dare to be stupid" -"Weird Al" Yankovic, noted Lovecraft scholar, "Dare to Be Stupid" Games Played Last Week: 01:07 -Project: ELITE (Konstantinos Kokkinis, Marco Portugal, & Sotirios Tsantilas, ...
Aug 04, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Walker is a force of nature, a pent-up human-shaped mass of pure rage. The only outlet that can sate his furious destructive impulses is the ecstasy of the uninhibited flick--the catharsis of venting all of his power on a disc and then watching it careen around the board (then off the table, off someone's skull, off the floor, under the bookshelf, and then embedded in the drywall). He ten thunders with laughter, even as Huey informs him he missed his target and Dewey calls an ambulance. Is i...
Jul 28, 2020•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast “The game which our enemies have laid before us is, in so far as the French dictated it, is a monument of pathological fear and pathological hatred; and in so far as the Anglo-Saxons dictated it, it is the work of a capitalistic policy of the most brutal and cleverest kind.” –A deliberate misquote of Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau reviewing Versailles 1919 Games Played Last Week: 01:40 -Nippon (Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro & Paulo Soledade, What's Your Game?, 2015) 05:24 -Space Cadets: Away Miss...
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Walker feels he has missed his calling, and tries out his tight five as an insult comic this week. He directs his barbs at the typical targets--Mark, board game covers, games no one asked for, Mark, media he finds unengaging, and Mark. The latter (and former) does his level best at being supportive in the classic tradition of Ed McMahon, but one remembers why Don Rickles and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog are solo acts. 02:03 AYURIS: Talon (Jim Krohn, GMT, 2016) and Talon 1000 (Jim Krohn, GMT, 201...
Jul 14, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast "From the discovery of New France to the 1981 Referendum, all of Quebec history is based on a single fallacy: that the British actually wanted to own Quebec. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The British already had a surplus of colonies in the sunny Caribbean and took little interest in the Canadian icebox later dismissed by Voltaire as nothing more than 'quelques arpents de neige'... In 1759, with war raging everywhere between France and England, the British knew if...
Jul 07, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast We return, ill-advisedly, to the heavily-mined waters of classification and taxonomy. Mark will put up with it because of his love of Mac Gerdts, and Walker will put up with it because he gets to troll Mark with contrived classifications. 01:10 AYURIS: Gloomhaven (Isaac Childres, Cephalofair Games, 2017) Games Played Last Week: 03:24 -Reichbusters: Project Vril (Jake Thornton, Mythic Games, 2020) 07:56 -Hanamikoji (Kota Nakayama, EmperorS4, 2013) 10:59 -Lords of Waterdeep (Peter Lee & Rodney...
Jun 30, 2020•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Editorial standards are constantly evolving here at SVWAG, and they lately proceed largely from Walker's unilateral declarations. Things get to be pronounced however he wills them. Prior utterances by anyone are rendered immediately obsolete if and when he deigns to acknowledge something. Comparisons are now his exclusive purview. Walker has spoken. Games Played Last Week: 01:52 -Hour of Need (Adam Sadler & Brady Sadler, Blacklist Games, 2020) 04:21 -Inhuman Conditions (Tommy Maranges &a...
Jun 23, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Change is exactly like a starving polar bear, in that it is a frightening beast that will bite your face off. Despite that, we have changed the format of our episode notes in a startling act of courage. That said, as Robert Browning wrote, "One taste of the old time sets all to rights." It is in that spirit that we began, with the blessing of the Government of Ontario's health guidelines, to actually play games in meatspace again. We express our sincere condolences to those unfortuna...
Jun 16, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast "Please note that there are only two references to sports in this book... and both are appropriately dismissive. If you wish for sports information, might I kindly refer you to every other aspect of our culture?" -John Hodgman, "The Areas of My Expertise" Games Played Last Week: -Commands and Colors: Napoleonics 1m40s (Richard Borg, GMT Games, 2010) -Wingspan 3m08s (Elizabeth Hargrave, Stonemaier Games, 2019) -Flick ‘Em Up: Dead of Winter 6m05s (Gaëtan Beaujannot, Jonathan Gilmou...
Jun 09, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast To be clear, we're not giving or receiving any awards this week--rather we're discussing their use, possible abuse, and impact on the hobby. Were we to deserve an award for this episode, though, clearly it would be for the quality and quantity of top-notch segues. Play style leads to play style, mechanism to mechanism, all flowing as naturally and as smoothly as a natural and smooth thing. Note that while our segues are stellar, are metaphors are often less so. AYURIS: Pandemic: Fall of ...
Jun 02, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast We sometimes don't understand the appeal of food-based games, friends and neighbours. To be sure, we adore Food Chain Magnate, but that is not parasitic upon our sincere appreciation of (say) lemonade and pizza. There seem to be many games based on enthusiasm for beer, coffee, whiskey, spicy food, wine... Wait, I'm noticing a trend. Is our indifference to alcohol poisoning yet another area of life?! Games Played Last Week: -Gaia Project 1m01s (Jens Drögemüller & Helge Ostertag, Feuer...
May 26, 2020•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Podcasts are often a discursive medium, and so naturally we find ourselves touching on many and diverse topics. This week, we delve into poetry and Star Trek, just in case you were under the illusion that we were anything other than unreconstructed nerds. Walker, being part jock, had to be restrained so as to not spontaneously give himself a wedgie. AYURIS: Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done 2m06s (Seth Jaffee, Tasty Minstrel, 2018) Games Played Last Week: -Bullet♥︎ 3m22s (Joshua Van Laningham, Level 9...
May 19, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are so many life lessons to be learned from the presidency of Richard Milhous Nixon. For one, shave before debates. For another, hire limber secretaries with flexible standards on truth. Always be sure to hire expert lockpickers. Make sure your vice president will have your back (Nixon at least got a mulligan on that one). I mean, he's not a role model of mine--I wouldn't get his face tattooed on my back, to pick something at random--but he does serve as a potent set of object less...
May 12, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Subtitles are to be used with discretion. Some people can't be trusted with them, and most of those people seem to work in Hollywood and non-fiction publishing. We resist the urge much of the time, but every once in a while the dam bursts and we must find an outlet for our pent-up subtitling impulses. We have over twenty this time. We're sorry. AYURIS: Teotihuacan: City of Gods 3m53s (Daniele Tascini, NSKN Games, 2018) Games Played Last Week: -Vanguard: Dawn of War 6m45s (Uncredited, Arc...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast A rulebook generates expectations, and whether and how those expectations are met or frustrated is an interesting phenomenon. Sometimes you get exactly what you want and that's a good thing--and sometimes the rules promise a set of experiences that never manifest. Over time, you start to get a better feel for what a game might be like by virtue of its rulebook, but even experienced gamers can be thrown for a loop by an unexpected mismatch. To summarize, what I'm saying here is that Nemes...
Apr 28, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last. Imagine that you are doing this but that it is essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature...in order to found that edifice on its unavenged tears. Would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me. Tell the truth.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov AYURIS: Gùgōng 1m22s (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2018) ...
Apr 21, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast No daunts are asked and no daunts are given this week. "I don't give a daunt" is tattooed on Walker's back, no doubt an homage to Rhett Butler's famous ending line. We needed a little breather this time--a break from two-hour epic experiences. A little palate cleanser to ease us into a purely digital gaming life; because, to be frank, in this stage of isolation, we felt a little daunted. We will plead for your indulgence, as our audio setup is once again in a state of flux as...
Apr 14, 2020•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Isolation gaming continues, so we turn our lonely eyes to gaming alone--an endeavour that predates plague-induced solitude, but is certainly thriving now. Many a gamer is experimenting with those (increasingly frequent) variants for the first time. We understand--any port in a storm. Let us game alone together. AYURIS: Coimbra 1m48s (Flaminia Brasini & Virginio Gigli, eggertspiele, 2018) Games Played Last Week: -Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North 3m32s (Joanna Kijanka & Ignacy Trzew...
Apr 07, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast A little throwback for you, our dear and loyal listeners, a small taste of the pre-summer schedule splendour and abundance where we spoil you with both a topic and a feature game. It happened organically, you see, what with all the social distancing -mandated two-player gaming we've been doing. That, and we want to try to give you a little more in light of the world giving you a little less. Of course, if you want to hear less of us, you always have that power. Games Played Last Week: -Menar...
Mar 31, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ripped from the headlines, as Dick Wolf is wont to say, we present to you the most timely of discussions. Of course, Walker takes us down theoretical tangents once again, whereas Mark rolls his eyes and tried to keep things on track--the standard roles that our hosts always seem to fall into. In Walker's defense, the Kool-Aid Man is a pressing philosophical issue. Fortunately, boardgaming has resolved the thorny matter of his (its?) identity; with such a success, surely Fermat's Last The...
Mar 24, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast All of your burning questions shall be addressed! Why is there something rather than nothing? Quid est veritas? War, huh! What is it good for? Why do birds suddenly appear every time a Knizia game is near? Rest assured that the topics covered are vast--Macross, objectivism, fictional Thai kick boxers, and so much more. Featuring special guests Dan Thurot (spacebiff.com), Charlie Theel (playerelimination.com), and Kellen and Mark from Board Game Barrage (boardgamebarrage.com). AYURIS: Discover: L...
Mar 17, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
