Board All The Time

Reviews: Space Bureau

Hey hey BATT Family! We are back with another sponsored review, this time provided by Hobby World. Space Bureau is an action selection, pick up and deliver game for 1-4 players. It has a fun vibe about it and will appeal to players that like to build action networks and explore a galaxy. The game will play over 14 turns per player and give you a surprising amount of opportunity to do plenty of actions on each turn. We hope you enjoy this review and you let us know if you've gotten to try it yourself and what you think of it!
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This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:46 - How the Game Plays
00:03:39 - Learning Curve / Ease of Teach
00:05:20 - Artwork / Components / Iconography
00:08:39 - Replayability
00:09:52 - What's to Like, What's to Dislike 
00:12:42 - Solo Mode 
00:13:19 - Recommendations
00:15:03 - Final Thoughts / Outro
--- Notes!
1) Just beceause Mark prefers Starry Night Sky to Wormholes, doesn't mean you shouldn't try Wormholes out. It's a really solid game. He just wants it to let you use the wormhole network you've all built for more than five turns at the end. If you like that ramp up and slam to a stop, it might be a great game for you. 
2) Also, just for transparency, while we play the game with each other at least once we do each play the games we review with other play groups as well. With this one, we just sat down and recorded it right at the end of a play session and that was just on top of our heads.
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Board All The Time Episode 23

Hey hey BATT Family! Thanks for coming on back for the next full episode of the show! We apologize for the extra week on the release of this episode. Things just haven't been slowing down. We're considering taking a small recording break during the month of August to just slow down, finalize a bunch of things (the website finally!), and play all the new games. Oh and there may be a new logo coming too! OOooo. Regardless! This week is a fun one! Due to popular demand, we returned to the Mechanic's Shop to talk Trick Taking. Then Mark got Scott to play one of his favourite dudes on a map games, and then we talked a wide variety of the games in the Table/Shelf/Trade segment. We did choose to leave off the rotating segment this week due to length, but you'll find that in the next Odds and Ends episode, due out the week of GenCon! Come back on our next episode for our GenCon preview!
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:46 - What's Been on the Table
00:02:57 - The Mechanics Shop: Trick Taking
00:42:13 - Why Did I Play That: Nexus Ops
00:50:05 - Table / Shelf / Trade
01:06:57 - Contact Info / Sponsors 
01:08:21 - Outro
--- Notes!
1) This one was a beast to edit - AGAIN! Between us going off on huge tangents during the what's been on the table segment (leaving that bare two minutes behind) and having to make the trick taking conversation followable, it just took a minute. 
2) One of the fun parts of the Euchre conversation was just talking through all the variations styles of playing a game like it. Scott and I played the same game but in incredibly different ways and that's not even including all the playstyle differences. For being as proscribed of a game as it can be, there's a lot of moving parts and calculations to be made.
3) There is an argument that Mark is being a hypocrite by saying he doesn't like bidding games and then picking Lunar because it needs you to win a certain amount of tricks. The difference between the two, and why I defend this, is that bids are normally placed before a round happens whereas needing to win a range of tricks like in Lunar allows you to adjust your play on the fly and gives some flexibility that you don't have to hit a specific number. 
4) Brian Boru has since left Mark's collection. That said, Arcs has come in since as well, so you'll get some content around that soon enough.
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Realm of Reckoning (from IV Studios) Kickstarter Preview

Hey hey BATT Family! We are stoked to take part in the Kickstarter launch for IV Studios' next game, Realm of Reckoning. We spent an enormous amount of time with it because we did enjoy it as much as we did. This is a two to five player area control, drafting, bidding game that takes around ninety to one hundred twenty minutes to play. It is currently on Kickstarter and can be found at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/realm-of-reckoning. The base edition of the game starts at $89 but does have a variety of extra materials you can pick up as well. You've heard us say it before, but the mad scientists at IV are back at it and have provided an incredibly unique and genuinely fascinating game to play. We had a ton of things to say and tear apart with this one, so this preview episode is about double our regular length because we do feel it needs it. This is by far IV's heaviest game but it still manages to be quite approachable. So check out the episode and then go check out the Kickstarter!
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:35 - How the Game Plays
00:08:33 - Learning Curve / Ease of Teach
00:14:44 - Artwork / Components / Iconography
00:25:08 - Replayability / Player Count
00:30:24 - What's to Like, What's to Dislike 
00:43:15 - Recommendations 
00:45:43 - Final Thoughts / Outro
--- Notes!
1) We recorded this shortly before the announcement of the rules for the two player version of the game had been finalized and announced. So part of the conversation here is discussing a couple of things related to being a three player minimum game.
2) We also discussed early on in the rules teach that there will always be nine reckonings. According to the two player rules, that will still be the case as you are not allowed to get rid of reckoning cards from the simulated player's stack. There was a 2p gameplay video released, so if you'd like to check it out you can do so at IV's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4SVj-_iwGI
3) Check it out on Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/realm-of-reckoning (We did not get to experiment with any of the extra stuff like the playmat or metal monuments so we don't have any information there.)
 
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com. We'd love to give you some Kickstarter coverage as well if you've got a game you're wanting more content for!
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Reviews: The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible

Hey hey BATT Family! This time around we've got another review copy that was provided to us by Hobby World of the game The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible. This was designed by Stan Kordonskiy with art by Michele Esposito. If you like tactical, light-to-midweight Euro games then there is a lot in this box for you to check out. We did come out pretty split on the game, so we hope you enjoy the review and The First Tsar itself! Feel free to hit us up on any of our regular contact methods to let us know what your opinions are on it! 
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:14 - How the Game Plays
00:08:43 - Learning Curve / Ease of Teach
00:10:32 - Artwork / Components / Iconography
00:14:04 - Replayability / What's to Like, What's to Dislike 
00:19:11 - Recommendations 
00:20:22 - Final Thoughts / Outro
--- Notes!
1) No notes this time around!
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Reviews: Neodreams

Hey hey BATT Family! We've got another review for you this week, Neodreams from Hobby World and designer Ivan Lashin. Spoiler alert: we both really, really like it. This game was given to us by the team at Hobby World, so keep that in mind but I really truly think you can be really pleased with this game. 
We hope you enjoy the review and Neodreams itself! Feel free to hit us up on any of our regular contact methods to let us know what your opinions are on Neodreams! 
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:43 - How the Game Plays
00:06:18 - Learning Curve / Ease of Teach
00:07:37 - Artwork / Components / Iconography
00:12:38 - What's to Like, What's to Dislike 
00:16:47 - Final Thoughts / Outro
--- Notes!
1) I made a comment about how the game replayability could be a concern after the "fifteen or twentieth" play. That number is pretty high, especially for a lot of modern gamers so I probably could have said fifth or tenth but we also have already played it in that play count and I've still enjoyed it so .... take that as you will?
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Board All The Time Episode 22

Hey hey BATT Family! Thanks for coming on back for the next full episode of the show! We apologize for the extra week on the release of this episode. There has been a lot of personal stuff going on with all three of us over here. That said we're trying out a new editor! So hopefully episode 23 will sound amazing and not have to have been done by Mark! [Edit from the future: Nope. Mark had to do it.] This week's episode though we get to introduce a brand new segment, the Mechanics Shop, where we're going to be doing deep dives into a specific mechanism each time we do it. The goal is to look at that mechanism from a variety of different gameplay angles through the lens of a variety of different games. We are going to be skipping doing a rotating segment when we do these though since the segment will be longer than usual. Like normal, hit us up with any thoughts or comments you may have especially on if you like the new content or not!
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:03 - What's Been on the Table
00:09:26 - The Mechanics Shop: Worker Placement
00:43:32 - Why Did I Play That: Kronologic: Paris 1920
00:57:44 - Table / Shelf / Trade
01:23:29 - Contact Info / Sponsors 
01:25:00 - Outro
--- Notes!
1) This one was a beast to edit. Mark had to do a lot more splicing and rearranging than in any episode prior. Pretty sure that he managed to make it all as seamless as he could but thanks for the patience for the extra time while this episode came out!
2) We never really defined what a "worker" is in a worker placement game. For simplicity sake, a worker is a piece of some kind (a token, a miniature, a die, whatever) that you are going to place somewhere on the board and take the action granted by that space. It's not an overwhelming concept, but it isn't always just a meeple or whatever.
3)  And technically there is SOME direct player interaction with the poison and constriction tokens and such, but Mark NEVER uses thoses when they play. Peaceful Ark Nova all day!
4) If you'd like to play games with Mark on BoardGameArena, his handle is: MetroMacWag. He'll happily play Ark Nova or many other things.
5) 
6) 
7) 
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Reviews: Kingsburg 3rd Edition / Edition Comparison

Hey hey BATT Family! Today Mark is going to dive very heavily into Kingsburg 3rd edition. This is a review of the game as a whole and a comparison of the various editions of the game. The various aspects of all three will be discussed so if you're a long time fan of the game or a new player, you'll be able to find something here. Kingsburg is a dice worker placement, resource management game that has high modularity through it's various expansion modules (mostly built into the box) and plays from two to five players in about forty-five to seventy-five minutes depending on player count. 
As a heads up, if you've played the game before, you can skip right into the Artwork / Components / Iconography section because literally none of the rules have changed at all from the prior editions.
We hope you enjoy the review and Kingsburg itself! Feel free to hit us up on any of our regular contact methods to let us know what your opinions are on Kingsburg! 
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:16 - How the Game Plays
00:07:49 - Learning Curve / Ease of Teach
00:09:00 - Artwork / Components / Iconography
00:18:55 - Differences in Expansion Content / Replayability
00:23:55 - Solo Mode / What's to Like, What's to Dislike 
00:27:21 - Recommendations
00:29:00 - Final Thoughts / Outro
--- Notes!
1) Apologies for the audio buzz on this episode. When I was recording it, we were trying some things out with new mics and in my standard recording cans I didn't hear it. I'm hoping it doesn't come through for regular listeners, but I was hearing it in my more sensitive editing cans. I've since replaced the speakers that caused that issue though, so that shouldn't recur.
2) If you do know about those scenario cards in 2nd edition, let me know what's going on with them. I'm happy I've got them certainly, but it's just baffling I can't seem to find much information about them. 
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Reviews: S’mores Galore

Hey hey BATT Family! Today we are going to be reviewing S’mores Galore which was provided to us by Grand Gamers Guild. This is a very lightweight, family game where you'll be drafting cards from the center of the table, managing a hand of cards, and fulfilling contracts by scoring S'mores themselves. 
We hope you enjoy the review and S’mores Galore itself! Feel free to hit us up on any of our regular contact methods to let us know what your opinions are on S’mores Galore! 
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:38 - How the Game Plays
00:04:25 - Learning Curve / Ease of Teach
00:06:23 - Artwork / Components / Iconography
00:09:23 - Replayability
00:12:14 - What's to Like, What's to Dislike
00:14:47 - Recommendations
00:16:31 - Final Thoughts / Outro
--- Notes!
1) We don't have any special notes here!
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Reviews: Pass

Hey hey BATT Family! Today we are going to be reviewing Pass which was provided to us by Grand Gamers Guild. This is lightweight, ladder climbing/card shedding game for 1-4 players and takes approximately 15 minutes to play. 
We hope you enjoy the review and Pass itself! Feel free to hit us up on any of our regular contact methods to let us know what your opinions are on Pass! 
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:30 - How the Game Plays
00:03:46 - Learning Curve / Ease of Teach
00:06:11 - Artwork / Components / Iconography
00:08:23 - What's to Like, What's Not to Like
00:11:17 - Recommendations
00:13:33 - Final Thoughts / Outro
--- Notes!
1) I have no idea why we didn't do our standard breaks and titles with this review, I'm blaming it on recording really late and just really enjoying the game as we did so. We had played a bunch of it and sat down to record and apparently forgot all of our manners. 
2) I call the game a ladder climbing game at the start and then just keep referreing to it as a shedding game. Both terms are so often used together that it makes sense why I'd slip up like that but for clarity's sake: a ladder climbing game is one where you have to play consistently ascending (or descending) card values. A shedding game is one where you're trying to run out of cards first. Normally the two are linked as you're trying to get rid of you cards by playing higher sets together, etc.
3) At time of editing, we had not received anything saying that the origin of the game was incorrect. If I do get an update, it will be changed and noted here in these notes.
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music. 

Board All The Time Episode 21

Hey hey BATT Family! Thanks for coming on back for the next full episode of the show! If you've joined in after our recent interview with Jamey Stegmaier, thanks for coming back around! This week we got to have a dear friend of the show on to discuss the effects of colour vision issues in board gaming and the ways that games try and handle that - successfully and otherwise. We should note that it is a conversation with only one person with those colour vision issues, so his experience is replicable to his singular experience. But hopefully it helps provoke some thought and lets you hear some other opinions you may not have had the ability to yet! This episode we're also talking some games provided to us from Hobby World and Bellows Intent as well as finally getting Scott to play Ethnos and how that treated him. Like normal, hit us up with any thoughts or comments you may have!
---
This episode's segments:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:55 - What's Been on the Table
00:06:06 - Topic of the Week: Colour Vision Issues in Board Gaming
00:31:08 - Why Did I Play That: Ethnos
00:40:15 - Table / Shelf / Trade
00:54:22 - Rotating Segment: The Archives
00:58:45 - Contact Info / Sponsors 
01:00:07 - Outro
--- Notes!
1) We should mention that this episode was recorded prior to the tariff stuff all dropping, which is why it wasn't mentioned in this episode. We're certainly not going to keep hammering on that topic as there isn't much we can directly do about it, but if you're wondering how we go from the interview we did to this episode, that would be why.
2) You can also hear just how long it's been since we recorded this since Scott was talking PopiCon at one point. Just general reshuffling of stuff between all the various issues of the past couple months. 
3) Scott was right! There was a third bigger expansion to Tiny Towns. Fortune, Villagers, and Architects (which released in 2024!). 
4) So it turns out that Scott's Archive game of Get Bit, we talked about in episode 19! Because I guess, let's just rip the curtain right away for this set of episode notes: The episode you heard as E19 was originally intended as E21 and this was to be E19. We figured since we had *just* had MacWagCon the previous weekend, we'd talk about it and release it while it was all fresh in our minds. So we recorded this PRIOR to MacWagCon where we summarily played Get Bit. But because it was better explained here, I decided to leave it in. 
5) And we did play Bob Ross: the Art of Chill (actually after we finished recording!). Scott enjoyed it, but I'll let him provide his commentary on it at a later date.
6) Also, my dog coughed an enormous amount through this episode. I decided to not stick you with that very odd, repetitive noise but that last tag made me laugh regardless.
7) And for those of you that have asked, my younger son is thankfully fine. The hospital stay went fine and he's back home and bouncing around like normal at this point. Sorry for the delay on the episode, we appreciate the patience. 
---
You can email us at boardallthetimegaming@gmail.com.
We can be found at www.boardallthetime.com and on Facebook at Board All The Time. 
We're on BlueSky now and loving it! At this point it really feels like BlueSky is for board gaming, so definitely check us out on there at https://bsky.app/profile/boardallthetime.bsky.social
If you would like to check out Mark's Top 100 list, it can be found at: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/347553/top-100-games-2024-edition
If you'd like to help support the show and assist with the hosting costs, you can do so with our Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/boardallthetime
Our Discord server, which is still in Beta, can be joined at https://discord.gg/VbRWEpc6
We'd like to thank our sponsors as well:
Robin's Nerd Supply: www.robinsnerdsupply.com
Eco Owl Press: www.ecoowlpress.com 
We'd also like to thank SoulProdMusic for the intro/outro music.