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April 2, 2018 - They Say It's Your Birthday...
There's never a bad time to quote the Beatles, and it's not too far off because April is my birthday month, but there are so many other awesome things going on!
What are you doing for Tabletop Day 2018? What are you doing to celebrate Spring?! Sure, it's a great time to get outdoors and do some bike rides and camping, but nothing says you can't pack a game or two in your day bag. Let me know, shoot me an email at cardboardherald@gmail.com letting me know what your favorite games on the go are.
Personally, I have lots of fond camping memories with Guillotine, and I'm in the midst of shooting an outdoor/travel focussed review of Dice of Crowns by Thing12Games.
Hot Strats
Tips & Tricks for the hottest of games
Near & Far:
Gamble earlier than you think: The easiest way to lose this game is to spend too many turns in town. You just don't score your points there. Getting out of town as early as possible even if you are taking a risk is going to help you win or stand a chance of it!
Acquire:
Recycle & Re-position: Generally, you will want cash the first two times a merger occurs, but on the third merger may be the one that creates the first hotel to last to the end of the game. This is the point to start to consider switching shares. The hotels at game end will be very valuable and the largest shareholder will get a key bonus. If you don't take shares in this company now, then watch out and make sure you merge in to this group (or get a majority in another large hotel) before game end.
This month's strategy tips were provided by Robert Crowter-Jones of The Elusive Meepl, where you can find his full reviews and strategy breakdowns of Near & Far and Acquire, as well as a ton of other games.
Designer Wisdom
Where designer homies of TCbH give you some tips from the pros.
"Playtesters are good at finding problems, bad at suggesting solutions."
-Jon Moffat
http://stonecirclegames.com
https://twitter.com/JonTexMo
"Testing and iteration are far more important than planning and inspiration"
-Tony "The Bearded Rogue" Miller
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weirdgiraffegames/fire-in-the-library-board-game
www.twitter.com/beardedrogue
Stuff that came to TCbH Last Month
Written Reviews
Carcassonne, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Megacastle - Review by Jack Eddy
Podcasts
TCbH Interviews
Interviews with creative gamers & game creators
Mar 28 - No Siestas for Andreas "Ode." Odendahl
Mar 21 - Aron West of Elzra Games
Feb 14 - Alex & Mike of Lethal Chicken Games
Feb 07 - Chris & Lindsey of Behind the Box
TCbH Reviews
Audio versions of our reviews with additional thoughts & commentary
Mar 23 - Ethnos
Mar 09 - 7 Wonders - Leaders
TCbH Hangouts
Friends & Contributors of TCbH hanging out, talking games & creativity
No new episodes! Chris was on baby duty, but we recorded one which will be posted early April.
Video
Mar 31 - Scythe: The Wind Gambit - Additional Thoughts & Review Q&A
Mar 24 - Dragon Dice - Goblins!
Mar 21 - Rook & Record - 7 Wonders
Mar 17 - Scythe: The Wind Gambit - Review
Mar 15 - Ethnos - Additional Thoughts & Review Q&A
Mar 07 - Rook & Record - Galaxy Trucker
Mar 04 - Catacombs Conquest - Additional Thoughts & Review Q&A
Mar 03 - Catacombs Conquest - Review
Whats up with us
Games We've Been Playing -
Here's the deal. Finally. FINALLY. I got a chance to play the much-praised Gloomhaven and turns out, it's just a Dungeon Crawl. One big freaking dungeon crawl. Now, I had fun, mind you, but I guess given the sheer amount of praise that game received, I guess I expected it to be something different. Sure, there are lots of nobs and dials you can adjust to make it this really robust experience, but when it comes down to it, it's just a bigger, more elaborate version of most other dungeon crawls that predate it. I'm looking forward to playing another game, and maybe it's wonderful epic qualities will occur to me then. For now, I think it's just a bigger but perhaps less accessible Imperial Assault or Descent?
In other news, I got a copy of Jackson Pope's prototype of Flick Fleet which i'll be giving a spin, and other games hitting the table include more and more of my new BAE Spirit Island (even the solo is SO GOOD). But I managed to break out some older games recently, too. A few games of Carcassonne (which inspired the written review), Mystic Vale, and my slightly older BAE Terraforming Mars. I will say that my interest in Mystic Vale had waned, but getting back to it I found it charming, albeit somewhat clunky. I'm going to see if I can swoop up another expansion or two to see how it changed the game, because Vale of Magic while cool for just adding more stuff, really didn't fix some of the broken elements of the original, like sometimes having a turn with 3 ethereal bucks to spend, then the next turn you get lucky and have an explosive 16 card turn with like 35 bucks and 15 elemental symbols. Still novel though.
Upcoming Interviews -
-Kwanchai Moriya, artist extraordinaire
-Sam Bailey, designer of (the now cancelled) Deep
-Carla Kopp of Weird Giraffe Games returns
-Tony "Bearded Rogue" Miller returns
-Nate Zabel of Damage Buff on why you should have a developer
Be sure to tweet / email us with any listener questions you want us to tackle on air!
Announcements -
Our Patreon will be launching this month! Among the core values of TCbH, we believe in speaking directly with you, the listeners / viewers / readers, because we are all part of the same community. Another principle is that we believe in contributing to that community free of charge. That's what we've managed to do so far, and plan on continuing to do so, but to get to the next level, we will need your help. There won't be a paywall for our stuff, you won't see us cutting our content and reserve it only for Patrons, but we've come up with some creative ways to include and reward patrons while still delivering the same (and even better) content you've come to expect, for everyone. So if you believe this us, you believe in TCbH and want to help us out, consider becoming a Patron.
Questions -
Strategy videos? Robert from Elusive Meeple and I were thinking about how we could make cool little 2 minute strategy videos. Anyone interested in that?
Parting Thoughts -
The thing that's been on my mind lately has been how freaking cool and grass roots this community is. Even the giants are still trying to figure stuff out, and someone with raw talent, skill, and dedication has a really good chance at becoming involved in the hobby in one way or another. From designers and developers, to artists and publishers, to reviewers and hosts. It's really an amazing thing. I encourage you, if you've ever thought about doing anything in this community, try it out!