A Whole Mess of Stuff

Happy Wednesday everyone! And boy, is it a crazy Wednesday...

So for some reason, the itunes feed got messed up, and when you search for The Cardboard Herald on iTunes, you get our upcoming review channel and something called Matt and Andrew Vs Society. I honestly have never heard of M&AVS, and have no idea how their RSS got plugged into my feed on itunes connect, especially since I have accessed it since a few days ago, and the feed was working properly yesterday... I've notified iTunes and M&AVS, hopefully I'll have this all resolved soon.

In the meantime, you can still get all of your Cardboard Herald podcast goodness on our podcast tab or stitcher. Speaking of which...

This week are proud to have Squid and Whale on the show, you can find them on youtube and twitter by searching for Squid and Whale Games. They are wonderful new reviewers who have great chemistry, and are just trying to make their way through this weird board game reviewing business.

In other news, there's still time to hop over to @cardboardherald on twitter, follow us, and tweet #oldgamesnewhomes to enter to win my copy of Tokaido and the Crossroads expansion. Good luck!

As mentioned!

Hey all, a few updates as mentioned on the most recent podcast. 

Win my stuff!
Are you participating in the #oldgamesnewhomes contest? Go follow us on twitter then tweet to us with #oldgamesnewhomes, and you'll enter to win my copy of Tokaido and the Crossroads expansion.

Finally done with my 7 Wonders review
It took seemingly forever, but the 7 Wonders review is here. We'll have reviews of each expansion soon.

New Podcast Channel
I'm working on a new channel that will be in addition to our existing interview channel that should be fresh and exciting. Or at least I hope so. Maybe I'm just not good enough to make videos and I got this podcast thing halfway down... We'll see! I'm committed to the deadline of July 1st.

Dice Tower Con
Anyone going to be there? Want to game? Think you'd be a good interview for the show? Let's talk about it. Shoot me an email at cardboardherald@gmail.com.

Fictional Females! 
Cheyenne and Diana of the Fictional Females podcast are more than fellow podcasters, they are my childhood friends! Go check out their site, then listen to episode 32 where I kick back and enjoy some time with 2 of the fun people I know. 
 

Episode 31 - Jonathan Ying leaves FFG to design and fund Bargain Quest!

This was a fun episode to record, not only was the interview really fun, but the intro had a specific topic that I wanted to discuss. Seriously, check out some online galleries of the best album liner notes, they'll get you pumped to spin the vinyl and CONSUME the music. That's what good rulebooks do for me. Specifically, here is the snipit from Imperial Assault that got me thinking about the comparison:

What are your favorite board game "liner notes"? Send us an email or tweet to us @cardboardherald to let us know.

Anyway, you can find episode 1 with Jonathan Ying on our podcasts tab. We talked about a ton of great stuff, from Wookie Gender Identity to his time at FFG, we covered it. Jonathan recently funded his first independently designed game Bargain Quest! You can find out more about the game by clicking the image below. 

Episode 28 - Scott Almes - Show Notes

New episode is up, and it was one of my favorite so far. Not only did I feel like I'm getting closer to the heart of what I'm trying to do around here, Scott was a very gracious guest who has made some of my favorite games in my collection. 

Here are a few things we talked about during the interview that you should check out. 

First off, just check out the kickstarter for Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea. Not only is it a really cool game, it's Scott and Gamelyn trying to defy the expectations that their audience has of them. Creativity should always be encouraged, and I'm hoping this game delivers on the promise of their best game yet. Personally, I find it hard to imagine something topping Tiny Epic Kingdoms, but I guess it's not trying to be TEK.

Also, I talk about some of my favorite Scott Almes games and favorite non-Scott Almes games that deliver a big game punch in under an hour. Here are the games and links to their BGG profiles.

3 Fave Scott Almes Games:

Tiny Epic Kingdoms, the game that started the Gamelyn & Almes collabo. I love the punch this game delivers while still broadly being an economic game. I bring it up in the interview, but this shares a shockingly high number of concepts as Scythe…

Tiny Epic Kingdoms, the game that started the Gamelyn & Almes collabo. I love the punch this game delivers while still broadly being an economic game. I bring it up in the interview, but this shares a shockingly high number of concepts as Scythe, though with a very different implementation.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148951/tiny-epic-kingdoms

My go to lunchtime economic game. Again, I love the playful twists on classic fantasy themes, and the central mechanic is elegant, smart, and fun. And damnit Jerry, why'd you have to go and ship cows!?https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155969/harbo…

My go to lunchtime economic game. Again, I love the playful twists on classic fantasy themes, and the central mechanic is elegant, smart, and fun. And damnit Jerry, why'd you have to go and ship cows!?
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155969/harbour

While I don't think Tiny Epic Defenders is the most inventive coop game available, it delivers a fast, easily repeatable experience that is fun, strategic, and man do I love seeing those big bads show up at the end. https://boardgamegeek.com/bo…

While I don't think Tiny Epic Defenders is the most inventive coop game available, it delivers a fast, easily repeatable experience that is fun, strategic, and man do I love seeing those big bads show up at the end. 
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155708/tiny-epic-defenders


3 Fave NON-SA Games for lunch-breaks:

The flexibility of 7 Wonders at player counts from 3-7 are unparalleled. Some people also love the 2 player variant, but if you are going to play 2 player, just get 7 Wonders Duel instead. The original makes the cut on the list though because so few…

The flexibility of 7 Wonders at player counts from 3-7 are unparalleled. Some people also love the 2 player variant, but if you are going to play 2 player, just get 7 Wonders Duel instead. The original makes the cut on the list though because so few games feel this strategic yet have this much flow at high player counts. Invite the whole team to lunch!
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68448/7-wonders

I know I'm going to get flak for this, but I think Splendor imitates much bigger traditional euro concepts in a distilled, fast playing form. The weight of the chips, the progressive economy... This is a perfect game for lunch time.https://boardgame…

I know I'm going to get flak for this, but I think Splendor imitates much bigger traditional euro concepts in a distilled, fast playing form. The weight of the chips, the progressive economy... This is a perfect game for lunch time.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148228/splendor

One of those classics that stays evergreen. Both incredibly approachable and yet so brutally cutthroat at high levels of play, I think Carcassonne is one of the most versatile games in my collection. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/822/carc…

One of those classics that stays evergreen. Both incredibly approachable and yet so brutally cutthroat at high levels of play, I think Carcassonne is one of the most versatile games in my collection. 
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/822/carcassonne


Lastly, while you are at it, you should also check out Podcast Episode 21 featuring Michael Coe of Gamelyn Games. We talk about Scott and Michael's relationship, the foundation of the company, the original theming for TEK and TED, and why he felt it was so important to take down the initial kickstarter(s) for Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea (I'm never gonna drop that oxford comma!) 

Episode 27 - Reiner Knizia - Show notes

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd give a visual companion to some things on the latest episode. 

The man himself! Reiner Knizia is the most published board game designer of all time, with many iconic games that had a monumental impact on our industry, like:

The man himself! Reiner Knizia is the most published board game designer of all time, with many iconic games that had a monumental impact on our industry, like:

FFG's recent "Euro Classic" line features 3 of Knizia's most influential designs, Ra, Tigris & Euphrates, and Samurai. But to me, it'll always be...

The Reiner Knizia co-op classic "The Lord of the Rings" features my favorite game piece of all time (left), a wooden obelisk abstraction of barad-dur. This rad piece has some serious heft, but it was woefully replaced with a terrible standee in late…

The Reiner Knizia co-op classic "The Lord of the Rings" features my favorite game piece of all time (left), a wooden obelisk abstraction of barad-dur. This rad piece has some serious heft, but it was woefully replaced with a terrible standee in later Fantasy Flight Games releases (boo!)

6 Months of Creative Gamers and Game Creators

Hey everyone! It's been a crazy few weeks here. As we swiftly approach 6 months of The Cardboard Herald, I've been thinking a lot about the nature of this site. Originally my goal was to exercise my creative writing skills more, and to host an informational/personality based podcast that would have ~100 or so listeners. What I did not expect is that I would so quickly gain access to tons of incredible people in this hobby and industry and be able to sustain weekly in-depth interviews. So at some point, the site became the podcast, rather than the podcast being about the site. 

...And I think it's better for it. 

Don't get me wrong, I miss creative writing. Reviews and critical analysis are near and dear to me. Not only do I enjoy writing them, I can actually see where I improve over time, what skills I develop, how I find my voice, and all around become a better writer. But this podcast thing feels more important somehow. Like, I know that there will be thousands and thousands of gaming interviews people can pour over in years to come, but rarely do I see interviews focussed on the creative endeavor as art, rather than being about just the game itself. I don't know, it has value to me at least, and I hope it does to you too. 

Speaking of writing though, I did make my way through some major writer's block the other day and killed it in writing a draft of my 7 Wonders review in one fell swoop. I'll give it a couple new drafts and publish soon, with more 7 years of 7 Wonders pieces to come. I'm also excited to be trying some new, short "impressions" videos which I think will be better suited to my personality and skillset. Gotta use that youtube channel anyhow. 

And of course, the podcast. I interviewed some amazing people who worked on some of the biggest games... well... ever. And those are coming up soon. I'm still having fun, and I'm finding meaning in my work. And it looks like more than a few of you have found meaning in it too. I hope you are enjoying being along for the ride, and enjoying seeing me stumble every step of the way, only to pick myself back up, learn from my mistakes, and grow. 

Take care, and happy 6 months of TCbH!

-Jack

Review videos, cows, and a pair of awesome interviews

Wow, it's been busy around here lately. But first, the most important news. I remain the champion cattle boy in The Great Western Trail!

The game was much smoother the second time. I'm still not a fan of the pacing in the game, someone becoming slower but also break-neck fast in the final third of the game. But overall at 3 players it went by pretty quick, it was easier to derive theme from your actions, and the winning strategy was completely different than that of the last game. Very refreshing! Still not my favorite type of game, but a good game none-the-less. 

Oh, you are actually here for Cardboard Herald related stuff? Well I got good news for you! First off, I posted an interview with Andrew Birkett of Atheris Games last week. It was great to talk to him about his entry point into the world of gaming, his business plan, and how his education, heritage, and love of gaming is all starting to overlap. THEN this coming week I'll be posting an interview with Michael Coe of Gamelyn Games. This was possibly my favorite interview up until this point. I just really related to Michael, the decisions he's made in his life, his passions, and where he's going from here. Also we got the scoop on the future of one of my favorite Tiny Epic Games. As always, you can find our podcasts on the podcast tab, or search for us on iTunes and Stitcher. 

Speaking of finding our old podcasts, I'm starting to upload our old episodes to youtube. And speaking of youtube, I did a thing! The Broken Token sent me an insert for 7 Wonders as part of my 2017 "7 Years of 7 Wonders" retrospective, so I did a video. Check it out on our youtube channel, I think it came out really well! (be kind, I'm new at this video editing thing). I still prefer written reviews, but stay tuned for lots more video stuff on youtube. For now, I'll embed the video here:

For tonight, I'm trying to decide what to play once Christina gets back in... Suburbia or Viticulture? decisions, decisions...

"Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee
Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me"