Stellar Leap! Weird Giraffes! Cardboard Cutouts, oh my!

Giraffes are weird, and so can you!

Today's episode features Weird Giraffe's new game on kickstarter, Stellar Leap! I talk with designer / publisher / awesome person Carla Copp about all kinds of stuff, ranging from games to the fears of self publishing, to giraffes! You can check that out over on our interviews tab.

3 Great Expansions that take it to Eleven!

So, I've been doing this thing that perfectly captures the balance of dumb and excitement that is in my heart of hearts:

If you like this stuff and want to see more, then all you have to do (short of sending me a million dollars) is thumbs up and subscribe on youtube. If I see that our video stuff is getting positive response, I'll keep doing it, simple as that. This series in particular (Cardboard Cutouts) will have a new set of recommendations for you every 2 weeks for the foreseeable future.

In over my head? Me? Never!

Hello Internet-land. Ooo boy, it's been a crazy couple of weeks since I last talked with you. Though most of the craziness has been the good kind for me, I should mention that my heart goes out to everyone besieged with natural disasters in Central America and the Southern United States... and the West Coast... and the mid-west... To all those who are affected, and those of you out there doing the incredible boots-on-the-ground work to help all of those in need, take care & god bless.

Video Killed the Radio Star

Thank you to everyone for the amazing response to the video channel. While we are still in the early stages for content release and subscribers, the response and feedback leads me to believe that it could grow to be a really special aspect of TCbH. My plan is to try and produce some sort of video content every week, be it First Impressions videos, Reviews, or Cardboard Cutouts which is what I'm most passionate about. That said, I don't want to drop the ball on the podcast & written side of things, so if it becomes a bit too much to manage, I may scale it back to new videos every other week. For now, checkout the rather rough first episode of Cardboard Cutouts (above) and I'll have a new second episode posted on Saturday that's already 11 times better.

Hey Mr. DJ

Since we last talked we had a pair of really great interviews with Morten Monrad Peterson of the Automa Factory and Aron West of Elzra Games. These two are on the cutting edge in defining what tabletop gaming can be. Morten and his team designed Stonemaier Games' groundbreaking solo modes for Viticulture and Scythe, whereas Aron is the co-designer and publisher of the remarkable Catacombs, a game that inexplicably manages to capture the tone and feel of a Dungeon Crawl, while being a dexterity game about flicking wooden disks on a board. If you get a chance, check out Catacombs 3rd edition and the rest of the Catacombs line, all of which have incredible artwork by Kwanchai Moria.

Oh, and you know how I mentioned things were getting crazy? I have the next 7 interviews lined up, featuring all kinds of cool guests including Kenna from Going Last (my favorite tabletop podcast on the net), Jerry Hawthorne of Mice & Mystics fame (check out his upcoming PHG design, Stuffed Fables), Michael Coe of Gamelyn Games (TED 2.0  Kickstarter will be up soon! YES!) and iconic artist Ken Meyer Jr. (Kird Ape scared the crap out of me as a kid!).

Going to PAX Unplugged

Exactly what it says! I'll be going to PAX Unplugged in November. I've never been to Philly and I've never been to a PAX, so this will be an awesome experience. Rob from Paper Heroes will be joining me and we hope to meet you all there. Interested in doing an interview? Or maybe just meeting up for a game? Either way, lets hang out!

That's it for now. As always, there's great written stuff coming out all the time by me and other guest contributors on the site. Stay tuned, and don't forget to subscribe to the video channel!

New TCbH Stuff!

Holy cow, what a crazy productive week. We have so many things to share with you, and it feels like we are just barely getting started. First off, I wanted to mention that we are (finally) making a big push toward video... Well, as big of a push as one dude in Alaska with about 10,000 other things going on can do. But I Digress! We'll have some content going up with some regularity, and hopefully we'll be able to get a really tight format down over time. To start us out, we have a first impressions video for Hellas & Elysium:

(I adore the new theme music)

Next up, I got a pair of reviews that I have yet to talk about. Luke Muench of Budget Board Gamer wrote us a nice review of one of our favorite games, Cyclades. He really hits the nail on the head as to what makes the game so special among a sea of minis on maps. As for me, I had a completely different type of area control game to discuss, the mighty Ethnos, featuring pretty much the raddest pairing of oldschool artwork and skittle-rainbow components of all time. Both reviews are up now for your viewing pleasure! Oh, speaking of reviews, are you listening to our TCbH review podcast channel? It's a great way to plug our reviews straight into your brain holes.

And FINALLY, saving the best for last, we have a new interview posted with Morten Monrad Pedersen of the Automa Factory, the guys who are contracted to help Stonemaier Games with their awesome solo variants. Morten is the brain child behind the mighty Scythe solo mode, which is what I lost my solo virginity to (that sounds salacious... and weird). Anyway, you can totally listen to that on iTunes, stitcher, or our podcast feed on the site.

PHEW! What a week...

TCbH falls into Vast: (the) Crystal Caverns

This week I'm posting my chat with David Somerville, co-designer of Vast: The Crystal Caverns (published by Leder Games). This was truly a wonderful conversation; David is affable, clever, and a kind guest. I'm not sure how the listening audience really feels about it, but I love when these talks somehow organically shift from talking about tabletop games as a hobby, into games as a medium to understand and relate to other people, just as I'm trying to understand and relate to my guests.

Anyway, happy Wednesday everyone! Check out the interview on the interview feed.

A couple of Plaid Hat Interviews

Lots of Plaid Hat Games news going on here. First off, my interview with the wonder Isaac Vega posted today, go check it out in the interview section. Isaac co-designed the MONSTER (get it?) hit Dead of Winter, along with lots of other great games including Ashes and City of Remnants.

Also, I had the pleasure of talking with Mice & Mystics, Tail Feathers, and yet-unreleased Stuffed Fables designer Jerry Hawthorne. That talk will be on the interview feed in roughly a month.

Anyway, we got plenty coming down the pike (pipe? this is one of those idioms that no one is really sure on). Stay tuned!

And lastly, if you or your loved ones are in the Hurricane Harvey area - I hope you are safe, havefound refuge, and have a speedy return to stability in your life. And to those of you officially or unofficially doing first responder work, thank you for being there for your neighbors. People helping one another in the face of tragedy, regardless of color, race, economic status, creed... It's the kind of thing that restores your faith in humanity. So once again, thank you.

Mysteriously Hopping into the Stone Circle

Hey everyone! Pretty quick updates here. Just reminding everyone to check out the great interview with Jon and Gary of Stone Circle Games. I really loved talking with those guys and I could feel how much they believed in one another, which of course makes me more interested in the games they put out. I know I can't wait to see a published edition of Battle for Biternia. 

Also, we continue to have reviews written by Luke Muench of Budget Board Gamer. The latest review is of Mysterium, a game I like but Luke? Maybe not so much. It's important to have a variety of voices and perspectives though, and most of all I want to hear yours - What do you think of Mysterium? 

Also, I haven't mentioned it recently, but I am STILL obsessing over Ethnos. I gotta figure out a way to get those sweet, sweet Fairy promo cards. What a rad game. Full review to come soon, as it's the next one on the pile.

New reviews and a dream come true

I'm 8 years old, opening my first pack of Magic cards. There is a veritable feast for the eyes with a wide range of artistic styles, but one card stands out in particular, Hurloon Minotaur. Drawn by fellow Alaskan, Anson Maddocks, Hurloon Minotaur changed my sense of what fantasy and pop-art could be. While I loved the works of a great many MTG artists, it was Anson's that had the biggest impact on me. Always exotic, even the normally "pure" fantasy archtypes like elves felt somewhat savage and sinister. Well, this week I am bringing you my interview with this hero of mine, who helped shape my understanding of what fantasy art is and could be; episode 41 is my interview with the great Anson Maddocks.

In other news, you may have noticed that our review tab has a fresh new look. It's a bit easier to navigate through our collection of reviews, including both the written and audio versions. While there, check out our brand new review of Tuscany: Essential Edition, the marvelously crafted expansion to Viticulture.

A whole mess of new stuff

Woo boy! It's been a busy week here at the Cardboard Herald! First off, we have a new interview posted with Gordon Hamilton, designer of the abstract hit Santorini. This interview concludes my coverage of Dice Tower Con 2017. I honestly cannot wait to get to another convention. What do you think I should do next year, BGG or GenCon? Wish I could do both, if only tickets from Alaska weren't so expensive...

Next up, we have a whopping 4 new written pieces on the site including our reviews of Champions of Midgard, La Granja: No Siesta, Cthulhu Wars, and the brand new article (remember when we did those?) Board Gaming on a Budget. Thanks to the incredible talent of Luke Muench and John Foster, we are really rounding out the content on the site. 

Atheris Games, New Collaborators, Reviews, and more!

Hey everyone, this week's episode features the great Andrew Birkett, founder/owner of Atheris Games. We talk about everything from upcoming games to the pressures of entrepreneurialship to burritos.

Also, we have a new review up for Champions of Midgard. This review was written by new collaborator, Luke Muench of Budget Board Gamer. Luke does freelance writing and has agreed to do some work for Ye Olde Heralde, so look forward to seeing his work around the site.

Milestones & Upcoming:
-We hit over 2000 unique listeners for the month of July! It's so nice to see the numbers continue to grow. I'm so glad you all are digging it and staying along for the ride. What would you like to see more of? What would you like to be done better?
-There are some really killer interviews coming up with representatives from Plaid Hat Games, Stone Circle Games, and a very special interview with my favorite Magic: The Gathering artist of all time. Longtime listeners should be able to remember who that is. Needless to say, I'm super excited.
-Next week's episode will be with the lovely Dr. Gordon Hamilton, designer of Santorini. I can't wait to share that with you.

Anyway, take care for now and keep on gaming!

Stronghold Games, Firelight, Reviewers, and some new reviews!

New episode day! New episode day! Wednesday is new episode day! Today we have our talk with Stronghold Games founder / owner / operator / podfather Stephen Buonocore. I'm a big fan of their work, especially Terraforming Mars, a game that just keeps getting better with each play. Stephen was also on our Dice Tower Con compilation episode.

Did you listen to last week's episode with Eric Woods of Hobby Horse Games? He designed Firelight which is on kickstarter right now. I'm so happy for them that the game got funded. Eric was very candid and open on the podcast, I have a ton of respect for the guy and honestly Firelight seems more up my alley as far as RPGs go.

Reviews
A couple exciting things going on in reviews-town. First, we have a couple of new reviews up. Continuing our 7 Years of 7 Wonders series, we have a review of the 7 Wonders expansion "Leaders". Also, since we are so Stronghold games focused this week, I wanted to remind you of our latest full game review, Terraforming Mars. Lastly, some  announcements!

-Occasional co-host and reviewer John LS Foster is working on a super-stylistic review that I can't wait to share. It plays to his strengths so well... Man. So good!   
-Luke Muench, founder and host of the Budget Board Gamer video series has started to write some pieces for the Cardboard Herald. His first review should be posting soon.
-My own review of La Granja: No Siesta is done, aside from a few pictures I need to take, so expect this and the above mentioned reviews by John and Luke all within the next 3 weeks.