BGTG Comments

As long as the podcast continues, I'm happy!! ...

2013-02-05T17:55:45.114-08:00

As long as the podcast continues, I'm happy!! good luck with the transition.

This was an interesting episode for me because I&#...

2012-07-07T09:37:43.092-07:00

This was an interesting episode for me because I'm not much of a wargamer, but hearing you talk about the different places you visited and then talk about related games was very interesting. Did you ever try and use wargames to teach history when your kids were studying related topics in school? I think my son might respond well to that.

I agree that it's important to find a narrativ...

2012-06-24T15:10:21.841-07:00

I agree that it's important to find a narrative/metaphorical theme that works when teaching T&E. The BGG thread I pointed to in my previous post has several good ones and I really like the theme suggested by Snooze Fest.

I guess my point is that any theme that one comes up with for T&E feels like something we, the players, have created in order to better teach the game. The game and its rulebook don't really provide an intuitive framework for understanding the game. The intuitive narrative is for each player to build and expand a kingdom in the ancient world, gaining VPs/cubes by developing the four different aspects of its civilization, and then confronting the possibility of war when those kingdoms collide. But, as Snooze Fest points out, that's not really the narrative of T&E. And, in fact, if you play it that way, you're going to lose. Instead, you have to internalize that your goal is for your leaders to gain influence in any kingdom where doing so gives you an advantage over the other players.

Teaching T&E w/ theme is easier if you approac...

2012-06-22T11:20:24.662-07:00

Teaching T&E w/ theme is easier if you approach it this way: the _game_ is about the start of civilization, with kingdoms growing, meeting, merging with or destroying other neighboring kingdoms. The _players_, however, are not any particular kingdom. They are the Illuminati of the age ... the start of 4 great secret societies: the Brotherhood of the Bull, The Urn Union, The Legion of the Lion, and the Association of Archers. Never heard of them before? Of course not, they're secret (but thanks to Reiner for outing them)! Each player/society tries to infiltrate kingdoms and earn influence, with the ultimate goal of becoming the most powerful Secret Society.

I can imagine a game with T&E like mechanisms, but with the above theme and with a more free-form board that shows interrelationships between different groups. Sort of like the Steve Jackson Illuminati idea, but with Knizia like game play. Wouldn't that be cool? Hmm maybe it's just me.

Since I've only recently discovered BGTG, I...

2012-06-22T10:21:44.017-07:00

Since I've only recently discovered BGTG, I'm just now listening to some of the older episodes. (I think I picked this one because of a reference on How To Play.)

The problem that people have with the Tigris & Euphrates narrative theme is that it's not the narrative that one might think, which gets in the way of teaching the game. (See the BGG thread http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/114339/tips-for-teaching-et ) Kingdoms are not "owned" by players. Each player is not creating their own kingdom, growing it, scoring points, etc. A single kingdom can, and should, have leaders from multiple players. So, it's hard for a new player to understand what kingdoms represent and how their leaders relate to those kingdoms. It becomes a barrier to teaching the game. However, once a player has learned the game, the narrative theme becomes less important. I'm sure that's why many feel that T&E has a weak narrative theme.

Board Game Geek is a good site, glad to see you mo...

2012-06-16T06:44:54.155-07:00

Board Game Geek is a good site, glad to see you moving over to a quality site (not that this isn't). I'm mostly trying to say you chose a good place to move.

>> Mark Johnson said... >> Yes, Greent...

2012-04-28T19:29:34.769-07:00

>> Mark Johnson said...
>> Yes, Greentown. Pretty sure it must be this one:...

Thank you. I was confused by the light and fluffy graphics.

Yes, Greentown. Pretty sure it must be this one: ...

2012-04-28T13:32:03.374-07:00

Yes, Greentown. Pretty sure it must be this one:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24122/greentown

You mentioned a game "like 18xx but without t...

2012-04-28T11:56:09.684-07:00

You mentioned a game "like 18xx but without the stock market". The name sounded like "Greentown". I cant find it on BGG. Did I get the name wrong? Please help.

Thank you.

Loved the Secondhand Games show. You queried how i...

2012-04-20T10:43:53.971-07:00

Loved the Secondhand Games show. You queried how it worked outside the US. In the UK I pick up some of my games at "Bring and Buy" stalls at various Wargame Shows but make an annual pilgrimage to an unassuming Scout hut near Stockport for the Manchester Board Games Auction. Roughly 50 people attend to buy and sell games with no postage and packaging costs. The Manchester club take a very reasonable 10% of the sale price to cover costs. An individual is restricted to about 12 lots each (although you can package up multiple games into single lots.) this means around 500-600 games get auctioned in one day. It's a complete mix of "proper" wargames and Eurogames. Because you have to wait to the end of the day to settle up for what you buy and sell you have a captive audience of 50 dedicated boardgames sitting there for around 5 hours, with nothing to do but bid on games - absolute bliss!

Andy

I get an error when I click on the link. Can't...

2012-04-13T08:30:05.865-07:00

I get an error when I click on the link. Can't save the file either. Am I the only one having a problem?

Stephen Glenn

Would like to hear an episode on "print-and-p...

2012-04-08T10:58:29.561-07:00

Would like to hear an episode on "print-and-play" games, from the perspective of construction techniques to the kinds of games that are available (and ones that might be copied from personal copies, etc.).

Thanks,
Brad

Re: OLWLG. It is a powerful tool, but it seems to ...

2012-04-03T02:36:50.797-07:00

Re: OLWLG. It is a powerful tool, but it seems to be very difficult to grasp for many folks. Or at least, more work than they're willing to spend to read all the instructional stuff! You should also take a look here -- http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/568078/math-trade-video-tutorials -- for a nice tutorial for the more visually oriented.

Great podcast Mark. I always enjoy your insights a...

2012-03-30T22:31:30.173-07:00

Great podcast Mark. I always enjoy your insights and it's nice to hear from Greg again as well.

I LOVE trading games. Half of the fun of being a BGG user is trading with others. The practice is typically less expensive than buying a new game and allows both parties to make room on their gaming shelves. I very much relate to Greg's comments regarding games finding a new, more appreciative home and have traded several games with this in mind.

I also find trading akin to exchanging gifts. The parties involved are giving and receiving items that each are anxiously awaiting while contributing to another's happiness. As such, trading is a great way to contribute to the overall goodwill of the BGG community as well as a great way to enlarge your network of friends. Several of my trades end not only with a new game but also with a new geekbuddy and a greater appreciation for our gaming community in general.

In regards to moving the blog to BGG, I am fine with it. If it makes it easier for you, go for it.

Regads.

John Rogers

He's back! Hi Mark, recently played American R...

2012-03-19T12:07:32.580-07:00

He's back! Hi Mark, recently played American Rails for the first time and it was excellent and was finished in a reasonable time even with 5 players.

It had a really good turn order mechanic. 3 turns per round, each turn you place your marker on one of 6 actions which are detailed in a column, so the board has 3 columns of actions. The subsequent turn order is top down, you move your marker from the previous column to the current column. Weaker actions are at the top of the column.

So each turn you know if you choose a juicy action you will be going last the turn after etc so a lot of thought goes into the action selection. Really nice.

Russell (collywobbles)

Mark, Interesting picks for your games of 2011. I...

2012-03-15T22:10:04.433-07:00

Mark,

Interesting picks for your games of 2011. I haven't played either of the titles you mention though I was very interested in A Few Acres of Snow until I read about the unbeatable strategy. Since then I had quite forgotten about the game but your enthusiasm and mention of the recent fix has me reconsidering this title. I do often enjoy Martin Wallace titles and my group really does dig Dominion's deck-building mechanic so this may be a winner for us.

Great insights as always.

John Rogers

Yay! Mark's back! What a great subject to tack...

2012-03-15T21:55:36.812-07:00

Yay! Mark's back! What a great subject to tackle after a long hiatus.

Excellent insights as always. My favorite train game by the way is Chicago Express; although I did recently acquire Splotter Spellen's 1999 game Bus and can't wait to give it a go.

Thanks for making my week.

John Rogers

Mark, if you ever want to try an 18XX game, I will...

2012-03-13T16:02:31.322-07:00

Mark, if you ever want to try an 18XX game, I will try to put a game of 1846 together. We play it quickly (we finished a 3-player game in 70 minutes last night, including set-up and packing it back up in the box, though that's admittedly unusually quick.) Here's a link to an explanation of why I think it's a great game to use to learn the 18XX system:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/665386

Hi Mark, You seem to be missing the audio enclosu...

2012-03-13T13:54:53.402-07:00

Hi Mark,

You seem to be missing the audio enclosure on this one. It's not showing up in my podcast client. Pergamon and A Few Acres of Snow are both games that I've been interested in trying out, so I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on them!

~Jonathan

Thanks for the show. I love train games of all so...

2012-03-10T17:12:10.156-08:00

Thanks for the show. I love train games of all sorts---crayon rails, 18XX, Ticket to Ride, Rails of New England, TransAmerica, Silverton, Age of Steam, Power Grid or Funkenschlag (since you counted it as a train game!) Lokomotive Werks, Merchant of Venus, Starship Merchants---you name it!

"Train game" does not mean 18XX around h...

2012-03-09T15:40:57.321-08:00

"Train game" does not mean 18XX around here. Maybe the term is local to your groups?

You left out Silverton? Even though it's a long game, I bet Mark would love it, just for its thematic aspects.

Dave might enjoy Greentown, an 18XX-style game, but without the stock market.

Thanks for the feedback. Bill, you're absolut...

2011-12-13T02:57:56.435-08:00

Thanks for the feedback.

Bill, you're absolutely right that I don't like waiting around. Furthermore, I consider games that are more prone to that sort of waiting flawed. They may still have other features that make them worthwhile (enough to offset the waiting?), but it's a flaw nonetheless.

Daniel, you're absolutely right that Ryan & I are friends, and I'm glad to hear that comes through in the podcast.

Hi there! This episode was my first of your podca...

2011-12-11T11:22:06.271-08:00

Hi there!

This episode was my first of your podcast that I've listened to and I was really fascinated by the amount of thoughts you put into that topic.

While you are discussing fairly casual most of the time, your conclusions and opinions become somewhat poetic - and I found that to be unexpected on a topic like boardgames, and that's a good thing.

Also one can really feel that you two have quite a history and obviously got a good friendship going on, hearing the way you talk, you dont interrupt and although you feel differently about some things you accept and respect each other's opinion a lot.

I guess what I'm trying to say: Thanks for sharing this :) Got a lot out of it.

Daniel

GEEKLIST LINK: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekli...

2011-12-09T10:19:39.751-08:00

GEEKLIST LINK:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/76449/bgtg-118-post-bgg-con-2011-with-greg-pettit

Now that's what I call the real trip of a life...

2011-12-05T18:04:36.027-08:00

Now that's what I call the real trip of a lifetime! You have more than 250 games? That could be a record. I know how frustrating it can be to try to limit a collection. I can't help it, but I keep on buying collectibles during my travels.