Winter months are here and a deep chill is setting over the world. A chill that can represent only one thing - Elaine and Efka’s disappointing week of board games. That’s right, it’s one of those episodes - where no one game is a standout and all of them feel like they’re missing just a little warmth. So grab a cup of hot cocoa and settle in for a grumpy cast of some grumpy cardboard talk.

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On to the timestamps:

2:08 Audience Correspondence - Contentification (for the last time)

8:16 Sail

32:23 Thank you to Mark from So Very Wrong About Games https://www.sowronggames.com/

37:46 Trolls and Princesses

55:45 Evacuation

Sail, Trolls and Princesses, Evacuation

Can you believe it’s been a whole year of Talk Cardboard? Incredible! What’s a better way to celebrate the end of the year than by revisiting where we began? On the very first episode Efka talked about his most anticipated games for 2023, so today we’ll take a look at how those panned out and also take a peek at his most anticipated games for 2024.

Plus we’ll talk about Dune: Imperium - Uprising, Efka’s game of the year and share some of Elaine’s impressions of it. Finally, we saved something a little special for the end of the episode, but you’ll have to listen to find out what that is.

Thanks for sticking with us for a whole year! Here’s to another one.

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On to the timestamps:

3:35 The Ones that Got Away

20:47 Dune: Imperium - Uprising

44:09 Most Anticipated 2023 Revisited

54:15 Most Anticipated 2024

Dune: Imperium - Uprising, Most Anticipated 2024

More and more board games are adopting eco themes! Whether it’s Daybreak and it’s simulation of climate change or Dune: War for Arrakis and Dune’s enviromental themes and… uh… one or two plastic miniatures or Ticket to Ride Legacy and… um… all the railroad constru…. You know what nevermind, welcome to board games! It’s board games everyone, aren’t they good? So good those board games. Are they good? It depends on which one it is. And thus enters the board game reviews. They’re here. Enjoy it.

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On to the timestamps:

00:00 Cold Open

1:27 Intro

2:30 Audience Correspondence: Green Appreciation

6:08 Dune: War for Arrakis

38:26 Daybreak

59:07 Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West

Dune: War for Arrakis, Daybreak, Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West

A remake, a new take and an expansion walk into a bar. The barman says, “what’ll it be?” They all reply “something fresh.”

Was that too mean? I think that was too mean, especially since at least (and also at most) two of the games discussed in this episode are pretty great. And one of them is okay. We revisit the classic Terra Mystica in it’s new more thematically demure incarnation, we explore how Raising Robots riffs on Wingspan and Efka finally gets to play the expansion to his favourite game of all time - Sidereal Confluence. Let me tell you folks - it’s been bifurcated.

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0:00 Cold Open

2:48 Intro

3:43 Age of Innovation: A Terra Mystica Game

33:22 Raising Robots

53:23 Sidereal Confluence: Bifurcation

Age of Innovation, Raising Robots, Sidereal Confluence: Bifurcation

“What’s good?” you might ask me. Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Just board games. Three specific board games that are, in fact, good and COINCIDENTALLY are all featured on this episode of Talk Cardboard. What a treat! A threefer. A co-op boss battler that’s good, a solo deck-builder that’s good and, wait for it, a EUROGAME that is very good! It’s good games vibes only. Enjoy!

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0:00 Cold Open

2:00 Intro

3:17 Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze

22:08 Witchcraft!

38:41 Revive

Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze, Witchcraft!, Revive

This episode we only cover two games, but we had so much to say it ended up being a full length episode anyway. Which isn’t a surprise really when you end up with two follow ups for two massively succesful games. It’s the follow-up episode! And if you strain your thinking really hard, you could even argue that this very episode is a follow up to previous episodes, and thus thematically represents the games themselves. It’s nice when things like that line up perfectly. Please enjoy our chatter on 7th Citadel (sequel to 7th Continent) and Wyrmspan (sequel to Wingspan).

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0:00 Cold Open

0:38 Intro

2:44 7th Citadel

34:15 Wyrmspan

7th Citadel, Wyrmspan

There is a duality in first time plays, at least when you’re playing with a mind to reviewing. One path leads to potential, the other to the bin. A first time play can reveal quirks and kinks that promise an interesting second or third or fourth and beyond plays; exploration and indulgence. It can equally reveal a design you never wish to revisit. On today’s episode - two board games. Arcs and Salton Sea. A remix of space board games and a trudge through the bleak world of mining lithium. Each a representative of both polar opposites of first impressions.

Articles and websites discussed in the episode can be found here:

Vote for your favourite podcast in the BGG Awards: https://boardgamegeek.com/geekawards/boardgame

From Wingspan to Wyrmspan: An Accesibility Journey - https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/157687/from-wingspan-to-wyrmspan-an-accessibility-journey

Rolling with Two: Wyrmspan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifMREbPv1Zk

Colorbling Games - https://colorblindgames.com/

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On to the timestamps:

0:00 Cold Open

1:46 Intro

2:49 Flavor Text

9:13 Salton Sea

41:46 Weight vs Subject

45:02 Arcs

1:15:03 Outro

Salton Sea, Arcs

Dear listeners, it’s never been clearer to us that board games have entered into a new era - the era of the size race. Each month publishers are competing to release a bigger campaign game than the one before and in terms of scope, Agemonia is definitely in the running for the lead. In terms of box size it’s no slouch either, looking eerily similar to that 32 pound Frosthaven box. To provide some contrast and levity, the second game on this episode is Terra Nova, a sleeker, slimmer, smaller and shorter version of its big sibling - Terra Mystica.

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On to the timestamps:

0:00 Cold Open

1:46 Agemonia

41:34 Agemonia content warning start

45:49 Agemonia content warning end

48:22 Audience Correspondence - Salton Sea

55:52 Terra Nova

Agemonia, Terra Nova

I don’t know about you, but I think there’s something special about the momentum of two player games. The tension, the back and forth. The sensation of making a clever move is so much more palpable than in any other player count. Today we’ll take a look at three two player games, each interesting in its own way, and also two more on our bonus episode.

Our friend Jon from JonGetsGames has designed a game called Spring Cleaning, which we mention in the episode, you can pre-order it here: https://www.newmillindustries.com/store/p/spring-cleaning-preorder or you can play it online on boardgamearena.

If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded

On to the timestamps:

0:00 Cold Open

2:04 Intro

4:08 Run

24:31 Haggis

37:07 Harrow County

Two Player Special: Run, Haggis, Harrow County

Hello boardgamers and boardgamees, how are your MEEPLES? Do they need feeding? Watering? Some TLC? Or do they just need a good dose of the Talk Cardboard podcast to refresh that wooden noggin? Well worry not young meeple trainer, we’ve got a new episode digitally bumbling its way to you right now.

A real smorgasboard of delights this week as we take a look at three very different games to suit very different needs. Spectral is a strange melange of deduction and Keyflower style bidding? Does that even work? Does it make sense? Is Ryan Courtney the only designer that can pull this off?

Talking of designers that can pull things off, how about none other than Reiner Knizia himself, who, believe it or not, designed another game. Except he designed this one quite a long time ago and also made a very fresh expansion for it right now. Through the Desert is a mean mean classic and Bazaar is a mixed bag of modules to add some zest.

And finally, a board game based on a beloved video game (unofficially) that doesn’t just work but maybe even surpases its insipiration? Leviathan Wilds is the tabletop version of Shadows of the Colossus and there are moments when it towers above it.

Find more episodes on https://nopunincluded.com/podcast

If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded

On to the timestamps:

0:00 Cold Open

1:05 Intro

3:03 Spectral

30:25 Through the Desert (+Bazaar Expansion)

56:55 More letters on Salton Sea

1:01:40 Leviathan Wilds

Leviathan Wilds, Through the Desert (Bazaar), Spectral

Talk Cardboard

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