Brainwaves - Board Game and Tabletop News Show

Iain and Iain were off in Harrogate over the last weekend, and haven't had the time to put together the usual Brainwaves cast. To fill the gap we are releasing one of our older Idle Thoughts episodes featuring the original team of Iain, Jamie and Sam. We hope you enjoy their thoughts on the games they played round December 2018. 

Iain Chantler has established a Robot Fight Club in the basement of Brainwaves HQ and who better than James Hewitt to help him get it setup. Iain McAllister is enthusiastic about the idea but James really needs to help out around the place if the club is going to stay, so he joins the Iains on the cast. This episode we cover Kickstarter unions, DTRPG categories, Hasbro Finances, Replacement polici...

Jamie is gone and Iain is hiding below the recording desk. No not that Iain, the other one. Checking up that their Patreon money isn’t going to frivolous expenditure, the Executive Producers turn up for a performance review and join the team behind the mics. This episode they cover notorious Kickstarter company Golden Bell, Wizards of the Coast setting up games studios, more awards, Archaeological...

It’s week two of intern training and it’s Iain’s turn to get Iain behind the mic as Jamie is off doing….something. They start off by covering the latest developments at Monolith games and when Jamie eventually turns up, without coffee, all three of the team cover Kickstarter Boardgame finances, Mythic getting sued, Kickstarter Union updates, charity efforts by gamers, Warhammer 40k escape rooms an...

The Brainwaves studios are dusty, Jamie has been sleeping under a desk and there has been some confusion over who was booking the next guest. Luckily we have a spare intern lying around, Iain Chantler, who helps out on this cast and makes us both look like consummate unprofessionals.  On our first Brainwaves of 2020 we cover FFG layoffs and cancellations, new DnD, Tabletop Art initiatives, small g...

Happy New Year everyone! Iain did some interviews down at Dragonmeet 2019 (not 2020 as he says repeatedly throughout) and now you can hear them as well. He spoke to giants of the UK RPG podcast scene The Smart Party and some of the indie board game publishers. Hope you enjoy!  Loke Battlemats https://lokebattlemats.com/ Ruined Sky Games https://www.ruinedsky.com/ The Smart Party https://smartparty...

The plans for the award show have gone awry so Iain and Jamie retreat to RPG corner to discuss their nominations for the year in games.  Best Short Game Tortuga 1667 https://facadegames.com/products/tortuga-1667 Cockroach Poker https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11971/cockroach-poker Tabletop Scotland https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/ Best Rulebook Villagers https://www.sinisterfish.com/games/villa...

Brainwaves HQ is undergoing a bit of a revamp in preparation for our awards show. With the news room inaccessible and construction everywhere Iain and Jamie do the cast themselves. On this show they cover world champions going away, Uno politics and boardgames in old age. Removing themselves to the crackling fire of RPG corner they cover a couple of recent announcements before looking back on the...

Iain has big plans for the first Giant Brain convention but Jamie is not so sure. Luckily our convention correspondent Mark Cooke is back from Essen with lots of excellent advice. This episode the team cover abuse allegations, industry deaths, awards and more. Iain’s been working on something in the basement and it proves very useful when getting to the core of what convention organisation is all...

What’s this? Iain is considering selling the Brainwaves HQ? As they consider the offer they invite the real estate magnate James Naylor to join the team and cover this week’s news: legends dying, profits falling, lawsuits concluding, mashups, acquisitions and much more on this weeks Brainwaves.  Headlines Frances Tresham dies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Tresham_(game_designer) Hasbro Pro...

Iain and Jamie are joined by magic man Richard from We’re Not Wizards. Together they cover actual Kickstarter Fraud, Kittens getting their hands on lots of money and visas being denied for Essen. In our Brainstorm they look at online communities and discuss whether they should all be amalgamated into one. All this and more, on this week’s Brainwaves.   Headlines Carbon Copies on KS https://twitter...

That sound isn't the Brainwaves HQ starting to strain under the weight of all the new interns, no it's the sound of Creaking Shelves recently installed by our latest guest Matt Evans, we really must get professionals to do this kind of thing. Matt joins us to discuss Kickstarter Unions, cash prizes, fast food RPGs, discuss "Killer Games" and much, much more.   Headlines   Kickstarter Unionisation...

Iain & Jamie are back from their vacation with a longer cast than normal to catch up on all the tasty boardgame news. They are joined by Glenn Ford of Man O’Kent Games to cover Kickstarter Unions, CMON time machines, trucks full of dice, when RPGs go wrong and much more!    Headlines       Kickstarter in the Firing Line https://slate.com/technology/2019/09/kickstarter-union-organizing.html https:/...

We are taking a little break this week from our regular cast but rest assured we will be back in two weeks time with all the usual Tabletop News from near and far. This episode was recorded before Sam was lost in 'the incident' and covers Keyforge, Scrawl and Dungeons & Dragons.  This episode was made possible by the kind sponsorship of all our patrons. 

This week on Brainwaves we are bringing you a series of interviews we conducted at Tabletop Scotland. This convention took place in Perth on the 24th and 25th of August, 2019. We spoke to the sponsors of the convention, various retailers, exhibitors and some friends of the show. We hope you enjoy. The links below are in the order they appear on the cast.    Daniel Taylor Woodworking https://www.in...

Iain has been trying to bring the Brainwaves garden under control but much to his annoyance has found the place overrun by wrestling Gnomes. Laying the blame squarely at the feet of Robbie Munn, Robbie joins Iain and Jamie on the cast as penance for his out of control Sumo Gnomes. We cover more awards, Golden Bell/ Unbroken Kickstarter, hirings, mergers and lawsuits. In Brainstorm we tackle the we...

The team dare to roll and welcome the excellent Mike Barnes back to the cast. This episode we cover the announcement of the Teburu smart board, along with how to pronounce it, Spiel des Jahres winners, deaths of some giants of the industry, Digital innovations and much more. In Brainstorm we turn our attention to the biggest conventions and ask if there are just too many games.   Headlines   Mike...

Wrecking his way into Brainwaves HQ Mark Mckinnon from Dream Big Games joins Iain and Jamie on this week’s episode. Together they tackle plagiarism, the rise of the robots, oddly shaped awards, the meteoric rise of Kickstarter and the interns have finally finished off the new RPG corner!  Headlines   Plagiarism accusations hit popular boardgame site Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgame...

In this special episode Iain and Jamie are joined by John Mizon of Southwest Megagames and Mr. Megagame himself Matthew Bambridge to discuss everything about this increasingly popular type of game. We go in deep to what makes megagames tick from the history of the genre to the recent arrival of products like Vampire: The Masquerade, Bloodlines. We hope you enjoy and would like to thank John and Ma...

Iain and Jamie are joined by journalist Owen Duffy this week to cast their eyes over the gaming papers and see what is worthy of your attention. Amongst news of review bombing, Kickstarter guidelines and boardgame inspired TV shows the gents manage to sit down for a chat about the state of boardgame journalism.  Headlines Kickstarter new guidelines https://www.kickstarter.com/honest?fbclid=IwAR3-y...

Iain & Jamie have gotten out the Necronomicon this week to summon themselves another roving reporter back to the fold. Garbed in his best cultist outfit Peter Hopkins from Drawn to the Flame joins the team to discuss Lewis Chessmen found in drawers, Origin Awards, Contrast paints and more! In the Brainstorm this week the 3 acolytes discuss seperating art from artist.  Headlines James Mathe Dies ht...

The team are back from UK Games Expo and whilst everything was fresh in their minds, sat down to wax lyrical about the games they had seen at the convention. Our special guest is our honorary member of The Giant Brain, Rich Stokes: long time friend of Iain and the show. We cover a wide range of games and products from ones so new they barely have a name to the behemoth that is Games Workshop. Do l...

UK Games Expo is on the horizon and the crew are setting sail to this promised land. Joining them on the good ship Brainwaves is a man who is no stranger to the Expo himself: Mr. Rory Sommers of the Polyhedron Collider Crew.  Before they get to chatting about the convention we cover the latest in Tabletop news including the potential impacts of the US/China trade war, Elder Scrolls getting into so...

Iain and Jamie are delighted to welcome home their space based roving reporter Janice Turner from Wren Games. The crew cover legal rustling on the Great Western Trail, companies producing less games and Aliens returning to the tabletop. In our Brainstorm we turn to the subject of Kickstarter and seek sage advice from Janice who has been down that road in the not too distant past and has a backgrou...

Jamie, Iain and..... well Sam is away doing things beyond Space and Time. In the meantime it's time to call in our band of roving reporters in from the wild and get them a seat at the table. First up is Ross Connell from  More Games Please . The team cover the recent cancellation of Kollosal Games kickstarters, why they didn't win any Golden Geeks, loads of financial news from across the hobby and...