First Turn Tabletop

Because it's DULL, you twit, it'll hurt more! This is it! We made it! This is our 200th episode! Only 88 shows in US Prime Time television have made it to 200+. We're in prestigious company. Only 436 more to pass Gunsmoke and be number 2 on the list. This week we delve into hot topics, like who played the best Robin Hood as we get into our deep dive of The Sherriff of Nottingham designed by Sergio...

We're building subway lines this week in  Terminus by Earl Aspiras and Thomas Volpe. It was published in 2023 by Inside Up Games. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at  firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe! Until next week, play more games!

Engines pumping and thumping in time! The green light flashes the flags go up, churning and burning .... we're taking to the track in our vintage 1960s Formula 1 cars to see which one of us can SEND IT! We're playing Heat: Pedal to the Metal, designed by Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pederson. It was published by Days of Wonder. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or...

We're back in this week in the big beautiful ocean, as we hang out with seahorses, clown fish, hermit crabs, and the super smart Octopus! We're playing Octopus's Garden by Roberta Taylor publishing 2022 by Maple Games. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at  firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe! Until next week, play more games...

... is a revolution not worth having. was V right? Find out this week if Eric, Stephanie, Ernesto, and Alexei are dancing as they play Bloc by Bloc: The Insurrection Game by T.L. Simons and published in 2016 by Out of Order Games.  Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at  firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe! Until next week, pl...

This episode marks our 4th anniversary. Bringing the content that at least a dozen of you crave but one way or the other we enjoy making! Join our four hosts as we deep dive in to why we enjoy, and continue to play Castles of Mad King Ludwig, designed by Ted Alspach and published by Bézier Games in 2014 with a collector's edition hitting our game rooms in 2022.  Post your comments to Twitter/Insta...

Kait and Eric are racing … at their own pace … on llamas. Or llama NFTs, but I don’t want to speculate. I made all that up, but what is true is that they are playing Tiwanaku, designed by Oliver Grégoire and published by Sit Down! In 2022. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at  firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe! Until next...

bP and Kiwi attended Circle DC: A Conference on History, Education & Play held on March 31st to April 2nd, 2023. They talk about the games they played and their experience at the inaugural convention held at the Naval Lodge in Washington, DC. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at  firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe! Until ne...

From the 20th to the 23rd of November 1943, the 2nd Marine Infantry Division landed on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll. The battle would be later known as Bloody Tarawa. This week, Kiwi is talking to himself and forces Eric to listen and edit as he plays Tarawa 1943 designed by Grant and Mike Wylie and published by Worthington Publishing LLC in 2021. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @First...

Puns may be the lowest form of humor, but goodness do they make me giggle. If Kiwi ever groans in disappointed at a pun, he's lying, he loves it. Is he the worst? Possibly. This is week, the ladies are away, so it's just Kiwi and Eric playing Fjords by Franz-Benno Delonge and published in 2005 by Rio Grande Games. That's the edition we played, but there is a newer edition in 2022, published by Gra...

was a movie released in 2011 staring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johannson. Damon's character buys a zoo and then moves his family there in order to renovate it. It was directed by Cameron Crowe, the same person who brought us Say Anything, Almost Famous, and Jerry Maguire. You're welcome for the reminder. It also has nothing to do with this weeks' game Ark Nova. It was released in 2021 by Capstone Ga...

Was J. Jonah Jameson on to something? Is being a newspaper editor awesome? If if you were an editor and a woodland creature? Well it's time to find out. We're bringing you the news of Thistleville this week in Fit to Print designed by Peter McPherson and published in 2023 by Flatout Games. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please re...

On June 4, 1919 the US Government sent the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was sent to the states for ratification. Tennessee voted in favor just over a year later becoming the 36th state and gaining the required two-thirds majority for ratification. In the end, 40 states voted in favor and 8 voted against it. The 8 that voted no, would reverse their decisions years later, with the...

This weeks' title is from Winston Churchill's "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech he gave on June 4, 1940 shortly after Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk. Kiwi makes another attempt at finding a wargame that Eric will enjoy. Over a few sections and the course of a week, Eric and Kiwi playing Combat Commander: Europe. Published in 2006 by GMT Games and designed by Chad Jen...

Where the donkey goes, there goes the supplies. As the common saying goes. There's a solid chance I made that up. The donkey train thing? Maybe. The part that it's a common saying? Perhaps. This week we're playing Hamlet, designed by David Chircop and published in 2022 by Mighty Boards. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remem...

In their Autumn-obile! That's for free and I promise that it's the only pun in the whole episode. Actually .. no promises ... you should listen and find out though! This week we've got everybody together to play Leaf by Tim Eisner published by Weird City Games in 2023. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remember to rate, revie...

It's time to play the "beautiful game" whether you call it soccer or football. This week, Kiwi and bP with special guest Royce take over their own soccer/football clubs and do their their best not to run them into the ground. That's right, we're playing Eleven published in 2022 by Portal Games, designed by Tomas Jansen. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at firsttur...

But a Torii gate ain't one! This week scheduling worked out and the gang is back together to play The One Hundred Torii. It was published in 2020 by Pencil First Games and designed by Scott Caputo. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe! Until next week, play more games!

Some might argue that the Treaty of Versailles had a few holes that may or may not have been one of the many catalysts for the next war. So being the historians they are, Kiwi and bP have decided they can do better in the course of an afternoon. Join them this week as they play Versailles 1919 by Geoff Englestein and Mark Herman. Published in 2020 by GMT Games. Post your comments to Twitter/Instag...

When you go in reverse, things come from behind! He's the getaway driver? What the *&%$ can he get away from? That's right, Eric ... and someone else (probably Kait? I don't know I wasn't there) are playing Getaway Driver designed by Jeff Beck and published by Uproarious Games in 2019! Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please rememb...

THE MOON!!! Well maybe not, we don't have an army of minions to help us. Instead, we'll just travel to the moon, to colonize it, you know ... because the earth is dying and we're humanity's last hope. Which honestly, if we're the last hope what happened to everyone before us? Kiwi and bP are playing Welcome to the Moon from Blue Cocker Games, designed by Alexis Allard and Benoit Turpin, and publis...

Some water there, a desert here, perhaps a mountain and tree over there. Then just sprinkle some gorillas, crocodiles, and tigers liberally throughout. A couple of familiar guests show up to play Ecos: First Continent with Kait and Eric in our second episode of the new year. It was designed by John D. Clair and published in 2019 by AEG.  Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or em...

Wonderland is at war and the residents have chosen their sides. No one knows who started it, but we know that one will end it. This week, Kiwi, bP and a returning Paxton bring out Wonderland's War designed by Tim Eisner, Ben Eisner, and Ian Moss and published by Druid City Games in 2022. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTurnCast or email us at firstturntabletop@gmail.com . Please reme...

With the end of the year and thus the end of the season upon us, we do our customary close out episode by playing a game we were so-so on for our first play and see if maybe our feelings could be different. We're playing Root again (for three of us) and for the first time (for one of us). Designed by Cole Wehrle and published in 2018 by Leder Games. Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstTu...

The end of 2022 is quickly approaching and that means the annual Year in Review episode is upon us. Find out what some of our favorite and least favorite games were, whose performance reigned supreme, and if Kiwi's graduate degree was worth the money. We'll have our Redemption episode next week to close out the year and then we shall be back in 2023! Post your comments to Twitter/Instagram @FirstT...