Garphill Games

Lens and Veil Podcast

Leisure EN ↓ 38 episodes

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.-⭐About the Cast-Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games.-Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom.-Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam.

Author

Garphill Games

Episodes

EP #13: Golem 07.04.2025 1:17:30

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Golem by Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, and Simone Luciani. Golem is an engine building game based on the 16th-century legend of the Golem of Prague, an anthropomorphic creature that Rabbi Loew animated fro...

EP #12: SETI 16.03.2025 1:19:43

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Tomáš Holek. SETI is a card driven eurogame where you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. Players will...

EP #11: Cooper Island 27.02.2025 59:45

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Cooper Island by Andreas Odendahl. Cooper Island is a worker placement game with a unique resource system based on the height of tiles on your personal island. 📜Chapters: 0:00:00 - Which would you prefer? 0:0...

EP #10: Era of Experts [Inventors expansion] 05.02.2025 58:51

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Era of Experts by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. Era of Experts is an expansion to Inventors of the South Tigris which provides 12 unique playable characters to the game. Each character comes with its own sp...

EP #9: Body of Books [Scholars expansion] 02.02.2025 57:45

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Body of Books by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. Body of Books is an expansion to Scholars of the South Tigris which introduces a new black Medicine Research Track, black Dice, and the concept of publishing b...

EP #8: Tides of Trade [Wayfarers expansion] 13.01.2025 53:06

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Tides of Trade by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. Tides of Trade is an expansion to Wayfarers of the South Tigris which gives players the means to upgrade their workers, recruit traders, and compete for influence...

EP #7: Scythe 02.12.2024 1:14:47

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Scythe by Jamey Stegmaier. Scythe is an engine-building game set in a 1920s era, alternate-history. Players take turns performing 1-2 actions in the race to build up their faction and earn the most coins by the en...

EP #6: Unconscious Mind 12.11.2024 1:16:59

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In episode they discuss Unconscious Mind by Laskas, Jonny Pac, Yoma, Antonio Zax. Unconscious Mind is a euro-style game featuring worker placement, engine building, multiple rondels, and cascading effects. Players take the role of contemporar...

EP #5: Nippon 24.10.2024 1:06:16

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In episode they discuss Nippon by Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro and Paulo Soledade. Nippon is a an area majority eurogame in which players control Zaibatsu (Japanese Conglomerates) and try to develop their web of power by investing in new industries...

EP #4: Darwin's Journey 14.10.2024 1:18:16

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Darwin's Journey by Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone. Darwin's Journey is a worker-placement Eurogame in which players recall Charles Darwin's memories of his adventure through the Galapagos islands, which contr...

EP#3: Skara Brae 02.10.2024 54:01

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this episode they discuss Skara Brae by Shem Phillips. Skara Brae is a unique resource management game based on the neolithic settlement of Skara Brae in modern day Scotland. Players take turns drafting Village Cards and using their Worker...

EP #2: Path of Civilization 27.09.2024 41:41

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this second episode they discuss Path of Civilization by Fabien Gridel. Path of Civilization is a competitive civilization game with simultaneous play. Each player takes the reins of a civilization, striving to make it the most prosperous...

EP #1: Daybreak 23.09.2024 46:59

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements. In this first episode they discuss Daybreak by Matt Leacock and Matteo Menapace. Daybreak is a co-operative game about climate action. Each player controls a world power, deploying policies and technologies to both dismantle the engine of glo...