Two Wood for a Wheat

Tony and Mitch discuss the games of eurogame designer Simone Luciani. Time Stamps: 00:11 Magic The Gathering: Dominaria United 00:45 Lorenzo il Magnifico 03:10 Monsters Tower, Frutta di Mare, Dungeon Bazar 03:40 Sheepland 04:05 Council of Four 09:25 Golem 13:15 Newton 18:52 Lorenzo il Magnifico 31:20 Grand Austria Hotel 35:25 The Voyages of Marco Polo, Marco Polo 2: In the Service of the Khan 36:2...

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. “Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” Today we go down the rabbit-hole to review Wonderland's War, the raucous bag building battle game by Tim Eisner, Ben Eisner, and Ian Moss. Ask us a questi...

It's a Phil Walker-Harding Double Feature Extravaganza with PLANTED and SUMMER CAMP from Buffalo Games. Dive in to these two family weight drafting and deck building games. Time Stamps: 02:38 FEATURE GAME - PLANTED 22:52 FEATURE GAME - SUMMER CAMP

PLANTS! Today we review Three Sisters, the new roll & write by Ben Pinchback and Matt Riddle of Fleet: the Dice Game fame. It's full of combo-rific terms, shed-based superpowers, and the most amazing bees you've never met. Then, we discuss why we love farming games (or don't!). 00:03:01 Heaven & Ale 00:05:08 Carnegie, Black Angel, Troyes, Merv 00:07:56 Longshot: The Dice Game 00:09:12 Bunny Kingdo...

If you've played board games enough, you've had the experience of buying a game and later saying 'what on earth was I thinking?' Well, we've had this happen a lot, and we're happy to share our foolishness with you in hopes that it makes you feel better about your own. Time stamps: 2:01 Wonderlands War 3:53 Planted, Summer Camp 7:16 - FEATURE DISCUSSION - Our dumbest board game purchases 13:16 King...

Today we review the masterful Vladimir Suchy's next game, Messina 1347, the cardboard embodiment of the phrase, "Bring out your dead". Then, we discuss how death is used in boardgames, how it affects experience and the decisions of the player. 00:03:59 Ark Nova 00:06:55 Gloomhaven, Frosthaven 00:08:05 Wonderland's War 00:08:51 Quacks of Quedlinberg, Blood Rage 00:12:54 FEATURE REVIEW Messina 1347...

Like bringing aliens to your home? If so, listen to Mitch and Tony review the new sci-fi engine building game from Gabriel Cohn and Rio Grande Games. Time Stamps: 4:24 Starcraft 5:00 Magic the Gathering 5:29 Living Forest, MicroMacro Crime City 7:00 Dune Imperium 7:43 FEATURE REVIEW - Space Station Phoenix

Today on Two Wood for a Wheat, we review the Guild of Merchant Explorers, the medium weight flip and place filler about exploring new lands and creating settlements before the end of the age. Then we’re discussing ugly ducklings, the ugly board games that we love. 00:02:23 Merchants of the Dark Road 00:04:11 Wonderland's War, Rising Sun, Quacks of Quedlinberg 00:05:41 Space Station Phoenix, Race f...

Mitch and Tony discuss how they got into modern board games, highlighting the five games which were most influential in their respective journeys. Time Stamps: 0:54 Space Station Phoenix, The Guild of Merchant Explorers 1:09 MicroMacro Crime City 2:33 Messina 1347 2:42 FEATURE DISCUSSION - Milestone games in our board game journey

Have you ever created a sentient monster out of clay to do your bidding but it grew sentient and took its life into its own hands and began destroying homes and buildings around medieval Prague... uh, do you have any advice? Today we review Golem, the new heavy euro by a number of the Italian masters, including Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Simone Luciani. It is a twisted thinker... but is it...

In the future, robots will determine the strength of our rail system. Or so says our feature game - Maglev Metro, a literal engine building game from Ted Alspach and Bezier Games. Time stamps: 2:17 Stratego: Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition 6:35 Stratego Legends 7:42 Raiders of Scythia 9:32 Living Forest 10:11 FEATURE REVIEW - Maglev Metro

On today’s episode of Two Wood for a Wheat, we review Welcome to the Moon, the major 8-part interplanetary follow up to the modern classic Welcome to. Then, we discuss variations on a theme, what makes a game worth many iterations. 00:01:53 Guards of Atlantis 2 00:02:33 Twilight Struggle, Imperial Struggle 00:06:06 Hadrian's Wall 00:06:45 Le Havre 00:11:06 Golem 00:11:22 FEATURE REVIEW Welcome to...

Does kodoma + fireflies + lost souls + Yokei + Bitoku + Iwakura rocks + memory crystals = fun? Listen and find out. Time Stamps: 0:30 Fantastic Factories 1:56 FEATURE REVIEW - Bitoku

If the words Cult Leader, Famine, and Napalm excite you, then you probably need therapy. You also need Radlands, the new post-apocalyptic card dueler by Daniel Piechnick and Roxley games with a Mad Max theme. We pair this very attack-y game with a discussion of attacking other players in games. 00:00:35 Terra Mystica, Race for the Galaxy 00:01:50 The Quest for El Dorado 00:03:07 Guild of Merchant...

Today we review Ascension Tactics, a mashup of deckbuilding with a tactical skirmish game. Time Stamps: 4:58 Wonderlands War 6:12 Bitoku 6:30 FEATURE REVIEW - Ascension Tactics: Miniatures Deckbuilding Game

Help! My wife worked in a zoo and I beat her in Ark Nova and now I can speak to animals! And the alpacas in the petting zoo are making fun of me! Today we’re reviewing the new infamous Ark Nova, the multi-mechanism heavy euro with a deck full of wild animals. Then, we talk about that one thing that ruined a game. 00:02:50 Cat Lady 00:03:36 Winston 00:05:03 Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles: Episod...

Get your anthropomorphic animals board games, socks, and mandolins in this new worker placement game Creature Comforts from Roberta Taylor and Kids Table Board Games. Time Stamps: 0:39 Living Forest 0:59 Wonderlands War 5:35 Mt. Airy Lodge 12:11 FEATURE REVIEW - Creature Comforts

As luck would have it, we’re reviewing Long Shot: The Dice Game just after the long shot’s victory at the Kentucky Derby. It’s an absurdly fun horse betting game by Chris Handy. Then, finally, we’re listing our most anticipated games of 2022 half-way through 2022. Thanks for listening. 00:03:15 Ark Nova 00:03:48 Radlands 00:04:09 Creature Comforts, Golem 00:06:31 The Great Wall 00:07:36 Race for t...

After dealing with dogs, bad poker dealers and Tony's inability to use a computer, we review Living Forest, a beautiful, simple, and quite tricky push your luck deckbuilder from some guy whose name we can't pronounce. Time Stamps: 2:50 Beautiful Mt. Airy Lodge 7:20 FEATURE REVIEW - Living Forest

Today on Two Wood for Wheat, it’s So Clover!, a cooperative word association party game where people give clues to connote two words on big green shamrocks. Then, it’s our discussion of when winning doesn’t matter, a harder discussion to have than you’d think. 01:22 Autobahn 03:51 Islebound, Sleeping Gods 06:34 Now or Never, Near & Far 07:16 Rising Sun, Radlands 10:36 Longshot: The Dice Game, So C...

If you can make it through the tea sipping, dog barking, and recriminations about a recent D&D session, you can hear the B-team dissect the latest release from Ryan Laukat and Red Raven Games: Now or Never. Is it worth playing now, or never? 2:54 Long Shot: The Dice Game, So Clover 3:59 The Hunger 4:53 Dungeons & Dragons 6:38 FEATURE REVIEW - Now or Never

Today we review Origins: First Builders by Adam Kwapinski, better known for super-thematic American games like Nemesis that he's designed for Awaken Realms. He's given us a new dice drafting game about worshipping alien motherships. Have you ever wanted to play out the plot of Stargate, with ancient aliens assisting primitive humans to become dominant civilizations? Well too bad, because Origins:...

Tony and Mitch review Riverside by Asmund & Eilif Svensson. Who is the better Norwegian river cruise tour guide? Can you really go on a polar bear safari? And what's all the rave about stave churches? Study the route, find combos, trigger bonuses and activate powers in this 20 minute roll-and-write from Chilifox Games. Time stamps: 0:44 Ascension Tactics 3:05 FEATURE REVIEW - Riverside

On today's episode, we review the trick taking and area control hybrid Game Brian Boru, and we finally count down our top games of 2021, with Mitch joining the A-side for some star-studded speaking. But before that, we review Brian Boru, a trick taking game that pairs well with a map of Ireland. Is this the king of all trick taking games? 01:05 Crash Octopus, Happy Salmon 01:48 Bullet 03:33 Pandem...

Tony and Mitch review Canopy, a light card drafting set collection game for 2 players. Designed by Tim Eisner, with art by Vincent Dutrait, and published by Weird City Games. Does this small box eco-friendly packaged game deliver the rainforest experience? Find out in today's episode. Time Stamps: 0:15 Boonlake 1:19 Maracaibo 1:42 beautiful Mt. Airy Lodge 2:48 Dungeons & Dragons 3:24 Aeon's End 4:...