Two Wood for a Wheat

When every day starts to feel like groundhog day, the same windows and walls of yesterday and the day before, we have a cure for you. The rich meadows of Ecosystem, bees and bears living in harmony, wolves grouping in packs, and foxes foraging in the forest. Here's an escape. And 20 games that you may love as everyone else does, but that disquiet us and leave us feeling stressed or unfulfilled --...

In this purrfect and awwsome episode, we discuss Isle of Cats, the new polyomino card drafting game by Frank West, paired with our feature discussion of cute games and how they get in under our defenses. Try not to get sick! Leave us a review on Apple podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/y2eyvqux Read Tony's blog: https://boardgamegeek.com/user/maxlongstreet/blogs Listen to more episodes on Spreaker: htt...

Sometimes I look at a board game and think, "That ain't right, man." Today we look at controversial and objectionable themes in board games -- who gets to decide what's right and what's wrong to include. Hint: it's not Shut Up and Sit Down's responsibility, who we take a few shots at. We explore how a controversial or objectionable theme affects the perception of a game's merit. We also review Gle...

On this episode of TWFAW, we do a most magical and sorceror-like activity of laying tiles. We're reviewing the real-time tile-laying game Sorceror City. This is a game with three (that's right, three!) colors of tile. If you don't think that three colors can provide enough substance to theme a game, then baby, you've never seen red, blue, and yellow on a color wheel. And, in my unending bid to enj...

I'm writing this on my 15th cup of coffee and the excitement is threatening to shoot through my fingers! Today we're reviewing Coffee Roaster, a game about turning beans into better beans and hoping that your coffee doesn't taste like dirt. It's also a solo game and you'll find that we're finally embracing our loneliness. We're also discussing our most anticipated games of 2020. Tony takes the ful...

We finish our 2019 coverage with our top 10 games of the year. We also review Euro-darling, Maracaibo, Alexander Pfister's privateering heavy-weight euro. For once, Tony and I agree on something. Happy new year, everyone! Leave us a review on Apple podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/y2eyvqux Read Tony's blog: https://boardgamegeek.com/user/maxlongstreet/blogs Listen to more episodes on Spreaker: https:...

In which Tony and Pat sharply disagree over the hot new card drafting game, It's a Wonderful World, Pat gives first thoughts On Mars, and they both share the games they didn't play in 2019 - both the ones they wish they had and the ones they're glad they missed. Leave us a review on Apple podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/y2eyvqux Read Tony's blog: https://boardgamegeek.com/user/maxlongstreet/blogs Li...

We look back at our best games of 2018 in our one year anniversary episode. Is Space Base still playable? Are we eternally grateful for Rising Sun and Underwater Cities? Have we maintained any sort of editorial integrity? Also, Pat needs to vent about Tainted Grail. And we review Silver & Gold in like... 30 seconds. Which is about as long as the game lasts. And introducing our new sister podcast,...

Why won't you play my game? It's... Pipeline? It's a solid heavy economic game? There's... pipes... Yeah, okay, we can play Dune. I'll see you at 12. Also, Azul: Summer Pavilion and it's clickety clackety-ness. 01:05 A Fake Artist Goes to New York 01:37 Barrage 03:17 Agricola 05:04 Tainted Grail 05:13 Gloomhaven 09:47 FEATURE REVIEW Azul: Summer Pavilion 25:37 FEATURE TOPIC Why won't you play my g...

In the immortal words of Gob Bluth... I've made a huge mistake. We talk on the strategic, psychological, and social pains of making a huge mistake early on in a large strategy game. Normally, this mistake can haunt you for the next two or three hours of the game, as you sit there knowing that you're going to lose. But those with a greater grasp of character can rise form the ashes and find a way t...

What are the paths we take? Why do we labor day to day, stuck on the road we chose, with no recourse but to accept our fate? Why, for victory points, of course! Today we talk about games with multiple paths to victory and how that adds to their richness. We also review Architects... Paladins of the West Kingdom. Is this colorful new worker placement game a tactical overload or does the core puzzle...

Hey folks, sorry for the delay - we had some rough times with editing, but we are back on a regular schedule now. This week we have special guest: Jordan Nach, noted Guild Ball/Warmachine/Clans of Caledonia champion and general misanthrope. We take a deep dive into the popular heavy eurogame Clans of Caledonia and what makes it tick, and segue into the topic of games being overpowered or imbalance...

Welcome to the new sound and the new home of Two Wood for a Wheat! Tony moved back to New Jersey and we upgraded our audio to celebrate (?). Whoever claimed a divided house cannot stand had no access to an internet connection. First we struggle to narrow down the 1,100 games previewed at Essen to just five without stepping on Kickstarter and 2nd edition landmines. Next we settle down into the fert...

Welcome to Two Wood for a Wheat. Today's episode Deluge features the Dice Tower Retreat and Simone Luciani's new game Barrage. We were unable to hold back the flow of information on games played at the Dice Tower Retreat. Tony talks an unquantifiable number of games (it's nine), including the quick and dirty Q.E., an auction game where the bets are only limited by your understanding of Latin prefi...

Tony fought his way to the front of the GenCon thralls, pushing countless children out of his way (including some he didn't even need to) to get his hands on Black Angel. See if this oversatured dice worker placement is worth the trauma, or if it's just another fallen angel. We also talk about what we're most grateful for in board games. Why is grateful spelled the way that it is? Why is it not sp...

Today, Two Wood for a Wheat gets a little nasty when we review Abomination, the Heir of Frankenstein, a game that comes to life on the table. After that, we save your game night from the cold hands of death when we discuss how to pick which game to play. Enjoy, folks. 04:36 Ishtar 05:17 The Quacks of Quedlinburg 06:28 Race for the Galaxy 07:13 Barrage 08:50 Carnival of Monsters 09:55 Black Angel 1...

Lots o' games from Gen Con. We plow through about a dozen games we played, from fillers as light as the delightful Point Salad, to the galactically heavy Black Angel. See what's coming down the pipeline... 03:17 Tiny Towns 05:01 Point Salad 09:00 Cartographers 14:00 Kingdomino: Duel 18:27 Curios 19:52 Walking in Burano 20:52 Amul 26:13 Ishtar 35:20 Black Angel 54:03 Abomination: The Heir of Franke...

We were going to name this episode EnTITLEment but thought better of it. We hit hard on the culture that supports that feeling of entitlement on Kickstarter, the culture that rages when their 3mm wood pieces are slimmed down to 2mm or that pushes all others' boxes aside to get their game to the table. We also talk the King's Guild, a 'beer&pretzels' engine builder put out by Matthew Austin through...

When you play hundreds of games and hundreds of plays of those hundreds of games, you're bound to get some bad ones. Today we look at our worst board game plays and argue about whether Res Arcana, Tom Lehman's clever new card game, makes for good plays or bad. 01:28 Underwater Cities 05:42 Kingsguild 06:08 Tiny Towns 08:04 Lorenzo il Magnifico 11:03 Just One 12:58 Hadara 15:22 Die Tavernen im Tief...

Why do we play board games? Aren't they just mushed up dead trees with fancy stickers on top? It turns out not and they actually mean a lot to people. We examine what brought us to the strange and wonderful world of hobby board games, and review Scorpius Freighter, a game of many rondels. 0:48 Tiny Towns 2:44 Just One (not Welcome To) 6:27 Men at Work 8:17 Dogs of War 13:47 Terraforming Mars 20:26...

We know it's not an excruciating decision to listen to this episode, especially when we're talking about a game as good as Underwater Cities. Listen to us rave about this card play/worker placement heavy euro, and agonize about the tensest moments in board games, those created by excruciating decisions. 00:28 Lords of Hellas 00:47 FEATURE REVIEW: Underwater Cities 29:08 FEATURE DISCUSSION: Excruci...

Just like Tiny Towns, here's a small package that's crammed with content. Tiny Towns is a 20 minute spatial planning game that has as many highs and lows as your favorite big box euro. We waste no time and launch into our discussion of Downtime, highlighting mechanics that provoke it and mechanics that save the player from it. Have a great week, everybody! 01:11 Welcome To... 01:49 Tiny Towns 02:3...

We couldn't help ourselves and review just one game. Instead, we looked at Race for the Galaxy, Roll for the Galaxy, and New Frontiers, Tom Lehman's three variations on a theme. Speaking of variations, in our feature discussion, we discuss how designers reuse their core mechanics and core themes from one game to a next, including designers like Tom Lehman, Uwe Rosenberg, Michael Kiesling, Ryan Lau...

In the ancient Norse lands, we pillage the coasts, whale the seas, craft hammers and mail, and play tetris on the front lawn of the meade hall. Wait, what? We're talking about A Feast for Odin, Uwe Rosenberg's magnum opus. We run through the best parts of of this game and where it fails. We played it 10 times in two weeks -- King Hrothgar would be proud. Then we talk the Norwegians expansion, whic...

A magical kingdom awaits, full of redundant mechanisms and empty story elements. Meet Charterstone, a legacy game that never figures out what it wants to be. We also talk to our friend John Gortat who is red-green colorblind about how inclusive board games are to the condition, the perils of Stephan Feld's designs, and how German game designers may not have learned their lesson about inclusivity....