Welcome to Maple to me. People uniting players around
the world. A 30-minute exploration of PJ
and Gareth ball. Game experiences from across
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They share their thoughts and opinions on the world of war
games including their favorite themes games.
Hot topics and much. Much more.
Hey welcome to episode 29. I'm PJ and I'm Gareth and today
board games and focus Let the Good Times Times roll, everyone.
Today it is Tuesday. It is Fat.
Tuesday in France. It is Mardi Gras in Louisiana.
It is Mardi Gras, which is marking the end of Carnival
season, Carnival in in Venice Italy.
Our friends in Rio de Janeiro and they're also celebrating
Carnival. But in New Orleans at the end,
the theme of Mardi, Gras Nat the theme but the motto Is laissez.
Les Bon Temps rouler in French and has let the good times roll.
So today's focus is going to be Gareth dice games.
Yes, yes. So we have not and we're going
to try to let the good times roll or the board games role or
the dice roll. Yeah, there's a lot of dice
games out there because dice games cover, you know, I thought
about bringing Monopoly to the party but I thought maybe on
this is with an appreciation. She ate such a such a simple
game. So I have chosen three dice
games hitting my table, or I just love to play all of these
hit my table like yesterday and today to be fair like in
preparation Katie and I just played them all.
He do a little homework. I don't do enough homework.
I bring the rule books to the table, but I'm seeing here to
continue with you. If you have, if you hear
ruffling of her papers then that is me reading.
Rubik That's a great. That's what I do.
I tried although I know that at least one of the games that
you're going to talk about fits this mold, but I tried to avoid
rolling, right games for this episode, I could have bought a
load of all the rights because it let me nice Kim's we could
have I mean we could have done that, I think.
Yeah, I think you just let me write down to only wrote down,
two of my listen. I was thinking about the most of
my, most of my games were worker displacement by kind of thing.
Yep. You had eight days placement or
days workers things that I need Ria.
Something really feature or dies drafting?
I have a couple days drafting games.
So yeah. Well why don't you take us away?
Tell me again, how bad he's? Yeah.
Tell me how the dice roll. So, the three games I have
selected is rolling Realms. So that is a role of right space
base and dice hospital. And the money goes on about the
core game. So I'm going to start with
rolling Realms. So it's a Jamie Sigma game is
based on what original game was based on the stone Meyer,
publications of which there's Face 11 cards in the Box.
Representing each card, represents one of the stone, my
games. So everything from viticulture,
to Euphoria Scythe is covered between two castles wingspan
Charter Stone tapestry. What I love about this game is
that every card, every game has been distilled into one single
card. Picking up the elements.
In a fantastic way that I just go.
It's so like the game but so nothing like the game that
Jamie's managed to basically pull out the essence of each of
the ball games into into one of the cards.
So there's 11 in 11 in the box since its release which was
designed through the pandemic. There's been one, two, three, 9
promo cards. And this is where Jamie has done
other games. So we have architects of
whisking, them example, Feast for Odin Arc Nova recently, Tara
Mystic Mist mystica mr. Litton honey, buzz and rolling
Realms. So its own riding Realms card
with enrolling Realms. Each game is made up of nine
rounds, three rounds, three cards, three cards, three cards.
That's right. Rounds over covering nine cards,
should I say, right? And you then roll a dice nine
times and you basically write the two numbers down onto one or
two different cards. I'm not going to cover the rules
in too much detail, but we love it.
It's those games that particularly know the cards.
We teach really easily to new Gamers.
So we start with some easy ones and they were just dial it up.
So, we've we played this last We can last Wednesday, our midweek
gaming, gaming session to a couple of new Gamers and they
picked up really well. It's very portable.
I've got mine down into those photo boxes so we can take it
anywhere with us. So two of those and they're dry
wipe cards. So they basically will last
forever as with dry white pens. And if you're off to a roll and
write a game to have the good times with then I always
recommend rolling realms. And I'm sure Jamie has no
doubts. Many more foil packs that will
be purchased to add to the collection.
Certainly is a nice little game that can keep growing.
Do you own drawing rooms? I do I played it with you and
your friends did see. We played it.
Yeah, 22 years ago. I'm not videos from.
I think we met. We met face-to-face.
Yep. On Instagram cool.
And I think that's the, that's the beauty of this game, right?
I mean, like you said, he developed it over the pandemic
during lockdown to play with his friends remotely and they said
you need to publish. Yeah and he did and it's I think
you can see pick up print and play first.
Oh yeah. If you want to try it out.
Yeah it's not a crazy expensive game.
I'd say no, the replayability as huge as well as my first first
game off my list. What have you got to cover?
And what's going to go first one?
So I've got three games as well. I'm going to talk about Sagrada,
I'm going to talk about a role player and I'm going to go back.
Go back, a ways to tabula. Never had it sounds awesome.
I'm gonna tell you all about it later but first, I'm going to
start with Sagrada came out in 2017 by Adrian, Adam skew and
Darrell Andrews published by Floodgate games.
This game is great. It's dice drafting.
I mean this is incredible. So you are fashioning a,
stained-glass a panel of a stained glass window from the
Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and you're doing it with colored
translucent dice. Beautiful, do you take the
number of players plus 2? I believe plus 2?
Yeah, and that many dice and you roll them.
And the colors matter because you've got, you've got like this
grid that you can put your dice in, you slide a card under
there. So there's a lot of
replayability the colors matter but you can have the same
colors, orthogonally adjacent. Yeah.
The number of Pips showing matter, sometimes they matter
and you can't have like two next to a two orthogonally.
So so you can't put them to the side by side.
So you've got to be very cautious.
This, when you're doing that, there are three public projects
that help you, in case you don't have the colored ice or the
number that you need for your little panel.
So there is a little bit of a set collection because you are
trying to collect sets of colors of diamonds and numbers as it
were, you also have a private objective when you're playing.
So you're trying to do that, you're trying to match whatever
the whatever the project says on your panel.
And you've got a private objectives or you're trying to
do that, and you've got public objectives which are giving you
more points. We've played this countless
times, Katie, and I play it a lot at two player is we could
it's a solid two player, it's better with more, I feel like it
gives it just it you increase the number of dice that come
out, it gets more, there's more options, but yeah, that's A
guarana because it, because with you've got your same glass
windows that they change as well.
Didn't they see? Not only your actual layouts
different? Yeah, you'll collect in
different numbers or different configurations of dice.
Absolutely not. It's a lovely game where we play
two player. I think we removed, we end up
removing half the dice, which is not a rule in the book, but it
just makes it tighter into. No, I definitely agree with that
because we had just played this This morning in prep for the
episode and I was like we take out half the days, right?
No, you know, the rules say, you put them in a there's a lot of
dice and it's like I think I think one Katie at one point she
was she needed a green dye. I think to Green Dykes came out
the entire game. Yeah you know so gotta watch out
for that but that is Sagrada. My Floodgate games pick it up at
a store near you. Fantastic.
It's the only game that through food lockdown that a few people
played on Instagram on the lives and people joined in.
So again, it's a game that could be played remotely with each
other because you can just just the other dice pool.
Everyone just takes the title. They got a copy of the game.
Yep, that's a key to choice. So, Okay.
Number two for me. It's space base.
I love this game now. It's a very simple game.
He's chucking dice activating dice a bit like Machi Koro.
If you don't match your queries, you played that we shall not.
We had that game as your fan of this is got very similar
mechanics, but the other. So you got a player board where
your you have a set of ships numbered 1 to 12 and on those
ships, various Things like Gathering money, Gathering
victory points or improving the amount of wealth that you can
generate every Rams. So you roll two dice.
You can either add those together or use them separately
allocate, the dice to those ships and take the benefits.
And then as you upgrade those ships with new tips that you
purchase through saving money, you took the existing cards
upside reverse, it and tuck it in face down there.
Up down words, that make sense and on that has another Power
which you activate on everybody else's turn.
So on your turn, you're activating the main card on
every on it. Everybody else's tell when
they're rolling a dice, you activate the cards.
You've previously upgraded. So you're always doing something
down time isn't too bad. This game now people the
expansion's place six maybe seven I've only played it with
425. It's plays reasonably fast.
First of all day. See there's loads of cards to
upgrade. Lots of different combos are you
can trigger the card, next to the card your plane and there's
been a think to box expansions, which are kind not legacy, their
story driven. So there's like, let's say eight
modules in the Box. You play through all eight
stories, it unlocks more and more.
And then you put the whole thing into the game, or you can just
pour the whole lot in straight away.
So we always play with, at least a first version of the game.
That's sort of the base game and the expansion.
Action because it adds a really nice little mini dice the game
and we're just playing through the second box at the moment,
but it's really like light-hearted.
Not too complicated. You can teach it really quickly.
Lots of, in jokes, and Easter eggs with the different ships.
If you can try and think back to which realm of galaxies that
came from. So that is space space.
Highly recommend it as a simple dice, rolling resource Gathering
game and Yeah, super fun to play.
That sounds awesome. I still have not had a chance to
experience that game and it looks good and I've got said he
looks Grace, not I say it's nothing.
Nothing shattering in terms of mechanics but just I find
incredibly satisfied because you're trying to build like this
engine up by checking the dice or see you got the bell curve of
distribution. You're trying to get the best
possible opportunity to combo out the back of what you roll,
or all what everybody else wrongs was you.
You always got a chance to game resources on everybody else is
go. So anyway that's number two from
me. What's your number two?
Number two is role-player row player.
Yeah so this is this is 2016. Keith Motika, this is a dice
rolling Drafting and set collection game but I think what
I really enjoy about this so much is It's a game about
creating a character that one could possibly play in a D&D
game. Be a for any that the oh yeah.
Right. So it's like, there's no story.
There's no, there's no, there's no paraphernalia.
There's no extra. It's just you're rolling three
dice or however many dice based on the number of players you put
each die on initiative card. And draw that initiative.
And then you go to the market and you draw a skill, a trait,
an armor or an item, a weapon of some sort and you're basically
creating your character. And I know that they've
expanded, right? They there's a is like
role-player Adventures or something where you role play
the character that you you built.
So this is another game that we played this morning and I
created a dark elf enchanter who Is lawful good was a guardian
who's back story was that they were emotionally damaged and
like that's all there and then you get points because you roll
the dice and then you put them just like in D&D, you've got
your stats right, wisdom intelligence career at mom
Constitution and you put the cards in there and you have a
target number that you want those stats to be threw the dice
that you're putting in place. And then You're getting gold to
purchase new items. It's just a really cool.
Very simple concept. And well, that's the way they
haven't seen it. Done anywhere else, right?
Just grab anything, you make, you're making a game out of
character creation, done. Then you'll be alignment piece
of trying to get the dice in the right place for the alignment,
gather, the right items. And then, I think it's a couple
expansions that adds a few bits to it.
There are like, we've never played me.
We have Monsters and minions do it.
So, what what's really interesting is for those of you
who played tabletop role-playing games in the past, one of the
things that troubles me about the D&D world is the beginning,
you're all in a bar and you've never met each other or you're
going to tap Maron and there's this guy who just walks up to
you with a quest. Well, why do I care why, you
know, by role player. So you go through all this dice
rolling and drafting You're collecting your sets, you're
creating your character because your backstory and everything
like my dark elf enchanter. But if you add monsters and
minions, it's like another Market of cards, right?
Where where we the players as we're creating our characters.
Woven into our back story, is we are facing off against this
monster and we reveal things about it.
In stages, right? That gives us bonuses.
So I can access knowledge before you, which will make it easier
for me to defeat the monster at the end of the game.
So, presumably when we all get to the Cabe, get to the table,
for our RPG, all the characters have met each other because
we've got, you get back stories and everything and will they
fought this giant Hydra, who terrorized the city?
And now you as a Storyteller or the game master and dungeon
manling? That's that's where you start.
So it solidifies the group a little bit more.
It's, I love this game. This is such a great concept.
It's so tight. It's so clean.
Yeah, yeah, it's super sweet that good, right?
Which starts to grab out the draft?
Exact trying to balance it. Yeah, it's a lovely game.
Really nice cable. That is role player and is my
number two. All right.
So similarly, my number three is Dice Hospital, which is also a
dice drafting game. So this game, I thought your it
was a good question, it was 2018 Kickstarter, I think originally,
if you've got the kickstarter version, you've got lots of
plastic ambulances and items but the core game, I think is
cardboard, basically, you're running a hospital, not
surprisingly named as dice Hospital.
You've got to I see the first page drafting the ambulances and
bringing those patients into your school.
So, if you take more complex, patient, full of the dice
represents how ill injured they are.
So, like a one is close to death sinks is basically healed.
So if you take an ambulance for the of more injured people it's
obviously harder to do. But you'll get to go first and
draft. Some of the rooms you upgrade or
some of the Specialists can help you or you take an easier, one,
you'll see you can last your further round and around.
That's the first is in your decision.
You have to make once you've got your ambulance and your your
patients, you then can look at improvements or which could be
different ways. That activate the different kind
of dices three-color Dyson again.
Or you can take a specialist who might focus on green nice or red
do. So, you know, dice then Kind of
everyone for themselves as you start with like three standard
nurses and then your specialist, and you allocate them to rooms
and that makes that you manipulate advice from like a 5
to a 6 or higher heel, all the ones to to or the specialist
might be if you hear a green, another green can heal.
So you're trying to optimize the allocation of your of your of
your doctors and nurses around the hospital.
Beetle and any sixes that turn to a 7, go into the get they get
discharged. So and then, of course, the more
you heal and discharge them the more points you get in that
round and you play the game over, I'm going to say about
eight rounds. It's super tight.
The dice, your after trying to keep everyone from not dying,
otherwise they do go to the morgue that's negative points.
Yeah, we really, really enjoy it and then There is a Kickstarter
expansions of like a maternity, which we've got with pink dice
this improvements. And there's even like a part
where you actually laying out the city towels for the
ambulance as a primary tokens to collect patients.
But I've not tried those. If you're off to dice drafting
game that is kind of that Theme Hospital game of the past but
you're trying to get the right rooms to hire the right people.
I would also highly recommend dice hot Spittle.
There's some of the artwork. There's an expansion for like,
an emergency room, right? Some yeah, yeah, it's like yeah,
it's got extra rooms say that. There's a big one about
paternity and Maternity Ward. Okay?
We always end up playing the base game.
It's just really straight forward.
Again, quick, the table easy to teach because everyone kind of
knows how schools are run in. General is quite a nice Gateway
game as well for our gaming group.
Have you played all know? I have it?
It's been on my list for a while because I mean you got the
little lamp, the little plastic ambulance at you put the ice in
I'm like Malik school. We need to ask that Deluxe.
Yeah upgrade yeah otherwise it is then comes you ditched us if
the card which you put three dice Auntie okay at those needs
painting, that's a reminder. I know those are merely because
my hair grey do. I think you're doing starts the
best in, in an expansion recently.
There's a helicopter so you can helicopter people and what Is
Maxie helicopter. So yeah, one single players,
it's like 2.04. So not very complicated stop.
Here's a question. Are you competing hospitals or
are you a special role within this hostile?
Yeah you've got your hospital and so we've got the same.
I'm going to say about eight or nine rooms to start with and
then you can buy additional rooms that they're hexagonal
tiles. You basically put around the
edge so it's that bit of going first and having the worst
Patience. But getting the first dibs on
the, on the rooms or taking the easier route, but ending up with
maybe not so optimal, it's lovely.
That's a bit is that is the key and then the stress of everyone
be clear, because if they do not get seen by anybody in the
rounds, they deteriorate to. They're not looks after then
they get worse. Which again, is really nice
theme at the end. There's a die that has like five
Pips growing and you didn't, you didn't tend to them, they'll go
forward. Yeah and one's got 20.
Another stair climbing. And so it's like a tiny man.
You trying to do as much as possible?
Yeah. I just keep people generally
getting better, knowing that. Yeah, hopefully no one dies on
my shift. Oh boy.
All right, there is Dice hospital.
So number three from you. Number three is the Dark Horse
of the day's game episode and that is tabula.
I have No idea of now, Googling what tabular is tell me.
This is okay. And you can find it on Board
Game Geek. It was published in 1990.
Wow, my went back far, it was designed by Sarah Finch and
Leslie Scott, this is a two player game so and I the reason
I got it actually, you know, it's very interesting, a friend
of mine picked it up for me while he was in London on.
Occasion and he brought it back to me.
It's based on this ancient Roman game.
That's the precursor to what is today backgammon?
Okay. So it's at its simplest.
It is a role in move that it's very simple.
You have. I can't remember it's 16 or 18
but each player has a number of these beautiful stones and
you're trying to get them onto the Board and then all the way
around the board once so there's four sides 60, there's 24 spaces
total you roll two dice and you can move your Stones now.
You can't move your Stones off the board until you've gotten
all of your Stones onto the board and you have opportunities
to bump your opponent's, Stones. Back to the center.
Which means so if they're scoring and you're getting
behind, you have a chance to knock them out if they leave
their. So, if it's a single Stone on a
space, you can then occupy that space after your dice roll land
on that space and bump them. But if they have two or more
than that, space is protected really simple.
But deep strategy, it's rumored that the emperor Claudius.
The third emperor of Rome. Third know, the fourth emperor
of Rome. Um, he had a, a version of this
game mounted onto his Chariot, or his litter.
Not go through Rome. Yeah.
So this is a really old game, very cool.
It's a lot of fun. Kate, and I played this
yesterday. Again in anticipation is like
man, it was tense for a while but then she totally blew me
away because that's typically what happens.
But that is tabula. You guys know.
You say it's like back in the be a guy in the same way, around
the board that you are going. I'm just looking this been
wearing, I like the artwork. The cut is the Roman may sink
structure? Yeah, it's not plastic.
These glass beads is components. Yeah, there's there's not a lot
to it. It's on its unassuming.
Again, it's just a modern take on an ancient classic.
I like it more than backgammon. Maybe I'll bet you a million
years. It's in print or Oh, yeah, still
in print. You can still get it to be
honest. I think so.
Like just go to London. Go to the British museum, they
have a good shot of? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep.
I see it, as one of these on. Is she crazy Jenga?
Yes, there you go. There's a claim to fame.
Oh, so again that's tabula tabular.
I think it's I think it's called tabula the Roman game I believe.
Yeah that's what the book says. It on the bottom again.
Yeah. So I thought.
Yeah, that looks like a nice to play a game.
So there we are. There's a dice game is covered.
So we've covered rolling Realms, we have covered Sagrada.
We've covered space, space, role-player dice, icicle door,
and tabular, and because because today is Mardi Gras.
And because Louisiana is all about another French term called
Lagniappe. Yeah.
Explained explained explained soul and your abs a little
something extra is how it translates.
Okay, little something extra. So if you go somewheres, they
might they might give you some free thing, right?
Okay. And so this is a little
something extra in honor, my negro and I want to talk about
real quick and that's Big. Easy, busking in honor of New
Orleans, the city that I love this game has no dice.
But again remember this is And yet was published in 2020 by
Joshua Mills and weird Giraffe games.
I absolutely love this game. It is so theme attic.
It's really reminiscent of being in New Orleans.
It's really reminiscent being in New Orleans at Mardi Gras, but
it's set at any time. So you're a, you're a trio of
buskers Street Music performers in the French Quarter, and
you've got this one card in front of you.
And you have the These cubes that represent the energy that
each of those musicians have. Yeah and then you will play
cards which are songs and you play them and you have locations
in the French Quarter in front of you that give you money
money. Equals victory points with the
end of the game. It gives you an opportunity.
You can tip your your your musicians and case they're
running low on energy because you have a reserve of energy
cubes and I can add it but it's got the classic purple green and
gold to try colors of Mardi Gras.
But say the Outlook is is amazing.
That's so bright. I've never heard this game.
Yeah just looking at the current image is now I'm like this game
needs to be played. Now it's great.
It's okay at to it's better at a higher player count just because
you want more. Competition.
Yes yeah. Can basically a two players like
well I'm going to play this card here.
What's cool is each location has an icon and the subsequent song
cards. Have the same icon.
So you have like a little a little in the corners, like a
Mardi, Gras beads, or there's a heart or there's the
fleur-de-lis, and there's a mask like a Mardi Gras mask.
So the location has that icon. If the song you play, has a
match. During icon, you'll get an extra
bonus, right? So it's just it's really cool
because it's like yeah my my trumpetear did a awesome job
playing this song and it's so fun and it's got the balconies,
the artwork on the cards. It's just, it's amazing and it's
like being in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.
So that's a little Lagniappe for y'all and happy Mardi.
Gras to everybody. Yeah, I think Melody, Gras,
thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I quite like that little
sticky bonus at the end. So I have to become a regular
feature. Maybe maybe we can do that.
Look at Ya PJs. Super bonus.
We just pull out a little Lagniappe extra life.
Yeah. Well thank you for sharing that.
And with that I thank you everyone for listening, please
don't forget to subscribe like and follow us.
See don't miss the miss a future episodes and we'll speak to you
soon. Yeah, thanks again, this is
great. Thanks everyone for listening.
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