The Ascent of Board Games

Episode 62 - Kingdom Death: Monster Deep Dive, part 1

Buckle in - we decided to try something a little different this month (and next month, because as usual we can't shut up once we get started). We're doing a deep dive on a single game, and we're starting with the legendary Kingdom Death: Monster.
If you're interested in the game, you can look forward to two episodes full of discussion and commentary! If not...well, it's a great time to catch up on some older episodes, amirite?
Either way, please let us know what you think - do you want to hear more of these deep dives or not? If so, what games would you like us to dive into next?
For a close (and potentially disturbing and/or sexy) look at the KD:M miniatures, check out KDM Collector.
You can even see a model based on game creator Adam Poots!
As always, thank you for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review to help us find new listeners.
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Episode 61 - Non-Verbal Communication Games

Let's talk about not talking! This month, we discuss games in which you have to use things other than words to communicate with your teammates. Highlights include:
Charades may be older than we thought, but maybe not as old as BGG says it is.
Frank's favorite part of Inkognito
We delve into the historical era of...2009?...as Frank breaks the rules again to bring us a game that is literally bonkers.
Mike serves his new AI overlords by promoting their game.
Bad news - Joe has been murdered! Good news - he pronounces a Polish game name almost perfectly!
Is comparing single-digit numbers really math?
As always, thank you for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review to help us find new listeners.
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Episode 60.2 - Wildlife Games, Part 2

We're back with more adorable animals (and some that you may not think of as adorable, but that's just, like, your opinion, man). This month's selection includes:
Scythe With Wolves, or, The Dangers of Peer Pressure
A lovely, solid game that just feels a little...icky
Mike gets to make a picture panorama!
The fox experiment that inspired The Fox Experiment
The search for lost species that inspired The Search for Lost Species
And an octopus escape room!
As always, thank you for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review to help us find new listeners.
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Episode 60 - Wildlife Games, Part 1

Wildlife games! They're full of adorable meeples, heartwarming themes, and...interesting mechanics (which lead to some differences of opinion between us and the mainstream). Come join us as we talk about: 
Big chonky animeeples!
We stump Frank on a Phil Eklund game, which turns out to not belong in this episode at all.
Possibly the most useless insert ever to darken a game box.
Contrariwise, here are some very GOOD component storage tools.
Why does Mike hate birds? Their eggs are so pretty!
Why does Joe hate zoos? Their Arks are so Nova!
Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot!
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy holidays!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Episode 59 - Looking Ahead to 2024

Happy New Year, everybody! To kick things off right, here's an episode looking at all the cool games we're hoping to play in 2024. It's full of plenty of laughter, largely because of the maniacal giggling of Curtis, our newest cohost! Among the things we're laughing at:
This map from The Stifling Dark amuses Joe.
There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth as we pre-empt each others' picks (although no one else wants any of Brian's picks)
This terrifying array of tokens from Magic Realm, which is getting an unofficial remake this year.
And then, to moderate the mood, we take a sharp and unplanned left turn into games that make you feel icky to play, including John Company, Doubt is Our Product (read this amazing designer diary), and An Infamous Traffic.
Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot!
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy holidays!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Episode 58.2 - 2023 Year-End Wrap-Up, Part 2

Happy December, everybody! It's time to conclude our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. We covered our #4 and #5 entries last month, so here are our top 3 from 2023, including several unexpected entries. You'll also hear:
Frank continues to assure us that our opinions are wrong.
A subtle but delightful piece of box cover art.
Mike and Joe both rate games at #2 that they haven't bought.
An asymmetrical, real-time, cooperative roll-and-write? In SPACE?!?
But Frank, if it's your "greatest game ever," why isn't it your #1? (Because your #1 is a COMPUTER GAME, you cheater.)
Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot!
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. (We've decided to leave Twitter, or rather X.) Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy holidays!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Episode 58 - 2023 Year-End Wrap-Up, Part 1

Welcome, everybody! It's time once again for our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1.
...or rather, from #5 to #4 this episode, with the rest coming next month, because BOY, do we like to talk about games. Highlights (and/or lowlights) include:
Use This One Weird Trick to Diversify Your Damage Portfolio - Glyphids Hate It!
PLEASE LET MIKE PLAY THE GAMES HE BOUGHT
Sometimes, more is just more.
The slightly bonkers player board from Revive
The Adventures of Robin Hood: Friar Tuck Is Stupid
Made-Up Place Name: Ominous Subtitle
Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot!
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky (new!) or @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Episode 57 - Hotel Lovecraft

Happy spooky season, everybody! It's October, which means it's time for a horror game playthrough. This time, Frank brings us Hotel Lovecraft, an audio-powered paragraph-style game from Story Master's Tales. We've trimmed the game down to make for a reasonable episode length - and we got a few rules wrong along the way, to be honest - but hopefully you'll find it entertaining!
Frank and Sandi's character develops a taste for blood. (Metaphorically. (We think.))
Mike introduces us to the concept of a "comfort knife."
We are all very bad at Egyptian mythology. Except Mike.
Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot!
We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!