The Ascent of Board Games

Episode 30 - Games with Changing Boards

Happy New Year! Congratulations on surviving 2020 with enough mental fortitude to listen to a podcast about board games! To celebrate the (hopefully positive) change in the calendar, we're talking about games where the board changes as you play. You'll hear us say things like:
"Sometimes you just wanna go punch your friends in the face."
"In 2003, Mayfair Games produced a tiny little bundle of hate."
 "Yahtzee, with punching." (I'm sensing a theme here...)
"Hey Culligan Man!"
Other items of interest in this episode include:
A classic commercial for an abstract family game about murder and cannibalism.
The board that lets the Titanic slip beneath the waves (after which the survivors, apparently, will also face murder and cannibalism).
Whales are jerks, Exhibit A.
Château Roquefort is much easier to show than to explain in audio format, so here's a series of four pictures on how the board is constructed (thanks to BGG user @pasquy).
And the folding/unfolding boards of Key to the Kingdom (folded and unfolded) and The Mushroom Eaters (folded and unfolded)
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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 more coming soon! (Ooh, foreshadowing!)
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 29 - 2020 Year-End Wrap-Up

2020 - what a year, huh? After everything else it's thrown at us, it managed to give us a last-minute technical glitch that made this episode several days late. We're sorry - thanks for bearing with us!
Amazingly, we were still able to come up with an hour's worth of discussion about good things that happened in 2020, as well as a glimpse at what we're hoping will make 2021 a better year (not that it has a high bar to clear there).
Mike convinces Frank to spend some money for a change.
Jayson fails to find the origin of "Vril," which originated in an obscure novel by the man who brought you "It was a dark and stormy night" (not to mention "the pen is mightier than the sword").
Frank abandons board games for computer games (although to be fair, they include some excellent computer games).
We get a nice rant from Joe - we haven't had one of those in a while!
And a potentially exciting surprise announcement that even WE weren't expecting!
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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 more coming soon! (Ooh, foreshadowing!)
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 28 - Negotiation Games

We'll make you a deal - you download and listen to this episode, and we'll tell you about some of our favorite (and least favorite) negotiation games. As an added bonus, we've gotten our sound quality back to something that should be close to our pre-COVID levels, and we'll throw that in for free. (Thanks to Craig Shipman at the Third Floor Wars podcast for the suggestion that got us there - if you're at all interested in miniature skirmish gaming, that is a show you will definitely want to check out!)
We also answer some age-old questions:
Who is Dan Baden's b*tch, and how did he earn that title?
What game does Frank call "The Box of Being Mean To Each Other"?
And, of course, what combination of Dune rules do we play with?
Advanced Faction Abilities: Yes
Collections Bonus: Yes
Advanced Combat: No
Expanded Treachery: No
Diversified Victory: No
Main Leaders: No
Playing with Two or Three: God no, why would you do that?
A few other items of interest from this month:
Several good sites for playing Diplomacy online, so you don't tick off your real-world friends.
The symbolism-laden box cover art for the German version of Junta.
A brilliantly-blinged-out crew for Lifeboats.
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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/
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 27 - Heartbreakers, Part 2

We're back, having survived another month of the heartbreak that is 2020, to talk about more of the games that also broke our hearts. The audio continues to be noisy, for which we continue to apologize, but we have a cunning plan in place to improve things for next month. Thank you for your patience, and stay tuned!
Some elements of interest from this month:
Read the marvelous short story that inspired a heartbreaking board game.
Some more terrible box cover art which a reprint managed to make even worse.
In case you didn't understand Brian's reference to The Cones of Dunshire...watch the video.
Two examples of the beautiful but clunky games of Jean du Poël...
…plus Frank's remix of the rules to Mare Mediterraneum.
What are the games that broke your heart? And why are we all (but especially Frank) wrong about the ones on our list? Please let us know. And please fill out the Future Episodes poll on our homepage if you haven't already!
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under 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 26 - Heartbreakers, Part 1

Hi, folks. This month, we...we...
I'm sorry. I'll get it together. Give me a minute. (Blows nose noisily.)
This month we're talking about the games that broke our hearts...the ones we really, really wanted to love, but that ended up just making us miserable. (Almost as miserable as our continued COVID-caused audio deficiencies, for which we continue to apologize.) Among our melancholy memories:
Brian gets all noir up in here.
A game board worthy of a third-grade book report.
Some gorgeous miniatures from a lousy game.
Some other thematically identical gorgeous miniatures from a different game, which we have not identified as lousy.
Jayson reminds Mike of a game he hated so much that he blocked it from his memory.
What games do you think Part 2 will hold? What are the games that broke your heart? Please let us know!
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under 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 25 - Racing Games

Well, we came in last this month, but this episode has finally arrived - time to discuss racing games! (Although, as we mention at the end, almost all games can be defined as racing games in one way or another.) Sadly, we are still limited by lockdown audio quality, but hopefully you still find it listenable. Thanks for bearing with us!
 
In this episode:
The world's oldest recorded trash talk. ("Observe my three!")
If you want a groovy new copy of ancient board game, these guys can help.
A pair of great videos about the Royal Game of Ur and how its rules were reconstructed.
This whole Shut Up & Sit Down video is great, but I've skipped to the part about the Game of Goose.
The cutest little dashboards from Formula-1.
And, of course, some Top ASS Dollars! (Apologies to Altenburger Spielkarten; we are American, and also apparently about nine years old.)
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under 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 24 - Real-Time Games

No more taking turns - this month we discuss real-time games! Unfortunately, we are still limited by lockdown audio quality, but hopefully you still find it listenable. Thanks for bearing with us!
In this episode:
Brian is a little bit punchy and/or stir crazy, and also has a little bit of a cold. (Just a cold, we promise.)
A discussion on Zoom meeting etiquette.
We discuss Edgar Cayce - clairvoyant, nutritionist, game designer.
Who is going to reissue a WKRP-in-Cincinnati-themed version of Falling?
Frank tells us about Corona - the game, not the virus.
Our continuing love affair with Vlaada Chvátil...continues.
Brian tries and fails to describe La Boca in words.
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under 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 23 - Games in the Time of Coronavirus

With everything that's going on right now, it hardly seems important to post up a podcast of five guys rambling about games, but as the late, great Freddie Mercury sang, the show must go on. So here's our first episode recorded since the coronavirus lockdown began. Sorry about the audio quality - between the lower-quality equipment we had to use and some problems with Zoom's recording process, I'm just glad that we have a more-or-less audible episode. 
There's no particular theme to this show, other than "how we've been gaming when we can't get together with other gamers." We start with board games, of course, but also take side trips into computer games, role-playing games, and escape rooms, so hopefully you'll find something here that will help. We promise that next episode will be a little more traditional for us, assuming that the sun hasn't exploded by then. In the meantime, please stay safe. We're here if you want to talk. (Seriously.)
In this episode:
Boy, do we have opinions about things. (This should come as no surprise to frequent listeners.)
Joe has lost all sense of time. (We all have, but his case seems worse.)
Here are a bazillion links to sources of lockdown-friendly gaming and entertainment:
Tabletop Simulator
Tabletopia
Board Game Arena
Yucata.de
Forgotten Waters Remote Assistant
The Escape Game
SquonkLand
Breakout EDU
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
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/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under 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!