Samurai

"Wiarton Willie is the name given to a Canadian groundhog who lives in the community of Wiarton in Bruce County, Ontario. Every February 2, on Groundhog Day, Willie takes part in the local Wiarton Willie Festival. His role is to predict whether there will be an early spring. Although the original Wiarton Willie died in 1999, the Wiarton Groundhog Day celebrations continue each year with a successor of the original Willie (except in 1999 and 2021 where, due to the previous Willies' deaths, no groundhog was used), and each successor is also referred to as Wiarton Willie. Groundhog Day, featuring Wiarton Willie, is a popular annual festival in Wiarton and is similar to events in other locations in North America. A midwinter celebration involving an animal with predictive powers was an element of Celtic culture. The link between weather prediction and the day is said to have been inspired by an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear/ There'll be two winters in the year."" -Wikipedia Games Played Last Week: 01:40 -Etherstone (Virginio Gigli & Simone Luciani, ThunderGryph Games, 2025) 12:38 -Dogs of War Second Edition (Paolo Mori, Play to Z, 2026) 26:39 -Vantage (Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2025) 34:06 -Monikers (Alex Hague & Justin Vickers, CMYK, 2015) 41:06 -My Very First Games: Let's Be Veterinarians (Kristin Mückel, HABA, 2024) 42:55 -Riff Raff (Christoph Cantzler, Zoch Verlag, 2012) News (and why it doesn't matter): 46:30 Kristian Amundsen Østby and Kjetil Svendsen take tricks with Tax the Rich 47:10 Elder Scrolls expansion, Heroes of Tamriel, on Gamefound 48:00 Berserk on Gamefound 50:54 Battlecrest: Overlord on Kickstarter 51:36 Feature Game: Samurai (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Glück, 1998) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rest assured that every topic we address here at SVWAG will be utterly comprehensive and final, unless and until we decide to address it again. Thus, when we discuss tile-laying games, we perforce will cover all of them, each and and every one, and failure to specifically mention any title means it does not exist and must be scrubbed from all records as a revisionist lie. 01:41 AYURIS: Kutná Hora: The City of Silver (Ondřej Bystroň, Petr Čáslava, and Pavel Jarosch, Czech Games Edition, 2023) Games Played Last Week: 04:55 -Caper: Europe (Unai Rubio, Keymaster Games, 2022) 07:55 -Framework (Uwe Rosenberg, Edition Spielwiese, 2022) 12:38 -INK (Kasper Lapp, Final Score Games, 2025) 16:59 -Bombastic (Robert Hovakimyan, Bitewing Games, 2025) 18:56 -No Loose Ends (Taiki Shinzawa, GameHead, 2025) 26:48 -Marabunta (Reiner Knizia, Space Cowboys, 2023) 30:03 -Saltfjord (Kristian Amundsen Østby & Eilif Svensson, Aporta Games, 2024) 32:01 -Titans Tactics (G. Kelly Toyama, Imbalanced Games, 2013) 35:39 -Guildlands (Ken Boyter & Kedric Winks, Outset Media, 2025) 43:36 -Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition (Ian Cooper, Play to Z, 2024) News (and why it doesn't matter): 46:27 Please support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag 48:09 Fat Bear Week concludes: Chunk is victorious 49:39 Don't Starve: The Board Game 50:38 Arkhipov Day! In recognition of Vasily Arkhipov saving the entire world on October 27, 1962, we celebrate Arkhipov Day on October 27th. 51:43 Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor Big Box and True Solo Mode on Kickstarter 52:45 Decipher the Voynich Manuscript in The Voynich Puzzle 55:25 Topic: Tile-Laying Games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"A quipu usually consists of cotton or camelid fiber cords, and contains categorized information based on dimensions like color, order and number. The Inca, in particular, used knots tied in a decimal positional system to store numbers and other values in quipu cords. Depending on its use and the amount of information it stored, a given quipu may have anywhere from a few to several thousand cords. [...] Inca administration used quipus extensively for a variety of uses: monitoring tax obligations, collecting census records, keeping calendrical information, military organization, and potentially for recording simple and stereotyped historical "annales"." -Wikipedia SVWAG's Pickaxe stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t8XLnJha-E Games Played Last Week: 00:55 -Marvel Dice Throne Missions (Gavan Brown & Nate Chatellier, Roxley, 2025) 05:03 -It's a Wonderful World (Frédéric Guérard, La Boîte de Jeu, 2019) 09:03 -The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game (Bryan Bormueller, Office Dog, 2025) 12:03 -Corporate America (Teale Fristoe, Nothing Sacred Games, 2013) 15:23 -Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders (Tim Eisner and Ben Eisner, Druid City Games, 2024) 18:03 -Captain's Gambit: Kings of Infinite Space (AC Atienza, Alvin Lee, and Mitchell Loewen, Cloudfall Interactive Studios, 2020) 23:51 -Lacuna (Mark Gerrits, CMYK, 2023) 27:12 -Stellar Conflict (James Ernest & Tom Jolly, Artipia Games, 2015) 29:48 -Figment (Wolfgang Warsch, CMYK, 2025) 31:53 -Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (Changhyun Baek, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, DiceTree Games, 2023) News (and why it doesn't matter): 35:43 Reprint of At the Gates of Loyang 36:09 Fat Bear week comes to its climax! https://explore.org/fat-bear-week 37:19 The Hobbit: There and Back Again roll-and-write by Reiner Knizia 37:42 Dogs of War reprint: controversy over hats 38:38 Wandering Galaxy: A Crossroads Game 39:50 Cross-Bronx Expressway by Non-Breaking Space and GMT Games 41:26 Cranio expansion pack on crowdfunding Oct. 1st: Barrage, Rats of Wistar, Golem 42:09 Feature Game: Ayar: Children of the Sun (Mandela Fernandez-Grandon & Fabio Lopiano, Osprey Games, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are staunchly body positive here at SVWAG, but we do prefer our bears fat. "Let me have about me bears that are fat," said Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, or he would have, had he known about the glory that is Fat Bear Week. I guess Caesar wouldn't have been totally down with the democratic aspect of the whole voting thing, but whatever! Exercise your franchise and vote for the moist chonkers bears. https://explore.org/fat-bear-week 01:38 AYURIS: Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (Changhyun Baek, Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, DiceTree Games, 2023) Games Played Last Week: 03:29 -Magical Athlete (Richard Garfield & Takashi Ishida, CMYK, 2025) 10:29 -Revive: Call of the Abyss (Helge Meissner, Kristian Amundsen Østby, Eilif Svensson, and Anna Wermlund, Aporta Games, 2023) 13:19 -River Rats (Mathijs Jansen & Robin Stokkel, Four Suits Studio, 2025) 20:16 -Yokai Septet (Muneyuki Yokouchi, Ninja Star Games, 2018) 24:56 -Amun-Re: The Card Game (Reiner Knizia, Super Meeple, 2017) 31:25 -Regicide Legacy (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, and Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2025) 34:58 -Light Speed: Arena (Leonardo Alese, James Ernest, Tom Jolly, and Emanuele Santellani, Tablescope, 2025) 37:51 -Everdell Silverfrost (James A. Wilson & Clarissa A. Wilson, Starling Games, 2025) 42:16 -ORBIT (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025) News (and why it doesn't matter): 46:05 Dogs of War on Gamefound 48:51 A Billion Suns 2E open beta with Mike Hutchinson's Planet Smasher Games 50:23 Twilight Imperium 4th ed. digital edition on Steam 51:42 GAMA Game Store Day: November 1st 53:22 Special edition of Terra Mystica by Steamforged Games 54:10 Topic: Why Is This Game So Long? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We tempt fate and refer to a number of third rails in the hobby community. For one, we acknowledge a loss in Regicide Legacy, which reliably summons the chattering mobs. Further, we mention both Star Trek and Star Wars, so undoubtedly we get a detail "wrong" that will "justify" a detailed response. Look, we're experts here. We completed the Kobayashi Maru in under 12 parsecs. We're regular callers to Car Talk with Martok. Don't test us. Games Played Last Week: 01:06 -Galactic Cruise (T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, and Koltin Thompson, Kinson Key Games, 2025) 05:30 -Spectres of Brocken (Aaron Lim, Web published, 2022) 15:58 -Rumble Nation (Yogi Shinichi, Hobby Japan, 2017) 18:49 -SILOS (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025) 26:09 -Hot Streak (Jon Perry, CMYK, 2025) 28:16 -The Gang: Jokers and More (Uncredited, KOSMOS, 2024) 32:37 -Marshmallow Test (Reiner Knizia, Gamewright, 2020) 35:12 -High Tide (Marceline Leiman, Underdog Games, 2024) 37:14 -Bombastic (Robert Hovakimyan, Bitewing Games, 2025) 40:01 -Regicide Legacy (Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, and Andy Richdale, Badgers from Mars, 2025) News (and why it doesn't matter): 45:52 Federation: Piracy expansion 47:03 Flow movie gets its Flow board game 47:49 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast Twitch feed. 48:45 Feature Game: Star Wars: Battle of Hoth (Richard Borg & Adrien Martinot, Days of Wonder, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Well, that was your mother And that was your father Before you was born dude When life was great You are the burden of my generation I sure do love you But let’s get that straight" -Paul Simon, "That Was Your Mother" 01:34 AYURIS: Nucleum (Simone Luciani & Dávid Turczi, Board&Dice, 2023) Games Played Last Week: 04:04 -SILOS (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025) 09:34 -Ayar: Children of the Sun (Mandela Fernandez-Grandon & Fabio Lopiano, Osprey Games, 2025) 17:46 -Ichor (Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games, 2025) 24:24 -Kingdom Rush: Elemental Uprising (Alara Cameron, Helana Hope, and Sen-Foong Lim, Lucky Duck Games, 2023) 27:02 -Carolingi (Christoph Cantzler & Sebastian Freudenberg, Sea Cove Games, 2024) 39:17 -Giants Moving Tiny Furniture (Ian Clayman & Ken Gruhl, Exploding Kittens, 2025) 42:59 -TowerBrix (Simon Thomas, KOSMOS, 2024) News (and why it doesn't matter): 45:36 Shackleton Base Expansion: Below. Above. Within. 47:07 Burned on Gamecrafter October 14! https://www.thegamecrafter.com/crowdsale/burned 48:02 Container reprint, a little more minimalist this time 49:03 Topic: Nostalgia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this day of Labour, we offer our solidarity to you. We also offer our labour, because we don't take many days off. No union for us in the opinion mines! I'd complain to my manager, but since that's me, I guess I'd be inclined to ignore it. Classic conflict on interest. The gibbons only complicate the org chart in unhelpful ways. Games Played Last Week: 01:01 -Hot Streak (Jon Perry, CMYK, 2025) 04:13 -High Tide (Marceline Leiman, Underdog Games, 2024) 09:23 -Hyperborea (Andrea Chiarvesio & Pierluca Zizzi, Asterion, 2014) 12:55 -Tianxia (Antonio Petrelli & Daniele Tascini, Board&Dice, 2025) 20:37 -Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022) 27:49 -Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia, Allplay, 2024) 29:43 -So Clover! (François Romain, Repos Production, 2021) 34:24 -Figment (Wolfgang Warsch, CMYK, 2025) News (and why it doesn't matter): 39:42 Kasper Lapp's INK 40:37 Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/svwag 41:22 Adam and Brady Sadler's The Malice of Light Adventures from Twintale Studios 42:51 Suna Valo by Andreas Odendahl 43:14 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed. 43:40 Feature Game: Light Speed: Arena (Leonardo Alese, James Ernest, Tom Jolly, and Emanuele Santellani, Tablescope, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I've always chafed at the conventional wisdom that young goats are good at trick-taking games. Or, at least, ones where you are not incentivized to go null. Do they hold their cards in their cloven hooves? Do their dead eyes come to life when contemplating the vagaries of trump suits? It must be true, though, because I have it on good authority from a cartoon rabbit that tricks are for kids. 01:23 AYURIS: Envelopes of Cash (Andy Schwarz, Envelopes of Cash LLC, 2023) Games Played Last Week: 03:57 -Ginkgopolis (Xavier Georges, Pearl Games, 2012) 08:48 -Vaultbreakers (Valentino Mori, Vaultbreakers Games, 2024) 13:07 -Sidereal Confluence (TauCeti Deichmann, Wizkids, 2017) 17:46 -Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, & Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2021) 20:01 -Hot Streak (Jon Perry, CMYK, 2025) 21:47 -Signal (Jasper Beatrix, DVC Games, 2025) 26:36 -KINGs: TRICKTAKERs (Hiroken, Joyple Games, 2023) 32:40 -Quantum (Eric Zimmerman, Funforge, 2013) -Fromage (Matthew O'Malley and Ben Rosset, Road to Infamy Games, 2024) News (and why it doesn't matter): 38:52 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed. 39:49 Hanami by Keymaster, reprint of Reiner Knizia's Samurai, on Kickstarter 40:51 Topic: Trick-Taking Games Redux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Losing a component is rough. Knowing that one of your games is incomplete is like having a permanent absence in your soul. It's one thing to eschew that one added expansion--that's a triumph of restraint. But that missing block in Viking See-Saw will taunt you forever, a blight on your consciousness that can never be healed. Maybe I'm exaggerating. Games Played Last Week: 00:52 -Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor (Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, & Dirk Sommer, Nemesis.Games, 2021) 04:37 -Riftforce: Beyond (Carlo Bortolini, 1 More Time Games, 2022) 09:44 -Unstoppable (John D. Clair, Renegade Game Studios, 2025) 3D printed tokens: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1851400332/ 14:27 -Signal (Jasper Beatrix, DVC Games, 2025) 20:35 -Viking See-Saw (Reiner Knizia, itten, 2021) 23:19 -Dune: Imperium--Uprising (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023) 28:32 -MicroMacro: Kids--Crazy City Park (Johannes Sich, Edition Spielwiese, 2025) 29:35 -Champions of Midgard (Ole Steiness, Grey Fox Games, 2015) News (and why it doesn't matter): 31:57 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed. 32:57 Ryan Laukat's Song of Silveranth 33:42 Feature Game: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Inigo: I am waiting for you, Vizzini. You told me to go back to the beginning. So I have. This is where I am, and this is where I’ll stay. I will not be moved. Brute: But the Prince gave orders — Inigo: — So did Vizzini — when a job went wrong, you went back to the beginning. And this is where we got the job. So it’s the beginning, and I’m staying till Vizzini comes. -The Princess Bride (who knew Inigo was a Black Sabbath fan?) 02:39 AYURIS: Federation (Dimitri Perrier and Matthieu Verdier, Explor8, 2022) Games Played Last Week: 05:32 -The Gang (John Cooper and Kory Heath, KOSMOS, 2024) 10:08 -The King Is Dead: Second Edition (Peer Sylvester, Osprey Games, 2020) 13:28 -TEAM3 PINK (Alex Cutler & Matt Fantastic, Brain Games, 2019) 18:02 -Rebel Princess (Daniel Byrne, José Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Peláez, and Tirso Virgós, Zombi Paella, 2023) 23:00 -Fives (Taiki Shinzawa, CMYK, 2025) 26:53 -Bargain Hunter (Uwe Rosenberg, Valley Games, 1998) 31:14 -The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2025) 32:48 -Line of Fire: Burnt Moon (Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2025) 39:22 -Cosmic Frog (Jenna Felli, Devious Weasel Games, 2020) 45:05 -Planepita (Eisuke Fuijinawa & Kazunori Hori, SzpiLAB, 2022) News (and why it doesn't matter): 47:15 Part of the Pickaxe Network! Join us Thursday, September 25th at 17:00-18:30 BST for Pickaxe week on the Yogscast feed. [EDIT: Mark says the wrong date on the show. The correct date is September 25th.] 48:35 Expansions! For Freedom: The Underground Railroad, Twilight Imperium 4th, Thunder Road: Vendetta, and another edition of Shogun because why not? 51:08 Update on CGE's Harry Potter-themed Codenames: CGE pledges 100% of profits to appropriate charities 52:14 Devir pledges to replace racist imagery in Ace of Spades 53:09 Topic: Starting Over Your Collection Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices