1P 355 - Popular Mechanics - Animal Games

This week Julius tells us all about climbing behemothic monsters, also known as Leviathans.  In this game you are trying to remove crystals from Leviathans all while they fight back.  It's a cooperative game that can be played solo and uses a book with 17 diferrent monsters, each its own board.  It is actually a pretty unique sounding game and I enjoyed learning about it. Leviathan Wilds (BGG, Gamefound)

This week I talk about a gamebook from Fervent Workshop called What Lies Beneath.  It was designed by Chris Scaffidi and the art is by Jason Glover, who has also designed quite a few games of his own. In this gamebook, you wake up in a dungeon with no memory of who you are or what you are here.  What's worse is you seem to have some sort of creepy cancerous growth on your arm.  You need to get out of here and figure out what is going on.  It's an interesting gamebook with some very novel mechanics. You get to play as one of 6 character classes.  If you die, you can take any earnt experience points and apply them to the next character you make.  Hopefully, this time you are able to survive long enough to get out of this dungeon. What Lies Beneath (BGG, Fervent Workshop)

This week Julius and I are back with a Popular Mechanics episode.  The mechanic this time around is "animals".  That is, we are talking about games with animals in them and feature animals. Oh, we also resolve a contest about 6 minutes in.  If you have entered any recent contests on this show, listen in to see if you won. Anyway, animals!  These are games that feature animals in the theme! 05:21 Arkham Horror: Barkham Horror (BGG, FFG) 06:39 Contest resolution 10:23 Agricola (BGG) 12:20 New York Zoo (BGG) 15:22 Food Chain Island (BGG, ButtonShy) 19:11 Bullfrogs (BGG) 22:18 The Animals of Baker Street (BGG) 23:47 Honey Buzz (BGG) 26:03 Defenders of the Wild (BGG) 27:40 Nekojima (BGG)

This week it's not actually episode 350 but just a filler to let you know things are busy around here.  We'll be back in a few weeks.  In the meantime, don't forget to enter in the Ragemore contest!

This week a sick Albert tells Julius all about Hallertau.  It's a really interesting worker placement farming game by Uwe Rosenberg.  Yes another one!  As per usual, this is a fun game with lots interesting choices, cool mechanics and more bits that fit in a normal sized box.   Hallertau (BGG)

In which we resolve a long standing contest for The Last Lighthouse and then discuss the solitaire legacy game Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom.  This is such a neat sounding game that Julius convinced me to order a copy!  That rarely happens.

This week Julius tells us about the Lookout Games city building game, NEOM.  It's a game about building a futuristic city but really it's a tile drafting game like 7 Wonders but with tile placement. NEOM (BGG, Lookout Games)

This week we talk about the (cozy?) game of animal crime fighting.  This game is set in the Edwardian world of Sherlock Holmes.  You are a mixed group of animals trying to solve animal crimes happening in and around Baker Street.  It's a fun little game that is more akin to a Choose Your Own Adventure book than anything else. The Animals of Baker Street (BGG, Iello)

Julius is back!  To celebrate, we talk about rondel games, a subject he is much more familiar with than I.  We explore a few games that feature Rondels.  As usual, I try to stretch that definition a bit. 02:10 Red Cathedral (BGG) 05:15 Transmissions (BGG) 08:20 Coldwater Crown (BGG) / New Bedford (BGG) 11:35 Ora et Labora (BGG) 12:50 New York Zoo (BGG) 17:10 Patchwork (BGG) 17:45 Indian Summer (BGG) / Cottage Garden (BGG) 18:38 Dreams of Tomorrow (BGG) / Dreams of Yesterday (BGG) 20:03 Merchants of the Dark Road (BGG) 25:28 Pandemic: The Cure (BGG)

This week we finish ranking the Simply Solo games designed by Scott Almes and published by Button Shy Games.  Find out which are my favorite top 3 of the six games. Simply Solo Series (BGG, Button Shy Games) 04:00 Ugly Gryphon Inn (BGG, Button Shy Games) 09:21 Fishing Lessons (BGG, Button Shy Games) 19:56 Food Chain Island (BGG, Button Shy Games)