News & Week In Review - Tiny Little Board Games, Flickering Stars, The Resort & More!!!

0:00 Hey, I'm Alex Ra from Board Gameco and today you are getting the shortest uh most different weekend review you've ever gotten. Um, also special guest is Mogat who's kind of hanging out on the couch over there. Are you just going to hang out or you going to come join us? Come join us, Matt. Or maybe I should join you. Uh, so fun fact, I just filmed a weekend review and um then I went to go edit it and um then the audio was not there. I filmed a 20-minute video that was like the problem is like some videos when you have to refilm a video, there's always different aspects to it. But like I enjoyed I enjoyed the video I just did. It was a fun little conversation. I was talking about the week, some things. There were like fun bits. There were like whatever. Don't get me wrong, of course the video with like deleted audio is obviously the best, most charming, funniest video I've ever done. It's not, but it was it was like I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Uh it's actually a walk. I went for a 20-minute walk using my new camera microphone that I love except when it decides not to record audio, which is a thing that it does, but I thought I tested it. So, um, now we're doing this. It'll be shorter because I don't have the energy to do the exact same thing I just did. So, we're going to do it going to do it slightly differently. Maybe we'll come join Met and see how he's doing. Uh, hey Met.

1:06 How's it going? How's How you doing, buddy? We're going to do a special uh weekend review hosted by Moget over here. How you doing? How's it going bud? Say hi to everyone. Oh, no. No, wait. No, no. Hello. And Oh. Oh. Say bye to everyone. Yep. You can do that. Go on and sniff the camera. Camera's fun. Uh for for non-cat people, I know that the cat stuff can always be Oh, it's so dark here. We're going to go back to where I was. Um for non-cat people, I know that um you know, throwing your pets into everything can sometimes be less charming, but for the cat people, they want more. Um, I just did an Avalon River veil unboxing this past week and someone's like, "I have too much Avalon, not enough cat." Uh, they set up because there was plenty of cat, but they wanted more cat. Anyways, so news and weekend review. We're going to dive into a bunch of things. I'm sorry. I'm not going to have the um I'm not going to have the the the games on camera, what not the same way I usually do. Again, refilming a video, so less energy. I debated not doing it at all, and I was like, you know what? I'm going to I'm going to do it because last week I missed my weekend review and I allow myself. Nowadays, I'm give I give myself more grace. So, I allow myself to miss videos here and there, but I don't like going two weeks without a weekend review. Two weeks in a row, I don't like doing it. I've done it, but I don't like doing it. So, news and weekend review. Let's go ahead and dive into it. News. We have a bunch of new games that are coming out. We have Darwatic headto-head, a new version of Dwarfantic. We have The Resort from from Lerta Games from Vital Nota from Eagle Griffin Games. Vitala uh giving strong white Lotus vibes. The box cover looks gorgeous. Gameplay, no idea. Do I want to play it? Yes. Is it going to be a Lerta for me? No idea. I'm being pulled

2:36 in by the theme. Uh because again I'm a huge fan of White Lotus and there's a whole bunch of stuff. There's a whole conversation around Board Game Geek around this game. Uh but I'm a huge fan of White Lotus uh in terms of like the general concept of a TV show where rich people do rich people stuff and then all die. They don't actually all die, but like bad things happen. Uh so I love the White Lotus and I like the White Lotus vibes. That is what's giving off. We have Headlands and Raiders of Cynthia Omens from uh from from Garfield Games. We have Flickering Stars. Flicking Stars is going to be from Josh Capel and Matt Leok. Uh put out by Pika Games, the um sister company, child company of Fantasia Games. So if you want a flicking game that looks great and supposedly is good, haven't played it yet, uh check out Flickering Stars. And then we have Shelfie from Brotherwise Games. Shelfie from Brother Wise Games is a new game collecting. This is the problem. This is the problem. My weekend review. I I want to kind of do it all again, but I don't have the energy to kind of replicate a conversation I already had. Uh, I had a whole five minute, if not more, like a seven-minute detour talking about Shelfie, the nature of collectible blind boxes, talking about Leboos, La Fufoos, all those things. It was, it was a fun little conversation. I don't have the energy to replicate the exact same conversations cuz my my favorite things that I do on the channel are usually when I go off script and it's natural. Sometimes I go off script and it doesn't work out well.

3:52 Sometimes I'm on script and it's fine. But my my offscript tangents that flow well, that's probably my favorite thing that I do. I had a great one about uh again flying boxes and Shelfie that I really enjoyed. I was uh venting about Wingspan. I was talking about Brotherwise Games. Basically, they have a collectible little um they have a collectible box situation where you have a small little Callex behind you. Um and then they have Oh, they should have partnered with All Play. They should have partnered with All Play and done little Allplay shelves. Sponsored by All Play. This video is sponsored by All Play. You can get these shelves. This is the other side. You don't usually see. Uh these are the other side of my Allplay shelves. something. Actually, you don't get to see this a lot, but they have like these. Like, I don't really show you this angle, but you get nice little corner display shelves. Uh, that's a fun little thing that you have going on here, or that I have going on here. So, consider this your all play uh segment shout out. Anyways, going back to Shelfie, I thought Shelfie was a ridiculous concept, but I'm not here to yuck on someone's yum. If you enjoy it, great. The thing I am here to yuck on is blind boxes in general. Although, again, if you still um like them, by all means.

4:48 Anyways, my segment that I covered earlier was a lot more nuanced. There was a lot of grace for like, hey, I like a good blind box as much as the next person. And I think the blind box is specifically around Shelfie. I'm not here for that. But if you are amazing, I am not here to rain on your parade. Anyways, I did a whole long conversation around it. I'm not going to do it again. I apologize. It'll be lost to the eternal ravages of time along with a handful of videos over the years. By the way, it's not the first time I've lost a video or audio. It's just the most recent. Anyways, as far as the videos of the week, again, I'm going a little fast than usual. I'm not going into as much detail. I've done this already. I apologize. We had 20 late pleasures. A video going over 20 late pleasures. Fun fact, in that video I said I think I do this video series like three times a year. I didn't do it at all. I didn't do it at all last year. I like I I it's been I think it's been a year and a half since I've done a late pledge video. I just didn't realize cuz time flies apparently. I used to do them like three times a year and I haven't done one in a year and a half. So uh enjoy your 20 late pledges video. We had board games tags. Speaking of going off script, I I really enjoyed my board games tag video.

5:43 It was a lot of fun. Uh Jenna from Board Game Garden tagged us. Uh, so myself and Meg, we did a board game tag video, which is basically where you answer a bunch of questions and then tag the next people. We tagged Carly from Board Game Buzz, Chris from Board, and then Amy Maggie from Thinker Themur. We'll see who does what. We don't know. Again, when you're tagged, it's not an obligation. It's an opportunity for a fun little video. Uh, but I really enjoyed the board game tag video. It was again, it was just fun banter, random conversations about different uh, you know, questions. What's your favorite game, most played game, what's a great intro game, things like that. And then, like, you know, who's a content creator? Like, all the various things. But yeah, board game tag. So I did that this past week. And then we also had games leaving the collection with the usual roundup of games that I'm keeping, games that are passing through, games that are leaving, all those things, all those various categories in that. As far as the games covered this past week, we had a Wild Berries gameplay video going up the channel on Saturday. We also had a uh Sovereign Shogun review going up Saturday. Failins has a bunch of outstanding games, so you want to be wary of that. But Shaver Shogun was one of the best games I've played from Failins, so take that take that as you will as far as which direction you land.

6:45 retail. The retail is always a good choice. There's also a OneHit Heroes solo video on Sunday. That was a gameplay gameplay and first initial thoughts at the end of it. We also had an Alexandria unboxing going up this week as well as a Wreck review. Wreck is the new game in the Roth versus Wreck universe. Uh I like Wreck. I like Wreck and Roth a lot as far as the asymmetric abilities. I don't care for the main gameplay, but the asymmetric abilities are the main thing that um I really enjoy. So like it's it's a game system that I don't care for, but abilities that keep the game alive. We had an Echo Bound review, Echobbound Adventures. Uh, that was one that I liked it a lot when I first dove into it. And then the more I played it, some of the charm wore off. It's still fun, but I think some of the initial discovery charm wore off the more I played it. That's why reviews are not after 5 minutes of gameplay. Um, or even one play for that matter. Uh, but anyways, Echo Band Adventures, that was that. We have Hawkfall. Hawkfall is a game. Again, I talk I hate this. I hate this. Every single time I talk about the thing that I'm talking about, I want to replicate the conversation I had because it's the thing I wanted to say and I just did this half an hour ago. So, like I can't I can't I debated going live with this video, but you know, who knows? Anyways, Hawkfall. Hawkfall is um Hawkfall did a gameplay from Taboo. Uh it is almost certainly my favorite. No, it's not almost. It's certainly my favorite Taboo system, which is not a surprise. It does seem to be based on Zombicide. I assume it's actually based on Zombicide, like the collaboration Taboo originally was going to have with Zomicide that never panned out. Um but yeah, I mean, I still have I still think I prefer tactile games without an app managing it over the app. But this is the this is the first ever one that I want to dive into more and see what they

8:16 do with this system. Like see how much the technology allows you to do things you otherwise can't cuz it certainly does but to me it comes with downsides like where the technology is slowing you down. And then lastly we had an Avalon the Riven Veil unboxing game looks absolutely beautiful. Check it out if you haven't. Uh and I hope to have more coverage for you but it won't be soon because I really want to dive in I need to dive into the base game again but then I'm not going to give you more coverage just on that alone because I need to play more stuff because I already covered the base game when it's a prototype. I usually don't re-review a prototype unless I haven't played expansions or unless my thoughts have majorly changed, which is always a factor. Uh, but that was basically the videos going up this week, which brings us to the games played. Games played. Uh, fun fact, the games played segment. It's usually not like usually I focus on try usually I try to focus on specific games because I I usually cover like three or four games I played and I usually play like 20 plus games a week if not more. Um, I guess depends on counting unique games. I'm not I don't play 20 unique games a week. I play a lot of games. Anyways, the games played segment is usually focusing on things that aren't stuff I constantly talk about and aren't things that are coming up. So, for example, I am less likely to talk about Castle of Burgundy because I play it all the time and I'm less likely to talk about what's a game that's coming up for review. I don't even know uh Alexandria. You know, we played Alexandria this week for content. I'm less likely to talk about that because you're already going to see a game play or a review or something around that.

9:28 The things I talk about are things that aren't in the regular rotation or the upcoming or active rotation. So, in this case, just to give you an example of what that means over here. So, for this week, uh the three games talking about are four Northwood. Uh my daughter pulled for Northwood off the shelf and uh just learned it and played it. And that caused me, first of all, I'm proud of her for that. She doesn't She plays a lot of games. She doesn't really like pull off a solo game and be like, "I'm going to learn this myself." I like I walked up to her and she was like finishing the game and I was like, "Wait, did you play this?" She's like, "Yeah, it looked fun." And she played it and enjoyed it and uh now we're enjoying the solo game together separately, but like you know, taking notes like we could do that, we could do that. Uh but anyways uh since then I played a bunch of for Northwood myself because I haven't played for Northwood in like five months, six months, something like that. Maybe. I mean I may have played a game here and there, but I dove back into for Northwood again. I've been playing a lot of Enchanted Ivy, Rolling, um Rolling Deep, and Eureka as my go-to solo games recently. And for Northwood has entered chat again. Uh anyway, so for Northwood's been getting back into the rotation. There's also Tend uh getting a few plays of Tendon. I got two plays of Tendon yesterday alone and I think I want to play it more. Tend's an interesting one for me. When I reviewed the prototype, I I gave it, if I recall correctly, I gave it a 3.5 out of five.

10:32 Um, I really like what Tend is trying to do, and I've constantly felt like I wasn't able to get enough done. Now, there are some changes from the uh initial prototype to the final game, so that could be a factor, too. Or I could just be getting better at it, but I feel like I'm getting more done. And um I think my opinion of Tend is on the is on the upwards trajectory. We'll see where it lands. This is one that maybe I will re-review at some point. I don't know because again, when I when my thoughts change, there's more reason to do so. Uh maybe I'll play it solo. Oh, maybe I'll play a solo today. That could be fun. Get a solo play in. Maybe I'll actually play like 12 times and do a 12 x 12 review of 10. That would be funny for a game that is one of my less favorite alt IV Studios games. Anyways, uh that is 10. And then lastly, Massive Darkness. I I got to play Massive Darkness again, which was both great because I love Massive Darkness and also sad because it's one of those things that kind of makes me think like as much as I enjoyed the experience, do I just want to play Cthulhu May Die and Zomicide? Like maybe I should just play the games those games cuz like I don't play enough Cthulhu May Die. I don't play enough somicide and those I don't have to read the rules for. Mass of darkness I had to do like it was quick honestly. I skimmed the rules, played some classes I know. I played the ranger, the rogue and then I played it with people but we played the ranger rogue and paladin I had to teach people. So like you know I was running some basic classes that I know well. Uh but I like mass mass of darkness a lot.

11:43 I just don't think I like it as much as may die as homicide. We have a five out of five, a five out of five and a 4.5 out of five. And um for right now it's safe. For right now it's safe but we will see. Anyways, that is basically what happened as far as up to now, which means today. Today I will have a review for you of Sky 5. I'll have a I'll also have a review for you of um not review, a gameplay of Alexandria. Uh and then next week, next week is going to be the Gen Con week. We will be doing a Gen Con uh roundup of things. I'm going to have a most anticipated, I believe, a Sunday, Monday, and probably Wednesday or Friday. One of those two. We'll see what happen. I'll see where the week they fall. But I'll be doing three Gen Con videos. will be doing a Gen Con recommended list, games I've played that I recommend that are at Gen Con. Uh games I want to find out, learn more, play at Gen Con. And then lastly, expansions, uh Gen Con expansions. Two of those videos I'll be doing together with Ryan from How I Roll. So, subscribe to his channel if you haven't already. I believe we're doing the collaboration thingy, so like you'll see both of us pop up. Uh but that is basically your condensed weekend review. Even with all that, still a 12-minute video. The first one was like 24 minutes, whatever it was. It was it was much longer. I thought this would be I thought this would be like 5 minutes. I debate not doing anything. It is very deflating to like film a video and then have to refilm it. It is part of the process. It doesn't happen often, fortunately. At least it happens less and less often the more used to filming you get and the more aware of the various potential issues you can run into. Um, but it is still something that happens on on a semi-regular basis. You know, if you're filming 12 videos a week, it's bound to happen here and there. Fortunately, it does not happen often. Anyways, until next time, I'm Alex Rock from Board Game

13:13 Co. I hope you've enjoyed this news and weekend review. uh no matter how it shot or where it shot. And as always, I hope you have a good one. I pressed the button and it didn't stop filming. I have a button stick over here. There's like a stick. I'll show you. Okay. So, I'm playing with this um little camera stick and there's a button that's supposed to press that's supposed to