Broken Meeple Podcast 135- Golden Geek Awards & UK Games Expo Preview

0:31 Hi everyone, welcome to another Broken People podcast. This one, 17th of May, 2026. And this will be the last one for a couple of for probably a few weeks, say three, maybe four. Mainly because in two weeks time, the UK Games Expo is on. So, even though I'm only going for two days this year, not three, I'll be back on the Sunday. I don't really feel it's appropriate to sort of do a review of the UKGE on the day I get back, and it's not even finished yet, you know. And even then, I'm also going to be somewhat knackered on the Sunday. So, I think give me yourself a break there, and we'll either we'll we'll probably do a review, say, the week after. So, perhaps perhaps we'll do it like that, you know. We'll do like a May- maybe if I feel like I've got a ton of energy in me, I'll do one on that Sunday. But, most likely I'll do one the week after. So, we'll take a week break and do a proper sort of review of the UKGE experience like the week after. That'll probably work better. But, uh yeah, cheers for joining me. It's a typical sunny day. It's not yet got to the point where it's getting stupidly hot, although it's always hot when I do this podcast, cuz uh you're you're on edge, you've got the lights, you've got everything, so you can't put the like you can't put any air coolers on or open the windows or anything, so those get pretty warm. But, sooner or later we're going to start getting into hot territory, and that's when I don't enjoy myself during the summer. I really do not take heat unless I'm sitting in a nice cozy spa, a warm shower, or you know, a hot bathtub, or in my bed, you know. Other than that, I don't need to be, you know, stupidly hot at any particular time.

1:59 And in terms of what's going on, I want to get on with this episode pretty quickly. So, I won't belabor the preliminary stuff too long. I just need to actually share the screen. That would have been an intelligent move, wouldn't it, Luke? Yes, wouldn't it just?

2:35 So, let's quickly get on to some like updates because I want to get into the show pretty quickly. So, there's quite a lot to talk about and I'm always conscious of my throat. But, channel updates, not a lot has happened. I mean, 27,523 in terms of subs. Let's keep that going. Two things have come out since Foxglove Farm game review. Allicat Games sent me a review copy of that one before the expo started. So, I've given my thoughts on that. Not a lot of views, but then it's obviously probably not going to be a game that everybody's clamoring for from the expo compared to some. And I did a top 10 list, a top 10 calming relaxing games. This was another request from the Patreons. After this, I might need to ask for some more updates. Although, technically, the next two on the list in terms of voting priority were the overrated and underrated games.

3:21 It's been a while since I've had a good ranty top 10 list, you know, and I'm curious. There's certainly some games in the last 5 years that I would like to talk about in terms of how overrated I think they are. So, maybe it's time to do another one of those lists. Yeah, I get backlash for it. I don't care. Honestly, I'm beyond that point of caring these days. I think like, you know, after I was saying last week, you know, this channel can only go on for so long and the way the industry is going at the moment or something and the way everybody is online. I see it everywhere on Facebook and that. It's just I think you just get to the point where you just like, "Yeah, be angry. What do I care?" You know, it's it's just that kind of thing really. Uh you know, if you've got the energy to shout at somebody just because they don't like the same game as you, then clearly you need to do more in your life cuz you've got too much energy to spare. Um but uh yeah, so hopefully I'll get on with a top 10 list of some description. There's uh the only thing that's on the horizon to review is Lands of Ever Shade. People are asking me when I'm going to do a review for that. I am.

4:19 I am playing for the content as we speak. It is underneath all the setup. I am uh about to start the advanced adventure. I've already done the starting one, which was a good poo. That was definitely a good sort of 10 to 15 hours worth of content there. But um yeah, I'm about to start the advanced adventure and I want to get through that one before I do a review. I I don't think I need to play all three. You get three in the sort of deluxe box, okay? The starting, the advanced, and the expert. I want to get through the advanced because technically in the preview I did, I already did a uh kind of like a like half of the first adventure already in the preview. So some of it was already sort of familiar and I just went to down a different path, which is important cuz I need to check about branching paths. But it doesn't you know, I can't really sort of review the game after pretty much repeating the same adventure again. So you know, certainly the second half is different and new. But I want to also review my experiences after playing one of the newer adventures I've got no income like no preliminary information going in. So you know, something brand new. And to be honest, there are pros and there are cons. Yeah, this is not a perfect game by any means. So uh you know, I'll be more than willing to share my detailed thoughts on that because I have a feeling this one will be quite a long uh video to do. But uh yep, I'm looking forward to getting into the next adventure. But I'd say this game is not without its flaws. So you know, bear that in mind. But uh I am enjoying the experience overall for now. Hm, hopefully that laptop noise is not getting in the way. Goes like a The fans

5:50 go nuts when you do recording or something cuz it always wants to cool itself down and it's very difficult to do that on a laptop. Uh but yeah, that's about it. Otherwise, I'm kind of doing fine. You know, just trying to keep in shape. You know, I've still got a flabby belly. Try to keep in shape, lose some weight for the summer so that I don't get too hot. Uh but other than that, I really can't think of much else to talk about. You know, it's business as usual, really. I'm just The fact that it's a slower period of the year for games uh has given me a chance to just do other things in life, you know, to play some more video games. You know, I've been playing a bit more Stellaris lately and some Valheim and that. And you know, I've obviously been able to play The Slums of Ever Shade. I've been able to play some other games as well. Um even just go out for walks now and again. You know, just chill. You know, I mean, I got a lot of TV shows to watch as well. I mean, I'm done with a lot of the TV shows that are uh that I've been watching since April like, you know, Daredevil and um Invincible and a couple of couple of others Darth Maul, that was a good one.

6:47 We're nearly finished with The Boys. Although, I have a feeling they're going to go down a Game of Thrones season 8 with that one. So, I'm not looking forward to the finale. I I think they're going to mess it up, but we'll see how much of a train wreck it could be. Uh but I also have a few other series I need to watch. I've been recommended a couple, something called Murder Drones uh because I like Amazing Digital Circus. I'm going to go watch that in the cinema when the finale comes out. Uh I've also got a couple of animes to watch, second season of Astoria. I've still not watched the third season of Jujutsu Kaisen. Uh there's There's just a few things I could do with uh watching. So, yeah, I'm trying to catch up on other things in life. This is part of the parcel of what I was saying last week, you know, less time on the blog means more time to enjoy the rest of life. Uh but yeah, okay. So, let's get on with the show. And first up, I want to talk about the uh Golden Geek Awards.

7:35 Now, honestly, I pay very little cop to the Golden Geek Awards. I mean, I don't I I vote in them, but that's about it, you know. I don't actually put much reliance into the Golden Geek Awards in terms of what is like recommended or winner or anything like that. I just basically look at it and half the time I roll my eyes because I think people just vote on this based on their favorite game rather than actually paying attention to the title. And trust me, I've had a brief look at this already. Not every category, but certainly a brief look at the whole thing and there's clearly some people playing favorites here. There's There's like one or two like particularly the innovative category, which always seems to just be forgotten as to what the word innovative means and everyone just votes for their favorite game. It's I don't know. I I honestly think this is not a very good awards. Honestly, it really is not the collective minds of gamer. It's It's basically a niche group of hardcore gamers that are rating this.

8:35 This isn't like, you know, embodiment of everybody who plays games. This is just a select niche group and it clearly shows. But now, let's just scroll down and reveal some of the games cuz some of these I can't even I have not actually played, so I can't comment. Two-player game. Actually, can you see this on the screen right? Yeah. Two-player game winner Toy Battle, then Tag Team and Star Trek Captain's Chair. Star Trek Captain's Chair actually, I mean I gave that a review and I said it's got its problems. It's too fiddly. It's too complicated for its own good. I also didn't like the way in solo half of the cards didn't work like the attack cards just seemed to have no meaning in one player. So, I'd rather play Imperium. And even then, that's only if I can get the rules to that one down to fiddly as it is. It's It's a problem. I love the game mechanics. I just wish it was an easier game to grok from the rulebook. It just really isn't. It's the biggest problem with that game.

9:23 But Star Trek Captain's Chair does suit a two-player scenario more than solo, I think, because the attack cards then work. So, I could actually give props for it being a runner-up. Tag Team and Toy Battle though, I have not actually played. I literally don't know what this toy battle is. So, let's have a look at this. Toy battle. Send forth an army of toys to capture territories. Publisher Repos Production. Okay, I'm surprised I haven't heard of this one. Uh you draw two toy troops, place them All right, let's have a look at this. Uh I mean it I mean it looks colorful. It looks cute. Um it's not looking like something I would go crazy for, but I mean it looks well produced. Um I mean it could be fun. I don't know. I guess I just looked at the name Toy Battle and assumed it was for kids. I mean literally this guy's going in with Viking rubber ducks. So, I assumed it was just a kids game and probably just didn't look at it at all after that. I mean you tell me, is it basically a kids game or is there actually something for gamers here? Um I'm curious. But, uh cutesy pictures, a two-player game. I don't often get two-player games to the table. So, honestly, I'm not too fussed about that one. And I've never played Tag Team. Artwork and presentation, Old King's Crown win it, followed by Galactic Cruisers and The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. Um I mean The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship artwork is not bad. It's decent. I wouldn't say it was amazing, but especially that cluttered board.

10:44 Uh the Galactic Cruisers Galactic Cruisers is good from graphic design perspective, but I wouldn't put it as like a gorgeous artwork or anything. The board is pretty stale at the end of the day. There is some nice art in it, but yeah. Um the Old King's Crown though, I'm kind of happy for that one to take the the win on that. I mean I've reviewed it and I barely gave it a five out of 10. Like I said, I have problems with this game. It is certainly in my opinion probably suitable for that overrated games list, actually. I think it's it's got too many issues for me. But, I got to admit, the artwork in this is pretty stunning. It's a it's a unique design, and it takes me a little while to get used to this design. Uh but, yeah, you can't deny that the artwork is pretty damn good. All right, so um I mean it presentation-wise, the graphic design is a bit hit and miss. It certainly is hard to read all the text everywhere, and it's a fiddly game in its own right, but yeah, you can't deny that this artwork is drop-dead gorgeous.

11:36 Yeah, it really is good. So, yeah, I I mean, look at this. I'm barely able to read any of this text and it's basically looking straight at it from the screen. This is the problem with this game. It has way too much text for people to read and you cannot read most of it. It's really a graphic design uh like paint job, but yeah, looks gorgeous, so I'm willing to give uh Old King's Crown at least this category. Uh spoiler alert, it didn't win any others, so I'm good with that. Co-op game, winner Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, runner-up Vantage, runner-up Eternal Decks. Now, I've never played Eternal Decks and honestly, from I mean, that cover looks horrific, so I'm not sure why anybody was grasping for this one, but limited communication co-op, mhm, is one that I actually do I do like limited communication, so that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does look a bit This does does look like a cluttered mess. I mean, I can't understand the first thing about what's going on here.

12:31 You know, all this graphic design everywhere, all this symbology. I mean, fair enough, it's language independent, but I got no clue what any of this stuff is or any of these symbols. It looks It looks like a cluttered mess. Could it be an awesome game? I don't know, but somebody's going to have to put this in front of me and show me it because I have not even seen a copy of that this anywhere. Uh but that aside, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, I I like the game. Um I gave it a seven out of 10. I've done a review on it, a full detailed review. It does have problems. Um it I mean, the board for one of the thing is r- insanely cluttered and busy and it's just a nightmare to read, especially when you got all these bloody Nazgûl uh things crowding around your area, which they will do. You have massive battles here in Ithilien and stuff, which literally you cannot fit all the pieces on the board. I mean, it's it's a bit of a nightmare, but the game itself is fine. Um I think some of these objectives are better and easier than others. There's certainly some balance issues, I think, with some of the character powers. I think some are way better than others. Uh but um and certainly I think whoever controls Frodo at the end of the day doesn't really have much of a game to play uh compared to the other characters. But uh yeah, you play it solo and you get away with that issue. So, I like the game fine. I mean, it's got issues, but I do overall like it. So, but there wasn't really a lot of co-ops that came out last year.

13:50 So, if we're going to put a winner, I would certainly uh probably end up putting Lord of the Rings Fate of the Fellowship actually. I don't think there was anything really in the cooperative title that was taking my fancy. Advantage? No way. I mean, God, you play this in co-op mode. You are there for hours and hours and hours and hours just occasionally supporting each other with a die or two. That's the co-op nature of it. It's a solo game through and through. And even then, I barely gave it a seven and I'm actually kind of regretting giving it a seven. I really should have just given it a six because it's not something that I think I should have given a seal to. But oh well. Expansion Seti Space Agency followed by Twisted Paths for Lost Rooms of Arnak followed by Bloodlines for Dune Imperium. I have heard nobody talk about the Bloodlines expansion for Dune Imperium at all. And I know some Dune Imperium fanatics. Not one of them I have seen at a game club recently playing Bloodlines. So, runner-up question mark? I feel that was just literally people just choosing it for the sake of it. Twisted Paths is pretty good though.

14:52 Uh you know, but I yeah, you got to give the winner Seti Space Agency. It has to be. Yeah, this one is cool. It didn't shorten the game unfortunately. I did wish it would have done that, but asymmetric powers, some quick start rules to get you into the game quicker without too much of the setup. You know, some extra stuff to do, some more aliens. I mean, it's a great expansion. It just didn't achieve 100% of what I was hoping it would do, but it achieved a decent amount of it. Mhm. Uh throat's drying up. I may have to pause the podcast at some point to get a proper drink at some point, but we'll see. Okay. Problem is, when it gets warm, talking is a lot harder. Okay, let's have a look. Then we go innovative. Here's the category that makes you roll my eyes. Winner, Vantage, followed by Moon Colony Bloodbath, followed by Hot Streak. Now, Hot Streak is just a racing game. How innovative can you get with a racing game? But I've not played it, so I won't comment further. Moon Colony Bloodbath is actually pretty innovative. I mean, the idea that you're sort of building up a deck and then slowly watching it destroy like you're building up a deck to basically survive the onslaught that's coming at you. It's different.

15:57 It's different. It's a little bit of a different game. Vantage is every carbon copy of every Seventh Continent wannabe that has come out in the last 10 years. It is not innovative. There is nothing in this game that is innovative. It is the same It practically is Seventh Continent with a better paint job. That's all this is. Nothing else. The card system, not innovative. The dice system, nothing particularly innovative. The whole wandering aimlessly around the planet, not knowing where you're supposed to be going because the game doesn't give you any kind of direction whatsoever. That is literally what Seventh Continent is. You know, just change planet for island. You know, and you know, the victory conditions, you might as well always go for the victory condition that means you evacuate the planet. You know, as in get off the spaceship. Because it's the easiest one to achieve and it's the one that's realistically you can aim for.

16:44 Whereas all the other achievements, all the other ways that you can win, involve you wandering around the planet aimlessly trying to find like three things, you know, three towers, three gems, whatever, and fulfilling the objective. The problem is, this thing is huge and you do not have a clue where you're supposed to be going. So, you're just wandering around aimlessly, randomly doing tests for skills, and you know, nothing of particular importance or even that much story interest. It It this is not, you know, I gave it a seven. I really wish I gave it a six. I don't know what I was thinking. Yeah, this for me I think now is a six out of 10, and that is for solo only. It is actually lower if you play this with multiplayer, but it is not innovative. We've seen this done a hundred times, which is why I am bored with this style of game now, because we've done it so many times. And it's I mean, innovative? Seriously?

17:35 I mean, we didn't have a good year for innovative games. I'm not saying that there's one that clearly should have won it, but you know, frankly, we just didn't have a year of innovative games. But I would have rather given it the Moon Colony to Bloody Vantage. Uh like game of the year, Hot Springs Magical Athlete and Toy Battle. I mean, Magical Athlete is literally some bare-bones racing game from ages ago. So, the fact that they've just re-released it, and suddenly it's now it's the this game of the year, and it's like we've already had it before. Unless you have fundamentally changed the game in every way, it's the same game. It doesn't deserve to be on a current year award. Hot Springs, I mean, I have not played this. It looks like a gimmick, just these big days It basically just looks like a a Magical Athlete plus, a Magical Athlete deluxe edition, basically.

18:22 I mean, I mean, you've got these characters. I mean, it was just there for comedy value more than anything else, you know? It's just there to look fun. I mean, at some point I'll play it, honestly. If If somebody puts it in front of me, and I've got 30 minutes to spare, I will play it, okay? I will give it a try, but for crying out loud, this had better blow my mind. This had better be one of the best games I've played of the year, because the amount of people hyping this up like crazy, despite its high price tag and that, is beyond belief. You know, it came out of nowhere, and suddenly, I think Shut Up & Sit Down might have put something out and said it was amazing, and for some reason everybody considers them to be the gospel truth of everything, despite the fact I mean, well, check out the controversy between them and the Board Game Bollocks, and you'll see what I mean. Yeah, um hm, pretentious much?

19:11 But uh yeah, I mean, come on. This better be amazing, otherwise I'm going to flip my lid. Um, medium game of the year, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, followed by Blood Bath and Vantage. I mean, it is a uh that year, I mean, there wasn't I could probably think of one or two others I'd have rather given this to, given, you know, my top 10 of the year. But, I mean, out of the out of the choices, there really wasn't some good choices there, but I'll let Lord of the Rings have this one. Heavy game of the year, that this one finally I can actually get on Well, I got on board with the expansion. I got on board with the artwork. I can actually get on board with this one as well. Heavy game of the year, Galactic Cruise, followed by Speakeasy and Lofia. I would have flipped my lid if Speakeasy had won this. I mean, I've only played it a couple of times, but, yeah, I'm sorry. Speakeasy is definitely I mean, I don't know if I could call it overrated.

19:56 I mean, I suppose it's overrated, but it is technically just a small niche group of gamers that are loving it to bits with a loud voice. It's not exactly a widespread love, but, yeah, Speakeasy definitely is not that great a game. Um, but Galactic Cruise is. I I love Galactic Cruise. It's a very cool uh heavy game. Um, definitely worthy, I think, of a lot of accolades it got. I think it was my third favorite of the year. Um, and, yeah, it is a solid game, you know, it certainly has it's not perfect. It, you know, the cards, the agenda cards are definitely out of balance. Um, there is definitely a bit of a front-loaded teach, and uh AP players can slow this game down to an absolute freaking crawl to the point where you actually feel like you want to shorten the game by house rules, but overall, still really solid game. I would have definitely given this one heavy of the year.

20:45 Mhm. Drinkie, drinkie. Uh, right. Now, the next few I don't think I'm going to be able to talk about much. Party game, Hot Street, Magical Athlete, and Take Time. I like Take Time. I wouldn't have ever given it the Well, I'd have given it the winner of the year just because I haven't played these other two. Oh, no, Magical Athlete I might I might have played ages and ages ago, but Hot Street I haven't. Again, Hot Street better blow my mind, honestly. It better blow my mind, but I got a feeling this could be an overrated game. And by the way, everyone's going on about it. Print and Play Dungeons of the Oakdale. I I don't do print and play, so congrats. Uh solo game, Vantage, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, and then Star Trek: Captain's Chair. I've already said my piece on Captain's Chair. It doesn't work as a solo game. It's better as a two-player game. Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, I might have actually given the edge here because solo Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is actually not bad. I think it's actually better than team mode. But uh Vantage solo game, I barely gave that a seven, and I'm already regretting my decision, so no. Vantage doesn't deserve this.

21:44 Thematic game, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. You can see which one cleared up a lot of these awards, isn't it? I mean, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, I gave a seven. That's how slow this year was, okay? I gave this game a seven, and it's winning most of these categories. I mean, my top 10 of the year had games that I would have rather stuck in it, so I might have to check that out in a minute. Um but thematic game, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is fairly I mean, the point is is it thematic? Some stuff happens in it that makes sense theme-wise, but it's also basically just Pandemic on steroids, so it's, you know, it's kind of a hard one to call. Um Vantage, I guess I mean, does it have a theme? I mean, yeah, you can put any random episode of the week story thing in the game and call it theme. Galactic Cruise even though theme-wise, I mean, it's got a solid it's got a fun theme, but I mean, I guess it is pretty thematic, you know, it is trying to be a cruise at the end of the day, and there are some similarities to cruises in real life, but again, it's a heavy euro, it's difficult to make the theme truly sing.

22:38 But I mean, I would have probably given the edge to Lord of the Rings in this one. And Galactic Cruise, just take Vantage out of the list, and I would have been right. War game, I don't play war games. Star Wars: Battle of Hoth won it, followed by Toy Battle, and something called Cross Bronx Expressway. I don't play war games, so congrats. Uh I don't care about the podcast one, and the best board game app, uh winner, board Ark Nova for the board game app, Cascadia Digital. I didn't even know there was a Cascadia Digital actually, so I need to look that one up. And something called Micromacro Downtown Detective. Oh yeah, the Micromacro series. Okay, fair enough. Maybe there is an app for that. Actually, that's a game that probably could work as an app. But yeah, Ark Nova, I played the Ark Nova game app pretty regularly. So yeah, a lot of my plays have been. I wish it had Marine Worlds in it, but it's a very good app. Paul Grogan even played a game of it recently. He did a sort of a Patreon only stream of it. And I remember actually sitting in on it and rolling my eyes at a lot of the choices he was making. But what am I supposed to say? I've played it a lot more than he has. But yeah, Ark Nova is a pretty good Steam app. Not cheap, but very good app. So when they put Marine Worlds in it, it's going to be fantastic. It's already pretty damn good. So there you go. That's the Golden Geek Awards. Pretty meh, honestly. I mean, it's just mostly just seeing repeats of Hot Street, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, and sadly Advantage. And a couple of other mentions for, you know, Galactic Cruisers and that. It's definitely not um you know, a list I would have sort of gone. I mean, let me just quickly go to like top 10 of 2025. And this was barely

24:10 um Why can't it find a video for top 10? Oh, it's cuz it's probably wanting the uh yeah. Yeah, a lack of distinctions. Yeah, I literally could not come up with a list of distinctions. Now, I'm sorry if Sorry if I'm spoiling my top 10 list here, but uh hopefully you'll watch the video as well. So what have we got here? So we got um Timber Town. Okay, we got uh you know, Tax the Rich, uh Valheim. Yeah, none of these I would put on that list. Uh what's that? Echoes of Time? I mean, I I would put this as a contender for my light game of the year actually. Uh unless anything else beats it. Oh no, Whispers Wood. Yeah, Whispers Wood didn't get a mention. That would easily be like a potential light game of the year. I thought that was a really solid one. Uh Galactic Cruisers, yeah, fine. Uh Wild Venture. Oh yeah, where was a Wild Venture in the 102 player game list? A Wild Venture Actually, was it? I can't remember if it was a nomination. I mean, if it was, I would have definitely voted for it. Yeah, this one kicks the town out of like the others. I'd prefer this to Captain's Chair and a few of the other ones.

25:12 Uh what do we got? Ages Yeah, where was Ages of Steam? Ages of Steam, I mean, was that in the list? I can't remember what the nominations were, but it's so long ago. But, yeah, Ages of Steam, that was easily my Oh, then again, Galactic Cruise, cuz Ages of Steam is fairly heavy. If I called this medium, I'd be lying to myself. Uh I'd put it as a runner-up for Actually, no, I did vote this higher than Galactic Cruise. I actually prefer this one. This could have been my heavy game of the year. I mean, if if it was this or Galactic Cruise and one was the runner-up, I'd be totally fine, but neither of them are medium games, so I can't really put them in that category. And then number one was Ember Oh, god, yeah, Ember Harding got a mention. I mean, yes, there's one issue with the flame. Okay, yeah, get off my back, all right? They have put in an official house rule to solve it, and it fixes it entirely.

26:01 There you go, job done. Can we now recognize that this game is a bloody good light Euro now? Um yeah, where was that in the running? Oh, yeah, I'm for all I know, these were in the nominations, and if they were, I would have voted on them at the time. Okay, I just can't remember what they are. But, yeah. Um that was Yeah, I mean, it's the it's the what you call it? Uh I'm getting off the screens here. It's all going wrong. Um it's the Golden Geek Awards, whatever. I don't put much cop in them. It's just another year where you look at the awards and just wonder why. But, hey, maybe your favorite game won it, in which case fair play to you. I think Hot Streak is the only one that I'm thinking that I would like to try, and even then, that's only mainly because it's 20-30 minutes of my life, and if it's terrible, at least it's only 20-30 minutes out of my life. But, the others I have all changed I've all tried and that, so we'll go with it. Anyway, let's get on with the next focus of the list and sorry the show.

27:01 UKGE is on its way. Couple of What was it? A couple of weekends time I will be there for the press event on the Thursday as well as Friday and then I'm going home on Saturday night. So, I'm going to head home about Saturday 7:00. Why am I not staying for the whole 3 days? Cuz frankly, there's not enough at the expo to actually keep me entertained for 3 days. The main reason I go to the expo is a social atmosphere with you know people I've met. The fact of the matter is though is that the expo is getting crazy expensive to stay over there. Accommodation is an absolute like rip-off. A lot of the publishers are only offering store credit for demoing, which means you don't get any help to towards your accommodation. And do I look like I need store credit? I've got enough games. So, it I can't get back any of my money with that. And honestly, on the Sunday, in the last couple of years, all I have done is wondered aimlessly around the hall trying to find an excuse to buy something. And every time I do buy something on that day, it ends up being something I don't want. You know, cough cough the deluxe resources for Earth for example. So, yeah, not the best time to be running around at that thing. And then I leave it 2:00 or 3:00 cuz I need to get back for a Valheim evening. So, I'm basically there for half a day and I'm paying like at least a good 100 lb to stay overnight and park at the expo and fuel and everything and then food and everything.

28:20 So, probably 125 quid by the time I'm done with the day to be there for half a day on Sunday. Why? Why am I bothering? So, I just decided this year to skip Sunday. Save myself some money and you know, just go for the two main days. You know, by the time I'm done with Friday, I'll probably be done with all the games there cuz the press event reveals a ton to me already. We play some stuff in the evenings with people, so that reveals some of those. And then I usually get all my stuff done on the Friday. To an extent on the Saturday. 2 days is plenty, even with the meetings I've got with publishers. That's plenty enough time for me to see the games that I'm interested in. And as you can see in a minute, there's only so much I'm actually looking forward to games-wise. It's just the the thing with the Games Expo. I mean, I know this sounds like I'm sort of not bigging it up. It is the third largest in the world. It is our main one in the UK, but it's a very unique type of game show because this isn't like Essen where the new hotness comes out and it's like, "Ooh, wow." And there's thousands and thousands of games that are all done by like fairly big publishers and there's all the other member of the press stuff as well. And it's all new. It's all the hotness.

29:24 Here, there isn't really a new and hotness apart from maybe five titles, 10 absolute max. And even then, I think that's pushing it. I think it's more five. Five titles that are kind of like a hotness thing. A lot of the time this expo is mainly for stuff that is going to come out in the future, in which case you're just demoing it with P. Um or secondly, uh it's indie games. This is an indie game uh convention. And the fact of the matter is, sorry to say, I'm just not into indie games, okay? I don't play a lot of indie games on the uh on the PC. I play some. I play some, you know, some are cool. But they are few and far between. And in board games, I play even less. Um I just don't have the time to play thousands and thousands of games. And when you throw in indie games, you just end up with so many that you just can't physically play them all.

30:10 And there is definitely a bit of a gap between the quality of a lot of indie games versus uh some of the bigger publisher games. So, I just don't get on board for it. And I get uh as soon as you put yourself on the press event thing for this, you get sent emails constantly saying, "Here's my new crowdfunded game that I'm going to do. Here's my new indie game that I'm doing. Here's my new two-player take-that game that no one's ever seen before." Even though that's like literally everybody has done that to death. Yeah. And I just read a lot of them. And firstly, they're just bulk mailing. I mean, for crying out loud, one of the one of the best things I think I've ever done with this is call my Google account The Broken Meeple. Because in doing that, it means that I can tell who's actually bothered to take note of who I am and what my channel is versus the people who are just spamming. Because the ones who are just spamming, their emails come through as "Dear The Broken" or "Dear The" or whatever, because it's it's AI generated or it's just basically copy pasted and basically they'll just have some system or coding place to take the first part of the name from a Google account or whatever and just send the email out. And if you do that with a name that's called The Broken Meeple and that it comes up as "Dear The" or "Dear The Broken" or "Dear Broken" or something, then you know nobody's paid attention to your channel and I can gloss over and just delete those emails. I don't even bother to read them half the time, you see? Cuz if you can't even take the opportunity to learn my name, then why the hell should I give a monkey's about learning your game, especially when it's just another crowdfunded project that's

31:41 likely to fail, you know? So, I just go with that. Anyway, I'm digressing a bit here. Sorry about that. Um yeah, so the Games Expo itself Uh yeah, I'll be there for two bit days. By all means, come up, say hi. I've got meetings in the sort of middle of each day, uh but otherwise, just come up and say hi. It'd be nice to talk to you. Um especially in the evenings when the trade fairs off, you can by all means talk to me then. Uh so, uh what have we got? So, plan your visit. So, in terms of uh I want to go through some tips uh first off. I mean, accommodation, you will have already probably sorted out by now. I mean, if you're planning to go to the expo and you haven't sorted out your accommodation, you're in trouble because it's going to cost an arm and a leg. But the problem is it costs an arm and a leg anyway. Staying anywhere close to the NEC costs way too much. I'm off the ilk that no bed no bed should take more than 70 75 lb as a hotel. And even then, that's got to include breakfast and like a decent quality clean hotel. And people might think well, a bit bit Well, sorry, I don't think it should cost that much money just to park me in a mattress for a a few hours, you know, cuz I'm barely at the hotel anyway. All I want is a place to sleep and a place to eat.

32:48 That's it. That's all I want. I don't need all funky features. You know, if you got a kettle in the room, great. It's not much to ask, but, you know, I don't really feel that spending over 100 lb on accommodation per night ever justifies itself. It's always a rip-off. Yeah, your hotel might look funky. I don't care. That doesn't influence my ability to sleep. Um but uh Yeah, so So, accommodation is pricey. I recommend you stay in an Airbnb or a hotel outside of the area. So, in terms of, you know, where it is and that, you they've got hotels nearby, but Hilton rooms and, you know, the Crowne Plaza, Moxy. Moxy is such a rip-off it's unbelievable. Yes, you are right on the doorstep of the Expo, but you're going to be surrounded by noise all day. You won't get any sleep at night. Uh and it's going to be like 150, 200 quid a night. It's going to be ridiculous. Why the hell would you spend that kind of money to go in there?

33:44 Um but you've also got Summers Wood where you can camp. So, that's a way to do it, but even then, costs too much money. I've had a look. Um but yeah, the NEC is just a very pricey area. You're better off, um hopefully I don't know if you can see this map easily on here, but if I zoom out a bit, um you're better off staying somewhere in Solihull, uh which is uh sort of nearby. Um it's not too bad there. You're probably better off staying sort of up uh here, kind of Ash Green, Bedworth, that sort of thing, and then driving across the motorway, because you can get across that motorway in a reasonably quick time and just drive in there. But also, because it costs a good amount of money to park at the Expo now, and you've got to get on the shuttle bus to get to the the actual event, so you can at least park in the Expo and then get the shuttle bus, and then you don't have to do too much walking until night time, at which point the bus isn't working. But, um what I probably recommend you do is if you're not planning to travel heavy, if you're like me who's going to travel light, I mean I'm going to I'm staying at a hotel in Solihull, and I'm going to drive in each day. Um but, I'm getting to the point now where if I could book it early enough, I should ideally be staying somewhere like uh Coventry, or somewhere uh Warwick, you know, Coventry, that sort of thing, because the train goes directly into the NEC itself, and it's right next to where the halls are. In fact, it's probably quicker to walk from the train station to the halls than it is to walk from the shuttle bus area to the halls, you know, in the distance wise. Um No, hang on. Well, it's about the same

35:15 it Once you get off the bus, that is, but the if you don't actually get on the bus though, then yeah, it's a much longer walk. But, the thing is is that the train is not that expensive to go from, you know, Coventry to there and back, and it means you can stay in an area that's probably cheaper, although the prices for these accommodations are still going up as well, but you could train it here, stay You could stay over here, train in, train out, and then when you want to get home, you can, you know, get, you know, you can get out get out of Birmingham a lot easier or something, cuz traveling into Birmingham is usually filled with a lot of traffic and that. But, if you want to save on accommodation, consider, yeah, staying out of town and driving in or or getting the train, cuz you'll probably find you'll get a cheaper deal. Okay. What else have we got here? So, car parking. Yeah. Uh car parking, you can park there, and I've still yet to actually book my car parking, so I probably ought to do that at some point.

36:07 But, uh yeah, 3 days, 25 27 pound now. It's going up every year. Yeah, it's getting ridiculous now. But, I'm only going to be there for 2 days, and on the first day, they don't really check your parking, and I think you can park pretty much anywhere you like on the first day, because there's no event on. So, I usually get away with parking like as far as as close as possible to the event cuz I don't think anybody cares on the Thursday night. But, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, they are getting to the point where they're checking these now because there was a period of time where you could where you could get in and get out and nobody really checked your parking. Um I'm noticing that they're checking it a bit more often now, and certainly they're checking it when you drive in and out through the booths now, unless you get out really late, in which case there won't be anyone there, but um I mean, that's that's the thing. If you leave really late, you should be able to get out without actually parking. But, if you leave early, then you're probably going to have problems. Now, for the sake of a bit of money, I'm just going to pay the parking and not chance it, but yeah, 2 days, £18, £9 a day to park there.

37:11 A bit of a mission, but needs must, needs must. So, and you can make online reservations until midnight the day. Get there early. All right, get there at Do not get there for the opening time because there is a queue of traffic that leads from the East car park all the way back to Lord knows where, the entrance to the whole NEC area. You do not want to get here late. You want to get here a good hour earlier 45 minutes earlier at the absolute minimum. You try and get here 30 minutes early, you will be caught in a conga line worth of traffic. It's easier if you come from the north side and go into the car park, but then you're The problem is is that there's less of a conga line coming in from the north, but then the roundabout that's right outside the car park and that obviously has a conga line of traffic trying to go around it, give way to the right. You're constantly waiting for that. So, you're kind of screwed one way or the other. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. So, your best way to get into the car park is simply just to turn up early. Turn up early, get there for 8:00 in the morning, and just be glad that you can just have a nice quiet walk to the event. You don't even need to get the shuttle bus because you've got all the time in the world.

38:17 You can just walk and enjoy the sun, you know, enjoy a bit of a breeze. Um and then when you get there, go into the Wetherspoons and have a pint, you know, or in my case, I like to go to the Wetherspoons and have um, uh, their coffee refills because well, let's get onto that in a second. Uh, but yeah, just go and hang out. You know, you you'll thank me, trust me. You want to drive in there and you're going to get there for the opening time. Don't come crying to me if you uh, try and get there at the last minute and find that you're waiting for hours. Cuz not only that, you're going to be also parked in the car park at the bottom end of the area. So, the shuttle bus will go to it, yes, but then if you leave at a time when the shuttle bus isn't working very often, like if you like late at night or something, then uh, have fun with that walk. Okay, so, yeah.

39:03 That's that's what I suggest on the car parking thing. Uh, but the shuttle bus is handy, so it does stop pretty often. But yeah, here we go. From 8:30 till 7:00. So, you get there uh, 8:00 and actually, when does the thing open? Um, yeah, what was it? Yeah, car parking is only available on the full show days, but yeah, I mean, on Thursday you can get in there. It's not it's not difficult. They're not watching it on the Thursday cuz nobody really cares. All right, um, but what was I going to say? When does it start? Here we go, opening hours. So, opening hours are uh, oh, ticketing is open. When does the actual thing open? So, 9:00 in the morning. Okay. So, 9:00 in the morning, the show opens. This is telling you that the shuttle bus only operates from 8:30.

39:50 So, your shuttle bus won't even be running at the time you get there early. But you'll have all the time in the world to walk and it's not the longest walk in the world, so you should be all right. Unless you need disabled access, in which case you might want to wait it out. But yeah, um, if you try to get to the car park for 8:30 in time for that shuttle bus, you're going to be stuck in that conga line, trust me, [snorts] I have done this for years. Okay, uh, food and drink. Food and drink is a problem with the NEC because there's not a lot of selection and it's stupidly expensive because the NEC is designed to gouge your pocket, much like the entirety of the city of London. Um but um you know, here you get basically what? Vegan street food, Greek barbecue, chicken nuggets and fries, fish and chips, you know, toasties, burgers, hot dogs. Yeah, you want healthy food, don't come to the UK Games Expo. I mean, Greek barbecue street souvlaki is not too bad, but um and toasties maybe, but for the most part you are not getting a um healthy food here. You are Yeah, and even then it says, "Hope you've worked up an appetite." You don't get a lot of food for your money, so you need to eat sparingly. I recommend you bring snacks, honestly. Bring snacks, carry them in your bag. They check bags pretty much never when you come in and yeah, when you walk through the door, I mean, so much for security, but also, you know, snacks and that are fine. Bring trail mix, nuts, bring fruit. Uh bring bottles of water because they've got two fountains in the NEC center for uh using

41:22 water and I guarantee you throughout the entire day, other than when the show is uh after like the show is in the evening time, you know, like sorry, in the late evening or before the show starts, there's going to be a conga line of queue for that fountain. And that is assuming it is even working correctly. So, water is sparse there. Yeah, you want to drink a water, you're going to be queuing for ages just to get it. Take water. Carry it in a rucksack. Take at least a couple of liters with you. I mean, more so. I mean, I'm going to make sure I do that. Um I I'm I'm trying to travel light, but I'm probably going to try and take a small rucksack or small bag uh or I'm just going to carry it in a carrier bag. I don't care, whatever, but I'm going to take water. You need water. You're going to be talking a lot. It's going to be warm. You're going to die of thirst, you'll dehydrate, and trust me, I shut down and get headaches and that when I dehydrated. So, do not rely on the water fountain to fuel you up water-wise because if you do get into it, it's going to be a freaking miracle. Um but uh yeah, food I mean, the Subway's there as well, but they're like £7 a sub. It's kind of ridiculous. Um unless you go on any special offers, and even then, I'm not sure if they'll work there because I know special offers are a bit finicky with places like the NEC and that. But also, you've got Wetherspoons. Wetherspoons will be your cheapest means to get food, and whatever you think of Wetherspoons and the owners and stuff, at the end of the day, it's

42:52 the cheapest thing you're going to eat there, so deal with it. Um but I like to go to Wetherspoons for their coffee and drink refills because I think they do it with soft drinks as well, but they definitely do it with coffee for like what? £3, £2.50, or I think it's like £2.50 or something like that. It's like really cheap. You can get coffee refills. So, they've got a coffee machine there, you go there, and you can go there for as many cappuccinos, mochas, decafs, naughties, whatever you like cuz you can refill it. The most efficient thing you can do there. So, I tend to do is that I'm snacking on little food I've got, or I might buy some food at Wetherspoons, but drink-wise, I just go up to that machine and refill it and refill it and refill it. I mean, obviously, I'm not drinking constant coffee, but you can have decaf. So, I just have decaf a lot, and I'll just drink drink drink. There you go.

43:39 Decaf will hydrate you just as much as It's not as good as water, but it's the next best thing, but it won't cost you an arm and a leg for the drink. So, yeah. There's your top tip right there. Abuse the system. Uh but uh yeah, so food and drink is not cheap. Bring snacks. Fruit, nuts, protein bars are good. Protein bars are very good. Uh Huel, if you like those Huel bottles, if you end up with a bunch of those, perhaps you've got a subscription or something, then by all means, grab a few of them. Um, you know, cuz one or two of those a day will certainly help you to stay afloat. In fact, it's not a bad idea, actually. Yeah, I might try and grab a couple before I go. One for each day, that should be good. Um, because it's a meal in a bottle, basically. It will do the trick.

44:25 But yeah, don't rely on the street food here to fill you up for the whole day, because it won't. It won't be healthy. I don't care how many steps you do, it's not going to make up for the calories in this. And it's going to cost you an arm and a leg. And don't drink alcohol at this event. Don't. Seriously, look, I love a beer and a cider as much as the next person, okay? Do not drink at this event. The cost of the pints there, I mean, even at Wetherspoons, they're not the cheapest, but they're better. You know, the Wetherspoons one is the cheapest place you can get alcohol. You try and buy alcohol from any of the outlets that are in the open gaming areas and stuff later, or at the Hilton bar, and you are paying London costs. It is insane. Trust me, do not drink at this event if you can help it. Just go teetotal for a couple of the days, it's not difficult. I did it for 6 months, guys. It's perfectly doable, okay? And even then, nowadays, I have a drink once every fortnight at this rate. I mean, when was the last time I had a drink? Probably Oh no, actually No, I did have a drink on Tuesday, but I was celebrating um I passed the probation for my new job, so uh with flying colors, so I was celebrating. But yeah, I had a pint on Tuesday. Okay? Um, and then I did have a bottle on Thursday. All right, I average one drink a week. All right, so sue me, but it's not difficult for me to give it up for 6 months. So, you can do it for 2 days, all right?

45:46 Um, but yeah, careful with that. All right, what else have we got? We have got uh I mean, that's for tips. Other tips are what you've heard from a lot of expo stuff, so um, you know, make sure you take good footwear, because there's a lot. I mean, have they got a map? Have they got the map on here? Plan your visit. Getting to UKE. Nope, that's by car. I mean, you can check out this website. It will give you a decent amount of information. But yeah, here you go. So, you've got, you know, a lot of the halls being used for stuff and they certainly have opened up a lot more halls this time round. They didn't used to have all five halls. So, they have expanded the space and that is good because it is allowing more space to walk around. So, even Saturday is not as crazy, but let's be honest, most of the stuff is happening in hall two.

46:38 In fact, hall two is pretty much the hall two and three. Um Reason that at Oh, as well as these features. Okay, so it is walking miles to get there. So, I'm actually glad it's in hall one. But, yeah, you've got some trade space and stuff, but yeah, they're definitely using, I think, predominantly two, three, and part four. So, you know, there's certainly a lot of space, but it's quite a big area. You're going to do a lot of walking and it's going to be at various levels of elevation at times. So, bring comfy footwear. Make sure you're not in anything that's going to give you blisters or stuff like that because you're going to be putting your steps in. It's going to happen. And it's warm in this event. Don't Unless you are the sort of person that sits at work with a hot ball ball when you're in the middle of summer. Trust me, I've worked with these people. Um but, this place will be warm. There's a lot of body heat. There's only so much air conditioning, okay? It's going to get warm and that's assuming it's not a heat wave at the time as well. You're going to want to, you know, dress for cool weather. So, sorry, dress for warm weather. So, dress light. Shorts, fine.

47:51 Wear shorts. It's not the It's not fashionable. It doesn't look great on most on 99% 9% of people, self-included, but shorts would maybe a good way to go, honestly. I'm even tempted to wear shorts this time round. Um yeah, easy footwear, light top, don't wear layers. You're not going to be cold in this place. And if you are, then for crying out loud, go outside. It'll be perfectly hot then. So, I wouldn't worry too much. Um uh what else we got? Uh so, opening hours we've already mentioned. Well, I'll just reiterate the opening hours. So, they open at 9:00 and shut at 6:00. Uh 4:00 on the Sunday. So, it's basically typical trading hours for the NEC halls. It is, after all, a trade a trade thing. And then you've got the gaming and tournament halls that are open till about midnight or 5:00 on the final day. And the board game library varies depending on where you are. So, till midnight on Hilton Hotel, 10:00 on the NEC. But, honestly, in previous years, the board game library has been atrocious. So, you might just want to play what you've bought at the expo because in previous years, I just find it specific The Hilton's not too bad, but the NEC board game library, in every year I've looked at it, has been atrocious. It is bad. So, uh you might just want to play your new purchase, I think. Yeah, save the time for that.

49:07 Uh what else we got? So, I mean, go to this website to find out what's on because I know I don't go to a lot of these other events. I mean, you've got like a living history village. You've got the which are basically the people outside who do like the reenactment stuff. To be fair, it's an interesting watch. You know, there's somebody I know I went on a cruise and met someone um ages ago. Uh still chat on Facebook, but I see her now and again at this event because she joins in with the group. And yeah, they just basically dress up like old history and do some reenacted battles and stuff in it. So, yeah, it's cool. It's not desperately my thing, but you know, it's something interesting to look at. So, I mean, let's give them some support. Uh you have got cosplay groups. You've got um you know, the whole pin thing where everyone walks around collecting pins. I don't care. I was contemplating doing it this year, but I'm just not that fussed really. The amount of money it costs to make a bunch of pins would actually just you know, be a bit too much money for my liking, so I just stopped bothering with it. Uh you've got the various awards. I find the awards to be a bit crazy on this. I mean, look at this. This is the winner of the judges choice, okay? And we've got Vantage again. We've got Ink. I'm not even aware anybody has even talked about Ink since it was released. Best board game Euro style, Lufia. Uh Strategic Epochs. I've never even heard of this game.

50:28 Yeah, a lot of these games I have not heard of. And yeah, best expansion. [clears throat] [snorts]

50:57 You've got the awards as well and much like the other awards, I mean, Vantage, Ink. Yeah, Lufia. Most of these awards I sort of question why, but it's a judges choice, so whatever. I don't pay much attention to them, but yeah, they're there if you want to see them. Uh but you've also got a few shows as well. So, some of the events, uh you've got uh what's it? Starship Simulator or role-playing games, live entertainment. You've got uh you know, Discworld chat, um you know, Discworld RPG. Uh you've got Werewolf Live, uh Nightmare Live, Cthulhu Live. I mean, it's basically RPGs live. And a couple of little bits of um comedy bits. Sadly, yes, there has to be a Blood on the Clock Tower Live. I mean, why are you that surprised? Um and a few other bits and bobs, but I I honestly I don't go to these live events. I haven't got time.

51:48 You know, I'm only there for 2 days and I focus more on the games and the meetings and I just don't really get a kick out of the events. But by all means, check out this website and you can see all the live events and see if you uh are available to go see tickets and stuff. So, what am I going to focus on now to wrap things up is the games. So, UK Games Expo. There is a list of games that are on here and I'm not entirely sure all of them are represented here cuz I think there's one that I remember seeing to be on the list anymore, but we'll see. Um but uh yeah, so this is new games and you can filter by buy, play, back, or try. But as you scroll through this, you get the impression oh dear. Yeah, there's not a lot of good stuff here. At least nothing that jumps out at you. I mean, ATW Women's Edition.

52:34 Um okay. Big Black Deck, uh Biddle, Blurb, you know, uh Box of Chocolates, Eat Ed Deebly's Earrings, whatever. I mean, yeah, you're you're going through this and you're finding all sorts of stuff that mostly is not going to appeal to you. And I've had some emails for review copies for certain stuff and I just don't like what I'm seeing. I mean, you know, um I had like one that was like, "Oh, do you want to look at Carcassonne Labyrinth?" No, I don't want to look at Carcassonne Labyrinth. Who's after a Carcassonne Labyrinth? You know, there there's just some games that nobody is interested in and you can just tell. But yeah, I had a look through this and I decided to see if there were any games that I was remotely looking forward to and trust me, it was really hard to find stuff and that is the same each year. People are putting out all sorts of videos saying, "This is what I'm excited for for the UKGE." I I would bet money that when they use the words "excited", it's a bit like the um Oh, what's the film? The Princess Bride sketch or something. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means cuz they say they're excited for these, but I'm like, "What?

53:41 Are you actually excited or are you just trying to fill up space? Because I'm not sure genuinely you're excited. There are things in life I'm excited for, but you know, random little game at Expo is not usually one of them. But I have tried to pick out a few uh that I can at least talk about or, you know, be interested to see. So, let's have a look. So, I've already done um I'll try to get them all from BGG as well. But, Foxglove Farm, I've already done a review of this one. So, this one is basically the uh like little family game from I think in Oh, I come up in the first uh Google search. Oh, fantastic. That's great. Um but uh yeah, basically Oh, it's a thing of Minecraft town. Hang on. Come on. Foxglove Oh, yeah, it's not even on Board Game Geek yet. It's kind of weird.

54:28 But, basically, it's a little family game um building a village with tiles, build uh producing goods and delivering them. Check out my review, but Alleycat will have that on their booth. Uh Drawndee Games, who I've helped out in the past, uh have got their usual fare, but I would certainly say that people should give a look at Jackpot cuz that one, I think I'm actually getting a review copy of that one, so I should be doing a full review of it. But, uh Oh, hang on. Ooh. Beyond that, as per emails with Aiden, rejected as no guarantee that it will be available to sell at shows, it wasn't sent in. We'll send for 2027. Ooh, okay. So, okay. Or is this for the award? Uh I'm not sure. But, um yeah. Okay, we might have to just be a little bit careful about Jackpot. But, um hopefully it's there and you get a chance to play it because I demoed it last year a lot to the point of ad nauseam. But, it's a nifty little card game. It's something a little bit unique, like something I would actually dare say could be innovative, you know, compared to a lot of the other innovative games. But, if you get a chance to play Jackpot, give it a look.

55:29 It's an interesting little uh game. In fact, does Jackpot have a uh Board Game Geek page? Doo doo do. Yes, it does. I don't like the title Set the Real. I think that's a bit naff. Um and funny enough, I just noticed Board Game Co's like review up for it there. The Lands of Evershade. Lands of Evershade has a lot of review content at the moment. Usually unboxings and live playthroughs. Watch them. Reviews when they were 2 years ago, I'm sorry, you had a prototype of the game like I did, it's not a review at that point. So, wait for reviews to come out now rather than the ones from earlier, okay? Uh but yeah, Jackpot Set the Real, give it a look. It's a nifty little card game. I don't think I've done any content on it, but uh yeah, various UK folk have. Um as I say, I don't do tutorials and playthroughs, and I don't do uh Kickstarter previews. So, yeah, really I leave my buddies to sort that out. I am more interested just to get a game to uh review when it's fully finished and fully in people's hands. What can I say?

56:32 I'm just not a playing fan of Kickstarter. Okay, uh what else we got? Um this one caught my eye mainly because I remember this game. Not Alone Remastered Edition. I did not know that they were doing a remastered edition. So, this was a cool like asymmetric uh bluffing deduction card game where one player is the creature and it's trying to assimilate all the other survivors, and the survivors are trying to figure out where the alien's going to go, avoid it, and stuff like that. So, it's a quite neat little thing. It had a couple of uh expansions, you know, hit and miss, but they were fine. Um but this one apparently is uh combining everything into one box. I sold it eventually. I'm only looking at this to see if they've changed the rules. If they have just carbon copy repackaged everything into one box, I may be tempted, but for the most part, it really does it really is one of those things where I'm like, "Nah, I don't know." I There were a few rules I think you could have tweaked to make it a little bit better.

57:30 So, if they have made changes, great. But, what does it say? "Centralizes the content developed over the decade and features a visual overhaul and improved components for a streamlined and complete gameplay experience." Okay, so if they've streamlined it a bit, that'll be better. But, as I say, I want to see what they've changed. If it's just a carbon copy, not interested. But, Not Alone Remastered Edition could be something I might grab. We'll see. Uh Charming Games are literally the only reason I'm looking at this one is because it's called Otter, and I love otters. So, yeah, of course I'm drawn into it. But, uh yeah, race to play all your cards first by putting adorable critters on otters' tummies. It's a racing game, a card shedding game. Okay. It's going to be bare-bones. It's going to be pretty light. But, um use up all your sick days. Okay, I'm not going to lie. That is probably the most innovative title I've seen for a game ever. So, kudos there. Uh but, um yeah, uh I mean, this one could be interesting. I mean, it looks somewhat kiddish. It looks very light. But, you know, it's cute and it's otters. So, And the The weird thing is, this is the otter that everybody thinks of when they think of otters. These ones where they lie back and put things on their tummies and stuff. That's all great, but I like the Eurasian otters more, the ones that don't do this. So, yeah, you know, I like all otters, but this one isn't my favorite type of otter. But, yeah, I mean, I'll give it a try. One to four players. It's a little card game. If I see it, I'll look at it. Um but, uh mainly I'm just looking at it because it's got otters on the cover. What can I say? Shadow. Um Spokes, uh I've done a

59:01 little review of this one on my channel, so by all means check it out. This is a um interesting little racing cycling game. Plays in 20 to 30 minutes, and basically you use colored spokes, uh little like stick the colored stick things, to replace ones on the map, and then travel via the colors. Interesting little gimmick uh for, you know, a racing game, but it works. It works. It's an interesting little game. So, by all means uh check out my review I've done for that one. Uh, Cosmos, uh, the only thing I noticed from Cosmos, really, was that they were doing And this is something, I mean, yes, they have got the, yeah, Devir is going to bring out Orlog, um, the Prague Astronomical Clock. I've done a review of this already, but this has been out since Essen. So, you know, I'm not excited for something that's already been released. Ace of Spades, I'm tempted to play this just because I want to find out if half of the, uh, you know, backlash and the, uh, controversies with this were justified, but I'm not desperate. Um, but mainly I was curious as to what they would bring out for The Gang. I know there's going to be a special edition of The Gang coming out at some point, which, uh, yeah, even though I don't desperately need it, I'll probably still will. This one I'm a little bit interested though because I don't think this could work.

1:00:14 Yeah, the game is already hard enough at six players. To do it with seven to 10 just sounds like utter chaos. But, um, I want to see how they're going to do it because Yeah, it was a You can also use the included exit chips to simplify the game five and six players. That is something that the game actually does need because if you're playing this with people who know what they're doing, five and six players is fine. You play this with people who've never played poker in their lives though, and they just haven't got a freaking clue, and the game doesn't work. It's is one of my favorite games of all time, but it is also horrendously fragile. Uh, but yeah, something like that would be welcome. I want to know what they're doing for the seven to 10 players though. If they're literally just giving you more chips and cards so you Yeah, if if all it is is just they're giving you more chips and saying, "Now you can play it with 10." That's rubbish. That's BS, okay? Because the game just fundamentally wouldn't work. I need to know what rules you have implemented to make it work for seven to 10. We'll see whether it's justified.

1:01:10 Okay? [clears throat] So, that's that one. Mhm. Here we go again. Uh, this one I'm actually genuinely interested to try out. I mean, this one's going going a future Kickstarter, but Cardboard Academy have got Whisper Wood. So, a bag building game for two to four players. Whatever the theme's going to make no difference. Drew harnessing the parody elements, la la la. I mean, it's a bag building game. Bag building games just generally don't have a theme with them. But, um you perform your incantations restoring air, water, and earth parting with wildlife. It's going to look nice. Uh it's got a mechanic of take on too much corruption and you'll compromise your own abilities. Sounds pretty cool. I mean, from that I always like those sort of mechanics in games, the whole corruption thing. But, uh it looks like an interesting game. Um I'm curious to demo this one. I think, you know, cuz obviously it's coming on Kickstarter soon, but it uh looks very pretty. I mean, that's a pretty nice uh box cover. Um they've got some other bits of artwork there. So, it's Cardboard Academy. It's going to look absolutely gorgeous. That is, you know, no shadow of a lie. Will it be a good game or not though? No idea because I know nothing about it other than this blurb. But, uh I'm curious to try it.

1:02:18 The thing that has me worried though is this 120 to 180 minutes. Is this a game that warrants two to three hours though? Because the the last game that decided it wanted to play for two to three hours or more actually at times was Wonderland's War. Who remembers that one? Wonderland's War. And there are people who tout the praises of Wonderland War. Uh they think it's like one of the best things since sliced bread. I did a review and had other opinions. And boy, did I get backlash for that. You know, the game is fine. But, it is fiddly as hell and it is not 45 to 125 minutes. This thing goes on for three hours plus when you play this with five players. It is ridiculous. And also, two to three hour games, the game is bag building. It is predominantly push your luck.

1:03:08 I don't want to play a push your luck game for three hours. You know, you play push your luck games for 30 minutes, 20 minutes. They're quick. But, three hours for a game involving a lot of push your luck, I'm a little bit concerned, which is why I'm also a bit concerned for Whisperwood, because if it's going to have that kind of time length on the box, that is concerning. But, we'll find out when I try a demo of it, hopefully. This will be one of the main ones I go for. And then, we've got Hegemonic Project Games, the ones who have done my my hegemony, my glorious hegemony. Nothing new for that, but now I think they're fulfilling World Order, and I should be getting a review copy of that, I hope. I mean, I'll try to, because I'm curious to see how it's changed since the prototype. I do have concerns about the game. I mean, um I didn't think as as much as it meant to be asymmetrical, I didn't think it felt very asymmetrical when I played the And bear in mind, I played this like 3 years ago, or so, practically when it was in its early development stage. So, I'm hoping it's changed a lot since then, but you know, I didn't feel that the four factions were very different.

1:04:16 You know, I'm playing the EU, I'm good at diplomacy. That literally meant nothing apart from being able to play a certain type of card a little bit more often. That was it. You know, other than that, I could do what the rest were doing pretty easily enough. The card system was fine, but it wasn't quite as entertaining as other card games. And this whole like allies and putting tokens on stuff, I mean, it was fine, but I don't know, nothing particularly grabbed me in it. It felt like uh this is a very sort of bare-bones euro, but you know, it's got potential. I'm just curious to see how it plays out, because we only played, you know, part of a game as well. We didn't play the full whack. But, it feels at the moment mainly like a Twilight Struggle for multiplayer. You know, you've got this little war map, and you're basically going back and forth, and you're putting cubes down for area control. That's the whole game.

1:05:05 The game is basically just area control cubes. That to me doesn't scream out crazy fun. All right, I'm you know, I mean it wasn't blowing my mind at the time. I'm hoping that in the years it's developed, it's streamlined itself a bit. And maybe I just need to play it again in full. I need to sit down with it and go through the rules and stuff, you know. I need to give this one a fair shout because I mean it it's getting popular buzz. It's definitely getting a lot of high review marks. Some of which I'm a little bit curious about because I've watched some of them and I'm like, that was a lot of pro that was a lot of cons you mentioned to give this like a 9 10 out of 10. But um you know, I'm curious to see what this one will be like and I'm hoping they've improved it since the prototype. So, we shall see. But um it's not going to be enough to get a demo of this. I'm going to have to try and get an actual copy and do a proper review of it. So, we will see on this one. Uh but they should hopefully have copies at the expo. So, we shall see.

1:06:03 But there you go. Yeah, there's not a lot of other games that caught my mind. There was only one other game that I did want to uh potentially find though. Not not this one. Um last hour of RPG. I'm not into I'm not doing RPGs. But uh I thought CGE were meant to bring something called Drillers there. And I swear I saw it on the list before. But it didn't seem to be there this time. So, I don't know if they've withdrawn it or something. But uh this one I'm curious. 30 to 120 minutes. So, yeah, not too long a game. Does say best at two. That does worry me. But this one is basically a multi-use card game. Uh taking a mech drilling for stuff, unlocking new actions and stuff and uh you know, uh selling stuff for profit or investing [clears throat] in better tools, that kind of thing. So, yeah, I'm curious about this one. I mean, the theme sounds good. It's sort of giving me almost a bit like a Deep Rock Galactic style feel just without the aliens. Um but yeah, could be interesting. I don't know if it'll be any good or not. But CGE has a good track record. So, I'm definitely curious as to what they make next. And this one looks cool. So, if they do have a demo available of it there, I will certainly be interested to try this one.

1:07:12 But, maybe it's a bit early days. I don't know. Okay. Um anything else on this list? Let's just have a quick What is it? What's the thing? Oh, we're an hour and 7 minutes. Okay. One last scroll. I mean, is there anything I can think of? Bear in mind, if I've already reviewed the game, like Lost Luminar, for example, then I've already done my thoughts on it. I'm not going to look forward to a game I've already reviewed and acquired or sold or whatever traded, you know. So, um anything here that is new? And the thing is, there just really isn't. I'm sorry. I just look at a bunch of this stuff and, you know, One Hit Heroes. Uh Pakkunar, I don't even know what that is. You know, there's just Player Range 2. Yeah, two-player games I don't want I'm not interested in, you know, two-player only games. Um Revenant, I mean, Mindclash Games doesn't have Revenant on here, but then Revenant is supposedly delivering to backers soon.

1:07:58 So, I'm looking forward to getting that, but that's a Kickstarter separate from the expo. The Earth expansion, well overdue. We should have had that in April. It's now nearly end of May, and we still haven't had it. So, yeah. The Earth expansion I am looking forward to, but for crying out loud, get a move on. Um this is the problem with the UK ever since Brexit. It's such a problem. Um but all these other ones, I mean, Railway Porters, Realms of Destiny, Rhymes with Duck. Yeah, I'm I mean, that that instantly is going to draw me to your game, okay? Uh Shallow Sea I've already done a review for. Bad Comment, I mean, if Bad Comment's going to be there, then great. But, I don't think they're there, Bad Comment. I think this has been sold by somebody else. Um Shackled and Basic Expansion, I barely gave the main game a six. I've done a review on it. Check out that, but yep, not excited for an expansion.

1:08:48 Shall We Dance? Um Shashi and Shashi games are usually pretty interesting, but they're hard to get hold of at a convention cuz they get queued on for ages. Anything else? Anything else? Just nothing. Tin B, uh Tin B's in stock. I mean, I tried it briefly at a convention, but I had to leave early. Um it sounds all right. I don't think this one should have sold out quite as crazy as it did at Essen from the first like few rounds I was playing of it, but if it's there to buy, I'd be interested to to maybe grab a copy of this and see if it you know, takes my fancy playing it properly. But yeah, I might look up Tenby. Uh Terraria. I didn't like the video game, so I'm not interested in the main game. The game of 20, the game of birds.

1:09:35 Old King's Crown, I've already said my piece on that. Uh if you can call it peace. Thunder Road Vendetta RPG. How do you do an RPG of Thunder Road Vendetta? How? How's that work? Uh Tug of War Twit ends. Whatever that's supposed to mean. Uh Valheim. You'll be able to play that. Again, I've done a review on it already. So, there's just not a lot there. I'm sorry. I want to get more excited, but I can't. I just literally can't. You know, there's only so much for me to look at. Uh Yonder. It's okay. I tried it a couple of years back. It's an okay worker placement game, but nothing special. Zoo Tycoon. I mean, it Have they had time to Zoo Tycoon needed a serious rewrite of the rules and its game mechanics and stuff. It was a great concept. It just wasn't executed very well. Hence, I have not heard anything from them since I gave it a slightly negative review. Go figure. You know, people are so eager to send stuff to you until they realize you're going to be honest about things and then they suddenly don't want to.

1:10:39 Yeah, surprising that. Uh 20 Strong. I have not played any of these 20 Strong games from Chip Theory. Although, I am meeting up with them, so maybe I'll be able to get in on the Elder Scrolls one finally. Although, I don't know. The Elder Scrolls one just looks like it's a mammoth of rules and stuff. You know, I know everybody else is harping it like crazy, but I'm not the biggest Elder Scrolls fan, so I'm only going to get so much out of it, but we'll see. Uh we'll see what they've got to say when I meet them. Um no, there just really is nothing I'm seeing. Kookaburra Crush, it's cute. Who doesn't like a nice kookaburra? Kookaburra, capybara, capybara, that's it.

1:11:17 What the hell am I trying to say? Uh Cats vs. Cucumbers, yay. I mean, that just sounds like the best game ever, doesn't it? Um Cicada, Class of '89. I don't know, the more I've learned about this game from Pandasaurus Games, the less I'm that interested in it, but if they've got something that looks less of a prototype, I'd be interested to give it a shot, just because its theme is something different, you know? New themes are cool. Uh anything else? Distilled expansion, Distilled had problems. Uh Earth: Animal Kingdom, again, I mean, if you're at the Expo to buy, you had better deliver the damn expansion before the Expo. Um even even deeper regrets. Deep Regrets is one of the worst games I've ever played, so screw that for a game of toy soldiers. Um I did a podcast episode a while back.

1:12:04 Uh go back through my podcast and find the one where it's on the thumbnail. Oh boy, do I go on a rant with that game. Uh anything else? Flamecraft Jewel, not interested. Fluffy Pied, yay. For the Gods, I've done a preview of that, you can check that one out. Uh Fox Go Farm, I've already mentioned. Yeah, there's just nothing else there. What can I say? Oh, and Hot Streak. Oh, maybe I'll actually get a chance to try at the Expo, we'll see. But yeah. Sorry, just a cough there. Take another drink. Mhm. Yeah. So, there you go. I mean, at the end of the day, yeah, there's not a ton at the Expo that's getting me excited games-wise. So, sorry if that sounds like a bit of a downer, but hey, this is what the caliber of games I think is like nowadays. I think we've hit that peak of board gaming and now it's mostly a kind of downhill slope for gaming because we've now seen everything that can be kind of done. We're now recycling ideas. We're basically giving out awards to people for putting out the same game just slightly tweaked. So, what effort does a publisher need to put into a game if all they need to do is just reprint something? You know, so it's it's just the industry is on a downturn and maybe that is half maybe that I mean I mentioned a lot of reasons about what might make the blog stop at at a certain point. You know, it's not just the fact that I'm not going to carry doing this on till I'm 65. You know, I need to have a life as well after you know, the fact but it you know, the industry is going down that route. Um

1:13:35 you remember the when the Grand Tour ended? Jeremy Clarkson and all that. They um there was a line he said where one of the reasons he was stopping doing all the car stuff was because we're now getting into electric cars and electric cars are just boring. I mean, unless you're going to pay the ends of the earth for something like a you know, really expensive electric car they're not that interesting. They're mostly just white goods. And nobody wants to review those kind of things. So, it's that kind of thing. Board games [clears throat] are getting to a point where we are seeing the same stuff all the time and it just means that it's hard to get excited for another convention. Now, granted oh god, I got the ring light in my glasses. Yeah, I'll take those off. But um it's Essen is more the convention I look forward to cuz Essen has new hotness games and more stuff that I've heard about and I'm interested in UK Games Expo is mostly just recycling stuff that we've already reviewed at a few months ago in which case I don't need to look at it again.

1:14:30 Uh there's little ones that I've already said my piece on so I don't need to look forward to those ones again. So, when it comes to stuff that is new, most of the time there's not a lot. The press event is usually what gives me the perfect idea of what I'm looking forward to because I go to the press event, see all the stuff in front of me, get the talk from the people rather than just reading text on the screen, and you know, at that point I can decide, "Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good game." or "I don't know, that's going to be rubbish." you know. So, it's [clears throat] just the way it is. But, I will see you there nonetheless. For two and a bit days, press event, Thursday evening, and Friday and Saturday until about 7:00 when I'll be heading home. And you know, if you're going to UK Games Expo, by all means say hi, shake my hand, just you know, chat. By all means, it'll be good. Throat is starting to tickle a bit now, so sorry about that. Uh we're going to leave it there, I think. It's already pretty long episode to cover the awards and UK Games Expo as a preview. But, I'll talk about the Games Expo in general um either the day I get back or most likely the week after. So, to let you know if maybe despite this episode not looking forward to a ton of games coming out, maybe I'm surprised. Maybe a bunch of surprises will happen to me, and maybe that will be what the review of the Games Expo is. It'll be like a a surprise uh hidden surprises or hidden gems list or something. That'd be quite cool. But, um yeah, I hope to see some of you there. Take care. Remember, it's only a game. Enjoy the Games Expo if you're going to it, and I'll see you on the next Broken Meeple Show. Take care, everyone. Bye for now.