Board Game Showdown Gets Intense! Our Fave Games This Month.
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Transcript
Hi everyone, it's Stella
and Tarant. Welcome to Mainfield University.
How are you doing? How is your gaming journey going? Did you find any exciting games? Did you go to any board game convention? This is our busy time of the year. We haven't actually been able to do this video or record this video until later in September for our August top games of the month. Yes, this is our top games of the month for August 2025. Yes, it is that busy window twix Gen Con and Essen. So, all the big games for the year are starting to materialize.
Exactly. Like magic.
Yes.
Well, we going to Essen Spill. No, I am going to Essence Spiel this year. So, hopefully I will see you and we will have an anticipated Essence Spiel 2025 video if I haven't already published it otherwise soon. So, we're going to give you a quick update as well, a new segment which we will show you the games that have arrived. But because this is a later part of September, we have quite a few games here that have arrived. We haven't even had a chance to open the games because we are really that busy getting ready for spiel. We did go to Escape Room recently. We went to an a place in Richmond in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, of course, where we live and it is called Earth Rise One. and they had a brand new room just funded and then finished from Kickstarter. It was actually the beta version that we tried called Star Crew.
Yes, this was a I guess it was not a conventional uh it wasn't a truly conventional lock and key type of escape room. It had much more of a narrative to it and it had a Captain Sonar kind of feel to it. You were set up
in a big three-dimensional screens everywhere kind of room. Everyone had a station. I was
and uniform.
Yes. I was the captain. I got to embark orders and try to link things around to each other. And you were more cooperatively trying to learn how to pilot the ship. And
yeah, the puzzles weren't that complex. There are a few puzzles there, but you were Yeah. immersed in this attempt to pilot a ship.
Yep. If you are in Melbourne or if you are traveling to Melbourne, I really recommend that. I'll link that below in the description. um in the video description. So, I'm going to quickly show you the games have arrived. And these are the games that we have not, is that right? Have not played because they just arrived.
Yes. So, we certainly haven't. There are a couple here that we've seen in prototype form which have just come through to us in finished form. So, we have played those. But, we have not played all of these.
Still shiny new um new shrink Phoenix New Horizon from Devi games. I'm going to be going through this really quickly. Otherwise, if we talk about it individually, it will take until Tuesday.
September.
September. It is September.
October.
September's video.
Taran lost it.
Mhm.
Moon Bunny. This is the deluxe edition of Kickstarter. Very exciting. And this is the deluxe components, I believe. And this is the main game.
Yes. So this is the second from Hot Banana Games and uh we did play the prototype version of this one.
Yes, we had the video as well. So our next one is Garden Lake from Albi. Um we had another one of Albi which is Seatan which is not shown here because we are preparing the video for it. It's got this on spotlight soon.
Yes. Things in rings. I finally I'm glad that I finally got it. It's a really nice party games. I really enjoy it. I think I enjoy it more than you.
You did? Yes. Uh, so this one is from 2024 was rather popular.
Yes, from all play. And then we have here coin no also from de games. Um, might as well show the other one from de games.
Ah, it's right here. It's here.
Yes, the guest.
And this one.
And then dipped up.
This looks really cute.
Yeah, I know because I put the lid like upside down. You know how it is, right? I was like, "Oh, did you did you fix it?"
Yes.
Oh, thank you. Unless you flipped it when you handed it to me.
I'm not that good. I'm not a magician. So, and then a deep dreams. It looks really cute. Look, it's got this Isa and the
Isa and something shiny.
Thank you. And then we have this that I almost had to ask for your help to carry.
Yes, this is uh the remainder of the Perseverance series. So, it's been a been a little while coming. Uh Perseverance one was a few years ago now. the remainder. Are you confident there's not going to be the next seven?
I think there's only four. I think I remember hearing before.
So, Castway Chronicles. This is four interrelated games. Same universe and similar
lot of minis in here. Let me like flip this. Okay, there you go.
Uh, but they all come with a dice worker placement and uh area majority. You played the tabletop simulator version, I think.
Of three. You played three.
Yes. It was that was very clever. It was really good.
It will take us a while. We're probably going to watch something on TV or listening to my new favorite audio book called Dungeon Crawl. Carl,
sorry this is like off topic, but I love listening to audio book. If you are into audio book or reading books, I mean, if you're reading this dungeon crawler car, try the audio book. It's like the voice actor, the voice talent, Jeff Hayes. He's really, really good. He's really talented. Anyways, off topic.
Oo,
yes. This
you read this a little bit.
I've read a little bit of this one, broken it out and uh and punched it out, but we yet to get it to the table. This one, I think, is going to be one of the uh hit Euro releases coming forward.
Yes, I was like ready. This is the third one. The first one was Cafe and the second one was Lat. And this is Olifa.
Yes. From Pythagoras. This is in the uh what is going to be a five game series. I know that'll be a five game series. It says it in the rule book of games.
I lost my head. Look.
Set in of games that uh celebrate Portuguese industry from the mid- 20th century.
Yeah. Did you not wear that my head was gone?
No. Because I can see your head. I'm not limited. I'm not limited by the confines of the screen.
Okay. White Castle dual. Look, this is really This is the dual version of White Castle. All right.
Yes. Next one. In the White Castle series. Of course, a very big game. Two years ago was the original White Castle
release. Place all my books. This looks like a nice cozy game of collecting books and then puzzling out where your books are located. This is really fun.
Yes. individual kind of tile placement uh adventure here.
Actually the I want to share the first time I look at dice app. This is like going through how to
play. I went through the first initial setup and then um the first how to play bit but then after that I've just read the rule book. So it did help at the start but then I'm used to reading the rule book. This is probably something that I need to get used to.
Yeah. It's not as good as a uh traditional how to play video.
Of course, especially if it's by you, isn't it?
That was the implication. Yes.
This next one is Hero Quest.
Yes. Here's a bit of nostalgia for me. So, uh this is a standalone small Hero Quest release. So, they released the big game system box a couple of years ago or re-released it. Obviously, it's a game from the 80s that I grew up with. One versus many dungeon master kind of thing. Uh, but this, although it's a small pack, is not an expansion. It is standalone.
Yeah, I know. I have not played any hero quest. I know. I know. It's never late to the party, right? This is why they keep releasing a newer version, trying to, hey, you haven't played it. This is new and shiny. It's not old and dated. One day I'll play this.
One day.
Yeah.
Your request. Sorry, I keep uh glaring the glaring things at you, dear viewers at home.
Oh, yeah. Wear sunglasses from now on. And this is railroad tiles. This is from the Kickstarter. We did the how to play video for the prototype.
Yes.
Tada. So, compared to the original railroad tiles, which is like this size,
the prototype.
The No, like the um railroad tiles, the rolling, right?
Railroad ink. Yes.
Sorry. Yes. Railroad ink. It's all right cuz this is uh inspired to some extent by that. Yes.
Yes. So, which is this size?
Yes. This uh collector's edition here is a little bit bigger. So, very very uh
pretty release here and a nice little tile.
Pretty about 50 times the size. I'm sure it's 50 times the fun.
Yes. Uh
why are you giving it to me now?
All the space next to me is full.
All right. Okay. Fine. So, all right. Let's get those two there. I'm going to put it here. Bye for now. Looks amazing. World expansion 10 sets objectives. Uh yes, this is Fortune of Scandal Bay. I talked about about this after Gen Con vlog and this is the game. This is the Euro game that looks like not a Euro game and you got baited into saying that it's not a Euro game.
I got schooled clearly. Now this from Chili Fox Games, but uh some good releases over the past few years.
Yeah. So this is their this is their big essence release. There's another one of their releases. More of a party game, but this is their big release. I don't know if they have going to have another one. Guess you just need to find out and we'll need to find out. Maybe you can tell me and then I'll find out from you. How's that? Does that work? Gems of Iridia, you did the how to play video for this and this is the Kickstarter edition. Really pretty.
Yes, we have seen the prototype of this. So this is the released version. So good on good on the team there for putting this one out.
It was like shiny. It's like I went to So somebody that I know had a a family member who collects Monopoly like 40 Monopoly and then he said that oh yeah all are shrink wrapped. I'm like Monopoly is good right? But like this is like collector edition shrink wrapped.
Yes. I mean, Monopoly ring route this because like exactly the same game but different theme and that's probably okay.
Yeah, it's got to be mint in box to be worth its most value.
What are you saying that I can't open this?
It's how to hold it as a collector.
That's true.
This game is truly iridescent. That is the addition.
That is correct. Now we are moving on to our top games of the month of August.
Isn't it? Do you want to start? Isn't Isn't it why we are here? That is why we are here. Yes.
You look so confused. I
wasn't confused. I just forgot why we were here.
Right. So, you want to start, Taran?
So, as usual, this is each of our top five new to us games for August. They're not necessarily new games. They're not necessarily recently released, although in this instance, they all are. And if something appears on both of our lists, then we will announce it, but come back and describe it together.
And there's a bit of overlap this time. So that's going to happen a few times over the next minute and a half.
You're probably like, "Oh, that game again or that game again or that guy again."
So number five for me for the month of August is Sanctuary and Arknova game. This is the uh Ark Nova inspired or Ark Nova themed.
The Ark Nova Universe.
Yes. So, this appears later on Stella's list.
I didn't mention about it, but um it will appear in my next list, but it wasn't in the previous list because I didn't really fully play properly and enjoy it few times. So, yes,
now I have. Right.
Uh disclaimer that you've forgotten is that these games could come in any ways whether it's you know sponsored video or review copy or something that we buy.
Yes.
Anything. All right.
Okay. Your number five.
The game that I have shipped away because it's prototype and this is from the company that made the game that we enjoyed. the first game that they enjoyed brick and mortar back and boarded us being a kid collecting comic books and we're trying to get a set collection. We're trying to get author's trying to get the best value by set getting the right collection and there's this like little clever market manipulation type of thing. Not manipulation.
We'll explain that later because it appears on my list as well.
I forgot about that. Sorry everyone. To be continued. My number four is a game which is only on my list. So I shall explain it now. This is a fun little uh game called
Did you just like ruin everything inside? I can hear like
tinkle down. This game is called Fox on the tree. And this is
he fell from the tree. Now
this is I guess you'd put it in the downforce kind of category. It is a game where you have you're trying to get farm animals. Well, farm animals are trying to get across to the forest and the predators are trying to get across to the farm to eat the farm animals. And if they meet in certain combinations, they're going to uh eat each other.
And if they get to the other end, then they've achieved their aims. And like in a downforce or a camel up or a game like that, you're going to receive two animals that you favor to achieve their goals and one that you want to see get eaten as quickly as possible.
And then you go round around the table taking actions to move the animals up and down the field trying to position them to suit your category categories best. And I like this kind of game.
It is. And I like the fact here that you're not stopping to bet all of the time, but the things you can do are quite simple. It's it's a simple little Yeah, I'm going to do one of a couple of legal types of movements and try to form one of these little combinations that will result in one animal eliminating the other. And so it plays out really quickly
um and really fun. and you can look at all the kind of options and put animals into positions where they're protected for a while. So you can you can slow play it or go like that. So yeah, this is a great little game.
I'm actually glad that you picked this because it's kind of like my game 5.5 which is not quite made it but it's kind of like five. So yes, Fox on the tree.
Yes, nice little prototype game.
I tried to get the the chicken first because you know I was hungry when I was eating it playing it. Never mind. And my number four is Maka Raccoon. This cute critter cooking chaos game which I will talk about it later when it appears in Teran's list.
Yes.
Why can't I just butcher that that way? That way.
So we come to my number three game and this is the one which you mentioned earlier as your number five. This is Bagged and Boarded from Octar.
Mhm. So, what this game is, as you say, it's a uh you're collecting comic books and you're trying to collect sets and you're you can get them autographed or graded to increase their value. And there is a shared incentive uh economic element to it where if you are creating pointc scoring set collecting on certain comic books uh your opponents more than likely they're not going to be able to create sets with them because there aren't enough cards in the deck,
but they can hang on to them. And if they've bagged them and uh kept them in mint condition but not kind of displayed them as a set, that increases the value of those. So, it has this shared incentive which feeds into what is ultimately a worker placement game where you are constantly going out and trying to find ways of collecting comics.
Very cute, very relatable. I used to collect comics. Not that extreme though, like having to do chores, whatever. Thrown at me or maybe I did. I can't remember anymore. It's that long. Not that long ago. Anyways, keep going.
Yeah, it is one. It is a uh worker placement and then resolution in order game.
So there's all there's about 13 different actions. It's got a clever little mechanism where some of them are at the comic book store and some of them are at a convention. And if you the first time you choose an action in that location, you also have to spend a time cube which is an which is a worker traveling there. And so you want to try to do lots of actions in that location at the same round because it's more efficient from a travel standpoint.
Yeah. for a little kid like riding bicycle there and then that's it. That's your whole day gone. Not really.
Yeah. A lot of the game is about trying to find the right comic books for the sets and so you can go diving into like previews or uh sending away mail order to get things face down off the deck, but it's expensive.
Or they can be face up and competitive. Or the ones no one wants just ends up in a in the um bargain bin. where they're probably not going to be valuable, but if you can make them work for you, they're really cheap to buy.
Probably take more effort though to get there because you have to go through several times. So, probably balanced it. Who knows?
I must say I'm very uh impressed. I mean, I was impressed by Brick and Mort and I'm impressed by this as well. Dr. draft really. Uh I think they're their only two games five or six years, but there's a lot of uh it's a really thoughtful game with very accessible and well understood mechanisms. So yeah, I enjoy it.
Very nostalgic as well. Just the feeling of collecting mint comic books or mail order. There was no Amazon back there. So just like little thing the form that you have to fill out and then mail it. I mean, yeah, very good. My number three is the peak team. This is going to be officially as in release. We had an earlier version because we did a video which I haven't released today. And this is a cooperative game that it's not just another cooperative game. It's cooperative game where you there's a silent communication and you have to read the situation because essentially your partner's actions is determined by you. So you're the one that are going to give them the action cards for your partner to use. Right? So you are a park ranger usually going around the board.
You're getting to finish quest not quests. Um
missions missions. Thank you. missions, but they're basically movement puzzles. So, you are moving around to different locations as uh efficiently as you can.
Yeah. So, that's the main thing I love about it, like cooperative, but then the fact that that's that's the limited communication part of it where you need to make sure that your partner would have it and then there's some random ones you draw as well. And then you have the cards from the previous round. So, a little bit like, okay, yes, we need to complete this. I need to give you this and hopefully I'm getting this otherwise we're screwed. It's not that easy the game itself.
It's tricky and it's the and it's got several levels. So the first level is you know tricky not that hard but it is very basic in terms of the rules it has. It's all really about movement. But then as you go through the game starts throwing in
rock falls on your paths that that block them out or bad weather or things like that. So, it's got a lot of uh steps and levels to grow into.
Yeah. Very fun.
My number two game for the month, which was your number four.
The chefs are back.
Yes. This is Maca Raccoon. So, this is a prototype game which is going to crowdfunding shortly.
Oh, it has.
Or it has.
Mhm.
Uh and it is a I think the easiest the easiest place to start to explain how this game works is take you back to sweet mess. And it's got a similar theme to Sweet Mess because you are animals collecting ingredients trying to make desserts.
Hang on. Are we animals in Sweet Mess?
I don't think Sweet Mess is animals, but you're collecting you're collecting uh recipes trying to make desserts. So, and you're collecting them from a grid using an interesting placement mechanism. And in this one, there's always 15 out of 16 in a grid. And you're taking you're putting one from the market onto a space and then taking one that's adjacent.
It feels like a like a slight puzzle type of thing. Yeah.
Little bit like that.
Little bit.
Or you can spend sugar cubes which are tough to come by to skip over things um to sort of give you an advantage. Skip over customers or skip over
ingredients and stuff.
And then you're using those ingredients. They're on transparent uh cards,
sheets. Yeah. Cards. and you're stacking them together. You get pancakes and then you put like jam and spreads and stuff on top of it and then you put
bits of fruit on top of that.
And it's got this very clever Yeah, it looks simple on the surface, but it's very clever little mechanism where you are stacking them up,
you're limited to three plates, and once you stack something on top that is out of order, well, you can't put it out of order, but once you've got something that's on top that you can't give to a customer, you can't separate it again. So, it's effectively useless for recipes.
Yeah.
But you can then cash it in to take special powers.
And that all that all folds together really well.
Very well.
Yeah.
It is one of those games that is easy rules but a little bit harder to master. And there's also deeper strategy and timing element to it which is it's it's really fun. It's really cute. It's really fun.
Yeah. And that was where I linked it back to Sweet Mess because I felt it had that similar thing where the the action choice was simple enough to be gateway
but intriguing enough to appeal to gamers. And I think yeah, it's coincidental that they have pretty much the same theme. But
they it's a fun game. I recommend
indeed. My number two spec again, Sanctuary, an Ark Nova game. It is a tile placement more with I mean more than the it has this arc noa action selection card thing but it's more tile placement than the other bit. So the other bit supports the tile placement. Terren you can go and explains this better than me.
Yeah it's fundamentally a hexagonal tile placement game. Um which of course there are many out there on the market but this one has the arknova feel. It has uh animals that go in certain continents. You're trying to create the combinations of continents the way you would for the goals in Ark Nova. The combinations of animal types and then they have all these powers. And what's new in this? It's not Ark Noa, so you can't directly compare them, but the one thing that feels different is buildings. It's a free tile to play as soon as you meet an objective.
And you build up a big board full of tiles. You try to complete the goals and you try to get as many points as you can through getting stuff next to other stuff that scores for adjacency. All the kind of stuff that you love out of uh out of tile placement games.
But when you place a tile, now the tile has got the strength and that's how it's dictated by the cards that you have with the ark nova feeling. So you actually take the tiles and then move it to the left to do the action toward the tiles.
Yes.
So that what links it to ANOVA.
Yeah. The game does.
Yes. And the game has a common market that you can take tiles from. And often often that's not going to mean that much, but there are key moments where you can try to snatch a tile that's out of your range or that your opponent wants or that you can see that your opponent really needs. So it has that little bit of interaction that sometimes the card draft in Arnova is missing.
Like one of those time when you did that and then I really wanted it and you took it and then you just discarded that tile after that. It's just like
my wound just like
Yes.
So mean.
That's how it works.
So game number one for both of us and Taran learned from mistake. It's just just the lid, not the whole box. Otherwise you be like I'm not getting criticized for having uh crackly noises when I pick things up.
Lightning train. This I picked up from Gen Con. This is deceptively heavy. Not in a way that it's not a super heavy game, but you look at the game and you look you look at it and think maybe take it to right, but a step or two over. No, it's actually more heavy than that. The rule itself is not that heavy, but the strate strategy is heavy-ish.
Yeah, it's a bag building game, and so you're using a bagu engine to uh run a railway.
Great. Taran is doing something more efficient than me than complaining about how heavy or not heavy. Thanks, Taran.
Uh, so you're doing that to run a railway and it's got it's an interesting two-paced thing. So, you think about a a game like Oon where you're you're getting the workers, you're putting them in the bag, you're taking them out, and you're trying to keep your bag lean by putting them in the beneficial deeds. In this case, you've got certain tiles that will only accumulate because they give you various actions and money and things like that. And then there's also actions that will put your colored trains. Imagine they're like ticket to ride trains, but they're shaped like chips.
They go into your bag. They can either circulate around or you can get them out of your circulation by building the track on the board.
And so
it's really unique. I love deck building, you know, and this is using that mechanic but in a different twist and turns.
Y
literally where the tracks twist and turn
indeed. And once you get to that point, you're trying to strategically make your tracks out on the board. It's not just a straight pointto-point I build my track as long as I can kind of thing like a lot of railway building games. It's actually quite difficult to get your tracks down in tactical positions because they have to jump off your stations or off your other trains and they have to have a region that matches one of your chips.
So, it can be tricky to get things going and you're trying to link up all these uh destination stations with things that produce. So, you're just moving stuff,
moving goods, delivering stuff around the board,
but it really snowballs because it takes a while
to get good networks going. And I like that it means the game is
is live and and can be very explosive towards the end.
We both really enjoy this. And the way you deck build your chips and you can put a plus, you get a chip with a plus symbol and then that means you get to draw more. That's kind of like the familiar deck building but with slightly different mechanics but like the way you do this. Oh, if this is how you trash or this is how you gain more chips. It's really different. It's really fun.
Yes.
Like the this direwolf has been doing well. They have June Imperiums and they have other things as well. Clanks.
Clank. Clanks. Clank.
There are many clanks in the world. I guess they have the clanks. Yeah, I would say like probably called differently but clanks. So, uh yeah, for train enthusiasts which is you are tantr but yes um the queue from Gen Con is very long but because I know you would like this, I would like this as well. I got your back, Taran.
I got your back.
Thank you for having my back.
Thank you. Where's my back? You got my back. Next. There's no next.
There's no next.
This is number one. That's is it, I guess. What's your favorite game of this month? I'm going to just like walk away and then just like put my tails between my legs. Except that I don't have it. Uh, thank you for watching and what are your highlight games? Hopefully I will see you soon at Essen. Maybe, maybe not. Bye.