Into the Gamescape - Show 14
March 26th, 2007 by MikeIt’s that time again, show 14 of Into the Gamescape!
This time, we have a review of Fagin’s Gang for you, plus an interview with Dean Conrad the designer. We have some more fun and games in the Grogscape (that scary place we don’t let Paul come to!) where we give a first impressions of Action Front: Watchtower , and much in the way of general chatter and banter
March 27th, 2007 at 9:25 am
I was disappointed to learn that you folks had put away the “Victory in the Pacific” GAME before delving within this much, so what about if WE all that can amass some sort of “sessions” with this, then submit that for you to follow along with some? If 10 ‘Groups’ with 2-apiece for this, managed to complete and display the progression for it ALL, then you might pick up on it far better eh? GRATZ! on the “nomination” too here for the 2006 BGIA, and too bad I can’t VOTE on this anymore.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Chaps, top marks for getting the Fury of Dracula session recorded - can’t wait to hear it.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Good episode guys. You just keep getting better and better. Bonus points for the mention, of course.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Uh oh, troubled waters on the Grogscape, so to speak? Press on! I did not vote which game you should play next since I wanted to hear about them all. Combat Commander is the one I am most likely to get to the table, so that works out well for me.
The ranks of the Gamescape microbadge holders grows! Six total owners when you recorded the show (including me), but now there is a seventh. I wonder what the count will be up to when the next show rolls around….. I am anxious to find out.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Top show yet again guys. I agree with Mr_Six, you just get better and better. I was in stitches with laughing - to strange looks from my wife. You have rapidly become my number 1 gaming podcast. I was mid way through another when your show came up on iTunes and I stopped that immediately to listen to yours. Just a great rapport between the three of you.
On a more constructive note, the review of the Fagin game worked really well. You played it, you talked about the good and bad points, you interviewed the designer to work through some of the issues. That all held together really well.
As for “into the grogscape” keep at it like Herb says. I agree that the issue is how frequently you come back to games and how fresh the rules are in your head.
As a side note to Si - just spotted a new ASLSK#1 tutorial on BGG.
Cheers
Russell (aka Collywobbles on BGG)
March 29th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Hi guys!
Once again, thanks for the feedback - it’s great to hear you’re all enjoying the show
GROGnads - a session report or even just turn run-through would be great. I’m not sure why I’m finding it so difficult to get this one to come together in my head! The delay between sessions was too long, which was our fault, but I think the main thing that finally made us put it to one side was the repair rules - we just couldn’t work out when in the turn repairs happened, whether a ship had to be in port for the whole turn after you’d repaired it, and if so, how you’d mark it as ‘repaired’ but not ready for action, etc. Mike was going to look on BoardGameGeek for a turn order summary - not sure if he found one. We’re still really keen to play it, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Norman - yeah, The Fury of Dracula is in the can, but currently it’s a pretty big can! I think we’ve got about three hours of stuff as we just recorded the whole thing, and we really need to get it down to an hour and a half max (though even that might be about 80 minutes too long!). We’ll get this out just as soon as we (aka Mike!) can get the post-production done. I’m not sure how well this type of segment will work, but hey nothng ventured, nothing gained! All feedback will be appreciated when this airs!
Mr Six - thanks!
Herb - Mike and I got Combat Commander to the table last night and are playing again on Sunday. But I’m not going to say what we think of it yet - you’ll all have to tune in to Show 15 to find out
It’s great to see people showing their support for the show with the microbadges - the more the merrier!
Russell - That’s great to hear - we’ll continue to do our best not to disappoint! On the review side we take our responsibilities pretty seriously. We always want to do the game justice and give our listeners as much info as we can so they an make an informed decision about whether or not it’s for them. This sometimes makes our reviews quite long, but that’s the style we’re comfortable with. We won’t always all like a game - in fact we often have differing views and I like to think that’s one of the strengths of having three of us - so you get three opinions for the price of one! And don’t worry - ‘Into the Grogscape’ is here to stay! Thanks for the heads up on the ASLSK tutorial - I’ll check it out.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts, guys!
Later!
Si
March 30th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Wow! Thanks for the great writeup on AF Watchtower. It’s very gratifying to hear folks enjoy your work. EVen though games designers are, of course, in it for the money, cars, and chicks, it’s always a minor perk to hear that someone actually liked playing your game…also really enjoyed the Fagin segment. I have a real picture of the game now.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:46 am
I was listening through the show again today (for the 6th time - seriously), and just wanted to say that the witter and banter is this episode was top notch!
I do have a question. What happened to Paul’s microphone during part of the show? He sounded like he was far away. Was Mike upset that Paul smoked him at a game? Tsk Tsk.
April 3rd, 2007 at 6:12 am
Thats about the size of it Herb!
Actually, no, the real reason was that we did the sound check, got the levels right, specifically told Paul how far to be from his Mic etc. He them promptly sat back about 2 feet from his mic, so we had to do a lot of boosting etc.
Honestly, I work with amateurs!
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Into the Gamescape - no one witters like we do
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Come on Mike - I thought you were going to tell the truth. You know all the talk about “letting Paul out” or “finding Paul down the back of the Gamescape sofa”. Well they don’t let me out. What you heard is the sound of me talking from the back of the Gamescape sofa.
The good news - with good behaviour I might be allowed out next time.
April 4th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Of course he is behind the Sofa - Doctor Who has started up again
Hoping you will be doing some Commands and Colors: Ancients segments in Grogscape now you are dis-illusioned with Battlelore after the afore mentioned “incident”
Great show, keep it up!
April 4th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
What’s this? Is Paul going to get his own mini-show? ….do we hear “Into the Paulscape” on the horizon as a direct rival to “Into the Grogscape”? (perhaps with a review of Santiago in it’s debut episode?).
April 5th, 2007 at 6:10 am
I’d have thought ‘Into the Couchscape’ myself…but who am I to say?
April 6th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Further to your dice comments - my C&C Ancients dice from Valley Games in Canada arrived in the post yesterday (can’t stand the black plastic stickered lumps that come with the game), and I’m sending them back for a refund. When I rolled them, they kept coming up helmets when no leader was in the fight, reds when I needed blues, and anything but retreats when I needed retreats to stop my son striking back! I even drew all the movement cards I needed for a change! Seriously though, I recommend the dice - 2 sets of 7 for $14 U.S. including postage - can’t be bad….
April 30th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
[…] (For an independent discussion of this process, listen to the Into the Grogscape section of episode 14 of Into the Gamescape) […]