1 Player Podcast

This week Julius and I take a quick look at Transmissions.  It's a beautiful game about robots wandering around discovering nature.  If the theme, sounds pasted on, well, maybe but listen in because under the shiny but thin veneer is a veritable gem.  ...Or so Julius tells us

• Transmissions (BGG)

Be polarized with our discussion of A Touch of Evil: Dark Gothic.  This is a deck-building game set in the Touch of Evil Universe by Flying Frog Productions.  Some folks love the stylized cosplay photography on the cards and some just can't stand it.  Other than that, this is a pretty standard deck-builder with a satisfying theme. 

• A Touch of Evil: Dark Gothic (BGG, Flying Frog)

This week we talk about Dice Worker Placement games.  You'll get to learn just how much I don't know about the subject.  Thankfully, Julius has some good recommendations.

• Under Falling Skies
• So, You've Been Eaten
• Endangered
• Pocket Landship
• Artemis Project
• Twin Stars
• Black Angel

This week's game is a solo/competitive game in which you are trying to be the scientist to first discover planet X.  Scientist have theorized that there must be a yet to be found planet out in space.  The math adds up right to prove it.  Nobody's found it yet.  In this deduction game, you get to try and find the lost planet by playing against an app driven AI.

This week Julius talks about the game Knight Fall.  This is a skirmish game in which players control either the knights or demons that are trying to attack and destroy the knights in an attempt to unseal the gates to the underworld.  This is an asymmetrical game that can be soloed by playing a campaign game as the knights.

This week Julius and I revisit the tiny little 13 card micro-game Elevenses for One. In this solitaire game you play as an English maid tasked with getting tea for two ready in 15 minutes.  It's a daunting task considering that the tea pantry is in complete disarray.  This is a rather simple game of lining up 10 cards in the correct order but as you play each card, it may impact the subsequent cards.

We are an episode off.  We normally do a Popular Mechanics show every 5 episodes.  The next one will be on schedule at 280 or at least it should be.  Anyway!  This week Julius and I talk about skirmish games.  It's not exactly a mechanic but that's okay.  It was still interesting to think up skirmish solo games that I have enjoyed.  Here's the list from our discussion....

• 04:26 The South Shall Rise Again (BGG)
• 06:20 Knight Fall (BGG)
• 09:25 Sentinels of the Multiverse (BGG)
• 10:30 Marvel Crisis Protocol (BGG)
• 12:47 Hoplomachus: Origins (BGG)
• 14:31 Proving Grounds (BGG)
• 15:30 Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game (BGG)
• 18:10 Ambush (BGG)
• 18:37 Red November (BGG)
• 19:17 So, You've Been Eaten (BGG)
• 20:00 Space Hulk Death Angel (BGG)
• 20:57 Skies Above the Reich (BGG)
• 22:06 Warp's Edge (BGG)

This week Julius and I talk about a game we've both been playing, So, You've Been Eaten.  This is an asymetric game about mining gems from space-worm intestines.  You are a miner who jumps into Space Worms and mines gems as you travel through the digestive track.  You can play as either the miner or the space-worm, in either case, you are trying to survive the entire ordeal.

The game is designed by Scott Almes with fantastic art by Kwanchai Moriya.

• So, You've Been Eaten (BGG)

Julius and I are back with a look at Uwe Rosenberg's Field's of Arle.  It's a lovely game in which you get to relive the lives of Mr. Rosenberg's ancestors, well, more or less. It's at least a look at what life might have been like in the province of Arle, in Germany in the 18th century (as a worker placement game).

This week I go it alone in my little lighthouse.  I look at a small journaling RPG about keeping a lighthouse with, um, something supernatural underneath.  In this real-time game, each day you roll a few dice and record an entry in your logbook... # of ships, weather and any brief notes.  Then, you can also write in more detail about the day in a journal.  There, you will keep track of your comings and goings as well as any issues with the thing under the lighthouse.  It's a neat little game with a great idea that fell a little short for me.

• Log-book of the Lighthouse-keeper (Drive Thru RPG)

It's that time of year again!  It's time to make your Top 20 solo games list for the annual Top 100 (Top 200) list managed by Kevin Erskine!  Listen along with Julius as I prepare my list for Kevin

• 2022 Top 20 announcement & discussion thread (BGG)
• My Top 20 (29)
  1. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
  2. Onirim
  3. Nusfjord
  4. Ragemore
  5. Sentinels of the Multiverse
  6. Castellion
  7. At the Gates of Loyang
  8. Nations: The Dice Game
  9. Conflict of Heroes
  10. Final Girl
  11. Navajo Wars
  12. Newton
  13. Elder Sign
  14. Disaster on K2
  15. Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu
  16. Escape: The Curse of the Temple
  17. Kanban EV
  18. AstroNavis Merchant Advanced
  19. PAX
  20. Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island
  21. Imperials Settlers
  22. The Isle of Dr Necreaux
  23. Outdoor Survival
  24. Space Hulk: Death Angel - The Card Game
  25. Hostage Negotiator
  26. Silverton
  27. Snowdonia
  28. Urbion/.Equilbrion
  29. Fields of Arle

This week Julius teaches me about the game Project L. L stands for that shape of piece in games like Tetris (or Project L), for example.  This is a polyomino game in which you are collecting and upgrading pieces to fit onto boards in order to complete the boards and get points.  It's a rather interesting sounding game and, by the way, the components look really good.

This week we have one of our Popular Mechancis episodes; but, this week we cheat!  We don't talk about a game mechanic per se.  Instead, we talk about big games.  What the heck does that mean though?  Julius and I talk about good games we each think are big.  What are your favorite big games?

• 06:00 Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 (BGG)
• 09:15 Arkham Horro (2nd Edition) (BGG)
• 10:40 Anachrony (BGG)
• 15:25 Ironsworn (RPG Geek)
• 21:10 Mechs vs. Minions (BGG)
• 24:20 Mage Knight Board Game (BGG)
• 24:55 SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD (BGG)

We brought in our in-house real-time game expert, Julius to discuss Paramedics: Clear. As hinted above, it is a real-time game in which you play a paramedic rushing to save lives at time runs out.

This week Julius and I finally get around to talking about the 3rd Fantasy Flight co-operative LCG, Marvel Champions.  In this game you play as a super-hero trying to stop a villain from their evil scheme.  The game can be played with the pre-built hero-decks or you can do some pre-game deck construction to build some really powerful heroes.

• Marvel Champions (BGG, FFG)