"Dear friend, if you wanna feel better

Don't let the devil make you toss this letter

If you've been crossed up by hoodoo voodoo

A wizard or the lizard

You got family trouble, man trouble, woman trouble

No light through the tunnel

If you're lookin' for a true friend, or a true lover

Or if you've been livin' undercover

Well, I'm comin' to your town to break it all down

And help you with all of this

I'm lookin' to help you find bliss one day

Or one way, can't miss"

-Jack White, "Archbishop Harold Holmes", presumably extolling the virtues of the Millipede Death Cult

Games Played Last Week:

01:14 -Cthulhu: Death May Die--Fear of the Unknown (Rob Daviau, Eric M. Lang, and Marco Portugal, CMON, 2024)

06:28 -Dune: Imperium--Uprising (Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf, 2023)

12:48 -Innovation Ultimate (Carl Chudyk, Asmadi Games, 2025)

18:25 -Leviathan Wilds: Deepvale (Justin Kemppainen, Moon Crab Games, 2025)

22:03 -Line of Fire: Burnt Moon (Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson, Osprey Games, 2025)

27:23 -Rumble Nation (Yogi Shinichi, Hobby Japan, 2017)

29:23 -Iron Forest (Brian Gomez, Brain Games, 2024)

32:23 -Crash Octopus (Naotaka Shimamoto, itten, 2021)

33:08 -Junk Art (Jay Cormier & Sen-Foong Lim, Pretzel Games, 2016)

33:51 -The Breach (Michele Morosini, Ludus Magnus Studio, 2024)

41:27 -A Gentle Rain (Kevin Wilson, Incredible Dream Studios, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

44:34 Open registration for SVWAG Con (July 25th-July 27th) on Eventbrite! https://tinyurl.com/25s6p5jd

45:24 REPRINTS! PitchCar and expansions, Ra: The Dice Game, Rheinlander, Junk Art

49:35 Carnegie expansion in development

49:52 Feature Game: Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon (Fabio Lopiano & Nestore Mangone, Sorry We Are French, 2024)

It is remarkable to reflect on how much hobbies can demand of us, and certainly board gaming is no different. Setting aside the administrative, economic, and social burdens; we then have to spend so much time teaching, setting up, and tearing down. Alas! 23-step processes for general set up prior to the 12-step individual player board set up. It was not always thus, but here we are.

01:42 AYURIS: Voidfall (Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2023)

Games Played Last Week:

07:15 -Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon (Fabio Lopiano & Nestore Mangone, Sorry We Are French, 2024)

13:37 -Cthulhu: Death May Die--Fear of the Unknown (Rob Daviau, Eric M. Lang, and Marco Portugal, CMON, 2024)

17:48 -Barony: Heroes (Marc André, Grail Games, 2025)

21:04 -Netrunner: System Gateway (Zoe Cohen, McGregor Crowley, June Valencia Cuervo, Max Chippington Derrick, Gregory Tongue, and Jade Wesley, Null Signal Games, 2021)

34:37 -Planepita (Eisuke Fuijinawa & Kazunori Hori, SzpiLAB, 2022)

40:50 -ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo (Scott Rogers, Ravensburger, 2021)

44:47 -Endeavor: Deep Sea (Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray, Burnt Island Games, 2024)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

50:05 Germán P. Millán's Covenant

50:35 Blood Rage: Valhalla expandalone to be on crowdfunding

53:52 Little Soldiers: green army men miniatures game

54:38 SVWAG Con (July 25th-July 27th) SOLD OUT

55:34 Topic: Setup and Teardown

Apparently the American custom of the "push present" can trace its roots to the Anglo-Indian tradition of the "baby bauble", although in the latter case jewellery is the more standard gift (instead of, say, boardgames). Can we acknowledge that baby bauble is a much less crude term? Let's try to be classy here, people. There is already enough about childbirth that is fraught.

Games Played Last Week:

2:07 -Galactic Cruise (T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, and Koltin Thompson, Kinson Key Games, 2025)

6:31 -Cerebria: The Inside World (Richard Amann, Viktor Peter, István Pócsi, Frigyes Schőberl, Nick Shaw, & Dávid Turczi, Mindclash Games, 2018)

12:53 -Phantom Division (Pete Ruth & Mark Thomas, Phantom Horizon, 2026)

23:19 -Space Gits (Mike Hutchinson, Planet Smasher Games, 2025)

28:03 -Earthborne Rangers (Andrew Fischer, Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt, Andrew Navaro, Adam Sadler, and Brady Sadler, Earthborne Games, 2023)

30:00 -Dro Polter (Paul Schulz, Oink Games, 2023)

33:14 -Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon (Fabio Lopiano & Nestore Mangone, Sorry We Are French, 2024)

40:56 -TONKS (Apocrypha_Now, Web-published, 2023)

News (and why it doesn't matter):

43:41 Flurry of Friedemann Friese: Formidable Farm, Fearless, Five Families

44:45 Open registration for SVWAG Con (July 25th-July 27th) on Eventbrite! https://tinyurl.com/25s6p5jd

45:14 Feature Game: 7 Empires (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2024)