Talk Cardboard

Rob Daviau Talks Legacy, Empire’s End, Ready Set Bet, Mind Space

It’s a new episode of the Talk Cardboard podcast and I feel great! Rejuvenated even because today’s games are light, breezy, quirky and fun.
And what’s a breezier topic than the collapse of an empire? Just the thought of that warmed something inside of me, like a cozy blanket gently touching the fireplace and setting aflame. If you too would like to partake in some famine, pestilence, war, etc. you might want to give Empire’s End a spin. And if that wasn’t cozy enough, how about some real time horse gambling? Honestly, all that cozyness put my brain in a twist. Thankfully, we’re also covering Mind Space.
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On to the timestamps:
1:16 Audience Correspondence - Singapore 1819
3:33 Empire's End
13:17 Audience Recommendations
14:49 Ready Set Bet
26:06 Rob Daviau Talks Legacy Games
45:00 Mind Space
56:40 Audience Correspondence - All Time Favourites

Earthborne Rangers, Forest Shuffle, Planta Nubo, Sonny Liew and 1819: Singapore

Every year in board games there’s a new fad. Legacy, polyominoes, roll and writes and trick takers. This year’s fad seems to be less genre based and more societally concious. Here at NPI every week we encounter more and more board games that reduce their use of wasteful material such as plastics. On this episode alone two of the three games discussed are 100% recyclable (if you ignore the stickers that hold the lid on the box). And the third one is themed around enviromental issues. How amazing is that?
But on top of that, they’re really interesting games in their own right. Honestly, this feels like a celebration.
If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
On to the timestamps:
1:43 Audience Correspondence - Contentification Part One
3:51 Earthborne Rangers
27:52 Audience Correspondence - Contentification Part Two
36:32 Forest Shuffle
59:10 Sonny Liew and the Two Board Games Called 1819: Singapore
1:25:31 Planta Nubo
1:42:06 Audience Correspondence - Contentification Part Three

The Best of Spiel Essen 2023

What’s the biggest event of the year? That’s right, it’s the DFS Winter Mega Sale! But right after that comes Essen Spiel, or as it is now known: Spiel Essen. Every year, just under two hundred thousand board gamers flock to an industrial city in Germany to partake in a mass consumption event where over a thousand board game titles are released over the course of one weekend and this year we have played ALL OF THEM.
Or at least tried to. We played twenty five, ate a kebab and fell asleep. But now, on this one and only episode of Talk Cardboard, we’ll rank them from worst to best and talk about each one a little bit.
If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
On to the timestamps:
0:56 Intro
Unranked Games:
3:13 Karvi
4:02 El Grande
5:30 Bruxelles 1893
7:30 Nana/Trio
Ranked Games:
10:25 Here Comes The Dog
12:00 Stich für Stich
13:59 Sunrise Lane
16:32 Couture
20:19 Ninja Masters
23:19 Havalandi
27:55 Tangram City
32:30 Quicksand
36:15 Extravaganza
39:14 Nuts a Go Go
43:50 Viking Sea-Saw
47:28 Tiger and Dragon
51:23 White Castle
55:55 Come Sail Away
1:00:41 The Top 3 Games from Spiel

Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall, Fit to Print, Vindication

Tell me something, which other board game podcast episode can claim to contain the entire gamut of board games in one episode? Antropomorphic animals? Check. Weirdly themed euro? Check. Fantasy campaign game? Check. Real time? Check. Randomness? Check. Strategy, tactics, abstractification? Check check and check.
In this episode we’ll take a long overdue look at Vindication, a game where you gather cubes to kill monsters, Fit to Print, a cutesy real time newspaper assembly simulator and Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall, a fantasy campaign game that signals the arrival of everyone’s most dreaded season - Campaignmass.
Find the video we mention in the discussion on contentification right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMqtgN82fUY
If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
On to the timestamps:
2:48 Fit to Print
29:07 Audience Correspondence: Board Game Fan Fic Trivia
31:48 Vindication
46:51 A Discussion on Contentification
59:47 Kinfire Chronicles: Night's Fall

Kieron Gillen, Great Western Trail: New Zealand, Schadenfreude, Freelancers

Are games even real? According to Kieron Gillen, they certainly bleed into reality and reality bleeds into them. According to Great Western Trail, New Zealand isn’t even real. So who’s to say?
On this episode of Talk Cardboard we review Schadenfreude, the little trick taking game that could, chat about the absurd comedy that is Freelancers, take an early peak at Great Western Trail: New Zealand and chat to Kieron Gillen about his comic book and role-playing game DIE.
For more on DIE, here’s the links provided at the end of the interview in clickable form:
Kieron’s Newsletter - https://buttondown.email/KieronGillen
DIE RPG - https://diecomic.com/rpg/
Rowan, Rook and Decard - https://rowanrookanddecard.com/
If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
On to the timestamps:
00:59 Intro and Audience Correspondence - Review copies
6:32 Schadenfreude
19:31 Freelancers: A Crossroads Game
37:07 Audience Correspondence - Dinged up Cards
39:56 Interview: Kieron Gillen and DIE
1:07:53 Great Western Trail: New Zealand

Earth, Lacuna, Voidfall

From Earth to Space to the abstract void in between, this episode has a little bit of everything, including a game that made Efka feel like he had to give a rating. That’s right, a bona fide numerical value asigned to the perceived quality of a game. What will they think of next? Verdicts? Comparisons? In the future, anything will be possible.
On this episode of Talk Cardboard we review the many many card game Earth, the impossibly adorable abstract two player only game Lacuna and share our first impressions of the heaviest euro game of the year - Voidfall.
If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
On to the timestamps:
0:00 Review Copies and NPI
6:13 Earth
25:20 Audience Correspondence - Game Wear and Tear
31:01 Lacuna
45:21 Audience Correspondence - Aeon’s End
52:16 Voidfall First Impressions

Sustainable Games with Andrew Navaro, Dorfromantik, Ancient Realm, Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

What if we don’t make games that last forever is the question Andrew Navaro, head of Earthborne Games is asking us. His answer is Earthborne Rangers, a game that will perish, but not before it lands on our doorsteps.
On this episode of Talk Cardboard we interview Andrew about Earthborne Rangers and his vision for a more eco-responsible board game scene.
We’ve also got reviews for Spiel des Jahres winner Dorfromantik: The Board game that’s all about a chill time laying tiles, Ancient Realms - a little game that fits in your pocket from the designer of Sprawlopolis and Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold - big legacy campaign deckbuilder that’s more ambitious than it is impressive.
If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
On to the timestamps:
5:16 Audience Correspondence: Obsession
13:59 Ancient Realm
28:02 Dorfromantik: The Board Game
39:53 Audience Correspondence: NPI Directed by
43:43 Sustainable Board Games with Andrew Navaro (Interview)
1:15:09 Aeon's End: Legacy of Gravehold
1:40:46 Audience Correspondence: Rulebook Assessment

Zoe Bee, Race to the Raft, Ra, Obsession

It’s time to get schooled! Always wanted to say that and finally I have a good reason because today’s guest on the show is none other than Zoe Bee who’ll teach us about board games as educational tools.
Oh but wait, there’s also board game reviews. A hot new release that asks us to save cats (again) - Race to the Raft, a hot old classic that’s got a shiny new coat - Ra, and a hot hidden gem that we finally got around to playing - Obsession.
If you’d like to check out our bonus episodes - become a patreon supporter on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
On to the timestamps:
00:00 Cold Open
3:01 Audience Correspondence - NPI Geometry
8:28 Race to the Raft
31:08 Audience Correspondence - Hidden Movement
33:24 Ra
45:59 Board Game Education with Zoe Bee
1:12:47 Obsession: Pride, Intrigue, and Prejudice in Victorian England