0:00

Hello, everybody, and welcome

0:02

to the very 250

0:05

second episode of the

0:07

Shut Up and Sit

0:15

Down podcast, a podcast that's

0:17

entering a new era. I'm

0:20

joined today by Emily Rosa. Hello. Whoa.

0:23

I'm interested. What is this?

0:26

Emily, that we are killing the

0:28

introduction to this podcast, being a podcast

0:30

for people who love board games, board

0:32

games, and the people who love board

0:34

games. You can't do this, Tom. This

0:36

era is the search for the new

0:38

slogan. It is a journey we're going

0:41

to go on together. We're going to

0:43

go on it with the listeners. All

0:45

this was triggered by one person who replied to

0:47

the podcast being like, hey, Tom, you can change

0:50

the intro now. You're not beholden to board games,

0:52

board games, and the people who love board games

0:54

anymore. You have the power to change it. And

0:57

so I will. And maybe that's a

0:59

bad decision. Maybe it's a good decision, but it's

1:01

a decision that I'm going to take. Well,

1:03

yeah, it's been 250 episodes and you're going

1:06

to just change it now. I'm sure it

1:08

has consistently been that tagline for all 251

1:10

up to this point. And

1:14

it's so like me to be against,

1:16

you know, making a big change later

1:18

in something's life, you

1:20

know, that doesn't fit me at all. It's

1:23

not part of your character. I

1:25

would not have you down as that kind of person. So what

1:27

are we going to go with? I don't know. That's

1:30

the thing. That's what's exciting. Are we going to get

1:32

votes? Is this going to be like some American Idol

1:34

type thing? Yeah. And

1:36

maybe one will progress to the final

1:38

and that will be the one that

1:40

we choose surviving an audience elimination process.

1:43

So do we. Okay. So give

1:45

one. Say one. Well, I haven't. Well,

1:48

I, you know, I, I didn't really, I didn't really come. I didn't really

1:50

come prepared. Well, um, you know,

1:52

it's really kind of putting me on

1:54

the spot here. Um, and I didn't expect

1:56

to, uh, have to come up with a, with

1:58

a slogan. just a podcast

2:01

about board games, board games and oh

2:03

shoot. Oh I like that one. I

2:06

like that. That's getting my way.

2:08

What about Hello, Welcome to the Shot and

2:10

Sit Down podcast, a podcast that's falling apart

2:13

or something like that. I think

2:15

that's good. Yeah, I think that's great. Yeah, I

2:17

think that we'll just have a call at the

2:19

top of the pod to say if anyone has

2:21

any suggestions for our hot new intro that we

2:23

can style out, we can try on, we can

2:26

see how it fits, let us know. Tell

2:28

us what our new podcast slogan,

2:31

whatever it is should be. Emily on this

2:33

podcast, we're going to talk about three full

2:36

board games. We're going to talk about

2:38

the Quacks of Kwedlenburg, the duel, a

2:41

two player version of the Quacks of

2:43

Kwedlenburg where you angrily brew potions across

2:45

from one another. We're going to talk

2:48

about the fisheries of Gloucester, a Dr.

2:50

Finn's game where what happens? This is

2:52

your game, Emily, what happens in it?

2:55

You fish and you bend time kind

2:57

of, it's weird. Okay,

2:59

I'm bending fish game. And then

3:01

finally, we're going to talk about

3:03

Bloodstones, a big area

3:05

control war game that's got some people a little,

3:08

I was going to say hot under the

3:10

collar. And that means that they're Randy. That's

3:12

not what I wanted to say. Oh, let

3:15

me get the game. I can't wait to hear

3:17

about this game. I can't

3:21

believe that you would, that you would be

3:23

so against that intro, like the

3:25

board games, board games, board games, but then

3:27

not have one to say. I know.

3:30

I think we, well, I literally just decided

3:32

about 30 minutes before the podcast because I

3:34

saw that comment. And I think that the,

3:37

it probably will end up just going back to

3:39

that because it does, it does feel fun to

3:41

say, even though it's never been about the people

3:43

who love board games. I've never understood that. Okay.

3:45

So it's about, it's about board games, board

3:48

games and us. And we like

3:50

board games. Board games, board games and

3:52

us. That feels, that feels like

3:54

that's getting a little parasocial. It's all about us.

3:56

You want to know about my life. Well, hello,

3:58

welcome to the channel. it down podcast. It's

4:00

all about us. No room for board games anymore.

4:03

Let's just talk about our lives. Do

4:05

you ever like, do you ever like get really close to

4:07

someone and then it's like, oh, you, you feel like you,

4:09

you're like, have a great connection with them and then it

4:11

starts to get like affectionate and then you're like, Oh my

4:13

gosh, I really kind of want to be with this person.

4:15

And then you, and then, but like, you're so close to

4:17

them that they keep telling you about like their love life.

4:19

And it's like, I don't really want to be hearing about

4:21

this. This is kind of making me sad. And then so

4:23

you would tell them and then they're like, Oh, well I

4:25

don't really feel that way, but I really like you as

4:27

a friend and that's crazy. And then you're like, Oh my

4:29

gosh, that I still feel like I still care

4:31

about you and I still want to like be around you.

4:33

So I guess I'm going to, I guess I'm going to

4:35

just like keep this up. But then it's just like, Oh,

4:38

it just keeps making you sadder and sadder as it goes

4:40

along. Because you don't really want to leave them because you're

4:42

like, you're like their only friend really. And then it's like,

4:44

well, if you leave them, they're just going to be like

4:46

sad and depressed and having a horrible time, but then you're

4:48

getting sad and depressed and having a horrible time by talking

4:50

to them. And then it's like, what are you meant to

4:52

do? Are you meant to just look after yourself

4:54

or are you meant to just like eat it and like

4:57

just suck it up and just move on. The

5:01

Quackstoquet on the bug, the jewel is

5:03

like a two player. Ew, these look

5:05

disgusting. Wait,

5:07

what looks disgusting? The

5:11

bottles, they look awful. Anyway,

5:15

go on. What's wrong with them? What's wrong

5:17

with them? They're so wobbly and like, I

5:19

don't know, like the colors, they don't like

5:22

it. One of them

5:24

is a little sort of like, one of them looks

5:26

a bit like an organ. Well, yeah. And why do

5:28

they have like such weird angles? Like, why

5:30

is it that one's circular and then it just goes

5:32

down to like a point? I

5:35

could have seen what you had at the first one,

5:38

but now I'm looking at the second one more. It

5:40

does look a little odd. They're all odd. I don't

5:42

like it. Yeah, that one looks like haggis. What?

5:45

Yeah, yeah. One of the colors like what you

5:47

I don't know what a spleen is, but it

5:49

looks like that, I'm sure. First up

5:51

on this podcast, we're going to have a

5:53

chat about the Quacks of Kredlinburg, the duel. Emily,

5:57

what do you think this game is? Oh,

5:59

I think it's. The crack the clothing by but he

6:01

played them. He you are correct

6:03

a goodie bag but it said to

6:05

the players there's no fun subversion that

6:08

I was gonna do a matte. that's

6:10

what they say. it's cracks the Tv

6:12

yeah toll I'm I'm I'm happy to

6:14

be involved if you know. Played the

6:16

cork square them. but it is a

6:18

game where a bunch of people sit

6:20

around a table bruin potions by second

6:22

ingredients into a bag and then pulling

6:24

them out. Push my luck trying to

6:26

make the best potion they can sell

6:28

for big profits without exploding. Ah, it's

6:30

Joyous is very silly. is one of

6:32

my favorite games. You can check out

6:34

his review, I think it's excellent if

6:36

you wanna learn more about that one.

6:38

But. This is the to play again. This

6:40

is gonna presume a little bit of knowledge

6:42

that you've played the original consequently much have

6:45

you Emily played the original version of the

6:47

park So quarterback I have many times and

6:49

I played it to players. Wow oh that's

6:51

actually really useful club. Never have you played

6:53

will circle back to that. Well I played

6:55

a two player and that was distracted the

6:58

whole time because the guy just wanted to

7:00

make out and I just wanted to play.

7:02

It is a does increase. You know the

7:04

sexy game If it's actually gave it's not

7:06

as I suspected. The anticipation as you're waiting.

7:08

For. I

7:13

would just said so that whole thing

7:15

with less stress put it on the

7:17

cover. A Sacred Aphrodisiac. The quite as

7:19

simple. as that

7:22

really gets everyone a hot under the

7:24

collar his own. So Crux of Kremlin

7:26

bug the do is perfect for this

7:29

particular game session for for you

7:31

and mister right and also because it's

7:33

a two player only. Most of the

7:35

consequences and bug where you can draw

7:38

things from a bag together and

7:40

compete to be the best person salah

7:42

in the sexiest. Gamer. So.

7:45

Everyone wants to know how does the crux

7:47

of Quite Them bug the duel change the

7:49

crux of Quite Lubbock to make it specifically

7:51

to player experience. I really wasn't different about

7:53

this game. Versus is playing the crux of

7:55

Credible Bug to playa tell me down Disaster

7:57

Quite a lot. There's a lot of different.

8:00

It's actually quite a different game. when you

8:02

brew your posts in this game you are

8:04

going to take it in turns back and

8:06

for pulling tips from the bag so you

8:08

do a bit of brewing while your opponent

8:10

watches and then they do a little bear

8:12

brewing and back and forth and in that

8:14

be potion over time but you only do

8:16

it three tips at a time. For the

8:18

maximum number of ships that you can dumped

8:20

into motion is three not counting any of

8:23

the white explode he pets that might go

8:25

in there and ruin things for you which

8:27

is already this thing element because of the

8:29

second twist which. Is the you are not

8:31

just trying to bring a potion to

8:33

sort of get points and to get

8:35

money And this game you're trying to

8:37

sort of gently tempt a patient's towards

8:39

your alchemy stand in the village square

8:41

and as the source of central board

8:44

between the two players that has this

8:46

sort of like long winding path where

8:48

a patient is going to start walking

8:50

towards the person is brewing the better

8:52

potion so every time you brew you

8:54

saw of pugs the patient a little

8:56

bit more towards you and your opponent

8:58

bruised egos little bit more towards. Them.

9:00

And so it's literally this like push your luck

9:02

tug of war where you might want to just

9:04

sort of tempt them a little bit over towards

9:06

your side to get on. Yes, and so that

9:08

you can sell the potion and when a point

9:11

but that might make your potion explode and else

9:13

going to be a terrible time for you. Other

9:15

than that, Almost. All of the

9:17

game is kind of the same. You add

9:19

ingredients like normal. You spend money in the

9:21

shop to buy them and put them into

9:23

your bags. There's some twists to the ingredients

9:25

that you're buying. There are some morsels of

9:27

combative ones at one that my partner had

9:30

at was a ingredient that when polls would

9:32

have your opponent like something out of their

9:34

bags and you get the number of sort

9:36

of pips of movement of that. Ingredients.

9:39

Which was interesting when I pulled out the

9:41

three of the little explosion. time bomb. Saying

9:43

it's because my partner was like wealth. Do

9:45

I give myself that three movement? Or do

9:47

I leave that ship, put it back in

9:49

your bag and then make it so that

9:51

you still got danger lucky in that because

9:53

I take a risk our your bike. But

9:55

it's give me movement. Who who? who must

9:57

live. interesting little decisions that you have to

9:59

make. This one. There's also this like

10:02

really strings mechanic in between rounds

10:04

that's like sorts of a catch

10:06

up mechanic but saw something else

10:08

where whatever player when out first

10:10

that round gets to like make

10:12

a deal with the other person

10:14

by putting money on like a

10:16

weird set of skills that has

10:18

a chip on the other side

10:20

so you can sort of like

10:22

say hey you can either have

10:24

for money or you can have

10:26

this special chip and they get

10:28

to choose which side. Of it and you

10:30

get the other side which is kind of afraid to let her

10:32

interest as like a. Coin. Flipping mechanic

10:35

in between rounds are you flip a coin

10:37

and get a bonus as a lot about

10:39

stuff and the result is a game this

10:41

pretty decent I like I like said I

10:43

had a got a good time plane quacks,

10:46

equipment bug. Ah Kol on

10:48

the dual. It's. Good silly

10:50

witness who were. So what is the how

10:52

you win? This is it Like getting the

10:54

the patience over to you. That's like your

10:56

points what's the deal? Every time you get

10:58

a patient obe deal side you put them

11:01

on mystical sort of school tracker that nudges

11:03

you one step towards victory. I think it's

11:05

like six or seven patients total means you

11:07

win the whole game. and if not you

11:09

play like six or seven rounds At the

11:11

end of those thoughts that rounds whoever has

11:14

the most patients when. So that is the

11:16

only sort of like you know point scoring

11:18

condition. it is Brian patients. Over towards you

11:20

and it does have that classic like sort

11:22

of quacks rubber banding thing last every time

11:24

you get a patient your opponent gets upgrade

11:26

one of the chips in that bag that

11:29

makes the many So there's like a little

11:31

bit of like nice balancing that to make

11:33

give you that sort of like slightly cozy

11:35

but also slightly savage coaxial which is like

11:37

sort of a game where things go very

11:39

wrong but it's not necessarily a game that

11:41

like wants you to feel like you're really

11:44

really losing any given talking yeah or or

11:46

if you do you least have faith that

11:48

you're going to come. right yeah i

11:50

love texaco quelling like so much this

11:52

is like very exciting to me i

11:54

love a good to plague and figured

11:56

really i love the idea legs i

11:58

get my head and picturing these like,

12:01

it's probably terrible to say this, but like

12:03

a like zombie-esque little patient's

12:05

just like, whoa, that's this

12:07

person? Oh no, now this one just like

12:10

slowly turning around and going towards the other

12:12

side. Such an odd idea. Yeah, for sure.

12:14

It's like, it's very funny because you're like

12:16

literally directly competing. It's like you move them

12:18

like five spaces towards you and your opponent

12:20

moves them like seven spaces towards them. They're

12:22

like going, you know, back and forth over

12:24

and over again. And that sort of mental

12:26

image is made even funnier by the fact

12:28

that there are a few abilities that

12:30

you move your stand forwards down the

12:32

track. So it's like you're literally like

12:34

moving your whole little workshop like closer

12:37

to the patient so that you can

12:39

tempt them into your door, which is

12:41

delightful. Yeah, that's great. And I, I

12:43

think that it is like the, the

12:45

sort of dueling push your luck is

12:47

pretty funky. Like as I was saying,

12:49

like having to in sort of Quack's

12:52

regular style, you're sort of pushing

12:54

your luck against sort of the whole table. And

12:56

it's very exciting when someone's going on this sort

12:58

of hot streak and sort of, you know, putting

13:00

down all these chips and getting into a frenzy,

13:03

but it very rarely feels like you're sort of

13:05

directly competing with one particular player, or at least

13:07

in my experience, it sort of just feels like

13:09

you're just trying to get your own sort of

13:12

high score. But here, seeing your opponent is

13:14

getting really close to like scoring a

13:16

point makes you push your luck harder

13:18

and like mate and it tempts

13:20

you into going out onto that precipice and potentially,

13:22

you know, getting burned, which I think is smart.

13:24

I think it's very clever. I don't

13:27

exactly know if you should get this over

13:30

Quacks of Kwedelenburg if you don't have a

13:32

Quacks of Kwedelenburg game in your life. But

13:34

if you are a big fan of this

13:36

game, but I think like, sure, this is

13:38

good. It's cool. And it's pretty cheap as

13:40

well. Like, surprisingly so. It's a push your

13:42

luck. Like when you are just doing it

13:44

one versus one, what is, is there a

13:48

benefit to like stopping early or is it

13:50

like, what's to stop you from just being

13:52

like, I'm going to just keep going as

13:54

long as they're going. And like, you

13:56

know, if it explodes, who cares? You

13:58

have, I think. This is where my memory

14:01

of chi square number gets a bit hazy. I

14:03

think it's the same mechanic, but if you explode

14:05

your posts and you have two choices, One.

14:08

Is to lose half of your money

14:10

that you've earned during that round. So

14:12

you've been accumulating money by selling up

14:14

your potion. You to lose half of

14:16

that if your post explodes or you

14:19

move the patient towards your opponent as

14:21

many spaces as you would lose money

14:23

but the eye and said i'm sorry

14:25

of as a there is a big

14:27

downside to that and there's also I

14:30

love this. I forgot about this. There's

14:32

a lovely little decision which is the

14:34

space just for your posts In Explodes

14:36

has the like. A big benefit on

14:38

it Lets you move your stand forward or

14:41

upgrade some your tips and your bag. So

14:43

it really incentivize. Ah the Schelotto right up

14:45

to the line has I'm and be like

14:47

I'm Now Instead I have believe I love

14:50

that as yeah it's cool it's cool I

14:52

want to play it sounds exciting. Emily,

14:58

you've been playing a game

15:01

called Fisheries of Gloucester with

15:03

Samsung scintillating met leave. It

15:06

is the second. Time we've

15:08

ever done. On

15:10

this is this on Btc. The description for

15:12

this game says you have to sail the

15:14

seas of New England to cats called scalp

15:16

and other grounds. Best. Split

15:20

like them like safety is like

15:22

Santa Fe. Neither behind that because

15:24

it is that the I you

15:26

know I well as it is.

15:28

a game designed by Steve Finn

15:30

published by Doctor Fins Games with

15:32

art by Aussie, He Collar and

15:34

Julian to me and even Planet

15:36

and it's another. To play game it's

15:38

it's another etti my name is A To

15:40

play a special until we get to the

15:42

south gate isn't a to play a game

15:44

but you know that's fine we live in.

15:46

Other than two games to play is just

15:48

to stuff looking for and will look and

15:51

bertha were just looking for a third Hot

15:53

Sexy and Gases Fisheries a cluster. As.

15:55

Is is in the names. Aren't you gonna be

15:57

seeing you gonna? You gonna have these days? and you're

15:59

gonna be sissy? So. Like picking the who

16:01

is like a little bored. It's very tired like

16:03

it is. It is a tiny little tight little

16:05

bored. I'm it's all water is what

16:08

are all over and there's a short, the

16:10

left and on the saw. you going to

16:12

have three votes each. See gonna be sailing

16:14

these little both? See those ships that you've

16:16

got. You know from left to right and

16:18

is all these fish on the right and

16:20

is all these islands on the right inner

16:22

and you going to be going and trying

16:24

to catch the fish and land on those

16:26

islands? Best that that's the aim of the

16:28

game. So essentially Onions Han. You.

16:30

Eve But these little piles, yet these

16:32

ocean tiles. During the game and on

16:34

his hand he can either side of

16:36

course, Which. Would be like putting these

16:38

little ocean tiles in front of your

16:40

ships. and what the ocean tiles do

16:42

is like it's like clearwater. see that

16:45

your ship canal travel on that water.

16:47

You can sail. Sir. You going to

16:49

be taking these actions back and forth between

16:51

you and the other player? Yeah when you

16:53

want to sail you media little ship across

16:55

this what are you can also face So

16:57

when you get around these fish said like

16:59

the fisa like little meatballs. When. Year

17:01

when you're adjacent to the says you can

17:03

use a fish action and yep, take a

17:05

mop and you put him on your board

17:07

and that's great. Because. What you

17:09

want to do with assists as you want

17:11

to get the preservation cause which are like

17:14

little contract type deals we trade in the

17:16

fists you get some points the other way

17:18

to get poisoned the lands your ships on

17:20

the islands which. Of like

17:22

dogs the ship forever you can't use as ship

17:25

anymore or you get some points for it. Some.

17:27

Islands it was. whom went that in

17:29

an island forever? Yeah. uses. You've shipwreck

17:32

there and that's good. Get some point

17:34

that the way they they physical they're

17:36

never gonna see them their family again

17:38

feet at some points and that's worth

17:40

it. You get the right off the

17:43

ship as an insurance thing right? Hell

17:45

yeah. all that money back and take

17:47

out the life insurance policies on everyone

17:49

on board with with full of great

17:51

ideas board games they teach you they

17:54

teach you the best advice. I think

17:56

I saw a like. Some play through that

17:58

we did a while ago. The like you. Take it

18:00

in life insurance policy out on like literally anyone

18:02

and they do. You could just kill them and

18:05

get the money for it and yeah I get

18:07

out or in any seabed was one that got

18:09

reveal like I thought the a like I could

18:11

take a life insurance policy our you and then

18:14

what is it he would I'd only up. I.

18:16

Get the of? Let's move on say

18:18

like like as if you're taking up

18:20

like a bet on someone your like

18:22

that happens. Gonna die soon. I put

18:24

a separate ten thousand dollars on that

18:27

doesn't dying soon be a precipitous enough

18:29

pretty but pretty much and I think

18:31

the world would be a better place

18:33

and bows the case exactly we supposed

18:35

will be a home. Brewster Twenty Twenty

18:37

Twenty Twenty Four fiverr Citizens of this

18:39

could be your reality. That's that was

18:41

awful. Did you really believe that I

18:43

saw of? did I just haven't thought

18:46

through the implications. Is basically the problem.

18:48

It was like in a murder mystery game.

18:50

It was like someone died and that was

18:52

like a document about life insurance and I

18:54

was like ah but their lights on could

18:56

have taken a life insurance policy out of

18:59

them and man kids will light of what

19:01

are you talking about I love that that

19:03

so funny it's like it's like in that

19:05

video that I did way but the bonus

19:08

that way and with the some of the

19:10

things that you're like is peanuts and with

19:12

a glass is seen as some authority to

19:14

look even. Assess.

19:20

Er, glade eve other products about was like

19:22

that's what I said I do It was

19:24

stupid. I buy all about. His

19:26

p that's the guy peed such. As

19:29

the main character of Peanuts, he

19:32

said sally, peanuts. A

19:34

cave so as I am says and easy right

19:36

you can as yet of each just like pretty

19:38

odd putting a base out there and you just

19:41

gonna be since his can be is docking them

19:43

on until islands. But. He is

19:45

it his that his the the fun

19:47

little fun time this is the en

19:49

route makes this game as I think

19:51

I think it makes it what you're

19:53

talking about alley aware, it's tense and

19:55

it's interesting and as strategic and as

19:57

good as something as good stuff. because.

20:00

This. Is the you can time

20:02

benz. You. Hear me. And for

20:04

some reason enough, what he was gay

20:06

and alluding to Arab and it's missing

20:08

game is actual literal time bending. It's

20:10

very strange. Say you have you have

20:12

time right? If you're going fast, you

20:14

thought of with six If you going

20:16

second, just thought of with seven. That

20:19

might seem like it's innocuous to say,

20:21

but it's important and you can either

20:23

max of twelve time. So. As

20:25

you know existence. Like. You're sailing and

20:27

you're fishing. Is. That that will take

20:29

time. It's like you're an idiot. If they said

20:31

energy that would make more sense. Rob

20:34

right? Okay I see what time is

20:36

is definitely more of third. I get

20:38

it could yeah it's it's is interesting

20:40

because as a taking turns the it's

20:42

like that person the other person's taking

20:44

like they just have six times just

20:46

collecting all these fish and then you've

20:48

still got like seven time and you're

20:51

like you can call it You can

20:53

be like okay I don't I don't

20:55

want to do anymore This this rounds

20:57

am in their six rounds. In the

20:59

game and then you can like collects time

21:01

said the next time he to going fast

21:03

you'll get six again or like and then

21:05

you'll go our you know. You're.

21:08

Saying I'm I'm I'm going to take the

21:10

rest of my date tomorrow and this person's

21:12

has be wasted their west of the day.

21:15

Say yeah yeah Maher and I'll do

21:18

more time. It's interesting your life. I'm.

21:20

Going to take a sort of a

21:22

sixteen hour day to day? It was.

21:25

yeah. thirty two hour day tomorrow. So

21:27

is. it. Blows my mind. it's some

21:29

doctors. a fifth a sign of these

21:31

these fisherman they've they've got. They've got

21:33

us to get out. But.

21:36

Yes sir. So that's like a big part

21:38

of it. You know it's like knowing when

21:40

to use your time knowing. Like

21:42

like. When to take advantages of

21:44

I'm using it because the the game

21:47

board asserts impacts and it's so like

21:49

everything you do is is having a

21:51

direct effect on what the other person

21:54

tender so like when you're putting out

21:56

these shouting of course like you putting

21:58

out these a. Entire. It's

22:01

like the other person can then sale on that. You

22:04

know? So. It's beneficial for you, but it's

22:06

also beneficial for them. And Thursday like right next

22:08

to you all the time. So. They

22:10

going to take advantage of that? Say.

22:13

It's like a big part of it is like. What?

22:15

Would do I do it now? Or do I wait

22:17

for them to do with and then do I saved

22:19

my time? Or do I take advantage of it right

22:21

now and just and just see, shop and and like

22:23

get out there. As. As saying

22:25

and cool but the other the other

22:28

little twist the a little twist on

22:30

this on this basis second twist. Is

22:32

a second twist Tom Will There's a second element.

22:34

That I'm calling a twist which is probably just

22:36

like that. The role. That. Anyone else and

22:38

or says that. Uses

22:41

can only be three a pot.

22:44

right? Sir yes sir yes the move them

22:46

out as one big group if you want to

22:49

sail fall of the like the betty mail and

22:51

like like there's more fish out that is better

22:53

islands that would give you more points than whatever

22:55

he said. I say you wanna get out there

22:57

for you cause if he can't just quit one

23:00

ship out there in just like this is night

23:02

this is my hail marys if you go out

23:04

there and catch all the fish but he good

23:06

luck to suffer from the he gotta They gotta

23:08

go out in a group so it's like. This.

23:11

This little like tug of war type of

23:13

thing where you like you know you're you're

23:15

trying to strategically figure it all our and

23:17

is it's cool you're trying to make them

23:19

so of work as a team with yeah

23:21

tells as what kind of was in the

23:23

team. I like that sir and is also

23:25

like encouraging You'd say wanna you put ice

23:27

in tiles everywhere on the board because you

23:29

want them all to be able to travel.

23:32

But. Then it'll say that yeah that like game

23:34

of chicken way I like. Do. I

23:36

do that like it'll benefit me so

23:38

much because I can move forward but

23:40

then that they just get a free

23:42

trip and that sucks knowing when to

23:44

fish and like what this to go

23:46

for All I can. Be. Like

23:48

I just want a shipwreck this ship and

23:50

just get those points. Like those big points

23:52

real quick before the other person does it

23:54

and like take that ship forever or take

23:56

the island forever and gets a big points.

23:59

It. Has insisted. I had a really good

24:01

time with it. I think. I

24:03

think is a good game to miss you

24:05

like a two player game and I'll love

24:07

it. I have a game a higher professor

24:09

lead a real easy like. That. Level

24:11

of like intimate strategy that comes from

24:13

a to blame game. I. Just there's

24:16

like that that actual like do element when

24:18

it's implemented say well, which it is In

24:20

this game, I think there's nothing better. It

24:22

definitely presents like I mean looking at it.

24:24

On the surface it's like point like, sort

24:26

of i'm bucolic couldn't and cozy. but then

24:29

it is quite like tenth and spiky when

24:31

you play with your with your. Goods:

24:33

A Sleek I mean it's it's

24:36

freely just. That. Tension of

24:38

knowing when sir. Went. To

24:40

strike you know when say sequences these

24:42

up your time and like makes a

24:44

big moves. And it's you

24:46

know you staring each other off

24:48

to just it. It's like economy

24:50

has that this I mean se

24:53

zoc us and and Zf. Expects

24:56

a you'd recommend. You'd recommend Fisheries have lost

24:58

the for a good see me to play

25:00

at I really way okay like of hype

25:02

about the misery the gloves. that and I

25:04

wouldn't have thought that I wouldn't have thought

25:06

says the name called Fisheries of Gloucester and

25:08

looking at it and it doesn't seem like

25:10

it would be. My. Size The game.

25:12

I like the little kid again since

25:14

that I'm look at a success I'm

25:16

looking at this cover of a sort

25:18

of like his old then fisher Desire

25:20

Dreaming Emily. It's it's it's an Emily

25:22

game is you know? play the bottom?

25:24

Yeah, exactly. Finally

25:28

on this podcast we're going to have a little

25:31

chat about. Blood. stones emily do

25:33

you know anything about blood stones

25:35

and or this game okay this

25:37

is gonna be a weird segment

25:39

but his eyes or similar painlessly

25:41

going to be a little bit

25:43

down on this game because i

25:45

didn't love it by i'm also

25:47

gonna be so of defending it

25:49

at the same as high as

25:51

citizens from here is that isn't

25:53

widely unlike it's it's had a

25:55

pretty divisive reception that's some notable

25:57

big negative reviews on it and

25:59

i I can definitely see where that's coming from,

26:01

but I also do want to sort of, I don't

26:03

know whether I would produce that

26:05

much value by being like, yeah, I didn't

26:08

enjoy this game, end of conversation. I'm interested

26:10

in, specifically there's one

26:12

very positive review from Charlie

26:14

Thiel of Player Elimination, who

26:16

said it was absolutely fabulous. And

26:18

I think that having some of that perspective makes

26:21

sense rather than me just being like, I didn't

26:23

like it, that's the end, that's the end of

26:25

the conversation. But

26:27

yeah, this conversation is like to be sort of

26:29

like prime, you're stuck with the weird board game

26:31

guy at the house party. I love it. You

26:34

know? That's my

26:36

favorite guy to be stuck with. Yeah, but

26:38

like he thought he could handle the edible

26:41

and now he's talking about his critical opinions of

26:43

a board game that you do not care about.

26:45

That's what's going on. It's like so many guys

26:47

in my DMs who are like, you like board

26:50

games, let's talk. And I'm like, oh, let's talk.

26:53

Go on, tell me. OK, so this

26:55

is a big area control war game

26:57

and it's designed by Martin Wallace, the

27:00

designer of the number one board game

27:02

of all time, Brass Birmingham, according to

27:04

Board Game Geek. It has

27:07

mad production. It has a

27:09

sort of cloth, clothish

27:11

board. It's like that

27:13

sort of glasses cleaner material sort of thing.

27:17

It's got plastic oblong tiles,

27:19

which I will note here

27:21

are absolutely not dominoes. I'm

27:24

going to get that out of the way before anyone

27:26

writes in. It

27:29

has these kind of velveteen bags to

27:32

store everything in. It has a huge

27:34

box. It has a

27:36

Leo Tolstoy quote inside of the

27:38

inside cover. It's a

27:40

mad production. But what are you doing in the game?

27:42

What's going on in this game? It is

27:45

a pretty straightforward area control war

27:47

game. It is like one of

27:49

the most typical kind of

27:51

dudes on a map style games

27:54

that you could picture. You're going

27:56

to be building things, you're going to be moving things,

27:58

and you're going to be fighting with it. things. The

28:01

big twist in Bloodstones is that

28:03

you use these oblong plastic

28:05

tiles, not dominoes, to do everything in the

28:07

game. You use them to build, you use

28:09

them to move, you use them to fight.

28:11

You can build them onto the map as

28:13

troops by putting them in front of you,

28:16

but then you have to spend other tiles

28:18

in order to build them. So there's a

28:20

sort of race for the galaxy style, what

28:22

do I ditch and what do I keep

28:24

mechanic? There. You have to spend pips on

28:26

tiles to move them around the board, and

28:28

you can spend tiles during combat. So

28:30

they are literally your like whole lifeblood in this game,

28:32

it's just this hand of like, I think it's six

28:34

or seven tiles that you have out in front of

28:36

you at any given time. The

28:38

big aim of the game is that at

28:40

the end of your turn, you can also

28:43

spend a tile to build little square villages

28:45

out onto the board. The villagers don't get

28:47

you anything, but when you reshuffle your bag,

28:49

so like when you run out of tiles,

28:51

you need to pull some more because you've

28:53

spent them all, you will

28:55

score one point for every single village

28:57

you have on the map. You

28:59

also get points at the end of the

29:01

game if you capture other people's villages, so

29:04

it's about building your own villages to maybe

29:06

score points and then other people capturing yours.

29:08

And you also just get big chunks of

29:10

points from having big fights for other people.

29:12

If you fight and you win, you get

29:14

points equal to the force that they had

29:17

in the combat. That's kind of a broad

29:19

summary of how the game works. It's tiles,

29:21

it's war, it's moving things around and fighting

29:23

each other and having a big punch-up tile.

29:26

The second twist, and this

29:28

is a twist, not a rule, we'll clarify

29:30

here. The second twist, the first twist being

29:33

their dominoes. The first twist is their dominoes,

29:35

the second twist is that they're asymmetric dominoes,

29:37

I guess. Each player

29:40

plays a particular faction, so

29:43

my partner was playing the dragons, my friend

29:45

was playing the Giants, I was

29:47

playing the men who live in the

29:49

sea and they are called the sea

29:52

guys. Wow! Mm-hmm.

29:54

What a twist! That's cool.

29:57

Didn't see that one coming. So I'll get straight into to

30:00

my negatives and what people have said that's bad

30:02

about this game because I think that's been kind

30:04

of like a little bit of the reception I've

30:06

seen as people being pretty down there at least

30:09

critically. Like I think on board Game Geek people

30:11

are loving it but the sort of critical consensus

30:13

is that people have been pretty down there. It's

30:16

a very slow game Emily. I

30:18

want to reinforce this is a

30:20

slow game. It is

30:22

very restrictive. It is very

30:24

glacial. It is about building

30:27

up these. Okay,

30:29

maybe the best way to explain this is what happens when you win

30:31

a combat in this game. When you

30:33

beat someone in a combat, so you've

30:36

destroyed their force, they

30:38

lose one unit. In a potential fighting

30:40

force of like five or six, they

30:42

lose one unit and retreat one space.

30:46

And so almost the entire arc of my

30:48

game of Bloodstones was a border dispute between

30:50

me and my partner where I was going,

30:52

I want this territory and I'd move in

30:54

and I'd have a fight. And then she

30:56

would be like, I want that back and

30:58

then would move in and fight me. And

31:01

so on and so forth over and over

31:03

again for literally the entire game. Like it

31:05

was just this tug of war pulling back

31:07

and forth, very little ground gains. But

31:09

we were still getting points moving up on this

31:12

track. It just felt a little

31:14

bit arbitrary. And some of that

31:16

is because it's a map that sort of because all

31:18

you're building onto it are just like

31:21

points, you're not building like maybe like

31:23

a comparison point, that is route where

31:25

you're building things into like certain clearings

31:27

like wood workshops and you're building your

31:30

roots and you're building your gardens and

31:32

these important things that people are going

31:34

to sort of congregate and fight over.

31:37

In this game, it's only villages and their only

31:39

function is points. So you don't have many axes

31:41

on which to sort of compete with someone. You're

31:43

just going in and bashing them to get points.

31:46

It's just armies versus armies smacking up against

31:48

each other. And that's kind of like the

31:50

extent of the game. I

31:53

was a little down on

31:55

it because of how slow and sluggish

31:57

and brutal this game was. And

32:00

it was very much like War of Attrition the

32:02

game is kind of the thing here. Yeah, it's

32:04

not appealing to me very much by the sound

32:06

of it. No, sure. And I think

32:09

that like, I know I

32:11

keep yammering on about ARCs

32:14

at the moment, but it's an

32:16

especially stark contrast, playing a game

32:18

like ARCs, which is so fluid

32:21

and fast and fighty

32:24

and nippy, to then going back to this

32:26

quite archaic style of game, which is like,

32:28

you know, your turn is this big lump

32:30

where you're going to do all your actions, and then you're

32:32

going to wait like 10 minutes for it to get back

32:35

to you and to have another turn. And

32:37

all the border disputes are very, you know,

32:39

sort of slow and not very flashy. And

32:42

on top of that, I've just been thinking a

32:44

lot, like people have been talking a lot about

32:47

sort of thinking about games in terms of the

32:49

verbs that you have access to. And this game

32:51

has build, it has move and it has kill.

32:54

And that is essentially all you're doing for the

32:56

entirety of the game. You know,

32:58

even, you know, other games that are of this genre at

33:00

least have a little bit more sort of flexibility

33:02

in that. So that's my sort

33:04

of negative stuff. Now the defense, and

33:07

the defense is coming, everyone. Now the

33:09

defense comes, which isn't like a crazy

33:11

defense. It's more just to say that

33:13

I think that there is a distinct

33:16

market of people who'll be like, hell

33:18

yes, this is exactly the game

33:20

for me. I mean, clearly, like it has a what does

33:23

it have, like a 7.8, 7.8 on BGG. 7.8? That's

33:25

like a 10 on board game geek. I know. That's a 10 out of 10. I

33:31

know. It's clearly appealing to someone. It's

33:34

definitely a game where, because okay, firstly,

33:36

I think that people who, you know,

33:38

get a kick out of that kind

33:40

of idea of this like very

33:44

slow and very glacial kind of strategy will

33:46

absolutely love this game because it is this

33:48

game of like setting out plans

33:50

that will take place over like multiple

33:52

rounds of game. Like, it is, it's

33:55

like for the solium infernum heads out

33:57

there. It is a game that takes

33:59

place over hours and hours and

34:01

it's very very slow and that is definitely

34:03

some people's thing but on top of that

34:05

the game is so you know it leans

34:07

into that so hard with all of its

34:09

production looking at that sort of like cloth

34:12

board with these stacked ranks of troops it

34:14

feels like you are playing the sort of

34:16

war master in like a fantasy setting right

34:18

like yeah it is a game that wants

34:20

to put you in the headspace of like

34:22

a sort of medieval commander looking over their

34:25

holdings with their hands on their hips you

34:27

know it's got that like that like map

34:29

at the beginning of a Lord of the

34:31

Rings book or something look about it exactly

34:34

exactly and everything is pointing towards that

34:36

right like VR itself is

34:38

so like fighting fantasy

34:40

you know like old-school Dungeons and

34:42

Dragons like pretty primitive but very

34:44

like evocative at the same time

34:46

yeah like it's both functional and

34:49

very traditional like it's got a

34:51

lot going for it in that

34:53

sort of sphere and I can

34:55

really imagine people getting a kick

34:57

out of that kind of design

34:59

ethos yeah I think that the

35:01

little sort of action selection mechanic

35:03

with the pips is really interesting

35:05

like I needed to race for

35:07

the galaxy earlier and it's definitely got that spirit

35:09

in it where you're sort of weighing up the

35:11

tiles in your hand and being like well I

35:14

could sort of spend this siege engine tile because

35:16

I'm unlikely to go and blow up someone's castle

35:18

anytime soon to get a whole bunch of I

35:20

don't know horse riders on the board or something

35:23

like that or do you

35:25

plonk out that siege engine now because you can sort

35:27

of pivot your strategy into something else how much are

35:29

you gonna spend to move things because there's also like

35:31

it is a game that sort

35:33

of emulates the problem of having a

35:35

big army being sort of like supplies

35:37

because each pip on a tile only

35:39

lets you move one tile one space

35:42

very quickly you'll realize that building this like

35:44

big unwieldy killing machine is actually like quite

35:46

ineffectual because you cannot defend on multiple fronts

35:48

at once there's a lot of depth to

35:51

the game I just think the pace of

35:53

it is too slow for me and probably too slow for

35:55

a lot of other people it feels very

35:57

archaic that's not even me getting into the

35:59

way that combat works in this game which

36:01

is just a bit of a

36:03

snooze fest. It's also counting up little

36:06

pips on tiles, not having much of an

36:09

idea of odds of things that leads to

36:11

this incredibly glacial game

36:14

state, this real war of attrition. I'm using

36:16

a lot of the same words to describe

36:19

this I've realised. I'm probably repeating myself a

36:21

lot here but that's because the game felt

36:23

like it was repeating itself. Yeah exactly. It's

36:26

like what can you say about a game that

36:28

one singular thing happens happening over the

36:30

course of a long time?

36:33

Yeah for sure. It's very plodding and it's very

36:35

repetitive and I say that in a bad way

36:37

because I view that as a bad quality but

36:39

I know that there are people who will see

36:41

this game and be like this is exactly what

36:43

I want. I want it as it is at

36:46

its core just a game

36:48

of moving things around and fighting with them.

36:50

There are no extraneous systems. They don't want

36:52

arcs. They look at arcs and they're like

36:55

that's too much. That's too exciting. I don't

36:57

want all these dice options. I want to

36:59

grab all of these tiles with little pips

37:04

and I want to count them all out. If

37:06

that's what you want to do then it's the

37:08

game for you. I found some joy in Bloodstones

37:10

despite it being sort of slow and glacial but yeah

37:12

not for me but maybe for you who knows. What

37:15

a weird little game. This is

37:17

just me being curious. What did the

37:19

people you were playing with, what did they

37:21

think? They were more down on it than

37:23

I was. It

37:26

got to a point of being very funny

37:29

because it was like it's f***ing turn. What

37:31

are you going to do? I'm going to

37:33

fight you again and the whole

37:35

table goes eeeeek. I

37:37

also think that there's

37:39

a benefit to a

37:42

one off play of something like this where

37:44

for people who don't like something like this

37:47

that would be funny. It's funny

37:49

that I'm going back and forth and this

37:51

is a bit tedious and everything but if

37:54

you were to play it at a subsequent

37:56

time it's like okay this is funny. Not

37:58

again. Yeah,

38:01

I think that was my sort of the resigned

38:03

thing after it was I was like, oh yeah,

38:05

like I, you know, at the end of the

38:07

game, I was like, starting to get an idea

38:09

of like, oh, okay, like, once I got into

38:11

the brain space of what it was, which was

38:13

slow attrition, not actually crunching that much

38:16

on your turn, because you're thinking on your individual terms,

38:18

because you're thinking about the bigger picture, I was

38:20

kind of speaking its language a bit more and kind of

38:23

getting something out of it. And then I then my housemate

38:25

was like, well, do you ever want to play again? And

38:27

I was like, no. And he was like, do you want

38:29

to play arcs tomorrow? And I was like, yes, I, yes,

38:31

yes, yes, yes, yes. So the 50th time, yes,

38:33

yes, yes, yes. Oh, God, it's ridiculous. That's

38:39

the end of this week's episode of the Shut Up and

38:41

Sit Down podcast. We talked about the Quacks

38:43

of Quodlaburg, the Jewel, Fisheries of Gloucester

38:46

and Bloodstones. And we had

38:48

fun doing it. We enjoyed it. Thank you for listening

38:50

to the podcast, a podcast about for all of these.

38:54

Oh, yeah, I'll put that in

38:56

the in the little Spotify thing. If you've

38:59

got suggestions for what the next intro slogan

39:01

should be for the Shut Up and Sit

39:03

Down podcast, put it in the little comments

39:05

on Spotify. I can't wait. And please don't

39:07

write anything rude in there. Don't be

39:09

mean to us. And don't be rude. Don't

39:12

be mean. Don't be rude. Say a nice

39:15

slogan for the pub that we can use.

39:17

This isn't this isn't a podcast about about,

39:19

you know, bad things.

39:23

Yeah. Welcome to the Shut Up and Sit Down podcast,

39:25

a podcast about bad things. If you want to listen

39:27

to more podcast, more,

39:34

but not the Shut Up and Sit

39:36

Down podcast and not featuring Emily. Why

39:38

would you want to? Why would you

39:41

want to? You've got Emily here. You

39:43

can check out the Space Cats Peace

39:45

Turtles podcast, who used to be a

39:47

Twilight Imperium only podcast, but now they've

39:49

got a second game and it's ARCs.

39:51

I Went on their podcast to talk about some

39:53

leaders and law, talk some strategy, getting out of

39:56

the critical sphere and into the strategical sphere. And

39:58

It was a very good fun. The time.

40:00

I'm probably gonna end up doing some more

40:02

episodes with them on that. Such a how

40:04

spacecraft's these titles to he would like. To.

40:07

Him or box that sign eat yeah you

40:09

go you go to other eeg I see

40:11

other podcast that's fine it's it's ah not

40:13

even I'm not even And I noticed that

40:15

the first episode two hundred fifty two when

40:17

the last one I was on one two

40:19

hundred and fifty I other other has some

40:21

Are you seeing other people in the thought

40:24

that was happening know how he's waking up

40:26

is realizing okay okay I'm going to the

40:28

fuck up outside however they are. It's see

40:30

you next week Five.