GUEST: Sandy Petersen

‘The Only Old One’ 0:00 – 3:20Jeff and Michael introduce Sandy Petersen, the ‘Only Old One’ – cue realistic applause. MOB explains that while he and Rob the Producer are in different parts of Melbourne, Australia and Jeff is in Berlin, Sandy is beaming in from somewhere near Dallas, Texas, in the suburb of Rockwall to be precise, named after a giant stone wall that meanders all over town. The interesting thing about this wall is that it not only predates Columbus but predates humanity in Texas, in a suitably Lovecraftian way.

Cthulhu Wars Genesis 3:20-9:03: Five kilograms of solid muscleCthulhu Wars is the most recent publication of Sandy’s eponymously-named Petersen Games: the game is described by Jeff as an “awesome, miniatures, end-the-world, destroy-the-world, Cthulhu board game.” MOB goes further, describing it as not only “one of the best (but also) “heaviest games to have been produced in recent times”. Sandy concurs, calling the game “five kilograms of solid muscle”.Cthulhu Wars was meant to be Sandy’s final project as an independent game developer before going to Work for the Man. 'Working for the Man' in this case being creative director of a digital games company based in India. The India deal was signed, he was going to live in Bangalore and have his own chauffeur, but then he put together the Cthulhu Wars Kickstarter as a swansong of coolness, with the only aim raising enough to finally make the giant Cthulhu monsters he’s always wanted since he was eight years old. However, the Kickstarter incredibly raised over a million dollars. He had to ring up the Indian company and apologise, and the swansong became a phoenix!Petersen Games has had further Kickstarters for the games Theomachy, and Orcs Must Die!, and one coming up for The Gods War (which is the game that Jeff has been waiting for since he was eight years old). Rob the producer interjects to say that Orcs Must Die! is such an awesome title he was sold on the Kickstarter by the name only. Sandy also points out that this is not just a cool name but also undeniably true – the game has orcs swarming up to be killed by the players and their skulls are used as currency.Sandy is very pleased to be staying in board games; in fact, during the interview he says he is sitting surrounded by boxes of Cthulhu figures from Cthulhu Wars.

Cthulhu Wars Versus Gods War (‘a knife fight in a back alley’) 9:04-17:47Cthulhu Wars, says Sandy, is like a “knife fight in a back alley. Very streamlined, very nasty, with everyone being the biggest jerk they can be”. Jeff agrees, saying “nobody is your friend in Cthulhu Wars”. “Gods War”, on the other hand, continues Sandy, “is more like a formal duel, with a council phase where you actually have to help people.”While there are many similarities between in the rules in the two games, Gods War feels more elegant. Sandy’s son Lincoln, who happens to be passing, feels that Cthulhu Wars is a barroom brawl versus Gods War is more like playing poker with bluffing.Jeff feels that in Cthulhu Wars it is not possible to be too aggressive, but in Gods War the aggression has to be more focused. This can also be seen in the main heavies of the two games, with Cthulhu beating up on everybody around, while in Gods War Orlanthi is “strong against strong foes, (but) weak against weak ones”, which gives weak foes a bit of a breather.There are also cataclysmic events in Gods War that are beyond the player’s control. The game starts in the Great Darkness, and ends with the Dawning. The Spike starts on the board – as an impressive 3D prop - but at an early pointin the game it explodes, killing everything on it. The Spike gets turned over, becoming the Rift, sucking the world into it. Eventually the Rift closes, and then in the Council phase the players try and arrive at the Great Compromise, at which point the game ends.There are four factions: Chaos, Darkn