Punching Cardboard (general)

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss? 

A radio show. A new podcast (ish). A boardgame finally finished? More Whisky for the End of the World. 

Contained within this missive is information addressing all of the above. Tune in, turn on, find out. Hopefully you like it.

Direct download: Whiskey_for_new.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:31pm PDT

It's October. The rains have returned. The World is still in flux. And we played some games. Discussions contained herein.

FRONTS:

00:13:35 -- State of the Podcast (and life)
00:48:15 -- Blitzkrieg! (session, short take)
01:02:43 -- Rift Force (session, short take)
01:18:34 -- Anno 1800 (session, in-depth)
02:17:34 -- Music (bang for your buck)

Direct download: PCP_203_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:11pm PDT

Shambolic: adjective -- chaotic, disorganize, confused.

Could we use that definition to describe this episode? Sure.
Will we? Sure.
Will You? Possibly.
Does that make it bad? Possibly.
Is it here anyway? Yup.
Is it a misfire or just some catchy jazz? You tell us.

CATCHY SOLOS:

00:02:12 -- Navigating This Covid Life
00:26:21 -- The Lackluster Side of Gaming
00:35:40 -- Should it Stay or Should it Go: Russian Railroads
00:46:51 -- Kogge
00:50:31 -- The Q&A (Gloomhaven, Fae)
01:22:55 -- Sleepers???????
01:49:20 -- Tomatin 14 yo Port Cask.
01:52:42 -- The Music We're Hearing
02:06:50 -- The Given Day, Dennis Lehane

Direct download: PCP_181_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:45pm PDT

Once in a century Pandemic.
Once in a generation civil upheaval.
Once in a decade game?

We take a 90 minute journey through the 18th Century world of Imperial Struggle, throwing a little pandemic, protest and pot-luck life discussion in at the end of the show. We hope you enjoy the ride.

CONFLICT POINTS:

00:18:33 -- A Prelude to Digression
00:31:08 -- Imperial Struggle (in-depth)
02:01:50 -- The Wind-down

Direct download: PCP_180_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:02pm PDT

No one's going to accuse us of following the cult of the new in this one. We talk about a couple older games that have hit the tables around here while shaming ourselves about a good number of titles collecting dust on our shelves. Our whiskey's been nicely aged as well (Unfortunately, the fine salted caramel stout decided to collide with some rusted trains).

So, tip your servers and enjoy the session, and please, please, please, don't spill your beer.

RELICS:

00:04:38 -- The Best Damn Guild on BGG.
00:08:45 -- The Punching Cardboard Baseball Association
00:15:04 -- Our Shelves of Shame
00:37:48 -- On Gaming Clubs for Middle/High Schoolers
00:56:24 -- And the Winner Is . . . (Gamesurplus.com Agra Giveaway)
01:04:56 -- Willett Pot Still Reserve
01:10:20 -- Bruxelles 1893 (Revisited)
01:29:27 -- Story vs. Form in Film
01:46:05 -- 1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties (In-depth)

Direct download: PCP_127_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:52pm PDT

It's a hot August night, and a cloud of smoke has descending into the Willamette Valley as wildfires rage throughout the region. We may not be able to breath freely for a few more days, and cool air is just a dream at the moment, but we decided to brave the elements to bring you tales from the rebuilding of Lisbon after a devastating earthquake in 1755. We have made a good many attempts at reconstruction, and we hope you enjoy these tales as we discuss the merits of Vital Lacerda's Lisboa.  Stay cool and breathe free.

BLUEPRINTS:

06:33 -- Poll Wars
13:47 -- Peter Perrett, The Only Ones, Manchester Orchestra
24:45 -- Lisboa

Direct download: PCP_113_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:45am PDT

It's three in the morning and I'm trying to raise the spirit of a Chicago radio host not nearly forgotten. We'll see if it works as I'm on my own in this one. This show about conversation. This show of lively banter. And here, today, this episode, conjuring past techniques, offering up monologue. 

Well, monologue and music. A solo diatribe exploring the ins and outs of two recent Kickstarter deliveries, Anachrony and Gloomhaven. And a little indugence in the creative side with a couple of homemade tracks, an experiment, and a reward for those who've been paying attention and diggin' the surprise musical endings.

We'll see who are friends are now.

TIMELINE:

02:00 -- The Jay Andres Effect
06:14 -- Thanks for the Nomination
08:52 -- Anachrony (first take)
32:24 -- Old 97's, Graveyard Whistling
47:33 -- Until Dawn
53:52 -- Gloomhaven (in-depth)
90:45 -- Punching Cardboard, the Full Track

Direct download: PCP_105_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:19am PDT

Despite this week's title our episode is so Germanic that we might have been better off sipping some hefe-weizen rather than our drams of 18 year old Aberlour.

We open with an examination of a fan created copy of the German-only Kashgar and close with a look at making German autos with Kraftwagen. Many hard consonants and guttural utterings can be found in between, including talk about something called Kickstarter.

Wir Sind Das Podcast!!!

01:50 -- Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße
28:22 -- 3x1 results
34:30 -- Kickstarter Follies
45:30 -- Aberlour 18 year old
50:35 -- Last week's Secret Q: Our Response
65:00 -- Secret Question #4
67:37 -- Kamasi Washington, The Epic
72:45 -- Kraftwagen

Direct download: PCP_073_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:25pm PDT

We are undeterred. We are punk and grunge and garage. We are sweating and drinking and fumbling about in the studio for show notes. We are tired but persistent. We are Rune Age and Noir. We are Heatstroke, coming to a venue near you and turning it up to 11.

All that and a long discussion of a new classic, Keyflower.

ON THE DIALS:

04:14 -- I'm Playing Baseball.
07:00 -- Noir: Black Box Edition (review, sorta)
20:45 -- Laphroaig, 18 years old.
28:09 -- Use a Nice Glass, Please
29:35 -- To Spark the Interest
38:04 -- Audiophile Corner (The Phantom Band, Mikal Cronin, Torres (MacKenzie Scott), Phosphorescent)
47:00 -- The Secret Question
52:30 -- 3x1: The Geeklist and Update
55:25 -- Keyflower (review)
99:15 -- Input Randomness

Direct download: PCP_071_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:54pm PDT

You've got 3 corps, 22 cards, air support at the ready, some gas, ammo and food, and there's absolutely no way you're ever getting across the Rhine. No Way! None. Keiner!

And so what. Who needs to beat a game to win it, or enjoy it. You just need to beat the person you're playing with, and that can be done. Oh yeah!  

So this is our story of 1944: Race to the Rhine. Listen in and maybe you can find the way to get across the Rhine in time. Enjoy the journey.

Direct download: PCP_033_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:14am PDT

This episode finds us doing our first preview, this for Chris Handy's Pack-O-Game. These games come in boxes that resemble your old-fashioned Wrigley's pack of gum; however, it's pretty certain that the flavor contained within lasts longer.

We also take a look at the deck builder Valley of the Kings, a game that lets you plan for your own afterlife.

All this, and a special appearance by Lemmy.

Direct download: PCP_032_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:17pm PDT

Who could blame you if you thought this episode was about the Star Wars: X-Wing miniatures game?  I mean, we head down that road until abruptly switching gears into a review of Helios. To be fair, that was our intention from the beginning.

Mmmmm, pie.

Direct download: PCP_030_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:51am PDT

A special Friday posting to get the blood flowing. Here, after a very heartfelt and reasoned coffee discussion, we delve into round two of our Game of Tournamentsand take a side trip on the Tokaido road.

With new rules in place in this ever morphing contest we hope to get you, dear listener, involved in the action. We will posting the second round match-ups over the next few days. Please head over to our BGG blog and partake in the adventure that is the Game of Tournaments.

Direct download: PCP_021_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:14pm PDT

Let me just say this: It's just not nice to kill somebody's dragon before he's had any time to get to know that dragon.  Giants, go for it, but leave the poor dragon alone.

We play a couple rounds of Rune Wars and a few other American style games, and we survive to tell the tale.  Unfortunately someone didn't let Ralph live long enough to tell any tales.  Mean. Just plain mean.

Direct download: PCP_018_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:34am PDT

Firstly, we really like this episode and feel we were actually good this time out.  B, we apologize for the length as we were so busy being good that we ignored the timer we set to constrain ourselves. Well, not so much ignored as spat in the face of the timer.

In our longest episode to date (and hopefully ever) we announce our Game of Tournaments, review The Agents, and dissect the Kickstarter experience. We do a lot of dissection here.

So please enjoy our novel length show and watch for our Game of Tournaments post announcing the 16 games that will be competing for the Unplaced Worker award.

Direct download: PCP_016.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:36am PDT

Jim loses his bet that we wouldn't make it to episode 10.  We solve the mystery of the infamous Segway death.  And we discuss our first Kickstarter game, which propels us into a dystopian future that makes utopias look pretty lame.  

Plus, we give Canadians heck for sending us their garbage musicians while keeping the good stuff for themselves.

Where else will you hear "The commodity tokens are adorable."

Direct download: PCP_010_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:11pm PDT

You run a family of discs.

You send your discs out to the fields to plant crops and tend to the sheep and you send your interior designer discs into the cave to create the dwelling of your dreams.  And you can send your more nomadic discs off on wild adventures.  Some discs will sneak off and then bring back baby discs, which gives you more discs to do your bidding.

In the end, if your discs do your bidding well, you reap the rewards.  Oh, and there are dogs too.  And they chase your sheep.  And donkeys.  Yes donkeys.

It has come to my attention that discs should read dwarves; however, I am too lazy to go back and change it, so you can use your imagination to correct the text above, you know, like when sending your discs on an adventure.

P.S.  We really do like this game.  I think.

Direct download: PCP_006_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:40am PDT

Do you like deck builders or point salad games?

We take a look at two of the years filler games that have a little more fullness than a filler.  As the argument develops as to which of these games is deserving of your time and money, we also try to determine whether or not each of these games should be classified as a filler.  

We might even come up with a new term while we're at it.

Direct download: PCP_Final_003.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:09pm PDT

We bought a couple of copies of the Pandasaurus release Yedo and played it a ton, and now we discuss whether you should look past its Japanese Pollack splattered board and add this into your own roatation.  The role of Luck is bantered over as well. 

Direct download: PCP_002_final128.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:48pm PDT

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