It’s a huge episode this time around as we clock in at over two hours. Elliott reviews Venture Forth from Minion Games, Why? from Victory Point Games, and rebuts Jeff’s previous review of Eruption from Stratus Games. Jeff reviews Masters of Commerce from Grouper Games and Trail of Cthulhu from Pelgrane Press.
Join us as we each reveal of our top five games of 2011 and countdown our personal top three!
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Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...
Latest posts by Jeff McAleer (see all)
Wow! Thanks, Jeff, for choosing Dawn of the Zeds as your top game of 2011 – it’s a real honor. The game was an absolute joy to design and the crew of contributors who helped me polish up the game added so much, they deserve equal accolades. Also, congrats to my friend Steve Carey and his wonderful Malta Besieged game for making your top five as well. Hopefully 2012 will be an even better year for gaming! See you in Tempe. Hermann
I’ll look forward to seeing you in Tempe at well at this year’s CSWE! And congrats on the win as DotZ deserves it!
You guys mentioned you don’t get a lot of feedback about your show, here are my thoughts after listening to nearly all of the shows.
What I like: The pace of the show and the chemistry you two have is great. Your honesty about the quality of some of the stuff currently being produced is refreshing. Your reviews are honest, thorough and are without any noticable bias. In short, I find the show very enjoyable.
As far as negatives, I really don’t have too many. I feel the show can be a bit risque and aggressive in its tone, therefore offputting to some listeners.
Finally, this is neither positive or negative, some of the games reviewed tend to be more “obscure” than what is done on other podcasts. As an example, I was hoping for some reviews of some more Essen releases. Take that (and everything else)for what it’s worth.
Best,
Joel Mesaros
Thanks for taking the time to listen to most of our shows Joel! We really appreciate the fact that we have loads of listeners – each episode of TGG gets just over a thousand downloads and that’s not too bad considering the various “big boys” out there normally claim something like 2k downloads.
As for the points you make I’d like to touch on them just so you know where we’re coming from and not as a way to be defensive. Our thought when we started up the podcast was to be as conversational as we could without filling a show with in-jokes or an overload of what I call “verbal assgrabbery” or just dropping F-Bombs for the sake of trying to come across as gaming rebels or some such nonsense. That said, we do look to provide an experience where listeners feel as if we’re chatting with friends as opposed to talking at the public. Elliott and I assume that our audience are adults and most adults I know tend to kid around a bit and many times in a bit of an off color way. We certainly never say anything that couldn’t be heard on any major network at 7pm on any given night – in fact we work a whole lot cleaner than the networks! If you feel that we’re a bit aggressive, that’s just a reflection of who we are in reality. You could listen to us sitting around the gaming table or with a mic in front of us and your going to get the same thing. I did mention on this episode that I don’t listen to other gaming podcasts and one of the reasons is that I don’t what to be influenced by them in any way. One thing I didn’t mention, and I’m just being honest here, is another reason I don’t listen is because I found almost every one of them to be rather boring. About a year and a half ago, when I would listen to the occasional show, I found that many times I couldn’t even tell the hosts apart let alone tell you what games they talked about an hour after I finished listening; I’d even start zoning out after a while.
Talking about obscure games, I’m not sure what makes a game obscure. Is the title obscure simply because people aren’t aware of it? Is it obscure because those who have played it didn’t like it? Or is it obscure because the publisher who released it don’t have large marketing funds to go out there and blow $4000 on a BGG contest?
It has always been our philosophy that every game, and every game company, deserves coverage. We don’t care if it’s a large company cranking out a half dozen titles a month or if it’s a start up looking to get funding on Kickstarter. If a game looks interesting or is fun to play, we’re going to talk about it. Who knows, maybe our discussion of a hidden gem leads to that company having the ability to release a follow up gem that’s a little less hidden…
I don’t write this to say that TGG is the end all be all as we’re always looking to push the envelope and improve. I agree that we don’t have a lot of in depth coverage of what would be considered traditional “Euros” simply because a lot of them aren’t our cup of tea. This doesn’t mean they’re bad games by any stretch and that’s why we’re slowly but surely adding more correspondents with a wide range of gaming tastes. We want to bring them on the podcast as well if that’s in any way possible. Our RPG and miniatures coverage can use a bigger shot in the arm too! I’d take a stab that many gamers are like Elliott and myself, they crossover into a wide range of genres from wargames to Euros to RPGs and so forth. This is why we never look to simply focus on one thing here at The Gaming Gang.
Thanks again for your comments Joel as you bring up valid points and I felt you should have those points addressed. Hopefully, you keep listening as we try to do our best to improve each time out!
Another terrific episode, and the chemistry you two share – along with a somewhat different perspective on gaming – provides for a refreshing change of pace.
Jeff, indeed a tough call between DAWN OF THE ZEDS and URBAN SPRAWL for the #1 spot in 2011. You make an excellent point that DotZ is solitaire, so you can ‘whip it out’ any time you feel like it. Thus, it makes perfect sense why it got the top nod. Two really terrific games.
OK, everybody sing along now… “Show, Show, Show your Boat, gently down the stream…”
Thanks Steve! It’s important to note that Mr. Carey’s Malta Besieged was also in the running for my top game and was in my top five.
Yes, I’d say that our perspective is different, that’s for sure. From the beginning we’ve always looked to be honest and upfront, try to be entertaining (even if we turn out to only entertain ourselves), while not taking the hobby as if it were a life or death struggle. I suppose a by product of that is a sense people get that they’re hanging out with a couple of buddies around the gaming table, or in a bar, chatting about games and having some fun. Just as you would kicking it with your fiends you’re going to hear a bad joke, an oddball reference, something that leaves you scratching your head, or even an opinion that just ticks you off.
We’ve never wanted to come across as if we’re conscious of a microphone being in our faces or that we’re somehow auditioning for NPR nor do we lay claim to be gaming experts (or snobs) although I’d bet dollars to doughnuts Elliott and I have been playing games a lot longer than just about anyone else covering the hobby to the extent we do. All in all, and people sometimes forget this, we’re best friends who live 1800 miles apart producing a show that (we hope) makes the listener feel as if they’re right in the same room with us while we all sip a cold one and riff on games.
We’ve taken to heart your comments on our game, WHY!?.
The cards are getting a less word/more graphics redesign (better for younger children) and we’ve decided to price this game as a “loss leader” at under $10 to do our bit bringing new players into the hobby (as we have done with STRIKE FORCE ONE).
Thanks for the clear-eyed, objective look. Once again, you guys have made a difference!
Alan Emrich
Thanks Alan!
Never let it be said that VPG simply sits on their laurels while ignoring even the smallest feedback. That’s just one of the reasons we love the company so!
Jeff
I miss, and Steven Gruber, misses playing CofC with you Elliot and Paul. We had some great adventures and misadventures. Ihave seen the Trail of C. and was reminded of those good ole days.
Ed, Elliott didn’t remember who Steven Gruber was but I sure did! 😉 Along with Elliott’s Anthony Piers one of the longest surviving CofC characters in our campaigns.