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Madeira brings all its buzz from Essen and delivers a strong, thinky, medium to heavy weight worker placement experience. It looks good, and plays even better.
Simply put, Francis Drake is gorgeous. The game play is not as deep as in Madeira, but it does combine some mechanics from other games to deliver a unique Euro experience. It is as deceptively light as Madeira is deceptively heavy.
With round 2 of the tournament nearing completion, which of these two will move on?
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As per Episode 21 of our podcast, we are looking to you, our listeners, to help decide which games make it to the semi-finals. All you have to do is post in the comments area which game you think should (would) win and provide the reasoning for your decision. We will consider all comments and for each match-up and choose the winner based on a sole commentary that convinces us one way or another.
Punching Cardboard Podcast
After gaming together regularly for several months we found we had almost as much fun discussing games after we played. Finding the conversations amusing, we decided to commit some to tape and create a podcast. We hope you enjoy them as well!
Archive for Announcements
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Here are the 2nd round match-ups.
As per Episode 21 of our podcast, we are looking to you, our listeners, to help decide which games make it to the semi-finals. All you have to do is pick a match-up and post in the comments area which game you think should (would) win and provide the reasoning for your decision. We will consider all comments and for each match-up and choose the winner based on a sole commentary that convinces us one way or another.
ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS
Madeira vs. Francis Drake
1775: The Rebellion vs. Freedom: The Underground Railroad
Caverna: The Cave Farmers vs. Russian Railroads
Pathfinder: Adventure Card Game vs. Bruges
You can post comments in this thread or the individual match-up threads we will be posting on this blog in the next few days. Thanks for helping us out and thanks for listening.
Fri May 2, 2014 10:27 pm
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Madeira vs. Rampage
This first round tilt sees a heavy Euro surprise from the Essen crop go up against some heavy scaled monsters ready to send all the meeples running for cover. Having sold out its 1st printing off the buzz it garnered at Essen, Madeira looks to be a heavy favorite against this light family game that's heavy on dexterity play. Two very distinct experiences here.
Robinson Crusoe vs Freedom
This is the "life and death" match-up. Both games are cooperative affairs, and both can be played solo. Robinson Crusoe has flown up the BGG charts and is staking a claim to be one of the best games ever, but Freedom successfully tackles the topic of slavery in a board game, a major accomplishment to be sure.
Caverna vs. Yedo
Ah, Caverna, that over-hyped candy store of goodness. The pedigree is there, and you are loved, but do you have what it takes to be the Champion? And you, Yedo, with your lovely messy board and tons of fun mission completion: will your chances be struck down because of your somewhat maligned event deck?
Pathfinder vs. Euphoria
Despite some complaints about the automatic nature of some of Pathfinder's gameplay, this title likes it's chances to advance against an upstart Kickstarter game. In response, Euphoria's intelligent workers can band together and find a way to catapult their interests through the paths of this encounter.
Nations vs. Francis Drake
A mismatch on multiple fronts. Nations is the darling amongst gamers looking for games to beat up other games that other gamers have deemed the best games of that type (phew). But Through the Ages is still Alive and Well, so maybe Nations ain't all that. And Francis Drake gathered stunning components into a vault of a box for $20 less than Nations adequate offerings, yet has failed to gain traction amongst players. There is a lot of substance here. Who will suvive?
Russian Railroads vs. Trains
By pure chance these rail games find themselves at opposite ends of a first round battle. A meaty worker placement Euro that may have limited replay value but is unquestionably enjoyable vs. a Dominion clone with a board that should have infinite replay value and is unquestionably enjoyable. The winner of this may go a long way.
Bruxelles 1893 vs. 1775: The Rebellion
War and Peace. Can Art overcome War in this numbers match-up? Bruxelles takes you into the city as architects compete to create beauty in a revolutionary new style while 1775 brings us the American Revolution itself, along with some unique team gameplay. Make Art not War, or just blow it all to. . . .
Tash-Kalar vs. Bruges
Possibly the two games in this tournament that have the most detractors. Both games are fun. Both have unique play mechanics. Both are from revered designers known for throwing kitchen sinks around like the were Skittles. Which will emerge victorious?
ATTENTION: There, now that I have it, please feel free to post your own judgements in the comments section. While the first round will be determined by criteria we have in place, we are open to getting others invloved in this extremely important process.
We encourage your input!
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It's here. Time to find out which game will win the Unplaced Worker in Punching Cardboard's 2014 Game of Tournaments. While there has been interest, we did not have enough offers to judge the games from real live humans, so we will assign each game to a playoff bound NHL team and let them decide the fate of board gaming as we know it.
After a lot of complex algorithms and random number rolls we have a final listing of games and the NHL teams that will represent them. Here are the pairings:
A SEEDS:
Maderia - Anaheim Ducks
Robinson Crusoe - Colorado Avalanche
Caverna: The Cave Farmers - Pittsburgh Penguins
Pathfinder: Adventure Card Game - Boston Bruins
B SEEDS
Nations - San Jose Sharks
Russian Railroads - New Your Rangers
Bruxelles 1893 - St. Louis Blues
Tash-Kalar - Tampa Bay Lightning
C SEEDS:
Trains - Philadelphia Flyers
Bruges - Montreal Canadiens
Francis Drake - Los Angeles Kings
1775: The Rebellion - Chicago Blackhawks
D SEEDS
Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia - Detroit Red Wings
Rampage - Dallas Stars
Yedo - Columbus Blue Jackets
Freedom: The Underground Railroad - Minnesota Wild
Match-up analysis to follow.
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Because no one asked for it and we always aim to please we proudly announce the First Annual Punching Cardboard Game of Tournaments.
It's that time of year when tournaments abound (which, to be fair, is any time of year), and we decided that we would like to join in the fun. So, we stole some ideas from some people who stole some ideas, added a twist or two of our own, and gathered 16 of the best(?) games from 2013 (?) and place them into brackets, because everyone loves brackets, where they will duke it out for the most coveted and valued fictional award in board gaming: The Unplaced Worker award.
It was our hope that we would have a living human being judge each individual matchup, but as of now our relatively new podcast has been unable to gather enough volunteers for the task. Should enough of our wonderful listeners step up within the next week we would go forward with this plan (just post a comment here or email us through the website if you are interested).
In lieu of having enough judges we are going with plan B in which we will assign each of the 16 contending games to one of the 16 NHL teams contending for the Stanley Cup (We love our Canadian listeners). And whoever wins hockey will determine the game that's awarded the most treasured and revered Unplaced Worker.
Here is our shortlist of games. A few of the games listed have 2012 copyrights but were essentially unavailable to most until 2013. This list is not finalized quite yet, though the games in the top seeded groups are pretty much going to war.
A Seeds
• Caverna
• Robinson Crusoe
• Madeira
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
B Seeds
• Nations
• Russian RailRoads
• Bruxelles 1893
• Tash-Kalar
C Seeds
• Trains
• Bruges
• Space Cadets Dice Duel
• Francis Drake
D Seeds
• Rampage
• Euphoria - Build a Better Dystopia
• Yedo
• Freedom - The Underground Railroad
Below the Cut (so far)
• Amerigo
• Concordia
• Lewis and Clark
• Theseus: The Dark Orbit
• The Capitals (which should make the cut if The Washington Capitals make it)
• Rococo
• Legacy: The Testament of Duke DeCrecy
• Bora Bora
• Infamy
• 1775: Rebellion
We welcome your comments and feedback. Hoepfully you will enjoy this as much as we will. Expect further updates, brackets, and match commentary.
- Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy
- Madeira
- Terror in Meeple City
- Caverna: The Cave Farmers
- Yedo
- The Capitals
- Freedom: The Underground Railroad
- Trains
- Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island
- Concordia
- Nations
- Bora Bora
- 1775: Rebellion
- Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords – Base Set
- Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia
- Bruges
- Amerigo
- Francis Drake
- Lewis & Clark: The Expedition
- Space Cadets: Dice Duel
- Rococo
- Theseus: The Dark Orbit
- Bruxelles 1893
- Russian Railroads
- Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends
- Infamy
Mon Apr 7, 2014 12:36 am
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