Latest Neilan Podcast Episodes
#310: Bob's Decade Delights
Board Game Barrage - June 27, 2024 08:10 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsBob's back from his trip to 2014, and oh the wonders he's seen - games that not only were amazing back then, but somehow we're still talking about today! The counterpoint to our draft of games to last a decade, we're arguing about the games from ten years ago that are still relevant - BGBBOB sty...
#309: Moretuary
Board Game Barrage - June 13, 2024 07:01 - 50 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsMore isn't always better, but that's sometimes a hard lesson to learn in the world of board games - we dig into an intriguing listener suggestion about how games (and gamers) can often fall into this trap. Also ... I guess we've got to plan some games for our funerals? It's a double hit of liste...
#308: Fantasy Draft: Games To Last a Decade
Board Game Barrage - May 30, 2024 07:24 - 50 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsIt's back, and it's spicier, more harrowing, and more lucrative than ever before! It's the Fantasy Draft, and this time we're changing things up by asking you not to vote for favourite games, but for the set that you think will still be relevant ten years from now (AKA the far flung future). Vot...
#307: Gotta Guess More Golden Geeks
Board Game Barrage - May 16, 2024 06:42 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsAnd by guess, I of course mean predict. Okay, you all know whether we're right or not by now, but cast your imagination back to a time where we had only the nominees for the 2023 Golden Geeks, and had to use nothing but our wits to determine the winners. How naïve/prescient we were! Before we di...
#306: We Could All Use a Little Change
Board Game Barrage - May 02, 2024 07:33 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsWhat? Your podcasters are evolving! While we're certainly steadfast in some of our opinions (ahem, Biblios) we were curious to reflect on how we've changed - nay, grown - in the years since we started. What do we feel differently about with regards to the games we like, and how we approach the h...
#305: Hook, Line, and Sinker
Board Game Barrage - April 18, 2024 07:54 - 57 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsSometimes a game has a conceit so good, that it's the only description you need to sell someone on it. Let's call it the hook. Do all games have them, or is it something that only a certain subcategory of game can get away with - and why don't they all just print that on the box cover? Before we...
#304: Our Listeners’ Top 20 Board Games of All-Time 2024
Board Game Barrage - April 04, 2024 07:57 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsOh man, oh man, I always love this one. It's the latest edition of the Listener Top 20! We asked you all to submit your lists of your favourite board games, and we collected, collated, and compiled all of that beautiful beautiful data using a magical formula to get THIS: The definitive rankings ...
#303: We Played a Pile of Games!
Board Game Barrage - March 20, 2024 16:13 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsWe made it all the way to Dice Tower West in Las Vegas (and some of us made it out), and we're ready to talk about all of the amazing games we played over there, between outings for pinball and sushi. If you were there, thanks for hanging out with us! Stick around for talk about Faraway, MLEM: S...
#302: A Lotta Prattle About Vlaada Chvátil
Board Game Barrage - February 29, 2024 08:19 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsWe're back with the terrible acronym and the branding nightmare that is BGBDOG - I don't even know what it stands for to be honest, but this week we're turning the spotlight on an incredible force in the industry, Vlaada Chvátil, touring his incredible games all the way through to the true moder...
#301: Our Most Anticipated Games of 2024
Board Game Barrage - February 15, 2024 09:41 - 58 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsWe're in the thick of 2024 now, but there's still plenty more to come - and with that vast undiscovered country (as my father called it) ahead of us, we have loads of games to look forward to. But not all hype is made equally, so here are the ones we're most excited about. Before we mark our cal...
#300: Resolutions and Ruminations
Board Game Barrage - February 01, 2024 08:19 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsThree hundredth episode! But no time to celebrate, we're deep in the new year now, which means it's back to your regularly scheduled podcast, and it's time to reflect on the year past, and contemplate what lays ahead for us in a post-300 world. That's right, we're paying for the crimes of last y...
#299: Top 50 Games of All-Time 2023: 10-1
Board Game Barrage - January 18, 2024 08:02 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsWe made it! We've arrived at last at the final ten(-ish) games, in fact, our TOP TEN (or so?) favourite games of all time. Thanks for joining us again on this yearly pilgrimage, as always it's the journey that's the important thing - but that's not to say that there isn't some exciting moving an...
#298: Top 50 Games of All-Time 2023: 20-11
Board Game Barrage - January 11, 2024 08:01 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsWe're almost bursting at the seams, but there's room for a little more. It's the penultimate episode of our five part series, the Top 50 games of all-time! We're moving on to our 20th to 11th favourite games, which means it's time for some big risers and dramatic falls. Make yourself a coffee (s...
#297: Top 50 Games of All-Time 2023: 30-21
Board Game Barrage - January 04, 2024 08:01 - 51 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsIt's a new year which is an awkward time to be right in the middle of something, but we're doing a thing here. It's part three of our Top 50 games of all-time! This week it's our 30th to 21st favourite games, and this is where things start to get spicy. This is like five chilis next to the menu ...
#296: Top 50 Games of All-Time 2023: 40-31
Board Game Barrage - December 28, 2023 10:06 - 58 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsIt's the second leg of the grand tour that is the top fifty. This week, we're doing our 40th to 31st favourite games ... of all time! It's almost like Christmas just keeps going! Grab a glass of sherry and join us by the fire, we're not about to stop any time soon. 01:21 - Neilan #40 - Bus 03...
#295: Top 50 Games of All-Time 2023: 50-41
Board Game Barrage - December 21, 2023 08:04 - 59 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsIt's tiiiiiiime! It's the top fifty! That's right, the much anticipated, much celebrated, much imitated (we definitely did it first) event of the season is here. We're counting down each of our favourite fifty games of all time! Or at least, for right now! It's a beautiful, beautiful thing, and ...
#294: We Played a Stack of Games!
Board Game Barrage - December 07, 2023 08:28 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsPAX Unplugged was a blast, and we played so much stuff that we're dying to tell you about - many of them with our beloved listeners. We braved the cold and the rain of Philadelphia, on the other side of the country, to bring you this episode jam-packed with games - so there's no room for any dil...
#293: The Great Epochs of Board Gaming
Board Game Barrage - November 23, 2023 08:12 - 47 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsIn what could be our most grandiose episode yet, we attempt to tame the wild history of all of board games. We traverse the timeline, unpacking what we consider to be the great epochs of the hobby, in an attempt to explain how modern game design evolved into its present form. Before we unpack th...
#292: Lightning Round
Board Game Barrage - November 09, 2023 08:01 - 57 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsUh oh, is that thunder? That must mean it's time for a lightning round - we're scooping up all the lovely questions and suggestions that just aren't big enough for the main event, and stuffing them in the blender. This week, it's public spaces, warning labels, gaming tips, and PAX Unplugged. Bef...
#291: Fantasy Draft: Reiner Knizia
Board Game Barrage - October 26, 2023 11:01 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsDrafts are back, baby. And not just any old draft, no, but to celebrate the return of the greatest game, we're drafting none other than the best of the only true and living doctor, Reiner Knizia. Who ends up with the best list? Vote for your favourite, you could win a $50 gift voucher! Before we...
#290: Stuck in the Mid With You
Board Game Barrage - October 12, 2023 07:01 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsAre board games stuck? Not to be dramatic or anything, but it does seem like we keep circling the same ideas over and over again, right? We speculate on where we think the hobby is headed, and whether or not it needs a shake up. Before we plateau, we talk about Orchard, Hadrian's Wall, Terracott...
#289: Essen SPIEL 2023 Hype List
Board Game Barrage - September 28, 2023 09:49 - 56 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsIt's almost time for Essen SPIEL 2023, the great German Mecca of our people - and while we're not going ourselves, that's not going to stop us yearning. We're hear to tell you about all the amazing games available at the show this year that you ought to be excited about. Before we gaze longingly...
#288: Less is More
Board Game Barrage - September 14, 2023 07:32 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsA little prune, a little embellish, a nip, a tuck, and a flourish, and we can get this thing just how we like it. We're looking at all the little things that we'd like to see more of, all the things we'd like to see less of in the world of board games. Before we giveth and taketh away, we talk a...
#287: There's a Time and Place for Everything
Board Game Barrage - August 31, 2023 08:21 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsTiming is everything, which is why it's so important that this episode came out when it did. Had we made it too early, it would have felt dated, and any later, you wouldn't have been ready for it. Before it's about time, we talk about Planet etuC, Undaunted: Stalingrad, Undaunted: Battle of Brit...
#286: The Worst Duo, Kellen & Mark
Board Game Barrage - August 17, 2023 07:40 - 53 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsI leave for one episode and these idiots are talking about eating board games. Hard hitting questions for hard hitting board game journalists, Kellen & Mark are on the scene reporting in. Before we claw our way back from this, we talk about Power & Weakness, Haggis, and Star Wars: The Deckbuildi...
#285: Starting is Easy, Finishing is Hard
Board Game Barrage - August 03, 2023 08:08 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsA solid end game trigger can be such an overlooked part of the design of a game. The conventional wisdom for most things is to start strong and finish strong, so we look at some of our favourite ways that games can end. Before we reach the end of the road, we talk about Robot Quest Arena, Mr. Pr...
#284: Gen Con 2023 Preview
Board Game Barrage - July 20, 2023 07:13 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsIt's convention season, and the big one is almost upon us, as board gamers across America prepare to descend on Indiana. Gen Con! We won't be there this year, but that won't stop us anticipating what we could be playing at the show. Before we want what we can't have, we talk about Fancy Feathers...
#283: Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal
Board Game Barrage - July 06, 2023 07:41 - 56 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsNot all are as blessed as we are by the gift of truly original thought, and so many turn to others for inspiration. Whether it's Newton standing on the shoulders of giants, or stealing from our rich neighbour Xerox, many great ideas are born from what has come before. Before we make the inspired...
#282: A Soupçon of Sackson
Board Game Barrage - June 22, 2023 07:12 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsAfter much consternation at his exclusion from our Mount Rushmore of games, we've decided to honour legendary designer Sid Sackson elsewhere - a BGB Designer Spotlight! I think these used to be called BGB DOGs but even Mark forgot about that bit of branding. Oh well. Before we make amends, we ta...
#281: Fantasy Draft: BoardGameGeek 901-1000
Board Game Barrage - June 15, 2023 08:12 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 381 ratingsWe've reached the end of our fantasy draft series, the last in this increasingly dire list of games from which we pluck five gems each, and then get you to vote on your favourites. There's a (potential) $50 gift card in it for you! Before the last dance, we talk about Seas of Havoc, Whale to Loo...
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