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My Top 50 … by Art (part 5) · Pick Up and Deliver

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to pick up and deliver the podcast where I
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: pick up my audio recorder as I step out of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the library and deliver an episode two while I walk home.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm Brendan Riley. Well, good morning, listeners. It's still a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: lovely day here in suburban Chicago. It is temperature in
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the high teens or low twenties. The sun is out.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: It's pretty nice given that it's January. There are some
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: days in January that it feels like terrible temperatures, which
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: is part of why I haven't continued this top fifty
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: list sooner.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: But now's the time, so let's jump into it.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: This is episode five of my Top fifty Games by Art.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: For those of you who are somehow stumbling in now
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: this episode, what I'm doing is revealing numbers twenty six
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: through thirty of my top fifty games of all time,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: if I arrange them not by where they are on
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the top fifty list, but instead where they are on
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a list of games I prefer by Art. So Top
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: fifty Games by Art, all right, let's just jump right
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: into it. My number thirty game in my Top fifty
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Games by Art is Star Wars Rebellion. I really like
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the graphic design of Star Wars Rebellion. I think it
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: is functional and interesting to look at. It fits the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: genre the feel of the game very well. The art
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: on the cards is evocative of the setting and doesn't
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: undermine play at all. Some of the art is really good.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: A lot of it is taken, as I understand from
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the comic books. I don't know how much of it
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: is originally commissioned for this game in particular, but overall
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: it works really well as a way to understand what's
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: going on in the game, as a look and feel
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: to get you interested in it, and as a way
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to evoke the characters. So it's very good but very functional. Again,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: nobody's going on either way to say wow, what I
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: really want is to buy Star Wars Rebellion because that
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: art is irresistible. It's very good, but it is middle
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: of the road, hence number thirty. Now on my top
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: fifty list, Star Wars Rebellion is number fifteen. That is
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: up eight from where it was in twenty twenty two,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: which was positioned twenty three, So it's moved up in
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: my estimation. Again, like Vampire the Eternal Struggle, not a
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: game I've played a bunch, but just as I play
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: more in relief or in retrospect, Star Wars Rebellion just
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: stands out as excellent. Its highest rank was number five
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, so this has dropped ten spots from
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: its highest, but it is up eight from where it
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: was last time. Star Wars Rebellion is an excellent two
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: player or four player, but I like it at two
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: skirmish game with a hidden element and asymmetric goals. It's
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: really fun and very thematic, and a game that I
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: need to play some more because it's really good. Next
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: up is number twenty nine of Burgundy. Castles of Burgundy
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: is again a very good game with very work person
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: like art. I have the special edition from Aliyah, which
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I think makes the all the art a notch better,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: but it's still not amazing, right, Like, the cover art
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: is really cool, and the player boards have really nice
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: graphic design, but the titles are still just functional pictures
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: of buildings. Don't know, I don't know how you would
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: make them dramatically more beautiful when they're just pictures of buildings.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: They need to be functional first. I would say the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: graphic design brings us up a lot. I really like
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I am talking here about the Special Edition. I think
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the regular game the art would be lower for me,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: but the Special Edition art is really nice. It's a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: very pretty game. It's when I'm happy to play any time.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: In fact, one, I don't play enough on the table.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I played a lot on board game Arena. I would
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: like to play it more on the table. In fact,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I've never played the Vineyards expansion that came with the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Special Edition, and it probably should because I like the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: game a lot.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: So get on that, Brendan. Now.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: In terms of my Top fifty, Castas of Burgundy is
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: number twenty six. The last time I delisted in twenty
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: twenty two is number forty five, so it's up nineteen spots.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: That's because again, with time, the classics, the true genius games,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: continue to get better and better. This is one that
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I'm appreciating more and more as time goes on, as
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I understand it better, as I get better at playing it,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I just like it more and more. Castles of Burgundy
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: is a phenomenal game, and I love playing it, and
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: that's why it's in my top fifty to begin with,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and why it's number twenty six. In terms of art,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: it's number twenty nine. Next up is Mosaic A Story
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: of Civilization. I actually didn't write down the subtitle here,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: it's Mosaic count colon something about civilization. This is a
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: game from Glenn Drover and Forbidden Games. It is like
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Castles of Burgundy, a very practical game in terms of
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the way it's laid out in terms of the art,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: but it also likes terraforming. Mars has a whole bunch
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: of cards, and I think the art on the cards
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: is very compelling. I think it's all stylistically even. I
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: think it looks really nice. It's representative but also evocative.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I like the cover of the game. I love the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: graphic design. I think it's easy to read. This is
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: a really fun game to play. I like the way
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: it looks on the table. The art and design in
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Mosaic a Story of Civilization is really really good.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: In fact, it's so.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Good that I have it above twenty two other games
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  Speaker 1: in my Top fifty by art. I did not look
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: up the name of the artist, though that's maybe a
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: big flaw in the way I'm doing this list. This
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: is the first time that Mosaic has been in my
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: top fifty. Because I didn't have it before this year,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and I have it at number thirty three, so it
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: made it.
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  Speaker 2: Onto my list.
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  Speaker 1: I've had a few plays of it, I think three altogether,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: but I need more to really cement it and get
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: it up. I also know there is an expansion. I
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: have not seen the retail edition of that expansion yet,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: but it is something I want to get. I have
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the regular edition of Mosaic, not the colossal edition, which
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: means that my pieces are regular size and the game
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: fits on a normal, big table rather than needing an
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: enormous one. Actually, I like the size of the game
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: that I have, and I'm happy to continue playing it,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: but I hope that the retail edition also fits. That's Mosaic,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: a Story of Civilization. Next up is another game where
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the art is sort of sparse but very compelling. This
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: is Twilight Imperium fourth Edition. I think tilet Imperium is
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: one of the best thematic games out there. It is
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: very eurofocused and very elaborate, and from that perspective, I
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: really enjoy playing it.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I've only played it well.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I played tilet Imperium third Edition once and Toilet Imperium
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: fourth Edition once, so it's not a game I've played
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: very often, but I really liked it when I played it,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: and it is definitely a game I would like to
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: play again.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: In the game, you.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Are building a space civilization and you have a variety
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: of miniatures that represent your different ships. You have a
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: variety of different planet tiles, which are all very evocative
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: and sort of make you think of cool spacey sci
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: fi solar systems. You've got cool spaceships, You've got art
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: on cards, You've got your civilization where you get your
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: little portrait, which is not all that different from Sideiro
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Confluence in fact, which I guess is probably why Sideiro
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Confluence and Twilight Imperium fourth Edition land close to one
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: another on this list. As well as stuff like Through
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the Ages, there are games where I think the art
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: is very nice. There's just not a lot of it,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and so it's not likely that I'm going to put
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the game super high on my list. But all the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: art in this game I think is really compelling and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: very theme focused. In terms of the game itself. It's
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: number thirty five on my list. This is the first
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: time I've had it on my list. As I said,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I played Twilight Imperium third Edition once and then I
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: have played fourth Edition once, but I would like to
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: play it again, probably a few more times before I
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: can really evaluate it. But even having played it once,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: I know it's great, and so it does make my
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: list at number thirty five, So it's Twilight Imperium fourth Edition.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: The last game for today's episode is number twenty six
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: on my Top fifty by art, this is Altiplano. Altaplano
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: is another game illustrated by Clemens Franz, who previously showed
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: up as the illustrator of Agricola number thirty three. So
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: he is somebody you're going to see occasionally in my
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: list because I think his art is really good, especially
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: for Euros. It's hard for me to say whether I
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: think his art is good for Euros or he just
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: does so many of the Euros that I've come to
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: think of his art as emblematic of.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: A certain kind of eurogame.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Altaplano is right in that category, and in that regard,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's great art.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: You get a little bit.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Of illustration of people and buildings and materials. You have
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: a board that has to convey a lot of information,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: but it's done so with a nice.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Flare for theme.
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  Speaker 1: I like the feel of the depiction of the Altaplano place.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I think it's Peru Argentina, where we are trading resources
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: for other resources and building up our merchant empire among.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: The people there.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I really like the look of the lama, both on
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: the cover of the box and on the first player marker.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: It is a cute looking lama, and that pushes this
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  Speaker 1: game a long way. I gotta say that cute lama
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  Speaker 1: so in terms of the look and field of the game,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: that pushes Altaplano up to number twenty six of my
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: top fifty games. Nothing in nothing at this point, no
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: art in the game that I see as bad. It's
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: all either pretty good, it's although decent or good, and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: often the line here is there's just not enough of
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: it to really push it toward the top of the list.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: In terms of gameplay, Altiplano is a bag builder. I
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: really prefer to play it with the Traveler expansion, which
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: adds a little bit more flexibility. It solves one of
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the problems of Orleans. Orleans, as much as I like,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: it does suffer from the problem that you could buy
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: a tile and never draw it, especially if you're not
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: aggressively getting rid of tiles out of your bag.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: By sending them to the town hall.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Then any tiles you buy could just go to the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: bottom of your bag and never come out, or worse,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: you buy them and then they come out only when
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: you're drawing for the plague and you lose the tile
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: that you just got.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: That's really frustrating.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: That is one of the characteristics of Orleans that makes
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: it interesting, but it is also very frustrating. By contrast,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Altiplano has this little box that you put all your
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: tiles into, and as you draw tiles and use them,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: you put them in the box.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: That way, when you are when.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Your bag is empty and you need to draw more tiles,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: you dump all the tiles that when your box back
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: in your bag, and then every time you buy will
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: get cycled.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I like that process better. I have oscillated in the past.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Between liking Altiplano and Orleans better.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I don't think.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I don't remember if I've revealed
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Orleans yet or not. Altiplano is number thirty two for me.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: That's down twenty three spots from where it was in
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, which was number nine, and I believe
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: that I have often said Altiplano is my preferred game
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: over Orleans, but Reiner, Sockhausen and DLP have kept supporting
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Orleans in a way they have not with Altiplano, which
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: pushes that pushes Orleans up in my estimation over time
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: because there's more more to play, whereas Altaplano remains fixed
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: at one game, one expansion. That said, I do still
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: really like it, and I think it is an excellent
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: example of this genre of bag builder and the genre
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: of great art. So again my number twenty six in
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: my top fifty by art. Well, that brings me to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the end of another episode. We're now halfway through the list.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: I've revealed numbers fifty through twenty six in my top
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: fifty of art, and I suspect you've I don't know
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: if you're give the track of where what's actually in
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the top fifty.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: If you want to check, you can either head.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Over to board game Get Guild three two sixty nine
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and check out the top fifty chat there, or you
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: can head to rattobox games dot com and check out
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the show.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Notes for this episod.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: In both places, I'm keeping the running tally of the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: full Top fifty as it's revealed as well, so you
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: can always look there if you'd like to.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Get a hold of me let me know what you're thinking.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: The guild that I just mentioned is the best place
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: to do that, but otherwise you could also text me
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: send me a message on board game geek. Wombat nine
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: two nine is my user name there. You could also
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: send me an email Brendan at radoboxgames dot com. I'm
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: also over on Blue Sky I think it's Wombat nine
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: two nine there. If you want to send a message
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: to me via social media. I'm not super active there,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: but I'll see it eventually. So I hope that you're
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: thinking about what your top fifty games are and that
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: you will let us know soon where they are on
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: your list, or where these games are on your list
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: or whatever. And with that that brings me to the
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: end of my walk. I thank you for joining me today.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I hope that it's warming up where you are the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: way it's warming up where I am, and that you
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: have a pleasant walk next time you take a walk
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: that's screwed up my catchphrase, I hope your next walk
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: is as pleasant as mine was.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Bye.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Brought to you by rattle Box