#15: Catan / Seeland

Draft Mechanic Episode #15: Catan, Seeland, Patchwork App, Mystery Rummy: Jekyll & Hyde, ...and then we held hands, and planning a bottle share

This episode we've got a bunch of recent plays to discuss. We gush about how much we've been loving the new Patchwork app. If apps aren't really your thing then we discuss 2 fillers and a Euro game for you. Mystery Rummy: Jekyll & Hyde is an interesting take on the traditional card game style. ...and then we held hands makes us really get in touch with our emotions. So much so that we channel our inner mill owners and reclaim Holland in Seeland. We put a classic, Catan, on tap. Finally, we discuss the makings of an excellent bottle share.

Patchwork - the app
2016, Matagot Editions. 
Designers: Uwe Rosenberg

Mystery Rummy: Jekyll & Hyde
2001, Eagle-Gryphon Games/U.S. Games Systems, Inc
Designer: Mike Fitzgerald

...and then, we held hands.
2016, LudiCreations
Designers: David Chircop, Yannick Massa

Seeland
2010, Ravensburger. 
Designers: Günter Burkhardt, Wolfgang Kramer

Catan
1995, Mayfair and now Asmodee. 3-4 players with 5-6p ext. 60-120 minutes.
Designers: Klaus Teuber

Wheat: Allagash Brewing Company “White” Witbier. Portland, ME.
5.1% ABV, 13 IBU. 12oz bottles.

Wood: Olde Hickory Brewery “Hickory Stick” American stout. Hickory, NC.
    5.8% ABV, 52 IBU. Six-pack, 12oz bottles, year-round.

Sheep: 3 Sheeps “Ewephoria” Ginger chocolate stout. Sheboygan, WI.
    7.4% ABV, 26 IBU. Four packs, 12oz bottles, winter seasonal.

Stone: Stone Brewing Company “Go-To IPA” Session IPA. Escondido, CA.
    4.5% ABV, 65 IBU. 12 oz bottles 6/12 packs.

Brick: Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery “Brick Kiln” American Barleywine. Athens, OH.
    10.5% ABV, 57 IBU.

Section Timestamps:
Intro
01:00 Show housekeeping
01:53 Con talk - GenCon, BGG.con, CMON Expo
04:30 Masmorra, the Dungeons of Arcadia
06:15 This is not a drill: The Prophecy of Dragons
07:49 Patchwork (the app)
12:07 …and then, we held hands.
18:31 Mystery Rummy 3: Jekyll & Hyde
26:50 Seeland
43:18 On Tap: Catan (or, the Settlers of).
52:08 Planning the perfect bottle share party
58:03 Outro

#14: Scoville / The Great Heartland Hauling Co.

Draft Mechanic Episode #14: Scoville, The Great Heartland Hauling Co., Kemet, and how we find new beer

Things are heating up! Today’s episode features a saucy six-pack review of the scorching pepper breeding and farming game, Scoville. We hit the open road and load up four great beers to pair up with The Great Heartland Hauling Co. We also discuss our recent game of Kemet and our experiences at our first Game Night at Salud Beer Shop. Our beer discussion today is answering a listener question - what do we look for when we’re exploring for new craft beers? Hope you’ve got something to drink, this episode’s going to be a hot one!

Kemet
2012, Matagot Editions. 
Designers: Jacques Bariot, Guillaume Montiage

Scoville
2014, Tasty Minstrel Games. 2-6 players. 60-90 minutes.
Designers: Ed Mariott

The Great Heartland Hauling Co.
2013, Dice Hate Me Games. 2-4 players. 30 minutes.
Designers: Jason Kotarski

• Catawba Brewing Co “Mother Trucker” pale ale. Morganton, NC.
  5.0% ABV. Six packs, 12oz cans.
• Uinta Brewing Co.  “Detour” Double IPA. Salt Lake City, UT
  9.5% ABV, 95 IBU. Four-pack, 12oz bottles.
• Green Flash Brewing Company “Road Warrior” Imperial Rye IPA. San Diego, CA.
  9.0% ABV, 22oz bomber.
• Destihl Brewing “Road Block” Red ale. Bloomington, IL.
  4.9% ABV, 33 IBU.

Section time stamps:

Intro
01:00 Draft Mechanic Game Night at Salud
03:52 Games from Mars
06:13 Kemet
16:25 Six Pack Review: Scoville
39:36 On Tap: The Great Heartland Hauling Co.
48:15 How we explore beer
58:03 Outro

#13: Shakespeare

Draft Mechanic Episode #13: Shakespeare, Between Two Cities, Monikers, & Beer Festivals

This episode we take a look at recent plays of two very different games that will accommodate your large group: Between Two Cities and Monikers. We put Shakespeare on tap and give you four delicious brews to celebrate the bard and his characters. We also serve up a quick overview of the beer stats we use in our on tap segments. We round it out with a discussion of what makes a beer festival really shine.

Between Two Cities
2015, Stonemaier Games. 1-7 players. 20 minutes.
Designers: Matthew O’Malley, Morten Pedersen, Ben Rosset

Monikers: Shmonikers
2015, Palm Court/Self-published. 4-20 players. 30-60 minutes.
Designers: Alex Hague & Justin Vickers; based on pub domain game ‘Celebrity.’

Shakespeare
2015, Ystari Games. 1-4 players. 20-90 minutes.
Designers: Hervé Rigal

• New Holland “The Poet” oatmeal stout. Holland, MI.
  5.2% ABV, 37 IBU. Six packs, 12oz.
  Rich, roasty, oaty, and sweet.
   
• North Coast “Puck, the Beer” Petite saison.
  4.0% ABV, 27 IBU. Four-pack 12oz.
  Named after the woodland spirit believed to help or hinder brewing in medieval times!
   
• Omnipollo “Bianca” Mango lassi gose. Stockholm, Sweden.
  6.0% ABV, 22oz bomber.
  Gose brewed with rock salt, lactose, and mango purée. A mango lassi gose that is fruity but still salty.
   
• Rogue Ales & Spirits “Shakespeare” Oatmeal stout. Newport, OR.
  5.7% ABV, 60 IBU. 12oz bottles.
  Chocolate malts, earthy and bitter but mellow and smooth.

Section timecodes

01:00 In the news!

06:00 Splendor on iOS

10:14 Between Two Cities

16:26 Monikers

22:27 About beer stats

28:09 On Tap: Shakespeare

46:00 Beer Festival Wishlist

60:05 Outro

#12: New Dawn / The Manhattan Project

Draft Mechanic Episode #12: Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy, Bloody Inn, Six-pack review of New Dawn, The Manhattan Project on tap.

BOOOM! It’s a new Draft Mechanic, coming in hot! Today we talk about recent plays of Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy and the Bloody Inn. We blast off into deep space with a six-pack review of New Dawn from Artipia and Stronghold Games. Our on-tap game this week is The Manhattan Project and we’ve got four explosively excellent brews to pair it up with. We’ll round this episode with a discussion of the eruption of flavored variants of beers and games. So sit back, relax, grab a pint and enjoy the show!

Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy
2013, Portal Games. 1-4 players. 60 minutes.
Designers: Michiel Hendricks
Card drafting, hand management, worker placement, generational family making

The Bloody Inn
2015, Pearl Games. 1-4 players. 30-60 minutes.
Designers: Nicholas Robert. Art by Weberson Santiago
Hand management, cards with multiple uses, murderin'

New Dawn
2014, Artipia Games/Stronghold Games (2015). 2-4 players. 90-120 minutes.
Designers: Konstantinos Kokkinis & Sotirios Tsantilas
Area control, tile placement, variable player powers, 4X-lite

The Manhattan Project
2012, Minion Games. 2-5 players. 120 minutes.
Designer: Brandon Tibettes
Worker placement, resource collection, card drafting, boomin'   

• Wiseacre Brewing Co "Tiny Bomb" American Pilsner. Memphis, TN. 4.5% ABV, 35 IBU

• Ninkasi Brewing "Allies Win the War" Strong ale. Eugene, OR. 8.5% ABV. 52 IBU

• RJ Rockers "Strawberry Bomber" Strawberry wheat ale. Spartanburg SC. 5.8% ABV, 16 IBU

• Defiant Brewing "Weapons Grade" Imperial IPA. Pearl River, NY. 9.0% ABV, ?? IBU

If you are looking for The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction kickstarter we mentioned, there's a link to check it out. It is funding through Thu, Feb 4 2016 11:00 PM EST.

Love Letter
2012. AEG. 2-4 players. 20 minutes.
Designer: Seiji Kanai
Bluffing, hand management, deduction.

Ballast Point Brewing "Sculpin" IPA. San Diego, CA. 7.0% ABV, 70 IBU.

#11: 2015 Year in Review

Draft Mechanic Episode 11: 2015, A Year in Review

Happy new year! As is tradition, starting off a new year requires an introspective look back at the year that was. We have eight superlative categories to discuss, and then each of us has assembled a ‘mixer-sixer’ of six great new beers from 2015 as well as a mixer of top games of 2015! Yes, you heard that right - that’s FORTY overall selections! What a deal! 2015 was definitely a big year and there’s a lot to talk about, let’s get to it!

Best art, design, or components:
Jake: Mysterium. Asmodee. Oleksandr Nevskiy & Oleg Sidorenko.
Danielle: The Bloody Inn. Pearl Games/ REBEL.pl. Nicholas Robert.

Most innovative game:
Jake & Danielle: 504. 2F-Spiele / Stronghold Games. Friedmann Friese.

Best party game:
Jake: Two Rooms and a Boom. Tuesday Knight Games. Alan Gerdin & Sean McCoy.
Danielle: Codenames. Czech Games Edition. Vlaada Chvatil.

Biggest game disappointment:
Jake: World of SMOG: On Her Majesty's Service. Cool Mini or Not. Yohann Lemonier.
Danielle: Penny Press. Asmadi Games. Robert Dulkes & Matt Golec.

Game I wish I'd gotten to play:
Jake: Elysium. Space Cowboys/Asmodee. Matthew Dunstan & Brett J Gilbert.
Danielle: 7 Wonders: Duel. Repos Productions. Antoine Bauza & Bruno Cathala.

Game I wish I'd played more of in 2015:
Jake: La Granja. Spielworxx/Stronghold Games. Michael Keller & Andreas Odendahl.
Danielle: Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn. Plaid Hat Games. Isaac Vega.

Bonus Categories:
Best Gaming Environment: Empire Board Game Library in Albuquerque, NM
Best "Fast Food" Game: Dead Man's Draw. Mayday Games/Stardock Entertainment. Derek Paxton, Leo Li, & Chris Bray.
Best Beer Visual Presentation: Burial Beer Co. Moon Series. Asheville, NC.

Favorite Beers of 2015: Mix-a-Sixpack

Jake:

• Burial Beer Co. “Shadowclock” pilsner. Asheville, NC. 5.9% ABV.
• Taft’s Ale House “Nellie’s Keylime” cream ale. Cincinatti, OH. 4.8% ABV, 19 IBU.
• Revolution Brewing Company “Fist City” Pale ale. Chicago, IL. 5.5% ABV, 40 IBU.
• NoDa Brewing Company “Par 4” session IPA. Charlotte, NC. 4.0% ABV, 65 IBU.
• Night Shift Brewing “Awake” coffee porter. Everett, MA. 6.7% ABV.
• Wicked Weed Brewing “Dark Arts (Espresso)” sour imperial stout. Asheville, NC. 15% ABV.

Danielle:

• Night Shift Brewing “Maracuya” sour ale w/passionfruit. Everett, MA. 5.6% ABV.
• Grimm Artisanal Ales “Rainbow in Curved Air” Tart saison. Brooklyn, NY. 5% ABV.
• Burial Beer Co. “ The Keeper’s Veil” honey saison. Asheville, NC. 5.4% ABV, 12 IBU.
• Canteen Brewhouse “Cherry Blossom Wheat” hefe. Albuquerque, NM. 4.0% ABV.
• Wooden Robot Brewery “Good Morning Vietnam” coffee blonde. Charlotte, NC. 6.0% ABV.
• Kane Brewing Company “Mexican Brunch” spiced imp. milk porter. Ocean, NJ. 9.2% ABV.

Favorite Games of 2015: Mix-a-Sixpack

Jake: Specter Ops. Plaid Hat Games/Nazca games. Emerson Matsuuchi.
Danielle: Mottainai. Asmadi Games. Carl Chudyk. 

Jake: New Dawn. Artipia Games/ Stronghold Games. Konstantinos Kokkinis & Sotirios Tsantilas.
Danielle: Discoveries. Ludonaute. Cédrick Chaboussit.

Jake: Roll for the Galaxy. Rio Grande Games. Wei-Hwa Huang & Thomas Lehmann.
Danielle: Among the Stars: Revival. Artipia Games/Stronghold Games. Vangelis Bagiartakis & Panagiotis Zinoviadis.

Mysterium. Asmodee. Oleksandr Nevskiy & Oleg Sidorenko.

Codenames. Czech Games Edition. Vlaada Chvatil.

T.I.M.E. Stories. Space Cowboys/Asmodee. Manuel Rozoy.

Intro
01:28 A year in review for Draft Mechanic, and plans for 2016
04:45 2015 Superlative categories
06:26 Top news stories of 2015
10:50 Best Art Design & Components
14:01 Most Innovative Game Design
16:36 Best Party Game
20:34 Biggest Game Disappointment
23:48 Game I wish I’d played in 2015
25:38 Games we wish we’d played more
30:10 Our own personal superlatives
35:53 Mixer-sixer: Favorite Beers of 2015
56:50 Mixer-sixer: Favorite Games of 2015
86:35 Transmission Interrupted