Cult of the Old cultoftheolduk

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!
 
Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. 
 
Themes in games have become a hot topic over the last few years. As the hobby expands, people have begun to ask if we can tackle difficult subject matter in the guise of a boardgame. Designers like Cole Wherle try to answer these questions with their titles Pax Pamir and John Company. 
 
Some themes have existed since the dawn of the hobby and the rise and fall of civilisations is one such example. From the original Tresham Civilisation game, many titles have addressed the civ building aspect of this theme. However only one game focuses on the constant wax and wane of history in a very playable time scale. The tense ebb and flow of history condensed down into a tight compact box. It’s a Small World, after all. 
 
Small World was designed by Phillippe Keyaerts, with art from Miguel Coimbra and Cyrille Daujean. It was published by Days of Wonder.
 
Show Links
 
Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.
 
Games Mentioned
 
Vinci
Mare Nostrum
History of the World
Dominion
Age of Steam
Power Grid
Agricola  - Episode Link
Worldspanner Factions
Civilisation
Pirates Cove
Ticket to Ride
Memoir 44 
Colosseum
Cleopatra and the society of architects 
Battlelore
Commands and Colours: Ancients
Commands and Colours: Napoleonics
Lords of Waterdeep - episode link
Risk
Nexus Ops
Power Grid
Civilization - New Dawn
Tempus
Twilight Imperium Third Edition
Through The Ages
Clash of Cultures 
Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy
 
Other Mentions
 
Days of Wonder
Fantasy Flight Games 
 
Team Links
 
Websites you can find the cast on
There Will Be Games
 
Iain
The Giant Brain
Bluesky
Matt
Bluesky
 
Nate
Bluesky
Threads
 
Support us on Ko-Fi
 
https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold
 
Support us on Patreon
 
https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld
Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com
 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!
 
Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. 
 
Within any sub-culture certain things become the boogeyman. Films so terrible they are just terrible and become the poster child for the worst the form has to offer. Books so ponderous that no-one can make them to the end and everyone wonders why anybody bothers trying. Board games are not immune from this and it is of course those games that a lot of us grew up with that become the target of our ire. 
 
That does not mean they are not worthwhile discussing and here on Cult of the Old we want to take a look at the history and impact of one of those pariahs. Yes it's time to choose if you want to be the dog or the hat, to hope you don’t go to Jail, and to see if you can get the best value properties. The game that makes Capitalism fun, Monopoly! 
 
Monopoly was designed by Elizabeth Maggie, not Charles Darrow as you will learn in our cast!
 
Show Links
 
Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.
 
Games Mentioned
 
Monopoly: Ultimate Banking Edition 
Catan - Episode Link
Pandemic - Episode Link
7 Wonders - Episode Link
Risk
Modern Art
Acquire
Power Grid
Lords of Vegas
Millennium Blades
Contract Bridge
Kriegspiel
Magnate: The First City
Monopoly Deal
I’m the Boss
 
Other Mentions
 
Senet Magazine
The Monopolists
Dollop Episode on The Landlords Game
 
Team Links
 
Team Links
 
Websites you can find the cast on
There Will Be Games
 
Iain
The Giant Brain
Bluesky
Matt
Bluesky
 
Nate
Bluesky
Threads
 
Support us on Ko-Fi
 
https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold
 
Support us on Patreon
 
https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld
Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com
 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!
 
Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. 
 
This Episode….
 
The idea of adventure draws many to different hobbies. Some go scaling mountains, while others hurtle down them. Camping outdoors brings many to the wonders of forests and lakes across the world. Even dry and inhospitable deserts hold wonders to be explored. Much as I don’t mind a bit of outdoors living, a lot of my adventures have been found round the gaming table, exploring strange places and encountering odd folk. 
 
Roleplaying games excel at this kind of adventure but sometimes we don’t want the faff of creating a character or lumbering a friend with the responsibilities of the GM. Sometimes we want something to give us that feeling without all the work needed to run a good RPG. The next game we are talking about attempted to do just that. It’s a game that has been around for a long time and still keeps getting reprinted. We will look at why, discuss its influences and legacy, as we climb the wizards tower to the top of Talisman.
 
The game was designed by Robert Harris and published by Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games.  It has art from Christos Achilleos, Ryszard Anotnoiszczak, Gary Chalk, and Peter Andrew Jones. 
 
Show Links
 
Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.
 
Games Mentioned
 
Dungeons and Dragons
Bugs Bunny Adventure Game
Magic Realm
Dungeon
Mystic Wood
Dungeon Quest
Dungeon Crawl Classics
Agon
Deathmatch Island
Swords & Wizardry
Mork Borg 
Mage Knight
Catan
Episode Link
Runebound
Expeditions
Vindication
Heroquest
Star Wars: Outer Rim
Eldritch Horror
 
Other Mentions
 
Talisman Island
Bob Harris site

Team Links
 
Websites you can find the cast on
There Will Be Games
 
Iain
The Giant Brain
Bluesky
Matt
Bluesky
 
Nate
Bluesky
Threads
 
Support us on Ko-Fi
 
https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold
 
Support us on Patreon
 
https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld
 
Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!
Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. 
When we turn our minds to the subject of influential designers there is surely one name at the top of everyone’s list. Dr. Reiner Knizia. A designer with somewhere in the region of 700 titles to their name. Many of us have our favourite Knizia titles, and the hosts of this show are no exception. 
The good doctor is famous for many games and is associated with many mechanisms that feature time and again in his designs. One of those is auctions. In our game tonight we will visit art auctions across the world, buying up the finest pieces, for the least amount of money and making huge profits. Or so we hope. Open the doors and put your finest pieces on display in the classic game Modern Art. 
 
Modern Art was designed by Reiner Knizia with various artists across all the editions.
 
Show Links
Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mentions during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.
 
Games Mentioned
Modern Art: The Card Game
Monopoly 
Bridge
Spades
Ra
Medici
Hoity Toity
Cafe international
Scotland Yard
Die Macher 
For Sale
Furnace
Beowulf
Hobbit
 
Other Mentions
Ancient Robot Games
 
Team Links
 
Websites you can find the cast on
There Will Be Games
 
Iain
The Giant Brain
Bluesky
Matt
Bluesky
 
Nate
Bluesky
Threads
 
Support us on Ko-Fi
 
https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold
 
Support us on Patreon
 
https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld
 
Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com
 

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!
 
Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. 
 
Good games being lost in the shuffle is not a new phenomenon as Puerto Rico knows only too well. Overlooked for a Spiel des Jahre award the year of release this game has always had a controversial place in the hobby. Hugely influential but with a setting that could be easily described as insensitive, this game has had a massive impact on the hobby and recently had an attempted re-release to get rid of some of the more problematic elements. We will discuss that, and everything else about this game in this episode. 
 
Puerto Rico was designed by Andreas Seyfarth with art from Franz Vohwinkel.
 
Show Links
 
Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.
 
Games Mentioned
 
Manhattan
Thurn & Taxis
Citadels
El Grande
Ra
Taj Mahal
Princes of Florence
Power Grid
Tigris & Euphrates
Paths of Glory
Crokinole 
Eminent Domain
San Juan
Brass
Five Tribes
Twilight Imperium 3rd
San Juan 
Race For the Galaxy 

Other Mentions
 
Puerto Rico Evolver
Digital Antiquarian
Privilege of Play
 
Team Links
 
Websites you can find the cast on
There Will Be Games
 
Iain
The Giant Brain
Bluesky
Matt
Bluesky
 
Nate
Bluesky
Threads
 
Support us on Ko-Fi
 
https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold
 
Support us on Patreon
 
https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld
 
Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Cult of the Old!
Each episode your hosts Iain McAllister, Matt Thrower, and Nate Owens are going to turn back the clock to look at games that are at least 10 years old. They’ll give their own critical impressions, tell you about the history of the game and its impact, and what relevance these games still have in the modern hobby landscape. 
The history of TV and film franchises becoming tabletop games has not been one filled with glory. Eager executives and overconfident designers would rush games out to market, only to be met with a distinct sound of disinterest from the gaming public. Despite a few honourable exceptions, like Star Wars Queen’s Gambit and Epic Duels, when our next game came to market, everyone thought it would continue this run of duds. It did not. 
Released 4 years after the start of the TV series it was based on, Battlestar Galactica saw players engaging in inevitable betrayal and cunning tactics to win the game for their side. This game of artificial intelligence versus humans is not only on the nose for the current political climate, but, like its parent show, linked to the politics of its time through metaphorical allusions to 9/11. 
The game was designed by Corey Koniecza, with art from Kevin Childress, Brian Schomburg, and Wil Springer. 
Show Links
Below are links to the games and anything else that the team mention during the course of the cast.  We will be linking to BGG for games, designers, artists, and publishers as that is a good place to start for raw information about the game in question.
 
Games Mentioned
Battlestar Galactica 
Battlestar Galactica the CCG
Arkham Horror
War of the Ring
Mafia /Werewolf
Starcraft
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Shadows over Camelot
Labyrinth: War on Terror
Twilight Struggle
Tortuga 1667
Blood on the Clocktower
Dark Moon
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
The Resistance
The Resistance: Avalon 
Nemesis
Nemesis Lockdown
Unfathomable
Dune
 
Other Mentions
Fringe
Tao of gaming
Team Links
 
Websites you can find the cast on
There Will Be Games
 
Iain
The Giant Brain
Bluesky
 
Matt
Bluesky
 
Nate
Bluesky
Threads
 
Support us on Ko-Fi
 
https://ko-fi.com/cultoftheold
 
Support us on Patreon
 
https://www.patreon.com/CultoftheOld
 
Email us at cultoftheolduk@gmail.com