Beer'd Gamers

Pixel Glory

What the hell was that?  A fart?  A stomach rumble?  The amount of questionable noises coming from Junior’s chair this week are a little disconcerting, but at least Pixel Glory is here to save us!

Pixel Glory is a deck-building game that sees the players form a team of wizards who draft spells to build their own “spell decks” in order to venture into a dungeon and defeat the bosses therein that threaten the lives of the villagers outside.  The players work together to weaken the monsters, but only those who score the killing blow are able to score the victory points.  The game is played until all monsters are defeated, and the player with the most points at the end wins.

This week in brews, everyone but Schnell stays within Wisconsin.  Nelson has Rift IPA from Central Waters, Teej goes with Leinenkugel’s Creamy Dark Lager, Schnell ventures out and tries Lagunitas Sucks (spoiler; it does), and Junior brings it all back home with Unite the Clans, a Scottish Rye Ale from Third Space Brewing Company.

Sat-Elite

We have a very special treat with this week’s episode.  Today we’re playing a game created and designed by our very own Beer’d Gamer Schnell!  Sat-Elite is actually the second game he’s created, with Landfall being the first (look for that in a future episode!).  The game puts players head-to-head in a space race to see who can have the most successful rocket launches to earn them victory points the fastest.

Sat-Elite is a game that we all like very much, and if you’re interested in playing a game we’ve played and recommend while supporting the passion of one our own members, then you can find it for sale at the following link: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/sat-elite?dept_uri=&dept_name=

In featured beers this week, we’ve got Schnell drinking Old Chub Scottish Ale from Oskar Blues Brewery, Junior drinks local with MKE Brewing’s Lo-Gii, Nelson reps Madison and drinks Penguin Pale Ale by One Barrel Brewing, and Teej keeps things smooth and sexy with Satin Solitude Imperial Stout by Central Waters.

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Scythe

Lots of components.  Impeccable miniatures.  Tasteful nudes?  You get it all in this week’s episode of Beer’d Gamers when we take on the steampunk, alternate history-themed Scythe.

Scythe is a resource-gathering and objective-based board game much like Catan, but it also has an element of combat which allows for players to earn victory conditions in order to bring on the scoring phase of the game.  Scythe is one of the most beautiful and smooth board games any of us have every played, and we hope that you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed playing.  The game retails for roughly $70 depending on the seller, and we Beer’d Gamers highly recommend picking up a copy for your next board game night.

This week in malted beverages we’ve got Nelson drinking Block Party by Karben4, Junior and Teej coincidentally drink the same beer, Bacon Bomb Rauchbier from Brenner Brewing Co., and Schnell goes with a Wisconsin craft classic Fixed Gear, a red IPA from Lakefront Brewery.  We have an all-Wisconsin beer episode on tap for you this week!

Explorers of Ixalan

Do you like Magical Gatherings?  Teej sure does, drunk or sober.  Join us this week as we play through Explorers of Ixalan, a game that marries Magic: The Gathering with hex-tile board game play (think a little bit of Catan).

Explorers is a multiplayer Magic game, with each player competing against the others (2-4 players are supported) while also having the option to “explore” and then “exploit” tiles from the board, which can work either for or against the player.  As longtime Magic lovers, this game was a no-brainer for us, and you’ll definitely be able to tell how much fun we had playing this game (and probably how many beers we had while playing, too.  Hint: it was lots).  The game retails for $64.99 MSRP, and is a game that we highly recommend, especially for Magic fans looking for a new way to play.

This week in brews, Teej moves away from stouts (holy shit!) and goes with Bitter Woman IPA from Tyranena Brewing Company, Schnell goes fancy with Ouisconsing Red Ale from Central Waters Brewing Company, Junior attempts to murder his enemies with Hopsecutioner, an IPA from Terrapin Brewing Company, and Nelson rounds out the drinking with a Frankenstein of a beer that marries lager and ale, Sam ’76, from Samuel Adams Brewing Company.

And we want to give a special shoutout this week to the wonderful woman who designed our logo, Katie Lynn Vogel.  Thanks for knocking it out of the park, Katie!

Ion: A Compound Building Game

Listen up, nerds, this week’s episode is all about science!  We’re playing the card drafting game Ion: A Compound Building Game, which sees players playing cards of different elements in an attempt to bind them into compounds to score more points than their opponents.  It may sound like a weird premise for a board game, but if I had this when I was in high school, I know I’d have done much better than that C (of course, studying would have helped, too).  Thankfully I loved chemistry when I took it in college, so this game was a natural step for me, as you’ll hear in my review.

Ion is a great way that chem-heads and non-chem-heads alike can come together to play a quick game while still learning something.  It’s a relative inexpensive game; it retails for roughly $20.

This week in inebriationland, we’ve got Schnell drinking Outboard from a Beer’d Gamers staple brewery, Milwaukee (MKE) Brewing, Nelson continues his run of Point Brewing beers with their SPA, Junior stays in Wisconsin and drinks Satisfaction Jackson from Ale Asylum, and Teej continues his descent into a life of constant debauchery and shirtlessness with Polygamy Nitro Porter from Wasatch Brewery.

Terraforming Mars

Do you have a strong, unshakable sense of adventure?  Do you long to visit faraway, uninhabited places, like another planet?  Do you have friends that are total dicks who are hellbent on seeing you cry as they destroy everything you try to contribute to this new venture?  Well, Nelson has friends like that, and they shine on like the assholes they are in this week’s episode of Beer’d Gamers, Terraforming Mars.

Terraforming Mars is both a cooperative and competitive game, where players work together to make Mars habitable, while still trying to achieve their own objectives and increase their own victory points.  Players work together to raise the temperature of the planet, to increase its oxygen level, and to create ocean and forest areas.  Cities are created, pets are bred, and many other things occur as players race to accrue VP.

Terraforming Mars retails for about $50 or so, depending on the seller.  We really enjoyed this game; we recommend it to people who love resource collecting/exploiting games, as well as fans of cooperative and competitive games.  Hopefully your friends aren’t as terrible as Nelson’s, though.

This week in beer selections we’ve got Nelson drinking Beyond the Pale IPA from Point Brewery, Teej enjoys Polish Moon from a Beer’d Gamers favorite brewery, Milwaukee (MKE) Brewing Company, Schnell blasts off into space with Light Speed Pale Ale from Toppling Goliath Brewing Company, and Junior, who still has the healthiest liver of all of us, decides to put his liver to the test and is double fisting Schell’s Snowstorm Rye Ale and Rock Hard Red from Gray Brewing Company.  Think of that last one what you will.  We totally did.  There’s a dog on the label for God’s sake.

The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

Have you ever been the one person in a group who’s just not “in” with the “haps” and the “whatnots” and the inside jokes and the references?  Well, rest easy, as Nelson joins you in that boat this week.  We’re playing The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, and Nelson is the only one of the group who hasn’t read or listened to the Dresden Files book series.  However, he does jump in feet-first and takes on the role of Harry Dresden, the titular character and supernatural detective.

The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game sees players taking on the role of one of a handful of characters from the series, working together with their character-specific deck of cards to solve mysteries, find clues, defeat enemies, and win a final challenge against the board.  The game is published by Evil Hat Games and retails for about $25-30 depending on the seller.  Even if you’re unfamiliar with the book series, the game proves to be quite fun!

This week in alcohols we have Schnell and Junior both drinking beer from Pearl Street Brewery; Schnell is drinking Breakfast Beer and Junior is drinking one of their IPAs, Linalool.  Nelson is, unfortunately, severely disappointed by Onyx Black Lager from Point Brewing Company.  Teej, surprisingly, is back at it with a single-digit ABV beer, Fireside Flannel from Lift Bridge Brewery.

King of Tokyo

OK, so maybe none of us are Dwayne Johnson.  Maybe we’ve never been WWE Champ, or even the People’s Champ, for that matter.  Maybe we’ve never saved America from rampaging giant animals.  But you know what?  None of us has that shitty brahma bull tattoo that we had to cover up out of embarrassment, so at least we have him beat there.

Why does any of this matter?  Hold on, I’m getting there.  In just a few months, one of the greatest video games from our childhood, Rampage, hits theaters in live-action movie form, and he’s the star.  So this week we’re giving you our play through of a very similar board game, King of Tokyo.

King of Tokyo is a dice rolling game similar to Yahtzee in concept, with a few other layers added in.  The players race to be the first to 20 victory points, which are earned via number combinations on the dice, or by taking over Tokyo and remaining there for as long as possible.  Each player is competing against everyone else, and can also deal damage to opponents in order to knock them out of the game.  Energy cubes can be used to purchase cards that deliver one-time or continual effects to help your monster defeat the others.  The game retails for about $30 depending on the seller, unless you manage to find a first edition copy, which can run you upwards of $75.

We’ve got new brews for you in this episode, too!  Schnell goes to one of our favorite breweries, Great Lakes, and tries out their Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.  Junior stays in-state and samples Badger State Brewing’s Sticky Bandit, Nelson stays with his island theme and drinks Longboard Island Lager from Kona Brewing Company, and Teej, as his MO, sticks with stout, this time Stompin’ Grounds Coffee Stout from Uinta Brewing Company.

Power Grid

What would you do with $173?  Would you buy a power plant?  Perhaps another house, or dos, to supply power to and earn more money from?  Those questions are answered in this week’s episode of Beer’d Gamers by none other than Teej, Mister One-Hundred-And-Seventy-Three-Dollars-Money-Bags himself.

We’re playing Power Grid in this week’s episode, and we have a complete blast while doing so.  Power Grid is a Euro-style game where players use strategy rather than dice to outwit, outspend, and outearn the other players.  Each round the players bid on power plants, which are then used to power homes.  Players need to watch price points, resources needed and consumed, as well as how many homes each power plant is able to power.  It’s a game of money-management, but trust us, it is way more fun than just that.

Power Grid retails for roughly $40-45 depending on the seller, and is another game that we definitely recommend.

This week in beers we’ve got Teej drinking Teddy Bear Kisses by Upland Brewing Company, Schnell enjoys Arrogant Bastard Ale (because he is one) by Arrogant Brewing, Junior imbibes Buffalo Sweat (because he’s weird) from Tallgrass Brewing Company, and Nelson enjoys Hanalei IPA from Kona Brewing Company.

Burke's Gambit

This week on the Beer’d Gamers podcast: Nelson’s liver prevents him from drinking beer, while Teej’s superhuman liver allows him to press on drinking beers with an ABV of 10 or above; none of that single-digit nonsense for him.  Four gamers entered this recording session, but only three lived to tell the tale.  Who survived?  Find out this week, as we play through the social deduction game Burke’s Gambit!  It’s our first show of 2018, and we’ve got all new recording equipment to boot!

Burke’s Gambit is another in a long line of social deduction games, but where Burke stands apart from others is in the blending of multiple mechanics, like dice rolling, role playing/special character abilities, a parasite mechanic where no player really knows who is infected, and more!  Burke’s Gambit is played with 4-8 players, and can be yours for about $15-20 depending on the seller.  Be sure to check out our review at the end of the episode!

Today we’ve got Teej drinking Plead the 5^th by Dark Horse Brewing, Schnell has UFO White Ale by Harpoon Brewery and Beer Hall, Junior enjoys a Sungasm from Finch Beer Company, and Nelson downs some refreshing Zevia, a sugar-free, calorie-free soda, you know, so his liver doesn’t shut down.

Thanks for listening, and please be sure to share our show with a friend, rate, review, and subscribe!