#65: 2017 In Review

Happy New Year! We’re back once again with our first episode of the year and our customary recap of the year that was. We take a look back at the biggest news stories in gaming and beer in 2017, share our favorites in a pile of categories, discuss our six favorite beers of 2017, and of course our top six games of last year as well. We’re tying this episode up with responses from our new DM Slack channel’s “Final Round” topic: What was the biggest surprise in gaming for you in 2017? Enjoy!

2017 Superlatives:
Best Artwork:
Danielle: Near and Far (Red Raven Games)
Jake: Flipships (Renegade Game Studios)

Best Non-mini Components:
Jake: Dice Forge (Libellud)
Danielle: Photosynthesis (Blue Orange Games)

Biggest Disappointment:
Danielle: Photosynthesis (Blue Orange Games)
Jake: Yamatai (Days of Wonder)

Game I Wish I'd Played More from 2017:
Danielle: The 7th Continent (Serious Poulp)
Jake: Dojo Kun (CMON)

Best Older Game I Played for the First Time in 2017:
Danielle: Bora Bora (Ravensburger)
Jake: Rococo (Eagle-Gryphon Games)

Best Party Game:
Vegas Wits & Wagers (North Star Games)

Best Card Game:
Danielle: Herbaceous (Pencil First Games/Dr. Finn Games)
Jake: Matryoshka (White Goblin Games/Terra Nova Games)

Most Innovative Game:
Danielle: The 7th Continent (Serious Poulp)
Jake: Magic Maze (Sit Down!)

Favorite Beers of 2017 Six-Packs:
Jake:

• Burial Beer Co. “Houtenhamer” Double-Barrel Imperial Stout. Asheville, NC. 10% ABV, 60 IBU.
• Perennial Artisan Ales “Maman” Barrel-aged Imperial Stout. St. Louis, MO. 11.5% ABV.
• Side Project Brewing “Saison du Blé” Imperial Stout. St. Louis, MO. 6% ABV.
• Bearded Iris Brewing “Chasing Rainbows Three” New England IPA. Nashville, TN. 5.8% ABV.
• B. Nektar Meadery “#DragonsAreReal” Cherry chipotle mead aged in New Holland Brewing - Dragon's Milk barrels with cacao nibs. Ferndale, MI. 14.0% ABV.
• Burial & Interboro & Run the Jewels “Stay G-O-L-D” IPA. Asheville, NC. 6.0% ABV, 50 IBU.

Danielle:

• Boiler Brewing “Quintuple Dog Dare” Imperial IPA. Lincoln, NE. 18.4% ABV.
• Good Road Cider Works “Avogadro's Trail” Semi-sweet Mead. Charlotte, NC. 7.8% ABV.
• Epic Brewing Company “Big Bad Baptista” Mexican Coffee inspired Imperial Stout. Salt Lake City, UT. 12% ABV, 65 IBU.
• B. Nektar Meadery “#DragonsAreReal” Cherry chipotle mead aged in New Holland Brewing - Dragon's Milk barrels with cacao nibs. Ferndale, MI. 14.0% ABV.
• Edmund's Oast “Kvass” Kvass. Charlotte, NC. 2.6% ABV.
• Founders Brewing “Frootwood” Barrel-aged cherry ale. Grand Rapids, MI. 8.0% ABV.

Favorite Games of 2017 Six-Packs:

Jake's Picks:

Downforce
Restoration Games
Designer:  Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Wolfgang Kramer

Matryoshka
Terra Nova Games/White Goblin Games
Designer: Aaron Dill, Sean Sweigart, John Kovaleski

Flipships
Renegade Game Studios
Designer: Kane Klenko

Danielle's Picks:

5-Minute Dungeon
Wiggles 3D
Designer: Connor Reid

Azul
Plan B Games
Designer: Jun Sasaki

Seikatsu
IDW Games
Designer:  Matt Loomis, Isaac Shalev

We Both Picked:

The 7th Continent
Serious Poulp
Designer:  Ludovic Roudy, Bruno Sautter

Sagrada
Floodgate Games
Designer:  Adrian Adamescu, Daryl Andrews

Near and Far
Red Raven Games
Designer:  Ryan Laukat

Section Timestamps:

Intro

01:00 Show Housekeeping

02:32 Announcing the Draft Mechanic Slack Channel!

05:27 Meta Mechanic, 2017 by the numbers

08:27 Preface to the Superlatives

11:43 Biggest News Stories of 2017

25:10 Superlative Categories

55:34 Our Top Six Beers of 2017

71:20 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot

72:08 Our Top Six Games of 2017

96:48 Final Round: Biggest game surprises

103:41 Outro

#60: Fast Forward!

Draft Mechanic Episode 60: Friedemann Friese's Fast Forward: FEAR, FORTRESSS & FLEE, Matryoshka On Tap, InBetween, Best Treehouse Ever: Forest of Fun!, and Beer Primer: Scottish/Scotch Ales

Essen is just around the corner and we’ve got a few of the hot hot releases to talk about! Our big feature today is the new Fast Forward series from Friedemann Friese - three new ‘fable’ games that you learn as you play and change with each game. It’s a wild new idea - did FF pull it off? We’ve also got a look at the latest from Board&Dice - InBetween - a tight two-player battle over a quiet suburban town. We’re also going to share a Kickstarter preview for the latest Green Couch Games title - Best Treehouse Ever’s standalone/combinable expansion Forest of Fun! Spoiler: it’s FUN. Our on tap is one of our recent plays - the small-box card collecting and trading game Matryoshka - and we share four beer pairings worth hunting down for your collection if you can! Danielle’s got a beer primer on the difference between Scottish and Scotch ales to wrap the episode up. But what’s that, down there in the timestamps? Seems there’s some mysterious audio at the end of this episode after the credits? How odd… 

Jake's Essen Picks List

Kickstarters:
Legends of Sleepy Hollow (BGG Page)
Best Treehouse Ever: Forest of Fun! (BGG Page) - Launches 10/25

Recent Plays:
InBetween
2017, Board&Dice
Designer: Adam Kwapiński
Artist:  Seweryn Borkowski, Tomasz Kalisz, Paweł Niziołek, Sebastian Zakrzewski

The Fast Forward Series:
Fast Forward: FEAR
2017, Stronghold Games
Designer: Friedemann Friese
Artist:  Harald Lieske

Fast Forward: FORTRESS
2017, Stronghold Games
Designer: Friedemann Friese
Artist:  Harald Lieske

Fast Forward: FLEE
2017, Stronghold Games
Designer: Friedemann Friese
Artist:  Harald Lieske

On Tap:
Matryoshka
2016,  Terra Nova Games/White Goblin Games
Designer: Sérgio Halaban
Artist: Eduardo Bera

• Modern Times Beer "Kingdom of the Dolls"; San Diego, CA, USA
  6.3% ABV, 30 IBU
  Sour saison aged in white wine barrels.
• Csupor Sör "Matryoshka"; Budapest, Hungary
  12% ABV, 40 IBU.
  Russian-Hungarian imperial stout brewed in collaboration with ReWort Brewery in Sergiev Posad, Russia.
• Fort George Brewery "Matryoshka"; Astoria, OR, USA
  12% ABV, 65 IBU
  Small batch Russian imperial stout with a smaller batch with cocoa nibs added and then an even smaller batch with raspberries also added.
• BrewDog "Russian Doll"; Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
  Barleywine: 10% ABV, 100 IBU
  Double IPA: 8% ABV, 85 IBU
  IPA: 6% ABV, 70 IBU
  Pale Ale: 4% ABV, 35 IBU
  Box set of beers all brewed with the same malt bill, hops, water, and yeast.

Beer Primer: Scottish/Scotch (Wee Heavy) Ales
-Beer Judge Certification Program Standards for Scottish Ales (including Scotch Ales)
-All About Beer Magazine: Scottish Ales
-A History or Wee Heavy & Strong Scotch Ale
-The Shilling System

Section Timestamps:

Intro

01:00 Show Housekeeping

03:47 Jake’s Essen Picks

11:21 Kickstarter: Legends of Sleepy Hollow

13:46 KS Preview: Best Treehouse Ever: Forest of Fun!

24:12 Recent Plays: InBetween

40:41 Grey Fox Games sponsorship spot

41:32 Feature: Friedemann Friese’s Fast Forward Series

43:55 Fast Forward: Fear

49:25 Fast Forward: Fortress

54:52 Fast Forward: Flee

60:08 Fast Forward: Wrap-up

64:55 Recent Plays: Matryoshka

74:22 On Tap: Matryoshka

80:05 Beer Primer: Scottish and Scotch Ales

87:11 Outro?

88:21 Mysterious Audio

#57: FBGL 2017

Draft Mechanic Episode #57: The 2017 Fantasy Board Game League, Indulgence On Tap, The Networks: The Executives, Magic Maze, Eminent Domain, Illimat, the State of the Podcast, and a brief history of Oktoberfest  

Preorder:
Agra from Quined Games

Kickstarter:
The Networks: The Executives 

Recent Plays:
Magic Maze
2017, Sit Down!
Designer: Kasper Lapp
Artist: Gyom

Eminent Domain
2011, Tasty Minstrel Games
Designer: Seth Jaffe
Artists: Gavan Brown, Eric J. Carter, Christine Conrad, Jeremy Deveraturda, Ryan Johnson, Patrick McEvoy, Hans-Georg Schneider, James Wolf Strehle

Illimat
2017, Twogether Studios
Designer: Keith Baker
Artist: Carson Ellis

Fantasy Board Game League:
FBGL Homepage 

On Tap:
Indulgence
2017, Restoration Games
Designer: G. W. "Jerry" D'Arcey, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson
Artist: Chelsea Harper

• Black Cloister Brewing Company "Sweet Indulgence"; Toledo, OH, USA
  8.6% ABV
  Sweet stout with raspberry puree.
• O Brother Brewing "The Sinner"; Kilcoole, County Wicklow, Ireland
  6.2% ABV, 62 IBU
  American IPA brewed with Citra, Centennial,  Cascade hops.
• Hollister Brewing Company "The Pope I.P.A."; Goleta, CA, USA
  6.8% ABV
  West coast Style IPA.
• Brewery Ommegang "Chocolate Indulgence"; Cooperstown, NY, USA
  7% ABV
  Chocolate stout brewed with Belgian yeast.

Oktoberfest:
oktoberfest.de
Munich Event Page for Oktoberfest 2017

Section Timestamps:

Intro

01:00 Show Housekeeping & happy 2nd Podiversary!

04:35 Games news: Essen buzz & Conventions

09:35 Kickstarter Preview: The Networks: The Executives

23:10 Recent Plays: Magic Maze

31:50 Recent Plays: Eminent Domain

39:03 Recent Plays: Illimat

47:37 Grey Fox Games sponsor break

48:41 The 2017 Fantasy Board Game League!

72:44 2017 State of the Podcast

77:55 On Tap: Indulgence

85:52 Oktoberfest!

93:32 Outro

#55: Gen Con 50 Wrapup!

#55: Gen Con 50 Wrap-up!

Hey all! Episode 55 is going to be a little different! Each day during Gen Con 50, we sat down with our buds (Shane, Tamara, Steven, Dan) and talked about what we saw at the biggest con of the year (and the biggest Gen Con in history). I’ve assembled those recordings chronologically just like last year for over an hour of extra content! We really hope you enjoy our wrap-ups, and we’ll be back next Monday for another episode and a more in-depth look at some of the hottest games of the year, fresh from Gen Con 50!