Operation: Game Night
Travis Smith, Jared Erickson, and Clay Gable get together to discuss the latest and greatest in board games in this weekly podcast. What's hot, what's hitting the table, featured discussions about board games and the board gaming culture, and the primary mission objective- to play more board games!
Operation: Game Night
Special Ops: Drafting the Ultimate Farming Board Game
Clay, and Jared compete in a board game draft challenge to create the ultimate farming game, each with only $30 to spend across 10 rounds of selections ranging from mechanics to designers to components.
Let us know in the comments which game you would rather play!
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Welcome to the Operation Game Night podcast. We are back and better than ever. I'm your host, travis Smith. Joining me, as always, are my co-hosts Clay and Jared. How you doing, boys? What up? I'm doing good, I'm doing, host Travis Smith. Joining me, as always, are my co-hosts Clay and Jared. How you doing, boys? I'm doing good.
Speaker 2:I'm doing really good.
Speaker 1:Today we have a very special episode for this special operation. It is fantasy football season and everyone is doing their fantasy football drafts by the time this publishes. If you have not done your draft, you're probably too late. Too late, nope, we're doing a very special type of draft today, a board game draft. So, oh, let me share the screen. Let's see it. Let's see this. Oh, today we have a board game draft. We're making the ultimate farming game, farming game akin to Agricola or the I don't know what other farming games are there. Clay Helpy.
Speaker 2:Caverna.
Speaker 1:Caverna.
Speaker 2:I'm just going through the Uwe Rosenberg catalog, jardu Valley, yes, which is also a board game.
Speaker 1:Anyways, we're going to build the ultimate farming game today. So each of these guys have been given a $30 limit to spend Between 10 rounds. There are 5 options each round, ranging between $1 and $5. We've got rounds like the mechanics, the designers, the artists, publishers, etc. So we're going to go through these rounds. The thing is, when they draft, they're going to lose some money each round. Whoever has the least amount of money at the beginning of the next round we'll start the draft that round. We're not going to do a snake draft or anything crazy like that, and we're going to see who can build the ultimate farming game between these options. So we're going to start with the coin flip. We have the athletic director coin for the Air Force Academy. Oh sweet. Thank you, nate Pine.
Speaker 2:We'll do the.
Speaker 1:AF is heads, and the mountains and the Thunderbirds are tails. Clay, do you want heads or tails? I'll take tails. Tails never fails. Here we go.
Speaker 2:It is tails. Do you want to go it?
Speaker 1:is tails. You want to go first, you want to go second? I'm going first, you're going first. Okay, so the first round of the farming game draft is the sub theme. So it's a farming game, but you also have a sub theme. So number one for one dollar economic, uh. Two dollars is sci-fi, three dollars is historic, four dollars is dairy farming and five dollars is vineyards. Which one do you want? Clay?
Speaker 2:I will take sci-fi for two dollars. Sci-fi two dollars.
Speaker 1:Yep, I get this highlighted love games.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'm building just a game I want to play right now, uh, and I think I think that's gonna. Aren't we trying to woo travis? I mean, are we trying to woo you travis?
Speaker 1:because I'm just building the game I want just uh, by the fact that you're here you're already wooing me, but we will. Uh, maybe I'll weigh in and see which one I would rather play at the end, okay, and then maybe we'll put it out to the public, to the audience, and see what they would want to play the ultimate game.
Speaker 3:Well, I know a little something about Clay. He's got baby hands. He can't throw a bale of hay, so I'm going with dairy farming for four here. I'm from a little town called Newton, utah. They have lots of dairy farming, so I'm going big round one Dairy farming, all right.
Speaker 1:So, jared, that means that you draft the very first mechanic. So round two is mechanic number one, $1 is dexterity, $2, press your luck. Three is dice rolling, four is deck slash bag slash pool building and $5 is area control. What do you think, jared? Clay goes first or I go first. You go first. You have the least amount of money remaining. Oh my, gosh.
Speaker 3:Oh, so it incentivizes me a little bit, but I'm going to run out of money real quick because you know I love a good bag.
Speaker 1:So I'm going bag builder. All right, Bag builder for $4. This is dangerous Guys.
Speaker 3:I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it to round 10. I need to watch the little subtotal at the bottom of the screen.
Speaker 2:Wow, jared is great at spending fake money he doesn't like to in real life. I, on the other hand, I'm being a little more conservative. I'm sticking with the $2 option. I'm going press your luck. Farming is a bit of a science, but you also gotta have a little bit of luck out there, and I think you could make an interesting farming game with it clay.
Speaker 3:You have a little sci-fi and little science fiction. Yeah, that's your luck going on here all right round.
Speaker 1:Number three is your second mechanic for the game. At one dollar we have sandbox akin to western legends. Go out and do uh. Two is hand management. Three dollars is auction slash bidding. Four dollars tableau building.
Speaker 3:Five dollars worker placement so I can't do it I can't do a five dollar one, uh, but sandbox sounds so fun. Bag builder. With the sandbox I might have to go hand management for three for two dollars.
Speaker 1:jared's taking hand management for his second mechanic, clayton, over to you.
Speaker 2:Jeez, I think worker placement has got to be. I think that's going to tie it all together for my sci-fi pressure luck game. Having that worker placement. The options are endless with a worker placement game. You know you can make those worker placement actions to just about anything and I feel like I could get away with. You know you can make those worker placement actions to just about anything and I feel like I could get away with, you know, adding some even sub sub mechanisms within those worker placement spots. I don't know, I'm just I'm spending big on mechanic number two.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, with the five dollar worker placement we're pretty close to even for money. Now. Jared is sitting at twenty dollars, jared is sitting at $20. Clay is sitting at $21. So, jared, back to you. For the first pick this category is the designer. For $1, we have Eric Lang, designer of Marvel United and Ankh. For $2, we have John D Clare, designer of Dead Reckoning and Kubitos. $3 is Elizabeth Hargrave, designer of Wingspan and kubitos. Three dollars is elizabeth hargrave, designer of wingspan and undergrove. Four dollars, mr doc, mr doctor, reiner kinesia, designer of mlem and raw and a thousand other games. And for five dollars we have the man, the myth, the legend, uwe rosenberg, designer of feast for Odin and Caverna.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, ankh has so many good minis, but I'm in a bag builder so I don't have really that worker placement builder. So I don't know about going with Eric Lang, but he might be the cheaper option. Does he have any off the top of your guys' head? Cheaper option does he have any off the top of your guys's head? Could he help me with a bag builder deck?
Speaker 2:builder kind of hand management game.
Speaker 3:I don't know, I'm trying to try.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, he can do it.
Speaker 3:Eric glenn's done a lot I'm looking at, I'm actually pulled up pulled up, these guys are I know I'm going eric lang, I'm looking at the onk, uh, even just the the uh, like the actual board mat, it looks. It looks like he can create me a good, a good farming, like you know. Mat for the table.
Speaker 2:I think it's gonna be fine so this is where you're skimping on your board game, on the designer this this is like building a car and deciding. Deciding to get the cheapest engine.
Speaker 3:Man Like no, no, no, no, no, no, no. What's under the hood is good. What Maybe I? Maybe the exterior shell might be a little bit.
Speaker 2:This is what's under the hood. This is what's written. It all together.
Speaker 3:Oh shoot, that's round five, whoops.
Speaker 1:I mean to be fair. This is like all of these guys are legends Guys, slash girls with Elizabeth Hargrave. You're not going to get a bad designer with any of these. It's just your personal taste and what you think that they would succeed at in a farming game.
Speaker 3:We might be canceled by putting Eric Lang as a $1 buy. I think I'm still going to be fine getting him in here. Yeah, marvel United. The way that the design of that game of battling put that into an utter like putting down some pails of milk Boom, I'm into it.
Speaker 1:I don't know how you got from card battling to milking cows, but anyways, clayton, it's a farm game, you got it over to you.
Speaker 2:I'm going my guy kinesia, I can't not. I honestly, though, I can't even off the top of my head think of a farming game per se that I'm sure he's designed a farming game in his um discography or whatever it's called ludography is what they call it in the board game space, but I'm sure he has one. I can't think of it, and I think if anybody could pull together a clean set of mechanisms to make my sci-fi pressure luck worker placement farming game is dr kinesia.
Speaker 2:I trust him with everything, especially I'm not I'm not skimping on the most important part of this game good, good decision all right round.
Speaker 1:Number five is your artist for your board game. We've've got Andrew Bosley for $1. Artist of Everdell and Planecrafters. Two. We have Roland McDonald, artist of Western Legends and the Undaunted series, for $3,. We have Beth Sobel, artist of Wingspan Viticulture and Calico, for $4,. Vincent Dutrait, artist of Duel for Middle Earth and Quest for El Dorado, and then for $4. Vincent do trade, artists of mid duel for middle earth and quest for Eldorado, and then for $5,. We have Ian oh, tool the legend, artists of dead reckoning, raw cascadero and void fall. Uh clay, looks like you're still sitting at the lowest amount of money.
Speaker 2:All right, I am going. They're all good, like you said. I mean, you didn't put any scrubs out here. You should have had the one dollar option. Be like mason drew pictures for yeah jared self draws all of his art. I feel, I feel like it's a steal to take bosley for one dollar, so I'm gonna do it okay andrew bosley for one dollar.
Speaker 1:Nice Jared, what are you taking?
Speaker 3:I mean, if I'm trying to woo you, I might just go with Roland McDonald right there. I mean Western legends. He already knows how to make a Western kind of farm-like art. So let's go with number two, all right. Art. So let's go with number two, all right $2.
Speaker 1:Rolling McDonald to Jared's dairy farming deck, dairy air Pool building hand management game. There's a lot going on in that game. All right, give me just a second. Okay, clayton, is that real? Are you still sitting at the lowest amount?
Speaker 2:of money, I mean, if your Excel formulas are correct.
Speaker 1:I think it is All right. Round number six is the publisher for your farming game. For $1,. We have Simon, publisher of Marvel United and Zombicide. For $2, we have Ravensburger, publisher of Castles of Burgundy and Quest for El Dorado, for $3,. We have Direwolf, publisher of Dune, imperium and Clank, for $4, leader Games, publishers of Root and Arx, and for $5, we have Rio Grande Games, publishers of Concordia and Underwater Cities and Clayton you're drafting first.
Speaker 2:All right, this is a no-brainer. Here I saved some money on the artist, so I'm gonna splurge a little and get leader games because I love their productions. Unfortunately, most of their games don't get played by me anymore because they're just a little too crunchy. But I know if I've got kinesia behind the, behind the helm, on a leader games publication, that's going to be a game I'm going to want to look at and play and get out of the box all the time.
Speaker 3:So I am going leader games excellent, good choice, uh, jared publisher so I mean, I don't think dire wolf has made too many, uh, hand management games, um, but let's send it. I love, uh, I love, dune imperium. Maybe it can be like a farm battler, where you're battling other farms for you know the drying up resources in this small town. I don't know, could be, could be the move okay, uh, let me get that plugged in.
Speaker 1:And, clayton, you are still lowest. Where are you going for round seven, which is box size, at one dollar we have pocket slash travel two dollars. We have small box. According to our small box bracket, that's like anything smaller than was it for sale. Yeah, $3,. We have medium box. I would akin that to most of like Ravensburger's publications. $4,. We have large box, that's like I don't know the Skyrise box or something, and then five, we have the mega box. I mean that is like your nemeses, your Everdell Complete Collection, your Foundations of Rome, something like that. So, clayton, where are you going for box size?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, if I'm staying true to Leader Games' publishing philosophy, most of their boxes are all medium size. So and I think I don't know that I can spend the money right now on the larger mega box and I don't really want to get in a fight with the publisher about it, so I'm just going to go medium box. I think we can fit the components that we need into that medium box. Okay, for $3, clay's taking medium box, I think we can fit the components that we need into that medium box.
Speaker 1:Okay, for $3,. Clay's taking medium box Leaves him with $9 remaining for the last three rounds. Jared, you have $14 remaining as of now. Where are you going for box size?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we got to go small. I was kind of hoping maybe I could parlay this into a bag and a deck builder. I got some a twist maybe coming at the end here, but okay, I don't think I can pull off the large box yet.
Speaker 1:Okay you got a lot of stuff going on in a small box.
Speaker 3:I know, I know it's a tiny epic game. Maybe it's tiny.
Speaker 2:It could be a tiny epic game, that's true. They're not a publisher, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, true so right now. Clay has $9 remaining, jared has $12. We have three rounds left. Clayton, you are going to go first for round number eight, which is the best at player count For $1, we have best at solo $2, we have two players, $3, we have three players, $4, we have four players and for $5, we have five plus players.
Speaker 2:This is best at. This isn't like the only player count right, correct. This is best at. I't like the only player count right, correct, this is best at. I love a game that's best at two. Okay, so I'm taking two for two dollars. I gotta save a couple couple coins for what's coming up. I'm looking ahead, thinking about the future of this game okay, j, what are you thinking for best?
Speaker 1:at player count, you have $12 remaining.
Speaker 3:I'm thinking best at three, best at three. I can add things to this game, maybe later, right when I pitch it, maybe.
Speaker 1:We're going to flush it out a little bit and give a little more detail, or flush.
Speaker 3:Uh, both do you flush okay, thank you.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. Uh, clay, you have seven dollars remaining. Jared has nine round number nine is game length. For one dollar we have 20 minutes. Two dollars we have 30 minutes. Three dollars is we have 30 minutes, $3 is 45 minutes, $4 is 60 minutes one hour and for $5, one and a half hours, 90 minutes. Clayton, what?
Speaker 2:are you thinking for game length? Easy, I'm taking $3, 45 minutes. That is no game needs to be longer than 45 minutes, and certainly, certainly Knizia is not going to do me dirty like that and design something that's going to be bloated and take longer than it should.
Speaker 1:All right, jared, what are you thinking for game length?
Speaker 3:I was also thinking 45 minutes, but F me, I guess. Thanks.
Speaker 2:Clay, Get out of here man. Spend more money.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, why don't we go 60? Why not Make a longer, more involved? We'll figure out how to do it. We'll talk through it.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, final round. Clayton has $4 remaining, jared has $5. Round 10 is bonus feature of the game for $1. You have a solo campaign for $2. You have app integration. $3 is expansion hooks, like expansions that actually matter, something that adds to the game. $4 is many figures and $5 deluxe components. Okay, clayton, I thought you were going to save $5 for this last one, just for the deluxe components, but you don't have the money.
Speaker 2:I don't have the money. Can I go back in time and take the 30-minute category?
Speaker 3:No, oh what.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, Get the heck out of here. I don't care about expansions, I never play them anyway. App integration, boo Solo campaigns no. So I'm spending every last dollar I have left to get the minifigs. They may not be what leader games would want, but I got to follow my heart.
Speaker 1:Okay, Jared, $5 remaining. What are you taking?
Speaker 3:Is there any appetite If I go back up and pay for a second, a third mechanism in the bag builder hand management the deck builder, deck builder, hand management. I mean, you have deck building, I know, but could I, could I throw in there maybe a little bit extra? No, sandbox, maybe no. Okay, I was just no, let's go deluxe, let's spend it all. We're going all components. Oh yeah, there's. There's a metal cow in here you know, well done you guys.
Speaker 1:Perfectly spent all 30 of your dollars. Clayton's farming game is a sci-fi farming game with press your luck and worker placement. Designed by reiner canizia, andrew and artist is andrew bosley. Publisher is leader games in a medium box, best at two players, play time is 45 minutes and it has many figures.
Speaker 1:Jared's farming game jared's farming game is about dairy farming. It's got bag deck, pool building and hand management. Designer is eric lang, artist is roland mcdonald, published by direwolf, in a small box, best at three players. Playtime is 60 minutes and it has deluxe components tiny, deluxe, tiny, deluxe components. Okay, uh, do you guys have a a name for your game? What would you name your game? Tell me a little bit about it. Who wants to go first?
Speaker 3:jared go ahead. I mean, I was thinking, um, utter sucker throwdowns or something like that, where you're like I was talking about earlier, maybe it's you're trying to get the components that you need to put your suckers onto the udders. So you have to collect the right cards as you build your deck and management. Maybe, like all of a sudden, like you get a disease card in your hand and you're like what the hell, I need to get this out of there. You're managing your hand, maybe it's. You know, you, you, if you have a group of a certain number of these cards, you can up your production. All of a sudden, your cows got into a field with really good flowers or something like that, and now they're like they're shooting out the milks. Really good, I don't know. You know what. I don't know. You know what. I don't know if Direwolf's into it, but I'm into it, I don't know how they're going to cram all this into a little box.
Speaker 1:What are you imagining for deluxe components?
Speaker 3:You know, maybe like little fences, like tiny little fences, and if they're small and thin, maybe that'll fit in a small box, like little cows that are die-cast, that clank as you move them around, as they move to their fields to feed and grow and get strong so they can move their way to the mil, to the milking house every morning. They got to get milked, okay, that's right. They don't get milked, their udders explode. Okay, you got to have those movement. Maybe it's like oh, oh, yeah. Maybe it's a little bit like, um, the racing games where you have to like play the cards that let them move. Maybe you don't have enough movement cards in your hand and your cows get stuck in the pasture, their udders explode. Don't have enough movement cards in your hand and your cows get stuck in the pasture, their udders explode don't have enough movement cards movement cards.
Speaker 3:Oh my god oh shoot game can I? Please, can I please retire from the military and get hired by dire wolf? I will, I will make this one come to fruition can the tagline be.
Speaker 1:No sense in crying over spilled milk fruition can the tagline be.
Speaker 3:No sense in crying over spilled milk. Oh, wow, wow except for this is a battler. So it needs to be more like angry, more vicious, I don't know, uh, but anyways, that's my vibe, okay I like it, clayton, describe your sci-fi, press your luck.
Speaker 1:Worker placement farming game designed by Rainer Canizia and art by Andrew Bosley, published by leader games in your medium box. Best at two playtime is 45 minutes with many figs, let's hear it.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I don't know if I can just extemporaneously speak like that. I am not one for coming up with things on the fly, so I apologize, but when I was designing this, this, as we were going through, I kept coming back to thinking maybe this is an ip game and the ip I was thinking of was the martian. Oh, so yeah, maybe one player is on mars trying to cultivate and grow and the other player is playing as earth trying to, you know, get them information as they're working and you know, taking these different worker placement spots, like you know, going out to the, the fields you're trying to sew, going and getting talking to the computer, to talk to your people back at earth, and you know there's pressure luck involved when you plant the seeds and see what they they grow into. I don't know, I think there's something there. I think that it could be a cool little game of a beloved uh, was it is a sci-fi novel, I? Is that considered sci-fi or is that just like real five?
Speaker 3:no, it's sci-fi okay, dude, I didn't, wasn't even thinking about off of this planet farming. That is incredible, clayton. Yeah you crush it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're farming on mars and it's gonna require some luck, yeah, and taking the right worker placement actions at the right time, oh yeah, and some collaboration with your best at two player, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2:But, we're not messing around for longer than 45 minutes. No, If I man, you figure it out. You figure out how to farm on Mars in 45, or you're done.
Speaker 1:No, you got to get oxygen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, and you got to get to bed.
Speaker 1:Oh, and you got to get to bed. What is your game called? What are you going to name your sci-fi farming game on Mars?
Speaker 2:The Martian, the board game.
Speaker 1:The Martian, the board game.
Speaker 2:And there's going to be a picture of Matt Damon on the front.
Speaker 1:Okay, how much are you going to pay for that?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I didn't know, damon.
Speaker 3:You think we can get Matt Damon on the podcast?
Speaker 1:Probably, probably. I'm sure he's a big board gamer. I'm sure he's got lots of time to play board games.
Speaker 3:Lots of time. He loves the board games.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I had to get my.
Speaker 3:Missed an opportunity to call it.
Speaker 1:Terra Farming Mars.
Speaker 2:Oh my God. Well, that's basically what you're doing there anyway.
Speaker 3:Did you guys see at World Series of Board Gaming that the guy that made Terra Farming Mars is going to be there?
Speaker 2:Jacob Prixilius. Are you going to get his autograph? We can pitch it to him.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like it. You're just getting started, buddy.
Speaker 1:Mars is going to be there. Jacob Prick, silius, are you going to get his autograph? We can pitch it to him. Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you're just getting started, buddy.
Speaker 1:You need to get him to sign a copy of terraforming Mars.
Speaker 3:Whoa, I should, can I, I could bring it bring. I have. I only have the dice games that you gave me, so He'll still sign those right, I'm sure, and those fit better in my bag. That works too.
Speaker 1:Anyways, great idea, you could get him to sign your OGN shirt. Anyways, okay, if I had to pick one of these two games to play man, I do like the concept and the IP behind Clayton's sci-fi farming game. I do like the deck slash pool building for the dairy farming game. I think this is not really a statement about the quality of the game, but with the amount of time that I have to play games, I think I'm just really leaning on the 45 minute play time for the March in. There we go. I think I'm going with Tara farming Mars the board game Plus.
Speaker 1:I love, I do love that IP. That's a good, that's a good call.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really leaned on that, well done.
Speaker 1:Clayton. Yeah, I really leaned on that. Well done, clayton. I love it. All right, and we're gonna put something out to social media and the audience can decide who had the best farming board game. So we're gonna find out uh, maybe next episode who had the better farming board game draft. Thanks for playing guys.
Speaker 3:No, this was incredible. Thank you for putting this on so much fun. Yeah, I was See. Here's what I was thinking. I was thinking maybe I would save up some money and then go back and buy some extra stuff.
Speaker 1:No, that's not how drafts work.
Speaker 3:I just thought I was going to see how agreeable you guys were. Obviously not much.
Speaker 1:You can't just spend $1 every round and then go back and spend all your extra money to start complicating the games. You know me, I'm chaotic, oh man, yeah, we should do this again. I thought this was fun, yeah for sure. Well done. All right, we are out of time, so we're going to end this episode. This has been Operation Game Night. I have been, he has been clay, he has been jared and we are out, thank you,
