The Cardboard Herald

Trevor Benjamin is co-designer of numerous hit games including Undaunted, Warchest, Resist and Mandela, frequently collaborating with David J. Thompson and Brett J. Gilbert. 00:00 - Intro01:10 - Getting involved with Bitewing02:26 - Approach to following up Iliad & Ichor06:29 - Intentionally subverting genre?07:52 - Late addition of solo & coop 09:47 - Why always codesigning?14:47 - Approach to Azure18:11 - State of the hobby trending to more shallow experiences21:50 - Historical accuracy vs. practical game design25:09 - Expanded scope of Undaunted29:01 - How do you know when a game is done?31:51 - Recent inspirations37:35 - Next up, For the Gods Links:Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.comOur Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHeraldOur Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHeraldOur Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

It’s time to butt heads and create enemies that will last a lifetime! That’s right, we’re talking about conflict, baby, and the different ways conflicts are represented in board games.0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Been Playing This Week!34:22 - Conflict in Board Games1:13:10 - Outro!

Jack and Eric haven’t chatted in a while, so we thought this would be a good time to discuss the channel, where we’re at and what we’re working on now that we’re both back from all of our trips, and what’s coming up for the channel!0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Been Playing This Week!29:55 - Call to Order of the Cardboard Herald Board Meeting1:21:45 - Meeting Adjourned and Outro!

Cameron Art (developer of Harvest, owner of PickPocket Games) comes on the podcast to chat with Eric about his time as a developer for Keymaster and what’s on the horizon for PickPocket GamesPickPocket Games: https://pickpocketgames.com/0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Past Week12:07 - Cameron Talks About Developing Harvest19:25 - Was There Feedback Cameron Got Where The Feedback Disagreed With the Data?24:18 - Cameron Discusses The Differences Between Designing A Game and Developing A Game37:13 - Cameron Discusses What’s Different From Working Internally to Develop for a Company versus Being Contracted to Develop?40:54 - How Does Cameron Approach Developing a Solo Mode for a Competitive Game?47:50 - What Pushed Cameron to Republish Thief’s Market with PickPocket Games?56:00 - Cameron Talks Starting Up PickPocket Games1:03:15 - Cameron’s Most Influential Games1:07:18 - The Games Cameron Thinks You Must Play As an Aspiring Board Game Designer?1:11:22 - Outro

Check It Out! We got two tricky kids on to chat about their latest game Tricky Kids, published by Pandasaurus. We talk about their approach to games, what’s it like to co-design a game, and what’s coming next for them Baron Jon’s Trick-Taking Collection: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trickytime/baron-jons-2025-card-game-collection/description0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Past Week7:47 - What Was the Process of Coming Together to Start Co-Designing?14:56 - What Was The Design Process of Tricky Kids?26:09 - What Was It Like Working With Pandasaurus?32:09 - How Do They Approach A Game Where They Know They’re Working With A Co-Designer?36:41 - How Does Danielle Approach Games She’s Designing That Are Licensed Compared To Independent Work?41:50 - Why Is Steven Drawn to Designing Trick-Taking Games?46:46 - What Games Would Danielle and Steven Point to As The Most Influential For Them?52:13 - What Games Do Steven and Danielle Think An Aspiring Game Designer Must Play?57:20 - Outro

Join us as Eric chats with Trey Chambers, designer of Harvest, Argent: The Consortium and Empyreal: Spells and Steam!0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week!09:12 - How has Harvest Changed Between Editions?16:02 - What’s It Like Rereturning to Work on the Expansions of Harvest?20:11 - How Did Trey’s Journey Into Game Design Start?22:50 - What Does It Feel Like to Get Your First Game Published?27:13 - What Does It Feel Like to Get Your Second Game Published, and Working with a Publisher a Second Time?31:25 - Trey’s Advice for Unpublished Game Designers35:25 - Trey’s Top Games of the Last Year43:38 - Trey’s Most Influential Games/Games that Trey thinks Beginning Game Designers Should Learn From47:02 - What’s Next for Trey?49:18 - Listener Questions!53:00 - Outro!

So long Indianapolis, thanks for all the games! Scott, aka Boardgamingbud, and Eric chat about the games we played at Gen Con and the general vibe of the convention.Jeremy Howard’s Post - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3555308/just-some-ole-racist-history-crapDevir of North America’s Post -https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3555679/a-message-to-the-community0:00 - Introductions2:00 - Favorite Games of 2025 (so far)11:41 - Topic: Gen Con Wrap Up34:30 - Who “won” Gen Con 2025?1:00:06- Viewer/Listener Comments1:09:26 - Outro

Losers always have it the best! They’re chucking out bullet bills and blue shells, while I’m grinding trick jumps in first to keep my lead. This week we talk about catch-up mechanics in board games and what we like about them. 0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week21:45 - Our Topic This Week: Game Balance01:02:23 - Outro

There’s a lot that comes to mind when someones says “game balance” in reference to board games, and we’re here to talk about all of them. Jack and Eric discuss what they want from game balance, games that are good examples of it, and answer some questions from commenters about the topic. 0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week13:29 - Our Topic This Week: Game Balance01:05:31 - Listener Comment #101:08:19 - Listener Comment #201:16:13 - Listener Comment #301:23:54 - Listener Comment #401:29:25 - Outro

Realm of Reckoning launches on kickstarter on June 24th, 2025 here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/realm-of-reckoning00:00 - Intro01:36 - From animation to the tabletop07:40 - Starting with theme or mechanics?10:40 - Difficulty with commitment to bespoke components14:30 - Honing the craft of making games18:15 - Moving industry to a smaller pond23:06 - Beginnings of Reckoning27:28 - Upcoming cooperative deck builder31:20 - When to start internal and external playtesting36:06 - Navigating Tariffs39:51 - Why not solo?43:05 - Feeling challenged by other publishers?47:51 - Admiration for small design50:39 - Original themes and world buidling56:20 - Coming down the pike? Links:Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.comOur Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHeraldOur Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHeraldOur Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

Following our discussion a few weeks ago about IP-Based games, we’re talking about different ways games can exude theme, and the levers they can pull0:00 - A Demonstration of Technical Difficulties0:47- The Real Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week20:00 - Topic: How Board Games Exude Theme1:28:22- Listener Comments and Examples01:39:25 - Outro!

You can find out more about the book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmlZSX1YmTILinks:Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.comOur Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHeraldOur Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHeraldOur Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

These games stay Based (on other intellectual properties). This week, Eric and Jack talk about board games based on non-board game Intellectual properties, and what we want to see out of them.0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week10:43 - Topic: IP-Based Board Games45:15- Listener Question: Why Are There So Many Lord Of The Ring Games?53:27 - Outro!

Nick Murray of Bitewing Games chats with Eric about his kickstarter for Gingham and Gazebo, his thoughts on the tariffs and what it’s like being named Nick.0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week13:38 - Publishing Gazebo and Gingham on Kickstarter27:40 - Bitewing’s Relationship with Reiner Knizia32:20 - What Work Goes into Setting a Kickstarter Up for Success39:30 - Nick’s Thoughts on His Post About Tariffs48:45 - What Is the Board Game Industry Going to Look Like a Year from Now?55:28 - Stonemaier Games’ Lawsuit01:02:48 - Bombastic Direct-to-Retail Release01:11:25 - Listener Question - What’s It Like Being Named Nick?01:41:13 - Outro!

Do we want more? Do we want less? What do we want when we play a new expansion to a board game? We give our thoughts on what makes a great board game expansions with some examples of our favorites and our least favorites on this week’s edition of The Cardboard Herald Podcast0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week11:08 - Our Topic This Week: What Makes a Great Board Game Expansions31:15 - Eric’s Number 5: 7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon34:48 - Jack’s Number 5: Architects of the West Kingdom: Works of Wonder38:24 - Eric’s Number 4: Spirit Island: Jagged Earth40:37 - Jack’s Number 4: Spirit Island: Jagged Earth43:33 - Eric’s Number 3: Dune Imperium: Rise of Ix52:38 - Jack’s Number 3: Viticulture Tuscany Essential Edition1:00:54 - Eric’s Number 2: Arcs: Blighted Reach Campaign1:09:01 - Jack’s Number 2: Undaunted: Reinforcements1:16:02 - Eric’s Number 1: Wingspan Oceania1:22:06 - Jack’s Number 1:Terraforming Mars Prelude1:27:11 - What Do We Want An Expansion of Harmonies to Look Like? 1:32:34 - Listener Comments!01:41:13 - Outro!

Stonks! On this week of The Cardboard Herald Podcast, Jack and Eric talk about the nebulous topic that is how to value games.0:00 - Introductions and What Games We’ve Played!34:22 - The Lore Corner1:16:37 - What is Our Most Valuable Game?1:17:03 - Return to The Lore Corner1:21:52 - Outroduction

This week, we wanted to give a somewhat thorough overview of how the board game industry is reacting to the announced tariffs and what it means for us, as consumers in this hobby.Here are some of the links we reference in the video:https://stonemaiergames.com/the-darkest-timeline/https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/172826/publishers-talk-more-about-us-tariffshttps://solisgamestudio.com/blog/the-growing-bay-area-industry-that-tariffs-may-kill0:00 - Introductions00:47 - Topic Introduction: How Do Tariffs Affect the Board Game Industry 07:35 - What Are Tariffs?19:13 - What Are People in the Industry Saying?54:42 - What Are Things We Can Do To Help Out?01:09:20 - Outro!

You’re stranded on an abandoned island with only you, five board games, four friends and one million dollars from a disheveled content creator. What five games do you bring?0:00 - Introductions and What Games Have We Played This Week!10:00 - Topic: Games We Would Bring to a Desert Island17:07 - Parameters of What Games We’re Bringing21:25 - Eric and Jack Game #125:35 - Jack Game #2 28:00 - Eric Game #230:27 - Jack Game #334:37 - Eric Game #339:05 - Jack Game #448:52 - Eric Game #452:54 - Jack Game #557:09 - Eric Game #51:02:04 - Eric’s Villain Monologue 01:05:05 - Listener Lists01:14:41 - Outro!

What games make gamers? Jack and Eric chat about what games are best to introduce people to the hobby and some common pitfalls games might have that would preclude them from this discussion.0:00 - Introductions and What Games Have We Played This Week!15:04 - Topic: Gateway Games01:02:14 - Listener Comments01:10:27 - Our Recommendations for a Universal Gateway Game01:18:36 - Outro!

Eric and Jack chat about what solo gaming is like in 2025 and give recommendations on the best games to start out on your own.0:00 - Introductions and What Games Have We Played This Week!17:55 - Topic: Solo Gaming in 202551:50 - Our Recommendations for Gateway Solo Games01:04:05 - Outro!