In this board games episode, Euan and Chris have an argument about their party's dynamics in Gloomhaven as they give a glowing update on their campaign through this legacy dungeon-crawler. Meanwhile, Pawel talks about Endure the Stars, a co-operative survival game set on a planet-colonising starship, which he has, of course, been playing solo. Also on the schedule is Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar (plus the Tribes & Prophecies expansion), a dynamic worker placement game from 2012 which features big, moving cogs as part of the game board. Enjoy!
041 - TRIBALPUNK
In this video games episode, Chris and Pawel talk for a good bit about Horizon Zero Dawn, the action RPG set in the future in which humans have reverted to living in primitive tribes... and Pawel reveals it's also one of a handful of games he has taken time off work to play this year. Nerd that he is. Chris then gives a tongue-in-cheek review of new Tom Clancy game Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world multiplayer squad shooter, which has everything you'd expect from a Tom Clancy game, such as guns, freedom, and offending an entire country. Last on the agenda is a brief chat about RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, the PSVR game of big mechs killing each other and occasionally playing American Football. Enjoy!
040 - GLOOMHAVEN INTERNATIONAL
New fantasy dungeon-crawling legacy game Gloomhaven is the (very) big thing everyone's talking about, and Chris, Euan and Pawel give a quick pre-review review of the game and its many millions of bits. The lads then go on a world tour, starting with Korean game Patchistory, the game of patching together tiles to create a civilization, and Chris talks about Hanamikoji, a Japanese two-player card-based game which has a small footprint but a surprising amount of depth. Finally, Pawel is given some time to talk about Coriolis, a sci-fi tabletop RPG with a Middle-Eastern twist. Think Arabian Nights in space, and you're pretty much there. This episode can be divided by ten. Enjoy!
039 - GAME TIPS HOTLINE
In this video games episode, Chris, Euan and Pawel manage to cram a whole load of stuff in, including chat about the recently-released For Honor, questionable government surveillance game Orwell, old school point-and-click adventure The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery, and updates on Resident Evil: Biohazard and Final Fantasy XV! Enjoy!
038 - MAKING MONEY
Chris and Euan are here to introduce a board games episode to your ears!
The episode starts off with a chat about New Angeles, Fantasy Flight's latest installment for their Android Universe, in which the players are corporations trying to make the most money while also working together to stop the city from descending into chaos. Damage Report is next up, a real-time sci-fi disaster game set on a spaceship on which everything is going wrong, and the lads finish up with a return to Food Chain Magnate, a game of trying to make profits by creating complex management structures for your chain of restaurants in what appears to be 1950s America.
Enjoy!
037 - THE EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER
Chris, Euan and Pawel are here in their new, more focussed, more frequent format, kicking things off with a video games episode! In this episode, Chris gets emotional over his playthrough of puzzle platformer The Last Guardian, Pawel talks about Torment: Tides of Numenera, a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, and Chris rounds things off with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in terrifying VR. Enjoy!
036 - CIVILIZATIONS, EAGLES AND BOYBANDS
This week's episode stuffs a long chat about Euan's playthrough of Final Fantasy XV down your throat, during which he admits he has a favourite boyband member, while Chris talks about Flying/Racing simulator Eagle Flight on PSVR, and also briefly chats about his return to Overwatch. The lads also have a lengthy chat about their epic game of Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game from the weekend, the 4x game based heavily on the video games of the same name.
Also, look out for an important announcement about the future of the podcast at the end of the show!
Enjoy!
035 - MAKE DRINKS, RIDE ROLLERCOASTERS
The first episode of 2017 brings reviews of another of Chris's Kickstarters, the fantasy drink-serving dice-placement game Cavern Tavern, and Rio Grande's Power Grid: The Card Game, which manages to give you that Power Grid feeling without the need for a map. Pawel kicks off with Tyranny in the video games section, an RPG in which you're forced to play an evil character. The lads also talk about Eve Valkyrie, the online space dogfighting VR game set in the Eve Online universe, and Chris's current favourite game Planet Coaster, the theme park simulator the world has been waiting for. Oh, and Chris has a cold. Enjoy!
034 - PARTY!
In the last episode of the year Pawel will tell you ALL ABOUT the real-time strategy PC game Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, Euan chats about an old classic RPG from Sierra called Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, and Chris talks about My Summer Car, the bizarre mixture of car-building and survival game. Chris and Euan then give a summary of their night of tabletop party games, specifically Ultimate Werewolf and Two Rooms and a Boom, two similar and yet also very different hidden role/social deduction games. The episode rounds off with an interview with the designer of the party game Rebels Unite, Leandro Tokarevski, who tells us about the game and his thoughts when designing it. Enjoy!
033 - WARCRAFT AND DINOSAURS
Chris, Euan and Pawel are back once again (for the renegade master) with more gaming chat! This week's tabletop section involves a long chat about their day playing Fantasy Flight's epic World of Warcraft: The Board Game, the game of grinding, experience, loot, dungeons, and lots of lovely different coloured dice. In the video games section, Chris talks about DinoSystem, the bloody difficult survival game set in a world of dinosaurs which is currently in early access, Euan talks about PSVR platform game Windlands, and the lads finish up with VR horror/shooter game The Brookhaven Experiment. Enjoy!
032 - FALLING OVER TABLES
In this week's episode, fantasy dungeon-crawling game Exanima with its "realistic" combat takes centre stage in the video games section, followed by a return to video/board game Armello and an update on Chris and Euan's journey through the Shenmue series. In the tabletop section, Chris and Pawel have an in-depth chat about the new Arkham Horror Card Game by Fantasy Flight, Chris quickly talks about another play of Star Wars: Rebellion, and Pawel tells us about Swedish tabletop RPG Symbaroum! Enjoy!
BONUS EPISODE - PLAYSTATION VR
Chris, Euan and Pawel are here in this bonus episode to talk about Playstation VR! Includes a good chat about VR itself as an experience, and also specific games, such as VR Worlds, Job Simulator, Sports Bar VR, Windlands, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Harmonix Music VR. Enjoy!
031 - TRANSFORMERS, PREDATORS AND SLIMES
In this week's episode Chris and Euan begin with a shorter tabletop section, talking about Terraforming Mars, the most hyped board game from Essen this year. The video games section sees the podcast return to Don't Starve, with Euan deciding to give this mad survival game a go. Chris then chats about the surprisingly good Transformers Devastation, and gives a quick overview of the quirky fantasy farming simulator Slime Rancher. Next week: Bonus Playstation VR episode!
030- WE ARE BORG
Headquarters has officially moved, but the Unnecessary lads have still managed to squeeze in some epic-level gaming! A shorter video game segment has Pawel talking about cyberpunk/RPG game Dex which was released on consoles earlier this year, and Chris talks about the brutal online survival game Hurtworld in which the human players are the real monsters. Then a much, much longer tabletop section has the real meat of the episode: Twilight Imperium Third Edition, the epic sci-fi board game. Borg-like people save trading space cats from annihilation, barbarian lava-people take their vengeance on arrogant, intelligent aliens, politics close down the wormholes, full-on space battles take place over ancient worlds, and the meta-game rules all. Listen in to hear about Chris, Euan and Pawel's experience with this heavy-but-amazingly-fun game!
029- THE PURSUIT OF ENDLESS SPACE
The lads are back! In this episode we begin with a tabletop segment in which Chris and Euan chat about their experience with Fantasy Flight's Battlelore and some comparisons to the other Commands & Colors systems, in particular Ancients. Chris then gives Pawel some existential dread by talking about the life-sim board game The Pursuit of Happiness by Artipia Games, in which the aim is to die happy. The video games section contains Pawel talking about the recent release of Rise of the Tomb Raider on PS4, which also involves him steering wildly into chatting about a dozen other game franchises while Chris tries to keep him on course. Chris then talks about Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander and its weird-but-brilliant mixture of 4x space strategy and JRPG combat, and the show wraps up with a lengthy chat about the early access release of Endless Space 2 and how it compares to the other Endless strategy games. Enjoy!
028- THE UPSIDE DOWN
Chris, Euan and Pawel are back after a small (and unexpected) hiatus to bring you more chat about the world of gaming! This episode contains Chris talking about drunkenly playing the board/party games Codenames and Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Euan kicks off a good chat about the Avalon Hill game Betrayal at House on the Hill, and there's an update on the Time Stories campaign that you probably thought we'd forgotten about. The video games section brings us Pawel's thoughts (and a healthy debate) about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Chris talks about the weird and wonderful driving simulator Jalopy, Pawel tells us about the For Honor alpha and Euan adds to Chris's thoughts from last episode about the Tetris-with-physics multiplayer game Tricky Towers. Enjoy!
027- YEAR TWO
Chris and Euan are back to officially kick off Year Two of the podcast! The video games section begins with the lads filling your ears with chat about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, adventure mystery game Gone Home, and Tetris-like multiplayer puzzle game Tricky Towers. The tabletop section is mostly given over to civilisation-building strategy board game Mare Nostrum: Empires, and finishes with a fun one: Robo Rally, the chaotic board game of programming racing robots. Enjoy!
BONUS BIRTHDAY EPISODE- HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Also known as the Big Bumper Birthday Box-Social Bonanza, or the Unnecessaboutaversibash, this bonus episode celebrates one year of chatting nonsense about gaming! In this episode, Chris, Euan and Pawel have a long and relaxed chat about how the podcast started, how we got into board, video and roleplaying gaming, and how you can do the same. Enjoy!
026- SPACE JAZZ
A healthy chat about No Man's Sky takes up a good chunk of the video games section this week, with the Unnecessary crew debating what it is and isn't. Meanwhile, Pawel talks about Inside, the successor to Limbo, Euan tells us about sinister roguelike The Binding of Isaac, and Chris talks about programming in the excitingly-titled Human Resource Machine. Beer-making Euro board game Brew Crafters takes centre stage in the tabletop section, which also includes a rant about Kickstarter backers' faces, and Chris and Euan talk about the finale of their Imperial Assault campaign. Also includes Tim Curry and public domain jazz, for some reason. Enjoy!
025- HELP!
Scythe is the game on everyone's lips at the moment, and Chris and Euan give you a lipful (or something) about it to kick off this episode! Also in the tabletop section is Fantasy Flight's Lovecraftian co-op game Elder Sign, and a quick update on the ongoing Star Wars: Imperial Assault campaign. In video games, Euan talks about Help: The Game, a collection of games made by various good-hearted developers for the charity War Child, and then the guys chat about the hilarious-but-chaotic couch co-op game Overcooked! No Pawel in this episode, he's had his teeth removed, presumably by a medical professional.