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 - Intro 01:10 - Getting involved with Bitewing 02:26 - Approach to following up Iliad & Ichor 06:29 - Intentionally subverting genre? 07:52 - Late addition of solo & coop 09:47 - Why always codesigning? 14:47 - Approach to Azure 18:11 - State of the hobby trending to more shallow experiences 21:50 - Historical accuracy vs. practical game design 25:09 - Expanded scope of Undaunted 29:01 - How do you know when a game is done? 31:51 - Recent inspirations 37:35 - Next up, For the Gods Links: Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald Our 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 Games 1:13:10 - 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 Meeting 1:21:45 - 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 Games PickPocket Games: https://pickpocketgames.com/ 0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Past Week 12:07 - Cameron Talks About Developing Harvest 19:25 - 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 Game 37:13 - 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 Games 1:03:15 - Cameron’s Most Influential Games 1:07:18 - 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/description 0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Past Week 7:47 - 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 Designers 35:25 - Trey’s Top Games of the Last Year 43:38 - Trey’s Most Influential Games/Games that Trey thinks Beginning Game Designers Should Learn From 47:02 - 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-crap Devir of North America’s Post - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3555679/a-message-to-the-community 0:00 - Introductions 2:00 - Favorite Games of 2025 (so far) 11:41 - Topic: Gen Con Wrap Up 34:30 - Who “won” Gen Con 2025? 1:00:06- Viewer/Listener Comments 1:09:26 - 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 Week 21:45 - Our Topic This Week: Game Balance 01:02:23 - 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 Week 13:29 - Our Topic This Week: Game Balance 01:05:31 - Listener Comment #1 01:08:19 - Listener Comment #2 01:16:13 - Listener Comment #3 01:23:54 - Listener Comment #4 01:29:25 - Outro

Realm of Reckoning launches on kickstarter on June 24th, 2025 here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/realm-of-reckoning 00:00 - Intro 01:36 - From animation to the tabletop 07:40 - Starting with theme or mechanics? 10:40 - Difficulty with commitment to bespoke components 14:30 - Honing the craft of making games 18:15 - Moving industry to a smaller pond 23:06 - Beginnings of Reckoning 27:28 - Upcoming cooperative deck builder 31:20 - When to start internal and external playtesting 36:06 - Navigating Tariffs 39:51 - Why not solo? 43:05 - Feeling challenged by other publishers? 47:51 - Admiration for small design 50:39 - Original themes and world buidling 56:20 - Coming down the pike? Links: Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald Our 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 0:00 - A Demonstration of Technical Difficulties 0:47- The Real Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week 20:00 - Topic: How Board Games Exude Theme 1:28:22- Listener Comments and Examples 01:39:25 - Outro!

You can find out more about the book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmlZSX1YmTI Links: Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald Our 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 Week 10:43 - Topic: IP-Based Board Games 45:15- 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 Week 13:38 - Publishing Gazebo and Gingham on Kickstarter 27:40 - Bitewing’s Relationship with Reiner Knizia 32:20 - What Work Goes into Setting a Kickstarter Up for Success 39:30 - Nick’s Thoughts on His Post About Tariffs 48:45 - What Is the Board Game Industry Going to Look Like a Year from Now? 55:28 - Stonemaier Games’ Lawsuit 01:02:48 - Bombastic Direct-to-Retail Release 01:11:25 - 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 Podcast 0:00 - Introductions and What We’ve Played This Week 11:08 - Our Topic This Week: What Makes a Great Board Game Expansions 31:15 - Eric’s Number 5: 7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon 34:48 - Jack’s Number 5: Architects of the West Kingdom: Works of Wonder 38:24 - Eric’s Number 4: Spirit Island: Jagged Earth 40:37 - Jack’s Number 4: Spirit Island: Jagged Earth 43:33 - Eric’s Number 3: Dune Imperium: Rise of Ix 52:38 - Jack’s Number 3: Viticulture Tuscany Essential Edition 1:00:54 - Eric’s Number 2: Arcs: Blighted Reach Campaign 1:09:01 - Jack’s Number 2: Undaunted: Reinforcements 1:16:02 - Eric’s Number 1: Wingspan Oceania 1:22:06 - Jack’s Number 1:Terraforming Mars Prelude 1:27:11 - 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 Corner 1:16:37 - What is Our Most Valuable Game? 1:17:03 - Return to The Lore Corner 1:21:52 - 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-tariffs https://solisgamestudio.com/blog/the-growing-bay-area-industry-that-tariffs-may-kill 0:00 - Introductions 00:47 - 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 Island 17:07 - Parameters of What Games We’re Bringing 21:25 - Eric and Jack Game #1 25:35 - Jack Game #2  28:00 - Eric Game #2 30:27 - Jack Game #3 34:37 - Eric Game #3 39:05 - Jack Game #4 48:52 - Eric Game #4 52:54 - Jack Game #5 57:09 - Eric Game #5 1:02:04 - Eric’s Villain Monologue  01:05:05 - Listener Lists 01:14:41 - 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 Games 01:02:14 - Listener Comments 01:10:27 - Our Recommendations for a Universal Gateway Game 01:18:36 - 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 2025 51:50 - Our Recommendations for Gateway Solo Games 01:04:05 - Outro!