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Start the game already!
Startthegamealready
244 episodes
2 days ago
Weekly Podcast about all things Age of Empires II: eSport, History, Campaigns, Strategy Talk, Civilizations and much more! This feed contains mainly English epidoses with the occasional german episode inbetween. For a clear english feed, please visit my Patreon or listen to the show on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jjwFU76puJ8tCCvdV99N5?si=ed392146557c4982 German versions of all english episodes are available for Patreons and supportes on Steady. Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de
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Video Games
Leisure
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All content for Start the game already! is the property of Startthegamealready and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Weekly Podcast about all things Age of Empires II: eSport, History, Campaigns, Strategy Talk, Civilizations and much more! This feed contains mainly English epidoses with the occasional german episode inbetween. For a clear english feed, please visit my Patreon or listen to the show on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jjwFU76puJ8tCCvdV99N5?si=ed392146557c4982 German versions of all english episodes are available for Patreons and supportes on Steady. Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de
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Video Games
Leisure
Episodes (20/244)
Start the game already!
[GER] Tafelrunde #27: Vergiftete Stimmung

Willkommen zur 27. Tafelrunde! In der heutigen Tafelrunde diskutieren wir das aktuell etwas leidige Thema von Wettanbietern in Age of Empires II. Wir haben diesbezüglich eine klare ablehnende Haltung und führen hier einen eher lockeren Austausch und erzählen euch von unseren eigenen Gefühlen zur Diskussion, statt ein Fachgespräch über die negativen Auswirkungen von Glücksspiel im eSport zu führen, da dieser Zusammenhang längst erwiesen ist. Doch damit die Stimmung etwas aufgebessert ist, empfiehlt Felix eine Gameshow der besonderen Art von einem ihm sehr lieb gewonnenen Streamer. Außerdem hat Felix Death Stranding begonnen und outet sich als großer Freund von Kojimas filmischer Videospielregie.

Viel Spaß beim Hören!

Felix & Christian

Unterstütze unser Projekt hier und höre deutsche Versionen der englischen Podcasts:⁠

Steady

Discord

Musik: Joey Jojo vom offiziellen AoE II: DE OST.

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2 days ago
1 hour 59 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] How to beat Hera

This episode offers a very different kind of content for you. I analyzed Hera's past 39 defeats on Arabia during his world record attempt and collected some data, which I analyze here in the podcast. My goal: to find out if there's a pattern that tells us how to defeat Hera. In doing so, some truly interesting insights have come to light. It's impossible not to acknowledge that Hera is an exceptional player, almost unmatched in versatility and mechanical skill. Therefore, finding systematic weaknesses in such a complete player as Hera is an ambitious undertaking. Well, decide for yourself whether I've succeeded.Chris


The Excel sheet


⁠Discord⁠⁠

Support the Podcast on:

⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠

⁠⁠Steady (german)⁠

Music: "Carne y Helado" of the official AoE II Soundtrack.

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2 weeks ago
54 minutes 15 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Masterpieces #03: The Best Final of All Times

In this episode of Masterpieces, I'll tell you the story of what I consider to be the best final that we've seen in competitive Age of Empires II to this day: The finals of RB Wololo 3 between Daut and Liereyy. This matchup brings together two generations and two different playstyles. I hope you enjoy reliving one of the best games of Age of Empires II!

Chris


The Game

Discord⁠

Support the Podcast on:

⁠Patreon⁠

⁠Steady (german)

Music: "Carne y Helado" of the official AoE II Soundtrack.

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3 weeks ago
15 minutes 40 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Magazine Ep. #05 October 2025

I’m Chris, your host of this wonderful podcast, and please forgive my cracky voice because I was super sick recording this episode! In the news, I’ll be talking about Sudden Dessaster 2, the Quintessential Cookout, the cancellation of the December LAN, and the announcement of a new DLC. In the franchise news, I’ll briefly touch on the fact that we’ve received more info on the new roguelite RTS game mode in AoE IV and that the second — and possibly final — DLC for Age of Mythology has been released. As for game news, I’ll skip that this time to save my voice, so we’ll head straight into podcast news and then take a look at the tournament outlook for October 2025.  I hope you enjoy the show!

Chris

Discord

Support the Podcast on:

Patreon

Steady (german)

Timecodes:

00:00 Intro

01:17 News

19:36 Franchise News

23:14 Podcast News

26:30 Tournament Outlook October 2025

Links:

Master of HyperRandom 3

Sudden Dessaster 2

Midweek Madness

AoE2Germany

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1 month ago
34 minutes 36 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Civilizations #03: Romans

The Romans are kind of an odd civilization amongst the medieval civilizations of Age of Empires II, but they fit right in with how they play out. Their strong economy favors melee units and they have one of the best scorpions in the game. In this podcast we'll do a deep dive into how the Romans play out and what their best unite compositions are. As usual, we'll try to understand how the devs were inspired by history when they created this civilization. Since there is a lack of a dedicated campaign for the romans, I have devided to include two wonderful custom campaigns made by the community. I hope you'll enjoy this episode!

Chris

Support the Podcast on:

⁠Patreon⁠⁠

Steady (german)⁠

⁠Discord⁠⁠

Timecodes:00:00 Overview08:35 Eco Bonus13:15 Double Infantry Armor & Legionary17:47 Scorpions & Ballistas24:02 Centurions & Comitatenses32:50 Strategies and army compositions47:14 Campaigns & ScenariosMusic: Romans Intro Music and "Operation Monkey" of the official AoE II Soundtrack

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1 month ago
59 minutes 23 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Campaign: Montezuma #6 Broken Spears

The decisive battle in Tenochtitlan marks the culmination of the Aztec campaign. Surrounded by the Spanish and Tlaxcalans, we must attack from our city and repel the enemy: on land and at sea. But woe betide the Spanish if they manage to destroy our wonder!This episode is the final episode of the entire Aztec season, so at the end there's a brief final assessment and, of course, a rectification of the events we experience in this mission. I really hope you enjoyed the campaign!Chris

Support the Podcast on:

Patreon

Steady (german)


Homepage

Discord


Music: Aztecs Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack


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1 month ago
51 minutes 13 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Campaign: Montezuma #5 The Boiling Lake

In the 5th mission of the Aztec Campaign, we are pursuing the Spanish and their allies after we've defeated them in La Noche Triste. The Spanish are trying to escape along the lake Texcoco to the safety of the Tlaxcaltecs, but we caught up to them and try to defeat them once for all, in what is known today as the battle of Otumba on July 7th, 1520. More than 20.000 Aztecs faced off against a couple of thousand Spanish and Tlaxcaltec soldiers, but they have set a deadly trap for their Aztec pursuers.I hope you'll enjoy listening to this podcast!

Chris

Support the Podcast on:Patreon⁠

⁠Steady (german)⁠

⁠Homepage⁠

⁠Discord


Music: Aztecs Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack

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1 month ago
26 minutes 59 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Magazine Ep. #04 September 2025

Welcome to the September edition of the Age of Empires Magazine, where once again we’ll be covering the most important topics surrounding Age of Empires. Let’s take a look at today’s magazine program: as promised, we’ll be talking in more detail about the big update. In terms of eSports, we’ll briefly cover the LingYuan Cup and Sudden Dessaster 2, as well as the first month of Midweek Madness. Jens from Age Lan will invite you all to the Age Lan in October. In the Franchise News, I’ll tell you about the new DLCs in AoE IV and AoM. In Game News, I’ve got a whole bunch of interesting titles to introduce. In Podcast News, there’s a short update on what’s coming up in the podcast. And finally, of course, the tournament outlook for September 2025! I hope you enjoy the show!

Chris

Homepage: www.startthegamealready.deDiscord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsKSupport the Podcast on:Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealreadySteady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/

Timecodes:

00:00 Intro

02:07 News

26:21 Franchise News

31:54 Game News

37:43 Podcast News

42:55 Tournament outlook September 2025


Links:

Trailer AoM DLC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeR54lRm00

Master of HyperRandom 3: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Master_of_HyperRandom/3

Quintessiential Cookout: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Quintessential_Cookout

Sudden Dessaster 2: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Sudden_Dessaster/2

Midweek Madness: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Midweek_Madness

Dynamic Battle: https://www.universe.com/events/dynamic-battle-lan-tickets-KGM9LC?ref=share-widget-buffer?ref=share-widget-buffer

Empire Village 2025: https://www.aoe2insights.com/announcements/empires-village-2025-3rd-edition-loano-italy

BOOM: https://aoe2germany.com/brandneueoriginalundoffiziellemaps

AoE Leagues: https://www.aoe2insights.com/announcements/aoe-leagues-season-14 

Arabia Lovers 2: https://discord.gg/uUfVU7QJfu

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2 months ago
56 minutes 47 seconds

Start the game already!
[GER] Tafelrunde #26: Bloss nur zwei Spiele spielen

Willkommen zur 26. Tafelrunde! Felix und Christian kommen erneut zusammen und sprechen über den vergangenen Monat. Für Felix ist die Zeit schnell vergangen, für Christian ging es langsam, denn der Urlaub kommt erst in zwei Wochen. Felix hat seine Zeit in Stronghold gesteckt und kommt von dem Spiel nicht los. Christian hat ein neues Elo High erreicht, nur um danach in Grund und Boden gestampft zu werden. Es gibt viel zu erzählen und wir freuen uns, dass ihr uns zuhört :)

Viel Spaß beim Hören!
Felix & Christian

Unterstütze unser Projekt hier und höre deutsche Versionen aller englischen Podcasts:
steady.page/de/startthegamealready/

Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de
Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK

Musik: Joey Jojo vom offiziellen AoE II: DE OST.

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2 months ago
1 hour 21 minutes

Start the game already!
[ENG] Interview: Chris

This is the complete Interview with Chris (IamChris), a legend of AoE II eSport history. Chris war once considered the best player in the world and has witnessed pretty much every phase of the development of competitive Age of Empires II. The main focus of our conversation revolves around the Hun Wars and Chris shares both his knowledge and memories about this topic. But before we got to that subject, we also talked about what Age of Empires II was like back in the day and specifically, how Chris percieved the pro scene and how his career as a pro player has developed. I had a great time talking to Chris and hope you'll enjoy our conversation!
Chris

Links to I am Chris:
twitch.tv/iamchris_age2
youtube.com/@IamChrisAge2

Podcast:
Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de
Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK

Support the Podcast on:
Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready
Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/

Music: www.purple-planet.com

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2 months ago
1 hour 12 minutes 49 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Hun Wars
The Hun Wars were played between 2000 and approximately 2016 and are by far the most frequently played matchup in Age of Empires II history – to this day. In this documentary, I attempt to recount how the Hun Wars came about, how they changed over the decades, and what led to the end of the Hun Wars just under 10 years ago. To do this, I brought two veterans of the game, Andre (Slap) and Chris (IamChris), in front of the microphone, who told me in detail about the good old days of the Hun Wars. It quickly became clear that my image of these mirror matches was far too one-dimensional. I hope you enjoy this nostalgic trip into the past of Age of Empires II eSports. Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Podcast: Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Koven-Interview: https://members.tripod.com/legionx_black/cerpioclan/id42.html External audio sources used in this episode: SMB about Hera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJKSN41zJ40 T90 about Hoang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhZ5hwHhgc Nili (Outro): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mKCyF7eIgQ&t=12s
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2 months ago
48 minutes 53 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Campaign: Montezuma #3 Quetzalcoatl
Episode 3 of the Montezuma Campaign leeds us to confront the Spanish invadors and their allies, who a threatening the Tabasco. This mission is considered the hardest of the campaign if you want to save Tabasco, especially because there's quite the distance to overcome before you can help your ally. Challange accepted, also I want the achievement you get for saving Tabasco, so I'll be telling you how I succeeded on the hardest difficulty. Apart from that, this mission is loosely based on the Battles of Centla (March 14, 1519) and Nautla (October 1519), during the Spanish conquest of Mexico and there are two ways of finishing off the Spanish: Either by conquest or by taming their horses. Unfortunately, because of my ungrateful allies, I was forced to take the difficult path, Chris Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Music: Aztecs Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack
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2 months ago
22 minutes 34 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Campaign: Montezuma #4 La Noche Triste
In Episode 4 of the Montezuma Campaign, it is our duty to retake Tenochtitlan from the Spanish forces under Hernan Cortez, who hast taken emperor Montezuma II as a hostage and uses him as a puppet to control the city of Tenochtitlan. This beautiful city was built on an artificial island on the west side of lake Texcoco and showcases this early campaign in all it's beauty. We'll first have to gather our forces, we get to kill an enemy priest with jaguars and there's also an easter egg involiving Ornlu the Wolf to discover, but first and foremost we need to drive out the Spanish from our beloved home. I hope you're enjoying this series! Chris Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steady.page/startthegamealready Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Music: Aztecs Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack
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2 months ago
33 minutes 10 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Magazine Ep. #03 August 2025
Welcome back to a new edition of the magazine! There’s once again a lot of news to cover from the past month, and here’s the program: In the News section, we’ll talk about Regicide Rumble VI, Jordan joining Onimaru, the Public Update Preview, the Town Center Tango 2 drama, layoffs at Capture Age, a tournament announcement from GL, and the current status of the LingYuan Cup qualifiers. Then there’ll be a brief look at Franchise News regarding esports tournaments from Age of Mythology and Age of Empires IV. In the Game News, I’ll tell you about my time playing Stronghold Crusader DE and Wandering Village, and I’ll briefly introduce two new city-building simulations that are set to be released at the end of August.In the Podcast News, I’ll mainly be responding to a few emails I received. And finally, as always, there’s the Tournament Outlook for August 2025. If you’re enjoying the program and like my other podcasts too, you can support me and the podcast on Patreon or Steady. Both platforms offer different tiers depending on what kind of spare change you have each month. But you can also support me for free by telling others about the podcast, sharing the episodes, and giving them a positive rating on Spotify or wherever you listen. Please enjoy this episode of the Magazine! Chris Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Timecodes: 00:00 Intro 01:55 News 18:02 Franchise News 20:15 Game News 24:47 Podcast News 39:45 Tournament Outlook August 2025 Links: Regicide Rumble VI Final: https://youtu.be/qv40NSUMz7E?si=yJhSIk7CrnUc2MML Quintessiential Cookout: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Quintessential_Cookout TCT2: https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/1lxn2dx/town_center_tango_2_cancelled_after_finals/?tl=de Capture Age Layoffs: https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1m80oak/age_of_empires_support_studio_captureage_lays_off Sudden Dessaster 2: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Sudden_Dessaster/2 LingYuan Cup: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/LingYuan_Cup Midweek Madness: https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Midweek_Madness Daniela's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/daniela_aoe
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3 months ago
46 minutes 31 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Campaign: Montezuma #2 Triple Alliance
Welcome back to the Montezuma Campaign! In this episode, we'll finally meet our nemesis: Hernan Cortez. But before that, we need to rally our allies in order to defeat our sworn enemies and capture as many human sacrifices as possible to appease our gruesome goods. Chris Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Music: Aztecs Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack
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3 months ago
24 minutes 37 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Campaign: Montezuma #1 Reign of Blood
This is the kickoff episode of the Montezuma Campaign in Age of Empires II. I played all six missions of the campaign and delved deep into historical research, and I would like to share the results with you in this short campaign series. The Aztec campaign was released with the release of The Conqueror add-on in 2000 and tells the story of the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan and the fall of the Aztec Empire during the reign of Montezuma II in the beginning of the 16th century. This first mission has no real historical background but offers insights in how the Addon had been promoted before it was released. There's a lot to uncover and I hope you'll enjoy this series! Chris Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Music: Aztecs Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack
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3 months ago
22 minutes 56 seconds

Start the game already!
[GER] Tafelrunde #25: Sehnsucht nach Burgen
Willkommen zurück zur Tafelrunde! Wir kredenzen euch drei Spielethemen in dieser Ausgabe: Age of Empires II, Stronghold Crusader: DE und Wandering Village. In Age of Empires sprechen wir darüber, dass die Hoffnung auf das nächste Update sehr groß ist, wir aber auch erst sehen müssen, was kommt, bevor wir es glauben werden. Stronghold Crusader ist in der Definitive Edition ein echter Hingucker und unter Spieler:innen sehr beliebt, aber Felix und Christian haben sich den schweren Koop-Pfad genauer angesehen und ihr Zwischenfazit lautet: Das fühlt sich nicht wie Stronghold an. Deswegen ist Christian dann in die friedliche Welt der Städtebausimulation abgedriftet und hat sich nach dem lange ersehnten Release von Wandering Village auf den Rücken einer gigantischen Kreatur begeben, um dort eine Zivilisation aufzubauen. Viel Spaß beim Hören! Felix & Christian Unterstütze unser Projekt hier und höre deutsche Versionen aller englischen Podcasts: steady.page/de/startthegamealready/ Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Musik: Joey Jojo vom offiziellen AoE II: DE OST.
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3 months ago
58 minutes 22 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Civilizations #02: Huns
From all of the many civilizations in Age of Empires II, Huns are probably the ones having the greates impact on the game. They have been played for many years in the Hun Wars and coined the term "Huns are Huns". In this podcast, we'll do a deep dive into what actually makes huns the huns we know and, spoiler, have always known. There is a lot of nostalgia involved for some players and others may find the huns a little lackluster for good reason. Also: why don't they have stepplancers? There's a lot to uncover when talking about the Huns and I hope you'll enjoy this episode! Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Timecodes: 00:00 Overview 06:15 House Bonus 17:50 Team Bonus and Cav Archers 25:41 Trebuchets 31:10 Tarkan, Marauders & Atheism 40:52 Strategies and army compositions 56:13 Huns are Huns 01:11:21 Campaign: Attila the Hun Music: Huns Intro Music and "Operation Monkey" of the official AoE II Soundtrack
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3 months ago
1 hour 20 minutes 57 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Masterpieces #02: The Final Revolution
In this episode of Masterpieces, I'll be telling you the story of how the infamous Flemish Revolution has not only decided the Winner of NAC 4, but then shortly after has been nerfed out of existence. The Flemish Revolution allows the Burgundian player to transform all of his Villagers into powerful military units and change the pace of the game in an instant. I hope you enjoy this Masterpiece by Liereyy! The game (with timecode): https://youtu.be/MPSJzH1MLZo?si=TbO8Q20NDE0AdlQ_&t=3522 Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Music: "Carne y Helado" of the official AoE II Soundtrack.
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3 months ago
14 minutes 19 seconds

Start the game already!
[ENG] Interview: T-West
T-West joined me for a very interesting talk about his approach to being a content creator, caster and more recently, tournament host. Cartographers 2 was a great success, which is why we'll discuss how slinging impacted the games and some suprising tournament runs, like T90 and Dark in the Silver Bracket. T-West also answers some questions, that have been sent in and offers unique views on Monks, Skirmishers and many more topics, like his Tetris Mod. T-West was a lovely guest and I hope you enjoy this interview! Chris Links to T-West: twitch.tv/TWestAoe youtube.com/@T-West IG: @twestaoe Patreon: www.patreon.com/twest Podcast: Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de Discord: discord.com/invite/SYp9dCXYsK Support the Podcast on: Patreon: patreon.com/startthegamealready Steady (german): steadyhq.com/startthegamealready/ Timecodes: 00:00 Content Creation 15:00 Cartographers 2 22:15 Slinging 29:20 Tournament Highlights 42:20 Fan Questions Music: www.purple-planet.com
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4 months ago
1 hour 6 minutes 3 seconds

Start the game already!
Weekly Podcast about all things Age of Empires II: eSport, History, Campaigns, Strategy Talk, Civilizations and much more! This feed contains mainly English epidoses with the occasional german episode inbetween. For a clear english feed, please visit my Patreon or listen to the show on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jjwFU76puJ8tCCvdV99N5?si=ed392146557c4982 German versions of all english episodes are available for Patreons and supportes on Steady. Homepage: www.startthegamealready.de