I've Been Diced!

There are a lot of series games in the hobby, both in the market and in our personal collections. This episode, our panel talks about series...

We're back after a long hiatus. In the first segment, I talk about games played recently, including Across Suez, Cry Havoc, Bloody Inn, ...

Greg Stafford, designer of Dragon Pass and other board games, creator of the fascinating fantasy world of Glorantha, founder of Chaosium, an...

Mitchell Land, designer of the Next War series of wargames from GMT, discusses the interesting design challenges behind those games, and we ...

Sam Mustafa, designer of Blücher and other miniatures wargame rules, stops by to discuss his designs and the miniatures side of the hobby in...

Our first episode of 2016 is a whopper! We start with an interview with Gordon Calleja, designer of Posthuman, and associate professor and h...

John Kranz, the founder of the Consimworld wargame community site, joins me for a discussion of the past, present, and future of Consimworld...

Troy Goodfellow, founder of the Three Moves Ahead podcast, joins me for a discussion of computer strategy games versus boardgames. What do c...

When I was interviewing Randy Lein and Roger Miller a couple of weeks ago, they asked if I had any game designs. I've alluded to them in...

Not just one guest, but two! Roger Miller of Revolution Games and Randy Lein of Legion Wargames take time away from Consimworld Expo to talk...

Mark Herman stops by to talk about his new grand strategic WWII game, Churchill, plus oh so many other games he has designed over the years....

Our panel discusses combat systems in games — many of which we like, and a few that we don't like. Air battles that are genuinely exciti...

Andy Loakes, designer of Toulon 1793, takes us behind the scenes of his first published wargame. Why hasn't someone done a game on this ...

Richard Borg talks about everything from the Command & Colour wargames to the X-Men games from Pressman (with a cameo from Stan Lee). We...

Sandy Petersen, designer of Cthulhu Wars (among many other games), talks about the origins of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, the early days of Cha...

Our regular panel looks back on 2014 in gaming — the ups, the downs, the pleasant surprises, the grave disappointments. Where do games like ...

I drop by the HQ for Worthington Games to talk about their wargames, past, present, and future. Forged In Fire, Band Of Brothers, Cowboys, H...

Here are some pictures from our session of Microscope , as described in episode 60 of the I've Been Diced! podcast. You can see, step b...

Our regular panel plays a session of Microscope, the game of collaboratively building a grand historical narrative. We put our creative powe...

Jon Compton of One Small Step and the MCS Group tells a gripping story of the trials and tribulations of being a small wargame publisher. We...

Mike Nagel talks about his Flying Colors series of Age of Sail wargames, his new "captaincy" game covering the same era, Sun of Yo...

Greg Smith, the designer of The Hunters and the upcoming Silent Victory, talks about his games, solitaire wargames in general, his work on c...

John Poniske, designer of Hearts & Minds, King Philip's War, and Lincoln's War, discusses the reasons why he developed a differe...

Jim Day, designer of Iron & Oak and Panzer, talks about these two recently-released games, cross-pollination between miniature and board...

Kim Kanger, designer of Ici, C'Est La France! and Tonkin, discusses France's counterinsurgency wars, and how differences between the...

John Gorkowski, designer of WWI-based games like Guns Of August, Guns Of Galicia, Red Poppies, and In The Trenches, as well as the upcoming...

Steve Kendall gives us a brief history of the Ragnar Brothers and the games they’ve produced. Ponder why Angola may have had more successful...

We're at Prezcon 2014, where we talk about the games we played, such as A Distant Plain, Theseus: The Dark Orbit, Coup, Cosmic Encounter...

Joel Toppen is our guest this episode, here to tell us how he designed Navajo Wars, and give us a sneak peek into his next game, covering th...

We look back on our 2013 in gaming. Best and worst experiences, biggest surprises (good and bad), best fun per dollar, best digital boardgam...

Tom and Grant Dalgliesh stop by to discuss their successful Kickstarter campaign for Napoleon, and the new Kickstarter for Bobby Lee. Plus, ...

Remember two episodes, when we discussed noble failures? Now it's time for ignoble successes, the games that were more successful than t...

Paul Rohrbaugh of High Flying Dice is our guest this episode. If you're not familiar with this publisher of low-cost, print-on-demand wa...

Many games come oh so very close to being good, or event great, but don't...quite...make it. That's the topic for this episode, nobl...

Tom and Grand Dalgliesh of Columbia Games talk about their Kickstarted new edition of the classic block game Napoleon. We also delve into th...

Tom, TJ, Kevin, and Jason have a therapy session about Descent 2nd edition, with some primal screaming. Why was this game so hard to love? I...

Volko Ruhnke is our guest, and boy, do we have a lot to talk about. From Wilderness War to Labyrinth, from Andean Abyss to the next games in...

Jason White, formerly of the Point2Point podcast, chats with Tom about the games we've been playing, from No Retreat on the table to Sum...

Jason Matthews, designer of Twilight Struggle, 1989, Founding Fathers, 1960, and Campaign Manager 2008, drops in for a discussion of his gam...

Martin Wallace talks about his wide, wide portfolio of games, when he got the inspiration for many of them, how he starts the design with a ...

Jerry Taylor stops by to discuss his games, Hammer of the Scots, Crusader Rex, and Richard III. What makes the Middle Ages great source mate...

Adam Starkweather tells us about his collaborations with Japanese designers on A Victory Lost, Warriors Of God, Fire In The Sky, and A Most ...

Ed Beach discusses his boardgames, including Here I Stand, Virgin Queen, and the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series. We also t...

Carl Paradis talks about the genesis of the No Retreat! series of wargames, and where they're headed. We also journey into Carl's se...

Ben Hull stops by for an in-depth discussion of his wargames, including Fields of Fire, the Musket & Pike series, and his upcoming opera...

Tom's trek across the continental United States is done, so we're back to blab about boardgames. In this episode, we catch up about ...

In which your host explains why we're pressing the pause button briefly, as he makes his way from one side of the continent to another.

In the latest podcast, I proposed a measure for the value of games, the ratio of gaming hours per dollar. (Let's abbreviate this ration ...

We heard that Mage Knight: The Boardgame was mildly popular, so we're providing an introduction to the game. What are the core rules, an...

Three gamers walk into a bar. So what do they play? We discuss three player boardgames: which ones are good, and what makes them work. Plus,...

What are the boardgames we regret not buying, when we had the chance? Which ones do we regret selling? In this episode, we discover how ligh...

We've talked about the dual appeal of wargames, as both games and explorations of history, in both the I've Been Diced! podcast an...

Yesterday, I had my first crack at the iPad version of Caylus . Amazingly, I've never played the physical version, even during the stamp...

Our obligatory but spirited take on 2011. What we liked and hated, what surprised us, what disappointed us. Plus, why Pursuit of Glory is bo...

Probably anyone reading this blog will want to follow this link to an article about the excavation of the tunnels that Allied soldiers used ...

You may have heard me wax nostalgically about Avalon Hill's "house organ," The General . That magazine was a foundation of Ava...

The first part of the Dice Tower 's 2011 in review is up, and I'm one among many contributors to it. Here's a direct link to the...

Our game designer interviews continue with Eric Lee Smith. Aside from designing classic wargames like Across 5 Aprils, Panzer Command, Ambus...

The introductory wargame is an elusive creature, like the Questing Beast, Nessie, or the informed news anchor. There have been lots of candi...

I'm currently doing the production work on two episodes of I've Been Diced!, for publication this week: An interview with Eric Lee...

I've been interested in Eclipse , since I'm a big fan of space empire games. I know that there's a Cabbage Patch Doll-like craze...

Tom, Scott, and Paul discuss expansions. When is a game worth expanding? What kind of value should expansions provide -- More complexity? Mo...

When we started I've Been Diced! , there was only one feed for both the podcast and the blog. While this approach kept things simple, it...

Colby Dauch of Plaid Hat Games stops by to discuss Summoner Wars, his upcoming game Dungeon Run, the iOS version of Summoner Wars, Heroscape...

Summer blockbusters based on comic books are now the norm. Publishers release hundreds of new mystery novels every year. Westerns are still ...

Jim Krohn, designer of the just-published Space Empires: 4X, talks about the history of this game, plus some of the key design decisions tha...

Paul, Dave, and Tom discuss the distinct appeal of wargames. We play them for different reasons than other boardgames, and we judge them acc...

While we've been keeping pace, podcast-wise, I haven't posted to the blog in a while. I've been on the road an insane amount, ha...

Alan Emrich drops by to talk about designing games, publishing games, and teaching game design. What's his company, Victory Point Games,...

The stars are right for summoning our opinions about Arkham Horror. Why do we keep coming back to it, in spite of the insane amount of setup...

Brian Train, wargame designer, joins us to discuss simulations of irregular warfare. How do insurgencies differ from conventional wars, and ...

We love Magic Realm, so why not spread the love? This episode, we give an overview of the game for new players, and we talk about what makes...

This morning, I finished LA Noire. As some reviewers have said, the good parts are truly brilliant, and the bad parts are teeth-gnashingly a...

After playing a few sessions of Ticket To Ride with friends, I lost interest. It struck me as an OK game, and I could understand why it had ...

Boardgame fans are, by and large, a forgiving people. While emotions might run high sometimes, as they often do on public forums like Boardg...

As you can tell from this week's podcast, we're back after a short break. I'm totally to blame for missing one of our regular re...

Ever wanted to play Twilight Imperium? We dedicate this episode to you. Tom, Paul, and Scott give an overview of the game for beginners, wit...

One of my favorite iPad apps is The Civil War Today, the History Channel's day-by-day accounting of what happened 150 years ago. It'...

Cosmic Encounter has been around for decades, with a dedicated fan base. What's the secret behind this boardgame's lasting appeal? I...

It's the week for good posts about wargaming. Anyone with an interest in wargames -- interested in diving into them, still getting your ...

If you're a wargamer, you should read Bruce Geryk's blog posts about War In The East , the PC Monsterspiel  about the Eastern Front ...

There's a bumper crop of electronic versions of our favorite board games. The desktop, laptop, mobile device, and browser provide electr...

During the latest I've Been Diced! podcast, we spent a fair amount of time talking about Victory Point Games, a very different kind of...