In this episode, Adam just can’t stop talking about some of his favorite gaming accessories such as dice towers and gaming stones, and he even gives out some game-related crafting tips. Then, Nate discusses a well-known German game that both of us just played recently for the first time: Carcassonne.
Dice towers from GraveDiggerGames.com
Google image search for “dice tower”
miniature castle dice tower
Lego dice tower
Dice Boot link,another Dice Boot link
Adhesives
Glass stones at Michaels
Glass stones at Ikea
3 Sages Gaming’s Gaming Crystals
Meeples
Carcassonne
Reviews:
Mythbusters
Mythbusters on Wikipedia
Yipeee … at last another episode of my favourite podcast!
OMG…. the ragtime is gone…. I shan’t recover.
But, hey, other than that, another episode is always a good thing. Keep up the good work.
But, seriously, man, that ragtime was such a signature thing….
DC
The ragtime piano music will probably make a return … what you hear in Episode 14 is temp music that I liked enough to keep in the final episode. We might play around with some different types of music.
–Adam
Another vote for ragtime… I knew something sounded different. The guitar riff in this episode is surprisingly similar to Doug Garrett’s intro to the Garrett’s Games and Geekiness podcast (another excellent podcast).
re: intro to ” Garrett’s Games and Geekiness podcast”
I went to check out that podcast, and the riff indeed is the exact same audio. That particular audio clip is a royalty free riff distributed with Apple’s iLife suite, specifically Garage Band.
I should have known better to use stock music as temp stand-in; I underestimated the chance of it being duped somewhere else recognizably.
You can play Carcasonne online with most of the expansions against German players of ridiculously high calibre at BerttspielWelt.de. It will improve your Carcasonne play no end and teach you a lot of dirty tricks to boot. While this is a German site, they have support for English speakers and many of the players are multi-lingual too.
Carc is a great game imho. Tactically deep but with only a handful of simple rules to learn, not to mention it looks great and is supremely portable – particularly if you chuck all the tiles into a drawstring bag.
The random element of the tile draw can be frustrating but is mitigated a lot by careful play and yes, being aware of the probabilities of various tiles appearing – play it enough and it starts to feel more like Poker than a simple tile layout game.
Yep – another vote of agreement – Carc is a great game! Another good podcast chaps, really enjoyed it.
We play the “variant” you suggested, pick your next tile in advance, it gives you time to think! You can always borrow a rule from Metro (another good tile laying game), you pick your tile, if you don’t like it you can pick another, and keep the original, but you MUST play the new one you picked, you can’t go back to the other one then.
Keep up the good work!
Hey Nate, did you stop listening to The Dice Tower because they thought that evolution games fell into the fantasy games catagory, or was it because it was just bad?
Oh. The ragtime music? It was great. But mixing it up a bit? Even better.
My personal favorite version of Carc is “Ark Of The Covenant” (and note, I am in NO way religious, I just think it’s my favorite, self-contained version of the game).
As for The Dice Tower, personally, I have only listened to a couple episodes… I think my issue stems from Tom’s all-too-frequent and long-winded “reviews”. I just feel that he doesn’t play the games enough to offer up legitimate critiques, and I also wonder how this guy can have a family, a full-time job, play games, write reviews AND record a regular podcast!
In other words, I’ve given up reading his reviews and I have only listened to a couple episodes of his podcast. Just not a F.O.T., I guess (Fan Of Tom).
>> I also wonder how this guy can have a family, a full-time job, play games, write reviews AND record a regular podcast!
He has answered this question many times. I think most people are surprised by how much time they have if they stop watching TV.
I think I heard you say Carc is 2-3 players. I am pretty sure the base game is 2-5.
With scoring, the trick is to remove the piece as it is being scored. So if the piece is there – it hasn’t been scored yet.
Also, you missed some expansions, like King and Scout.
Also, make sure all the players agree on the farmer scoring before you start playing (the German version of the game has had three different techniques for farmer scoring over the years).
>> Hey Nate, did you stop listening to The Dice Tower because they thought that evolution games fell into the fantasy games catagory?
What episode did you hear that in? I don’t remember that.
>>What episode did you hear that in? I don’t remember that.
Hm. I have no idea when it was. I think it was around early ‘06, maybe.
Hi Guys,
Two points as designer/inventor of the Dice Boot:
* Thanks for the mention and I’m always glad to hear about someone getting use out of the product.
* The movie “Das Boot” had nothing at all to do with the naming. I own a big wooden tower and wanted something small and portable. Since it’s not as big as a tower I couldn’t very well call it a tower, eh? The prototype was very boot shaped (much more than the final production model) so Dice Boot seemed pretty obvious.
That said, the number of times I’ve heard “Dice Boot” said with a German accent is more than I can recall.
What I find interesting is how the name has caught on to the point that I often see it used when referring to dice towers in general.
- Jerry
Re: the dicetower
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have said anything about my personal podcast preferences in regards to certain very well known gaming podcasts. I don’t want to get down on anyone or make this a gripe fest.
But to clear the air:
1. re: evolution games and fantasy. I don’t remember hearing that, and that wasn’t any consideration of mine in dropping thedicetower from my feed list.
2. Mostly, I found myself skipping it 2 minutes after it started. Consistantly. I hadn’t decided *why* I was skipping it, though. I just have so much other stuff I’m *excited* to listen to, I’m not going to keep wasting my own time skipping something that I feel only “meh” about.
3. Long after I gave up the aforementioned podcast, I decided to give it another chance. I listened to it again, and found it even less pleasurable than I had previously thought. In fact, I found it very “off-putting.”
So, refusing to give negative *specifics* about a friendly-neighborhood podcast, I clearly state: “it ain’t my cup of tea.” Listen to what you enjoy.
re: the dice boot
How cool is this! to have the Dice boot designer post to the blog!
Thanks for listening and contributing! Also, I hope you get some sort of residual/compensation from Dice Boot purchases, because I own 3 of those bad boys (one still in shrinkwrap as an auxiliary boot in case of dice-boot-disaster).
Oh. And sorry about making the overly-used an/or lame “Das boot” joke.
YO YO!
Rag time Rox!!! 3 votes from me! But if u change it I aint gonna stop listening.
Love carcasonnes it one onf my faves, I especially like the fact that its 5 players, seem to be the right number all the time.
I tried to review on itnues, but you need an iTunes account, and I have no credt card to register, but rest assured when i do get one I will.
Bring on the Dnd podcast!
Hey Guys,
Completely off-topic, but I want to talk with you about something and I can’t find a “contact us” or email address here anywhere!
Please email me at chad dot ellis at comcast.net.
Thanks,
Chad
Another great show…but…where is part 2 of the carwars story? I need to know what happend to Car Wars! How did such a popular game end up the the state it is today???
( I know this episode had nothing to do with car wars – but i am car wars obessessed and I need closure )
My first encounter with the dice tower concept was years ago, when I was at a Labor Day firemen’s fair in my home town, playing the casino section’s “over-under” game. A fireman would drop two big d6s down a dice tower, and players would win based on where they’d placed their dollars on a printed mat. I remember thinking way back then that a dice roller like that would be neat to have at a game, although not altogether practical.
Also, since I play high-level HERO System with my friends, I’d need a swutting big tower to roll fifteen dice unless I roll my little ones.
Hey, any chance you guys could post a link to a DIY dice tower design? I have access to a wood shop at work and I might be able to put one together myself.
You guys mentioned DIY dice tower plans available online.
Is this the one you were talking about?
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=13307
No, that one was for making a wooden one. Here’s plans for making one out of pasteboard, probably a lot easier, not as durable, I’m sure:
http://www.newventuregames.com/pages/thegames/dicetower.html
When is the next episode?
This is the first gaming webcast that’s given me info I’ve actually passed along to my HGTV-lovin’ mom. (Truth be told, I haunt craft stores, too.) Oh–there’s good gaming content in this episode, too!
[...] Adam and Nate Review Carcassone 11Jan07 In the latest Roll 2d6 podcastwe get a pretty good over view of Carcassone by a couple of seasoned gamers. I find it interesting that the blurb for their site that’s returned by Google emphasizes the fact that these dudes occasionally throw in some Car Warsmaterial on thier show. Oh yeah… like that fact’s really gonna help Google pull in more ad revenue. Like 80% of their listeners wait with baited breath for the next Car Warsreference from these two guys…. Heh. (Well… it’s why I listen to the show.) At any rate, it’s evident that whoever is getting tapped for these Google blurbs is as obsessed with Car Wars as I am. [...]
I also wait for each episode to be released hoping there is another discussion about Car Wars.
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The original version of autodueling has seen better days. I am trying to keep Car Wars alive with my collection of hyperlinks and an irregularly-published e-mail magazine entering its 11th year of publication.
By request, I started a new online tournament for Car Wars. Players submit me results of duels and races and I award championship points like the American Le Mans Series and Formula One.
Details on these resources can be found on my Web site.
P.S. The non-Car Wars stuff on each episode is great, too.
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