Charlie Theel
@charlietheel
Board game critic. Bylines: Polygon, IGN, Ars Technica, Tabletop Gaming Magazine, Dicebreaker, Geek & Sundry, PC Gamer, Wargamer. Co-hosted the Ding & Dent podcast. cdtheel@gmail.com Most of my writing appears at my site,
I'm not talking about day sailing or pleasure boating. I'm talking about working for a living. I'm talking about sharking.
I was waiting for them to start singing "Show Me the Way to Go Home" during this scene.
On the third day of Geekway we embarked upon a four hour game of John Company that ended in the final round with company failure, which assisted me winning on the windows tie breaker. Also played Vantage, DC Breakout Arkham Asylum, and a wonderful session of Worldspanner Factions.
Geekway day 2 was more running around, less gaming. Guards of Atlantis 2, Stationfall, Treasure Island, LotR Two Towers Trick Taking, lots of Werewords.
First day of Geekway to the West in the books. Ace of Aces, LA-1, Fate of the Fellowship, Wroth, Thunder Road: Vendetta, and Cysmic.
The Ravens of Thri Sahashri is bonkers. If you think card games have grown staid or predictable, try to figure this one out.
Brian Boru balances tense area control with a laid back trick taking vibe that nails a sweet spot. This is an easy to play game with bite.
Crescent Moon is a game I enjoyed more than most critics. It's a difficult and parsimonious game that can be punishing. But it's interesting and weird!
Undaunted: Stalingrad is peak WW2 skirmish in 2D. The excellent card system, the staggering campaign, dealing with a company that actually evolves and must bury their dead. So good.
Battalion: War of the Ancients deserved more recognition. It captured the essence of mass battle miniatures games (Warhammer!) in a board game format.
Zoo Ball is the best Osprey game. I still play this regularly (almost exclusively in the 4 player format). It is so simple and so good.
Brent Spivey's World of Wrestling is a hoot. Bulk Broman goes in for the suplex but Nic Dare reverses. Woooo!
In 2006, a buddy and I hopped in a car and drove 40-minutes to find a theater showing Children of Men. Absolutely no regrets. We can't let cinema die.
The 2nd edition of Company of Heroes is seriously impressing me. Some notable improvements over the first edition and little tweaks which add up.
Been diving into Guards of Atlantis lately. Wonderful finally getting this played. Also really putting the Old King's Crown Wild Kingdom expansion through the ringer. Taking awhile to come to grips with all of the various modules.
As Dave Portnoy keeps telling me in my YouTube algo, sports betting is legal in Missouri now. Let's goooo!
Looks like Mayday launched their new Crokinole Kickstarter and is embroiled in a new shitty controversy. I have to give a PSA on my mistake of backing their 2022 board in which I deservedly received a package with a box cutter rattling around inside.
Getting Old King's Crown back to the table to explore the Wild Kingdom.
This is a true story. It happened right here, one hour ago. At exactly 2PM, 17 adults walked into a conference room, sat in their chairs, and listened to how much their health insurance premiums would increase.