Space Cats Peace Turtles

Matt Martens and Hunter Donaldson

An unofficial podcast for fans of Twilight Imperium and other strategy board games. Each episode is a humorous analysis of mechanics and strategies for new and experienced players alike! read less

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Old Gamer‘s Almanac Trailer

Old Gamer‘s Almanac Trailer

Oh Look! A new podcast has been spotted! As we teased recently, we are starting another show! Old Gamer's Almanac is the definitive ranking of all video games ever, one week at a time. We know how much this audience likes lists, and we've made the lifelong commitment to playing every video game that exists in order to accurately rank them. If the video game industry would just stop for a bit while we catch up, that would make it a lot easier. Please subscribe to the new show by going to https://oldgamersalmanac.podbean.com/ or finding Old Gamer's Almanac in your podcast app of choice! The first episodes launch Sep 21, 2021! Some aggregators take more time to populate new shows than others, so please give us a bit of time for some of the rollouts, but let us know if the show isn't popping up on your app of choice and we'll try to help out!

Episodes

348: Arcs Leaders - Agitator, Quartermaster, and Noble (w/ Tom Brewster)

348: Arcs Leaders - Agitator, Quartermaster, and Noble (w/ Tom Brewster)

It is finally time to dig in deeper to Arcs! The base game adds asymmetry to each player via the Leaders, and it's more asymmetry than many of us realized. Our excitement just wasn't enough; we had to go and recruit Shut Up and Sit Down's Tom Brewster to join us in presenting three Leaders and offering up what strategic insights we could muster. We started with three Leaders available in the Leaders and Lore expansion, the Agitator, the Quartermaster, and the Noble. Why did we start with expansion leaders over the ones available in the base game? Hey, quit asking so many questions! We got a fun special guest and you're embarrassing us in front of him! Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

347: Super L1Z1X Mindnet Guide

347: Super L1Z1X Mindnet Guide

This week we're back to our classic formula and doing a deep dive on one of our favorite aggressive factions: THE L1Z1X. This one has a fun energy and we really go to town on these guys, I wish we had more positives to say but I think spiritually L1 is too cool to be the best so let's just enjoy them for what they do best. Watch the Semi-Finals this weekend! Game 4 and 5 will be on Saturday and Sunday starting at 10AM central US time. https://www.twitch.tv/spacecatspeaceturtles Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

346: Matt's Job at Leder Games

346: Matt's Job at Leder Games

This month's Galactic Council Poll episode is coming to your a week early! We needed the time to prepare for new episodes. We also talk a lot about the upcoming TOURNAMENT 6 SEMI-FINALS. This episode contains the schedule for those games in the rundown so check that out. See you at the first 3 semis games this weekend at https://www.twitch.tv/spacecatspeaceturtles SE7EN's new track to commemorate playing in the prelims (strong language): https://soundcloud.com/user-293112643/ti-dis-2?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

345: 2024 Tournament Updates

345: 2024 Tournament Updates

This episode is for the competitive scene as the boys talk about how they feel about the soon to be finished prelims round of this year's tournament. How has the process been? Are there things we would like to improve? When do the semis start? All these questions will be answered somehow! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

344: Super Mentak Coalition Guide

344: Super Mentak Coalition Guide

Uh oh, it looks like we've saved a lot of the "bad" factions for last which means all of these Super guides are about to get a lot more FUN. Mentak, the most autocorrected faction, is definitively COOL and NEAT, but can struggle to score points... Let us examine why! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ kRuthless guide to the mentak: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1--oDRBYUV61y-f3b7HU-TSC-riEzesQPIYhfcxJG5bY/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

343: Most Anticipated Board Games 2024

343: Most Anticipated Board Games 2024

Beach episode time! This week we've taken the Galactic Council poll results and really ran with it. Instead of just hearing about what games Matt and Hunter are looking forward to we've basically asked everyone we know to submit their games. Get your pen and paper out because you about to get a big ol' list of interesting suggestions from people with excellent taste, also EJ is in there. Special thanks to Cole, Nick, Brooke, Ted, and Alita of Leder Games. Normal Regular thanks to EJ Sanders of the Walmart Corporation. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

342: 8 Player Games

342: 8 Player Games

This week, we're tackling a much requested topic. 8 Player Games! Matt and Hunter have both done some research and are reporting on strategic differences they found in their limited experience. Lot's of talk is devoted to why we don't prefer the player count so prepare yourself. We've also got an excellent discussion with Tactic Blue on the upcoming Discordant Stars Twilight Imperium Homebrew Expansion that you'll definitely want to hear about. At the end of the episode we have some surprise guests you'll definitely want to hear from. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

341: Arcs - Resources and the Court Deck

341: Arcs - Resources and the Court Deck

More Arcs! We're having a lovely time learning this new game and before we start diving into guides for different Leaders and eventually getting into the Campaign expansion (where we'll spend most of our time), we needed one more episode covering the basics. We've talked about the limited action economy of the game and alluded to the fact that you are able to improve upon it, but it's time to discuss that in depth! Resources and the Court Deck are your key to improving your action set and taking better control of the game, so let's learn about them! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

340: Super Universities of Jol-Nar Strategy Guide

340: Super Universities of Jol-Nar Strategy Guide

Let's do another Faction Strategy Guide! Universities of Jol-Nar are discussed a lot. They've been around since the very beginning, and in every edition of the game they've been a powerful faction. They have a -1 to combat and that just doesn't seem to hold them back! So what makes them good and how can we best harness their power? Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

339: Twilight Imperium Second Edition Overview

339: Twilight Imperium Second Edition Overview

Let's travel back in time to the year 2000! FFG was still a young company and Christian T. Petersen decided to take another stab at the design of our favorite game. At times, Second Edition almost feels like the version lost to time. It's quite simple in it's approach to the game and it chooses to add very little over the course of it's life. It's mostly just a refinement of the rules of First Edition, but let's take a closer look to see what that means. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

338: Agenda Phase Mailbag!

338: Agenda Phase Mailbag!

We've both been in the process of trying to find new homes in Minnesota, which means it's time for a beach episode where we dip into our mailbag! Our patrons submitted these questions for our Agenda Phase segments, but this is a collection of, generally, more off topic questions than usual. That just means it's a good time to hang out with your friends Matt and Hunter. And no criticism! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

337: Arcs - Actions and Ambitions

337: Arcs - Actions and Ambitions

More Arcs! It's getting incredibly fun starting to dig into the meat of this game. You can refer back to episode 333 to hear our Learn to Learn guide about the game, but now we're going to start getting more specific! We wanted to kick things off with a component episode where we cover the Actions in the game as well as the Ambitions you'll be using to score points and win. There's a lot to chew on and we're really only at the surface, so get ready for a lot of Arcs episodes to come. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

336: Super Clan of Saar Guide

336: Super Clan of Saar Guide

Despite the chaos in both our lives, Matt's ready with another Super Faction Guide! Due to the wonders of Async, Matt's found a lot more opportunity to work on guides and this is one that definitely benefited from that since he got to play big meaty games with Clan of Saar legends TheDeftPiper and Imsen. This is a powerful faction whose strategy is more about pumping the breaks a bit so you aren't the premiere target at the table. How can you preserve peace when you show up to the party with your knife collection? Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

335: Guide to the Prelims

335: Guide to the Prelims

The Prelims are already a couple of weeks underway and we're learning a LOT. This definitely feels like a new, distinct year for the tournament given the outcome of the majority of these games. So what does that mean for folks testing their mettle in the prelims or for people wanting to adapt to the newest waves in the meta? Let's take a closer look at what makes the Prelims of our tournament unique and what players can do to try and find success. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

334: Winmaking Roundtable with Dane and Milty

334: Winmaking Roundtable with Dane and Milty

The topic of "winmaking" is constantly evolving and changing. Every year we see tournament play handle shenanigans at the end of the game differently and it's nice to check in from time to time and evaluate the community. Today, we have two very special guests to help us in that endeavor! The designer of Twilight Imperium 4th Edition, Dane Beltrami, and rules guru and creator of Miltydraft, Milty! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

333: Learn to Learn Arcs

333: Learn to Learn Arcs

New Year, New Us, New Job, New Game, New Lease on Life. This is the beginning of hopefully a long series of episode covering Arcs by Leder Games! They made a game so enticing to us that Matt went and got a job with them. Today, we're just starting out by offering up advice to those interested in checking out the game and how to go into it with the right mindset. What kind of game does Arcs feel like to play? What is the process of getting better? What are the pitfalls in your way? Explore with us! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

332: 2024 Season Premiere

332: 2024 Season Premiere

New year and there are some big plans and changes in the works. Today we'll do our best to reveal and talk about what we can but also expect more updates in the future. 2024 is going to be a very cool year for Space Cats Peace Turtles and we hope you'll all be along for the ride. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

331: 2023 Holiday Spectacular

331: 2023 Holiday Spectacular

This episode is a particularly stupid energy coming right off the back of our Holiday Spectacular stream that featured hot "wings" and cool kids. Thanks for a wonderful year everyone, we love each of you individually. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

330: Democracy Quest 400 - Definitive Edition: Flight of the Federal Reserve Bank Note for Nintendo Switch

330: Democracy Quest 400 - Definitive Edition: Flight of the Federal Reserve Bank Note for Nintendo Switch

It's that time of year again! These Twilight Imperium factions have been out here all year running amok and making us look stupid because last year we did a really good faction ranking but you all played wrong. So we've adjusted some numbers and let you all contribute as little as we could possibly allow and now we have the true Definitive Ranking of all faction in the game. This time we mean it! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

329: Hunter’s Journey Through the Qualifiers

329: Hunter’s Journey Through the Qualifiers

Hunter has been playing in this year's Patreon Tournament Qualifiers since October. He's had about a half dozen games and he's finally made it through to the Prelims! It's good timing, because we always had this week's episode slated as his chance to talk about his experience, whether he'd made it or not! So what is it like to play in your own tournament? Do people treat you differently? Probably not, right? For TI tutorials in Italian, find Il Cap Games, mentioned in the show, at https://youtu.be/osCe7-lbblU?si=JymbjbWaUMDF0w89 Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/