Category: Set Collection Games

105 Featured
Pattern-Building Perfection: Why Blood of an Englishman Shines for Two

Pattern-Building Perfection: Why Blood of an Englishman Shines for Two

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Meeples & Wine Episode 105: Climbing Beanstalks with The Confidence Man Mead & Blood of an Englishman

Hey board game couples and podcast fans! Welcome back to another cozy episode of Meeples & Wine, your go-to board game podcast for couples who love reviewing games with a drink in hand. We’re Michael and Suzy, and today we’re pairing a bold Illinois mead with a clever two-player card game that brings the classic Jack and the Beanstalk tale to the table. Grab your glasses and settle in—this one’s perfect for date night board gaming.

What Wine (or Mead) Are We Tasting Today?

We’re sipping The Confidence Man from Honey Heist Mead Co. in Cobden, Illinois (Shawnee Hills AVA). This Old Fashioned-inspired mead is aged on American oak with cherries, a hint of orange zest, cinnamon, bitters, and sweetened with bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup. Smooth, complex, and a little dangerous—exactly the vibe for a game about facing a giant. Perfect for couples looking for unique mead pairings with board games or podcast listeners hunting for craft beverage recommendations alongside tabletop reviews.

What Game Are We Playing?

Blood of an Englishman (2016) is a pure two-player, open-information card game designed by Dan Cassar (of Arboretum fame), with art by Chris Ostrowski and published by Minion Games. On BoardGameGeek it sits at a solid 6.5/10 with a light complexity of 1.85/5—ideal for couples who want a quick, tense evening without a huge rules dump.

One player is Jack, trying to grow three beanstalks and claim the Bag of Gold, Golden Goose, and Singing Harp. The other is the Giant, maneuvering Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum cards to trap Jack or starve him of the cards he needs. Setup is simple: shuffle the 50-card deck into five face-up Castle Stacks. Jack gets a free “Giantess’ Protection” move, then players alternate. Jack gets three moves per turn to rearrange cards and build ascending beanstalks (six cards + treasure). The Giant gets one powerful action—discard a beanstalk card, shift groups of four cards, or reposition a single card. Win conditions check constantly, so every play feels sharp.

No expansions needed. It’s pure asymmetric pattern-building and variable player powers in about 30 minutes. Great for fans of two-player board games, light strategy card games, and fairy-tale themed tabletop experiences.

Last Call

And for our Last Call Kickstarter spotlight: check out Viva La Dungeon! Rise of the Neckromancer—one book, three heroes, a dungeon you explore with choices, dice, and a story that changes every run. Cool solo/coop storytelling for board game podcast fans who love narrative adventures.

That’s it from us! If you enjoyed this board game and mead pairing podcast episode, share it with a fellow gaming couple. Reach us anytime at meeplesandwine@gmail.com, on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn, or leave a voicemail at (707) 572-5282.

See you next time on Meeples and Wine! Buh-Bye!

All URLs mentioned in this episode notes:

89 targi featured
Targi and Borsao Selección Blanco

Targi and Borsao Selección Blanco

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Borsao Selección Blanco is a delightful blend of Chardonnay and Macabeo grapes. The Chardonnay brings bright, fruity aromas, while the Macabeo provides structure and body. To preserve its vibrant fruit character, the wine is aged briefly, fermenting in French oak barrels.

The Macabeo grape, also known as Viura, is a versatile white wine grape found on both sides of the Pyrenees in Spain and France. Its flavor profile is quite dynamic; when harvested early and aged in stainless steel, it can be fresh, floral, and aromatic. However, when harvested later and aged in oak, it develops a more weighty, honeyed, and nutty character. This makes it a great wine to accompany your appetizer or pair with fish like hake or monkfish. (In case you’re wondering the image below is a monkfish…)

Big,monkfish,(lophius,piscatorius),on,a,white,background

Tonight’s game is Targi, a highly-rated 2-player board game with a BGG rating of 7.6/10 and a complexity weight of 2.34/5. Designed by Andreas Steiger and illustrated by Taira Akitsu and Franz Vohwinkel, this game is published by KOSMOS.

Targi

In Targi, you take on the role of a leader of a Tuareg tribe. Unlike other cultures, the Tuareg men, known as Targi, cover their faces while the women do not. As a tribal leader, you’ll trade goods like dates, salt, and pepper to earn gold and other benefits, all while trying to expand your tribe.

The game is played on a 5×5 grid, with 16 action spaces along the border and nine blank spaces in the center. Players take turns placing their meeples on the border spaces (avoiding corners and spaces directly across from an opponent’s meeple). Once all meeples are placed, you collect cards from the central grid that correspond to your meeple’s row and column. You can also carry out the actions on the border spaces.

We also have our eye on a cool game on Kickstarter: Camp Grizzly Second Edition by Trick or Treat Studios. After being out of print for over 10 years, this horror survival board game for 1-6 players is back. You play as camp counselors stalked by a maniac named Otis the Bear. To win, you must collect objectives to trigger one of four Finales. The game is filled with Easter eggs and lore, promising 80’s horror moments through the whole game.

If you’ve got a game that you’d like us to demo get in touch at meeplesandwine@gmail.com, at our Twitter (@Meeplesandwine) or Facebook or if you’d like to leave us a voicemail you can go to 

https://www.speakpipe.com/MeeplesandWine or call at (707) 572-5282!

You can also check out our quicklinks page! https://podcast.show/meeplesandwine/

81 Header
Sea Salt and Paper with Sea Glass Sauvignon Blanc

Sea Salt and Paper with Sea Glass Sauvignon Blanc

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This week we play PandaSaraus Game’s “Sea Salt & Paper” a nice relaxed set making game with some fantastic aquatic origami images with Sea Glass Winery’s Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc. Lately we’ve been playing some serious “take that” games like Smash Up, we take a 180 turn with Sea Salt & Paper, where you gather shells, octupi and other sea life to gather points to win. But be careful, if your opponent thinks they’ve got more points they can declare “Last Chance” and put all their (and your) points on the line!

We’re tasting Sea Glass winery’s Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc, a California white that keeps a citrus nose with a pear flavor, but keeps the bright acidity that New Zealand wines are known for.

Remember that if you want to get in touch, just give us a call at (707) 572-5282‬!

If you’ve got a game that you’d like us to demo get in touch at meeplesandwine@gmail.com, at our Twitter (@Meeplesandwine) or Facebook or if you’d like to leave us a voicemail you can go to 

https://www.speakpipe.com/MeeplesandWine or call at (707) 572-5282!

You can also check out our quicklinks page! https://podcast.show/meeplesandwine/

66 Shinobi Wat Aah!
Shinobi WAT-AAH! and a Yuzu Saki Cocktail

Shinobi WAT-AAH! and a Yuzu Saki Cocktail

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Hello and welcome back to everyone! This week Michael and Suzy are tasting a yuzu fruit sake cocktail mixing Zipang Sparkling Sake and Joto Yuzu Sake, a suggestion that we got from Susie and Tim, wine consultant and manager respectively, from our local Binny’s Beverage Depot out in Geneva, IL. Spoilers, there was nothing left by the end of the show…also, we are in no way sponsored by Binny’s (yet.)

We also play Shinobi Wat-ahh! A hand management/worker placement game from Iello Games out in France! Play an aspiring lord who is vying to take the throne from the aging Emperor of the Moon! Gather allies from the nine clans of the Dragon, Monkey, Crow and more, reinforce the clans with ronin and use the magic of the yokai to ensure victory, but be careful not to become too corrupt as that may spell defeat in the end!

This may be hard to find, since it came out in 2014, but if you may find it in the wild!

If you’ve got a game that you’d like us to demo get in touch at meeplesandwine@gmail.com, at our Twitter (@Meeplesandwine) or Facebook or if you’d like to leave us a voicemail you can go to 

https://www.speakpipe.com/MeeplesandWine or call at (707) 572-5282!

You can also check out our quicklinks page! https://podcast.show/meeplesandwine/

NaPodPomo
NaPodPomo 2023: 30 Days of Game Mechanics: Set Collection Games

NaPodPomo 2023: 30 Days of Game Mechanics: Set Collection Games

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Welcome to Meeples and Wine Na Pod Pomo 2023, hosted by Michael and Suzy, where they review board and tabletop games for couples. They explore how well games play with two players, their fun factor, complexity, and whether they might “destroy the marriage.” Each episode also includes a thematic wine, beer, or drink tasting to accompany the game.

Board Games Review: Exploring Set Collection Games with a Focus on ‘Point Salad’

In this episode of ‘Meeples Wine Na Pod Pomo 2023’, Michael reviews set collection board games with focus on the game ‘Point Salad’, launched by AEG in 2019, involves players using 108 double-sided veggie and point cards to amass points through specific vegetable collections. He discusses the complexity of the game, the strategy of selecting cards, and the gameplay mechanics.

00:12 Introduction and Podcast Overview
01:13 Introduction to Set Collection Games
02:23 Exploring the Game: Point Salad
03:50 Gameplay and Strategy of Point Salad
06:43 Final Thoughts and Review of Point Salad
07:27 Closing Remarks and Contact Information

If you’ve got a game that you’d like us to demo get in touch at meeplesandwine@gmail.com, at our Twitter (@Meeplesandwine) or Facebook or if you’d like to leave us a voicemail you can go to 

https://www.speakpipe.com/MeeplesandWine or call at (707) 572-5282!

You can also check out our quicklinks page! https://podcast.show/meeplesandwine/