Welcome to Table Scraps, a new board game chat show here at Game Brain. We'll be posting these eps from time to time, and if the tech gods are kind to us, there will even be a video component.

Today Ben and Paul chat about the sort of games Anna Scott (not a real person), Barack Obama, and Erin Brockovitch would enjoy, and then they explore how to get someone like Jennifer Lawrence to play Catan. Because it could happen!

The new hotness has flooded the marketplace, and Ben and Jordan are here to make sense of it. Which new releases live up to the hype, exceed it, and fall short of it? We cover a lot of ground; so buckle up!

00:00 Introduction

11:22 Kraftwagen: Age of Engineering

13:00 Stress Botics

14:48 Unconscious Mind

16:47 Landmarks

18:08 Shackleton Base

21:00 Gaia Project: The Lost Fleet

25:44 Harmonies

31:19 Age of Rail: South Africa

40:51 The Yellow House

45:07 Pariahs

48:45 Asian Tigers

52:08 Fromage

58:47 Middle Ages

1:03:41 Men-Nefer

1:10:35 Red Dust Rebellion

1:14:48 Saltfjord

1:21:29 Fellowship of the Ring Trick Taking Game

1:27:14 Lord of the Rings Duel

1:29:06 Endeavor Deep Sea

1:36:02 SETI

1:41:14 Civolution

Ben and Paul deep dive the new area control, tableau-building, moon-exploiting, corporation-pleasing game "Shackleton Base." They also discuss new hotness Civolution as well as Fromage and Men-Nefer. Ben also offers up some family game suggestions for the holidays - all while attempting labored "Wicked" puns.