September 30, 2010 One guest cancels, but his shoes are ably filled by Gameshark's Todd Brakke as Troy, Julian and Rob hold forth on the game that has already eaten Troy's life - and he has to keep writing about it for at least another month.Listen as the team talks about their favorite innovations in Civ 5, how the map brings the game to life, why the AI's failures are so disappointing, social policy vs civics and hopes for the future.And Julian is on drugs.

September 23, 2010 This week, Rob takes the lead and sings the praises of RUSE, the new WW2 RTS from Ubisoft and Eugen Systems. Troy and Julian push him on the differences between the single and multiplayer components, whether it uses real deception and some rambling bits about World War 2 games in general. Rob's review at Gameshark Rock Paper Shotgun RUSE discussion

September 17, 2010 Unavailable when we needed him, but still game for a show, Victoria 2's lead designer Chris King joins Troy and Rob for a discussion of Marxist economic models, why they are so many rebels and why he bothered redesigning Vicky in the first place.

September 8, 2010 A terrible launch of a game I wanted to love turns what should have been a "WOW" show into another opportunity for Brad Wardell to explain how Stardock screwed up. Listen how imperfect QA practices, overconfidence, groupthink and not taking every beta crash report seriously turned one of the years most anticipated new IPs into a lesson for developers And also, how Stardock commits to make things right - including refunds. (Ask them. I have no idea what the mechanics are.) Rob's review Troy's review Tom's review

September 1, 2010 This week, the sound is terrible again mostly because my wireless refuses to cooperate. Big promise to fix this next week - I thought I had the problem solved.But if you bear with us, you will hear Troy and Rob answer some questions from listeners about logistics, making losing fun, why games are released unfinished and a dozen other topics.

August 25, 2010 Rob Zacny's sound goes in and out, but when it works you can hear him, Troy and Julian talk about the latest grand strategy game from Paradox. Why does it make Julian angry? Do you have to force the politics to make them interesting? What does the game get right and wrong about the nineteenth century?A reminder about the upcoming question show and a preview of coming attractions. Rob's review at Gameshark

August 19, 2010 Troy and Rob dig through their histories to recall bad games that had tiny moments of genius. What happens when a game gets one thing right? Can forgotten games still have a legacy beyond their failures? Can a good idea overshadow a bad game's legacy?Also reminders of the Question show coming up in a couple of week's time. "Noble Junk" post Epic Fails podcast Rob's Making History 2 review

August 10, 2010 Troy - suffering from a splitting headache - is joined by Rob Zacny, Tom Chick (hooray) and Idle Thumbs/Gamasutra star Chris Remo before he heads off to join Irrational Games. The topic: Starcraft 2. Why does such a competitive, sports structured game like SC2 have such wide appeal? Is the single player campaign really that different from other campaigns? And how about that writing? What are the great joys and great disappointments? Finally, what does Starcraft 2 mean for the future of the PC RTS? Troy's Starcraft 2 review Tom's Starcraft 2 review Rob's thoughts Idle Thumbs podcast FoS/TMA Meetup details

August 3, 2010 Troy, Julian and Rob are joined by Maxis Games' Soren Johnson and Fall From Heaven 2 lead Derek Paxton in a chat about modding. How do you assemble a mod team? What are the trade offs for developers and publishers in supporting mods? Scope and ambition and talent poaching and creativity.Also news on our upcoming question and answer show and the TMA/FoS meetup. Fall From Heaven 2 Strategy Station Meet Up Discussion

July 29, 2010 This week, with the rest of the TMA crew (i.e., me) off gallivanting around California or saving lives or something, Rob and Julian decided to have a real show. They dig deep into the perfect strategy gaming syllabus, and come up with some obvious and startling conclusions. At least, that's what they tell me. I haven't listened to it yet. I hope there's pie.

July 20, 2010 Ken Levine from Irrational Games drops by the show to talk about what made Freedom Force so special. Is it an RPG or a strategy game? We discuss the virtues of pausable real time play, the fine line between homage and parody and learn about what games Ken plays when he is not writing kick ass game stories. Freedom Reborn - a fan community

July 14, 2010 This week, Troy and Rob are joined by Jenn Cutter in a trip down memory lane. The topic: How did you end up the gamer you've become? When did Rob and Troy learn they were strategy gamers? How do games fit into the rest of your life? How do you deal with being the only gamer in a social circle? Which games poke which aspects of our character? Troy and Jenn also explain BBSes to Rob.Also, a date is set for the Washington DC area Flash of Steel/Three Moves Ahead meet up.

July 7, 2010 This week, hardware expert and long time strategy gamer Loyd Case joins Troy, Julian and Rob in a chat about how various advances and changes in the technological environment have changed how see and approach strategy games.

June 28, 2010 Gameshark's Editor in Chief Bill Abner joins Troy, Rob and Bruce to talk about Disciples 3, Heroes of Might and Magic, Jagged Alliance, King's Bounty - strategy games with tactical components. To what extent are these RPGs? What differentiates a good one from a bad one? Bruce mentions Odium again.The good doctor also promises to write something.

June 23, 2010 With E3 2010 in the books, Troy talks about what he saw and is generally concerned about "everything fits together". Julian gives us a preview of Risk: Factions and Rob runs down what 1C has coming your way, based on what he saw in San Francisco.Also, bonus tip on how not to prepare vodka.