🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
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⭐About the Cast
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Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games.
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Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom.
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Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order together with Sam.
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Coimbra by Flaminia Brasini and Virginio Gigli. Coimbra is a competitive euro dice drafting game. As the head of one of Coimbra's oldest houses in the Age of Discovery, players seek to earn prestige by deepening relationships with nearby monasteries or funding the expeditions of the era. To reach this goal, players must vie for the favours of the city's most influential citizens, by offering money or protection.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:4:33 - Intro
0:4:51 - Overview of Coimbra
0:10:28 - Discussion of Coimbra
0:53:53 - Questions for audience
0:54:09 - Garphill History - Shipwrights of the North Sea
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order and The Great Sea together with Sam, and Spirited and Skute with both Shem and Sam.
🎵 Music licenced from Jessy Ribordy Studios (https://jessyribordystudios.com/)
29 Aug 2026
EP #42: The Early Years of Garphill
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this special episode they discuss the early years of Garphill Games when Shem was self publishing as a brand new designer. Get ready to do a deep dive on the origin story of Garphill Games!
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:8:32 - Intro
0:5:49 - What this episode is about and why we are doing it!
0:10:42 - Linwood
0:17:37 - Capek
0:26:38 - Saqqara
0:27:43 - Plethora
0:32:19 - Playtesting and Development
0:34:07 - Plethora Continued
0:37:50 - Tanzania
0:43:17 - Cibola
0:47:21 - As a new designer, should you try make the best game?
0:49:15 - Garphill's identity as a company
0:51:36 - Woodlands
0:56:48 - Flee the Scene
1:02:22 - Overcoming design problems in the early days
1:04:23 - Which of these would you play and which would you redesign if force to?
1:06:37 - How important is a good premise for a game?
1:14:39 - Bethel Woods
1:24:55 - Wrapping up
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order and The Great Sea together with Sam, and Spirited and Skute with both Shem and Sam.
🎵 Music licenced from Jessy Ribordy Studios (https://jessyribordystudios.com/)
16 Aug 2026
EP #41: Omens & Headlands
🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.
In this episode they discuss Raiders of Scythia: Omens and Skara Brae: Headlands by Shem Phillips. The first ever expansions to Ancient Anthology titles.
📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:5:33 - Intro
0:5:49 - Why are we doing Ancient Anthology expansions?
08:37 - Discussion of Omens
0:30:22 - What makes a good expansion?
0:37:20 - Discussion of Headlands
1:00:23 - Questions for the audience
1:00:40 - Kickstarter overview
⭐About the Cast
Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).
Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.
Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order and The Great Sea together with Sam, and Spirited and Skute with both Shem and Sam.
🎵 Music licenced from Jessy Ribordy Studios (https://jessyribordystudios.com/)
Who has been a guest on Lens and Veil Podcast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Shem Phillips
Sam Macdonald
Zach Smith
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
332,194
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 52 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
37
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
81
Contact Lens and Veil Podcast
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
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