This was a great episode, and was one of the things that sent me down the rabbit hole to learn Empire of the Sun (along with Bruce's review which is one of the best game reviews I've read). The older episodes with Mark Herman were excellent also, and it was fun to delve into the archives to hear him talk about Pacific War as well.
@Sovyetsky here's a link to the livestream from a few weeks back. It's very cool to hear Mark Herman develop a narrative out of the game events. But they are not really explaining the game in a way that's accessible to a new player. Instead, take a look at this list from BGG with some helpful resources for beginners. Specifically, I would recommend John Sy's video series which is an entire game with commentary intended for a beginner. Judd Vance's VASSAL tutorials are also excellent.
Once you have a good grasp of the basics of the game, the livestream will be much easier to understand. At least that's how it was for me. And then let me know if you want to try a game by VASSAL!
Thanks again to Rob and Bruce for the episode (and to Michael for assembling the bibliography, that's invaluable!)