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A Gaming Life
BGG Top Games – 2601-2700
I hope you’re enjoying my weekly look at games ranked on Boardgame Geek that aren’t in the Top 1000.
I know I’m enjoying writing them, because I love the discussion they can cause (though sadly not last week, because I left two hooks in there for a response from certain people and they never caught a fish!)
I do know at least a couple of people who enjoy them, including my blogging friend Tavendale, who might just nick the idea from me.
(As an aside, if you like RPGs, board games, miniatures painting, Magic the Gathering, or any combination of those, you should check out No Rerolls. It’s great).
This entry is kind of a middle of the road entry, as I’ve played a few of them, but nothing really stands out to me as a must-recommend.
Checking through the list, there are only two games from 2025 in it, so this may be the final resting space (more or less) for many of these games, or at least they’ll slowly get pushed down the list as more popular games push them backwards.
I could be wrong though, and suddenly a huge influx of fans for Oltre Mare (#2604) may show up from out of the woodwork and bump it up!
Surely after my mention of it here, of course.
Anyway, you can find the list I’m working from here, though as usual, keep in mind that these rankings will change and if you’re a time traveler from the past, most of these games haven’t even been designed yet!
So you’ll be a bit mystified.
I’ve played seven of these games and own (or owned) two of them (thankfully, I don’t own any of these that I haven’t played yet!).
A bit of a downturn from last week, but not too much.
Let’s get this started so it doesn’t become a behemoth.
I only have so many 3000-word posts in me for a week.
Read MoreGarphill Games Announces South Tigris Reprint Kickstarter Coming Soon
A short news post tonight since I’m lame and couldn’t get a regular post done for today.
One of the (presumed, though it hasn’t been confirmed) fallouts from all this nasty Trump tariff stuff is the fact that Renegade Games Studios doesn’t appear to be bringing the latest Garphill games to retail in North America (or even in the world, I guess?) anymore.
There have been tons of questions from people on BGG asking when the South Tigris expansions will be coming to retail, and the general answer has either been “they’re not,” or “that will depend on Renegade” but there don’t appear to be any plans for it.
That of course means that any South Tigris reprints would not be coming to retail either, presumably.
But never fear, Garphill is here for your needs!
A Kickstarter landing page has been launched for South Tigris reprints as well as a playmat for Scholars of the South Tigris, which appears to include space for the expansion stuff!
That’s right.
Something new for those who want it, but also the chance to get these great South Tigris games fresh without paying huge shipping fees getting them direct from Garphill Games.
If you missed out and are feeling the sticker shock of trying to get these great games, then I’d advise you to save this Kickstarter to be notified when it launches.
It’s the sane thing to do.
Especially to get three of my Top 50 games and their expansions!
I’ll update this post when it does go live, but you can save it now and not need me to do that.
Time Travelling Murder – Final Girl – The Killer From Tomorrow
The Terminator movies were such memorable movies, helped by Arnold Schwarzenegger as the very memorable terminator himself but also by the wonderful Linda Hamilton, scared shitless but tough as nails in the first one, and just a badass in the second one (we don’t talk about the rest of them).
While the movies don’t really fit the Final Girl trope, you knew that something as iconic as these movies would make for a killer feature film.
It only took them until Series 3 to do it, too!
The Killer From Tomorrow feature film was designed by Evan Derrick with artwork by Tyler Johnson. It was published in 2025 by Van Ryder Games.
I’m kind of torn on this one, because part of me thinks that there is just a bit too much going on and to keep track of when playing this one, at least together. I’ll have to see how the individual parts play with other feature films.
However, on my third play of it, I had multiple cinematic moments that just made me go “oh wow” (I literally did, though nobody was here to hear me do it) and cemented this one in the positive column.
I still think it’s more work than I sometimes want, so keep that in mind when you’re choosing it.
If you want something straightforward, this ain’t it.
But if you want those awe-inspiring moments that Final Girl can give you, this one will give them to you in spades.
How?
Let’s get into that.
Read MoreNew to Me – March 2026
This is very late, and I am very sorry.
Usually I have written my “New to Me Games” post by the end of the first week of the month.
But March was such a cornucopia of new games that I just couldn’t do it!
Just past the middle of the month isn’t too bad.
I really loved the variety of new to me games, too. There were some great fillers, some longer games, and some games that I don’t need to play again.
Variety is the spice of life!
That, and the Cult of the New to Me was very happy because there were some really old games in here.
2015, 2009, hell, even 1992.
1992?
They were in awe!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen them that speechless, except that time I brought in Justin Bieber to perform for them, though that kind of speechlessness was probably murderous.
I apologized and bought them all dinner.
So without further ado (all of my ado was stolen with all of my cookies!), let’s get started.
Brace yourselves! This one is long.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 2501 – 2600
It’s time for another century of Boardgame Geek rated games, getting down into the second half of the 2000s and seeing what’s there.
This one isn’t quite going to be the bonanza that last time’s was, but there are definitely some good games in here so I still would hesitate to say we’re in the dregs of the BGG lists.
I know I keep saying it, but I’m so glad I’m doing these posts because I get to talk about games that don’t get talked about too much.
And these posts do seem to spark discussion among my friends about games that I have never heard of.
I don’t really care that these don’t get a lot of views overall.
That discussion is the main reason I do these, and it makes my heart sing.
So please keep it up!
Let’s get into this quickly so maybe the post won’t be quite as long as usual.
This week’s list is here, though keep in mind that the rankings can change as time goes on.
So if you’re a Killer from the Future taking time out from your evil quest to check out what boardgames were popular back in this age, don’t be surprised if it’s different when you go back to your time!
(I may have just teased what my next Final Girl review will be about).
I don’t see any new games in this list, so there aren’t any up and comers that are just here at this moment but will soon be skyrocketing further towards the top.
Instead, these are probably set pretty well and won’t change too much.
For this century, I’ve played seven of them and own (or previously owned) five, so not bad!
Let’s do what Pink says and…
The only song of hers I kind of like.
Read MoreCombat Commander After Action Report – Scenario LoM #6 – One Steppe Beyond
Have you ever been in a situation at a bar where you’re getting punched in the face, and rather than, I don’t know, getting out of there, you just stood there and took it?
Until suddenly you keeled over unconscious from the repeated blows, with your last thought being “I could have left, you know”?
Hopefully not, as that would suck.
But figuratively speaking, that’s how I spent my Saturday morning!
Welcome to another tale from the Combat Commander ladder, that monthly tournament where you get to play one of the greatest games of all time on at least a monthly basis.
Ok, “greatest” may be an exaggeration, but certainly one of the most fun games.
Run by the vigorous Patrick Pence (he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame, and I should probably watch the last couple of CC videos that I haven’t had the chance to!), the ladder is never stopping.
Though it is a couple of years away from running out of scenarios for a couple of the months, I think?
Anyway, April’s scenario is from the Leader of Men battle pack, a bunch of tournament scenarios with limited special rules and just straight-up tactical skill.
A Russian recon force and a German recon force meet on the Steppes of Central Russia in 1943.
Chaos ensues.
My opponent this month was David P, a guy who I have played (and lost to) once before, back in January 2024.
Could I turn the tide this month?
The Germans (grey – David) set up within 4 hexes of the left side while the Russians (brown – me) set up within 4 hexes of the right side of the board.
(Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to blow it up)
The only real special rule in this one is that setup is simultaneous, so you don’t know what the other guy is going to do.
You have to play it by ear!
The other two special rules are the removal of two potential objectives chits and the rule that neither side can voluntarily leave the board.
IT’S AN OLD FASHIONED CAGE MATCH!!!!
All objectives are worth 2 VP, which means you want to gain control of what you can as soon as possible.
Let’s see how this sorted out.
Read MoreCardboard Mob & Hot Spirits – Speakeasy Review
When many people think of The Mob, they are thinking of New York mafia types, or New Jersey ones like the Sopranos.
But when it gets moved back in time to Prohibition and the gangster wars of the 20s and 30s, everybody can name Al Capone and the many of the rest of them, though they are all Chicago gangsters.
So what does game designer Vital Lacerda do?
He sets a Prohibition-era gangster game in New York and only briefly references the well-known Chicago gangsters.
Yes, Speakeasy is the New York Mob game where you are buying or producing illicit booze and then selling it to gain a bunch of money.
Meanwhile, you’re also horning in on mobster territory, associating with other mobsters, and possibly attacking (or buying from) booze ships run by the Chicago gangsters.
Speakeasy was published by Eagle-Gryphon Games in 2025 (though many backers didn’t receive it until January 2026). It was designed by Lacerda with incredible artwork by the incomparable Ian O’Toole.
It’s also a monster game.
I mean, literally. The box is so huge that my friend who owns the game has a suitcase dedicated to it.
Here’s a size comparison.
It’s also a bear to teach, but it’s so worth it.
I played this game three times in two weeks (one Sunday and then twice the next week at the 2026 Terminal City Tabletop Convention), helping teach it twice.
It’s a long one!
Be ready for length in both teach and play, at least until you get more skilled at it (or play with three players, as all three of my games were at 4).
Let’s get into why this game is so good.
Read MoreDinner Battlefield – Food Fight: Reheated Review
Don’t you hate it when you’re having a peaceful Sunday brunch, and suddenly James’ bacon pulls out a machine gun and starts firing it at your burger, while Abi’s pesto linguini starts shooting rockets at both Vicki’s pizza and your tater tots?
Meanwhile everybody’s diving for cover because it’s suddenly getting hot in here?
Is that just me? Did I have a bit too much vodka last night?
No, that’s me and others playing the updated version of a classic (ok, I use that word loosely) card game.
Food Fight: Reheated is an updated version of the 2011 game of the same name (without the “reheated,” of course, because that would just be dumb).
Designed by Nathaniel Yamaguchi with art by Robb Mommaerts, this reheated version was published in 2025 by Cryptozoic Games.
I played the original as an app on my iPad many moons ago, but it’s been so long that I don’t remember any details.
So I couldn’t tell you what changes were made from the original, other than one thing the BGG page says (it’s streamlined so there are only three rounds) and I’ve heard that the Mascots, which were an expansion to the base game I believe, are now standard.
I could be wrong, though!
I’m sure a friend of mine will be by later to fill in the details.
Anyway, let’s get to the meat of the matter.
(I’m sorry. I’ll try to stop).
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 2401-2500
Since I wanted to get another post done this week and it’s going to take way too long to do anything else I wanted to do, it’s time for the weekly look at the Boardgame Geek rankings, century by century!
Last week was really bad, but this week actually has some really cool stuff, so this one will be much more interesting.
Things aren’t actually too thin at this point, which is interesting since we’re hitting 2500 here.
The dregs gotta start happening soon, right?
I do love these posts because they do spark discussion about some games that aren’t written about very often.
Of course, last week’s didn’t, but last week kinda sucked, right?
This week is much different!
In fact, it even includes one of my Top 50 games, which is a crime against humanity because it shouldn’t be down this low.
(I kid, I kid…it’s actually just a crime against nature).
For this century, I have played 9 games and own (or previously owned) 2.
This week’s list is showing here, but of course keep in mind that things shift and, if you are coming here many months in the future (or the past, maybe you’re a time traveler?), this list could be very different from what I’m mentioning below.
I am going to be leaving some games I’ve played out of this because otherwise it would be a monstrously long post (as opposed to just annoyingly long), but we’ll also cover some games I wouldn’t mind playing.
There are also a couple of first editions where the 2nd edition is now really popular, as well as a few wargames, and some games that reimplement stuff I’ve played but I haven’t actually played those.
So a wide variety!
Let’s get started.
Read MoreMarch 2026 Gaming
After a rather lackluster February gaming month, I knew March was going to be pretty huge.
Not only was it the great Terminal City Tabletop Convention, but it also captured one day of Bottoscon Winter.
It would have been even larger if we hadn’t missed a week of Sunday gaming (though probably only by 2-3 games, depending on what we played).
The month was highlighted by three whole plays in two weeks of the new Vital Lacerda game (more on that in the “New to Me Games” post plus the review that I will eventually get to) plus eleven total new to me games, which means that post may be a bit delayed as I try to write all 5000 words.
I ended the month with 49 plays of 32 games.
I know that’s a lot!
Last March, I had 44 plays of 33 games, so it’s comparable and I think the Sunday convention helped boost me over that.
Here are the games I played in March 2026.
And here they are in two grids (yes, so many games that I had to split it into two):
Many thanks to the wonderful folks who created the BG Stats app, which provided these statistics.
There are so many games there that I should probably just mention the highlights, right?
Let’s get to work.
Read More