Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
BGG Top Games – 4801 – 4900
Even closer to 5000 on the Boardgame Geek ranking system, the pickings of played games are getting slim!
Not so slim that it would keep me from doing another in this series of posts, because it’s so goddamned fun to talk about games, both ones I know and ones I don’t!
And it seems to be fairly popular, at least among the folk who matter.
Before we go into that one, though, let’s look at our two experiments.
Last week I said that I would give The Game Makers one more week to wow me because its rocketing up the charts had slowed considerably.
This week, it seems to slowed down even more, so this may be the last week I look at this one.
When last week’s post went out, it was sitting pretty at #2855.
As of writing this last Friday, it’s now at #2824.
Not much movement!
Of course, at the time of this posting, it’s at #2773, so it’s still moving up a little bit! Still less than a hundred, but it’s on its last legs for this experiment.
The other experiment is Wingspan Pocket and it may be the last week for that one too.
Last week it was at #1545 and as of writing this on Friday, it’s at #1515.
Still moving, but really crawling now.
Will it make its way, slowly but surely, into the top 1000?
Well, it’s at #1453 now, so maybe one more week to see if it still continues to slow?
The list that for this century can be found here.
Just don’t think that game you’re looking for is going to be here if you’re coming six months from now.
It’s probably long out of print.
This week continues last week’s drought of games played, with the exact same number!
Yes, I’ve played two of the games in this century and don’t own any of them.
That means more about interesting games instead of this dreck, right?
(I shouldn’t say that. One of the games is actually quite good).
Introduction’s word count almost used up, so let’s get started!
Read MoreFriday Night Shots (Saturday Edition) – Games That Intimidate You
I was going to leave my Friday post to be the Tag Team review that posted yesterday.
Then I was reading something tonight while eating dinner (I can’t even remember what prompted it, so it must have been stewing a bit in my subconscious) that made me want to actually write something tonight.
This may be a bit of stream of consciousness, so hopefully it will make sense!
Do you have any games that just intimidate the hell out of you, so much so that you don’t end up playing them?
Maybe it’s how big and complicated they are, maybe it’s getting them to your game day, or maybe it’s just something about the time/effort involved to actually play it.
I have a few of those, one that I’m kind of embarrassed about but I’ll put it here anyway.
Let’s get that one out of the way first.
Read MoreBack to Video Game Fighting – Tag Team Review
There have been a few “auto-battler” card games out in the last few years, most notably Challengers (which is a huge multiplayer tournament romp if you do it right).
What is an auto-battler?
It’s when you have a deck of cards shuffled, and you play the top card of your deck against the top card of your opponent’s deck.
The most classic one with a basic set of cards is War, of course, but there’s no skill in that one at all.
What happens when you have two unique characters, with their own cards and their own abilities, facing off head to head in the same kind of conflict?
That’s when you get Tag Team, an auto battler where you start with a very small deck and keep adding to it until you’ve eliminated one of your opponent’s characters.
Tag Team was designed by Gricha German and Corentin Lebrat, with artwork by Xavier Gueniffey Durin.
It was published by Scorpion Masqué in 2025, and it already has an expansion out!
The game comes with twelve different fighters, of which you will be using four (two each).
It’s short, punchy (sorry), and ready to make you want to play again after you’ve faced crushing defeat.
It also has a bunch of different ways of crushing you.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 4701 – 4800
We’re getting close to the 5000 mark on this look at centuries of Boardgame Geek game rankings, and one thing is becoming clear:
I haven’t played a lot of these as we get deeper!
Last week was a bit of a return to form after a week where I hadn’t played anything.
This week doesn’t get quite that bad, but it’s close!
I’m not counting a game that slipped out of last week’s century and into this one, because I’ve already counted it.
But first, to our experiments, and to see whether or not it’s worth continuing these.
First, The Game Makers, published by Bezier Games, has been going up the charts since the Kickstarter began fulfilling, but it started slowing down last week.
Last week, it ended up at #2958, but as I write this on Saturday, it’s currently at #2923
Not a lot of movement!
If it hasn’t move up much by the time this posts on Wednesday, I’ll probably discontinue this one.
Since it’s at #2855 at the time of posting, I’ll give it one more week. It’s not even 100 places!
On a different front, though, Wingspan Pocket seems to be still moving steadily (if not exactl rocketing).
When last week posted, it was at #1649. As I write this on Saturday, it’s at #1604.
Maybe it’s stalling too?
As this post goes live, it’s at #1545, so maybe not heading for the Top 100.
But we’ll see!
While this week isn’t a total desert, it is certainly drought-laden, with me having only played two games and owning neither of them.
That will give us plenty to talk about in the “interesting games” category, though.
Getting close to the introduction limit, so let’s begin!
Read MoreCombat Commander Pacific – After Action Report – Scenario F – Stalemate
Sometimes when you’re playing one of the most fun games on the planet (a slight exaggeration, but not much!), things just happen in a way that doesn’t benefit you.
It’s not exactly random chance, because often the luck evens out during the course of a game.
But maybe just one thing breaks against you, and things steamroll from there.
Sometimes that’s me, and sometimes it’s not.
Welcome to another tale from the Combat Commander ladder, that great monthly tournament run by the unequalled Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame.
He is famous!
He definitely has more followers than me.
Ok, that’s not saying much, but he still has a lot.
In September and October, we move from the European battlefield to the Pacific, so everybody has to relearn rules that they haven’t used in 10 months.
Especially when there are caves involved.
This month’s opponent was Doug L, a guy I played against in March 2024 in a Sea Lion scenario that was also a blast to play.
This month’s scenario has a force of US Marines storming the hills on the island of Peleliu against a small Japanese force that were hiding in a bunch of caves.
Don’t forget that you can always click on a picture to blow it up
Both sides have scouts, so they could set up their mortars out of line of sight of the enemy and still rain fiery death (or, in my case, smoke) down on them.
The Japanese (white, Doug) set up first and Doug concentrated them mostly on the big hill in the centre of the map, with his only leader (other than the Scout) looking down and leading a big Japanese machine gun.
The Japanese Scout was up on the north on another tall hill.
The Americans (green, Me) set up 3 hexes from the left side of the board and were basically hiding in the jungle for the moment.
I had Sgt MacGowan and three squads in the south, hoping to storm the middle hill, while the bulk of the firepower was grouped with Captain Van Dyke.
That firepower included a huge .50 Caliber MG that could wreak havoc.
The American scout was situated so he could have the mortars fire smoke both at Atsuda and the Scout as well, aiding in the American advance.
Three special rules, but literally none of them came into play this game.
First, the Japanese can give up initiative to activate all Japanese units and they can form fire groups even if they are not adjacent.
Secondly, the Americans can give up initiative to get access to a naval bombardment, a 13-firepower Artillery attack (otherwise the Americans cannot get artillery at all).
Finally, Captain Van Dyke has a +2 strength in melee.
After setup, the Americans went first.
Could I pull this out? I got annihilated as the Americans by my friend Michal the last time I played this scenario.
Let’s find out!
Read MoreElevating Card Play – Up or Down Review
Relatively quick card games are my bread and butter on work lunches, though of course we also make time for some other shorter games (like Cascadia).
One game that was not on my radar at all until I saw the Boardgame Geek GameNight! crew play it was a card game about building elevator shafts called Up or Down.
After playing it, I have to say that this is the best game about building elevator shafts that I have ever played.
(as an aside, can I just say that it’s so amazing that GameNight! has the wonderful Deborah Ann Woll on it sometimes? It’s really cool seeing her play games, and I have to admit that her being on this episode is what brought me to it)
Anyway, Up or Down was designed by Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer with artwork by Marek Bláha, Kwanchai Moriya, and Jina Rueter. It was published by Capstone Games in 2024.
In the game, you are playing cards in either ascending or descending order into one of your three elevator shafts.
If you can’t, or want to start a new one because you’re already at three, then you can scrap one of yours and discard the cards.
Those cards still get you a point each.
Remember that horribly named The Game card game where you are trying to get rid of all of your cards by placing cards in an ascending or descending order pile?
It’s kind of like that.
How is it?
Wow, I never knew how much I loved elevator shafts.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 4601-4700
After a week where I literally had not played any of the games in the Boardgame Geek century I was talking about, this week is going to be huge!
Well, maybe not huge, but we’re back to at least a few.
That will probably be welcome to those of you who read last week’s post.
Of course, one of these games was played over 10 years ago, so there won’t be much memory regarding that one.
Before we get into that, though, let’s check in on our two experiments to see where they are now.
The Game Makers (from Bezier Games) ended up at #2991, breaking into the top 3000.
I’m writing this on Thursday lunch, and it’s up to 2988.
Is it slowing down, or that just because it’s less than 24 hours later? I do know it was moving up faster previously.
And at the time of posting, it’s currently at #2958, which appears to be almost a complete stop!
Will that change when more of them get out into the wild?
Maybe.
The other experiment is Wingspan Pocket.
When last week posted, it was at #1783 and moving up fast.
Less than 24 hours later, on Thursday, it’s at #1768.
I doubt this one is slowing down, but we’ll see!
At the time of this posting, it’s at #1649, which means it’s not rocketing upwards anymore.
Maybe just a slower burn?
We’ll see where it ends up.
This week’s century does give me a bunch to talk about, as I have played five of the games and own three of them.
And I’ve played all the ones I own!
With a slight caveat, which you’ll see when I talk about it.
(That’s not always the case)
Keep in mind that these rankings can change over time, so if you come here to find that game your 15-year-old son just introduced you to (even though he’s not even been born yet as I write this), it may not be here!
With that, let’s begin.
Read MoreGarphill Games News – New East Empire Game! And Paladins Stuff
Double post day today, but I didn’t remember that the Garphill Games announcement Youtube was going live today.
There was some really exciting news in this one, especially the new East Empire game!
There are some other announcements, like a couple of card games, the Spirited expansions and the like.
But two big ones are the ones I want to talk about.
Read MoreDinos Dinos Everywhere! – Final Girl – The Raptor Games Review
We are now down to it.
The final Final Girl feature film left for me to play, though I do have three vignettes to play.
Series 4 is now over with the release of The Raptor Games, a film where you are on an island facing not just a pack of vicious raptors that can tear you limb from limb, but also a T-Rex who, if he gets out, could chomp you with one bite.
(You can click on a picture to expand it)
The Raptor Games was designed by Byron Jorjorian and A.J. Porfirio, with art by Tyler Johnson. It was published by Van Ryder Games in 2026.
Unlike The Green Terror, there isn’t really a thematic disconnect of “why are you actually on this island?” or anything like that.
Hell, Jurassic Park (and others films in the series) had kids in it.
From the title of the film and at least one Event card, it looks like there are actual survival games on this island, which is pretty cool I guess.
Essentially, you are on an island facing off against a voracious pack of raptors, with more of them hatching and joining the pack all the time.
The island also has an active volcano and a lone T-Rex locked in a pen, just itching to get out.
Poor thing is all by itself!
Together, this can make for a horrifying combination.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – The Art of the Pass
Last week, I talked about people intentionally breaking a game by doing something that doesn’t change the game state.
In the post, I referenced everybody in a game of Terraforming Mars just passing as their first action, which doesn’t do anything to make the game advance.
That made me think about games that actually have some benefit when you “pass” or end your round or something.
Then I thought “Dude, why are you wearing shorts when it’s 50 degrees out?”
I had no answer for that. I’m just weird.
I also thought “hey, that’s a great idea for another post!”
And here we are.
Many games have round structures where, when you pass, you are out of the round. You’re essentially saying “I have nothing left to do while all of these other people have tons to do so I’ll sit here and twiddle my thumbs.”
Terraforming Mars is one of those games!
But I do like these types of games for one reason: It’s a great time to say “I’m passing, so I will go to the bathroom while you all take the rest of your turns. I may be a few minutes but I know you all won’t be done yet when I get back.”
But not every game is like that.
In fact, some actually give you some benefit!
What do I mean?
Let’s take a look.
Read More