July 2026 Gaming

July is always going to be a bit of a slower month for gaming, mainly because I’m on vacation for a large portion of it.

That means no lunchtime games!

Though I was able to get a bunch of Final Girl plays in, which made up for those a little bit.

No conventions, just our Sunday fun days, which have been including some longer games so the number of different games can be pretty low sometimes.

I was happy to get a different solo game played once too, because I enjoy it and to add to the statistics.

Sorry, I’m a stats nerd!

Overall, I played 15 games a total of 24 times, which actually does slightly beat the last month (April) where I didn’t have a convention or some other long day of gaming (17 games 22 times).

Of course, Final Girl once again tops the charts with 7 plays, but I also played a new to me game 3 times (so it will be talked about in that post, after I review it).

Here’s the list of what I played.

And here it is in grid format.

Thanks to the wonderful BG Stats app for these pictures and the statistics!

Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to expand it if you want.

Also, the three new to me games will be talked about next week.

There were a couple of unique to 2026 plays in there, so let’s get started!

The one game I mentioned above that I played partially to get it into the stats is the wonderful Witchcraft.

This brilliant solo game is the sequel to Resist (which I will be playing sometime this year, I’m sure), but it’s so much better in my opinion.

I love how you’re using the successful missions to try and convince three jurors that you are innocent of all charges (not that you’re not a witch, but that you’re not doing nasty things to the townsfolk).

It’s a bit easier because there are more ways to get new witches into your coven without sacrificing other witches, so you’re not limited to having 12 in your deck at any one time.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Resist too.

But I’ve never won that one and I’ve actually won this one once.

It’s a start!

Surprisingly, I had not played The White Castle on the table since February of 2025.

That changed this month!

This is also the second time I’ve played with the wonderful Matcha expansion, which means a review is coming soon for that one.

This game is so good, and I’ve been playing a ton of asynchronous games on Boardgame Arena (the expansion really needs to get there soon).

But it was nice to finally manipulate the pieces for once in a long while.

Not quite such a long gap in plays, but it was also nice to get Inventors of the South Tigris to the table again.

Without the expansion because we had somebody new, and we ended up playing the long game rather than the short one.

Big mistake, as we finished in almost 4 hours.

I do need to get the expansion played again so I can finally review it.

Finally, for unique 2026 plays, Oh My Goods hit the table again.

This is such a great game, now that I actually understand it.

I can’t even imagine how I could have been having trouble with it in the past, but for some reason it was like reading Klingon for me.

We always play with the expansion now so that the game length is fixed, you get a bunch of new workers to choose from, and all of that good stuff.

One noteworthy game, even though I did play it for the first time in May, was another play of El Grande!

This is a classic area control game that I had never played, until May.

And it came out in 1995!

Unlike in May, this time I was able to establish an early lead and hold on to it with an iron grip.

I was a bit lukewarm towards it in May, but this second play made me really like it.

I don’t think it would be in my Top 50, but it’s still very good and game I would usually willingly play.

The other games I played in July are old standbys that I’m getting to the table often, like The Gang or Faraway.

There was, of course, my monthly Combat Commander ladder game, where I was able to pull out a win.

Finally (appropriately), I managed to get in enough Final Girl plays to get two reviews done.

That was a wonderful thing about my vacation in July: I got a lot of writing done.

I know it’s not games, but I just wanted to mention that I’m proud of the fact that I have not had any long-term lulls in writing this year.

I’ve been doing three posts a week, with an occasional fourth (like this one), and maybe once or twice I only did two.

But that’s ok!

I’m giving myself a pat on the back for that.

What games did you play in July?

Let me know in the comments.