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A Gaming Life
Notable Books Read in 2025
I love Goodreads as a way of tracking books read, though I am also really liking Storygraph as an alternative (since Goodreads is owned by Amazon, in case that matters to you).
Starting in 2025, I have been using both, but eventually I may just go to Storygraph. I try to limit my Amazon usage (though we are Prime members, so I know we’re not there yet) so I would love to use Storygraph exclusively.
One of these days, I’ll break this chain.
But not quite yet.
That being said, 2025 was a great year for books read.
My Goodreads reading challenge for 2025 was 55 books (I was conservative again) and I ended up reading 59!
I’m quite proud of that one.
This isn’t going to be a Top 5 or anything like that.
Instead, it’s going to be a list of books that I think you might enjoy, either from the non-fiction perspective or from the fiction one.
With that caveat, let’s begin!
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 1501 Through 1600
Sorry for breaking the weekly schedule, those of you who have been following these posts so religiously (hi, Bob!)
Last week had other important posts to do that didn’t take quite as much time, because these posts do take a lot of effort and such.
Not to mention it was Christmas!
But we’re back with another century of Boardgame Geek rated games goodness.
This time we’re looking at games rated on BGG from 1501 – 1600 and I have to admit that the returns on these are getting sketchy.
I’ve played fewer of them as time goes on and some of them just aren’t that interesting.
If the trend continues, that may put an end to these posts!
But for now, let’s carry on.
In this batch, I have played ten of them while owning (or once owning) four.
There may be some that I’m interested in playing, though, and there are at least a couple of gems here.
So let’s get started!
Read MoreRiding the Rift – Riftforce Review
There are a lot of two-player lane battler games out there, some with twists and some…without.
The best ones have cards with different abilities that are squaring off against your opponent in an attempt to have the most strength in a lane.
Riftforce meets half that definition, and it’s the good half!
Riftforce is a 2-player card game (though you can play it solo or in team mode with the expansion) published by Capstone Games in 2021.
It was designed by Carlo Bortolini with artwork by Miguel Coimbra.
What adds variety to the game is that each player is going to draft four different guilds which will then give them access to their elementals to play onto the long rift that divides the table.
Players are trying to accumulate Riftforce (wow, that’s the name of the game!) in order to win the game.
Read MoreSee You on the Flip Side – Fliptoons Review
One of the big hits in 2025, especially when you’re looking at fun, fast, and zany card games, is Fliptoons.
This game just basically covers all the bases if you’re looking for something light but yet intensely fun (sorry, Dan).
The game was designed by Jordy Adan and Renato Simões, with beautiful artwork by Diego Sá. It was published by Thunderworks Games in, as I said above, 2025.
The game is part deckbuilder, part auto-battler (except that there is no battle) and part race.
Those seem pretty distinctive, so you might be wondering what the hell I’m talking about.
Let me explain!
Read MoreDoing “Unethical” Things in Games
Short post tonight because it’s the Monday before Christmas and I wasn’t going to post anything, until something on Boardgame Geek sparked a thought.
Sam C on Boardgame Geek asked this question about Architects of the West Kingdom (a fantastic game, though one that’s falling a bit in my estimation as other games overtake it):
“This may seem silly, but it’s important to me to not play games with stealing. This game looks like a really solid worker placement game though…
Would this game still be fun without stealing taxes? Would I not have access to the black market? Would I not be able to afford very much without stealing? Or would I need to play a straight virtue strategy every time?”
Now, I’ve seen questions about “take that” in games, including about Architects! I know some people don’t like to do anything bad to their opponents in a game.
But this is the first time I’ve really heard a question about doing something immoral in a game that wasn’t a game about immoral actions in general.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 1401 Through 1500
I really like how successful these posts have been!
There has been some true engagement as people have gone through the lists and talked about their own experiences with them.
I know the last post was Sunday, but let’s get back onto that weekly track by doing a Thursday post.
Here’s the link to the 1401-1500 ranked list of games on Boardgame Geek, though keep in mind that the list can change over time, especially if you are looking at this in the far future!
Like the year 2500 or something.
A couple of them changed between me writing part of the draft of this post and when I finished it!
This sequence of games will have a lot of “I want to” or “I have no intention to” mentions, because I’ve only played 9 games!
Also, I only own 5 of them, some of those of which I haven’t played yet.
The inspiration for this list came from the This Game is Broken podcast, where they did a “Higher & Lower” segment based on games ranked from 1000-2000.
I took it from there, and will probably carry this on until people stop caring!
Please don’t stop caring…
The last post was heavy (well, 3, but still) in COIN games, but this set only has one (Liberty of Death: the American Insurrection #1487), which I happen to own.
There also don’t appear to be that many wargames in general.
That’s a switch!
You know what else is a switch?
Moving on without some kind of witty (ha!) segue…
Read MoreSomebody’s Knocking – Final Girl – A Knock at the Door Review
Horror movies are not really my forte (though I have to say that you should definitely check out Dust Bunny now if you can! It’s great and not really much of a horror movie, but it’s still fun).
Jump scares and creepiness while watching movies are just not really my thing.
For some reason, though, I love the tropes!
And that’s what Final Girl brings in spades.
The A Knock at the Door feature film for the illustrious solo game takes inspiration from a bunch of home invasion movies like “The Strangers”.
A trio of killers are trying to get into this secluded cottage and kill everybody in it.
This feature film was designed by Mike Martins with art by Heather Vaughan. It was published by Van Ryder Games in 2023 and is part of Series 2.
It’s not the first feature film with multiple killers (though maybe it is, since I’m not sure of the order in which this one and Panic at Station 2891 were published) but it has its own unique set of rules to manage the multiple killers.
Some may be good, some may be bad.
Before we let this person who’s knocking madly at the door inside, let’s take a look at it all.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 1301 Through 1400
Sorry to break the “weekly” routine, but other posts needed to happen last week.
But hey, at least it’s Sunday!
Ok, that’s part of the next week, but still
It’s time for another look through the Boardgame Geek top game rankings, this time in the 1301-1400 range.
How about adding a link to the list, unlike previous installments!
Here’s the link to this batch of games, though keep in mind that it could very well have changed by the time you look at it.
One thing notable about this sequence of 100 games is that there are a lot of COIN games (Counter-Insurgency, a GMT staple).
And none of them that I’ve played (well, kinda).
The inspiration for this list came from the This Game is Broken podcast, where they did a “Higher & Lower” segment based on games ranked from 1000-2000.
I decided to look at each century and see what I’ve played, what I’ve reviewed, and what I might want to play.
As I mention above, keep in mind that this list can change over time, so if you look at this in a year or two, some of these games may not be on there.
They may have moved up, or they may have moved down.
Or they may have removed themselves in disgust, but hopefully not.
As far as games I own and have played, I have only played ten of them (smaller than ever!) and I own (or have owned) seven.
A small group, so this post may be dominated by games I want to play instead.
With all of that, let’s begin!
Read MoreCombat Commander After Action Report – Scenario #46 – Pegasus Bridge
I must have done some really bad things in a previous life.
Maybe I held an entire disco hostage, forcing them to listen to the long-forgotten Blues album by Gilbert Gottfried.
This week’s Combat Commander ladder game is a testament that I must have done something truly evil.
Because the gods just hated me.
This wasn’t the typical “oh, you’ve offended the Combat Commander gods, haha you” type of result.
This was “you are a terrible person, or at least you were” type of result.
What am I talking about?
Welcome to another tale of adventure from the Combat Commander ladder.
The ladder is a monthly tournament run by the nonpareil Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame.
Really, it is fame, too. I heard Vin Diesel speak highly of him.
Anyway, November’s scenario is from the Normandy battle pack of scenarios and has some intrepid British paratroops facing off against German conscripts (followed by some regular line units) to try and take the very important Pegasus Bridge.
My opponent this month was Nathan F, a guy I played before back in February 2023 when my German tanks just ran roughshod over his French “1-discarders”.
Yes, Nathan, revenge is sweet.
The Germans (Grey – Nathan) have a small conscript force in the trenches around the bridge while the British (Tan – Me) have a few airborne troops that have to be set up in and around the two glider spaces.
There’s also some Wire along with the trenches, and it’s all preset. The Germans don’t get any choice.
Here is our ultimate setup.
(Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to blow it up)
There are a few special rules for this scenario.
First, Normandy rules are in effect, which means (for this scenario at least) that the hedges are bocage (harder to move through and better cover) and that’s actually it!
The rest of the Normandy rules don’t come into play.
However, the Night rules are also in effect, which means there is a +1 hindrance for each hex between firer and target as well as the ability to use starshells to eliminate that hindrance.
Movement also costs one extra MP if not along a road, which became annoying.
Finally, and the most annoying, if you discard on your turn, you have to discard your entire hand (like the Partisans). No “let’s discard these two cards to see if I can get something to go with these two Ambush cards”.
Scenario-specific special rules are the reinforcements that you can see on the Time Track (the Germans get a bunch fairly early while the Brits get a few later).
Also, the Infantry Gun on the bridge can never be destroyed.
If the crew manning it (who must set up there) is eliminated or leaves, the gun stays there for anybody else who happens into the hex.
It can jam, however, and it did in this game.
Finally, the German player does a Sniper check at the end of each Time trigger.
Thankfully (and one of the few thankful things), that didn’t have much effect in our game.
How’d it go?
Well, you obviously know by now, but let’s be entertained and actually see it happened!
Read MoreNew to Me – November 2025
I knew that November was going to be huge for New to Me games, but I didn’t realize just how huge!
Between a convention (which, surprisingly enough, I didn’t play many new to me games at until the day Abi showed up) and multiple Sundays with Abi showing up (are you sensing a theme here?), there ended up being twelve!
Granted, one of them was mine and three others didn’t involve Abi, but still.
That was amazing, but also tough to write about, hence why this is so late.
However, with the huge variety of games on offer, the Cult of the New to Me was made very happy with some of the choices I made.
2017? Oh my god, 2000??????
That seemed to distract them from the fact that all 10 other games were either from 2024 or 2025 (though granted two of them were new editions of old games).
I get the feeling that they think 2000 was almost an eon ago.
With them being successfully sated for another month, rebellion avoided and everything, it was a good month!
This is going to be a very long post, so hold on tight and make sure your underwear stays on!
Without further ado (all of my ado was lost in some disaster somewhere anyway), let’s begin.
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