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A Gaming Life
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!
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Expansions Revisited
I know I’ve talked about expansions before on Friday Night Shots (both ones you won’t play again and whether or not you even like them to begin with), but a recent post on Boardgame Geek prompted another thought that I wanted to explore.
Somebody in the Final Girl forums was asking about the various feature film expansions, and Final Girl co-designer A.J. Porfirio weighed in on it, and how the expansions in Final Girl are so much different than expansions for regular games.
“I think an important factor regarding the solo vs multi factor when it comes to expansions is that very frequently with multi-player games the expansions are additive meaning you keep stacking more and more expansions on top of each other and it quickly gets unwieldy. However with FG the playset is confined to the same elements (for the most part) each time, i.e. Killer, Location, FG, and go. This means there is an accessibility element that is key in terms of the level of friction required to play. Just think of that game we all have with 7 expansions and how you want to play with all of them but the thought of relearning everything stops you before you ever really start. With FG sure you might have to relearn the special rules for whatever killer or location you are playing, but the lift is generally manageable for most people.”
This made me sit up and take notice a little bit, though it might be because of all the Canadian Club I had consumed (this is Friday Night Shots, you know).
A couple of minor thoughts from that.
For regular games where expansions are just heaped on top of each other, when is it too much?
And what is the difference between heaped expansions and expansions that are so modular that you never have to play with all of them at the same time?
(I have talked about modular expansions before, but this goes a bit beyond what I said there)
Two very distinct questions, but two things to keep in mind when talking about expansions.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 3901-4000
We’ve reached the 4000 mark in the BGG top ranked games list, and this century I have to say is one of the worst as far as my familiarity with any of the games goes.
We haven’t hit the “I don’t know any of them” stage yet, so we’re still keeping on!
Don’t all cheer at once now.
Last week’s post began a bit of discussion among my friends, which was very cool, and I was introduced to a few games that I had skipped over because I had no idea what those games were.
It’s funny how there are so many games out there that we all have our different areas of knowledge about them, even if some of the opinions are just “I like that one.”
This week’s list can be found here, but that old caveat still applies: if you’re reading this in the future, Thanos may have removed one of the games I was talking about from all existence (because he’s a bastard that way).
My numbers for this week are really thin. I’ve only played two of them and own three (those two and one more).
Thankfully one of the two I’ve played is an amazing game if you have the table space for it.
Also thankfully, there are some actually interesting-sounding games in this list, so I’ll have stuff to talk about.
So let’s begin!
Read MoreAgency Aliens – SETI: Space Agencies Expansion Review
One of the huge hits from 2025, especially for me (hitting #12 on my Top 50 games of All Time list) was SETI.
This game about scouring the solar system for various signs of alien life, all while trying to complete missions and land on planets, as well as interacting with the two (out of five in the game) alien species (or their remnants) that actually do exist and are all over the system, is just such a cool game.
(Wow, that was a long sentence, sorry).
However, the first of the five rounds was just kind of boring, with everybody wanting to make sure to get at least one income card played and maybe get a small start on what they might want to do throughout the rest of the game.
What can an expansion do to help that?
How about quick start cards that give you that boost as well as removing one of the rounds so that the game doesn’t get too long.
(Though it’s still long).
SETI: Space Agencies does more than that, though.
It also gives players a space agency to play that gives them asymmetric powers and increases the variability a little bit.
Add some new project cards to the mix and three new aliens, and you got yourself a stew!
Designed by Tomáš Holek with artwork by Ondřej Hrdina, Jiřà Kůs, Jiřà Mikovec, Jakub Politzer and Petr Štich, this expansion was published by Czech Games Edition in late 2025.
I’m not going to get into all of the ins and outs of how the game plays, since that was covered in the original review (linked above).
Is the expansion worth getting?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreCombat Commander Europe – #21 Saint Agatha
Sometimes history repeats itself from game to game, though not always to the same effect.
Sometimes you surpass that historical result instead of being pummeled by it again!
What am I talking about?
Combat Commander, of course.
Let me explain, after welcoming you to another adventure from the Combat Commander ladder, that monthly tournament of chaotic warfare administered by the resolute Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame.
And he is famous!
I heard he is going to be getting his own late-night show soon…
Anyway, a few months ago on the ladder, I had a disastrous game where I rarely saw a Recover card to rally my broken troops, and three #@%!% times, the Recover card I did see happened to be randomly discarded due to events.
The other night, my July game had something similar happen, though maybe the effect wasn’t as devastating this time?
You be the judge.
July’s scenario is from the Mediterranean expansion and has an Italian blocking force in northern Sicily facing off against aggressive American attackers who are trying to mop up the German forces that have already retreated from the area.
Leaving their Italian “friends” behind.
My opponent for this month’s game was a relative newcomer to the ladder, Jake S.
Here’s the setup for our game.
(Don’t forget you can click on a picture to blow it up).
The Italians (Teal – Me) set up first 8 hexes deep from the top edge.
One of the special rules is that they can keep up to 4 units (and their weapons) back, placing them on the 2 space of the Time Track (meaning they would come onto the board after the first Time trigger).
When they do, they can be placed in any setup hex with at least one cover (which I think I forgot the cover part for one of them when I brought them out!).
I decided to keep three squads and one of my two leaders back.
The Americans have a lot of machine guns, so I set up the rest of my guys so that only a few were exposed on the hills above the farm, and definitely not my big leader (he was covering the left side of the board).
The Italian mortar was set up to be able to hopefully do something before succumbing to firepower.
Another special rule is that the three 7-firepower mines (all mines are 7-firepower in this scenario) can be set up after the Americans do.
The Americans (Green – Jake) set up last 2 hexes deep from the bottom of the board.
Jake chose to set up mostly on the right side to try and power his way through the Italian screen squads I had placed over there.
I placed my mines to make getting through the woods and moving through cover and onto the heights difficult.
The other special rule is that all Hidden Wire cards for the Italians are actually Hidden Mines, and that one of the Hidden Mines cards starts in the Italian hand already.
Which is good, because I only saw one other one throughout the rest of the game!
Another big thing to take notice of is that all Exit points were doubled, so getting units off the board could be very lucrative.
With that done, we started.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Hidden Information
The title of this post is obviously about hidden information in games and not hidden information about me, because I am an open book!
Just…don’t open that door over there, please.
And ignore the sounds coming from behind it.
Thank you.
Anyway, many games have some information that is hidden from other players and the debate always becomes: should that information be hidden or available to everybody?
Of course, I’m not talking about secret role games, or those games where everybody has a secret goal they are trying to achieve.
I’m talking about games where resources are hidden.
Whenever this topic comes up in our group, the inevitable first (or early, anyway) thing mentioned is money in Power Grid.
According to the rules of the game, how much money each player has is actually hidden information.
If you’ve watched people collect money and spend it, you could track it.
But apparently one of the ideas behind the game is you don’t know whether your opponent is going to be able to afford placing in that city before you do, or how much they are going to be able to spend on that power plant during the auction phase.
Which actually made me stop and think as I was typing that.
Auction games often have hidden money, because knowing how much money other players have may affect how much you’re willing to bid on something.
Like Modern Art, all of your money is hidden for exactly that reason.
So maybe that’s why money is hidden in Power Grid?
Some would say that hidden money in a game like Power Grid just slows the game down where it’s already slow because people are savagely min-maxing their final couple of turns, trying to decide which cities to build in for maximum profit.
In this case, I think hidden money for auctions is less important than open money to increase the game speed just a little.
But what about in other games?
If it’s trackable, should it be hidden?
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 3801 – 3900
As we go deeper into the Boardgame Geek game rankings, it’s almost like going deep, deep underwater.
Sometimes there’s something truly beautiful down here, like some full-coloured coral in bloom that is just an amazing sight.
And sometimes you get a few rocks.
Last week was a few (badly-shaped) rocks.
This week?
At least the rocks aren’t misshapen!
And there are a few more of them.
I’m still enjoying the discussions caused by these posts, though even that’s getting a bit thinner (that could be because last week really kind of sucked, or so I’ve been told).
As long as I’ve played or own a game in the century, I’m still going!
I might even keep going if the games themselves sound interesting, even if I don’t own or haven’t played any of them.
This week’s list can be found here, and it’s not a bad one this week, though nothing really stands out.
Keep in mind that if you come to this post in the future, the game you came searching for may not be here anymore.
Especially if you’re looking for that game that just came out and so it’s on the list now, but by the time you’re searching, it’s hit #1.
Here are my numbers for this week: 5 games played and 4 owned or previously-owned (one of the owned I haven’t played).
Lots to talk about so let’s get started!
Read MoreKeep Quiet or You’re Dead – Final Girl – Don’t Make a Sound Review
The Final Girl series of solo horror games has had a bunch of different kinds of artwork in its various feature films, but they’ve all been similar in some fashion.
You can tell they’re be different artists, but you can also tell that they’re Final Girl art.
The latest feature film that I’ve played, Don’t Make a Sound, changes that a bit.
It’s almost like an animated film cell artwork than previous films have been.
It also fits the rustic tone of the setting and stands out as some of the most distinctive in the collection.
That’s a compliment!
Don’t Make a Sound is part of the Series 3 feature films and was designed by Katia Howatson.
The artist in question is K. Lynn Smith.
It was published by Van Ryder Games in 2025.
With a setting based on the movie Tremors (a very small desert town in the canyons and valleys of the American Southwest) and noise-based blind monster based on A Quiet Place, this entire film is tense from beginning to end.
Not only are you dealing with the Eyeless, but if you’re playing in Utopia, you’re dealing with Sand Snakes!
Combined, that can really ruin your day.
Let’s talk about the Eyeless creature first because it’s eyeing me menacingly…
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Are We All Required to Like the Same Games?
Taking a break from the Boardgame Geek thread that has been inspiring these posts the last couple of weeks, because I saw something else that sparked a desire to rant a little bit.
Not that these posts should be rants, but sometimes they might be.
It’s still on Boardgame Geek, so those of you who are getting sick of these might want me to stay away from there for a while.
Invariably when reading a game’s forum on BGG, somebody will eventually post something like this.
“This game has such a sterling reputation. When I played it, I was bored out of my mind. Tell me why this is so good.”
Sure, this kind of post will bring a bunch of people out of the woodwork sharing the praises of whatever game we’re talking about, and that discussion can be fun.
Or somebody will post a negative review of a game in the forum where there are (usually) nothing but fans of the game (if you don’t like the game, why would you be subscribing to the forum?).
And then be surprised at the negative reaction to that post, though some people are actually nice about it and say “everybody’s entitled to their opinion, but I completely disagree.”
However, somebody will always end up being the voice of reason.
“We don’t all have to like the same game. If you don’t like this one, play something else.”
It’s like the Voice of God singing out of the Heavens…but people still end up debating the whole thing anyway.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 3701 – 3800
Some of these “top BGG Games” posts are a little lean on games that I’ve played, though I really enjoy that because we can then spend more time talking about games that it would be cool to play!
If there are any in that century, anyway.
That’s not always the case.
Last week’s didn’t cause that much discussion amongst friends, so I guess even they hit a lean week.
Or they didn’t read the post.
Which makes me sad.
This week is going to be one of those lean weeks for me, though, as I was worried I would hit that fabled “didn’t play any games” plateau!
I didn’t, though, as there are a few in there.
I’m actually not writing this one a week ahead of time. Only 6 days ahead (that’s not a week!).
So hopefully there isn’t a lot of movement between the time I finish this up and when it goes live.
Speaking of which, this week’s century can be found here, but if you come to this one in the future, there’s likely some new up and coming game here that you’re wondering how it could be this far down.
Here are my numbers for this week: 3 games played and one of them (previously) owned!
Yep, lean indeed.
Let’s use some of this unused introductory space to talk about some games!
Read More