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A Gaming Life
Violent Conventions – Final Girl – Shriek Review
One of the cool things about how the whole Final Girl franchise (from Van Ryder Games) has come about is that each group of feature films is tied into a series, with the occasional vignette or special feature.
That appears to be coming to an end with the conclusion of Series 4 in August, meaning that future releases won’t be grouped together like they are now.
They haven’t really explained how they’re going to do it, but I’m sure we’ll find out more at the end of 2026.
In the meantime, there’s a final special feature, which totally has its tongue in its cheek even as it frustrates you to no end.
And I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way.
Shriek was published in 2025 by Van Ryder. It was designed by Evan Derrick and A. J. Porfirio with artwork by Tyler Johnson.
And it takes place at a boardgame convention!
How meta is that?
If you thought The Killer From Tomorrow was busy with stuff to keep track of, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Shriek has tons of miniatures for the killer, though you are (barely) able to keep everything in the package.
There are also multiple “clue” cards and a handy-dandy red plastic clue viewer as well.
I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid.
This is probably their most component-packed film yet, at least from the ones I’ve played.
And I’m here for it, though again it depends on how much work I want to do, because there is a lot of work involved in this one.
Let’s talk about what we get in this package.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 2901-3000
It’s another week, and another century of ranked boardgames from the Boardgame Geek rankings.
I figure I’m going to keep doing this until I run into a century where I have literally played none of the games (even then, if there’s something interesting in it, I might still do it) or until some of you start begging me to stop.
Think of it like the Gong Show.
Except I’m not wearing a paper bag over my head.
(Editor – “Wow, you have dated yourself before, but you’re really doing it hard this time”)
So far, I’m getting really good discussions from these posts, and they’re fun to write!
Even when they’re a bit lackluster, like last week, there was still some good stuff in there (like rediscovering that Amun-Re session report, from which I’m still laughing).
Speaking of the rankings, I have a Top 100 update, as I have now played 59 of them!
I’m slowly making progress, though there are some games that I will not be playing unless some major changes happen (like any of the legacy games).
Back to this century, though, we’ve finally hit the 3000 mark, and we’re still going strong.
Can we continue to 6000?
Who knows?
As usual, the list I’m getting this from is here, though it can change over time. These rankings are close!
This week, I’ve played 8 games and own (or previously owned) 5 of them. All of the owned ones I have played, so no Shelf of Opportunity here.
Let’s not blather any more about this, as I’m just about up to my 300 word introduction limit.
So let’s begin!
Read MoreIt’s All Greek to Me – Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends Review
It’s amazing how many times a company can go to the same well, bringing up a game with all of the same mechanics and some slight variations in how those mechanics are executed, and still come up with a fun game that (maybe) surpasses the original.
Though at least so far without the scoring app that actually makes the game easy to score.
After going the comics route and the Star Trek route, Wizkids has come out with a new version of the ultimate filler game, Fantasy Realms (which I reviewed some years ago).
Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends is a new variation on this theme of having a hand of cards and scoring what you ultimately have in hand.
Designed by Bruce Glassco with artwork by Darren Calvert, this version of the game was published in 2025.
Whenever game designers and companies come up on variations of the same game, they usually try to add one major mechanical difference along with other minor variations as well.
Greek Legends is no different in that respect, as it adds the concept of the Afterlife (I’d say that’s getting quite theological, if Greek mythology didn’t already heavily invest in that).
It’s an interesting addition to the game that adds a bit of “strategy” (I use quotes there because really, there aren’t many games that are more tactical than this one) to the whole thing.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 2801-2900
Doing these weekly posts about these centuries of “top games” on Boardgame Geek have often been interesting because of the conversations they’ve sparked with friends and fans.
But they’ve also been interesting because I’ve seen some unexpected movement in the games I’m seeing.
For instance, one of the games I talked about last week (Age of Comics) was at #2794 in the BGG rankings when I posted that.
It’s already down to where it could be on this list, at #2805 (and then #2801 when I came back to finish this post)!
I often say that there may not be a lot of movement down this deep in the rankings, but that’s a pretty far drop considering everything.
One of the other games I’m going to talk about today, I was actually going to talk about last week but decided not to include it.
It dropped into this century.
Now I can!
Because there isn’t really much to talk about in this segment, though there are some interesting games, or at least interesting topics of games, to mention.
As for what I’ve played and own?
Meh.
I’ve also noticed something that could explain what movement there is in these deep rankings.
The first 20 games in this century range in BGG rating from 6.070 to 6.067.
That means just one slight increase or decrease and rank and a game can move quite far!
That intrigued me a bit.
Anyway, enough blather about all of that.
This week’s rankings can be found here, though keep in mind (as I went on and on and on and on about above) that rankings can change if you’re coming to this post in the future.
Even if it’s just tomorrow!
I’m just under my 300-word intro limit, so let’s begin!
Read MoreNew to Me – April 2026
This post took me a lot less time than last month’s did.
That’s because there were no conventions in April!
Instead of 10+ new to me games, there are only four in this month’s post, but they are all pretty good!
The Cult of the New to Me was very happy to see a 1999 game on there.
So happy that they didn’t seem to care that the other three games were from 2025 and 2026.
One of them actually came into my office and said…
But he had that look in his eye like I’d better keep this up.
Good thing that the first new to me game I played in May was from 2017!
I think I’ll be safe next month too.
(I know what you’re thinking…the head of a cult has an office? Welcome to the 2020s)
Anyway, enough about all of that.
You’re here for the games, right?
Without further ado (all of my ado was sold on the currency market for a small amount of bitcoin anyway), let’s begin!
Read MoreApril 2026 Gaming
I knew this month would not be as good as last month.
No conventions!
But I was still able to get some solid gaming in, though maybe not as much as usual.
One Sunday I wasn’t able to make it and the lunchtime games dried up slightly as well.
Still, there were some interesting games played, including one I haven’t played in over 10 years!
That was the highlight of the month.
I ended the month playing 17 games a total of 22 times.
As you can guess, Final Girl led the way.
Of course it did.
Here are the games I played in April.
And here they are in grid format!
Many thanks to the awesome BG Stats for the app that provides these images and tracks all my plays.
This one’s probably going to be a short one, folks, but let’s get started anyway!
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 2701 – 2800
I know I have said this before, but looking at the next couple of centuries in the Boardgame Geek top games rankings, at least the next couple of weeks are going to be very bare bones.
I haven’t played a lot of them and there aren’t a lot of great interest.
For those of you who have been thinking these posts are too long, that might be a godsend!
We’ll see how things go in future centuries, but I can foresee the end of these, which will make me very sad!
And some of you as well, from what I’ve heard.
But we’ll keep going, at least until I have a couple where I haven’t played anything at all.
Then we’ll see!
Checking through the list, there are only a couple from 2025 or 2024, and I’ve never heard of either of them.
So I doubt there are any up and comers on this list.
There’s always a little movement within each century, with sometimes the ones on the edges (01 or 99) sometimes moving into the next century.
That could be me being my usual wrong self, though!
Who knows? Maybe a bunch of people will discover the glory of Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition (#2772) and suddenly it will jump upwards!
Somehow I doubt it, though.
You can find the list I’m working from here, though keep in mind that things can change (even though they probably won’t by a whole lot, other than getting nudged downwards by the latest hotness).
So it’s very possible when archeologists check back on this in 200 years, something might have changed!
I’ve played 5 of them and own (or owned) 4 of them, which isn’t huge, but at least it gives me something to talk about.
Let’s get this started because I’m already at 300 words!
Read MoreThis Ain’t About Burgers – The White Castle Review
Is that movie too old to reference anymore?
I don’t care, but it is the only time I will make a burger joke in this review.
Yes, even though it’s in my Top 50 boardgames of all time, I haven’t actually reviewed The White Castle yet!
This review is to rectify that, though obviously you know it’s going to be a positive review.
The White Castle was published in 2023 by Devir Games. It was designed by Isra C. and Shei S. with artwork by Joan Guardiet (who notably does not have just an initial, and more power to her!). It plays 1-4 players, though I haven’t done the solo mode yet.
Instead of the burger joint, this is about gaining the favour of the Japanese court in some amorphous medieval (or maybe later or earlier?) Japan.
Each player represents a clan who is trying to gain as much influence with the court as possible.
Essentially, you are sending your clan members to tend the Gardens, or to the training ground to become Samurai and defend the castle, or perhaps just as courtiers to enter the castle and gain social status in the court of the Daimyo.
All of this is done with drafting dice, so probably a bit easier than it really was back then.
But not much!
That’s because this game is tight.
Really tight.
Yeah, that.
Read MoreBGG 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.