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A Gaming Life
BGG Top Games – 2301-2400
Each week when I do these BGG Top Games posts, I comment about how things are getting a little thin down here in the 2000s.
It’s like you’re scuba diving and suddenly your air tank is reading as near empty and you don’t know how you got there.
However, I usually get a pretty good post out about it!
If I do say so myself. I know many of you may disagree.
However, I have to say that this week’s is truly the bottom of the barrel so far.
It’s not all bad, but it’s mostly uninteresting, and that’s even some of the games I’ve played!
This is not a symptom of how getting down deeper is going to keep getting worse.
I’ve taken a peek at what I’ll be talking about next week, and it’s a huge step up from this one.
I still think these posts are fun, though.
They continue to spark discussion about lesser-known games among my friends and readers.
Here’s the list I’m taking this from. Keep in mind that things can change, especially if you’re reading this years in the future (I hope I’m around that long!)
In this century, I own (or have owned) only two of them, and have only played three!
So I’ll talk briefly about those three and then get on to what I might want to play in the future.
Maybe.
(I maybe play in the future. No “maybe” I’ll talk about them. You can’t get rid of me that easily)
This century seems to have a large number of 1st edition games where the second one has come out to high acclaim relatively recently, which is kind of interesting.
That, and the sequel to a game that I own and love, but can’t find this actual one.
With all of that, let’s begin
Read MoreCuddle Bears of Death – Final Girl – Bad Times at Buddyland Review
Many of us have been to those amusement places like Chuck E. Cheese or Showbiz Pizza (that’s what they were called when I was a kid), where you have your video games, you have your dining areas where rambunctious kids are running around, throwing mostly inedible pizza at each other and, sometimes, hitting you instead. Or hogging the Qbert machine in the Arcade while I wanted to play it before the mother in charge of group corralled all of us other kids back to the table to gorge ourselves and hopefully not have stomach issues when we got home.
Ah, nostalgia…
Anyway, I think those places still exist, though I really only know because Ted Lasso references Chuck E. Cheese in an episode, so I figure it must still be somewhat of a thing.
That, and Van Ryder Games made a Final Girl feature film about one.
That’s when you know something is still in the zeitgeist.
(Is it still in to use the word zeitgeist?)
Bad Times at Buddyland is a Series 4 film in the Final Girl franchise that has you in one of these dens of chaos, fighting against not one, but probably multiple animatronic nightmares (I remember the Rockafire Explosion Band from Showbiz!) who are probably not in a band, but instead are trying to kill you.
Designed by Motti Eisenbach with art by Jacqui Davis, this feature film was published in 2025.
Both the killer and the location add some interesting twists, though moreso the killer because it can be brutal.
But on the other hand, I found this set to be one of the easiest of the bunch in my three plays, with two of them being outright (and easy) wins.
Granted, my first play I did the killer’s health slightly wrong, but I think I had enough oomph against him that I still would have won.
Anyway, let’s take a look at what this film has and whether it is worth getting.
Read MoreNoisy Mummies – Clank: The Mummy’s Curse App Expansion Review
One of the best things a game expansion can do is to add some cool new stuff to the game, maybe something different but still fun to explore, and then get out of the way.
Don’t change the mechanics greatly.
Maybe the stuff you added brings out an additional mechanic that doesn’t change the base game but is just like dessert topping on top of your cake.
(though really, wouldn’t you rather have frosting than dessert topping?)
That’s what Dire Wolf Digital did with the second Clank expansion, and the second one to come to their app version of the game.
The Mummy’s Curse is the second expansion for this really great game that was revitalized by putting out the app (in my estimation anyway, as I know many people love the boardgame itself).
The expansion was designed by Andy Clautice with artwork by Rayph Beisner, Derek Herring, Levi Parker, Raul Ramos and Nate Storm.
It was published by Dire Wolf Digital in 2018 and the digital version came out in 2026 (just last week!)
As is usual with my digital boardgame reviews (though not always!), this review will encompass both the game itself and the digital implementation.
So I won’t be reviewing the components or anything like that.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 2201 – 2300
As we get further and further down the BGG rankings, the pickings are becoming increasingly slim.
But it’s also made me think a little bit, considering some of the games that show up in each century.
I know, thinking is dangerous, especially for me.
I might hurt myself!
But it makes me wonder about quality games that just don’t get the hype that some of the bigger releases do.
The fewer people play a game, the lower-ranked it’s going to be because it doesn’t get a lot of rankings.
This is related to the fact that some games (especially wargames, but not only them) are just niche games.
They don’t have a huge audience, but the audience that plays them really loves them.
And many are quality games.
That’s what makes these posts worthwhile to me, even as we get lower and lower into the ranks.
Last time brought out a brief discussion of The Expanse and it almost got played at Terminal City!
Unlike last time, there aren’t any up and comers that are appearing here as they experience a meteoric rise to the top.
But there are still some good ones here.
Here’s the list I’m taking these from, though keep in mind that things can change depending on when you’re reading this, so some of the games may have moved up or fallen off by that time.
I only own 2 of these and have played 9 of them.
Let’s begin with stuff I’ve played and then go from there.
Read MoreTerminal City Tabletop Convention Retrospective – 2026
Has it been a year already since last year’s Terminal City convention?
Why yes, yes it has.
This year’s event was still down at the Vancouver Convention Centre on the waterfront, but it changed buildings to a much larger room.
This convention-goer approves of that decision!
While space was still a little tight on Saturday, there was no problem finding at least some space to spread out if you needed to.
With Bottoscon Winter 2026 happening just 2 weeks before, you’d think I would have been too tired to do something like this.
You would be wrong (though it was tiring!).
Three days of gaming after three more days of gaming two weeks ago.
Why can’t that happen all the time?
Anyway, the venue was really nicely laid out, but of course Convention Centre rules means no outside food or drink and you have to buy from their little cafe that was in there.
The cafe hot dogs (or at least the one I had) were way overpriced and not satisfying at all even if they would have been cheap!
But that’s not the convention organizers’ fault. They can’t do anything about the venue’s rules.
This building is not directly connected to the food court we usually go to (unless you take a long walk through an underground passage to the other building first), but it was nice to step outside and get some air sometimes.
Another great thing compared to last year is that the organizers decided to open at 9:00 am on Friday instead of 3:00 pm like they did last year. This made it so we had 3 whole days of gaming (well, Sunday ended early like always) instead of a long Saturday and two shorter days.
That was definitely an improvement.
The number of games I played wasn’t quite as comparable to last year, but that’s because two of the days had a 5-hour monstrosity played, which I’ll mention shortly.
It was so cool to see so many people who I haven’t seen in a while.
And Tim & Joanne, who I only met two weeks ago!
That was very nice.
I also met a few new interesting people, which is what conventions are all about.
That, and playing games that would not otherwise come out on a Sunday game day.
What’s that?
Get to the games, Dave?
It’s my blog, my rules.
Ok, ok, come back!
I’ll start now.
Read MoreChampions of Midgard Coming “Soon” to Steam
Just a quick post to tide you over until I get my Terminal City Tabletop Convention post done (there was a lot of gaming!)
I didn’t have time to post this last week, but I received an email from Grey Fox Games announcing that the old 2015 classic Champions of Midgard is going to be coming to Steam “soon”.
This is a worker placement, dice-driven combat game that I have really wanted to play for quite a while.
It’s apparently just really big on the table and the friends who have it haven’t been sure that it will fit on the table for our Sunday game days.
But now I may not need to play it on the table!
Here’s the blurb from Boardgame Geek:
“Champions of Midgard is a middleweight, Viking-themed, worker placement game with dice rolling in which players are leaders of Viking clans who have traveled to an embattled Viking harbor town to help defend it against the threat of trolls, draugr, and other mythological Norse beasts. By defeating these epic creatures, players gain glory and the favor of the gods. When the game ends, the player who has earned the most glory earns the title of Jarl and is recognized as a champion of Midgard!
Placing workers allows for the collection of resources and warriors, which players may then send on journeys to neighboring villages or across the sea to defeat monsters and gain the glory they need for victory. Resources are used to carve runes, build ships, and feed your followers. Viking warriors (custom dice) do battle with the myriad enemies the town faces.”
A Steam edition of this game would be very cool, and hopefully it will come to mobile soon after that.
No word in the Grey Fox email about that, but one can hope!
The publisher is Shufflestone Games, which I admit I’ve never heard of.
This appears to be their first Steam game, if Steam is to be believed.
They seem to be a brand new publisher, as their web site has a “Coming Soon” notice on it!
I’m both excited and a little leery.
Excited because I’ve wanted to play this game for quite a while now.
Leery because this publisher is brand new and who knows what to expect in terms of quality?
Still, the fact that it’s coming out is a great sign, and let’s hope it’s really good.
First-time publishers have hit it out of the park before.
You can wishlist it here.
Have you played the game? Favourite? Good? Bad?
Are you excited about this coming to digital?
Let me know in the comments.
Friday Night Shots – History is Sexy – Podcast Recommendation
Just doing a quick post for Friday night because I am once again at a convention!
Yes, the second convention in three weeks! But after that, it’s a dry 3 months before the next one.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you fans of history an idea, something I discovered literally the weekend of Bottoscon Winter when I was looking for a new podcast to add to my feed for the 30 minute drives.
My major in college was History and I have always loved studying it, as you probably know.
But I haven’t found too many History podcasts that really appealed to me.
However, this one is a lot of fun and also very informative.
History is Sexy is a general history podcast hosted by Dr. Emma Southon and Janina Matthewson.
Every 2 weeks (roughly), you’ll get a fascinating podcast about some historical subject, everything from the Medici family in Italy (3 episodes of which the 3rd one isn’t out yet) to Imhotep (Ancient Egypt) to Carthage to “Why is Shakespeare called ‘The Bard’?”
And much more!
Dr. Southon has a PhD in Ancient History from the University of Birmingham and is definitely a fun person to listen to talk about all of these various subjects. She’s written 5 books and co-written another, and after listening to the podcast, I’ll have to check them out.
Janina, according to the web site, “is not a Dr and you cannot make her become one. She has a bachelor’s degree in farting around on stage, and is the author of Of Things Gone Astray, and the co-creator of Within the Wires.”
This is just an example of how fun and irreverent the podcast is.
This is also on their web site, and just made me laugh.
“The Radio Times described us as a sixth form history class where the kids have got the teacher wildly off topic and you know what? Yes.”
That was always my favourite part of my history classes!
If you have a question or topic you want to hear them talk about, you can submit it through their web site, and it seems like all of their episodes (or at least the ones I’ve listened to) have come from listener questions like that.
Obviously you’re not going to get a truly in-depth analysis of a subject in a 1-hour podcast like you would in a 600-page book, but they give you a good overview of the subject and what happened, and it’s definitely enough to spark interest if you want to read further on the topic.
It’s all told in an informative, yet hilarious manner that will keep you listening even to the driest subject that you may not have that much interest in otherwise.
However, if you don’t like salty language, I have to say 1) what the fuck is wrong with you? and 2) you probably shouldn’t listen to this podcast, because there are definitely a fair number of “fucks” in evidence.
Not an excessive amount, but a fair amount.
All that being said, I have never laughed as much at a history podcast I have listening to this one, and yet I also feel well-informed by it.
That’s a tricky balance, and I think they have nailed it.
I’ve even gone back and downloaded some of the older podcasts with subjects that I am truly interested in, but from this point forward, I will be listening to every one of them regardless of the subject.
If you like history but don’t like it dry, give History is Sexy a try.
And now, back to gaming!
BGG Top Games – 2101 – 2200
It’s been a short hiatus for these posts since I’ve had end of month stuff to do, but after a couple of weeks, we are back!
Once again we are going through a century of games rated on Boardgame Geek, from 2101 to 2200.
This week there are a few decent games in here, though not a huge number that I’m that interested in.
As I said last time, though, sometimes taking a look at these rankings that are further down from the Top 1000, you find some up and comers that you know won’t be here for long, but it’s nice to see where they started before they meteor to near the top.
(Meteor is a verb…look it up! I have a new dictionary right here you can do it in…ignore the fact that there’s handwriting in it)
There is one game like that this week, though I’m not sure how far it will meteor. I would definitely guess the Top 1000, but we’ll have to see.
But for now, we can talk about it!
Here’s the list I’m taking these from, of course, though obviously things will change over time and, depending on when you are reading this, it may have changed a lot.
Read MoreNew to Me – February 2026
February was a slow month for new to me games, even with two days of a three-day convention.
Of course, fighting illness off and then actually not playing anything new for the February days of that convention would have something to do with that.
That should change next month.
But for this month, we have a couple of lunch time card games that actually are pretty good, if I do say so myself.
The Cult of the New to Me was pretty happy with me this month.
Not only was one of the games from 2019, but the other one is a revamp/reissue of a game from 2011!
I got the Nod of Appreciation from them.
That made me feel good.
Just wait until next month where all 13 games are from 2024 or 2025.
They’ll be furious!
So, without further ado (all of my ado was destroyed by some hamburger with a machine gun anyway), let’s get started!
Read MoreCombat Commander After Action Report – Scenario 89 – Beneath a Steel Sky
Fresh off of finally playing Combat Commander on the table last Saturday, it was still nice to play an online game with one of my friends from the Combat Commander ladder.
It felt like a warm glove, familiar and practical, even though I was still feeling the thrill of having my hand out in fresh air as well.
Or something like that.
Wow, that was garbled. Sorry.
Anyway, welcome to another tale from the Combat Commander ladder, that monthly tournament where snipers abound and men come back from the dead at the drop of a hat.
Run by the staunch Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame, the ladder lets you play one of the best games out there, at least once a month.
Maybe once a day if you’re up for it!
March’s scenario is from the “what if?” department, the Sea Lion battle pack with scenarios about the hypothetical German invasion of England. The German are attacking the British naval base at Porstmouth. A small force of stalwart British units is trying to hold back the German onslaught to give the British bombers time to destroy the facility and sink the remaining cruisers so they don’t fall into German hands.
I actually played this scenario with Eric Y back in February 2024, trying to guess what the next month’s scenario would be, and I really enjoy this one.
This month’s opponent was the esteemed Noel K, a friend who I have played a few pickup games with but this was our first time meeting “officially” on the ladder.
(Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to blow it up)
The British (tan – me) set up first, 10 hexes from the left side of the board.
The Germans (grey – Noel) set up last, 3 hexes from the right side.
After I see the German setup, I can then place the three Wire markers, which for some reason aren’t showing on the above picture, but will be there in the next one.
There are a few related special rules in this one.
First, after Time Track 3, all Snipers become bombing raid hits instead.
You don’t draw a random hex and choose whether or not to break a unit in or adjacent to that hex.
Instead, you draw a random hex and all units in that hex face a 10 FP attack, friendly or not.
Then, if it was a building hex, you place a Wire marker in it (removing all other fortifications). If it was an open ground hex, you place foxholes (removing all other fortifications).
After Time 5, the “All Exit Points Are Doubled” objective comes out.
Finally, the British molotov cocktails are plentiful, so when I use one, I immediately place it on the Time Track somewhere to come back out.
I enjoyed that one.
With that, let’s get started and see what happened!
Read More