Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
Seasoned Expansions – Sea Salt & Paper Expansions Review
Sea Salt & Paper is a fun little card game for 2-4 players with beautiful origami artwork and interesting mechanics that make for a great filler game.
Since it’s just a card game, you know that any expansions are going to be just, well, cards, and that’s what Bombyx has released.
Two mini-expansions (almost considered booster packs) have come out for the game, and both add a little bit of variety though one does more of that than the other.
New cards can really change a game, though sometimes just adding new cards rather than cards that have new mechanics don’t really get the job done.
Both packs were designed by the original game’s designers, Bruno Cathala and Théo Rivière and released by Bombyx (and Pandasaurus Games in North America)
The first pack, Sea Salt & Paper: Extra Salt, came out in 2023 and had cute origami artwork by the original artists, Lucien Derainne and Pierre-Yves Gallard.
This 8-card pack adds a new point-scoring card for having other cards out, in this case crabs (the only one of the base game basic cards that didn’t have a point-scoring card.
In addition, there are jellyfish cards that can be played with a human instead of playing a shark.
This effect, instead of stealing a card from an opponent, will cause an opponent to only be able to take the top card of the deck on their turn instead of their normal action.
The lobster modifies the Crab action.
In this case, instead of looking through one of the two discard piles and taking a card, you get to draw the top 5 cards of the deck and take one.
The Seahorse can count as an extra of any set card, though you do have to have at least one of the set and you can’t go above the maximum.
That part is pretty cool and makes set collection a bit easier.
Finally, the starfish can be played with a normal pair (ships, fish, crabs, etc) and cancels the action of that pair, but gives you 2 extra points.
So in essence the “pair” (really three cards) will be worth 3 points instead of one.
This card isn’t commonly used, though it could have some uses as you are about to end the round by calling Stop or Last Chance.
Overall, this set doesn’t add a whole lot to the game, but there are some pluses.
The seahorse is cool because set collection can be pretty hard in this game. It adds a bit of an option to it.
Points for crabs? Yeah, I can see that, since that was the only paired card that didn’t have one originally.
Couldn’t that have been in the base game?
Overall, the 8 cards in this one add to the game but don’t really make it that much better (except the seahorse).
Extra Pepper was released in 2025 (last year! Oh my god, it’s 2026!).
It was also designed by the original designers but this time the art is by Anicé Claudéon.
Since these 12 cards don’t have to blend in with the others, having a different artist makes sense (though they also have really nice origami art)
That’s because these 12 cards don’t get mixed in with the rest of the deck.
Instead, one is revealed each round and it’s the event for that round.
Both players have to follow that new rule, whether it’s to draw two cards instead of one when playing a Fish pair, or you only need 3 Mermaids to win instead of 4.
The cool thing about these, though, is that at the end of the round, they go to either the person with the highest score or the lowest score (depending on whether it has a plus sign or a minus sign on them).
That player will have that effect in the next round but the other player won’t.
The ones that go to the player with the lowest score typically help them (like being able to play a Shell card as a shield against the other player affecting them (no Sharks or Jellyfish), or if (after discarding) the two discard piles have the same colour of card on them, you can draw one of them.
If it has a plus sign, then it goes to the player with the highest score and it’s typically a penalty.
This could be an Octopi set getting you fewer points, or mermaids actually not scoring for you, or even not being able to end the round until you have at least 10 points (the normal is 7).
In other words, these events are a nice catch-up mechanism with the added bonus of, when they are in play for the round, both players have to adhere to them.
While Extra Salt adds some stuff but is otherwise kind of unnecessary, Extra Pepper is a really great addition to the game.
Whether I play with Extra Salt or not, I don’t really care.
But now that I have Extra Pepper, it’s always going to be in my plays.
It doesn’t add any rules overhead, since you just have to look at the event and what it does.
Both expansions are good and if you can get both of them, great!
But if you can only get one, definitely go for Extra Pepper
It’s just the spice needed for an already salty game.
Combat Commander After Action Report – Scenario #72 – Thunderstorm
Do you know that feeling you get sometimes, when you reach near the end of the game and then you realize that you’ve been forgetting a rule that would have really helped you throughout the last two hours?
Yeah, that was me Friday night.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
Welcome to another tale from the Combat Commander ladder, that monthly tournament of one of the finest games out there (I guess that’s a spoiler for this coming Friday, though you probably already guessed it).
The ladder, administered by the inimitable Patrick Pence (he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame), is the chance to play one of my favourite games on a monthly (or even more!) basis with some great people. Really, I haven’t met anybody on there who is annoying (except it’s annoying that Noel is always right, but it’s also helpful!).
January’s scenario is from the Resistance expansion (which I now have!!!!!) and has a band of Croatian partisans facing off against some elite Germans, basically trying to control a small town at a crossroads.
My opponent this month was Bill S, somebody who I hadn’t played before!
This was new.
(You can click on a picture to blow it up)
The Germans (grey – Bill) set up within three hexes of the right side of the board.
The Partisans (yellow – me) set up within three hexes of the left side of the board.
The only special rule is that my Sighting markers set up within six hexes of the left side.
Of course, Partisan rules mean that my weapon draws are random. I drew a medium machine gun, a light machine gun, a molotov cocktail and a satchel charge.
Partisan leaders also don’t affect morale and firepower (except weapons), but they can activate any non-leader they can see. There’s no “command radius” for them.
Which is handy!
Each objective is worth 3 points.
I started with a really good hand of two Move cards, because you really have to rush the town to get established in those objective hexes.
Great opening hand, all things considered.
Bill also moved his big fire group to try to establish position.
And then I moved further into the town.
I took some fire and one Partisan was suppressed, but more importantly Bill drew a Time trigger already!
Bill advanced his guys further into the town, but Sgt. Grein and his men stumbled into some Wire, which would affect his ability to form a firegroup with that massive clutch of guys.
So he advanced Grein off of that Wire…and into some more Wire.
I also repositioned a little bit, to give Maria’s MMG a good path for shooting.
Here are the positions after all that.
Now it would mostly become a knockdown, drag out firefight.
Because Bill always seemed to have a Fire card!
And his snipers were mostly better than mine (there were a lot on both sides), with a sniper breaking Maria twice during the game (including on this initial fire round).
He was also able to successfully rout one of my units, though he did it drawing another Time trigger.
It looked like this might be a quick game!
Here are the positions on Time 2.
I advanced the routed unit a little further from the edge and opened fire as well, though sadly with Maria broken I couldn’t activate anybody but those in her hex.
The fire was terrible, but one funny thing (in a rather masochistic way, I guess), is I drew an Interrogation event and was able to have Bill discard one of the three (!!!!!!) Fire cards he had.
That fire depleted my deck, so it was on to Time 3.
Things were moving, and maybe I could hold on? I had 6 points currently.
More German fire and even my broken Partisans were holding up, because I couldn’t draw a @%@%! Recover card!
(In going through the game to write this post, I just discovered I did an illegal Stealth move on an event, moving a stack rather than a unit. Maybe the future was karmic retribution?)
I did finally draw a Recover, though, and everybody rallied, destroying all of Bill’s nice work with no consequence.
To maybe bring some more firepower out, I infiltrated another Troop (those Infiltrate 0 cards are pretty good because you can do it and it doesn’t cost any VP!).
We would see where the Sighting markers were at next Time trigger.
More German fire…and another sniper broke Maria!
Some discarding, some firing, and my deck ran out again.
Time 4 and my new Troop was coming out.
In a great spot.
(the Troop goes in the Sighting hex, I just took the picture before placing it so you could see where the Sighting marker was).
A juicy broken German target!
Though Bill did give him foxholes with a Dig In.
The fire continued, breaking another Partisan, and Bill couldn’t have this interloper in his backfield, so he played another Fire card and, even through the dense brush, broke my newly-arrived Troop.
Since I had an Advance card (and was going to kill that German with it), I just Advanced off the edge of the board for a point instead.
This Troop would come back, fully-healed, on the next Time trigger.
I also did what I thought would be a cool thing, since I had an Assault Fire card, though I didn’t have a Recover.
What was that?
The Section with the satchel charge ran forward to exact some vengeance…and promptly paid for it on a low-firepower attack, but Bill drew a 10 to make it a 17 firepower.
That was not smart.
Even worse, I drew an Inexperience event, making me discard the rest of my hand!
Not as devastating as it would be…later.
And here’s where that “forgetting a rule” thing happened.
The satchel charge Section faced adjacent fire and lived, but then Grein (even on the Wire!) took a shot, and killed it.
Except it shouldn’t have necessarily been killed!
Partisans, when they would break for a second time, are supposed to draw a “Force Draw” card.
If the “Disperse” unit is smaller than the unit that broke, then you replace it with that size unit (Crew, Team, whatever) instead of killing it.
No points for the firer!
But I forgot that, the Section died, Bill got a point, and…well, you’ll see.
Even so, the Partisan units were holding their own, even without a Recover card.
I had another Infiltrate – 0 card, so I brought a Crew out onto the Time track.
Maria’s stack (broken yet again, so could only affect her stack) fired, and Bill drew a Time trigger.
Look where my Troop was coming out on!
That’s 3 points for me, but they are stuck out in the open.
That part wasn’t good.
I was now at 9 points (should have been 10) and two Time away from Sudden Death.
Things weren’t looking too bad!
Especially because my deck ran out right at that point.
Sadly, there was only one Sighting marker left, and it was not in a good space for my Crew.
Yeah, Grein couldn’t have that, and he wanted to get off of that Wire anyway, so he quickly advanced into the Crew’s hex and killed it.
Melee doesn’t happen until the beginning of the German turn, but I had no Move or Advance cards to get him out of there.
One point for Bill (and this was legitimate, as there is no Force Reduction in melee).
I had drawn a Recover, though.
Everybody rallied, and once again all of that German firepower went for naught (except for the dead Partisan Section).
So of course Bill started firing again, though with Grein out of position, one German unit wasn’t in Command radius so couldn’t.
The Troop who took the objective quickly broke, out in the middle of the road and everything.
I was going to Advance them off of the road, but I knew that just opened up the objective for Bill to take and I had no Fire cards, so I discarded my hand (seriously, an Advance and three Muster cards?)
Of course, the Troop died the next turn (though it shouldn’t necessarily have!), so maybe I should have Advanced away?
In the German fire, he drew a Sappers event, letting him get rid of that Wire so Grein could move back in and put that squad back into command.
The Germans in the north finally moved forward, and Maria was unbroken with a Fire card!
Of course, the first fire on the first movement drew a Jammed trigger, breaking the MMG.
The German broke, but it’s still not good. Especially when a German sniper hit one of the Partisans in Objective 5!
A German squad moved into Objective 4 and took it, for 6 points. He broke, but who cared?
Bill had a Recover card and…well, nobody rallied. But I was out of bullets!
I tried to rout them, but just suppressed them instead.
Bill quickly advanced him back into the Forest.
Though my MMG had been repaired on one of my rout rolls.
Too bad I had no bullets.
Well, I did, but Bill broke the Section that was manning the MMG.
On Bill’s fire, my deck ran out and I drew a Stealth event as well.
Sudden Death passed with no problem for Bill.
We were continuing, with me having a 1-point lead (should have been 3!)
I did have a Move card, so I should have made a run for the objective since the Germans up north were mostly broken, but I didn’t think I would make it because I was sure Bill had a Fire card for his other guys and they’d break before getting there.
After that, it was moot because Bill had a Recover.
I discarded and drew two Recover cards!
In the process of recovering, a Partisan sniper shot Grein as well!
But Bill had another Recover card and that didn’t last long.
The Germans up north opened fire on Maria and her entire stack broke, though she was just suppressed.
That’s ok, I had a Recover card handy.
Until I drew another Inexperience event…and discarded all of my cards!
That sucked.
Especially because I had two Fire cards too.
But my deck ran out so we were now on Time 8 with Sudden Death.
I drew a 5 to end it, but Bill gave me the Initiative.
I drew an 8, so gave it back (I knew I needed to end it now).
But an 11 kept the game going!
So of course Bill opened fire again.
And he had two Fire cards, so everybody could fire (seriously, did he ever not have one?)
Maria and her group were steadfast (though the guys with the MMG had buggered off on an earlier Rout so weren’t actually taking fire anymore).
And Bill drew another Time trigger!
Massive firepower, but in danger of the game ending.
Time 9 Sudden Death…and Bill drew a 9.
We continue!
Here’s the situation at that point, since it’s been a while.
By all that’s holy, could this game please end soon, before Bill killed one more unit?
I did have another Move card and was contemplating making a run for Objective 4, but that same fear came in, where they wouldn’t make it due to being fired on in the middle of the road.
However, I had just drawn another Recover!
So if my broken units could hold out for one more fire attack, things would probably be good (of course, that shouldn’t have mattered as much because of the Force Reduction I was still forgetting).
Sadly, Maria succumbed to her bullet wounds (she wouldn’t be reduced, so that’s a legitimate 1 VP, though that means we should have been at 2, not 0!)
The Troop in the south died (though he shouldn’t have necessarily).
But I still had my Recover card for those who had survived…until I drew another Inexperience event.
Curses!
Bill drew a Shell Shock event that broke the unit nearest a random hex, which turned out to be my MMG Section.
And that’s when I remembered Force Reduction.
And I drew a Section, which means it was eliminated anyway!
My deck ran out, Time advanced to 10, Bill had a 2-VP lead, and I drew a 10! The game would continue and I’d have a chance to maybe make a run for Objective 4.
But Bill had the Initiative.
An 8 and a 3 finally ended the game.
Here’s the final map.
Once again, I went an entire scenario without killing an enemy unit.
That’s not a good way to win!
I was so mad at myself for forgetting the Force Reduction rule.
The one time I used it, it didn’t matter, but three other Partisans died who might not have died.
Even if they would have eventually died, it would have taken more time and I could have potentially rallied them and used them.
It was so annoying!
Even with that egregious error, though, if the game wouldn’t have run to Time 10, I would have won anyway, so that’s just bad luck.
Still, Bill played an excellent game, utilizing his forces to their utmost, keeping the rain of fire going (I’m not 100% sure he didn’t stack the deck somehow so he always had a Fire card, with the couple of times he discarded in there just to throw suspicion off).
I would love to know how the game would have ended if I hadn’t forgotten that rule, though.
It’s very possible the outcome would have been the same. But we’ll never know.
Bill was a great opponent and we had a lot of laughs while we were playing.
I look forward to playing him again someday, and wish him the best of luck in his ladder future!
This loss leaves me at 29-27 in my ladder career.
I’m moving dangerously close to .500, so it’s time to win one next month.
Next month’s scenario is from the Fall of the West battle pack.
More tanks?
One can hope!
Yes, it was.
If you enjoyed this write-up, why not join us on the ladder?
It’s a great way to get a regular play in of a great game, and there are almost always pickup games available.
Tony’s got your back.
Until then, my advice to you is simple.
READ THE FUCKING RULEBOOK AHEAD OF TIME!
Yeah, that’s it.
Combat Commander Ladder – After Action Reports
To see all of my Ladder After Action Reports since May 2021, go here!
Top 50 Games Played of All Time – 2026 Edition (#20-11)
It’s time once again for another decade in my Top 50 games played of all time.
It’s been a thrilling ride for me, because I really enjoy sharing the games I love and seeing if anybody agrees with me, or if I’m out on a desert island all by myself.
Also, I’m proud that so far things are looking quite good for me getting these out on a weekly basis.
Remember how stable last week’s list was, where there was only one new game?
Yeah, this week’s almost the opposite.
A bunch of new games to the list and only three movers.
There will probably not be any surprises in it, though.
Well, maybe one or two, because I haven’t talked about them in a little while.
There were a couple of notable falls out of my Top 50, games that I wish I could table more often because they would probably jump right back up.
Yes, both Commands & Colors games that I’ve played (Ancients and Medieval) fell from 30 and 31 to 112 and 124.
Which is too bad!
They are great games, but they’ve kind of left my consciousness a little bit.
They’re sitting at work waiting for a couple of days with Bryan (since we can’t finish them in a lunch) and it just hasn’t happened.
One day, these will get played a lot and maybe they’ll move up the list again.
Anyway, I should give the usual caveats before we move forward.
I’ve played less than 600 games, so there will still be plenty of great games that I just haven’t seen yet.
I’ve upped my plays of the Top 100 to 56, though!
But you Hegemony fans will just have to have your class struggle without me.
Also, some of these games and rankings are after only a play or two (though that’s only relevant to two games on this list, actually).
With that understood (you do understand that, right?), let’s begin!
Read MoreThey’re Heeere – Final Girl – The Haunting of Creech Manor Review
One of my very first horror movies, when I was just a teenager and not watching these R-rated slasher flicks, was the PG-rated Poltergeist.
I watched it on a sleepover with some friends, and yeah, it was pretty spooky and scary for me.
So it was with that fond memory that I broke open another Final Girl feature film to see what other monster would kill me and add to my losing streak.
The Haunting of Creech Manor has a manor house…and a poltergeist!
Wow, you’d think I knew that was coming when I wrote that introduction or something.
This feature film was designed by A. J. Porfirio with artwork by Tyler Johnson. It was published as part of Series 1 by Van Ryder Games in 2021.
I have to say that while this film is fun, the Poltergeist has to be one of the most luck-based killers I’ve ever seen in Final Girl.
And I’ve played eight of them!
Yes, there’s lot of dice rolling in this game, so there is plenty of luck anyway.
But…but…ok, let me explain.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 1801 Through 1900
Last week, I mentioned that we were starting to get into the dregs of the Boardgame Geek Top 2000 games.
This week, that is just reinforced!
Though there is enough decent (ok, maybe “interesting” is the better word) stuff to talk about that it warrants another post.
We’ll have to see how the next couple of centuries go before I make a decision about pulling the plug on these.
The thing is, they’re so fun to write!
Even if they’re not that fun to read (be honest, I won’t judge or feel sad…much)
The top 2000 games, when there are thousands of games on the BGG database, are still probably decent games.
Maybe they’re just not hitting with me as much?
Why don’t you be the judge?
In this batch, I’ve played 8 games and own (or previously owned) 5.
I’ll try not to lie this time, but this might be a short post.
(spoiler alert: I lied again)
Here’s the page with this range of games on it, though keep in mind that games can move so they might not be there anymore!
Read MoreTop 50 Games Played of All Time – 2026 Edition (#30-21)
It’s another week and another entry in the Top 50 Games Played of All Time (the 2026 edition!)
Of course, this is “games played,” not “games” because at only 587, my number of games played doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s out there, so I don’t feel qualified to comment on “every” game.
This week, we have what is called the “stable” decade of games.
Not stable in the sense that there is no movement.
But, for the first time so far this year, it’s the only one with just one new game!
All of the other ones were on my Top 50 list in 2024, at least in some fashion.
Since there is a Garphill trilogy game on this list, I feel this is a good time to say that one of the trilogy games actually fell out of my Top 50 this year.
Yes, it’s true. I know you are stunned, but it is!
Paladins of the West Kingdom fell to #53, just outside and looking in.
I think that’s because it’s just such a long game (maybe that’s on us?) that it doesn’t get played that often and the enthusiasm to play it just isn’t there as often as I would like.
It’s one of only two trilogy games that didn’t get played in 2025, for example.
It’s still pretty high, at 53, so it’s not terrible!
Just not up there in comparison to others.
Here is also a good time to say that I haven’t played that many games, compared to how many there are, so many great games won’t be here because I just have no experience with them (though I have now played 56 of the Top 100, which is the highest ever!)
So you Agricola fans are just going to have to feed your people on your own and forget about me.
I can manage.
Also, many of these ratings are after only one play, so they could change in subsequent years based on more plays (or if I haven’t played them anymore)
Also, just a note that if I’ve reviewed it, the link will be to the review. Otherwise, it will be to Boardgame Geek.
With all of that out of the way, let’s begin!
Read MoreBook Review – Island Infernos by John C. McManus
In my 2025 Notable books post, I noted that one of the great World War II books I read in 2025 was Fire and Fortitude, an examination of the US Army in the Pacific Theater in World War II.
So many of the popular history books take the war in total, and give short shrift to the actual Army in favour of the Marines.
Not that the Marines didn’t do anything in the Pacific. They were quite dominant.
But John C. McManus looks at the Army in the Pacific in this trilogy (of which I haven’t read the third book yet).
Island Infernos is the second book in the trilogy and it covers the 1944 invasions of various Pacific islands as well as General Douglas MacArthur’s push through New Guinea and into the Philippines, fulfilling his promise to return one day.
However, McManus pulls no punches in his story of the Army units.
This book gripped me as much as the first book did, and while it did take a while to read (almost 2 weeks, which actually is pretty good for me with a large history book!), there is just so much good stuff in here that I enjoyed every minute reading it.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 1701 Through 1800
We’re starting to get down into the dregs of the Boardgame Geek Top 2000 games.
Not dregs in that these are bad games, because considering there are thousands of games in the BGG database, the top 2000 are still fairly highly rated.
But just “dregs” in that I haven’t played many of the games, and the ones that I did play I didn’t really care for!
That, and there aren’t that many games in the list that I really want to play either.
However, these are still in the Top 2000, so we can still take a look at them.
In this batch, I’ve played 8 of them and have owned (or still own) three.
That’s not much!
This might be a short post.
(spoiler alert: I lied)
So let’s get started and see what we have here!
Read MoreTop 50 Games Played of All Time – 2026 Edition (#40-31)
This year’s second installment of the Top 50 games played of all time and it’s the second on two weeks!
I’m on a roll.
Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up the weekly basis for this so I can be done in early February.
The whole idea of doing a Top 50 list is just so thrilling to me, because it means that I’ve actually played enough to make one.
Did I think, almost 9 years ago, that I would be doing this and have played over 650 games?
I don’t think so.
One of the neat things about doing the comparisons for a list like this is seeing the movement from one year to the next list two years later.
Some of it was really amazing.
My biggest drop off of the Top 50 from 2024 was Heaven & Ale, which had a massive nosedive from 50 down to 258!
I’m not sure exactly why that is, except I haven’t played it since 2022 and just thinking about trying to score the thing makes my head hurt.
It was intriguing to me back in the day, and I certainly wouldn’t say no to trying it again to see if I can rekindle the fire.
But I’m not eager to.
Which is too bad, because the mechanics of it are quite interesting.
Oh well, you can’t have everything.
Anyway, before we get started on this week’s 10 games, I just want to repeat the caveat that while I have played a hefty number of games, I haven’t played that many.
A large number of well-regarded games are not going to be represented here.
So you Skyteam fans are just going to have to land the damned plane yourselves!
However, I am rooting for you.
Also, many of the ratings are after one play, so things can change drastically in another two years.
With that, let’s begin!
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 1601 Through 1700
Another break in the weekly schedule, but that’s because of New Years, a new month, some end of the year stuff, and all of that.
I hope your new 2026 year has been treating you well so far!
We’re back with another century of boardgaming goodness, checking the latest Boardgame Geek rankings from 1601 through 1700!
This list returns to form a little bit, because while I still haven’t played that many of them, there are definitely some notable ones on the list.
I can actually talk about some of these!
In this batch of games, I’ve played 12 of them, with 10 either owned or previously owned.
While I have played (and owned) a few of these, there aren’t that many that I haven’t played and really wanted to, so this might be a shorter post than normal!
Yeah, like that happens.
Let’s get this list started so I can move on to my Top 50!
Here’s the BGG page this is taken from, though the rankings can obviously change over time.
Read More
Dude! Take Your Turn! 