As I have done with my Top 10 Wargames of each year list I am going to do the same with the Top 10 Solitaire Wargames/Games that I played that were published in 2025. I played a total of 17 new published solo games in 2025 so take this list with a grain of salt as I didn’t play all the titles released in 2025 nor even all of the games that I purchased this past year. The games that I played include the following:

• Okinawa: The Last Battle of WWII from Solo Game of the Month
• Iwo Jima 1945 from Worthington Publishing
• The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth from Blue Panther
• Operation Dragoon Travel Game from Worthington Publishing
• Crusaders: The Siege of Acre 1291 from Art of Wargames and Blue Panther
• SPQR: The Battle of Alesia 52 BC from Art of Wargames and Blue Panther
• Siege Works: A Napoleonic Siege Roll & Write from Solo Wargame
• War In The Pacific: A WW2 Roll & Write from Solo Wargame
• Fields of Fire Deluxe 2nd Edition from GMT Games
• Europe at War 1940 Solitaire from Worthington Publishing
• Shogun Solitaire from Worthington Publishing
• Black Skin Black Shirt: Ethiopia vs Fascist Italy 1935-1937 from White Dog Games
• Empire of Grass from White Dog Games
• Onoda from Salt & Pepper Games
• Iwo Jima: Hell on Earth from Neva Game Press
• La Der de Ders – The War to End War from Hexasim
• Thermopylae: Last Stand from Solo Wargame

I have really grown to love my solo wargaming and it is partly because there are plenty of well designed and engaging games out there that continue to feed my curiosity and hunger for a tough challenge. Here I present to you my list of the Top 10 Solitaire Wargames of 2025!

10. Crusaders: The Siege of Acre 1291 from Art of Wargames and Blue Panther

A new solitaire game is always welcome on my table…and if that game is about the Crusades, even better! Earlier this year, Blue Panther released a new game designed by Joe Fernandez called Crusaders: The Siege of Acre 1291. The game is what I would call a lite dice-chucker with some very interesting aspects of a siege baked into the game. There are tracks on the board that track the condition of the outer wall, inner wall and accursed tower and the Crusader Knights, including Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights, inside the city of Acre have to defend against the Mamluk siege for 13 turns.

The game has a random event that kicks off each turn that will do damage to the city walls, kill knights and advance the Mamluk miners who are attempting to tunnel under the walls. There is just one event that if rolled can do a loss to the attackers but this occurs only on a roll of 3 on a 10-sided die.

The rules are very simple clocking in at 5 pages and are easy to understand and once read the game can be played only from the excellent player aid. I very much enjoyed the Deus Vult actions that are special actions that can be used to do things like repair a wall, reverse a Mamluk mining action or sally out of the city to offensively attack the besieging units. But, these actions can be nullified if certain conditions occur so you should use them while you have them and not wait too long or they might disappear.

I feel like this game really scratches that quick playing, easy to get into but intense and difficult game itch. The Crusaders have an uphill battle for sure as they really don’t have as many options or choices as I would like to see but what is there makes sense, is full of historical flavor and plays well. I have not been that successful with the game, meaning that I haven’t won very often, but despite that I still want to come back play after play and that should tell you something about the game and what it is. If your dice luck is really bad, this one can snowball quickly ending in a catastrophic defeat. I think that the other real attractive part of the game is that it is quick to set up, has good rules and plays quickly. This one will not blow your socks off but it is good for what it is and it comes in a small box that is very portable. In fact, I played it first while attending a work conference.

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in Crusaders: The Siege of Acre 1291, you can order a copy for $35.00 from the Blue Panther website at the following link: https://www.bluepantherllc.com/products/crusaders-the-siege-of-acre-1291

9. Shogun Solitaire from Worthington Publishing

Staying in the small, travel sized wargame department is Shogun Solitaire from Worthington Publishing. I say wargame, but it is probably more of a strategy card game with a war theme being set in the period of the Sengoku Jidai. Shogun Solitaire is a card based dedicated solitaire game where the player is leading a coalition of four clans to unite feudal Japan. These clans are one of 4 different colors in the game including green (Hōjō), purple (Takeda), red (Katō) and blue (Amago). Each of the clans must secure 3 objectives within their territory to achieve unification under a single Shogun including the port, village and castle of that region. To accomplish this, you’ll need to deploy armies in the form of cards in strategic combinations to gain control of those objectives. These cards are built up in the players tableau and you must get a run of 3 same colored cards (not the same type of soldiers although you cannot play 2 of the same soldiers consecutively) played in order to win the next objective. But, there are Enemy cards colored black or gray that represent assassins, Ronin and raids. There are also neutral Envoy cards that are bronze colored that act as dead space in your tableau and represent the court responsibilities and diplomacy of the Shogun with allied clans and if you ever build up too many of them in the area you will have to take a breath and wipe the slate clean by sending them home.

The really great part of this game is that each of the different types of cards have different special abilities and you must deploy them properly in order to gain the greatest advantage before the 102 card deck runs out. There are six types of Shogun cards that represent the available forces that can be deployed to seize objectives. Samurai can protect and will cancel enemy cards before they can do damage. The Ninjas allow the player to search the top 4 cards of the deck and then reorder them in order to finish a run of the same color cards before bad things can happen. And one of the most important cards is that of the Leaders which act as a wild card that can be played like any Shogun card of its color. I found that trying to utilize these cards to their highest effect was very fun and tense and I found myself really trying to utilize each ability at the right time.

This game is fast playing, playing in 20-30 minutes, and is very fun. But it can be very luck dependent as when you draw bad cards a few hands in a row, there is not much that you can do and the game begins to pound you down and it can come to an end very quickly. But, this game is very good and well designed for what it is; a lite, card based, quick playing travel sized game that is also very beautifully produced with gorgeous period art, thick cards and a fantastic board that flips over to show a

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in Shogun Solitaire, you can order a copy for $35.00 from the Worthington Publishing website at the following link: https://www.worthingtonpublishing.com/collection/shogun-solitaire

8. Iwo Jima 1945 from Worthington Publishing

A few years ago, Worthington Publishing published their first game in the Island Fight Series called Tarawa 1943. That game was awesome and was truly difficult to win, as it should be. Now, they have published the 2nd volume in the series called Iwo Jima 1945 that covers the only island assault during the Pacific war that the attacking US forces would suffer worse casualties than the Japanese defenders. On February 19, 1945 the USMC would land 30,000 marines on the island against a Japanese defensive force that numbered roughly 21,000 Japanese soldiers. Facing a Japanese commander who had learned valuable lessons from the losses on other Japanese islands, the USMC would eventually land over 70,000 marines and suffer over 25,000 casualties during the 36 day campaign.

In this solitaire game, the player takes on the role of the USMC commander leading the invasion of Iwo Jima. The game system, driven by cards, will simulate the strategies of the Japanese defenders, often referred to as the Japanese AI, adding a layer of historical authenticity to your gaming experience. If you have played Tarawa 1943, you will be familiar with the system.

Iwo Jima’s play deck is larger than that of Tarawa’s, which provides a bit of breathing room in the game but doesn’t necessarily change the difficulty appreciably. There are also added mountain positions on the island where the attacking USMC will roll 1 less attack dice making it very challenging to overtake several of the key positions and that will need the player to use special cards to assist. The USMC player is allowed to play any number of the cards from their hand during their turn as opposed to just 3 from the previous entry in the series. The other rules are almost all the same, and you can begin playing with just a brief read of them.

I have played this one about 10 times and have not even come close to winning. It is tough and the way the dice system for combat works it is truly difficult for the Marines to score hits quickly enough to make significant progress, which is how it should be. But, the game is fun, tactically challenging as you have to manage your Cohesion as well as decide when to deploy and replace front line troops with fresh troops and plays pretty quickly. I have never had a bad play of this system and very much look forward to other entries in the series.

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in Iwo Jima 1945, you can order a copy for $75.00 from the Worthington Publishing website at the following link: https://www.worthingtonpublishing.com/collection/iwo-jima-1945

7. Onoda from Salt & Pepper Games

I am always on the lookout for an interesting and different type of historical game. And when that game is solitaire and allows the player to experience and gain insight into the life of a tragic figure then I am very interested. A few years ago, I came across this very interesting looking solitaire game designed by Francisco Gradaille called Onoda from Salt & Pepper Games. Onoda follows the tragic life of Hiroo Onoda who was a Japanese soldier who wouldn’t believe that Japan had lost World War II and stayed at his post on the island of Lubang in the Philippines from 1945-1974 when he finally surrendered after a visit from his commanding officer. I have played this one several times and can say the game is very interesting, educational and also gives the player an opportunity to learn and gain insight into the life of this person who is remembered as an insane criminal and a story of tragedy.

During 6 rounds of variable duration, the player has to obtain a number of resources represented by rice that will
allow them to finish the round without suffering penalties, such as reduced health and morale. In each round, the player will have to undertake a series of missions, earning honor points for accomplishing them. During the game, the player will get to experience some of the events that the real-life Onoda had during his stay in Lubang as well as some of the tragedies. The missions includes things like sabotaging key infrastructure, gathering equipment and other useful items all the while trying to evade detection and capture. But the game goes deeper than that as the crux of the game is the management of morale and the level of insanity in the mind of the soldier due to paranoia, death of comrades or illness.

During these missions, the player will have to draw tokens from a draw bag that represent the level of alarm that is present on the island due to his shenanigans. Each time that a player has to perform a check to accomplish a mission or to avoid danger from the random events, the player must take a Resource/Resolution token from the bag and check its number side against the relevant level of alarm or paranoia in the are where the operation is being undertaken. These Checks are successfully passed when the token’s number is higher than the Alarm or Paranoia level so keeping these low and also moving around the island stealthily will spread out the alarm level and keep Onoda safer and more able to accomplish these missions. Failure will lead to negative effects and lost opportunities as the game has only 6 turns.

I very much enjoyed this game and also loved it because it made me think about this tragic “hero” and his motivations and life those 30 years on the island. What commitment he must have had as well as derangement and you have to respect that or at least give it some thought. Just a great little narrative generator with some very gamey mechanics that create an interesting experience.

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

Also, in case you missed it, we published an interview with the designer Francisco Gradaille on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/11/06/interview-with-francisco-gradaille-designer-of-onoda-from-salt-pepper-games-coming-to-gamefound-november-7th/

If you are interested in Onoda, you can order a copy for $39.00 from the All Play website at the following link: https://www.allplay.com/board-games/onoda

6. Black Skin Black Shirt: Ethiopia vs Fascist Italy 1935-1937 from White Dog Games

I have really enjoyed my plays of several games designed by R. Ben Madison. He has a knack for including elements of the history into the gameplay while placing the events into the framework of his chosen system, which is usually the States of Siege Series…but not always. His newest offering called Black Skin Black Shirt: Ethiopia vs. Fascist Italy 1935-1937 from White Dog Games uses the States of Siege Series System and delves into pre-WWII conflict in Africa.

First off, this game is very challenging, as is to be expected as the Ethiopians are desperately outmanned and outgunned by the Fascists as they invaded to take over the oil rich area for their own purposes and I have not done well at it at all in my few plays. I normally would have played it a few more times before adding to the list but I just had such a good experience with it and the history that I felt that I needed to add it to the list. It uses the States of Siege Series but in a bit of a different layout as there are not tracks per se but there are paths that lead through various regions of the country of Ethiopia as they converge on the capital of Addis Ababa.

The game is chit pull and the chits that are pulled give instructions about the actions of the AI Italians as they move on each path. The player will also gain a number of action points that can be used to take actions such as attacking to drive back the invaders. I very much like the concept of support of the Fascist invasion as they have the ability to place their support focused bases on the map as they advance and this leads to the player no longer being able to drive them back to beyond that point so the pressure really ratchets up as the game goes along.

As is the case generally with these games, Black Skin Black Shirt is an easy-to-play, straightforward solitaire game that creates a very interesting historical narrative about how the conflict plays out. There are really lots of tough choices and the game is about the management of your resources and assets, such as your Ras warlords who can go out and make devastating ambush attacks but can also be killed in action and removed from the game, The game forces the player to take charge of the defenses, by calling up troops and marshalling resources as well as attempting to call on the League of Nations for aid and support.

Here is a link to my unboxing video:

If you are interested in Black Skin Black Shirt: Ethiopia vs Fascist Italy 1935-1937, you can order a copy for $56.00 from the White Dog Games website at the following link: https://www.whitedoggames.com/ethiopia

5. The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth from Blue Panther

A few years ago, while attending the WBC, I had the chance to meet Wes Crawford who was demoing his upcoming game Engine Thieves. He was a very nice guy and his game was pretty interesting as well. Since that time, he has another game that has been released designed in partnership with Ryan Heilman in The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth published by Blue Panther. I had a chance to play the game solitaire (with Wes overseeing the game and giving me guidance and pointers) at WBC in 2024 and have since played the game on my own several times and had a really great time with it. Great little solo game with several other modes where the player uses resources like police and detectives to search for clues in the hunt for Lincoln’s assassin after the events at Ford’s Theater on the evening of April 14, 1865. Definitely not a subject that has been gamed before and it is really refreshing to be able to experience this history in an interesting and engaging game. There really is a lot to like with the way that clues are found and chits are blindly drawn to verify clues from a bag. There is also a great little movement mechanic with police and detectives to try to acquire more clues.

I know that this is not a traditional wargame but the topic is just so very interesting and the variety of modes you can play in is also very cool. I think that this one is a game that will stay in my collection for years to come and I think that you will enjoy the chit pull, use of your special Stanton Cards that give special events or actions and the way that the movement, searching and raiding works when you find Booth.

We were able to post an interview with Wes Crawford on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/12/03/interview-with-wes-crawford-designer-of-the-pursuit-of-john-wilkes-booth-from-blue-panther/

Here also is a link to our video interview after playing the game with Wes at WBC:

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth, you can order a copy for $70.00 from the Blue Panther website at the following link: https://www.bluepantherllc.com/products/pursuitofjwb

4. Siege Works: A Napoleonic Siege Roll & Write from Solo Wargame

Until a year or so ago, I had literally never heard of the concept of a Roll & Write game. But, I started seeing these things pop up on Kickstarter from a new company called Solo Wargame and I was immediately intrigued as the topics for the games were so interesting and varied that I thought that there just might be something worth looking into. Since that time, I have played 2 of these Roll & Write games from Solo Wargame and really found that Siege Works: A Napoleonic Siege Roll & Write was my favorite. I say my favorite because who doesn’t like a siege game and a game set during the Napoleonic Wars is always fun! 

Roll & Write Games are typically small and portable games, some are even Print ‘n Play games like Siege Works, that involve the player rolling dice and then marking the results on sheets of paper or sometimes erasable boards. These markings can mean several different things including goals being met, pre-requisites being completed or enemies defeated. The genesis or archetype for these Roll & Write Games is Yahtzee, where players roll a handful of dice looking for various combinations of results to mark off on their sheet that then score points in the end. But recently that game genre has started to include a bit more player agency and choice about how they go about reaching goals including dice selection from those that are rolled, choosing results that are needed at the time but may be less than optimal in the long run and in completing certain goals that will open the door for additional future beneficial options for the player. Don’t get me wrong. A Roll & Write Game is very simple and is not a traditional style of wargame with hexes, counters and Combat Results Tables. But the game tells a story of a siege and how it works. So I was initially skeptical about this form of game and just had to give it a try to see what it was about. I have actually played 2 of them and found them to be lite, fun and interesting. And Siege Works is a solitaire Roll & Write Game so I have played it by myself on my gaming table and had a good time with them.

The biggest plus to the game is the simple rules, easy setup and fast onboarding with learning and being able to get the game played. You can play this easily with a simple read of the rules and a bit of review of the Game Sheet before playing. The sequence of play is very good and easy to follow as well and I found that the game is pretty intuitive. My only issue with the rules was that I found that they sometimes needed just a few more words or an additional sentence for clarity. But this is combated somewhat by the fact that the rules contain a lot of good play examples for the different actions in the game.

Here is a link to my First Impressions post that appeared on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/09/16/first-impressions-siege-works-a-napoleonic-siege-roll-write-from-solo-wargame/

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in Siege Works: A Napoleonic Siege Roll & Write, you can order a print and play copy for $8.00 from the Wargame Vault website at the following link: https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/530416/siege-works-a-napoleonic-siege-roll-write

3. La Der de Ders – The War to End War from Hexasim

La Der des Ders – The War to End War from Hexasim is a 1-2 player slightly abstracted strategic level look at World War I. The game allows the players to relive the First World War at a strategic level, with each player controlling one of the 2 sides either the Entente, consisting of France, England, Russia, Serbia and other minor nations or the Central Powers including Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and a few minors. La Der des Ders can also be played solo, with a dedicated solitaire bot called “Athena” who utilizes special Cornflower Cards to make decisions about what technologies to invest in, where to undertake offensives and how to utilize limited resources and reinforcements. Each turn, players gain an amount of Resource Points dependent on what nations are in the war, which they can allocate to different areas to guide their overall strategy. Victory is achieved by launching offensives that drain the morale of enemy nations, forcing them out of the conflict through collapse.

One of the best parts of La Der de Ders, and typically the best part of any strategic level wargame, is the Technology Phase and the player’s ability to spend their limited resources on various types of technologies to improve their performance on the battlefield and in the economic war. But, keep in mind that there is a risk here as resources are limited and you have to pay to develop these technologies and there is no guarantee of success as it is up to a dice roll, albeit a modified one at that. Each of the players has their own Technology Tree board that is used to track their technological progress over the course of the game. There are a total of 6 different Technologies that can be researched including Attack, Defence, Artillery, Aviation, Naval, and Air Raid.

The process of taking Offensives is really pretty simple as players take turns to activate one of their sectors that has not yet been activated this turn. The sector chosen will then be activated and must launch an Offensive against an adjacent enemy sector. There is a cost to the launching of Offensives though as the player will have to pay the appropriate cost by first choosing the size of their Offensive, which in game turns means the number of dice they will pay to roll in the Offensive. The size of the Offensive must be at least 1 and can be up to the current Operational Value of the attacking sector. The player launching the offensive then spends as many Resource Points as the size of the Offensive. Dice rolling is fun and the real key here is how to plan for an prioritize your chosen Offensives as you cannot just do one each turn or you will risk collapse and will be unable to do other things such as invest in technology development.

Victory in the game is well done and I very much like the concept of only calculating the value for those countries who have not Collapsed and who are still in the war when the end game is triggered. We all know that it is easier to negotiate a peace that is favorable to your side when you are still a threat and if too many nations of either side have collapsed then their Prestige Points will reflect this as those countries won’t contribute to the final value. And I also like the simplicity of the scoring system. If certain key countries like France and Germany surrender, then that equates to a victory for the side causing the surrender and if the game continues to grind on through the final turn, then there is this calculation that is really pretty simple and gives importance to each goal with a different value that can be earned. Just a solid method for determining victory that makes sense and fits with the historical aspect of the outcome of the Great War.

The Athena bot is the solitaire mode of the game and it is not just tacked on but is very well done and creates an interesting and challenging game. It is a really well designed system that removes most of the work by the player when playing solitaire. There will be times when you have to make a decision, such as the priority of how Offensives occur from the non-player side, but these decisions are easy and the hard work is done by the simple flipping of a card. I do want to point out one final thing. The sequence of play differs slightly from the 2-player game as it rearranges when the Athena bot does a few of the steps during the Spend Resource Points Phase as shown below. The human player will start by doing their Reinforcements first followed by their Technology investment. Athena will then go and do their Technology investment first followed by Reinforcements. Both players will then move into the Offensive Phase and the player with initiative as shown on the turn track will take the first Offensive of the turn.

I wrote a series of Action Point posts on the game and you can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Game Board

Action Point 2 – Technology Phase and Technology Tree

Action Point 3 – Event Cards

Action Point 4 – Example of an Offensive

Action Point 5 – Victory Conditions

Action Point 6 – Overview of the “Athena” Solitaire Bot

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in La Der de Ders – The War to End War, you can order a copy for $50.00 from the GMT Games website (they have a contract with Hexasim to sell their games in the United States) at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1222-la-der-des-ders-the-war-to-end-war-english-version.aspx

2. Iwo Jima: Hell on Earth from Neva Game Press

Neva Game Press (formerly Neva Wargames) is a new publisher who appeared on the scene 2 years ago. When I started seeing their posts on Twitter and Facebook, I was immediately impressed with their interesting topic choices for their upcoming games as well as the fact that they are trying to make small footprint wargames that pack a punch. And the art is also very appealing and brings an aesthetically pleasing and attractive look to their games! Recently, they released their first game called Iwo Jima: Hell on Earth which is a solitaire look at the amphibious invasion of the island of Iwo Jima in 1945 during the end of WWII.

Iwo Jima: Hell on Earth is the first game in their Neva Skirmish Line and it is a hex and counter wargame with some interesting mechanics for combat and a combination of secondary mechanics to keep the game fresh and replayable. This solitaire game lets you play as the U.S. Marines during Operation Detachment. It offers a challenge for both intermediate and experienced wargamers and is really very, very good. I have only played the game 1 time all the way through but as the year is getting away from me already I had to finish up and decided that this was a very good experience deserving of the position on this list. I hope to play again very soon and put together some video content to share more about the game.

One of the things that I really liked was the focus on the hidden Japanese units that play a significant role in the game. Collecting intelligence for the U.S. as they move up the beaches and onto the mainland ensures more strategic planning and greater success of attacks. Additionally, hidden units, combined with a randomized initial Japanese unit setup, enhance the game’s fog of war and replayability. No play will be the same and I think that is a good way to design a solitaire game. U.S. intelligence has some information about potential Japanese defenses, but it is important to verify on the map that there are actual units at those locations. Additionally, more information about those units should be gathered by revealing them to see their actual composition and plan a better attack. Units can be revealed through successful bombardment, combat or reconnaissance. Making a better attack means that the player has access to different type of weapons and attacking a tank unit with a heavy weapon will give modifiers that will not be gained if the asset is not present.

If you attack a hidden unit or if a hidden unit is supporting the attacked Japanese unit, you will draw Intelligence Chits that provide information about the unit and their combat support value. While attacking hidden units can be risky in certain situations, it is essential to continue advancing to achieve timely victory. Understanding when to attack hidden units or gather intelligence through reconnaissance actions is crucial for success and one of the better parts of the game.

Combat is varied and there is a lot of choice about how to go about attacking the defenders. A unit can engage in combat through Direct Attack, Indirect Attack, or a combination of both. In a Direct Attack (with a maximum of 2 U.S. units adjacent to the target), the combat factor value of these units is utilized. For an Indirect Attack (with a maximum of 3 U.S. units if conditions are met), the units’ combat support type and value are used to participate in the combat. Units involved in a Direct Attack may also be used for Indirect Attacks as needed. The next step of combat involves comparing the combat ratio to determine the appropriate table column for checking the die result. Die Roll Modifiers must then be determined, based on factors such as the type of Japanese defense units, which could include Trenches, Pillboxes, or Caves, the comparison between the combat support from the U.S. player and the Japanese side, and terrain effects. The combat is very crunchy and fairly involved and I will definitely classify this one as a good hex and counter wargame experience.

I need to get this one back to the table soon but this is a keeper and I cannot wait to play again.

If you are interested in Iwo Jima: Hell on Earth, you can order a copy for $53.00 from the Neva Game Press website at the following link: https://nevagamepress.com/product/iwo-jima-hell-on-earth/

1. Okinawa: The Last Battle of WWII from Best with 1

I love a new and interesting way to tell the story of a key battle and I found a very interesting one called Okinawa: The Last Battle of WWII from Best with 1 earlier this year. This is a solitaire only game and for each game the player will draw four objectives from a possible 12 that you must survive and capture before time runs out. On your turn, the player will roll special dice and then spend those to take actions such as movement, attack and take special actions from different unit action cards that will be set up in a square from from 1 to 10. The numbers coincide with the dice of the attacking Japanese and as the player moves through the rondel they will be able to activate and use their different soldiers to attack the Japanese defenders or use their special abilities to gain tokens that can be used for rerolls or healing of wounds

I think that the best part of the game is the concept of resource management as you have to use the dice appropriately to move and fight and also to manage your troops as you can upgrade certain cards as you pass the midway point of the round as well as when special actions are granted via the special resource chits. Upgrading units is very important as this will unlock things like heavy weapons in the form of bazookas, a Sherman tank and planes to be able to take out the Japanese armor units defending the island. The game is about efficiency of movement and doing the most with what you have. The dice determine what you can and can’t do and movement is optional as you don’t have to move unless you feel it is advantageous. But remember, that you have to defeat the defenders and the various objectives to be able to advance to your final objective and sitting in one space too long is not advisable.

The different units have various functions including attack, such as the Rifleman, Machine Gun Team and Sniper but also have secondary functions to remove the fog of war, heal your damaged units or gain additional resources. The Japanese defenders are well hidden and also have various defenses such as pill boxes and caves that will require the player to defeat these before moving to attack the units located inside.

In the end the game is about defeating the Japanese defenders while doing so in a set amount of revolutions around the rondel setup. This can be as few as 2 times around or as many as 4 and knowing when to use your resources to reroll your dice, as you either didn’t get the run of consecutive numbers you were looking for or just need a specific number, you will run out of resources quickly and you must plan them out as best you can to win the game. This one is really fun and I have played it about a dozen times winning about 70% of the time. The game plays in about an hour and the action is fast and furious and you are immediately beset by the staunch Japanese defenders and must act quickly.

Here is a link to our unboxing video:

Here is a link to my playthrough video:

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in Okinawa: The Last Battle of WWII, you can order a Print and Play copy from the Best with 1 website at the following link: https://bestwith1.com/product/okinawa-pnp/

There you have it. My list of the best solitaire wargames/games that I played in 2025! What a year. There were just so many great games but unfortunately only so much time. There were other games that I was unable to get played that I had acquired and I regret not getting to but there is only so much time.

What were your favorite solitaire wargames from 2025?

-Grant

Board game publisher Awaken Realms has responded to a wave of anti-AI art review bombing for its upcoming crowdfund, Concordia: Special Edition, by saying no AI-generated imagery will be used in the finished game.

The title is the latest seminal eurogame to be re-released in a spruced-up, premium edition by Awaken Realms – and also the latest to see the publisher come under fire for embracing generative AI software such as Midjourney in developing some of its games.

Awaken Realms is one of highest-profile tabletop publishers to confirm it uses AI image generators, with other notable adopters of the technology including Stronghold Games – which attracted significant ire for its use of AI art in its $2.2m More Terraforming Mars! crowdfunding campaign.

The technology has been widely criticised by artists angry that the models are built upon their work without licensing or recompense, in addition to outcry over its environmental costs and threats to jobs in the creative and other industries.

Almost all of the first few dozen ratings for Concordia: Special Edition posted by BoardGameGeek users gave the title ‘1’ – the lowest possible score – following its unveiling at the end of February, with the vast majority of those citing AI art as their rationale.

That was followed by a spate of users scoring the game the maximum ’10’ in an attempt to counteract the low scores – but the ongoing tussle has left it with an average of just 4.7, the lowest current rating of any Awaken Realms full game, and well below the 8-plus ratings enjoyed by many of the publisher’s prior releases.

BoardGameGeek’s suggested ratings guidelines say a ‘1’ review “Defies description of a game. You won’t catch me dead playing this. Clearly broken.”, while a ’10’ is suggested as “Outstanding. Always want to play and expect this will never change”.

BGG’s current policy is that “users are allowed to rate games however they wish, as long as each person only rates a given game once.”

The original edition of Concordia, released by German publisher PD-Verlag in 2013, has a BGG rating of 8.1 from more than 45,000 users, and is ranked 29th out of the tens of thousands of titles listed on the site’s database.

Awaken Realms is yet to unveil many details about the upcoming special edition, with the Gamefound preview page currently only showing a box cover – which it has since described as a work in progress – and examples of two plastic miniatures set to be included in the game.

The company dedicated most of its first update on the Gamefound page to discussing its use of AI generated imagery, saying that it did not address the situation sooner because “we find this whole conversation extremely draining”.

It said, “We feel that the current situation is really not respectful toward our artists, who are really working hard on each project, and Concordia will be no different. They will be doing their best to pay tribute to this classic and elevate it to new heights.

“So, first things first – in this project, in the final game, there will be no AI art. Human artists will be involved in everything. This has also been clearly stated from the beginning in our contract with PD-Verlag.

“However, we do use some AI tools during prototyping, mock-ups, and various initial phases of concept work (and honestly, it is really hard not to, as eg, Photoshop alone, which is our artists’ main tool, has already tons of built-in AI features).

“This makes it easier to test the game visually, iterate, find the best solutions and compositions, and, from there, start working on the final assets.

“In different projects, we might have different rules and approaches. For example, you can see our other project – Grimcoven. There, we also had an update on the topic, as well as a chance to see the final result of how the game looks as it is produced and delivered to backers ;).”

Update March 27, 2026: Jan Philip Sommerlade, an editor at Concordia publisher and licensor PD-Verlag, wrote on BoardGameGeek: “In the games published by PD-Verlag, neither the graphics nor the text were created using artificial intelligence. We consider this to be problematic from a copyright perspective, at least when the AI models are based on artwork created by artists.

“It was therefore very important to us that artificial intelligence will not be used in the Concordia Special Edition either. In December, we paid Awaken Realms an extensive visit and discussed the details of the Special Edition at length. Awaken Realms has a large team dedicated to developing content, graphics, and illustrations, and we are confident that this collaboration will result in a very high-quality product. We have stipulated in our contract that the final product will not be created using artificial intelligence in any form.

“However, this does not apply to the use of AI for brainstorming and concept development, nor to the internal use of AI for creating prototypes. In the course of ongoing discussions, we have realized that this distinction may not be as clear-cut as we initially thought. Nevertheless, the fact remains: All graphics and text in the final product are created by real people.”

Other Campaigns

Grimcoven raised more than $5.1m across its 2024 Gamefound campaign and late pledges, and has so far avoided the heavy review bombing that has taken place for Concordia SE. Awaken Realms put out a similar pre-campaign update about its AI use for that title, calling it at the time “a ‘hot topic’ generating a lot of emotions”.

The publisher had come under fire online earlier that year for using AI in creating promotional images for its Puerto Rico 1897: Special Edition crowdfunding campaign – images it subsequently pulled from the crowdfunding page after being contacted by the game’s licensor, Ravensburger.

Despite online pushback against Awaken Realms for its decision to embrace AI generated imagery, its use of the technology has had little apparent negative impact on the success of its crowdfunding campaigns to date.

The publisher’s six most recent campaigns which it says made use of AI image making tools have raised almost €39m between them across their crowdfunds and late pledges, with Lands of Evershade the standout at more than $12.5m.

Awaken Realms Board Game	Total raised across crowdfunding, late pledges
Dragon Eclipse: The Grand Quest	€3,321,287
BELOW: The Asylum	€4,038,955
Agricola: Special Edition	€7,326,500
This War of Mine Second Edition	€3,730,079
Lands of Evershade	$12,576,991
Grimcoven	$5,136,331
Grand total	~€38,900,000

But some of those have also begun to feel the impact of anti-AI sentiment on their BGG ratings. Agricola: Special Edition is currently rated at 6.2, with more than a third of its 309 ratings scored as ‘1’, while the yet-to-launch Agricola: Dead Harvest campaign is rated 5.9, with almost 90% of its 104 ratings so far either ‘1’s or ’10’s.

The six most recent campaigns using AI imagery – which also include BELOW: The Asylum, This War of Mine: Second Edition and Grimcoven – all included a statement acknowledging that usage in the FAQ section of their respective Gamefound campaigns.

The stipulation to transparently disclose the use of AI in Gamefound campaigns was implemented by the crowdfunding site in March last year, and codified in an update to its terms of service at the end of last month.

Awaken Realms’ AI art statement in its Agricola: Special Edition campaign FAQ states, “We are using different technologies, including AI tools, to various degrees – from built-in Photoshop capabilities (intelligent brushes, advanced texturing, and some AI tools), Internal Stable Diffusion models, MJ[Midjourney] models, pixel correction, scaling solutions and so on. Everything we use is screened and accepted by our legal team as fully legal to use.

“Those are different tools that we use NOT to decrease cost and DEFINITELY NOT to replace artists but to bring better quality to our customers and enhance creativity by allowing faster prototyping and iteration.

“We are constantly growing our art team (in the last 12 months, we have hired six new artists), as well as yearly increasing wages and sharing profits by yearly bonuses. We really care about our team and are extremely proud of their work.

“We deeply believe that in any creative endeavor, human involvement is absolutely essential, and instead of just ‘talking the talk’, we have actually walked the walk and increased our artist count and wages every year.

“This is our statement on the topic and we are fully dedicated to supporting and growing our art team, as well as bringing the best quality to our backers. We believe that this approach is better than making big PR statements and then firing people with a week’s notice, as, unfortunately, can be observed all around the industry.”

It is not immediately clear which board game publishers Awaken Realms is referring to with the final part of that statement.

The Agricola Special Edition statement is very different to the AI art section of the FAQ for Awaken Realms’ most recent crowdfund, Labyrinth Chronicles – which, like Puerto Rico Special Edition, is published by Gamefound investor Ravensburger.

That statement said, “We also noticed a few questions regarding the creative process behind Labyrinth Chronicles and whether any AI-generated artwork was used in the game.

“We would like to clearly state that no AI-generated art was used in the final product. Every illustration, graphic element, and 3D model was created by our talented team of artists who worked on this project.”

That statement then goes on to list 24 artists, graphic designers, illustrators and 3d modellers who it said worked on the title.

Awaken Realms has taken great pains recently to highlight the extent of its art and design team – which it said in the Concordia: Special Edition Gamefound update now comprises 32 people across art, 2D layout, 3D sculpture and desktop publishing, out of a board games division of more than 100 people.

Gamefound was launched in 2015 as a Kickstarter pledge manager by Awaken Realms co-founder Marcin Świerkot, who is CEO of both businesses. The company transitioned into a full crowdfunding site in 2022, with Świerkot setting his sights on beating Kickstarter at its own game in the tabletop sector.

Awaken Realms, meanwhile, began life as a miniature painting studio in 2014, before expanding into board game publishing a couple of years later.

The company garnered early success with a Kickstarter for This War of Mine: The Board Game in 2016, before the £3m Nemesis Kickstarter campaign in 2018 formed a springboard for the company to begin creating ever more intricate and expansive miniatures-focused tabletop projects.

Awaken Realms raised more than $12.1m for its Nemesis Retaliation Gamefound campaign at the end of 2024, making it one of the biggest board game crowdfunding campaign of all time alongside Frosthaven ($12.9m) and Kingdom Death Monster 1.5 ($12.39m).

The post Awaken Realms vows “no AI art” for Concordia: Special Edition after BGG review bombing first appeared on .

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By the time you’re listening to this, we’re probably already in Vegas for Dice Tower West! We’re going to hang about all day playing games – which naturally leads to the question of what we’re going to play? These are the games we came up with! Before we bite off more than we can chew, we talk about Ghost Lift, Cities, and I, Napoleon.

Please submit your favourite games for our Listener Top 20!

If you don’t want to miss an episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Google Podcasts/Stitcher/Spotify, or add our RSS feed to your favourite app. Reviews and subscriptions really help us and would be greatly appreciated! To download the episode directly, click here.

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Timecodes:

02:31 – Ghost Lift
08:13 – Cities
14:06 – I, Napoleon
24:40 – Dice Tower West anticipated games
26:05 – Biblios
27:04 – Feya’s Swamp / Kaivai
28:26 – Cheese Thief
29:03 – Habemus Papam
31:15 – Wroth
33:33 – Greed Incorporated
35:39 – Dark Pact
38:45 – Secret Tribe
39:52 – Eternal Decks
41:03 – All In: Predictions
42:04 – Cthulhu: Dark Providence
44:14 – Robo Rally Dice

Thank you to Heart Society for generously letting us use What’s On Your Mind, Kid? from their album Wake the Queens.

The post BGB Podcast #356 – On the Road Again appeared first on Board Game Barrage.

Ryan Dancey, a more than 30-year veteran of the tabletop gaming industry, has lost his COO job at publisher Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) a day after saying AI could generate game ideas as good as his company’s titles Tiny Towns and Cubitos.

Dancey said Alderac CEO John Zinser told him it was time to “move on to new adventures” in the “aftermath” of his LinkedIn post discussing the use of AI in board game design, which quickly attracted a flurry of negative comments from tabletop designers, AEG’s business partners and bodies such as the Tabletop Game Designers Association, as well as board gamers across social media.

Much of the ire was directed at Dancey’s response to a post comment which argued that “AI wouldn’t come up with Tiny Towns or Flip Seven or Cubitos because it doesn’t understand the human element of fun”.

Dancey posted in reply, “I have zero reason to believe that an AI couldn’t ‘come up with Tiny Towns or Flip Seven or Cubitos’. I can prompt any of several AIs RIGHT NOW [Dancey’s emphasis] and get ideas for games as good as those.

“The gaming industry doesn’t exist because humans create otherwise unobtainable ideas. It exists because many many previous games exist, feed into the minds of designers, who produce new variants on those themes. People then apply risk capital against those ideas to see if there’s a product market fit. Sometimes there is, and sometimes there is not. (In fact, much more often than not).”

“Extremely occasionally (twice in my lifetime: D&D and Magic: the Gathering) a human has produced an all new form of gaming entertainment. Those moments are so rare and incandescent that they echo across decades.

“Game publishing isn’t an industry of unique special ideas. It’s an industry about execution, marketing, and attention to detail. All things AIs are great at.”

Alderac CEO John Zinser, who has led the Space Base and Love Letter publisher for three decades, moved quickly to distance the company from Dancey’s comments, posting on BlueSky yesterday, “I want to be clear where I stand. For 30+ years, AEG has worked with human designers to bring games to life.

“That creative partnership, the collaboration, the shared spark, is what makes tabletop special. That is not changing.”

Several hours later, Zinser confirmed in a Facebook post that Dancey and AEG had “parted ways” after more than a decade.

Zinser said, “This is not an easy post to write. Ryan is my best friend and has been a significant part of AEG’s story, and I am personally grateful for the years of work, passion, and intensity he brought to the company. We have built a lot together.

“As AEG moves into its next chapter, leadership alignment and clarity matter more than ever. This transition reflects that reality.

“Our commitment to our designers, partners, retailers, and players remains unchanged. We will continue building great games through collaboration, creativity, and trust.

“I expect Ryan will have much success in whatever he builds next.”

BoardGameWire contacted Zinser to ask for further comment on the situation, its affect on AEG, the company’s plans to recruit a replacement, and for Zinser’s take on Dancey’s achievements during his decade at the business, but is yet to receive a reply.

“This tide is, in my opinion, only running one way, and AEG is going to have to fight hard to hold it’s [sic] position.”

Former Alderac COO Ryan Dancey

Dancey, however, provided an extensive response to BoardGameWire’s questions, including denying that he believed AI could “come up with Tiny Towns or Flip 7 or Cubitos” – instead emphasising that he was speaking about the technology being able to produce “ideas” rather than completed designs.

He told BoardGameWire, “I am not saying that an AI could turn over a finished game design ready for publication. I’m not even saying that an AI could produce work ripe enough to be pitched to a publisher. But the idea that it could not be used to generate ideas on the level as those embodied by those three games is already demonstrably false (in my opinion).

“This language ‘come up with’ is pretty nonspecific and I understand people who chose to take it at its most extreme level even though that was not my intent. I could have done a better job of being more explicit about the level of work I think an AI can do.”

Dancey added that he had contacted Tiny Towns designer Peter McPherson and Cubitos creator John D Clair in the wake of his comments discussing their games, saying, “Among other things I told them: ‘I don’t think AI is capable of doing your jobs, I would much rather work you with than a robot, I think you’re both top-tier designers that I feel privileged to work with, and I apologize if you found anything in my remarks to be hurtful’.

“I don’t have a working relationship with [Flip 7 designer Eric Olsen], but I would say the same to him if I did.”

Commenting on his suggestion in the LinkedIn post that all current board game design is based on designers taking existing games and producing variants on those themes, Dancey said, “Everything we do as humans is derived from experience. All art is derived. We all stand on the shoulders of every generation who went before us.

“Specifically I wrote: ‘The gaming industry doesn’t exist because humans create otherwise unobtainable ideas. It exists because many many previous games exist, feed into the minds of designers, who produce new variants on those themes’.

“I stand by that statement. It seems axiomatic to me.

“The game industry is overflowing with great ideas for games. We don’t lack for ideas. The hard part is deciding which great ideas can be commercialized, and how to do that. The incredible skill that someone like Pete or John brings is knowing how to evolve ‘a good idea’ into a ‘great game’.”

No AI at AEG

Dancey also told BoardGameWire that AEG’s leadership team made a policy decision “several years ago” not to use generative AI in its products or its “creative pipeline”.

He said, “I supported that decision – it was a consensus. I believed then and I believe now that it’s not appropriate to use AI in those ways in tabletop games.

“Since then I have been responsible for developing and adding language to our boilerplate contracts with people who freelance for AEG, who develop for AEG and who create artwork for AEG which specifically prohibits them from using generative AI in their work without permission, which AEG does not provide, and that specifies pretty harsh penalties for failure to comply with those policies.

“I fully support the inclusion of that language in our contracts. I took the initiative to write that language and I took the initiative to enforce its inclusion.

“We have already had pushback from creative workers who don’t like the harsh penalties. We’ve had pushback from people who want to water down their affirmative responsibility to ensure that they and anyone they’re working with or subcontracting work to adheres to this policy.

“This tide is, in my opinion, only running one way, and AEG is going to have to fight hard to hold it’s [sic] position.”

He continued, “I am not championing the use of generative AI in the gaming industry to design, develop or illustrate games. I believe we must talk about the real abilities of this technology, honestly, so that we can think about the impacts it will have on our lives.

“Making decisions to use it, how to use it, how to restrict it, and how to enforce those decisions is something that every publisher in the industry should already have done and should be revisiting on a regular basis.

“The time for these conversations is now. Not next year. Now.”

Dancey also quoted in his response to BoardGameWire an essay he says he read last week titled ‘Something Big is Happening’, specifically the section:

“I’m writing this for the people in my life who don’t [work with AI]… my family, my friends, the people I care about who keep asking me “so what’s the deal with AI?” and getting an answer that doesn’t do justice to what’s actually happening. I keep giving them the polite version. The cocktail-party version. Because the honest version sounds like I’ve lost my mind. And for a while, I told myself that was a good enough reason to keep what’s truly happening to myself. But the gap between what I’ve been saying and what is actually happening has gotten far too big. The people I care about deserve to hear what is coming, even if it sounds crazy.”

Dancey told BoardGameWire, “I believe I am in touch with enough of this tech and have done enough research to feel the same as author Matt Schumer. I feel like I have an obligation to discuss this technology as widely and as honestly as possible. If I do not, I am doing harm to those I care about.

“I’m sorry if having this conversation makes people uncomfortable. I know there are people who want it to go away, or believe it’s unfixably tainted by the unethical circumstances of its birth. I know that there are people who want to have a fight about this and want to use proxies if they have to (which is what I feel has happened in this particular case). But I still feel compelled to speak. If I do not, I will go insane.

“I’m incredibly sad that this episode has resulted in my separation from AEG, a company I have worked with for more than 10 years. And I’m really frustrated and hurt that it’s happening because of something people think I said, not something I actually said.”

Wider Issue

Wingspan designer Elizabeth Hargrave, the co-founder of non-profit support organisation the Tabletop Game Designers Association, dismissed Dancey’s suggestion that AI could generate ideas for games such as Tiny Towns and Cubitos.

She told BoardGameWire, “I absolutely do not think AI could be prompted to come up with even the basic idea for those games, let alone a fully fleshed out ruleset for them. For fun, I’ve prompted several different options for ideas for Wingspan cards and not one of them has given me an actionable idea.

“I had a friend who ran a rulebook through AI for proofreading and it hallucinated that people needed to shout ‘bingo’. Apparently that’s AI’s conception of board games right now.”

She added, “Designers do pull from existing games but when it’s done well it’s because those existing mechanisms serve some original idea, and then they’re remixed so thoroughly with other mechanisms and with the subject matter that it feels new.

“Sanibel has pieces of Tokaido and Tetris and many tile-laying games. But it wasn’t a prompt of ‘I’m going to remix these games’. It was ‘what would work well in service of this idea that I have?’.

“That requires understanding how games actually feel when you play them, and anticipating how different pieces can fit together.”

Hargrave said that the TTGDA board had been discussing the use of AI in board game design, adding that it was “a conversation we need to have with our membership”.

She said, “We’re working on a model contract to offer to our members right now, and that will offer a clause that designers can request that will require publishers not to use AI in their final product. A lot of contracts ask us to certify that a board game design is our own, and not plagiarized.

“It’s my opinion that using AI in a final product goes against that, because it’s using a machine that’s built entirely on plagiarism.”

Hargrave added, “I do see people using AI for things like generating a bunch of placeholder names in a prototype. They’re often clunky options but they do the job when you know everything will change 50 times before you’re done anyway. I’m not aware of anyone who has successfully actually gotten good, original ideas for mechanisms from AI.

“What I wish we were talking about is how AI could be built to help designers run models of their games repeatedly to catch weird edge cases or broken strategies. I wish someone would build that tool instead of the language models that just focus on advanced auto-complete.

“This would never replace actual playtesting with humans for psychology and actual fun, but it might save me some repetitions.”

Previous apology

Dancey’s exit from Alderac comes three years after he publicly apologised for saying that male board game designers vastly outnumber women because “females are socialized in the West to avoid situations where they’re subjected to fairly harsh criticism of their abilities and creative ideas”.

He had made those comments on Twitter in response to a thread from Elizabeth Hargrave, who had presented data criticising the structural issues in board gaming which had seen so few women nominated for the Spiel des Jahres prize – widely considered the biggest award in board gaming.

Dancey’s comment in the thread included him saying, “Males are socialized to take the punches and keep moving forward. Getting across the gap is how you turn someone into a ‘real game designer’ who gets paid for their work and who makes designs that are attractive to publishers.”

His apology for those comments, which has since been deleted from Twitter, remains visible via a BoardGameGeek thread on the situation.

In addition to saying the post “doesn’t reflect my views and it certainly doesn’t reflect the views of the company I work for”, Dancey outlined “concrete steps” he said AEG would be taking “to do better in this regard”, and called on readers to “check back with me in a year and hold me accountable”.

When BoardGameWire contacted Dancey on the anniversary of the apology for an update, he said, “When I’m ready to speak more on this topic I’ll do it on X as a followup to that original post.”

No follow-up to that original post from Dancey appears to exist.

Update 19/2/26: Dancey contacted BoardGameWire to say that he wrote a follow-up to the original post on Twitter in May of 2024, but deleted some of his Twitter posts when he stopped using the site in November of that year. That response no longer exists online following Dancey’s deletion of it, but a full version of the text has now been included at the end of this article.

Dancey’s career in the tabletop space dates back more than 30 years, when he was part of the team developing the Legend of the Five Rings TCG.

In 1997 he helped negotiate Wizards of the Coast’s takeover of the bankruptcy-threatened Dungeons & Dragons publisher TSR, becoming head of D&D following the deal.

He was a key part of Wizards’ decision to encourage fan contributions from the D&D community, which led to the creation of the Open Gaming License – an agreement the company controversially attempted to rewrite in 2023.

Dancey also previously worked as chief marketing officer for CCP Games, the Icelandic video game producer of space sandbox MMO Eve Online, following its acquisition of roleplaying game and book publisher White Wolf Publishing in 2006.

He was also the CEO of Goblinworks, the company behind development of a massively multiplayer online game based on Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG, between 2011 and 2015.

That title raised about $1.4m across a pair of Kickstarter campaigns, but after Dancey left for “personal reasons” all but three of the company’s staff were almost immediately laid off, with then-Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens saying “delays in getting the game to market coupled with some anticipated funding falling through have left us about 75% short of the money we need to finish the game”.

In 2004 Dancey resigned from the board of tabletop gaming trade association GAMA, after revealing he had accessed the confidential email communications of the GAMA board of directors prior to his election.

Dancey told BoardGameWire yesterday that he did not have any specific plans for the future following his departure from AEG.

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Update 19/2/26: Ryan Dancey’s now deleted Twitter post from May 2024, a year after his apology for saying that male board game designers vastly outnumber women because “females are socialized in the West to avoid situations where they’re subjected to fairly harsh criticism of their abilities and creative ideas”:

Last year I hastily wrote out some thoughts about the challenges that women face in succeeding as game designers and the hurdles they face moving past the pitch process and getting their games published.  I managed to pretty thoroughly mangle my thoughts, anger a lot of people, and disrupt that dialog. I was clumsy in my writing, and poorly communicated what I wanted to express. In the aftermath I apologized, and I said I would return to the topic after a year spent in reflection and in working on these issues.

This is that update.

Since I joined AEG as a full time staff member in 2016 one of the things I have been working on is improving the diversity of our staff. From 2016 into the pandemic, we had fairly low staff turnover. During that time the most significant staff change was the addition of a VP of Sales & Marketing, who is a woman, but we parted ways with her in 2019. During the pandemic we had no significant staff changes.

Currently of 13 full time staff at AEG, five are women. Of the most recent hires since 2021, four of five hires have been women. Of the departures since 2021, none have been women. Since 2023 we have hired one person into a full time staff role, and that person is a woman. As we turned the calendar page to 2024, we promoted Adelheid Zimmerman to our Leadership team. This five person team sets overall direction for the company, and reviews and approves things like the schedule of new product releases, budgets, staff compensation and hiring and separations, etc.

We continue to struggle with racial and ethnic diversity and are also concerned about our internal and external connections with all people who might feel marginalized or face obstacles in the profession of game publishing. This is a significant problem that our Leadership team has discussed at length and it is an area where we need to show improvement.

AEG affirmatively seeks to diversify its workplace by providing opportunities to candidates who identify with underrepresented groups and we provide a pathway through our application process for candidates who may have experience and backgrounds that bypass some of the requirements in our job postings.

I am confident that we will continue to become a more diverse employer over time.

Our pipeline for new products has mostly been closed over this period. We have a backlog of amazing games in development and have not been actively pursuing new pitches in the way that we did earlier in the decade and before the pandemic. Much of the new work we have been pursuing has involved designers already working with us on previous products. This has significantly curtailed our footprint in the spaces where designers interface with publishers as a part of the pitch process. We did take a few outside pitches this year including several from designers who don’t identify as male, but none of those pitches progressed to an option or offer.

In 2023 and 2024 AEG released four all new games: Rolling Heights, Number Drop, Shake that City and Waffle Time. We have two more games that are just now going into wide release: Let’s Go! To Japan and Undergrove. Of those games Undergrove which was co-designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and Mark Wootton is the only game in that list designed by a woman.

We have been trying to find proactive ways to connect with people who have been working on diversity initiatives in the industry. It’s been a good year for forward momentum in this area. Organizations like the Tabletop Game Designers Association will hopefully gain traction and AEG intends to provide support when they are ready to connect with the publisher tier. We have also connected with and provided support to the Rose Gauntlet Foundation.

We have plans to directly contact some of the communities which have self-organized for groups that are underrepresented in the design pipeline and establish a system by which we can both provide opportunities for constructive feedback (both directions) and hear pitches from designers in those communities who feel they are ready to make them. We’re hopeful that this will result in some games in development coming from those communities for publication in the latter half of this decade.

We have done some work behind the scenes providing counsel and advice to a number of women and BIPOC individuals who have approached us seeking insights about the industry and when possible we’ve been happy to provide as much assistance as we can. These kinds of interactions are usually confidential and we respect the secure nature of these relationships; if you or someone you know would like to engage with us confidentially and ask for our thoughts about how the industry works, have us make introductions to our network of contacts, share some of our quantitative information or get our perspective on the current state of the industry please feel free to reach out to anyone on the AEG team.

I believe that the design pipeline is unbalanced and the predominant cohort of designers who succeed in finding a partner to get their games into print are stereotypically middle aged white men. Over the more than thirty years I have been a gaming industry professional this has improved and not remained static but a lot of work remains to be done. My personal opinion is that the biggest obstacle to a more representative market of designers begins upstream of the pitch meeting. I think that like AEG, most of our peers are very receptive to the idea of working with designers who are not middle aged white men. The challenge all publishers face is increasing the quantity and quality of pitches that we are receiving from designers from a wider demographic base.

We need to see more designers get past their first design efforts even if those efforts don’t result in a published game. It’s possible that a person’s first design is a winner but It is much more common that it often takes several swings before a designer makes a winning design idea. One thing I think a lot about is how to help people get over that first hurdle of rejection, recycle, and come back with a better second (third, fourth, etc.) effort. Game design is an inherently and intensely personal creative effort and nobody likes the feeling of being told their ideas aren’t good enough or marketable enough. I wish I had better answers for how to support people going through the transition from someone with good ideas about games to someone who is a professional game designer. This is a subject I think about often and am very interested in having more dialog about to craft viable ideas.

As a publisher that mostly publishes games from outside designers, we have a responsibility to try to find designers who are not a part of that traditional cohort of white male designers. We believe making connections with as diverse a community of designers as possible is likely to result in enabling us to publish games that don’t feel like iterations on older game tropes and inject new ideas and new voices that hopefully will connect with an ever wider audience.

At our leadership summit at the end of January this year our team recommitted ourselves to the goal of widening our reach when prospecting for new game pitches. When we’re ready to re-open our pitch pipeline we plan to be more actively visible in the spaces where we believe we can find and connect with an ever more diverse designer community. Coincidentally and beneficially it appears the industry is self-generating many new venues where these connections may occur and we’re going to seek to take advantage of those opportunities.

Another part of that is finding ways to support people at the beginning of their design careers, when they are making their first forays into the business of game design. We continue to research and evaluate opportunities AEG may be able to assist with in this area, but progress so far has been slow other than relationship building with individuals.

We’d like to find ways to engage at a systems level, so we can multiply our investment of time and resources to reach many people at the same time. This is a tough nut to crack, but we’ll continue to work on it.

Diversity is both an objective and a set of values. I’m proud to work for a company that has embraced the challenge of being a part of the change that the industry needs and is experiencing and I’m happy that we are on a path of continuous improvement in this area that is generating results.

I would like to thank all the people who helped me craft this message. Those people included AEG staff members and people in our larger stakeholder community. Your feedback was invaluable.

For various reasons mostly related to current ownership of this platform, I don’t interact much on X any longer but since this was the place where the initial interactions which triggered this response occurred I felt it appropriate to post this message here. I would be happy to respond to anyone who wishes to have a dialog about any of the issues raised in this message; the best way to reach me is via email at rsdancey at gmail dot com.

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This year has been a bit of a blur for me with work, personal commitments and family matters and I just feel like I have not been giving much attention to the blog. But, I am back now and ready to get right back to it with the next entry in our Wargame Watch feature. This month, I was able to find 18 games to highlight! Of that total, 3 games were offered on Crowdfunding.

If you missed the January Wargame Watch, you can read that here at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2026/01/01/wargame-watch-whats-new-upcoming-january-2026/

This month, we again have a sponsor for the Wargame Watch in Wharf Rat Games, which is a new publisher on the block owned and operated by the tandem of Ryan Heilman (designer of games such as Brave Little Belgium, White Eagle Defiant: Poland 1939 and Ginormopod 2050 A.D.: Attack of the Giant Bug Monsters) and Wes Crawford (designer of Engine Thieves: The Andrews Railroad Raid of 1862 and The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth). 

Wharf Rat Games: A New Era in Board Gaming

Founded by industry veterans Ryan Heilman and Wes Crawford, Wharf Rat Games is a Baltimore-based publisher dedicated to high-quality, light-to-medium-weight games. Our mission is to deliver engaging historical, sci-fi, and fantasy themes that can be played in under 90 minutes, making them accessible to both casual and experienced players.

Featured Title: A Forlorn Hope by Hermann Luttmann

Wharf Rat Games is thrilled to announce their debut title, a revitalized vision from legendary designer Hermann
Luttmann.

• The History: Originally pitched over a decade ago as the mechanical precursor to the hit In Magnificent Style, this game returns to Hermann’s original vision of WWI trench warfare. Here is a link to the Rat Chat show where Hermann discusses the history of In Magnificent Style:

• The Gameplay: A solo or 1–3 player cooperative experience using a tense push-your-luck mechanic. Players command a regiment charging across No Man’s Land, balancing bold advances against the threat of becoming pinned under relentless enemy fire.
  
• The Content: Features six scenarios covering iconic battles such as The Somme, Verdun, and The Lost Battalion.
  
• The Stats: 1–3 Players | 45–90 Minutes | Estimated 2.5 BGG Weight.

Launch Details

Wharf Rat Games is gearing up to launch their Backerkit campaign on February 10th. Early Bird Special: Back the game on the first day to get it for just $69, a savings of $20 off the MSRP!

You can connect with Wharf Rat Games on the following social media outlets:

Website: wharfratgames.com
Email: info@wharfratgames.com
Facebook: Wharf Rat Games
Bluesky:  wharfratgames.bsky.social
X (Twitter): @WharfRatGames
Instagram: @wharf_rat_games
YouTube: @WharfRatGames

But now onto the games for February!

Pre-Order

1. A Forlorn Hope from Wharf Rat Games Coming to Backerkit on February 10th

Wharf Rat Games is a new publisher recently started by the dynamic duo of Ryan Heilman and Wes Crawford. I have interviewed both of these guys a few times for their own designed games and also hung out with them quite a bit at conventions including Buckeye Game Fest in April 2024 and the World Boardgaming Championships in August 2024. I am really happy for them that they have taken this plunge and created their own publishing company. I know they know games. Have been in the industry for a while now and also have great connections with many designers and would be designers and I am sure that they will bring many quality offerings to our tables over the next decade plus.

But there is more than just their introduction here as they have signed their first game and it is from a designer we all know and love – Hermann Luttmann. A Forlorn Hope places solo players or up to three cooperative players in command of a battalion charging across No Man’s Land to capture enemy trenches during World War I. Success requires careful balancing of bold advances and timely retreats to avoid casualties, maintain cohesion, and keep troops from becoming pinned under relentless enemy fire. Over a decade ago, Hermann pitched a groundbreaking design to Alan Emrich at Victory Point Games—a push-your-luck mechanic within a wargame framework, originally set in the WWI trenches. While the concept was well-received, Alan suggested a Civil War theme instead, leading to the creation of In Magnificent Style, based on Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. This game went on to be published by Victory Point Games and later by Worthington Publishing.

From the game page, we read the following:

A Forlorn Hope is an abstract simulation wargame of a typical trench assault, modeling those attacks that were conducted during the First World War (1914-1918). The player represents an attacking regiment of troops consisting of three battalions, with each battalion made up of two or three assault companies (depending on the number of players).

The game uses a “press-your-luck” design philosophy that will challenge you with tough decision-making and risk-taking throughout the game. The goal is for the player(s) to drive their forces across No Man’s Land in the quickest and most efficient manner possible to achieve the best level of victory.

A Forlorn Hope is designed both for solitaire and multiplayer co-operative play. Numerous scenarios are included, starting with a basic assault scenario (which is ideal for learning the intricacies of the game system), then adding multiple historically-based scenarios simulating actual battles from World War I that offer a slightly more complex and layered gaming experience. Each scenario features singular aspects of the historical battle it is simulating, and each will therefore be a unique gaming experience.

We recently published an interview with the designer Hermann Luttmann and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2026/01/28/interview-with-hermann-luttmann-designer-of-a-forlorn-hope-from-wharf-rat-games-coming-to-backerkit-february-10th/

If you are interested in A Forlorn Hope, you can learn more about the project on the Backerkit project page at the following link: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/wharf-rat-games/a-forlorn-hope-can-you-make-it-across-no-man-s-land/launch_party

The project is set to launch on Tuesday, February 10th.

2. Napoleon at War Deluxe Edition from Decision Games

Over the past couple of years, Decision Games has been going back through their catalog and doing these Deluxe Editions of several of their games including Red Dragon Green Crescent Deluxe Edition in 2024 and Blue & Gray Deluxe Edition in 2025. They now have tabbed several more games for this game treatment and the first that I will share is Napoleon at War Deluxe Edition.

From the game page, we read the following:

Napoleon at War Deluxe Edition reprints the original SPI QuadriGame consisting of four separate battles, each among the most important of the Napoleonic Wars: Marengo, Jena-Auerstadt, Wagram, and the Battle of Nations at Leipzig. This new deluxe edition has a full-color instruction booklet, new counter and map artwork, with 9/16” counters, two back printed 22” x 25.5” mounted game boards, and new player aid cards. The basic rules to all four games in the Napoleon at War Series are standardized. Each game has its own exclusive rules, which include historical set up and reinforcements, special rules, player’s notes, and commentary by the game’s designer. The game mechanics used in this series are based on the popular Borodino-Napoleon at Waterloo game system. The scale of each game ranges from 400 to 800 meters per hex, while each game turn represents between one and two hours of real time. Units range in size from demi-brigades through divisions, with each strength point representing between 250 and 350 men or an equivalent amount of artillery.

Movement is sequential and single-phased. Zones of control are rigid, and combat is mandatory between adjacent opposing units. Stacking is limited to one unit per hex. The Combat Results Table is relatively uncertain, with odds of 4 to 1, or better, necessary to ensure at least a “Defender Retreat” result. Terrain ranges from the Austrian parade grounds south of Wagram to the rough and forested battlegrounds of Jena-Auerstadt. Game length varies from the five-turn First Day Scenario of the Battle of Nations to the 20 game turn Grand Battle Scenario of that same game which simulates the entire three- and one-half-day Battle of Leipzig, the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars.The games, though graphically enhanced from the originals, remain the same. Now enhance your enjoyment with this new deluxe edition of another SPI classic!

If you are interested in Napoleon at War Deluxe Edition, you can pre-order a copy for $89.00 from the Decision Games website at the following link: https://shop.decisiongames.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=P3040

3. Year of the Rat Vietnam 1972 Deluxe Edition from Decision Games

The 2nd game that is being offered up for pre-sale with a new Deluxe Edition is Year of the Rat Vietnam 1972, which was originally designed by John Prados and now redesigned by Joseph Miranda.

From the game page, we read the following:

On 30 March 1972 the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launched its “Easter Offensive” into South Vietnam, attempting to either win the war decisively or improve the North’s negotiating position at the Paris Peace Talks. Surprised by the large-scale attack, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) rallied, and supported by US airpower, launched counterattacks into the fall, finally repulsing the Communist offensive.

Year of the Rat Deluxe Edition recreates that decisive campaign. Powerful NVA divisions operate alongside Viet Cong regiments and decoys, evading the ARVN while striking quickly at vital towns and bases. ARVN elite airborne, ranger, and marine units respond, creating a tense asymmetrical contest of big unit battles and hard-fought sieges, with increasing American airstrikes and worsening NVA supply capabilities.

This Deluxe Edition enhances the original, acclaimed SPI game design (published during the campaign) with a half-century of research and analysis, providing updated orders of battle and terrain analysis. Three scenarios and fifteen order of battle variants cover a wide range of game options, including operations into Laos and Cambodia.

Additional features include:

• New graphics on enlarged maps and counters

• Expanded Allied airmobile operations and units

• NVA divisional reorganization and tank regiments

• Full 1971–72 US order of battle

• Australian, Royal Thai, Cambodian, and Khmer Rouge forces

• Vietnamese and US Navy riverine units

• ARVN base camps and regional forces

• Extensive optional rules

Year of the Rat Deluxe Edition offers you the opportunity to explore and make decisions in a campaign that changed the course of war and peace.

If you are interested in Year of the Rat Vietnam 1972 Deluxe Edition, you can pre-order a copy for $65.00 from the Decision Games website at the following link: https://shop.decisiongames.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=P%2D3042

4. 1812: The Campaign of Napoleon in Russia Deluxe Edition from Decision Games

The third and final game getting a facelift from Decision Games is 1812: The Campaign of Napoleon in Russia Deluxe Edition.

From the game page, we read the following:

Napoleon invaded Russia with 600,000 troops of which only about 110,000 escaped in organized formations. The largest factor in this enormously deadly campaign was supply. The ability of a Napoleonic army to supply itself depended heavily on the surrounding countryside. Areas were stripped of resources to supply the army, which had to move or starve within a very short period. 1812 Deluxe Edition treats this difficulty of command as a central point, through the game’s area depletion system.

1812 Deluxe Edition upgrades the original SPI 1812 Strategic Area Map Game with a full-color rulebook and player aid cards, new artwork, larger counters and an enlarged map on a mounted game board.

Players must battle attrition, supply, and enemy forces to win. 1812 offers three scenarios, starting in June, late August, and early October, each with free and historical set-up options. Optional rules add leaders and fortresses, while new variant rules provide additional leaders, battle plans, and elite guard forces. Other than adding the variant rules, and incorporating clarifications and known errata, no major changes have been made to the original SPI rules.

1812 Deluxe Edition provides you the opportunity to see if Russia falls to Napoleon’s conquest, or survives, spelling the eventual doom of the Napoleonic Empire. Open this new deluxe edition and see if you can change history.

If you are interested in 1812: The Campaign of Napoleon in Russia Deluxe Edition, you can pre-order a copy for $89.00 from the Decision Games website at the following link: https://shop.decisiongames.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=P%2D3043

5. Checkpoint Charlie from GMT Games

I love a different style and focus of wargame. A game that takes a look at an important but somewhat obscure or rarely addressed topic such as espionage or intelligence. And this month, GMT Games announced such a game in Checkpoint Charlie, which is a solo or cooperative game focused on SIS espionage missions in Berlin in the 1960’s.

From the game page, we read the following:

Checkpoint Charlie is a solitaire or cooperative game of British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) espionage missions in Berlin in the early 1960s.

West Berlin is an isolated outpost of the Western Powers in the center of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). East Berlin, on the other side of the Berlin Wall, is a base of operations for Soviet KGB agents and the Stasi secret police. This is a city of spies, a focal point of worldwide espionage in the growing Cold War. In this game, you send your assets (agents) on missions and use your influence and foresight to help them complete objectives before they are detected and compromised by KGB agents. As you play through these missions, you will:

• Ensure that an important defector gets safely out of the city.
• Make contact with a dissident Russian scientist on the other side of the Berlin Wall.
• Gather intelligence in East Berlin and return safely to the West
• Entrap a troublesome KGB agent with tempting intelligence.
• Sow distrust between KGB and Stasi agents.
• Identify a Soviet mole among your SIS agents and wait for them to reveal themselves.

Can you accomplish all of this in secret, as the very public events of the Cold War change the political landscape of Berlin itself?

This is a game about your assets staying one step ahead of the KGB and completing missions without being detected. Each mission starts with a different cast of assets and KGB agents, a set of items that may help complete the mission, and multiple historical events that can change the situation. Victory conditions are specific – getting an asset out of the city, making contact with a new source, or even crossing the Berlin Wall to gather important intelligence and returning without getting caught. There are no victory points or turn limits in Checkpoint Charlie, just objectives your assets must complete before they are compromised or overwhelmed by the growing web of KGB surveillance. The game map includes iconic locations like Checkpoint Charlie, Glienicke Bridge (the “Bridge of Spies”), and the notorious Berlin Hilton, each with unique game effects. You will manage a hand of cards that represent assets, items, and locations on the map. On your turn, you’ll play a card to influence the situation, and when you take a card from the Draw Area to refill your hand, every SIS asset and KGB agent in the city will move and take actions based on which card you chose. New Intel may appear on the map, locations may be placed under KGB surveillance, and Event cards may affect specific locations.

In Checkpoint Charlie, you are not a field agent. You are a planner, a director monitoring the situation but limited in how much you can directly intervene. That sense of influencing the situation but often just having to watch as events unfold is created by the core mechanic of Checkpoint Charlie: the Draw Area below the map. This area contains five face-up location, asset, or item cards. Chits representing each of the tokens on the city map (your SIS assets and the KGB agents) are placed above each of the cards in the Draw Area. After playing a card from your hand, you will draw a card from either end of the Draw Area, and then the remaining four cards will shift left or right to fill the empty position before a new card is drawn to fill the row. In this way, every card in the Draw Area shifts one space whenever you draw a card. This is important because every token in Berlin then moves closer to the location, asset, or item on the card directly below their chit. In the example below, the cards have shifted and the empty spot has been filled. Now the Dentist will move to Mehringplatz. Jester will move one location closer to Checkpoint Charlie, and KGB Agent Svetlova will move toward the 1958 Rambler at RAF Gatow.

This game looks extremely interesting and I am very much excited to learn more about it. I am going to reach out to the designer Russ Brown to get some more information to share.

If you are interested in Checkpoint Charlie, you can pre-order a copy for $48.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1211-checkpoint-charlie.aspx

6. Here I Stand 500th Anniversary Reprint Edition 3rd Printing from GMT Games

Here I Stand is one of the greatest Card Driven Games I have ever played, and we have played a lot in our time. I have played this game more than 10 times and found each experience to be simply sublime, even though it takes 10-12 hours to play. The game now has a 3rd Printing of the Deluxe 500th Anniversary Edition and you need to get you a copy and find someone to play with.

From the game page, we read the following:

Here I Stand: Wars of the Reformation 1517-1555 is the first game in over 25 years to cover the political and religious conflicts of early 16th Century Europe. Few realize that the greatest feats of Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, Ignatius Loyola, Henry VIII, Charles V, Francis I, Suleiman the Magnificent, Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando Cortes, and Nicolaus Copernicus all fall within this narrow 40-year period of history. This game covers all the action of the period using a unique card-driven game system that models both the political and religious conflicts of the period on a single point-to-point map. There are six main powers in the game, each with a unique path to victory.

If you own the original (non-500th Anniversary edition) Here I Stand, here are the upgrades you will find in the deluxe 500th anniversary edition. Enhancements include: 6 brand new cards added to the deck, including Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Rough Wooing, and Imperial Coronation. Revisions to over 15 existing cards including Copernicus, Master of Italy, and Machiavelli to allow for more exciting in-game play and additional possibilities for diplomatic deals. A new Chateau construction table is now used to resolve France’s Patron of the Arts home card plays. Several Virgin Queen rule updates are incorporated back into Here I Stand, affecting minor power activation, piracy, space trading, and foreign wars.

There also is included the special 2-player variant which pits the Protestants versus the Catholics in a modified form of the game. But it is still good and this is how we first played the game.

Here is a look at my written review on the 2-player variant of the game: https://theplayersaid.com/2018/03/19/holy-war-for-two-in-under-3-hours-a-review-of-here-i-stand-wars-of-the-reformation-2-player-variant-from-gmt-games/

Here also are links to a series of Action Point posts on the blog that explain some of the rules revolving around the religious portion of the game:

Action Point 1 – Special starting conditions and steps for the Reformation

Action Point 2 – The Diet of Worms

Action Point 3 – Three specific available Religious Actions, including Biblical Translations, Publishing of Treatises and Calling Theological Debates

Action Point 4 – The Schmalkaldic League

If you are interested in Here I Stand: Wars of the Reformation 1517-1555 500th Anniversary Edition 3rd Printing, you can pre-order a copy on the P500 game page for $66.00 at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1214-here-i-stand-500th-anniversary-reprint-edition-3rd-printing.aspx

7. Special Component Pack for The Last Hundred Yards Vol. 5: For King & Country from GMT Games

If you didn’t know we really enjoyed The Last Hundred Yards very much as well as Volume 2: Airborne Over Europe. The system is extremely interesting for a tactical game and uses some novel elements in regards to how victory points are scored including a focus on time and casualties. Really an excellent system! Now, even though there are 5 total volumes that have been released, including most recently Volume 5 For King & Country, Mike Denson has forged ahead with an interesting expansion called a Special Component Pack.

From the game page, we read the following:

We are offering this Special Pack for players who purchased The Last Hundred Yards Volume 5: For King & Country because the necessary modules to play all the missions are not currently available. This pack includes all components (German counters and maps) necessary to make Volume 5 a Stand-Alone Game. With this Pack, players will be able to play every mission included in the module.

Components included in the for King and Country Special Zip Lock Pack:

• 7 double-sided geomorphic maps (14 maps total)
• 1 full color Rules booklet (latest edition) (44 pgs.)
• 1 full color Playbook (40 pgs.)
• 2 full-size ¾” counter sheets (German)
• 1 half-size mixed counter sheet

If you are interested in Special Component Pack for The Last Hundred Yards Vol. 5: For King & Country, you can pre-order a copy for $26.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1213-special-component-pack-for-the-last-hundred-yards-vol-5-for-king-country.aspx

8. Dice in the Dirt: A Tactical Print and Play Skirmish Game from Michael Shane Mecham Currently on Kickstarter

Recently, I have really been enjoying several Print and Play solitaire wargames. They are inexpensive, easy to create and setup and then most of them have some really engaging and interesting gameplay. This month, I came across a new offering called Dice in the Dirt: A Tactical Print and Play Skirmish Game designed by Michael Shane Mecham and I jumped on it pretty quickly.

From the game page, we read the following:

Dice in the Dirt is a fast, tactical print-and-play skirmish game for two players.

Each player commands a six-soldier squad fighting over a dense, modular battlefield where pressure, positioning, and timing matter more than raw firepower. The game uses blind-bag activation, suppression mechanics, and standard dice to create tense, unpredictable engagements.

Dice in the Dirt is not about killing fast—it’s about pressure.
Suppression locks soldiers in place. Actions are scarce. Timing matters more than firepower. Victory comes from forcing your opponent to waste precious moments under fire.

This is a complete, digital-only release designed for quick setup and focused play.

It really seems pretty interesting and the best part about these Print and Play games is that the cost of entry is so low that it is worth taking a chance on. I am a backer and look forward to playing this one.

If you are interested in Dice in the Dirt: A Tactical Print and Play Skirmish Game, you can back the project on the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/diceinthedirt/dice-in-the-dirt

As of February 1st, the Kickstarter campaign has funded and raised $521.00 toward its $100.00 funding goal with 32 backers. The campaign will conclude on Friday, February 6, 2026 at 9:57am EST.

9. Battle Decisions: Kriegsspiel from Catastrophe Games Currently on Kickstarter

Catastrophe Games is a small publisher who just really puts out interesting games. I have played several of their games and enjoyed them all. Recently, they announced a new game called Battle Decisions: Kriegsspiel designed by Paul LaFontaine.

From the game page, we read the following:

Battle Decisions: Kriegsspiel is a basic Kriegsspiel kit in a box. You will have everything you need to play a game of Kriegsspiel: a map and counter sheet for the umpire and two players, along with a very basic resolution system. 

This game benefits from hundreds of hours of face to face and online playtesting, with the system refined to allow an experienced umpire to launch and complete a simple scenario in just over an hour. 

The scenario book runs scenarios across time: while most of the scenarios focus on the 19th century, it also shows how to run modern skirmishes (WW2) while allowing ancient battles as well (Alexandria versus the Persian Empire)

Scenarios include:

Scenario 1 – Dennewitz 1813 
Scenario 2 – Scheldt 1944 
Scenario 3 – Gettysburg 1863 
Scenario 4 – Waterloo 1815 
Scenario 5 – Gaugamela 331BCE 
Scenario 6 – Leuthen 1757 
Scenario 7 – Magenta 1859 
Scenario 8 – Blenheim 1704 
Scenario 9 – Königgrätz 1866 
Scenario 10 – Breitenfeld 1631 

But wait, you might ask, how can you run so many and various scenarios off one central Europe map? What Paul did was take the central element of the battle and found a location on the map that most represents the fight. This is an elegant way to allow a single map to be used for multiple battles. 

Kriegsspiel began as a past time for Prussian nobles. Eventually a version was presented to their king who then required its use for training Prussian officers. Many attribute some of the Prussian success in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war to the widespread use of the Kriegsspiel amongst the Prussian officer corps. 

After the war Kriegsspiel games were used by many nations to train their leaders. Now the descendants of the original Kriegsspiele live on in the form of software driven exercises for staffs at various levels. However the focus on command and control is still the key factor in these modern games.

Battle Decisions: Kriegsspiel offers players a chance to return to form of the original games, with simple counters and maps, allowing players to forge their own tactics and plans. 

If you are interested in Battle Decisions: Kriegsspiel, you can back the project on the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/campaign-fall-blau/battle-decisions-kriegsspiel

As of February 1st, the Kickstarter campaign has funded and raised $3,313.00 toward its $500.00 funding goal with 55 backers. The campaign will conclude on Monday, February 2, 2026 at 7:00pm EST.

10. Operation Overlord from VUCA Simulations

VUCA Simulations is a new company on the scene the last few years and they are coming out with some really great looking games. We have played several of their games and always have a great experience with them. One of their newest pre-order offerings is called Operation Overlord designed by Clem. It covers the D-Day invasion and as usual looks to be of the highest quality and production.

From the game page, we read the following:

Operation Overlord is a deep, historically grounded strategic wargame that simulates the Normandy invasion and the critical battles that followed from June to August 1944. One player commands the Allied SHAEF forces, planning and executing the largest amphibious operation in history, while the opposing player takes the role of Oberbefehlshaber West, defending the Atlantic Wall and attempting to delay the Allied advance long enough to alter the course of the war.

Rather than focusing on tactical skirmishes, Operation Overlord operates at the operational–strategic level, where timing, logistics, intelligence, and command structure are decisive. Players maneuver divisions and army corps across a detailed map of Normandy, manage supply networks and reinforcements, execute historical and fictional operations, and influence battles through doctrine, supports, and event cards.

Each month begins with high-level planning: the Allied player secretly schedules strategic and special operations, while the German player designates key cities as Festungen, to be held at all costs. Weekly turns then unfold through intelligence gathering, supply allocation, reinforcement arrivals, and alternating unit activations that combine maneuver and combat into a tense, fluid system. Fog of war is maintained through hidden unit values and simultaneous combat card reveals, ensuring constant uncertainty and meaningful decision-making.

Victory is not measured simply by territory, but by time and consequences. The German player is unlikely to drive the Allies back into the sea—but every week gained has far-reaching implications for morale, resources, and other fronts of the war. Likewise, an Allied breakthrough ahead of schedule can dramatically reshape history. Each scenario and campaign outcome includes historically reasoned consequences that frame the result within the broader context of World War II.

With multiple scenarios (June, July, August, and a full campaign), robust asymmetry, and a strong emphasis on planning and operational art, Operation Overlord offers a demanding and rewarding experience for players seeking a serious, historically informed wargame.

If you are interested in Operation Overlord, you can pre-order a copy for €107,99 ($118.79 in US Dollars) from the VUCA Simulations website at the following link: https://vucasims.com/products/operation-overlord

11. Kawanakajima 1561: Battles of the Sengoku Jidai from Serious Historical Games

A few years ago, a new company called Serious Historical Games released the first in a new series of games focused on the Sengoku Jidai period and the battles of the time. This game was called Nagashino 1575 & Shizugatake 1583: Battles of the Sengoku Jidai and it is part of the Age of the Warring States Series. Since that time they have released Volume 2 and now are getting Volume 3 ready for pre-sale, which focuses on the battle of Kawanakajima in 1561. These games are excellent and overall, the quality of the production is amazing, especially the counters and the colors used for the various clan banners.

From the game page, we read the following:

Kawanakajima 1561, the most epic battle of Sengoku Jidai, is the third volume in the Sengoku Jidai series. The game features a one-sided area map measuring 23.1 × 33.1 inches (59.4 × 84 cm), 216 beautifully illustrated counters, and a 24-page bilingual rulebook (English & French). It also includes two player aids and two scenarios: one historical and one alternative.

The scale represents 300–400 meters per area, 30 minutes per turn, and 500–1,000 men per counter. A full game lasts 2 to 4 hours and is ideally suited for two players. Kawanakajima 1561 is an area-movement wargame designed to deliver intense, fast-paced engagements.

Prepare for swift and brutal battles, where maneuver, timing, and tactical decisions are the keys to victory.

The Battle of Kawanakajima (1561) was fought between the armies of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima is one of the most famous clashes of Japan’s Sengoku period. Renowned for its daring maneuvers, sudden attacks, and legendary duels, it epitomizes the art of war practiced by rival daimyo at the height of samurai warfare.

If you are interested in Kawanakajima 1561, you can pre-order a copy for 60,00 € ($71.46 in US Dollars) from the Serious Historical Games website at the following link: Kawanakajima 1561 – Serious Historical Games

New Release

1. They Came In Threes! The Final Word in Solo Sci-Fi Madness from Tiny Battle Publishing

I love a good Sci-Fi solo game and have played quite a few over the years. But one that still sticks out in my mind is Attack of the 50 Foot Colossi! from Tiny Battle Publishing, which is designed by Hermann Luttmann. Recently, I saw where Tiny Battle Publishing was offering a multi-pack of these Sci-Fi games and I wanted to share it with you. The multi-pack is called They Came In Threes! The Final Word in Solo Sci-Fi Madness that contains 3 full solo games including Space Vermin from Beyond!, Invaders from Dimension X! and the aforementioned Attack of the 50 Foot Colossi!.

From the game page, we read the following:

They came from beyond time, beyond reason… and they brought friends.

Strap in, Commander—this is the ultimate solo sci-fi slugfest! They Came In Threes! cranks the chaos to maximum warp. For the first time ever, three of designer Hermann Luttmann’s bizarre, brain-busting solo science fiction games are gathered in one battle-scarred box. Lead brave Galactic Marines against interdimensional horrors, titanic biomech monstrosities, and insectoid swarms that shouldn’t exist—but definitely do.

This deluxe package includes:

• Invaders from Dimension X! – A reality-warping solo game where your foes don’t follow logic… or sanity.

• Attack of the 50 Foot Colossi! – Massive, rock-like entities stomp across a doomed world. Can you outwit their merciless programming?

• Space Vermin from Beyond! – Bugs. Big ones. Hungry ones. And they’re coming for your outpost in waves.

• A Slick New FAQ & Scenario Book – Includes 3 scenarios, 8 counters for Invaders from Dimension X and an FAQ for each title.

Each game offers fast, intuitive solo play with unpredictable enemies, evolving scenarios, and that signature “what the heck just happened?” flavor. Whether you’re repelling alien warlords, dodging titanic footfalls, or holding the last line against a tide of teeth and slime, They Came In Threes! delivers old-school thrills in glorious technicolor terror. Three games. One box. Unlimited weirdness.

I have played the Attack of the 50 Foot Colossi! game and have done the following Action Point posts on the blog:

Action Point 1 – Marines of the 124th Galactic Marine Raider Battalion and Their Various Actions

Action Point 2 – The Bot Forces of the Colossi

Here is a link to my video review of the game:

If you are interested in They Came In Threes! The Final Word in Solo Sci-Fi Madness, you can order a copy for $75.00 from the Tiny Battle Publishing website at the following link: https://tinybattlepublishing.com/shop/ols/products/they-came-in-threes

2. Field Commander: Robert E. Lee from Dan Verssen Games

I have had various communications on social media with a fledgling designer named Vince Cooper over the past few years as he has embarked on a design odyssey for a few different wargames. Both he and I share an affinity for the designs of David Thompson and especially for the Valiant Defense Series. Through these online communications, I became aware of Vince’s first design called Field Commander: Robert E. Lee. I have played several of the games in the series including Field Commander: Alexander and Field Commander: Rommel and enjoyed them both. So my interest has been immediately sparked for this game. The game had a successful Kickstarter campaign last year and is now shipping and available for purchase.

From the game page, we read the following:

Field Commander – Robert E. Lee builds on the design and gameplay of Field Commander – Napoleon (currently ranked #97 in the Wargames category on BGG!!) to put the player firmly in control of the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War, with the Union forces controlled by an AI.

The game includes 5 campaign and to keep the campaigns decision-heavy and focused on the critical aspects, some of the dates for the games noted may be different to the historical dates of a longer campaign. The campaigns include:

Seven Days Battles (June 25 – July 1, 1862)

Second Manassas (August 22 – August 30, 1862)

Antietam (September 14 – September 17, 1862)

Chancellorsville (April 30 – May 3, 1863)

Gettysburg (July 1 – July 3, 1863)

We posted an interview with the designer Vince Cooper recently and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/07/03/interview-with-vince-cooper-designer-of-field-commander-robert-e-lee-a-civil-war-solitaire-strategy-game-from-dan-verssen-games-currently-on-kickstarter/

If you are interested in Field Commander: Robert E. Lee, you can order a copy for $139.00 from the Dan Verssen Games website at the following link: https://dvg.com/product/field-commander-robert-e-lee/

3. Battle Hymn Vol. 2 – Shiloh and Bentonville from Compass Games

We really enjoyed our play experience with Battle Hymn Volume 1: Gettysburg and Pea Ridge from Compass Games in 2019. The rules were very approachable with lots of good details that were based in history, a good combat system that keeps the battle interesting and engaging but is simply withering and the game evokes a lot of emotions. I played as the CSA and it was heart breaking knowing the outcome and seeing what those men would have encountered going against those formidable Union defenses as they had the high ground and were not going to give it up easily. The newest volume in this series is now out and is called Battle Hymn Volume 2 – Shiloh and Bentonville.

From the game page, we read the following:

Battle Hymn Volume 2 is the long-anticipated sequel game release to Volume 1 and includes two complete games: Shiloh and Bentonville. Battle Hymn is the new brigade-level system based upon the latest research into Civil War combat. This new entry introduces an extension map for Gettysburg (Volume 1) for a complete alternative history of the entire battle. Designed by Charles S. Roberts Award-winning designer Eric Lee Smith.

Shiloh: The First Great Battle depicts the two-day battle of Shiloh. (4 Scenarios & 1 Full Campaign)

On April 7th and 8th of 1862, the Battle of Shiloh was fought in Tennessee along a sluggish river and centered on a church called Shiloh. America would never be the same. The first day of battle harvested more casualties than all of America’s previous wars combined. It got worse. While the Confederates caught Grant’s army off guard, he stood his ground; reinforcements arrived, and he counter-attacked and won the battle. As a reward, he was demoted. But Lincoln spared Grant his career, and the result is history.

Bentonville: The Last Great Battle simulates the final major battle of the war. (4 Scenarios)

Outside Goldsboro, North Carolina, on March 19th, 1865, Confederate forces under General Joseph Johnston made one last desperate attempt to destroy one wing of Sherman’s army. The Confederates caught them by surprise, and it was a close-run thing for an afternoon, but it ended in tragedy and defeat for Joe Johnston. It was the last major battle of the war and a needless pity.

Gettysburg 1862 is pure conjecture and simulates a completely hypothetical battle. (1 standalone Scenario, 2 new Scenarios combining Vol 2 with Vol 1)

The lost order was never lost, Antietam never happened, and the Confederates entered Gettysburg a year early, facing George McClellan rather than George Meade. Stonewall Jackson is alive; the cavalry for both sides are there, and the meeting engagement happens along different lines.

Also includes rules to modify existing scenarios to add the new map to Vol 1 Scenarios & Full Campaign.

If you are interested in Battle Hymn Volume 2 – Shiloh and Bentonville, you can order a copy for $85.00 from the Compass Games website at the following link: https://www.compassgames.com/product/battle-hymn-vol-2-shiloh-and-bentonville/

4. Sensuikan: Japanese Fleet Submarines, 1941-45 from Compass Games

Another solitaire game…..from Gregory M. Smith? Wow, he is a machine! Sensuikan: Japanese Fleet Submarines in WW2, 1941-1945 is a solitaire, tactical level game that places you in command of a Japanese Fleet submarine from Pearl Harbor until the end of the war in 1945. After choosing a class, your mission is to conduct special missions as assigned by the Combined Fleet. The player will take their submarine on assigned missions with the objective to complete said missions, as opposed to necessarily sinking merchant vessels (although that is sometimes an objective). You will be advancing your crew quality and increasing your commander’s rank and awards—all while remembering you have to make it home amidst diminishing odds of survival as the war progresses.

From the game page, we read the following:

A fascinating historical addition to Sensuikan is three new modules: the Aircraft Module, the Midget Sub Module, and the Kaiten (suicide torpedo) Module. These modules facilitate play if a player is assigned to a submarine that is equipped with one of these special capabilities. The system is packed with rich technical detail based on the various submarine classes used by Japan. There are no less than 17 classes of submarine to choose from. These include:

Types A, B, C

Junsen (3 classes)

Kirai-Sen Class

Kaidai (5 classes)

Type B. 3 and Type C. 3

Sen-Toku and Sen-Taka Classes

Type A (Modified)

The different classes have historical equipment, sometimes including aircraft in watertight hangars, midget submarines, and later in the war, suicide torpedoes. You may be assigned to special missions based on your class’s capabilities – perhaps a midget submarine attack on Pearl Harbor or Australia, the bombing of the U.S. west coast, or possibly even an attack on the Panama Canal.

But, as with Greg’s best solitaire games, this game doesn’t just focus on the hardware you use to complete missions but the crew also plays a pivotal role as they have skills and can advance with experience throughout the campaign.

…the human aspect of the war is captured as the submarine Commander (the player) and his crew can improve over time via skills acquisition. In addition to having combat modules to facilitate ease of play, the game includes a major change by including the “Major Event” markers that track the war’s progress and possibly involve the player in supporting the Major Events as they occur.

If you are interested in Sensuikan: Japanese Fleet Submarines in WW2, 1941-1945 you can order a copy for $85.00 from the Compass Games website at the following link: https://www.compassgames.com/product/sensuikan-japanese-fleet-submarines-1941-45/

5. A Distant Plain: Insurgency in Afghanistan 4th Printing from GMT Games

As you may know from my previews and reviews, I love the COIN Series of games by GMT Games. They are a fantastic vehicle to allow me personally to engage in the struggles throughout history between great powers and those that are considered rebels or traitors. Each of the volumes that I have personally played is a highly enjoyable delve into the time period depicted.  The game mechanics are so well designed, that I am allowed to totally immerse myself not only in the theme, but actually in the philosophy, mindset, motivations and direction of each of the factions. A Distant Plain is no different for me and I am truly pleased with this game and love it. And am not surprised at all that it has now had a 4th Printing as it really is just that good.

From the game page, we read the following:

Afghanistan—scene of tribal, ethnic, colonial, and Cold War conflict across the ages.  Into this cockpit dropped a multinational post-9/11 coalition to root out al-Qaeda and replace the hardline-Islamist Taliban regime that harbored it.  A quick invasion and regime change portended quiet reconstruction and good governance, but it was not to be so.  In their sanctuary across Pakistan’s border, the Taliban rebuilt for an insurgency that would ensnare the Coalition in the tangle of Afghan rivalries, shifting allegiances, and warlordism that the West could at first only distantly grasp. A Distant Plain teams Volko Ruhnke, the award-winning designer of LABYRINTH—The War on Terror, with Brian Train, a designer with 20 years’ experience creating influential simulations such as Algeria, Somalia Interventions, Shining Path, and many others.

A Distant Plain features the same accessible game system as GMT’s recent Andean Abyss but with new factions, capabilities, events, and objectives.  For the first time in the Series, two counterinsurgent (COIN) factions must reconcile competing visions for Afghanistan in order to coordinate a campaign against a dangerous twin insurgency:

• As the Coalition, how will you secure popular support for an Afghan Government that cares more about corrupt patronage and control than legitimacy?  Your high-tech forces are capable, but your publics are pressuring you to keep your footprint small:  how will you stabilize this complex country and get out?
• As the Government, how can you run the country when your foreign partners continually redirect your war effort?  You can reshape Afghanistan’s human terrain by encouraging the resettlement of millions of refugees, and your Coalition-trained forces are potentially the most numerous of any faction.  But they are unsteady, and your war chest is not your own:  how will you keep your allies’ firepower in-country long enough to ensure that you are the top dog once they leave?
• As the Taliban, how will you come back against the potent forces arrayed against you?  Islamism, Pashtun ethnic solidarity, and your Pakistani friends behind you will help you recruit and move with ease amidst the enemy.  But not all Afghanistan is Pashtun, its warlords are treacherous allies at best, your fighters are seasonal, and Pakistan’s word is ever uncertain:  can you sting the occupier and his puppets to reawaken Islamic revolution without drawing an unrelenting fire upon yourself?
• As the Warlords, how will you secure your traditional ways against the intrusive centralizers of Kabul and the Taliban?  You profit from the country’s lucrative opium crop, and your money can talk loudly to the Government’s venal officials.  But your fighters have neither the equipment of the Coalition, the numbers of the national army and police, nor the fanaticism of the Taliban:  how will you block this latest cast of combatants from unifying the country and imposing their rule on you?  

Afghanistan is not Colombia!

A Distant Plain adapts familiar Andean Abyss mechanics to the conditions of Afghanistan without adding rules complexity.  A snap for COIN Series players to learn, A Distant Plain will transport them to a different place and time.  New features include:

• Coalition-Government joint operations.
• Volatile Pakistani posture toward the conflict.
• Evolution of both COIN and insurgent tactics and technology.
• Government graft and desertion.
• Coalition casualties.
• Afghan returnees.
• Pashtun ethnic terrain.
• Multiple scenarios.
• A deck of 72 fresh events.

As with each COIN Series volume, players of A Distant Plain will face difficult strategic decisions with each card.  The innovative game system smoothly integrates political, cultural, and economic affairs with military and other violent and non-violent operations and capabilities.  Terror, drug trafficking and eradication, highway extortion and sabotage, drone strikes, and many more options are on the menu. 

If you are interested in A Distant Plain: Insurgency in Afghanistan 4th Printing, you can order a copy for $91.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-961-a-distant-plain-4th-printing.aspx

6. Men of Iron Volume VI: Purgatorio: Battles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines from GMT Games

There are some systems that are just very playable. They are well designed, cover an interesting historical period or happening and have very interesting mechanics to boot. Such a series is the Men or Iron Series designed by Richard Berg. We played the new Tri-Pack in 2020 and really enjoyed the system. It was just really playable and ultimately created some great narratives. Since that time, we got a copy of Volume V Norman Conquests but have yet to play it (I am actually clipping the counters right now). This new volume is set in Italy and looks to be really good!

From the game page, we read the following:

The struggle between monarchs in Europe, particularly between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, would spawn well over a hundred years of conflict in Italy. The Investiture Controversy caused a split between the Italian city states and even the people within the city states. Guelph was the name given to those who supported the Papacy—while the Ghibellines were the supporters of the Holy Roman Empire. Guelph cities tended to be farther away from the Papal States and closer to the Holy Roman Empire, and Ghibelline cities tended to be farther away from the Holy Roman Empire and closer to the Pope’s temporal power.

Battles raged across Italy from the mid-1100’s to the mid-1300’s with both sides ending up on top at one time or another. This sixth Men of Iron game (Men of Iron Volume VI: Purgatorio: Battles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines) covers some of those battles: beginning with Frederick Barbarossa trying to recapture rebelling provinces in Italy in the late 12th century, taking a spin through the 13th century with a few battles that spelled the end of direct Hohenstaufen rule of Italy, and ending with a war that myth says was fought over the theft of a bucket from one city by another!

The battles include:
Legnano 29 May 1176 – Frederick Barbarossa fights the Lombard League for control of northern Italy.

Cortenuova 27 November 1237 – Frederick II, grandson of Barbarossa, tangles with the second Lombard League for control of northern Italy.

Montaperti 4 September 1260 – Florence and Sienna fight one of the bloodiest battles in medieval Italy—as seen on TV, or in GMT’s Inferno!

Benvento 26 February 1266 – Manfred, King of Sicily, dies in battle in southern Italy against Charles I, King of France, earning Charles I the title King of Sicily.

Tagliacozzo 23 August 1268 – Conradin III, King of Jerusalem, is captured and executed after a battle in southern Italy against Charles I, King of France and Sicily.

Campaldino 11 June 1289 – Florence and Arezzo fight in northern Italy. Famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri fought in the battle. Later, his brand of Guelph would lose power in Florence, and he would be forced into exile.

Zappolino 15 November 1325 – Modena and Bologna fight, not over an oaken bucket stolen from a well, but over a long standing feud replete with raids and reprisal that had occurred almost a century.

If you are interested in Men of Iron Volume VI: Purgatorio: Battles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, you can order a copy for $71.00 at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1116-purgatorio-men-of-iron-volume-vi.aspx

7. Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare from GMT Games

Jerry White is one of our favorite designers. He focuses on mostly solitaire wargames but he is very good at what he does and has a real talent for making a playable game out of any historical situation. Over the past couple of years, titles likes Atlantic Chase, Storm Above the Reich and Skies Over Britain have been released by GMT and are simply fantastic games that tell a great narrative. A few years ago, his newest title was announced that covers the development of submarine warfare during the American Civil War and is in partnership with Ed Ostermeyer called Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare. This game looks great and I am very much looking forward to playing it.

From the game page, we read the following:

Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare is a solitaire board game that casts the player in the role of inventor/entrepreneur in mid -19th century America. The game is set during a historical moment when the business environment has gotten rather dynamic – it is the tumultuous landscape of the American Civil War. The player’s task is to design, build, and put to use a submarine during that war.

Infernal Machine can be played either in scenario form or campaign. In a campaign, you can choose the city or port where the project’s machine shop will be located. Since construction materials and labor costs money, your role as entrepreneur comes into play as you seek out Investors to join your team; their cash will provide the funds that help your Fishboat take shape. As Inventor, your design gives form and substance to the size and shape of your submarine, and to its capabilities. Will it carry a snorkel? Will its prow have a spar-mounted torpedo as the primary weapon?? Will it tow a captive mine instead? Will it have dive planes? Will it be powered by the muscle strength of a crew cranking the propeller or will you install a boiler engine?

To bring blueprints to life, you will need to hire Mechanics, whose engineering expertise keeps your infernal machine’s construction on schedule. Once assembly is complete, your Mechanics can join the crew, using their repair capability to keep the machinery and the vessel running smoothly. Journeymen can also lend a hand on the shop floor and inside the Fishboat, while Sailors bring nautical know-how as well as sheer brawn.

While your machine shop is busy getting started with the submarine’s construction, the game reminds you that the war drags on, and it is an unstable business environment. Prices for materials and labor fluctuate. Current events can affect your construction schedule and your machine shop’s performance. Public, and even personal circumstances may force your hand. You may decide to push your Fishboat into the water before you feel it is optimal, or push your crew into battle with little training. So many decisions. Where do you turn and how do you find out what you need to know?

We published an interview with the designers Ed Ostermeyer and Jerry White and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/06/05/interview-with-jerry-white-and-ed-ostermeyer-designers-of-infernal-machine-dawn-of-submarine-warfare-from-gmt-games/

If you are interested in Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare, you can order a copy for $93.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-963-infernal-machine-dawn-of-submarine-warfare.aspx

As usual, thanks so much for reading along and sticking with me this month as I navigated through the many websites and game pages looking for new and interesting games to share.

Finally, thanks once again to this month’s sponsor Wharf Rat Games!

-Grant

The German branch of high IQ society Mensa has changed up its long-running board game award to focus entirely on complex, expert-level titles, scrapping its prizes for shorter family games and two-player designs.

Mensa in Deutschland has awarded the MinD Spielepreis since 2009, and has operated a ‘shorter games’ category for more than a decade and lighter two-player games prize since 2019.

But this year’s award will return to just a single category, pitting six expert-level games against each other in order to fill what the organisers see as a gap in the industry.

Jochen Tierbach, who has been organising the MinD Game Award for 16 years, said, “There are already various awards and prizes for family and connoisseur games.

“But for expert games, the really tough ones, there is no such thing in Germany yet. And we feel that the industry wants it.”

A long list of more than 20 titles has been whittled down to six challengers for this year: Galactic Cruise, Luthier, Shackleton Base, Speakeasy, Thebai and Thesauros, all of which have been released in Germany since Spiel Essen last October.

The organisers will now take the next ten months to persuade as many Mensans as possible to play the titles and rate them out of 10 for ‘challenge factor’ and ‘replayability’. The winner is set to be announced on November 10.

Last year’s MinD award for complex games saw Tomáš Holek’s space exploration eurogame SETI add to its array of prizes, while Simone Luciani and Dávid Turczi’s Nucleum triumphed in 2024.

The last holder of the MinD shorter game award is 2025 Spiel des Jahres winner Bomb Busters, while 2024 SdJ champion Sky Team was the final winner of the best two-player game prize.

Other board game awards focusing specifically on heavier titles include France’s Diamant d’Or, which was launched more than a decade ago to champion complex eurogames the organisers felt were being overlooked by more mainstream board game awards.

The US branch of Mensa also runs an annual board game award, Mensa Select, which is voted on by members following a now traditional four-day gaming marathon.

MinD Spielepreis finalists 2026

Galactic Cruise, by TK King, Dennis Northcott and Koltin Thompson (published in Germany by PD Verlag)
MinD committee notes: “In Galactic Cruise, players build a luxurious cruise company for space travel and organise ships, staff and wealthy customers.

“The game impresses with its strong thematic interconnection, a hidden deployment mechanism to determine the order of actions, and challenging resource planning.”

Luthier, by Dave Back and Abe Burson (Funtails)
“Luthier puts players in the role of instrument makers who, thanks to generous patrons, equip famous musicians throughout the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods and compete for the chair of various instrument groups in the orchestra.

Shackleton Base, by Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Mangone (Giant Roc)
“In Shackleton Base, players build a permanent base at the south pole of the moon, using executives who bring a slight asymmetry to the game.

“Three of seven selectable corporations with special abilities and several interlocking scoring options provide strategic depth and high variety.”

Speakeasy, by Vital Lacerda (Skellig Games)
“Speakeasy is set during Prohibition in Manhattan, where players open illegal bars, nightclubs and casinos in different districts and supply them with stolen or moonshine alcohol.

“The appeal of the game lies in the indirect interaction through territory control, competition for lucrative locations and the constant risk of attracting too much attention.”

Thebai, by Dávid Turczi (Pegasus Spiele)
“Thebai is a tightly interwoven optimisation game in which population or hoplite cubes are placed on your own estate or on the shared game board to rebuild the Kadmeia of Thebai.

“Resources must be gathered for assignments while trying to promote population to the council or promote hoplites to army commanders in order to successfully repel attacks on the city.”

Thesauros, by Cedric Millet (Elznir Games)
“In Thesauros, players first search for and then recover sunken treasures in order to ultimately sell them to a museum at a profit.

“Budget planning several rounds in advance requires strategic foresight and a carefully balanced mix of long-term exploration plans, short-term financing requirements, and disruptive manoeuvres against or by the competition.”

The post “We feel that the industry wants it”: German Mensa switches long-running board game award away from lighter titles to focus on expert games first appeared on .

In dieser Kategorie gibt es Aktuelles der drei Kategorien Mäh! (News), Herde (Neuzugänge) und Grasen (Ersteindrücke). Diesen Monat mit der SPIEL'25, aktuellen Auszeichnungen, The Druids of Edora, Thebai, Pulitzer, Waldland und Star Wars - Battle of Hoth .