We just finished up another fantastic and very busy year of gaming and I wanted to take a look back at some of what we did, played and experienced in 2024! But, I also want to share my thoughts and create some discussion here about some very interesting trends and changes that I am seeing. So welcome to my musings as I take a retrospective look back at 2024.

The Numbers

First off, let’s take a quick look at the numbers associated with our gaming and the content that we created in 2024. This is not a full deep dive into the statistics (like we normally do in our annual State of the Union posts in April) but a quick look at the number of games and then some simple info about the content.

In 2024, I am pleased to announce that we played a total of 29 new wargame titles but we will still get in a few more over the next several months as we don’t put together our “Best of” lists until around March in order to give some time to play at least some of the games released in December. That number is a bit less than it was last year but part of that is due to us doing the Shelf of Shame Dustoff! Event (more on that later) and having some vacations and other trips that were not planned.

I also was able to play a total of 17 solitaire games by the end of the year and am still fiddling around with 4 or 5 titles (Sword of Orthodoxy, Viva Mexico, HISPANIA, Forward Defense ’85 and Operation Bøllebank) that I hope to finish out before March.

I have quite the streak going over the past year plus as I have had a post on the blog for 513 consecutive days! By my calculations, that represents 1.4 years straight that something has appeared here! That is mind blowing and I have found that I am just in a groove and have the ability to write quickly, sometimes repurposing previous posts, and still have the drive to do it. Why? I don’t know but part of it is the great feedback and comments that we receive on the blog as well as the fact that there are just too many great games not to have something new all of the time! Also, in 2024, I posted a total of 410 blog posts! That is another record for the number of posts in a single year and represents 1.12 blog posts per day. Thanks for reading and consuming what I put up and for the great feedback.

A bit more of the numbers, for 10 out of 12 months we exceeded 50,000 views with 1 month having over 60,000 views (July with 60,456). The 2 months that were under 50,000 were June (47,441) and August (49,319) so darn near 50K! So the blog is doing just fine and keeps chugging along, mainly due to your consumption and I thank you.

Our YouTube Channel has also grown to 19.5K subscribers and we have posted 186 new videos in 2024! We have a pattern of 1 new video (including unboxings, reviews, interviews, debriefs and other videos) every other day and some times we had 2 or 3 in a row due to timelines for Kickstarter/Gamefound projects, new games we simply wanted to share quickly or mistakes in scheduling. We hope that you find our content genuine, insightful, helpful and fun because we really enjoy doing them and have plans to continue our torrid pace. Enough with the numbers! Now onto some of the trends we saw or things we did in 2024.

How do you prefer to consume our content? What do you like best about our stuff? What would you like to see?

Discovering/Rediscovering New Systems

One thing that I thought we did really well this year was to explore and tackle some traditional and well thought of wargaming systems that we have always wanted to play but just haven’t necessarily had the opportunity. And even more than that we tried to revisit some systems to see how our minds have changed about them. This year, we worked hard to make those opportunities and also sought out chances to play these games.

Blind Swords Series (BSS) from Revolution Games – we finally tried the Blind Swords Series with the 11th game called Shiloh: The First Day from Revolution Games. We played the game at SDHistCon with Grant Linneberg who runs Pushing Cardboard and he was an excellent teacher. This was our first foray into the series and we very much enjoyed the experience. We also purchased the Prelude to Vicksburg: Chickasaw Bayou, December 26-29, 1862, which is Volume 9, but have yet to play it but hope to sometime soon.

Here is a link to our video interview/discussion with Shiloh designer Steve Carey and Grant Linneberg at SDHistCon:

Irregular Conflicts Series (ICS) from GMT Games – this year were were able to play the first 2 volumes in this new series from GMT Games and they were really, really great including Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398 and A Gest of Robin Hood. I was a bit surprised at how good these games were and at how much that I enjoyed them. It has made me even more interested in the other 2 announced volumes including Cross Bronx Expressway and Echo in the Dark. If you didn’t know, the Irregular Conflicts Series if COIN-adjacent, which means that they use tenets of the series but with some new twists and turns. This new series has frankly been a joy to play and I am very impressed at how the new series, and the designers that have decided to do games in it, have handled the COIN Series and adjusted it to meet the needs of their chosen subject.

A look at the board state in a recent play of Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398.
And a look at the very beautiful and fast playing A Gest of Robin Hood.

Here is a link to our video review for A Gest of Robin Hood:

Great Campaigns of the American Civil War (GCACW) from Multi-Man Publishing – we initially played a game in this series in 2023 with Onto Richmond II. I will be honest here. This series just might not be for me but Alexander really digs it so I will probably continue to play them with him and maybe my mind will change. In 2024, we played Thunder on the Mississippi and I just can’t seem to get beyond some of the more quirky parts of the system including the continual initiative dice roll off. Activation is important sometimes you want to go first so you can move into position. But each of the formations will get a change eventually once one side or the other has activated all of their formations and then must pass. But come on I think we can do something different than this. See, at the start of each activation, both players roll 1d6 and the higher result gets to activate a formation. Then you do it again and roll off. It is just an odd mechanic that I think could be handled several different ways. It just seems silly to continually roll off on such a low stakes outcome. I would like to continue playing the series and hopefully I will finally see the light but at this point I would rather play something else.

Thunder on the Mississippi as Sherman has Breckinridge on the run after the fall of Vicksburg.

Here is a look at our video review for Thunder on the Mississippi:

Battles of the American Revolution Series (BoAR) from GMT Games – this is a venerable series that in case you don’t know is a tactical level wargame series that portrays various battles of the American Revolutionary War. The series is a hex and counter wargame with Combat Results Tables, and uses tactics cards to determine the stance of both attackers and defenders to gain modifiers to combat rolls. It is a great deal of fun and models the battles of the time in a very interesting and unique way. While at SDHistCon this past November, we had the chance to play BoAR with Mark Miklos, who is the series designer, in a 3-player game of Savannah. We not only played the game but also had somewhat of a costume off and of course Mark won!

The reason Mark wanted us to play the game is that it is a 3-player game designed to create tension between the 2 Allies the French and Patriots as they must cooperate and draw from the same set of resources in the turn of event cards and diversions as well as Momentum Tokens. The cooperation is important but each side will earn their own victory points and only 1 player will be crowned as victor. We played for about 6 hours and made it to turn 21 of 25 when Alexander and I decided to concede as we just couldn’t muster the needed attack strengths to be effective with our assaults. Mark’s British artillery was very effective and he typically would hit us about 60-70% of the time causing disruptions and retreats which would undermine our combat prowess and made it so we just couldn’t get it done. I have really enjoyed both of the games in the series we have played and we have decided to play some more in 2025.

BoAR Savannah which was a tough slog for the Patriots as Mark played a masterful delaying action with his forward Cavalry units keeping us from catching the defending Brits unawares.

Here is a look at our video with Mark after the game:

Battalion Combat Series (BCS) from Multi-Man Publishing – this past year as a part of our Shelf of Shame Dust-off! Event (more on this later in the post), we had a chance to revisit a few games in the Battalion Combat Series from Multi-Man Publishing. The firs we played was BCS Baptism By Fire: The Battle of Kasserine, February 1943 followed by Brazen Chariots: Battles for Tobruk, 1941 and both were excellent. BCS is a system designed to model combat at the grand tactical scale from late World War I to the present day and has a rea focus on supply and how that supply effects units in combat as they can gain full activations or only partial activations by failing their SNAFU rolls. This is a very solid series and we have now played 3 games in the series and have purchased most of the others with a pre-order being placed for the most recent volume called Inflection Point: Battle for Kalach, July 1942 and Battle of Chir, December 1942. We just really like this series and have grown in our understanding of the tactics and mechanics and are looking forward to playing more of this in 2025.

BCS Brazen Chariots was a really interesting game taking a look at the action in and around Tobruk in 1941.

We were very pleased with the fact that we have gone back and taken a look at several older games and have been rewarded with a greater understanding of and appreciation for some classic systems.

What new to you systems did you play in 2024? What systems did you revisit and how did your thoughts on them change?

Dueling Historical (Gaming) Topics

You might be reading this and asking yourself “What does this mean?” and that is a fair question. But it always seems that historical topics, or even gaming topics for that matter, come in 2’s and 3’s or what I am going to refer to as “dueling historical (gaming) topics”. In 2024, we got several of these instances including 2 games focused on the Vietnam War in Purple Haze from PHALANX and Warfighter Vietnam from Dan Verssen Games along with a few Fantasy Wargames in Burning Banners from Compass Games, The Struggle for Zorn from Blue Panther and Divine Right from Pungo Games (Worthington Publishing).

The 2 Vietnam War games had a very different time frame and design timeline so I am not sure that they should be included in this discussion but the releases were definitely simultaneous as they both came out late in the year. The reason that I say that is that Purple Haze started in 2021 and we played a prototype copy and shot a video and posted that on our YouTube Channel in 2022. Whereas, the first I heard about Warfighter Vietnam was in mid 2023. Maybe one prompted the other but I am glad that we have both of these games as they are very different and provide a unique experience and look at the Vietnam War with very different mechanics and approaches.

Here is a link to our RAW video for Purple Haze:

And here is a link to our Warfighter Vietnam review:

With the Fantasy Wargames, these I feel were driven by the news about Burning Banners. Burning Banners was first shown to us at WBC 2023 and then we heard news about Hermann Luttmann’s The Struggle for Zorn in late 2023. Then came the Kickstarter for Divine Right in April 2024. Don’t get me wrong, I love Fantasy Wargames and also love it when a good idea breads other good ideas I just think it was pretty interesting the timing of these game releases.

Here is a link to our video review for Burning Banners:

We have a video for The Struggle for Zorn that has yet to be finished (meaning Alexander just needs to shoot the board) and we are playing Divine Right at the end of the month.

What other dueling historical (gaming) topics would you heard an inkling about or that you would hope to see in 2025 and beyond?

Wargame Books

In 2024, we had a lot of wargaming focused books that came on the scene, which was somewhat of a welcome surprise! Kind of along the same lines as the Dueling Historical (Gaming) Topics, the books I think found themselves competing a bit for the wargamer’s time, attention and funds. But a good book is always a welcome site and there were plenty to choose from including books from Maurice Suckling called Paper Time Machines: Critical Game Design and Historical Board Games, Mark Herman’s Wargames According to Mark: An Historian’s View of Wargame Design from GMT Games, Riccardo Massini’s Historical Simulation and Wargames: The Hexagon and the Sword, The Art of Rodger B. MacGowan from RBM Studio and Euro War Games! from Nuts! Publishing.

I do read but I am not such a ravenous reader that I go through a ton of books each year. I normally read between 3-4 new books each year and do enjoy my team reading. Alexander on the other hand is a voracious reader and reads 12-15 books each year. My guess is that he will get to each of these books in turn and I may only read a few.

Let’s give a very quick rundown of each of these books. If you are interested in any of these books, you can click the images to the right to go to the sites where you can purchase them.

Paper Time Machines: Critical Game Design and Historical Board Games is “primarily for designers of historical board games, directed in its more practice-focused sections (Parts Two, Three, and Four) toward those just commencing their journeys through time and space and engaged in learning how to deconstruct and to construct paper time machines”.

“More experienced designers may find something here for them, too, perhaps to refresh themselves or as an aid to instruction to mentees in whatever capacity. But it is also intended for practitioners of all levels of experience to find value in the surrounding historical contexts and theoretical debates pertinent to the creation of and the thinking around the making of historical board games (Parts One and Five). In addition, it is intended that the book might redirect some of the attention of the field of game studies, so preoccupied with digital games, toward this hitherto generally much neglected area of research”.

Wargames According to Mark: An Historian’s View of Wargame Design is a new book from GMT Games. In the words of GMT headman Gene Billingsley, “As many of you know, Mark Herman is a giant in the wargaming hobby. Over his long and distinguished career as a game designer, Mark designed signature games for SPI, Victory Games, and with us here at GMT. Mark learned his craft beside Jim Dunnigan and so many talented designers at SPI before later running the company that created so many of my favorite games ever, Victory Games”.

“Beginning in 1991, he brought his design talents to GMT, often paired with his dear friend, Richard Berg. For over 30 years now of working with our teams, Mark has continually pushed the creative envelope in the wargame and strategy game spaces to create a succession of fun, ground-breaking, and award-winning designs like For the People, The Great Battles of Alexander and SPQR (and the entire Great Battles of History Series), Empire of the Sun, Churchill, and Fire in the Lake (with Volko)”.

“Mark is so much more than a designer to me. He is my friend. And he’s someone who has been hugely influential to me in the learning and growing process of running a wargame company over these 34 years. Often, even today, when I have a difficult decision to make, I’ll give Mark a call and ask for his counsel. His sage advice is always more than worth my time”.

“All that to say this: when someone as talented, experienced, and accomplished in our industry as Mark Herman writes a book about game design that tells stories about his experiences over a 45+-year career in our industry, that’s a book I’m going to read. When that author then asks me if GMT would publish it with him, there’s just no way I am going to say no. So, I’m thrilled that today we are adding a book to our P500 list for the first time! It’s so fitting, because of the many ways that his presence, talents, and leadership advice have graced GMT over the years, that our first-ever P500 book should be from Mark Herman”.

Historical Simulation and Wargames: The Hexagon and the Sword is “a comprehensive study on analog historical simulation games, exploring both their theoretical concepts and practical solutions. It considers the various ways used by simulation games to depict the different dynamics of historical events and analyzes how commercial analog miniature and board wargames can become valuable tools for historical research and provide a more modern and captivating interpretation of past events”.

“The nature of “simulation” is discussed, exposing its differences with other forms of ludic activity, both analog and digital, as well as intellectual speculation. Many of the most common game mechanics are analyzed in depth and in their practical use, to answer whether “reconstructive” simulations dedicated to historical episodes can provide valuable, reliable and useful insights for researchers. It critically examines the challenges presented to game designers that look to produce an accurate (even if not necessarily complex) simulation of historical events”.

“The book will be of great interest to those curious about the potential applications of such a powerful research and experimental tool for historical, sociologic and anthropologic research, as well as wargaming and board gaming enthusiasts looking to gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of historical simulations”.

The Art of Rodger B. MacGowan is “part autobiography, part chronicle of the historical board wargaming hobby, and takes the reader through Rodger’s career as one of the hobby’s premier graphic designers. Think of this as an art gallery you can visit anytime, showcasing artwork from his humble beginnings at SPI, Avalon Hill and Fire & Movement through Hobby Japan, GMT Games and C3i Magazine, and everything else in between. Rodger also gives behind the scenes color for many of the pieces, including the (many) last minute deadlines, projects delayed or canceled only to be given new life, and the music and movies that inspired his work”.

“This shrinkwrapped, hardbound first printing runs close to 200 pages and highlights a rare collection of art and history that is unique in the boardgaming hobby. We are printing this in a limited run, so please place your order soon as it’s unlikely that we print this again”!

Euro War Games!

“Wargaming in 2024 is now more than just a couple of fellows in a basement moving cardboard counters around. As a hobby it now embraces an incredibly wide field of topics and gamers. And as a professional tool it is being adopted by Armed Forces, businesses and academics around the world to support both learning, training and analytical needs. This growing diversity can also be said to be geographical, notably between European and US conceptions of the role and utility of wargaming”.  

“We have curated a book EuroWarGames to showcase this”! 

“It’s a book about the specific nature of European approaches to wargaming and historical simulation. Across 17 chapters, the book collates together perspectives of simulation gamers, game designers, wargaming practitioners and scholars from various backgrounds. Collectively the articles highlight ongoing debates concerning the hobby, profession and science of wargaming all over Europe. Euro War Games provides valuable insights into the vivid world of European wargaming, and will be a fascinating read for anyone interested in the growth and direction of wargaming in the 21st century”.

“We hope this book will interest you as much as it interests us, and that you will help us bring it to life by supporting this Kickstarter campaign”.

This means one thing…that we have a lot of reading to do and I am currently just about 30% through Rodger MacGowan’s book and finding it very interesting and enlightening.

Are you excited about the rise of these wargame books? Which of these have you read and what were your thoughts?

Crowdfunding Offerings Expanding Fringe Historical Topics

Kickstarter, and frankly all crowdfunding platforms, were initially created to allow small boutique creators to find an audience for their work. It was a fantastic way for these entrepreneurs to get the initial capital needed to develop and produce their art with little risk as they could really accurately gauge the demand for their products and also expand the reach of their offerings. And that has truly benefited our wargaming hobby as smaller indie publishers have been able to take a risk on their passion projects and get them out there for us to decide if we want to pay to play them. I am very glad that Kickstarter and Gamefound have come about and also that they are being embraced by publishers and gamers alike to bring us even more options for gaming various niche or unknown historical topics.

In 2024, I backed and saw many other Kickstarter/Gamefound projects come about that frankly would not have been possible as recently as 10 years ago. These have included games such as Kings of Rome from Acies Edizioni, Fire in the Blue from Acies Edizioni, Onoda from Salt & Pepper Games, Operation Barclay from Salt & Pepper Games, Halls of Hegra from Tompet Games, Limits of Glory: Bonaparte’s Eastern Empire from Form Square Games and Patria Libre from Malinche Games. These are all games that I was able to back on a crowdfunding platform and get delivered to me in 2024. Simply amazing that I have games on subjects such as Mexican Independence, Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign, the brave Finnish defense of a World War I era fortress, the story of a Hiroo Onoda who stayed his post on an island for over 25 years after World War II was over. and a look at the early Roman Empire as they carved out a place for the burgeoning civilization. Just a fantastic time that we are a part of as we can get an opportunity to play a game on virtually any historical topic. And this is mostly due to crowdfunding. What a time for us as hobby gamers and what a fantastic tool we have access to!

What new crowdfunded niche historical games did you play in 2024? What projects are you keeping an eye on for 2025?

Explosion of Solitaire Book Wargames/Print n Play

Another trend that I was glad to see was the explosion of the popularity of the solitaire book wargame and print and play offerings that are being embraced by the community but also that are being pushed by many great designers. These include folks like Mike Lambo and Historic Wings with their various solitaire book games, Matt White (Until the Bitter End, Operation Biting) and Michael Raymond (Close the Atlantic) plus many more. The trend was actually really started by Worthington Publishing in 2020 with the pandemic but I am glad to see that there are many offerings out there and that they are affordable.

A look at Lone Sherman: Pacific as my Sherman Tank is caught in a cross fire between 3 different Japanese units!

Here is a link to my video review for Lone Sherman: The Pacific from Mike Lambo:

Here also is my playthrough of one of the scenarios found in Lone Sherman: The Pacific:

I have not done a video as of yet but here is a link to my First Impressions post on Operation Biting from Matt White: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/11/29/first-impression-operation-biting-print-and-play-from-matt-white/

I know that I used to be turned off by these type of games mainly due to the need for me to do some arts and crafts time to prepare the components. But now, after doing that a few times, and playing the games I have totally changed by tune. They are fun and tight little games that are very affordable and get you into the theme and mood as you are assembling the games to get them ready for play. Please, if you have not, give these type of games a chance and I promise that you will not be disappointed!

A look at Operation Biting and my teams attempt to clear the beach of German defenders and signal the Royal Navy for pickup after we had successfully stole the radar plans!

What solitaire book wargames or print and play offerings did you play in 2024? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to in 2025?

My Personal Growth with the Blog/YouTube Channel

I attended the World Boardgaming Championships (WBC) this year from Wednesday, July 24th through Sunday, July 28th held at the beautiful Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. This year was a bit different as I attended alone because Alexander was on a trip to England to spend time with family and was unable to join me. I enjoyed a full 3 1/2 days filled with gaming, designer interviews, looks at new prototypes, visiting with friends, publishers and designers. This was my 6th trip to WBC (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023) and this is by far the best of all the different conventions that we attend!

As I mentioned I was on my own this year and at first I was very worried about it. First, having to travel the 6 1/2 hours by car alone was a bit daunting as usually we talk through the drive and it goes very quickly. We also do car videos and that helps the time pass and we also get to do some interesting and more casual content that you readers (viewers) seem to enjoy. Second, I was in charge of all of the audio and visual equipment this year and I am not really that tech savvy. I was most worried about this aspect of the trip. Third and finally, I was going to be in charge of my own schedule and wanted to make sure that I had it filled with good interviews, looks at new and upcoming games but also making sure to sprinkle some fun in there.

I am here to say that I was very impressed with the outcome! I was not only able to make the drive all by myself without dying of boredom, which is not surprising as I have made many long road trips by myself for business and pleasure, but that I was able to do a short car video on my favorite solitaire games. I did have some trouble though in the car as the camera overheated about 22 minutes into my discussion but the resulting video still have garnered well over 5,500 views even though it has a rather abrupt conclusion with the following statement:

Here is a look at this solitaire wargames car video:

I also was very pleased that I was able to get the video equipment and the microphones to work well and had very little issues with anything. I will say that I had some trouble initially figuring out how to get the camera secured onto the stand but that was resolved fairly quickly after the first 2 videos. It is kind of funny because in my 2nd video, which was with Dave Stiffler and Bruno Sinigaglio covering the first game in the Small BoaR Series called Cowpens, a gentlemen walks by the camera about half way through and my face is really focused on his movement as he actually slightly bumped the camera and could have caused a disaster if it had fallen to the tile floor! Look at those crazy eyes!

So very concerned about the camera being bumped by a passerby! Dave Stiffler also looks concerned or maybe he is just zoning out as Bruno speaks.

But I was very productive as well and ended up shooting 9 total videos (7 interviews, the 1 car video and a debrief upon arriving home) and also played a total of 16 games (Sinking Yamato from Compass Games with designer Gregory M. Smith, 18 Card Napoleonics coming from Worthington Publishing with designer Damien Mastrangelo, Pericles from GMT Games with designer Mark Herman, A Gest of Robin Hood from GMT Games, The Great Hunger coming from Compass Games with designer Kevin McPartland, Tattered Flags Volume 1: Into the Whirlpool from Blue Panther, an unnamed strategic American Revolutionary War block wargame with designer Damien Mastrangelo with interest from Worthington Publishing and Blue Panther, Maori: Warriors of the Long White Cloud from Compass Games with designer Kevin McPartland, New Cold War, 1989-2019 coming from VUCA Simulations, The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth coming from Blue Panther with designer Wes Crawford, Here I Stand from GMT Games, Mare Nostrum: Empires from Academy Games, Liftoff 2.0! The Race to the Moon with designer Fritz Bronner, Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory from Hegemonic Project Games, Arcs from Wehrlegig Games and John Company 2nd Edition from Leder Games).

I feel that I grew a lot over the 4 1/2 days of my trip to WBC and really had a great time! I am now armed with the confidence earned from this trip and feel even more energized and ready to take on any challenges we confront with the blog and YouTube Channel in 2025.

Another Busy Convention Year

This year was once again very busy on the convention front as we attended Buckeye Game Fest (together), World Boardgaming Championships (me solo), GenCon (with my son) and San Diego Historicon (with Paisley and Kelley aka The Players’ Aid Wives). We always have such a great time at conventions and love to see our friends and play lots of great games.

Here are some summaries of those events as well as video debriefs to get you caught up on our experiences.

Buckeye Game Fest 2024 Debrief where we played Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome! from Liberation Game Design, A More Perfect Union from Catastrophe Games, The Plumb Island Horror from GMT Games, John Company 2nd Edition from Wehrlegig Games, The Struggle for Zorn: The Red Blight from Blue Panther, Alpha Zeds from Trick or Treat Studios, Fire in the Lake from GMT Games, Andean Abyss from GMT Games, Nations & Cannons RPG from Flagbearer Games, Here I Stand from GMT Games and Burning Banners from Compass Games. That’s a total of 11 games. Amazing!

Also, I wrote a Daily Debrief Series of posts on the blog while attending and you can read those at the following links:

BGF 2024 Daily Debrief Series Overview

BGF 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 1

BGF 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 2

BGF 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 3

I already spoke about this a bit above but here is my WBC 2024 Debrief where I was able to play a total of 16 games and shoot a total of 9 videos:

Also, I wrote a Daily Debrief Series of posts on the blog while attending and you can read those at the following links:

WBC 2024 Daily Debrief Series Overview

WBC 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 1

WBC 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 2

WBC 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 3

WBC 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 4

GenCon 2024 Debrief where I attended with my son Elijah:

Finally, we attended SD HistCon for the 2nd time and here is our debrief:

I wrote a Daily Debrief Series of posts on the blog while attending and you can read those at the following links:

SD HistCon Daily Debrief Series Overview

SD HistCon 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 1

SD HistCon 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 2

SD HistCon 2024 Daily Debrief Series Day 3

SD HistCon 2024 Wrap Up and Thank You’s

What was your best convention experience in 2024?

2025 Gaming Convention Attendance Plans

We next will take a look at our big plans for 2025 and attendance at several gaming conventions. We are planning to attend 1 new event as well as our traditional gaming conventions. This new event is going to be somewhat of a Bucket List item as we will use it as an opportunity to also visit some very cool historic sites in Europe that we have wanted to visit together.

BasementCON – March 13-16th – St. Louis, Missouri – Attending our friends BasementCON again in St. Louis in March and hope to play several big games including Virgin Queen for the 3rd time and possibly War Room from Nightingale Games as well as some other large games.

Buckeye Game Fest – May 1-4th – Columbus, Ohio – This is a staple in our convention schedule and we look forward to playing some games, running some events, including sessions of Nations & Cannons RPG from Flagbearer Games, the COIN Series, Successors 4th Edition from PHALANX, probably Here I Stand from GMT Games and some other larger multi-player wargames.

World Boardgaming Championships (WBC) – July 30 – August 3rd – Seven Springs, Pennsylvania – We are planning to attend again this year probably late Wednesday night through Sunday morning so it will be a bit abbreviated from years past. Have no concrete plans as of yet but it will probably involve 8-10 videos, several games (probably including a rematch with Mark Miklos of one of the BoAR Series titles) and meet ups with publishers to discuss upcoming games.

SPIEL Essen – October 23-26th – Essen, Germany – This is the one that we have wanted to attend for a long time but just have not had the opportunity (nor the cash). But this year we are going to make it work and plan to travel to Europe a few days early to get to tour places like Normandy, Waterloo, Holland and maybe some other places. We have yet to finalize anything but are really excited to give this one a shot.

There might end up being others that we add but our slate is pretty full with these conventions and we hope to see many of you there! I have considered trying to attend Circle DC in late March but am afraid it will conflict with my family’s spring break trip to Florida (with Alexander and his family!). I also keep threatening to make the 2 1/2 hour drive over to Columbus, Ohio in June to got to a few days of Origins but June is always so busy for me at work.

What conventions are you planning on attending in 2024?

Shelf of Shame Dustoff! Event – 12 Games from Our Shelves of Shame

One of the new things that we tried in 2024 was our Shelf of Shame Dustoff! where we identified 12 older games that have been sitting on our shelves for far too long and need to see the light of day and our gaming tables. We chose one game per month to play and frankly I think that we did pretty well. The chosen games for 2024 were as follows and a note out to the side of each about our experience and whether we got it tabled or not:

January – Ardennes ‘44 from GMT Games – great game in the 40X Series. Huge game with lots of maps and counters that we had a complete blast playing. At this point, we were batting 1.000 as we were 1/1.

Here is a link to our video review of Ardennes ’44:

February – Baptism by Fire from Multi-Man Publishing – 2 in a row as we very much enjoyed this one in the Battalion Combat Series which has really grown on us as we love the scale and focus on supply but in a unique and different way than other systems we have played. 2/2!

Here is a link to our video review of BCS Baptism by Fire:

March – Dien Bien Phu from Legion Wargames – oh man, this game was so very good and we have waited a long time to get this one on the table. I just loved the focus on supply and holding out in this siege style wargame. 3/3!

Here is a link to our video review of Dien Bien Phu:

April – A Victory Lost from Multi-Man Publishing – this was our first miss as we just weren’t able to get this one played. A pity though as we have very much enjoyed the Red Box Series games we have played. 3/4 – we will do better next month!

May – Brazen Chariots from Multi-Man Publishing – we got back in the saddle and were able to get Brazen Chariots played which is a part of the Battalion Combat Series which we enjoy so much.

Here is a link to our video review of Brazen Chariots:

June – Normandy ‘44 from GMT Games – for the anniversary of the D-Day invasions, we played the game on Thursday, June 6th and very much enjoyed it. We do love the ’40X Series and this one is definitely a great game!

Here is a link to our video review for Normandy ’44:

July – Day of Days from Multi-Man Publishing – well, we didn’t get around to tabling this one. I had clipped all of the counters and we had chosen a fairly small scenario but with summer vacations and conventions, it just didn’t happen. A shame!

August – Almost a Miracle! from Against the Odds Magazine – I am very glad that we were able to get this one to the table and very much enjoyed what it was trying to do. Movement is very challenging in the design, which is period appropriate, and truly relies on supply and proximity to forts. The board for this one is gorgeous and will end up as an entry in my Beautiful Boards of Wargaming! Series.

Here is a link to our video review for Almost a Miracle!:

September – War and Peace from One Small Step – a miss on this one. We really want to play it but it is such a big game and I know there is a rumor of poor rules. We will get this one in the future!

October – The Fall of the Third Reich from Compass Games – another miss and we were struggling with the event at this point of the year and this would not be our last miss.

November – Crusade & Revolution from Compass Games – our final miss of the year as we just didn’t get the opportunity with our travels to SDHistCon and Thanksgiving.

December – Next War: Poland A Time for Trumpets from GMT Games – this game was actually a substitution for what we had planned in A Time for Trumpets from GMT Games. We had a few friends over (Bill Simoni from Ohio and Mike Heckman from Missouri) and we played the tournament scenario put together for the game by Mitchell Land that basically showed us all of the parts of the game. We played the advanced rules, which included all of the chrome like air power, commando raids, missile strikes and the like, and very much enjoyed what the system was doing. We have steeled ourselves to play a few of the other Next War Series entries in 2025.

In the end, we only got 7 of 12 of these games played (that’s 58.3% for those counting) and ended up actually switching out one in December for another game (changed out A Time for Trumpets from GMT Games and played Next War: Poland from GMT Games instead) but all in all we had a great first attempt at this challenge. We plan to do this again in 2025 and I have already identified about 10 different titles from my personal shelves but Alexander and I will get our heads together and come up with a final list and share.

What games are on your shelf of shame that you plan to play in 2025?

Thank you for following along and please let me know what you loved about 2024 and what you are looking forward to for 2025.

-Grant