New arrivals
This past week was very good for new arrivals across the entire spectrum of my gaming hobby.
Tuesday – This August week my wargame hobby space was invaded by August Storm: The Soviet-Japanese War, 1945 by Javier Romero as featured in the midsummer 2025 issue of Banzai #26 from Bonsai Games.
Thursday – The hardcover version of Space 1999: The Roleplaying Game from Modiphius Entertainment (2025) broke away from the shipper and landed at my Earthbase Tabletop RPG Station.
Friday – An incredible boardgame journey arrived in the form of Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship from Z-Man Games (2025). There were many initial reports of damaged cards from shipping and Asmodee stopped fulfillment to repack the contents; it looks like my copy is one of the repacked boxes.
Game of the Week
This week I am going to take a bit of a wargame practitioner angle and dig into my copy of the Air Force Wargame Institute (AFWI) Air Force Wargame: Indo-Pacific (2024). I am pairing my discovery and play of this AFWI title with an article from the Journal of International Security about the USAF and base access in crisis or conflict in the region.
Batting circle
Given all the new arrivals my shelf of shame (i.e. unplayed games) continues to grow. After the AFWI wargame I think I am going to look at several smaller games such as ASAT (Paper Forge, 2014) and the newest edition of Command at Sea (Admiralty Trilogy Group, 2025). I likely will then take a look at the end of World War II in the Pacific with August Storm (Javier Romero, Banzai Nr. 26, Bonsai Games, 2025) and Assault on Ancient Japan: Kyushu 1945 by Antonio Ramirez (Bonsai Games Folio Edition, 2025). Still awaiting a game time slot are Corsair Leader (DVG, 2008) and Inflection Point (Multi-Man Publishing, 2025). I diligently need to work off my gaming backlog because I read that more wargames are inbound such as La Bataille de Kulm (ATO Magazine, 2025) that is supposed to start shipping in the coming week.
Family weekends
With RockyMountainNavy Jr. back in college the Family Game Night is down to RockyMountainNavy T and myself. We are thinking of restarting our campaign of The Mandalorian: Adventures (Unexpected Games, 2024) and carry on through the Clan of Two Expansion (2025). We almost certainly will also get the new Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship into the rotation though that might wait for a college break when RMN Jr. can join and make it a three-player game. Later this month or next, Star War: The Battle of Hoth (Days of Wonder, 2025) should also arrive; like myself I am sure RMN T is very anxious to get that title to the table often this winter.
Feature image courtesy RMN
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