Games/books in hand that I need to work on (in order of placement on Shelf of Shame):
- Littoral Commander: Baltic (The Dietz Foundation, 2025) – slated for The Armchair Dragons (ACD))
- Command at Sea 5th Edition with Birth of the PLA Navy supplement both from Admiralty Trilogy Group in 2025.
- ASAT (Paper Forge, 2014) (PnP)
- Chernobyl: Avoid the Nuclear Disaster (PrintandGame, 2025) (PnP)
- 1814 Empires End (Against the Odds, 2025)
- Five Parsecs From Home: Tactics – Expansion 1: Field Commander’s Guide
- Polyversal (Collins Epic) (for ACD)
- The Defense: The Siege of Cadiz 1625 in C3i Magazine Nr. 38 (2025)
- There Must be Victory (ATO, 2009) (for ACD; picked up at Fall Assembly swap table)
- #Maneuver Warfare (The Dietz Foundation, 2025)
- Naval SITREP #69 (October 2025) from Admiralty Trilogy Group
- Next War: Taiwan 2nd Edition from GMT Games (2025)
- One Giant Leap: The USA, USSR Space Race to the Moon (for ACD)
- Modern Armored Warfare: Desert Storm 1991 and Croatia 1995 (need to translate rulebook)
- Hardwar Quickstart (digital)
That is lots of games to work through and several were already “lapped” by a later arriving game—a trend very likely to continue. That said, I owe Regimental Commander Brant at ACD a steady stream of content. At this point I think I am going to bump One Giant Leap to the front and try to get that complete in the next two weeks and push Littoral Commander: Baltic into January with Polyversal to follow.
For Next War: Taiwan 2nd Edition I want to work that wargame “review” up alongside the new book How the United States Would Fight China: The Risks of Pursuing a Rapid Victory by Franz-Stefan Gady of CNAS that recently released and arrived in November. I might also mix in M.P. Woodward’s Red Tide: A Novel of the Next Pacific War and Brent Sadler’s Naval Power in Action: Seizing the Initiative in the New Cold War with China too. Looking at Next War: Taiwan also presents an opportunity to revisit Joint All Domain Operation from War Drum Games out of China and do a head-to-head comparison. All that could be a mega piece (pieces?) for ACD. All that realistically not until late-January-ish—at the very earliest—as I need lots of table and desk time to read, learn, play, and assess multiple games and books.
On the TTRPG side a Kickstarter campaign fulfilled with ALIEN: Evolved Edition Core Rulebook, Starter Set, and Rapture Protocol Adventure to arrive in November. The sheer volume of content in those products will take time to work through. I also acquired Orbital 2100 Third Edition from Zozer Games that looks to be an excellent new version of the Orbital series. I note the timing of Orbital 2100 Third Edition released just a Mongoo$e has a Kickstarter for a near-future Traveller setting, Pioneer, in funding. I think it is clear where my money will be spent.
With so many games it would easy to be overcome by all that but finding reading time is important to my mental health. In addition to the books mentioned with Next War: Taiwan I have God and Seapower: The Influence of Religion on Alfred Thayer Mahan (Suzanne Geissler, Naval Institute Press, 2015) in hand. I also have waiting to be read At Sea Against the Soviet Fleet: The Evolution of U.S. Navy Operational Intelligence in the Cold War by Brian H. Leese (Naval Institute Press, 2025) which arrived too late for it to be used alongside my plays of Seapower & the State (Compass Games, 2025). Matthew Ford’s latest work, War in the Smartphone Age: Conflict, Connectivity and Crisis at Our Fingertips (Oxford University Press, 2025) that follows on from his previous work Radical War: Data, Attention and Control in the 21st Century written along with Andrew Hoskins (Oxford University Press, 2022) both might work well with some of the themes found in Ian Brown’s #Maneuver Warfare wargame. Finally, Spy Planes, Intruders, and Wild Weasels: Electronic Warfare in the Skies Over Vietnam by Thomas Wildenberg (Naval Institute Press, 2025) may demand pulling Downtown off the shelf.
…of the Year
As the end of the year approaches I need to also get working on my “…of the Year” retrospectives for Boardgames, Roleplaying Games, and Wargames. At last count I have just over 100 Boardgame/Wargame products to consider and just over 100 roleplaying game products to ponder.
Oh yeah, I must set aside time to celebrate Christmas with the family too!
Feature image courtesy RMN
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