Boardgame Bulletin 26-2 / Book Shelf 26-04 / TTRPG Roll 26-19 / Wargame SITREP 26-03 ~ January Play Review and Pile

This is the first month tracking my new game play recording approach where any day I “touch” a game—be it to play or explore it for at least 15 minutes—counts as a “play.”

• Modern Armored Warfare: Desert Storm 1991 and Croatia 1995 was by far the winner in January as I needed “play” time to translate the rules and then learn and play both the Desert Storm (Iraq 1991) and Operation Storm (Krajina, 1995) scenarios.
• I also started translation work for the Iron Debris System: Space Battles in the 22nd-23rd Century; along the way I looked over Star Blazers Fleet Battle System which is the same setting.
• Littoral Commander: The Baltic was work for an article for The Armchair Dragoons.
• I was looking at playing Boots on the Ground to go with Adam Kovac’s novel The Surge but ultimately decided to pass on that “History to Wargame” opportunity out of respect for Adam’s book.
• The other wargames were all reviewed as I spent the first half of the month trying to meet the 2026 #charactergeneration challenge before giving up.

Boardgames/Wargames in the pile

In order of acquisition; oldest on top.

• 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)
• The Defense: The Siege of Cadiz 1625 in C3i Magazine Nr. 38 (2025)
• There Must be Victory (ATO, 2009) (for The Armchair Dragoons (ACD); picked up at Fall Assembly swap table)
• #Maneuver Warfare (The Dietz Foundation, 2025) – for ACD?
• Naval SITREP #69 (October 2025) from Admiralty Trilogy Group
• Hardwar Quickplay (Digital, Modiphius, 2025)
• IADS: The Game IOC 2025 + IADS Expansion (LoRokka Games, 2019/2025) – ACD candidate?
• Fortress Europa (Avalon Hill, 1978)
• Italy ’43 (GMT Games, 2025)
• Iron Debris System – Space Battles in the 22nd-23rd Century – aka “Doujin Yamato” (Bonsai Games, 2025 – Link to 2019 version) – translation needed
• Undaunted 2200: Callisto (Osprey Games, 2024)
• Sinking Yamato (Compass Games, 2025)
• Battle Hymn Vol. 2 (Compass Games, 2025)

TTRPG pile

Arranged by Game Engine or setting.

• ALIEN Evolved and Rapture Protocol Kickstarter
  • ALIEN Hopes Last Day Starter Set
  • ALIEN Core Rules Evolved Edition (with solo-play “Last Survivor” rules)
  • ALIEN Rapture Protocol Cinematic Adventure
• Any System
  • 200 More Space Opera Odd Situations
  • No-Win Scenarios: Future Imperfect
• Cepheus Engine
  • Ports of Entry: Starports in Clement Sector
  • Hard Vacuum 13: Death Cult
  • Modern War
    • Core Rulebook
    • Crisis Generator
• Twilight 2000
  • T2000 Fanzine- You’re On Your Own No. 8 
  • T2000 Fanzine- You’re On Your Own No. 9 
  • Bridge Building 

Book pile

Fiction/Non-Fiction alphabetical by title.

NONFICTION

• 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)
• Cyber Warfare and Navies: Digital Conflict in the Maritime Domain edited by Chris C. Demchak and Sam J. Tangredi (Naval Institute Press, 2026)
• God and Seapower: The Influence of Religion on Alfred Thayer Mahan (Suzanne Geissler, Naval Institute Press, 2015)
• How the United States Would Fight China: The Risks of Pursuing a Rapid Victory by Franz-Stefan Gady of CNAS (Oxford, 2025)
• Infantry in Battle 1733-1783 by Alexander S. Burns (Helion, 2025)
• “Korean War Collection”
  • Ebb and Flow: November 1950 – July 1951 by Billy C. Mossman (Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1990)
  • South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu by Roy E. Appleman (Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1992)
• “Mercenary Collection”
  • Congo Mercenary by Mike Hoare (Greenhill Books, 2022)
  • Gunship Ace: The Wars of Neal Ellis, Helicopter Pilot and Mercenary by Al J. Venter (Casemate Publishers, 2011)
• Naval Power in Action: Seizing the Initiative in the New Cold War with China by Brent Sadler (Naval Institute Press, 2025)
• Spy Planes, Intruders, and Wild Weasels: Electronic Warfare in the Skies Over Vietnam by Thomas Wildenberg (Naval Institute Press, 2025)
• The U.S. Army GHQ Maneuvers of 1941 by Christopher R. Gabel (U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1991)
• Unsung Hero of the Falklands War: The Life and Career of Commodore Michael Clapp CB by Anthony Cumming (Pen & Sword Maritime, 2026)
• War in the Smartphone Age: Conflict, Connectivity and Crisis at Our Fingertips (Oxford University Press, 2025)
• War Plan Taiwan: OPLAN 5077 and the U.S. Struggle for the Pacific by Rowan Allport; Foreword by Adm. James G. Stavridis, USN (Ret.) (Naval Institute Press, 2026)

FICTION

• American Apocalypse: The Second American Civil War by Kurt Schlichter (2025)
• The Complete ALIEN Collection – The Shadow Archive (Titan Books, 2022)
• Dancing With Destruction: When Worlds Collide edited by Jason Cordova (Baen Books, 2025)
• Red Tide: A Novel of the Next Pacific War by M.P. Woodward (Naval Institute Press, 2025)

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