2025 - A Year in Review

Another amazing year of gaming for me here in Southport. Good friends here and scattered about NC have done a LOT of gaming with me over the year. Not to mention the friends at wargame and board game conventions I have attended.

Gen Con was a first this year and although a ton of fun, I can play most of the games right here in Southport. It certainly was a spectacle and will return in a couple years!!

Historicon was impressive as usual and I ran two games at the convention, the first was the Battle of Sabis River using WoFun 18mm flats and To the Strongest rules. Secondly, I ran my Vauban's Wars siege game. In both games the players really seemed to enjoy themselves.

We also introduced another couple to Euro style games and they have embraced it! Don't tell anybody, but I also learned to play Mahjong and I am a substitute for when Paige doesn't have enough players. Never thought I would get into Mahjong.

Given that I found Board Game Arena for online Euro gaming my total games in 2025 have reached a new high. 

205 Board\Wargames and 17 Miniature Games!!! Full listing at the bottom of the page.

The Paint Table

Being returned has allowed me to refocus on painting miniatures and terrain. Some of the bigger items:

1) Loads of WW1 figures: late war Germans, British, and Americans. (roughly 5 divisions painted and  flocked!). For early war, I painted 2 British divisions, and 3 Germans Divisions (see them in action here). This was a huge accomplishment, but still have many others to paint: Early War Austrians, Early war French, Serbians (need to order these), and RCW.

2) Masses of terrain items for my Vauban's Wars Historicon game including Siege guns, entrenchments, gun emplacements, gallows, mines, buildings, glacis, fire markers, fortress templates. I'm extremely happy with the progress I made here. Is a project ever completed though?!

3) Started working on a canal terrain piece for my WW1 battles. I didn't have it for the Mons game, but that inspired me to work on it. I have about 4 more pieces to make, then I can paint and terrain them.

Games of 2025

Arranged most played.

Euro Style Games

• 28 x Mahjong (quick games)
• 24 x Arkham Horror Card Game (This consumed a LOT of my Tuesday night gaming as we played several campaigns. This is a lot of fun)
• 10 x Planet Unknown
• 10 x Darwin's Journey
• 8 x Fromage
• 8 x Ark Nova 
• 6 x Castles of Burgundy
• 5 x Castles of Mad King Ludwig
• 5 x Art Society
• 4 x Suburbia
• 4 x Endeavor Deep Sea
• 4 x Space Base
• 4 x Flip-7
• 4 x Six Sojourns
• 3 x Azul
• 3 x Tuscany (Viticulture) 
• 3 x Hansa Teutonica
• 3 x Agricola 
• 2 x Spirit Island
• 2 x Architects of the West Kingdom
• 2 x Furnace
• 2 x Bruges
• 2 x Charioteer (GMT)
• 2 x Cascadia 
• 2 x Copenhagen 
• 2 x Lisboa
• 1 x Lost Ruins of Arnak
• 1 x Airlines Europe
• 1 x Artemis Project
• 1 x Deep Regrets
• 1 x Teotihuacan 
• 1 x Unfathomable 
• 1 x Andromeda's Edge: Genesis (GenCon)
• 1 x Explorers of the North Sea
• 1 x Galactic Cruise
• 1 x Family Business
• 1 x Eclipse 2nd Dawn
• 1 x Obsession
• 1 x LotR - Fate of the Fellowship
• 1 x Stationfall

Wargames

• 14 x Fighters of Europe
• 2 x Task Force
• 2 x SAS Rogue Agent
• 2 x No Peace without Spain
• 2 x Conquistadors
• 2 x Vendee '93
• 2 x 1775 (Academy Games)
• 2 x Purple Haze 
• 1 x Great War Commander
• 1 x A Most Fearful Sacrifice
• 1 x World at War '85 (@ GenCon)
• 1 x Siege of Jerusalem
• 1 x Bloc by Bloc
• 1 x Rock of Chickamauga
• 1 x Kaiser's High Seas Fleet
• 1 x King in the North (Carlist Wars)
• 1 x Space Empires 4X

Miniature Games

• 3 x 15mm Vauban's Wars Siege 
• 2 x Star Saga (28mm sci-fi crawler)
• 1 x 28mm F&IW (Mauga's Revenge)
• 1 x 28mm Doom Divers
• 1 x 18mm WoFun TtS Rome vs Gaul (To the Strongest)
• 1 x Naval Battle (WW1)
• 1 x 15mm SYW 
• 1 x 6mm Age of Hannibal Punic Wars
• 1 x Goebens Playtest (Naval WW1)
• 1 x 18mm Wofun figures, Sabis River 57BC 
• 1 x Crisis on LV-242 @Historicon
• 1 x 28mm Skirmish - 18th - Retreat to Dublin - Vikings vs Irish
• 1 x 15mm GWSH2 Mons 1914 - Germans vs Brits
• 1 x Vikings vs Saxons 18mm WoFun - Command & Colors Medeival.

Gaming Goals for 2026

After such a productive year in 2025, I hope I can maintain the pace in 2026.

1. Continue to play as many Euros with friends and family as possible. At least twice a week.
2. Go to at least two miniature conventions: Historicon (July) and Williamsburg Muster (February). As the corollary, I need to sell some items at the Muster flea market to clear out space. 
3. Continue to make great progress on my WW1 and RJW collection. Painting, basing, flocking, etc.
4. Work on my last Taiping Rebellion units so I can call that collection "complete".
5. Run 20+ miniature games in 2026. I have already run one Taiping Rebellion game which I will blog about shortly.
6. Get more wargames on the table, by gaming with local friends.

Cheers from Southport waterfront!

Eric