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

The Year in Review - 2024

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year and may your 2025 be bless with lots of laughter, love and gaming!

In 2024 I was able to play 18 miniatures battles and record 172 board games (Euros or Wargames). That is a new record for me, but it was helped along by my retirement in April of 2024!!

Here is the breakdown of the games played, and Castles of Burgundy was a huge hit! 

EUROS\WARGAMES

32 x Castles of Burgundy

15 x White Castle

11 x Obsession

10 x Viticulture (Tuscany Essentials)

9 x Endeavor: Deep Sea

8 x Burning Banners

6 x Great War Commander (WWI Combat Commander) - Hexasim 

5 x Bloodstones

5 x Fighters of the Pacific

5 x Space Base

4 x Ark Nova

4 x Suburbia 

3 x Castles of Mad King Ludwig

3 x Hansa Tuetanica

3 x Lost Ruins of Arnak

3 x Fallen Lands

2 x A.R.T Project

2 x Downfall (GMT Games)

2 x Dominion

2 x Artemis Project

2 x Twilight Struggle (GMT Games)

2 x Copenhagen

2 x Gest of Robin Hood (GMT Games)

2 x 7 Wonders Duel

2 x Teotihuacan 

1 x Battle of Britain (Undaunted)

1 x Pyrates 

1 x Dune Imperium: Uprising

1 x Resist!

1 x Manila 1945

1 x War of the Ring

1 x Plum Island Horror (GMT Games)

1 x Charioteer (GMT Games)

1 x Domesday (ATO - playtest)

1 x Maria (War of the Austrian Succession)

1 x Hegemony (very interesting game)

1 x Crisis 1914

1 x Imperium 

2 x Lamps are Going Out

1 x Black Orchestra

1 x Conquest & Consequences

1 x Triumph & Tragedy

1 x Here I Stand (GMT Games)

2 x Terraforming Mars

2 x Art Society 

1 x Shifting Sands

1 x Explorers of the North Sea

1 x The Hunt

2 x Trekking the World (2nd Edition)

1 x 1807 Eylau

1 x Operation Barclay

MINIATURE BATTLES

1 x Naval Thunder (1/1200)

1 x Boar War 1881 (28mm)

1 x Zombies (Dead Run) 28mm.

1 x Sikh Wars (15mm) Using Battle Commander

1 x French in Mexico - Solo (15mm) using Battle Command.

2 x French Foreign Legion (15mm)

1 x Battle of Custoza | 15mm (Regimental Fire and Fury)

1 x Full Thrust - Sci-Fi Fleet battle 

1 x 1st - Battle of Mollwitz 15mm (EB, Rob, Michael, Rich) WAS using Battle Command

1 x SYW 15mm - Battle of Bergen using Battle Command

6 x To the Strongest (two each: 15mm Medieval, 15mm Greeks vs Persians, 15mm Punic Wars)

2 x Star Saga (Sci-Fi RPG) - 28mm

Another great year of gaming and I can't wait to see what 2025 unfolds. I plan on running lots of miniature games, and even some at Historicon in July 2025.

On the Painting table I finished many SYW units (blog posts coming), waiting for flag for my SYW British army and they will be completed. Eight new French SYW cavalry (waiting on flags before I blog about my completed French army). Saxons are nearly complete, while Hanoverian, Brunswickers, and Hessioes are completed. Lastly, my SYW Reichsarmee is 95% complete. Also finished my SYW Bavarian army! Whew! 

Painted my new Roman Marching Fort and that will be used this year to fight Alesia vs the Gauls. 

I based a lot of WWI British in 15mm (Late war), about 5 Brigades. 

Cheers!

Eric

2023 Gaming: A Year in Review

2023 A YEAR OF GAMING

The year was filled with a lot of gaming, both board games and miniatures games.

I played in 11 miniatures games, 2 miniatures campaigns (10mm WW2 North Africa which has 4 simultaneous battles raging as I type this, and a 15mm ACW campaign), and 99 board games (Euros or Wargames).

Here is a summary of the year with the miniature games having a scale value beside them. I hope 2024 keeps me active in the gaming realm and I plan on running at least a half-dozen miniature games this year. 

1 x Conan (28mm)

1 x Gunfight Royale (Minis)

1 x WW2 Horrors of War (28mm)

1 x Dead Run - Modern Zombies (20mm)

1 x 55 Days in Peking (board game)

1 x Fire & Stone 

6 x Crusaders Thy Will Be Done

4 x Brian Boru

2 x No Peace without Spain

2 x War of the Triple Alliance

3 x Verdun Steel Inferno

1 x Aztec War (18mm) playtest of a Commands & Colors variant.

1 x Hansa Teutonica 

1 x Lords of Waterdeep

7 x Castles of Mad King Ludwig 

2 x Scarface 1920 

4 x Terraforming Mars 

1 x Star Trek Ascendancy

2 x Tiny Epic Pirates

1 x Assault on Gallipoli

1 x South Pacific (Empire of the Sun scenario)

1 x Evolution - weak game, won't play that again.

5 x Welcome To - this was a very different and fun game. (games are quick)

1 x FireFly

1 x For the People

1 x Battlestar Galactica

2 x SpaceCorp

2 x Suburbia

1 x History of the World (meh)

The Crew (7 missions) (5 missions)

2 x Pandemic 

2 x Piacenza, 1746

1 x AuZtralia (EB, Paige, Bill, Linda)

3 x Charioteer

1 x Rise of the Roman Republic (a big difficult mess)

1 x AMFS (A Most Fearful Sacrifice) - Outstanding game and production quality

2 x Joan of Arc

1 x Eclipse

1 x Sekigaraja (EB, Steve*)

2 x Empire of the Sun

3 x Cascadia

1 x Architects of the West Kingdom

4 x Lost Ruins of Arnak

1 x Formula De

2 x Pursuit of Glory

1 x Falling Sky (COIN game)

3 x Horrified

1 x Fertile Puffin (Fall-In) 40mm (Bill Koff's game)

1 x WWI Fire & Fury (Fall-In) 12mm - not a fan of how this worked.

1 x Here I Stand

1 x Battle of Pea Ridge ACW - 6mm Alter of Freedom (very cool)

1 x Battle of Perryville ACW - 6mm Alter of Freedom

4 x Downfall sessions

1 x JAWS

2 x Cryptid

1 x Pandemic Rome

Whew! That is quite the assortment of games with Castles of Mad King Ludwig getting the most repeat plays. 

Cheers!

Eric

2022 - A Year in Review

Greetings!

I'm going to recap my game experiences of the last year and tell you of the new Wargaming club I have started here in my new home in Southport, NC.

I moved to Southport, NC on December 29th, 2021. I left behind an outstanding gaming group, the Charlotte Garrison, who are near and dear friends to me. Some in that group have been gaming with me for 30 years! One of my greatest fears was moving to a location where I didn't know any gamers, let alone if there were any wargamers around! 

Wilmington, NC is about 45 minutes away and I knew they had two game stores that have a lot of gamers, but were they just Magic the Gathering type or more into Squad Leader?! 

For several months after my move I was basically unpacking, painting miniatures, and pining for the good old days of gaming every Wednesday night! My wife happened to go to a "newbies" party (while I was working, harrumph) and found Bill and Linda who like to play EURO style games and by mid-March we were playing as couples every Sunday night. It wasn't like pushing lead, but it was fun and satisfied my gaming urge.

Cape Fear Wargamers

With the discovery of Rich Hasenauer of Fire and Fury fame, and Michael Montemarrano both moving close to me, they unlocked a key group of long time gamers in Wilmington, NC.

I decided to create an official group for all of us to offer gaming days\nights so that we can all take advantage of the great gamers in our area. After several weeks it appears we have around 2000 board games and 100,000 painted miniatures between us! Holy Smokes. If anybody is lurking in the Wilmington, NC and would like to be part of this, please join us on GroupsIO. There are currently about 15 local gamers. 

https://groups.io/g/CapeFearWargamer

Gaming Recap of 2022

MG = Miniatures Games
BG = Euros or Wargames

TOTAL           MG: 10    BG: 139
JANUARY      MG: 0    BG: 2
FEBRUARY   MG: 1    BG: 5

MARCH         MG: 0    BG: 10 - Bill and Linda arrive on scene!

APRIL             MG: 0    BG: 2

MAY                MG: 1, BG: 12

JUNE              MG: 1, BG: 11

JULY              MG: 0, BG: 16

AUGUST        MG: 1, BG: 9

SEPTEMBER MG: 0, BG: 6

OCTOBER     MG: 0, BG: 14

NOVEMBER  MG: 4, BG: 19

DECEMBER  MG: 2, BG: 33

GAMES PLAYED

25 x Crew (Deep Sea) - these are 10 to 15 card trick taking games.

20 x Crew (Planet 9) - these are 10 to 15 card trick taking games.
10 x Brian Boru (surprise top game play! Great fun)

9 x Sleeping Gods (immersive exploration game)

6 x Artemis Project (very enjoyable game)

6 x Maquis

5 x C&C Ancients 

5 x Suburbia (Bezer Games)

5 x Explorers of the North Sea

5 x Plains Indian Wars (GMT)

4 x Dune Imperium

3 x TARAWA 1943 (solo game)

3 x Lords of Waterdeep
3 x Hansa 

2 x Spades (card games)
2 x Moonshine Empires
2 x Raiders of the North Sea
2 x PowerGrid
2 x Viticulture
2 x Terraforming Mars
2 x 10mm WW2 Desert (Blitzkrieg Commander IV)

2 x Crusader: Thy Will Be Done
1 x Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage (AH)
1 x Empire of the Sun (GMT)
1 x JAWS
1 x Maneuver (GMT)
1 x Red Flag Rising (GMT)

1 x 15mm Corps de Armee
1 x Silver Bayonet (28mm)

1 x Nemesis Lockdown 
1 x Imperial Struggle (EC, EB*)
1 x Cards Against Humanity

1 x Atlantis Rising
1 x Napoleon 1815 (Shakos)

1 x Airlines Europe
1 x SpaceCorp 
1 x Wars of Religion
1 x Race to Moscow
1 x Europe Engulfed (GMT)

1 x 15mm Fire and Fury (ACW)
1 x Mosaic
1 x The Lamps are Going Out (Compass Games)
1 x 15mm SYW - Piquet

1 x 878 Vikings
1 x Vauban's Wars (WSS French vs Austrians) 
1 x Axis & Allies

Happy New Year and I hope you can play lots of games in the coming year! Enjoy the friendship that gaming can generate. 

Eric

A typical sunset from my new home, thanks to Judy Kisler for the photo.