First Half of 2026

bgstat, by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

I think for me this post is a first. I don’t think I’ve ever done a mid year round up before.

If I have then the memories are fading faster than I thought.

Looking back through the fog of time and hazy memories. Hey I’m not getting any younger. I’m way closer to the finish line than start these days. It’s probably why I get frustrated by slow players.

There have been good months, bad months, and even average months during this first half of the year.

But it seems to have evened itself out seeing 75 games hit the table. Of those 75, 45 of them were from my collection. And 45 were new to me games.

Looking at the top 9 games, a third are tcg/lcg games. Which is great. Another third are trick takers. Roughly 80% would be considered a card game of some type.

I was asked by Gavin on the Fenland Gamers discord server what my favourite game of the first half of the year was?

If I limit the decision to those games that are new to me, then at the moment I’d have to say it’s a three way tie at the moment between, Heat Peddle to the Metal, National Economy, and West Story A Town Building Game.

Let’s close this post like all the monthly stats posts with the raw data.

It’s been a day or two…

#morningbrew, Brew kit, Camping/hiking gear, hiking/backpacking/camping, life, the universe, and everything, outdoors, still alive

… since the last post.

Naturally life has been happening. The respite between heatwaves seems nonexistent.

However having the basha setup, plenty of water available, and a cold tile floor, the dogs are able to cope with the heat.

I did get a 1977 printing of the Scout Handbook. I had one of these in the late seventies when I was a Boy Scout.

I’m trying a new coffee supplier who had a deal on some Brazilian beans, and I threw a packet of coffee from Peru in as well. Because Diogo.

A 1977 printing of the Scout Handbook
Diogo confirms that my Peruvian coffee is legit

Games have been played. But they will be covered in the round up post.

I got a new folding mug, a Dutch Army Surplus Folding Cup.

I’d seen these used in various YouTuber videos. So was curious about it.

A Dutch Army surplus model can be picked up cheap enough. As can the Wildo civilian version. The only difference I can tell is that the civilian one is available in a variety of colours.

It’s smaller than I thought it’d be. But folded up it’s tiny. I can see the attraction. In fact I like this form factor a lot.

However with liquid in it seems flimsy.

Dutch Army Surplus Folding Cup

Having a cup of coffee for me is an experience. I like my coffee. It’s not just about using a great coffee. It’s how you brew it, and for me the drinking.

I didn’t find drinking from this cup a great experience. That flimsy feeling of the cup with the coffee in. The handle was just too small, and felt even flimsier! In contrast I love drinking from both my Kupilka cups. I find the experience of using them fun, they invoke almost a pioneer/explorer/viking feeling.

I really want to love this cup. But if that drinking experience isn’t pleasant, it doesn’t matter how great the coffee is the enjoyment will be diminished.

Bgstats for June 2026

bgstat, by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

Well June turned out surprisingly good.

Back to playing SWU on a regular basis, and hoping in the near future I’ll be saying the same about Netrunner. I just need to get something going for Ashes.

So this is how the top 9 for the month ended up.

Let’s finish as tradition dictates with the raw stats.

June 2026 Gaming Roundup Part 2

Gaming roundup

Some cracking titles hit the table this later half of the month.

Star Wars Unlimited Twin Suns: I have to tip my hat to FFG their Twin Suns precons are fun to play. Is it really a surprise when their spotlight and starter decks have also been fun to play? I finally built a new deck. I call it All the Vaders. I think the title describes it best. It’s very thematic. I have got to play it at a Twin Suns night, and it was fun to play. The Twin Suns playmat is gorgeous. Larger than expected. But amazing value.

West Story A Town Building Game: a 2 player learning game. Which means we went all in and used the expansion stuff as well! Plus the advanced rules!! Ok they added little to no extra overhead to the game. I can see the Machi Koro similarities in the building your town and activating it. However that score track mechanic is something else. Having the zones on the board only accessible based on where you are on the score track, genius. Making victory points optional inspired. Definitely need to get this to the table at higher player counts.

Pili Pili: chaotic fun as usual.

Ginkgopolis: I think my experience of the game was ruined a little by a key rule not being explained properly. Need to possibly play again.

Tropichaos: becoming a go to filler.

Magical Athlete: great light fun asymmetrical racing gaming. That’s a bit of a mouthful but it sums up the game really well. Love the asymmetrical powers, and the drafting.

Bolomaze: this game doesn’t even have a bgg page yet! So the tactic of gathering cards and waiting for the right moment to play them was the winning strategy. So I stayed at the start, got a swap places with another player card, two cancel cards, and move cards. Waited until an opponent got to the top. Swapped places, countered the counter, and moved on to the finish to win. It was an ok game.

Slambo!: wow! Anthony and I played a couple of games while waiting for Marcin. We also played a three player game later. It’s a very quick, fun filler. You are trying to not bust the running total by either going below zero or over ten. Each turn you play a card that even adds or subtracts its value from the running total. First person to collect three cards of shame looses. Quick to teach. Simple quick fun.

Big Shot: a nice auction area control game. It was over due a return to the table. It gets very tactical about where you place the cubes you win in an auction.

Skyrise: an auction area control game that has been over produced. But does look good on the table. It is an interesting game. Definitely would play again.

Big Top: a small auction game. Plays fairly quickly. A nice light auction game.

New Arrivals

  • More SWU singles
  • Big Top
  • National Economy
  • Excalibur
  • Slambo
  • Gamegenic Twin Suns playmat

Too hot to handle

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

We are currently in the middle of another heatwave. What’s that the fourth or fifth this year?

Having the tarp up has been a genius idea. With the picnic rug, and about 4 litres of water also out, the garden is dog hot weather friendly.

I can confidently let the dogs decide how much time they want to spend outside, and whether it’s under cover or not. The back door is open. They are in control.

It’s the only way to handle this heat with them.

The old sheds contents is still in the garden.

I thought I’d found a reliable person to take it to the landfill. But like the previous guy, a time and date gets set, and then it becomes a no show. The only positive is no cash had been handed over.

Looks like I have several trips to the local council dump in my immediate future.

Operation A Dog Named Sue! #18

#littlemonsters, #MonsterSquad, #SuicideSquad

I did do a short update with the latest photos of Ace’s paw, which can be found here.

But since that update I’ve received another batch of photos showing Ace modelling his new paw sock.

I think Ace is going to have one of those faces that when he’s happy will look really dopey with the tongue dangling out the side.

Going by my calculations we are approximately four months from Ace making the epic journey to join the Monster Squad and his forever home.

You got to know when to hold ’em

life, the universe, and everything

I don’t play poker, especially Texas Hold ‘Em.

I’ve never really been attracted to it. Even when much younger.

My card game of choice growing up was knock out whist. I played it at secondary school during tutorial time. I played it a lot with my dad’s aunt (she really was a card shark).

However recently I’ve become more interested in it. Or to be more accurate some of the theory behind the game.

Apparently, and I read this somewhere a while back but I don’t recall where, that top MtG players have done really well in poker tournaments because they are MtG players. It appears that although totally different games. MtG players are used to making decisions based on incomplete information, reading the board state, etc. The skills are transferable so to speak.

I follow the chess content creators the Botez sisters on YouTube, and the elder sister Alex (?) in the past has taken part in poker tournaments.

I think because I watched those poker videos YouTube throws up from time to time a poker video in my feed.

Add in that to complete my Knizia books I got his book “Poker Plain and Simple: A Brief Guide for Beginners, Spectators, and the Curious” which also peaked my interest.

So I’ve started down the rabbit hole and bought a couple more books on poker, “Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition: Fundamental No-Limit Hold’em Mathematics You Need to Know” by Alton Hardin and newly arrived “Modern Poker Theory: Building an Unbeatable Strategy Based on GTO Principles” by Michael Acevedo.

Obviously I’m not claiming that I’m going to become a master poker player over night.

However I think just like MtG has transferable skills to poker. I’m proposing that some of the poker/MtG skills are transferable to other games. It’s a bit like the Discovering Chess Openings book that clearly has ideas/theory that transfer to other games, particularly war/skirmish games. Really.

I’m particularly curious about the game theory side. I can see that side being a big rabbit hole to dive into.

My progress might be slow through these books because I tend to read them whilst sitting outside, getting shade under the tarp as the monster squad chill out.

So bare with me as I start this side quest, which might even see me play a game of poker.

Testing, 1,2,3,Sibilance

#backtothehills, Camping/hiking gear, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

The last couple of days I’ve been testing a couple of items that I’ve had for a while now. Mainly because I’ve not really checked them over since buying them, and they need that before using them in anger.

One draw back, even hinderance, that does put me off is that I have a small garden, which is 50% or just over concrete. And until recently a quarter was taken up with a shed (I now have to get the contents to the dump).

The first was the Dutch Army poncho that I have.

The poncho is designed to be used in conjunction with the Dutch Army hooped bivy bag (which I also have and need to test).

Dutch Army Poncho

I don’t know the dimensions of the poncho. However it is smaller than the Aldi tarp. I’m going to guess this is 6ft by 4ft approximately. So not much living space if being used as a shelter. But being a person under 6ft in length it would provide adequate cover for me. And when used in conjunction with the intended bivi or any bivi it is perfect for providing a bit of additional cover from the elements whilst in the bivi.

Having missed the previous days constant rain (which the Aldi tarp handled really well) to test the waterproofness of this poncho, I had to resort to using a hose pipe.

As you can see from the photo above the water beaded nicely on it.

The second item I was testing was the British Army basha.

And yes those are Diogo’s paws you can see
British Army Basha

This is much bigger than the poncho, with plenty of living space under it.

If you compared the material used by the basha with the poncho. The poncho is made from a heavier, more durable material. But that makes sense because the poncho is designed to be used as its primary function first and as a shelter secondary. So is more likely to receive wear and tear while in use.

This too handled the hose pipe test well. However I did notice about three pinholes near seams. So I need to see if these need repairing or not. So ideally I need a good bit of rain to see if they are an issue or not.

I’m not sure what the neighbours think going passed seeing the tarps/poncho setup. However apart from testing the said item. The main point having one up is to provide shade for the dogs in the heatwaves we have been experiencing.

But that’s the testing of those two items done. And I can be fairly confident they will perform as expected when used in anger.