And that was December 2025

This was a quieter gaming month than usual.

Studies have been keeping me busy. Illness has helped too. And, of course, it’s that time of year. So, with only a few days where I managed to play games, the number of plays could have been quite low. But, the rare times I did game, it was whole days of it, with either my wife or with family around Christmas.

We also ended the year by bringing back some fantastic games that haven’t seen the table in a while. I managed a close fought win in LORDS OF WATERDEEP, had my brain worked over hard with SCHOLARS OF THE SOUTH TIGRIS, and spent the last two hours of 2025 with MOSAIC.

I also managed to film and post my Top 50 of 2025 on YouTube this month, the biggest project I’ve managed on the channel so far. It was a lot of fun putting it all together (though next time I won’t record it all in one day – that was exhausting!).

And with all that, let’s look at the few that arrived at the end of the year, and the fewer that were newer.

ULTIMATE RAILROADS – I’ve had this game on my wishlist for many years after someone suggested I might like it. Being Worker Placement, and having a spot on my ‘Top 100 scratch off poster’ meant I was always looking out for a game of it, but it’s price prevented me from diving on without trying first.

And then Black Friday 2025 rolled around, and I found a copy for less than half it’s normal retail. So I took the plunge. The Ultimate version does look like great value with four different versions, plus extra modules, all included. And, after unboxing and punching everything, it has a unique and very cool insert that comes with it.

EARTHBORNE RANGERS – We’re big ARKHAM HORROR LCG fans, but I’ve been 50/50 on EARTHBORNE RANGERS since I first heard about it. I’ve watched a lot of playthroughs and reviews, and I’m pretty sure I’ll have a great time, but I still wasn’t 100% confident.

So it was Black Friday to the rescue again as I found it at a cheaper price that helped me take the swing on it. Once it arrived, and I went through the relaxing side hobby of sleeving the game, I checked the calendar for the first free day I had so that I could get stuck in. Unfortunately, that is Jan 5th, so it’s first play won’t be just yet.

LOST LUMINA – I grabbed a couple of games from Dranda towards the end of the year, but one (the next one) was a preorder, so I had to wait for delivery. This one is a short, 2-player only area control game that I missed on Crowdfunding, but looks right up our street. Beautiful art and interesting card play.

MUTAGEN – The game that held back the Dranda order was this unique Worker Placement game. In it you can upgrade your Workers to have extra abilities, but to make it cooler, the powers are represented via plastic add-ons that attach to your meeples.

Unfortunately, while this is a great implimentation, there has been a problem at the factory which has resulted in a minor production issue. Thankfully, this doesn’t take anything away from the gameplay itself, only affecting that cool attachment gimmick. And, more importantly, Dranda are working hard to fix the issue for KS backers, and retail customers like myself, so hopefully that tiny blemish will be a thing of the past for fans of the game. I’m still very much looking forward to getting stuck in.

ASSYRIA: Second Edition – For someone that said he’d stick to the Medieval Trilogies from Garphill Games, I do seem to have a problem with continuinly backing their Ancient Anthology games.

This is the latest to arrive with backers, a second edition of an older game. It comes with the same high level of production from Garphill Games, as well as continuing their industry bucking trend of delivering a lot earlier than promised.

FANTASTIC FACTORIES – We were gifted a free copy of this engine builder last month and used a games weekend to get it to the table. It’s super quick to learn and play, and makes for a really nice filler game.

Draft a card, roll your dice, and use the results to gain resources while powering your factory buildings to produce product. It’s mostly multiplayer solo, with the main pahse also being simultaneous play. Quite impressed by it overall.

ULTIMATE RAILROADS – It was great to finally get this classic Worker Placement game scratched off my BGG Top 100 poster. We went with Russian Railroads for our first play, to learn the ropes. It’s a cutthroat game with limited spots as each player tries to move their different rail colours along three differetn tracks, while gaining locomotives that can power it far enough.

The scoring it incremental, like BUNNY KINGDOM, where the first round’s score could be counted on one hand, while the final round potentially being in the 100’s each. Really looking forward to more plays and digging into the other boards.

• 2 games weekends with just my wife.
• Getting my Top 50 out in three different formats!!!
• Getting a comment from the designer on my Flip 7 video.