2026 Mastery Challenge

Dec 31 2025

Mastery challenges

Here are the mastery challenges from previous years:

Updates

Roughly quarterly I jot down a few notes recapping recent games play, or lack thereof, as the case may be.

March 21, 2026

After a pretty good start to the year, I’ve been wrapped up in teaching myself how to program LLMs, which is a distinctly different skill than programming for an interpreter or a compiler. Two main difference: the LLM can do a lot more with a lot less, with the tradeoff that 2. the LLM is non-deterministic. Interpreters and compilers are expcted to be deterministic, so this is a big change in perspective. Time has also been occupied with taxes, whether I’ll continue to work or will retire, with medical care looming as a potential pitfall in the near future. Also, I had wanted to get in a trip to Ft Wayne, but the partial shutdown is affected TSA very badly, flying is just a nightmare right now. In any case, not much on the game front.

H-index and plays

2026-07-04 Current average plays for count of owned games: 1601 / 150 = 10.55

388/381 Lord of the Rings LCG I’d like to finish out the Angmar Awakens cycle in 2026 solitaire, and the Dreamchaser cooperatively. Last year was very slow for LotR, I want to do better in 2026.
116/116 Absolutely Aces
112/107 Jump Drive will surely see some plays.
64/64 Hive no plans.
63/63 High Frontier 4 All Module 4 Contracts is on this year’s High Frontier docket.
59/54 Star Realms has gone into rotation with possibly up to 3 people this year. It’s definitely in rotation with my usual opponent, and I’ve introduced it to a couple of other people who like it. Note that this tally includes the original base Star Realms game, along with Colony Wars and Star Realms: Frontiers.
- Star Realms: 30
- Colony Wars: 20
- Frontiers: 10
44/44 Ogre no plans.
38/38 Zombie Dice as opportunity presents.
33/33 Silver Bayonet My usual opponent and I hope to play Scenario 9, which is a half campaign. I’m playing a number of solitaire games on Vassal to renew my acquaintance with the rules. Scenario 9 played June 28, 29.
27/27 PanzerBlitz no plans.
24/24 6 Nimmt! Not in collection, might get plays in Ft. Wayne.
23/23 Fire in the Lake no plans. Will play if someone is interested. Would like to get a 4 player game of it going.
21/21 Race for the Galaxy no plans, but this is a game which is amenable to impulse playing, so who knows? I don’t recall ever winning a game of this. I may sell my copy, or give it away and just play on line.
20/20 Ogre: Objective 218 will likely see some solitaire plays. It’s fast and easy and can fit between chores.
18/17 GBOH Hoplite, Battle of Delium. Maybe more.
16/16 Battle for Moscow no plans, but I played it incorrectly on my last game, so I really should get another play in this year to rectify that mistake.
16/16 StarForce good chance this will get played at some point. I have a new opponent for F&SF games, and this could be right in his wheelhouse.
16/16 Vietnam Solitaire no plans, but might set up the Easter Offensive later in the year.
14/14 Vietnam 1965-1975 vague plans for setting up The First Volley, or Operation Silver Bayonet.
13/13 Pandemic Probably only play in Ft. Wayne.
12/12 Hapsburg Eclipse no plans. I think I want to sell both this and Ottoman Sunset. Then again, I have a nascent interest in WWI, so maybe I’ll keep them.
12/12 Leaving Earth I’ve been working on programmatically generating a spreadsheet tracker, and it’s ready to go. All it lacks is some game play.
12/12 Objective Kiev no plans.
12/12 Soviet Dawn no plans, but it’s getting time to get this back out.
12/12 Target Leningrad no plans.
11/11 OCS no plans, but I would like to get Luzon on the table for my Usual Opponent. Sicily is another good candidate.
9/9 Phantom Leader will likely see a campaign this year. The last campaign was timed with an unfortunate work transition, so I need to overcome a bit of a hurdle there.
7/7 France ‘40 If this is played, it will be a quarter map variant at Sedan.
7/7 Pax Porfiriana no plans, but open to play if anyone has any interest. I might do a game or two on Yucata.
7/7 Star Fleet Battles - Cadet: 6 - Captains: 1
6/6 The Agents is a new entry on this list, because I like the game a lot, I believe it’s underrated, and I could conceivably have a shot at getting the top plays spot on the forum. That count is currently at 22. The main thing with this game is I haven’t found a regular opponent. I may have to do a couple more solitaire games to get the rules memorized, then start teaching to others.
6/5 Arab Israeli Wars new to this list for 2026 as I now have someone who could be a regular opponent.
3/3 High Frontier 3rd Edition no plans, leaving it here as a reminder. I’d like to play it again sometime.
2/2 SCS Series Probably try to get Yom Kippur on the table in 2026.
1/1 Other COIN no plans, but would be totally open if someone else wanted to play. I am interested playing the rest of my titles, then selling or giving them away.

Wargame-specific H-index

My wargame-specific H-index started 2019 at 10. Wargames are so much more time consuming that this index will increase much, much more slowly than the overall H-index. I do not expect much progress on this list in 2026.

44 Ogre
33 Silver Bayonet
27 PanzerBlitz
23 Fire in the Lake
18 GBOH collectively
16 Battle for Moscow
16 StarForce
16 Vietnam Solitaire
13 Vietnam 1965-1975
12 Hapsburg Eclipse
12 Objective Kiev
12 Soviet Dawn
12 Target Leningrad
11 OCS collectively
9 Phantom Leader
7 France ‘40
7 Star Fleet Battles collectively
6 Arab Israeli Wars
5 Next War series collectively
4 Ottoman Sunset
3 The Arduous Beginning
2 Winter War
1 COIN
1 Combat Commander, which is on this list because it’s the kind of game I will like, once I find someone who is willing to play it.

And that’s enough for now.

What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.