2026 Mastery Challenge

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The end of another year and the start of a new challenge! To be honest, though, the real challenge is summoning the motivation to continue working when I could realistically retire. But I like the income more than the out-go, so will be continuing to work over at least the next few months.

Which means once again, this year’s “mastery” article will be less about actually mastery and more about the usual, which is continuing to track plays while providing a few notes during the year. While it’s not really what I call mastery, it’s not nothing, and I find it worthwhile.

I do have some Aspirations for 2026 posted. Many of these will get played, probably not all of them which is again, fine.

Mastery challenges

Here are the mastery challenges from previous years:

Updates

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

H-index and plays

2025-02-07 Current average plays for count of owned games: 1577 / 150 = 10.42

  1. 385/381 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.

  2. 116/116 Absolutely Aces

  3. 108/107 Jump Drive will surely see some plays.

  4. 64/64 Hive no plans.

  5. 63/63 High Frontier 4 All Module 4 Contracts is on this year’s High Frontier docket.

  6. 44/44 Ogre no plans.

  7. 54/54 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.

  8. 38/38 Zombie Dice as opportunity presents.

  9. 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.

  10. 27/27 PanzerBlitz no plans.

  11. 24/24 6 Nimmt! Not in collection, might get plays in Ft. Wayne.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 20/20 Ogre: Objective 218 will likely see some solitaire plays. It’s fast and easy and can fit between chores.

  15. 18/17 GBOH Hoplite, Battle of Delium. Maybe more.

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

  18. 16/16 Vietnam Solitaire no plans, but might set up the Easter Offensive later in the year.

  19. 14/14 Vietnam 1965-1975 vague plans for setting up The First Volley, or Operation Silver Bayonet.

  20. 13/13 Pandemic Probably only play in Ft. Wayne.

  21. 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.

  22. 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.

  23. 12/12 Objective Kiev no plans.

  24. 12/12 Soviet Dawn no plans, but it’s getting time to get this back out.

  25. 12/12 Target Leningrad no plans.

  26. 11/11 OCS no plans, but I would like to get Luzon on the table for my Usual Opponent. Sicily is another good candidate.

  27. 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.

  28. 7/7 France ‘40 If this is played, it will be a quarter map variant at Sedan.

  29. 7/7 Pax Porfiriana no plans, but open to play if anyone has any interest. I might do a game or two on Yucata.

  30. 7/7 Star Fleet Battles - Cadet: 6 - Captains: 1

  31. 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, than start teaching to others.

  32. 3/3 High Frontier 3rd Edition no plans, leaving it here as a reminder. I’d like to play it again sometime.

  33. 2/2 SCS Series Probably try to get Yom Kippur on the table in 2026.

  34. 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 2024.

  1. 44 Ogre
  2. 33 Silver Bayonet
  3. 27 PanzerBlitz
  4. 23 Fire in the Lake
  5. 18 GBOH collectively
  6. 16 Battle for Moscow
  7. 16 StarForce
  8. 16 Vietnam Solitaire
  9. 13 Vietnam 1965-1975
  10. 12 Hapsburg Eclipse
  11. 12 Objective Kiev
  12. 12 Soviet Dawn
  13. 12 Target Leningrad
  14. 11 OCS collectively
  15. 9 Phantom Leader
  16. 7 France ‘40
  17. 7 Star Fleet Battles collectively
  18. 5 Next War series collectively
  19. 4 Ottoman Sunset
  20. 3 The Arduous Beginning
  21. 2 Winter War
  22. 1 COIN
  23. 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 emough for mow.

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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.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.