Author Archives: Mark Jackson

About Mark Jackson

follower of Jesus, husband, father, pastor, boardgamer, writer, Legomaniac, Disneyphile, voted most likely to have the same Christmas wish list at age 60 as he did at age 6

Solo Gaming 2024: The End of the Year Edition

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Mark Jackson

I’ve been writing these solo gaming reports since March of 2020… but my solo gaming started a lot farther back than that – being a wargamer in the 1970s/80s meant that a lot of your collection only saw table time if … Continue reading →

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Best New (to me!) Games of 2024

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Mark Jackson

Look, I play a lot of games. In 2024, that included right around 160 new games… well, new to me games. That’s pretty typical – it was approximately 145 in 2023 and 150 in 2022. (I’m privileged and blessed to … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Commentary | Tagged | 12 Comments

Doggerland: An Opinionated Gamers Preview

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Mark Jackson

I consider myself a history buff… but I’d never heard of the geographic area known as Doggerland before I received a review copy of the new board game named – appropriately – Doggerland. For those of you with the same … Continue reading →

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Unmatched: Which Witcher?

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Mark Jackson

Unlike many of IP (Jurassic Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel) and public domain (Sherlock Holmes, Medusa, Su Kong, Beowulf, etc.) characters featured in the previous boxes of the excellent Unmatched series from Restoration Games, I’m not particularly familiar with … Continue reading →

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52 Realms: Adventures (a preview)

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Mark Jackson

I’ve become a fan of solo gaming – which will not surprise folks who’ve read my various reviews and recaps here on the Opinionated Gamers site over the years. That means I’m always looking for a new solo challenge… and … Continue reading →

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Mark’s Bundle of 2024 Essen Game Thoughts

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Mark Jackson

Five days. Seventy-five plays. Seventy games that were new to me. Yeah, that’s a lot of games. But thanks to our fearless leader (Dale Yu) and BasementCon, I had a wonderful time playing many of them. (Well, a number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Convention Report, Essen 2024, First Impressions | 1 Comment