The BoLS writing team takes a look back at 2025 and what’s to come in 2026 – and we kick off our 20th year.
Before we get into everyone’s year end wrap-ups.
2026 marks our 20th anniversary. A lot has changed since 2006 – the tabletop gaming fanbase has grown ever larger, and hundreds of new games have been introduced. When we started posting, Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition and Warhammer Fantasy Battles 7th Edition ruled indie tournaments (Adepticon was in its third year, with just 600 attendees). We were going on adventures with D&D 3.5 (Critical Role was eleven years away), and many of the miniature games we enjoy now didn’t exist.
We couldn’t have imagined that tabletop gaming would become the global, cultural phenomenon it is today. And we’re looking forward to what’s next.
Goatboy
40k has been pretty much on fire all year with a ton of new releases. While I’m a Chaos player at heart, it is great to see other armies get some love. I am currently working through my Emperor’s Children to finally get that army out, and as always, working on new art and client-commissioned armies. I hope this next year is a true year of Chaos, as the rumors portend, and I can keep the evil little chaos god inside me happy.
Adam
2025 has been kind of a crazy year. As Thomas mentioned, there’s been a TON of great stuff coming from Games Workshop, and I’m excited to see what’s coming in 2026. Beyond 40k/AoS, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in Necromunda in particular. Atomic Mass Games has also been killing it with Star Wars: Legion/Shatterpoint releases as well. But I’m super excited to see what they do for Marvel: Crisis Protocol. With the Onslaught reveal during Ministravaganza, I’m beyond hyped for 2026!
Abe
The Old World has had a pretty stellar year with 9 books and a whole brand new army in Grand Cathay coming out. We don’t really know if 2026 will keep up this wild pace, but I’m very excited to see what it will bring. So far, we only have one book announced for early in the year, so there are a lot of question marks. What is very exciting is that now we do have all the old armies and models out (in under two years!), so from here on out it’s going to be all new stuff (or some rare, very old stuff). I’m not sure if we will get Kislev in 2026, but I think we will get a ton of great stuff. I’m also really looking forward to playing at more events.
LEGO also has a lot to look forward to. I might have finally bit the bullet and gotten the UCS Venator, but that doesn’t mean I’m not getting the starship scale one when it comes out… well, today.
J.R.
What a year it’s been for RPGs. We kicked off the year with the completion of the launch of D&D 5.5E in earnest, though it took WotC until the end of the year to really start showing off new stuff like Heroes of Faerun and Forge of the Artificer. But alongside that, we had the launch of several new fantasy RPGs, including MCDM’s Draw Steel and Critical Role’s Daggerheart. And next year looks even more promising, with upcoming releases for Sword World and a new wave of books for Fabula Ultima, the TTJRPG.
Meaghan
2025 was a big year for games! Between the launch of D&D’s 5.5E, Daggerheart, and big pieces of media like KPOP Demon Hunters inspiring indie game designers, we’ve been able to jump into new games and enjoy a refresh of our established favorites. And of course, there were loads of new board games. My favorite so far was The Hobbit: There and Back Again, but there were many great picks with things like Vantage, Super boss Monster, and Chit Chat.
Mars
It’s been an exciting year for LEGO with the big F1 partnership and the first-ever Star Trek set. I picked up several of the new F1 kits this year, but my favorite build comes from 2021. I dug into my backlog and finally built the Tumbler (76023), which is a great set if you can get your hands on one.
Next year, I’m looking forward to some of the IDEAS sets in review getting the stamp of approval. I’d love to add this Subaru WRC to my car collection. And there’s that massive 8,300 piece Minas Tirith “leaked” set running around. We’ll have to wait and see if that pans out like the Star Trek rumors did.
What were your favorite games this year – and what are you looking forward to in 2026? Let us know in the comments!
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This article was written by a Guest Columnist who requested anonymity.
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