Farewell 2020 – The Best on the Blog

2020 is all but over! (Cheers erupt everywhere.) It was the third full year of my blog. The blog keeps growing: While my number of posts is almost exactly what it was in 2019, both the number of visitors and views have markedly increased. Unsurprisingly, most of my visitors come from the United States (almost 45%), but there are many other (mostly English-speaking and/or European) countries in which the blog does well – adjusting for population, Clio’s Board Games is very popular in Canada and Sweden (I guess the people in the often dark and cold north know the pleasures of board gaming and blog reading). Some countries whose visitor counts have increased markedly are Spain, France, Brazil, and Japan. Hello everybody new! I hope you enjoy reading this blog.

I certainly enjoy writing it. And so, to top off my review of the year, here are the six posts which I think represent the most interesting this blog had to offer in 2020:

Farewell 2020 – Historical Board Games

The year is almost over, and once more, it has come with quite a few excellent historical board games played. These are the three I enjoyed most this year:

Farewell 2020 – Historical Fiction

If there ever was a year in my life that cried for some escapism, 2020 was it. I’m not saying it was the worst year or anything (personally, I’ve certainly had more troublesome years), but the barrage of worrying news was more deafening than ever. So, what better way to cope with that than to retreat to a comfortable armchair and lose oneself in a story of times gone by, of battles fought and won or lost a long time ago, whose impact on today’s life is indirect (and yet often crucial). Thus, here are the three best historical fiction books I read this year.

Farewell 2020 – Non-Historical Board Games

Sure, this blog is all about games and history. But in the end, most of us gamers are happy with whatever gaming we get to do (there are always more games we are interested in than opportunities to play), and this is especially true in this year of limited social interaction. So, without further ado, here are my top 3 non-historical games I played this year!

Farewell 2020 – Historical Non-Fiction

On to the next Farewell 2020 post – this time about historical non-fiction books I read this year! As per usual, there are three nominees, one of them to be crowned the winner. Let’s get straight at it!

Farewell 2019 – On the Blog

Welcome to the last end-of-year post for 2019 on my blog! So far, I’ve done Top Threes in the following categories:

• New-to-me games
• Historical non-fiction books
• Non-historical games
• Historical fiction books
• Historical board games

Today, we come to the blog itself. It’s been a very good year for the blog – I posted 48 times (up by 9 in comparison to 2018) and doubled the number of hits and visitors.
The blog had visitors from 122 different countries and dependencies this year. Unsurprisingly, most (around 40%) of them come from the United States as the biggest English-speaking country, with the UK, Canada, and Australia accounting for another 20%. I’m always a bit surprised to see the blog doing well in countries where I don’t know a single subscriber (but of course, I cannot know everyone personally who stumbles over this blog) – so whoever you are who reads this blog in Sweden, Portugal, South Africa, Hong Kong (among many others) – thanks for stepping by! Leave me a comment. I’d like to get to know you!
Dear readers, thank you for your interest! I hope you had a delightful and possibly even educational time. I certainly had fun writing these posts. And here are the three projects which I regard as my finest achievements this year:

Farewell 2019 – Historical Board Games

I do Top Threes in various categories as my end-of-year posts. So far, I have done this year:

• New-to-me games
• Historical non-fiction books
• Non-historical games
• Historical fiction books

And here, finally, is the pinnacle of Top Three posts for the end of the year – historical board games! That’s what you’ve come for. So, without further ado, here are the three history-themed board games with which I had the most fun I this year:

Farewell 2019 – Historical Fiction

And here’s the fourth part of my end-of-year posts! As always, I have three nominees and crown one winner. Check out the first three posts on

• New-to-me games
• Historical non-fiction books
• Non-historical games

Today, I’m going to present you the three best historical novels I read this year:

Farewell 2019 – Non-Historical Games

This is part 3 of my end-of-year posts. I select three nominees in each category and crown a winner. Here are the first two posts on new-to-me games and historical non-fiction books.
Today’s category are non-historical games. I know – games which are not about history? – A wild notion! But I admit, I sometimes dabble in them. No, in fact, more than half to two thirds of my plays are of games which are not about history. They’re often easier to pitch to other people (who might or might not share my interest in the Austrian Succession of 1740), and they often play a bit faster (I assume my Unconditional Surrender! campaign will keep me busy until late 2020). And: They are often (almost!) as much fun!
So, here are the three non-historical games with which I had the most fun this year:

Farewell 2019 – Historical Non-Fiction

Welcome to my second post looking back on 2019! I always select three nominees for each categories and crown one winner. You can find the first post on new-to-me games here.

One of the nice side effects of writing this blog is that I read a lot of history books for my research – in addition to the history books I read just for pleasure. Yes, I’m a huge nerd. Anyway, here are the three best historical non-fiction books I read this year: