Q is for Quick Topps card. Unlike many of the trade cards that appear in this slot, I’ve probably owned this 1978 Superman card from new. I say ‘probably’ because there’s a chance it was actually pulled from its flimsy packet by a school friend then acquired by me in a playground trade. Apparently, each packet contained ten different cards, a sticker, and a stick of bubble gum. I can still smell, taste, and feel the gum, but weirdly have no recollection whatsoever of the stickers.

R is for Reminiscent of Command Ops

The chap behind the mouth-watering Decision Point, a “semi-turn-based” battle sim with similarities to CO2, is ex British Army and keen “to replicate [his] own military experience in how operations are planned and executed”. Being an increasingly lazy wargamer who’s prone to intimidation, I like the fact that the screenshots aren’t crowded with units or UI buttons. Containing statements like “players can able to operate at any level of granularity from broad battlegroup intent to specific platoon-level directives” and “attackers must maintain viable supply lines aligned with their advance” the first dev diary will warm the cockles of anyone who likes their wargames both sleek and authentic.

S is for Shaheds incoming

The problems currently faced by Ukraine’s air defence orchestrators are starkly illustrated in this new, free browser-based wargame. In the first chapter of the five-scenario airdefense.dev campaign you must protect Kyiv by purchasing and positioning sensors and AA weaponry around the city. Bring down sufficient Shaheds, Kalibrs, Iskanders etc. to trigger victory, and you’ll unlock mission 2, the defence of Seoul. As deleting or relocating placed assets, and placing assets within the range circles of previously placed assets, doesn’t appear to be possible yet, it pays to pick and position units with relatively short ranges (Signal jammers, ZU-23-2s, Gepards…) first.

T is for Transport travails

Although it’s now possible to mouse-steer buses in City Transport Sim, because sensitivity resets to ‘100%’ and mode to ‘steering, throttle, and brake’ every time you start the sim, rodent-reliant folk like me still aren’t entirely happy. Worryingly, many of CTS’s minor AI and timetabling glitches persist too. If more DLC arrives before issues like these are fixed, ViewApp might find they have a mini mutiny on their hands.

U is for Unavoidable tedium?

Making engaging games about plucky globe shrinkers like Lindbergh, Costes, and Alcock and Brown, is far from easy. I’ll be interested to see how SUPER AC, the devs working on Sky Legends, a VR title slated for Q1 2026, let us “relive significant events such as Jean Mermoz’s crossing of the Atlantic Ocean” without inducing boredom or bum ache.