diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 0f4c0b047..730c3e7f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ jobs:
             cpu: amd64
           - os: windows
             cpu: amd64
-        branch: [version-1-2, version-1-6]
+        branch: [version-1-6]
         include:
           - target:
               os: linux
@@ -148,12 +148,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build binaries (with trace logging enabled)
         run: |
-          if [[ "${{ matrix.branch }}" == "version-1-6" ]]; then
-            # change to "|| true" to hide the CI failures in GitHub's UI (escape hatch if a blocker is detected in 1.6)
-            ${make_cmd} -j ${ncpu} V=1 NIM_COMMIT=${{ matrix.branch }} LOG_LEVEL=TRACE || false
-          else
-            ${make_cmd} -j ${ncpu} V=1 NIM_COMMIT=${{ matrix.branch }} LOG_LEVEL=TRACE
-          fi
+          ${make_cmd} -j ${ncpu} V=1 NIM_COMMIT=${{ matrix.branch }} LOG_LEVEL=TRACE
           # The Windows image runs out of disk space, so make some room
           rm -rf build nimcache
 
@@ -172,12 +167,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Run tests
         run: |
-          if [[ "${{ matrix.branch }}" == "version-1-6" ]]; then
-            # change to "|| true" to hide the CI failures in GitHub's UI (escape hatch if a blocker is detected in 1.6)
-            ${make_cmd} -j ${ncpu} V=1 NIM_COMMIT=${{ matrix.branch }} DISABLE_TEST_FIXTURES_SCRIPT=1 test || false
-          else
-            ${make_cmd} -j ${ncpu} V=1 NIM_COMMIT=${{ matrix.branch }} DISABLE_TEST_FIXTURES_SCRIPT=1 test
-          fi
+          ${make_cmd} -j ${ncpu} V=1 NIM_COMMIT=${{ matrix.branch }} DISABLE_TEST_FIXTURES_SCRIPT=1 test
 
       # The upload creates a combined report that gets posted as a comment on the PR
       # https://github.com/EnricoMi/publish-unit-test-result-action
diff --git a/.github/workflows/cron.yml b/.github/workflows/cron.yml
index e8de55f51..76e788110 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cron.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cron.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
             cpu: amd64
           - os: windows
             cpu: amd64
-        branch: [version-1-2, version-1-6, devel]
+        branch: [version-1-6, devel]
         include:
           - target:
               os: linux