akarsb.bsky.social
akarsb.bsky.social
@akarsb.bsky.social
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Thanks to everyone for a wonderful @sdhistcon.bsky.social! Always a highlight of my year. So great to see amazing people and teach and play games. A few further highlights: Team Undaunted, 1846, Waterways, and Chalice of Poison.
November 10, 2025 at 11:42 PM
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A sneak peek at FRUIT, Akar Bharadvaj’s brilliant CHALICE OF POISON, and a picture of the Muffaletta sandwich that changed our lives.
I spent the weekend in New Orleans, playing games with hist-game designers and wargaming wonks. Two of those games, Fruit and Chalice of Poison, were especially impressive. Read about it here: spacebiff.com/2025/08/13/c...
Chalice of Bananas
I promise this won’t become a food review. Although if you could see the embarrassingly touristy pictures of what I spent the past weekend eating in New Orleans, you would understand the impu…
spacebiff.com
August 14, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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I spent the weekend in New Orleans, playing games with hist-game designers and wargaming wonks. Two of those games, Fruit and Chalice of Poison, were especially impressive. Read about it here: spacebiff.com/2025/08/13/c...
Chalice of Bananas
I promise this won’t become a food review. Although if you could see the embarrassingly touristy pictures of what I spent the past weekend eating in New Orleans, you would understand the impu…
spacebiff.com
August 13, 2025 at 7:51 PM
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It was a lovely week. AMA, and feel free to share what you got to the table.
August 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
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And here it is folks, my first published game. I’ve been fascinated by Sykes-Picot for years. I’m very proud of this game, and I hope people enjoy what I’m trying to do with it. I’m also deeply appreciative of Hollandspiele for taking a chance on both me and it. Hit me up if you have questions!
Amabel talks about the debut game from Brooks Barber, scheduled to be released April 29.
A Look at Sykes-Picot
YouTube video by Mary & Amabel Holland
www.youtube.com
April 10, 2025 at 10:47 PM
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NEW POST: This year, Circle DC, an annual convention held by historical game publisher @fortcircle.bsky.social, was held on March 28-30, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Here are the games I played.

www.boardgamemeeplelady.com/2025/04/07/c...
Circle DC 2025: Painkillers, SCOTUS, Chalice of Poison, Cherry blossoms -
This year, Circle DC, an annual convention held by historical game publisher Fort Circle, was held on March 28-30, 2025. It was mostly held at the DC History Center, with a few gaming opportunities at...
www.boardgamemeeplelady.com
April 7, 2025 at 4:10 PM
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I was really glad for the chance to play Chalice of Poison by Akar Bharadvaj, covering the Iran-Iraq war with a political focus: two fragile regimes locked in struggle, knowing that reforms that lead to victory on the battlefield (like letting generals communicate easily) could also lead to a coup.
April 1, 2025 at 6:32 PM
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Sunday saw an interesting theme explored in Angria by @stevenegus.bsky.social, a tight paxy game of Hell Raiders by @mildamatildagames.bsky.social and @lukeevison.bsky.social, and the unique and much awaited Chalice of Poison by Akar Bharadvaj, which I wanted to play again ever since last year.
March 31, 2025 at 11:08 PM
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Poison in the Chalice, really interesting game about the iran-iraq war. Lots of new mechanics used here
March 29, 2025 at 12:51 PM
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More bad news for history and how it is taught throughout the world. On the chopping block: Queen Zenobia. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/06/w...
Syria’s New Rebel Government Orders Changes to School Curriculum, Worrying Some Syrians (Gift Article)
Syria’s new government has swiftly ordered changes to school curriculums. Some Syrians say the move is a worrying sign of how the former rebels plan to govern a diverse country.
www.nytimes.com
January 7, 2025 at 11:47 PM
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Congrats to the design team of Lucas Cockburn, Neco Cockburn, and Alex Goss for winning the second
Zenobia Award with their "The Porters" game! More information on that, and runners-up "Melaka: the Forgotten Empire" and "Silencio," here: sdhist.com/zenobia-awar...
November 18, 2024 at 3:20 PM
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I had another great panel, this time about hobby and pro wargaming. It was wonderful to be joined by @sebastianbae.bsky.social @writegameread.bsky.social and Akar Bharadvaj!
November 10, 2024 at 7:18 AM
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Zenobia Award continues push to lift up underrepresented game designers, reveals nine nominees diversifying historical tabletop design

Read the full story in the latest BoardGameWire newsletter, plus the rest of the week's news, design tips and job openings:

open.substack.com/pub/boardgam...
September 26, 2024 at 2:04 PM
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We have a new Conflicts of Interest Online post, on the Zenobia Award announcing their finalists for this second round. Check it out here: sdhist.com/second-round...
September 26, 2024 at 1:32 AM
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Zenobia Award historical boardgame design finalists - zenobiaaward.org/finalists/
Finalists and Advancing Proposals
Congratulations to the finalists of the second Zenobia Award: Aguirre House of Wisdom Melaka - The Forgotten Empire Obraje An Outstreched Hand The Porters The Pursuit of Aguinal...
zenobiaaward.org
September 24, 2024 at 2:02 PM
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Our San Diego Historical Games Convention (SDHistCon) 2023 Designer Interview Videos including Sam London, Sam London Maurice Suckling, Akar Bharadvaj and Matthias Cramer. theplayersaid.com/2024/06/16/s...
San Diego Historical Games Convention (SDHistCon) 2023 Designer Interview Videos: Sam London, Maurice Suckling, Akar Bharadvaj and Matthias Cramer
Last November, we embarked on our initial trip to SDHistCon and we really had a great time! The games were great, the interactions with designers, developers, publishers, content creators and gamers w...
theplayersaid.com
June 16, 2024 at 1:19 PM
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Tonight was a pretty surreal experience at #CircleDC24…playtesting JasonDCMatthews maudineormsby upcoming “simpler, but not less” Twilight Struggle: South Asian Monsoon while they both look on and watch my demise to the amazing akarsb. No pressure! Legit amazing experience!
April 7, 2024 at 3:37 AM