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.

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...

It was a lovely week. AMA, and feel free to share what you got to the table.

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!

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...

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.

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.

Poison in the Chalice, really interesting game about the iran-iraq war. Lots of new mechanics used here

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...

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...

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!

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...

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...

Zenobia Award historical boardgame design finalists - zenobiaaward.org/finalists/

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...

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!