Fred Serval

Today I emailed publishers about a concerning practice a board game media creator engaged in. This will likely become public, so I'm providing the details here to give the full context of what I shared.

1) Document: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/o8ovt...

2) Video: youtu.be/fHXGWflPj4c

1/2

German Peasant War, With the Hammer.

Peasants struggle in Thuringia. Playing With the Hammer at the monthly get-together in #Waltembourg #WJHS

I am basically an atheist, materialist, rationalist, whatever, but I also yearn for the cosmos to be spookier & weirder than it is. Just some goblins hiding out in the woods, some aliens, a few ghosts here & there, the occasional clash between warring factions of time travellers, cunning folk etc

YouTube video by Hop On Board A Very Civil Whist: A COMPREHENSIVE How to Play With Examples

Been a bit! I severely underestimated how much time I'd have to script, film, and edit a new How to Play during the holidays, BUT...

Check out this How to Play for A Very Civil Whist, designed by @fredserval.bsky.social and published by @phalanxgames.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVZY...

That would indeed be a terrible idea

Gadsden flag with the snake smiling and licking a boot. Caption says 'It tastes like freedom'

Thanks to @molotovcockatiel.bsky.social

I am always amazed by all the random cool stuff that comes out of this server... I guess 2026 will be a noir year for me.

For fuck sake...

YouTube video by Homo Ludens Old King's Crown - Designer Interview with Pablo Clark

Loved this chat between @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social and @fredserval.bsky.social , interesting to hear the machinations and experiences of game design from the designers of great games : youtu.be/eXG4AhEA-xM?...

Zwei Spielboxen mit kämpferischen Motiven

Gestern kam noch ein bisschen was Neues bei mir an 😁
A very civil Whist von @fredserval.bsky.social und @phalanxgames.bsky.social sowie Bannockburn 1314 von TS (Taktykaistrategia), einem polnischen Publisher.
Bin auf beides sehr gespannt 😄
#Brettspiele
#wargames
#boardgames

Played Rivoli as our second visit, corking game. Thanks @fredserval.bsky.social

A woman recording an ICE agent tells him "Shame on you."

The agent responds, "Have you all not learned from the past couple of days?"

"Learned what?" she asks

Then he knocks her phone out of her hand

French mainstream history loves revolutions, unless the counter revolutionaries is the very same class that is currently in power I guess.

History at school is decently tought in France, but like everywhere it is told as a narrative. It is very hard to include in your narrative, that the most stable democratic republic we had was founded on the massacre of people defending things like : children shouldn't work, women's rights etc.

Before a few years ago, they learned almost nothing about it. But there was a reform and now they have a bit more context on it. But overall, of you are not part of a radical left organisation, you can spend your all life never really hearing about the event.

A Rather Whistful War Fred Serval, one of wargaming’s great rabble-rousers, has a new game out. It might not sound like a new game, since I covered it a year and a halfish ago, but that was a convention freebie th…

A Very Civil Whist is @fredserval.bsky.social's take on the English Civil War and trick-taking. This one is excellent. My review: spacebiff.com/2026/01/09/a...

Played @fredserval.bsky.social ‘a Gest of Robin Hood last night. Struggled mightily against the sheriff and barely managed to eke out a Justice win…

Unboxing & Overview for A Very Civil Whist from PHALANX A Very Civil Whist, designed by Fred Serval and published by PHALANX, is a 2-player trick-taking wargame. It is set in the English Civil War, blending German Whist mechanics with area control on a …

We present today A Very Civil Whist - wargame with an interesting combination of trick-tracking, area control and German Whist mechanics. Enjoy the material!
Link: theboardgameschronicle.com/2026/01/09/u...
@fredserval.bsky.social @phalanxgames.bsky.social

I made a new mini, get him here: www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-pr...

Maybe I can ask @joedewhurst.bsky.social if he has a pdf version somewhere, I'm very bad at keeping track of these...

That would be a very fun unboxing indeed!

One of the frenchiest thing I've seen in a while: a Naruto themed galette des rois 😙👌

It's a super basic change, and it helps dramatically with luck of the draw.

It was supposed to happen so 🤞

Yeah, rally the troops is a great platform. Are you playing with the censorship variant there?

I think banana games picked it up for translation, I don't know where they are with it, but I would also expect it could do well in China, and having a Chinese version of the game in my collection would make me very happy.

Oh right, if you're from China you actually learn more about the Commune than French pupils. I think a Chinese version should be released at some point.

Hey ! Great to hear that you are having fun with Red Flag. Did you know about the Paris commune before playing?

But I see how it could be such a fun rabbit hole, especially as you start designing your little components.

I had it for a couple of weeks, and I mostly print stuff for the house, and even this insert wasn't for me, it was for a friend. I like my game boxes to be messy and full of baggies.