akarsb.bsky.social

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.

I’d love to do this!

A sneak peek at FRUIT, Akar Bharadvaj’s brilliant CHALICE OF POISON, and a picture of the Muffaletta sandwich that changed our lives.

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…

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...

board games: The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth, Workworkwork, Wyrmspan, The Old King's Crown, Charioteer, Fruit, Chalice of Poison

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

Congrats, Brooks! Can’t wait to pick this up

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!

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...

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...

Thanks for writing about Chalice! Great hanging out at the con!

I hope so! I’m looking for a publisher now

Thanks for the kind words, Steve! I’m looking forward to seeing the next versions of Digvijaya and Angria!

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.

A tabletop with a board of game Angria, with the map depicted.

A table with a board game Hell Raisers in Kanawha County set up, with cards, dice, cubes, and boards seen on the tablet. A standee indicates that table number is 66.

Table with the wargame Chalice of Poison set up, with cards and cubes placed on the board.

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

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.

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...

Thanks for the reminder! Preorder placed

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...

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...

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

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...

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!