Just played Pax Penning for the second time, and what a brilliant piece of work. @mildamatildagames.bsky.social has truly created a fascinating synthesis of history, sharp mechanics, and beautiful components.

I have received notice that the shipping company I've been using will cease accepting packages to the US this weekend. I hate to feed FOMO, but if you're in the US and considering getting any of my games, you do need to place the order within roughly eight hours from this post.

Here it is, for the first time this year the Homo Ludens community rewards the best historical games of last year! Featuring games by @gmtgames.bsky.social @soundofdrumsgames.bsky.social @ospreygames.bsky.social @vucasimulations.bsky.social and many more 😎 youtu.be/HxIu8JoWlDI

Tonight we played my (almost finished) hand-embroidered copy of Turncoats by candlelight from the amazing @mildamatildagames.bsky.social I was doing so well until my wife remembered how I think 😅

A variety of games in April - some of my highlights! #1 Pax Penning @mildamatildagames.bsky.social Unreal production, multi-use pieces, multiple win cons, all things I love! #2 Mountain Goats @allplay.bsky.social New, not-card-game, filler fav. 1min teach, good decisions, & cute goat meeples!

Join us at 715 EDT for a Teaching & Play-Through of Pax Penning from @mildamatildagames.bsky.social Should be a lot of fun tonight and I hope y'all join us! www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgGN... & Twitch.tv/heavycardboard

Last games of the convention, this was amazing.

not the first time one of Dan's reviews made me cry what a beautiful, generous, thoughtful review of a game I can't wait to play

I haven't really seen anything else like it, but I'd love to be proven wrong

Chatting about the design and development of Hell Raisers in Kanawha County on SD Hist Con Winter Quarters soon. We'll share a recording of the conversation later on too. Come on down for some WV labor history! @lukeevison.bsky.social @mildamatildagames.bsky.social tabletop.events/conventions/...

Come join us!

Fancy various chats, both game and historical tomorrow? Tune into some of the SDHistCon Winter Quarters events! Some great game previews and speakers, but if that isn't your jam, there'll also be Hell-Raisers content: Design and Dev chat [1600 GMT] Teach and Play [2100 GMT] tinyurl.com/yhw4k68x

Reminder: SD HistCon Winter Quarters begins in the wee hours of Saturday, Feb. 8. There will be tons of great seminars and demos from the likes of @volko.bsky.social @mildamatildagames.bsky.social @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social @djackthompson.bsky.social & more tabletop.events/conventions/...

This Wednesday, January 22nd at 2pm CST/ 3pm EST, Drew and I will be hosting our annual @wehrlegig.games stream. We'll be reflecting a bit on 2024 and showing you all a bit of what we have in store for the coming year. See you over on Twitch! www.twitch.tv/wehrlegiggames

Spending this morning with @lukeevison.bsky.social and @mildamatildagames.bsky.social Hell Raisers. I haven't played it in a couple months, and it's feeling very close. I cannot wait for everyone to see what y'all (including @josephnschmidt.bsky.social and @wehrlegig.games ) have been up to!

Finally, peak has arrived. Pax Penning is the brand new hotness but I'm fucking pumped to play Turncoats @mildamatildagames.bsky.social my soul is yours

Great article on Cole Wehrle and how board games can be more interesting and thoughtful slate.com/human-intere...

Hard work on a Saturday at the university... With Turncoats by @mildamatildagames.bsky.social and Pax Viking by @iongamedesign.com Both have new fans now.

I'm always sad-happy to wrap up another Best Week! 2024 was a surprisingly strong year for board games, with quite a few that I hope to revisit for years to come. spacebiff.com/2024/12/31/b...

I made a list of 'Games of the Year 2024'. These are games I engaged with this year that did something special for me. It includes the categories 'UNFAIR GAME SHOWS' and 'GAMES THAT PURPOSEFULLY OBFUSCATE THEIR MECHANISMS IN A WAY THAT EVOKES THE FEELING OF DISCOVERING AN ALIEN CULTURE'.

Thank you so much Dan, it still feels unreal to hear you talk about my weird coin game ❤️ (all caps not included)

Thank you so much for the kind words Fred!!

Merry Christmas to all

We are excited to announce that next year we will be publishing PERSUASION, Xoe Allred's game of courtship, catfishing, and matrimony.

It was a wild and chaotic #PAXU and I'm still processing it all. But an easy highlight I'm certain of was playing #PaxPenning with these wonderful people! Thank you so much @gregisonthego.bsky.social, @boardgamefeast.bsky.social, and @marcelineleiman.bsky.social for a truly special time! 💛

@mildamatildagames.bsky.social is a genius

This game was SO GOOD! @mildamatildagames.bsky.social

We did the Thing! @gregisonthego.bsky.social @marcelineleiman.bsky.social @davidmasnato.com

I'm so delighted this is now Fully Offical; Drew, Joe, and Cole have already been doing so much awesome work, Matilda and I couldn't ask for a finer team!

Want to s/o @fortcircle.bsky.social for being a huge advocate for us on this project as well. Check out their latest project too. www.kickstarter.com/projects/for...

📣 Announcing the next Wehrlegig title 📣 Sign up to get notified about the Kickstarter campaign launching in Q1 2025.

It's official: Wehrlegig's next major project will be Hell Raisers in Kanawha County, a brilliant asymmetric Pax-style game designed by Matilda Simonsson and Luke Evison developed by Joe Schmidt and Drew Wehrle. www.kickstarter.com/projects/124...

It's time to raise hell!

Back on the other site I had a long thread of contrarian (but sincerely-held) board game design hot takes. Here's a shorter thread with the best of them. 🧵

Podcast! This week’s episode has Tom chatting about two very interesting games - logistical sheep shuffler ‘Minecart Town’, the Viking Roll-and-Mover ‘Pax Penning’ - before capping off with a little extra chat about Matt’s favourite tiny box - ‘Compile’. www.shutupandsitdown.com/podcastle/po...

When you're the hidden traitor and the group just failed a mission:

Y'all asked for it so I'm taking a break from Unpub prep to deliver! It's a tight squeeze, but Pax Penning officially fits on Letter and A4 paper. PnP files coming to an Internet near you soon!

It's so strange seeing the board in a square shape instead of a circle, but I write I like it!

I'm super excited to join @fredserval.bsky.social, @danthurot.bsky.social , and @mildamatildagames.bsky.social for a live teach and play of Pax Penning! Join us tomorrow at 4pm GMT! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBSv...

Come join us! It'll be fun 🪙🪙🪙

We are not done with Pax Penning, tomorrow at 4pm GMT, 11am EST, we will gather with @mildamatildagames.bsky.social, @danthurot.bsky.social and @davidmasnato.com for a teach and play 👩‍🏫 www.youtube.com/live/vBSvvaH...

Pax Penning by @mildamatildagames.bsky.social is a worthy follow-up both to the Pax Series and to Simonsson's own Turncoats. Less abstract and more meaningful, this is not only a great game, it's great historiography. My review: spacebiff.com/2024/02/29/p...

What an amazing review by Dan, and one that shatters my greatest worry for the game; that the themes and history wouldn't pierce through the abstract aesthetics. Fantastic work.

ICYMI — Nimona is on YouTube right now to watch for free! You now have no excuse not to watch it 😄 it’s so good! You’re welcome!!

Back to Pax Penning. Really fascinating evolution of some ideas in Turncoats that offers quite a bit more to stew on. I'm excited to play it more.

Playing @mildamatildagames.bsky.social 's newest game. I'm intrigued!

The secret is fleece!

I'm so excited to bring Pax Penning to game night. Like, my group has already playtested it before, but now they'll get to see the final artistic form it has been shaped into.

Yaaasss.

It's a very good mail day here in Saint Paul.