I decided to freeze action phase changes for iteration 3.5. Locations are cleaner now: fewer exceptions, unified structure, up to 3 actions per move. Now I’m solo-testing it as five players and focusing on the entertainment phase: more tactical, more interactive, faster.

Visual Note from the Past Der Stephansplatz in Wien bei Regen, Paul Kaspar, 1928. Yes, it is more than 100 years after the Congress of Vienna — but St. Stephen’s Cathedral is timeless, and the rain mood felt like the right place to begin this little visual research series.

The magic die has spoken. 🎲 A country has been selected, and I have already fallen into another Congress of Vienna research rabbit hole. Meanwhile, voting for the next round begins. First candidate: Albania.

Small Congress scandal: at the opening ball in Vienna, rumour had it that around a 1/4 of the 10,000 imperial silver teaspoons quietly vanished into the crowd. Maybe not a perfect inventory report. Definitely a perfect Congress anecdote. Diplomacy, spectacle, gossip… and souvenirs. #CongressOfVienna

I’m running a tiny historical game: suggest countries, I roll a magic die 🎲, then do a Congress of Vienna deep dive. Andorra is now on the list. If the die chooses it, I may have to bend history, geography, and several mountain passes backwards. I’m slightly worried. 😅

Everybody, please stop naming European countries. The magic die list is finally complete 🎲 Number 6: Romania / Transylvania 🧛‍♂️ Tomorrow I roll for the next Congress of Vienna deep dive. 1. Andorra 2. Finland 3. Austria 4. Serbia 5. Greece 6. Romania/Transylvania

One lesson from more experienced board game designers I wish I had learned sooner: Working on multiple games at the same time is normal. Healthy, even. Sometimes your brain solves one design while you’re busy thinking about another one. 😅

Can you name one European country? It is not a trick.... 🤞

Bluesky! Where are all the board game enthusiasts and designers hiding? I’m an amateur board game designer working on a historical board game, and I’d love to find people here to exchange ideas, compare notes, and occasionally chat about prototypes, mechanics and stuff. Any fellow designers around?

New gossip mechanic: sometimes rumours move because you were simply too visible. Public social actions affect the gossip track. Prepared a letter earlier? Use the post office and stay discreet. Or just spread your own rumours. It is Vienna, after all. #BoardGameDesign

I just finished testing my new action phase pipeline. Spreadsheet → CSV → Python → YAML for the automatic tester → JSON for the game logger. This is what happens when a programmer becomes a board game designer and nobody stops him in time.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀… 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀. A new weekly Sunday series of historical memes from the world of Vienna 1814. Diplomacy, rumours, salons, receptions — and Europe getting very distracted by another ball. #CongressOfVienna #HistoryMeme #BoardGameDesign

Milo talking about European history? Count me in. We have to preserve as much as we can.

🇪🇺 One more country needed from Europe 🇪🇺 There is a longer story, which I will explain later, but I want a country from this platform, cause those Mastodon guys are kinda sleepy, and everything else is already from Threads.

My favourite history is rarely the one standing in the centre of the painting. I’m drawn to the people in the corners: local customs, forgotten places, strange rituals, quiet ambitions, and historical figures who almost slipped out of memory. That is where my games usually begin.

For my Faces of Vienna series, people suggest European countries, I assign them numbers 1–6, roll a die, and then research a real figure connected to that country and the Congress of Vienna. Already taken: Andorra, Finland, Austria, Serbia, Greece. One spot left. Any European country? 🎲

Hello Bluesky! 🌲 Self-hosted social media management is real. Now publishing from Postiz to here, Mastodon, Threads — all from one place, my own server in EU. Anyone here interested in stories from Congress of Vienna? #History #Bluesky

Hello Bluesky, I finally arrived here. I design historical board games from slightly unorthodox angles. Currently: Vienna 1814 — Congress of Vienna, but with more salons, gossip, and romance. Also: Dziady, a lighter co-op game inspired by Slavic ancestor rituals. #BoardGames #GameDesign