Mastodawn

Solo playtesting weekend for Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations, with a heatwave sitting over Europe. I told myself the prototype was a mental escape to a cooler Vienna — and the research backed me up: the 1810s were the coldest summer decade Central Europe had seen in three centuries. The Congress hadn't even opened yet; the city was only starting to stir. Designing historical games: sweating in the present over a past that was, for once, more comfortable.
#BoardGameDesign #HistoricalGames

Wandering Pine 1d ago

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀… 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀.

At the Congress of Vienna, Austria's "black cabinet" intercepted diplomatic mail and delivered summaries by breakfast. Its head, Baron Hager, is a real character in Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations — and his strength is information: access to what others would rather hide. Designing this game keeps turning history's footnotes into abilities.

#BoardGameDesign #HistoricalGames #CongressOfVienna #DevDiary

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Wandering Pine 3d ago

Stackelberg died in Paris in 1850 and rests on Montmartre.
No journal. No memoir. Not one published line in his own hand. An age that chronicled itself obsessively — in memoirs, bon mots and diaries — let the man who played its host slip from memory.
And so we piece him together from the offcuts of other people's sentences. Figure no. 23. The last on the list. Still awaiting someone to write the rest.
#CongressOfVienna #history

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Wandering Pine 3d ago

That other man was Friedrich von Gentz — the Congress's secretary, and its most pitiless diarist.
Gentz pocketed "gifts" from one delegation after another, each carefully entered in his journal. He dismissed the world's sovereigns as "petty creatures" and savoured their mediocrity like theatre put on for his amusement.
All of them passed beneath his pen. Stackelberg too — who kept inviting him back to dinner.

Wandering Pine 3d ago

Born in Tallinn. His signature helped redraw the map of Europe. The Tsar, the King of Prussia and Wellington all danced in his salon.
Yet not a single day survives in his own handwriting.
A man history remembers only through other people's eyes.
#history #histodons

Wandering Pine 4d ago

A board game designed by a group of schoolkids — a space adventure about getting back home — premiered today at a local board game day. I only helped tidy up the rules a week ago; the game itself is entirely theirs.
Seeing it on the table reminded me of something about my own work: a year and a half into designing Vienna 1814, I've learned more than I expected — and I'm clearly still at the beginning.
#BoardGameDesign #TabletopGames #GameDesign

Wandering Pine Jun 21

The Congress Dances… but does not progress.

There's a simple recipe for drama at the Congress of Vienna: let Alexander I enter the room, then inform him he can't keep Poland. He took political setbacks personally, and his clashes with Metternich got heated enough to flirt with a duel.
This is the emotional temperature I keep returning to while designing Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations — a Congress where the people are far more flammable than the treaties.
#HistoricalGames #CongressOfVienna

Wandering Pine Jun 17

A few photos from the latest playtest. Plenty of notes, plenty of thoughts — now comes the part where I figure out what they all mean.

Wandering Pine Jun 16

Tomorrow is the first playtest of iteration 3.5 of my Congress of Vienna board game — rebuilt components and a lot of small changes around how gossip, loyalty and the evening's entertainments fit together. Curious what survives contact with real players.#BoardGameDesign
#HistoricalGames #CongressOfVienna #DevDiary

Wandering Pine Jun 16

Not everything made it into the photo — but every element is ready for tomorrow's playtest. Iteration 3.5 of my Congress of Vienna board game. Wish me luck.