've long been a fan of board games, I enjoy a game that fully occupies my mind, clearing out all the serious thoughts for a bit, while enjoying the company of good friends. Modern board games saw dramatic improvement in the 1990's with the rise of Eurogames, and I expect many people would be surprised if they haven't tried any of this new generation.

John Company offers players a new understanding of British history in the eighteenth and nineteenth century that reflects contemporary scholarship on the subject and extensive research into primary documents. John Company attempts to put the critical events of that time in their proper context and show how the imperial experience transformed the domestic culture of Britain. The East India Company lurked behind every building of a textile mill and every bit of wealth in a Jane Austen novel.  John Company is an uncompromising portrait of the people who made the Company and the British Empire what it was. It is as frank as it is cutting in its satire.  Accordingly, the game wrestles with many of the key themes of imperialism and globalization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and how those developments were felt domestically. As such, this game might not be suitable for all players. Please make sure everyone in your group consents to this exploration before playing. 

Unfortunately, there is some urgency to this effort. As Shashi Tharoor writes in his book Inglorious Empire (2018), over the past 30 years, there has been a tremendous bout of collective amnesia, espeically in the UK, about the history of empire and its consequences. Into this vacuum, revisionist historians of the worst kind like Niall Ferguson have capitalized on historical blind spots of people living today to make an absurd case for the benefits of empire. This cannot be allowed to happen. Tharoor believes that one of the best bulwarks against this erasure is to do the work of inquiry and to make the history of empire accessible and apparent to the widest audience. It is into this effort that I submit my work. John Company is an unsparing portrait that hopefully will give its players a sense of the nature of empire and the long half-life of its cultural production. It is certainly not the only way to make a game about empire, but I hope that it does its part in adding to our understanding of that subject and its continued legacy.

Around &Bigger the box is bigger: 75mm high instead of 45mm or so.That was the main reason for the name &Bigger. The first edition does fit in its box but very tight. Because the first factory used bigger cardboard than planned. They told me about this "upgrade" after they produced the game. The thicker tiles (about 2.5mm) did feel good for the game so the &Bigger edition has the same

However, it can be extremely frustrating placing the tiles. Very commonly there will be no position to place a tile in and it will be put to one side. Perhaps someone new to tile-laying games wouldn't find this so odd, but to anyone with experience of Carcassonne it will seem very limiting. In Carcassonne you can pretty much always place a tile, with several choices of position available. Every player I've introduced this game to has looked at me as if to say, "We must be doing something wrong." But no, that game is designed that way. Sometimes it feels like the map builds itself - there is often only one viable placement, so it starts to feel like a jigsaw, searching for that available position. Surely placing a single tile shouldn't be this difficult!

As the project goes along, I’ll be posting some blogs about my design process and thinking around the game, and if you’re interested in my writing about games, I have written for both Meeple Mountain and Dicebreaker.

The players plot to get the cards to yellow on player G's turn so he can lay down some Double Draw cards...

Academy Games has always prided itself in the quality of its rules. Most of our rules are taught in stages, allowing you to start playing as soon as possible without needing to read everything. We are very careful about the order we teach rules and rely heavily on graphics and pictures to facilitate understanding. We also include a large number of detailed picture examples, often with 3D renders, that help you understand the context of the rules.

We also include a large number of detailed picture examples, often with 3D renders, that help you understand the context of the rules. For these reason, we generally don't start laying out the final rulebook until production art is complete. Writing and laying out a 20 page rule book like this generally takes about 3 months from start to finish, usually requiring a complete rewrite or two, and involves dozens of editors.

We use an online editing program called ProofHQ, where you and our development team will review the rules, discuss ideas, and add comments and suggestions, so that these rules are of the same high quality as our other game rules. We have used this process for years, because integrating outside eyes and ears is an invaluable asset.

Shogi is a classic game. I know many people who want to play Shogi, but the Kanji on the pieces makes it too hard to master. I have designed this Shogi with icons so anybody can learn it easily.

 Vision-based combat. The success of a ninja action is solely based on guards’ vision.

The author will offer presentation/game sessions on Tabletopia, in French and English. In addition, the game will be freely available for players on Tabletopia as soon as the written rules are available.

Ultimately, I’m an “are there tough decisions?” kind of gamer, and on that matter I’m torn. There are some turns and some positions and some situations that will play themselves. Sometimes obviously so, and sometimes after you think it out.

Since games typically have perfect information, the outcome of the game is completely driven by the actions of the players.