Hi, I'm August.
This is where I keep my notes on the board games I play and the books I keep coming back to. It started, in December 2019, as a plain text file so I would stop forgetting which games I'd actually enjoyed. It got longer. Then a friend pushed me to put it online.
I'm 27. I translate documents for a living. I've been playing seriously since I was a teenager and running a Tuesday night group in Lisbon since we moved here from London in 2024. Nothing on this site was sent to me by a publisher. Nothing here has an affiliate link. I write about a game only after I've played it at least five times, and about a book only after I've read it at least twice. If you want to know more, the about page is here.
Board games
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Ark Nova
The engine builder that finally replaced Terraforming Mars on my shelf. Three hours a game, and I never notice them going.
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strategy
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Spirit Island
The best cooperative game of the decade. It is not close.
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cooperative
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Brass:
Birmingham Brass: Birmingham Number one on BGG for good reason. Every card you do not play hurts, in the right way. Read more → strategy -
Wingspan
The gateway game of its generation. A small miracle of restraint. My mum plays it. So does my Tuesday group.
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strategy
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Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
The version of Gloomhaven you should actually buy. Twenty-five scenarios of the best tactical combat in the hobby.
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campaign
Books
A short shelf of novels I keep next to my desk. I open each one at least once a year. If I could only recommend one thing to a board gamer who is not yet a reader, it would be one of these.
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Blindsight
The coldest, cleverest first-contact novel I've ever read. I re-read it every eighteen months and it still finds new places to unsettle me.
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Hyperion
Seven pilgrims. Seven perfect novellas, each in a different subgenre. Some months this is my favourite book.
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Dune
The one everybody tells you to read. This time everybody is right. Give it a hundred and fifty pages before you decide.
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Leviathan Wakes
The best doorway into modern space opera. Nine books deep and I still care about every one of these characters.
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Children of Time
Uplifted spiders build a civilisation across ten thousand years. Sounds ridiculous. Isn't. Trust me and start reading.
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