iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 02/10/2026

Ah, I see another brave truth-teller at BGG wants to make sure that we know that beyond-the-pale bigotry/racism/etc is just "controversial", same as "you can't shuffle one card". The mods don't always get it right, but "just how offensive am I allowed to be?" doesn't need to stick around.

BoardGameGeek screencap. The thread title in the URL is "What are the rules when typing controversial stuff"; the thread has been wholly deleted and the page is just an error message.

210

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 05/09/2026

"not doing" is an excellent plan for Labor Day

A view from a small wooden dock jutting into a fishing pond surrounded by woods

100

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 23/08/2026

Get a 4th down stuff and what do you call? Deep strike for the TD! 34-14 going into the 4th

Black #15, facing an unblocked rusher, uncorks a 45-yard touchdown pass

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 23/08/2026

The longest losing streak in football history is at 101 games - but they take the lead 6 seconds before halftime tonight

130

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 22/08/2026

First time thru the order: 9 up 9 down. *Second* time: uhhhhh...

Box score for a baseball game showing 0 runs scored in innings 1 through 3, and 8 runs scored in the fourth.

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 11/07/2026

A minor league baseball game where the home team threw a no-hitter and lost

Baseball scoreboard. The winning team scored 7 runs with 0 hits.

130

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 23/06/2026

With a career 1 G 14 A, Pekka Rinne is in the Hall of Fame! www.nhl.com/predators/ne...

010

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 19/06/2026

Torch and Tunisia from a CGSC student. The Axis has to make a fighting retreat to Tunis to stall the eventual invasions of Sicily and beyond. So much Allied firepower late game that I can't help but ask "why isn't some of this going to England to prep Normandy?"

Late-game state of Torch and Tunisia, a block wargame on the French North Africa campaign of WW2. Axis blocks (red and gray) are facing the camera, showing unit stats. Allied blocks (various green) are reversed, only showing that something is present, but not what or how strong. Yellow cubes represent supply that has to be moved up to the combat zones.

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 19/06/2026

Chickamauga #2 is a Union strategic win. Turn 2 HQ, Bragg wanted to stay Battle mode but confused lines forced his position back to Peavine Rg. Rosecrans had space to move up and around to take position in front of the railroad. Decisive was T4 but T2 HQ was the key point.

Turn 3 pictured. Note no union army clogged up south, and have turned north flank

181

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 19/06/2026

Chickamauga #1 was an ugly slugfest; neither player wanted HQ to leave battle mode... until they couldn't make the rolls to leave battle mode

041

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 13/06/2026

Fort Sumter by @markherman54.bsky.social and @gmtgames.bsky.social with my daughter. She won with the Unionists by a point after grabbing the arsenals early and then fighting me tooth and nail in the border states. She covered the Cuban Missile Crisis this year; I'll have to find 13 Days next.

Final board position in the board game Fort Sumter, a card-driven area control game. Unionists control the federal arsenals and forts against no opposition; Secessionists control the border states and other secession considerations against significant opposition. The Unionists win by a point.

091

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 23/05/2026

Come play Rebel Fury with the @armchairdragoons.bsky.social at @originsgamefair.bsky.social, Thurs PM and Fri AM. Tickets are sold but no-shows and team play can make space for more! The battles of Chickamauga and the Wilderness, by @markherman54.bsky.social and @gmtgames.bsky.social .

Game setup image for the ACW board game Rebel Fury. Shown are hex maps of central Virginia and northwest Georgia for the battles of the Wilderness and Chickamauga, respectively. Union divisions are blue counters, Confederate divisions are gray. Also shown are various play aids.

3206

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 23/03/2026

2G 3A in the tournament championship game is a pretty good way to close out a hockey season

A youth hockey player celebrates a goal. The goalie is looking over his left shoulder at the puck resting in the net.

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 21/02/2026

BCS Danger Forward; the initial airdrop from the 82nd was off course to the southeast, shifting the balance of screening forces.

Game map for the initial setup of BCS Danger Forward, the US landings at Sicily in 1943.

020

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 07/02/2026

Churchill by @markherman54.bsky.social - we spent way too much time bickering over political games to defeat the Axis (also, I rolled a 1 with a +8 mod to move two spaces into Germany - turns out a better Market-Garden still fails)

Mid-game image of Churchill, a 3-player game of Allied great power negotiation during WW2

010

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 17/12/2025

Last Blitzkrieg is on my queue for Probably Next Big Game, but I've got Army Group North eating the table at the moment.

The board game Army Group North set up and in play. The map surface is roughly 3 feet by 6 feet, with a thousand or so counters on it.

010

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 14/12/2025

Between youth hockey games and under a winter storm, I'm playing around with how to crack open the line in Frank Chadwick's "Battle for Moscow"

"Battle for Moscow" board game, after the initial combats on turn 1. 3 attacks in the middle have opened a gap for armored forces to exploit.

010

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 12/10/2025

Initial setup for @gmtgames.bsky.social Army Group North, kicking off Barbarossa toward the Baltic States and eventually Leningrad. #furloughgaming #boardwargames

Initial setup for Army Group North. The German army is in the foreground with tall stacks of counters. Leningrad is in the far distant corner of the map.

0121

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 06/10/2025

Inflection Point by @calvinboy24.bsky.social @multimanpublishing.bsky.social finishes with a narrow German win when 5th Mech can't advance one last empty hex and all the other SNAFU rolls come up bust #furloughgaming #wargames

Final situation in the Chir Short scenario of BCS Inflection Point. Soviet 5th Mech has cleared all resistance up to the last VP hex (marked with arrow) but traffic from fierce fighting precludes an advance into the hex before the scenario ends.

082

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 01/09/2025

Thanks for suggesting @allplay.bsky.social Ruins, @maudineormsby.bsky.social - you should have heard my son's yell when I dropped six 25s to win the game.

Final play of Ruins - a 10+6+9 x2 with a pair of wild x2s for a set of six 25s. On a deck that starts valued at 1-10.

110

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 25/08/2025

@gmtgames.bsky.social proposal for 2025 counter errata sheet for Space Empires. These are actually from way back at the Close Encounters expansion but they've never been fixed. Labels didn't get left-right reversed on the sheet and so front/back doesn't match

Counters from Space Empires 4X: Close Encounters expansion with named fleet markers for the four factions. The front and back of each counter should match (e.g. "Battle Fleet" on both sides of counter A, and "Frontier Fleet" on both sides of counter B). Instead, each name appears once on each counter (e.g. "Battle Fleet" on side 1 and "Frontier Fleet" on side 2 of both counters). This increases the chances of confusion if a counter is accidentally flipped.

120

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 06/04/2025

Have that art on my table currently. Hate that I couldn't make the event, given that it's just up the road.

Map for This Terrible Sound, Battle of Chickamauga

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 22/03/2025

Attempt #4: Japanese naval response. Savo Island card boosts Japanese surface strength, so what does that look like? Everybody converges on Guad. Japanese carry fewer combat factors here, so the US is more likely to win the engagement, plus lower defense #s Protects Japanese air strength for later?

Opening move of board game South Pacific, attempting the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal. US fleet concentrates at Guad, allowing Japanese force from Rabaul to respond. The Japanese "Savo Island" card only allows either air or naval response, but not joint. In this version, Japanese surface naval concentrates to contest the landings. USN casualties at Guad match the full air-only response (1 hit each on BB and CA), but Japanese take 3 step losses due to lower defense numbers on APD and CL (comparable attack factors lost).
US 1st Mar Div likely to succeed in landing.
Assuming both players roll 5s in combat.

100

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 22/03/2025

Attempt #3: Heck with screening Rabaul. The US fleet concentrates at Guad and all 5 Japanese air can respond. Japanese air is now properly positioned on the board. Average rolls trade two hits each way, damaging US naval screen but hitting a better Japanese air unit (and not sacrificing the CA)

100

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 22/03/2025

Attempt #2: US fleet, sans CAs, in Guad hex. CA in Rabaul forces the Japanese to contest via air. Extra strength from BB units gives the US an edge, but the CA will die without accomplishing much if anything in Rabaul. Please assume JP air is better positioned; I learned as I went.

Opening move of board game South Pacific, attempting the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal. US cruisers screen the Japanese surface fleet at Rabaul (representing historical Savo Island); that unit will be eliminated. Japanese air concentrates to contest the landings. With the US carrier fleet directly supporting the landing hex, the US is likely to win the air/naval battle by trading a battleship hit for a pair of hits on Japanese air.
US 1st Mar Div overwhelmingly likely to prevail in ground combat.
Assuming both players roll 5s in combat.

100

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 22/03/2025

Operation Watchtower studies learning @markherman54.bsky.social South Pacific at the hockey rink - CA screen of Rabaul plus CV standoff doesn't carry enough power to force the landing.

172

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 08/03/2025

First stab at an EotS offensive, executed badly. Savo Is. counterattack should commit naval even if the carriers hold offshore. Best way to learn is playing badly and then asking why history didn't work like that. #boardwargames #hockeyrinkgaming

Aftermath of Operation Watchtower in board game "South Pacific"; Japanese player response was badly done.

020

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 23/02/2025

Checking the road network for opening moves at Chancellorsville in Rebel Fury by @markherman54.bsky.social @gmtgames.bsky.social . 19 moves to get Hill and Colston to the far edge of command range. Gotta fill time at youth hockey practice somehow #boardwargames

Opening CSA moves at Chancellorsville. Two d10s show "19" for a moves counter. "Ghost detachment" markers show the limits of command range. Colston follows the Mine Road behind the entrenchments, while Hill countermarches past the widow Alsop. Hill finishes in column on the Orange Turnpike with Colston south on a minor road. Anderson's brigades behind Marye's Heights can either lead Colston's column or reinforce their division near Bank's Ford (latter option shown, but "Must Attack" markers show the alternatives).

0112

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 02/02/2025

4P Shikoku 1889 today. I went and made a space to drop a station token to open a productive route and then forgot to place the station - next player blocked it. 4th place 🫠 #boardgames

Final board state for the 18xx train game 1889 set in Shikoku, Japan. Tiles with train tracks are placed around the island. Final scores were in the 5000s except for me at 3900-some.

070

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 01/02/2025

Longstreet takes Missionary Ridge at the Battle of Chickamauga in @markherman54.bsky.social @gmtgames.bsky.social Rebel Fury. CSA VP win #boardwargames

Board position at the end of the Chickamauga scenario of Rebel Fury. The Confederate army has pressed the Union back into Chattanooga.

0265

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 26/01/2025

Study time for a teaching game this weekend. Gotta make sure I'm conversant with how it works in *this* one. #boardgames

Box, contents, and rulebook for the board game Shikoku 1889, a game about building trains, trading stocks, and stabbing the other players in the back via corporate shenanigans.

The rulebook is opened to a page titled "The Game Begins" and describes the prices for the initial auction of minor private companies. These auctions are conducted differently across games in the 18xx family.

150

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 03/01/2025

Played Chris Handy's FAR, which has 137% of the meanness of Carcassonne in the tiniest package. #boardgames

Final tableau for FAR, showing a varied landscape. Score is Right/Green 26, Left/Red 22, Bottom/Blue 10.

080

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 01/12/2024

Carnival of Chaos! Forced movement ram into a Killer Pillar for a double kill, then a Chopper Strike on the last turn to KO a small car and knock out the Scrap leader's eligibility to win. Tina is most pleased! @restorationgames.bsky.social

Thunder Road Vendetta: Carnival of Chaos. The Blast Off damage effect (straight line movement) plus a forced direction effect from Tina carries the Blue car into the Orange and drives them both into a Killer Pillar for a double elimination.
(Orange, uh, fired the shot that killed him. Oops!)

Carnival of Chaos! Cars descend into the circular Haulasseum to battle for Scrap and Glory.

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 30/11/2024

Fort Wayne's off-center benches and penalty boxes are always a favorite

Hockey arena in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Both benches are to one end of the ice, instead of being symmetrical

030

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 29/11/2024

Aftermath of a first game of Abducktion, collecting duck patterns with a UFO

80 multicolored plastic ducks and a rubber UFO. the UFO has an opening like a toddler's snack cup that lets fingers in without spilling the contents.

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 28/11/2024

First hot appetizer of the day is up - sausage balls (see alt text for recipe and life hack)

A bowl of sausage balls: 1 lb hot breakfast sausage, 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 1 bag of seasoned croutons, crushed. Mix and form; bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes.
Life hack: ditch the Bisquick. Crushed croutons add texture and flavor and make for better crispy bits.

010

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 27/11/2024

OCS Luzon. Initial Japanese (Yellow) attack in the south (air strike plus conventional attack) goes well - drive up the road toward Manila, or seal off the high-AR enemy on the flank? Pressing for the main objective but the bypassed enemy could sit on the supply line. #boardwargames (fixed typo)

Southern portion of game map for OCS Luzon, showing the flanking invasion threatening Manila

010

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 11/11/2024

First game of OCS Luzon. Japanese vanguard crossed the river and took crossroads of Carmen Field, but setbacks in supporting attacks left a void that Philippine reinforcements rushed into. Japanese schedule now under the gun.

Photo of wargame OCS Luzon after turn 1, north end of the map. One Japanese unit has advanced to a key crossroads but the rest of their forces are 8 hexes to the rear with Allied units positioned in the gap.

000

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 21/10/2024

Nice! Maybe Astro is a mode added after my 7, but I got this handheld and shot across an airport's lights

120

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 19/10/2024

Tray #3 is the Soviets plus every marker. That's WL Vic2E, Sup2E, Blitz, Eagles, Origins, and Legends all together.

Three trays of game pieces. Two trays are entirely aircraft, the third is predominantly the game's status markers.

010

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 19/10/2024

Next up: all the Western Allies and minors, save Sweden, in Tray #2. So many fewer baggies.

Two trays full of tiny cardboard airplane markers. Roughly 1100 World War 2 or thereabouts aircraft sorted by nationality and type.

100

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 19/10/2024

Wargame organization! All the Axis aircraft for *all* the @gmtgames.bsky.social Wing Leader modules in one @cube4me.bsky.social tray. #wargaming

Box for the game Wing Leader Supremacy, and a collection of aircraft pieces for the game sorted into a tray

130

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 07/09/2024

Punched, sorted, and clipped - all 2800 counters of MMP's "Third Winter" #wargaming #boardgames @cube4me.bsky.social

The board game "The Third Winter", next to a stack of plastic trays holding thousands of counters for the game.

182

Stephen Rochelle @stephen.rochelle.name · 23/06/2024

Umpires conferencing for Kriegsspiel at Origins 2024

6 people stand or sit around a table. The master display for Kriegsspiel is in the center. Two battles are being resolved.

Detail of the battle for Altstedten on the Kriegsspiel master display, with a finger pointing to a Blue cavalry unit

020