Sixth Anniversary of the Founding of Fort Circle
A review of the first six years of the firm.
June 19, 2017 was just another Monday to the rest of the world, but for the firm it was the first day of its existence. Six years later, I thought it would be fun to review both where the firm has been and where the firm is going.
The Shores of Tripoli & Formation of the Firm
The first play test of The Shores of Tripoli occurred on December 15, 2016. As play testing continued, I was not sure if I would publish the game myself or submit it to another publisher, but I knew that with either path I would need an LLC (limited liability company) for income and expenses related to the game. As a proud Washingtonian, I wanted a company name that would reflect the history and geography of the area.
I live in Woodley Park and live near Rock Creek Park and toyed with variations on both those names - but it was my sister-in-law who came up with Fort Circle. The Civil War Defenses of Washington, a series of Union forts that defended Washington, DC, during the Civil War are collectively known as the Fort Circle. Hence, the name of the firm.
After chatting with game publishers, I realized that no publisher would give the love and attention to The Shores of Tripoli that I would. Thus, the decision to “self-publish” and launch of the Kickstarter campaign for The Shores of Tripoli on October 13, 2019. The campaign raised $44,204 from 695 backers. I knew that I wanted to lean into the educational value of card-driven board games, so we included a historical essay by the fantastic Abby Mullen, now an assistant professor at the United States Naval Academy, where she teaches naval history. We also included a facsimile of a historical document - namely, the letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Bashaw of Tripoli.
The reception so far has been wonderful. The Shores of Tripoli was named the Best 2-Player game of 2020 by New York magazine, Vulture, Meeple Mountain, and Rolling Dice & Taking Names. The Shores of Tripoli was also nominated for two Golden Geek Awards, including best 2-Player Board Game and was nominated for seven and won four prestigious Charles S. Roberts Awards. The Shores of Tripoli received The Dice Tower Seal of Approval, the Spiel Foundation's Spiel of Approval and 3MBG's Gold Medal Game award. Finally, The Shores of Tripoli was the very first board game reviewed in Marine Corps History magazine. To date, we have sold 3,667 copies for $174,318. A reprint is expected in 2024.
Votes for Women & Continued Success
While The Shores of Tripoli was still at the factory thanks to the pandemic, we launched the Kickstarter campaign for Tory Brown’s wonderful Votes for Women. The launch date - August 25, 2020 - was tied to the 100th Anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. The campaign was moderately successful - raising $29,792 from 510 backers - but probably would have done better had The Shores of Tripoli already been released.
For Votes for Women, we really ramped up the production quality. While the cards are amazing, the wood pieces are outstanding, it was the historical documents that really set a new bar for excellence in board games. And, again, the reception has been wonderful. Votes for Women was nominated for two Golden Geek Awards and a revamped Charles S. Roberts Award. Votes for Women has received The Dice Tower Seal of Approval, the Spiel Foundation's Spiel of Approval, 3MBG's Gold Medal Game award, Polygon's Polygon Recommends 2023 award, Tabletop Gaming's Must-Play award, and was one of only two games named to the Best Board Games of 2023 (so far) by both Polygon and Vulture. To date, we have sold 2,892 copies for $151,433 and a reprint is in the works for the 2023 holidays.
By the way, voting for the Charles S Roberts Award is ongoing until June 30, so you can still vote for Votes for Women!
Conventions & Public Service
As the pandemic recedes, conventions are a must for a young board game company. I think we have settled on our basic rotation of conventions - PrezCon in February, the GAMA Trade Show in March, Circle DC in April, Origins in June, SD Hist Con in November and PAX Unplugged in December. This schedule, of course, leaves lots of opportunity to check out other conventions like WBC, GenCon, ConsimWorld Expo, WashingCon and Essen. It is also a priority to visit some international conventions - and conventions in England, Spain, Japan and Canada are all on the radar.
Of course, Circle DC is the convention most near and dear to my heart. We hosted for the time in 2023 and could not have been more pleased with the event. I will be publishing an essay on the convention as a whole, but the summary is that Circle DC 2023 did not lose money and we had a great time. The firm was able to see and sign two new games for publication - Night Witches, designed by David Thompson and Liz Davidson, and an untitled game on the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, designed by a team led by Maurice Suckling. And the event got some nice press from both National Public Radio and Washingtonian magazine. We are looking forward to a bigger and better event in 2024!
The firm has also placed an emphasis on public service to the industry. Jason Matthews, representing Fort Circle, was elected to the Board of Directors of GAMA and he is leading on some smart initiatives that will benefit the industry. The firm supported the 2021 Zenobia Awards with both time and money and will be doing so again for the 2023 incarnation. The firm is also continuing with its commitment of donating $1 for each game printed to a charity paired with each game. The charitable partner for both The Shores of Tripoli and The Halls of Montezuma is the Toys for Tots Foundation; the charitable partner for Votes for Women is the League of Women Voters; the charitable partner for First Monday in October is the Supreme Court Historical Society. We look forward to announcing more charitable partners as new games are published. Finally, I hope that Negotium Ludorum is helpful to new designers and publishers alike.
Publishing Schedule - 2023 Holidays
We have four games in the hopper to be published for the 2023 holidays:
The Halls of Montezuma, which is currently on Kickstarter, is scheduled for a November 11, 2023 release. Co-designed by me and Gilberto Lopez, it takes the core system of two separate 27-card decks from The Shores of Tripoli and transports it to the Mexican-American War and then adds on a separate political phase for each side. We are doing some final play testing to confirm the play balance, but I am thrilled with how the game has turned out. We are now working on the historical documents to include with the game and I think people are going to really appreciate the choices.
Votes for Women (Second Printing) is almost sold out! Hence, the need for a second printing! The changes for the second printing are minor - adding in a play aid and a list of state abbreviations, cleaning up a typo or two, and some small tweaks to the Oppobot.
Shakespeare's First Folio is a game we are developing with the Folger Shakespeare Library. The game takes place in 1623 and each player is trying to publish the First Folio. If you are interested in play testing, please shoot me an email!
First Monday in October is Talia Rosen’s outstanding game on the history of the Supreme Court. The game play is so good and right now we are doing our best to perfect the artwork for the game. You all are going to love this one.
The plan is for all four of these to be completed at the factory at the same time, thus simplifying shipping and distribution. We will see if we can pull it off!
Publishing Schedule - 2024 and Beyond
The 2024 publishing schedule looks something like this:
Hunt for Blackbeard, designed by Volko Ruhnke, is slated to be on Kickstarter in November 2023 - although that could slide to early 2024. The game is amazingly tense and I am quite thankful that GMT passed on it.
The Shores of Tripoli (Second Printing) is also almost sold out. The second printing will include a piece for the Fortress Tripoli variant, two American schooner pieces and extra gold pieces for folks who want to increase the difficulty for the Tripolitans. The second printing will also include a separate deck for the T-bot, replacing the chart on the back page of the rulebook. We will also be including more historical documents - something I wish I had done in the first printing.
Night Witches, designed by David Thompson and Liz Davidson, tells the story of the Soviet Union’s 588th Night Bomber Regiment. We should have some very exciting news to announce about this soon.
The untitled Portsmouth Peace Conference game, designed by Nathaniel Berkley, Maurice Suckling, S.P. Shaman and William Sullivan, was the winner of the most recent ConSim Game Jam. I was a bit skeptical of the topic but then I played this game at Circle DC 2023 and was really wowed by it.
Guano! Guano!! Guano!!!, designed by the lovely Kate Bertram, is shaping up to be an amazing game. Build a guano empire in the late 1800s and turn literal shit into gold and Gilded Age baubles - how can this not be a hit?
There are a number of other games in the works: Jason Matthews has two designs, one on the treason trial of Aaron Burr and another on the abdication of King Edward VIII; Tory Brown is researching games on both the labor movement and the environmental movement; I am working on a design that is a cross between Republic of Rome and Dune Imperium, set in the United States from 1789-1796; Jan Day is working on her game on the history of Washington, DC; and, of course, I am always happy to look at new designs that fit our brand.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of our success and let’s hope our seventh year is our best year yet!
Wow, so many fascinating-sounding games on tap! I can't wait to see them all, Fort Circle is rapidly becoming my favourite publisher, not least because of the quality of the productions!
Great story Kevin - very proud of what all of you have done! Keep up the excellent work and see you in San Diego in November!