Thanks to everyone who came out to our second online convention of the year, SDHistCon Second Front 2025, on June 7! We had 36 total events on the day, covering excellent game demonstrations (many from designers), full games, company updates, other panels and seminars, and social conversations over coffee. As a bonus for those who attended but weren’t able to see everything, or those who weren’t able to make it this time, we had several of our panels and seminars recorded to YouTube. Here are those videos in one place for ease of access:

Counterfactual Wargaming and Why it’s Important: Host Aaron Danis and designers Trevor Bender, Ty Bomba, and Joe Miranda discussed different approaches to counterfactual history in games and why it can matter. (See also Trevor’s previous video on the subject.)

The Spanish School of Conflict Design: Moderator Jason Matthews spoke to a panel of Spanish designers (Fran Diaz, Andoni Orive, Ivan Prat, and Francisco Ronco) about some of the different approaches to historical game design in their part of the world.

Harold interviews Bruce Geryk and Chip Saltsman: SDHistCon founder Harold Buchanan spoke to designer/developer Chip Saltsman and writer/podcaster Bruce Geryk on a wide range of subjects in contemporary historical gaming.

On the other side of the pond, SNAFU: another European publisher: This SNAFU Designs panel featured company executive Oscar Olivier, designer Nicola Saggini, and artist Nils Johansson talking about SNAFU’s current and upcoming projects:

Rebels Against Rebellion – Historical Discussion with David Thompson: Host Stuart Ellis-Gorman spoke to Rebels Against Rebellion designer David Thompson on the history covered in that game, which looks at the East Tennessee attempt to separate from the state following its succession.

Battlefields Of The Napoleonic Wars – Teach & Play with Paolo Mori: Designer Paolo Mori walked Fred Serval and Arno through his Battlefields Of The Napoleonic Wars:

Combat Commander – How to Use the Random Scenario Generator with Kai Jensen: Host Patrick Pence of Patrick’s Tactics and Tutorials walked through Combat Commander‘s Random Scenario Generator with game developer Kai Jensen:

Thanks to all who attended! Our next in-person convention will be SDHistCon Summit 2025, from Nov. 7-10 in San Diego. Tickets for that will be extremely limited, and will go on sale Wednesday, Aug. 13 at 3 p.m. Eastern/noon Pacific. We also plan to run online conventions again in January or February (Winter Quarters: see panels from Winter Quarters 2025 here) and June (Second Front), and will announce dates for those here at Conflicts of Interest Online when we have them.

As a reminder, Conflicts of Interest Online is always open for submissions! If you have an idea for an article related to anything in historical gaming, reach out to editor Andrew Bucholtz on X or Bluesky, or via email.