The San Diego Historical Games Convention (SDHist) is proud to announce the finalists for the 2025 Bobby Nunes Memorial Award.
This award, launched last year in memory of our colleague and friend, Robert “Bobby Factor” Nunes (seen above during a 2021 game of Combat Commander:Mediterranean), seeks to recognize exceptional gaming media published in the prior calendar year. This media should reflect Bobby’s enthusiasm for and interest in discussing important cultural issues within the historical gaming hobby. Last year, the inaugural award was presented to Liz Davidson for her 2023 Beyond Solitaire podcast interviews.
This year, we opted to emphasize individual essays, videos, and interviews to allow recognition of creators that may have a footprint in the wider hobby who have made an impactful contribution to the discussion emphasizing the culture of historical games that engages and enriches our corner of the hobby.
After solicitation of nominations from the public and the SDHist board of advisors, the SDHist board met to determine four finalists for the award, which will be announced at our Summit convention on Nov. 8, 2025. The finalists are listed below in alphabetical order:
Amabel Holland video essay: Vonnegut’s Board Game: Preservation, Annotation, Context: Designer and publisher Holland, whose video essays on the Hollandspiele YouTube channel were also nominated for this award last year, has a thoughtful essay here on Kurt Vonnegut’s GHQ (a nominee for the 2025 Summit Award). Judges noted how this essay touches on several interesting aspects of GHQ, such as it being an unknown design from an iconic author, its cultural relevance when it was made, and what it signifies in the present hobby. This essay also discusses the wider subject of game preservation. Watch it here:
Homo Ludens: Unpacking the Clean Wehrmacht’s Legacy in Wargames - Wargame Ethics: Designer and Homo Ludens founder Fred Serval hosted a panel addressing the sensitive and often contentious portrayal of the Wehrmacht in historical wargames.That panel, featuring Professor Alastair Kocho Williams, Jan Heinemann, Volko Ruhnke, and Dr. Waitman Beorne, drew praise from judges for how it discussed the legacy of World War II design models and the evolution of opinion on framing, mythology, and representation of atrocities in those games. Watch it here:
Player Elimination: Philosophy and Board Games: The Categorical Imperative: Player Elimination founder Charlie Theel penned a notable written essay on ethical action and game design, tying that into the work of Immanuel Kant and deontology more broadly as well as magic circle theory, player agency, and framing. Judges noted the relevance of Theel’s examination of how designers frame action and consequences around moral crisis in their models in historical games. The discussion of limits of imposing a moral quandary on players through competing incentives and the comparative power of immersion and storytelling offers valuable insight to players and designers alike. Read it here.
Space-Biff!: Space-Cast! #42. The Twilight Cardboard: Space-Biff! founder Dan Thurot conducted a remarkable interview with designer Francisco “Pako” Gradaille about his Onoda game on controversial figure Hiroo Onoda, as well as his design of Habemus Papam. Judges noted that Thurot has consistently examined how players grapple with discomfort and alienation in the framework of play throughout his work, and that in the context of this conversation, listeners received particular insight into how Gradaille grappled with depicting a controversial figure such as Onoda and the struggles with defining victory conditions for such a tragic story. Listen to it here.
The SDHist board would also like to recognize three honorable mentions this year. Here are those, in alphabetical order:
Mark Herman: Wargames According To Mark: A Historian’s View of Wargame Design: This book, from renowned designer Herman (Rebel Fury, Churchill, Empire of the Sun), covers his approach to showing history through games. The second printing is available through GMT’s P500 system here.
Rodger B. MacGowan: The Art of Rodger B. MacGowan: This book, from prominent artist and graphic designer MacGowan (who sadly passed away in February), shows his artwork throughout his career (at SPI, Avalon Hill, Fire & Movement, Hobby Japan, GMT Games, and C3i Magazine) alongside behind-the-scenes notes and stories on how many of the pieces came together. It is available through C3i here.
Maurice Suckling: Paper Time Machines: Critical Game Design and Historical Board Games: This book, from famed board and video game designer and professor Suckling (Crisis: 1914, Operation Barclay, Chancellorsville 1863), covers the historical contexts and theoretical debates around historical board games, as well as offering practice-focused sections directed at those looking to get into designing these games. The book is available through publisher Routledge here.
The SDHistCon board and board of advisors will soon meet to determine the winner of the 2025 Bobby Nunes Memorial Award. The winner will be announced on Nov. 8, 2025 at our Summit convention in San Diego, and will also be announced on Conflicts of Interest Online and on our social media platforms (X, Bluesky, Instagram) at that time.
Add comment