The Castle Herald No. I - July 2026

Welcome to The Castle Herald

In addition to regular posts, I’m starting a monthly newsletter with some quicker hits on things I've been enjoying. Will try to keep it digestible. Here's what I enjoyed in June.

Only Castles Playing

The Guerrilla Generation (GMT, 2026): I set up this COIN Multi-pack in my office on a small table and played through each scenario against myself as a way to stop picking up my phone every spare minute I had during the work day. It was really interesting to play against myself this way.

Chicago '68 (The Dietz Foundation, 2025): See my full write-up here.

Jaws (Ravensburger, 2019): Effectively captures the entire story in a small, simple game. Despite losing a lot of swimmers in the first act, we somehow survived a quickly wrecked boat to defeat the shark. Fun times!

King's Dilemma (Horrible Guild, 2019): Despite it taking us a bit long to play through it, I really enjoy this mimicry of Games of Thrones' Small Council. Having hidden agendas at cross purposes with the moral and political dilemmas the day brings up some interesting discussion, role-playing, and voting.

Hot Streak (CMYK, 2025): Wow. I had heard the hype on this and the "you just bet on mascots and the game plays itself" comments. Both are true, but there is some very clever betting logic embedded in the madcap race of these goofy mascots. Absolutely one of the coolest productions, too.

The British Way: Enemy of My Enemy (GMT Games): Had a chance to play the new Arab Revolt and Japanese Occupation scenarios via Discord with another COIN player (essentially play by mail format). The remote aspect really adds to the fog of war. My poor opponent suffered through a number of mistakes on my part, too!

Bureau of Investigations: Investigations in Arkham & Elsewhere (Space Cowboys, 2022): A cool twist on Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective that cuts out some of the "running around aimlessly" feel. Unfortunately we hit a roadblock on this one (scenario 3) and later found it might be a translation problem. That's a bummer because the first half of the adventure was wildly cool.

Only Castles Listening

Boards of Canada - Inferno (Warp, 2026): Releasing an album called Inferno filled with bizarre religious cult sound bites in the year 2026 makes a lot of sense. The brothers definitely see what is happening in the world and have something to say about it. Despite being put off at first, this album really grabbed me and I kept playing it daily.

Kurt Vile - Philadelphia's been good to me (Verve, 2026): Very loose new album by someone it took me awhile to get into (being recommended Neil Young covers didn't help, I think). Kurt is catchy, full of joy, but it's almost funny how secondary the vocals have become to his tunes. We saw him live recently too and it was the same way, even on older songs. It's a vibe thing for sure. Somewhat of a contrast to The Sadies, who opened for him and killed their set.

Pete Sasqwax & Joe Clockwork - Waximum Overdrive (Weaponize Records, 2026): One of my favorite beat makers of all time is Pete Gleadall fka Waxfactor, now Pete Sasqwax. Any time he releases some new incredibly dirty beats, I jump on it, and this is a wild one. An ode to Stephen King, adaptations, and the bizarre Maximum Overdrive, it's full of nasty drums, moody samples, humorous edits, and Joe Clockwork’s slick cuts. A unique and hard hitting release for sure.

Black Island Condors: I saw this band open for Mr. Gnome a couple years ago and they blew me away. Just saw they recently released two new EP/albums: Spider Sessions, Vol. 3 and Suma Sessions, Vol. 2. I love their mix of electronic and guitars. Half shoegaze, half Krautrock, with a little heavy metal in there at times. Excellent stuff.

DJ Krush - TOYKOHUM (DJ Krush Recordings, 2026): I've been listening to Krush my entire life, it seems. While I haven't loved all of it, it's always interesting to hear what he's up to. This new one is one of his best in recent years. Very moody, eclectic, but somehow just as smooth and textured as his older work that I loved so much.

Only Castles Reading

Helen of Wyndhorn by Tom King and Bilquis Evely (Dark Horse): I loved Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and it made me wish there were more fantasy-inspired comics like it. Well, luckily, the same team that made that made Helen of Wyndhorn and it's just as well written and gorgeously illustrated.

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (Bantam Spectra, 1993): A comfort reread/palate cleanser after marathoning through the last half of The Expanse books and the Captive's War books to date. Just wanted some more space opera, I guess, and this always feels most like watching the original trilogy to me. I'd put this up there with the OT, Rebels, and (at the very top) Andor.

Only Castles Watching

Widow's Bay (AppleTV): Absolutely the best thing I've seen since, um, Andor. I was a Constant Reader for a while, mostly because of the Dark Tower cycle. Got very familiar with the "New England coastal town hiding a dark secret vibe." This show is like that, but all the moments of tension are cut with very sharp humor. The entire cast rules and each week has been an absolute delight. This is coming from someone who is decidedly not a horror fan.

He Won't Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place (People Make Games): I highly recommend watching this documentary by Quinns and People Make Games about Jerry's Map, the incredible life project of Jerry Gretzinger. It might now be my favorite piece of art in the world.

Star City (AppleTV): We've stuck with For All Mankind at the Castle. Star City is the other side of the coin, rewinding back to the beginning of this alternate space race story to portray the 70s spy thriller happening in the USSR. Occasionally they will dietetically use KG eavesdropping in a striking way that reminds me a lot of one of my favorite films, The Conversation. The show has the same paranoia as that film.

Shetland (Britbox): We've seen a lot of UK detective shows, it's our favorite genre of TV probably. We leapfrogged the original cast to check out the current cast seasons and are really enjoying this Scottish Isle set series. The leads are fantastic and the bleak but beautiful setting really adds to the mood.

Rooster (HBO): We marathoned the first season in a week, and it was one of the funniest shows I've seen since the similarly co-created with Bill Lawrence Shrinking. Low stakes, hang-out comedy with a heart.

Disclosure Day (2026): Was not sure what to expect but I really liked this. Definitely a bit of an alien conspiracy fever dream that is like the flip side of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor were excellent. A lot of interesting discussions and beautiful moments.

Supergirl (2026): I will say that I definitely like the source material more (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow), but this was an extremely well considered adaptation of that comic, condensing the story down into a pretty packed film. It loses a little of the fantasy aspect of the comic I enjoyed so much, but punched it up with a more visceral tone and more levity.

The Bear (Hulu): The best of The Bear is excellent and the worst of The Bear is excruciating. I've felt this way since the beginning. Generally, I prefer the quiet, meaningful moments to the constant yelling and attitude. This final season had a lot more of the stuff I liked and honestly, I have no problems with the way they chose to wrap this show up. It felt earned. The 7th episode is exciting and the 8th is the coda the show needed, although it's a slight victory lap. I still wish this show had been about most of the characters realizing they need therapy.