Peter Schweighofer

@schweigbskysocial

Writer, Game Designer, Gamer, Husband, Dad. Writing and playing roleplaying games for 40+ years, along with board and wargames, and a few designs for kids and newcomers to the hobby. Often exploring the confluence of games, history, and learning.

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Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· 3d

Spent a relaxing afternoon lounging at our favorite local #winery, 5 minutes from our house. They were making pizzas with fresh ingredients from their garden, plus celebrating their 10th anniversary. I also enjoyed a pear cider and Irish red ale. www.mountainrunwinery.com

Doofy, overweight old white guy with a whitening beard and glasses dressed in a tan brimmed hat and t-shirt, sitting beneath a corn crib barn at a table with a freshly baked pepperoni pizza in front of him and a glass of Mountain Run Winery Irish red ale. Corn crib woodwork in the background.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· 5d

Caught our youngest, Jago, lounging on a living room chair rather languidly last week, taking a break from VA’s oppressive heat and humidity. #Caturday

Orange-and-white (arguably “orange creamsicle”) young cat lounging on a red-upholstered chair, his head and shoulders on a pillow, a back leg and tail languidly draped over the front edge of the seat cushion, looking at the photographer as if saying “What…?”

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· 5d

This long-awaited gem arrived in yesterday’s post. Congrats to @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social Before I knew it I’d already started flipping through it and reading the opening chapter!. Filled with inspiring ideas for teachers and students designing #GamesForLearning. www.routledge.com/Designing-Hi...

Book cover with "Designing History Games for Classrooms: A Practical Guide for Educators” by Jeremiah McCall, with the title in black at top and a graphic of a hand moving a piece on a hex board scattered with game components like cards, dice, and pieces.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· 22d

Took a short vacation to PA to indulge our interest in #history (and cats). Roamed #Gettysburg battlefield in the unbearable July heat. Marveled at amazing battle dioramas at the Civil War Tails cat diorama museum. Explored #FortLigonier and its French and Indian War frontier fortifications.

Doofy looking old white guy in beard, glasses, t-shirt, shorts, and a brimmed hat looking off across the field from Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg, PA, standing next to an American Civil War cannon in front of a low stone wall.

A diorama of Pickett’s Charge reaching the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge, with the soldiers modeled as uniform-wearing cats. Lines of opposing cats clash near the Copse of Trees that served as the focal point of the assault. From the Civil War Tails cat diorama museum in Gettysburg, PA.

A diorama of the 20th Maine’s stand on Little Round Top, with the soldiers modeled as uniform-wearing cats. The flag notes the angle where the unit refused the line against advancing Confederate cat-soldiers in the distance down the hill. Colonel Chamberlain rallies the troops with his raised saber. From the Civil War Tails cat diorama museum in Gettysburg, PA.

Doofy looking old white guy in beard, glasses, t-shirt, shorts, and a brimmed hat looking off over the ramparts of Fort Ligonier, with a French and Indian War-era cannon pointed out an opening in the wooden stockade wall and lush forest in the distance beneath a sky white with haze from Canadian wildfires.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 13

Heading outside this morning I noticed a presumably male mantis (given the size) crawling across our shed wall. He seemed in a hurry, but I managed to get a few photos of him. #VA #Wildlife #Insects

Green mantis, a long stick insect with spiny forelegs and a triangular head dominated by two large eyes, crawls across a dark red and white-trimmed shed surface.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 10

Spent Thursday at the National Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center visiting with old friends: amazing aircraft we’ve learned about and love seeing in person. Identification and links to more info in the Alt Text…. #NASM #aviation #history #WW2

Doofy looking old white guy in beard, glasses, and a brimmed hat standing on the right gestures with his hand toward the left where a Vought F4U-1D Corsair hangs from the museum hangar ceiling, a gull-winged blue fighter plane with a bubble canopy cockpit and white US star and bars insignia on the fuselage and wing. The theme to Black Sheep Squadron courses through the man’s nostalgic mind….

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/vought-f4u-1d-corsair/nasm_A19610124000

Doofy looking old white guy in beard, glasses, and a brimmed hat on the right looking to the left into the front of a shark-mouthed Curtiss P-40E Warhawk, a brown WWII fighter plane hanging from the museum’s hangar ceiling.

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/curtiss-p-40e-warhawk-kittyhawk-ia/nasm_A19650242000

Doofy looking old white guy in beard, glasses, and a brimmed hat standing centered on the front of an SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, a triangular cockpit above his head flanked by two massive black jet engines.

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/lockheed-sr-71-blackbird/nasm_A19920072000

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 10

Photo (courtesy of my son) of me and the NASM Lysander on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Northern Virginia.

Doofy looking old white guy in beard, glasses, and a brimmed hat looking upward at a Westland Lysander hanging from a cavernous museum hangar ceiling; the dark airplane has long high-mounted wings, tapered as the meet the fuselage, fixed landing gear in aerodynamic “pants” over the wheels, and a long canopy cabin to hold the pilot and several SOE agents for transport between England and occupied France.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 6

#MiniaturesMonday Terrain for a #DragonRampant #LordOfTheRings miniatures #wargame for a con in Oct. 54mm orcs with bonfire and chopped tree stumps in front of my “roving” tree terrain (with unexpected menacing guest looming nearby). Uses the “flickering tea light in painted batting smoke” trick.

Photo of several orcs near a burning, smoking bonfire near a lush forest. 54mm painted orc figures near a bonfire made from cut-up model tree armatures around a flickering tea light topped with painted batting smoke. A flat terrain piece on the right shows chopped tree stumps. Trees in the background consist of wood/plastic trunks and green-dyed loosely felted roving, except for the angry resin ent figure on the right, advancing with menacing branch-claws on the destructive orcs.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 5

Yesterday morning, in the already oppressive heat and humidity, I spotted two young fawns, still bearing spots, ambling into the open for a snack in the shady back yard. After munching on grass, they both settled down to nest...until, 100 feet away, I somehow startled them. #VA #Wildlife

Young fawn with tan fur and white spots stepping out from the green undergrowth into an overgrown grassy patch of shady back yard, looking for a cool snack in the lush greenery.

Young fawn with tan fur and white spots with its head down to munch on the lush, overgrown green grass in a shady spot of the yard.

Young fawn with tan fur and white spots nested in the green grass, it’s huge eyes and oversized ears warily trained on the photographer who obviously poses a threat.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 2

Spotted two adult rabbits munching on grass early this morning when the back yard was still covered in shade. We’ve not seen much of them the past few years, so we welcome their return. There’s usually one juvenile born this year who eats in the driveway when my wife leaves for work. #VA #Wildlife

A rabbit with variegated brownish fur sits warily, eyes alert, in a sea of un-mown yet delicious green grass.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 1

Grandmaster: No, not trash. Were you waiting just to call them that? It doesn’t start with a “B.” I’m so sorry. No, “Best.” Here’s wishing those celebrating July birthdays many happy returns. You know who you are....

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jul 1

Time to celebrate those with #July #birthdays with this tired old schtick based on the Thor: Ragnarok movie.... Grandmaster: Whenever we get talking, Topaz, about July birthdays, what do I always say? “They are the...” and it begins with a “B.” Topaz: Trash. (continued...)

Three sci-fi people staring straight at the viewer, from the Marvel Superhero film Thor: Ragnarok. Two women, with white, circuit-like face paint highlights and different styles of layered leather body armor flank a smiling Jeff Goldblum seated, with blue highlight makeup, gaudy gold, red, and blue robes. Swirly white lights on a blurry-pink sky fill the background.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 28

Spotted Chucky (the varmint, not the murderous doll) munching in/on the back yard yesterday. Photographed him from the window, as he’s extremely shy and runs off if I venture out onto the deck quietly. #VA #Wildlife

Photo of a woodchuck munching on the grass, a variegated brown-furred mammal with short legs, low to the ground, in a yard of green grass and weeds.

Photo of a woodchuck head up, looking out from the grass, a variegated brown-furred mammal with short legs, low to the ground, in a yard of green grass and weeds.

Photo of a woodchuck head up, looking warily toward the photographer. The creature is a variegated brown-furred mammal with short legs, low to the ground, in a yard of green grass and weeds.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 27

Went out into the gardens yesterday before the rain and photographed some of the flowers in bloom: a Rose of Sharon (hibiscus), a lily of some kind, and another flower I don’t know (my wife plants them and knows their names…). #VA #Flowers

A lily with different levels of purple along its petals and a brighter yellow interior, against a background of distant garden greenery.

A pinkish-purple Rose of Sharon blossom (hibiscus), full frilly petals against a background of distant garden greenery.

Two blooms consisting of stalks with many small trumpet-like blossoms, in shades of orange, pink, and yellow, darker toward the top, against a background of distant garden greenery.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 24

Just went to bookshop.org to preorder my copy of Designing Historical Games for Classrooms by @gamingthepast.bsky.social (and helped support my favorite bookstore). Can’t wait to read it! #GamesForLearning #HistoryGames

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 16

Belated photo from last week’s day trip to Drewry’s Bluff on the James River south of Richmond, VA. Site of a battle against the ironclad USS Monitor and other ships trying to force their way to shell the Confederate capital. Photo with an 8-inch columbiad in the earthwork fort’s remains.

Historic plaque about the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff showing a painting of the columbiad cannon firing down into the river at the USS Monitor ironclad and other ships, blocked by sunken debris at a bend in the James River. Beyond through the trees one sees the river where the Union ships deployed in attacking the fort.

Old overweight bearded white guy with glasses wearing a brimmed hat and gray t-shirt leans on a hiking stick in earthen ramparts and beneath the black iron barrel of an 8-inch columbiad cannon, barrel looming above him and the gray-painted carriage below it.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 5

Got out recently for some photos of #flowers in our #gardens. A lone poppy, rose, and cone flower that hopefully brighten your day.

An orange poppy with a tinge of red, broad petals in a tulip-like cup emerging from a lone green stem, with blurred greenery in the background for contrast.

A rose with a tight red bud next to it, its petals open in soft pink tones.

A cone flower with a dark red spiky center with yellow highlights and thin light pink petals tinged with white radiating from it, all against a background of distant greenery.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 4

RIP Marjane Satrapi. Her quote about our similarities with ordinary Iranians inspired me to read Persepolis, a frightening and somber account of state violence and ideology infecting society. It helped put the Iranian revolution and American authoritarianism in perspective. Sic transit mundus.

Black-and-white of Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman holding a cigarette, curling shoulder-length black hair framing her face, staring at the viewer, a barely discernible smile on her lips. A quote beneath her reads: “The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don’t know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.”

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 4

Spent part of today wandering the Manassas #AmericanCivilWar #battlefield, walking along the site of the Union artillery batteries on Henry Hill, refreshing my memory examining artillery exhibits, and overall enjoying a cool breeze on a bright day before the #VA summer heat/humidity sets in.

Overweight aging white guy with a white beard and glasses, wearing a light tan hat, dumpy T-shirt and shorts, and leaning on a hiking stick stands near a Union Parrot rifled cannon on Henry Hill, with green grass all around, bright blue sky above, several other artillery pieces down field, and a two-story farmhouse in the distance.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Jun 1

Spent the weekend working on our wattle-enclosed moon #garden. Cut a tulip poplar for the gate posts, then mounted the gate frame and started wattling it with trimmed poplar branches. Still more work to do on the wattle fence, though the central window and side arches are framed.

A garden gate, two thick tulip poplar posts with a square wood-frame gate with poplar branches woven in a wattle about halfway up (work in progress). Beyond one sees the moon garden, a gravel covered sitting area, low arc of a wattle wall, and various mostly green leafy plants (some white blossoms) before the curved back garden wall, also a wattle pierced by a central circular window and two gothic-style arch openings.

A garden of mostly green foliage with white blossoms, with a low wattle wall curving in front to contain the garden and a back wattle wall, much taller, with a central round window flanked by gothic openings, with withies woven between the windows, with the outer posts awaiting further withie work.

A close-up of the tall, blooming yucca plant, a thick green stalk sporting white blossoms, with willow wattle in the background.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· May 30

Faun Redux. Hauled the recycling bin up from the road today, parked it where it lives behind the shed, and was startled (again) by that faun, now nesting by the corner of the shed, warily eyeing me. I’m surprised momma didn’t munch on the bok choy growing in a planter nearby. #VA #Wildlife

Spotted faun with tan fur and white spots curled up near some wood chips, the corner of a red shed with white trim, and some yard debris, its ears perked up for danger and its eyes warily sizing up the cameraman.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· May 30

Caught our kitten Jago in a rare moment where he wasn’t racing around, taking a break from playing with his crinkly zebra-themed toy. #Caturday

Orange and white tabby kitten stretched out on the floor, with a zebra-fabric covered crinkly toy at his feet as he rests between bouts of the zoomies.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· May 29

Before mowing today I walked the yard to pick up debris, look for hornet nests...and stumbled upon this fawn nestled into some brush. Managed to keep my distance while getting a photo with the zoom lens. #VA #Wildlife

A young spotted faun, brown fur with white speckled spots, nestled into some grass and weeds, curled up, its head down, ears up, in the sunshine.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· May 25

Spectator, though my wife has dressed me up for various occasions: renfair and medieval, as well as a Culpeper minuteman hunting shirt, with more to come.... Once attended the Governor's Ball in Colonial Williamsburg in full colonial garb; did not dance, tech issues with breeches....

Old white guy in glasses and white-gray beard smiling stupidly at the camera while wearing American colonial garb: a red vest, white stock around his neck, gold-yellow coat, and a black tricorn with large gold cockade.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· May 17

A few more photos I took at the Battle of Manassas re-enactment. Details in the alt text.

US artillery fires at advancing Confederate infantry in the distance. Crew in red and blue uniforms stands around the cannon, one with a sponge on a pole, the one at extreme left pulling the lanyard that fires the cannon and covering his ear. White smoke belches from the barrel obscuring the view across the battlefield.

US cavalry troops return to their camp after the battle re-enactment. Four Union soldiers in blue uniforms on horseback ride across a grassy field, with a few spectators in the background on the left, and marching Union infantry in the background on the right.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· May 17

Spent yesterday at a re-enactment of the first Battle of Manassas (held on the spacious Brandy Station battlefield). Visited the US camp and chatted with some re-enactors, saw an artillery demonstration, and of course watched troops maneuvering and firing during the mock battle. #ACW #History

Before the battle, artillery lines up in the US camp encampment before deploying to battlefield positions with the help of some pickup trucks. A line of American Civil War era Parrott barrel cannon, some shaded by trees toward the back, with re-enactors portraying Union artillery crews milling about; a tent encampment with flags sits in the background.

A US infantry unit drills for formation firing, with the front rank simulating firing while the rear rank awaits its turn. Seen from the front quarter, two ranks of blue-clad Union infantry, the front rank with their muskets ready to fire, the rear rank holding them at an angle waiting to aim and fire, with a few officers milling about behind the unit monitoring their placement. Tents from an encampment sit in the background.

Long shot of Confederate troops maneuvering onto the battlefield under cover of artillery fire from the ridge beyond. A unit of infantry moves out in line formation on the left, with skirmishers spread out on the right, all in a disparate collection of Confederate uniforms. A mounted officer and standard bearer supervise in the center. A grassy ridge backed by a treeline rises in the distance, with a line of Confederate artillery with crews posted on top; smoke belching from two cannon indicate they’ve just fired across the field at Union troops.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· May 16

Our kitten Jago has been with us a little more than a month and is settling in, both in the household terrain and with his two older sisters. One of his favorite spots? Atop the shag-plush-covered cat tower, where he can survey the living room and watch the hummingbirds outside the window. #Caturday

An orange and white tabby kitten, lounging in a half-pipe cat tower level covered in tan long shag carpet, staring at the camera with that wide-eyed kitten look, with his back legs hanging off the edge and exposing his pink toe beans and foot pads.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Apr 27

We have two 3-tier planters with greens on our front porch. A Carolina wren decided to nest in one. Spotted the empty next one day, then it filled with 1, 2, 3, and 4 eggs day-by-day. Cold enough this morning that momma was home keeping things warm and glaring at onlookers. #VAWildlife #WildBirds

Photo of a three-tiered bowl planter filled with edible leafy greens on a wooden porch against a brick house wall. The middle planter sports a bowl-like nest of twigs on the right.

View inside the nest, a cave of twigs and bits, with a few tiny white speckled eggs inside.

Look into the nest from which a seemingly stern looking mother Wren – brown with white bib and long beak and piercing bead eyes – looks warily at the photographer.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Apr 18

Last week we brought this fellow into our home, almost 3 month-old Jago, from the Cville SPCA shelter. Filled with energy and wonder, contrasted with frequent naps, he’s proving an orange ball of joy. He’s isolated in the guest room; his older sisters are warily interested in his presence. #Caturday

Orange and white striped kitten, sitting upright, paws over the edge of a day bed, with big kitten ears and wide eyes regarding the viewer with curiosity.

Peter Schweighofer@schweigbskysocial· Apr 13

Figured today was a good day to cook goulash for dinner. Served with egg noodles and sauerkraut, according to a classic German recipe, and washed down with a Czech-style Pilsner. We’re celebrating with #Hungary hoping we can celebrate change in America soon.