For the fifth consecutive time since 2018 (apart from 2020, which was cancelled due to Covid), I went to the Bellota gaming convention (meaning acorn in Spanish, emblematic of the food of Spain’s famous black pigs, the pride of the region), in Badajoz, Extremadura (on the Spanish-Portuguese border).This convention for board game players, mainly wargames, attracts people from all over Spain, as well as from abroad. It’s held in a great hotel, and everything is perfectly organized (see their website here). The date is also ideal, as there are no other conventions elsewhere.
For me, it’s also perfect, as I’m combining it with a visit to my partner, the Spanish video game development studio Pixel Ratio, located in Mérida (a town a few dozen kilometers away), so two birds with one stone.
This year, I was the only foreign exhibitor, and Spanish publishers were also in short supply. My friend and partner Headquarter Games (headed by Miguel Santacruz, designer of a future SGS Spain at War about the Spanish Civil War, due out this year) was among them.
We took advantage of the show to present the board game version of our Hispania project, which is both a video game (recently released on Steam) and a board game, based on an eponymous project from 30 years ago that we’ve heavily revised and updated. A Kickstarter campaign will be launched for the game this spring, and the many test games played at the convention have enabled us to further refine this new version. See our site for pre-orders, here.
I also presented the first prototype of the 7th edition of ‘War & Peace’, one of the monuments of wargaming, released by Avalon Hill in 1980 (one of my very first games). A more refined version, taking into account feedback from players, is currently in production, and will be available in Europe early this year. This game, strongly supported by its author, Mark McLaughlin, is already available for pre-order on the game’s digital version website (renamed on Steam Napoleon’s Eagles).
Another highlight was Stuka Joe’s interview on Avalon and its projects, which you can (re)discover below or on his YouTube channel, here: Interview by Stuka Joe.
A Bellota con wouldn’t be what it is without the traditional Saturday evening lottery, where each participant can receive a prize (game, book, video game). Avalon sponsored the event, giving away Steam keys to one of last year’s hits, SGS Overlord.
And after the effort the comfort, a distribution of the famous ‘Jamon Iberico’, a local speciality (made by one of the event’s sponsors). It was a full 3 days for me, and I’ll certainly be doing it again in 2026.
Hasta Luego!
Photos from Bellota Con 8
