BMK Workshop grew from a few game ideas in my youth which finally began to take shape during the COVID Pandemic.
Being a social historian and genealogist I began thinking about the life of our ancestors before electricity and as the lockdown period stretched out I wanted to get my children off the internet and away from their phones and televisions, and get back to some practical family interaction.
Having worked in a number of various industries in my earlier working years by day but having a personal drive to research family history and the social history which trailed back into the late middle age by night, inspired me to go further. Now nearly thirty years on I have accrued four disciplines and played many board and card games which has helped pushed me to make these games for young and old, and for fun and gamers alike.
I am also one who believes everyone can learn from our pasts and from history, not to mention it is interesting to understand about the world and life 'from what was, to what is'.
So my daughters and I were playing all sorts of tabletop games a few days a week which inspired me to spend a few days and nights developing one part of the card game idea based on a simple style but orientated around the medieval period.
With the basic rules and fundamental game play designed, the girls and I started to play and within a few weeks we had an interesting working proof ready. then with their help and graphical perspectives, a prototype was made and printed and we passed around to a few other families who were interested and the feedback was positive.
After the start of 2022 we saw the end of the testing phase and the beginning of business platform. Finished the 4th or 5th touch ups, playability, and the 2nd round of touch ups visually, we put the first run to print and began the road to advertise and promote. Travelling to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, with the final promo in Brisbane, there were some reserved comments and a definite lean to the younger demographic for the Basic Kingdom, Castle and War card game packs. The older and gamer demographics wanted more. So we went back to the sweat house to bring out another version.
By mid 2023 we had developed an extended or more active versions of Kingdom, Castle and War, and brought out the first Expanded Kingdom card game with 20 more Events to grapple with. Then 2024 we brought out another two different visual editions, Junior and 18th Century, to open the aesthetic critics tastebuds to the Medieval card game Trilogy.
2025 basic saw the doors of the creative dungeon closed and detached we laid out the foundations for two more card game trilogy's, a board game, or two actually, and two piece play board games, as well as having a crack at some puzzles. Some of these should be seen in 2027.
Now 2026 brought a change to the BMK Workshop dynamic and a revitalisation of the social and sales avenues of the business. Granted it must be known that without these two arenas there would be problems continuously, but when creativity blooms, it must be fed and consumed before it dissipates or vanishes. And so, it was, and the sales voice fell quiet for a while. But if you are reading this you must have come around via one of our new pushes, so we hope you have grabbed a game and tell us how it was, leave a review, or passed on the word.
All that said, BMK Workshop is now a small tabletop gaming company concentrating on historical games. The first of these in our playing card collection which is a deck called “Kingdom”. KINGDOM being the first in a set of three in the Medieval set, are card games that can be played each in separate ways, and also in a combined game scenario.
So we hope you can enjoy one of our games and we look forward to bringing your more. We currently have the Pirates, Western, Roman and Samurai sets coming soon.
Bj Watson
BMK Workshop Owner and Designer.
Dp. Historical Inquiry, Genealogy, Colonial History, Ancient History.
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia