about cephalofair

our team


Isaac Childres

CEO / Game Designer

Isaac loves board games. He was going to be a physicist (got his PhD and everything), but then decided it would be more fun to design and publish board games for a living. He hasn’t regretted that decision yet.

Isaac is the founder and driving force behind Cephalofair Games. He started the company back in 2014 to self-publish his first game, Forge War, and has since led a growing team that handles design, development, writing, art direction, promotion, publishing, and fulfillment for all their games ever since. 

Isaac’s “magnum opus,” Gloomhaven was Cephalofair Games’ second title, published in early 2017. He could not be happier with the reception it is receiving and has since published three additional titles set in the same world: Forgotten CirclesFounders of GloomhavenJaws of the Lionand is hard at work designing the highly anticipated "sequel" Frosthaven

He is generally a fan of heavier Euro board games like Gaia Project and 18XX, though he does have a soft spot for dungeon crawlers and RPGs. You can read all about his unhealthy love of board gaming here.

Isaac lives in Lafayette, Indiana, with his wife Kristyn and his dog Millie.

Price Johnson

Chief Operating Officer

Price handles the day-to-day "behind the scenes" at Cephalofair and considers himself incredibly fortunate to work with so many talented individuals who bring the world of Gloomhaven to life for fans all over the world.

Bringing 12 years of outside experience in operations management, marketing, sales, hiring, and a passion for tabletop games, Price has been responsible for leading various efforts around Cephalofair since 2017, such as: an ever growing convention schedule, expansion of retail partners and e-commerce, and as Executive Producer on both 2020's Jaws of the Lion and Frosthaven Kickstarter campaign.

His latest projects include helping push the world of Gloomhaven into exciting new spaces such as comicsbooksvideo gamesaudio, and more...

Price lives in Sacramento, California with his wife Marcie, and his kids Clarke & Liam.

Josh McDowell

Graphic Designer

Josh McDowell started playing board games after his wife encouraged him to find an inexpensive hobby. The joke is on her, as that encouragement turned into an expansive collection and regularly scheduled game nights. Then again, it also turned into his job.

Josh brings brings over 20 years of graphic design experience to Cephalofair having worked on projects from Forge War to Frosthaven. He’s worked at Purdue University since 1998, producing graphics and video for athletics, the performing arts series, and the College of Agriculture. He has also worked as a freelance designer since 2002, creating touring video for country stars like Vince Gill, Martina McBride, and Brad Paisley, and creating graphics and video productions for corporate clients like Ford, Syngenta, and Bank of America.

His love for games drew him into freelance game design, and since 2015, he’s created visuals for many publishers including Ravensburger, Stonemaier Games, Renegade Games, and Restoration Games.

He lives in Indiana with his wife and three children, gamers in the making. You can find his portfolio at www.behance.net/mcscowl.

Alexandr Elichev

Illustrations & World-Building Artist

 Alexandr lives in Ukraine, Odessa and works as a freelancer and specializes in several styles: sci-fi, cyberpunk and fantasy. He’s looking for exciting projects in the styles that he likes. Most of all, he is proud of his artwork for cards in board games.

He dreams to release his comics and develop an indie game with a small group of people In the future. You can see his portfolio at http://kotnonekot.deviantart.com/.

Francesca Baerald

Cartographer 

Francesca is a freelance cartographer and illustrator from Italy working in the game and publishing industry for companies such as Blizzard, Games Workshop, Square Enix, and Dark Horse.

In her studio, she happily draws maps and paints illustrations, imagining new ways to build fantastic or dangerous worlds. She always looks forward to new exciting projects!

You can check her works at www.francescabaerald.com.

David Demaret

Dungeon Tile / Scenario Artist

David is a freelance artist and art director who specializes in science-fiction and heroic fantasy art.

In a previous life, David worked in the video game industry for more than 20 years, creating 2D and 3D art for famous games like Duke Nukem 3DAlone in the DarkLord of the RingsDriverCounterstrikeKing KongStar Trek, and Legacy of Kain.His hidden passion, however, was illustrations as he was always inspired by the art of Chris Foss and Frazetta, so he started a new career to pursue illustration for board games as well as book and music album covers.His work includes art for Mythic BattlesBatman: Gotham City ChroniclesJoan of ArcClaustrophobia 1643HEL, and is now focusing on creating atmospheric map tiles for the world of Gloomhaven.

You can find his many works at http://www.daviddemaret.daportfolio.com/

Marcel Cwertetschka

Play-testing & Development

Marcel lives in Vienna, Austria, working as a freelance developer, proofreader, and play tester on projects from Cephalofair, Fantasy Flight Games, Forged by Geeks Games, and others.

His contributions include design of Cephalofair's first expansion, Forgotten Circles, and is a contributing designer, developer, play-tester for Jaws of the Lion and Frosthaven.

He also teaches math and cognitive science for adults. He and his fiancee host a sprawling board game collection for friends, family, and "research" for the possibility of his own game one day.

Team "Satire"

Design & Development

Alexander JL Theoharis, Zac Cohn, and Joe Homes got their start as the creators of Satire's Extended Battle Goals and the custom Curseborn class, both unofficial fan-made content for Gloomhaven.

Satire's early contributions to the Cephalofair community were warmly embraced and quickly grew into a more significant partnership with Cephalofair.

Their work includes tutorial, event, & battle goal design in Jaws of the Lion as well as brand new systems, events, mechanics (and more!) in the upcoming, and highly anticipated sequel Frosthaven.

Andy Nellis

Writer

Andy Nellis is a writer and editor specializing in fiction, narrative design, and health science. He has written and edited in a range of industries including film, medical research, higher education, and tabletop gaming. In 2015 his screenplay "More Cowbell" won the Nantucket Film Festival's Tony Cox competition. He is currently finishing a Masters of Fine Arts.

More information on his services can be found at: https://andynellis.com/

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

- SCULPTING -

Cephalofair would also be nowhere without the talent of so many additional sculptors, artists, and editors who have helped shape our worlds:

GLOOMHAVEN

James van Shaik; Detective City of Angles, Cthulhu Wars

JAWS OF THE LION / FROSTHAVEN

Chris Lewis : Reaper, MERCS, CRY H.A.V.I.C.

Andrew Cothill : Fireaxis Games, WizKids, Reaper, GCT

Chad Hoverter : Mice & Mystics, Spector Ops, Heroes of Land, Air & Sea

FORGOTTEN CIRCLES / FROSTHAVEN

Tom Mason : Reaper, WizKids, MERCS, DGS

- RULEBOOK EDITING -

Mathew G. Somers : Gloomhaven, Forgotten Circles, Jaws of the Lion, Frosthaven

Jim Spivey : Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, WizKids, HarperCollins

- RULEBOOK DESIGN -

Jason D. Kingsley : Lanterns, Spy Club, Machi Koro, Wasteland Express Delivery Service

- PHOTOGRAPHY / GRAPHIC DESIGN -

Cat & David Bock : Ravensburger, Eagle Gryphon, Grandpa Beck’s Games

- COSPLAY -

Monica Paprocki : Frosthaven, Geeks A Go-Go


Isaac Childres