The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design has announced the following nominees for the 36th Annual Origins Awards:
Card Game
The Isle of Dr. Necreaux – Alderac Entertainment Group
Martian Fluxx – Looney Labs
Poo – Catalyst Game Labs
The Stars are Right – Steve Jackson Games
Thunderstone – Alderac Entertainment Group
Board Game
Castle Panic – Fireside Games
Endeavor – Z-Man Games
Small World – Days of Wonder
Space Hulk – Games Workshop
Steam – Mayfair Games
Children’s, Family, or Party Game
Are You The Traitor? – Looney Labs
Duck! Duck! SAFARI! – APE Games
Pack and Stack – Mayfair Games
Ren Faire – Atlas Games
Word on the Street – Out of the Box Publishing
Roleplaying Game
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space – Cubicle 7 Entertainment
Eclipse Phase – Catalyst Game Labs
FantasyCraft – Crafty Games
A Song of Ice And Fire – Green Ronin Publishing
Supernatural Roleplaying Game – Margaret Weis Productions
Roleplaying Game Supplement
Big Damn Heroes Handbook – Margaret Weis Productions
The Day After Ragnarok – Atomic Overmind Press
Seattle 2072 – Catalyst Game Labs
Warriors & Warlocks – Green Ronin Publishing
Weird War II – Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Miniatures Figure or Line of Figures
Duke Rathar, Dragon Lord – Fantization Miniatures
Kings of War: Elves – Mantic Games
Marvel HeroClix: Hammer of Thor Expansion – WizKids
Monsterpocalypse Series 4 – Privateer Press
Warhammer Armies: Skaven – Games Workshop
Miniatures Rules
BattleTech: Strategic Operations – Catalyst Game Labs
HAVOC: Tactical Miniatures Warfare – Voodoo Ink Publishing
Larger Than Life – Two Hour Wargames
Warhammer 40K: Planetstrike – Games Workshop
Warmachine Prime Mk II – Privateer Press
Game Accessory
Arkham Horror Dice Set – Q-Workshop/Fantasy Flight Games
d20Pro – Mindgene, LLC
Forsaken Lands Poster Map – Maps of Mystery
Fortress of Redemption – Games Workshop
Knights of the Dinner Table – Kenzer and Company
Game-Related Book
BattleTech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction – Catalyst Game Labs
The Best of All Flesh – Elder Signs Press
Cthulhu 101 – Atomic Overmind Press
Deluge – Pinacle Entertainment Group
Legend of the Five Rings: Death at Koten – Alderac Entertainment Group
Historical Board Game or Expansion
The Hell of Stalingrad – Clash of Arms Games
Richard III: War of the Roses – Columbia Games
Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel – Academy Games
D-Day at Omaha Beach – Decision Games
Unhappy King Charles – GMT Games
Historical Miniatures Figure or Line of Figures
Wings of War Albatross D.III – Fantasy Flight Games
15mm Parachute Rifle Company – Battlefront Miniatures
15mm Ming Chinese – Old Glory Miniatures
28mm British Napoleonic Infantry – Victrix Miniatures
28mm World War I: Great War in Africa – Brigade Games
Historical Miniatures Rules
Flames of War: Open Fire – Battlefront Miniatures
Wings of War: World War II, Deluxe Edition – Fantasy Flight Games
Napoleon’s Battles, 3rd Edition – Lost Battalion Games
“La Salle” Napoleonic Tactical Wargame Rules – Sam Mustafa
Warlord Games Black Powder Rulebook – Warlord Games
Historical Miniatures Rules Supplement
Flames of War: North Africa – Battlefront Miniatures
Eternal Empire: The Ottomans at War – Osprey Publishing
Battles of the Seven Years War: Austria vs. Prussia – Test of Battle Games
Fields of Battle: Atacar es Vencer! – Spanish Civil War 1936 – Iron Ivan Games
Commonwealth Skirmish Scenarios – Southern Maryland Press
Incredibly – or perhaps not so incredibly, given my current playing habits – I’ve played all of the boardgames nominated. Castle Panic is the least of them by a fair way. It’s okay (perhaps) for young children, but not much more than that.
Interestingly, three of these games are rereleases or rethemes: Small World was originally published as Vinci, but the job Days of Wonder has done with it is astonishing. It’d be a worthy winner. Steam is a redone Age of Steam and has a fair bit of controversy about it, due to the ongoing legal issues between Martin Wallace and Winsome Games. It’s a very impressive game, though. Space Hulk is now very old-school, but the components are brilliant and the game is still solid.
Endeavour is a nice eurogame with a lot of good gameplay; it also has a superb box; the components are good but on a level below those of Small World and Space Hulk.
Honestly, of the remaining four games, I can’t really guess which would win.
Looking at the Historical Board Games list, the only game here I don’t know anything about is The Hell of Stalingrad. (Research says it’s made by a small game publisher, has excellent reports of the game play, less so of the components).
Richard III is the latest in Columbia Games’ set of block games; if you’ve played Hammer of the Scots, Richard III is similar in tone: good fun, not especially groundbreaking. The same could be said of Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel, the follow-up to the previous year’s Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear. It doesn’t quite work for me, but it has gorgeous components and good game play.
D-Day at Omaha Beach is unusual: a solo wargame (two players can play it, both taking the same side – that of the invading forces). Nice concept, and good game play. Unhappy King Charles is the latest in a range of Card-Driven Games from GMT Games. It’s another excellent game that is sitting on my shelf demanding to be played. (Unfortunately, there are several wargames sitting next to it *also* demanding to be played).
Once again, very hard to decide between these ones; I’d be happy to see any one of them win it.
I hope the Doctor Who RPG wins its award; it’s a quality game with great mechanics and components.
What is most significant about the list is what is not on it: Pathfinder, any D&D product, Warhammer FRPG. Apparently White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo and possibly Fantasy Flight Games (although that might be a Games Workshop decision) have chosen not to participate this year. It rather robs the Origins Awards of a lot of credibility when most of the major forces in the RPG world don’t participate – one wonders how many other worthy publishers aren’t participating?
You’re correct. Paizo chose not to participate this year, nor will we be attending the show. The value to cost ratio of attending Origins and even paying for books to be sent for consideration for the Awards is simply not worth it to us anymore (after several lackluster years), so we’ve chosen instead to use the money we would have spent on these programs to support our own local convention, Paizo Con, which is now entering its second year.
I’m sorry to hear that, Erik.
OTOH, I’m also sorry that attending PaizoCon is completely beyond me. (Heck, even attending more local conventions is a rarity for me).
I’m awaiting the first installment of your new Adventure Path with great anticipation, I must say. 🙂
Cheers,
Merric