Don’t forget we’ve still got the Readers Choice Award voting going on for all your favorites from 2013.
We’ve got tabletop games for strategy games, wargames, magazine content, and expansions, as well as the overall Tabletop Game of the Year.
Over in the digital gaming polls, we’ve got categories for wargames, RTS games, RPGs, expansions, and mobile games, as well as the overall Digital Game of the Year.
Hey, it’s still Friday somewhere…
This week is an all-tabletop-gaming week, even though they aren’t all games, per se. Read on, friends!
VCS: Salerno, Multi-Man Publishing
Multi-Man Publishing is kicking out a new series of games called the Variable Combat System, and Salerno is the first title. Amphibious assaults, coordinated actions across multiple maps, and alternate histories that include options for airborne assaults, and different commanders. Awesome Eskubi artwork, revolutionary mechanics, what are you waiting for? Head over to the pre-order page and plunk down your shekels.
Earthdawn RPG, FASA Corporation
$28,600 of $10,000 goal, Ends 12 February
The original ’90s-era Earthdawn was lavishly-illustrated and notoriously fiddly. The reboot looks fan-freaking-tastic and promises to play just as good as it looks. The risk setting was always the hallmark of Earthdawn, and the Kickstarter campaign includes all manner of add-ons, upgrades, and stretch goals that build out the world, from new adventures to location sourcebooks. You can pick up poster art, hard- or soft-cover books, and, for a cool $1200, play an eight-player game with the creator by video chat. Or, you could just check out the Kickstarter page and order a copy of the game. Continue reading
ed note: After the shutdown of Twiigs.com, our polls disappeared, so you’ll see a lot of headers, but no polls, on older Readers Choice posts. We’re using someone new now, so perhaps the older polls will still be visible.
Now – getcher votes in! Tell your friends! Come back at the end of the month to see who wins!
note that we got absolutely no (zero, zip, zilch, nada) nominations for any miniatures games
Tabletop Wargame of the Year
Tabletop Strategy Game of the Year
1. What was the highlight of the past year in gaming for you?
2. What do you think will be the biggest news in gaming in 2014?
We put no other constraints on them for subject matter, self-promotion, or response length. As you can imagine, we got a wide array of responses.
Mark H Walker, Designer, Lock’n’Load Publishing
2013 – Seeing the explosion of new titles on Kickstarter. Probably the best non-LNLP game that I played was Band of Brothers, but Legendary and Sentinels of the Multiverse were a close second.
2014 – Big deal of next year will be Golem Arcana. It looks to seamlessly meld board and digital. That and the importance of Kindle Direct Publishing as Indy authors continue to erode the market share of the traditional publishers.
Tim Van der Moer, CEO, The Lordz Games Studio
2013 – For me number one has been getting the Panzer Corps series out on iPad. On big games, I really enjoyed GTA V and Assassins Creed Black Flag.
2014 – Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon cross platform will be our big highlight for sure. On traditional videogames, I am really curious to see how the Xbox One will evolve into a cross media entertainment system.
Matthew B. Caffrey Jr, Command Lead, AF Future Capabilities Game
2013 – The first Connections UK. Run in the UK by British wargames Connections UK extends Connections mission to advance and sustain the Art, science and application of wargaming to the UK and Europe. As it is less costly in time and money for Europeans to get to the UK 75 individuals from about a dozen countries participated at Kings College London.
2014 – If it is pulled off, the first Connections Australia.
Brian Train, Game Designer
2013 – My personal highlight in gaming was seeing A Distant Plain roll out. In less than 18 months, Volko Ruhnke and I went from “hey, we should do this” to a beautifully produced, challenging wargame on a very contemporary subject.
2014 – I think the next Big News thing will be wargames produced for tablets (iPads and so forth). No idea how many will actually be produced, or if they will be any good, but people will be talking about them. I won’t be programming any of them, but at least for now they will be ports of manual (board) games, so there’s opportunity there for all of us. Continue reading
Authors: Brant Guillory and Jim Zabek
If this winter has taught us one thing here in LongBladia, it is that it can always get colder and snowier. The highs next week are forecast to be subzero Fahrenheit. Simply put, it would be wise to stay indoors, peruse some crowd-funded gaming projects, and sip hot cocoa. If you must go outside, make sure you run by your local game store and thank them for getting out in the cold to open their doors and sell you games. It’s the least you can do.
But, what we can do here at GrogHeads is share some of the recon we’ve conducted on upcoming projects. So grab your mouse and hot cocoa and get ready for some temptation!
Wise Bayonets by Acies Games
Available for Purchase
When a Napoleonic wargame is published in the Italian peninsula about a battle that took place on their soil, it’s worth a gander. Acies Games has published a number of games that range from ancient Rome to control for the island of Sardinia and beyond. To call these battles “obscure” is to deny our wargaming roots; we love this stuff! The chance to learn about the nuances of forgotten conflicts, to possibly change the course of history…this is the meat and potatoes of wargaming. And gamers seeking to refight the battle of Trebbia now have the opportunity to do so. No, it’s not crowd-funded, but it’s definitely worth checking out: http://www.aciesedizioni.it/trebbia-eng.htm
Fief – France 1429 by Academy Games
$47,524 pledged of $20,000 goal, ending February 11th
Academy Games is no stranger to porting foreign language games into English, polishing them, andreleasing them to the English-speaking wargaming wilds. Fief – France 1429 is an existing French language game of medieval “dynastic ambition.” Players take control of one of four families, with which they use to attempt to gain control of various villages on the map. Players must both cooperate and compete with each other through marriages and alliances. Events such as papal annulments, good and bad harvests all pop up to help keep things interesting. And having already met its successful threshold for fundraising, players can expect unlocks of stretch goals to continually improve this game. Check it out on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617871702/fief-france-1429
Gathering Storm by GMT Games
P500 not yet filled
What’s that you say? A World at War wasn’t big enough or long enough for your gaming tastes? Fear not, for Gathering Storm is here to fill the void. With Gathering Storm players can start the ramp-up to the Second World War as early as 1935. This prequel allows gamers to fiddle with the “what-ifs” leading up to the war, which can range from Doenitz successfully getting a significant investment in his submarine fleet to the French extending the Maginot Line, to the conflict breaking out in other parts of the world first, such as a French pre-emptive attack, or Germany going after Russia first. Crazy? Crazy like only a wargamer can be. This is the stuff we live for, and if you’re man enough to play A World at War you’re definitely going to want to get in on Gathering Storm’s action. Check it out here: http://www.gmtgames.com/p-467-gathering-storm.aspx