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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Dice Tower awards 2011! Part 1

I have been listening to the Dice tower podcast for some time now and following their video reviews. I am even contributing in my little way to their dicetowernews.com site and I am hoping to have a game or two with Tom and the gang at Gencon 2012!
Recently they have announced their nominations for the Dice tower awards 2011! You can find the link here.
Lets take a look at the awards and my thoughts shall we? :)

Game of the year
Nominations are:
A Few Acres of Snow - Haven't played this yet so I cannot comment on this. But I've heard a lot of controversies. Its available for online play too as well.
The Ares Project - One from our gaming group has it but I haven't had the chance to play it as well.
The Castles of Burgundy - Played this. Its quite similar to Kingsburg in terms of using the dice to purchase tiles and resources. Lots of tiles to manage and they are not of very good quality. Still not a bad game.
Eclipse - One from our gaming group has it as well and I haven't had the chance.
King of Tokyo - Great filler. I did a review on this before. Quite a nice game.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - Never played this before.
Mage Knight - Ah managed to play this once. Did not complete it but have good feelings about it.
Quarriors! - Loads of dice but the gameplay needs tweaking to make it fun. Still not too bad for me.
Risk Legacy - This is a very unique game and its main attraction is that the board will change as players make permanent changes to the board and game. It also means that no 2 games are alike! Not too bad after a few plays. Our group has yet to complete 15 games!
Star Trek: Fleet Captains - Ah I have this! I Do! But I have not managed to bring this to the table yet :(

My Choice: Risk Legacy. Not really for the game play, but the innovation that it brought forth. I wonder if there will be other games that will mimic it. We shall see....
What I think people will vote for: Eclipse. From all the podcasts that I have listened to and the reviews so far, this has the greatest appeal and publicity. Everyone wanted a Twilight Imperium light and in Eclipse, they have found it.

Best Family Game
Nominations are:
Flash Point: Fire Rescue - Haven't played this but it is a co-operative game which I have very little interest in.
Kingdom Builder - This is actually quite a light game but with the different variations of cards that maybe brought into play as well as the modular interchangeable boards, there is quite a lot of replay value. I have heard the expansion makes it a 5 player game and adds a lot of fun! Hope to be able to play this again.
King of Tokyo
Quarriors!
Say Anything Family Edition - Never played this.

My Choice: King of Tokyo. With the fun art and large sized dice, this is a great family game.
What I think people will vote for: King of Tokyo. I have heard Tom mentioned about it in the podcast before though not sure if the other podcasters (or voters) will also like it as much.

Best New Game Designer
Nominations are:
Jason Little for Blood Bowl: Team Manager - I have this game and played it only once. I need to get it out more often. I am quite drawn to warhammer universe so I will be holding on to this a while.
Kevin Lanzing for Flash Point: Fire Rescue
Brian and Geoff Engelstein for The Ares Project - Father and son team. Quite cool their back story.
Christopher Badell and Paul Bender for Sentinels of the Multiverse - Haven't played this and I have heard very mixed reviews.
David Gregg for Nightfall - Haven't played this as well but heard quite good reviews on this. The iOS version is out.

My Choice: David Gregg.
What I think people will vote for: David Gregg. Nightfall has had very good reviews and now with the iOS, I am sure the reach will be increased exponentially.

Best Game Reprints
Nominations are:
Can't Stop - Haven't played this but its a push your luck game. The new version looks to have good components.
Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War - 2 player game with mahjong looking tiles. Haven't played this though.
Evo - I have this new version and I have played the previous version. The new version has nice components but some of the pieces are a bit too extra. Not a bad game but the previous version is cuter.
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (2nd edition) - I have this and signed by the designer as well because I bought it from the Jack Vasel Auction. I love this game. Lots of intrigue and backstabbing. A good group will definitely help in making the game exciting.
Puerto Rico: Anniversary Edition - Haven't played this edition yet.

My Choice: A Game of Thrones. Definitely. Positively :)
What I think people will vote for: Can't Stop. Everyone loves a filler and this is easy to pick up and enjoyed by a lot of people.


Phew... a lot to go thru. I will continue in another post :)



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