INTERNATIONAL GAMERS AWARDS ANNOUNCES THE 2003 FINALISTS & WINNERS

The International Gamers Awards is extremely proud and excited to announce the finalists and recipients for the 2003 IGA, a set of awards which recognizes outstanding strategy board games in three categories. 

Please note that there is a new "eligibility period" for games in the General Strategy category. 

In order for a game to be eligible for the General Strategy category, a game must have been released on or after July 1^st of the previous year and no later than June 30^th of the current year.  This has been done so that finalists and recipients can be announced closer to the more common release dates by game publishers.

However, so as not to overlook the games that were released during the period of January 1st - June 30th of 2002, the committee awarded a special IGA for that time period.  The gmaes listed below were the finalists and the winner for that time period.

1)  General Strategy, Multi-Player category:  Puerto Rico.  Designed by Andreas Seyfarth and released by Alea and Rio Grande Games. Founding a new land has never been so engaging.  Players must balance numerous factors as they try to operate the most prosperous colony in Puerto Rico.  Which role will you play in this new world:  Prospector? Governor? Settler? Trader?  The ultimate goal is to achieve the greatest prosperity
and highest reputation.  Grow and harvest crops, sell and ship goods, construct buildings, populate the island -- how will you best manage the various paths to prosperity and victory?  Puerto Rico is a game deep with excitement and strategy -- a rich gaming experience.

2)  Historical Simulations:  Hammer of the Scots.  Designed by Jerry Taylor and Tom Dagliesh, this Columbia Games release features the popular "block" system.  Wooden blocks represent units and face away from the enemy, injecting the 'fog of war' concept.  Blocks can be rotated as unit strength changes.  This two-player game creates the campaigns of Scottish heroes Wallace and The Bruce against the English occupiers.  A simple but deep game system joins with attractive components and historical flavor to create a wargame that anybody could enjoy.

The complete list of the finalists for the 2003 IGA were:

General Strategy Games, Multi-Player

(EDITOR’S NOTE:  Special thanks to Greg Aleknevicus, Ben Baldanza, Ronald Hoekstra and Stuart Dagger for the game descriptions and  FUNAGAIN GAMES for use of the pictures)

Historical Simulation Games

(EDITOR’S NOTE:  Special thanks to Alan Poulter and Allan Rothberg for the game descriptions and FUNAGAIN GAMES for use of the pictures. )

	1777:  YEAR OF THE HANGMAN Ed Wimble Clash of Arms In 1777 two players refight the crucial New Jersey summer campaign to take Philadelphia.  One player takes the role of General William Howe and his veteran troops and the other the role of George Washington and his mixed force of Continental regulars and state militias. A 22" x 34" map covering parts of NJ, PA, MD and DE, done in period style graphics, and a single sheet with colorful uniform art counters mean that players have only a limited amount of room to maneuver and small numbers of troops with which to accomplish their objectives. Each side also has its own particular limitations and must overcome them to best the opponent. (Howe was closely tied to his baggage trains; Washington had to fight with a smaller, less well trained army.) The game has moderately easy mechanics that focus on Command, Supply, Maneuver and Combat. Several shorter scenarios are included that focus on key battles.
	ADVANCED TOBRUK Ray Tapio Critical Hit Tobruk was orginally published by Avalon Hill in 1975. Based on extensive research and data collected by Hal Hock it became a legend as a super-detailed tactical North Africa game. In this edition the original system has been extensively re-worked and streamlined. Infantry is represented by individual officers, gun crews and squads, while ordnance and vehicles are represented as individual guns and tanks. Terrain is 50 yards per hex and each turn represents 2 minutes of real time. Game play is highly interactive and there are 24 scenarios and nearly 1000 vehicle counters ongeomorphic maps, enough to keep players engrossed for ages!
	BARBAROSSA TO BERLIN Ted Raicer GMT Ted Raicer takes his award winning system from Paths of Glory to World War 2. As the title implies, BtoB covers the war in Europe from the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union to the fall of Berlin. A single map with point to point movement and Army/Front sized units give the two players all the tools they need to recreate this, the largest land war of all time, in one package. The engine that drives the game is the card system. Each player can only activate so many units or reinforce his army or replace losses or execute critical political and economic events with each card play. With about 6 card plays per player per turn and only 20 turns, the game moves along nicely. More time will likely be spent sweating out which card to play than executing the resulting actions. That decision making aspect keeps BtoB a tense, exasperating experience in resource management and balance.
	BELISARIUS Joe Miranda Decision Games Belisarius is a two player game on the conquest of the Roman Empire by Justinian, Emperor of Eastern Rome (the Byzantines) during 527-564 AD.  It was published in Strategy and Tactics magazine and uses the same game system as Charlemagne and Xenophon, earlier games in the magazine. After checking for random events, taxing provinces and recruiting troops, forces can move, based on a die roll plus othe factors (e.g. leaders). The enemy can react, againif permitted by die roll. The game is thus a cut and thrust affair, with battles being fought either to the death or for positional advantage. All in all this is a quick, fun game that always plays out differently on an unusual period of history.
	DRIVE ON STALINGRAD Ty Bomba Decision Games Drive on Stalingrad, is a new design and not to be confused with an earlier SPI/TSR game with the same title. It is a two-player strategic-level simulation of the German attempt to conquer Stalingrad in 1942. The German player is initially on the offensive in the first scenario, but in the second scenario (on Operation Uranus) the Russian player gets their revenge with a full-blown counter-offensive. The game system is turn-based, with zones of control, untried units and a standard odds-based combat results table. German divisions and Russian tank and mechanised corps, along with abstracted air power, slug it out on the Eastern Front in this classic game of armoured warfare.
	HAMMER OF THE SCOTS Jerry Taylor & Tom Dalgliesh Columbia Games Columbia Games has a trademark of producing 'block' games and this one is no exception. Blocks represent units and face away from the enemy, giving 'fog of war'. Blocks can be rotated as unit strength changes. This two-player game creates the campaigns of Scots heroes Wallace and the Bruce against the English. In a turn each player plays five cards, which either cause events or activate for movement all the blocks in an area. Enemy units in the same area battle with better quality units firing first, using to-hit dice rolls. Winning is determined by who controls the majority of Scots nobles. A simple but deep game system joins with great looking components and historical flavour to form a wargame that anybody could enjoy.
	THE KILLING GROUND Mark Hinkle New England Simulations The Killing Ground covers the two month campaign by the Allies to break out from the Normandy beaches. The game positions itself between an operational and tactical level study. While units are primarily regiments and individual batallions of divisions, and only indirect fire artillery can attack from afar, unit differentiation is quite specific. The two players will soon discover why the Allies feared the 88s or what the Axis must have experienced under the Allied air and artillery bombardments. The Allied player must duplicate the real life combined arms team assaults to make any progress through the stifling bocage. Unit effectiveness, a measure of training, experience and elan, is every bit as important as raw firepower in this game. If you think that Monty suffered from a case of the "slows", just try and take the key city of Caen with the crippling restriction of next to no replacement riflemen. If you think the Axis could have driven the Allies back into the sea, take the 7th Armee and see what you can do.
	NAPOLEONIC WARS Mark McLaughlin GMT A member of the We the People family of card-driven wargames, this is a multiplayer (from two to seven) game on the entire Napoleonic Wars. Players represent countries and maneuver armies, leaders and navies over a map of Western Europe. The play of cards generates events, enables movement and combat, changes the diplomatic status of major and minor powers and brings on new units. Each turn can see the game end and this keeps players on their toes! The mechanics of the game capture the feel of Napoleonic warfare at the highest level, and the interplay of cards and strategies is extremely rich and challenging.
	PRUSSIA'S GLORY Bob Kalinowski GMT Prussia's Glory covers four of Frederick the Great's most famous battles, Rossbach, Leuthen, Zorndorf and Torgau. It has a standard turn sequence in which each side moves and fights, while rules for stacking of units, movement, and zones of control create the tactical 'linear' battles of the era.  Once lines of opposing units engage they are limited in their capacity to respond, but momentum attacks allow the breaking or roll-up of a line. To streamline combat only one combat results table is needed. Players must maneuver first and second lines of infantry, and deploy cavalry and artillery in support, in this fast playing simulation of a hitherto under-appreciated era.
	REDS Ted Raicer GMT A fairly unexplored arena of warfare in the 20th Century is the Russian Civil War. In Reds! two players lead the two major factions of that war to decide the fate of post World War 1 Russia. In addition to the red and whites factions, there are units representing the myriad parties involved in Russia during the tumultuous years of 1918 to 1921: Allied Intervention Forces; Poles; Germen Freikorps; Georgians; Lithuanians; Latvians; Azerbaijanis; Ukrainians; and the dread Makhno anarchists. River Flotillas, armored trains, tanks, aircraft and partisans help round out the truly chaotic mix of units and factions that struggled back and forth across the vast landscape of Russia and the surrounding areas. Fairly simple game mechanics let the players concentrate on the strategic aspects of the war without getting drowned in a sea of detail.
	STREETS OF STALINGRAD Dana Lombardy & Art Lupinacci L2 Design Group Streets of Stalingrad is the first release from L2 Design Group. Originally published in the 1970s by Phoenix games and then again (in 2 parts) by Nova Games, SoS once again is in print. However, this is not merely a re-issue of the same game. Updated with revised orders of battle and a quicker combat resolution system, SoS3 is, in essence, a new design. Lavish graphics, elaborate play aids, and historic illustrations all make this a true labor of love. SoS3 is two player game (although readily adaptable to multi-player) of the block by block, street by street struggle of the German 6th Army to seize control of the city of Stalingrad from the Soviet 62 Army. Pieces representing companies, platoons and batteries vie for each hex of the cartographic map of the city and the surrounding area. 3 maps (with 7/8" hexes) and over 2,300 (5/8") counters appear, all or in part, in individual scenarios and combined scenarios and, of course, the grand campaign. (The game also includes historical commentaries, an example of play book, scads of charts and tables and, for those smart enough to purchase the game in advance, an audio CD of the War College presentation discussion of the game.
	VON MANSTEIN'S BACKHAND BLOW Dirk Blennemann GMT vMBB is the 4th game in the TTT east front series, although the first to be published by GMT. A two player game recreating the Soviet drive to take Kharkov and the Dnepr river crossings and the  German counter offensive orchestrated by Erich von Manstein. Basic IGoYouGo mechanics are enhanced by up to 3 preparatory schwerpunkt phases for each player, but with only limited activation of forces during these phases. The system also includes randomly drawn combat modifier chits, which are based on the tactical competence of the forces involved. A single map and 342 counters of primarily regimental and divisional size give both players plenty of opportunity for attack, defense and counterattack.