The Kriegy Awards – end of 2015

Yeah I know this is late, the start to my year was pretty awful and I lost track of doing my yearly awards. Personally, it was not a fun year, I lost a sister and a friend to illness and work has been very slow. I spent less on games last year than I have in a long time, but got good mileage out of games I already owned. I also stopped playing Warmachine and Android for different reasons, but mostly because the effort required outweighed my enthusiasm for each game. In fact, this year has been dominated by two things, PC gaming and my Star Wars campaign. 

Anywho, Enough moaning about the last year. On with the awards.

The "F**k this, I give up" award

For model that most made me want to give up painting because anything I do will not be as cool as that.

This is a scratch built, custom model designed and painted by the incomparable Kirill Kanaev. The full gallery can be found here.

This is just breathtaking, it's absolutely perfect and a work of art. 

 The detail on his cloak is simply sublime, words fail me. 

 And that face........ He deliberately designed the figure to look like Daniel Craig, and it's simple perfection. I don't think i've ever seen a figures face remotely that good.

It's just.... wow. This is figure painting as art, pure and simple. 

The "What am I even looking at" award

For model that makes me think "what were they smoking" when they designed it.

I've mostly been playing Star Wars miniature games and haven't kept up with GW or Warmachine releases. I've seen some pretty awful Age of Sigmar models, but I could care less about that mess of a game.

The winners for me, are the heavy bombers from X-wing.

First up, the K-wing. To me, this doesn't look like it belongs in the Star Wars universe at all. It's a mess of a ship, with 2 cockpits, big wings and over the top missile pods. It just looks daft. But Probably not as bad as the Tie Punisher

I heard you like bombs to I took your bomber and added more bombs to it.

Sure, it looks like a tie fighter series ship, but it's so impractical looking. Also, does Sienar systems only have one ship designer, who really really likes that one look?

The Axos the Dark Rose memorial award

For best role-playing game book and or supplement.

Again, Star Wars has dominated here and we've really only been playing Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion. But Age of Rebellion won the award last year, so i'm going to have to include an RPG I played a while back that got a new edition.

Monster of the week is an awesome wee game and is designed by a local guy named Mike Sands. Essentially, it's playing games where the characters are investigators dealing with supernatural occurrences in the modern world, akin to Buffy, Angel, Supernatural and the Dresden files.

What makes the game for me is it's incredibly simple, yet deep, system that anyone can learn in 30 minutes. And its strong character creation system that relies on established archetypes and tropes in the system.

I highly recommend picking it up, it's a bargain

2014 Winner: Age of Rebellion

2013 Winner: Iron Kingdoms

The "leading cause of paper cuts this year" award

For best card game of the year

I haven't been playing Android this year, it's a very good game but I just haven't kept up with the expansions and have no idea what the local meta is like now. 

So i'm going to go with a game that got an expansion last year, Smash up. 

Smash up is a simple game with a lot going on. It's core rules are easy to learn, but the permutations with the game are limitless.

So far, I have around 28 factions for people to play, and all of them seem pretty reasonably balanced and quite unique. Sure, Zombies are almost certainly better than Miskatonic university, but I don't play the game for serious reasons.

2014 Winner: Android:Netrunner

2013 Winner: Android:Netrunner

The "The distant future, the year 2000" award

For game idea/concept that could change the gaming world.

Hands down this is XCOM the boardgame and its excellent use of technology.

XCOM didn't just use an app as a support piece that helps with the game, it is the core of the game as an integral as the board itself.

XCOM has a unique level of pressure and variability that can only be achieved in a game using an external system like the app. If players had to turn over cards, randomize things, or deal with manual timers, this game would not have the same breakneck pace and pressure. 

I can't wait to see what other applications are built in games, and how they can complement boardgaming, without destroying the essence of boardgaming. 

2014 Winner: 3D printing figures

The "Toy soliders are serious business!" award

For miniatures game of the year

Of the three Star Wars minaitires games released by FFG, I think Imperial Assault is the best of them.

They "fixed" descent, removing so many of the issues I had with Descent 1 and 2, and generally making a fast paced, tight and great game.

The "Ouch, my Wallet" award

For game that ruined my bank account.

As mentioned earlier, my finances have been a little short this year, so I was reluctant to sink $1000+ dollars into Cthulhu Wars, even though I really wanted to. So this is more of a "game that would have ruined my wallet", than one that actually did. 

I could have just forgotten about the game, but a friend of mine owns it and all the expansions (as they come out) and it's just a blast of a game.

It's similar, but different too Chaos in the Old World, a game I consider a classic. But it's production values are in a totally different world to any game out there. Simply, it's beautiful and I really want to paint the figures.  

My current plan is to pick up the core set, and then cherry pick expansions as they come out. A lot of the kickstarter stuff is over the top for me, I don't need glow in the dark old ones, so my expansion plans would be to pick them up slowly, targeting the new factions first and then the wacky stuff way later.  

2014 Winner: X-Wing

The "Sean Lincoln service to gaming in the community" award

For best local game support and generally being a good bastard

An easy one, and probably long overdue. Nigel has been organizing the netrunner community in my home city for the last 2 years.

He's a top bloke and a good guy to play with, and certainly not why I stopped playing :)

Without Nigel, we probably wouldn't have any events run or have people participating in nationals.

Cheers mate

The "What shall we do tonight, Pinky" award

For best boardgame of the year

No shocks here, XCOM is a brilliant game, with a unique premise, dripping in theme and hard as nails.

It's great as a group experience, the one co-op where people can't "play the game for you", because you simply don't have enough time.

It's also amazing as a solo experience, one game that will leave you mentally shattered. 

2014 Winner: Spartacus

2013 Winner: Battlestar Gallactica

The "Golden Kriegy" award

Overall winner For best game system of any kind for the year

You scrolled all the way down here to see who won the big award. Well, it's the bespoke "Talathen Sector Star Wars Campaign rules" designed by me!

Seriously though, this is my biggest boardgame design achievement ever, and it was a mammoth task to put together. Plus, it's been the game i've been playing solidly for 6 months with a good group of people. 

It's a lot of work, but it is hands down, my most rewarding tabletop home-brew i've ever made. Honourable mentions to the games that make up the combat system for the campaign, X-wing, Armada, Imperial Assault, Age of Rebellion and Edge of the Empire. 

I mean look at it, so many components i've assembled along with the rules to back it up. It's kinda cool to just look at something big you've done and go "good job dude!"

2014 Winner: Age of Rebellion

2013 Winner: Android:Netrunner