Let me start with another quick "thank you" for all of you out there reading my blog.  After a record-breaking month in July (with over 7,300 visits to my site), you've done it again in August.  But this time, it wasn't even close, with GamerChris.com racking up 11,240 Total Visits, 294 Comments, and 6106 Entry Views in one month alone.  I am both thrilled and humbled.

But anyway, let's get on with the point of this post, which is all about Awards!!!

Dice Tower Awards

Tom Vasel recently announced the winners of the annual Dice Tower Awards, and here's what they look like:

Best Reprint - Tales of the Arabian Nights
Best Production - Space Hulk (3rd edition)
Best Party Game - Dice Town
Best New Designer - Colby Dauch for Summoner Wars
Best Expansion - Pandemic: On the Brink
Best Artwork - Small World
Best Wargame - Richard III
Best Small Publisher - Plaid Hat Games for Summoner Wars
Most Innovative - Tobago
Best Family Game - Small World
Game of the Year - Small World

For the most part, I think this is a good list.  I like having a lot of categories, both so that you're comparing alike things and to spread around the wealth a little bit.  As far as winners go, I was certainly excited to see Tales of the Arabian Nights reprinted, and Z-Man did a great job with it, so that would probably have been my choice as well.  I really need to try out Summoner Wars, and I even own a copy of the Orc/Elf starter, but due to the 2-player issues I have at game night, it hasn't hit the table yet.   Tobago won for having Coolest Game Mechanics from my game group last year, so that's on point, too, of course.

Small World was the big winner, and I think that it's mostly worthy.  It definitely had a very strong and appealing artistic design that gave it an immediate and recognizable "brand", so I think it was a great choice for Best Artwork.  Family Game may have been a little bit of a stretch, but I can still see it.  And while I personally may have put a few other games ahead of it for Game of the Year, it's still a pretty solid choice (especially considering the other games that were nominated, which wasn't a very strong list overall in my opinion). 

Dice Town is a party game?  Really???  It's a weak nomination (let alone winner), especially when something like Telestrations wasn't even nominated.     

International Gamers Awards

The nominees for the 2010 International Gamers Awards were also announced recently.  Here's what's on the ballot:

General Strategy Games – multi-player

• Age of Industry, by Martin Wallace (Treefrog Games)
• Dungeon Lords, by Vlaada Chvátil (Czech Games Edition)
• Egizia, by Acchittocca (Hans im Glück)
• Endeavor, by Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray (Z-Man Games)
• Fresco, by Marcel Süsselbeck, Marco Ruskowski & Wolfgang Panning (Queen Games)
• Glen More, by Matthias Cramer (alea)
• Hansa Teutonica, by Andreas Steding (Argentum Verlag)
• Last Train to Wensleydale, by Martin Wallace (Treefrog Games)
• Macao, by Stefan Feld (alea)
• Power Grid: Factory Manager, by Friedemann Friese (2F-Spiele)
• Rise of Empires, by Martin Wallace (Phalanx Games/Mayfair Games)
• Shipyard, by Vladimir Suchy (Czech Games Edition)
• Vasco da Gama, by Paolo Mori (What's Your Game?)
• World Without End, by Michael Rieneck & Stefan Stadler (Kosmos)

General Strategy Games – two-player

• Burger Joint, by Joe Huber (Rio Grande Games)
• Campaign Manager 2008, by Christian Leonhard & Jason Matthews (Z-Man Games)
• Claustrophobia, by Croc (Asmodee)
• Jaipur, by Sébastien Pauchon (GameWorks)
• Stronghold, by Ignacy Trzewiczek (Portal Publishing)

The first thing that strikes me about the nominations is the fact that I haven't played most of them.  From the list, my (obvious) choice in the multiplayer category would be Macao, but I wouldn't even have a vote for 2-player since I haven't played any of them.  If some other people in my group would get busy buying all of them, I'd love to know more about them.

Do y'all have any thoughts about the Dice Tower Awards winners or the IGA nominations?