Dave Chalker, reporting live from the Origins Game Fair, has posted the results of the annual Origins Awards over at Critical-Hits. The Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design nominates products for the awards, but final selection is by votes of Origins convention attendees. And the winners are…

• Miniatures Rules: Classic Battletech by Catalyst Game Labs
• Miniatures or Miniatures Line: Titania’s Fury by Dragonfire Laser Crafts
• Collectible Card Game: Legend of the Five Rings by Alderac Entertainment Group
• Historical Miniature Game: Check Your 6! by Skirmish Campaigns
• Historical Miniatures Line: Romano-British 15mm by Splintered Light Miniatures
• Historical Board Game: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery by Tropical Games
• Non-Fiction Publication: Hobby Games: The 100 Best by Green Ronin
• Fiction Publication: Astounding Hero Tales by Hero Games
• Game Accessory: Call of Cthulhu Dice Set by Q-Workshop
• Roleplaying Game Supplement: Codex Arcanis by Paradigm Concepts
• Roleplaying Game: Aces & Eights by Kenzer and Co.
• Traditional Card Game: Zombie Fluxx by Looney Labs
• Board Game or Expansion: Starcraft: The Board Game by Fantasy Flight Games
• Hall of Fame Inductees: R.A. Salvatore, Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf, and Paranoia by Mongoose Publishing

I’ll put in a personal recommendation for Hobby Games: The 100 Best. The book is comprised of 100 essays, each written by a different established professional in the games business to describe their individual choice for best hobby game. You may not agree with all the entries, but the collection provides fantastic insight into the breadth and history of the hobby games industry.

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Trail of the Brotherhood is a card driven board game by the creator of Arkham Horror, Richard Launius. In fact, it was dreamed up by Mr Launius over 15 years ago, and has only seen the light of day in the form of three extant prototypes. In the game, one person plays the forces of chaos and the others try to stop him.

Every time he tries to get it to print, strange men with yellow eyes visit his house and draw unearthly circles on his front door.

Now Eos Press actually plans to put it into print, I expect that this is the last we will ever hear from Mr Launius.

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Texas Glory: 1835-36 by Columbia Games was originally called Remember the Alamo.

It’s a new block war game that starts with the preliminary 1835 clashes when the Texans expelled the Mexican garrison from San Antonio de Bejar. It then covers Santa Anna’s 1836 surprise late winter campaign that began with his recapture of the Alamo, but ended with Texan victory at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21,1836.

I’m guessing the name changed because they added additional scenarios.

You can pre-order the game for $40.

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Cannonball Colony is a new limited edition game from Adventureland. From its rules and description, it appears to be something like Settlers of Catan with cannons:

It is the golden age of colonialism and a beautiful deserted island has just been discovered. Unfortunately, ships from different countries have arrived at the same time to claim it!
You take the role of one of these countries in the fight for supremacy on the island. Build a strategic network of roads and forts to extend your influence. Set up cannons in the right positions to blow away your opponents. The player with the most forts standing at the end of the game wins the island for his country!

(information)

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Another in the line of games to promote health, Carb Cards are flash cards that associate foods with their carbohydrate count.

Although primarily used for ordering your diet, you can play games with them, such as a variant of Concentration where you try to find matching card counts, and so on.

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The Leaf Chronicle writes about game rooms. With rising fuel and travel prices, many families are opting not to take that vacation to the next country or even the next state.

Now’s the time to ensure that your home can double for all your entertainment needs, which includes a well-stocked game room. The source talks about pool tables, but you get the idea.

(source, image)

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Unfortunately, Wordpress is too stupid to allow me to embed objects from sites it doesn’t recognize, so you’ll just have to visit gametrailers.com to get your fix.

(hat tip)

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Oliver Burkeman of The Guardian wrote an extensive article on the history of Scrabble. Gems include:

• The highest theoretical score in one play (for 1,778 points)
• 150 million Scrabble sets sold and 30,000 games started each hour (Mattel)
• A quip about why the luck in Scrabble makes it a better game than Chess
• “The Study of Games”, the research material Butts compiled to analyze what game to invent
• Some fresh tidbits about the personal life of Butts after inventing the game

(source)

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The Hunt for Illidan is the sixth expansion for the World of Warcraft CCG.

The game is meant to be played offline, but includes codes to enhance your online gaming experience in case you don’t really believe that.

Booster packs available from Upper Deck.

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The Settlers of Catan World Championships will be held Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 16-17, at GenCon in Indianapolis IN.

The US, Australian, and Western and Eastern Canadian qualifiers are done (the Canadian Eastern qualifier happened yesterday, results are not yet in). Origins is featuring two qualifying events, with the second happening today.

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