The winners of the 2016 Origins Awards, as given out by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design at the Origins Game Fair, are:

• Game of the Year—Codenames from Czech Games
• Best Board Game—Star Wars: Imperial Assault from Fantasy Flight Games
• Best Card Game—7 Wonders Duel from Repos Productions
• Best Collectible Game—DC Comics Dice Masters: War of Light from WizKids
• Best Family Game—Codenames from Czech Games
• Best Game Accessory—Terrain Tiles from Lost Battalion Games
• Best Miniature Game—Star Wars Armada from Fantasy Flight Games
• Best Roleplaying Game—Star Wars: Force and Destiny from Fantasy Flight Games

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Space Rocks sells debris for the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game. In other words, the company produces models, hand-painted, of the same Star Wars space ships found in X-Wing but wrecked and in pieces. The idea is to use them as terrain, or background setting, like the asteroid tokens that come with the game, only much better looking.

On the subject of asteroids, Space Rocks also makes three-dimensional versions of them, as well as a space station, debris, and asteroid set for Star Wars Armada. And the company is currently taking preorders for a non-wrecked Escort Frigate, scaled for use in X-Wing.

Prices range from $35-55 for the asteroid or wreck sets. The Escort Frigate is $210 as a preorder ($260 at full price).

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Do you play Fantasy Flight Games’ X-Wing or Armada? The creators behind the Magnetic War Mats campaign on Kickstarter do, and they’re printing 36″ square and 36″ x 72″ magnetic rubber game mats to keep ships steadier on the playing field. The products that would be funded in this campaign can be ordered with or without printing; mats without printing can be placed under other company’s printed mats (such as Wings of Glory/War) to help prevent your ships from slipping during play. All of the currently-proposed prints are space scenes. Each set comes with either 20 or 40 neodymium magnets to attach to ships “completely flush with the bottom of [the X-Wing type] game base”. Mats begin at $20 unprinted, $40 for printed (with carrying travel case).

Tasty Minstrel Games is halfway through a campaign for two Eminent Domain-based products. Battlecruisers is a standalone game in the ED setting; Exotica is the second expansion to Eminent Domain. Already funded (over $70k as of this writing), TMG has added several stretch goals to the project. The base game was one of the first boardgame Kickstarter campaigns, launched in 2010, and is one of TMG’s flagpole games. Eminent Domain: Battlecruisers & Exotica‘s Kickstarter campaign ends on July 1st.

Meanwhile on IndieGoGo, there’s a papercraft car racing game called Papecarz. With a throwback 60’s design and plenty of Good Girl Art, Papecarz comes with track, stands, and six cars, all pre-cut and pre-creased. All you need is glue to assemble. Funding levels include a $29 for the game tier (with modern-day NASCAR-like cars), $10 more for six additional “vintage” race cars, and slightly higher tiers for custom car designs. This IndieGoGo campaign will only be funded if it hits the $5000 mark on July 14th.

Over on Patreon, Kaitlynn Peavler is creating stock illustrations. Her goal is to have weekly releases available to use by all patrons, with diverse characters “of many different ethnicities, genders, body types, and ages.” A $1 pledge gets you access to the images while a $10 pledge (limited slots) will let you suggest illustrations.

Lowell Francis is covering the history of roleplaying games, looking at a genre of games (like superhero, post-apocalyptic, and others) in a certain time period, describing how they fit into the culture of the time, and then listing games (with reviews, where possible) from that period. As an example, “History of Superhero RPGs (Part Four: 1993-1996)” beings with a personal look at the era and a review of the state of the comics industry at the time, followed by twelve different entries for the four-year period. Suggested pledge levels start at fifty cents.

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Fantasy Flight is releasing Start Wars: Armada next month, much to the delight of X-Wing fans. Armada plays on a bit of a larger scale than it’s predecessor, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing some impressive ships.

The core set will contain: a Victory-class Star Destroyer, Nebulon-B frigate, and CR90 Corellian corvette. All of these are pre-painted and as amazing looking as you’d expect.

Since we’re talking about a larger scale here, we should also mention a larger scale price. This set will run you $100 when it hits store shelves.

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