Another great group of nominated games, Greg.  My congratulations to the Jury.  About the only obvious omission I can think of is Caylus Magna Carta.  Did it come out too late to be considered?  Or was it thought by some to be too similar to last year’s winner to be nominated?

Other than that, it’s a strong match with my own favorites over that period, so that’s a sure sign you all got it right!  :-) Probably the only addition I’d make is Tempus, but there’s been far from universal support for that title.

This is going to be a hard race to handicap.  First off, there’s Thebes.  It lost by a hair to Caylus last year and now here comes a better looking version with probably more approachable rules.  An early favorite or will the Jury consider it yesterday’s news?

Then there’s Through the Ages, which you know is going to get rabid support from some voters.  But will it appeal to enough of them to win?

If the voters don’t want to slog through 4 hours of TtA, there are plenty of other meaty alternatives:  AoE, Canal Mania, Imperial.  But this is a group with two equally balanced factions and, last year’s winner notwithstanding, heavyweights like this might suffer, particularly if there isn’t an overwhelming favorite (that’s pretty much what happened in 2004, when St. Pete eked out a win over Power Grid and Goa).  So might a solid middleweight game, such as Notre Dame, Yspahan, or Pillars, emerge as a compromise winner?  Right now, it looks to me like this is a wide open race.

And the two-player field might be even tougher.  I predicted there would be a glut of great 2er nominees way back in May (not the toughest call I’ve ever made) and sure enough, it’s come to pass.  BattleLore has to be the early favorite, but Mr. Jack, Medici vs. Strozzi, and CC:E represent tremendous competition.

I’m really looking forward to seeing which games rise to the top.  But the nominees alone mean it’s been another great year for the IGA.

Another great group of nominated games, Greg.  My congratulations to the Jury.  About the only obvious omission I can think of is Caylus Magna Carta.  Did it come out too late to be considered?  Or was it thought by some to be too similar to last year’s winner to be nominated?

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I think the fact that it was released so late in during our “eligibility” year prevented it from being considered by some folks.  Even in that light, however, I honestly don’t think it would have made my personal Top 10 list, as I still prefer the original.

Larry -

I considered Caylus Magna Carta, but it didn’t make my top ten.

I know Thebes is highly regarded by some members of the jury but it didn’t make my list.  I feel the luck factor is still too huge.  If the excavations were changed to mitigate the luck I probably would have gone for it.

Now before people jump on me about this issue… I do realize that the luck of the excavations is part of the theme.  However, in my opinion, just because something works with the theme doesn’t mean it translates into good gameplay and I think the luck factor harms the gameplay.

Interestingly, three of my top five picks didn’t make it at all - Space Dealer, Fire & Axe, and Leonardo da Vinci.  I thought that all of these were more than deserving, but I’m reasonably comfortable with the games that were chosen instead.

I think you’re right - this is a wide open race.

- Rick

Rick;

I agree completely with your read on Thebes and excavations.

To me, the ‘luck of the draw’ in this aspect of the game, while thematically appropriate, has tremendous potential for what I’ve heard referred to as ‘Negative Player Experience’.  NPE moments are pretty clearly recognized (especially when they happen to you): it’s when you, usually through no fault of your own, feel like the game system ‘screwed you’.

Some games do a better job of mitigating the effect than others.  AoE III, for example, lets players choose how many dudes to send off on exploration AND keeps the distribution of exploration tiles/cards relatively stable.  Thus, you can get screwed but it’s usually your own bloody fault.

Spending seven weeks to come up empty, however… Ugh.

pk

On this entire list, I only own and have played Mr. Jack.  Love that game.  Bruno Cathala & Ludovic Maublanc make a great team.

Colosseum, I will probably buy but have not played because I am vacillating on the theme… at first I really liked it.

I guess I could be convinced into playing Age of Empires III.  The rest?  Eh.

This makes me throughly convinced that I play the fewest games of any game columnist out there.  Hence, this means I will not be joining the committee for International Gamers Awards any time soon.  (LOL)

However, my sincere compliments to the committee for really putting forth a tremendous effort to systematically evaluate & recognize great game designs in a subjective manner.  This is one gaming award that has big merit.

I haven’t played TtA yet, but my vote goes to Imperial. Waw!