Larry Levy:  2006 Designer of the Year

Last year at this time, I brought up the subject of an award for the designer who had the best body of work during the previous calendar year, rather than for just the single best game.  Since the SdJ jury has yet to return my emails, I decided to do it myself.  In late 2005, I published a list of my Designer of the Year choices from 1958 to 2004.  For 2005, I selected Reiner Knizia as my pick.  Who will win the coveted Designer of the Year award for 2006?

Well let’s find out, shall we?  I’ve listed the designers that I think had the best collection of games for the last twelve months, along with the games that earned them that consideration.  I haven’t included hardcore wargame titles, since I don’t know those games well at all, but all other kinds of designs—euros, CCG’s, dexterity games, you name it—are eligible.  I’ve used the following abbreviations to signify the awards, nominations, and honors each game has earned.  S, D, and I shows an SdJ, DSP, and IGA winner, respectively; s, d, and i shows a nomination for each of these awards (in the case of the DSP, it’s a top ten finish).  Of course, the Essen releases might still earn some awards and nominations later this year, but we’ll have to leave those predictions to the crystal ball gazers.  Finally, games in italics are redesigns or expanded versions of titles that were released in earlier years.

By the way, one of the interesting things you’ll find this year is which designers are missing.  Kramer and Moon are both conspicuous by their absence; you’d have to go back to 1997 to find the last year that at least one of those heavyweights wasn’t among the finalists.  Dorn is missing for the first time in several years.  Teuber and Dorra are absent as well.  Hey, even the best have years in which there just aren’t that many hits.

But let’s focus on the designers who did make it.  Here, in alphabetical order, are the nominees:

Richard Borg – BattleLore; Commands and Colors: Ancients; Narnia Risk Junior

Three designs usually aren’t enough to merit serious consideration for DotY (and for all intents and purposes, it’s only two, as Narnia Risk made nary an impact).  But when the two games both spend considerable amounts of time in the Geek’s top ten rated games of all time, it’s time to make an exception.  (Ancients currently ranks twelfth, while BattleLore is a dizzying fifth!) C&C:A dazzled both the wargaming and eurogaming worlds following its release in January and BattleLore’s impact seems to be even greater.  With expansions galore being promised for BattleLore, it could well be one of the major forces in gaming for years to come.

Lest I start handing the award to Richard before we even get started, I have one major caveat.  Both games come from the same base system and I have to assign a penalty for that.  Even though there are significant differences in the two games, the heart of both designs is the basic Commands and Colors engine.  Will this one-two punch still be enough for a Designer of the Year award?  Patience, grasshopper.

Bruno Cathala – Mr. Jack; Mission: Red Planet; Cleopatra and the Society of Architects; Du Balai!; Tomahawk; Animalia; Paparazzi

Cathala’s been making a steady progression up the designer hit charts (first Queen’s Necklace, then Boomtown, then last year’s Shadows Over Camelot).  This year, he hit the mother lode.  Mr. Jack is being hailed as perhaps the best two-player deduction game ever; Mission (I know I listed this as a 2005 design in last year’s column, but it was delayed) and Cleopatra are both getting good reviews and solid ratings; and Du Balai won the As d’Or, the French Game of the Year.  The other three games are fairly light, but have all been received reasonably well.  In fact, Animalia would probably be a good seller if it ever gets released to the general public.

A long list of well regarded games will often bring some DotY bling.  All that’s really missing is a knockout game at the top of the collection.  That could be a concern; certainly nothing in Bruno’s portfolio comes close to either of the C&C games.  But even with this gap, Cathala is unquestionably in the running.  He is no longer merely the “other�? Bruno.

Vlaada Chvatil – Through the Ages; Graenaland

It isn’t often that a designer single-handedly puts an entire country on the gaming map, but newcomer Chvatil has certainly done that for the Czech Republic.  Through the Ages continues to maintain its astronomical average rating on the Geek and is being hailed as one of the best games of the year by many of the lucky few who own it.  Graenaland is also well regarded as an interesting Settlers-like design.  Chvatil’s two games don’t quite stack up to Borg’s, so he’s not in contention for the top spot, but this marvelous break out year certainly puts this previously unknown design up among the year’s best.

Leo Colovini – Masons(d); Justinian; Cartagena II; Dschinghis Khan; Nebraska; Kakuro

Another sizable output for Signore Colovini, although Nebraska and Kakuro are both almost entirely unknown.  But though there was quantity, there was very little quality this year.  Dschinghis Khan has been absolutely skewered (the original Genghis couldn’t have done it more damage than the reviewers).  Justinian fared a little better, but there’s a sizable and very vocal group who completely hates it.  Cartagena II, somewhat surprisingly, has been mostly ignored.  That leaves Masons, which sports a pretty good rating at the Geek and has a reasonably good batting average with some confirmed Leo haters.  But the failure to win the SdJ nomination that many predicted for it relegates it to also ran status.  In any event, there’s not nearly enough here for serious consideration.  Maybe next year, Leo.

Bruno Faidutti – Warrior Knights; Mission: Red Planet; Silk Road; Tomahawk

The Dean of Modern French Gaming found yet more people to co-design with in 2006.  In fact, in his most notable game, Warrior Knights, his co-designers did their work before (original designer Derek Carver) and after (FFG developer Corey Konieczka) Bruno added his input!  The success of that game, along with Red Planet, makes this another fine year for Faidutti, although probably not as impressive as that of his countryman Cathala.

Reiner Knizia – Blue Moon City(sdi); Medici vs. Strozzi; LOTR: The Confrontation, Deluxe Edition; Great Wall of China; Genesis; Times Square; Figaro; Tal der Abenteuer; Double or Nothing; Toppo

Along with death and taxes, one of the certainties of life is a huge crop of games from Herr Knizia each year and the last twelve months were no exception.  And unlike last year’s nomination-less portfolio, Blue Moon City managed to get mentioned by all three major awards (but, alas, no winners).  It’s clearly the highlight of Reiner’s output, along with Medici vs. Strozzi, which should surely nab at least a Best Two-Player IGA nomination.  (But I don’t envy the committee’s task in making this award; how’d you like to decide between this game, Mr. Jack, and BattleLore?  Talk about a great group of two-player games!  And we haven’t even seen the Nuremburg bunch yet!)

After those two, though, the quality falls off quickly.  All worthwhile games, mind you, but all have a “yeah, but�? attached.  Great Wall, Genesis, Times Square, Figaro...all have their fans, but none of them have really caught on.  Tal der Abenteuer won Austria’s Spiele der Spiele award, but that hasn’t translated to too many fans outside of that country.  So unlike last year, where there were no blockbusters from Knizia, but he scored with his many buzzworthy games, this year the firepower is concentrated at the top.  It’s still a mighty impressive output and Reiner will certainly be among the finalists.

Ludovic Maublanc – Mr. Jack; Cleopatra and the Society of Architects; Paparazzi

All three of these games were co-designed with Cathala, so Maublanc will obviously finish behind him.  But the collection emphasizes what a great year he had, particularly since he just burst on the scene last year with the wild filler Ca$h’n Gun$.  Just like Chvatil, here’s a new name that’s arrived seemingly out of nowhere.  It also shows the strength of gaming in France, with three French designers in the running.

Michael Schacht – California; Der Elefant im Porzellanladen; Diabolo; NoNo

California and Elefant were reasonably well received; Diabolo wasn’t; and NoNo was the typical response to the question, “Have you ever heard of this game?” Not enough to get Schacht anything other than an honorable mention in the DotY race.

Andreas & Karen Seyfarth – Thurn and Taxis(Sdi)

Thurn and Taxis is the most honored of the 2006 crop so far, with much of the rest of the wood awarded last year going to ’05 designs like Caylus and Twilight Struggle.  A single game is never enough to win the Designer of the Year, but it’s sufficient to get the Seyfarths a mention.

Martin Wallace – Perikles; Tempus

Wallace keeps cranking out excellent semi-historical crossover designs, although both of these are a bit more abstract than his usual fare.  Perikles’ ratings aren’t too far off of his earlier triumphs like Struggle of Empires or Princes of the Renaissance.  Tempus has survived one of the worst series of breaks a game can have—to be hugely hyped, then long delayed, and finally mischaracterized (it is NOT a Civ-lite game and has suffered greatly by being labeled as such)—to have solid ratings and appear on more than a few gamers’ Top Ten lists.  It all adds up to another fine year for Frog 1.

Those are the designers I consider to be at the head of the class of 2006.  The group has a truly international flavor, with no fewer than six nations (U.S., France, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, and England) represented.  It’s another great indication how solidly entrenched gaming now is across the entire world.

And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for.  If I could have the envelope, please?  Ahem...the winner of the 2006 Designer of the Year Award is...well, looky here, we’ve got two names listed!  So, the winners of the 2006 Designer of the Year Award are:

RICHARD BORG and BRUNO CATHALA!

Two very different paths to victory, but too closely matched to separate.  Borg’s two C&C games in one calendar year are a tremendous achievement.  And even though they’re both sons of the same mother, they really are very different games.  Cathala’s seven solid designs are just as impressive, particularly since Mr. Jack may wind up setting the standard for two-player deduction games.  So the award is shared by the grizzled veteran and a relative newcomer—two very worthy winners.

Knizia finishes a very close third.  Despite the huge output and the multiple nominations for Blue Moon City, there just wasn’t quite enough meat to give Reiner his seventh DotY award.  But it’s still another great year for the Good Doctor.

Those three finished pretty far ahead of the rest of the group.  My ranking for the next few designers is Faidutti, Chvatil, and Wallace.  It’s pretty cool that five of the six nations I mentioned are represented in the top six finishers.

So those are my designers of the year for 2006.  Congratulations to the two winners and many thanks to all the folks listed here for giving us some great games.  Only twelve more months until next year’s award!

© 2007 Larry Levy

---

Comments:

You must register with BGN in order to comment. Registration is free!

You don’t think that Die Baumiester von Arkadia and the pooping donkey game (Las Mampfos) are enough to get Dorn even a mention? Valerie Posted by Valerie Putman on Jan 20, 2007 at 10:36 AM | #

Sadly, no, although you’d think pooping donkeys would be assured of a spot just on their own.  I’m afraid our beloved Rudiger is just going to have to wait for next year! Posted by Larry Levy on Jan 20, 2007 at 10:50 AM | #

I think you underestimate Great Wall of China.  Sadly, I have not played many of the other Doctor’s 2006 ‘minor’ releases. Posted by Jonathan Franklin on Jan 20, 2007 at 12:49 PM | #

Larry; Your list does a good job of highlighting something I’d suspected but not seen in black and white until now: the ‘top tier’ designer’s club is even less German-heavy than ever. The countries represented: France: 3 (Cathala, Faidutti, Maublanc) Germany: 3 (Knizia, Seyfarth, Schacht) USA: 1 (Borg) Czech Rep.: 1 (Chvatil) Italy: 1 (Colovini) UK: 1 (Wallace) Mind you, I’d not put Colovini on this list.  A game determined by the luck of the draw is his best design, and anyone responsible for the plastisized excreta that is Dshingis Khan should be flogged, not celebrated. :) pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Jan 20, 2007 at 06:58 PM | #

Since you mentioned several designers with only one or two designs, and, to increase the international flavor even more, why not give newcomer Sebastien Pauchon a mention for Yspahan and Animalia? Good list, though, and I agree with your reasoning, although I would give Cathala the edge, partly because of my preference in games and partly because he had some strong output in both 2-player and multi-player games. Posted by Jeff Allers on Jan 20, 2007 at 07:44 PM | #

How about adding Japan?  Perhaps Susumu Kawasaki should be on the edge of the list for the Japon Brand games (R-Rco, Traders of Carthage, and Gra Gra Company).  With wider release, at least the first two would gain popularity and the third is coming from Z-Man games. Posted by Jonathan Franklin on Jan 20, 2007 at 07:52 PM | #

Seems like Friedemann Friese should get a nomination for his most productive year yet, 4 games (Fiji, Formidable Foes, Megastar, Monstermaler) and a Power Grid expansion.  None have gotten particularly great reviews, but it seems like this batch isn’t any worse than Colovini’s, Faidutti’s, or Schacht’s.  (Personally I think of Funny Friends as a 2006 release, and it’s one of my favorites, so maybe I’m biased.) Posted by Doug Orleans on Jan 21, 2007 at 01:27 AM | #

Jonathan:  ‘taint me doing the underestimating, but the Geek raters, who give Great Wall a very ordinary 6.58 average rating.  Moreover, the game has generated very limited buzz.  I try to keep my personal feelings out of the way I judge the award.  I’ve actually only played Great Wall once, saw its potential, but was actually totally unengaged.  I’d gladly play it again, but really have no desire to go out of my way to do so, other than I always like to play most games at least twice. Patrick:  I agree wholeheartedly and feel it’s a wonderful trend.  Sing along with me:  We are the world, we are designers, we publish lots of games to keep you gamers smilin’… Jeff:  If Yspahan wins a major award or lots of nominations, I would reconsider leaving him out, but right now, the record isn’t quite good enough.  Still, this is yet another new name to keep an eye on. Jonathan redux:  I actually had the privilege of trying out some of Kawasaki-san’s games prior to this year, thanks to one of our members who routinely brings them over from Japan, so I know that they were available before 2006, although obviously not in most of the rest of the world.  By my reckoning, only Traders of Carthage actually has a published date of 2006.  I could have made an exception here, since the other two titles really had limited exposure prior to this year, but I chose not to.  There’s no question, though, that this is a talented gentleman and I (along with the rest of the gaming world) will view his next few games with great interest. Doug:  Friese’s output isn’t too out of line with Colovini’s or Schacht’s, but Masons has a pretty good rating and a DSP nomination and California and Elefant both have a decent group of fanboys.  I just haven’t seen that level of support for Friedemann’s quartet (I don’t include expansions in the listings).  His name wouldn’t have been too out of place here, but unless things change dramatically (and they could, as the games haven’t been out that long), he never would have been anywhere near the top.  I’m always rooting for ol’ Double F, as he has one of the most creative minds in gaming, but this wasn’t one of his strong years, IMO. Posted by Larry Levy on Jan 21, 2007 at 01:50 AM | #

Larry, As usual this might be my favorite award. Obviously there where 3 clear contenders this year and as you know, I would have gone for Richard Borg but of course I am personnaly really happy for Bruno which is obviously a talented designer and a really nice guy. I posted my thought on my blog (in french) : http://reixou.free.fr/?p=575 Posted by Olivier Reix on Jan 23, 2007 at 03:37 AM | #

< Back Home