2022 Charles S Roberts Awards Final Ballot Announced

Armchair Dragoons PAO, 1 June 2023

After an eventful year of turnover within the CSRs, the 2022 ballot is finally here.  Awards Director Gary Mengle has overhauled the charter, nomination process, and committee, and this set of nominations are the first full slate under his watch. (Full disclosure, there are a pair of Dragoons on the committee: Editorial Director Brant Guillory, and Jim Owczarski, the ringleader of Saturday Night Fights and other online play)

This press release can also be found on the CSR website here.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – The Board of Governors is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2022 Charles S. Roberts Awards for Excellence in Conflict Simulation Games (“CSR Awards”). We are very proud to have delivered an array of nominees which are all award-worthy, and outstanding examples of the art of conflict simulation design and production.

The newly-implemented CSR Awards Nomination process ran from January to May, 2023, and broadly, the Board is very pleased with the results, while identifying some clear needs for improvement and refinement in specific areas. After the completion of the 2022 Awards, the Board and other volunteers will be working to make those improvement, so they can be implemented for the 2023 Awards.

The public ballot to determine the winners will be open from June 1, 2023, through 11:59 PM EDT, June 30. After the ballot has closed, the final tabulation will be executed and the 2022 CSR Awards winners announced as soon as practicable thereafter. The 2022 inductees of the Clausewitz Hall of Fame will be announced at the same time.

The Public Ballot is available here

The CSR Awards would like to thank all those who participated in the 2022 Awards process, in particular the members of the Board of Governors, the participants in the Nominating Committee, and the jurists for the Clausewitz Hall of Fame.

For official announcements, please visit the CSR Awards website here. The full list of 2022 Nominees is also presented below.

Best Ancients Wargame
For a wargame set in the ancient period, including late antiquity, up to roughly 800 CE.

• 414 BC: Siege of Syracuse, Worthington Publishing, designer Dan Fournie
• Barbarians at the Gates, Compass Games, designer Kris Van Beurden
• Caesar! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! PSC Games, designer Paolo Mori
• Great Battles of Julius Caesar Deluxe Edition, GMT Games, designers Richard H. Berg and Mark Herman
• The Punic Wars, Bonsai Games, designer Yasushi Nakaguro

Best Medieval Wargame
For a wargame set in the medieval period, before the decisive use of gunpower, in the period roughly from 800-1500 CE.

• 1212: Navas de Tolosa, Draco Ideas, designer Pablo Sanz
• Almoravid, GMT Games, designer Volko Ruhnke
• Battles of Medieval Britain, self-published by designer Mike Lambo
• Breizh 1341, Shakos, designer Laurent Gary
• Saladin, Draco Ideas/Shakos, designer Denis Sauvage

Best Gunpowder Wargame
For a wargame set after the decisive use of gunpowder weapons including the renaissance and Age of Reason, but before the era of industrialization, in the period roughly 1500-1800 CE. Excludes Napoleonic topics.

• 1565: Siege of Malta, Worthington Publishing, designer Maurice Suckling
• Fire & Stone: Siege of Vienna 1683, Capstone Games, designer Robert DeLeskie
• Nagashino 1575 & Shizugatake 1583, Serious Historical Games, designer Phillipe Hardy
• No Peace Without Honor, Compass Games, designer David Meyler
• Wars of Religion, France 1562-1598, Fellowship of Simulations, designer Jerome Lefrancq

Best Early Modern Wargame
For a wargame set in the period between roughly 1800 and 1910, or during the Industrial Age. Excludes Napoleonic and American Civil War topics.

• Bloody Retribution: The Battle of Inkerman, Compass Games, designer Ty Bomba
• John Company Second Edition, Wehrlegig Games, designer Cole Wehrle
• Plains Indian Wars, GMT Games, designer John Poniske
• The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857, Hit ‘Em With a Shoe, designers Roberta Taylor and Matt Shoemaker
• Votes for Women, Fort Circle Games, designer Tory Brown

Best Napoleonic Wargame
For a wargame set in the period 1789-1815, and treating topics related to the French Revolution or Napoleonic Wars.

• 1815 Scum of the Earth, Hall or Nothing Productions, designer Tristan Hall
• Bonaparte in the Quadrilateral, OSG, designer Kevin Zucker
• A Crowning Glory: Austerlitz 1805, Against the Odds, designer Ty Bomba
• Napoléon 1815, Shakos, designer Denis Sauvage
• Siege of Mantua, Hollandspiele, designer Amabel Holland

Best American Civil War Wargame
For a wargame set during the American Civil War, or dealing with its immediate causes or aftermath.

• Give Us Victories, Dissimula Edizioni, designer Sergio Schiavi
• Brothers at War: 1862, Compass Games, designer Christopher Moeller
• Border States, Shakos, designer Stéphane Brachet
• Into the Woods: The Battle of Shiloh, GMT Games, designer Richard Whitaker
• A Most Fearful Sacrifice, Flying Pig Games, designer Hermann Luttmann

Best Early 20th Century Wargame
For a wargame set between 1910, up to the beginning of World War II. Excludes World War II topics.

• 1914: Nach Paris, VUCA Simulations, designer Bertrand Munier
• Death of an Army, Ypres 1914, Revolution Games, designer Kerry Anderson
• Imperial Tide: The Great War, Compass Games, designer Gregory M. Smith
• Kaiserkrieg!, White Dog Games, designer Ben Madison

Best World War II Wargame
For a wargame treating World War II or related topics, in the period 1936-1945.

• Arracourt, Multi-Man Publishing, designer Carl Fung
• Barbarossa: Army Group Center Second Edition, GMT Games, designer Vance von Borries
• Enemy Action: Kharkov, Compass Games, designer John Butterfield
• Pacific War Second Edition, GMT Games, designer Mark Herman
• Undaunted: Stalingrad, Osprey Games, designers David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin

Best Modern Wargame
For a wargame dealing with a post-World War II, post-1945, Cold War (including the Korean and Vietnam conflicts), or Post-Cold War topic, up to the modern day.

• 2 Minutes to Midnight, Plague Island Games, designer Stuart Tonge
• Flashpoint: South China Sea, GMT Games, designer Harold Buchanan
• Resist!, Salt & Pepper Games, designers David Thompson, Roger Tankersley, and Trevor Benjamin
• Twilight Struggle: Red Sea, GMT Games, designer Jason Matthews
• Zurmat, Catastrophe Games, designer Tim Densham

Best Hypothetical Wargame
For a wargame with a topic that is contrafactual, contra-historical, alternate history or hypothetical, set in the past to immediate near future.

• Case Geld: The Axis Invasion of North America, 1945-46, Compass Games, designer Ty Bomba
• CO-OPS, Nuts! Publishing, designers Adrien Biciacci, Guillaume Prévost, and Quentin Rouyre
• Die Festung Hamburg, Thin Red Line Games, designer Fabrizio Vianello
• Spruance Leader, Dan Verssen Games, designer Dean Brown
• The Third World War Designer Signature Edition, Compass Games, designer Frank Chadwick

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Wargame
For a wargame in a science fiction or fantasy setting.

• Ginormopod 2050 A.D.: Attack of the Giant Bug Monsters, Hollandspiele, designers Ryan Heilman and Dave Shaw
• The Long Road, Flying Pig Games, designer Mark H. Walker
• Nemo’s War: The Ultimate Edition, Victory Point Games, designers Christopher Taylor and Alan Emrich
• Wonderland’s War, Druid City Games/Skybound Games, designers Tim Eisner, Ben Eisner, and Ian Moss
• Xenos Rampant, Osprey Games, designers Daniel Mersey and Richard Cowen

Best Solitaire or Cooperative Wargame
For a wargame designed primarily to be played in a solitaire or cooperative mode.

• American Tank Ace, Compass Games, designer Gregory M. Smith
• Enemy Action: Kharkov, Compass Games, designer John Butterfield
• Lanzerath Ridge, Dan Verssen Games, designer David Thompson
• Resist!, Salt & Pepper Games, designers David Thompson, Roger Tankersley, and Trevor Benjamin
• Skies Above Britain, GMT Games, designers Jerry White and Gina Willis

Best Expansion for an Existing Wargame
For an expansion, supplement or add-on to an existing wargame, Stand-alone products are excluded.

• Battles For the Shenandoah, for Death Valley, GMT Games, designer Greg Laubach
• The Bulge Campaign, for Fields of Fire, GMT Games, designer Ben Hull
• Fall of Saigon, for Fire in the Lake, GMT Games, designers Mark Herman and Volko Ruhnke
• II Grass II Crown, for The Grass Crown, Hollandspiele, designer Amabel Holland
• Red Storm: Baltic Approaches, for Red Storm, GMT Games, designer Douglas Bush

Best Wargaming Magazine
For a wargame magazine, containing coverage of wargaming or otherwise specifically relevant to a wargame or wargames. This award is to recognize the quality of the magazine, and any included wargames should be judged separately in their appropriate categories.

• Against the Odds
• Strategy & Tactics
• Vae Victis
• War Diary
• World at War

The Redmond A. Simonsen Memorial Award for Outstanding Wargame Presentation
For a wargame that exhibits excellence in all aspects of wargame presentation, including the quality of the rules, packaging, art, components, physical systems design, playing surface, and visual interface.

• Almoravid: Reconquista and Riposte in Spain, 1085-1086, GMT Games
• Donnerschlag: Escape from Stalingrad, VUCA Simulations
• Fire & Stone: Siege of Vienna 1683, Capstone Games
• A Most Fearful Sacrifice: The Three Days of Gettysburg, Flying Pig Games
• Undaunted: Stalingrad, Osprey Games

The James F. Dunnigan Award for Playability and Design
For the designer who has, through excellence of design, had the most positive impact on playability and elegance in wargaming.

• Hermann Luttmann
• Volko Ruhnke

The Charles S. Roberts Memorial Award
For the new designer or design team whose first or second game was released in the Awards Year, who best exemplifies emerging excellence in wargame design, and who has not previously received this Award.

• Dean Brown, for Spruance Leader
• Patrick Gebhardt, for Donnerschlag
• Richard Whitaker, for Into the Woods

Wargame of the Year
For the wargame that best exhibits the highest standards of excellence in design and execution. Reprints and reissues are not eligible for this Award.

• Almoravid: Reconquista and Riposte in Spain 1085-1086
• Into the Woods: The Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862
• A Most Fearful Sacrifice: The Three Days of Gettysburg
• Napoléon 1815
• Undaunted: Stalingrad

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Please join us in congratulating all of the nominees, as well as the rest of the committee for a job well done so far, and good luck in closing it out.

 

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IF YOU ENCOUNTER A COUNTER CASTING A HEX IN A HEX
AND YOU COUNTER THE HEX WITH A COUNTER-HEX IN THAT HEX DURING THE ENCOUNTER,
AND YOU HAVE TO COUNT HOW MANY HEXES ARE IN THE HEX DURING THE ENCOUNTER
ARE YOU PLAYING A HEX-AND-COUNTER WARGAME?