INFORMATION CENTER

In the "old days", our Information Center appeared with each quarterly issue. Now, our Information Center is updated all the time to keep you in touch with the World of Games!

The Strategy Gaming Society has announced the finalists for the 2002 Gamers' Choice Awards, a set of awards which recognizes outstanding strategy board games in three categories. Eligible games are those released during calendar year 2001. The winners will be announced on June 1, 2002. This complete list of this year's nominees includes:

General Strategy Games, Multi-Player: Capitol (Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum; Schmidt Spiele); Die Händler von Genua (Rudiger Dorn; Alea/Rio Grande); Evo (Philippe Keyaerts; Euro Games); Funkenschlag (Friedemann Friese; 3F); Kanaloa (Guenter Cornett; Bambus Spieleverlag); Liberté (Martin Wallace; Warfrog); Medina (Steffan Dorra; Hans im Glück/Rio Grande); Müll + Money (Industrial Waste) (Jurgen Strohm; Hans im Glück/Rio Grande); Pampas Railroads (Martin Wallace; Winsome Games); San Marco (Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum; Ravensburger;
Volldampf (Martin Wallace; TM Spiele); Wyatt Earp (Richard Borg & Mike Fitzgerald; Alea/Rio Grande

   General Strategy Games, Two-Player: Dvonn (Kris Burm; Don & Co/Rio Grande);
Flower Power (Angelika Fassauer & Peter Haluszka; Kosmos); Kupferkessel Co.   (Gunther Burkhardt; Goldsieber); Sternenschiff Catan (Klaus Teuber;          Kosmos/Mayfair); Toscana (Niek Neuwahl; Piatnik/Rio Grande)

   Historical Simulation Games - Barbarossa: Army Group North (Vance Von Bories; GMT); Boer War (Joseph Miranda; S&T 205); Clash of Giants (Ted Raicer; GMT);
Fallschirmjaeger (The Gamers); Grant Takes Command (Ed Beach; MMP);
Highway to the Kremlin (Kevin Zucker; OSG); Red Badge of Courage (Richard Berg; GMT); Thirty Years Way (David Fox & Michael Welker; GMT); Wilderness War          (Volko Ruhnke; GMT); Zero! (Dan Verssen; GMT)

   For a detailed look at the Committee members and their qualifications, please visit the SGS website: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/~sgs

   The Gamers' Choice Awards page can be found here: http://pages.about.com/strategygames/wizze.html

Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., has announced that it has reached an agreement to sell GenCon, North America's largest game fair, to well-known roleplaying game industry pioneer Peter Adkison. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Peter Adkison, founder and former president of Wizards of the Coast, is set to take over the hosting and managing of the GenCon Game Fair in 2002. Wizards of the Coast has run the game fair since 1998 and will continue to provide full events management support for the gaming convention this year. The agreement marks the end of Wizards of the Coast's involvement in the managing and producing of gaming conventions although WotC will remain actively involved in attending and supporting the many conventions throughout the country.

More new and upcoming releases from Rio Grande Games (including two new games by Reiner Knizia and a new one from Tom Lehmann) among them:

Dragonland - Dragons hide their treasure in the numerous volcanoes, but their treasure is in danger - the volcanoes will soon erupt! To save the treasure, the dragons have asked the dwarves, elves, humans, and magicians for help. Each group competes with the others to be the most successful at gathering treasure for the dragons. Using strategy and cunning, each player moves his group of companions from volcano to volcano collecting treasure. All their movements are under the control of the tower of destiny, which sometimes arranges for a companion to reach his destination a bit too late. For 2-4 players, ages 9 and up, a Reiner Knizia design, April, $34.95.

Clash of the Gladiators - In this game, the players first recruit groups of gladiators from a pool of hopefuls with five different abilities. They are fighters, shield bearers, spear throwers, net casters, and trident carriers. Players assemble 2-4 groups of 4 gladiators. When the groups are ready, the players move them
around the arena to challenge the animals or other players’ groups. When only
one player has gladiators left, the players score for the gladiators they retained and the animals and gladiators vanquished during the game. 2-5 players, ages 10 and up, Reiner Knizia design, April, $29.95.

The Carcassonne Expansion - The expansion offers all fans of Carcassonne (Summer 2001 GA REPORT) new challenges: The Cathedral triples the value of a city, and the Inn doubles the value of a road - but only when they are completed. Players may use the new large follower to double their chances of controlling a city, road, or field. Also included is all necessary material to allow a sixth player to join the play. Finally, there are 6 point tiles to make scoring easier when players score more than 50 points. For 2 to 6 players, ages 8 and up, a Klaus-Jürgen Wrede design, $12.

Pizarro & Co. - The players take the roles of the Kings who bid to hire the services of the best and most daring explorers. They do so by offering them the ducats they need to finance their explorations. When a king makes the highest offer, he pays the money and sends his explorer on his journey. By hiring Magellan, for example, a king can earn fame and a small return on his investment. Marco Polo can fill his benefactor’s gold vaults while Christopher Columbus can earn his king important victory points that can lead to victory in the game. As the game progresses, competition for the explorers’ services increases as each explorer has fewer and fewer expeditions available for investment. In
the end, only one ship for each explorer will make the final trip and give the king who invests in the journey the reward for his support. For 3 to 6 players, ages 12 and up. A Tom Lehmann design. April, $24.95.

New releases from Cheapass Games include Save Doctor Lucky on Moon Base Copernicus (a 3-7 player expansion for Save Doctor Lucky) and Agora, an abstract strategy card game allowing 2-4 players to "construct" ships in a Greek marketplace.

Following the release of their collectible miniatures game Mage Knight Rebellion, Wizkids has announced the following new and upcoming releases:

Mage Knight Dungeons - Starter Set ($19.95); Builder's Kit ($14.95); Booster Pack ($6.95); Artifacts I ($14.95); Artifacts 2 ($14.95)

Marvel HeroClix: Infinity Challenge - Action in the Marvel Superhero Universe, Starter Set ($19.95) and Booster Pack ($6.95) due in May; Expansion 1 ($6.95) slated for October 2002 release

MechWarrior: Dark Age - Set in the BattleTech Universe, Starter Set ($19.95), Booster Pack ($8.95) scheduled for August; Expansion 1 ($8.95) targeted for November 2002 release.

DC HeroClix: Hypertime - Featuring Batman, Superman and the Justice League, Starter Set ($19.95) and Booster Pack ($6.95) planned for August 2002.

Wizards of the Coast has released the Magic: The Gathering - Torment expansion. This is the second installment of the most recent three set Magic block. Torment focuses on black cards, themes and mechanics and introduces over 140 cards with all new art. Torment is available in four 60 card theme decks ($9.95), booster packs of 15 cards ($3.29), "fat packs" containing six booster packs, a novel, a Spindown life counter, a Player's Guide and two premium cards ($24.99) and deck boxes containing only card sleeves ($9.99).

In other news, Wizards of the Coast Inc. has announced plans to release limited quantities of the first collectable Magic: The Gathering action figures in fall 2002. Based on popular characters and top creatures from the game, Magic Action Figures are chiseled into dynamic poses that mimic their actual cards in high detail from sculpture and paint perspectives.

The creatures and characters chosen to be the first Magic action figures include the Serra Angel, Lord of Atlantis, Sengir Vampire, Erhnam Djinn, The Kamahl and The Shadowmage Infiltrator. Each action figure will also include a randomly inserted Seventh Edition card from the Magic trading card game.

Toys R Us, the nations second biggest toy retailer (behind Wal-Mart) plans to eliminate 1900 jobs (roughly 3% of its work force) and close 64 stores as part of a plan to trim costs and become more profitable.

The English gaming magazine Games, Games, Games (known as G3) has gone "on hiatus". The last published issue was issue #150.

It has been reported that Command Magazine, the wargame magazine with a game inside founded in 1989, has folded. No word on whether outstanding subscriptions will be honored.

Effective immediately, Hasbro’s Avalon Hill line will be run by Wizards of the Coast. WoTC, makers of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and the Harry Potter CCG will now manage the existing 10-game Avalon Hill line and will assume all sales, marketing, and distribution for 2002 and beyond. In the upcoming months and years, WoTC will develop new product for the Avalon Hill label. Axis & Allies, currently under the Milton Bradley label, will move to the Avalon Hill label and become part of the WoTC line.

Chaosium has announced that it is working on a 15th anniversary edition of their legendary Arkham Horror boardgame. This Lovecraftian board game of monster hunting is promised for "resurrection" late this year.

Stock Market Tycoon is the stock market strategy game that challenges players to take an initial $100,000 investment and, as they move their tokens around the board, respond to changing market conditions to be the most successful stock tycoon. (Vida Games, LLC, www.stockmarkettycoon.com, $29.95)

Operation Kremlin: Campaign for Moscow, 1941 - "What if?" history as gamers get the chance to discover what would have happened if the Germans had turned towards Moscow in 1942. Ty Bomba design. February 2002 release, $35.

Beyond the Urals - Another "What if?" history game. Two player strategic level simulation as the Russians clash with German forces in World War II. February 2002 release, $25.

   Industrial Waste - In Industrial Waste, players are the owners/managers of companies competing in business where profit, innovation, and environment must be balanced for a company to be considered successful. The players must decide when and where to invest in innovation: rationalization, raw materials, and waste reduction. Innovation in rationalization allows a company to produce products with fewer workers, innovation in raw materials allows a company to produce products with less raw materials, and innovation in waste reduction allows a company to produce products with less waste. The first two allow a company to be more efficient. The latter allows a company to be more friendly to the environment. The new government penalties make the focus on the environment important to a company wishing to avoid those penalties. For 2-4 players; aged 12+; 60 minutes; author: Jürgen Strohm, $29.95.

   Mexica - The third game in the Tikal and Java trilogy as players now build Mexica. The Aztec prophesy foretold they would build their home where they found an eagle on a cactus eating a snake. After years of searching they found their eagle on an island in Lake Texcoco and there began building a city. Using dams and the natural landscape, they built a city with districts separated by roads of water and connected by many bridges. As in the previous games, the players may perform several actions on each turn, but have only a limited number of action points to spend on them. They use their actions to create the districts, build bridges and buildings, and move their pieces from place to place on the board. Players score points for creating districts and for having the largest buildings in the districts. At game end, the player with the most points is the winner! For 2-5 players, aged 10 +; length: 60-90 minutes; authors: Wolfgang Kramer & Michael Kiesling, $34.95.

   Puerto Rico - Prospector, captain, mayor, trader, settler, craftsman, or builder? Which roles will you play in the new world? Will you own the most prosperous
plantations? Will you build the most valuable buildings? You have but one
goal: achieve the greatest prosperity and highest respect (by earning the most victory points)! For 3-5 players, aged 12 +; length: 90-150 minutes; author: Andreas Seyfarth, $34.95.

   Halli Galli - The fruity party game! You start with a large fruit salad with bananas, strawberries, lemons and plums. Each player plays a card changing the mixture in the salad. When the salad contains exactly 5 of one fruit, the players race to be the first to ring the bell. The fastest wins all face up cards ... and the game continues until only one player has cards left - that player is the winner! For 3-6 players, aged 6 +; length: 15 minutes, $17.50.

Wargames West Distribution, the well known games distributor, has closed its doors after 20 years. Wargames West was the first distributor to carry Magic, the Gathering (Winter 1994 GA REPORT) in large numbers when the game first hit the market. This is the second game distributor to close its doors in the last two months. (See the article on Zocchi Distributing below.)

Gouda! Gouda!™ - GOUDA! GOUDA! is the rallying of all mice. It means that the cheese has been spotted, and the race is on! To lead your team of five mice to victory, you must navigate a perilous path of pitfalls. Which way do you go? Roll the special dice; if you like the results, keep them. If you don’t, inflict them on your adversaries. But beware, your opponents can do the same thing. The race to be first to the cheese is dangerous, but your team has no fear. They know that you will carefully use your special powers (you are no ordinary mouse!) to lead them to victory, and a belly full of cheese! A fast and lively game for the entire family. For 2-6 players, ages 8 and up, 30 minutes. AUTHOR: Frédéric Moyersoen. Scheduled for February, 2002 release, $19.95.

Fantasy Business™ - Now How Much Would You Pay? In the immense capital of a kingdom of high fantasy, adventurers of all types come to buy the equipment for their expeditions. In order to satisfy the needs of these warriors, wizards, thieves and priests, the players have opened equipment boutiques. Store owners try to buy for the best price, the weapons, armor, magic objects and horses that they are going to resell for much more or TRY to sell as competition in the capital is tough. It takes talent to learn how to bid at the auctions of various items, and even more skill to learn how to lower your sell prices to edge out the competition. To make the most money (and win the game), you have to be a smart retailer. Or perhaps learn to arrange some inside deals that are handled through a set of special cards. Christophe Boelinger design, playing time of about 30 minutes for 3-8 players, ages 12 and up; February, 2002, $16.95

Clippers™ - Shipping & Trade in the South Pacific. During the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, great trading companies exploited the new trade opened to the South Pacific. This was the age of the large, fast, and strong-hulled Clipper ship. In Clippers, the players plan naval routes of 6 different trading companies in the South Pacific Islands. The object of the game is for each player to get as many of the trading companies to reach islands where the player has ports. Points are scored for each trade route that reaches a player’s port. The winner of the game is the player with the most points once no more trade routes can be added. Players represent different trade companies and build new trade routes, and construct ports on new islands every turn. At the start of a turn, a player can acquire special cards which give them extra actions, for a price. However, the trade companies have limits to their routes, and a player must carefully balance short term bonuses against long term investments on other islands — and must remember that every move can help their opponents as well. A game for 2-5 players, ages 10- and up, of investment and of management from Alan R. Moon. February, 2002; $29.95.

Eden Studios has signed an agreement with Donruss Playoff L.P., a licensee of Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising (Fox L&M), for the design, production and distribution of the first ever Buffy the Vampire Slayer roleplaying game. Currently in development, the game is slated to hit shelves in Summer 2002.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer roleplaying game will use a special version of the Unisystem, Eden's in-house roleplaying game rules that emphasize storytelling and ease of play. The rules allow players to take the role of their favorite character from the Buffy TV series, or make up their own unique Slayer or Scoobie. Once “in character,” the players bring it on against evil, angst and bad fashion sense using a “cinematic” rules system for serious slayage action. Fans of the series can look forward to full game stats for Buffy, Willow, Spike and all the show's regulars, as well as details on equipment, magic, monsters and more! While the Buffy version of the Unisystem focuses on drama and action, it will remain fully compatible with Eden's other Unisystem games, including the Origins Award-nominated All Flesh Must Be Eaten and the widely popular CJ Carella's WitchCraft roleplaying games.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer core rulebook is scheduled for release in late Summer 2002. The book will be authored by Eden stalwart CJ Carella, creator of the WitchCraft and Armageddon roleplaying games, and the Unisystem game mechanics. The core rulebook will be followed by the Slayer's Handbook, Monster Smackdown, Welcome to Sunnydale and other supplements.

Acclaim Entertainment, a leading computer game developer, has named Edmond Sanctis, a former head of NBC Internet Inc., as president and CEO. Sanctis now has the task of overseeing the Acclaim's North American operations.

Zocchi Distributing, founded by Lou Zocchi and bought by Mike Hurdle in 1996, has closed its doors. Zocchi was a major player in game distribution in the USA.