The Latest 'Mages Battling Each Other' Game, From Designer Vlaada Chvatil

Maybe I missed a resurgence in popularity of the Disney film The Sword In the Stone, but suddenly we're seeing a bunch of mages-kicking-each-others'-butts games: Summoner Wars, Mage Wars, Seasons, and now...Tash-Kalar: Arena Of Legends from designer Vlaada Chvatil.

According to Czech Games Edition, "The game includes three different factions, each with a unique deck of beings to summon and one deck of legendary creatures. Players take turns placing their common pieces on the board, and if they succeed in creating patterns depicted on one of the cards in hand, they may play it. When played, the card summons a particular being and allows the player to perform an effect described on the card: a giant destroys neighboring pieces, a knight moves through enemy pieces, a warlord orders previously placed pieces to move and fight, an enchantress converts enemy pieces to player's own color, etc. After that, the player discards the card and the summoned being turns into a motionless piece which may be used in patterns for summoning other beings – or even be awakened and moved into combat by the effects of other cards."

The game says it's for 2-4 players, but I'm not sure how 4 players will play with only three factions.

It looks very abstract, actually—not at all the heavily thematic games we've seen in Mage Knight The Board Game and Dungeon Lords.

Vlaada is hit-and-miss for me, so I'm not sure how likely I am to try this one. How about you?

The Weirdness of the Origins Award Nominees

By Firestone

On Thursday we were excited to bring you the newly released list of nominees for the Origins Awards. But as I looked over the list, I couldn't help but wonder what in the world they were thinking...

Let's start with Best Board Game. We have understandable nominees, such as Kingdom Builder, Lords of Waterdeep, and Mage Knight. Then there's Hot Rod Creeps from Cryptozoic Entertainment. "That's weird," I thought. "I've never even heard of that game. Maybe it just flew under the radar." So I went to the Geek and saw that it had flown under everyone's radar. The game has only 57 ratings. It's ranked 3656. Why would that game make the short list of best of the year? And speaking of year: Kingdom Builder and Mage Knight are both from 2011. So are these the best games of...recent years?

And then we have Best Gaming Accessory, which includes things like Dungeon Tiles, miniatures, cool dice, and...The Wizard's Tower from Castle Panic? What?! It's not an accessory; it's an expansion. The Tower isn't even a...thing! It's a deck of cards. And it came out in 2011!

And there seem to be an inordinate number of Cryptozoic games. I'm not saying they're not good games, but where are games from some of the other publishers—like Rio Grande and Z-Man and Fantasy Flight? Does Origins only nominate games that were sent to them by the publishers? That seems like a crazy way to determine the best games of the year. Or of recent years...

2013 Origins Awards Nominations Announced!

The Nominees for the 39th Annual Origins awards have been announced via the GAMA Web site. Making a HUGE showing in the list of nominees is Wizkids Games, with 5 titles up for an award! Not bad for a company who just several years ago had shut down operations. Wizards of the Coast, also with 5 nominations, continues to make an impact on the gaming industry. While Catan moguls Mayfair Games make a showing with Catan Junior and Clash of Wills. And we can't forget AEG bringing 3 nominees to the table this year including Love Letter and the much beloved Smash Up!

Here are some quick highlights of the games nominated:

 Best Board Game -

Hot Rod Creeps – Cryptozoic Kingdom Builder – Queen Games (Read our Review) Lords of Waterdeep – Wizards of the Coast Mage Knight – WizKids (Read our Review) Mage Wars – Arcane Wonder

The nominees for Best Traditional Card Game are -

Doctor Who the Card Game – Cubicle 7 Entertainment/Treefrog Games Legendary – Upper Deck Locke & Key – Cryptozoic Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’lyeh – Cryptozoic Smash Up – AEG (Read our review)

Best Family, Party or Children's Game -

Catan Junior – Mayfair Games (Read our Review) Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Queen Games Love Letter – AEG Once Upon A Time 3^rd Edition – Atlas Games Quarriors! Dice Building Game – WizKids Games (Read our review)

For the complete list of categories and nominees you can visit the GAMA website by clicking right here.

Feel like a game got slighted? Are you pulling for a favorite to win? Let us know! Sound off here in the comments, or shout out on Facebook and Twitter!

2012 Holiday Board Game Gift Guide—Gamers' Games

Here it is folks, the list you've been waiting for. You have a total gamer geek at work, and you pulled that person's name in the office secret Santa gift exchange! Now what? Never fear...below you'll find a list of games we ourselves are clamoring over and would love to see under the tree! We give you: the Gamers' Games gift guide! Star Wars The Card Game—Fantasy Flight has been working on getting this game out for years now, and they say it will be in stores for Christmas! We're very excited about this, their newest addition to the Living Card Game line up. And so will most any gamer out there! We interviewed Eric Lang the designer of the game last month; check it out here!

Cost: TBA (Estimated around $39.99)

Available from: Amazon and your local game store (Coming soon!)

Ages: 10 & up

Lord of the Rings: The Card Game—Yes, yes, we know... Two "living card games" in the same guide?! But really, if you're a fan of co-op games, this is probably one of the most elegant, and strategic of them all. It scales incredibly well—from 1-4 players—and is one of our favorite games here at TOG. If the gamer in your life is already into LOTR:TCG check out the new saga expansions The Hobbit: Under Hill and Over Hill, The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, and The Heirs of Numenor.

Cost: $39.99 (Base Set) $29.99 (Saga Expansions)

Available from: Amazon and your friendly local game store

Ages: 10 & up

Dominion—The card game that turned card games on their collective ears. Dominion is the premier deck-building franchise; it's incredibly rare for a game to create a genre, and then remain (arguably) the best game in that genre. Chances are if you've played a card game that was released in the last four years it was influenced in some way by Dominion. There are multiple expansions for Dominion that continue to strengthen this modern classic. If your gamer has Dominion already, check out the Prosperity expansion, and the newest Dark Ages!

Cost: $39.99 (Base set) $29.99 (Expansions)

Available from: Amazon and your local game store

Ages: 13 & up

Mage Knight—This game is for serious gamers only! Deep, complex, and rich game mechanics, and multiple campaigns to play. It's like role-playing in a growing board game. (Some campaigns are estimated to take up to 8 hours or more to complete!) If your gamer is a fan of games set in the fantasy realm, and highly involved game play, this is the game for them! Check out our review of the game right here!

Cost: $69.99

Available from: Amazon and local game stores

Ages: 14 & up

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures—Easy rules. Amazing miniatures. Fun gameplay. This game is going to end up costing me sooooo much money, but playing this with my kids will lessen that sting considerably. There are official scenarios, fan-made scenarios, or you can just have a wipe-out-the-other-guys dogfight. If you have a Star Wars fan on your list, this one should be on your short list. If you want more info, you can read our in-depth review.

Cost: $39.99

Available from: Amazon, department stores and your local game store

Ages: 14 & up

Mice & Mystics—This game is basically a dungeon crawler, but instead of a typical fantasy theme, here you're playing as a group of mice trying to get to the bottom of a deadly conspiracy. Each scenario is a "chapter" in the story, with objectives, special powers, and dangerous enemies, such as rats, giant centipedes, huge spiders, and a cat!

Cost: $74.99

Available from: Amazon and your local game store

Ages: 7 & up

Gauntlet Of Fools—Even hardcore gamers sometimes need to play a quick game to start or end the evening—or to play while waiting for other people to finish another game. Gauntlet of Fools is the perfect game for that. You're heading into a dungeon with your chosen hero. Everyone is going to die, but if you can die with the most money, you'll win. Lots of fun. You can read our full review of the game here.

Cost: $19.99

Available from: Amazon and your local game store

Ages: 8 & up