Well, the past year was no different than any others, in terms of finding cardboard transgressors. Most of the industry continued to produce and publish games of exceptional quality, from which the consumers stayed away in droves. That seemed to pique the frustration level of some of our Lesser Lights, several of whom started to fight with each other. No honor among thieves, one assumes. The Usual Suspects showed up again - can't keep a bad man down, it seems - although the hobby did get some press… not all of it beneficial. Regardless, it's always amusing to wander back through the events of the past year to see how "human" all of us can be, and how alien some of us are becoming. The Marketing and Demographics Trophy, to Speerit Games, publishers of Gettysburg, 3 Days in July. In a conversation with a noted Discounter, the Speerit folks revealed the intensive demographic surveys they had undertaken before their first publication by proclaiming that Speerit was (and, despite the quotation marks, we paraphrase) "…the only company doing wargames now." When asked if they were aware of, say, Avalon Hill, Speerit's reply was along the lines of, "AH? Oh yeah, they do only cult games." Bolstered by these demographic revelations, Speerit then went ahead and spent about $20,000+ on a (rather impressive) convention booth and lots of advertisements. Didn't seem to help sales. Nice try, though. A Bust of Samuel Beckett to GMT for its much-delayed Samurai, a game which had the gestation period of a mastodon. (Second prizes to the similarly lethargic productions of They Met at Gettysburg [Spearhead] and Battle for North Africa [GMT]), By Origins, Samurai's title had been changed to "Great Battles of Godot". Where's Johnny Cochrane When You Need Him. Dismayed at what they perceived to be some rather libelous statements by Boulder Games, statements which apparently disparaged the honesty of their company, Clash of Arms sued Boulder for damages brought on by same. Granted, this is not funny … more sad than anything else. However, it is a part of The Human Comedy. What was humorous (but depressingly so) was the reaction of the consumers, who, regardless of the validity of the positions of either party, seemed to take it as a personal insult that anyone would interfere with their right to get cheaper games. Further proof that the latchkey to far too many people's sense of Morality is still packed in their wallet. (Can't wait for the mail on this one ….) Two Free Tickets to Erratawars, The Movie. Midst all of the complaints, whining, and just plain gobbledygook about errata - some went so far as to lay the Death of Wargaming at its bloody feet - there appeared a savior: your buddy, Chester Hendrix. Chester announced that his Bulge game, Bastogne or Bust, would be what consumers were clamoring for: totally errata-free. Game arrived on our doorstep complete with full page of errata. Maybe that doesn't count, because its part of the game already. Regardless, the Erratafree Campaign didn't seem to boost sales overly much. Poultergeist IV: He's Back…and Nobody Cared. Thinking no one was looking, Keith Poulter and his Evil Empire of 3W popped up on the shelves again, releasing - get this - a John Schettler game, yet again revealing the remarkable insight into the hobby and its consumers that characterized his view of the industry. The only people who bought the game were, ostensibly, those who sought to get in some mental-aerobic training before attempting the marathonic Home Before the Leaves Fall. The Only Good Game Designer is a Dead Designer. Then we have the critical reaction to Geronimo … as opposed to the (relative) non-reaction by consumers. Anyway, several men of letters - among them otherwise lucid people such as Wade Hinkel and Chris Perello - accused designer Richard Berg of glamorizing genocide. This, in a hobby in which the adherents roll dice to kill people on an hourly basis. Wonder in what category Chris P. places XTR's Cortes? The Annual "Red Christmas" Trophy for Unparalleled Ugliness in Studyhall Art. This year, to Steve Bohn and his boxcover for Operation Husky. Granted, it had none of the pure phallic joie de vivre of Red Xmas, but its grotesque depiction of a slobbering dog, et al., drawn at a skill level which would have gotten a (gift) D- in grade school, simply defied taste. Brings up the philosophical question as to whether No Taste is better than Bad Taste. The Herodotus Award for Historical Accuracy in Boxcovers to Azure Wish's Rossyia, 1917. The game was just fine; it's the title. None of the events in the game take place in 1917; the game starts in 1918. We'd have considered AH's Age of Renaissance here, but, after careful consideration, we concluded that absolutely no relationship to history was ever intended therein. Poultergeist V: He's Back Again…and He's Moved East. Historical Simulation Games of Minneapolis popped up in several upscale history magazines with advertisements for a new ACW battle game on Cedar Creek. They were doing fine until the word got out that the game was a Keith Poulter design. Uh oh … . Bye-bye Minneapolis! Gamer of the Year #1. Internet Rape Case of the week. Normally, I wouldn't have more than scanned over the newspaper article on the subsequent arrest, except that my eyes lit on a quote therein from none other than Jack Dott! Seems that the "alleged perp" was a gamer (to the press, a sure indication of evil intention and general lack of mental balance). Even better, he had submitted several module designs to AH for Runequest. Jack, queried by a voracious press concerning the lad, noted that he hadn't followed through … at least not with his game designs. Where's Kurt Schilling when you need him? Gamer of the Year #2. So, the New York Times, one day, features a large (and very up-tone) article on The NY Metro Wargaming Club. Of most interest was the fact that one of the members had joined the club for a rather unusual (but, ultimately, not surprising) reason. This fellow had a problem: he was endlessly and compulsively seducing women. Seeking to find a way to avoid the possible recriminations from this, he asked his psychiatrist what he should do. His doctor suggested a hobby; our overheated diceroller chose wargames. Not much chance of him living out his non-cardboard fantasies here, is there? The Burnside Trophy: Worst Game of the Year. This time we use not our personal opinion, but that of our valued readers, none of whom had any qualms about voicing their negative opinions as to last year's Lowest of the Low. While the following games received more than one thumbs down - Edson's Ridge, Mukden, Moscow's Burning, To the Far Shores, SS Panzer and 1st Afghan War … virtually all, by the way, magazine games (an observation, not a denigration … so hold those barbed returns), none approached the vote gathering capacity of our winning loser, a game that outpolled the competition threefold, a condemnation with which I heartily agree. This year's Sideburner? XTR's Strike North, an execrable game at almost any level of consideration …at least in the eyes of our readers. Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. 2 #25 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1996 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com