by Bruce McG

I'm already confused! I knew that the Nominees were announced at the Gama Trade Show since a few publishers had announced their noms. I've seen nothing official from GAMA. BoardGameWire published the list back on March 3.

I assume this still applies:

Any publisher or designer can submit their products for consideration during the eligibility period. Submissions in each category are evaluated by a jury of industry professionals who choose their top products. These become the nominees, which are sent to the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. The Academy places their votes by email and the winners are announced during the Awards ceremony.

I will update this list with the winners when they are announced.

Roleplaying Game
• Age of Vikings - Chaosium
• CHEW: The Roleplaying Game– Imagining Games
• Coriolis: The Great Dark – Free League Publishing
• Cthulhu Bay – MS Edizioni and Ares Games
• Daggerheart Core Set – Darrington Press
• Land of Eem Deluxe Box Set – Exalted Funeral
• Cosmere RPG Stormlight Starter Set – Brotherwise Games
• Starfinder Roleplaying Game (2nd Ed)– Paizo Publishing
• The Bonsai Diary – Gene Koo
• Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide – Cubicle 7 Entertainment

Roleplaying Supplement
• Advent-ure Calendar 19: Kitty Clacks Christmas - Black Oak Workshop
• Rapture Protocol - Free League Publishing
• The Sutra of Pale Leaves - Twin Suns Rising - Chaosium
• Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers' Guide - Chaosium
• Full Art Dice Set: Porcelain - Q-Workshop
• Green Oaks - MS Edizioni and Ares Games
• Pendragon Gamemaster's Handbook - Chaosium
• The Field Guide to Floral Dragons: Explorer’s Box Set - Hit Point Press
• The Vault of Mini Things - Tinkerhouse Games
• High Elf Player's Guide - Cubicle 7 Entertainment

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by ulithebison

My first project of 2026 will be a simulation/replay with LOGacta Chart Soccer as I mentioned in my introduction for this project.
The whole project covers the four top leagues in England in 2026: Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two. On top of that we'll be dealing with the League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League, as well as Euros and World Cup. Most of the time I'll only be talking about the Premier League and cup competitions though. If anything interesting happens in the lower leagues, I'll mention it.

So...LEEEETTSSSS GOOOOOO!!!!

In Week 1-4 the only advantage comes from the dice for home teams — otherwise everything is fairly balanced. The first four weeks do set the tone, though, for who gets an advantage through point differences starting in Week 5. That means the point difference between two teams is calculated and the "Dice Selector Chart" determines who gets which die. Simply put: bigger point difference = bigger advantage.

The first four weeks of the Premier League are done.
Burnley managed to win all four games, and quite convincingly at that. Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Sunderland are trying to keep up but stumbled at least once.
Down at the bottom we find Leeds United with four defeats and a goal difference of -7. Other than that, you can't really call it a good start to the season when you've only got three points — but the season is long.

Next time we'll have the first round of the League Cup as well as the group stage draw for the Champions League.

See you next time!

Uli

Premier League Table Week 1-4

Premier League Matchdays Week 1-4

Championship Table

League One Table

League Two Table

by sdonohue

The Fantasy Trip Sampler Deck was created by Steve Jackson Games in 2021. It was designed by Steve Jackson (I) and features illustrations by several artists.

Presentation
This comes bagged with a double-sided 8.5" x 5.5" rules sheet folded to be 4.25 x 5.5". The cards are wrapped again inside the folded page and there are 18 of them. The cards themselves are 3.5" x 2.5" and double-sided; the 8 Infinite Arena cards are color on both sides. The other 10 are black & white. They are designed as both previews and expansions to three other decks: The Fantasy Trip: The Infinite Arena, Labyrinth Encounter Cards, and Outdoor Encounter Cards.

Content
This is really a preview of the other decks. The rules sheet explains how to use the cards from each expansion. It also includes a rules expansion explaining how to don rings or use potions during a fight. These include rules for picking things up that one might find.

The Outdoor cards include Painted Stone, Peasant Traveler, Bounty Hunter, Forgotten Village, and Cold Snap which provides several different types of problems for players to overcome during outdoor travels. The Labyrinth cards are Friendly Physicker, Entrail Trail, Duck of Doom, Portentious Password, and Cranky (an actual crank in the wall). These provide a good sampling of the kinds of cards one might find in the Labyrinth Deck.

Infinite Arenas is a little different; there are 8 cards, 4 of them are hazards, which provide extra conditions for the encounter; in this case, Fortissimo doubles everyone hit point, Pursuing Pillars which covers each players back with a pillar that follows them, Runaround which makes part of the encounter area dangerous terrain, and Wallflowers which causes fatigue if you aren't next to a wall. The other 4 cards are Battle cards which set up the conditions for the fight include where the attacker and defender start, how to win, and any special conditions for this battle. Magic Arrows forces the players to use 1 or 2 archers of their 3 characters and can choose a different arrow effect every time, Booty which has the players fighting to acquire boots with the most boots winning, Roadblocks which finds the defenders trying to stop the attackers from exiting the other end of the arena - no missile weapons allowed, and Practice Bout which finds the combatants weapons enchanted to leave marks but not wounds; most hits wins, but no one can die. The cards are meant to be used in pairs with a battle and a hazard defining the fight -- the goal is to let players create scenarios and then duke it out without needing a gm.

Evaluation
This is a great sampler. Not only does it provide an interesting preview for three SJ Games products, but because it has new cards, it doesn't become obsolete if you eventually buy one of the decks. The cards are interesting and useful and they do provide a good overview of the actual products.

Well worth the inexpensive price at less than $7 whether you want a preview or just to add a few more options to your deck.

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