Fwd: Some interesting stats (LONG)

Many of you may have already seen this, but since GZG is listed with
high 
honors in many categories I thought that many might still like to see 
this.  (Besides being posted in RGMW, it came across the SM list serve.

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The 5th ANNUAL SFSFW AWARDS

For gamers interest and information I have posted the results of the 5th
Annual Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers Awards onto the
newsgroup.

The annual Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers Awards are
the nearest thing there is to the  "Oscars" for the fantasy and science
fiction industry, the votes being cast by the international membership
of the SFSFW themselves. Voting as usual was frenetic and some of the
voting categories very close fought. Congratulations to the winners and
well done to all the others who received votes.

Should anyone want any further information regarding any of the winners
or runners up I am happy to try and answer them either direct or via the
newsgroup.

Steve Blease

BEST NEW RULES:

1	The Great Rail Wars (Pinnacle Entertainment): 18%

Following on from last year's winner Flintloque in spirit, The Great
Rail Wars is set in a fantasy steampunk wild west setting where the
undead and various other nefarious creatures wreak havoc amongst all law
abiding citizens. Set against the background of Pinnacle Entertainments
own Deadlands RPG, The Great Rail Wars has proved a big hit with gamers
on both sides of the Atlantic.

2	Ranke & Vyle (Wessex Games): 16%

Wessex Games' limited edition set of company level rules set in the
world of Flintloque proved highly popular with gamers.

3	Epic 40,000 (GW): 15%

Games Workshop's replacement for the unpopular Space Marine system has
proved a big hit with traditional wargamers. Unfortunately it isn't as
popular with regular 40K players.

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Battle Cattle (Wingnut Games): 13%
	Babylon Project: Earthforce Sourcebook (Chameleon Eclectic): 10%
	Tusk II (Irregular Miniatures): 10%
	Trash Tokyo (Wilson Clan Games): 6%
	Mecha Carnage (GOMI Designs): 5%
	Raven (Harlequin Miniatures): 5%
	Ball & Chain (GOMI Designs): 2%

BEST FANTASY WARGAMES RULES:

1	Hordes of the Things (WRG): 31%

Last years deposed champion has regained its crown from the pretender
Flintloque. The Wargames Research Group's highly flexible quick play
rules set are perennially popular with fantasy gamers and can handle
most things thrown at them with consummate ease (HOTT gamers should
check out Fantasy Rules! - Ed)

2	Flintloque (CCI): 27%

The game of Napoleonic fantasy warfare may have lost its top spot
position, but still remains a highly popular system.

3	Dresda (CCI): 12%

Despite no support or advertising from its publishers, the High Fantasy
Skirmish game Dresda  has fared surprisingly well in the votes.

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Fantasy Rules! (Chipco): 10%
	Tusk (Irregular Miniatures): 5%
	Deadloque (CCI): 4%
	Ball & Chain (GOMI Designs): 4%
	Raven (Harlequin Miniatures): 4%
	Fantasy Warriors (Stratalibri): 2%
	Necromancers Bane (Brigade Games): 1%

BEST SF WARGAMES RULES:

1	Full Thrust (Ground Zero Games): 33%

For the fifth consecutive year, Ground Zero Games' spaceship combat game
has held off all comers once again to win the Best SF Wargames Rules
award. Simplicity and playability mark this game out as unique amongst
all others of a similar genre. A true classic.

2	Iron Cow (Wessex Games): 26%

Second place for the second year running, Wessex Games' 6mm SF game of
armoured warfare has maintained its popularity with the groundpounder
gamers.

3	Epic 40,000 (GW): 12%

A surprise third place for Epic 40,000, sensible yet easy to master
systems seem to have resulted in Workshop's 6mm armour game doing so
well.

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Stargrunt II (GZG): 11%
	Dirtside II (GZG): 4%
	High Crusade (Wessex Games): 3%
	Necromunda (GW): 3%
	Princess Ryan's Space Marines (East Wind Rain): 3%
	Hellfire (Wessex Games): 2%
	Warzone (Target Games): 2%
	Mecha Carnage (GOMI Designs): 1%

BEST FANTASY FIGURE MINIATURE MANUFACTURER (15mm plus):

1	Harlequin Miniatures: 29%

1997 was a big year from Harlequin Miniatures with the release of a huge
range of high quality fantasy miniatures sculpted by a team of talented
designers including Nick Collier and Kev Adams. Especially suited for
games such as Warhammer the Fantasy Battle range proved an immensely
popular alternative to GW following the latest Citadel price rise.

2	Alternative Armies (CCI): 19%

Last years winners saw a huge slump in their vote share (down from 41%)
possibly due to a irregular production schedule, some poor releases such
as the Goblin Heavy Cavalry and Winter Special and nothing new on the
ideas front other than more Flintloque.

3	Ral Partha: 13%

The slumbering US giant did surprisingly well given the many rumours of
its imminent demise, however the release of the new Battlestorm range
and an increase in figure scale to 28mm seem to mark a welcome return
for one of the oldest F/SF miniatures companies around.

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Irregular Miniatures: 7%
	Citadel (GW): 6%
	Chariot Miniatures: 4%
	Jenesis: 4%
	Lancashire Games: 4%
	Peter Pig: 4%
	Pendraken: 3%
	Reaper: 3%
	Wessex Games: 3%
	Mayhem Miniatures: 1%

BEST SF FIGURE MINIATURE MANUFACTURER (15mm plus):

1	Ground Zero Games: 43%

This really was no surprise given the size of the excellent Stargrunt II
25mm SF miniatures line, its variety and the fact that GZG  ensure that
their lines contain all the heavy weapons troopers etc needed to finish
off units. GZG don't leave the gamer hanging with half finished units.

2	Heartbreaker (Target Games): 14%

The Warzone range is gaining in popularity as a worthy alternative to
the official WH40K  figures and contains some really fine miniatures.

3	Blade Miniatures: 8%
=	Citadel (GW): 8%
=	Denizen Miniatures: 8%

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Harlequin Miniatures: 7%
	Eureka Miniatures: 6%
	Special Vehicle Force: 4%
	Snapdragon Studio: 1%
	Valley Design: 1%

BEST FANTASY FIGURE MINIATURE MANUFACTURER (10mm down):

1	Irregular Miniatures: 48%

No real surprise here given the the size of Irregular's impressive 6mm
fantasy range. The epic nature of small scale fantasy battles seems to
have been overlooked by many, strange when most battles in fantasy
literature are generally of a massive size.

2	Pendraken: 37%

Pendraken's 10mm line proves remarkably popular giving many of the
benefits of 6mm, yet not being too far removed from 15mm.

3	Conflict Miniatures: 9%

Another a 10mm manufacturer showing the popularity of this unusual
scale. Conflict's fantasy range is quite small but worthy of
investigation.

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	AIM: 6%

BEST SF FIGURE MINIATURE MANUFACTURER (10mm down):

1	Ground Zero Games: 27%

This was a very close fought category with GZG winning by one vote. The
Dirtside  II  range is of the highest quality and comprises of much of
the excellent old Copelands Designs range as well as some excellent new
vehicles sculpted by Kev White.

2	Brigade Miniatures: 26%

Running GZG a very close second come Brigade with their superb and low
priced Spaceships and 6mm armour lines.

3	Games Workshop: 13%

The new Epic line is far better than the original releases and the
flexibility of making up different variants of tanks (such as the Leman
Rus) has obviously proved popular.

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Pendraken: 11%
	Irregular Miniatures: 9%
	Micro Machines (Galoob): 6%
	Dark Star (Adler Miniatures): 4%
	Scotia: 4%

BEST COMMERCIAL GAMING MAGAZINE:

1	Practical Wargamer (Nexus): 31%

Stuart Asquith's Practical Wargamer continues to prove popular even up
against F/SF gaming magazines in this new category, through its
continued editorial policy of treating F/SF as just another period from
a wargaming point of view and not excluding it as other wargaming
magazines have chosen to (though interestingly now all three UK newstand
wargames mags now include F/SF, not just Practical as in years gone by).

2	MARS (UME): 20%

A superb performance by the relatively new F/SF miniatures gaming
magazine Mars, edited by John Fletcher, especially up against many
established titles.

3	Valkyrie (Partizan Press): 12%

Despite a very irregular printing schedule, Valkyrie edited by Dave
Renton continues to receive a good share of the votes.

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Wargames Illustrated (Stratagem): 11%
	Orcs in the Hills (CCI): 10%
	White Dwarf (GW): 9%
	Miniature Wargames (Pireme): 7%

BEST GAMES COMPANY:

1	Ground Zero Games: 25%
What can we say... This seems to be Ground Zero Games year!
Congratulations to Jon Tuffley & Co.

2	Wessex Games: 13%

3	Peter Pig: 12%

The rest of the votes cast are as follows:

	Irregular Miniatures: 11%
	Foundry: 6%
	Brigade Miniatures: 6%
	Chariot Miniatures: 4%
	Crescent City Industries: 4%
	Donnington Miniatures: 4%
	Felix Enterprises: 4%
	Travelling Man: 4%
	Gomi Designs: 2%
	Lancashire Games: 2%
	Scotia: 2%
	Eureka Miniatures: 1%

The results will be officially published in Ragnarok 29.

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Kevin Walker			 Mac Developer / Software Engineer
sage@millcomm.com		 sage@wamnet.com
Rochester  MN  USA		 WAM!NET
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