Recently, the winners for the prestigious Charles S. Roberts Awards for Excellence in Conflict Simulation winners were announced by Gary Mengle of Ardwulf’s Lair fame who acts as the Director for the organization and I wanted to share those results but also provide some of my commentary on the games. For those that don’t know, the Charles S. Roberts Awards, also colloquially known as the CSR Awards, are annual awards recognizing excellence in tabletop conflict simulation game design and are particularly focused on historical wargames. Established in 1975, they are the oldest board game awards and are named after the founder of The Avalon Hill Game Company. The awards cover a range of categories, including best operational game, best solitaire or cooperative game, and best gunpowder wargame, amongst many other categories (in fact there are a total of 16 different ones) and are pretty well respected amongst those in the wargaming hobby and industry. 

Here is the text of the information shared by the CSR Board:

The Board is pleased to announce the results of the 2024 Charles S. Roberts Awards.

THE CSR Awards would like to thank all who assisted with this year’s process, including the members of the Board of Governors and the members of our Nominating Committee: Riccardo Massini, Lawrence Hung, Robert Carroll, Ryan Heilman, Steven Dolges, Brant Guillory, Morgane Gouyon-Rety, Justin Fassino, Nate “Gimpy” Rogers, Karl Kreder, Michael Kowalczuk, Mitch Reed, and Nathan Lee.

The Awards results were recently announced at Origins 2025. A video of the Awards Presentation will be available soon (a week or so).

PERIOD AWARDS
Awards for the best game released in calendar year 2024 within a specific historical period.

Best Ancients Game
Winner: The Fate of All. Designed by Fabrizio Vianello and published by Thin Red Line Games.

Nominated:
Baetis Campaign, 211 BC. Designed by Dan Fournie and published by RBM Studio in C3i Magazine #37.
Beware the Ides of March. Designed by John Theissen and published by Hollandspiele.
History of the Ancient Seas I: HELLAS. Designed by Karl Hausser and published by Sound of Drums.
Rome, IInc.: From Diocletian to Heraclius. Designed by Philip Jelley and published in Against the Odds Magazine #61.

In this Ancients Game category, I have only played 1 of the games fully (Beware the Ides of March) and also played a prototype copy of one of them (HELLAS) so don’t’ feel that I can comment on this category other than to say that we didn’t love Beware the Ides of March nor HELLAS. I own the other 3 but never got around to playing them other than we did unboxing/unbagging videos on our YouTube Channel. I think though that The Fate of All is a very interesting look at the operational scale around the campaigns of Alexander the Great starting in 336 BCE, a few months before the assassination of Alexander’s father Philip of Macedon, and ending in 319 BCE, four years after the death of Alexander.

Had I played the game, I am sure that I would have loved it and my vote would have been for The Fate of All.

Best Medieval Game
Winner: Tanto Monta: The Rise of Ferdinand & Isabella. Designed by Carlos Diaz Navarez and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
A Gest of Robin Hood. Designed by Fred Serval and published by GMT Games.
Norman Conquests: Men of Iron Volume V. Designed by Ralph Shelton, and published by GMT Games.
Sword of Orthodoxy: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium. Designed by Ben Madison and published by White Dog Games.
Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India. Designed by Saverio Spagnolie, Mathieu Johnson, Cory Graham, and Aman Matthews and published by GMT Games.

I have played 4 of the 5 games in this Medieval category with the only one not played being Norman Conquests. In my opinion, while I do love the Here I Stand games including Here I Stand and Virgin Queen, Tanto Monta is a very different game. It uses the same Card Driven mechanic in the other games in the series but it is just so convoluted and full of exceptions. Keep in mind that we played a few turns of the game with 2 generally new players to the system and it just seemed to fall flat with us. We could see what it was trying to do but the over the top exceptions and additional chrome was just too much for my taste. With that being said, we do want to get it to the table again for another try and hope to be able to do that sometime soon…maybe even at WBC this year!

Here is our initial impressions video for Tanto Monta:

A Gest of Robin Hood is a fantastic game. We have played the game a total of 6 times now and have really enjoyed what is it that we are seeing and experiencing. The game is a great entry point into the world of asymmetric gaming and also teaches some of the basic principles of the COIN Series mainly focusing on the Sequence of Play, card assisted framework and diverging player sides with vastly different focus. The game is very approachable but also has a lot of meat to it and is really an interesting experience. But, to compare this game with some of the others on the list if a bit of a stretch.

Sword of Orthodoxy just fell flat for me and I love the States of Siege Series and games designed by R. Ben Madison. This one felt a bit tired and I just got lost in its systems. Setup was a total pain as well and kind of set me off on the wrong foot.

Vijayanagara is an amazing game! Vijayanagara is very COIN like but with some new tricks that keep the game fast paced and interesting. We have now played the game 3 times and really love how it models 3 unique factions with their own goals and abilities that have to fight each other, but also the 2 insurgent like factions of the Vijayanagara Empire and the Bahmani Kingdom must team up and work together somewhat to defeat the mighty Delhi Sultanate. The game plays in about 90 minutes and one of the coolest things about the design is that events are very powerful and when they are taken about half of them allow the player taking the event to remain eligible. This makes the game very interesting and fast paced with little to no downtime for any player.

My vote went for Vijayanagara but it feels similar problematically to A Gest of Robin Hood in this category as it just doesn’t really compare mechanically to the other games on the list.

Best Gunpowder or Industrial Era
Winner: Cowpens 1781. Designed by Pascal Toupy and published in Vae Victis Magazine #176.

Nominated:
Banish All Their Fears. Designed by David Fox and Ben Hull and published by GMT Games.
Battle of Sekigahara. Designed by Stephen L. Kling, Jr., and published by The Historical Game Company.
Europe in Turmoil II: The Interbellum Years. Designed by Kris van Beurden and published by Compass Games.
Imperial Bayonets: For Liberty & Lombardy. Designed by Matthew Ward and Ray Weiss and published by Conflict Simulations Limited.

This is a category that I didn’t play any of the games listed. I feel bad about that as I do own Banish All Their Fears, Europe in Turmoil II and Imperial Bayonets. I have very much liked the games designed by Pascal Toupy but decided against buying Cowpens 1781 because I have had bit of a bad experience with Vae Victis. I bought their solitaire Byzantine Empire game called Romanitas 528-628 from a year or so ago and very much had trouble with the rules translation.

Best Napoleonic Game
Winner: I, Napoleon. Designed by Ted Raicer and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
1812: Napoleon’s Fateful March. Designed by Brian Asklev and published by VUCA Simulations.
Alliance. Designed by Tom Dalgliesh, Grant Dalgliesh, and Bruce McFarlane and published by Columbia Games.
Napoleon’s End. Designed by Kevin Zucker and published by Operational Studies Group.
Winter’s Victory. Designed by Mark Hinkle and published by New England Simulations.

I really enjoyed I, Napoleon and felt it was a very good game but fell a bit short of what I thought it might or could be. My only real initial criticism after 4 plays is that the game is a bit more random than I had expected and more than I normally like (with card draws and dice) and also is a bit chaotic with cards coming in and going out of the deck and playing off of each other. You have to stay on your toes with this one as there is a a lot to keep straight. I’m sure it gets easier as you play more and more and I would say that after 4 plays I am much more comfortable with the process and flow. Bit I would say that the best part if the historical narrative that is generated. This is the greatest strength of the game and I very much have enjoyed that.

We also played Alliance from Columbia Games. All in all, we had a great time with the game. I think that we all felt that the game was solid but was just missing some things. I would like to see what the community comes up with as far as variants and other changes over the next year. But the game delivers on its promise of a sandbox strategic level Napoleonic wargame with a focus on alliance building and maintenance. There is a lot to like and we plan to play this one again soon.

We unfortunately never got around to playing 1812: Napoleon’s Fateful March and that is one of my biggest regrets from 2024. But we can play this one in the future as a part of our Shelf of SHame Dust-Off.

My vote would have probably been for Alliance but I also very much liked I, Napoleon and feel that this was a very solid choice for this category. I don’t own the 2 large games in this category and would love to play them some day.

Here is our video review for Alliance:

Best American Civil War Game
Winner: Rebel Fury. Designed by Mark Herman and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
Gettysburg 1863. Designed by Grant Wylie and Mike Wylie and published by Worthington Games.
Shiloh: The First Day. Designed by Steve Carey and published by Revolution Games.
Tattered Flags: Into the Whirlpool. Designed by Hermann Luttmann and published by Blue Panther.
Thunder on the Mississippi. Designed by Joseph M. Balkoski and Chris Withers and published by Multi-Man Publishing.

I very much agree with the choice of Rebel Fury in this category. We have a few of the scenarios (including Chickamauga and Fredericksburg) and I have really enjoyed the system. It is matured since the entry Gettysburg in C3i Magazine and has definitely rounded out into a well balanced system of maneuver and combat. I mention maneuver because that is one of my big takeaways from the design as there is a concept called Zone of Influence and Zone of Control and these effect movement that just works really well and is something that I have not necessarily seen in other games at this scale.

Here is our video review for Rebel Fury:

I didn’t get to play Gettysburg 1863 from Worthington but do love the Civil War Brigade Battle Series games.

I was very impressed with the playability of Shiloh: The First Day and how it told a fantastic and plausible narrative as we progressed through the battle. Maneuver was a huge part of the game and units that were able to break through the front lines typically pressed that advantage and moved toward objective hexes in order to force the defender to react disrupting their plans for their coming turn. I would also say that the system is very crunchy and has some calculation of various modifiers based on all type of things from terrain, to command range and various unit strengths and weaknesses. This created some very interesting decisions about how to go about attacking specific areas of the board and the use of other elements such as artillery to soften up stronger units before the attacks. The Blind Swords Series is just really that good and this game was amazing and we are so glad that we were able to get it tabled. It was chaotic and frustrating all the while being very charming and accessible. It did help that we had a veteran of the series teaching us but I would definitely say the system is approachable and that anyone can learn it and play. We actually have multiple other volumes in the series in our collections and we look forward to playing those over the next few years through our Shelf of Shame series.

Tattered Flags is a fantastic game and is a tactical American Civil War design that really has the feel of a miniatures game with the way units move and the facing. The really interesting part of the game is the way the map is laid out. It doesn’t use traditional hexes but uses star shapes that act as hexes but are called 8-pointed spaces. The rules are really tight and crunchy as to hit rolls are expressed in percentages and players roll 2d10 with one die identified as the lead.

Alexander loves Thunder on the Mississippi and all things GCACW but the series just doesn’t do it for me. All in this was a very strong category with some really great games!

Best World War I Game
Winner: Schutztruppe: Heia Safari. Designed by Dennis Bishop and published by Compass Games.

Nominated:
Caporetto 1917. Designed by Andrea Brusati and published by Europa Simulazioni.
Italia 1917-1918: A Farewell to Arms. Designed by Stéphane Sénéchal and published by NUTS! Publishing.
Mud & Blood. Designed by Stefan Ekström and Magnus Nordlöf and published by Three Crowns Games.

I didn’t get to play any of these games, although I do own 3. I really like WWI too so that was hard for me but we can’t play everything.

Best World War II Game
Winner: Panzer North Africa. Designed by James M. Day and Fernando Sola Ramos and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
Old School Tactical: Volume 4: The Italian Theater. Designed by Shayne Logan and published by Flying Pig Games.
One Hour World War II. Designed by Clint Warren-Davey and published by Worthington Games.
Stalingrad Roads: Battle on the Edge of the Abyss. Designed by Nicolas Rident and published by NUTS! Publishing.
The Greatest Day: Utah Beach. Designed by Tom Holliday and published by Multi-Man Publishing.

Another group of games that I own but was unable to play any of them but One Hour World War II and it was not for us. We felt that game was just too simple and the deterministic combat, while simple and time effective, really leaves a lot to be desired.

Best Modern Game
Winner: Purple Haze. Designed by Bernard Grzybowski and published by PHALANX.

Nominated:
’85 Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires. Designed by Mark H. Walker and published by Flying Pig Games.
Operation Bøllebank. Designed by Nicola Saggini and published by SNAFU Design.
Rifles in the ‘Nam. Designed by Gottardo Zancani and published by Tiny Battle Publishing.

Purple Haze is a great choice for this category. We really enjoyed Purple Haze and have played it a lot finishing 9 scenarios. We have a few remaining and want to finish it out to see how it ends. They also have multiple smaller expansion packs (Born to Kill, Tunnel Rats, Force Recon – Stingray and Force Recon – Keyhole) that will add scenarios and we are definitely interested in trying those out. But we really very much enjoyed this one and are looking forward to more.

Here is our video review for Purple Haze:

MODE AWARDS
Awards for the best game released in calendar year 2024 using a specific mechanical or design mode.

Best Strategic Game
Winner: Burning Banners. Designed by Christopher Moeller and published by Compass Games.

Nominated:
One Hour World War II. Designed by Clint Warren-Davey and published by Worthington Games.
Dune: War for Arrakis. Designed by Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello and published by CMON.
Europe in Turmoil II: The Interbellum Years. Designed by Kris van Beurden and published by Compass Games.
Red Dust Rebellion. Designed by Jarrod Carmichael and published by GMT Games.
The Other Side of the Hill. Designed by Carlos Fco. Márquez Linares and published by NAC Wargames.

I have played 4 of these 6 games and loved Burning Banners, Dune: War for Arrakis and Red Dust Rebellion. All were very deserving of this award but Burning Banners is very good. We had such a good time with the game and its mechanics and loved the fantasy setting and the production is really amazing. I would say that Red Dust Rebellion is really, really great and we just need to get that one back to the table again for a 2nd play to give our thoughts.

Here is a link to our RAW video after playing RDR:

Best Operational Game
Winner: Thunder on the Mississippi. Designed by Joseph M. Balkoski and Chris Withers and published by Multi-Man Publishing.

Nominated:
Luzon: Race for Bataan. Designed by Matsuura Yutaka and published by Multi-Man Publishing.
Baetis Campaign, 211 BC. Designer Dan Fournie and published by RBM Studio.
Caporetto 1917. Designed by Andrea Brusati and published by Europa Simulazioni.
Italia 1917-1918: A Farewell to Arms. Designed by Stéphane Sénéchal and published by NUTS! Publishing.
Stalingrad Roads: Battle on the Edge of the Abyss. Designed by Nicolas Rident and published by NUTS! Publishing.

Operational Level wargames are some of my favorites and unfortunately we didn’t get around to playing most of these. We only played Thunder on the Mississippi and while Alexander loves the system I do not.

Best Tactical Game
Winner: Panzer North Africa. Designed by James M. Day and Fernando Sola Ramos and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
Rebel Fury. Designed by Mark Herman and published by GMT Games.
Cowpens 1781. Designed by Pascal Toupy and published in Vae Victis issue #176.
Tattered Flags: Into the Whirlpool. Designed by Hermann Luttmann and published by Blue Panther.
Old School Tactical: Volume 4: The Italian Theater. Designed by Shayne Logan and published by Flying Pig Games.

Best New Edition of a Previously Published Game
Winner: France ’40: Second Edition. Designed by Mark Simonitch and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
Port Arthur. Designed by Yasushi Nakaguro and published by NUTS! Publishing.
Unhappy King Charles. Designed by Charles Vasey and published by PHALANX.
Air & Armor: Wurzburg, Designer Signature Edition. Designed by Bruce Maxwell and published by Compass Games.
Traces of Hubris. Designed by Tetsuya Nakamura and published by VUCA Simulations.

I think that this is a very cool category for starters. I really like that they created this one. The only game we played on this list was Port Arthur and it was not for us. It just seemed too daunting for the Russians and I felt like the combat was just a bit wonky. We own France ’40 and Traces of Hubris but just didn’t get them in. I know that we would have loved both of those as we do love the designers and the systems.

Best Political, Social, or Economic Game
Winner: Red Dust Rebellion. Designed by Jarrod Carmichael and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
Arabian Struggle. Designed by Nick Porter and Tim Uren and published by Catastrophe Games.
Crisis: 1914. Designed by Maurice Suckling and published by Worthington Games.
Europe in Turmoil II: The Interbellum Years. Designed by Kris van Beurden and published by Compass Games.
The Republic’s Struggle. Designed by Teo Álvarez and published by NAC Wargames.

I played 3 of these games including Red Dust Rebellion (an excellent game), Arabian Struggle (an excellent game) and Crisis: 1914 (also an excellent game). My problem with this category is that none of these games are truly Political, Social or Economic. In my experience, these category of games are typically CDG’s and the only CDG here is Europe in Turmoil really. Crisis: 1914 has quickly become one of my favorite games on the buildup to WWI. It is not necessarily a true wargame, I don’t know to get into that debate here, but is a very good game. There is really not much interaction with the other players so I find it hard to call it a Political game. But it is awesome. I would have voted for it!

Here is a link to our recent review of the game:

And we also did a quick RAW video while playing it at Buckeye Game Fest:

Best Solitaire or Cooperative Game
Winner: I, Napoleon. Designed by Ted Raicer and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:

Atlantic Sentinels. Designed by Gregory M. Smith and publ;ished by Compass Games.
Manila: The Savage Streets. Designed by Michael Rinella and published by Revolution Games
Rome, IInc.: From Diocletian to Heraclius. Designed by Philip Jelley and published in Against the Odds #61.
Viva Mexico: The Mexican Revolution 1910-1920. Designed by David Kershaw and published by White Dog Games.
Wolfpack: The North Atlantic Convoy Struggles. Designed by Mike Bertucelli, published by GMT Games.

I have played 3 of these games including I, Napoleon as already mentioned, Manila: The Savage Streets and Viva Mexico. All 3 were very good games and had interesting elements. Manila was the most wargame like as it is an area movement/activation assault game covering the Allied clearing of the city of Manila in 1945. I think that I, Napoleon was probably the correct choice but Manila was very good and was worthy of consideration.

Here is my video review for I, Napoleon:

Best Hypothetical Game
Winner: Next War: Iran. Designed by Mitchell Land and published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
Close The Atlantic: World War Three. Designed by Michael Raymond and published by Blue Panther.
The Enemy is at the Gates. Designed by Adam Starkweather and published by Compass Games.
Invasion: Malta. Designed by Vance von Borries and published by Legion Wargames.

Great choice as we have experienced the Next War System but have not played this title yet. I very much enjoyed The Enemy is at the Gates that this game would have been my vote.  While this game is huge, and absolutely is not for a beginner, the game is truly highly playable and has a major emphasis on command and equipment. With a game this big though, it’s fascinating to play with company scaled units, because you get huge grand strategy, but also micromanagement of heavy weapons teams and mortar platoons from battalion. To me the way this game played out was not only very enjoyable as a game, but I felt some real gravitas for the terrors of war whilst playing this one as the game models the effects on daily life in the city of Berlin with disruptions to the power grid, spreading fires from combat and the effect of transportation gridlock for civilians.

The Company Scale System uses an chit draw system that really puts some unknown in what groups of units can activate and even when they will activate. There are also events and if the chit cup runs dry before all of the units can activate due to the end round chit then you are just sore out of luck. You have to prepare for this inevitability and I loved the concept of prioritizing your activations and making sure you activate what you absolutely have to before doing those units that would be beneficial to activate.

Here is our RAW video:

Best Wargaming Magazine
Winner: C3i

Nominated:
Strategy & Tactics
War Diary
Against the Odds
Vae Victis

Hands down, one of the best wargame magazines out there is C3i Magazine from RBM Studio. They are just so well done and have so much to offer that it it is hard to imagine not having my own copy to read. Issue Nr. 37 of C3i Magazine was once again jam packed with great content, including various game additions/inserts for games and articles on board games like Empire of the Sun, Battle of Castulo (GBoH), Red Flag Over Paris and others! But the best part is that there are actually 2 games included, C3i Series Volume III Baetis Campaign, 211 BC and The Spanish Road: The Spanish Tercios’ Greatest Challenge. With the passing of Rodger, this was a great choice for this category!

But, there are some real contenders here with some other great magazines and the future of this category is wide open!

CAPSTONE AWARDS
Singular Awards for individual or achievement granted annually by the Charles S. Roberts Awards.

The Redmond A. Simonsen Memorial Award for Outstanding Presentation
Winner: Burning Banners published by Compass Games. Graphics by Christopher Moeller.

Nominated: A Gest of Robin Hood published by GMT Games. Graphics by Robert Altbauer, Terry Leeds, and Chechu Nieto.
I, Napoleon, published by GMT Games. Graphics by Jacques Onfroy de Bréville and Domhnall Hegarty.
Winter’s Victory published by New England Simulations. Graphics by Antoine-Jean Gros and Mark Hinkle.
Undaunted 2200: Callisto published by Osprey Games. Graphics by Roland MacDonald.

All of these games in this category are just gorgeous! This was a tough one but I would agree that Burning Banners was just special. The artistic stylings of Christopher Moeller are just amazing and this is the best produced game Compass Games has ever done.

The James F. Dunnigan Award for Playability and Design
Winner: Mark Herman

Nominated:
Joseph Balkoski
Hermann Luttmann
Ted Raicer
Pascal Toupy

The Chad Jensen Memorial Breakthrough Designer Award
Winner: Carlos Diaz Narvaez for Tanto Monta.

Nominated:
Valentin Crespel, Andy Loakes, and Yves Roig for Gettysburg: A Time for Heroes.
Saverio Spagnolie, Mathieu Johnson, Cory Graham, and Aman Matthews, for Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India.
Clint Warren-Davey for One Hour World War II

Winner: Panzer North Africa. Designed by James M. Day and Fernando Sola Ramos published by GMT Games.

Nominated:
I, Napoleon. Designed by Ted Raicer and published by GMT Games.
Rebel Fury. Designed by Mark Herman and published by GMT Games.
Tattered Flags: Into the Whirlpool. Designed by Hermann Luttmann and published by Blue Panther.
Thunder on the Mississippi. Designed by Joseph M. Balkoski and Chris Withers and published by Multi-Man Publishing.

Finally, there were some other inductees into the Charles S. Roberts Wargaming Hall of Fame:

The Board is also delighted to announce the new inductees to the Charles S. Roberts Wargaming Hall of Fame, as determined by the Hall of Fame jury (Robert Carroll, Brant Guillory, Dan Pancaldi, and Gary Mengle):

Frédéric Bey, for his long career of varied designs, including multiple CSR nominations and helping lead a wargaming renaissance in Europe.
Samuel Craig Taylor, for his innovative wargame designs which have stood the test of time, and includes a number of enduring classics.
Danny Parker, for his lifetime of scholarship and design work within one of wargaming’s most popular but competitive topics.

Additionally, by unanimous agreement of the CSR Board of Governors, Rodger B. MacGowan is hereby inducted into the Charles S. Roberts Wargaming Hall of Famee. Rodger’s designs still set the standard for wargaming graphics. Rodger’s contributions to the wargaming hobby and industry are both unquestioned and difficult to equal, and so numerous that they need not be renumerated here. Indeed, CSR leadership would have already inducted him save for his express wish to abide by Charles Roberts’ wishes regarding the Awards. His passing in early 2025 affected the Board and all wargamers very deeply; the Awards would not exist today without his guidance and mentorship, and the Board and the CSR team intends to continue this aspect of Rodger’s legacy.

All in all, I think that this year’s CSR Awards were the best in the past few years! This is somewhat of an impossible task and I think that they have gone about it with grace and form and have really chosen some fantastic games and folks who are deserving of recognition. Congratulations to the Board and to Gary Mengle for his leadership in this effort!

-Grant