Andrea Sfiligoi of Ganesha Games – author of games such as the Song of Blades and Heroes series, BattleSworn, and Osprey's Of Gods and Mortals – has been assigned the Conan Award for "Wargaming Personality of the Year" at Lucca Comics and Games, an impressive, four-day-long geek gathering in Lucca (Tuscany, Italy), which saw over 210,000 paying attendees this year (and a total crowd of over 300,000 people in the small Tuscanian town).
The Conan Award is in its second year, and was named after Valerio "Conan" Laurenzi, a wargame-evangelist who ran the wargaming demo area at Lucca Games for over 20 years until his death. Valerio's work is continued today by the "Conan Clan," a bunch of wargamers who assigned the prize to Mr. Sfiligoi for his continuous demonstrations at conventions, big and small, local and abroad, and the commercial and critical success of his designs.
Pictures are from the official Lucca Comics and Games gallery on Facebook.