JACK SCRUBY HONORED
Origins returned to the East Coast in 1982, being held at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Although many different opinions will be expressed in the various hobby magazines over the next few months, I believe that this will prove to have been one of the most successful Origins.
The campus of the University was certainly big enough to accommodate the convention though the site was rather remote and inaccessible for people without their own transportation. There were plenty of on-campus dormitories at reasonable prices for attendees. There was also plenty of parking room if you didn't mind a bit of a walk. Some of the walks were deceptively long, however, especially when carrying a couple of cases of figures.
HMGS DRAWS 1000 HISTORICAL MINIATURE GAMERS TO MOST HISTORICAL ORIENTED ORIGINS TO DATE.
Official paid attendance came out at 3,826. This figure is not inflated by double or triple counting attendees who came to the convention for the whole weekend. 600 plus dealers and staff are not included in this total nor are those who received free admission by putting on several events. There is an unofficial estimate that the non-appearance of S.P.I. and T.S.R. hobbies may have cost the convention as many as 1500 attendees. This rather inexplicable decision by one of the hobby's leading game companies and their newly purchased subsidiary may have hurt them more than Origins. Both 'Avalon Hill' and the newly formed 'Victory Games' were there and they seemed to be doing a fairly decent business.
I am only aware of a couple of things that went wrong; the Friday rush for registration swamped the desk and prevented some people from making the early events, and the pre-registration for The Courier sponsored WRG Armour Tournament was messed up. I'm sure there were other problems but in general the convention was very well organized. Two big plusses were the dealer area which was spacious and well laid out with everything in the one place, and the organization of the Miniatures events area.
All miniatures events were held in one gymnasium. Two such gyms were used at ORIGINS ... one for the dealers' booths, one for the miniatures programs. The gaming set-up area, a basketball court, measured some 70 by 70 feet. ORIGINS supplied approximately 90 tables, each 21/2 by 6, which were then grouped according to game requirements.
The gymnasium's high ceilings helped to keep the noise level down; a room with lower ceilings containing the same number of games and participants would have been unacceptably noisy. Both tournaments and demonstrations were assigned to the gym, and most of the 90 tables were always in use.
The Historical Miniature Gaming Society (H.M.G.S.) and Potomac Wargamers must take the credit for the lack of problems in the Miniatures area. H.M.G.S. was very successful in organizing the Miniatures events at its first major convention. Playing areas were well defined and clean, and participants were directed quickly to their respective games. Above all the whole thing ran on schedule. This was despite the fact that 700 to 1000 miniatures gamers attended the convention and kept the place busy until well into the evening.
In particular, the efforts of Bob Coggins, the ORIGINs miniatures events coordinator, deserves mention. Bob and his crew were on top of things throughout the 3 day affair; he was always around when needed, and, most importantly, he was around when others didn't even realize that he was needed!! A good man, Coggins ... 3 cheers and a huzzah for his efforts,
One of the things that most impressed me was the general good will and friendliness displayed at the miniatures events. I had expected to see a host of hard-core tournament registrants, giving little, expecting much, ready to argue rules interpretations at the drop of the umpire's hat.
Not so. The WRG Ancients tournament, guided by Bob Luddy and crew, sailed smoothly on cluing 3 days of competition, and the easy going nature of the crowd at the other tables was quite evident. The winners of the WRG Ancients Tournaments were Steve Herndon for 25mm and Tom Hazlett for 15mm. These two gentlemen finished in the same positions last year at Gen Con East. They're obviously the ones to beat.
Walter Simon hosted 3 separate events and the participants fairly rolled over with good nature ... but then, who can get serious about a western skirmish in which Two Gun Brown battles it out with the Sheriff? Of much more serious nature were the Napoleonic and modern armor scenarious set up by the group of Mike Norris and Todd Kauderer. The terrain cannot be properly described ... it must be seen to be believed. The group has a series of geomorphic terrain sections, each about 2 feet by 6 feet, which, when placed together, provide a 3 dimensional bird's eye view of rolling hills, forests, roads, towns, etc., the panorama is amazingly realistic.
When set up in fixed order, the terrain sections display the Waterloo battlefield, and Norris and company, using EMPIRE 111, refought the battle with 1 5mm figures over the weekend. It is no surprise that Mike Norris and crew won the HMCS award for the best miniatures presentation. The Courier's Rod Burr put on a WRC Armor Tourney that was fought so well by everyone that no winner could be determined. Ed Mohrman's group ran several well received Sword & Flame games and skirmish games (ask Dick Bryant about the chocolate ice cream).
The main HMGS fund raising activity was a raffle of an army of 240 15mm renaissance figures painted by Jay Hadley (of the Courier staff). The winner of the army was Steve Hewitt.
The support of the manufacturers and suppliers contacted by HMGS was overwhelming. There were so many prizes and gift certificates available that we found it difficult to use them all! it was, an embarassment of riches, and the HMGS is truly appreciative of the many firms and individuals that contributed to the effort.
One of the 2 events I managed to attend was an extremely interesting HMGS sponsored roundtable hosted by Martin Gordon, devoted to the problems of simulating historical combat on the table top. Dr. Gordon, who hosts a series of lectures at the Smithsonian, is a professional military historian, and he assembled a truly august crew of fellow military historians . . the discussion was fascinating.
But ORIGINS goofed here: first, the roundtable was scheduled in a teeny- weeny classroom, which was promptly abandoned and larger quarters found. Second, because the event was HMGS sponsored, it was listed in the program under miniature events, as a result, few boardgamers even knew of its existence. Indeed, one member of the audience was Al Nofi, whose name is quite noted in the boardgaming field. Ironically enough, if it could have been broadcast that Dr. Nofi thought the event of enough significance to attend, half the boardgamers at the convention would have attemped to get in the door.
GEORGE JEFFREY'S LECTURES FILLED TO CAPACITY
The other event I attended was a George Jeffrey lecture, this one on the morale aspects of the battlefield. The Courier flew George in from Scotland for the convention; he, with the assistance of Ned Zuparko, is developing a set of Napoleonic rules which appear fascinating in scope. Many attendees to the lecture cancelled out of other events they had paid for to attend all of Mr. Jeffrey's lectures after they had seen the first!
George is not a professional historian, but it's evident that he's done his research, speaks confidently on his topic, cites authorities promptly and correctly, and rubs shoulders with Dr. Paddy Griffith and crew at Sandhurst. in short, George is an excellent and convincing lecturer, and couples his talks with a patter worthy of Sir Harry Lauder (for those of you too young to remember, Sir Harry was a vaudeville entertainer in the early 1900's).
During my short tour of the dealer's area, I noted the predominance of fantasy figures. Historical miniatures were present, with 15mm figures sweeping the field. The numberof firms producing historical figures in a size other than 15mm could be counted on the fingers of one hand... indeed, could be counted on the fingers of one finger, as it were!
All in all it was a most successful and enjoyable convention from the miniatures point of view. Roll on Origins '83 in Detroit.
PAINTING AWARDS
The following received Rai Partha gift certificates and blue ribbons:
Best Individual Historical Figure Steve Aleo (British Colonial)
Best Group/Unit 25mm Historical Rob Mosca (German Colonials)
Best Historical Group 15mm Steve Payne (British Infantry)
Best Historical Army 15mm Steve Aleo (Napoleonics)
Best Army Pat Condray (30mm - 30 Years War Flats)
Best Diorama Win Watt
THE COURIER award for the best historical unit went to Pat Condray's 30 Years War Flats.
'THE COURIER' WINS H.G. WELLS AWARD AGAIN
For the third year in a row 'The Courier' has carried off the H.G. Wells award for the Best Professional Miniatures Magazin6. The other nominees in this category were 'Campaigns', "Fantasy Modelling". 'Military Modelling' and 'Wargamers Digest', a good company. 'The Courier' has now won this award in each of the three years of its existence; an amazing record and a tribute to the continuing quality of the magazine.
Other H.G. Wells award winners for 1981 were:
Best Historical Figure Series Rai Pariba's Condotierre
Best Vehicular Model Series C.H.Q. Micro Armour
Best Miniatures Rules Adventure Games Harpoon (Modern Naval Rules
All-Time Best Miniatures Rules for 20th Century Land Battles G.D.W.'s Tac Force (Designed by Frank
Chadwick)
All-Time Best Miniatures Rules for Pre-20th Century Naval Battles Battleline's Ship 0' The Line
(designed by Craig Taylor and now published by Jugger-naut)
The awards were given by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design under the direction of GAMA.
JACK SCRUBY HONORED
A special award was given by C.A.M.A. to Jack Scruby for outstanding service to the Historical Miniatures Gaming Hobby. Unfortunately Jack was unable to travel to Baltimore to accept this richly deserved award in person. His contribution to the hobby has been immense.
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