Origins 86 Not up to Par
for Historical Miniatures

Lack of Painting Competition
and 25mm Figures
Mar National Convention

Reviewed by Dick Bryant

ED. NOTE: This article is assembled from inputs from many sources. Primary sources are Paul Koch, Kruse Smith, Todd Fisher, and Bob Coggins.

It was a mixed pleasure to attend Origins 86 at Los Angeles Airport Hilton. The convention was off to a bad start when it was discovered that besides the entry fee, a cost of $7/day was required for parking. There were much fewer miniatures events than are usually the case at HMGS & Little Wars. This is not surprising at several miniatures gamemasters discovered that their events, long in preparation, were not even listed in the program and at least one had less than 2 hours notice that his game was going to come off. Another whose game required each interested participant to bring his own troops found that the announcement of this fact only appeared in the event program (not the pre-registration list) when it was too late. Obviously his game did not come off.

There was a definite prejudice against 25mm figures. One of the officials at the miniatures events was heard to say that he was not going to award the 25mm Ancients winners as he did not sell 25mm figures in his store and why should he aid and abet his competitors(!). [ED. NOTE: One more argument against people with commercial interest in the hobby having anything to do with the convention.]

On the positive side, there were some games being played that are not often enough seen at the conventions: a Fletcher Pratt Naval game (though it took up too much space for the number of players and probably should have been staged elsewhere -- perhaps outside; and a large air war miniatures game, Mustangs & Messerschmidts, with the planes on stilts mounted on wheels. The arrangement allowed for modification of altitude, banking, turns, etc.

In the dealers'area, with the exception of Ral Partha, Rafm and those lovely RSM 7 Years War figures, there were no 25mm to buy. There was, however, a fine supply of Gallia buildings, painted and unpainted and the really new terrain system called Geo-Hex. This system of interlocking 12" hexagon styrofoam blocks comes complete with hill slopes in both green and desert brown. The manufacturer loaned out his system to several games including our own Paul Koch's demonstration featuring the Battle of Aliwal. Geo-Hex was awarded The Courier Terrain Award but not without competition. Most worthy of mention was the idea of Skip Peterson who uses a strip of indoor-outdoor carpeting over hill shapes of styrofoam, etc. It looks just great and very inexpensive in the bargain, a rare happening. Indeed Skip would have won if he had not topped off his terrain with some unpainted buildings and luminescent green trees.

At the other extreme was the WRG Ancient Tourney which featured no terrain at all. A circle of paper with "woods" written on it was the highlight. We were told that Origins miniatures organizers were supposed to provide the terrain for the tournament, but failed to come through. We should point out that there were also some finely done terrain boards featuring micro armor and other 5mm games.

Paul Koch's games were very well received. The demo of Aliwal using his forthcoming grand-tactical "SWORD & MUSKET" went down well including some very thoughtful criticism from the players which will be taken into the rules. Brian Lum was elected as the best player. After giving the award, Paul learned that he was our new staff cartoonist. The second round of NACH PARIS went better than the first with Chris Nelson winning MVP from The Courier and a Prussian victory. On Sundaywe had a terrific ON TO RICHMOND game which began after a competitive rules set and finished before. The players named Dan Beattie of "The Standardbearer" the MVP for inflicting half the losses suffered by the Union with a single brigade of cavalry. Therewere also many nice looking Johnny Reb games being played.

GEO-HEX TERRAIN WON THE COURIER AWARD

We must report however on the sad demise of both the WRG Renaissance tournament and the painting contest. [ED. NOTE: This last is a very sad commentary on the quality of the miniatures presented at Origins 86!] The Courier awards a "best painted unit" trophy at each Origins, so we were forced to enlist the aid of Bob Coggins of HMGS to simply award the trophy to the best painted unit used in one of the games at the convention. Bob, who handles the painting contest for Historicon, graciously agreed. However with embarassing results. Bob chose Paul Koch's Sackett's Brigade from his Union Army (organized for OTR).

ANCIENTS COMPETITION

This year's Origins drew Ancients players from the US, Canada, England, Japan, Alaska, and there were even some Australians "hanging about".

The North American Society of Ancient and Medieval Wargamers Championship consisted of 18 previously qualified US heat winners. The four semi-finalists (each a division winner), were:

    25MM early period: Johnson Hood - Selucid
    25MM late period: Morgan Conrad - Khmer
    15MM early period: Bob Andriola - Bactrian Greeks
    15MM late period: Paul Michael Serio - Teutonic Knights

Johnson Hood won his semi-final game over Bob Andriola, and Morgan Conrad emerged victorious against Mr. Serio. Morgan beat Johnson Hood in the final to become North American champion. Morgan is from San Francisco and his Khmer is an unusual army to say the least.

In the Ancients Open, a War of the Roses army of John Baumann of San Francisco won the 25mm event and Wayne Dare from London won the 15mm event using a borrowed Teutonic army.

The Courier award for 15mm Best Painted Army went to Roy Hayes, a new gamer whose Gauls were very well done. Paul Georgian's Late Romans placed second. The Courier award for Best Painted 25mm Army went to Johnson Hood's Seleucids. The majority (and standout figures) of Johnson's army were painted by his longtime friend Scott Prior. Johnson's Seleucids just edged out Mitch Eitel's 100 Years War English, who took second.

Both Sportsmanship awards (North America Society and The Courier) went to the only person who enjoyed the tournaments more than Kruse Smith did, Charles "Thracian" Weaver from Santa Cruz, California. Best Terrain award (out of a poor field overall) was won by Todd Fisher. Todd is from Chicago and this is his second year to win the award.

The numbers of Ancients Open participants were the lowest since 1983, and there were almost more players from outside the country than from the U.S. These low numbers seem at odds with theway Ancients is taking off right now. One reason is that Southern California is too far to go for many gamers (except the die-hards who will go anywhere). Another reason was the pre-convention information flyers listed only 15mm scale for WRG Ancients, and 25mm is the dominant scale at the national conventions. But even with that, there were nearly as many 25mm players as 15mm.

Kruse Smith says he enjoyed his role as Chief Umpire at Origins this year (his third in a row), and would like to thank everyone who helped - in particular Dan Jones, who did a fine job as administrator and Asst. Umpire, and Steve Barney, who supplied the showcase terrain for the Championship Semi-Final and Final games. Special thanks to Alliance Miniatures, Mini Figs, and Wargames, Inc., for their support of the Ancients competition with prizes.

Kruse explains that there is a chance that the Society's Ancients events will not be at Origins in 1987. Atlanticon won the bid, so Origins 87 will be in Baltimore over the 4th of July weekend. The Atlanticon people and the HMGS people are deciding if HMGS will participate and be in charge of the historical miniatures events. intending no offense to the fantasyoriented Atlanticon group, Kruse has found that things go much better for the Ancients events if a non-profit historical miniatures organization (like HMGS) is in charge of the miniatures events. So if Atlanticon and HMGS work together for Origins, the Society will be there, but if not, the North American Society will probably hold its big Summer events at HMGS's Historicon (Washington, D.C., August, 1987). Watch these pages for further developments.

More Courier Dispatch: News

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