Four Days Before the Mass
Overall Impressions
There was plenty of room in the vendor area, even on Saturday. Whoever had the notion of staging the demonstrations on the balcony above the vendor area deserves a round of applause. It made it very easy to see where and if a desired event was going on. The furniture in the university union building should also get a vote of thanks. I saw many gamers getting a comfortable night's rest on the plush sectionals distributed about the building. A lot of open gaming was done with either Supremacy or Armageddon. I was impressed with the quality of components in both games, and the people that I talked to seemed to be having a good time. I must admit that I was surprised at the number of people who were willing to fork over $135(!) for Armageddon. Those gamers that I asked said that they made a group purchase of one game. (This left me with the messy question of. what if the group breaks up?) The shuttle bus system worked very well.
On the other hand, Origins was entirely too spread out this year. I did not drive and consequently had to drag my supply train with me wherever I went. This was a colossal hassle. I also thought that the miniaturists got the short end of the stick as far as space went. Around the Alamo and the modern micro-armor area it was very difficult at times to get from one end of the board to another as the need arose. One of the things that I found passing strange at Origins was that The Avalon Hill Game Company had the first module of Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) out BEFORE the rules themselves. Consequently, only tantalizing glimpses could be had of what ASL will be like.
The Miniatures Events
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves in the miniatures room. All events were well attended. At several tables it was crowding room only, particularly at the ' modern micro-armor events and at The Alamo event.
If Origins is any indication, modern micro-armor is the "in" period in miniatures gaming right now. All three of the modern events had lots of participants. At our table, we had to turn several people away each night.
I have refereed events at the HMGS, a local miniatures society and Historicon conventions that are done locally but nothing really prepared me for the zoo that we had at Origins. Something about a national event seems to increase the noise and confusion by a factor of five at least. Next time I'm bringing a bullhorn.
I was one of the referees for a three day modern micro-armor tournament using the Challenger Ultra Modern Rules for Armored Combat. This was a continuing event in which the previous night's positions and force levels were used as the basis for the next night's run. Attendance for the three was voluntary, i.e., a player did not have to participate in all three nights' activities. A separate prize was awarded for each night. Most of the players decided to play all three nights.
The largest event, in terms of square feet, was Stone's River. The play area had to measure at least twenty by twelve feet! I'm not quite sure just how any movement was done in the middle of the playing field. (Perhaps trained cats or birds?)
The Alamo
The most beautiful and probably the event with the most miniatures involved was The Alamo. The play area and the splendid buildings were done by Rich Hausenhaur who is a professional artist. The ground and building scale was 20mm while the miniatures themselves were 25mm. Everything was rendered as accurately as possible given the many conflicting accounts.
One compromise was made in The Alamo itself To facilitate play, the East and West Walls were shortened slightly. There were 600 Mexicans and 130 Texans painted in all their glory. The 600 Mexicans were reincarnated twice in order to have the three assaults. Otherwise, it would have take 1,800 miniatures.
The painting was a real job! I was only peripherally involved so I saw a lot of the 'forest.' if you will. In the weeks before Origins it seemed that Ron Prillaman who was responsible for the acquisition of the figures was ALWAYS trying to lasso someone into painting just a few more" figures.
There were fifteen players, five referees, and hordes of onlookers in each session. Ron Prillaman could frequently be seen on a chair yelling. The event won Best in Show, Best Presentation, and Best Terrain.
More Origins '85
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© Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy.
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