In as much as there seems to be a theme in this issue about examining theme events, we will write a theme article of our own.

Cleo and I were selected for the large committee that would judge the Theme Events at Cold Wars—and our comments will probably mean it’s the last time we will be invited to do so. We were given a very small list of events that qualified. Out of the entire three-day con there were possibly less than ten events. We had a nice sheet with various particulars that we were to comparatively judge, and we did so to the best of our abilities.

The Crusades always brings to mind blazing sun and burning sand. Christianity vs. Islam. Thirsty canned men with lance points gleaming, tilting against swarthy Arabs with a preference for archery. It was with no small degree of amazement, therefore, that I found that we were also to evaluate a battle of Japanese Buddhists Vs—wait for it—Japanese Buddhists. What of a Crusade? What of a clash of religions? What of the burning sands? Well, the Japanese terrain was nice, and the troops were incredibly beautiful. Yes, we were informed that after all the votes were tallied, the Buddhist vs. Buddhist battle was the epitome of Crusade games.

The fact that only these few theme games were judged upset a lot of people. The fact that the Buddhists won upset the rest. Well, at least you had a few happy Buddhists.

Personally, I believe that removing the element of competion from the theme could eliminate the turmoil. Judge everyone’s games in the entire convention equally. If you really want to highlight the theme events, place them in a prominent place, where they will bring attention to their period of history. That’s assuming that the only purpose of selecting the theme event is to bring that period of wargaming to everyone’s attention. Just a thought.

NOVAG doesn’t use themes, but the variety of games we play is so great that I don’t believe we have to be nudged into examining the recesses of historical wargaming.