To those who missed this year's ORIGINS convention, all I can say is "too bad". This year's show was the best we have had in our 8 years of selling wargames. There was a large, up-beat, wargaming crowd, the folks running the show (Andon, Inc.) did their usual spectacular job and pushed board wargames harder than we've ever seen. It was something to experience-unlike the abysmal shows of recent years.

Our booth hopped merrily right from the start and the action never really halted for the entire show. The handful of games we shipped back to the warehouse seemed mighty lonely indeed.

As is the case every year, the show gave us a chance to reacquaint ourselves with many friends-professionals in the industry as well as the many fine gentlemen making up the hobby at large. I would type up a list, but to avoid an error of omission, I won't-except to list those who gave of their time and effort to make the show a success. These gentlemen include: Perry Andrus, Jerry Axel, James Best, Owen Fuller, Vernon Robinson, Boyd Schorzman, Sam Simons, and (of course) Dave Powell. Thanks guys-you made it a great one for all of us.

For ourselves, our trip to Philadelphia began the Monday before the show when we drove from Homer to the Wright-Patterson ir Force Museum. This museum, located in the western portion of Ohio, is well worth the trip for anyone with even a mild interest in aviation history--the B-36 alone was worth it.

From there, we toured Gettysburg (for the nth time, to be sure) after linking up with Perry Andrus and Sam Simons.

The trip from Gettysburg to Philly was an easy drive and we settled into the con just as the heat wave hit--not that you could tell in our hotel room, as Jerry Axel insisted on creating a meat-locker atmosphere for the entire week. While gamers from all over converged on the city, we feasted on strombolis and steak & cheese sandwiches and were amused by the city's rather unusual night life (we're from Homer, remember).

At the con, Boyd Schorzman, Vernon Robinson and Perry Andrus kept our game room hopping mostly non-stop through the con.

I think Perry managed to put on every TCS game known to man and Vernon put on a full-bore press for his favorite Austerlitz (with the v2.0 rules).

Boyd ran the Black Wednesday demo games which turned out to be very popular. Owen put in the Yom Kippur tournament. The room was a great all-con 24 hour experience for everyone.

Friday night we ran our usual company seminar-usual that is, except for the crowd involved. In the past, we have gone to these things with a polite group of 30 or so concerned gamers. This year, both Dave and I thought we had entered the wrong hall--we even asked if the crowd was waiting for us (and not some crazed Magic guy or something).

You see, the hall was packed-standing room only-and the room wasn't exactly small to begin with. Quite an experience! We had a good talk with everyone-and almost managed to fill up the whole two hour time block. It was a good group; I hope to see you all again next year!

Saturday night we went to the first awards ceremony we ever attended. You folks were kind enough to vote for another Dunnigan award for myself and the award for Best WW2 Game of 1994 for Enemy at the Gates.

From myself, and for the many guys who worked themselves to death to make EatG the great game it is, I thank you.

Thanks to all who attended--I hope to see you all again next year. To those who did not attend, you owe yourself the shot-in-the- arm excitement of a good ORIGINS for a change. This year did it for us, maybe next year will be even better.

For us, the Jerry Axel Song and Dance show never stopped - - much to our enjoyment!