It appears that wargaming, contrary to much we've all heard, is not dead. It's not even sick! Well, okay, maybe a little sick, but still fun.

Just wanted to drop a note with some observations from Origins '97. There were plenty of wargames being played. DAK was set up. Black Wednesday was set up. A couple guys played Ardennes. Perry was tireless when it came to TCS and there was something going on most of the time wherever he was. I saw people playing Marengo and, of course, there was the Austerlitz double-blind thing. The SCS tournament got people playing Stalingrad Pocket and Yom Kippur. I also saw Afrika set up at one of the tables.

John Hill and I played the Union in Thunder At The Crossroads against Marty Arnsdorf and Max Workman. John and I were feeling pretty good by about the 3:00 pm turn on the first day. The whole Union army was almost unbloodied -- although the cavalry had taken a beating -- and we held all the high ground. Then Max orchestrated an attack that hit us like a puppy getting hit by a bus. It was a mad scramble through the rest of the afternoon and the game ended in a draw at about 5:30 pm. We had several turns of daylight left and I think we could have pushed the Rebs off the hills, but... In any event, it was a good game wherein I was taught two valuable lessons:

1. Always garrison your headquarters properly.
2. Never try to unlimber artillery within two hexes of an enemy unit. (Well, almost never. I used this tactic to good effect against Dave Powell once, so I guess there are some good times.)

Booth action was non-stop. We were selling copies of DAK faster than you could imagine. When we started I thought, "we're never going to put a dent in that pile of games." In the end, even after Dean's mad dash back to Homer, we ended up with only a few making the return trip on Sunday. We sold a ton of stuff. Gaines Mill moved well, as did Champion Hill. A lot of DAK shirts were sold.

Other game companies were putting out some good looking stuff. I was impressed with Red Steel from Avalanche. The artwork is first rate. I can't comment on how the game plays, but if it's as good as last year's The Great War At Sea, it'll be good. By the way, Volume II of that game is in the works. Every counter is drawn by hand from the Jane's Fighting Ships overhead views, so they're labor intensive. I also understand they're extensively playtesting the Jutland scenarios to make sure they work right.

Clash of Arms

Clash of Arms had some good looking stuff there. Apparently Home Before The Leaves Fall was selling well. It's a gigantic game covering the opening of WW1. Harpoon 4 was there, although I didn't buy the explanation that I needed it to get all the new warships for the '90s. Hey, man, I was there in 1990! All the good ships got sent to the mothball fleet. And who wants to play with an Aegis Cruiser: push a button, end the battle? Where's the fun in that? Their Napoleonic stuff looked as good as ever, but that's not a period I'm interested in, so I can't comment further.

TIMJIM was there and I picked up Age of Exploration which looks like a lot of fun. Chris Volny and I played their Time Agent one night. By the time we ended, it was about 1:30 am, so I couldn't comment on the game. Chris?

The Volni -- which, I know, some of you thought was one of those armies in a GMT game that gets its head handed to it by Alexander or somebody -- were seemingly everywhere and doing everything. Chris and Will were tireless in the booth: natural-born salesmen. I happily turn over official lackey duties to them.

The Volni also had to comment on my drive to find more obscure, crummy, cheap games. (I tell you: someone's going to want that copy of Berserker some day.) Even with all their prattling, Will and I had a good time playing World Killer, a game from my youth that a surprising number of people walking past the table recognized. Obviously they leave their skeletons in the closet!

The Gamers' seminar was packed. It was literally standing room only and a lot of good questions were asked. Dean explained Age Of Rifles and other upcoming games. Lee Forester previewed Semper Fi. Up till that point, I had thought this to be one of those games that would be a nice-to-have. Now I know it's a must-have. These are going to be tense actions.

I guess that about covers it. There were lots of vampires and weirdoes there, giant gamers with green hair, guys clanking around in armor, super models, geeks, you could pretty much name it.

It was a blast.