It's a 10-hour drive from the MagWeb headquarters in Stockton, NJ to the convention hall in Columbus, Ohio, and you just can't believe how long Pennsylvania is until you drive it from end to end. Nonetheless, with a quartet of MagWebbers inside our Armoured Personnel Carrier (cleverly disguised as a blue Ford Taurus), we traveled to the Origins '98 show on the Wednesday before the fourth of July weekend.
We arrived mid to late afternoon on Wednesday, checked into our hotel (about 10 minutes away from the convention center), and then drove to the loading dock of the center. I stopped to pick up our badges. As you might imagine, the dock was a beehive of activity as others offloaded and wheeled or carried crates and boxes into the hall. We found our booth, set up, and ran through a test of our site. With everything A-OK, except my thinking which was slightly fuzzy after 10 hours in a car and too little sleep the night before, I promptly dropped the laptop on the concrete floor. Luck was with us, as it quickly powered back to life with apparently little damage. (WHEW!)
At right, opening day of Origins, just before the storm, with partners Bill and Yun Abernathy.
The convention center contains a food court and mini mall, but we decided to skip that until the show, when we would need only quick bites. Instead, we ate a superb dinner at Damon's, a restaurant known for its ribs. It's a little pricey, but well worth it.
The next day, Thursday, the show opened at 3:00 p.m. and went until 8pm. Not quite sure why the convention program listed "Shopping/Lunch" 4:00-5:00pm each day, but it must be an inside joke, as folks roamed the aisles all the time. MagWeb was in the designated "historical area" along with a stellar crop of companies. More on them later...
Historical Miniatures
Origins tried hard to pull more historically-minded folks into the show. They gave $5 discounts to HMGS members, recruited historical game companies, and set up an outside booth area for HMGS. And of course, there was the historical area in the dealer hall.
The last Origins I attended was back in 1995--and historical events were difficult to find. I ran a pair of "Snappy Nappy" Waterloo games that were ill attended. And there were a score or so events, but on the whole, a dearth of historical events. Certainly many of the dealers were none-too-pleased with the show. In an attempt to become another GenCon, Origins lost the historical roots (I attended Origins I, II, III, the # whatever in 1988, and then O'95 in 1995). Still, Andon is trying, and it was that effort, and the efforts of Major Pete Panzeri, who oversaw the HMGS miniatures events, that tipped Origins into MagWeb's favor. MagWeb was the unofficial ruler supplier to the HM crowd for the show.
Comparisons are inevitable with Historicon, Cold Wars, Fall-In, and other conventions. First, the areas were very well lit--those who have served their time in the dungeon-like Distlefink Ballroom appreciate the advantage of wattage. Plenty of space around the tables, plenty of chairs, plenty of air conditioning, a food court (a real food court as in a mall, not that usual execrable convention "food") just down the stairs. This Columbus Convention center is a superb place for a show.
Now, there were over 150 events for historical miniatures, and I'm afraid I didn't see each one, so I'll simply recount the ones I did see.
Pete Panzeri (giant in the middle...OK, he's standing on a chair--he really isn't 7.5 feet tall!) ran the Alamo and the Custer's Last Stand games (see at right). These are rollicking affairs and certainly packed them in. After he was done, a WWII game took place center stage.
The room beyond held the majority of games. Through the conventions, I saw a DBA ancients tournament, a colonial game of some sort, an American Civil War game, several Napoleonic engagements, and others.
In a separate area, behind curtain number 1 as it 'twere, was the famed Close Action monster game run by the designer, Mark Campbell (see photo at right). It was well attended as usual.
Across the hall, another room held a variety of miniatures events, some historical and most not. For example, the Battleground boys were running the usual multitude of scenarios under the tutelage of Bob Brodeur. More later in the dealer area section. A Stalingrad game was nearby with terrific terrain.
Other Miniatures
This room contains the sci-fi and fantasy miniatures as well, although at least one huge space battle was played on the table used for Custer's Last Stand/WWII in the hall. And yes, the terrain was different for the hex-based space game.
I played Games Workshop's latest game, Bomberz. It took a grand total of 27 minutes and is indicative of some new games coming out from GW--shorter, "beer&pretzels" (soda&chips more likely) style games. There's also an Epic scale Warhammer game in the works--hope its better than the miserably redesigned Epic 40K--we play the original version because although the newly sculpted models are well done, the rule remake is too pathetic for words.
Old acquaintance Tim Huckleberry of GW (well, he's not that old, see photo at right) put me through the paces, which poses a force of four Ork bombers trying to destroy two Imperial bridges defended by an array of flak guns, laser turrets, fighters, and cliffs (?!). You'll find a full review in the Game Review section.
ChipCo brought out their new Fantasy Rules miniatures rules (review in game review section), which seemed well attended.
The Warzone sci-fi miniatures game was holding its own. At left is Mike Murtha, holding the rules to the game. I saw some Silent Death spaceship games, plus a variety of fantasy combat games.
Historical Boardgames
EuropaFest continues to be held at Origins, and the die-cut diehards had a huge room and many Europa games in various stages of completion. Fire in the East and Scorched Earth were in full swing (as at right), next to Second Front (they were not linked together). Several Great War games were in progress as well. GRD tacked all the maps together on the wall--truly an impressive site of hexgrid.
The star of EuropaFest was War of Resistance, which covers 1937-1941 Japanese invasion of China. Down in the dealer area, I purchased a copy ($85 show special, normally $95). Lots of maps, lots of counters, and I have to admit, I'm biased because I playtested it with designer Mark Royer (see left) for six months. Yes, I'm listed as a playtester. Also picked up a set of extended designer's notes ($2) and background research paper ($5) from him.
WoR was laid out on the table in all its multi-thousand counter glory, with a huge area of China and so few Japanese centered in Manchuria and down south on the coast. Many a time I pushed inland or fell back, and a few gamers were going to learn the hard way the advantages and disadvantages of each side. By the way, bad news for those of you waiting for the Glory newsletter--it's been postponed.
I'll talk about some new game releases later on in the dealer area section.
Role Playing
Suffice it to say that there was more role playing than you can shake a die at--plenty of animated, and in some cases, re-animated GMs, putting on a show for the players. Some used nothing but open notebooks and quite frankly seemed to be winging it (or maybe they were just too good to need such things as NPC sheets or GM screens), while others brought a full panopy of goodies. The ones that stood up and delivered lines in character and with gestures were my favorites, even if I only lingered a minute or two as I wandered the rooms.
I know there were LARPs (live action role-playing) about. I saw a few dressed up vampires and such wandering around--it was much less evident than at GenCon or other conventions.
Cards
Well, the card players were out in force (at left, the card room stretches out). All sorts of tournaments and games were going on all at once. I didn't stay long--I'm not much of a fan of card games (with the exception of L5R--something about that Samurai system intrigues me), and watching a card game unfold is not exactly an exciting pasttime. Suffice it to say that there seems to be no lack of sales effort, even if the buzz 'round the dealer area was that card sales were stalling with too many collectible systems competing for the same amount of dollars.
On a historical note, I had the pleasure of playing Nuts, a historical non-collectible card game recreating WWII's Battle of the Bulge designed by Dave McElhannon. Some of you might remember the Pearl Harbor miniatures game he crafted from last Historicon (97). Dave is the cartographic genius behind the maps in Napoleon magazine, and upcoming books. Dave's also a genius enough to ensure that you buy one set of cards and that's it! Basically, there's a North and South Set (each $22.95, together $39.95), and it contains all you'd ever need to use. It is a smashingly tight game. And finally, here's a card game that needs dice to resolve combat, not just counting up points! See the review section for a full and very favorable review.
Family Games
Bosworth: is basically a four-player chess game played with cards on a board. It doesn't really have anything to do with Bosworth, the medieval battle. The playing pieces are cards, which move the same way as chess pieces (i.e. Bishops move along diagonals, Queens any way, etc) and are illustrated by John Kovalic (at left, holding box), author of "Dork Tower" comic in Shadis magazine, with Bosworth the game using the characters in the comic strip. With John is Al Waller.
For the first five minutes, I really thought this was just another dopey game. At 10 minutes, however, it started to pique my interest. At 15, I was hooked into the subtleties of chess again. The cards (16 per players, same "pieces" as chess) are there for random placement. A full review in the game review section.
Moonshot: The race for space gets a big boost from this combination board and card game. The NASA images on the cards are absolutely superb. Moonshot ($39.95) requires you to complete six missions (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, etc) using a variety of launch vehicles, equipment, and fuel combinations. Alarms and events toss in some random (and not so random) actions that inhibit or expedite said missions. Van Overbay, the designer (see photo at right), notes that a Soviet version is in the works.
Wadjet: Some 19th century game brought back to life and obviously some bucks were spent in pith helmets, fake palm trees, and archeologist gear. The game looked confusing with the myriad of symbols to follow, but I'm sure it must have played well enough as you moved your piece through an archeological expedition to collect said symbols and such.
Autographs
Well, what's a sci-fi/fantasy con without some big-name actors and actresses to sign autographs? The biggest name was Mira Furlan (aka Ambassador Delenn from the TV show Babylon 5). Susan got her autograph in a Babylon 5 role-playing book for a friend of ours (he already had Jerry Doyle aka Mr. Garabaldi in it from a previous show) and found her to be quite nice.
Bill, however, found David Prowse, the fellow who wore the Darth Vader suit in three Star Wars movies, clipped and haughty. I was surprised to read that Prouse was in Kubrick's Clockwork Orange.
Bill reports that a more pleasant fellow was Jeremy Bulloch (aka Boba Fett in the Star Wars movies), who seemed as pleased as Furlan to be there. According to the Origins blurb, Bullock appeared in The Empire Strike Back in a different role: that of an Imperial officer escorting Leia and Chewbacca to Vader's shuttle when Luke Skywalker attacks. In addition, he was in three James Bond movies as Q's assistant, Smithers.
Here's a Furlan anecdote for you B5 fans.
Our booth was situated by the main entrance. In came Furlan, escorted by a security fellow, PR person, and a convention person, all (except Furland, of course) with walkie talkies. Well, the guard at the entrance stops the party checking for badges. Furlan does not have one on. For a half a minute, there's consternation as the guard refuses to let the badgeless Furlan in. You can almost hear the conversation running somewhat akin to "But she's the star! She's with us. We got walkie talkies. She has an autograph signing..." "I don't care who she is. No badge. No entry."
Well, suffice it to say that Furlan did indeed produce a badge from her pocketbook and was allowed in. We last saw her chuckling away and headed towards the signing area.
Now, the next day, up came an amply endowed, scantily clad barbarian warrior maiden. She was part of a display of some sort (the product escapes me, and so did a photo op), but mostly for turning heads and causing serious inquiry into the philosophical nature of G-strings and miracle leather armor. In any case, she wore no badge--and believe me, I checked multiple times. Anyway, up she saunters to a different guard. A smile, a word, and in she walks without a problem. Bah! Some security. I mean, she could have been packed with plastic explosive...
Dealer Area
Let me preface this by noting that manning a booth and trying to see all the other booths, not to mention the rest of the convention, is quite tricky. Fortunately, I could leave because there were a trio of partners putting people through demos, handing out literature, and so on. Nonetheless, I was able to get away, although also tracked down from time to time by my own partners.
I already mentioned GRD and its War of Resistance Europa game. Chatted with Winston Hamilton a bit. They're coming out with Operation Weserubung: The German Invasion of Norway, 1940 in a bit, and early 1999 will see a continuation of the Great War.
Kevin Zucker (at right) of OSG brought out a Napoleonic game La Guerre de l'Empereur ($48), which he describes as a cross between Risk and Empires in Arms. It covers 1805-1815, looks superb as you'd expect, and includes 11x34" map and 506 counters. Keep an eye on that map--would make a good campaign system. Austria, for example, is divided into six areas, Prussia into seven, and so on. Units are divisions and fleets.
Chris (at left, holding up the latest version of Strategy and Tactics) and Callie Cummins of Decision Games were the booth right behind us. They had some software running based on one of the games. He's also the backing behind a WWII Battle of the Bulge historical card game called Nuts.
The Gamers were across from Decision Games, and I was pleased to see that Dean Essig (at right) was recovering nicely from an airplane accident a few months back and showing off the latest in the many series produced by the company. For this show, This Hallowed Ground (Gettysburg) made its debut.
Clash of Arms was showing its upcoming Summer Storm: Battle of Gettysburg game ($75), which features over 1,000 counters and a double-blind system whereby troops don't actually deploy on the maps until you see the enemy or blunder into him. Three 34x22" and two 17x22" maps. Charlie Spiegel was also showing La Bataille de Lutzen ($70) covering Napoleon's 1813 battle. Again, over 1,000 counters, a pair of 22x34" maps, and design by Monte Mattson.
Omega Games was there showing off some new wares and the fact they bought Paper Wars newsletter. Moments in History was next door.
George Nafziger had a booth and his line of informative booklets continues to grow with Soviet Infantry Tactics of WWII and German Panzer Tactics of WWII. Todd Fisher was there, and Dana Lombardy, publisher of Napoleon magazine, was bopping about the show. Next door was the crowd of GMT, including Richard Berg. Had a good chat with Richard, and it looks as if Berg's Review of Games newsletter will be coming to MagWeb.
Was completely fooled by a fellow wearing a Gene Billingsley badge, but alas, was not Gene. Since Andon charges $35 for a badge for an exhibitor, you'll find some other ersatz people as companies re-use badges instead of waste them, like the ersatz John Astell (Mark Royer) at the GRD booth.
I saw some of the new line of terrain from Easy Eight Enterprises (the Battleground WWII rules folks) released, as well as met Kurt Coyle (at left), new BattleWire newsletter editor and son of author Harold Coyle, and talked a bit with Brad Saunders again.
I spent a few minutes with KR (see right) of GeoHex, who was showing the Full Thrust supplement and the usual plethora of GeoHex terrain goodies.
Dave and Lee of Agents of Gaming (or Terrain Creations--they seem so interchangeable at conventions) were showing off the new Babylon 5 miniatures and the new "flex" terrain. At left, Lee demonstrates the considerable flex of his muscles. He says it takes about 75 power flexes of bending the terrain in half before it snaps.
I found Charles Sharp around and about, and we chatted about the War College seminars that he noted were well attended compared to previous Origins. I heard him at Origins 95 and if you can catch his lectures, you should--excellent speaker and incredible information. Always good to see Jack Hasselbrock of Ral Partha and Russ Dunaway of Old Glory.
Met a couple folks from Tactical Simulations, Inc., which was showing Fire in the Galaxy (strategic turn-based sci-fi online Play by E-mail (PBEM) game). Had a good talk with Nicolas Jequier from XID Creative--they do a fantasy role-playing game called Providence. It's intriguing in setting and the combat system has a neat twist to it. I'll be talking to him again at GenCon.
I had lunch with DJ and Ray from AEG about the plans for a Samurai game, then went over to the booth to see the said new miniatures Samurai game called Clan War ($75 for boxed set ala GW's Warhammer) based on its popular L5R card game. It looked like Warhammer as well, with set units, points, addition of characters, etc. I stayed a bit to pick up the gist of it. Basically roll for initiative, foot have 4-inch move, roll lots of dice in combat, bow fire was particularly ineffective, characters add to damage, cards modify actions and combat. Uses a d10 system, which is better than the d6 system as it allows more expandability.
And ah, yes, the multitude of card games, with Wizards of the Coast leading the charge. I did pick up a couple of posters and odds and ends at the show.
Other Bits and Pieces
Simulacrum ($21 per year) is a new quarterly magazine aimed at the boardgame collector. The first issue was distributed free at the show, so I picked up this 48 page essentially photocopied issue. Inside, are discussions about where the magazine will go, online auctions, and the main parts: analysis, component manifest, and on occasion, a review or errata of a particular game. The manifest is a counter-by-counter listing (can't wait to see him do Europa!). Other articles include profiles, notes, and other odds and ends.
Red White and Boom! The fireworks show was spectacular, and only a few blocks from the center. It is crowded, with about 500,000 people attending (so the news says), and indeed, prime spots are snapped up early in the day as people made a BBQ day of it. We were in a small park near a replica of the Santa Maria (at right). It was an orderly crowd, but after the show, the mass of humanity was amazing and getting out and driving away from the center was an exercise in patience. Columbus needs to deploy more police officers on traffic duty by the center to speed the flow of cars and people.
Costs. Parking costs $5 per day in the east lot, about a block from the convention center. An attached lot in the center plus some other lots scattered about were available. A Badge is $40 AND you have to pay for most events. The War College was $15. Food court prices were in the $5 to $10 range for a complete meal. Dinner around the area at the better restaurants ran $75 to $100 for a party of four, including drinks, tip, etc. Hotels are the typical $75-$100 per night, more or less, depending on distance. GMs were given free admission if they ran a certain number of events. Some were able to get free hotel rooms.
Costs for being a dealer: A booth cost $450, with electricity an additional $70. A booth gets two badges, additional are $35 each. Advertising in the pre-registration booklet was $800 a B&W page; In the on-site booklet, $400. Some historical dealers were "recruited" by Andon and were charged less, a fact, as a dealer, I was not particularly pleased to learn. As I said, Andon is trying hard to make up for lost historical emphasis, but it certainly makes you think, eh?
It should be interesting to see what happens next year in the historical arena (Origins is at Columbus on 4th of July through 2002). Buzz among a multitude of dealers was that it was a "light" show, and indeed, some of the card companies were saying the same thing--somewhat surprising.
End
As always, it was a pleasure walking, talking, and gawking, meeting people, and just wandering around. It is tiring with long days and an even longer drive awaiting the end of the show. The fireworks were well worth the trip outside,although that made for an even longer day. Still, I enjoyed the show, made many contacts that should help MagWeb expand and grow over the coming months, and was impressed with the Columbus Convention Center.
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