The Wargamer

Pilgrims Meet Cthulhu

There’s no doubt about it—attendance at Origins this year appears lower than in the past couple of years. Most vendors I spoke with indicated that their sales were fairly strong for a Thursday and were still strong on Friday considering that attendance was lower, but with a few exceptions most agree that overall sales are down.

However gaming is robust. The halls surrounding the convention center are filled with gamers. There may not be as many as in previous years, but there are a lot of people here. Thursday afternoon I tried to get into a last minute Dungeons & Dragons game, but it is cancelled because we were one player short. I was disappointed, but not surprised since I hadn’t registered for the game in advance. But one of the last things I did before I left Thursday was to chat with the folks at Paradigm Concepts about their brand new RPG, Witch Hunter. The game was well received on Thursday and they were working hard to open up more gaming slots for Friday. The game on Friday morning came early, but Paradigm’s efforts paid off. A number of walk-ins showed up at the last minute, and every one of them was taken in and found a game.

Witch Hunter has an interesting premise: an alternative history of Colonial America with elements of horror to it. It sounds interesting and Paradigm Concepts has a solid track record so Friday morning I rise bright and early (after a rousing evening of Slugfest Games’ Kung Fu Fighting [http://www.slugfestgames.com/games_kff.php]) to make an 8:00 AM game.

True to their word they have several extra Game Masters on hand to ensure that the few last minute attendees have a place to play. They hand out pre-generated characters and took a few minutes to explain the rules. Witch Hunter is a d10 based system where ability and skill points determine the number of ten-sided dice the player rolls to accomplish a task. Success is accomplished with a roll of seven or greater, and the more successes rolled (because multiple dice are used) the greater the probability that the player’s character will accomplish what he sets out to do.

Four hours later our group succeeds in beating the evil which has plagued a small Puritan town that lies outside of New Amsterdam. All the players agree that the game was fun and I am now left with yet another game system that I want to play but have to make time for. Paradigm Concepts has succeeded in creating a game system where the rules are light and the emphasis is on storytelling. I really enjoyed the experience and would recommend RPG gamers to check it out.

A Phalanx-centric RTS

The Origins convention has its roots in tabletop wargaming. In its 40 years of existence it has expanded to encompass at least a few examples of almost every game genre available, including PC games. There aren’t many PC games represented at Origins, but there are a few, and among them are Warhammer Online, Eve, and the entire stable of Matrix Games titles. Also included is an up and coming title from Longbow Digital Arts called Hegemony: Philip of Macedon (http://www.ldagames.com/). Friday afternoon I sit down to chat with the developers for a bit about it. The game is still in the middle of development and the developers are quick to tell me that there is much more to come, but after assuring them that I’ve seen plenty of unfinished games they agree to show me around and share some screenshots.

Even in this early state of development it is clear that the graphics are going to be good. Eye candy is always the first thing to catch gamers’ eyes, but in this case it serves a purpose beyond beauty: it saves a step in the interface. The player can zoom with a mouse wheel from looking over his troops’ shoulders to a bird’s eye view of greater Peloponnesia. Zooming back down to the battlefield I am treated to watching a couple of troop formations battling it out with one another. Hegemony: Philip of Macedonia’s combat will include bonuses for flanking and attacks to the rear. Intriguingly the game will also include a logistics model, though the final shape is yet to be determined. Morale will also play a strong role; troops are generated from cities and each will have a strong identity with that city. If a home city is occupied by an enemy force that unit will suffer a hefty blow to morale and become less effective.

Hegemony: Philip of Macedonia still has a lot of development in the works, but it appears to be on track to become a fairly in-depth real-time strategy game and fans of ancient Greece will want to keep an eye on it as work progresses.

As the evening draws to a close we gather around and pull out a variety of games. There are enough of us here that a couple of games break out simultaneously. Kung Fu Fighting is the first to appear, quickly followed by the latest release of Axis & Allies. Memoir ’44 appears shortly thereafter. After a round or two of Kung Fu Fighting we decide to take Slugfest Games’ latest release for a drive. Red Dragon Inn is a game where players take on the role of a band of adventurers returning to an inn after a hard fought dungeon crawl. There they sit around and drink, brawl, and gamble away their winnings. Players who lose all their gold in gambling or drink too much or get beaten up lose. The last player remaining wins the game. Red Dragon Inn is a fun game and it is a sure bet that it will follow me to future cons for evening gaming. It is slightly more complex than Kung Fu Fighting, but after a couple of rounds of play becomes second nature. We’ve heard rumors that an expansion is already in the works for Red Dragon Inn, and can confirm that the expansion to Kung Fu Fighting is nearing the end of playtesting so fans can rejoice.

As Friday evening draws to a close we sit around and discuss the nexus of gaming and real life. It’s clear that gaming has taught us all something that we can take into the real world and made an impact for the better in our lives. And on that note, the evening draws to a close and we set our sights on the weekend’s gaming.

About the Author

Jim Zabek started playing D&D in high school when a group broke off of the Chess Club seeking more interesting gaming material. Already an avid wargamer, having bought his first Avalon Hill wargame at age 10, D&D provided an alternative form of entertainment from the hexes and counters he was accustomed to. Though he briefly played the original version of D&D, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was released not long after as he started playing with a group, and that was the version that he played until chasing girls became his primary hobby. Fast forward a couple of decades and he started playing version 3.5 at the invitation of a fellow wargamer, failed his Will save and now buys almost anything with the Wizards of the Coast logo without checking for price or content, including D&D, D&D Minis, Star Wars Minis, Axis & Allies Minis, and then there are those new Star Wars Space Battles Minis…