Origins Weekend Coverage

Friday.  Ah yes, Friday.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the hours…  Lessee, there’s 1…2…3… uh, 10 plus, hmmm, carry the one…  let’s just say, I got my money’s worth out of the $7 all-day parking behind the convention center.  It started with the last of Dr Sterrett’s staff wargames, meandered through my own presentation at the Origins War College on Wargaming Irregular Warfare, included some actual hex-and-counter action, and wrapped with a panel seminar on the Professional Uses of Games and Simulations for Modeling and Analysis.

I am constantly amazed at how Origins can draw so many non-gaming history and military buffs to a massive gaming convention, but the Origins War College pulls them in year after year.  This year, the sessions at the Origins War College included a wide swath of topics: a court martial of General Custer for the actions at Little Bighorn (Joe Miranda, counsel for the defense, won an acquittal); LTC Laughrey’s current events updates from around the globe, including Iraq, Israel, and Pakistan; Glantz’s four-hour, two-part discussion of the summer campaign of 1944; and several discussions of piracy from the 1700s to Somalia.  Last year’s panel on professional uses of wargaming went two hours and felt as though it flew by, so this year, the Dean of the War College asked us to expand the scope, and have two panels.  Friday night’s discussion on the uses of games and sims for modeling kicked off at 7pm, officially wrapped around 9:15pm and adjourned to neighborhood watering hole, where it is reported that they were finally asked to leave somewhere after midnight.

My personal Friday highlight was the opportunity to observe one of my own games in action.  It’s rare that I get of observe a playtest in which I am not a participant, but I had exactly that opportunity this year, as two members of CABS let the fur fly over the first game in the forthcoming Next Wars series, Orange Crush: Civil War in the Ukraine.  Forces deployed, missions in hand, and dice at the ready, the tidal wave of armored forces met that afternoon just east of L’viv as the Russian horde came riding to the “rescue” of their rebellious Ukranian allies, as a small NATO expedition sought to reinforce the Ukranian national forces.  I tagged into the game when one of the players had to depart for another appointment, but the edits made to both the rules and scenario sheets while observing the game in action were fantastic, and would’ve been very hard to come by anywhere else.

Saturday opened with the “other” professional gaming panel on the uses of games/sims for training.  More heavily-attended than the night before, this panel seminar was one of the easiest that a moderator could ask for.  Throw out a topic, ask for a single comment from someone on the panel, and then call on audience members to let the conversation fly.  Shake, stir, repeat.  Oh, and try to get people to stop at the two-hour mark.

I had a few hours to head back into the dealer hall.  First off, while “wargaming” as a whole is bigger at Origins this year, it’s really due to the fanatics in the War Room, the great gaming topics at the War College, and the miniatures hall.  It is not due to the overwhelming presence of the wargaming companies in the dealer hall this year.  Matrix Games and GMT both skipped Origins this year, and BayonetGames, Lock’n’Load, and L2 were not in the dealer hall this year, either.  Clash of Arms was sharing space with Against the Odds Magazine, and MMP had a multi-booth space along one wall.  Avalanche Press had their usual 38-story stack of games, and Ferkin (as noted above) had a booth full of Columbia products.

This does not mean that there wasn’t anything worth playing in the dealer hall, you just had to look a bit harder for it. 

Uber Goober’s zombie wargame, The Undead States of America, isn’t just an “escape the city full of zombies” adventure chase.  Instead, it’s got a rich backstory that includes the citizens of what’s left of the United States trying to retake the nation from the zombie hordes.  A simple set of miniatures mechanics combines with some nifty figures and a great plot to draw in the players.

The remnants of WizKids have now re-emerged with a new game called Arcane Legions, a fantasy-flavored minis wargame with a mixture of Romans, Greeks, and Vikings.  While I had a brief discussion with the guys at the booth, I couldn’t get near the demo table, such was the throng to check it out.

The puddle of drool in the middle of the exhibit hall was around the Geek Chic (http://www.geekchichq.com/) booth, where gamers like me were salivating over their stunning game tables.  Ranging from simple 3x3 tables with a pair of drawers to pool-table-sized tables with sunken minis areas coverable by a flat table surface with drawers, shelves, hidden deployment areas, dice-rolling trays, and yes, drink holders, these tables have now given every gamer one more reason to dream of that man-cave game room.  As they say in the brochure for The Sultan, “you only get two more wishes.”

One new player on the scene is Bucephalus Games, a Seattle-based company that includes Anthony Gallela, the former Executive Director of GAMA.  Daniel Tibbles, the head of the company, gave me the whirlwind tour of the company’s large, and loaded, booth.  For a company that’s only been launching games to the public for less than a year, Bucephalus Games’ meteoric rise is quite impressive, and bears watching for the future.  Games like Timestreams and Roman Taxi contain enough history to keep a grognard interested when faced with a room full of non-chitkickers looking for a game.  Rorschach is a nifty party game that’ll have people wondering just how well they really know their friends. 

Bucephalus’ Dogfight promises to bring in the junior grognards into the wargaming world with a simple game of aerial maneuvering.  Players assign random dice to their planes for movement points, which are spent to move and change facing.  Run over your opponent’s planes to ‘kill’ them.  Kill six and you win.  The game comes with a set of very attractive metal planes and packs down into it’s solid-wood mapboard that holds together with magnets for an all-in-one package.

Sporting equally-simple mechanics, Zombie Mosh just might be a game to challenge Kung Fu Fighting for supremacy among the after-convention-hours beer-and-games throwdown.  Players are zombies in a moshpit and fighting to be the last one standing.  You can use your cards to attack your opponents or block their attacks on you.  Lose three limbs and your out.  Simple, fun, evocative, and bloodthirsty – what more could you ask for?

I wrapped up Saturday at Origins with a demo of Dawn’s Early Light  from designer Peter Bogdasarian.  A nifty game of WWIII in central Europe, Dawn’s Early Light brings the Corps Command system into a ‘modern’ game (is it really modern if the events ‘happened’ over 25 years ago?) with some easy twists on the original Corps Command rules.  We played a quick game that featured a US mission that was a 'raid' to attack the Reds near Eisenbach and try to intercept some supply convoys.  Although I was inflicting a lot of damage on the Red Horde, I needed to retake Eisenbach to get my needed victory point. The only unit I had left to attack with was an understrength cav squadron, attacking into a city. Across a bridge. At night. Every negative modifier in the game, except the special “ugly player” penalty.  Ugh. I only needed one hit to knock him out and take the city, but I needed a 10 or better on 2d6 to do it, and managed to pull it off on the last possible die roll in the game.  Overall, the game does a very good job of modeling the NATO C2 structure in that they can move fast, and still be cohesive. With some good initiative rolls, the NATO units really fly around the map (especially along the roads), while the Russian initiatives are lower for a lot of units, so to move in a mass, they have to move slower. The force balance looks out of whack at first, but it never felt that way as the NATO units felt like they could easily be in multiple places very quickly.  All in all it was a very fun game that meets most of my wish-list: Modern theme; plays quickly - about 90 minutes, including teaching time; low rules density and quick mechanics; lots of options for the players.  This one is definitely in the 'must buy' column for me. And thanks to Peter for taking the time to sling some dice with me.

Origins was a screaming success for me this year.  It wasn’t quite the haul I brought home from GenCon a few years ago, but it was certainly a ton of fun.  I was able to play several games, load up on dice, hang out with some great friends, talk about a games for days on end, and learn about a lot of neat new products on horizon.  This is exactly what a game convention should be, and it’s exactly what Origins was this year.  After a few years of decline, Origins was back with a real force this year and it really felt special to be a part of it.  Yes, I know that sounds corny, but it’s true.  I hope to see all of you there next year, making it even better.

Recommended Gaming