Home » Articles » Convention Coverage

Origins 2006, Day 1

	Author: Jim Zabek Article Type: Convention Coverage Publication Date: 6/30/2006 Related Categories: Business and Industry, Convention Coverage

Origins 2006 - Day 1

When I was a kid I used to read about convention coverage in gaming magazines. They seemed other-worldly, impossible affairs. My teenage gaming group was a small, tight community that couldn’t understand why the greater world at large didn’t “get it”. But in the midst of this foggy world where football was incomprehensibly more popular than Starship Toopers, reports of cons periodically surfaced. I would read with a mixture of disbelief and glee of events where gamers numbered in the thousands…Meccas that seemed too good to be true.

But true they are. Origins, of course, was formed as a giant wargaming convention. Over time mainstream gaming has gradually overcome much of the historical combative simulation that was its hallmark. Nevertheless, as far as large-scale gaming cons go, Origins still retains much of its wargaming focus and it is here that wargamers flock in the largest numbers.

Found here are MMP, Clash of Arms, Decision Games, Bayonet Games, and Matrix Games, amongst others. Wargames are still very visible and its adherents quite active. As the con moves on we’ll have more specific coverage of some of these companies as we chat with them about their latest offerings.

I had an opportunity to sit down for a few minutes with the folks at Simulations Canada and got an inside peek at their sequel to Flashpoint Germany. They’re working on some very clever changes including an expanded timeline, scenario and map editor, and even the option to go to variable length turns which will simulate OODA cycles and allow forces to move within the enemy’s decision loop. It looked very, very cool and I can’t wait to chat more about it. 

Bayonet Games	Joel Billings of 2 by 3 playing Memoir 44

My personal #1 goal for the year, however, was to spend some time with something that I’d seen for the last several years but never had the opportunity to nail: the National Security Decision Making Game. Mission accomplished. I managed to slip into the middle of this year’s Cold War 60’s Edition of the game and for the short hour I spent there it was a blast. Not quite an RPG, the NSDM divides players into nations and positions within these nations, such as Defense Minister, head of the KGB, et al. Each player is given a series of objectives and turned loose with a series of events that are hosted by moderators. These games are run by Dan McDonagh, who also runs professional military wargames for the US Navy. Several games are held through the convention, with an eight hour game on Thursday, two four hour games on Friday, and a final eight hour game on Saturday. 

The game I observed started in 1961. The players took the roles of the various positions of the Soviet Union and a few Eastern Block nations. Moderators played the various roles of the West. I slipped in along with the new year of 1963. Into this mix was introduced the space race with the Americans and some Middle-Eastern politics. In this scenario Israel is politically on the fence between the East and West. The Soviet Strategic Force Commander was approached by the Israelis with a request for fissile material. He not only agreed to give them the material, but chose to give them a working nuclear warhead. When news of this was leaked to other players they had a choice – arrest the Strategic Force Commander or call a meeting of the Congress to condemn him and potentially drag down his allies in a larger net. The choice was made to call a meeting of the Congress, and as it formed, the Strategic Force Commander slipped over the border to Finland, defecting into the arms of the CIA.

Shortly thereafter a US high-altitude spy plane was spotted by the USSR and shot down. The US then responded by launching most of its strategic bombing force over the polar ice caps as a warning. 

Talking to the US	The Soviet General in charge of air defense sees his first blips
A crowd gathers as the bombers approach	American bombers coming over the ice cap
Uh oh...	Defcon 2