From: "The Games Store" Subject: Origins Day 1 Columbus, 6:40am, Friday 2nd July Well it's time to get up again and get ready to enter the fray. At least I made it to bed last night, as it's very tempting here just to stay up all night gaming. Thursday morning and early afternoon I spent in the Winsome Games Room in the company of John Bohrer, Martin Wallace and friends playing first Prairie Railroads, then Lancashire Railways. It was a first time at Prairie Railroads for and with Martin, the designer, playing I guessed I wouldn't be winning. I was correct, coming a not unreasonable third out of five. Martin, of course, came in a distant last! After playing I think I know where I made some mistakes so look out for me next time. After the humiliation of being last at one of his own designs, Martin obviously decided he didn't want it to happen twice in a row so he sat out the Lancashire Railways game, instead teaching Lords of Creation to some new players. Again five of us sat down, although I was even more wary this time as two of the guys, David and Peter, are very experienced Lancashire Railways players. Now, if you've played LR before, you'll know that it's different every time, and you really have to think on your feet. Well despite thinking I wasn't doing too well in the early and mid point of the game, by the end we were all close and it looked like anyone could win. At the finish I was third again, but all five of us were very close, so I was pretty pleased. By this time I was getting hungry, (after all who has time for breakfast when there's gaming to be had?) so I popped down to the food court for a quick bite to eat. By the time I'd finished it was 3pm and the main retail exhibitors hall was open. I made my way from stand to stand, meeting old friends, seeing all the new releases (and negotiating the best trade prices I could). The big three new wargames at the show are Burma, a new OCS game from The Gamers, Paths To Glory, strategic WW1 using the latest version of the card-based system used in For the People etc. from GMT, and Totaller Krieg, an updated version of Krieg! from Decision Games. Krieg! will go down of one of the classic games of the last few years, maybe one of the all-time classics, so I was worried that Decision may have overdone it with TK, and by adding too much, taken away from the cleverness of the original design. More fool me! Totaller Krieg is sufficiently different to not make you think you are just getting the same game in a different box, but it still has the same elegance, just now with even more options, Decision Games and the whole team should be applauded. Of course there are several other new releases at the show, and I'll try and get a chance to report on them later this weekend. While wandering around the exhibitors I also had a mission of a more personal kind, too seek out (and purchase) Pokemon cards! My son is 9 next week, and like many kids of his age he is really into Pokemon, the cartoon. As the Pokemon trading card game has not been released in the UK yet, I was under orders to bring some back. Well there's not a lot of it around at the show, as it has been a stunning success, and there is some serious price gouging at the show ($7.50 for an 11 card pack anyone!!) but there are some retailers who do have it at a reasonable price so I managed to pick up a few boxes, including some of the new Jungle expansion. To tell you the truth I'm quite looking forward to having a game myself, the Pokemon are just soooo cute! And of course I will now officially be the coolest Dad on the planet. On the way out of the hall at about 6:30, I passed Evan Jones giving demos of Blue vs Grey, and as this is a game I've played a couple of times recently I stuck my head in to say hello. We got talking and Evan invited me to take over his position in the game he was playing as the Union. Now I haven't played the Union before but I still don't think I can be blamed for losing Washington, and hence the game, on the next turn. One of the spectators of that game was keen to have a go himself, so I decided to take him on as the Confederates. At 8pm Martin came by to tell me they were going for dinner and I said I'd be along in a little while. Two and a half hours later I finally resigned, as the Union were within sight of their sixth objective, with plenty of turns left to the election, and my last attempt to take the Shenandoah Valley repulsed. I just hope Martin hadn't ordered for me! I finally made it out of the hall four hours after setting off, which must be a record for a 50 foot walk. Blue vs Grey must be the best value in the whole of wargaming, If you haven't tried it because it cards, not hexes and counters, you are really missing out. More tomorrow Karl Bown The Games Store karl@tgs.co.uk www.tgs.co.uk/games/ From: "The Games Store" Subject: [tgs] Origins Day 2 Columbus, 7:00am, Saturday 3rd July Friday was the first day of the famous Origins Auction, with thousands of lots going under the hammer, so I took my place amongst what looked like a reduced number of bidders from two years ago, the last time I was here. Well just because there are less bidders, it doesn't necessarily mean there will be more bargains, and that was certainly the case yesterday, with prices noticeably higher on most items than my last visit. The schedule today included general wargames, magazines, and an SPI section. SPI games in particular were showing good increases, which is reasonable, after all they aren't going to be making any more. Biggest surprise for me was a mint copy of Kursk, designed by Eric Goldberg, which went for $160, well over what I would have expected, with even a used copy reaching $74, still over the mark. Amongst the 150 or so games I have bought so far I did get some gems though, and I am particularly pleased to have picked up Yamato, Destroyer Captain, CV, Road to Washington, Army Group South, Great War in the East, West Wall, Island War and Blue and Gray quads, Highway to the Reich, Next War, Norway 1940, The Longest Day and three(!) copies of Firefight. Back today for more general wargames, an SPI and GDW section and, tonight, the Collectible Games, which is where the really rare stuff comes out. In between auctions I did manage to take a walk round the show some more and catch up with a few people. The highlight of the day was bumping into Jo Youst while checking out the huge game of GMT's Barbarossa series being demo'd. Now I sure most people would agree with me that Jo produces the best maps in the hobby but you may not know he is also one of the nicest guys in the hobby. Despite not having exchanged more than a few words before we had a long, funny conversation about gaming personalities, Jo's career, map design and other aspects of the hobby. Unfortunately Jo was telling me he would have less time to do game maps in the future having taken up a position with a cartography company, so if you are a games company I suggest you get on the phone now and sign him up before your competitors do. I now have to find an excuse to get over to Berkeley so I can take up Jo's offer to hook up again, or maybe I can convince him to take his honeymoon in England so he can come and stay over with us when he gets married next year. More tomorrow Karl Bown The Games Store karl@tgs.co.uk www.tgs.co.uk/games/ --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- Who is the most visited e-mail list community Web Service? http://www.onelist.com ONElist.com - where more than 20 million e-mails are exchanged each day! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Games Store http://www.tgs.co.uk/games/ From: "Karl Bown" Subject: Origins Day 3 and 4 Back in England now I've finally had time to put fingers to keyboard Saturday - Day 3 After spending almost the entire day Friday in the auction room I thought it was time I played a game. As I'd bought my son some Pokemon cards and read the rules I decided to enter the Pokemon tournament. As I didn't have time to put a deck together I just played with a pre-constructed deck (Zap). There were about 35 of us playing 5 rounds in a swiss system with ages ranging from 5 (and a sweet kid) to 30-hrumph. The game is quite fun, 20 minute rounds meant the pace was quite fast and there was more strategy than a glance at the rules would have you think. Anyway I managed 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses, but it was fun, and everybody was pretty enthusiastic. Wandering round I noticed the Crimson Skies tournament about to start with 3 guys, so I asked if it was ok to join in so we could have two one-on-one games. It's an alternate universe roughly 30's-40's air-to-air game with pilot construction rules which can be used as part of an ongoing campaign (with experience etc.) Plotting movement is pretty easy as there is a chart showing all the hexes you can end your turn in, along with the possible facings and the related G required. If you accelerate faster than your plane is allowed, or pull more G than allowed, you have to roll against your pilots ability etc. Shooting is only down the hex row directly in front (you always face a hexside) and affected by pilots shooting ability, but there are rules for firing flares which can temporarily blind pilots, and flak rockets, which explode the turn after. A fun, easy to pick up system which would work well with proper miniatures (the game comes with 3d card aircraft) although I would have preferred it if it used real WW2 aircraft and been historical. I'm sure it could easily be done with a little work. After some gaming it was time to get back to work, Saturday night is Collectors night at the auction. The room was a busy as it had been at 8pm for the start of what was supposed to be 2 hours of the hottest items. By the time it finished at 12:30 I'm sure many of us were suffering from auction fatigue, especially as for the last 2 hours I hadn't bought anything as the prices were so high. I did manage to pick up a few things though, but only when I thought the prices were reasonable. There were some games which I had never seen before, and probably never will again including some pre-SPI stuff which went for quite a few hundred dollars. Sunday - Day 4 Not much to report on Sunday. I kept out of the auction room where the final items were being disposed of and spent most of my time doing one of my favourite things - talking. Rob Markham came onto the Winsome stand while I was there so after a chat I popped over to have a look at his die-cut counters. This Sceptered Isle looked good, but Vimiero looked great, the 1 inch by half inch counters in particular giving the game a very professional look. I'm naturally lazy and having die-cut counters is a big plus for me and obviously for many others as Rob had more or less run out of games by the time I got there. The afternoon was spent paying for my auction purchases and arranging for them to be sent over to England (about 4 cubic yards, gulp). Sunday night was back to my hotel for a well-earned rest. Overall People have mentioned in the past about the prevalence of CCG gamers at Origins, and there were some around. But unless you went to look for them (in the main ballroom) you could have easily have believed it was a minor part of the hobby. Origins is definitely still a boardgaming convention, whatever else it hosts, and you wouldn't have any problems getting a game of just about anything. There were plenty of German games around thanks to Jay at Rio Grande and I lost count of the number of Victory games in progress which I believe is a good sign for those of us hungry for wargame opponents. Many of the booths reported record sales, and with Totaller Krieg, Paths of Glory and Burma released, amongst others, there was plenty for the experienced gamer to see (and buy). Karl Bown The Games Store karl@tgs.co.uk www.tgs.co.uk/games/ PS I'll try and post a list of the new releases at the show later. Subject: Origins impressions and reviews... From: wimmerf@aol.com (Wimmerf) Greetings, I just returned returned from my second Origins. This year's Origins struck me as being quite different from last year. In particular, the show seemed to no longer be ruled by WotC. As a result, it seemed to be a more balanced show, less CCG-centric than last. Consequently, board games, and Rio Grande in particular, received more interest from attendees than at last year's con. For me, this increased interest in Rio Grande made for an even more enjoyable show than last year. Since I tend to spend most of my time at the Rio Grande tables, it was great to have such an easy time finding willing opponents. Unlike last year, it was now a simple feat to find eager participants to try out Jay's new (and upcoming releases). I tend to be a little fanatical about Euro board games. As a result, I had already picked up the Rio Grande new releases that received reasonable review on r.g.b. There were still a few, however, that I had held off on. In particular, I had not yet tried Union Pacific, Money, or Siesta... Union Pacific -- I was skeptical about this one being my kind of game, since I'm not one of the people who enjoys Airlines. While I'll agree with others that this is an improvement, it still doesn't work for me. In fact, it didn't seem to work for any of the four of us playing. One of the opponents asked, in mid-game, if anyone would mind if we just quit. We all agreed. One of the players commented that there seems to be too much unnecessary complexity added on top of an otherwise simplstic game. I agree. Visually, it could be a lot cleaner -- it just seems to difficult to identify the proper track types. Money -- feh! Siesta -- Okay, I don't like abstract games, but I dislike this one less than most. In fact, if you do like abstract games, you'll probably like this one (but then, if you like abstract games, you probably don't hang out on this newsgroup). I also had the opportunity to try out Torres, which I was very anxious to try, after reading some very positive comments online. Unforunately, I think my expectations were unfairly high for this one. If I had known nothing about it, I may have been pleasantly surprised. As it was, however, I was dissappointed. Part of my disappointment could also be that the game struck me as being more of an abstract game than I'd expected (and you know now how I feel about abstract games). Another disappointment for me was the component quality. In contrast to the gorgeous board and box graphics (think El Grande level), the otherwise beautiful game is marred by garish, oddly shaped player pieces. Nonetheless, I'll be giving this one another try. Finally, here's a summary of the what I thought were the other most pleasant surprises beyond the tables of Rio Grande... Zoon -- By far, one of the best gaming values at the show. A decent little game (I love the clever little "spin the card, point to a corner" combat system), with some of the most wonderful graphic design ever found in a card game. For a miniscule $5, this game proves that cheap games don't have to be the cheesey, b&w DTP variety (please take not, CheapAss). Button Men -- speaking of CheapAss, the first very CheapAss game to REALLY impress me. In fact, I very nearly passed this one up because of the unfortunate format (buttons -- ack!). Fortunately, a fellow gamer encouraged me to give it a try nonetheless (thanks Nick!). I think this is a fantastic game, with simple mechanics, but some really interesting strategy. I feel that the button thing was an attempt to do something different, to start a new craze, and to cash in on the former "collectible" money cow. Too bad, because this game is going to miss a potential audience of more serious games. In fact, I had to plead with another gamer to give it a try, he simply *hated* the buttons. He finally broke down and tried it with me, then finally bought into it himself. On the other hand, the button art looks pretty good -- I just wish that they had been printed on sets of cards instead of buttons. At $4.50 for a set of two "collectible" buttons, CheapAss Games is in need of a name change. I'd much rather pay $15 for a deck of cards (and I'd even buy later expansions). That said, it's still an excellent game -- do give it a try if you haven't already. Apples to Apples -- Wow! What an *incredibly* fun game. This is probably the best party game of all times. Ignore the simplistic looking box (and the unfortunate title). The very second that this one appears in your store, run and buy a copy (or two). Then get a group of 6 or so friends together and enjoy one of the most hysterical evenings you'll ever have. Diskwars -- This one gets big points for innovation (Tom Jolly of WizWar was one of the creators -- way to go, Tom!). It's also fun and simple. If you like miniatures, but dislike spending months painting your army, pick this one up. It also has the big advantage of being *very* easy to learn -- you can easily teach a friend to play in 30 minutes (something you certainly can't say of Warhammer). As another gamer mentioned, Fantasy Flight has finally done a game with enough counters to suffice, and with correct (and readable) rules. They do lose a few points, however, for it's somewhat collectable slant. Rather than explain the very clever and innovative gameplay here, you'll find the description at the Diskwars site: http://www.rpg.net/ffg/dw.html Finally, my last most pleasant surprise of this years Origins was the waning interest/obession with everything WotC. Don't get me wrong, I think Magic was a very innovative and enjoyable game -- but one that's had all of those once wonderful qualities tainted by greed. Since that time, it seems that WotC has threatened to become the Microsoft of the gaming industry, proving the impressive power of marketing, even with mediocre products. Anyway, it seems that that mediocrity is finally beginning to catch up with WotC. Last year, it was nearly impossible to navigate through the center area of the exhibit hall where WotC resided. This year, the Wizards section served as an easy shortcut across through the exhibit hall. This year the only impedement there was having to step over the tumble weed that rolled through. Don't get me wrong -- I don't think that WotC is evil, but I do think they've become horribly mediocre. They also showed a great lack of judgment by spending so much effort and space to market Pokemon. Apparently, Pokemon is a *kids* game that sells well. Judging from all of the empty, wasted demo tables, the marketing juggernaut has learned a valuable lesson. Not a lot of 7 year-olds attend Origins. Well, that's it. Regards, Frank Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 07:48:58 +0100 Subject: Re: Origins impressions and reviews... From: "Mean Mr" I'd have to second that. Jay did a great job at the show. His demo tables were usually busy and drew a lot of positive attention. For me, Rio Grande's demo area were my favorite part of the show (as it was last year). My favorite was definitely Tikal and Lost Cities was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't aware of this and didn't know if this was commonly known, but Rio Grande will be releasing Elfenland in the fall (woo-hoo !!) Also different from last year was the diversity of games played in the open gaming area between the hotel and convention hall. Last year it was CCG's. This year - board games, more demo tables, miniatures, RPG's, and some CCG's. The diversity was refreshing. And one more thing......I tried Button Men - it stinks !!! Mike Subject: Re: Origins impressions and reviews... From: Randy Cox train_guy@my-deja.com wrote: > I have to agree that Origins is back to being the boardgamers con, CCGs > are in decline, role playing is still GenCon, miniatures are Historicon. I just didn't see it. Granted, we didn't come until Saturday, but for the final two days, we never saw any official boardgame tournaments in progress. The 'boardgame and strategy' hall was almost always empty. Sure, the demo area outside the exhibitor booths had some fun games going on, but from what I just saw, the current Origins (which did have an awful lot of Magic and, peculiarly, miniatures) is a pale comparison of its former self. I'd have to say that THE boardgaming convention is certainly the convention formerly known as AvalonCon. And the sad example of an auction was inexcusable. I saw about 30 people bidding on Payday and Trivial Pursuit. Has e-bay killed the Origins auction? Subject: First-timer's Origins report From: ugolini@mail.lns.cornell.edu (Dennis Ugolini) Here's a look at this year's Origins through the eyes of a gaming convention virgin. I tried to cram in as many diverse events as I could, though having arrived after a week-long series of job interviews (hooray for academia), I was forced in the end to trim my schedule somewhat (alas, no Mega-Paranoia). In the end, you can sum up my experience like this: 1. Eh...OK. 2. Thank God for Rio Grande, Cheapass, and Descartes-Eurogames, without whom the weekend would have been a crashing disaster. 3. I know what to do (and what _not_ to do) next year to maximize my fun. Now the specifics: BIGGEST WINNER OF THE WEEK: Formula De tournament. I've never had so much fun even when I'm hopelessly in last. Ron Magin did a better job running a tournament by himself than any other group all weekend. The tracks (#19 Suzuka and #21 Budapest when I played) were very tricky and the clutch-slip rule (1 engine point to go one extra space) is pure genius. I ran almost the whole first race in last and couldn't stop laughing. In my second try I abused my car into first for more than a lap, then missed _three_ consecutive turns by one space with no engine to give. The only thing this tournament needed was a reason not to go kamikaze when you're not winning (only first place advanced). Perhaps the winner plus the best three-day finishers move on? OTHER WINNERS: Titan: the Arena - Well-run tournament with a high caliber of play. Apples to Apples - This game is _really funny_, especially when the speed starts revving up. Though I still insist that "Madonna" is more "Easy" than "Duct Tape". Ta Yu - A pretty game that falls apart at the end. The game ends when you draw a tile that can't be legally placed. But it's a _big_ board, so rather than ending with tense strategizing, you spend the last twenty minutes tediously searching for a legal move. Put in a score or tile limit to end the game, and it's great. Richochet Robot - Just walked into a game of this at least four times during Origins. Somehow the guy standing over the players' shoulders is always the first to see the easy answer. Mystery Rummy - Tricky version of Rummy with lots more strategy. Just don't tell Mike Fitzgerald that the "Ripper Escapes" card is too strong... Crokinole - Love the feel of whipping those disks around. Heard that Carabande had been set up, but didn't get to see it. Nick Sauer and Jay Tummelson - Tireless demo guys for Rio Grande Games. Cheapass guys (particularly Hunter) - Went through so much effort to demo Falling for me. Keith Amman (Geenius at Wrok) - Even if only for the reaction he drew from the Cheapass folks when he wanted his Lenin Button Man made... Keith: Instead of Zeppo the Clown, can you make this button for me? Button Maker (didn't get his name): Uh, James, this guy wants us to make this button for him... James Ernest (smiling): Get out of my store. Keith: Aw, come on...I'll give you a dollar? Button Maker: Two dollars. Keith: Well, you drive a hard bargain... BIGGEST LOSER OF THE WEEK: Tie between Poker tournament and National Security Decision-Making Game. Poker tournaments really need to be table stakes, single-elimination to be interesting. Put people at 5-man tables, set _low_ betting limits, and don't merge tables as people drop out, and what you get is a tournament where the winner is the guy lucky enough to sit with the dumbest, loosest players in the room. After about 90 minutes, there were still four good players at my table, none breaking away from the pack. We made a conscious decision to bet like wild men so that _one_ of us might make the finals. I was the lucky one and got 95% of the chips, and _still_ came in fourth. Not worth the effort. As for the National Security Decision-Making Game, I was hoping this would be the highlight of the weekend (and it better be, for an eight-hour event!). I was expecting some detail, some tough negotiations, maybe even to learn something. What I didn't expect was 25 people talking out of their ass, with no clear motivations or background information, and a group of obviously-knowledgeable controllers serving no apparent function except to rein things in when things became completely unrealistic. Unless you're really into _totally_ unstructured roleplay (I mean eight-year-old Cowboys and Indians level roleplay), use those eight hours more wisely. OTHER (minor) LOSERS: Maze of Games puzzles - Most were pulled from Sam Loyd, a turn-of-the-century guy that Games magazine pays homage to once in a while. So some of the questions were a bit esoteric, such as the one Keith mentioned where you needed to know how many shillings were in a guinea for an otherwise trivial puzzle. Others were unsolvable as written: If Hans sells half his stock plus half a ham, is that 31 1/2 plus 1/2 hams, or 32 hams (the answers for the two cases are different!)? Still others (length of ball of string, steeplechase race) gave rather ugly strings of decimals as an answer. Down in Flames - GMT card game about WWII airplane combat. Really not much more than Lunch Money with Spitfires, and some fiddly Wingman rules just to confuse you (I'm not sure the GMT guys remembered them correctly). El Grande - Along with Keith, I was also whelmed by this game. With five new players it moved along at a _glacial_ pace, and it seemed a lot of effort to get accustomed to the possibilities of some 40+ special cards. And talk about a transparent theme! Board Game HQ - After a while you got a general feel of "wargames over here, train games over there...", but when it came time for an event, you had to run from room to room, hoping to find your game before it started. Couldn't they post anything? Roborally Tournament - I can handle changing the venue without announcing it (probably not their fault). I can handle taking tickets and starting play before the event is scheduled to start, even if some pre-reg tickets aren't in yet. Two heats to determine the qualifiers, no problem. But don't then let the losers from Heat 1 try again in Heat 2. You could pre-reg for this event, miraculously guess its location, and show up early, and a guy wandering by with a couple of generic tickets 30 seconds earlier would get two tries to your one. THING I MOST WISH I'D TRIED: The Victory block wargames. Never had four hours to risk on a wargame (I'd have trouble finding opponents, and some of the historical sets were $59). HOW I'LL ORGANIZE MY TIME NEXT TIME: 1. Fewer tournaments. 2. More time blocked off for exhibit hall, demo area, Maze of Games. 3. More sleep _before_ the event, not during! Dennis Ugolini ugolini@leland.stanford.edu Subject: Re: First-timer's Origins report From: Geenius at Wrok On 7 Jul 1999, Dennis Ugolini wrote: > 2. Thank God for Rio Grande, Cheapass, and Descartes-Eurogames, without > whom the weekend would have been a crashing disaster. This is SO true. Because basically, if you weren't into this stuff (or Diplomacy, which was going on all weekend, although I only played one day out of three), you were consigned to Pokémon hell. Is anyone besides me concerned with the image of a company encouraging an obsession with "pocket monsters" among pubescent boys? > Apples to Apples - This game is _really funny_, especially when the speed > starts revving up. Though I still insist that "Madonna" is more "Easy" > than "Duct Tape". Yeah, you got rooked on that one. :-) > Keith: Instead of Zeppo the Clown, can you make this button for me? > Button Maker (didn't get his name): Uh, James, this guy wants us to make this > button for him... > James Ernest (smiling): Get out of my store. For the record, the button maker was Toivo Rovainen. I guess it's what he does when he's not collating -- or cracking people up as Dr. Lucky. "I have SOOOO many FRIENDS ... they are SHOWING me their LOOOOOVE ... OH, NO! THAT'S not what you use pinking shears for! OOOUUUUHHGGGHHGHHH ... " > Maze of Games puzzles - Most were pulled from Sam Loyd, a turn-of-the-century > guy that Games magazine pays homage to once in a while. So some of the > questions were a bit esoteric, such as the one Keith mentioned where you > needed to know how many shillings were in a guinea for an otherwise trivial > puzzle. Others were unsolvable as written: If Hans sells half his stock > plus half a ham, is that 31 1/2 plus 1/2 hams, or 32 hams (the answers for > the two cases are different!)? Yeah ... I eventually decided that the only way to deal with the ambiguities of those stupid questions was to calculate the answer for every possible interpretation and write them ALL down. USUALLY one of them was right. :-\ > HOW I'LL ORGANIZE MY TIME NEXT TIME: > > 1. Fewer tournaments. > 2. More time blocked off for exhibit hall, demo area, Maze of Games. > 3. More sleep _before_ the event, not during! 4. Make sure that if you have a tournament or role-playing event late into the evening, you don't schedule yourself an 8 AM event the next day. I know because I've been there ... three years consecutively. (This year I finally caught on.) -- "I wish EVERY day could be a shearing festival!" -- The 10 Commandments =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Keith Ammann is geenius@albany.net "I notice you have a cloud of doom. Live with honor, endure with grace I must admit it makes you seem www.albany.net/~geenius * Lun Yu 2:24 dangerous and sexy." Subject: Re: First-timer's Origins report From: ugolini@mail.lns.cornell.edu (Dennis Ugolini) In article , Geenius at Wrok writes: > This is SO true. Because basically, if you weren't into this stuff (or > Diplomacy, which was going on all weekend, although I only played one day > out of three), you were consigned to Pokémon hell. > > Is anyone besides me concerned with the image of a company encouraging an > obsession with "pocket monsters" among pubescent boys? Three of the four people I played Poker with either owned or worked in a game/comic/card store. They talked at length about how their businesses had profited from Pokemon (30% above the previous _record_ month, one guy said), how they couldn't get enough cards, how all the kids were talking about it, etc. Just to cause trouble, I said, "Doesn't it bother you that you're training a new generation of cockfighters?" Of course I was just needling them, and I doubt there's a strong causality between Pokemon and torturing cats, but I am genuinely surprised that some parent or church group has not leapt all over Pokemon for this very reason; it's a game about teaching cute little animals to fight each other. Dennis Ugolini ugolini@leland.stanford.edu From: BillR54619@aol.com Subject: Rip Van Riggs at Origins '99 Before detailing my account of Origins '99, I should confess something here. I haven't attended Origins since 1978, when this convention was held in Anne Arbor, Michigan. Indeed, I've only started up again on the convention circuit in gthe past year or so, and my memory of Columbus conventions is still the Gahanna convention of yesteryear. Needless to say, my attendance at Origins was accompanied by nothing short of culture shock. I simply wasn't mentally prepared for this..... My two oldest kids and I only attended Saturday, from about 2 PM until nearly midnight. We batted the notion of whether to stay through Sunday back and forth, but after spending somewhere in the range of $150-200 (most of which went away in the first hour there), I'd had enough. My creditors, I'm sure, will thank me for exercising such good and disciplined judgement. I might note in passing that I'm trying to assess the potential costs of Historicon, and its gonna be tight. That said, the day was well worth it. I wasn't really certain how my children would react to this experience before going up; indeed, my oldest girl was doing her apathetic 13-year-old routine. No, she didn't want to go; I didn't make her go, but then after a pep talk from her grandmother, from her sister, and (least influentially) from me, she relented, costing us about 2 hours in the process. I also didn't know whether to register my kids fullup, but we immediately sighted the "Pokemon Visitor's Booth" and I got the girls signed in for 10 bucks each. While I was going through the process of getting registered myself, my kids bolted into the Exhibition Hall, bags and allowances in hand. I found them at the Pokemon demo table, getting instruction on how to play the game, but before that I wandered the exhibition area, well, aghast. In amongst the sizeable collectible card game booths, I spotted ghosts from the past; Flying Buffalo was down the right center aisle. There was a "Gamescience" booth, looked like they were mainly selling game components. Mayfair games had a relatively large booth. I talked to the lady with the tatoo at the Mayfair counter, who explained to me that they were focusing on family games and getting out of their RPG stock. I noted the abundance of railroad games at their booth, suffered a case of sticker shock, and moved on. Back in the back, feeling totally misoriented and slightly depressed, I spied an educational game - Math Magic at a small booth. The owner, a Malaysian, came over and after some banter, he explained to me how the game worked. It is basically a scrabble-like game that requires the player to match the colors of tiles which are subdivided into four quarters, with a number at each quarter. Each color represents a mathematical operation: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and the player scores the result of the operation. I bought this game, partly out of rebellion against the fantasy card game/junk entertainment complex, partly out of sympathy that a guy had come all the way from Malaysia to be as out of place as I then felt, partly because the game was only $15. Well, then I found my kids, and after the demo game, we had to procure the Pokemon 'starter set" (and I had to supplement my girls' allowances, since they had already purchased an optional card set, and got broke). We went on, and they stopped at a booth run by a Japanese (card) game company with Pokemon trinkets. There was no fighting, this, and I left the kids there to deplete the remainder of their cash. It was at that point I found the wargame booths, up in the front left corner. The remnants of our vaunted boardgame industry were huddled there, and I first spotted Chris Cummins with a box of S&T magazines and a slightly depleted rack of DG games. I got nabbed by a guy sharing the booth trying to sell me a WWI game series, but after subsidizing my kids, I was a really hard sell. Even DG's 2 for 1 sale didn't faze me - I later went back and pawed over a $60 copy of Computer War In Europe; I saw the new board game release on the table looming in front of me. I was pretty tempted to by the former, but not the latter. The lady in the DG booth explained to me how I could order games online, and that was that. CWIE stayed on the shelf. I went around the other side, passing Columbia Games and noting that these games were just as expensive as the ones in the stores. There I found Richard Burtt, who sold me a subscription to Paper Wars. I passed Burma, feeling no pain, and then went to find my kids. They were out in the demo tables, going to town playing Pokemon. Totally engrossed. I began to feel less stressed out. Seeing Pete Panzeri set up his Alamo miniatures game in the demo area, I went by and asked when was the next game. I could sign up for 7 PM; I went to my girls and asked permission, which was willingly granted. This gave me about 3 and a half hours to kill. Then came the master stroke. There, in the demo area, was - BLUE AND GRAY. I'd been wanting to play this game. Here was my chance. Noting "QED Games" in the sign, I went off to find the booth, which was right across from S&T. In a matter of minutes, I was the proud owner of the Blue and Gray card sets for a mere $17. Life was good. I went to the demo table. Evan was pretty busy, supervising four games. Eventually, he slid me into one of the games, as the Confederate Western theater commander. The game was dragging; and my partner was poking along, not getting into it. Eventually, he and his opponent left, and Evan started a new game with me. Somewhere along the line, Mark Herman came by. Evan announced Mark's arrival, and I introduced myself to him, stating that Mark's games had "opened my mind to - this". There was some friendly bantering back and forth about 'the competition" and all Mark said was that Blue and Gray was a "great game" I agreed. Making maps from cards is one of the neatest and most innovative features I've seen in a long time. The rules I found easy to master, if a bit vague. I attacked Evan at Harper's Ferry right out of the blocks, and he was feeling the heat, before drawing out Pope and a horde of Yankees. As he brought in a new opponent for me, I had to scurry down to the Gulf coast with A.S. Johnston and three divisions. The die roll went my way, and the Yankees went down to defeat. Grant came out and threw me out of Harper's Ferry (I had begun with Hood, then brought Lee in to take charge in the East, with three corps in the ANV.). Then disaster struck - they moved on Richmond with Pope and two corps. I had not kept any detachments in my Eastern theater, so by the rules, I would have lost Richmond automatically. Instead, Evan sliced off a corps from my main army, and played as if I had left it detached. And - the die roll went my way, and the Yankees suffered another ignominous defeat. My new opponents went away, and Evan came back in on the Yankee side. Not long after that, he had to leave, and I went back to talk to my kids (who had brought me supper while I was playing). They were still going strong with Pokemon. I had only about a half an hour to kill before the Alamo slugfest started. Pete was gone to an engagement of some sort, and had a supernumerary running the game. It started off pretty slow. I had chose to be Mexican, and drew a 180 man regiment assaulting the north wall. I was opposed by 14 men from Travis command and 3 cannon. The Mexicans crushed Texas that evening. First, a horde or Mexican regulars broke threw the barricade on the first turn on the south wall, by the mission church. They poured into the courtyard, heading for the cannon, with Bowie's men streaming back in abject disarray. It took Crockett's Tennesseans, the cannon, all the men on the southwest corner, and most of Dickinson's men (whose commander had them countercharge through the courtyard to stop the horde) to counter them. One of our regiments got up on the church, suffering significant losses. Eventually a regiment got through the door on the south wall, but not in time to reinforce the first breakthrough. I had a harder time of it. My die rolling was pretty poor, and Santa Anna had to spend some sixes to get me to reorganize. I after losing about 40 men, I got two companies up over the wall by the northwest corner, and we took over first one, then all five cannon. On my left, the Republican Guard was coming up to the wall, assaulting the place where Dickinson had abandoned. Travis and about 20 of his men were trapped in the middle. I had been going out into the hall to check on my kids occassionally. There I found my daughter, crouching on the floor, teaching some kid's father how to play Pokemon. She looked like a pro, and I understand someone took pictures. Somehow, the middle schoolers all seemed to find each other, and Anna played against a middle school boy, too. After they got done, Anna and Amanda came by the miniatures table and I got Anna to roll dice. She did quite well, so Santa Anna let her roll his dice, too. I went out to the restroom, and while gone, I scouted through the boardgames area to see what was there. I think I'll leave that account for Part II. I got back, and they were ready to cannonade Travis, who was hold up on the northeast side, in a room. We knocked out half of Travis remaining men, and I suggested to Travis that he might want to try and dig his way out. Well, instead of doing Rorke's drift and burrowing from room to room, they tried to escape the fort altogether. The Republican Guard and my cannon gunned them down on the way out. By the church, the Bowie and the Tennesseans were dying, too. In the end, I had about 130 men left of 180. It was 11:30, and Amanda, the impatient one, was beside herself - kind of like Pope Leo in "The Agony and the Ecstasy, she had kept coming to me from 8:30 onward, saying, "When will you be finished ?" And after all, that, I was finished. So I think I'll call it quits for now, too. I have some editorial comments on what I saw and heard and did, but will hold them for later. Bill R. David Fox - 12:22pm Jul 5, 1999 PST (#204 of 251) "Britain without the Colonies can grow no stronger; Without her we shall become a tenfold greater and mightier People." - Ben Franklin The Origins Report: Before I begin, I'd like to dedicate this Report to the pretty young waitress at the diner across the street from the convention center, who had pierced her ears, eyebrows, nose, navel, and tongue and yet still looked damn good. This was the most fun I've had at Origins since Philadelphia in '94. The reason for this is an apparent trend in Origins wargaming, where the publishers are moving away from tournaments and towards renting a dedicated wargame room where they have several of their games set up and running constantly with a few experts on hand to introduce the games' concepts to new recruits. GMT, The Gamers, and Clash of Arms all did this and seemed quite successful. I think this is the way to go for the future. GMT's big release was Ted Raicer's PATHS OF GLORY, strategic WWI using the FOR THE PEOPLE system. WAR GALLEY and JUNE 6 were also on prominent display, the rule being that for every game someone else publishes, Richard Berg can produce two. As a side note, this was the first Origins in many years not attended by Richard, who gave some shabby excuse about his plane flight being cancelled but really stayed home to avoid arguing with Dean Essig for three days about BURMA. The GMT seminar was very promising, with Gene Billingsley explaining the success of the P500 system and his publishing plans for the future, which include a Euro game by Reiner Knizia. The Gamers had BURMA, their latest Operational Combat Series title and MALVERN HILL, a Civil War Brigade game that completes Dave Powell's Seven Days trilogy. I had a chance to play BURMA with playtester Andrew Fisher showing me the ropes (Andrew is the first South African that I've ever met; I meant to ask him about the unit ratings in BATTLE FOR NORTH AFRICA but never had the chance). This is an extremely subtle game, with both sides having severe shortages of supplies and manpower but having to launch offensives in terrible terrain anyway. Andrew handled the Japanese like a ballet dancer-- if the Japanese make lots of attacks, they're doing something wrong. Instead they must win through infiltration, isolation, and starvation, and in our game he had them flitting through the Allied defenses like ghosts. My only complaint is the awfully tedious supply system, which really must be explained by an expert as a rookie to the game series is bound to throw the rulebook away in frustration. Still, any game with mule and water buffalo counters is a must-buy. Clash of Arms had CHARIOTLORDS by our chum Lord Foppington. Sadly I didn't have a chance to play it, but did admire the marvelous work on the map and counters, not so much the boxcover though, which I thought looked too much like one of those overly busy Avalon Hill GERONIMO/BLACKBEARD tableaus. Ed Wimble sold me Digby Smith's BORODINO and an English copy of Hourtoulle's JENA/AUERSTADT book with nifty maps and uniform illos. Decision gave us TOTALER KRIEG, sequel to KRIEG, with Alan Emerich looking like Bill Clinton's lawyer as he scurried around the halls trying to keep four games going at once. I won't say much about their reprint of SPI's WAR IN EUROPE - on sale for 250 dollars !!!- as the price disgusts me. Besides a four-day hangover, Critical Hit/Moments in History had IN FLANDERS FIELDS, a neat little game on First Ypres and Module 1 of COMBAT !, a simplified ASL-type tactical system about the American 82nd Airborne in Normandy. I think this is a great idea, as ASL has always suffered from horrible rules overkill and they now have a method for drawing in newcomers without requiring a 200 dollar/six-inch thick purchase of books and binders. Module 2, I'm told, will be Stalingrad. The top game at the con, of course, was Wizards of the Coast's POKEMON card game. The ability of these guys to market to the latest card game craze astounds me. Smugly proud at always being five years behind, I brought a couple of my own newly purchased MAGIC decks. And lost every game I played. I attended a great seminar given by John Hill and West Point instructor Peter Panzieri about the American commando raid on Mogadishu in October, 1993. Accompanied by actual video of the raid and newly de-classified operations reports, here was a very interesting study of modern urban combat and the philosophical conflict between American politicians and the American military (no matter what she does, Madeline Albright always seems to make the worst possible decisions). The raid is also the subject of a great book called BLACKHAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden. On a serious note, I was truly appalled by the number of gamers looking proud of themselves while wearing German combat unit t-shirts announcing the 1st Falschirmjager or Grossdeutscheland Division tour or whatever. Worst was the moron with a "2nd SS Panzer Division Deathshead Tour" t-shirt; I looked to see if it included a tally of Russian peasants slaughtered and Allied prisoners massacred. Seeing clueless idiots wandering around in public wearing shit like that almost makes me ashamed to be a wargamer. The big Charles Roberts Award winner was Mark Herman and FOR THE PEOPLE (but what do all the people know ?). PAPER WARS finally broke BROG's lock on the Amateur newsletter category- I voted for PERFIDIOUS ALBION, I swear- and Vance von Borries was ushered into the Hall of Fame. A special notice should go to the woman wearing the skintight Catwoman costume on Saturday wobbling around on spike heels about 24 inches tall. She managed to look alluring while never quite falling over. Honorable mention goes to the three guys in Starship Troopers outfits which were neato but not very alluring. They did look more comfortable than Catwoman, though. From: BillR54619@aol.com Subject: Comments on Origins I hope that ya'll read and some actually enjoyed reading my Origins AAR. Now, while I'm doing laundry, comes the editorial: Well, let's start with the most controversial thing: WHERE WAS HASBRO ? Given my bug-on-the-rug perspective, it is impossible for me to speak authoritatively on this. I did notice a table out in the hallway that was a kind of check-out library for AH boardgames, and I did see Hasbro's new box styles for Acquire and Diplomacy. But for all that, I expect more from Hasbro. I expect them not just an exhibit, but the biggest and most profitable booth. I expect them to SHOW OFF whatever teaming arrangements they have formed with MMP. In other words, if they want to be king of the adult games hill, then I expect them to do some SELLING. We're not some silly little cash cow that they can squeeze for a few bucks. We're darned sophisticated customers, conscious of price, quantity, and service. They need to understand that. So does anybody else who wants to sell me a game. A HOUSE OF CARDS Leafing through the glossy Origins convention guide - I don't remember seeing anything this expensive at Doncon or Historicon, certainly not the ghost of Origins past - I happened on the ad for Origins 2000, as well as Origins and Gen Con for the next three years. The motto ? "Deal yourself in for Origins 2000" The claim ? "Events from Wizards of the Coast Event Management and GAMA always have strong draws". Well, there it is. The time line on the ad runs something like this: 1994 - Doubled Attendence 1996 - New Facility 1997 - Major Celebrities 1998 - H.O.T. Historicals 1999 - Another 25 Years Now, given that Wizards of the Coast was formed in 1991, and that Magic:the Gathering was released in 1993, I'd say there was a trend here. But, I have to wonder - is bigger necessarily better ? Really ? Always ? Not that I want to sound ungrateful, mind you - although I'm sure that such a conclusion is inevitable. Things are the way they are because they're the way they are. But I find it quite odd to see the convention organizers mark the 1998 introduction of the historical miniatures team as some kind of convention milestone. Who do they think they're kidding ? Although it is said, and I've seen it written here, that wargamers (of the board and miniatures variety) are a breed apart from fantasy games (of the card and D&D variety), I have to ask - what is the glue that keeps this thing together ? Is it tradition ? Money ? Have we been doing this thing so long that, well, "this is the way it is supposed to be done" ? I don't even know how dangerous some such questions are. What do we, as military gamers bring to the table ? CULTURES IN CONFLICT Regarding our own now-traditional CONSIM-L political flame wars, the Origins experience helped me put things into perspective, just a little bit. As I said in my previous message, my remembrance of game conventions in Columbus was Gahanna, and as I try to reflect on what was then and what is now, I think it is easy to be, well, too sentimental about the "old days". I remember that I must have gone to my first when I was 15 or 16, and couldn't even drive a car. My parents would drop me off at Terry Hollern's house (Terry and I had a 6 man club that included me and my buddies in Portsmouth, plus his friends from Columbus, mainly from the Catholic schools), and Terry, having a license, would drive his dad's old car to the convention. This was about 1969 or 1970, and in those days, Columbus was much more avante garde and sophisticated than our little burgs down in the Ohio Valley. I remember a real good player, a chain smoking hippie named Geoff Burkman (who used to advertise his prowess in the General of those times) who cleaned my clock in AK and France 1940 ('course, I had the French, so it was kind of not close). Some of Terry's pals were army veterans, Ohio State ROTC and Pershing Rifleman (I was, too.); bitter as heck and struggling to integrate themselves into normal lives. Jim Rush got married, played rugby, had a kid, got divorced. Tom Eisner had a little game shop on the side. Then there was Van Seigling, who introduced Dungeons and Dragons to Gahanna in the early 70s. Needless to say, I didn't see any of these guys at Origins. After all these years, how would I know if I did ? Now, I have a sneaking suspicion that the reason I didn't see anybody I knew is because they were not, in fact, there. What I did see in the convention guide is that Origins does have a kind of informal relationship with the OSU military history studies program, and there has been, I gather, an ongoing gaming cultural node at State. And all this evidences itself in the War College program, in a way that I find intriguing, but am only vaguely conscience. Now, with all that in the background, in the foreground one has - card game players. Not just a lot of card game players, but card game players EVERYWHERE. For the most part, I have to say that they looked like nice, serious college age kids - mostly guys, hasn't it always been this way. And they haven't a clue what we are about. They appear to be very focused people - so focused that they tend to play practice games with each other while waiting for the next round of their tournament. But, in any group, there is a radical fringe (my own big pet peeve are those black LAH tee shirts - very tacky), and so Joe gets dissed on what he and (I hope) we consider his home ground. If the theory is that we're gonna somehow recruit these card game players into historical board gaming by osmosis, I find that logic wanting. One thing that I think the card game companies do, and board game companies do NOT do at this convention, is do a good job of teaching and selling their games out in the demo area. Except for Pete Panzeri's Alamo session, and Evan Jones's Blue versus Gray game, the only other "war games" out in the demo area were Doom and Quake on computers. Big whoop. Now, in all fairness to companies like Columbia and others who really were open and trying to teach people their games up in the board game area, I realize that many vendors were trying to reach out to people. But it is not enough. You have to be able to have simple games out on the table, they have to be in an open area that is not hard to find, and you have to put somebody on there full time, who is willing to explain the rules to passers by, and walk them through. If you are serious about winning the "hearts and minds of the people", there is no alternative to this. This great unwashed mass of adolescence is not coming to you, at least not at Origins. FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY ? I have to say, and perhaps I missed something somewhere, that this convention appeared to be the least kid-friendly of all the conventions I've attended in the past year. Now, my kids turned out to be real troopers, and I have to hand it to them - but from my parent's perspective, this convention was too big, too dominated by older teenagers and 20-somethings. This is a sign of how bad it can be: I'm constantly correcting my kids for trashmouth talk, some of which they've picked up from my in-laws. But even my naughty children were, uh, offended, by the foul language they heard at the game tables. That's a first. I would never recommend taking children younger than middle school age to this convention. It is just not set up for smaller children. Historicon does a much better job, and Doncon has at least some games for kids. Hasbro could fix this, but will they bother ? That is one reason why I think Doncon is the way of the future, for gaming families. But those of us who are parents need to keep banging this drum and banging it hard, until people sit up and listen. If you're running a convention on 4th of July weekend, I'm not gonna be there without my family. Period. And they don't like it when I just zone and and ignore them. CONCLUSION I hope this didn't sound too negative, and my remarks are meant to be constructive, if critical. It really was a great convention in many, many, many respects. One thing that I found utterly impressive was how much open and unscheduled gaming was going on, in such a large convention. That says a lot about the quality and motivation of the people who attended. Bill R.