From: Steven Bucey Subject: Origins Hi, Wednesday night started off right with a bunch (40+) of people showing up to play games. CABS was sponsoring AH gaming with prizes provided by AH (in the form of Iron Man "bucks" good for game purchases on the dollar) and placks. I was not playing one of those games (not being a fan of the games being played), but a friend tought me the old AH Alexander. I took the Persians and I am happy to report that I kicked that upstart pretend boy king's butt all the way back to Macadonia. On the other hand, I later played a game of Chickamauga with a friend and when we quit he had broken a whole in the Union line. I was never a very good ACW player. Thursday I played GMT's GBoH Alexander, and brought shame to Alexander again, though it was not my intention to do so this time. I was busy working for my volunteer badge most of the rest of the time. The two tournaments I was to monitor started just after other games I would have signed up for had I not been busy. Fortunately, Sunday moning Alan Emrich (developer of Krieg!) dragged me to the side to play a couple of things. We ended up playing a game of the new AH game For the People. I was quite impressed. Alan had played three games with the desginer over the last couple of days, and talked him out of a pre-pub copy. I learn best by doing and then reading the rules, so we jumped right in and got through 6 turns (half a game) in just 3.5 hours, and that included me taking time to ask questions and him to look up the answers (he was still learning also). I (the south) made a dumb move with The Army of NV and he crushed it, then took and torched Richman. To my credit, I recovered and destoryed the Army of the Patomic with the Army of Tennese. By the start of turn seven the issue was still in doubt, though the North was still the safe bet. I probably put to many units on the coast to guard important ports least I lose important contact with the outside world) and my field armies suffered for it. It was frustrating facing Union Armies of size 15 with only size 5 armies, though it could be done. Fun game, losely based on the We the People system, but without the battle cards. I'd recomend it for ACW fans, and would buy it myself except that one or two of my gaming budies who looked in are sure to get it (right Dave?). Steve -- --------------------------------------- The Columbus Area Boardgaming Society web site: http://web.jadeinc.com/spqr Happiness comes in packages marked, "Batteries not included." From: Steven Bucey Subject: Re: Origins's reports anyone? I forgot to mention that I also "demo'd" a copy of Decision Game's Nuts!, their new card game on the Battle of the Bulge (yet another Bulge game). By demo I mean they gave me a copy and I set up shop in the hallway near the boardgame rooms and started playing it with another guy, and told anybody who asked all about it. Callie Cummings said not to long after I did this they had a flurry of people stop by and buy the game, so I guess it worked. By the by, since I don't have a lot on the Bulge (one game, not counting tactical armor sims), I'm not bulged out. The cards are *very* nice, with scene from WWII France. Cards are of three types: combat formations, events, and terrain. Combat formations are rated for artillery, armor, infantry and cohiesion. Combat cards include actual unit names and ensignia! The game comes in two sets, a north and south theator, though you don't need both sets to play the game. Thus, it could be two, three or four player. Each theator is a "grid" of three columns and 6 rows. US cards are usually played to a specific grid coordinate (or sometimes a range), but German cards (with the parratroop exception) simply enter at the start of specific rows. The game starts with the US player sorting out all those cards specificly marked for setup. The German then selects 5 cards to place in each row. Sequence of play is as follows Cohesion check phase (units which fail are removed, units which pass remove all hits). Draw Card Phase Move card phase (infantry one, mechs two) Combat Phase (infantry which didn't move or Mechs which only moved one). Combat is done as follows. First, the defender decides what terrain he'll use (terrain aids defense, but you need cards to "occupy" them). Then the attacker decides if he'll only bombard or assualt. If he only bombards then an exchange of artillery occurs and that is all. Otherwise, the attacker then decided whether or not to commit armor, then infantry (required whether the armor went in or not). For each type of attack, you total the value of that type of category (if three cards had 2 artillery each, you would have a strength of 6). Divisional integrety gives a bonus of +1 strength. You then roll a number of die equal to your total strength. Atrillery and armor hit on 5 or 6, while infantry hits on a 6 only. If the attacker *didn't commit his armor, the defender may still counter-attack with his, but at half strength. While there is no limit to the number of combat cards in a grid location, there is a limit on the number that can attack. Hits are more or less distributed evenly, though terrain can modify this. Units which take hits >= their cohesion are killed. There are rules for supply, Blitz movement and encirclement, but the rules are short. Most of the special activities are covered by the event and terrain cards, which include everything from "Famous Generals" and Truely Famous Generals, to engineers, mud, aircraft, suspisious MPs and even mass murder of prisinors. Some of the cards are down right funny, while others (as above) are deadly serious. The "feel" was surprisingly good. In both games the German more or less pushes half way across, and then he bogs down. I don't have a feel for play balance, but I got the impression that it might depend upon the cards the allied player gets at the start. This is not a collectible card game (as is one I saw at Origins call Crusade or something). Each of the two sets are complete games which can be combined. I was empressed enough to buy a copy myself, and I'm not even a card game fan. On the down side, the rules are not very clear. In particular, the effects of towns are very confusing, and took several questions to the designer and developer to get right. Another two pages for the rules would not have been remise. Steve -- --------------------------------------- The Columbus Area Boardgaming Society web site: http://web.jadeinc.com/spqr Happiness comes in packages marked, "Batteries not included." Subject: Re: Origins From: rmt66@juno.com (ROBERT M TITRAN) Sorry for the rambling, getting late... Enjoyed the con. Seemed to me that the boardgamers were much easier to find this year than in the past, maybe in part due to some specific game rooms being designated for AH, Columbia, GMT, and The Gamer's. This had been the norm for the card games and miniatures the last 2 years, nice to see boardgames with a place to call home. Dealer's room was missing AH, Talonsoft, XTR but most of the other boardgame makers I could think of were there. Plenty of people selling cards, Family/Abstract or "German" type games, and RPGs. Very little historical minis for sale. Saw a lot of the For The People and Totaler Kreig games being run informally but constantly by their designers. Didn't think to try to talk anyone out of their copy of the game so I'll hafta pick up a copy of FTP the minute it hits the shelves - it looked great. Thursday found the Last Crusade GM AWOL, so I played a Saratoga demo on GMT's huge demo board. Fun game. Rules seemed to read clearly. Low complexity but some neat effects - like having sides pick "tactical options" for a battle then cross referencing a chart in order to get an additional DRM. Of course, having leaders present opens up new options... Some gripes were heard about replay value, I don't think it'll be a problem and I'm looking forward to seeing my P500 shipment arrive. Played a Settlers of Cattan card game demo - not bad as a two player game, but if I can get a third or fourth I'll opt for the board game. Stopped by GMT's GBoH seminar. Mark Herman said something along the lines of being in this "less is more" design mode. Berg neither repeated the mantra nor showed visible disdain. Finally, went to my Rommel in the Desert demo to find I was the only one signed up. Bummer. Friday commanded French cavalry at Marengo in a Napoleon's Battles game. Ran around a lot to cover potential problems, didn't see as much real action as I would have liked. GM called the game a draw. The went to the Down in Flames tourney, where I found myself the only one at my table who'd actually played the game in the last 2-3 years. Our team lost the first game (barely), but in the second game (playing alone, my partner had vanished, vs. an experienced team) kicked some major butt - 4 kills vs. 1 kill & 1 damage. Couldn't stick around for game three as I rushed off to a seminar on WWI air power. Blew off a late ACW minis game to go see the fireworks with my wife who came down for the day. Saturday ran some British infantry at Corunna, another Napoleon's Battles game. Came up late to hold our right flank vs. the French cav, which was threatening to sweep around our position. As our troops on that flank broke I filled in the gap, only to be pinned down by French infantry and slammed into by that Cav. Ouch! That's my picture you'll see in those French military texts - I'm the one running. Still, enjoyed the game, the rules work nicely with a few mods to simplify things. Picked up a cheap, used, unpunched copy at Crazy Egor's booth. Played the Brits again, this time at Brandywine. Poor Americans set up in the clear and charged us when we got close, at which time they disintegrated. We mopped up, it wasn't pretty. Not sure the scenario was adequately tested - American troops set up to hold the VPs and paid for it, but the alternative was to let the Brits walk into the VP spots uncontested? Gotta read up on the battle... Blew off another late ACW minis game (must be loosing it...) to rest, pack up, hang out in the lounge (Batman was there...) and watch the vampire chicks do their thing. Sunday played Columbia's Victory. Neat game. A little like Axis and Allies with hexes, terrain, fog of war and combined arms. Much deeper than I expected, liked it a lot. Met fellow Consim-L'ers Dave Carroll and Steve Bucey. Nice to have done so. See you guys next year! Bob Titran rmt66@juno.com Last Played - Napoleon's Battles, Rocket's Red Glare, Victory _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] From: yourmama@my-dejanews.com Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! OK, let me offer my observations for the record. This was my first Origins in many, many years, my last experience being the famous East Coast Atlanticon events of the 1980's. In no particular order: 1. Logistics and Life Support: I was very impressed with the Columbus facilities. The convention center was more that adequate for the Con. Having driven to Columbus from the east coast, it was very easy to find and navigate. The one MAJOR consideration --- the 4th of July festivities downtown really taxed the parking and road network. I stayed at the Marriott about two blocks away (rates were $79.00 - a bargain as far as I was concerned for my son and I) It was a good thing I got there early afternoon on 3 July as events for the Fireworks, etc shut down the road and parking network about 4PM. I found the food court in the center very convienient and affordable, as I found out later on Sunday, there really isn't much else downtown. Overall I'd give the logistics support an A- 2. Admin/Registration: I received the pre-registration booklet sometime ago and just filled out the form and faxed it to Andcon. It worked very well and they responded in a timely manner. I had a few descrepancies with some events but the staff very pleasantly and quickly either refunded my money or helped me register for other events. Overall A- on organization and communication of information. ** My one concern was that I had signed up for the Battle for Germany tournament for Saturday at 10AM. I kept asking where it was and who was running it but the staff at the Boardgame HQ really weren't sure. They also need to remember that telling me "Joe Bagadonuts is in charge" doesn't help me if I have never met or seen the guy. Descriptions of him ranged from "A very large man" to "Even bigger than the fat guy over there". I then was forced to ask the Avalon Hill "Ironman" team if they had any idea where my event might be. As expected, I got a blank stare from them and finally a "Well, I think Joe Smuck is running it. Look for a big guy from North Carolina" That helped immensely as you may imagine. The Boardgame HQ team finally deduced that I was the only one that signed up (it figures), but "Joe Bagadonuts" was never found. Having given up on playing BfG I went to the Exhibit Hall instead. 3. Exhibit Hall - Very large, plenty of room. I particularly liked the large demo area available for anyone and anybody to use. My son and I learned the card game Ceasar and Cleopatra at one of the tables. Having been to previous Origins in the 80's and Atlanticons the absence of the major Wargame companies was very evident, ie Avalon Hill, XTR (where were they??) and others. GMT and The Gamers had very good booths with the latest games and goodies along with Columbia Games and GRD. Operational Studies Group and Clash of Arms also were there in force. Decision Games was there with the latest(!) editions of Moves (#92 - May/June 1997) and the next S&T. They were demo-ing their new card game on the Battle of the Bulge. The Armory was there is full force and as others have said, served as the AH reps. Their claim to fame was to have occassional passersby (my 10 year old son being one of them) do the "Duck Song and Dance" yelling "Go Armory" at the end. They then gave the song and dance man a free role playing book or something equally useless. It was quite obvious that wargames are the fringe - WOTC was king in this place occupying the center of the hall with a huge demo/play area and "Wheel of fortune" trivia game for Magic-heads. Also, the Sci-Fi crowd of CCGs had Star Trek and Star Wars celebrities (David Prowse (Darth Vader) and Jeremy Bullock (Boba Fett)) on hand for autographs. This was the purpose of my 10 year old son attending - getting to meet Darth Vader and Boba Fett and getting their autographs (at $10.00 a pop I might add) Bottom Line -- Wargame companies are obviously hanging on by a thread. Origins is not important in their marketing strategy but I'm not sure what their alternative is. I think GMT is doing the right thing with the P500 program. I think Decision Games should hang it up and XTR needs to focus on publishing games and not another history magazine for the newstand. Overall - I did not spend a dime for their overpriced, errata laden products. 4. The Auction: Tons of stuff, ran all weekend. Prices way overblown. The net is by far cheaper. The auctioneers were familiar from cons past, but some were also RPG/CCG experts who a) Couldn't pronounce many titles b) Did not know much about the game c) Pretty much defined their stereotype. Anyway, many of the RecGamesBoardMartket place names were there spending big bucks on many games. I guess RGBM is how they make their living or they are independently wealthy ($300 for an unpunched, shrinkwrapped, detergent boxed Wacht am Rhine -- what, just to look at?? They certainly won't play it) But for a true, wargame grognard, the auction was THE place to be, it smelled of wargames, real ones that weren't multi colored computer generated kalidescopes. My bargain - an unpuched War in the East for $46.00 - JOY! Overall B+ (not the auction of old with Bill Jaffe, etc) 5. The War College - the military/game seminar event. I went to the "Geezer Gabfest" which was a panel of "aging wargame personalities" John Hill, John Prados, Frank Chadwick, Jack Radey , Lou Zocchi, and Kevin Zucker. This was the first time I had really seen them and boy was I unimpressed. I should qualify that, Frank Chadwick, John Hill, John Prados and Jack Radey really gave excellent talks on gaming design and philosophy (albiet historical in nature to the things the once did). Kevin Zucker is a space cadet and somewhat snobbish, coming in very late and leaving very early,(what I the lowely wargame player are not important enough for your time??? Oh yea, I'll really buy your games now) I and many others paid good money ($5.00 for a seminar or $12.00 for the weekend) to hear their wisdom. Zucker lost big points with me, a 25+ year gamer. Lou Zocchi - poor man, the rest of the panel didn't clue him in on the topic. He proceeded to give us a "class" on hexsheets, ie long-grain, short-grain etc. -- Very good Lou, taught me something I knew 20 years ago! Next time pay attention to the environment around you and be relevant to the discussion. But the strange thing about this was, appart from the seminar - I never saw these guys around the convention. Lou Zocchi had a booth in the exhibit hall selling musty, dusty old games at ridiculous prices. But what was everyone else doing? Overall B- Well, obviously I've gone on enough. Avalon Con may be the place to go for us old guys. Origins was diverse, moderately attended, but overall - not really that exciting - apart from meeting Darth Vader of course!! Steve Rauch -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum From: avonsmit@netcom.ca Subject: Re: Origins's reports anyone? Well I had a good time. I referee'd in three National Security Decision Making Games (NSDM) , each running nine hours on Thu., Fri, & Sat. All good games from where I sat. NSDM is a pseudo-executive role-playing game in which players take on positions usch as "President U.S", "Chief of Army", "Senate Blok 3", "Yeltsin & Moderate supporters" etc. Each position is typically a blok or group, often with a visible leader. Country cells are formed for any of USA, Russia, China, Japan, Iran, India, Pakistan (both new this year!), Europe (aka post-union in our 2015 game). referee's come in three flavours. Game directors monitoring the whole event, country controller's (who run cells of players, such as USA), and country facilitators, who basically play all the various NPC countries and organizations. Players are actually competing against each other, not "Team USA" vs "Team China", but "Senate Bloc 3" being better than "USN/Marines" or "Japan - Sumitomo". The first two games started at 1998, and moved forward from there, the Saturday game started in 2015 after a number of technological advances had occurred , as well as major shifts in various countries Order of Battle. (China up, USA down, Europe down) So things like theatre ballistac defense are there. The first game we had Iran, India & China. The second game was India, Iran, China and Japan (IIRC). The last game, due to poor turn-out (nine hours is a big time committment when a lot of other stuff is going on) was only USA & Japan. Many new players really needed a "Security Issues 101" course, to help identify things like "Straits of Malacca" being a choke point for oil to Japan (and hence western economies). But they learn quick. In the second game I was running the India Cell, and got to watch them react as the China cell was persuaded to transfer nukes and bombers to Pakistan. Only one of many high points as the Indian PM, the Russian President, and the US president face off to see who's going to hit the air-field they're coming into. Saturday saw me running the US cell in 2015. Politics were the same, and I spent most of my time monitoring the action "On the Hill" "inside the beltway". The action was busy enough that I was unable to stay abreast of foreign events, which included a Chinese amphibious assault of Taiwan. The action in the senate was fairly good though. We get a lot of repeat players over the years, and we put the four most experienced players into the US senate where their experience was needed to face off against each other, rather than run roughshod over lesser experienced players in the cell or sub-cell around them. (A sub-cell would be, for instance, the US Military players : Chairman JCS, USA, USN, USAF, or Cabinet : Sec Def, Sec State, Sec Interior / Commerce). By having these guys all in one place they had to spend their time watching each other, plus cook up deals. It was great ! Sunday was sleep in and rest. Gerry ps. Not to sound like spam, but since this is a seminar style game without published rules, it's only run at cons. It'll be played again at DragonCon in Atlanta this Labour Day weekend. ghs2. From: Geenius at Wrok Subject: Origins report Well, my column is getting cut all to hell to make room for the accompanying art, so I may as well post the unedited version now. :-) (The personal stories follow.) -- Time for another dispatch (ha ha) from Columbus, Ohio, site of the Origins International Game Expo and Fair, an event that turned out this year to be full of surprises--and not just those stemming from last-minute event reschedulings or the fact that the proprietor of the B&B where I was staying was in the hospital with a broken arm when I showed up on her doorstep. ("Uh . . . is there a motel nearby?") This was the year in which cheap reigned, in which unassuming little games proved to be deceptively sophisticated and fun. And that's a good thing, a GREAT thing, because over the last few years quality games have been getting really, really expensive. That's been driven in part by an influx of German family-oriented board games, whose top-notch production values and overseas origins unavoidably jack up the price into the $40-to-$60 range, and the tyrannosaurus-like market dominance of money-sucking collectible card games. With a bit of luck, some of these newcomers could make affordability a trend of significance. Cheapass Games started the trend last year with its practice of packaging only rules, boards and cards and letting the buyer forage for common (and high-cost) parts such as pawns and dice. This year Cheapass was plugging its latest game, FALLING (at $10, the most expensive item in its line), a fast-paced card game for four to eight players. One player deals; the others are all, well, falling, and whoever hits the ground last wins. It's smart, but something bugs me about the way it leaves the dealer out of the action. On the other hand, LORD OF THE FRIES ($5, plus a die), Cheapass' second most recent release, is a hands-down winner. As in last year's Give Me the Brain (which won this year's award for Best Traditional Card Game), the players are zombies working in a fast-food restaurant, but the object this time around is to fill goofily named meal orders by combining cards such as "bun," "cow meat," "bird meat" and "berry pie." This one was no surprise, though; despite the company's MO, Cheapass games tend to become wildly popular overnight. The real expectation-surpassers included BOSWORTH, AQUARIUS and GUILLOTINE, three games that share terrific graphic design, card-based play, simple rules and lots of player interaction. Bosworth (Out of the Box, $20), which can be played by two or three but is best with four, is a very clever chess variant played with adorably illustrated cards representing the various pieces. Each player starts with four pawns on the board and adds additional pieces as his edge of the board opens up; when a player's king is captured, his pieces are taken off the board and his queen turned over to the conquering player, who can use it for himself. Aquarius (Looney Laboratories, $10) is a domino-like game with cards marked in five elemental motifs. Each player tries to get seven cards featuring his element in a row, but the catch is that the element he's working with may change at any time. In Guillotine (Wizards of the Coast, $10), players represent French Revolution executioners competing for the most prestigious decapitations--behead Marie Antoinette and get five points, kack the Hero of the People and lose three. Honorable mention goes to GANGSTERS, GUN MOLLS AND G-MEN (Magic & Tactics Unlimited, $10), in which players represent the infamous bank-robbing gangs of the early 20th century and compete to rake in the most loot. The game mechanics are excellent, but it's seriously lacking in the design department--the artwork is terrible, and the components are way low-grade. Many serious gamers don't care how a game looks as long as it plays well, but I have a hard time getting into a game with substandard production values, and I think most of the general public does as well. That's a point I made to the guys behind FARE COMPETITION (Wolfhound, price to be determined), a Monopoly-like game with an airline industry theme, when they asked after a demonstration how much I'd be willing to pay for the game. As far as the mechanics go, it's quite good, but the prototype board had an unmistakably desktop-published look. As it stood, I said, I'd be willing to pay around $15, but with design work comparable to what's put into the German imports, it'd easily be worth $30 to $40 (I think they took my suggestions to heart, so watch for a much better-looking product around the holidays). Which brings me to the German imports. There were many, but the only two I got around to playing were EUPHRAT & TIGRIS (Mayfair, $50--ouch!) and EDISON & CO. (Rio Grande, $40), both winners. [I thought Edison was a winner, anyway. Maybe CafeJay would care to elaborate on what he thinks is broken about it. -KA] E&T is an empire-building game set in the Fertile Crescent, in which players compete to collect scoring blocks in five colors--but in a crafty mechanism for promoting balanced development, the victor is the player with the most blocks in his weakest color. In Edison & Co., four experimental vehicles (which have a whimsical neo-Victorian appearance--H.G. Wells grafted onto "The Rocketeer") are being tested on a track. None of them works very well yet, but each player has a vested interest in seeing certain vehicles perform better than others. Which vehicle will move, in which direction and how far are determined by cards played separately, so no player can ever control all three. Finally, apropos of nothing, there was FUZZY HEROES (Inner City, $11), a set of tactical combat rules for use with stuffed animals. Keeping with the cuddly theme, the combatants don't get injured and die--they just get tired, fall asleep and go back to the toy box. Toys' powers are based on their size and color and what they're wearing or holding. The rules are almost as complex as any other elementary war game's; the fifth- and sixth-grader at the table with me enjoyed it but needed a lot of help keeping track of things. Actually, according to the designer, the average Fuzzy Heroes player is 22. All in all, an excellent year for the game industry. And yes, there WAS a motel nearby, and I slept very well, though not enough. Damn those late-running tournaments. -- What actually happened with the B&B was that I spent my first night at a nearby motel, then moved back into the B&B the next morning and stayed there for the rest of the show. I've been groping for a satisfactory solution to the problem of accommodations at Origins. My first year, the Mariott Courtyard didn't satisfy me; for $72 a night, I expect a little more than just location. My second year, the Days Inn on Olentangy River Road was a bargain at $45 a night, and I didn't mind riding the bus in (though I had to hitch rides back with other gamers), but this year it raised its rates. So I went the B&B route and once again paid only $45 a night, rode mass transit in the morning and had to bum rides back at night; breakfast was included, though it was nothing special (ObSlam: though better than the food at the convention center). I'm now wondering whether I shouldn't just bite the bullet next year and stay at the Hyatt. There seemed to be an awful lot of organizational problems this year, which other people suggested was endemic with Andon but which I haven't actually noticed in the past. I never got my confirmation letter before the show or my goodie bag upon arriving, and there was all sorts of confusion surrounding FASA's Shadowrun tournament, which wasn't listed in the original preregistration catalog. I was royally pissed when someone posted info about the tourney from the FASA Web site, because it would have necessitated scrambling my entire schedule. When I arrived, however, I found that the tourney had been rescheduled AGAIN because of another Andon screw-up, and suddenly all was well with my schedule again (with the exception of my having scheduled 8 AM events after the late-night RP sessions, a mistake I really really really really promise myself not to make again). Anyway, like I said, I've always thought Andon's administration of Origins was pretty tight, and I prefer to think of this year's chaos as an anomaly that will be cleared up by next year. The Maze of Games was a little harder this year than last year, but Crazy Abu's selection was a little better. If I may blow my own horn for a moment, I am proud to be able to claim having solved more Maze puzzles than anyone else at the convention -- the only one I had to forfeit was the Governor's puzzle. (Anti-kudos to WotC for making that puzzles solution contingent on having played a demo of a WotC game. I solved the puzzle part of it but couldn't get the actual answer because I hadn't yet heard of Alphablitz. Phhhbbbttt.) I was also the only one to solve the Countess' puzzle, which surprises me, because I thought the Count's was a hell of a lot harder -- it took me two hours to get. Having 20 tokens left over after all the good stuff was gone from Abu's, for my final trophy I asked for -- and got -- the head of the Countess. (Not the laminated card, alas, but the one posted at the vendor booth.) In addition, when Quentin Hoover signed my Guillotine box, he also responded to my request for a quick sketch of the Countess by drawing her dejected-looking head on a spike. Give that man a cookie, a cigar or whatever he asks for. Praise also to Kovalic, illustrator of "Dork Tower" and Bosworth, who had to be the single nicest guy at the convention whom I didn't already know, and to the vendor (who shall remain anonymous) who sold me a Sailor Moon doll that wasn't actually for sale. :-) (If you're reading, Mr. Vendor, my wife loved it.) Actually, come to think of it, I also met James Ernest, and he was really cool, too, so he ties with Kovalic. If anyone is interested, I will be happy to share my Etiquette Tips for Undersocialized Gamers. There seemed to be more violators than usual this year. -- "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." From: Brian Bankler Subject: Re: Origins report The Geenius at Wrok wrote: > This was the year in which cheap reigned, in which unassuming little games > proved to be deceptively sophisticated and fun. And that's a good thing, a > GREAT thing, because over the last few years quality games have been > getting really, really expensive. That's been driven in part by an influx > of German family-oriented board games, whose top-notch production values > and overseas origins unavoidably jack up the price into the $40-to-$60 > range, and the tyrannosaurus-like market dominance of money-sucking Well, a goodly part of the price comes from transatlantic shipping, which isn't as cheap as it sounds. At Essen last year I was able to spot games I'd paid $50-60 for 35 DM (about $25). Granted, their price had fallen a bit, but a lot of the bigger german games are quite inexpensive. Mississippi Queen could be had for around $23...because it had a huge print run. If only we could have print runs in the 10,000 range, we could have better quality at the same cost (or lower prices). Case in point: Airlines by Avalanche Press. I looked at the box (not at Origins) and said "hm...could be good." The owner then let me look inside the box and see the fact that it was a deck of cards and a board that was made of essentially business card weight paper. Not mounted. Not sure if it had color but if so not much. How much was it? Thirty Five Dollars. This is undoubtedly because of the economics of scale (although the really nice box probably added $5-10 to the final retail price. And I have to admit, if I hadn't gotten to look inside the box I would have been sorely tempted. I still may buy it, it may be a great game, but as an unknown it was too expensive). Not to rag on Avalanche...I doubt I could start a company and print a really cheap card game without taking a loss. It's tough stuff, fronting a lot of money that you are willing to lose to make a big print run. > Honorable mention goes to GANGSTERS, GUN MOLLS AND G-MEN (Magic & Tactics > Unlimited, $10), in which players represent the infamous bank-robbing > gangs of the early 20th century and compete to rake in the most loot. The > game mechanics are excellent, but it's seriously lacking in the design [snip...] > That's a point I made to the guys behind FARE COMPETITION (Wolfhound, > price to be determined), a Monopoly-like game with an airline industry > theme, when they asked after a demonstration how much I'd be willing to > pay for the game. As far as the mechanics go, it's quite good, but the > prototype board had an unmistakably desktop-published look. As it stood, I > said, I'd be willing to pay around $15, but with design work comparable to > what's put into the German imports, it'd easily be worth $30 to $40 (I > think they took my suggestions to heart, so watch for a much > better-looking product around the holidays). I just wanted to compare that to your previous statement(*). "...quality games have been getting really, really expensive." Why do people make games with nice components that are expensive? Because people buy them. I *like* nice components. On the other hand, I buy Cheapass Games because of the very low risk involved...if I hate a game, I lose $3 bucks. And there are certainly some games from CA that are not to my tastes. Quite a few. But it's still low risk. But $20 games are hard pressed. It's expensive enough to make me think twice, not pretty enough to give me a case of parakeetitis and make me want to impulse buy. (Expensive games do get impulse bought if I trust the company or really like the theme). Expensive games probably have better margins too. > Finally, apropos of nothing, there was FUZZY HEROES (Inner City, $11), a > set of tactical combat rules for use with stuffed animals. Keeping with > the cuddly theme, the combatants don't get injured and die--they just get > tired, fall asleep and go back to the toy box. Toys' powers are based on Hm. Sounds like a good game to look into. Cheap and maybe cute enough to get The Wife interested in playing. > If anyone is interested, I will be happy to share my Etiquette Tips for > Undersocialized Gamers. There seemed to be more violators than usual this > year. Please do. Are these the standard ones or have new violations been discovered? Enquiring minds who are considering bringing their SO's along need to know. Brian From: Brian D Leet Subject: Re: Origins report Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.board: 7-Jul-98 Re: Origins report by Brian Bankler@rtp.ericss > > If anyone is interested, I will be happy to share my Etiquette Tips for > > Undersocialized Gamers. There seemed to be more violators than usual this > > year. > > Please do. Are these the standard ones or have new violations been > discovered? Enquiring minds who are considering bringing their SO's along > need to know. Actually I thought, and was supported by anothers comment, that the crowd was pretty good this year. Certainly the card gamers seemed at least if not better behaved to the rest of the crowd than previously and I encountered relatively few cases of uncleanliness. Of course I pretty much stuck to a couple of gaming areas and the folks in the Columbia blocks games area usually seem pretty good. My biggest point of etiquette would be this: Ladies, I don't care what part of your anatomy it is, if enough is being squeezed out by the clothes to overlap and conceal the clothing doing the squeezing, *please* reconsider. Enough said. Brian Leet From: "Christopher Weuve" Subject: My Origins trip Origins was a blast. My usual Origins group (myself, Arius and Vik Kaufmann, Wade Hinkle, and Sean Barnett) added Bob Irelan, Bob Teague, Sal Vasta, and SFConsim-L's own Ralph Mazza (AKA Valamir) to the group and headed west in a rented van. (Except for Vik, who combined business and pleasure and wrangled a plane ride from his employer.) We arrived late Wednesday. Wednesday night a subset of us were invited along to dinner with Wade Hinkle and Pete Fenlon, an old high school buddy of Wade's who Wade recently discovered is the founder of Iron Crown Enterprises. (Wade and Pete had not seen each other in twenty years; I thought it was pretty cool that we were invited along.) My first scheduled game event was Thursday morning: a _Twilight Imperium_ demo. Now, I have played TI before, and have been told that a lot of the things I didn't like about the game had been fixed with the supplements. If so, they kept this fact well-hidden. The game itself isn't that bad, but the peripheral mechanics and components -- the way you keep track of technology and income, for example -- are so poorly done that it spoiled any pleasure that I might have for the game. (Examples: Instead of a simple track to record treasury levels, the players are given counters; instead of a track per player to record production, there is one master track, which means that someone gets stuck with the job of doing it; there is no mechanism for representing what a carrier is carrying, so moving three carriers each with 9 units involves moving 30 pieces.) I frankly expect more from a game that, with the three supplments, tops the $100 price barrier. The only good news is that they MIGHT do a second edition which would include the material for the supplements (which I hope would not simply turn a $45 game with two $20 supplements into a $90 game). Even so, I doubt I will be making this purchase. Next, I saw a demo Chamelon Eclectic's _Babylon Project Ship-to-Ship Combat Game_, which is the de facto miniatures game for Babylon 5. (Because of the weird licensing situation involving Agents of Gaming's entirely forgettable _Babylon 5 Wars_, CE must refer to it as an RPG or "tabletop" game, and not a minis game. It's a minis game, though.) My experience here was the exact opposite of the TI demo -- this is a great game. This system is based on Ground Zero's _Full Thrust_, and is very nice. I hope to play it a lot. On Friday I played in a hypothetical naval scenario based on Hector Bywater's _The Great Pacific War_, and involved five Japanese battlecruisers coming upon a force of old American battleships. We used a kitbashed system combining _Clear for Action_ with _Command at Sea_ which was put together by the GM, Sean Barnett. The Americans got away with a marginal victory, because the Japanese failed to open the range when they had the chance. (One Japanese player in particular, against the expressed wishers of the other Japanese players, charged the enemy line in a *Kongo*, of all things, and the rest of us decided to support him, instead of just letting the idiot put himself out of our misery.) A good time was had by all. Later on Friday I played in a _Close Action_ individual tournament. Despite my poor showing (losing both battles, including one to our own Arius Kaufmann), I had a blast. My interest in the Age of Sail is fairly recent, but I must say that _Close Action_ has become one of my all time favorite games. On Saturday I played in a large _Close Action_ fleet battle, a hypothetical battle which might have taken place if Nelson had found the French fleet at sea before the Battle of the Nile. Experienced CA player Bob Lewis took the lead British admiral's slot, while a lack shortage of player's led designer Mark Campbell to run the French. Initially Bob played Mark like a cheap guitar, but the British are heavily outguinned in this scenario, and when we eventually called the game it was declared a French victory. the all-day monster at the con is a fun event, but it does have a HUGE opportunity cost, so I might not repeat the experience. (All-day monsters NOT at cons, on the other hand, are definitely a "go".) Oh, it's worth noting that we played on the floor on a huge (approximately 15 x 20 foot) piece of felt with hand drawn hexes, using Mark's 1:2400 scale ships mounted on special bases. My last gaming event was on Sunday, when I played the just-released _Noble Armada_, a tactical space combat game set in the _Fading Suns_ rpg universe. I had high hopes for this one, but it was not to be. I don't mind non-vector- based movement systems, if done well; this was a STUPID non-vector-based movement system, though, and was totally uninspired. The combat system was fairly silly as well, and where the two sillinesse4s intersected -- missiles - - the systems totally broke down: you could fire a missile at a ship 5 hexes away on a hex row, and be guaranteed a hit, whereas a ship five hexes away on the hex spine was next to impossible to hit. Ralph and Sean played it with me; Ralph thinks it can be saved, but I have my doubts. I only attended two War College lectures this year, down from my usual ten, and they were both by Consim-L's own Wade Hinkle. (SFConsim-L subscribers know Wade as the gamer that Arius, Brian and I refer to as having the allergy to science fiction. ) Wade's day job is senior researcher at IDA, and he presented a pair of UNOFFICIAL lectures on some work he has done there. The lectures were entitled "US Combat Effectiveness in Normandy" and "Revolution in Miltary Affairs -- NOT!". Both lectures examined evidence supporting the thesis that skill is a more important determinant of combat outcomes than raw technological advantage, and hence we shouldn't automatically assume that buying ever-more capable hardware in and of itself will lead to favorable outcomes, especially when the equipment is paid for at the expense of training. These were probably the best War College lectures I have ever attended. Note that the War College appears to be in trouble -- Andon doesn't seem particularly committed to it, they didn't include a bunch of speakers in the pre-reg book -- or the final reg book, for that matter. I intend to write Andon telling them that the War College is the best part of the Con and that I wish they would take it more seriously. I met a few people who I know from the online world. I happened to run into Consim-L's David Carroll, who caught me at a particularly distracted moment. (Sorry, David.) John Krantz and I did a quick flyby of each other, as did Wade Racine and I. Gerry Smit and I had time to conduct a business transaction, but that was about it. (Gerry, I hope the ride home was less eventful. ) We saw Mark Herman briefly, and I spoke with Neal Sofge for a few moments in the Prism booth. (I also spoke with Prism's Tom Lehman at some length; it was good to finally put a face with the name.) I also spoke with Oemga's Bill Gibbs (always a pleasure), the folks in the Columbia and Avalanche booths, the Chameleon Eclectic folks. I did not speak with Lucinda, the chainmail-bikini-wearing woman trying to sell swords (IIRC). My con purchases included: 1) _SF3D II_, from Crazy Egor, for a mere $50. _SF3D I_ went in the auction for $115; maybe next year. (These are limited-edition SF game imports based on the line of models of the same name.) 2) _Great War At Sea, Volume II_ and _US Navy Plan Orange_ from Avalanche. 3) _Insecta_, _Insecta Rainforest Expansion_, and _Last Frontier_, from FMG. 4) _Sea Commander_, the _Warship Commander_ supplement, from Gerry Smit. 5) GZG's _Full Thrust Fleet Book_, from Geo-Hex. 6) _Sinners and Saints_, a _Fading Suns_ supplement, from Holistic Design. 7) And finally, a couple of _Star Trek_ blueprints. So, I got off light this year, especially compared to the TWO people in the group who dropped a kilodollar on games at the auction (although one sold about $500 worth). As a word of warning: I learned the hard way that a rental company has little or no compunction against attempting to hide tha fact that the amount they quote you over the phone isn't really what they are charging you. In retrospect, when they gave me the rate over the phone, I should have asked "are there any hidden charges you aren't telling me about?". Given the amount of trouble I had with this rental company (National), including jerking me around for 24 hours before they would give me the van, the question isn't whether I will rent from them again, it's how far do I want to pursue this with the Attorney General's office and the Better Business Bureau. chrisw caw@wizard.net From: "Jonathan A. Gillett" Subject: Noble armada, Was: My Origins trip At 12:59 PM 7/6/98 , Christopher Weuve wrote: >My last gaming event was on Sunday, when I played the just-released _Noble >Armada_, a tactical space combat game set in the _Fading Suns_ rpg universe. >I had high hopes for this one, but it was not to be. I don't mind non-vector- >based movement systems, if done well; this was a STUPID non-vector-based >movement system, though, and was totally uninspired. The combat system was >fairly silly as well, and where the two sillinesse4s intersected --missiles - >- the systems totally broke down: you could fire a missile at a ship 5 hexes >away on a hex row, and be guaranteed a hit, whereas a ship five hexes away on >the hex spine was next to impossible to hit. Ralph and Sean played it with >me; Ralph thinks it can be saved, but I have my doubts. > I disagree that missiles break the system. Maybe the way they were presented in your demo, but not the way they are written in the rules (Indirect Fire, page 14; Weapon Chart, page 19 - yes I surprised myself by being impressed enough with the game to buy it). To quote the chart, missiles are "allowed two course turns per phase", meaning that they can change direction in flight. Even on the spine, only one turn would be needed to guarantee a "hit." As for the game being "silly", I happen to think of it as fun. The idea of using grappling guns and sending boarding parties across to fight to capture the opposing ship was the element that made me want to play in the last demo on Sunday. Seeing the ships rotate around to protect shields and bring weapons to bear was, for me, enjoyable. And though the movement is not true vector (rules for "if you are a real Newtonian nut" are given as Optional Rules -- don't get your hopes up, they're wrong too) they offer enough vectored movement to make you think on just how you are going to get from point A to point B when you are flying towards C. I would consider the game a cross between Star Fleet Battles (the ship displays), Silent Death (the overall feel, even if using much larger ships), and Full Thrust (brief, simple rules). Bummer you had what looks like a bad demo. Unfortunately, in my demo, the method of doing shield burnout was taught incorrectly (losing shields on rolls greater than 13 rather then under) and the guy had no clue on how to do boarding (we readthose rules together - after all, that's why I played in the first place!) More details next week if any one wants them (I hope to play next week with my group). - |JAG |Jonathan A. Gillett, CPhT |jagman@unforgettable.com From: "Jonathan A. Gillett" Subject: Re: Origins Question At 04:21 PM 7/6/98 , Greg Ellis wrote: >Howdy folks, > >Did anybody on the list see any sign of ADB or TFG at Origins this year? If >so, what were they selling? How about West End Games (which has gone >belly-up according to SJG's Pyramid Mag)? Were there any modern naval >miniatures being played? What scenarios? Did anybody see anything really, >really neat at the con this year that they think we should all be lusting >after? > >Thanks, >Greg Ellis >Fire On The Suns SF Campaign System; Release Date: July 22, 1998 on CD only >$25 (plus shipping) >see the FOTS website at www.fireonthesuns.com No sign (by me at least) of ADB or TFG. As for WEG, I did see some propaganda on the table outside the Events room about Paranoia 3rd Edition coming out soon (didn't the 5th come after the 2nd, making this a new edition -- the 4th?) As far as modern naval, Larry Bond had a couple of his Harpoon 4 games going. I attended one dealing with a 2002 conflict between the Chinese with their new top-of-the-line Russian-built destroyers up against the Vietnamese upgraded Russian-built destroyers with nasty "vampire" missiles. Unfortunately, even with the latest edition rules and Larry himself running the scenario, I find the system too much simulation, not enough game. Even Larry was commenting about how he wished the computer version of H4 would be finished up quickly. Back to sfconsim, ICE didn't have their Explosive Decompression (preview at the con like they had planed (maybe Chris W. can share better insight on that one). I was only able to watch a game of Starsiege by Agents of Gaming (a mech' minis game based upon the Earthsiege computer games). Some interesting ideas, but not knowing the background (why can shields only be mounted on a mech' and not on a vehicle?), I can't say if I can get over my Battle Tech experiences to play something similar (not the same, just similar). The only constructive criticism I can give is that even for a "one-roll" combat determination (the same roll is used for To-Hit and Damage), for vehicles with many weapon systems that have a high rate of fire, a whole lot of dice have to be rolled. Example: a single mech' with 4 auto cannons (ROF=3) would have to roll 12 times, with each roll actual consisting of two dice (a skill die -- which has to be remembered as a damage modifier -- and a weapon die). Yuck. And lastly, back OT, everyone seemed to rave about Victory: The Blocks of War. "A wargame for those who don't like wargames," to quote one of the people I played with. Just a little more complex than Risk, with the subtlety of Stratego. With the exception of Airborne units, which IMHO, and those around me at the table, very well balanced system. And with the geomorphic maps, lots of re-play possibilities before "standard" strategies (i.e. Axis & Allies) dominate. Too bad that the block games are so (relatively) expensive, else I think that Columbia could have a mass-market hit on it's hands. From: "Christopher Weuve" Subject: Re: Origins Question On Mon, Jul 6, 1998 at 9:37:02 PM, "Jonathan A. Gillett" < jagman@unforgettable.com> wrote: > >Did anybody on the list see any sign of ADB or TFG at Origins this year? ADB was in the pre-reg book, but I don't recall seeing them around, i.e., there was nothing labelled as the SFB room, and I dodn't see it or F&E being played. Of course, the only time I really walked around was early Saturday evening, as I tried to find Mark Herman to ask him a question. > Back to sfconsim, ICE didn't have their Explosive Decompression (preview > at the con like they had planed (maybe Chris W. can share better insight > on that one). Sorry -- since none of the people at dinner with Pete Fenlon are really ICE players, the subject never came up. (I own a fair chunk of _SpaceMaster_, plus the original _Silent Death_, _Armored Assault_, and _Starstrike_, but I haven't played any of it.) FWIW, Pete said that a majority of the ICE employees are hard-core wargamers (e.g., the last thing they had played was WiF), and they were toying with the idea of reissuing a historical game or two... > I was only able to watch a game of Starsiege by Agents of Gaming (a mech' > minis game based upon the Earthsiege computer games). Some interesting > ideas, but not knowing the background (why can shields only be mounted on > a mech' and not on a vehicle?), I can't say if I can get over my Battle > Tech experiences to play something similar (not the same, just similar). > The only constructive criticism I can give is that even for a "one-roll" > combat determination (the same roll is used for To-Hit and Damage), for > vehicles with many weapon systems that have a high rate of fire, a whole > lot of dice have to be rolled. Example: a single mech' with 4 auto > cannons (ROF=3) would have to roll 12 times, with each roll actual > consisting of two dice (a skill die -- which has to be remembered as a > damage modifier -- and a weapon die). Yuck. Hmmm, _BattleTech_ for SFB players? chrisw caw@wizard.net From: avonsmit@netcom.ca Subject: Re: Origins Question Greg Ellis wrote: > > Howdy folks, > > Did anybody on the list see any sign of ADB or TFG at Origins this year? If > so, what were they selling? How about West End Games (which has gone > belly-up according to SJG's Pyramid Mag)? I don't recal lany of the above, though there was a large "Star Wars" booth, so that was probably W.E.G. A notable absentee was Steve Jackson Games. I wanted to pick up their version of Traveller (no virus, no assassin , etc.). > Were there any modern naval > miniatures being played? What scenarios? Harpoon 4 is out. > Did anybody see anything really, > really neat at the con this year that they think we should all be lusting > after? Eye-candy for the Vampire LARP dance was pretty good, but I'm happily married and didn't notice :-) There seem to be more space-based , squadron sized miniature events going on. NOT SFB !! Possibly Silent Death. My biggest disappointment with "Vender Hell" (nee' Hall) was that I didn't get to it until Sunday, and Geo-Hex had sold out of the 2300 AD 6mm vehicles (Luki 9 is a "Rommell", Kangaroo IV is a "Wombat" etc.) sigh. Gerry Smit. From: bmartino@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob Martino) Subject: Re: Bad Form by Avalon Hill Origins was also missing Steve Jackson Games, the penultimate shoe-string game company with great products. :( Wizards of the Coast *almost* released a new RoboRally expansion set, "Radioactive," but had some distribution problem or another. They had about 6-12 copies on hand to use in the National RR tournament as boards and prizes. However, I couldn't even advance to the second round this year. :( Still, it was a *great* con. A new small company called "Galactic Attic" had their new card/board game there called "Moon Shot." It was based on the early American space program and the race to the Moon. I bought 3 copies for the observatory gift shop, and won one for my own little self in their "tournament." Another excellent board game getting a lot of attention this year was called "Wadget" (sp?). It's an archaeological game set in the 1920s from another small company whose name escapes me. I saw a *lot* of people walking around with this one in a bag. Wizards did have a scad of new non-collectable card games, mostly cheap re-hashes of old classics like Uno and euchre. They did have a haliarous new one called "Guillotine," based on the French Revolution, where you collect royal heads to score the most points. Attendence seemed a bit down this year, but I would mostly attribute that to holding it on the July 4th weekend (what were they thinking?). -- Bob Martino I look up to the heavens bmartino@osu.edu but night has clouded over no spark of constellation Perkins Observatory Web site: no Vela no Orion http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~perkins/ -Enya From: jhunterj@pentagon.io.com (J. Hunter Johnson) Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! wrote: > Yeah, I know the con is just barely over, and those who were lucky > enough to go are just getting back. But for those of us that > *didn't* make it, any and all convention reports are appreciated. > What products were released? What did you play? (What did others > play?) Who won the awards? How were the food & facilities? I was only there for Friday, and I only played in one tournament (Monsters Ravage America, run by Stuart Tucker, who most definitely was there). :-) I picked up some of the new Cheapass Games (Lord of the Fries, Safari Jack, Falling, the freebie Mana Burn). Looney Labs was back with Aquarius, and they had a coolly retro booth set up for demos. The Gamers had their definitive Gettysburg game, and Avalanche had Airlines. I'm sure I missed plenty. The non-computer non-graphic-presentation non-fiction gaming winners were Kill Doctor Lucky, Successors, Roborally Grand Prix (although I disagree that that is a boardgame), Shadowrun CCG, Give Me the Brain, L5R Time of the Void, Independence Day, Delta Green, Legends of the Five Rings, Flint & Steel, Deadlands: The Great Rail Wars. In Nomine won graphic presentation of an RPG, but I voted for TSR's Sea Devils. Prism Games and whomever is importing El Grande, et al., had a fine set up at the entrance to the dealer's room, and were demoing games there for the whole con. Food & facilities? Who cares? The most surreal moment was stepping out of the elevator on the 18th floor into the middle of some lingerie photo shoot. Hunter -- J. Hunter Johnson /\ SJG Errata Coordinator (sjg-errata@io.com) http://www.io.com/~jhunterj/ /()\ Knightmare Chess Development Coordinator jhunterj@io.com /____\ The Games of '98 by # of times played: Gin UpF Crib INWO Lamarck Robo ModArt SoC GrPrix MRAmer HotW Groo KC CatanK From: Casey Krakowski Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! Mark, See my earlier comments on some of the bigger wargame companies and releases. The food court, IMHO, is not that bad. The facilities are top notch. The con center is new with a hotel attached and one right accross the street. Last year I stayed across the street and it was $$$$ (like $150 a night!!!). This year I stayed at the Adams Mark, 5 blocks away, and the rate for Origins was $89 per night. Much better. The con is $12.50 taxi ride away from the airport. Inside there is a lot of room for everything. Whether you like wargames, cardgames, minatures, tournaments or pickup games, there is room for everything. My big complaint this year (and most years) is the timing. Fourth of July weekend just stinks for me, but I have no choice in the matter. There are a lot of card players around, but the boardgamers are there if you look a little. Hope this helps. Casey From: jhunterj@dillinger.io.com (J. Hunter Johnson) Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! wrote: > In article <6nr7n6$okf$1@hiram.io.com>, > jhunterj@pentagon.io.com (J. Hunter Johnson) wrote: >> I was only there for Friday, and I only played in one tournament >> (Monsters Ravage America, run by Stuart Tucker, who most definitely >> was there). :-) I picked up some of the new Cheapass Games (Lord of >> the Fries, Safari Jack, Falling, the freebie Mana Burn). Looney Labs >> was back with Aquarius, and they had a coolly retro booth set up for >> demos. The Gamers had their definitive Gettysburg game, and Avalanche >> had Airlines. I'm sure I missed plenty. > > Okay, so you actually got to play Monsters Ravage America, so what > did you think? The concept sounds good (kind of a multiplayer > facelift of the classic The Creature That Ate Sheboygan, though I > know the scale is different). I already know about and have played > Falling (as should most of us on the net--it was free for the > playtesting). Have you had a chance to play the other Cheapass/James > Ernest games you listed? Monsters is a great beer&pretzels game, and I had played it before going to the con (got a preview copy, and maybe my review will show up in Pyramid soon). Being the only experienced played didn't help me though -- I still took third in a four-player game. The monsters are easy to play, but the military units have a bit of a learning curve. Safari Jack is a good 2-player game of strategy & luck. Didn't play it with more than 2, and got the impression that it wouldn't work as well. Lord of the Fries is a rummy-type game set in the same restaurant of Give Me the Brain!, and just as fun, mostly for that reason. Mana Burn requires Magic cards, so I haven't tried it out yet. [Didn't actually play Airlines, so snip!] > I don't know the first thing about Aquarius. What is it? (BTW, Fluxx > is starting to show up in retail stores around here [SoCal]). ICE is doing the 2nd Ed of Fluxx, so that may be why you're seeing it now. Aquarius is somewhere between Fluxx and Dominoes. Take out the "Shuffle Goals" cards and it's actually rather strategic. It's certainly more eye-catching than Fluxx. Instead of matching pips, you have to match pictures, and each player is trying to get 7 of a particular picture (element) connected. There are 1, 2, or 4 pictures on each card. Hunter -- J. Hunter Johnson /\ SJG Errata Coordinator (sjg-errata@io.com) http://www.io.com/~jhunterj/ /()\ Knightmare Chess Development Coordinator jhunterj@io.com /____\ The Games of '98 by # of times played: Gin UpF Crib INWO Lamarck Robo ModArt SoC GrPrix MRAmer HotW Groo KC CatanK From: Brian D Leet Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.board: 7-Jul-98 Re: Let's see those Origins.. by Mark.E.Johnson@pobox.com > Did anyone play Avalanche's Airlines? The subject matter sounds good, and I > liked Air Baron. But isn't it something like $30 for a card game? Ouch! The > only time I've done that was for GMT's Down In Flames or AH's Up Front, both > of which are meaty card-based simulation games. After playing a lot of German > games for the past two years (including Alan Moon's excellent and different > game called Airlines), how might this one measure up? I didn't actually play it, although I definetly saw it being played. I did take a few minutes to hear a description of play and fondle the cards. $30 is a bit pricey perhaps, but they appeared to be high quality cards with sharp (if a bit obvious) art and bright colors. It is essentially a game of controlling airports (by gaining seats at each location) which appeared to have many nuances to play and a sophisticated scoring system which depicts all aspects of airline operation. I'd say it counts as a simulation (and they appear to have an expansion product adding more airports around the U.S.) It didn't appear to be my type of game so I can't add much more. Brian Leet From: petraska@my-dejanews.com Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! In article <6nrboe$qb8$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, Mark.E.Johnson@pobox.com wrote: > > Yeah, I know the con is just barely over, and those who were lucky enough to > go are just getting back. But for those of us that *didn't* make it, any and > all convention reports are appreciated. What products were released? What did > you play? (What did others play?) Who won the awards? How were the food & > facilities? > > Thanks! > Okay, Mark, since you asked… Disclaimer: I've written this solely from memory, so I apologize for any mistakes I may have made regarding game titles, personal names, and other facts. I'm primarily a wargamer, so keep that in mind as you read this perspective. Also, I only attended Origins on Friday, so my observations relate to only one day's worth of activity. Food: Good, but not great. The convention center has a food court that is very comparable to what you would find in a typical shopping mall. Likewise for the food selection and quality. Facility: Very large, with plenty of room for seminars, gaming, and exhibitors. Also, very close to the downtown interstate freeway, making it easy for visitors travelling by auto (like me) to get there. Gaming: Of course, the CCG tournament hall appeared to be the most crowded and active. There seemed to be a good number of miniatures events, but I didn't spend any time in the mini tournament area so I can't comment on turnout. Board game tournament turnout appeared to be modest. There were several individual rooms set aside for board game tournaments, set apart by publisher. For example, Columbia and GMT tournaments appeared to be held in one room, AH tournaments in another, etc. The arrangement made it convenient to find multiple events sponsored by a single publisher. For example, I could watch over the shoulders of people playing GMT's Saratoga demo, Invasion Sicily demo, and play in the Down in Flames tournament (15 participants) all is the same room. I adopted a rookie partner for the tournament and by the time the three rounds of play were complete we finished in second place. Exhibit Hall: Notable absentees this year were Steve Jackson Games, HPS Simulations, and the Avalon Hill Game Company. However, The Armory had a prominent display of AH games, including the new Monsters Ravage America, and thus appeared to be representing AH in the exhibit area. New and interesting games I saw this year were: Nuts! by Decision Games: Card-based (non-CCG) game about the Battle of the Bulge. I think I broke my record for worst dice rolling luck playing a demo of this game. As the attacking Germans, I needed to roll a 5 or 6 on a D6 to score hits on the defending Americans. In 19 die rolls I scored 1 hit, which was negated by the defender's terrain. In return, two of my units suffered 1 hit each and were both subsequently lost to cohesion checks when I rolled 6's for both of them. Saratoga by GMT: A modest-sized game with low counter density and nice graphics. GMT had a marvelous demo of this game with foam-mounted, oversized map and counters. Likewise for Invasion Sicily. Mark Miklos, the game's designer, also hosted a good historical seminar on Saratoga. The Great War at Sea, Vol. 2 by Avalanche Press: This follow-up to their 1996 release was for sale in a 99% finished form. The only thing lacking was the finished rule book. A photocopied version was provided in the game box with the promise to mail out the finished book to all purchasers when it was completed. I had pre-ordered a copy as a Father's Day gift, and I picked it up while I was there. The Great War at Sea, Vol. 3 by Avalanche Press: This game was Avalanche's surprise release for Origins. Subtitled USN Plan Orange, it represents a hypothetical war between US and Japanese battle fleets in the 1930s, assuming Japan had refused to sign the Washington Naval Treaty. Included are early US and Japanese aircraft carriers with biplane aircraft. This game was only about 90% complete, as one rule book was missing from the box. Again, purchasers were promised to be mailed the missing booklet upon its completion. Of course, having already bought GWaS 1 and 2, I just couldn't pass on this one. Airlines by Avalanche Press: This much-advertised card game of the commercial airline business was also available (presumably complete) at Origins. I didn't take the time to play any demos of this, but it looks interesting. The look of the cards suggest a somewhat complicated game, but I took a quick look at the rule book and it was only a few pages long, so appearances may be deceiving. I also saw a box for Airlines 2, apparently a planned expansion already in the works. Panzerzug by Winsome Games: A card game where players each take a P-47, P-51, or Typhoon and attack the German rail system in WWII. Targets can be rail yards or individual trains (which can carry AA guns). They sold their last copy late Friday (I know, I bought it), so apparently it appealed to a few gamers. Bosworth: Sorry, I don't remember who makes this one. I'm not even sure I got the name exactly right. A simplified, multiplayer chess variant with cute, colorful graphics. Played with cards instead of chess pieces (although the cards represent chess pieces), I would place this in the category of family-type games. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this game until 10 minutes before the exhibit hall closed, and by then I had already fully consumed my spending allowance. The other exhibit hall highlight was being able to see Mira Furlan in person as she signed autographs twice during the day. This Origins report provided courtesy of, Jeff Petraska -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum From: "Andrew B. Gross" Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! The Columbus convention center is fine for the con: there's plenty of space, parking is reasonable, there are several hotels within walking distance, etc. etc. The food court is adequate, unless you are a vegetarian, in which case it's pretty bad (you're pretty much looking at eating at the Chinease restaraunt every meal, or just about); but then, the same description goes for most food courts. I got free admission to this year's con for winning the Titan tournament last year; this year I came in second. I won't be playing again next year. The quality of competition is abysmal; every game I participated in, and all that I observed, were greatly influenced by very poor players feeding their cheasy points to some random person. It's relatively easy to win in that environment, but it's no fun doing so. I played in a Fantasy Rules! miniatures tournament, and had a *great* time. 16 players, lots of fun. Both of the designers/owners of the company that makes the game were there, so it was cool to talk to them about their game; they graciously accepted our invitation to take them out to dinner after the tournament was over, and that was a good time as well. The organizers did an admirable job of keeping the CCG players to their own area; unlike some other cons I've attended, I didn't constantly feel like I had stumbled into a CCG convention by mistake. I have no sense for how many CCG players were there because, unless you sought them out, they weren't really in your space. I'm sure they all felt the same way about us old fogey's and our wierd miniatures. :-) One trend that I definitely don't like: the Live Action Role Players are everywhere. I don't think they should be discouraged, or forbidden, or anything like that; they should be free to have fun doing there thing. But it's... disconcerting? annoying? not sure what word to use... to be playing a pick-up game of Settlers or Titan or whatever and have a bunch of teenagers in cheasy goatees wearing all black and sunglasses indoors walk past you with their arms crossed over their chests, pretending to be invisible. Mark.E.Johnson@pobox.com wrote in message <6nrboe$qb8$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>... >Yeah, I know the con is just barely over, and those who were lucky enough to >go are just getting back. But for those of us that *didn't* make it, any and >all convention reports are appreciated. What products were released? What did >you play? (What did others play?) Who won the awards? How were the food & >facilities? > >Thanks! > >-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- >http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum From: "Craig Massey" Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! Just got back last night (7/6). I was fortunate enough to have business in the area so my company basicallly paid for accomodations and air fair from Boston (Good work if you can get it). I am a long time gamer, but this was my first visit to Origins. I was very impressed with a number of things. First, I thought Andon did a commendable job running the show. I felt that things went smoothly, the staff was friendly and helpful and for the most part very knowledgable about what was going on. Second. I played Magic on Thursday and put the cards away after that for board and card games the rest of the weekend. I played a lot of Titan, 18xx, Wizard, Settlers, Tigris and Eurphrates and a few others. I also had a chance to try a few new games. I loved Bosworth. The designer was from Madison, WI (My home state) and was extremely nice and easy to talk to about his game and the game industry in general. The game is a chess variant with cards and a smaller board for 2-4 players. Very entertaining with high replay value. I thought the art was a little too cute, but otherwise this could be a great game. I also bought and played Fossil. This is a tile game where you try to complete sets of fossils by positioning one of two stones on a large grid. The mechanism was very simple, but the game offered a lot of strategic choice and had plenty of depth. Another winner. I also tried Guillotine (WoTC) and Falling (Cheapass Games). They were both good quick games that families should enjoy. Not too deep, but not meant to be. Aquarius was very popular, but I didn't play. The makers of Twilight Imperium as had a new (??) release called Battle Mist. I look it over, but didn't play. It seemed to have a serious multi player problem where it would be very easy to gang up on the leader. This is just my first opinion though. Wizards of the Coast did a nice job providing a demo for their new games both familiy and collectible care games. The table their were always full of players. Magic was huge again, but I saw more people trying out and playing other card games and board games. I felt the facilities were great. The Hyatt staff was very nice and extremely patient. Same with the convention center staff. The food court is adequate and easy, but when you are gaming non-stop that is all you need. I could go on longer, but I want to get this up and posted to see other reactions. Craig Massey masseyc@ba.net Mark.E.Johnson@pobox.com wrote in article <6nrboe$qb8$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>... > Yeah, I know the con is just barely over, and those who were lucky enough to > go are just getting back. But for those of us that *didn't* make it, any and > all convention reports are appreciated. What products were released? What did > you play? (What did others play?) Who won the awards? How were the food & > facilities? > > Thanks! > > -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- > http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum From: Casey Krakowski Subject: Re: Bad Form by Avalon Hill Mark Pitcavage wrote: > Avalon Hill, for those who may not know it yet, passed up Origins > completely this year, allowing the Armory to shill some of its games. > Needless to say, AH's imminent releases, including For the People > (designer Mark Herman was walking around holding the box), were not > released at the convention. > > It was a black spot on a convention which otherwise sported the debut > of a surprisingly high number of wargames. > > Dr. Mark Pitcavage, sparky@militia-watchdog.org > The Militia Watchdog: Http://www.militia-watchdog.org Mark, I disagree with you. I thought this was a terrible year for wargames at Origins. The Gamers had A Hallowed Ground, as expected. GMT had 2 out of 3, with Saratoga and Invasion Sicily there, but Caesar in Gaul missing it. Columbia is already behind their schedule with Victory boards and pieces add-ons. Decision games did NOT have Tannenberg there, although it is suppose to be completed (I asked DG, and they said that they are seriously behind - I know, I bought F + M 114, their new issue, that has a date of July/August 97 !!!!!!!). MIH had Kiev and Kursk out. Avalanche had GWAS II and III and AIRLINES. I think that was about it from the major companies. I was surprised about AH's absence, but I ran into Mark Herman at the show, and he had a resonable (and very funny) explanation. COA had War Without Mercy, but no Summer Storm :( Paper Wars is started up again, but had no new issue!!!! There may have been a few other smaller games there, but that was it from the 'Majors'. Maybe it was due to lack of the number of wargames released year to date, or the number of games that did not make it (Is the era when companies would break their necks trying to get games ready for Origins over?), or the fact that there were no surprises or small companies (like Spearhead Games, etc), or that there were no computer companies there (No HPS, No Talonsoft, No Whoever is working on Pacific Tide or Road to Moscow, etc.), but I felt like this was a really poor year. By the way, I got a long closeup of Mark Herman's For The People and it looks GREAT!!!! This could be the game of the year. It borrows the movement system from We The People, but with much more areas, has Strategic Will factored in, similar to the Public Morale in VG's Vietnam, Cards that have events or move generals/armies like We the People, a simplified combat system broken down by size of force, and a really nice map. Mark said it should be in local stores by the end of the month. I will definitely buy that one the day it becomes available. No, I do not work for AH :) I did like the rest of Origins though, especially the auction, and will be there again next year. Casey From: ahgeneral@aol.com (AH General) Subject: Re: Bad Form by Avalon Hill The Pitman usually does a good job of discrediting himself in the debates he creates, thereby making it unnecessary for the "Pitman Watchdogs" to respond, but his latest overture is over the deep end. The most recent rebuttal says it fairly clearly: 1) Everybody misses convention release dates (let us add--it happens EVERY YEAR by a wide variety of companies); 2) Origins isn't a key link in the distribution chain anymore for boardgaming--it long ago became a card players' haven (and the fact that many a company is begging to turn AvalonCon into THE INDUSTRY-WIDE BOARDGAME CONVENTION just confirms that other companies also don't perceive GAMA's effort for boardgaming as all that critical to their yearly schedule). This time, The Pitman's barrage deserves special attention because of his irritating dissemination of misinformation. The real facts: *Avalon Hill did not pass up Origins. 1) In fact, we sponsored more boardgame tournaments than any other company. Our Iron Man Competition had over a 100% increase in attendance over last year (Andon is lucky that we put the effort into recruiting the GMs for such tournaments--within a year there wouldn't be any boardgamers outside the auction room without our attendance to this detail). 2) Our latest product, MONSTERS RAVAGE AMERICA, was prominantly available and we ran demos and tournaments on it throughout the weekend. 3) Our next product, FOR THE PEOPLE, was visible --we had 6 demo copies floating around the playing areas all weekend long and Mark Herman and his quick converts did a great job of showing its system to those who inquired. Anybody who wanted a peak got it. The word is now disseminating throughout the land about the worth of the game and it will soon be available for purchase (when the maps get mounted on boards). 4) A vast range of our other products were prominantly displayed (yes, at The Armory's booth, but set aside with a "make no mistake about it" Avalon Hill display section. *The only "Black Spot" I can see in this is that if Origins ceases to attract boardgamers, The Pitman will have to drive out of state for his game exhibit fix. We all know from past postings by him what a jerk The Pitman can be. However, when he starts criticizing with incorrect facts--especially related to imminent releases--he deserves to be put in his place. So, let me widen this response to include my displeasure over his criticism of the "lack of strategy" articles in The GENERAL. It is time to call a spade a spade, Mark. It has been over 30 months since you said you'd send me a strategy article on WE THE PEOPLE (that's right, 2-1/2 years ago). At the time of your commitment to the idea, I was accomodating of your need to "have a long time to do it." It would appear that you have plenty of useless time on your hands now--enough to engage in unproductive flaming of The GENERAL and The Avalon Hill Game Company. It is time for The Pitman to put up or shut up. Send me the article and admit that game publishing (and article writing) schedules do not have a moral content worthy of such tirades. --Stuart K. Tucker, Editor of The GENERAL, attendee of Origins'98, originator of the AH Iron Man Competition, employee of The Avalon Hill Game Company From: sparky@militia-watchdog.org (Mark Pitcavage) Subject: Re: Bad Form by Avalon Hill On 6 Jul 1998 15:49:04 GMT, ahgeneral@aol.com (AH General) wrote: >This time, The Pitman's barrage deserves special attention because of his >irritating dissemination of misinformation. >The real facts: >*Avalon Hill did not pass up Origins. 1) In fact, we sponsored more boardgame >tournaments than any other company. Our Iron Man Competition had over a 100% >increase in attendance over last year (Andon is lucky that we put the effort >into recruiting the GMs for such tournaments--within a year there wouldn't be >any boardgamers outside the auction room without our attendance to this >detail). Avalon Hill did most certainly pass up Origins in terms of the exhibition hall, which was what my post was discussing. >2) Our latest product, MONSTERS RAVAGE AMERICA, was prominantly >available and we ran demos and tournaments on it throughout the weekend. Monsters may be your "latest product," but it is not a board wargame, nor does it matter if it was "prominently available." It is not as if Avalon Hill itself was selling it. The Armory was. You did not debut any wargames at Origins. > 3) Our >next product, FOR THE PEOPLE, was visible --we had 6 demo copies floating >around the playing areas all weekend long and Mark Herman and his quick >converts did a great job of showing its system to those who inquired. Anybody >who wanted a peak got it. The word is now disseminating throughout the land >about the worth of the game and it will soon be available for purchase (when >the maps get mounted on boards). Demo copies are worth their weight in feathers. You didn't have the -game- available. I don't care if it was "visible" or not. >4) A vast range of our other products were >prominantly displayed (yes, at The Armory's booth, but set aside with a "make >no mistake about it" Avalon Hill display section. The "Avalon Hill display section" was tiny compared to AH's booths at past Origins. And if there was a "vast range," I didn't see it. >*The only "Black Spot" I can see in this is that if Origins ceases to attract >boardgamers, The Pitman will have to drive out of state for his game exhibit >fix. Conventions like Origins have become increasingly important to -gamers- as the number of gaming stores which regularly carry games has decreased. Many gaming stores will -order- a wargame for you, but won't stock them. So if you actually want to -look- at a product before you buy, places like Origins are where you can do it. >We all know from past postings by him what a jerk The Pitman can be. However, >when he starts criticizing with incorrect facts--especially related to imminent >releases--he deserves to be put in his place. Put me in my place. Tell me about all the new wargames you debuted in your Avalon Hill exhibitor's booth at Origins. >So, let me widen this response to >include my displeasure over his criticism of the "lack of strategy" articles in >The GENERAL. It is time to call a spade a spade, Mark. It has been over 30 >months since you said you'd send me a strategy article on WE THE PEOPLE (that's >right, 2-1/2 years ago). At the time of your commitment to the idea, I was >accomodating of your need to "have a long time to do it." It would appear that >you have plenty of useless time on your hands now--enough to engage in >unproductive flaming of The GENERAL and The Avalon Hill Game Company. It is >time for The Pitman to put up or shut up. Send me the article and admit that >game publishing (and article writing) schedules do not have a moral content >worthy of such tirades. You will recall that I told you that I would think about doing an article, but that it would depend on other commitments. Astute readers of wargaming magazines will note that I have stopped writing for all the publications I used to write for--the time for such things is very hard for me to find since I finished graduate school. From: Casey Krakowski Subject: Re: Bad Form by Avalon Hill To all: I wanted to clarify my original statements, since after reading the above, I obviously did not say what I wanted to say: I will apologize for my earlier comment about AH 'missing' Origins. I wanted to say that they did not have a booth in the exhibit area (unlike the previous years). Yes, the Armory did have AH games for sale. Yes, they had the iron man competition in a very large room. Yes, they did have a new game - Monsters Ravage America available. However, please don't feel that there was a lack of boardgamers there except for the auction and the iron-man competition. There were plenty of other boardgamers there besides the ones at the iron man competition and the auction. I didn't notice the Gamers room, GMT room, and Columbia room empty whenever the iron man competition was running or the auction was on. I did however, praise Mark's effort 'For the People'. This is clearly one game to get this year (IMHO), and I eagerly await it's arrival at the local game store. BTW, Mark mentioned that there were six demo copies of FTP, but he only had three with him at the convention. The original point I tried to make was that, whether Origins is THE Wargame convention or not anymore, AH's absence in the dealer's area was something that I noticed, and so did a lot of other gamers I hung around with. I also pointed out other absent companies and missed deadlines as well. I also did not mean to make my list all-inclusive either, as I certainly do not know every little company or game out there. So to bring an end to this long and boring tale - My apologies again..... Casey (No I am not the Pitman) Krakowski From: Casey Krakowski Subject: Re: Bad Form by Avalon Hill Paul Aceto wrote: > Casey Krakowski wrote: > > Mark, > > I disagree with you. I thought this was a terrible year for wargames > > at Origins. The Gamers had A Hallowed Ground, as expected. GMT had 2 > > out of 3, with Saratoga and Invasion Sicily there, but Caesar in Gaul > > missing it. > > How did Saratoga look? Paul, I am not an expert on AWI titles, but the map looked beautiful. Also, GMT surprised a lot of people with their 'demo' version of Saratoga and Invasion Sicily. They (I believe Bill Alderman got the credit) blew up the maps for both games (are they 17x 34?) to four times that size and mounted them. They covered two folding tables each. Then he blew up all of the counters to about 2"x2" and mounted them. Great idea!!!! Everyone around the table could see everything. Both maps looked great and the counters were really neat (stacking could be a problem as stacks could be over 6-8 inches high :) The saratoga counters were very colorful, containing I believe silhouttes of the soldiers with several numbers on them ( I didn't sit in on that demo). They were not crowded at all. My next wish is to see what would happen if they did this 'blow-up' on Barbarossa :), which was also set up nearby. That was the regular size, from Leningrad to Memel to Moscow to the Southern Dnepr. Very big and very impressive. Casey From: chapin@adder.cs.virginia.edu (Steve J. Chapin) Subject: Re: Let's see those Origins reports! Casey Krakowski writes: > but the boardgamers are there if you look a little. This is one thing I (mostly) like about Origins. The boardgames are all in one wing of the Convention Center (nearly adjacent to the dealer's area), which is nice. RPG's, card games, etc. generally get their own areas. What did I do? Played RoboRally for the first time, and inspired much hilarity through innovative suicide (albeit unplanned). Picked up a couple more Cheapass titles, and chatted with James Ernest a couple of times. He seems far too normal to produce such great, wacky games. Played the Middle East Combat expansion to Axis and Allies, and liked it. Bought a copy. It's by Magic and Tactics, I believe. Played lots of rail games, including Silverton, British Rails, and Santa Fe. Luckily for Mayfair, I brought my Silverton with me, as it was used for "official" sessions on Thursday and Friday. Chatted with the Mayfair guys. Played Bobby Lee & Sam Grant. Liked it, although not enough to buy it right now (I've still got my new copy of Victory! to satisfy my block games appetite for a while). chapin@cs.virginia.edu Steve Chapin Today's Usage Lesson: Did the right wright write the rites? "Anyway, distributed shared memory is the worst idea since ioctl()." -Rob Pike From: avlchpress@aol.com (AvlchPress) Subject: Re: Bad Form All Around Well, returning from Ohio with a bad cold I find many angry posters wishing ... I don't know what. To correct only a few misperceptions: Avalanche Press released four (yes, four) new games at Origins. By Thursday evening we had exceeded our highest convention totals EVER in both dollar volume and units sold. AirLines, our family card game, did very well. Both new volumes of The Great War at Sea sold several hundred copies. Yes, Naval Plan Orange is out and NOT sold through distribution (that means no online houses will have it). Scotland the Brave, which we did together with the fine folk at Shadis Magazine, was given out free. Yes, free. Avalanche and Alderac (the publishers of Shadis) have devoted many thousands of dollars to promoting board wargaming in this single venture. As for the boys from Baltimore, well, we'll be paying our monstrous ad bill to the General with the dollars they missed for some years to come. Please, guys, stay away some more. From: wimmerf@aol.com (Wimmerf) Subject: Rio Grande Games at Origins... Hi All, I'm a bit late on my Origins report, so there is little I can say that hasn't already been covered. Consequently, I thought I'd focus on Rio Grande's contribution to Origins. First of all, let me just say that everyone involved with Rio Grande was fantastic. I had the chance to play a lot of new games, and catch up on some old ones that I hadn't yet tried. New games I tried included Fossil, Ido, Edison, and Katzenjammer Blues. I enjoyed Fossil quite a bit (so much that I bought a copy). Ido showed promise, but it just wasn't my kind of game -- a bit too abstract for my taste. On the other hand, for fans of abstract strategy games, it shows a *lot* of promise. In spite of the Edison's initial negative reviews, it seemed to be a hit with most folks who played it (thanks mainly to new team rules, created by CafeJay). Likewise, I played it and enjoyed it (in the form of 2 teams of 2 players). If I played more 4 player games, I would have picked it up, but I tend to prefer games that also work well for 2 players, so it just doesn't suit my tastes. As most folks have mentioned already, Edison is certainly a gorgeous game -- one of the prettiest I've ever seen. Probably my favorite of the new German imports was Katzenjammer Blues. This was an excellent card game from Knizia -- it strikes me as a portable version of Medici. As much as I would have loved to have taken this one home, it just wasn't available yet. Jay told us that it will be available in September, once the rules and packaging are translated. This brings me to an interesting point of news from Rio Grande. Jay told us that in September, he plans to begin releasing the English translations *simultaneously* with their German release. Wow! I'm thrilled with this news. As a German board game fanatic, it's going to be wonderful to no longer have to (a) buy the German versions and download English rules, or (b) wait many months for the English versions. Also, after seeing Rio Grande's English versions of Lowenherz (which I finally purschased) and Mississippi Queen (which I didn't), I'm *very* impressed with the quality and thoroughness of the translations. Rio Grande is not only translating the rule books (including all of the glorious color graphics of their German counterparts), but also all of the set up materials. Kudos and congrats to everyone who worked at the Rio Grande tables -- in particular, Jay, Dave, and Nick. They are largely responsible for the incredible time I had at Origins, since I spent most of my time hanging out at their tables and playing their games. Being a German board game fanatic, I simply can't say enough wonderful things about Rio Grande -- I really appreciate their efforts. For the record, this was my first time at Origins -- I had such a great time that I intend to make it an annual event from now on. Happy Gaming, Frank Wimmer, Ph.D. From: MIHSUPPORT@aol.com Subject: mih Origins I´m back from Columbus and a great Origins show. We released both CLASH OF TITANS: The Tank Battle for Kursk, 1943 and TRIUMPHANT RETURN: The Soviet Liberation of Kiev, November 1943. Both games were well received - Clash of Titans sold out Saturday morning, Triumphant Return at noon on Sunday. In addition, TURNING THE TABLES sold very nicely too and got excellent comments from players. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT? received the Charles S. Roberts Awards as best pre-WWII game of 1997 - our second consecutive award in this category (after FIELDS OF GLORY last year). Thank you for your support! In general, the convention was very well run - everybody seemed to have a great time. Thinking that Origins these days is dominated by Magic players or roleplayers and therefore it is of no interest for wargamers simply is wrong. True, there are a lot of role-players and cardgamers, however, there are also lots of dedicated board wargamers and more historical seminars and demos that you are able to attend. If you do not come to Origins it is your loss. Beth will mail out all pre-ordered copies starting by the end of this week. I get back to individual questions tomorrow. Enjoy! Uli