Subject: Fw: Origins Report Ted Cheatham wrote in message ... Here is a quick review of Origins.....photos can be found at http://y42.photos.yahoo.com/bc/teddy1001us/lst?.dir=/Origins+2001 Games are separated in bold down the page so you can scan of interest: ROAD TRIP BINGO Todd, Charlie and I met at my house at 7am for the trip to Columbus. After a biscuit drive through, we hit the two lane and began a rousing game of Road Trip Bingo where you try to find stuff beside the road and rotate a cube to score a bingo. Charlie took the first game. I thought this was enough, but they wanted to go again and Todd was victorious in the second....and believe it or not....Charlie took the third until I couldn't stand it any more. CALL OF CATHULU Todd's big reason for the trip was to use his authentic French Foreign Legion dress uniform which he has been assembling over several years in a live action role play of Cathulu. I requested that we play a scenario as a warm up in the car.....So, Charlie and I took over the role of investigators of a reported haunted house. We didn't quite get finished on the way up, but on the way back, we managed to over come the mummified remains of Corbett for the victory. VORTEX Arriving at Origins around 10:30 we headed into the open gaming to look around....Immediately we saw Jay, Anthony Rubio, Mike Green and James. While Todd was registering for Cathulu, Charlie and I got into a demo of Vortex....it is a hex based system much like disk wars but with hexes......a picture is on the net at the link above. BTW this seems to be the new thing...there were a couple of these out. It is a collectible system where Magic meets Diskwars. You build land that gives you points to summon creatures...and the creatures move and kill things. You are trying to have the most men around the Vortex....failing that you get burned and after three burns you loose. I have a demo copy for anyone interested in trying it...but, I won't be buying it. DRAGON WARS This is a beautifully illustrated card game. The cards form a board and you move around the board doing stuff. Glancing at the rules.....It is not a buyer for me....although I did not play. When I see spaces like, miss a turn and draw a card....I pass. So, I would not even consider spending $20 on this one. BIONICLE I hope this title is right. We played two games at the Upper Deck stand. This was the first. It is a collectible card game based on the lego technical models. The object is to collect 3 masks....you do this by moving around the board to certain spaces. When you hit these you draw a card which tells the type of combat your guy will fight with the other guy...i.e., swimming, strength, vision etc. Then you look on the card of your robot to see what his preprinted strength is and compare it to your opponent's preprinted strength....(yes you got that right...you are stronger in three and they are stronger in three). You can only get a mask if you initiate combat and win...if you initiate and lose, nothing happens. Unfortunately, that is the game.....there are squares that let you pick up certain cards to help your plight and increase some strength and send you on missions and stuff.... I put up a picture of this one. This may work for the kids. UNCLE GREGORY"S HOUSE OF HORROR We played the prototype for this upcoming release. You start with so many life points and spooky points. You go into a haunted mansion and get keys to get you into rooms. Once in a room you turn over a monster card and must fight it and beat it by having more spookiness than the monster. If you win, your spookiness goes down that much and your life goes up. If you loose, you loose life points. If you loose enough, you die and are out of the game. The object is to control (i.e., kick but in two rooms) and get out alive. That is pretty much it and from there you can guess my opinion of the game. There is a picture of this one. Other things going on....there are squares around the board to increase your spookiness, and squares to draw action cards that help you and mess with other players and there is hell in the game...if sent to hell you must pay spookiness or roll a 4 or less to get out.....say delay of game.....Also they have adopted the Sanctuary and Plague mechanic of two roving monsters that players can move around to attack other players by sacrificing some of their movement. To give you a hint...when our host got two rooms, Charlie and I started forgoing all movement to send the monster after him....eventually we pounded him so all he could do was run around trying to get more spookiness and then we sent him to hell. I was the next victim to try to get out of the house....Here it came down to one die roll. I was two spaces from getting out and got hit by the monster.....they needed a 16 -20 on a 20 sided die to exceed my spookiness....if they did, I died, if not, I was out on my turn........pause for effect.........I died. This was a good opportunity for a rest room break while those two finished up. If you like the Horror genre, move around to get strength and items and fight monsters in the Buffy, Sanctuary, Dungeon type of games....this one may fit your style. NOMAD This one looks like it had promise. They had just started a demo game in the Nomad marketing tent. Sorry I did not get a picture of as this they had done a nice job. They told me the game was 2 to 3 hours long so I just got a description of the game. First the components. They looked to be hand drawn and airbrushed onto felt. I am sure they were printed for the mass run but this is how they look to be done. The counters were round colored cardboard chits. There was a big board of terrain and each player got a play mat of felt and it was pretty. The pieces were all designed so that you put the counters into the center of your circular mat, fold up the sides and tie it off (tie was affixed to the mat)...then all the mats would fit into the bigger board and tie off and all this fit into a pyramid shaped box. As for play, each person controls a tribe with hunters, gatherers and shaman. At the beginning of the turn, you put the tokens of each type into specific boxes on the play mat to assign their action for the next game turn.....i.e. pick berry, hunt buffalo, attack and opponent, migrate. Then you carry out the actions. Victory conditions are getting so much food or kicking butt if I recall. For $20, I would have bought one right on the spot. The price however, was $50. I know this is becoming the going rate for games these days but I just couldn't do it. I may have actually gone back and gotten it....I was planning to go back to the dealer room after dinner but it was closed by the time we go to back...... I later saw someone who bought one and asked him if he had played. He said yes. He could not compare it to any other game he had played as an example...but recommended at $50 you try before you buy. DEMOLITION DERBY This is actually the only game I bought at Origins. I will leave the lack of other purchases for another discussion. This is a VCR box homemade style game with thin computer printed cards and matchbox style plastic cars (I will jazz this up with some from my kids collections). It simulates a real Demolition Derby and does a pretty good job with fun play action. Game play is pretty simple. You start with a fresh car, 7 cards and car in the center of the table. You play a card and compare the time on them to see the turn order. The first player then plays a maneuver like "use your rear end to smack the passenger tire" Then you move your car into that position on the opponent of your choice. Next you may play a card to use for damage from you hand, or randomly draw one from the deck. Next the affected car may react with a maneuver card...then you resolve the damage. Finally, you draw an event card to see what else may have happened in the collision which usually gives out more damage to someone through flat tires, busted radiators, etc. The damage is then reflected on a pencil and paper record sheet on one of three tracks....tires, engine, and frame. Besides the fact that you can beat up on each other there are some nice things going on. First, turn order can be very important...for example, if I put my front end into Greg's front end...noone else can hit either one of us in the front end since we are locked up. (note, if Greg's turn came next he could move with his turn). Second nice thing is there is usually damage every turn. This makes the game move quickly and cuts down on hand size of the damaged cars. Also, although designed for 2-4, it will clearly play more with extra cars. Needless to say, I bought one. This is a fun 30 minute filler cross between Road Kill and Car Wars. Clearly a bang 'em up kind of game and not for everyone. HAMSTER RALLY Next stop was to talk to Jim at Jolly Roger Games. He is doing Frank Branham's game which should be out by Gen Con. He showed me the board layout and the sample cards and pieces. I will have to get a copy. The only downside I really saw was it will be a two sided paper board like his new release of Barbarian Kings. It is functional though. He has made some minor changes to Aquarium Derby to allow things to move around more. PIG OUT Next up was Frank DiLorenzo's booth for R&R games where we sampled Richard Borg's new game. There is a picture of Frank with the game. It is a light filler where you try to get rid of all your cards first and thus collect the most pigs. AFRICA Anthony and I tried to agree on a game to play...primarily due to time constraints...and came up with Africa. After we had played a couple of turns, a woman came by who claimed she had been wanting to play for two days, so I gave her my position in the game....The game go cut short anyway for a scheduled tournament. My opinion has not changed much but it is something the kids would probably like. MERIDIAN Jay opened up a new copy for me to try and put on his line of games in the open gaming area. This one is a true abstract to me. It ended in a tie at 8, 8, 7 , 6. So, it was very close. It is definitely not intuitive and is ever changing. This one definitely needs another play for me...Two concerns popped out to me right away. The first was turn order. I believe the people going later have an advantage. Second, the multiple choice cards are really nice.....mine came out early...this is a disadvantage. The people we played with really enjoyed it. I must try it again. ROYAL TURF It was time for Michael, James, Charlie and I to settle in for the evening as a group. Mike and James also had a friend with them which made 5...but I forgot his name...sorry. Looking at the box, I had really not cared to try another horse race game but, I was pleasantly surprised. This may go on the acquire list for me. There are some decent mechanics going on. Each player bets on horses based on their card factors. There is a die with 3 horse heads, a saddle, a hat and a horseshoe. Beside each of these symbols on each horse is a number of spaces they would move if this number is rolled. After betting, each player takes a turn and rolls a die. Then they decide what horse to move. Each horse can only move once in each round so if player one moves horse number one.....it cannot move again until all other horses have moved AKA Monster Derby. The best example of this was us moving horse number one, with a hat, 15 spaces to an early lead. In the next round someone rolled a horse head that had not bet on horse number one and decided to move him one space by horse head so we would not get lucky and move him 15 again if we rolled a hat. Oh yes it became a lot of fun at that point. Now, clearly you must understand how I play these games. I am a filler, one round kind of person for these type of games. This game is designed for 3 races...we only played one due to time constraints but that is about perfect for me anyway. A nice 20 minute horse race as an opener or closer this is a nice addition to the list. This may finally replace Win, Place, or Show for me...this one is so clean and easy to explain. And, every game collection MUST have a horse race game. STERNEN HIMMEL I have been waiting for years to play this one. And, they chose this one. This is a clear tile placement game of trying to get the most points on a variety of scoring mats. You have stars of various denominations.....1,3,5,6,7.10 (I think) two doublers, and a black hole. There are 5 constellations in play and on your turn you place one of your stars on a constellation. If you place on a large star, you may put your star face down...if on a small star you put it face up. So, it becomes a placement/bluffing game. As soon as a constellation is filled with stars, it scores. Whoever has the most points gets the large number and whoever is second gets the second number....all others get one point for each star remaining on the constellation. Any stars placed on the scored constellation are returned to you....this is the only time you get them back. I am amazed I finished in the middle since I set the record for the most stars sucked into a black hole in the history of this game. You see if a black hole is in a constellation, all adjacent stars are sucked up off the board....Black holes in a row cancel each other out. Actually, this is a fine game and I am glad I got to try it. I would happily play it again, but, have no desire to search down a copy. CARCASSONE Need I say anything that hasn't been said about this game of the year? If you don't have a copy, buy one! WEREWOLF Frank Branham had picked up a copy of the French version of this one and was looking for victims. Since, James and Michael and Charlie had not played, I roped them into two games of this. With 12 and 13 players it was mob mentality at its finest. We did manage to get the werewolves both times but, not without hanging a bunch of innocent civilians. RA We looked for a 1 hour game for 5 and came up with Ra to finish the night. I really do like this game which I compare to a much more complex and longer version of It's Mine. I really do stink at it but, there are some really nice choices going on here. We actually ran out of tiles with the last RA tile being drawn. LIVE ROLE-PLAY Todd returned to us at 2 AM for the 3 hour drive home. We got back at 5AM. Todd had a blast as Cpt. Smith of the French Foreign Legion on the US Akron Blimp. Only he could do justice to the evil hunting that went on aboard this flying hydrogen bomb. HOME Anyway, back to Charleston about 22 hours after we started with a great trip. Origins was a lot of fun. The best part was seeing a lot of old friends....those I mentioned and others such as Alan Moon and Richard Borg...and getting to see the new stuff coming out in America. The plus side was friends and playing games, the bad side was that this year Origins seemed much smaller than last year. GAMA is taking over from Wizards of the Coast next year and this may make a difference but, there seemed to be less people this year. The layout was different so I may be wrong. The other bad thing....from my perspective only....is that the collectible card game genre is continuing to expand and has spread over into disk games and now hex based expandable games. Many people like this and that is fine....I am not complaining and realistically, it is much cheaper and prettier and less time consuming than painting miniatures for these new style games. I just have a personal aversion to customizing cards or armies to play a game. I know many people really like this aspect of the game better than playing.....but it is not my style. Well, that is all I have for now. Thanks for reading. Ted Cheatham -- Ted Cheatham Subject: Fw: Just got back from Origins David Wilson wrote in message <98337.989$4m3.904960@news1.rsm1.occa.home.com>... I played some new games, looked at some demos.. etc. Here are some recommendations: For fans of "We the People, Paths of Glory, For the People" check out "Wilderness War" which covers the French and Indian War in America. Beautiful (okay stunning) graphics, etc. Hope to see more of this one. Nice card driven, helpful rules right on the board, etc. From GMT. For wargamers who have avoided Collector Card Games... try Firestorm. The story isn't as heavy as the resource management, building up, etc. Game has a cool combat system that is different than any other CCG combat I have seen to date. Available now from Third World Games. Miniatures players might enjoy "The Great Rail Wars" if they don't mind playing a non-historical setting. This game is based on Shane Hensley's "Deadlands" (a western horror universe) and there are nastys running around. In the demo I played I had six dudes, and on the first turn got a malfunction followed by critical hit roll that really screwed me... The lead dude had a gatling pistol malfunction and killed three of my dudes. (later I blew the roof off a building with my demolitionist.) Age of Empires II (CCG) is also interesting for those who are fans of the computer game. David Peter McCord - 08:04pm Jul 8, 2001 PST (#259 of 287) PG/Heroes of the Soviet Union, Drive on Paris, Victory, Wizard Kings, ASL. Has anyone come home from origins yet? Steven Bucey - 06:07am Jul 9, 2001 PST (#260 of 287) Never mind the cheese, who took my mouse? Has anyone come home from origins yet? I almost didn't leave home :-) I only attended Friday, and that mostly to run a couple of events for GMT. I ran For the People from 10am to 2pm. Five people showed, one of them a local friend who was looking for something to do. I attended the GboH event from 2pm to 6pm. (I noted that the schedule listed it as 'GoBoH') Six people (including myself) attended, though I mostly stood and watched the GM give a demo for two hours before talking somebody into starting a game with me. We didn't have time to finish it. Interestingly, it was supposedly sold out, so I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the other 16 people who signed up - it's not like there was a lot going on. I ran the Paths of Glory event from 9pm to 'midnight' (I actually took off at 10:30). Four people showed up. Somebody wandered by later who was looking for something else and noticed them playing, and inquired what it was. Upon telling him he exclaimed that he thought it was another card game. Upon inspection, that is indeed the description given in the schedule. I gave him a brief 'demo' of the game, and he seemed impressed and said that he'd attend the Saturday event instead. All in all, I was depressed. I'm REALLY hoping the new convention organizers (I'm to understand GAMA is taking over) can pump some energy into it next year. Mark Novara - 06:38am Jul 9, 2001 PST (#261 of 287) Plans for July: Wilderness War demo at Origins; A Mighty Fortress (PBEM CB), Busta Gallorum (Legion/PRESTAGS PBEM CB), VG Civil War (CB), J6 (GMT-ftf) First Time Attendee I arrived Wednesday night and was there through Sunday. Having never been to Origins before, I was somewhat prepared to be disappointed based upon several of the comments made here prior to the event. However, I had a GREAT time! I was there to run the Wilderness War Demo. While there were only two scheduled times for the demo to run for 45 minutes each, I ended up running it seven times from Thursday through Saturday) for about three hours each. One demo had 10 people but most included four to six. All participants were quite enthusiastic (and about 50% had already purchased the game). Other than that, most of my waking hours were spent playing games. I didn't sign up for any events, planning on just getting involved in pick up games. My only comment there is that if you couldn't find a wargame to play or gamer to play against, you weren't trying! Of course I owe a lot to the group from the Cleveland area (Mike, J.R., James) that allowed this first timer to "hang" with them (and keep me gaming until the wee hours). It was far better than I expected. Mark N. Steven Bucey - 10:51am Jul 9, 2001 PST (#262 of 287) Never mind the cheese, who took my mouse? Good for you, Mark. The NCGA folks were making a lot of noise, and I desperately wanted to try another game of TKrieg! with them, but the stars just didn't line up for me this time. John Loy - 01:29pm Jul 9, 2001 PST (#263 of 287) "The die has nothing to do with movement" I played Gudrian's Blitzkrieg II off and on for most of the 4 days and had a great time, met some good guys and kicked some Russian but. Also picked up some "steals at the auctions. Attendance did seem lighter but at least that meant the lines were smaller. Joseph Justice - 05:03pm Jul 9, 2001 PST (#264 of 287) Ever since I saw Papillon, I keep my wallet in a strange place. Even if attendance was lighter the boardgames HQ was full for most of the con. sysop - 03:36am Jul 10, 2001 PST (#265 of 287) John Kranz, ConsimWorld Expo featuring MonsterGame.CON 2.0, May 30-June 3, 2002 John, what kind of great deals were there to get at the ORIGINS auction? That's one of the things I wish I could have also made the event for, simply to try and pick up some collectables and what may sometimes be "bargain" prices. Joseph Justice - 07:05am Jul 10, 2001 PST (#266 of 287) Ever since I saw Papillon, I keep my wallet in a strange place. Weren't you there? Your name was listed on an event for friday night. I had planned to come but went to the torpedo talk instead. Charlie Spiegel - 01:50pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#267 of 287) Ah, Larry Bond's Torpedo Seminar. Merely one of his 3 events that was left out of the on-site book. When they first corrected it with a nice sign they spelled the first event wrong and got the time wrong for the third event while the location was off for the Seminar. Let's here is for the end of Wizards and Origins. Oh, yes - after putting the wrong person's name down as running JD Webster's Intro to the Fighting Wings series, the cancelled it when JD arrived 10 minutes late. Peter McCord - 05:33pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#268 of 287) PG/Heroes of the Soviet Union, Drive on Paris, Victory, Wizard Kings, ASL. It sounds like Origins was something of a bust, although not much worse than what people have come to expect, based on the last couple of years. Nothing against Columbus, I used to work there and it is a cool city in many ways, but it is not really a very good location for one thing. No worries though, as apparently DonCon/WBC, Homercon and GMTcons are doing well, and Monstercon certainly had good AARs for the most part. In LA I've heard good things about Strategicon and the various LAX cons, but even though they happend twice a year I've missed them every year for 4 years now...just bad luck (conferences...blech). Peter McCord - 05:40pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#269 of 287) PG/Heroes of the Soviet Union, Drive on Paris, Victory, Wizard Kings, ASL. oh, slightly off topic but there is no folder...it seems like the internet has really helped to promote local/regional cons (Monster, GMT, Homer and many others), just as it has helped promote game companies...remember back in the late 80's/early 90's when everyone thought computers would kill gaming? although I suppose you could argue that young recruits are still harder to come by, due to computer games. one more slightly OT, does anyone go to GenCon anymore? When I lived in WI, I went every year, and it was kinda cool in a weird way, tons of fantasy costumes and such, a real circus like atmosphere, but there was tons of open gaming space...so you could browse all the vendors, incl. most wargame companies, and still have plenty of space for open gaming, right in the heart of a fantasy/sci fi circus. Not a bad way to kill a saturday if you live nearby, which I did. Steven Bucey - 05:59pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#270 of 287) Never mind the cheese, who took my mouse? It sounds like Origins was something of a bust, although not much worse than what people have come to expect, based on the last couple of years. Nothing against Columbus, I used to work there and it is a cool city in many ways, but it is not really a very good location for one thing. Oh, please. Location has nothing to do with it. Wizards of the Coast has everything to do with it. Hunter Johnson - 07:11pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#271 of 287) Historical Up Front scenarios: http://www.hunterandlori.com/UpFront.html one more slightly OT, does anyone go to GenCon anymore? I'll be there. I don't play CCGs or many RPGs any more, but I know and enjoy seeing people in the industry, and I do play Euro games. I'll bring or play a consim too, given the chance -- there are no rules against it. :-) Bob Titran - 07:25pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#272 of 287) Buffalo, NY It sounds like Origins was something of a bust How do you figure? A couple botched COA events? Seems Joe J managed to find the War College talk anyhow, and there certainly wasn't any shortage of space in the minis area if folks were hanging around looking for a game. Bust or not, I managed to game for a good 3 days without actually registering for a thing. Simple GBoH, No Better Place to Die, Napoleonic Risk, Zero, plus sneak peaks at Red Badge of Courage (GMT), Global Victory (Columbia), Liberty (also Columbia). The auction, vendors and War College rounded out a fine con. Mike Zehnal - 07:29pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#273 of 287) "My primary defense is to control nothing of value." I had a great time at Origins this year. Missed playing any wargames but managed to fill up every minute of my schedule from 8am to midnight nearly every night. Although I pre-registered and received every event I registered for, there seemed to be plenty to do for anyone walking in off the streets. The registration lines were non-existant this year, maybe a drop in attendance, but certainly a better process than last year. I really liked having nearly all boardgames in the one big hall. Always plenty of pick-up games or demos to be had. I hope GAMA improves the convention going forward. Columbus is a great location. The airport is one of the easiest to navigate. I pick-up friends every year from out-of-town and actually park in short-term parking not more than 50 feet from the proper terminal entrance. Where else in the US can you actually go to the gate, meet your friends, pick up checked in luggage and exit the parking facility with only a $1.00 parking fee. Mark Novara - 08:06pm Jul 10, 2001 PST (#274 of 287) Plans for July: Wilderness War demo at Origins; A Mighty Fortress (PBEM CB), Busta Gallorum (Legion/PRESTAGS PBEM CB), VG Civil War (CB), J6 (GMT-ftf) does anyone go to GenCon anymore I'll be there this year. As far as Origins being a bust, I guess it depends on what you're looking for. I have absolutely no interest in tournaments as you have to play short games or shortened versions of games. I'd prefer trying out regular wargames and meeting new opponents. If I didn't have to sleep, I could have done that for four straight days at Origins. I'll let you know if GenCon is any different/better. Mark N. Alex Kachevsky - 08:44am Jul 12, 2001 PST (#275 of 287) Origins being a bust? I played (NOTE: I'm probably going to misspell evey game that I mention...) Falschimjager, Argonisse (Ancient Navel), a game on the Spanish Civil war, 3 or 4 euros in the dealer's area, Java, and a couple of non-collectable card games. When I wasn't in the dealer's area, I had no problem getting into a game. Heck, there were games that I wanted to try, but I didn't have time for. It took me only five minutes to pick up my pre-reg stuff on Wednesday night, and I don't remember seeing any lines for the event registration. The Smithee awards were also really good this year. There were several screw-ups that I saw, but overall, this year was much better than last year. Some exibitors that I know told me that the convention had about 10,000 attendees this year, but they don't have an exact count. I expected things to be worse this year because Hasbro told all of the convention employees that they would be laid off after GENCON, and I didn't think that they would have put in the effort, but everything seems to have worked out. I have thought about going to the WBC, but I can only do 1 big con a year, and Origins has a nice dealer's area, an auction, the Smithee's, and booth babes. I'll be back next year. Ken Schultz - 08:51am Jul 12, 2001 PST (#276 of 287) First runner up for validation. Sometimes you just can't win . . . If the lines are long the convention is a failure because of registration hassels and everybody screams to get the registration problems fixed. If the lines are not long its a failure because obviously nobody showed up. Mark Novara - 09:00am Jul 12, 2001 PST (#277 of 287) Plans for July: Wilderness War demo at Origins; A Mighty Fortress (PBEM CB), Busta Gallorum (Legion/PRESTAGS PBEM CB), VG Civil War (CB), J6 (GMT-ftf) Sometimes you just can't win . . . Actually, there was a long line Wednesday as people waited for the Registration area to open. Once they got going, things seemed to run rather smoothly (and I overheard several people make that comment). Alex, my experience was like yours. The only way I could have gotten more gaming in is if I didn't sleep. Mark N. Joseph Justice - 09:07am Jul 12, 2001 PST (#278 of 287) Ever since I saw Papillon, I keep my wallet in a strange place. They hired temps from Addeco to man the computers. Kevin Rohrer - 10:00am Jul 12, 2001 PST (#279 of 287) Origins was great, now on to Gencon! Anyone want to do an email game of Ironclads? I have been going to Origins since it moved there in 1996 and also attended the 1978 Origins in Ann Arbor. This year's con was just as good as any other. There were plenty of gaming events and War College seminars to attend, and the auction prices were excellent. I picked up copies of Titan and Titan the Arena for $21 each, Snapshot for $7, and Asteroid for $11. Prices were pretty low and there was plenty to bid on. A set of all four D&D magic books went for $40+ dollars (I should have snatched it up). Could it have been improved? Sure. I didn't care for both board games and minis being in the same room, and have lot of other small gripes and suggestions that I will post here and forward to GAMA for next year, but all-in-all, it was lots of fun. Casey Krakowski - 10:17am Jul 12, 2001 PST (#280 of 287) Taking a (forced) break from wargaming Anyone stick around for the wargame collectibles at the Auction? What were some of them and what kind of prices did they attract? Casey Mike Galandiuk - 04:57pm Jul 12, 2001 PST (#281 of 287) Northcoast Gamers Alliance (Greater Cleveland, Ohio) Of course I owe a lot to the group from the Cleveland area (Mike, J.R., James) that allowed this first timer to "hang" with them (and keep me gaming until the wee hours). Thanks Mark! You're the best playtester in the world! I hope we see you at Origins 2002. You're a super hero in Ohio; Wilderness Guy! Man, can you raid and burn! (Even your own towns.:-) I played the caimpaign of FJ, Wilderness War twice, Zero, more than twice, GB2, a Eurogame or two, Circus Minimus with Dean Essig, TACW, with Ben Hull, twice! I played HOTW till 4 AM with the loudest, meanest, rudest and vulgar men I've ever met. It was a BLAST. Mark won through superior strategic thinking. I got about four hours of sleep a night at Origins. The rest of the time I was gaming. I could not play more. Northcoast Gamers Alliance picked up two new members. Another NGA event is on for July 22. We never stop. Mike Galandiuk - 05:07pm Jul 12, 2001 PST (#282 of 287) Northcoast Gamers Alliance (Greater Cleveland, Ohio) It's not the con, it's not the attendence, it's not the game. It's _who_ you game with. I think Dean Essig, Ben Hull, RJ Budway, James Plesic, Mark "Wilderness", Mike "Twisted" Libens, Uwe Aris, Tom "Crusher" Candenhead and everyone else who sat in and _played_ had a great time at Origins. We'll be back next year. James Plesec - 05:25pm Jul 12, 2001 PST (#283 of 287) Origins was most definitely not a bust this year. This was probably my favorite Origins. As for Columbus being a bad site, what is the basis for a good convention site? Personally I go to Origins to game and attend the War College. I do not go to Origins to vist museums, beaches, or other tourist sites. I like the convention center and I had no problem with the boardgaming area as there seemed to be plenty of tables for open gaming. As for Clash of Arms seminar screwups that is a justifiable complaint that I hope Gama can fix. I recommend Origins for anyone interested in open gaming and learning new games as opposed to tournaments to win a plaque. If you desire to determine that you are this year's king of Afrika Korps, D Day, or ASL you will be disappointed and should instead opt for Don Con. James Plesec - 05:34pm Jul 12, 2001 PST (#284 of 287) Regarding Gen Con: I have attended Gen Con from 1986 to 1999. The convention had many more wargamers attending prior to two simulataneous events, the rise of Magic & collectable card games (c. 1992) and the spread of the idea that Gen Con "was not for wargamers." In reality there a steady group of mostly local wargamers running events but the spread of the idea that wargamers do not go to Gen Con and the intense card competition decreased wargaming at Gen Con from about 1994 to 1998. 1999 saw an increase due to GMT, Decision, and Clash of Arms decision to attend the convention. GMT in particular was running demos and events all weekend long. I taught a few people to play POG at Gen Con and had one epic battle as the Allies playing until 2:30 am on Saturday. Since Mark is running Wilderness War at Gen Con, if you attend you will be able to learn how to play at least one new game. David Stokes - 07:47pm Jul 12, 2001 PST (#285 of 287) Anyone stick around for the wargame collectibles at the Auction? What were some of them and what kind of prices did they attract? I wasn't there the whole time, but from what I saw many of the collectibles went at reasonable, sometimes low prices. Unfortunately, reasonable and low are relative terms when talking about collectibles, and I wasn't able to snag anything. I did manage not at the collecter's part of the auction but the next day to get a mint copy of Flat Top (Avalon Hill edition) for $16. Steve Vance - 08:36pm Jul 12, 2001 PST (#286 of 287) Anyone stick around for the wargame collectibles at the Auction? What were some of them and what kind of prices did they attract? There were a few non-wargame items, as is expected, but the Origins auction is by far mostly wargames. Some of the ones they held out for the collectibles hour (I stayed till the end but don't remember everything and prices are subject to memory as well): Art of Siege, up, $84 (a punched one went earlier in the day for $88) Five (or six) signed playtest kits for the upcoming "Battle for the Factories" new edition, $100+ each A couple of "Conflict" games, but not the oldest version, < $20 I think AH 1914, punched, but with the rare expansion kit, < $100 Titan, the original first printing from England, $300+ I think I wish I could remember more. Maybe someone else can fill in. Donald Pawley - 10:20pm Jul 12, 2001 PST (#287 of 287) Enterprise Games I recorded most of the items sold in the collectibles portion of the auction. The top three were: A first edition Titan by Gorgonstar, in beautiful conditon, that went for $340. A set of 6 first edition D&D booklets for $255. An unpunched copy of Streets of Stalingrad by Phoenix for $225. If anyone is interested in seeing an almost complete list of the collectibles portion of the auction, it is listed on our web site on the Origins 2001 tab. Tim Olson - 08:07am Jul 14, 2001 PST (#288 of 290) Now Playing:Breakout:Normandy; OConnors Offensive(WG#41);Conquistidor;Pokemon;Fire&Fury ACW minis I had a great time at Origins as per usual. The thing that I like most about Origins is the variety of gaming to be had: Roleplaying,CCGs,board wargames,miniatures and the "German" games. I dont RP anymore but I had my fill of the last 3. re:Registration lines. As others have noted, they were almost nonexistant this year. Those who have been at the last few Origins noticed that the name badges had no names this year. I was told by a WoC employee at the registration area that that was the biggest factor in keeping the lines down.. She didnt know why they had not considered doing that before now. re:the location of Origins. My experience is that if you dont live within 100 miles of the con, it is in a bad location. Therefore Columbus is a great location for me since I live in Cincinnati. Gen Con after next year will be in a great location(Indianapolis) also. :) Now for the bad news: Rumour mill: If you looked at future dates of Origins in the Registration book, youll have noted that they were all screwed up. The book had Origins and Gen Con on the same dates for a couple of years. Origins and GenCon are set for next year in the same places as they were this year(Columbus and Milwaukee). Gen Con moves to Indianapolis in 2003. I heard a rumour that the powers that be(GAMA? Hasbro?) do not want these 2 cons so close together so they will consider moving Origins out west(LA?) in 2003. Not good for me because as I stated earlier, I like the all inclusiveness of Origins. I will then be left with a choice of facing sharks at the WBC in games that I have played maybe once the year before the con...heck,its likely I will only have read the rules or Gen Con where they do have the CCGs and maybe miniatures but maybe lack the board wargames(the news about GMT supporting GenCon is good to hear). If Gen Con doesnt have what I want in historical stuff that may be time when I will start doing the minis Cons every year(Historicon,Cold Wars,etc). Egads! I might even consider expanding my family vacation time. Noel Wright - 10:33am Jul 14, 2001 PST (#289 of 290) "I do not expect you to attack, I order you to die. In the time which passes until we die, other troops and commanders can come forward and take our places." - Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal, April 25, 1915 How does it make any sense to have ORIGINS in LA, or anywhere else on the West Coast? Tim Olson - 11:08am Jul 14, 2001 PST (#290 of 290) Now Playing:Breakout:Normandy; OConnors Offensive(WG#41);Conquistidor;Pokemon;Fire&Fury ACW minis How does it make any sense to have ORIGINS in LA, or anywhere else on the West Coast? How does it NOT make sense? I wouldnt care much for that decision either given what I said earlier about proximity of locations(I live 2,000 miles from LA). Im going to go out on a limb here and guess that you do not live in CA or anywhere close. From the Origins/GenCon organizers perspective....you have two comparable conventions that you want to run during the summer. You dont really want to run them too close together because they will be competing against each other.You might want to consider when other major cons are running(WBC,Historicon,etc).Plus you have holidays to consider and Summer just isnt that long a time frame(3 months?) Add the timing thing together with the fact that both cons are located in the Midwest and you are drawing from the same group of convention goers(Midwesterners,Some Easterners and far less Far West folk). Theoretically, you could put one con on the East Coast and one on the West Coast hitting both major major population areas. But one location is already set in the Midwest(Indy) so you only have one con to arrange a site for. The organizers could choose an Eastern site(Philly,Baltimore,etc) but my guess is that the organizers figure that they might get a lot more western con goers who are unwilling to make a cross country trek than they will get from the East who are unwilling to make a trip from their parts to a Midwestern site. Hmmm...hope that makes sense.