Report on ORIGINS '96 by David Richtmyer
Here's my recap of what was going on at Origins. I. What I bought: I ended up buying Avalanche's Great War at Sea, Vol. I (the Mediteranean), 4 decks of Ulrich Blennemann's Tank Commander: the Eastern Front card game, 1 complete deck of Columbia's Dixie: Gettysburg (it includes all of the cards in the series), Sierra Madre's Luftschiff gamekit, and a copy of Formula De (being imported, along with a gaggle of other Euro games, by Mayfair). II. What was being displayed: Avalon Hill AH had copies of recent releases, like London's Burning, Machiavelli, and Hannibal on display, along with new for Origins releases like Air Barron, the latest Stonewall GCACW game (on the Chancellorsville campaign), and a working demos of Third Reich and Wooden Ships & Iron Men on a PC. This latter looks like a must; it looked and played magnificently--it is *not* just a computerized version of the boardgame but takes it and goes on from there. Views are isometric that make the game look like a miniatures game. I passed on Air Barron, though it might be a good family game. Mark Herman, at the GMT booth, told me that the ACW version of We the People had been bumped up to first place in the production que. Reinforce success, I guess. Avalanche/GamesUSA These two companies were displaying their whole lines, and displayed new releases. Avalanche had many copies (which went quickly) of The Great War at Sea, Vol I the Mediterranean, which I quickly snatched up. Two strategic maps (done in 1/2 inch squares) where you maneuver your fleets, and one map with very large (2" maybe) squares where you engage in tactical combat. Movement on the strat. map is by pre-plotting. The counters are one inch long, and like all the other graphics in this line (done by GamesUSA's Brien Miller) are breathtaking. The best part is the rules: 7 pages long!! And you get some 50 scenarios!! (BTW, kudos to those companies who are designing games that I can actually play in my lifetime. I did not buy one game that was a monster like the Gamers' OCS series or GMT's 3DoG). GamesUSA had on display their map for Silent War, a solo sub game in the Pacific in WWII. It should be out this Fall. Clash of Arms: They had their whole line there, with Army of the Heartland, by John Prados, being the new release. This is the sister/companion game to Prados' Campaigns of R.E. Lee, and covers the Western theatre (I never could figure out why Georgia was in the 'West'!). I passed because, though it looked beautiful, it's not solitaire-able and I'll never get an opponent to play it (too complex). Columbia Columbia had their whole wooden block line there. Sam Grant was not there, as it was delayed for another couple of months so they could get out Dixie: Gettysburg for Origins. These cards are just flat-out gorgeous, they are even better than Hotz' Eagles cards, if you can believe that. They were selling the game as either single packs or as a complete set. This latest version has the most cleaned up rules in the series, and incorporates morale as did Eagles. In this latest incarnation of the series you can only use one of each of the specials in your deck. Tom Dagleish told me that sales of CCGs were down, and that he had fewer pre-orders for G'burg than either Shiloh or Bull Run. He indicated that he'd like to do another Nappy battle (Austerlitz?) and maybe a French and Indian wars battle. Now that would be a title! Gamers The Gamers had Hube's Pocket out; it was immediately put to good use by gamers in the boardgames room. Virtually their whole line was on display and at good discounts. Very friendly staff. Many, many Gamers games were being played at the convention. GMT Gene B. was not there as his wife is evidently having a baby. The booth was manned by RHB, Mark Herman, and David Fox. They had Samurai out for sale (and I saw folks immediately playing it in the boardgame rooms, more on which later), along with a new Africa WWII game that is the second in the Gameplayer Series (first being ACW Glory). The Africa game had proofs of the map and counters; it wasn't out yet. Mayfair Mayfair is importing a gaggle of Euro games, and are busy producing their own versions, in English, of many of the titles. In some cases they had both their version and the Euro version (like Steffan Dora's Linie 1 which Mayfair calls Streetcar); the Euro version was invariably more costly, but of better physical quality. Among the titles: Settlers of Catlan ($35), the aforesaid Linie 1/Streetcar, Formula De (plus many expansion tracks), Manhattan, Shark, etc. etc. Mayfair had a big booth and was very busy. Moments in History Uli and Dirk were there hawking Tank Commander card decks; I'd describe the game as Up Front Junior. Scale is individual vehicles, with squads and individual weapons like Panzerfausts. Artwork, by Beth Queman, was, IMHO, poor. I bought 4 decks, however. Fields of Glory was also on display; map this time is by map maestro Rick Barber. Omega Omega didn't have their new titles out, but I did talk for a long while with the very friendly proprietor about their soon-to-be released 1864, a strat-level ACW game that will have two maps (one for each theatre). Movement is by regional boxes, which the designer claims is an all-new system, and combat is also a new system. Their graphics are supposedly going to be upgraded (computer graphics?). Paper Wars Rich Erwin was there hawking !No Parasan! and other Alea Spanish games, along with copies of PW, of course. Good to see the editor I've been working with for these last few years. Spearhead Spearhead had all of their games on display, including the new Jack Radey East Front game and a demo version of "They Met at Gettysburg." Graphics here are by Joe Youst, and are a vast improvement over the Antietam game. The map has an outer perimeter that allows for off-board movement ala Storm Over Arnhem (and this venerable Courtney Allen design is the game system upon which Pete Perla based this ACW version). A very friendly fellow in their booth promised me that the rules would not duplicate the snafus that plagued the Antietam game, and I have every reason to believe him. This one should be out at the end of the month. Talonsoft Talonsoft had Shiloh up and running and all I could do was drool. When you order an attack, or are attacked, a little window opens up showing the appropriate action as a video of ACW reenactors, complete with sound. So, when the Rebs charge your position, you see a little video of hell-bent-for-leather Rebel-yelling soldiers overrunning your emplacement. I kibitzed with Charlie Kibler, formerly of AH, for a long time; wonderful fellow as were the Columbia, Spearhead, Avalanche guys. TimJim TimJim had on display a prototype copy of a neato power politics game based on the French revolution. Players take up factions (Royalists, Jacobins, etc.) and attempt to gain control of Paris. The map was about 2' x 4' and laminated, and quite evocative of the period. Hopefully this not-so-little jewel will be out in a few months. III. General impressions The event was huge, the boardgame rooms were about the length of an American football field (100 yds.) and *filled* with boardgamers playing everything from Hannibal and War at Sea to Enemy at the Gates and World in Flames. If boardgaming is going out of style you'd never know it by looking at these rooms. There was one whole section devoted to Gamers games, and another for Columbia's block games. There were even gamers playing old SPI games there! I think that the boardgamers actually outnumbered the roleplayers, at least in the number of rooms taken up. Of course, the CCGers were everywhere; they mostly played on the floor. The miniature players had a huge room to their own, and on the balcony was set up many stands of "Mustangs and Messerschmitts." This latter game is based on a set of amateur rules that were spiral bound, and the stands, wooden dowels easily 5-6 feet tall and mounted on little tri-wheeled platforms were spectacular. The allowed for painted 1/72 scale WWII fighters and bombers to be modeled 'flying' at any altitude and angle. After playing Over the Reich and always having a hard time visualizing a two dimensional counter representing a plane in an inverted left bank, this spectacular miniatures game just might get me to try minis. The convention center was huge, it easily took up 2 city blocks. There were tons of people and all were accomodated effectively/efficiently by this city/convention center. I look forward to next year's offering. David
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