From: "Ted Cheatham" Subject: origins quick look Date: 06 July 2002 15:29 What did I see that was new...in quick terms Riot - a card game where you are building rioting people and then trying to quash other peoples riots....very light looking and not much there. Virus by Zeno - try to build several computer programs with cards and put viruses on other peoples programs....very light looking and not good reviews from some who tried it. Battle Grid by Zeno - It is a skirmish level game that is very akin to the old Lionheart by Parker Bros or Milton Bradley. You get 4 or 5 soldiers and roll a d8 to see which direction your man goes and a d6 to see how far. Then you shoot or close combat and look at tables for results. Advance rules give special powers to different armies and there are a bunch available. Armada by Eurogames - This one looked most promising to me of the convention. I did not get to try it. It is an expoloration, territory domination game that plays in about 1 1/2 hours. Frank Branham gave it favorable reviews and a couple of people related it as very strategic and chess like. You get 10 action points per turn and everything takes and action. The advance rules use some event cards which look fun. Tin Soldiers by R&R is out. Very nice trick taking game by Al Newman. Not to new to me as I have had a prototype for a couple of years. Too Many Cooks by R&R. By Reiner Knizia...the first cut of this one made it to the convention and it should be out in stores soon. Frank told me about it but I did not get a chance to play it. Looks like a cute family game. The description made me think of Pig Pile meets Mama Mia......but, I am sure that is not right. Travel Settlers....this one looked pretty neat as a travel edition. Mayfairs....they have a new game I cannot remember the name....you are collecting items to fill menus of alchemists or something. Basically draw a face down card, play a card to your menu....did not look too good. Zombies II....yes there is an expansion out with a military base and gate Something wicked? - not sure of the name but by the zombie makers. Same kind of grid system as zombies but the board is covered in question marks and you put round chits face down on the them. Now you just explore the board and turn over what you find...some are monsters, some are allies etc. So, add hidden exploration to Zombies and you have it. Ivanhoe by Tilset. It looked interesting but there were no english rules and no one to explain it to us. With my experience with Tilset I would steer away. Space Pigs is coming in english...there was a brochure but not copy of the game around. Ultra Violence by Evil Polish Brothers. Imaging the Zombie stock grids and change them up to be dungeon fantasy setting. Then instead of zombies add a bunch of monster generators that generate all kinds of hideous things...then add a bunch of props to help defend and maim things and you have this game. Lots of cardbord chits for a dungeonesque hack em up game. If I did not have Zombies and Make Knight Dungeons this would be a neat game.....each set plays one or two players. It looks like a modernized verision of Dungeonquest. Civilization by Eagle Games - this one also looked very interesting and will be out shortly. It is based on the computer game. It will have over 800 plastic pieces representing the armies of the years as you progress (sound like History of the World) and is has advancement cards etc. The report was easy game at 2 hours medium at 3-4 and the advance game over 4 hours. As with all of the Eagle games it looks great. Lord of the Rings Confrontation by fantasy Flight. I was looking forward to trying this one. It was kind of like stratego with each piece having a special power and you could supplement the combat strength with cards from you hand. It plays quickly and I think with game knowledge there would be more strategy but it seemed very light on the initial play. Twilight Armada by Fantasy Flight. It is by the same designer as Red Alert the star trek disk war game......and....yes, since Red Alert has been canceled, the exact same system has been put into the Twilight Imperium universe. It is really the same game and system. General impressions of this year.......Seemed to me to be a smaller crowd but I may have gone on Saturday last time......There are still a ton of collectible card games coming out and being played. Mage Knight seems to be the new up and comer with all of their stuff. They had a huge area set up with real nice terrain boards for each of their games....so they had a full city set up for Hero Clicks and an incredible dungeon for the dungeon stuff and burnt out areas for their newest battletech style game...as well as things for their other fantasy battles. When set in this way the games look gorgeous. All of the tables were going full speed. And, I really didn't take any notes so I am sure I missed something and I know this is very quick. -- Ted Cheatham "Ted Cheatham" wrote in message news:c9DV8.3144$Yx5.1485@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net... > Mayfairs....they have a new game I cannot remember the name....you are > collecting items to fill menus of alchemists or something. Basically draw > a face down card, play a card to your menu....did not look too good. Sounds like Theophrastus: http://www.coolgames.com/catalog/catpages/general/0477-00.htm Matthew Steven Bucey - 08:39am Jul 5, 2002 PST (#291 of 300) "To his dog, every man is a Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs." Aldous Huxley Origins, first day From about 10am onwards, the CABS room seemed mostly filled – at one point I counted 54 people. There was an ASL tournament going on, with 5 activate games all day. Off of the top of my head, I also saw games of AOR (2), Carcasone (2), History of the World, Africa Korps (2), Europe Engulfed, Napoleon’s War, Titan, Formula Motor racing (including several kids), Reds (3), Paths of Glory (4), Battle Cry (multiple), Battle Line (multiple), WWI (SPI version), Leningrad (SPI version), Victory in the Pacific, and Rebels and Redcoats. My day started off inauspiciously. There was some confusion as to who was running our Battle Cry event, and somehow I ended up doing it. It also turned out that of the 5 people who showed up, I was the only one who brought a copy of the game (this continues to be a theme). There were some tense moments as I tried to explain to some irritated people that I was not affiliated with a company, doing this on my own dime and time (I have to pay for a badge also), and that I was more than willing to not play and let them use my game. Finally one of the players (interestingly, the one who seemed most upset) suggested that two play a game while the other two wait, then the other two play and the winners of the two games play a final game. Not only did we run with that, but I ran down stairs and convinced the folks at GMT to loan me a copy of Ivanhoe and taught the waiting players how to play, and then taught the first pair and a passerby the game while the second round played. All ended up having a good time (with one Ivanhoe newcomer exclaiming “What a great game!”). I left Battle Cry out and there seemed to be somebody playing with it throughout the day. Several other games also had a lack of boards problem, most significantly with about 10 people showing up for Carcasone and only the GM having a copy of the game. He finally found a copy to borrow from an AOR player. But several people were turned away in a few events for lack of boards. For most of the events we host, we are not affiliated with a company, and in many instances we are working with out of print games. Our intent is to provide an organized time and place for interested gamers to play, so that people who attend can have a reasonable expectation that there will be like minded gamers showing up at the same time and place (as opposed to searching for ‘pickup games’. All we can do is provide personal copies and encourage players to bring their own. Personally, I played Battle Cry, Rebels and Redcoats, Ivanhoe, and about half a game of WWI (the SPI version). Tonight I’m hoping to get in a game of Blue and Grey. I should have no problem with boards there, as three (different) scenarios can be played at the same time (at least in my Decision Games version), and I have two copies of the S&T published Road to Richmond scenario that can be played. Art Lupinacci - 08:29pm Jul 9, 2002 PST (#271 of 280) Let me GAME, and no one gets hurt! Due to a request to keep the Streets of Stalingrad forum on topic, I am moving this here: My ORIGINS experience..... Well, just rolled into town today from sunny Columbus! Had a great time, but my opinion of the big O hasn't changed much since I said I wasn't going back. Great convention, 8,000 strong walked through the gates with another 2K helpers and volunteers etc. (So they say). Saturday was the big day. Sunday was dead for the most part. I was very impressed with the set of collector cards Flying Buffalo did. I wasn't impressed I had to buy my ONE sample set after coughing up the dough for 4 cards, but I did get a discount....ahem. Don't look for our cards next year. This PO'ed me in a minor way. :-) $695 and I had to buy a set....is it me or does this leave you scratching your head as well? Well, I fell in love with THIS HALLOWED GROUND after chatting with David Powell, the designer and watching a game they had set up in Hall D. Very impressive. I was amazed at what WIZKIDS has done with those plastic figures with the variable strength disk as a stand on the miniature. Their sales this year are a reported $50M!!!! I saw lots of these available from .50 and up. THE AUCTION WAS A BLAST!!! I picked up a much wanted 1937 Monopoly in simply great condition. A buddy of mine bought a Parker Bros. game from the 1880's for $280 and a 5 dice set of METEORITE DICE went for $700+. I bought a bundle of LOONIE TUNES playing cards for my daughter. They were selling "booster" boxes for $5. I couldn't resist and she loved them. If you like cards, one booth was selling off tons of these at very low prices. Like games, I guess these topics come and go. Don't ask me, as I wouldn't know. I did manage to buy more dice I don't need. But man, they had some great looking dice. I bought the dice for Streets of Stalingrad as well. I found some really nice looking dice that matched the colors in the game and went with those. Green for German and Red for Russian. The Green matches the counter colors nicely. There was an energizer bunny that went for a large sum as well. Some really good collector copy stuff went up for auction and 100's of dogs to boot. I walked away with a very nice copy of Caesar at Alexandria and Sinai both from GMT. REDS went for a higher asking price then what they were selling it at their show booth! :-) This happened a couple of times. I managed to pick up a few gems on the cheap. As for the weird and wacky, there was the Klingon family who locked people up in a 6 foot square wire cage while 10-20 people stood around the cage and laugh and jeered the person in the cage. Don't ask, as I have no idea. I never got to meet CHAINMAIL GIRL. DAMN!!!! I did run into a blond, 6 foot amazon beauty as she was leaving the convention. Some movie star. Incredible! I also met some lizard looking alien guy from Babylon 5. Great make up job! Nice guy to chat to as well. No idea who he was, sorry. Unless it has tanks, I know "nuthinnnng". Best top of the convention was black, tight, had a big hole in the middle and a couple of DDD thingies bouncing around loose inside. I have no idea who they belonged to..... :-)....oink... The war college seminars with Jack Radey, Col. David M. Glantz and Dana's Stalingrad went off very nicely. Best moment was when Jack simply ran out the door in mid sentence to, well.....pee. :-) ROTFL!!! He did come back and finish! LOL I shared a good laugh with the folks in a booth selling samauri swords, daggers, and other various weapons. I almost cut a finger off! I thought they were dull props! Jesus Christ, they were sharp! They even had Klingon style knives and a bunch of other weapons I couldn't begin to spell, much less know the names of. One woman was telling me the knife I almost cut a finger on was designed by "such-n-such" and the thing was a "blah, blah, blah, blah". All I wanted to know was whether it cut steaks. Regardless, for a family game show, this was an impressive display of deadly weapons, yours for the buying. OH, the sign did say to keep the blades pointed at the booth. I can clearly see why! WotC had a nice booth and were playing A&A:Pacific the 4 days of the con, as well as other products. Clash of Arms had a big booth and a few games in a big area on display. Other wargame companies at the show...GMT, MMP/Gamers, Columbia and Omega, to name a few. A friend of mine walked away with two Origins awards for best Science Fiction statues/thingies. Not sure what they were, how you use them etc, but he designed them. The best miniature game I saw was a 1/6 th scale, GI JOE battle. Too cool. Where was this stuff when I was 7? Also, I really liked the game on Prohibition. Huge miniature game with era cars and buildings. This is a labor of love for the person who runs it and it really shows. It was a pleasure to look at and I heard it was fun to play. I saw a really cool Rorke's Drift miniature battle being played and the ZULU's had the upper hand. The only wargames I saw played were, in no particular order: Streets of Stalingrad 1st edition The Killing Ground An Avalanche naval game This Hallowed Ground That's it!! There were games being played or demoed by dealers and I did not count these in. Very, very poor showing for wargames. The biggest problem I saw was no dedicated space and you had to risk leaving your game out over night in a massive Hall. So, you did what you could for one day, took it down, and had to set up the next day. Fun!...not. My biggest complaint was my parking and phone bill. I called my wife and daughter once a day and spoke for 5 minutes. Each bill was over $25. Parking was $21 a night. I am not impressed. Checked out at 5:00am and had to stand behind a woman who needed to have each room her employees occupied individually invoiced. I wanted to slap her in the back of the head after waiting 25 minutes for her to complete her BS so I could sign out in 2.5 minutes. We demoed the game to about 40 people over the course of 4 days and had a very good time doing it. I met a lot of people and generally had a good time. I am not sure I am going back, however. And finally, I visited the cigar store on the 1st floor of the Hyatt and bought a one foot long cigar of my favorite brand! Never seen one like this locally. I can hardly wait to smoke it. I am saving it for when we SHIP! :-) Feel free to post your experiences, if you attended. Art PS: No one asked me for the time, but a woman did approach me with a flyer and asked me to come and listen to her play the piano. What does THIS mean?