[Background: In 2004, I traveled over 100K miles and spent over 90 nights in a hotel room for work assignments. That travel plus a 'fare war' at Dulles Airport left me with a whole bunch of free travel certificates and mileage in my frequent flyer account. Even after covering all of the family trips, I had several travel certificates that had to be used this year. The result is instead of attending my normal 5 conventions (PrezCon, GCOM Game Days, Origins, World Boardgaming Championships, and EuroQuest) I would be attending at least three additional conventions (Mensa MindGames, KublaCon, and the granddaddy of them all - Essen Spiel Fair).] Chapter 4: Origins Three weeks ago, I thought for sure I would not be able to attend Origins this year. Besides all the other events, the family schedule is very hectic this summer and I thought the long weekend would be catch-up time. Two things changed all that: an incredible birthday present and oddly enough my work schedule. My birthday is in the beginning of June and my wife Katherine gave me an incredible present: Time! My present was a small wooden house with the inscription "McCorry House Pass" on the back. She said I was welcome to the house pass for the July 4th weekend (i.e. feel free to go to Origins). The second piece fell into place when my office scheduled an offsite meeting in Norfolk, VA. For a mere $40, I was able to change my Dulles-Norfolk-Dulles ticket to a Dulles-Norfolk-Columbus-Dulles ticket with the weekend stay. The icing on the cake was when Scott Fisher offered me the opportunity to share a hotel room. It was too late to pre-register but I was still heading back to ! Origins to play games and see friends in one of the best game clubs around: Columbus Area Boardgaming Society (aka CABS). Wednesday (Travel Day) On Wednesday, the gods of fate had a lot to do with my travels. My meeting ended in time for me to make a dash to the airport and try and catch an earlier flight to Columbus via Chicago (I guess Columbus doesn't rate a direct flight from Norfolk ) so that I could get to the hotel by 9pm rather then after Midnight. When I arrived at the airport I learned that the East Coast air traffic was all messed up due to thunderstorms. The 2:30 flight I was trying to catch was not scheduled to leave until 4:30. My 5:30 flight was listed as being on time but I knew it was a matter of time before it would be delayed. So I got on the waitlist (the plane was oversold) but my priority status moved me to the top of the list. Long story short, I made the earlier delayed flight and made the early connection in Chicago. I was in my hotel room by 9:30 and enjoyed the evening. I enjoyed it even more as my text pager went off giving me the status of my original itinerary (the system doesn't! recognize when you travel stand-by). The first page told me my Columbus flight would now be arriving at 02:30 AM! The next said it was cancelled which would have been a real nightmare since you are on your own if there is a weather related delay. A follow-up page said I was now booked on a 7:00am flight out of Chicago. The next morning after I had arrived at the convention, I received two additional pages saying my morning flight had been delayed until 10:30 and finally an arrival message at 12:45 PM! Hopefully all my luck didn't get used up before getting to the game table. Thursday Jeff Mullet, one of the Cabbies, offered me a ride from the airport hotel to the convention center (Scott was driving up that morning from Maryland). After dropping my luggage off at the War Room and saying hi to the gang, I headed down to the Tabletop Room for the Rio Grande Ironman Tournament that CABS was running. For a mere $6, you could play all the Rio Grande games you wanted for the entire weekend. Compared to the $1.50 fee for each two hour session game, it was a great bargain. Rounds started at 0900, 1100, 1300, 1500, 1800, 2000, and 2200. Two games were recommended for each session but you could play any game if you had enough players. The CABS provided copies of games from the club and personal libraries so there was always something to play. Scoring was simple - the winner got one point less then the number of players in the game (i.e. 3 points for winning a 4 player game) and 1 point for being second in a 5 or 6 player game. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday a d! aily winner would be named and an overall winner would be named on Sunday. Those who just wanted to play could. Those who wanted a little competition could also do that. I got to meet Mike Fitzgerald for the first time and had a nice conversation about the merits of Louis XIV. Having had the chance to play it over the weekend for the first time, I found I didn't mind the end game mechanic too much. It kept the AP down and you can modify the odds by earning more chits or taking a gamble by focusing on other things like mission cards. I played 8 games on Thursday including Around the World in 80 Days for the first time which I found to be a nice 45 minute game that handles 6 people well. In the end, I finished in second place by a hair for the daily trophy to David Platnick. Dave is a very skilled gamer and it always interesting to hear his analysis of games. I would prefer to hear it after the game but I've grown accustomed to it. Friday Another round of 8 games but I played a few shorter titles so I had more time for the dealer room. The dealer room seemed to be as full as last year but with smaller booths from the big names (WizKids, Hasbro/Avalon Hill) and many more smaller vendors selling costumes and poker equipment. Jay Tummelson was demoing games again in the Decision Games booth. He had cartons of Queen games with him and was demoing Indus, Industria, Niagara (which didn't get too much added attention despite the recent SdJ win), Roma, Tower of Babel, Pallazzo, Louis XIV, Manilla, Architekton, Lucky Loop, Rat Hot, Inka, and Turbo Taxi. You could game from 10 to 6 in the Rio Area and not repeat a game. I picked up the revised (not corrected as I was told by the powers that be) Power Grid cards with the new 29 power plant for a donation at the booth. Over at the MMP Booth they had the latest ASL Starter Kit (I have to go back to the dark side every so often) and the reprint of the ASL rulebook. Eagle/U! berplay had a nice booth with Conquest of the Empire taking center stage. Winsome Games had their rail games (including copies of Voldampf for $60) and were working with another company doing some high-end DTP games. Hasbro was featuring Nexus Ops. Unfortunately Robo Rally had been delayed until July 15th so I will have to wait to get the new boards. One demo I thought was interesting was Anachronism. This is a game being published by TriKing in association with the History Channel. The game takes 15 to 20 minutes to play and consists of 5 cards on each side. The cards are made of extra thick card stock and high quality foils with great art work. The depict a historical figure and a weapon, inspiration, armor, special item. It is NOT a collectible card game. It is an expandable card game. The key difference is you know what cards are in every pack. If you want all 100 cards of a release, you know you only need to buy the starter kit and 18 expansion packs. If you just want to play with the starter set, you can do just fine also. They had a special that if you finished a demo, you got a free play mat and a set of 10 cards. Basically everything you needed to play the game. Starter kits were $13 and expansions $7. With a $20 purchase you got a free set of five cards being released sat conventions (I picked up Robin Hood). I! t's a nice filler game that can fit several niches in a gaming collection. Mayfair had their usual display with nothing special to note. Fantasy Flight had a nice demo area but did not have the Citadels expansion available. Out of the Box and Face-to-Face had nice and busy displays. Cafe Games sold out of the latest Formula De track early and had the new Mare Nostrum expansion for sale. They also had a pre-release version of Tempus for display in the booth. Used game dealers were much thinner (the E-bay effect) but there were major clearances on second tier fantasy role playing games. As usual there were lots of dice vendors, t-shirt vendors, and smaller publishers trying to get noticed. There was chainmail costumes on ladies who had no business wearing them and several loud announcers trying to drum up business for live chess and similar games. All-in-all it was a nice dealer's room but with none of the buzz I've seen in previous years (no long lines waiting for the latest WizKids release, no really big hot new release.) I finished the day with two really enjoyable events. I finally learned how to play Tichu and paired up with Bruce Reiff for a game. My first hand had all number cards below 10 with nothing better then one 3 of a kind. Bruce was a little worried what I was doing until he saw I truly had horrible cards. The next hand made up for it has we scored a Grand Tichu going out 1 and 2. I then played a prototype with Bruce, Jay Tummelson, and Todd Jensen and a quick game of the Bottle Imp to finish the night. Saturday I found out first thing that I had won the Friday Rio Grande Tournament despite my different game selection. I started out playing Clash of the Gladiators for the first time and then got in my second game of Amun Re. We taught Lisa Gutermuth to play and had a very boisterous and enjoyable game. Lisa despite her young age is an excellent gamer and would be welcome at any game table for her skill and maturity. I played one of my more enjoyable Puerto Rico games in a long time. Despite coming in last, the final scores were 42, 42, 42, 36. It literally went down to the wire and had great tension in the end game. I then played one of my worst games of San Juan. I ran into Ted Cheatham who was up for the day from West Virginia. I met Ted a few weeks earlier at Scott Fisher's house for a wonderful night of gaming. Ted was doing his rounds of the Dealer room and stopped by the CABS area in the tabletop room for some evening games. The evening ended on a very nice note for me when I got to play Alhambra and Power Grid with Jay and Todd. Our Power Grid game was very interesting with Jay ending the game with 3 coal-fired plants. Jay got the 25 plant early and it was a long time before another quality plant came into play. Jay made the most of his advantage and won the game handily. I finished the night with another playing of Around the World in 80 Days and headed back to the hotel. Sunday We got off to a slow start between the need for more sleep and packing up. I was too late for the 0900 Rio Grande game but it worked out. I did not win the Saturday daily trophy but I had won the overall Rio Grande trophy. So Peter Stein, Scott Fisher, and I headed over to the Rio demo area to try Pallazzo. We found it to be a nice auction game that had elements from several games. Of the two new Alea middle box games, I much prefer Louis XIV but would not mind at all playing Pallazzo. I got to meet Rick Thornquist briefly and had an Alan Moon sighting when he stopped by the booth to talk to a friend for a minute. One last trip through the dealer room and I was saying my good byes. Peter Stein got me to the airport where I was hoping to catch the early flight so I could see my family that I hadn't seen in a week. Unfortunately my luck finally ran out and a off-duty flight crew arrived to take the remaining seats. With five hours to kill I managed to get this report done, dow! nload the latest GeekSpeak (thank you Columbus for the free wireless internet at the airport), and do a little real work. Kudos to CABS for running a great tournament and working to raise the level of board gaming at Origins. A lot of hours of effort went into making the Rio Tournament and the War Room a reality. Thanks to Jeff, Bruce (hope all is well), and Pete who helped with transportation and Scott, Calvin, Steve, and Noah for the accommodations and friendship. And kudos to all the people I had the chance to play this weekend. Win or lose, I enjoyed every game and the friendship that went with it. Next up is the main public event for US Boardgaming (Euro and Conflict Simulations) in my book: the WBC in Lancaster, PA. This will be an interesting time since I will moving from being a Game Master for a junior event to being a Game master for one of the bigger events: Ticket to Ride. Look forward to seeing the extended gaming family. Tom Tom McCorry - Jul 3, 2005 9:45 pm (#1974 Total: 1974) Year of the Convention Chapter 4: Origins (Part 2) Saturday I found out first thing that I had won the Friday Rio Grande Tournament despite my different game selection. I started out playing Clash of the Gladiators for the first time and then got in my second game of Amun Re. We taught Lisa Gutermuth to play and had a very boisterous and enjoyable game. Lisa despite her young age is an excellent gamer and would be welcome at any game table for her skill and maturity. I played one of my more enjoyable Puerto Rico games in a long time. Despite coming in last, the final scores were 42, 42, 42, 36. It literally went down to the wire and had great tension in the end game. I then played one of my worst games of San Juan. I ran into Ted Cheatham who was up for the day from West Virginia. I met Ted a few weeks earlier at Scott Fisher's house for a wonderful night of gaming. Ted was doing his rounds of the Dealer room and stopped by the CABS area in the tabletop room for some evening games. The evening ended on a very nice note for me when I got to play Alhambra and Power Grid with Jay and Todd. Our Power Grid game was very interesting with Jay ending the game with 3 coal-fired plants. Jay got the 25 plant early and it was a long time before another quality plant came into play. Jay made the most of his advantage and won the game handily. I finished the night with another playing of Around the World in 80 Days and headed back to the hotel. Sunday We got off to a slow start between the need for more sleep and packing up. I was too late for the 0900 Rio Grande game but it worked out. I did not win the Saturday daily trophy but I had won the overall Rio Grande trophy. So Peter Stein, Scott Fisher, and I headed over to the Rio demo area to try Pallazzo. We found it to be a nice auction game that had elements from several games. Of the two new Alea middle box games, I much prefer Louis XIV but would not mind at all playing Pallazzo. I got to meet Rick Thornquist briefly and had an Alan Moon sighting when he stopped by the booth to talk to a friend for a minute. One last trip through the dealer room and I was saying my good byes. Peter Stein got me to the airport where I was hoping to catch the early flight so I could see my family that I hadn't seen in a week. Unfortunately my luck finally ran out and a off-duty flight crew arrived to take the remaining seats. With five hours to kill I managed to get this report done, download the latest GeekSpeak (thank you Columbus for the free wireless internet at the airport), and do a little real work. Kudos to CABS for running a great tournament and working to raise the level of board gaming at Origins. A lot of hours of effort went into making the Rio Tournament and the War Room a reality. Thanks to Jeff, Bruce (hope all is well), and Pete who helped with transportation and Scott, Calvin, Steve, and Noah for the accommodations and friendship. And kudos to all the people I had the chance to play this weekend. Win or lose, I enjoyed every game and the friendship that went with it. Next up is the main public event for US Boardgaming (Euro and Conflict Simulations) in my book: the WBC in Lancaster, PA. This will be an interesting time since I will moving from being a Game Master for a junior event to being a Game master for one of the bigger events: Ticket to Ride. Look forward to seeing the extended gaming family. Tom From: "Josh Adelson" Aside from seeing and gaming with the most tgoo-friendly members of CABS (always a pleasure that's worth any amount of personal sacrifice) the great moments of this Origins for me: Having Mike Fitzgerald teach Louis XIV. His straightforward instructional style mixed with his million dollar vocal chords made for an instant appreciation of the game. Utterly destroying Bruce Reiff and Sean McCulloch in what was easily the most lopsided Tichu game in which I've participated--at least from the winning standpoint. I think in my earliest days of Tichu I was capable of bringing about just as dramatic a loss for *my* team. I suppose some credit must go to Jeff Chunko, the partner that I refused to lend to Bruce at the outset. Playing Killer Bunnies with Lisa Gutermuth, Jeff Mullet, Sean and Bruce and unleashing the Ebola Virus. It's remarkable how difficult that game can be to manipulate if you don't draw any Bunnies for the first six dozen rounds.... Meeting John Bohrer finally. I really missed him when he was unable to attend last year. If the gaming world ever splits into fractious factions and goes to war, I'll lend my support to John's faction. Not that it would ever happen, of course.... I was very disappointed to miss out on the opportunity to game with him in the Puffing Billy, because my game of Palazzo or some other tedious endeavor ran an hour and a half longer than I'd anticipated. Meeting Anye Sellers. It was brief, and I was right in the middle of the end of another highlight still to be named, but there she was, and she's every bit as pleasant to encounter in person as she is on the 'net. (I met Rick Thornquist during this other highlight, as well, and Tom Vasel popped by and auctioned off a refrigerator magnet, so it was really quite the exciting night.) Seeing the old gang. The regulars with whom I gamed most consistently during my years in Columbus: Lynne Lewellen, Mark Geary, and Bruce Coulson. Never got a game in with any of them, but there's always next time. Playing Proto-Tempus with the Café Games crowd--Ron Magin and Morgan Dontanville (aka "the Troll"), and their ardent fan, Michael Pennisi. This is that highlight to which I earlier alluded. J. Chunko tells me that I did better than Michael has recorded somewhere on BGG, but I tend to doubt it. I was too busy thinking about exactly what the heredity of the game was to actually concentrate on the "game". Also I was busy trying not to snort coffee through my nose as one ribald remark after another came pouring from these wack jobs. The highlight of this highlight was lying about how much longer I would be when my ride called to tell me they were sitting outside the convention center waiting to take me to my lodgings, and then "accidentally" turning off the phone when they called back.... Val Putman's picnic. Val is ever the consummate gaming enthusiast, and her skills as a hostess are unrivaled. She made me feel special and welcome back in Columbus (are you listening, Alan Moon?) long before I actually arrived. Last, and foremost, gaming with the Chunkster. Jeff Chunko is about as great a Tichu partner as you could ever want--but aside from all that "gamer from another dimension" gaming expertise, he is without compare as a pal, and I sorely miss gaming with him outside of BSW. That, plus Anne Chunko makes a really fabulous diabetic-friendly lasagna (at least it was very personable, if not outright friendly.) And this is the last touchy-feely "oh aren't gamers so fabulous" post you'll ever read from me. Daniel Brown - Jul 6, 2005 2:37 pm (#1988 Total: 2000) Where many were, how few remain Of old Familiar things! But seeing to mind again, the lost and absent brings. - A Lincoln I must say that I enjoyed myself immensely at Origins this year. I will be back for next years festivities. Unfortunately I did NOT have enough time. I had made family fun obligations for the 4th of July weekend, so I was only at the Con Wednesday evening all day Thursday and Friday up till 3PM....not nearly enough time. Unfortunately my medical condition (Rhuematoid Arthritis-just had my right hip replaced last August, am going to have my left hip replaced, then start on both knees) left me fairly exhausted by Friday. I stayed at the Clarmont Hotel (650 S. High)-only $5.00 to the convention center by the Somali-inhabited cab service. This is the only Hotel I stay in while in Columbus, I like it, they know me, its very comfortable and fairly inexpensive ($71 a night) The Convention was in major activity mode when I finally got there at 9PM Wednesday night !!! Excellent. Thursday just didnt have enough time units in it...And my major gripe about the convention : The onsite convention book specifically states that the Exhibit Hall was to be open from 12 Noon to 8 (EIGHT) PM on Thursday. I had an NSDM game that went from 12 Noon to 6:15 PM on Thursday. So I thought I would be able to get some game purchasing in on Thursday...but NOOOO...the dealers area closed at 6 (SIX) PM on Thursday, where the Convention Book stated it would go until 8 (EIGHT) PM!!! DID it make a difference? It did to me...and to everyone I didnt get a chance to get to see. To the tune of (At LEAST) $200.00. I wasn't able to get the games I wanted to buy, I did pick up 17 other games, but ran out out time on Friday. Otherwise I loved the whole thing. Well--the Food prices were somewhat on the extreme side (specifically $8.00 for a foot-long at Subway and $2.00 water), but since I did have 3 meals outside the convention site, and a couple of other places in the Food Court did have some reasonable and tasty offerings, it's nat a big deal. I loved the movies. I loved the generic 'tickets'/coins. That worked very well for me. I didnt have any problems outside of being lied to about the Exhibit Hall Hours of Operation. So I'lb be back next year with another heap of cash and hopefully time for the full, whole weekend. Brad Stock - Jul 7, 2005 12:50 pm (#1991 Total: 2000) Current Research -- Britain and Turkey in WW1 My favorite Origins story? Picking up a mint March to Victory at a reasonable cost after selling lots of stuff in the auction store! No, really my favorite part was pushing the Austrians back against the Carpathians by unhinging their flanks, rather than beating the Russians to death against the white wall. Der Weltkrieg was fun on the East Front -- we will NOT mention the West Front (oops, I just did), where Herr Todd S. beat my French to a pulp, extracting a virtual surrender in the suburbs of Paris. A very depressing experience, serving as a punching bag for an expert Herr General. On the other hand, it was fascinating watching him play expertly. A bit more like serving as a lab animal in a successful experiment than playing a game (Not really.) But as always, Herr Todd is a gentleman. John Kisner - Jul 7, 2005 4:25 pm (#1992 Total: 2000) Des Moines, Iowa... immersed in OCS and La Bataille I had an amazingly good time at Origins, after a few years absence from Columbus. Only in for Saturday and Sunday, I made every minute count. On Saturday I played OCS Tunisia, the opening scenario that runs about 6 weeks. It was very enjoyable. My opponent had to leave at 6 pm, which was a shame since he had just completed a series of successful attacks with 2 turns left to play, and it would have been exciting. I suspect it would have come down to weather rolls and how another round (or two) of Hail Mary attacks went. We were both happy to call it a draw... main thing was we had a lot of fun. Playing next door were a pair I recall from the last time I was at Origins. They were playing OCS Korea, and the four of us exchanged commentary and answered one another's rules questions. Part of the fun was wandering the room a bit during enemy moves, and I got to see a lot of familiar faces playing a lot of cool stuff: 3Dog, Wacht, Sword of Rome, East Front Series, DAK, etc. Sunday I alternated between shopping and talking. One thing you forget, if you just go to the "real wargame" conventions, is how many cool games are for sale at Origins. I don't really follow the Euro and family game markets, and I could have bought a dozen games easily. As it was, I took home an import from the Mayfair booth (an abstraction set during the War of the Roses) and a trio of goofy family games from a publisher named Eight Foot Llama. I also got to (almost) take a Bridge lesson to try and get back in touch with a game I played a lot growing up. Thanks to the people of CABS who put in the volunteer hours to make the trip so enjoyable. I'll make an effort to make this an annual trip. Aaron Krebs - Jul 7, 2005 5:19 pm (#1993 Total: 2000) NoVA gamer My brief Origins summary: The war room was much nicer this year - location-wise a bit remote, but spacious and well air-conditioned. I always plan my annual trip to visit Columbus-area family for Origins weekend, so I get to go Thursday/Friday to the convention while they are working. My thoughts: Registration is getting a little better - perhaps familiarity helps here, as this was my 3rd year. But Wednesday night when I picked up my pre-reg and ribbons, they were ALREADY out of the OWC ribbon. The web-site interaction between Origins and GAMA is miserable but still better than last year. I am not a fan of any website where my only recourse is to put comments onto my order asking folks not to charge me for certain items covered by a ribbon from a previous purchase. Some user status awareness (ribbons purchased, etc.) would be nice, so prices could reflect your past purchases. Missed getting that freebie KODT comic! Loved the early open-time for the vendor area. I agree that the vendor area seemed a little less frenzied - no hot new game like that Pirates of the Caribbean collectible (damn that money pit). I have no idea whether it helped them sell more stuff, but I hope MMP (and the other wargame manufacturers) keep putting out little freebies - I heard at least SOME passing references to the free game in non-wargaming environs, personally, and it's a nifty little battle anyway IMO. Otherwise I got in 2 ASLSK2 games (great fun, I was impressed), some Pirates, A House Divided (boy, does the Union wish I had been the Confederacy leader), and .. I've forgotten the other match. Not bad for a couple days of low-stress counter-pushing. Aaron Krebs - Jul 7, 2005 5:24 pm (#1994 Total: 2000) NoVA gamer Oh, and another thing I hope nobody took the implication that last year's war-room was less than satisfactory, btw - many, many thanks to CABS for their diligence and organization each year I've been there. If I can break free I will try to go visit my family again - er, check out upcoming CABS gamefests - whenever they are. On the topic of Food, may I recommend just about any of the Cameron Mitchell restaurants in the area - my 4 nights included 3 at one of his places. CBC (microbrew restaurant), "M" - his signature/flagship spot, very pricey but MAN, and the steakhouse (very pricey again, but .. again, MAN). I am SOOO glad I had my cholesterol test the week before Origins. The Italian restaurant (Martini) across from the convention doors is also a Cameron Mitchell joint, but strangely I have not made it there. I like the North Market 1 block away, quite a lot. The subway stand in the convention area was poor even for convention/food court fare - soggy, overpriced junk. And yet, it was a GREAT weekend. Somehow I survived it. Frank Hakstege - Jul 8, 2005 10:40 am (#25882 Total: 25894) Ceterum censeo Unionem Europaeam esse delendam. OotW for me: Origins and games. I arrived Tuesday in the USA, had to get rid of any jetlag and then we drove Wednesday to Columbus, Ohio for Origins. On the way to Columbus (a 7 hours drive, but it was fun in the van together with Richard Kane, his daughter Gwen, Michael Ruttle and his son Wes) we played a card game called "Legion of Honor", a cardgame set during the Nappie era. Players are officers in the French army trying to make a career for themselves. The heart of the system are the event cards hat are dealt to players. The player makes a decision on whether or not he wants to fulfill the event, and subsequenty gets points for it. Points can be Notice (Did Napoleon notice you), Glory, Experience. You can also get Money, Fencing skills, lose or gain Health and your standing among fellow officers can go up or down. The historical events (Austerlitz, Marengo etc., etc.) can not be changed, but you can decide if your character was there or not. The campaings in Russia and Spain are brutal, your fellow officers can take offense to what you say and challenge you to a duel, you can marry, have mistrisses, cuckold (sp?) other wives. In short everyhting a decent officer could and would do . It is a great card game designed by Richard Kane and Michael Ruttle. Hopefully it will be published soon by Clash of Arms. I ordered two copies already, you might want to do the same. After arrival at Origins, we had to set up the booth. That went smoothly, dinner too and going to bed as well. Thursday: Origins starts!! Triumph of Chaos sells well, I get to meet some people. There is loads of games I want to buy and I will: Fire in the Sky, Formula De circuit Bahrain, some miniatures from Confrontation. Fire in the Sky looks intriguing. Big counters, colorful map, only a few pages of rules. I am glad I bought this one. Friday: 2nd day, time to play Legions of Honor again and I meet Rob Markham. We talk about Baron's War and Wallace's War. We get out the enlarged version of Baron's War and set it up. I am playing against Bill Wimble, Ed's son. Prince Edward is crashing his cavalry into my left flank, I am counterattacking with my cavalry, it is a slaughterhouse. In the middle King Henry is advancing, but all is not well. My infantry defends very well and eventually Henry is killed. At that point Bill surrendered, the King was dead, what to do ? The food is columbus is excellent. The Farmer's Market is great and has alot of fresh food, incl. Charlie Spiegel's favorite New Yorker sandwich. The best place of all is without doubt the Flat Iron, good music, nice waitresses, not expensive and wholesome food. Great place, check it out! Saturday: 3rd day. During the morning I am playing computer La Bataille. This is great! The computer takes away alot of the downtime from looking up rules, it does it all for you. There are still some minor issues, but overall it looks very good. I am taking a copy with me to Holland and will playtest it some more and hopefully doing a PBEM with one of the designers, Chris Farullo. In the afternoon I sat down for a game of " The Campaings of King David" it is Rob Markham latest project and boy, this is a gem! A large map of Judeah, the Sinai, Jordan and Libanon divied into areas. You can play some of the tribes that live there during King David's reign: Philistines, Judeans, Phoenicians and Moabites.... THe game consists of 8 turns, each turn having 12 phases. What you can do in a phase is determined by the phases' chit: you could for example build units, harvest your grain, dig up resources like metal or do some actions. Action includes moving our units around and beating up enemies. The game has a great feel to it and is very easy to learn. I am looking for to a published copy. Sunday: relax day. Time to get all the games I want, but have not bought yet: Rezolution, a minature game set in the near future (2150) when corporations control the world, alien are among us, mutants roam the streets and the forces of law and order have a hrad time dealing with them. Again, a game that is totally unknown to me, but is very appealing. In the afternoon, we pack up and leave for home (Pipersville in my case). Origins is great and as good as Spiel is in Germany. looking forward to return to it in the future. Frank