Origins Gaming Convention

It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to a gaming convention and I’ve never been to one on the scale of Origins in Columbus. I’m used to Marcon filling up the Hotel-end of the con and Ohayocaon spilling over into some of the main Convention Center spaces but Origins fills all the spaces quite thoroughly.

It took me two hours for my “first pass” through the dealers room. I’ll do that to see what I want buy and consider whether I have enough money for all the things I want. Then I’ll go back through again and buy things.

I had helped to Kickstarter a steampunk airship racing game called Quicksilver and the guys had a display. I had received my copy last week but haven’t yet had a chance to play it yet. Some friends have a gaming get together coming up in a few weeks so I’ll take it along to that.

Chimera Hobby Shop had a huge collection of RPGs with the label “Buy 1 Get 3 Free.” What a deal, right? Except that couldn’t find one game on those shelves that I wanted to pay full price for let along three others. On the back side of those shelves they had 50% discount shelves for many older games. I ended up buying a 2nd edition GURPS Old West for $8. Couldn’t find anything else.

I considered getting Hollow Earth Expeditions from the Studio 2 Publishing booth but I could get that anywhere. If I decide to get that I’ll order from Bill & Walt’s downtown and support my local game shops. They also had a book of 501 plot seeds which looked useful but I didn't pick that up either.

Chessix Manufacturing had some large misprint gaming mats for only $10. I think they are printed off center a bit so perfectly usable and more than half off. Didn’t pass that up.

Steve Metze tried to sell me his Uber Steampunk RPG. As if I don’t already have enough steampunk role playing games that I’m not playing. Again, though, it’s the sort of thing that if I do decide to get I can order through my local game shop. I bought a replica 1889 British gold sovereign coin commemorating Victoria’s jubilee.

I have two of the fleet sets for the steampunk flying battleship miniatures game Levaithans but didn’t have the core set with the maps and the rules. Buying one of these was my primary reason for going to Origins and the display was right up front. At the end of my second pass through the dealers room I bought one of these big boxes and then went out to the car so that I wouldn’t have to carry my swag around with me for the rest of the day.

My Clockwork Fez drew a lot of attention. Not only from the random conger but from dealers who were using the conversation starter as an in to attempt to sell me their game or book.

In the miniatures gaming room I was particularly interested in the Axis & Allies tables. While I liked the Anniversary Edition which had a huge board what really caught my attention was the new World War One version of the game. I didn’t see any zeppelins, though. I wonder if they have any rules for them. I actually doubt it because, even though we steampunks venerate the mighty airships, they really didn’t have any measurable strategic impact during the war.

Zeppelin miniatures would have been cool.

The 1914 game lists at nearly $100 but I don’t see it as having more than the other games in the series that list in the $30 and $40 range. Not sure why the price is twice as much.

At Up in the Aether, I spent an hour or so talking to Mark about airships. I ran into him at the Axis & Allies table. I probably would have talked with him more if he didn’t have an appointment to meet with some people for a scheduled game. I’ll probably be seeing him again at Pandoracon.

I was expecting to see Sarah Hans but didn’t see her in the crowd. She was having a book release party later in the evening but I was planning to be long gone before that as I had things to do the next day and wasn’t going to be staying that late. I saw a few steampunks walking around but no one I recognized or that recognized me.

I stopped by a game of Gettysburg Soldiers. They had 15mm soldiers all decked out on a very recognizable Pennsylvania field. The Confederates seemed to be doing quite well. Concentrated artillery had pushed the Union lines back of Cemetery Ridge at The Angle and the Confederate divisions were advancing past the Emmitsburg Road..

I could see myself becoming much more involved in miniatures gaming were it not for the fact that I don’t play the games I have now and miniatures are really expensive. For example, the Gettysburg Soldiers game rules are $15. Not a big deal. But each miniature figure represents 50 soldiers at $5. An infantry regiment of 1000 men would need 20 figures and cost $100. A division is 3 brigades of 4 regiments each; $1200. The Union fielded 94,000 men and the Confederates 70,000 at Gettysburg. That’s $16,000 and not even considering that mounted figures cost more and a cannon costs twice as much as an infantryman. And terrain. I mean, if you’re going to drop that much for soldiers, you ar going to have to build Little Round Top out of foam with grass, trees and rocks.

\My concession to miniature gaming is my helping to fund a Kickstarter for a War of the Worlds miniatures game called All Quiet on the Martian Front. They have a very good deal on their miniatures, they have added a lot of bonuses and it’s friggin’ MARTIAN WAR MACHINES!

So, with all these games I own, I really need to play them. Friends of mine have game nights from time to time so I need to take Quicksilver. Or Leviathans. Or Battle Cry. Or Samurai Swords. Or any of the other games that I have filling the closet in my library.

After the con and before going home I stopped by the Market House for Jeni’s icecream. OMFG! Their chocolate cayenne is fantastic!