06/28/13

Origins 2013 – Exhibitor Hall!

Brant Guillory, 26 June 2013

The exhibitor hall was refreshingly busy. Some of the dealers I spoke to had reported some slower sales, and the big guns of wargaming that had been present for so many years – GMT, MMP, Avalanche, Matrix, LNLP – were all missing for various reasons. But if you wanted to find some great gaming, there was no excuse, because it was everywhere. Even without the more well-known companies, there was plenty of wargaming to be found with Grognard Simulations, Proving Ground, Zvezda’s big booth, Collins Epic Wargames, VPG, and more.

What else did we find in the dealer hall? Check it out. Click on images to enlarge.

Escape: The Curse of the Temple, a real-time tabletop game

Yes, real-time. It’s got a sand timer, or a CD with a music track you can use.

Bayonet Jr showing off the stack of games for sale.

… and trying to avoid their picture being taken.

Many dealers, like Crash, advertised games that were on Kickstarter.

The ‘dungeon crawl’ table for the Munchkin Pathfinder game.

Another view of the ‘dungeon crawl’ table for the Munchkin Pathfinder game.

These guys had a light-projection table plugged into a computer to project the map onto a light box for RPG encounters.

Another view of the projected light-box.

These poster maps were HUGE and printed on vinyl for durability.

BIG starship plans from Blackwyrm Publishing.

Bayonet Jr gives you a sense of the scale of these maps.

Scrying Eye also does some very cool game mats.

Steampunk airships make for great table maps.

The geomorphic dungeon crawl tiles were a neat find.

Scrying Eye’s rack of game mats was impressive in its quantity.

So how many of the basestars can you name?

And how many of the battlestars could you ID?

Miniature spaceship armadas are more impressive when they’re on the wire posts to elevate them.

More spaceships, and fighters were 3 / $1.

These handmade ships from Sea Dog Games break down for travel and are made in Columbus.

No, he’s not having an identity crisis. There actually was a priate that would sail under a British flag to close on ships, then run out the Jolly Roger.

TechCommander figures. They’re not really “minis” when they stand 6 inches high.

A Caribbean “castle” for your pirate adventures.

It’s a cooperative game where all the players are trying to take down the bad guys together.

8th Summit has some expansions for Agents of Smersh coming soon.

Drake: The Dragon Wargame from Action Games Miniatures

The full table for Drake: The Dragon Wargame from Action Games Miniatures

One more look at Drake: The Dragon Wargame from Action Games Miniatures

VPG had much more than just their wargames out for the public.

And those miniature dice towers are just darn cute.

VPG was focusing on family games, rather than their more famous wargaming lines.

Balance of Power from Catalyst. Bayonet Jr actually spanked the demo guy in their sample game.

That’s it for our 2013 Origins coverage. See y’all next year!

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06/27/13

Warlock Four-Player AAR

LongBlade: The first report of our four-player Warlock brawl was filed by MetalDog and can be found here. MetalDog, it should be noted, has a couple of nom de guerre and folks sometimes refer to him under his Steam moniker, Stophro. It’s the same guy, just a different name. Hopefully this won’t confuse readers if I warn you ahead of time.

I’ve started trying to color code each person’s name with the color of them in the game. MetalDog is blue. Bartheart, I have just learned, is yellow. Yellow (see what I mean?) doesn’t show up too well with a white background so I’m going to use a slightly different color, amber.

Anyway, during the last session the game was just starting and we were following MetalDog as he discovered Bartheart to his southeast. Now I will pick up the narrative from Bartheart’s perspective as he explains his starting position and his reaction to finding his neighbor, MetalDog, so close to his own borders.

Bartheart: Turn 1 – Déjà vu all over again

So, here we go again with a different group of vict… err… players that MetalDog has dug up for our bash fest. Should be interesting.
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06/26/13

Origins 2013 – Gameplay!

Brant Guillory, 24 June 2013

Look, you’re at Origins to check out all things gaming, right? But what about actually, y’know, playing games?! There’s plenty of gameplay to be found through the convention center. Here’s a snippet of what was going on Saturday.

A really BIGGER game of Settlers of America

One of the great things about conventions is getting to play those monster, multi-player, multi-hour games, like Twilight Imperium.

The minis tables always have some visual treats on them

One of the odder games we saw, mixing early-WWII-era ground troops with some very odd aircraft.

Ever seen a 4-winged, fixed-wing close-air-support attack plane? Now you check that one off your bucket list.

Preparing to repulse those insectoid aircraft.

Infantry advancing behind their armor support.

Stay tuned for our final installment of our Origins coverage from the Exhibitor Hall later this week.

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06/23/13

Civilization V: The Guide to Mods

Chris Mohon, 23 June 2013

Your Guide to Civ V Modding Madness!

I am a gamer.

Like so many of you, I started gaming at an early age, pushing cardboard pieces around on colorful maps, shooing the family cat away, and rejoicing when the alien technology plucked out of the Roswell UFO crash resulted in a brand spanking new Commodore computer on my desk. Because really, of all the wonders that a computer can bring into your life, what’s better than computer gaming? Ummmm…..well, keeping in mind that this IS a family website, anyway…..

Without a doubt, no game has stolen more hours of my life away than Sid Meier’s Civilization series. I’ve logged in over 500 hours on Civ V alone, and I’ve played every previous version at least as much. Back in the days when a new top-of-the-line computer was obsolete within a year, two at most, occasionally a game came along which drove otherwise rational gamers to upgrade their computers so they could play the darn game. Civilization II-III and Panzer General 2 were responsible for many pitiful explanations (by that I mean begging) to my wife as to exactly why I needed a new graphics card and more memory or the Holy Grail, a new machine!

Clearly, I’m not the only Civ junkie. Every new Civ is an automatic best-seller, but the most telling thing about the game is perhaps the devotion of the fans who create mods, civilizations, maps, units and scenarios for the various Civs. As thrilling as Civ has always been to me, the opportunity to add units and maps of my own preference to Civ is the icing on the cake. Dreadnaughts, air ships, helicopters, nuclear carriers and subs, panzers, giant Mechs, Celtic kings, and Southern Generals, huge maps of the real world and detailed maps of fantasy kingdoms, most of these things have found their way into proper Civ games at one time or another, with many being initially created by fans to be inserted into a very moddable Civ universe.
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06/22/13

Origins 2013 – Costumes!

Brant Guillory 22 June 2013

One of the more entertaining benefits of game conventions is checking out the excellent costumes that some folks wear to the show. This year’s Origins was honestly lacking in full-on costumed convention-goers, but a great many people were sporting something, like a set of steampunk goggles, or a set of antennae on their head. I didn’t notice as many animal tails hanging off of people this year, however. There were a few WH40K pictures that I’ve seen since Origins, but I didn’t see them while I was there.

Origins13127 — The demo team for Catalyst’s *Leviathans* game were most decked out in some nice costumes.

Origins13125 — Steampunk costumes continue to be popular.

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