I’ve got a Flickr photostream setup for the Origins photos I’m taking… I’ll just post a few photos here to highlight the games I played today.

I had a pure chance encounter with friend Jay Schindler, which was a very pleasant surprise.  Last I heard about Jay he was dealing with some serious heart issues but is on the path to recovery and well enough to attend the convention.

Jay and I sat down for a demonstration game of Cleopatra and the Society of Architects with Days of Wonder marketing guru Mark Kaufman.  I was prepared to be let down a bit based on feedback of heard, but the game was quite fun (though we didn’t finish).  It is hard not to pick up each DoW game given the production quality, and I think this would get played at home.

Saw a lot of Tempus being played.

I hooked up with designer Kevin Nunn on the show floor.  We played a prototype, had some dinner, and played a three-handed game of Ingenious.  Another very tight game that was resolved by 2nd and 3rd tie-breakers (I finished last this time).

The guys from Northstar Games ran a very enjoyable Wits & Wagers tournament.  My group (with Kevin Nunn and Rick Thornquist) was in the running after the first round but collapsed on the final question on the second round, taking us out of the running.  Good fun though – this is a great party game.

Last stop this evening was a prototype called North Dakota Cola War by JM Rasmus et al (JM gave our demo).  This is an Americanized area control game set in the cut-throat soda industry of North Dakota.  Very good game with some unbalanced special cards that we think can be fixed – we liked it enough that we want to try it again tomorrow.

Overall it was a fun second day – I was working in the morning but managed to spend time from noon to 10:30pm at the show.  The scale is quite a bit smaller than GenCon, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  The show floor, however, is much less impressive.  Notably absent are the huge-scale setups from Wizards and Fantasy Flight.  Tomorrow I’ll enjoy about a half day there before flying back home in the early evening.

I’m able to mix some business with pleasure this week.  I’m here in Columbus, OH doing some customer visits but I’ll be able to squeeze in about 2 days at the Origins International Game Expo.  I’ve got some more work to do tomorrow morning, but starting Thursday afternoon I’m free for some gaming until late Friday afternoon when I fly back to Portland.

Tom Vasel and I made a date a few weeks ago to have dinner tonight.  We hooked up in the Board Room hosted by the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society (CABS) at about 4:30.  Also there was the omnipresent (and omniscient?) Rick Thornquist.  We chatted for a bit while Rick and some others wrapped up a game of GemBlo.  Tom’s been in country for about 2 weeks, spending his time up until now with family in Pennsylvania.  He returns across the Pacific to Korea in about a week.

Tom, Rick, and I then hopped in my car to drive over to Valerie Putman’s home for some fellowship and BBQ.  Met some interesting folks there, including the infamous Mr. Cranky and Jay Tummelson.

After dinner it was time to return to the gaming hall.  Rick, Michael Pennisi, and I sat down to try out the new Mayfair Games release Bison.  This is a tile-laying area majority game with some interesting elements.  The game is very action constrained (this is a Kramer / Kiesling game, after all) and has some bizarre scoring elements – it isn’t uncommon for the player that finished 3rd in the majority to score more points than the 2nd player.  It sort of made sense, and I’m interested in playing again to see how I can play better given a better understanding of the system.

The components are pretty nice, but the theme is pretty thin and the game feels abstract.  I was hoping for bison miniatures but I only saw cardboard tiles and wooden cubes.

Halfway through the game I was a bit turned off – it felt like a Colovini game with a touch of Trias.  It did improve as we finished and I’d like to try it again, though I doubt it will be a purchase.  We finished in a dead-heat with 26 points each, with Michael and I also in a tie for the tie-breaker.  We had identical scores, though he claimed since he had more bison points than I that he should win.

A rarity – we got in some family gaming this weekend!  After spending about 24 total hours on baseball fields this weekend (local tournament for both boys), I got some relief Sunday afternoon and managed to sit down and watch the US Open and play a game.  We pulled out a new acquisition – Winner’s Circle, the Face2Face games remake of Royal Turf.

Julie and Matthew had played this one before, but it was new to me and quite a good game. We played with the default rules where bets are open but only played two races.

The components are decent – I love the horses and the cards and board are decent quality, though my board had a printing smudge on one corner.  My only complaint, which is quite significant, is that it is quite hard to tell which horse matches which starting slot for the 3–4 horses that are close to a neutral grey.  I think I have some mild color blindess, but even Julie and the boys had problems at times figuring out which horse on the track matched which card.  Face2Face should have placed a number or some other matching / distinguishing mark on the horse to help keep everything straight – you shouldn’t have to work this hard when playing a game!

I suspect the hidden bet variant (including the zero bet chit) makes for a better game.

I first saw Axis & Allies Miniatures at GenCon 2005 and after hearing so-so playtest reports from Jacob and Matthew I decided to skip it.  Besides, it was near impossible to buy starter packs after the second day of the convention.

Last weekend KC, Rita, and I took a trip down to Medford / Ashland Oregon to spend some time with Jeff Deboer and the Funagain team.  We had a blast playing games (and prototypes), talking some business, and visiting the Funagain retail store.  I had a bit too much fun, walking away with about 8 or 9 purchased games.  On an impulse I picked up a starter and one booster of Axis & Allies Miniatures, and with Jacob eager to try it tonight we set out to play a quick scenario. He stayed up later than usual but with only 1.5 days of school left, no big deal.

We each chose 83 point armies.  Why 83?  Well, that’s all the armies the Axis could muster up with what I purchased.  As it was, I played the Axis with a blend of Germans, Japanese, and Romanians.  Jacob played the US, Brits, and Chinese.  So much for historic realism.  Guess I need to go out and buy more boosters.  Do you think that’s what WOTC wants me to do?

The game was quite fun – very simplistic combat system that I think we got mostly right.  There are no complex timing rules as damage is deferred to a casualty phase, though I suspect things might get dicey with some of the special abilities like most collectible games (no evidence to back that up yet).

Our armies were knocked down quickly – we each lost three of our starting 8 units in the first turn, and were down to 2 or 3 units each by the end of the second.  This was partly due to the fact that we both wanted to dive into combat to see what the game was about.  We still aren’t clear about the disruption / damage rules, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find some clarifications online.

I’m wondering if it would be worthwhile to pick up a set of commons and uncommons on eBay to get decent armies.  It looks like this can be done pretty cheaply (about $30 total).

First, in case you didn’t know, fellow gamer Moritz Eggert’s soccer/football composition “Die Tiefe des Raums” will be performed at the opening ceremonies for World Cup 2006.  Moritz is of course most famous for his review of Havoc last year.

Second, Stephen Cole of Star Fleet Universe just published his free book on Running a Game Publishing Company.  There’s some good stuff here, but I have yet to read it all the way through . Almost afraid to as I’ll be forced to face all of the mistakes we’ve made so far at Sunriver Games.  Maybe that will qualify us to help with the second edition of this book.

I’ve been very slow to provide weblog updates lately.  I’m sure one reason is that it seems that within 8 hours or so of a session I hold, 2 other people have blogged the same session better than I ever could, so why bother.  Maybe I should just stick to posting photos!  I remember a time when I was one of about 5 or 6 boardgame webloggers out there and I thought an interesting hook might be nice photos of gaming sessions.  Now there are 10+ gaming podcasts alone, including a high quality video podcast, and probably over a 100 weblogs related to boardgames.  I gotta find a new niche or just keep reminding myself that I do this primarily for myself.

Spring is always a busy season for our family as both boys continue to play competitive baseball with very demanding practice and game schedules.  We spent last weekend in the greater Bend / Sunriver area for our annual baseball tournament weekend.  Matthew had 5 games in La Pine, while Jacob had 5 in Bend.  Much driving commenced between those two towns (fortunately Sunriver is in the middle) but their schedules were mostly agreeable, causing me to miss only one of Jacob’s games.

Jacob continues to shine as a catcher and first baseman.  His fielding skills in those positions are excellent and his hitting continues to improve.  He has a very high on-base percentage – he’s a disciplined hitter and gets a lot of walks for someone his size (over 5’ 4” as an 11–year-old).  The pitching is starting to get much more challenging, with some kids throwing in the 65–70 range with some real junk (curves and change-ups).

Matthew is in his second year at the Midget level (he’s got one more year there) and is playing at the same level that Jacob did for the past two years.  He’s mostly pitching and playing first base, and is the strongest hitter on his team this year.

Oh yeah, I’m head coach for Matthew’s team this year.  After helping out with Jacob’s team last year, I decided to take the plunge and step up to coach a Midget team myself.  I’ve got two great assistants and the boys are having a blast.  We’ve had good pre-season tournaments but are currently 0–2 in our league play – we’ve seen two really tough teams so far.  This week has back-to-back-to-back games Tue-Wed-Thu so I’m hoping the team can climb back towards .500.