Earlier, I shared my overall impressions about Origins 2010, and those of some people I gamed with there. While there were a number of issues I dealt with (being overcharged for generic tokens, writing seminars not listed in the event calendar, not being able to find a game or two, etc.) it was still a good time, and I thank the Origins staff and volunteers for making it that way. I also appreciate the efforts of the various game masters to make the games easy to learn, fair, and fun.

I played several games this year, which I’ll discuss in no particular order…

Steve Jackson Games’ Munchkin

One of the first games I played was Steve Jackson Games’ “Munchkin” card game. This particular session reportedly included all the various expansions to the original game, which I can believe because there was a stack of cards on the table that was close to a foot high. I played with a few adults and a young child, whose parents were also at the table. As has been my experience with games at Origins, the kid won. (That used to annoy me for some reason, but I’ve grown since then.) Munchkin is a fun game when you play it with people who don’t take it too seriously, and this group didn’t.

For those who haven’t played Munchkin, it’s a card game that is a parody of traditional role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Each player takes on a character and tries to advance that character to level 10, using any advantage or trickery they can get. Players gain a level by defeating a monster or playing a card that lets them gain a level. There are other cards which represent magic weapons and armor, effectively raising the player’s character’s level. For example, your level 1 character could take down a level 5 monster, provided he or she has enough weapons and armor to have an “effective” level of 6 or more. As you reach higher levels, other players will play cards on you to prevent your progress. These cards might, for example, add another monster to the fight, render one or more of your weapon/armor cards ineffective, or otherwise throw you a curve ball.

Flying Frog Productions’ Last Night on Earth

I played Flying Frog Productions’ Last Night on Earth board game at Origins as well. The premise of Last Night on Earth is that a zombie plague is destroying humanity and a group of “heroes” is trying to defeat the zombies so that this isn’t their “last night on Earth”. The players divide into two groups, one playing the zombies and another playing the uninfected “heroes” trying to defeat them. If the zombies can keep the game going long enough (a certain number of turns), they win. If the zombies kill off all the human players, they win. If the humans can complete their randomly-chosen (at the start of the game) objective, they win.

In the scenario we played, the humans were trying to destroy the seven original infected zombies. If they could accomplish this before time ran out, they’d win. The zombies (my side in this case) managed to keep the humans at bay long enough to win. I think we won because of some bad luck on the human side (lots of rolls of the dice that caused guns to run out of ammo) and perhaps a bad strategy (the humans stayed grouped together even when it was clear they were running low on time).

I enjoyed this game, and will be looking to purchase a copy someday. However, given that I still have several board games I’ve bought and have yet to have enough guests visit to play, I’m not willing to part with the list price of $49.95 for this one yet. However, if I find a used copy on eBay or a greatly reduced price copy elsewhere, I may pick it up. It’s not that I don’t think the game is worth the price, just that given the likelihood that I may not get to play it for a while, it doesn’t make sense to invest that much in something that’s going to sit on my shelf for a couple of years.

Mayfair Games’ Entdecker

I signed up for a session of Mayfair Games’ “Entdecker: Exploring New Horizons” board game, run by Mayfair itself. I had never played the game before, and neither had the other person who sat down with me for it. Unfortunately, this was a huge problem because Mayfair didn’t provide a game master for this session. The other fellow and I tried to decipher the fairly complex rule set as best we could and get playing. In the end, we both walked away feeling like this was a game we had no interest in owning.

To be fair to Mayfair Games, the event listing for Origins didn’t say the rules would be taught. And they did have someone come over to give us a very basic understanding of the game. He was there for 2-3 minutes. Perhaps if there had been a game master present, and maybe another player or two, it might have been fun. I don’t know.

I’m not going to describe the game in too much detail because, quite frankly, I don’t think my fellow player and I really “got it” from the rules in the book. At a high level, you take on the role of an explorer who is trying to gain as much credit for exploring and taking control of randomly-generated islands as possible. The islands are “generated” by placing tiles on the map in such a way as to outline a variety of islands. Exploration is done by paying a certain amount of money to “buy” island tiles that you place on your turn, from a selected starting point. You get credit for completing an island and placing units on the island. There’s probably a lot more to it, but we really didn’t have time to figure that all out.

Fantasy Flight Games’ Middle-Earth Quest

Fantasy Flight’s Middle-Earth Quest is a board game set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. In this game, one player takes on the role of Sauron the Great. The others take on the role of heroes hoping to defeat Sauron.

At a high level, the players each have personal quests to complete. These quests reward the player with training, favor, and knowledge which will help them in the battle with Sauron. They can also gain these resources by battling Sauron’s minions and stopping his plans. The Sauron player seeks to expand influence throughout the game world, interfere with the players’ ability to accomplish their quests, advance the “story track”, and/or find The One Ring.

The game takes 3-4 hours to complete. As is typical for a Fantasy Flight title, the artwork on the board, game pieces, and cards is excellent. It’s a fairly easy game to learn and play, but has enough strategy elements to keep it interesting and challenging. If you are a fan of Tolkien’s work and have an opportunity to sit down and try Middle-Earth Quest, I recommend it.

Ziggurat Games’ World War IV: One World One King

Ziggurat Games’ World War IV is set in the year 3126, after a massive world war has devastated the planet and taken technology back several decades. Each player takes on the role of a king who wants to rule the planet.

The best description I can give for the game is that it’s like a combination of Risk and Axis & Allies, but with some additional twists and turns. For example, in Risk it is possible to build a large army in a given territory and use that army to launch a massive attack. That’s hard to do in WWIV. Each territory in the game is able to support an army of a specific size. If you have more units in the territory than it can feed, you are required to roll the dice each turn to see if any of those units are starved out (and die). This simple mechanic keeps players from building and sitting on large armies, and encourages them to attack neighboring territories rather than let their armies die of starvation.

On each player’s turn, he or she draws an event card. The event card can be either an “innovation” that helps the player who drew it or a catastrophe that affects a random area on the board. For example, you might gain an innovation that makes your units move farther on each turn. You might instead draw an event which causes a typhoon to happen in a particular region, which destroys an opponent’s fleet there (and possibly starves out neighboring countries). The world of 3126 is not a pretty one.

After the event card is played, players collect income for the territories they control, which allows them to purchase military units and spies. They also move units around, launch attacks, resolve combat, and place newly-purchased units on the map.

Earlier, I mentioned spies. These are a vital part of the player’s arsenal. Although spies only combat other spies, they have benefits that make them worth keeping around. For one thing, spies can move unnoticed through enemy territories. They can use this freedom to get into the territory where an opponent’s king is located and attempt to assassinate him, taking that player out of the game. Spies can also give players an advantage in combat. If a particular attack takes out one of your units and you have a spy in the territory, you have the option of selecting which of your units is destroyed. If you don’t have a spy, your opponent gets to decide, which is usually very bad for you.

In the game I played, one of my opponents decided to test a theory. He created a “stack” of 6 spies and sent them into my territory. Since spies can move around unimpeded by who owns the territory, they were able to reach the territory with my king in a few turns. When they got there, the 4 spies I had guarding my king were (through some unlucky die rolls) taken out on the first attack. My king was taken out on the next. Considering that spies are among the cheapest units to purchase in the game, this was a relatively inexpensive attack for my opponent and (for me) a rather devastating one.

I really enjoyed this game. I think it may well have been one of the best games I’ve played at Origins in a long time. If you like games like Risk and Axis and Allies, I can’t encourage you strongly enough to take a look at this one.

Red Shirt Games’ Injurius Games: It’s Killing Time!

Playing Injuris Games at Origins is something of a tradition for me. It’s a fairly rules-light and fun miniatures game, depicting gladatorial style combat in a futuristic setting. Players each start with a squad of 5 units, which are moved around on a tabletop. There are snipers who can pick off targets at a distance, weapons that do damage over time, grenades that can miss one target and take out another by “splattering”, and power-ups that make units more powerful and effective. I’ve always enjoyed the game and the Red Shirt crew makes it fun to play, so I try to get at least one session of Injurius Games into my Origins schedule each year.

Exhibit Hall 2010

I’ll post some photos later, but it felt to me like the Exhibit Hall (or “Dealer Room”) was more full than at Origins 2009, meaning both that I saw more people walking through it and more vendors with booths. I hope that’s a sign that the economy is doing better and that the games industry is getting stronger.

There were some interesting products there this year which weren’t strictly game related (or at least I didn’t think so). There was a fellow selling handmade leather-bound journals or notebooks, containing handmade cotton-fiber paper. I have to admit I liked the look of those and since I tend to unintentionally “collect” notebooks it took some self-discipline not to buy one. I also saw a massage booth where gamers could get massages. I felt a little sorry for the massage givers that some of the gamers who purchased their services were drenched in sweat from the high temperatures outside.

Closing Thoughts

Being a resident of the Columbus area, Origins is an easy convention for me to attend. I take a couple of days off work, drive downtown, park the car, and get to play a bunch of games. It’s a fun time. I also get to visit some of my favorite restaurants that I wouldn’t normally visit because of their location.

Still, it felt to me like this year’s Origins wasn’t as well-run as it usually is. If the trend continues, I am not sure I will bother attending in 2-3 years’ time, or if I do it won’t be worth taking time off for.

Worse, it appears I was overcharged for the generic tokens I purchased. The refund I was promised by the Service Desk for the overage was not received as of earlier this week when I checked. Granted, $24 isn’t exactly going to leave me broke, but paying $24 extra for essentially nothing isn’t a good thing.