Battlefields is one of four major Michigan wargames conventions. Like all of the Michigan shows, it’s well-run, friendly and features games as good as any I’ve seen at the larger national shows. I visited for a few hours on Saturday and took some photos. I obviously didn’t take photos of all the events that were there, but got a representative sample. The convention also featured five dealers.
I took my annual day trip to Historicon this past Friday, arriving about 9 am and staying most of the day. I was in browsing mode—I had no list of things to pick up; no games to play.
You can see photos of the trip here.
In general, I was impressed with changes that HMGS-East had made with the convention. There was more room between gaming tables. The rooms seemed to be better li—the showroom was DEFINITELY better lit. If I were running a game, I think that’s where I’d like to host one. The wide tiers offered good gaming areas.
The flea market area also was opened up. Instead of floor to ceiling room dividers, there was a waist high rope line. That serve to cool things off in both the flea market and the adjacent ancients tournament area.
I took a trip down to Columbus on Friday to wander through Origins and see what’s going on in gaming today. You can see the photos I took in the gallery at:
For those of you who don’t know, Origins is held in the very large and modern Columbus Convention Center. The convention is four days long and attracts many thousands of gamers, from role playing gamers, to board gamers, collectable card gamers and, of course, miniatures gamers. Thanks to a games in education initiative by GAM, I got in free with my teacher’s ID. Many booths also were offering teacher freebies and discounts.
Woo Hoo!!
Miniatures games were prominently featured almost from the moment you arrived. Just to the left of the registration booths, legendary miniature wargamer Duke Siegfried had five very large (5 x 20?) table set up to showcase four of his games: Gordon in the Sudan, A Viking Raid, David and Goliath bibicals, Hannibal against Rome and a Lord of the Rings fantasy game. As is usual with his presentations, they were spectacular, representing the best of the visual aspect of miniature wargaming.
I just got back from the Pro-Or-Con Convention at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and have some photos of it.
I played in two games. During the morning session, I played in a fun French and Indian War game run by Pro-or-Con Staff. It was very bloody.
In the afternoon session, I played in a 25mm Crossfire WWII game run by painter extraordinaire Steve Dake.
I was on the losing side in both games, but didn’t mind because we gave the enemy a good fight.
If you live in Michigan or Northern Ohio, I recommend that you attend one of the group’s two annual conventions, Pro-Or-Con in the fall, and Battlefields in the spring. You can visit their website here.
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
For pictures, visit the gallery.
Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
