Origins 2019, my 7th year running Kings of War events. The Ohio War Kings presence is growing - we ran 40 events this year for 7 different games:
- Kings of War
- 4 Learn to Play events
- How You Use It! Tournament
- 1995 pt Tournament
- Kings of War: Vanguard
- Dreadball
- Warpath
- 6 Learn to Play Events
- Incursion multi-player event
- Deadzone
- The Walking Dead: All Out War
- Gaslands
- 5 different scenarios
- Area 51 Deathrace (5 times)
- Gotham Invitational (twice)
- Irradiated Radiator Sprints (twice)
- Miyazaki Invitational (twice)
- Boonta Eve Podrace Remtach (twice)
Overall we had 167 players and 7 game masters for a total of 85 games (which is about 190 hours of gameplay) over the five days of the convention. The Mantic events alone had more players than ever before, and then Gaslands upped that by 50% (our total attendance was slightly more than double last year!)
So it was a great convention for us. Thank you to all of the GM's, and all of the players.
 |
| Learning Kings of War (because Dave needs a refresher :-) ) |
 |
| People really enjoyed all the armies available to try |
 |
| Our gaming area - A407 - with the new banner welcoming players at the front end. We had a triple booth - 20' x 60' |
 |
| Setting things up for Vanguard |
 |
| people relaxing with games going on in the background |
 |
| Warpath was a hit! |
 |
| Some GM's earned vouchers - but I think Origins was compensating for something |
 |
| Dada dada dada dada, dada dada dada dada GASLANDS! |
 |
| More Kings of War! |
 |
| The Walking Dead run by Dave, hamming it up for the camera |
 |
| Dave runs the Gotham Invitational while Lee runs the Area 51 Deathrace |
 |
| Jesse teaches a couple of guys how to play Deadzone |
 |
| Keith gets started explaining the intricacies of Warpath |
 |
| Out in front, players are picking up Vanguard quickly |
 |
| Dave isn't quite as excited by his third game of Walking Dead, but the players love it! |
 |
| Another session of Vanguard |
 |
| The 4th annual Dreadball Origenes Cup (8 players) is run by Andrew |
 |
| 4 players for the How You Use It! tournament - Mike Moyers, Felix Castro, Tom Ziegler and Matt Carter |
 |
| Theo Simonson faces off against Bob Boggs in the tournament on Saturday |
 |
| Jon Carter battles Tom Ziegler |
 |
| Theo vs Jon |
 |
| Tom vs Bob |
 |
| Theo Simonson, Jon Carter, Tom Ziegler and Bob Boggs for the 1995 pt Kings of War tournament |
I made sure I gave explicit layout instructions, so there were no issues at all with our gaming area (we had all our tables AND chairs and power!).
I was a bit disappointed at the turnout for the Kings of War tournaments. Unfortunately big conventions are not great for these, especially when there are now SO many tournaments going on (practically one every weekend). A lot of miniature players don't tend to play other games, so they come for just the tournament, and with the convention badge costs, parking (especially difficult on Saturday as the Pride parade takes place on the same Saturday as Origins every year, going right past the convention center) etc. So while the tournament scene is growing (Andrew Summers had over 20 people for his one day event in Indianapolis a month before), conventions are not the best place for it.
Because of this, I think (though I'm not 100% sure yet) that these may have been the last Kings of War tournaments at Origins (though maybe Vanguard if people are interested?)
Also a big shout out to Orcs Forge Games (in booth 339) for bringing some Mantic stock! It was nice, for the first time, to be able to actually direct people to a booth selling some of Mantic's games!
So next up is Gencon! And to start planning for next year already! See you in Indianapolis in August!
Because it is all fun and games . . .
Comments
Post a Comment