I just returned from the
Origins Game Fair in
Columbus Ohio.
Origins is the national show of the Game Manufacturer's Association (GAMA) and this year was the 35th annual show, so it's been around for a while. I missed it last year but I've been to it every other year, starting in
Baltimore over three decades ago. Good show.
The show's theme this year was Victoriana, yet more evidence of the relentless all-conquering march of Steampunk. In honor of that, Talon Dunning (an artist who I predict you’ll see more of in the future) did a beautiful painting for the
Origins War College. For reasons which surpass understanding, they did not use it, but I bought a copy of the print. I also used it as the lead piece of artwork on this blog entry, so judge for yourself. Here’s a
link to his web page – most of his art is fantasy rather than steampunk, but that may change as well. Let's hope so.
Catalyst Game Labs prominently featured their steampunk miniatures game
Leviathans, complete with a large diorama of two French aerial Leviathans crossing above the White Cliffs of Dover and being met by two British aerial vessels. There’s no denying the appeal of big flying ships. I’ve certainly never been able to resist. Here is a
link to Catalyst’s free download section where you can take a look at the game basics and a background piece on their world.
Several of the booths were purveyors of Steampunk costume paraphernalia and lots of the attendees were in costume. Here are some pictures of attendees, snapped by Ken St. Andre and forwarded to me. Ken’s the designer of
Tunnels and Trolls, and it was good to see him again at the show.
Rod
Campbell from Highlander Studios was there as well. We had dinner and spent a couple hours talking about the upcoming 15mm line, fine-tuning its contents mostly. We have greens (masters) right now, but we should have some painted production figures in a couple weeks so we’ll hold off showing them until then. Those of you going to
Historicon in about a week will see the first releases there.
A very good show overall.
