FRAGO for Origins – #TuesdayNewsday 5/3/22

Each week, #TuesdayNewsday’s whirlwind tour of the strategy gaming headlines keeps you dialed into what matters

Origins released a statement that they had changed their mask guidance for this summer’s convention.  The original standard was that all attendees had to be fully vaccinated (and show proof) and wear masks at all times.  The vaccination requirement is still in place, but the mask requirement no longer is.

Warning: do not take this reporting of events at conventions as a license to open up diatribes about medical issues; we are focusing on the business & convention aspect of this issue and are not here to discuss whatever medical studies you keep in your pocket to suit your personal positions.

The reasoning given was largely economic, as there were vendors expressing concerns that the mask policy might lower attendance. Moreover, most of Columbus is, right now, largely mask-free, and Buckeye Game Fest did not require masks (or vaccinations).  That said, there have already been Origins 2022 vendors that have rolled over their registration to next year, and are backing out of this year’s show¹.

As noted elsewhere, the same thing happened with Adepticon, which originally had a mask mandate in place, and then dropped it in accordance with the local municipality rules.  They were accurately following local guidance, but because they’d original required masks, anyone who pre-registered was obviously OK with that mask requirement.  Once Adepticon changed course, there was a large contingent that cancelled their pre-registrations, insisted on refunds, and backed out of the show – some reports put that number as high as 35% of pre-reg’s that cancelled.
Origins has now changed their mask guidance with under 6 weeks to the show, after the hotel block reservations were made (many of which include a minimum 1 night charge if cancelled this late) and after plane tickets / travel arrangements were booked.  Again, regardless of your personal views on the medicine/science behind the effectiveness of masks, we can all agree that this is ineffective business practice to change the standards this late in the process.

We cannot ignore the medical front, however, and note that last October, Origins required masks for the entire show, and to date, there’s been no one even suggest that a case of COVID might’ve been tied to the Origins 2021.  Meanwhile, there were multiple Adepticon attendees all report positive tests within a week of returning from Adepticon² (which, admittedly, could’ve been the result of travel rather than show attendance, but those positive tests were all drivers, not fliers).
Moreover, NorWesCon has been very transparent about their post-convention COVID reporting.

Both of these combine to suggest that while we are not here to litigate the science behind various COVID mitigation measures, being empathetic of the legitimate concerns of convention attendees to not risk their own health under current conditions should be respected, and not mocked. So if you’re supportive of GAMA’s actions, that’s fine.  But maybe don’t rub it in everyone’s faces with a pro wrestling gif, then be coy about rubbing it in everyone’s faces, and then try to deny that you rubbed it in everyone’s faces.

This Week’s Other Headline

The ballot is out for this year’s Charlies.  That’s all we’ve got on them for now….

 

• Almoravid: Reconquista and Riposte in Spain, 1085-1086 started shipping from GMT
• Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #18 – Korea–After Chosin is now shipping
• The Keystone RPG – a family-friendly implementation of the Cortex system – is available online, with a free preview and several initial expansions.
• SJG released a GURPS PDF that’s a set of templates to help rapidly create characters. It’s been around a while but is now re-released in print thru Amazon, too
• Free League Publishing has their new Death in Space RPG for sale
• Ares Games re-released the Battle of Five Armies game, which is somehow a 2-player game
• A lot of folks are all spun up about Warlord Games’ new Mythic America preorders for their Mayan warbands; we’re waaaaaay more excited about their Kelly’s Heroes minis & scenario bundle!

 

• It’s “Napoleon Week” at Matrix Games, which gets you between 35%–75% off of games like Victory and Glory: Napoleon, and Wars of Napoleon, and well…  Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector.
• MMP have moved the HASL Sword & Fire Manila module to their front page, so it might finally be moving and is still over $30 off right now
• SGS’s Pacific D-Day is on sale thru Steam at 15% off
• Miniature Market has Decision Games’ Atlantic Wall: D-Day to Falaise on sale at $48 off³
• S&T’s game-edition magazine sale this week is World at War #71, with Forgotten Pacific Battles (solo!)

 

• Heroes of the Bitter Harvest from LNLP launches this week on Gamefound
• Free League has launched their new Blade Runner RPG on Kickstarter and it’s over $430k on a $10k goal in the first week
• SJG still has their Pirate Dice d6’s on Indiegogo
• 1939 Talvisota is a digital game on Kickstarter that’s an RTS set in the Finnish Winter War that’s already exceeded it’s funding goal

 

• Saturday Night Fights ~ The Battle of Eggmuhl (part 2) for “Blucher”
• This week’s classic article revisits an old column for new exhibitors about Your First Convention
• Mentioned in Dispatches ~ Season Finale and Off To Origins
• AAR and videos from Connections Online will be later this week; sorry for the delay!
• Upcoming Dragoons Events
  • Next #UnboxingDay will be May 19
  • Next Virtual Convention that’s confirmed will be our ACDC in January
  • Next Real-World Convention is Origins, 8-12 June

 

• The Battle of Laichling for “Shako 2”
• Follow along with the Lasalle 2 club game, in our forums
• Photos from GUWS’s wargaming day this past weekend

 

• Fort Circle Games wants a part-time developer, and has a salary to go with it
• Avalanche Press tells you all about the army of Montenegro in WW1, then makes you join the Gold Club to use the pieces in a game
• CSL says they’ve now found a new solution for printing, and that includes shipping to Europe, in a recent email newsletter
• Yes, somehow Twilight Imperium is 25 years old.  FFG has queued up a new faction for the anniversary

 

• This week in our forums
  • The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch?
  • What did you play this past weekend?
  • Jan is showing off his 3mm minis.  Yes, 3mm
  • Got some good tunes to share with us?  The Jukebox Playlist is always open
• How do you play the underdog? (BGG)
• Someone on Facebook shared this pretty cool unit symbol generator
• Nicolas Eskubi is showing off some of the art from GTS UTAH

 

• Rocky explores the possible involvement of the US Navy in the sinking of the Moskva
• Moe has a tutorial for NATO: The Cold War Goes Hot
• The Players’ Aid had an interview with Petr Mojžíš, the designer of The Bell of Treason: 1938 Munich Crisis in Czechoslovakia
• Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream talked about Pacific theater wargaming

 

Don’t forget we’ve got a dedicated area of our forums for the professional wargamers.

• The students at the Command & General Staff College threw games on tables for a part of their curriculum. Even better?  It was a game designed by the kids at GUWS
• Here’s an interesting (long!) thread about who is fighting for the Russians in Ukraine
• What lessons can the USMC learn from the Ukrainians fighting a naval war against the Russians, with no navy of their own
• The BBC has a new article today on War games: The military’s deep affinity with gaming
• GUWS webinar tonight! Determining Morale in Wargames starts tonight, and they’ve got Gaming as Scholarship: Creating a Space for Games in Academic Research two weeks from now
• PaxSims has a couple of job announcements posted
• UK Fight Club are now noodling around with Watch Your Step about patrolling in a COIN environment

 

That’s all for this week!
Be sure to drop by our forums and join the fun, and next Tuesday we’ll drop some more news on you.

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1. Leder Games, Modiphius, Snowbright Studio
2. disclosed privately to the author and not going to violate their medical privacy by announcing them
3. don’t ask what that gets it down to; it’s still a LOT