Orccon 2005
By Will Bartos
Tuesday. Apr 12, 10:03 AM
Let's count the geeks...

I have always been one for a good game. I have been around since the golden age of the 8-bit era, and have seen consoles evolve into their respective powerhouses today. I have seen PC gaming machines that have more power in a box than NASA did over 20 years ago in a full room. Graphics, sound, and physics engines have vastly improved over the years, creating full environments – playgrounds, if you will – for everyone. Truly, this is gaming at its finest.

However, there is a much, shall we say, darker side of gaming. A side that not too many tread. A side that not even my partners in crime delve into. This is a side of gaming where dice are rolled, character sheets are made, cards are dealt, and miniatures are moved. Yes, I am crossing over… to the dark side of gaming.

It was at the Westin Hotel near Los Angeles International Airport where this gathering of darkness took place… held by the Strategicon folks: welcome to Orccon 2005 – Wargames at their finest.

Now before I get into this article, I will say that I have gone to a couple of other, more notable “conventions” – the most notable being Anime Expo in 2000 and E3 in 2004. AX is closer to what Orccon is. With that said, I have found that all cons have one thing in common that make them worthwhile: the dealer room.

Before I hit up said dealer room, however, let us start with the con itself. Orccon actually took up three floors of the Westin. The first floor was reserved for miniature and war game type games, and one big room was reserved for the granddaddy of all wargaming: Games Workshop’s own Warhammer (Fantasy) and Warhammer 40,000 (40K) tournaments. Other games, including a World War II game and a small D&D 3.5 edition tutorial, were also held on the first floor.

The second floor held other assortments of games, including card and board games. Card games ranged from poker to cribbage. Even the infamous card game Munchkin (in all its forms) reared its ugly head. Board games included simple games that some of us are familiar with, to games that almost no one has probably heard of such as Battlecry and Dino Hunt. The third floor was reserved for more hardcore pencil-and-paper RPGs, such as D&D or Vampire the Masquerade. However, after looking at the program, it seemed as if the third floor was geared more towards LARPs (live-action-role-play) than just sitting at a table and rolling dice. This is a dark area of gaming even I do not touch.

This is not to say that technology was completely absent from the con. There was a small room devoted to computer games. A small LAN had been setup with four towers, and it seemed to be a “bring your own laptop” room. Three XBoxes had been set up in a LAN as well, most likely for Halo 2. There was also a Game Cube in the corner, hooked up to a small television for multiplay. There was not a whole lot of love for Nintendo’s system… but I digress.

Back to the first floor. The Fantasy and 40K tournaments were official “Rogue Trader” tourneys, meaning that the games really had no bearing on the official story of the game, but it did add to your win/loss record (that and it took place outside of official Games Workshop conventions). As I did not have an army to play in either tournament (mostly due to how expensive the hobby really is), I mostly walked around and looked at either painted armies or terrain. There were a few good painted armies worth noting, including a Dark Eldar army (40K) and a set of Orcs (Fantasy). However, the terrain was not well done on the tournament side at all. The best terrain came from one of the bigger tables on the “pick-up game” side, where gamers would play for fun.

As I said earlier, the main attraction for a con like this is the dealer room. Surprisingly, games were not the only thing being sold here: miniatures, puzzles, costume pieces, jewelry, and even swords were for sale in the large room. The amount of stuff in the room was amazing, and some of the items threw me for a loop, including a beginner’s lock pick guide complete with tools. How funny.

However, one particular game did catch my eye: a game simply called Space Bastards!! (From Outer Space). I will not go into detail about it here: look forward to a review very soon about the game in the coming week! I will say, however, that the demo station in the dealer room, not to mention the regular game sessions in the hall outside, were definitely the highlight of the trip. Battle cries were screamed, bastards were fragged, and big, pointy aliens were unleashed.

Unfortunately, this was the high point of the con. Honestly, gaming conventions are not for everyone, particularly if you are not willing to be seen with people who aren’t quite the norm. However, if Vin Diesel can write a forward to the 30th anniversary book for Dungeons and Dragons, then at least one reader will be willing to attend a con. I will not be doing articles on this “darker side of gaming” very often, but they will happen. This is another side of games that not many people know about, and Orccon 2005 is just one of many events that could be written about in the months to come.
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Will Bartos

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