Road Warriors’ Report from Origins and Historicon
Historical miniatures are the raison d’etre for the Historicon gathering in Lancaster. Tables covered with highly detailed terrain where "toy soljers " maneuvered were spread throughout the convention hotel. While a few games of a fantastic nature were played—there were some gorgeous Victorian science-fiction games there—the overwhelming majority of events at Historicon are historical.
Armchair General and 10 other magazines of the Weider History Group sponsored speakers that included Col. David Glantz, Frank Chadwick, our own Dana Lombardy and myself at the Origins War College and Historicon Military Seminar Series. These seminars are sort of mini-conventions within the larger event. We interviewed several of the seminars’ presenters privately and will be posting podcasts on the ACG site this autumn. Stay tuned.
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At Origins, 60 people showed up for "Iraq F.A.Q." with lieutenant colonels Robert Blanke and Jaime Laughrey. A panel discussion on "The Largest Tank Battle?" with Col. Glantz, Maj. Pete Panzeri, et al, began in Columbus and continued in Lancaster; Frank Chadwick’s eloquent logic gave the battle of Chinese Farm the "largest" title. Ironically, a similar opinion poll on the Armchair General Web site recently garnered just two votes for Chinese Farm; maybe it’s time to read up on that battle!
Our crew also hosted two nights of historical trivia at Origins. Man, those players were just too smart. Few questions stumped them all, although the queries represented the diverse history found in Weider’s magazines, from Vietnam to the Wild West, plus some gaming trivia. Try your hand at a few of them here.
Our traveling team is currently getting some hit points back and talking about next year. Hope to see you in summer 2009. In the meantime, here are a few more pictures from the road trip, including one that proves ACG‘s Web editor has some powerful friends. All pictures by Brian King.
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