Now, the club has started meeting again, and I have to say, it has been a great reboot. The club started up in the 1980s, informally, at Campaign Headquarters in Newport News (a now closed, but once great, gaming store). It formalized sometime (more or less) around 1990. In 1992 the store was sold and became Gamer's Guild. A few years later it merged with World's Best Comics. Through that whole period, and up until maybe the early 2000s (maybe 2004) the club met every week, with a large attendance (several dozen on some nights) at World'sBest Comics. Then the group started meeting at Carl's place, and attendance remained strong, but not the peak level. At Carl's place, however, there was gaming maybe four nights a week. Carl grew sick in 2014, and after his passing away, gaming sort of stopped, except special events and at conventions.
Around 2008 the club decided to host a local convention - the Williamsburg Muster. That grew to two conventions, and despite some hiccups, are still going strong. But now, local gaming has returned.
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| ODMS crosses the Alps |
In the interim, there was always the local Wings of War group, organized by former ODMS president John Snelling, and also the Battletech and X-Wing groups led by member Jack Hollingsworth. But not general gaming.
On June 22, we met at World's Best Comics again, for a great game of Wings of War, and followed up by a game of "The Rules With No Name". All told, about ten gamers and a handful of spectators.
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| Deadly action in Stephen's Cowtown |
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| My band of cold-hearted cowboy killers |
On June 29, we met again, for "1754:Conquest", "Frostgrave", "Bolt Action" and "Hatfields and McCoys". A great turn out, close to 20 gamers.
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| John, Justin, Dave - 1754 action |
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| John D learning Frostgrave |
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| Bolt Action pictures by John H |
More to come, much more. July 6 will see ancients in 15mm (DBA, including armies for beginners) and maybe a session of Neil Thonas' introductory rules for medievals. Other games anticipated.
The week of July 13 will probably be light, as many members are attending the last Historicon in Fredericksburg, but the following week should be great with more games, and people showing off the games and miniatures they get at the convention.
Lots of planning for the near future - Ancients(28mm and 15mm), Napoleonics, Fantasy, SciFi, Car Wars, board games and more. Come check us out. You'll find something to like.
We are looking for a weekend venue also (Saturday and or Sunday) for larger more serious gaming - maybe a community center or a meeting room. If you have any ideas leave a comment or post an email to cturnitsa@gmail.com. Probably a monthly event on the weekends.
Looking for articles about gaming, history, fiction etc for the new ODMS website. Rules, campaigns, army lists - whatever you like. New website will be posted here.
Check out the ODMS Facebook group.
Also, be sure to attend Guns of August (August 25,26,27) at the Virginia War Museum in Newport News. Lots of gaming, and the only cost is entrance to the Museum ($8, with several discount categories).
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| Virginia War Museum |
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