Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
RYCKIE HOLM, left, and Eddie Burgoyne study an X-Wing table intently at about the one-hour mark of play. Each game has a limit of one hour and 15 minutes. Holm would eventually win, although it looked dire after Burgoyne launched an attack into the six position of Holm's best ship, leaving it greatly damaged Friday morning at Holm's Hobby in Ironwood.
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood - Hurley mathematics teacher and Holm's Hobby owner Ryckie Holm Jr. hosted an X-Wing tournament Friday at his shop on East Ayer Street. Holm said he schedules events when school is out, so that not only kids in school can play, but he opens up shop and takes part, also.
Holm has added an extensive amount of inventory to the shop since the initial opening on June 1.
Jeremiah Manzer, who described his family as "a table-top gaming family," said his family used to travel to Ashland for tournaments, but now they play in Holm's Hobby. Manzer has six children and they are all into gaming. Three of his sons joined him Friday morning for the tourney and he expected his two daughters to join after lunch.
Manzer said, "X-Wing is like chess with space ships."
While Holm being a math teacher described the game as having a significant amount of math on a table within the game and within the large amount of customizability of the ships, players have to record and keep track of a lot of information for their ships, as well as their enemy's.
Manzer said, "If our kids are playing table-top games and spending their time and money on the games and pieces, they will not have enough to buy drugs."
When he was growing up, Manzer said he started playing different games in the early 1990s, so if it rained, they would play "Dungeons and Dragons" or "Magic the Gathering." Within those games is a lot of strategy, math, memorization and imagination.
The tournament brought out 12 players Friday morning. The entry fee was $5 and would involve four Swiss Rounds. In total, it would take about six hours to declare a winner, as winners play winners and losers play losers, with each game having a set time limit of one hour and 15 minutes.
Each player has his choice of which ships to play with, how to equip them, and how to implement and operate them on the board. Each ship has its own strengths and weaknesses, which draws a significant amount of strategy into the matches to line up strengths against weaknesses, while trying to mask or hide weaknesses from the enemy.
Turns occur simultaneously between the players, with each player declaring his intentions on a round Antikythera-looking play piece. The players move their ships, running into each other or asteroids on occasion, before unleashing different attacks and defensive fires as won by the roll of dice.
An amazing amount of play interaction occurs between the players as the ships move and fire on each other. It is a very social event.
Holm's is hosting an "Adventure League with Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Generation" rules next weekend on Saturday, April 7, at 2 p.m. Holm said with Adventure League, each session is independent, so a person can show up, develop a new character and begin playing with others who have older, more established characters without having to worry about staying with the game in what is commonly called a campaign.
All players will begin with Level 1 characters.
Holm has one confirmed Dungeon Master on tap for next Saturday and a few others who have expressed an interest.
He said if people are interested in contacting him about being a DM, Facebook is the best means of reaching him. Pre-rolled characters will be available, or folks can arrive early and roll their own.
