Charity Pub Sing/Music & Board Games @ NOVA Open 2016

Each year, we try to find more and more things to add to the NOVA for the "cost of the CAP," to help transform it over time into a well-rounded convention, instead of its early founding as primarily a gaggle of collocated, but ultimately isolated tournaments.

Two things stand out as heavily expanded and fleshed out this year to that end, giving people a lot more to do socially and gaming wise for the cost of attendance and nothing more.

First off, we're bringing back the Board Game room from last year, but expanding it pretty dramatically. Atlantis Comics and Games, which runs the room, will be running board tournaments, events, collaborative games, and more all weekend long with a proper, robust schedule of activities. So there'll actually be organizational support, potential rewards, and more. Furthermore, all events are free w/ a CAP (or Day Pass). In the same room, we'll have a lot of free Magic the Gathering activities as well throughout each day, with at-cost Limited Booster events in the evenings. Stay tuned to the newsletter for a list of all the board gaming events for the weekend. It's a TON, and it's gonna be awesome!

Second off, last year a few musical members of the staff wound up pulling out guitars and other things to jam in the Charity Lounge. In support of that, and with a few of the members of http://embrymusic.com (yes, this is my and my wife's band), as well as a few members of the NOVA Open staff, we'll be jamming most nights in the Lounge. But we'll also have a couple of 2-hour more formal sets with a wide range of fun sing-along-able songs to play, ranging from rowdy Irish drinking songs to popular music we all know and love from the last 50 or 60 years. You can check out the Embry set list for an idea of the types of things you might hear. This is another outgrowth of what makes NOVA happen each year - a combination of the developing passions of our various organizers, board members, and volunteers, as well as responsiveness to the outcome of surveys and feedback that attendees provide (folks loved the lounge jamming last year, and wanted more; people didn't quite know about the board game room last year, and wanted a more robust and well-organized time to enjoy it around).

Cya at NOVA!

The NOVA Open is Around the Corner, and Age of Sigmar is Sold Out

Rumors of my demise have been greatly overstated.

Well, I don't know if there are any rumors.

But hi!

So I haven't posted in a really long time, and that's my bad. I used the blog to keep people posted and wax [in]eloquent about the game for a long time, and I should get back to that.

First off, I've never actually blogged about whiskey.

So, drink Lagavulin. Why? Ron from Parks and Recs drinks it, that's why. Also, it's like licking candy off a grill. So. C'mon. It lacks the downsides of peaty whiskeys while owning all the upsides. Win win. IT's a little overpopular/cliche these days ... b/c it's awesome ... in a way that Laphroig and others in my opinion simply cannot be. Maybe b/c I don't like a whiskey that tastes like I imagine a tire doused in iodine to taste.

Broken seals ... on my long post absence, and on my never actually really talking about Whiskey on the Whiskey & 40k blog.

NOVA's around the corner, and registration is lookin' great.

40K Trios only has one spot left. That's pretty awesome, and it's under new management this year with some upgrades.

Lots of the X-Wing, Malifaux, and other events are sold out or nearly sold out, b/c those games rock.

Wyrd is coming to NOVA this year

Fantasy Flight Games is coming to NOVA this year

The owner of Corvus Belli is coming to NOVA this year

There's a lot more

I'm super excited, are you?

Also, even before the new actual points system for Age of Sigmar released, the singles event sold out. Too cool.

We added Guildball. We added Firestorm Armada. We said we wouldn't add things. But we did, b/c it makes things more fun for you guys.

We're rejiggering Magic to support the free ability to do sealed/limited events in the evening for all attendees, including those whose primary game isn't magic, but who've always wanted to be able to play it or who play it casually (So, I'm finding out, everybody).

We have a cool show mini coming, entire game boards and terrain sections dedicated to battling it out in Las Vegas or to battling it out on ancient Viking warships (in a non-nautical game).

We're also bringing live music more formally to the lounge this year. Keep a weather eye on the schedule.

So sign up if you haven't, get on your horse, and we'll be talking about some things here and elsewhere as we lead up. I'm excited about NOVA.

On a personal level, I don't play as much 40K as I used to. I dabble in Magic casually, and I just started traveling to events again to attend a Malifaux ETC-style team tournament formally done with Fantasy as the focus called Bragging Rights up in Connecticut. And, with Tony Kopach, Owen Beste, and Casey Campbell as teammates, we won the thing. Made me feel like gettin' into another 40K tournament again also, flex that old competitive muscle.

Can't wait to see everyone at NOVA, and to talk more about some of the nuances and details going forward. Only about a month and a half to NOVA! Jeesh ...