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Wyrd's First National Championships (open to ALL!) @ the NOVA Open - LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY - Events from 9/3 - 9/6/2015


MVBrandt

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The NOVA Open is proud to host Wyrd's first Malifaux National Championships at this year's NOVA Open.

Moreover, we're excited to present another weekend with 4 full days of Malifaux events, set in our Nation's Capital amidst a growing con of epic tabletop wargaming, art seminars and competitions, great vendor deals, and special guests.

Justin Gibbs will be rejoining us and taking a personal role in coordination and execution of the National Championships, as well as giving another seminar on all things Malifaux.

The epic henchmen known as "the Matts," Matt Stanley and Mahtias Crestborn, will be helming things once again (we're lucky to have them!).

For those not in the know, the NOVA Open is a tabletop wargaming convention occurring on Labor Day Weekend each year, which means Thursday, September 3 through Sunday, September 6 in 2015.

What's there for a Malifaux attendee?

1 - Wyrd's first Malifaux National Championships, played on a host of epic tables with gorgeous terrain that's been designed with review by Gibbs himself - we set out to have the closest we could get to the kind of tournament terrain the developer of the game itself would want to see!

The National Championships are an OPEN event - anyone can participate, and everyone should! For those looking to get a little bit of a leg up, however, there are several Qualifying Events held throughout the calendar year leading up to the NOVA that will earn you a free ticket into the Championships. These include Califaux, LVO, and AdeptiCon, but you should inquire with each primary event TO and Wyrd to determine if your local event is a qualifier. These are Wyrd's championships, with NOVA hosting, and they set the rules! We're just excited to help promote the hobby in any way we can.

2 - Four days of Malifaux gaming, to include story encounter gaming (with a scenario possibly custom designed just for NOVA, TBD on that), Hardcore and Enforcer mode gaming, and plenty of open gaming / achievement league opportunities. Malifaux events start on Thursday and go all the way up until the convention award ceremony on Sunday evening.

3 - An epic, professional, attendee-first con experience. The NOVA Open is attended by numerous vendors offering special deals, has gaming across numerous systems if you feel like trying something extra on the side, and includes a packed schedule of hobby and art seminars taught by some of the world's best miniature figure artists (like Roman Lappat and Raffaelle Picca from Massive Voodoo, and Justin McCoy from Secret Weapon Miniatures).

The NOVA expects around 1,000 attendees in 2015, but we deeply care about each and every one of you. Event leads are not left out on their own once the con starts off, and we take great pains (and invest in really good shoes) to make sure every attendee feels like their fun is our first concern ... because it is! The NOVA to date has never run at a profit, and every penny of registration goes back into making sure it's as professional, easy, fun, and well-cared-for as we can make it!

4 - A chance to give back to those in need through the exercise of fun. The NOVA Open's sister organization is the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation, a formal 501c3 run by an independent board of directors. This board includes acclaimed hobby members like Dave Taylor alongside career legal, financial, and charity professionals to ensure execution of a die-hard mission to drive resources and support for critical causes at home and abroad. The Foundation focuses its efforts on raising funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Fisher House Foundation, and Doctors Without Borders. We also raise funds for numerous other charities based upon need and nomination (i.e. Child's Play). For 2015, there are several ways Malifaux players can find enjoyment and also give back. First off, the Foundation acquires a charitable license to convert one of the Hyatt Regency's epic suites into a Bar & Lounge for the Convention. The Foundation Lounge offers discount (no, really!) craft beer and cocktails, as well as other snacks and refreshments, throughout the convention. All proceeds go directly to charity. We also convince attendant special guests, lecturers, and other experts to spend set times throughout the weekend giving free presentations in the lounge (and their own favorite drinks are also further discounted during their presentations). These lounge talks included a couple of hours' Q&A with Justin Gibbs last year. Wouldn't be surprised to see that again :)

New in 2015, we'll also be hosting a worldwide (as in, you don't have to attend NOVA to participate and win) raffle of a full on Faction professionally painted by volunteer studio-caliber artists. TBD on exactly what the models and faction will be, though there's talk of making sure it's not only a good selection for tournament play, but also well-set to be thematically engaging if you won it and wanted to split it with a friend for facing off vs. each other. Expect multiple masters and multiple crew-building and faction options within the self-contained item. As progress advances on this, the foundation website will reflect it, and you'll be able to buy raffle tickets (only $1 each) at that time.

5 - A fun, affordable time in our Nation's Capital. The NOVA Open considers itself a "DC" Convention, primarily because it occurs just on the outskirts of Washington, DC, right next to Reagan National Airport (DCA), in the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, VA. The Hyatt provides a free, 5-minute-ride shuttle to and from Reagan National, and also provides a free shuttle to the nearby Crystal City Metro Stop. This Metro offers quick (< 15 minutes, including transfer) access to all the sights and sounds of Washington, DC, including a short ride to either Arlington National Cemetary or the National Mall (with all of DC's awesome, free museums and memorials). Gamers wishing to check out the national capital's awesome sights and foods/beverages, or gamers with spouses looking for a lot to do while the gaming goes on, will not miss out by attending the NOVA. We also worked hard with the Hotel to garner amazing rates for a high quality venue in the heart of the national capital region. $91/night stands as the rate in our block for 2015.

The NOVA Open website is at novaopen.com, and pardon our mess.

There's a LOT of updating going on - we really wanted to knock the new website and webcart out of sight. Registration goes live on FEBRUARY 1. If you'd like to receive updates on everything going on every 1st and 15th of the month, please e-mail novaopen@gmail.com and ask to be added to our newsletter. We don't sell addresses and we don't spam; just a ton of information, fluff (yup, characterful writing!), graphic arts (like our cover art for the 2014 Malifaux Player Guidebook), info you need to prep, etc. Expect the website to start finalizing updates around January 15, when our Draft Primers for the year go up, as well as our Draft Schedule.

A note on registration timing - SuperNOVA

The NOVA Open has - hands-down - the best "VIP/G" style gamer bags on the planet. This is, primarily, because they are KR MultiCases. Not ones to provide our "SuperNOVAs" with throwaway plastic bags into which their epic VIP-style swag has been placed, the NOVA includes (thanks to KR) free KR MultiCase bags with every SuperNOVA pass. In your first year, you get a free $85 KR BackPack2. In your second year, you can get another of those, or a Kaiser2 instead. In your third year, you can get a Kaiser3 instead. We're still trying to figure out how awesome it's going to get for the fourth year guys. Either way, the other thing you get - that's not to be overlooked - is that those who buy a SuperNOVA bag and return in a future year to NOVA (whether or not they SuperNOVA again) receive a free BOGO for KR $65 custom-foam Card Cases to fill their bags with (and you can redeem these at the NOVA's KR vendor booth). Beyond this, SuperNOVA's get convenient in-con storage for their armies/bags, awesome T-Shirts, beer mugs, and several hundred dollars of custom swag (e.g., Greenman Designs will do you up a custom measuring device suited to your game system of choice with both your game system faction and name incorporated on the device ... imagine getting a multi-measure tool in translucent Guild colors with your name inscribed under the Guild Logo). Last year, our 80 SuperNOVA bags sold out in a few hours ... we're offering more this year, but they won't last the weekend after reg opens on Feb 1. Here's a post with some info from an attendee about the 2014 SuperNOVA bag.

Lots more information to come, and probably many questions to answer. Here's our Final Primer from last year, which includes terrain layout data and other things. This will be updated very soon, but it might help get you a rough idea of what the weekend looks like.

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Who out there is attending the first ever Malifaux National Championships on Labor Day Weekend this year? Wyrd is likely to send some pretty swank swag for this event, but what other sponsors should we look for? What terrain or token or other type of Malifaux-useful companies could benefit from the advertising and exposure while providing cool prizes and swag for Malifaux attendees? We're getting hot and heavy into the partner contact season, and registration for all events opens on Feb 1, so now's the time to let us know who you'd like to see present (vending) and/or sponsoring/partnering with NOVA for the Malichamps.

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Strictly speaking isn't this the US Nationals, as I believe there will also be a UK National Championship?

Anyway, good luck and wish I could be there.

 

It is indeed the National Championship, not the World Championship. As far as UK Nat Champs, I have no idea - you'd have to ask Wyrd whether they're having one. Wyrd's the decision-maker on this, not the hosting event (ipso facto, NOVA could not independently "claim" to have a Nat Championship).

 

It's actually quite affordable to fly into Washington, DC, from the UK, by the way. The NOVA has dozens of UK attendees every year for 40K alone, for instance. You should rassle up a group of the UK's finest and come try to steal the crown!

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2015 Malifaux at the Nova Open!
 
From the new news letter!
 
Malifaux is coming back with a vengeance from last year. The game is facing rapid growth from its first year back, as Wyrd has announced that the Nova Open will be the home of the 2015 Malifaux North American Championship. Wyrd has pulled out all the stops in supporting a growing national tournament scene, and the NOVA Open is glad to play a key part. In addition to the main event on Saturday and Sunday, the NOVA Open is packing the weekend with Malifaux fun.
  • Thursday night is our first story encounter, continuing the story of the Grave Spirit's defeat from the 2014 Nova. The Governor has all these mercenaries sitting idle, and so sends them to purge the Quarantine Zone. The forces of Law and Order square off against Scum and Villainy in a player driven mini-campaign called "Quarantine Quarrel"
  • Friday morning sees the victorious forces from the night before invade nothing less than the US Capitol, either to defend it from the ravening hordes, or to put the forces of Law and Order to the torch in our "Capital Carnage."
  • Friday evening will pit your favorite big brute in the Enforcer Brawl, an six round arena of death featuring an enforcer of your choice
  • The first three rounds of the Malifaux Championships will be on Saturday, followed by two rounds on Sunday. Do you have what it takes to take the top prize in the nation?
  • Just after the first three rounds, Justin Gibbs, lead designer of Malifaux 2nd Edtion, will be giving an insider's seminar on Wyrd, Game Design, his thoughts on the new products released at Gencon, what lies and whatever you wanted to know but were afraid to ask!
  • And, last, but not least, Saturday evening will feature our All Comers Hardcore tournament, with three hours of 20 Soulstone crew madness: rounds last half an hour, crews must contain 4 models, and you have to play fast or lose out. It's an amusing change of pace from the standard Malifaux play, suitable for any Malifaux player.
All that's in addition to our eight man CME (Critical Mass Events) Hardcore Tournaments. You can play until you drop. Ask everyone who attended last year; the Malifaux community at Nova had a great time, and we're looking to make you a part of that greatness.
Wyrd Qualifier Locations 
Coming Soon > Las Vegas Open (2/20-22); Adepticon (3/19-22)
 
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  • 2 weeks later...

Registration opens in under 6 days at this point, at 9:30AM US Eastern time on Sunday, February 1.

 

There are some things Wyrd players will want to pay attention to for the opening of registration.

 

First, Convention Access Passes (your typical weekend badge / con badge) are $10 off for the first few months of reg.

 

Second, SuperNOVA Access Passes are some of the coolest VIP/VIG-style gamer passes you'll find at any con. They include literally hundreds of dollars in custom and top tier swag (including entire starter kits and the like for various game systems, custom named gaming aids like Greenman Designs quickmeasures, beer mugs and shot glasses, the works). The bags themselves are KR MultiCases (BackPack2 for first year SuperNOVAs, Kaiser2 or BackPack 2 for 2nd year SuperNOVAs, option for a Kaiser3 for third years, Kaiser 4 or free custom foam card cases for 4th years, etc.). Those who attend get a lifetime "if you come next year, you get a free $65 custom foam case" BOGO. You get a convenient bag storage room, and a lot more. These are limited to only 100 items, and they sell out really, really fast ... we're talking hours, here.

 

Third, for you artists out there, we've brought Roman Lappat and Raffaele Picca from Massive Voodoo to the NOVA for this year, and they're teaching a wide variety of classes all weekend. These are some of the best known and most-respected miniature artists on the planet, and their classes will sell out fast. You might want to camp these.

 

Finally, we have no idea how fast tickets will sell for Wyrd's first ever National Championships, but it's probably going to be pretty fast. Justin Gibbs and Mack Martin both weighed in on the terrain we use, helping with the design specs, so the stuff was basically custom built by a large group of near-professional terrain builders to the standards / desires of the game's designers. It's pretty hot!

 

If you have any questions, let me know, but please make sure you're well prepared to pick up at least the things you *really* want when reg opens this Sunday. There's not TOO much we can do to make new things once some of them are gone!

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Registrations are moving well for this.

 

I thought I'd share a photo of some of the things the Malifaux players will get to actually compete on terrain-wise during the Capital Carnage story event on Friday of the Con ...

 

To give you an idea of scale, the Washington Monument is 6.5 feet tall.

http://www.novaopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Monuments-at-the-2012-NOVA.jpg

 

And they all light up ... i.e. this Native American History Museum piece ...

http://www.novaopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMG_0229_v1-1024x705.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 2 months later...

Mike and I were talking yesterday, and we're playing with the idea of adding Fame and Infamy points to our two Malifaux Narrative Encounters, the Quaratine Quarrel and the Capital Carnage. 

Essentially, certain schemes will be listed as "Fame Building" or "Infamy Building," and will be themed to each mission. If you take and fulfil a Fame scheme, you'll be (story-wise) doing some heroic undertaking, like saving the Declaration of Independence or rescuing civilians. Take and fulfil an Infamy scheme, and, well... Malifaux is a dark place. :)

Those points will be tracked separately, and the greatest hero will be praised, and the scummiest scum will be... well... praised for being able sink so low as to make Malifaux sit up and take notice. 

So, in addition to the North American Championship, the Henchman Hardcore Critical Mass Tournaments, the Enforcer Brawl, the Wyrd Seminar, The Capital Palette painting competition, and all the other seminars, you've got a ton to do at the Nova!

 

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This is a gentle that the Nova Open is less than four months away. If you want to get in on the first annual Wyrd sponsored North American Championships, this is it, this is the time to do it.

It's more than the championships of course, it's four days of playing, socializing, and seminars teaching you advanced techniques for painting, basing, and one special seminar starring Justin Gibbs, designer of Malifaux.

Be there!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Good on terrain. We have sufficient Malifaux terrain for 60 players without having to build more. That said, if the summer registration rush pushes us well over that, definitely is good to know.

If you're nearby, why aren't you joining us all for Monday night Malifaux? Very good community of about 40 DC area Malifaux players who game together every Monday.

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