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.
