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Hyatt Regency Crystal City
2799 Jefferson Davis Hwy Arlington, VA 22202
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November 15, 2018: Year 9; Edition 21
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Hi, All ~
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all those who plan to celebrate this holiday in True Foodie Fashion.
The NOVA Open has had a busy fall. Since we last saw you, we've shipped dozens of prizes-medals-lost&found items, had three board meetings, a massive staff party, six newsletters, created and met with teams who will help plan and manage our 10th Anniversary in 2019, locked and loaded 22 returning vendors, and spent untold hours seeking new space for our storage-terrain-gaming needs. Phew, right? It may sound exhausting, but the NOVA Open staff volunteers are energized about bringing YOU, our attendees, great customer service - as well as a Bigger and Better version of NOVA Open than ever before! They can't seem to help themselves.
I'd like to draw your attention to two very special items and ask that you get involved today:
10th ANNIVERSARY PAINTING CONTEST:
We received our first final submission to the anniversary painting contest, and it's awesome! We're pleased to show off Joshua Dunkerly's Virtue vs. Human, the 2016 NOVA Open convention mini (below). Please mark your calendars as this contest ends on 12/15. I would hope to see a couple dozen submissions to kick off this special year. Consider this my personal invitation to get involved!
NOCF 2018 FALL RAFFLES:
As most of you know, the NOCF is near and dear to my heart - and the driving force which motivates all of us volunteers toward NOVA Open success. Let me, again, make a personal request that each of you goes online now to order tickets - for two reasons: (1) the odds of winning are SUPER HIGH; and (2) the NOCF Board will be making a final distribution to charities in December ... and those dollar amounts are directly affected by these fall ticket sales.
Six newsletters since NOVA Open 2018, all filled with interesting and important content, is a major accomplishment. These newsletters show up in your inboxes twice a month (EVERY 1st and 15th of EVERY month) and it's not by magic! Adrienne Scales, an Executive Board member who has served as the newsletter editor, has managed this amazing task for years. If you've attended a NOVA Open, you'll know her as the store manager, but she also manages the web content and works closely with Laurie in many different lanes. Join me in thanking this incredible volunteer. She's always looking for reliable staff writers; if you have an interest, contact
customerservice@novaopen.com and let us know.
May you all have a happy Thanksgiving, and we'll talk again on December 1st!
Very Best,
Mike Brandt, NOVA Open CEO
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TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
SUPER HIGH CHANCES TO WIN!
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The NOCF Online Raffle ticket sales this season are quite low, so chances of a win are
REALLY BIG
. So, to all the great NOVA Open gamers receiving this newsletter today:
If you've ever considered getting in on these raffles - which means direct support of great charities - now is the time!
These 10 truly awesome items deserve a last-minute push - and, by last minute, we mean the
raffles close in just 10 days on Sunday, November 25
. Please join in today.
Fait212 recently posted, "
These raffles are all for charity, which makes them a very special way to show others what a positive community we are in our hobby. It's amazing hobby, with great people.
"
The best that can happen is a win just in time for gifting your most excellent friend (or yourself)! The worst that could happen is you support very worthwhile charities. In other words? It's ALL GOOD!
So exactly what is in the Fall Raffles? Lets take a look by clicking the button below.
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The holiday season is rapidly approaching. Of course, EVERYONE is searching for those perfect gift ideas for their wargaming friends and family, right? While you are looking through your local gaming stores or checking out the deals on the website of your favorite game company, we hope you'll stop by novaopenfoundation.org and pick up a few tickets in the NOCF's awesome 2018 Fall Raffles.
Each and every raffle (and there are TEN of them this season) is an awesome prize that could quickly be turned into an amazing gift for your gaming pals. Another thought? When you win, wrap it up for whatever holiday or birthday is just around the corner - and put your name on it. As far as we know, there's no rule against giving yourself the best gift ever!
Keep in Mind: The armies arrive in custom
KR Multicase foam and bags, donated by Mike Brandt of NOVA Open and Daryl Elms of KR Multicase. Also remember: $.95 cents of every dollar will go directly to the charities designated by each item in the shop, and NOCF will ship anywhere in the world.
No matter what you choose to do when you win, don't forget to share the details of these raffles with everyone you know. Maybe they'll buy a few tickets with you in mind!
Sales end Sunday, November 25. The chances of winning in an NOCF Fall Raffle are typically very high. Don't miss out - buy raffle tickets today!
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We've received our first entry in the NOVA Open 10th Painting Contest! We're pleased to show off, Joshua Dunkerly's Virtue vs. Human below. You can check out all entries on
Instagram by searching
#NOVAOpen10thPainting.
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NOVA OPEN 10TH ANNIVERSARY PAINTING CONTEST!
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Join in the fun! This year, NOVA Open will be focused on its upcoming 2019 Tenth Anniversary convention. Paying homage to that exciting milestone, the tabletop wargaming community is invited to participate in a special miniature paint competition.
THE THEME:
NOVA Open's Tenth Anniversary (or just the NOVA Open in general)
As always, we’re here to help – let’s get your creative juices flowing! We brainstormed “NOVA Open” with staff, and these are some of the ideas we heard:
- Tabletop Wargaming Convention
- Washington, D.C.
- Games, Seminars, Capital Palette
- NOVA Open Charitable Foundation
- Doctors Without Borders – Breast Cancer Research Foundation – Fisher House Foundation
- Silent Auction
- Foundation Lounge
- 10th Anniversary!
THE PRIZES:
Convention Access Pass to 2019 ($50 value) for:
(1) the technically judged "Winner;" and
(2) "Fan Favorite" (Most Likes combined on Instagram)
THE RULES:
- The competition will run for one more month, with submissions due no later than 11:59pm US EST on Saturday, December 1. 2018.
- The submission may be a single model or diorama similar in size to standard miniature wargame scales.
- The piece must be original and clearly related to the NOVA Open. While it need not be tightly related to NOVA Open, submitting a well-painted space marine will not qualify.
- Submit by providing photographs of three separate views of your entry via email to customerservice@novaopen.com
- After submitting to customer service, share your entry on Instagram, Twitter, and elsewhere using #NOVAOpen10thPainting
- Judging will take place in following the end of the competition in early December.
- A gallery of submissions and winners will be released via Facebook and in the newsletter on December 15, 2018
IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFO:
- If you are concerned your entry will not qualify, please ask us via customerservice@novaopen.com before beginning the project!
- Early Bird Advantage Ends Today! Balancing speed vs. quality is important; the contest is split into two categories - Winner and Fan Favorite. If you submit your entry prior to November 14, we will add it to an Early Bird Gallery in the November 15 newsletter, giving your submission an edge on the popular vote!
- Watch for updates and Early Bird Gallery in the next newsletter (11/15/2018). Questions? Contact customerservice@novaopen.com.
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Question Asked / Question Answered
Will I be able to use an Armorcast Warhound Titan for the competition? ~ ABSOLUTELY!
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YEAR ROUND VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
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NOVA Open extends its sincere appreciation to all those who volunteer in support of NOVA Open and the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation. The boards of these two organizations are looking for year-round volunteers with an interest in promotional internet marketing. If you enjoy the NOVA Open and being a part of the charitable work of NOCF - and you have the time and energy to put into scheduling and coordinating podcast and video interviews while working closely with directors of both organizations - please send us an email telling us a little about yourself and your experience with NOVA Open:
customerservice@novaopen.com NOVA Open is also looking for staff writers willing to conduct interviews for this biweekly newsletter.
This is also a great opportunity for high school and college students and graduates as NOVA Open has a long history of providing internships to qualified applicants. Have a child, family member or friend who may be in need of an internship? Send them our way using the customer service email above!
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THE ARMY PAINTER TURNS 11!
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The Army Painter is celebrating 11 years in business. To celebrate they are hosting a HUGE prize draw of 11 Colour Primer sprays, 11 Tools and Glues, 11 Battlefield Basing and Tufts, 11 Brushes and 11 x 11 Warpaints (that's 121 paints for those of us not so good at math). Head over to facebook to enter!
The contest ends TOMORROW: November 16th.
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ATTENTION VENDORS INTERESTED IN ATTENDING
NOVA OPEN 2019
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NOVA Open is excited to announce that the following vendors have already locked in their booth space and will be returning for NOVA Open 2019:
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NOVA OPEN 2018 CONVENTION PHOTOS ON FLICKR
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Have a few minutes to relive the NOVA Open? Visit our FlickR page - every time we go through it ourselves, we find something new and memorable!
Thanks to the amazing efforts of Chris Michaels and his photography team, we have hundreds of photos from NOVA Open 2018 - and historical archived album collections going back to 2012.
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WHEN SHOPPING RAISES HUNDREDS FOR CHARITY: EASY SWITCH TO AMAZONSMILE
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With every purchase you make, you could help the
NOVA Open Charitable Foundation (NOCF). AmazonSmile has made it easy for everyone to support the NOCF. By simply choosing the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation as your preferred charity, a percentage of every purchase made goes straight to the NOCF!
Remember, only purchases at AmazonSmile, (not www.amazon.com or the mobile app,) support charity.
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PARKS & GRAVEYARDS (or “Yes, I am a Nerd)
SPENDING TIME WITH SAM LENZ
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NOVA Open caught up with Sam Lenz following his memorable experiences at the convention this year, where Sam contributed to the NOCF raffles, taught seminars, and walked away with several well-earned Capital Palette awards.
WHO IS SAM LENZ?
Sam set a humorous tone for the interview when he responded to a request to tell us a little about himself: “I’m a Sagittarius, I enjoy rainy days, walks in the woods, movies,” 33 years old, in a strong, one-year relationship and - as a Wisconsin native - his favorite cheese of the moment is Smoked Apple Cheddar. And yes, he promised to bring some for the staff when he returns to NOVA Open 2019!
When Sam paused to contemplate the question a bit more seriously, he explained that he is primarily driven by a desire to be constructive, to have meaning in every moment of his day. He has also developed a passion for daily workouts, on a mission to prepare his body for the long haul of life. He is humbled by and grateful for the sheer magnitude of commission work that comes his way, and his biggest take away from the classes he teaches is the joy of meeting the people who take time out of their lives to learn from him. “There is a special symbiotic give and take that happens which is unique to the classroom – the students have something they want to learn, and I have something to share.”
THE JOURNEY OF SAM LENZ
This multi-dimensional artist can trace his interest in miniatures back to age 7 when his father introduced Sam and his 13-year-old brother to model airplanes and “army men in the sandbox.” Not long after that . . .
Continue reading this fascinating interview: click "Continue" button below.
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INTERVIEW WITH TREVOR ATTRIDGE, DEVELOPER OF BREACHSTORM
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One of the great things about the NOVA Open is the opportunity to check out new miniature wargames that small teams of independent developers have been working on over the last few years. This year, NOVA Open 2018 attendees had the chance to try out
Breachstorm, a sci-fi miniatures skirmish game set in universe where various factions engage in secret operations against a cold war background. The game, which is currently opened for
preorder through November 18, uses a new activation system where players activate field officers who issue commands to infantry. NOVA Open had a chance to sit down with Trevor Attridge, one of the game’s developers, to learn more about the system’s mechanics, its development, and the world of Breachstorm.
NO: What's the background setting?
TA: The setting is a period that's sort of an indeterminate amount of time in the future where humanity has bombed itself into oblivion countless times in the past. Decades ago, there was a war between the two major factions of the game which are the Homeworld Confederacy and the Zhren'thrar Prides. That war has simmered down and, now, it's a kind of war in the background between these teams of special operatives that are trying to accomplish very specific objectives and a lot of black ops sort of comments in the background.
NO: Let's get through the game. How does it run?
TA: The game plays about six to eight miniatures per team, which are constructed of a mixture of what we call field officers and infantry. Essentially, the core mechanic game is that you alternate activating your field officer models who can activate infantry alongside them as they go. So instead of it being you-go / I-go, or an alternating activation system, it's kind of a hybrid between the two.
You'll have a list of actions you can perform with your action tokens that you generate with each activation. Those are things like move and attack and there's some sort of combined actions. This gives you a ton of flexibility with how you sequence your actions, which is one of the most important parts of the game strategy. But, it also lets you sort of set up combos within one activation where you'll have infantry that set up synergies for your field officer to benefit from or vice versa. Basically, there’s resource management in the way of maximizing the efficiency of your actions.
NO: What thinking went into that mechanic?
TA: Yes, so it was a sort of a long journey to get to that to that result. We started with sort of an I-go / you-go system. We were very conscious about making it so that you had sort of a command structure within your team. We originally started with models that would command other infantry and they would benefit them with auras and things like that. Eventually, we found that that system wasn't quite as fun as it could be and that eventually evolved into those field officers being sort of the focal point of your team and controlling how your models activate and such.
NO: What are the factions in the game?
TA: That's my favorite part. We have two factions that are set up and ready to go. You have the Zhren'thrar Prides, which are a sort of feline alien race that focus on close range combat. They've got short-range plasma weaponry that's highly destructive, but it tends to be inaccurate; however, they’re very proficient with melee. They are sort of bound by a code of honor to give their lives for the pride, so they actually generate what are called fury tokens for their buddies that they can then use to make even more melee attacks after they die. So, they have a whole token economy based on generating them through dying.
The other main faction we have is called the Homeworld Confederacy and they are the technologically advanced human faction. They have a lot of powered exoskeletons and rail guns and things like that, but they're more focused on long-range attacks and they have a lot of synergies with them. So they have a rule called concentrate fire that will put concentrate fire tokens on models that they shoot at during their activation. As the turn goes on and they've marked enough targets, they get more and more effective at shooting at them.
NO: Do you have any other factions coming out?
TA: We have two more factions. There is the Volucrid Host, they’re an insectoid alien faction that brings a high model count on the table and they're very reliant on their field officers. Their combat models have an ability called consume which lets them pick friendly models within two inches and kill them to generate fury tokens they can use to make its attack. You never want to leave any of them half dead because they're just food for their buddies at that point as soon as they've outlived their usefulness. They're just the resource at that point.
The last one is called the Ativari Conclave and they're another alien faction - a little more reptilian - but they are the polar opposite of the Volucrid Host. They have a very low battle count and they have a lot of stealth mechanics and psychic abilities that are key for board control. So, they have a lot of abilities to move models around the table. They can pull your models out of cover or sort of disrupt formations. And their warriors have these biosuits that can adapt to different situations. They actually have rules on their card that can change depending on the battlefield situation and they can change their status to adapt to each situation.
NOVA Open would like to thank Trevor and the rest of his team for demoing the game at NOVA Open 2018. If you would like to learn more about the game, visit the website
here.
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The
NOVA Open Charitable Foundation
(NOCF) is having another incredible year representing one of the greatest untapped resources around - The Worldwide Tabletop Wargamer. Proud to represent all of YOU, the Compassionate Force, in fundraising efforts on behalf of
Doctors Without Borders
,
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
,
Fisher House Foundation
, and more, NOCF continually strives to grow your presence and reputation among great charitable organizations. Thank you for supporting its efforts and allowing the Foundation to demonstrate what an incredibly generous force you truly are.
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Banshee Anonymous Bust 1.0
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Banshee Anonymous Bust 2.0
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Moraz III is a deadly jungle world filled with danger and fear, populated by ferocious aliens who wait in the undergrowth to pounce on the unwary and mercilessly kill anyone who stumbles across them. Even the plant life itself is malignant here, constantly twisting and growing in unnatural ways to trap its prey A dropship containing vitally important surveillance files has crash landed on this hostile planet. It's up to you and your squad of Space Marine Scouts to retrieve these files, activate the dropship, and (hopefully) escape with your lives!
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As the Eldar civilization neared its Fall, many groups denounced their decadent societies, abandoning their home worlds in a series of migrations called the Exodus. These Exodites traveled far from their collapsing civilization, settling on worlds that were often very harsh. Over the centuries that followed, some of these Exodite groups were forced to adapt and assimilate with the local lifeforms. The results have been… unusual, to say the least.
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St. Isaac, of the Forsaken faction, is a technological wunderkind in a world sorely lacking in those with the vision to bring the old technology back to life. Training those with any aptitude to program the various battle automata in his force, Isaac leads a fast-moving wall of steel and ceramic composites into battle.
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In the mid-stages of WWII, the Italians and the Germans fought fiercely against the Allies in the desert of North Africa. Tank companies rolled across the undulating dunes like fleets of battleships on the open ocean, and a new approach to warfare was forged under the blistering heat of the desert sun.
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In these places where man has been allowed to grow unchecked, teeming billions infest the vast hive cities. Even here, the press of humanity is not strong enough to turn back the madness, or deflect the distaff forces of Chaos, heresy and death. Life is cheap. The bullet and the grenade are kings. Neither day nor night touches the billions of souls trapped in this nightmarish world. For them, there is just the unblinking septic gloom of ancient fluorescence. The putrid atmosphere of the Underhive is stained with the dark patina of age. A brown haze fills air which has been recycled a million million times and offers the inhabitants but the meanest measure of life it can without choking them.
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Team Yankee is set in a “Cold War gone Hot” situation . . . World War III without the nukes. This U.S. Armored Cavalry Troop brings a great mix of speed, strength, and infantry to take and hold objectives. At the core of the force are SIX of the mighty land behemoths – the IPM1 Abrams tank that would be the backbone of all U.S. ground forces for decades to come.
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Atlantis Games and Comics
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