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Council of Five Nations - General Information Overview

Council of Five Nations XXXI

October 10-12, 2008

General Information Overview


Last Update: Sunday, October 5, 2008


Council of Five Nations is our annual gaming convention, held every year on Columbus Day Weekend in October. It is one of the longest-running adventure gaming conventions in the world. We'll be sponsoring our 31st Council on October 10-12, 2008.

Please use the links below to get the most up-to-date info on the status of the convention. If you have specific questions or requests, please email us at council@swa-gaming.org.


The Council of Five Nations Philosophy

Council strives toward the goal of "quality over quantity". We're a relatively small con, but we try to have top-notch events. We predict an attendance of about 250 this year. As with all the Councils over the years, our goal is a nice balance between role-play games, miniatures, board games and other stuff.

The facility: Proctors Theatre & Conference Center

Council will once again be held at at the brand new Proctors Theatre and Conference Center, in the heart of downtown Schenectady, New York. You can learn more about Proctors, a classic Vaudeville theatre, at their web site (please click here).

Schenectady, New York is:
  • About 3 hours north of New York City
  • About 4 hours south of Montreal, Quebec
  • About 4 hours east of Buffalo, New York
  • About 3 hours west of Boston, Massachusetts.
We had a very good experience at Proctors last year.  So much so that we've made a three-year commitment to stay there through 2010.  We also learned a lot in our first year there, so if you joined us in 2007, please expect things to be even better.  The Registration Area will be on the main floor, much easier to find.  We will have fewer games down in the basement, so noise and crowding will be less of an issue.  We might be a little dumb about some things, but we learn from our experiences.

Logistics

You can click here to get directions to Proctors, including MapQuest maps.
You can click here to view and download maps and directions for your most convenient parking options.
You can click here to see our suggested hotel options if you need over night accommodations.


Events & Registration

Registration information is now available!  We are happy to offer you over 120 high-quality events; a nice mix of RPGs, board games, miniatures, a few card games, and a big White Wolf LARP.

Highlights:  Lots of RPGA D&D in every slot.  Historical miniatures in every slot.  Lots of Euro games.  Kid-Friendly games in almost every slot.  White Wolf WoD: Changeling LARP.  The biggest Star Fleet Battles tournament in the country.  Warrior: Ancients tournament.  TC Realms D&D.  FCS D&D.  Fellowship of the White Star.  Friedrich tournament.  Our Annual Discount Auction.  Witch Hunter: Dark Providence.  Avalon Hill classics.  Pathfinder Society.  Big Warhammer 40K game.  Wilderness War tournament.  More!

The event information is available to you in various formats too.

If you'd like to download the pre-registration booklet (three layouts for you to choose from) in Adobe Acrobat PDF format , please click here to go to our downloads page. 

You can also download our promotional flyers.  We'd appreciate it if you could post one at your local game store and send them to your friends.  (Hint: we offer discounts to groups of 3+ that pre-register together; we want to encourage you to bring some friends along!)

If you'd like to browse the offerings online, we have everything posted.  You can even register online.
  • Please click here to read the pre-registration booklet informational text (the stuff besides the event listings)
  • Please click here to go to the Chronological listing of all events.
  • Please click here to Pre-Register via the online form (with immediate PayPal or Credit Card payment)

We have numerous event tracks that we're highlighting.  Each has its own special web site (all these events are in the Chronological listing too, of course):
  • Please click here to see the list of Kid Friendly events.
  • Please click here to see the listing of all the RPGA D&D games.
  • Please click here to see the listing of all the Historical Miniatures events.
  • Please click here for the Star Fleet Battles tournament page.
  • Please click here to see the list of TC Realms D&D events.
  • Please click here to see the list of the FCS D&D events.
  • Please click here to see the series of offerings from The Gathering


Registration Update (as of October 4th)

We've started compiling the pre-registrations.  Our numbers are really strong so far, and several events have already sold out.  If you wanted one of these, it might be best to look at another choice.  However, keep in mind there is always the chance that someone's plans might fall through, or they change their mind and play a different game.  Please also note some games (like Puerto Rico and Agricola, below) are offered in multiple time slots.

Anyway, here are the events that are already full:
  • A-Board-1: Puerto Rico
  • A-Minis-1: Storming Snitterton Hill
  • B-Board-8: A Game of Thrones
  • C-RPG-4: TC Fantasy D&D, Ghosts of the Broken Kingdoms
  • C-Board-1: Pillars of the Earth
  • C-Board-4: World of Warcraft: Adventure Game
  • C-Minis-3: Rescue Rudel
  • E-RPG-4: D20 Modern: Digital Burn
  • E-Board-10: Agricola
  • E-Minis-2: Battlefront WW2 North Africa
  • F-Board-4: Fury of Dracula
  • F-Minis-2: Crucible of War - Assault on a Blockhouse
  • F-Minis-3: Starcruiser

New Events

We have one new event of particular note to announce.

David Waxtel is one of the Founding Fathers of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS).  He will be fielding what promises to be a spectacular table setup of figures and terrain. He will be running this event both Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, and there are plenty of spots available.

Napoleonic Battle in Spain • Shako 2 • Event Code: D-Minis-7 • $ 2
Napoleonic Battle in Spain • Shako 2 • Event Code: E-Minis-5 • $ 2
Game Master: David Waxtel • 5 Players
Dave Waxtel will introduce SHAKO 2 and a small action between Spanish and French forces in Spain 1808. Its not going to be easy but this a 25mm battle you will never forget.  Beginners encouraged.


Running games at Council

The event schedule is pretty-well set at this point.  Our table allotment is full, especially for our peak sessions on Saturday.

If you see a gaping hole in our schedule, and you'd like to run something that you think we really should offer, please contact us and let's discuss it.  Since any events submitted at this point will not make it into the published pre-registration booklet, we cannot offer you our standard GM discount.

Please click here for more details, and to submit an event using our online form.


Why do you call it Council of Five Nations?

Council of Five Nations Iroquois Warrior Logo
The Native American Iroquois tribes called the Upstate New York area their home. Each autumn, there would be a great gathering of the five tribes, or nations.  You can click here for the Wikipedia page that gives a lot more information, and related links.  You can also click here for a different perspective.

We call our annual convention The Council of Five Nations in homage to the Iroquois autumn gatherings from long before most of us had ancestors here. This is also the source of the official Council logo, the Iroquois warrior.

Planning way ahead

If you'd like to mark your calendar now, here are the dates for Councils beyond 2008:
  • October 9-11, 2009
  • October 8-10, 2010
Here's an easy way to remember: Council of Five Nations is always Columbus Day weekend.  When you see that national holiday on your calendar, block it off and make sure you're here with us, sharing in our gaming goodness.


Questions or Comments?

You can contact us directly at council@swa-gaming.org.
You can also call Dave at (518) 464-1977, any day until about 11pm Eastern time.



Curious about the kind of events we've had in the past?

You can click on these links to see the full event listings for the past five years of Council of Five Nations.

When you're browsing, it might help to know the following... 

Councils 20-28 were all held at the Studio of Bridge and Games / Price Chopper Community Room.  Space there was limited, we had fewer time slots, and we averaged around 100 attendees over those years.  In 2006 (Council 29), we made the jump to a hotel.  We doubled the number of events offered.  It was a great success, and our attendance jumped to over 200.  Council 30 in 2007 was at our current location, the Proctors Conference Center.  We again had over 100 events and almost 200 attendees.


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