June Game-a-thon

The SWA sponsors eleven one-day Game-a-thons each year. We schedule these every month (January through September, November and December). October is reserved for Council of Five Nations. We usually shoot for the second Saturday of the month, but we're flexible in consideration of Studio availability and other regional conventions. We generally have 6-10 events, scheduled into two time slots (11am-4pm, 5pm-10pm+). We can easily accomodate games that run longer than a five-hour slot. You only pay for the games you play in. No registrations fees at the door, and no badges. GMs don't pay, and they play for free in the session they're not running.

Our next scheduled Game-a-thon is Saturday, June 21, 2008.
Here are the details.

Major General Philip Sheridan's Union army has pushed General Jubal Early's Confederate army to the brink of extinction. Now, positioned on Fisher's Hill, can General Early's troops repel the Union or will he and his men perish opening the surrounding lands to General Sheridan's army.

Heroscape is a colorful, action-packed miniatures/boardgame hybrid that is easy to learn. It is a game well suited for younger players as well as adults and is designed for ages 8 and up.
"Two players per team, 300 points per player, 1 hour per round. Each player's force must have at least one UNIQUE army card (hero or squad). At then end of the round each team will score points based on figures eliminated and wounds inflicted. Bring a pre-drafted army or be prepared to quickly draft one from the GM's collection. The GM will bring a few pre-drafted armies. You don't have to sign up as a team; individual players are welcome to show up and be paired up with another player.
" Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Heroscape which includes reviews, pictures, rules and other playing aids.

Japan is in the Sengoku Period and each player assumes the role of a great Daimyo hoping to become Shogun by owning provinces, temples, theaters and castles. Developing their kingdom will be paramount to success, wise use of the troops at their disposal will be a key.
Shogun is a retheming of the popular Wallenstein game system. A central focus is the unique Cubetower that is used to resolve battles between armies. The troops that meet for battle are all thrown into the tower together and whichever army has the most troops come out of the bottom of the tower achieves victory.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Shogun which includes reviews, pictures, playing aids and links to the rules.

The adventure continues! No experience is necessary, all players are welcome.

Manifest Destiny is a card-driven multi-player strategy game for 3 to 5 players set in North America from colonial times to the present. It combines the strategic components of earlier, longer civilization-based games with the elegance of streamlined European gaming. Designed to appeal to a wide range of gamers, Manifest Destiny combines several unique elements that require strategic balancing to succeed.
Each player controls a mercantile empire as it expands into territories containing new markets across the continent. Players use cash to purchase Progressions and tokens. Progressions give players additional capabilities during the game. Tokens are used for territorial expansion and to purchase Pioneers, cities and additional cards.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Manifest Destiny which includes reviews, pictures, playing aids and a link to the FAQ and Errata on the publisher's website.

In this fantasy sequel to Twilight Imperium, players control races that must juggle military and economic concerns with a quest to gather the magical stars spread across the land. The game board is made up of hex tiles and players use a resource system that has similarities to The Settlers of Catan. A card driven system resolves players' quests.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Battlemist which includes reviews, pictures, rules summaries and other playing aids.

This classic game of the Fantasy Monster Slugathon is a standby from the Avalon Hill of yor. The game is divided into two realms, the masterboard and the battleboards. On the masterboard, legions of mythical creatures roam about trying to recruit bigger and badder monsters and kill opposing legions in the process. When a combat occurs, the space is 'blown-up' by moving the action to the corresponding battleboard type. After lots of dice are tossed, the victor is returned to the masterboard with the spoils of war: points. The Titan is the player's alter-ego, and the Titans' fate and the players' fate are one and the same.
The GM will be using his "Deluxe" board. A work of art, it expands the size of the playing surface dramatically, thus making play much easier.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Titan which includes reviews, pictures, rules and other playing aids and strategy articles.

email jchoy@nycap.rr.com with requests for this month
Signups available here to let the tables form ahead of time and ensure better party balance.

Location

As usual, this Game-a-thon will be held at the Studio of Bridge and Games, in Schenectady, NY. If you need directions, you can click here, or send an email to: mailto:directions@swa-gaming.org An automatic reply will immediately be sent to you with detailed directions.

The number at the Studio is: (518) 346-3773

Session Fees

Show up and play one game session = $4.00

Show up and play both game sessions = $6.00

GMs play all day for free.

Full-time students get in for free. For our purposes, "full-time students" are people in Kindergarten through college. Our intent here is to help allow younger games/"new blood" to participate at SWA events, and the gaming hobby in general.
The student discount does not cover working adults who happen to be taking a Continuing Education class. Please help us fulfill the spirit and intent of this policy.

Registration

Our Game-a-thons have generally been pretty casual events; people stroll in and sign up for the event of their choice on-the-spot. Lately, however, attendance has been increasing and more events are filling to maximum and beyond.

If you would like to greatly increase your chance of getting into the game of your choice, you can now formally pre-register online. Payments will be handled through PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can still pay with your credit card.

Online pre-registration is not required. You can still just stroll in and get into a game. But pre-registering is now an option for those who want to take advantage of it.

Follow this link to go to the online registration page. We'll sign you up, but your spot's not guaranteed until we get your payment.

Swap Meet Tables

If you've got merchandise you'd like to sell, please consider renting a table or three at our Game-a-thon.

This is meant to be more of a Swap Meet / Garage Sale atmosphere, and not really intended for full merchant setups.

Each attendee can rent a maximum of three tables. The first costs $2, two cost $10, and three cost $20. As you can see, the price structure encourages individuals to rent few tables. We will have a maximum of eight tables available at each Game-a-thon.

Each table is (2.5' x 2.5'); a standard card table. Some of them are kinda old and thus not very sturdy. Please keep this in mind when planning what you'll bring for sale.

You can reserve your table(s) ahead of time by using the online registration form. You will see the prices repeated there. Please list your table request in the 'Comments' field. Please also note that you have to pay the Game-a-thon registration in addition to the table rental fee.

You can also rent tables on a walk-in basis, but please remember we'll have no more than eight available for the day; first come, first served.

We suggest that you use our Forum discussion boards to announce what you will/might bring. We suggest posting in the "What's happening this week" category where the Game-a-thons are announced.

(Here's our secret agenda... Not only do we want to help you get rid of gaming stuff you're not using, but we'd also like to see this generate some more walk-in traffic.)

Questions or Comments?

Events at Future Game-a-thons

If you'd like to run a game at a future Game-a-thon, please click here to submit your event online.

You can also email us at your convenience.

You can even call Bill and tell him about your event over the phone - we're flexible!

If you'd like to see a particular game run at a future event, let us know by filling in a Game Request Form here.