May 15, 2017:  Year 7; Edition 10
NOVA Open 2017 CONVENTION DATES: August 31 - September 3
Hyatt is SOLD OUT,
But We Have Options!

The NOVA Open room block is sold out.  If you have not yet booked your stay at  our  $95  Hyatt discounted room rate, NOVA has established alternatives for you. We do NOT want our attendees inconvenienced, so we're asking that you BOOK YOUR ROOMS TODAY!  Booking costs you nothing.

SUGGESTION:  CHECK NOVA Open ROOM BLOCK at HYATT FIRST
There may b e a few H igh Floor and Deluxe Kings still open. Always a  CHANCE  someone cancels & a double pops up!


 

 ----------------------------------------------

Renaissance & Residence Inn rates
Guaranteed Rates Extended thru June 30!

  • One half-block behind the Hyatt
  • Renaissance (Doubles & Kings) is a 5-Star Property
  • Complimentary breakfast and free wi-fi
  • 50 rooms are being held for attendees, these rooms
  • Renaissance rooms can be booked at $111 per night
  • Parking on site; nearby parking garages
  • Airport shuttle available; local garage parking 
  • Side by side with the Renaissance, one long block 
  • Residence Inn (Studios & 1BR Suites) 5-Star Property
  • Complimentary breakfast and free wi-fi
  • 50 rooms are being held for attendees, these rooms 
  • Residence Inn Suites can be booked at $99 per night
  • Parking on site; nearby parking garages
  • Airport shuttle available; local garage parking available
  • Hilton Crystal City is just about two blocks from Hyatt's front doors; they have a local shuttle
  • This is a 4-Star property
  • Hilton rooms can be booked at  $95  per night
  • Hilton is also matching the Hyatt's attendee perks:
    • Half-price parking ($17 per night)
    • 20% of restaurant bills with NOVA Open badge
    • Free wi-fI
  • Airport shuttle available
In This Issue:
Message may be clipped; if so, click "View entire message" at bottom of page on left
Details Regarding Purchases of Forge World
Products at NOVA Open 2017

As previously announced, Forge World will be at NOVA Open 2017. They will be bringing a wide selection of resin kits, Horus Heresy tomes, modeling products, books, event-only items, and a few potential new releases.  Located in the vendor hall in the corridor next to the Regency Hall, they will open for general sales starting Thursday, August 31st, at 10:00 am.  NOTE: NOVA Open a ttendees will be limited to just one (1) "event-exclusive" item on Thursday.

Forge World will accept pre-orders for free delivery to NOVA Open 2017. Pre-orders are the best way to guarantee your products, plus you save shipping costs from the UK.  Watch upcoming NOVA Open newsletters for advance sales dates and instructions on how to place those orders in the near future.

Check out Forge World's complete catalog by visiting their website.
Get Your 2017 Convention Coin Today!

NOVA Open 2017 Convention Coin 
Pre-Sale: $10.00 ($15.00 at convention) 
Ends: July 1, 2017

NOVA Open enters the coin field with its first annual Convention Coin. This "polished silver" coin measures 1.75 inches in diameter and features two cut out sections above and below the center circle as well as 3D versions of the US Capitol Dome, the Washington Monument, the White House, and the Jefferson Memorial.

Don't miss out; limited quantities available.  Destined to become one of many collector coins to come, the 2017 Convention Coin can only be pre-ordered for $10 until July 1st.
Support the NOCF Charity Lounge!

The NOVA Open Charitable Foundation (NOCF) Lounge occupies a large suite at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City hotel during the annual NOVA Open Convention. It is staffed by volunteers for the NOCF and proceeds support the continued work of the Foundation, as well as the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.



The NOCF could not have predicted the Foundation Lounge would become so integral to the NOVA Open Convention experience. Now that it has, we are turning to you, the generous companies and individual donors who support its charitable work. In return for acknowledgement and some of the best ad placement at the NOVA Open, we are seeking five donors per day for the five days of operation. Your generous contributions are tax-deductible, will underwrite the high costs of running the Lounge, and will add significantly to the amount of funds the NOCF is able to contribute to charity in 2017.

Five Levels of Sponsorship

PRIVATE RESERVE SPONSORSHIP
Stock the Bar: $500
Choose Wednesday - Sunday
***
GOLD LABEL SPONSORSHIP
Wells & Calls: $400
Choose Wednesday - Sunday
***
BLACK LABEL SPONSORSHIP
Signatures & Bottles: $300
Choose Wednesday - Sunday
***
RED LABEL SPONSORSHIP
Catering Fund: $250
Choose Wednesday - Sunday
***
KEG NIGHT SPONSORSHIP
Keg + 2 Hours of Raffles: $200
Choose Wednesday - Sunday

Don't hesitate!  Contact the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation today: novacharities@gmail.com
Introducing Hobby Haven at NOVA Open 2017

For years, hobbyist and painters have gathered  in various places throughout the NOVA Open to paint their models, socialize with fellow hobbyists, and exchange techniques. In 2017, the NOVA Open will introduce Hobby Haven, a large, general-use painting area with painting supplies, on the second floor of the Hyatt Regency. The area is intended to form a central, social hub, which provides opportunity for casual interaction and impromptu teaching of painting and artistic techniques. We are currently working to coordinate with local game stores, as well as game and hobby companies, to provide support for Hobby Haven. 

If you wish to be a contributor, please email questions to customerservice@novaopen.com.
Lead Corner Updates

Horus Heresy Update
NOVA Horus Heresy Facebook Group
Join our active Facebook group to get up-to-date
 event info, share your hobby photos and engage in (good natured) Legion smack talk. 
CLICK HERE

Horus Heresy Tickets
We nearly tripled the number of spots in most of our 2017 events, but tickets are selling fast. There are only a few seats left in the Escalation campaign.   Get your tickets now if you want to be guaranteed a spot!

Sunday Horus Heresy Event
The Sunday Knight Event has been cancelled and replaced with Shadow War 30K: Blackshield Marauders. This will be a skirmish campaign based on the new Shadow War rules from Games Workshop. We have created Shadow Wars rules for Blackshield Space Marines. All you will need are a handful of Heresy Era Space Marines to play!  BUY TICKETS HERE -  You can find the primer HERE .

Terrain
We have lots of awesome new terrain this year including a full Forge World Realm of Battle Industrial table and some awesome Zone Mortalis tables. Our team is also hard at work on even more!  Local and wish to participate?  Contact us:  customerservice@novaopen.com.

Infinity Narrative Update




Operation Invictus
The events that lead to the Asheron breach would take months to sort out, and flare ups between the Human Sphere increased as people sought to place blame.  O-12 finished the investigation with a simple discovery.  The facts were simple: the EI out maneuvered everyone and knew how to cast enough suspicion to have everyone fighting each other or phantoms.
 
The losses, while tragic, did nothing to hurt the resolve of the Human Sphere.  The shipyards of Pan Oceania and Yu Jing went into overtime to replace the lost ships.  US Ariadna supplied small fast corvettes and operated in a similar manner to the old Earth Coast Guard that protected the American East and West coasts.  Despite how successful the EI was, everyone made sure that Asheron blockade would hold.  Any drama was happening away from the front and O-12 made sure it stayed off of Mayanet.

An image unified and stronger Human Sphere being told on vids everywhere as the one year anniversary to the blood assault by the EI and their Combined Army.   Names of the fallen would be read in remembrance of their sacrifice.  The infighting wasn't the only thing that O-12 was hiding from the public.  The rush of Combine ships meant that some made it through and they know not all went to Paradiso.  Everyone needed to know where were the unaccounted ships and what was the EI's next move.  

Age of Sigmar Coalescence Event June 10

Have you heard about Coalescence, the global narrative event for Age of Sigmar on June 10th? Several organizers affiliated with the NOVA Open are running local events around the NoVA region as part of this event, including Falls Church and Culpeper in Virginia and Rockville, MD. There are many more locations in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and beyond. Check out the Coalescence AoS community page on Facebook to find info about an event that may be near you! 

You Can Now Make an NOCF
 Donation Using your Account at the
The NOVA Open Charitable Foundation thanks the tabletop wargaming community for its support!
   
2017 Army Appearance Primer

Years ago, a few of us got together and developed a new way to do appearance judging at the NOVA Open. This has evolved into the system we currently use at the NOVA Open as well as several independent local painting competitions in Virginia.
 
What makes NOVA appearance judging different from the rest; several things, but most noticeably the tier system?  A   three-judge panel scores army appearance over the course of two rounds: an Initial Round and a Final Round.  In the Initial Round, Judges rank contestants into one of four tiers based on an overarching assessment of the army.  This evaluation looks at the army as a whole, without detailed review of individual models.  More detailed evaluations take place in the Final Round, as a way to whittle down the contestants who passed the initial elimination.   Only armies that were assessed to be in the top tier of competitors will advance to the Final Round of judging.
 
The NOVA Open scoring does not use a "points checklist".  Judges use guiding criteria, which offer latitude to both the hobbyist and the judges, to give flexible weighting to different aspects of the army.  This method allows the strengths of an army to perhaps overcome some of its weaknesses, whereas a checklist rubric offers no such flexibility.  Moreover, the use of a 3-judge panel levels out biases among different judges. 
 
The full Article can be found HERE.
Fifth Terrain Build Update

While the Terrain team was a little behind schedule, our wonderfully enthusiastic crew of volunteers showed up on May 13 th  to save the day. Fourteen people volunteered for at least part of the day and we are now slightly ahead of schedule with fantasy terrain for Age of Sigmar and hills for other game systems. We want to say thank you to everyone who came out for donuts, pizza, pink foam, and good times. If you missed all the fun, don't worry; the next build session is this Saturday, May 20th.
 
You can read more about this progress at the    Road to NOVA blog   managed by our Minister of Terrain, Bob Likins.

We are looking for volunteers who have a good eye for detail who can help us with painting and building terrain this season. If you are interested, please contact customerservice@novaopen.com.

May 27th
June 10th
June 24th
July 15th




A Star Warsâ„¢: Destiny Charity Collection
Full Awakenings Set - Cards & Dice . . . 14 Days Left!

The NOVA Open Charitable Foundation thanks  Kris Sherriff for donating this incredible collection. The set is so highly valued that the NOCF has decided to offer it in one of our international online raffles! Ticket sales end on May 19. 

One of the hottest selling card games of the year, this $800 collection includes everything you need to jump in and start playing competitively immediately. If you missed out on picking up Star Warsâ„¢: Destiny Awakenings when it hit shelves in December (no doubt because it sold out so quickly), now is your chance to not only catch up - but to help raise funds for the incredible work that DWB/MSF does around the world since the  proceeds for this raffle will benefit  Doctors Without Borders .

Learn more about the raffle HERE.

What's included:
  • Two (2) copies of each Legendary card (w/corresponding dice)
  • At least two (2) copies of each Rare card (w/corresponding dice)
    • Four (4) copies of "First Order Stormtrooper" card (w/corresponding dice)
    • Three (3) copies of "Nightsister" card (w/corresponding dice)
    • Three (3) copies of "Tusken Raider" card (w/corresponding dice)
    • Three (3) copies of "Rebel Trooper" card (w/corresponding dice)
    • Three (3) copies of "Padawan" card (w/corresponding dice)
    • Three (3) copies of "Hired Gun" card (w/corresponding dice)
  • Two (2) copies of each Uncommon and Common card
    • One (1) copy of each Uncommon and Common Battlefield card
  • Two (2) copies of most Starter Only cards (w/corresponding dice)
    • One (1) copy of "Rey" card (w/2 dice)
    • One (1) copy of "Kilo Ren" card (w/2 dice)
    • One (1) copy of "Frozen Wastes" Battlefield card
    • One (1) copy of "Starship Graveyard" Battlefield card 
  • One (1) PROMO copy of "Rey" (from the Awakenings prerelease event)
  • One (1) PROMO copy of "Kilo Ren" (from the 1st Tournament Kit)
  • One (1) PROMO copy of "First Order TIE Fighter" (from the 1st Tournament Kit)
  • One (1) set of Star Warsâ„¢: Destiny Tokens (from the starter decks)
The complete collection details can be viewed HERE
X-Wing Miniature Painting Seminars

We're excited to announce that LightCraft Studio artist, Madeline Cockrell will offer two courses for painting X-Wing miniatures.    Introduction to Painting X-Wing Miniatures  will provide a comprehensive approach to painting X-Wing miniatures for both the experienced painter and complete novice.   Advanced Oil Wash Technique for X-Wing  will introduce a painting technique utilizing oil washes to create hyper realistic and dramatic ships without sacrificing the clarity and color underneath. Student will be provided a model, brushes, paints, and palettes but are encouraged to bring their own brushes. Pick up your tickets today to make your X-Wing miniatures the centerpiece of the NOVA Open's X-Wing events.

Follow Madeline's work: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lightcraftministudios/) and Facebook Page: (https://www.facebook.com/LightcraftMPS/)

Dark Age & Wrath of King Raffle
Winners Announcement

Winners in the NOCF CMON raffles were drawn yesterday at CMON Expo:


DARK AGE:  "Path to Glory" Starter Set
was won by
Aviad Madar of Tel Aviv, Israel





WRATH of KINGS:  "Goritsi Werewolf Specialists"
was won by
Jason Dawson of Albany, Western Australia

Nearly $1,000 was raised for Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
  • Tickets were sold in 8 countries:
    AUSTRALIA, CANADA, FRANCE, IRELAND,
    ISRAEL, NORWAY, SWEDEN & the UNITED STATES
     
  • Tickets were sold in 13 US states:
    ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, IDAHO, ILLINOIS, MARYLAND, MICHIGAN, NEVADA,
    NORTH CAROLINA, OHIO, OKLAHOMA, OREGON, VIRGINIA & WASHINGTON

SPECIAL THANKS to CMON for providing the models and the cost of shipping for these two exciting fundraisers!
2017 NOVA Open Games/Events
Check Regularly for Updates


Primers can change up until and after registration, and leads are highly responsive to commentary and input.

E-Mail  customerservice@novaopen.com  with your thoughts or questions.   Click any event title to see their specific event page on  www.novaopen.com .


AIRBRUSH COMPETITION                   BEYOND THE GATES OF ANTARES   

BLOOD BOWL                                    BOLT ACTION
 
CAPITAL PALETTE                             DARK AGE 
 
FIRESTORM ARMADA                        GUILD BALL 
 
INFINITY                                           KONFLICT 47

LORD OF THE RINGS                         MALIFAUX     

STAR WARS: ARMADA                       STAR WARS: DESTINY  


WARHAMMER 30K                            WARHAMMER 40K      


WRATH OF KINGS                              X-WING

2017 Internship Opportunities:
Convention Management Interns Wanted


The NOVA Open is seeking a spring and/or summer interns. If you know a college student looking to build career skills and gain experience? NOVA Open works with college for credit!  C ontact:

Internships are a great way to practice existing skills, fill that ALL IMPORTANT
EXPERIENCE SECTION  on a resume, learn time management while building new connections ~ all the while  helping bring the 2017 NOVA Open to life.

Expectations would be20-25 hours per week (9am-2pm five days a week) on site in the Tysons Corner area (own transportation required).  The NOVA Open has had over 20 interns successfully pass through its internship program while at school; we've provided letters of recommendations and served as references for successful hires thereafter.  

If you know of anyone (son, daughter, children of friends) who might benefit, please feel free to share this opportunity. 
Have a Favorite Food Truck?
Let us Know

DMV area locals who want to see their favorite local food trucks can email us at:
customerservice@novaopen.com   with the truck's Twitter handle and/or web page so we can look into inviting them at this year's convention. 
Social Media Links:
Follow Us!
    
Stay up to date with all the most recent news from the NOVA Open by following us on social media and subscribing to our newsletter! We update frequently on not only important NOVA Open information, but from our sponsors/vendors and the gaming community as well.

Twitter: @NOVAOpen

NOCF Twitter: @NOVACharity

NewsletterSIGN UP HERE