The Schenectady Wargamers Association, Inc.

presents

The 34th Annual

Council of Five Nations

Gaming Convention

Co-Sponsored by

Zombie Planet & Eden Studios
Cooper's Cave Games & Paintball

October 7-9, 2011

at the
Proctors Theatre Conference Center
Schenectady, NY

Council of Five Nations is one of the longest-running Adventure Gaming conventions in the world; we’ve been around since 1976!  We strive for Council to be a good, fun, “traditional” gaming convention.  Our goal is to have a nice balance between role-playing, board games, miniatures and other stuff.  

Council of Five Nations XXXIV is being brought to you by the Schenectady Wargamers Association, Inc.  We’re also happy to have several of our local gaming retailers on board as co-sponsors.

The Schenectady Wargamers Association is an adventure gaming club that has served the Capital District for over thirty years. We sponsor a one-day Game-a-thon every month, and our flagship event, Council of Five Nations, every Columbus Day Weekend in October.  Our excellent web site (www.swa-gaming.org) serves as the hub of a “virtual community” of gamers and gaming organizations around the entire Northeastern United States.  You should check it out if you haven’t already; there’s a lot of good content there.

Zombie Planet is the Capital District’s best game store.  They feature role-play, miniatures and card games.  The store also serves as the business offices of Eden Studios, makers of several RPG lines, including  Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Conspiracy X, All Flesh Must be Eaten, and others.  Check out their web site at (www.zombie-planet.com).

Cooper’s Cave Games & Paintball is a gaming store serving upstate New York’s “North Country” in South Glens Falls.  As their name implies, they carry a range of adventure gaming merchandise and a big selection of Paintball equipment.  They also run a dedicated outdoor paintball field.  Check out their web site at (www.CoopersCavePaintball.com).

We don’t usually have Guests of Honor at Council, but this year we’ve stepped-up to make it happen.

Steven P. Petrick – Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

Council of Five Nations is the host of the largest face-to-face Star Fleet Battles tournament in the world.  So we think it’s only fitting that we have Steve Petrick, one of the game’s designers, on hand to judge the tournament this year (all the way from Amarillo, Texas!).

Lunch with Steve
The SWA is sponsoring “Lunch with Steve”, 1:00 PM Saturday.  Mr Petrick will answer your questions about the Star Fleet Universe, upcoming products, what it’s like to be a full-time game designer, and whatever else you’d like to ask of him.  Pizza and soda provided.  Location: The Star Fleet Battles room on the upper floor.

Bio - Steven Petrick was still in the U.S. Army as a captain when he appeared as a member of the senior staff in Captain's Log #5. By the next issue, he was listed as a candidate for the Committee. By issue #7 in 1989, Petrick was the associate editor. He became the managing editor by Captain's Log #8 and was listed as Chief of Staff. He is currently the department head for SFB and serves as the senior judge as needed for tournaments.
     Every product that ADB, Inc. has produced has felt the touch of Steven Petrick. While SFB remains his primary responsibility, he's also helped with Federation & Empire, Star Fleet Battle Force, Federation Commander, and Prime Directive. As of this writing, he has been busy with the playtesting of Star Fleet Marines. His knowledge of the ships of the Star Fleet Universe is legendary and serves him in good stead when he quality checks the Starline 2400 miniatures.
     While Petrick may consider himself a mechanic for Steve Cole, the idea man, many of us realize that it is his thorough follow through that keeps SFB so internally consistent. He may be affectionately teased for for being so precise in his descriptions, but in actuality, that level of attention to detail is part of what keeps the SFU internally logical. While ADB's policy prevents Petrick from playing Star Fleet Universe games outside of the privacy of company offices, he is an excellent wargamer and those skills strengthen the company's products.
     Military historian, tactician, strategist, wargamer. How appropriate that he should visit Council of Five Nations, a premier gathering of gamers.


C.J. Henderson – Professional Author

Bio - CJ Henderson is a writer with 35 years behind him as a published author. He's maintained a half dozen series, written 70 books, hundreds and hundreds of comics and short stories and thousands of non-fiction articles. His work has been translated into thirteen languages. You can see his entire publishing catalog here:  CJHenderson.com .

Lunch with CJ
1:00 PM Saturday.  Location: Upstairs by CJ’s vendor table.
If you have any questions about writing ... plot or character development, pacing, writer's block, getting work finished, knowing where to start and when to end, dialogue ... absolutely anything, now's the time to ask those questions. CJ will answer anything asked, and if no one has any questions, he'll read from his bottomless pit of short stories. So, if you need help developing scenarios, making your game sound new and different, making the decision to find a publisher or to self-publish ... whatever ... come and get the goods from the one person at this year's Council guaranteed to know more that anyone else!  Pizza and soda provided.

Please make all checks payable to “Schenectady Wargamers Association”.

Please direct your registrations, questions and comments to:
Steve Kent
49 Evergreen Ave
Clifton Park, NY 12065
council.registrar /at/ swa-gaming.org
(518) 313-3347  [before 9pm Eastern Time]

You will find comprehensive information about the convention on our web site.  We have dozens of pages dedicated to Council of Five Nations information.  You can even scan the event listings and register online.  The hub of all those pages is here: (www.swa-gaming.org/Council).

The SWA was happy to be one of the inaugural events at the new Proctors Theatre and Conference Center in downtown Schenectady.  We’ve  had a very positive experience with them for a few years now, so we’ve made a multi-year commitment to stay.

Proctors itself is a classic Vaudeville-era theater, and a national landmark. As part of the recent renovation efforts for downtown Schenectady, Proctors received funding to greatly expand into an adjacent space next door (formerly a department store).  This new space holds administrative offices, an iwerks extreme screen theater seating over 400, retail space, and most importantly to us, thousands of square feet of meeting space.

You can read more about the new Proctors at their web site: (www.proctors.org).

Proctors has excellent accessibility for the disabled.  There are elevators serving all areas of the convention.  There are also fully-compliant disabled rest room facilities.

The street address of Proctors Theatre:
432 State Street
Schenectady, NY 12305

Detailed directions, with MapQuest maps, are available on the SWA web site at our special Council Directions page (www.swa-gaming.org/CouncilDirections).

We have a special Parking at Council page on our web site: (www.swa-gaming.org/CouncilParking).  If you download the Downtown Schenectady Map from our web site you will see both these areas clearly marked with “(P)”.  Proctors is highlighted in red, right in the middle of the map.  We suggest your first choice be the Broadway garage.  Your second choice might be the lot off South Clinton.  Both these lots are a very short walk to Proctors.

Parking in the Broadway garage is free all weekend.  Even if there is a garage attendant at the booth, just take the ticket.  You will not be required to pay when you leave.  If you want extra peace-of-mind, we will have a Broadway Garage parking pass that you can download and show any booth attendant that might be present.  Please click here to go to the SWA downloads page to download the Broadway Garage pass.

Parking in the South Clinton lot is usually paid on Friday, and free on weekends.  But there are two shows at Proctors theatre on Saturday, so there will probably be attendants there on Saturday as well, looking for money.  Sunday should be free. 

The Parker Inn shares a parking lot with Proctors, with some spots reserved for their guests, so that’s a no-brainer for you if you’re staying at the Parker. If you’re staying at the Hampton Inn, they have a private lot for their guests.  That’s the best option for you.

If you need to unload a lot of stuff for your game, there are access doors directly off the convention area.  Park temporarily, come to the registration desk, and we’ll help get you situated.

The Registration Desk will open at 10am on Friday, October 8th.  Please note that most Friday events don’t start until 2pm.  We are opening early mainly for the Star Fleet Battles tournament (the largest in the world!).  There might be some other pick-up games for hardcore early arrivals.  If you come before 2pm on Friday, bring some games!

Events start at 9am on both Saturday and Sunday. The gaming areas will open at 8am for GMs to set up.

We need to vacate the building no later than 2:00 AM on both Friday and Saturday nights, and no later than 9:00 PM on Sunday night.  That means no overnight gaming at Council (unless you arrange something in your hotel room).

Proctors is a smoke-free facility.  There will be no smoking allowed in the convention areas all weekend.  There are areas right outside for smokers.

Everyone knows that we’re living in tough economic times.  We’re doing what we can by keeping our registration fees flat once again.  Our rent went up by 10%, but we’re not passing that along to you.  No price increases!

Weekend pre-registration is $27 if we receive it by Wednesday, October 6th.  After this date, weekend registration is $32. Saturday-only is $15 pre-reg, $18 at the door.  Friday-only and Sunday-only are $10 pre-reg, $12 otherwise.  Please also note that individual events are typically $2 each.  A few events are more, but those tend to have significant prize opportunities.  A few events are free; please see the event listings for costs.

Please make all checks payable to “Schenectady Wargamers Association.”  

Please note you can also register and pay online.  Click the big “Council of Five Nations” button in the upper left corner of any page.  We can accept PayPal payments.  You can also pay online with your MasterCard or VISA; you do not need a PayPal account.

After you have chosen your events for each time slot, here is the online registration form:  (www.swa-gaming.org/CouncilOnlineRegistration)

The SWA wants to encourage you to get your friends attend with you.  Groups of three or more that send all pre-registrations together will get a $5 discount for each attendee.  You do not need to be an official or organized gaming club to receive this discount; any 3+ people who pre-register together are eligible.  Please note this offer only applies to pre-registration.

If you pre-register by mail, you must send all the registrations and payments in the same envelope.  Separate checks are OK.

If you pre-register online, please note your group affiliation in the comments section on all the registration forms and make sure everyone takes the discount (it really helps if you submit them all at the same time).  Also (very important), you must make only one online payment to cover the whole group.  The PayPal fees for several small payments really sting, so we must insist on this for you to receive the group discount.

Either mail or online, please fill out a separate form for each registration.  Trying to squeeze multiple people on one form messes up our accounting & registration system.  Thanks!

The SWA understands that today’s student gamers are the future of the hobby.  We want to encourage you to attend our events, so we’ve really slashed the entry fee for full-time students.

Kids age 9 or less get in for free.  You need only pay for the event tickets for individual games.

For all other full-time students:
Weekend pre-registration is $14 if we receive it by Wednesday, October 6th.  After this date, weekend registration is $17. Saturday-only is $8 pre-reg, $10 at the door.  Friday-only and Sunday-only are $5 pre-reg, $7 otherwise.

Please note that you can stack the Group discount and Student discount together.  That’ll really bring the registration fee way down.  The SWA loves middle school, high school and college student gaming groups!

For our purposes, "full-time students" are people in Kindergarten through college.  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.

By the way, our monthly Game-a-thon events are FREE to full-time students.  We hope to see more of you at those in the future.

We're going to try something new this year, based on some feedback and requests from prior years' attendees.  We're going to take a few volunteers to work at Con Staff functions.  These would include the Registration table, the Annual Council Discount Auction, and other various duties. This is a new program for us, and we're still figuring out the best way to handle it, but here's the general plan so far (subject to some tweaking):

Volunteers will get free entry and an embroidered Council shirt, just like our volunteer GMs.

There are two volunteer 'packages':

• Weekend volunteers plan to attend most/all of Council weekend.  They work two full time slots and two rush hours (explained below).  They get their weekend registration free (just like GMs), meaning they only pay for the event tickets for the games they play.
• Weekend volunteers get to designate two slots they do not want to work, so they can be sure to play in some games of their choice (Council has seven time slots.   You work two slots, leaving five for gaming).
• One-Day volunteers plan to attend only one day of Council (probably Saturday).  They work one full time slot and one rush hour.   They get their one-day registration free, meaning they only pay for the event tickets for the games they play.
• One-day volunteers get to designate one slot they do not want to work (Council Saturday has three time slots.   You work one slot, leaving two for gaming).
• We have a limited number of Volunteer opportunities available, so we cannot guarantee to take all who are interested.
• We prefer local Capital District volunteers, as there will probably be a mandatory short training session before Council weekend.  But out-of-towners are welcome to apply as well.

What's a "rush hour"?
Rush hours are the hour-long periods before or between time slots (8-9am, 1-2pm, 6-7pm).  They are our busiest time at the Registration desk.  We need the most number of staff working during these times, due to the numbers of people registering and buying event tickets.

Let us know if you're interested.  We figure this is a great way for a few of you to attend Council if money is a factor.  Trade some 'sweat equity' for free entry.

Please email us at Council /at/ swa-gaming.org by September 20th if you're interested.  Please also include your phone number in your email message.  We'll get back to you to coordinate details.

Game Masters whose events appear in the pre-registration booklet get the whole weekend entry fee waived.  You only need to pay for the tickets of the events in which you play.

Game Masters who submit events later, ones that don’t appear in the pre-registration booklet, get a flat-rate discount of $10 off your registration fee.  We’re pretty booked, so please know that we are not actively soliciting events at this time.  If you’ve got something that you think fills a glaring hole in our schedule, please feel free to inquire.

Game Masters registering as part of a Group of 3 or more:  Yes, you get to deduct another $5 of your total fees.  Yes, we might actually end up owing you money.  We prefer to see it as a subsidy toward your ticket purchases.  But however you see it, enjoy our thanks for not only running games for us, but bringing some of your friends along too.  Council of Five Nations appreciates it’s GMs, and we love to show the love!

Many of us got started in adventure gaming before we were old enough to drive, and we want Council of Five Nations to welcome families and kids. But we also know that the thematic content or complexity of some games makes them unsuitable for young players. To allow attendees and parents to make an informed decision on participation in an event, all events have been assigned one of the following Maturity Ratings:
•    Child rating is for children age 6 - 9 with adult supervision
•    E10+ rating is for players 10 and up in age (This is the default rating)
•    Teen rating is for players 14 and up in age
•    Mature rating is for players 18 and up in age.

We have also identified some games as particularly geared to Kids.  You will see the “Kids” flag in the event description header, and outlined in the special event track below.  We have tried to distribute the events so that our younger attendees will have something to do in most time slots across the entire Council weekend.

If you’re coming in from out of town, we suggest the following accommodations.  Please note how the first two are a very convenient walking distance, while the second two are approximately half a mile away (an easy walk through downtown Schenectady, if you’re so inclined).  Please also note the rates listed are based strictly on availability.  

We also have a special web page dedicated to hotel options for Council of Five Nations.  You’ll find the info we list here, and also extras like maps, driving directions, photos, etc.  You can check it out here:  (www.swa-gaming.org/CouncilHotels).

The Discount Game Auction is one of our most popular events, and a long-time Council tradition.  It will be happening again this year during the long lunch break on Council Sunday (October 10th), from 2:00-3:00 PM.

We'll have over a hundred games and other gaming-related merchandise available.  This is an open, competitive bidding auction.  We go fast (we have to, in order to sell all those games), so be ready to be quick with your bids!

If you've got some games you'd like to sell, this is your chance to do so.  If you've got a few bucks left in your pocket at the end of Council weekend, this is also an opportunity for you to pick up some bargains.

All items sold will be subject to an auction fee of at least 10% of the selling price.  If you choose to donate a higher percentage, your items will be given preferential selling treatment.  You can download the necessary forms from our web site (click here).  Or, stop off at the Registration Desk.  All items must be tagged and ready to go by 12:00pm on Sunday.  Bring your tagged items to the Registration Desk.  Please do not bring items before Sunday.

Many thanks to Dave Bostwick for adding some time-saving technology to the PDF forms.

We’ll have six dealers onsite who are looking forward to selling you all sorts of good stuff:

Zombie Planet has been a Council co-sponsor for over a dozen years.  They will be bringing a full variety of gaming goodness. Check out their web site at (www.zombie-planet.com).

Coopers Cave Games and Paintball will have historical miniatures, terrain, and other good stuff. Check out their web site at (www.CoopersCavePaintball.com).

Your Move Games are the makers of Battleground: Fantasy Warfare, Battleground: Historical Warfare, and other games.  Battleground has really taken off in popularity among the SWA folks.  We encourage you to drop by their table upstairs and give the game a try; see the Battleground event track below. Check out their web site at (www.YourMoveGames.com).

Ad Astra Games produces several games: Squadron Strike, Birds of Prey, Airborne Alert, and the Saganami Island Tactical Simulator system for the Honor Harrington universe.  They also produce miniatures to complement these popular game lines.  Their events at previous Councils were very popular, and they’re back to run more.  Look for their table upstairs, right outside the Star Fleet Battles room.  Please check out their web site at (www.AdAstraGames.com).

Savage Mojo produces the Savage Suzerain line of supplements for the Savage Worlds RPG.  Not only are they attending Council to sell, but they’ll be sponsoring the prizes for a whole weekend of events.  Look for their table upstairs in the RPG room.

C.J. Henderson – Our Guest of Honor is not only an author and GM, but a merchant too.  We’re sure he’d be happy to sell you a whole pile of his books.  Look for his table upstairs in the RPG room.

We are offering a series of games where younger players are especially encouraged to attend. If this frees up mom or dad to play in another game, great! We’re asking that you exercise proper parental judgment as to whether your kid is old/mature enough to be participating without your supervision. This is not intended to be Day Care.  That being said, here is the list of Kid’s games:


Please click for the Kids games full event descriptions.

We will be running a Star Fleet Battles tournament all weekend.  We’re even opening the doors early to make sure SFB players have the time to get in as many games as possible.  Registration for this tournament is $5.  Last year we had the largest SFB tournament in the world, bigger than even the National Championships at Origins. Early indications are that our tournament will be even bigger this year.  If you’re interested in giving this challenging game a try, please look in your registration packet for a coupon, redeemable for a free game.

We also have a special web page dedicated to the SFB tournament at Council.  Please check it out here:  www.swa-gaming.org/SFBatCouncil

Council has a long tradition of offering an excellent selection of historical miniatures events throughout the convention.  (We snuck a couple of sessions of “Conflict of Heroes” onto this list because we think Historical gamers will love this “Squad Leader Lite” game.)


Please click for the full event descriptions of all the Historical Miniatures events.

The RPGA seems to have evaporated here in the Capital District of upstate New York.  We’re sorry to not offer this popular event track this year, but we’re hoping to bring it back next year.  But, from the ashes of the RPGA…

Like the mythical Phoenix, Pathfinder Society RPG-action has emerged from the not-even-cool ashes of the RPGA.  Many of the RPGA players now attend Pathfinder events at the monthly SWA Game-a-thons.  Brett McLean, our Council Pathfinder Czar, has lined up a great weekend of Pathfinder Society adventures.  We are happy to offer a great schedule of events, including some that will debut at Council of Five Nations.  Please see the special Pathfinder Society section at the end of the event descriptions.  Here is a listing of the various modules offered:

Please click for the full event descriptions of all the Pathfinder Society RPG games.

Battleground: F/HW is an excellent miniatures game, disguised as a card game.  There are no figures to buy or paint; you can fit a whole army in your pocket.  This is NOT a “collectible card game”, where you buy many packs to get a bunch of rare cards to pump up your hand.  Council is very happy to have Niko White, one of the developers from Your Move Games, on hand again to run games and sell Battleground decks.  These events have grown in popularity each year at Council, and we’re developing a reputation for one of the biggest and best Battleground cons. We’ve even got guys flying in from all over the country to play at Council weekend.  Please stop by the Battleground table upstairs in the RPG room all weekend to play a demo game.  Or, try one of these more formal events:

Please click for the Battleground: Fantasy & Historical Warfare event track page.

If you’re a fan of the Savage Worlds RPG, we’ve got a whole weekend of good events lined up for you.  Prizes for all events sponsored by Savage Mojo (be sure to visit their dealers table upstairs in the RPG room):

Please click for the full event descriptions of all the Savage Worlds events.

If you’re a fan of things that go bump in the night, we’ve got a whole weekend of ghoulish games to entertain you.

Please click for the Horror games event track page.

Another popular genre.  If you want to play nothing but science fiction offerings all weekend, we’ve got you covered.

Please click for the full event descriptions of all the Science Fiction games.

We’ve gone out of our way to recruit GMs for the most popular games.  The Board Game Geek ranking is one good way for us to gauge that, and we’re well represented.  BGG favorites all weekend long!

Fri 2pm (A) • A-Board-3 • Through the Ages • E10
Fri 7pm (B) • B-Board-4 • Dominant Species • E10
Fri 7pm (B) • B-Board-9 • Power Grid • Teen14
Sat 9am (C) • C-Board-5 • Agricola - All Pimped Out! • Agricola • Teen14
Sat 2pm (D) • D-Board-3 • Steam: Rails to Riches • Steam • Teen14
Sat 2pm (D) • D-Board-4 • Dominant Species • Teen14
Sat 2pm (D) • D-Board-5 • Twilight Struggle • Teen14
Sat 2pm (D) • D-Board-9 • Puerto Rico • E10
Sat 7pm (E) • E-Board-5 • Dominion • E10
Sat 7pm (E) • E-Board-6 • 7 Wonders • E10
Sun 3pm (G) • G-Board-3 • Tigris & Euphrates • E10
Sun 3pm (G) • G-Board-4 • Dominion • E10
Sun 3pm (G) • G-Board-6 • Through the Ages • NEW

Please click for the Board Game Geek Top 25 event track page.

Rail games are a very popular genre.  We don’t have enough for a full Puffing Billy tournament this year, but we’re looking to build toward that.  Here’s what we’ve got for you Train Game aficionados:

Sat 9am (C) • C-Board-7 • Chicago Express • Teen14
Sat 2pm (D) • D-Board-3 • Steam: Rails to Riches • Steam • Teen14
Sun 9am (F) • F-Board-6 • Poseidon • 18xx Rail Game • Teen14
Sun 3pm (G) • G-Board-2 • Railways of the World • E10

Please click for full descriptions of the Train games.

The Requiem of Albany has been sponsoring World of Darkness LARPs at Council for a few years now.  Ben Ossenfort, one of the SWA’s most popular GMs, has been creating some memorable LARP action of his own for years as well.  Adults (18+) only for all three of these events, please.

Sat 2pm (D) • D-LARP • NerdCon 2011- Welcome to New Jersey • Home Brew LARP • Teen14
Sat 7pm (E) • E-LARP • A Tale of Two Domains • World of Darkness LARP • Mature18
Sun 3pm (G) • G-LARP • A Thorn Underfoot • Mind's Eye Theater, Changeling: The Lost • Mature18

Please click for the Live Action Role-Play event track page.

We're dedicating an area to open gaming, where you can meet up with other gamers for pick up games any time during convention hours. Bring your own games or borrow one from our Game Library (New for 2011).  The folks at Zombie Planet are helping out by making their extensive collection of games available, so we'll have plenty family and kid friendly games on hand.

All registered attendees will receive a "library card" that they can use to check out games for free from our game library.  We’ll have volunteers on hand to assist with your library choices and teach new games.

The Schenectady Wargamers Association, Inc., is a Not For Profit organization incorporated in the state of New York.  “Schenectady Wargamers Association”, “Council of Five Nations”, the Council Indian logo, and the SWA Artilleryman logo are trademarks of the Schenectady Wargamers Association, Inc.  Many gaming product names and images referred to in this booklet are trademarks or registered trademarks of the company that produces the game in question, and we acknowledge that here.  The use of such trademarked names and images without mention of trademark status should not be construed as a challenge to such status.  In fact, you should probably be thanking us for running your games, and thus helping generate sales, by sending us some free convention support goodies (if you haven’t planned to do so already).  Thank you.

Please click to go to the Chronological listing of all events.

Please click for the list of Kids games.

Please click for the listing of all the Pathfinder Society RPG games.

Please click for the listing of all the Historical Miniatures events.

Please click for the Star Fleet Battles tournament page.

Please click for the Board Game Geek Top 25 event track page.

Please click for the Train games event track.

Please click for the Horror games event track page.

Please click for the Science Fiction games event track page.

Please click for the Battleground: Fantasy & Historical Warfare event track page.

Please click for the Savage Worlds event track page.

Please click for the Live Action Role-Play event track page.