February Game-a-thon

Late summer 1941 and the Soviet Union with naval bases falling fast has decided to try to breakout the larger naval vessels out of the Baltic to the Arctic. The Kreigsmarine has rounded up forces to attempt to stop this, but will it be enough?

Continuing our ongoing campaign with WWI Wings of War. This month's mission will be a balloon busting. The defenders will get an extra kill each if they save the balloons.

Each player has an Allied and an Central Powers pilot. Kill scores are recorded for each and ace achievements will provide bonuses, getting shot down may kill that pilot. Players will fly a mission from both sides during each session. 

Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Wings of War - Miniatures which includes reviews, pictures, playing aids, and rules.

An American B-17 is flying over Germany on it's way to bomb a German secret Base. The Americans' Mission is to reach the target and drop your bombs.  The Germans' Mission is to shoot it down.  This will be my last play test befor the Cold Wars  con in March.

Stellar Conquest is the grand-daddy of 4X (eXplore, eXploit, eXpand, eXterminate) space games. From the 1974 edition of the rules: STELLAR CONQUEST is the realistic game of strategic space exploration and conquest for two to four imaginative, intelligent players. STELLAR CONQUEST represents an advanced, multi-factor, society-level game system featuring balanced playability in a sophisticated, challenging format. Each player controls a complete interstellar socitey, making decisions about exploration, technological research, industrial expansion, population movements and space fleet combat. The struggle for dominance of the simulated open Galactic cluster offers players infinite opportunity forexercising tactical military ability and strategic, society-level planning ingenuity.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Stellar Conquest which includes reviews, pictures, playing aids, and rules.

Beyond the center of the Viridian Empire, beyond the Prefectures, even beyond the Vassal States, are the Borderlands. Guess where you are. That's right, just barely outside the reach of the Empire. For various reasons that are no one's business, the Empire is not a good place to be right now, so might as well make the best of it, and find a path to wealth and glory that could lead to you being welcomed back. Good luck! You will need it.
Bring: dice (especially Percentile dice), paper, pencils, snacks

In the spring of 1812 the Emperor Napoleon of France gathered the regiments of 20 nations together into the largest military force yet raised in Europe.  That June he led his Grand Army of over 600,000 men across the Nieman River to begin what he believed would be his greatest triumph and perhaps final war: the invasion and subjugation of Tsarist Russia.  As the defending armies fell back before this prodigious onslaught, Tsar Alexander turned to a pugnacious and crafty old warrior to help save his country, his people and his Romanov Dynasty: Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov.  Recreate the epic campaign of 1812 and explore its many possibilities.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Kutuzov which includes reviews, pictures, and playing aids.

Yggdrasil is a co-operative game in which players are different gods of the Norse mythology: Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frey, Heimdall and Frejya. The gods work cooperatively to prevent Ragnarok, the apocalypse that will destroy the world.
This is arguably the best of the recent spate of games set in the Viking Age.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Yggdrasil which includes reviews, pictures, playing aids, and links to the rules of the game.

Shogun is set in the Sengoku or “Warring States” period (approx 1467-1573) which ends with the inception of the well-known Tokugawa Shogunate. Each player assumes the role of a great Daimyo with all his troops. Each player has the same 10 possible actions to develop his kingdom and secure points. Each round, the players decide which of the actions are to be played out and in which of their provinces. If battle ensues between opposing armies, the unique Cubetower plays the leading role. The troops from both sides are thrown in together and the cubes that fall out at the bottom affect the battle. Owning provinces, temples, theaters, and castles means points when scores are tallied. Whichever Daimyo has the highest number of points after the second tally becomes – SHOGUN!
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Shogun.

The Lodge has the following adventures planned:

• Intro 2: First Steps—Part II: To Delve the Dungeon
• Shades of Ice—Part I: Written in Blood
• Intro 3: First Steps—Part III: A Vision of Betrayal
• Shades of Ice—Part II: Exiles of Winter

Follow this link to the local Pathfinder's Lodge to sign up.
Follow this link to the Gaming Schedule to see details of the events.
For a free copy of the rules, follow this link.

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.