April 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, April 12, 2008.
Here are the details.

Considered by some to be the first true world war, the 7 Years' War involved most major European powers and had conflicts spanning the globe. Besides the European theatre, there were also those in the various colonies throughout the world, including a major conflict in the North America that is better known as the French and Indian War. Although named after the enemies of the British Empire, it is important to note that American Indian tribes fought on both sides of the war.
Wilderness War is a highly regarded card-driven game pitting one player, as the British, against the other, as the French. The game includes various types of drilled troops and auxiliaries, as well as a variety of fortifications to deal with.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Wilderness War which includes reviews, pictures, player aids, rules, and a link to the publisher's page.
The GM will be participating in the tournament and will have 4 copies of the game available. The number of copies of the game on hand will limit the number of players in the tournament. Players are encouraged to bring a copy of the game to not only guarantee their participation in the tournament, but to also allow another player in.

The mission went as planned. The bandits are captured and are being interrogated. Most of the items and cash will be returned to their owners, minus your finder's fee of course. All has gone as planned...
Why does this map have times and deployments for an invasion of someplace called the Great Kingdom? Never heard of the place. And what is a disjunctive maelstrom generator? Or for that matter, why is it written in Orc?
More information at http://www.firstduty.com/add/league/events.php.
This event will follow the guidelines for the FCS Gaming League. It is rated at Novice level and players may bring their pre-generated teams. If you are new to Edition 3.5, we will review the rules as we go. You DO NOT need to be a member of the FCS Gaming League to participate in this event.
what2bring: FCSGL pre-gen character, dice, minis, PHB and relevant books. New players should bring an 11th level character.

A preliminary engagement of the Saratoga campaign, it was the only battle to be fought completely in the state of Vermont. Burgoyne's advance force led by Fraser and Von Reidesel surprises a group of forces led by Warner and the Green Mountain Boys.
Follow this link to the C&G author's website for additional information on the system.

Europe in the age of imperialism. Internationally operating investors aim for the highest political influence in Europe. By giving credits they gain influence over the six imperial nations Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy and France. These nations desperately need money to build up their economy and to buy troops and fleets. With their growing power in Europe, they collect more taxes and pay their rising interests to their investors. Because the six imperial nations are under changing influence of different investors, strategic alliances and conflicts arise between them. Sometimes this leads even to war!
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for Imperial which includes reviews, pictures, player aids, FAQs and a link to the rules.

The city of Murthos is running amok now that the Dramojh has lost its prize possession of the Diamond Rose. The Dramojh has been chomping at the bit, killing a number of officers of the church of Wee Jas, including some of its higher bishops and one attempt on the Archbishop. The people of Murthos request the Champions attention, promising wealth and use of their divine concubines as payment. Will the champions help the citizens of Murthos?
More information at http://www.firstduty.com/add/league/events.php.
This event will follow the guidelines for the FCS Gaming League. It is rated at Epic level and players may bring their pre-generated teams. If you are new to Edition 3.5, we will review the rules as we go. You DO NOT need to be a member of the FCS Gaming League to participate in this event.
what2bring: New players should bring a 23rd level Edition 3.5 character. All characters MUST be complete and ready to go by game time. The description for any uncommon feats, items, or spells MUST be supplied to the GM. All players should bring dice and books.

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

In Acquire, players build (abstractly through tile placements) and invest (through stock purchase) in corporations. As the corporations grow, they also merge and takeover smaller competition, much like in real life. The mergers reward stockholders, and in particular, those who hold the most stock in the takeover "victims". These rewards can be trading held stocks of the acquired company in for stocks of the larger corporation and/or selling off of said stocks for reinvestment in other corporations. In the end, the game is all about racing to acquire the greatest wealth.
In Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix, players are dealt a hand of cards which have movement numbers for one or more of the cars. When a card is played, the cars are advanced the number of spaces indicated in order from top to bottom. However, if the track is blocked, then that movement is lost, so the idea is to use the cards that help your opponents (which you'll likely have to play eventually) only when they won't be able to take advantage of the movement.
In Manhattan, players build skyscrapers in New York, with the exact building locations limited by the cards in their hands. Although everyone can contribute to the construction of a skyscraper, only the player who built its top floor can claim ownership. And ownership is important, because at the end of each round every skyscraper you own contributes to your point total, as does owning the most in a single area, and even owning the tallest one!
In Ticket to Ride, players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets ö goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.
In Carcassonne, players take turns drawing a random tile and placing it adjacent to an already placed tile. If a new object - like a city, road or a monastery - is created, the player may place one of their control markers on the tile to indicate their control. Alternately, the player may place the marker in the pasture on the tile as a farmer. Markers often do not immediately score points when first placed, but rather when other tiles are later connected to it. As subsequent tiles are arrayed on the board, objects get bigger or even merge. Once certain objects are completed, like roads and cities, or the monastery is surrounded, then the controlling player scores points and their marker is returned to them.
Follow these links to the BoardGameGeek entry for Acquire, the BoardGameGeek entry for Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix, the BoardGameGeek entry for Manhattan, the BoardGameGeek entry for Ticket to Ride, and the BoardGameGeek entry for Carcassonne which include reviews, pictures, player aids, as well as many other resources.
The players at this event will be able to choose any two of the listed games.

Beginning at the dawn of railroading in the United States, when the locomotives were fired by wood and the trestles were built of timbers, 1830 will take you from that time through to the beginning of dieselization. During that time, players will seek to make the most money by buying and selling stock in various share companies located on eastern United States map in what is widely regarded as one of the best stock manipulation systems of the 18xx family. This game features private rail companies and an extremely vicious, 'robber baron' oriented stock market. A game is finished when the bank runs out of money or one player goes bankrupt, and the player with the greatest personal holdings wins.
Follow this link to the BoardGameGeek entry for 1830-Railroads and Robber Barons which includes reviews, pictures, and rules of the game.

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.