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Council of Five Nations
Report on Council of Five Nations XXXI |
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Submitted by DC on Sat, 11/01/2008 - 11:07.
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The results from Council of Five Nations (three weeks ago, for those of you who missed it) are in. We thought you might like to hear about how things went. ATTENDANCE We had about 225 attendees this year; up 18% from last year's 190. Of special note, forty (18%) of you got $5 off your entry fee by registering in a group. We love that kind of group commitment to attending Council. Also, nineteen (8%) attendees got in at the heavily-discounted student rate. Today's students are tomorrow's gamers, and we're happy to make it easier for students to attend Council. EVENTS We had roughly the same number of events as last year (125). We're very happy to see so many of them filling up, and there were far fewer "did not run"s this year. We'll keep working to build attendance and have even more run at full in the future. Highlights: Our Star Fleet Battles tournament was, once again, the largest in the country - even larger than the national championships at Origns. RPGA D&D and TC Realms D&D were particularly well attended. And most of our historical miniatures events ran at full or near-full. THE FACILITY: PROCTORS CONFERENCE CENTER This was our second year at Proctors, and we learned from the mistakes we made last year. Registration and the dealers area were on the ground floor, making them easier to find. RPGs were upstairs, to better manage the sound levels. We had fewer tables down in the basement, again to mitigate sound issues. We've received mostly good feedback about the facility and how things went this year. We're finalizing our report to Proctors' management; do you have anything you think we should add? Please reply to this email and let us know. After things went well last year, we entered into a three-year agreement with Proctors, so we're very confident we will be there at least two more years. And since there is more space for us to grow into, expect us to be there even longer as long as things continue to go well. The Schenectady Wargamers Association is happy to be part of the Downtown Schenectady renaissance! PROFITS Even with the expense of about $800 for all our GMs to receive a Council logo t-shirt, we still made a decent profit this year. Thanks to all of you for your support! Having a nice little treasury means we can do good things: * not worry about spending a little extra money to make everyone's Council experience better * do even more to promote Council & the SWA so attendance at all our events improves. Watch for even more good stuff from us in the future! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many, many thanks to all the Council of Five Nations XXXI Game Masters: Jonathan Abrams, Eric Alexopoulos, Philip Armstrong, Bill Ashbaugh, Gene Beirne, Eric Belser, Paul Bennett, Chris Bernardi, Grant Bolling, Dan Bostwick, David Bostwick, Carey Bostwick, Mildred Cady, Veronica Cano, Tim Carleton, David Carr, Tersha Choy, Tom Ciampa, Michael Crossman, David Cuatt, Brian Damour, Charles Davis, Troy Ferris, Joe Fox, Jaime Francis, Mike Griffin, Mike Haggett, Austin Hogan, Alex Jurkat, Robert Kirker, Art Lobdell, Frank Luberti Jr, Ralph Mabb, Tom Marli, Chris Martino, Dan Mazzola, Ben McFarland, Brett McLean, Ewan McNay, Dage McNitt, Robert Mulligan, Doug Neet, Chris Nichols, Ben Ossenfort, Mike Paine, Jennifer Paperman, Steve Parenteau, Jane Pattison, John Robb, Andy Roy, Mike Russman, Karen Seiz, Gerry Seypura, Rodney Sheldon, Christopher Tosh, Bernie Trombley, Michael Tutt, Marvin Veeder, David Waxtel, Nathan Whitchurch, John Whitehead, Mark Zaslavsky & Andrew Zorowitz The SWA Leadership Team organized the event: Jonathan Choy, Bill Dickerson, Jarrod Ferullo, John Fitzpatrick, Stephen Kent, Stephen Keyer, Nick Klercker, Jason Murphy, Eric Paperman, Mike Reynolds, John Rigley, Eric Rocque (currently serving in Iraq, but with us in spirit), Vince Romeo, Robert Rowe Jr., Robin Toll, Joe Tomasulo & David Cheng And Thank You to our local retailers in attendance: Zombie Planet Coopers Cave Games & Paintball Silver Eagle Wargame Supplies COUNCIL XXXII in 2009 This is the time of year when people buy their calendars for the upcoming year. Please mark October 9-11 as Council of Five Nations XXXI. We'd love to see you there. ... and we'd love to see you at our monthly Game-a-thons. |
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Parking Update for Council of Five Nations |
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Submitted by DC on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 15:44.
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Just got back from Proctors. There is a situation you will want to know about if you're driving in for Council this weekend. They are repaving the South Clinton Street lot that is directly behind Proctors and the Parker Inn. There are some spots still available, but they are working with about 65% fewer than normal. Unless you get there really early, you should probably plan on parking in the garage on Broadway. For maps and such, feel free to check out our parking page: www.swa-gaming.org/CouncilParking See you this weekend! |
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Council of Five Nations: Pre-Registration & Event Update |
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Submitted by DC on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 00:22.
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We've started compiling the registrations for Council of Five Nations (coming in six days, October 10-12). Our numbers are really strong so far, and several events have already sold out. If you wanted one of these, it might be best to look at another choice. However, keep in mind there is always the chance that someone's plans might fall through, or they change their mind and play a different game. Please also note some games (like Puerto Rico and Agricola, below) are offered in multiple time slots. Anyway, here are the events that are already full:
Cancellations: We know of no cancelled events to at this point. Everything listed in the pre-reg material is still on the schedule. New Events: We have one new event of particular
note to announce.
David Waxtel is one of the Founding Fathers of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS). He will be fielding what promises to be a spectacular table setup of figures and terrain. He will be running this event both Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, and there are plenty of spots available. Napoleonic Battle in Spain • Shako 2 • Event Code: D-Minis-7 • $ 2 Napoleonic Battle in Spain • Shako 2 • Event Code: E-Minis-5 • $ 2 Game Master: David Waxtel • 5 Players Dave Waxtel will introduce SHAKO 2 and a Small Action Between Spanish and French forces in Spain 1808. Its not going to be easy but this a 25mm battle you will never forget. Beginners encouraged. It's not too late to pre-register and get the lower prices. You have four days. We must receive them by midnight, Wednesday, October 8th. You can download the pre-registration booklet (three layouts for you to choose from) in Adobe Acrobat PDF format , please click here to go to our downloads page. You can also browse all the registration information online; we have everything posted. You can even register online.
Things are looking great for for Council this year, and we look forward to seeing hundreds of you this coming weekend. |
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Council of Five Nations pre-registration - One Week Left |
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Submitted by DC on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 00:20.
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Council pre-registration has been open for about three weeks, and we're doing great. This year, pre-regs are coming in 55% faster than last year, and last year was really good! We are already up over 100. Thank you to everyone who has already registered. To those of you who have not yet done so, there are definitely benefits:
It's not too late. You have one week to get your Council pre-registrations in. We must receive them by Wednesday, October 8th. You can download the pre-registration booklet (three layouts for you to choose from) in Adobe Acrobat PDF format , please click here to go to our downloads page. You can also browse all the registration information online; we have everything posted. You can even register online.
Over 120 events! A nice balance of RPGs, Board Games & Miniatures. Lots of RPGA D&D in every slot. Historical miniatures in every slot. Lots of Euro games. Kid-Friendly games in almost every slot. White Wolf WoD: Changeling LARP. The biggest Star Fleet Battles tournament in the country. Warrior: Ancients tournament. TC Realms D&D. FCS D&D. Fellowship of the White Star. Friedrich tournament. Our Annual Discount Auction. Witch Hunter: Dark Providence. Avalon Hill classics. Pathfinder Society. Big Warhammer 40K game. Wilderness War tournament. More! We have numerous event tracks that we're highlighting. Each has its own special web site (all these events are in the Chronological listing too, of course):
Only nine days until the start of the convention (Oct 10-12)! |
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Council Special Event Track: FCS Gaming League D&D |
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Submitted by DC on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 12:27.
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We have several special event tracks at this year's Council of Five Nations. We will have special 'event track highlight' posts from now until Council weekend (coming in just two weeks; Oct 10-12). Our first is from the FCS Gaming League. - - - The FCS Gaming League is coordinated by Christopher J. Ford since its founding in December 2001. After more than 200 events, it is a very active component of gaming in the Capital and Adirondack Regions. Our games have taken place at Council of Five Nations, as well as over 15 other Cons since its founding, and have also actively participated at the SWA Game-A-Thons. Some of the key points to the league: 1. Multiple Characters: One of the issues that the league has with RPG campaigns is that the number of game masters in any one area is very limited. Therefore, you only have the opportunity to join a very limited number of games. In each game, you usually only play one character. In the league's opinion, this doesn't allow you to explore as many facets of an RPG as you may like. The very first principle the league wanted to work with was the opportunity to play multiple characters. By putting together a team of characters, you get to explore many more classes, skills, and abilities, while decreasing from the urge to build one superbuilt character. This also makes some classes more known for their supporting roles to be a bit more viable. 2. Multiple GMs: The league wants to give people the opportunity to GM or try GM'ing without committing to a long term campaign. A players commitment to GMing is just one game. In addition, GM teams also earn XP, allowing their teams to progress without hindrance. The full information on team rewards, including player & GM XP, can be found at http://www.firstduty.com/add/league/guidelines.php?pg=rewards 3. Standard Rules: By sticking as close to possible with the standard rules, people can build characters anywhere and bring them into the league. Unlike RPGA, though, the league allows all WOTC D&D current edition core and accessory books to be used in character creation, along with Dragon magazines after 309. To see more information on creating your teams, visit http://www.firstduty.com/add/league/guidelines.php?pg=teams. 4. Social Gaming: One of the great things about an RPG is that you are actually interacting with other people. Many campaigns run for extended periods of time and require that you make the commitment for the length of the campaign. This occasionally becomes more like an obligation than a recreation. The league wants a setup where people can come and go without feeling like they are tied down. As a player, your commitment is for one game at a time – and if you can only make some games it doesn't impact your ability to play in the league. To see a schedule of games that the league will be running, see http://www.firstduty.com/add/league/events.php - and any teams that participate at Council can continue in the fun at any of the events listed there, provided it is a game of the same level (i.e. novice, master) as the one(s) you play at Council. To get to experience some of the joy that is FCS D&D, the league will be running two series of games this year: Riders on the Storm & Presence of a Lord – Mixing several genres together, this two slot game will allow the players to test their characters in the James Bond pentathlon. In the first session, the players will have to escort a diplomat across a light jungle during monsoon season safely to a trade guild outpost. Once there, during the second session the players will need to help the trade guild deal with corruption that exists on the base and weed out the rebel warlord responsible. Being run at novice level, new players will have teams with a total XP of 55,000. And don't worry - there will be a way for players to join us during the second session if you just want to play one! Silence & In Search of Sunlight – If you like pitched warfare this session is for you. In the past, the Champions have taken the Diamond Rose, a powerful artifact, away from the most powerful undead dragon-like beast on the continent. This dragon has raised an army, quickly, and it's heading right for the Castle of Trades, where the Champions had used it to save the Queen of the Lands. Had it not been for the Champions noticing the huge Radont pack, the cabal of serpent-spiders known as Slassins, and the Colossal+ war machine a few hours out from the castle this would have been even worse, although any war machine that can be described as a nightmarish fusion of skeletal beast, mechanical terror, and lumbering dinosaur should be feared, and immediately respected, by any group that faces it. As a master level game, the enemy is really able to bring it full tilt and will be swarming the castle with everything it can raise, and the Champions will be paid remarkably well if they can keep it from falling. And, with new teams having 136,000 XP to work with, this could get very, very interesting. No matter what happens, bards will sing about this day scores of years from now. Will it be a song of praise or a funeral dirge? If you have any questions about the league, please visit http://www.firstduty.com/add/league/ or email gaming@firstduty.com. See you at Council! ~The FCS team |
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Council of Five Nations pre-registration info - Available Now! |
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Submitted by DC on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 00:11.
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We know you've been waiting for it, and it's finally here... You can now see and download the Council of Five Nations XXXI (October 10-12) registration material at our web site. Highlights: Over 120 events! A nice balance of RPGs, Board Games & Miniatures. Lots of RPGA D&D in every slot. Historical miniatures in every slot. Lots of Euro games. Kid-Friendly games in almost every slot. White Wolf WoD: Changeling LARP. The biggest Star Fleet Battles tournament in the country. Warrior: Ancients tournament. TC Realms D&D. FCS D&D. Fellowship of the White Star. Friedrich tournament. Our Annual Discount Auction. Witch Hunter: Dark Providence. Avalon Hill classics. Pathfinder Society. Big Warhammer 40K game. Wilderness War tournament. More! The event information is available to you in various formats too. If you'd like to download the pre-registration booklet (three layouts for you to choose from) in Adobe Acrobat PDF format , please click here to go to our downloads page. You can also download our promotional flyers. We'd appreciate it if you could post one at your local game store and send them to your friends. (Hint: we offer discounts to groups of 3+ that pre-register together; we want to encourage you to bring some friends along!) If you'd like to browse the offerings online, we have everything posted. You can even register online.
We have numerous event tracks that we're highlighting. Each has its own special web site (all these events are in the Chronological listing too, of course):
We hope you'll find lots of events to your liking, and that we'll see you at Council of Five Nations in less than five weeks. |
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Hotel Options for Council of Five Nations XXXI (2008) |
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Submitted by DC on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 23:33.
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Things are coming along nicely for Council of Five Nations (October 10-12 this year). We've got lots of high-quality events lined up. The pre-reg material will be done this weekend, so look for more news soon. Today's big announcement is that we've finalized our hotel suggestions & rates. Here's the summary: Parker Inn. $114 per night. Connected to Proctors Conference Center. Rooms very limited. Nice. Hampton Inn. $129 per night. Right up the block from Proctors. Nice. Days Inn. $68+ per night. Less than a half-mile from Proctors. Economy option. You can see more details, with photos, maps and web links, on our special Hotels page: Book your rooms soon, as the best options will fill quickly. More Council news coming soon. See you in October! |
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Last call for Council Events |
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Submitted by DC on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 02:00.
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The end of August is nearly upon us, and the Council of Five Nations 31 pre-registration booklet is coming together nicely; but, we would like to get as many games on the schedule as we can before we go to press. We have several really popular board games on the schedule but are missing some others we'd like to have. If you can attend Council this year (October 10-12th), we would appreciate it if you could help us out with anything on this list or any other game you'd like to run. Remember, running a single game is enough to get you in the door for free. Board Games We'd Like To Offer: A Touch of Evil, Advanced
Civilization, Age of Conan, Axis & Allies, Agricola,
Battlestar Galactica, Bohnanza, Carcasonne, Citadels, Dungeon,
Diplomacy, Dominion, Hive, Jamaica, Imperial, Ingenious, Iron Dragon,
Lost Cities, Memoir '44, Mr Jack, Notre Dame, Pandemic, Ra, Race for
the Galaxy, Revolution: The Dutch Revolt, Robo Rally, San Juan,
Settlers of Catan, Shogun, Sid Meier's Civilization, Tichu, Ticket To
Ride - Variants, Tomb, War on Terror.
RPGs We'd Like to Offer: We have lots of D&D and RPGA
D&D. We have some other RPGs already, but we could use some
more variety. What's popular out there these days?
Miniatures We'd Like to Offer: Our Historical Minis offerings are
excellent, as usual, thanks to Two
Tin Soldiers (co-sponsoring Council for over ten years). We
could use one or two more World War 2-era games. We would also
like some more non-Historical miniatures events. Full Thrust
& Battletech are Council standards we'd like to see.
If you can help us out by running an event or two, please go to the following URL and fill out the form at the bottom to submit your event: http://www.swa-gaming.org/councileventform Free GM T-Shirt We're extending the free GM T-shirt offer until Wednesday, August 27th. But that's it! Please click on the Council Event Form link (above) for more detail. We want to have the pre-reg booklet printed by the first week of September, so this is our last big push. Even if you're not sure you can commit to running a game this year, we would obviously love to have as many people in attendance as possible. Keep an eye on the SWA website, or join our email mailing list for updates on the availability of the pre-reg book. Remember to save the dates: October 10-12th. Thanks, The Council of Five Nations Staff |
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Save the Date - Council of Five Nations: October 10-12, 2008 |
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Submitted by DC on Mon, 07/28/2008 - 23:34.
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It's that time of year. The 'ol Council of Five Nations machinery is starting up once again. We'll have our 31st Council this year, October 10-12. Council is one of the oldest gaming conventions in existence. Here's the ad we ran in Dragon Magazine #10 for Council II, back in 1977:  Gary Gygax as a Guest of Honor! $6 entry fee for the whole weekend! Those were the days... We're currently looking for volunteers to run games. If you'd like to help us out with one (or more!), we'd love to have you. Not only can you get free entry, but we've got a special T-Shirt incentive this year... but only if you get your games in promptly! Please check out this page for more info: Even if you're not interested in GMing, you can keep tabs on all the latest Council info here: We will be updating this page regularly. Over 1,000 of you will be receiving a postcard from us over the next few days. It asks that you mark your calendars now - save Columbus Day Weekend (October 10-12). That's about two-and-a-half months away. Please feel free to forward this email to your friends (we offer discounts for group registrations of 3+). Please feel free to bring your kids (students get in half price, and we offer a whole event track of "kid friendly" games). Please feel free to plan a road trip with your whole college gaming club (the group and student discounts stack!). Watch your email box for more Council news as things progress. We look forward to seeing you in October! |
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Report on Council of Five Nations XXX |
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Submitted by DC on Wed, 10/17/2007 - 00:46.
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Hello Northeast Gamers, The results from Council of Five Nations (less than two weeks ago, for those of you who missed it) are in. We thought you might like to hear about how things went. ATTENDANCE We had about 190 attendees this year; down a bit from last year's 220. We were really surprised by this, as our pre-registrations were up 30% over last year. The walk-ins just didn't show in the numbers we expected (down 75%). Some theories as to why:
Of special note, we're happy that 14 different groups took advantage of the pre-registration group discount. Fifty of you got $5 off your entry fee by registering in a group. We love that kind of group commitment to attending Council. Also, 24 attendees got in at the heavily-discounted student rate. That's over 10% of our attendees. Today's students are tomorrow's gamers, and we're happy to make it easier for students to attend Council. EVENTS We had 30% more events than in 2006. We pushed to make this happen, because last year we noticed a lot of the events sold out. We wanted to be sure you had lots of good choices. With attendance dropping 14%, that meant more events went unfilled. A big "Thank You" to all our Game Masters who ran games, and to those who prepared to run but whose games didn't end up going. Highlights: Our Star Fleet Battles tournament was, once again, the largest in the country - even larger than the national championships at Origns. RPGA D&D and FCS D&D were particularly well attended. And most of our historical miniatures events ran at full or near-full. THE NEW FACILITY There were a few bumps in the road, as we were one of the very first groups to use the new Proctor's Conference Center facilities. We got feedback from several of you that the registration desk was hard to find. But otherwise, things seemed to go well with the facility. PROFITS The final accounting is not yet done, but it looks like we made a few hundred dollars. While we had some extra challenges with the facility and staff being so new, one benefit is that we got a really good deal on the space by signing-up early. That helped keep us in "the black" this year. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many, many thanks to all the Council of Five Nations XXX Game Masters: Bill Ashbaugh, Eric Belser, Paul Bennett, Chris Bernardi, Dan Bostwick, David Bostwick, Carey Bostwick, Mildred Cady, Tim Carleton, Matthew Chambers, Jonathan Choy, Tom Ciampa, James Damour, Ron Dubray, Jarrod Ferullo, Peter Fett, John Fitzpatrick, Bill Flanders, Chris Ford, Brian Gass, Jason Greeno, Mike Griffin, Mike Haggett, Zeke Jakub, Mark Jerard, Jeremy Jordan, Alex Jurkat, Mike Keenan, Brian Kelly, Robert Kirker, Nick Klercker, Peter Landry, Art Lobdell, Frank Luberti Jr, Ralph Mabb, Ben Mcfarland, Dage Mcnitt, Charles Morehouse, Robert Mulligan, Chris Nichols, Ben Ossenfort, Mike Paine, Jennifer Paperman, Jane Pattison, Robert Rodger, Robert Rousse, Andy Roy, Mike Russman, Karen Seiz, Rodney Sheldon, Mycroft Sowizral, John Stevens, Robin Toll, Joe Tomasulo, Bernie Trombley, Michael Tutt, Roger Van Dusen, Marvin Veeder, Nathan Whitchurch The SWA Leadership Team organized the event: David Cheng, Jonathan Choy, Bill Dickerson, John Fitzpatrick, Stephen Keyer, Jason Murphy, Eric Paperman, Mike Reynolds, John Rigley, Eric Rocque and Vince Romeo. And Thank You to our local retailers in attendance: Zombie Planet Two Tin Soldiers Flights of Fantasy COUNCIL XXXI in 2008 This is the time of year when people buy their calendars for the upcoming year. Please mark October 10-12 as Council of Five Nations XXXI. We'd love to see you there. ... and we'd love to see you at our monthly Game-a-thons. |
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