Carnagecast 35: 24 Hour Charity Gaming Marathon at Quarterstaff Games

In episode thirty-five of Carnagecast, Jeff Durochia and Brennan Martin tell us about the charity gaming event Extra Life and the 24 gaming marathon they’re hosting at Quarterstaff Games in Burlington, Vermont to raise money for the local Children’s Miracle Network hospital, Fletcher Allen Health Care.

This October, Quarterstaff opens its doors from 8:00am Saturday the 20th to 8:00am Sunday the 21st to host 24 hours of tabletop gaming to raise money. Highlights include midnight Draft ‘Til You Drop for Magic: the Gathering, A Game of Thrones utilizing the Dance with Dragons scenario, a warlord rumble for Warhammer 40,000, many more board games, role-playing games including Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Legend of the 5 Rings and more — Brennan is crafting three dimensional tiles for Settlers of Catan. One twist for Extra Life players that Quarterstaff offers: a $5 entry donation gains players tokens they can use to bend rules of the games they play. Those tokens translate into more donations for the Team Quarterstaff fundraising efforts.

Whether people come for the full 24 hours or drop in as their schedule allows, Jeff hopes to provide a mini-convention atmosphere, allowing people to try games and experiment with new and untried games. And, of course, people can contribute whatever they’re able to the fundraising efforts. Donations are just as important as pledges.  With his perspective analyzing birth statistics for the health department, Brennan reminds us there are living, breathing people who will benefit directly from the money raised through Extra Life. Continue reading

Download the 2012 Carnage Noir Convention Book

Carnage Noir book cover.

Click to download the convention book.

Note: this is the 2012 convention book! For the current year’s convention book, which traditionally publishes in early fall, visit the news page.

All right, you mugs. The big score’s less than two months away. It’s a three day job and I don’t want anything to go wrong. So we’ve got it all planned out, see? Right here in these pages is how the whole weekend goes down.

You can now download the Carnage Noir convention book, along with a preregistration form and a schedule grid in variety of formats to assist in planning out your greatest gaming weekend since Carnage in Wonderland.

These documents reflect the schedule as it stood at the time of printing. For updates, alterations, amendments and new arrivals, check the Convention Book Addendum regularly.

  • Carnage Noir Convention Book [PDF, 890kb]
  • Carnage Noir Pre-reg Form [PDF, 17kb]
  • Carnage Noir Schedule Grid [PDF, 60kb]
  • Carnage Noir Schedule Grid [ODS, 31kb]
  • Carnage Noir Schedule Grid [XLSX, 13kb]

Carnagecast 33: Council of 5 Nations XXXV

In episode thirty-three of Carnagecast, Dave Cheng of the Schenectady Wargamers Association brings news of Council of 5 Nations XXXV, coming up this October 5-7 at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, New York.

Historical miniatures are a showcase of gaming and craft at Council. Among other miniatures is a stellar Starfleet Battles tournament that outdraws Origins and attendant player base that welcomes newcomers and lapsed captains. Further gaming tracks include Boardgamegeek Top 35, train games, living campaigns from Pathfinder and the RPGA and games friendly and/or intended for younger players.

Council of 5 Nations boasts a friendly, welcoming group of conventioneers for newcomers looking to sample the convention scene or get their preferred flavor of gaming. Continue reading

Carnagecast 29: Carnage Noir Update

In episode 29 of Carnagecast, we bring news of Carnage Noir. The convention’s coming up the first weekend of November in Fairlee, Vermont. Game submissions are rolling in, but the deadline looms at the end of July for submissions to be included in the convention book.

Rod brings news of CCGs and board games, including special multi-table sessions of Battlestar Galactica and A Game of Thrones (second edition), plus the return of the kids’ gaming area for the younger set.

Griff’s got the miniatures pulse, with Centuries of Conflict covering the 20th century in historical miniatures — not the 19th, as Griff states in the recording — plus Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, Warmachine and maybe even some Flames of War.

Gaylord talks through the GM’s dilemma of fitting role-playing scenarios into noir and hits on a switcheroo solution that should pique the interest of no small number of players.

Update! The Winter Kotei has moved to allow for a Saturday Legend of the 5 Rings tournament at Carnage. Continue reading

Carnage Noir Now Accepting Game Submissions

Listen up, youse mugs. There’s a new racket in town: Carnage Noir. This thing of theirs is a good, old-fashioned game convention. And they want a taste of your GMing action. Board games, miniatures, whatever your specialty is, there’s a place for you at the table.

Head over the GM Sign Up page to get your game’s details in. The deadline for getting entries in the convention book mailer is July 27th — and that’s a lead pipe cinch.

Carnagecast Extrasode 1: FlashCon

In extrasode 1 of Carnagecast, we talk to Gordon Spaeth about FlashCon, a one day mini-convention to be held at the Howe Library in Hanover, New Hampshire on February 4th, 2012. Gordon talks about his hopes for FlashCon, wanting to expand the Upper Valley game community, teaching games to newcomers, and managing a young gamers school group. Continue reading

Just One of the Horsemen: New Additions

Just wanted to let everyone know that many new games have been added to the events being held at Carnage this year. Be sure to check out the addendum page! Author and game designer Walter Hunt presents his new board game Rails of New England Friday and Saturday evenings. Panic Station, direct from Essen, will be run by Joe Reil on Saturday afternoon. Zeppo Young will be presenting demos of the Hullbreach CCG. If you are looking for a fun prehistoric time, then check out The Lords of Rock in Wonderland. In the miniatures room we have added the latest steampunk offering Dystopian Wars. Also start your engines for Nascar: Martinsville 2003 Sunday morning.

These are just some of the fantastic games not listed in the book! So be sure to see if one of your favorites has been added.

 

The Curiouser and Curiouser Carnage Math Trade

The rapidly approaching traditional Carnage math trade has launched on Boardgamegeek.com. Again helmed by Matt Golec, the Curiouser and Curiouser Carnage Math Trade provides an opportunity for Carnage-goers to offer up unwanted games in hopes of getting something they’d prefer in return.

Matt’s introductory post goes into the whys and hows of a math trade, but in short it’s a computer-coordinated arrangement that maximizes the number of exchanges among participants based on their stated desires.

Start hoeing out your libraries to find some trade fodder!

GM Submissions Open for Carnage in Wonderland

As we kick things into gear behind the scenes for Carnage 14, we’d like to invite all our hard-working GMs to let loose the ideas that simmered away all winter, just waiting for the right moment.

The right moment, of course, is that the GM sign-up form is back and ready for action. Pour all your glorious, incandescent thoughts and strokes of genius into its samite fields, from where they progress to take form in the crucible of our mighty event database.

If you’re new to the sign-up form, take a look behind the jump for more information about filling it out the maximum happiness of all parties involved. Continue reading

Catching up with Technology

Hello Everyone,

Well, it was apparently time for Carnage to take a step and move forward a bit with all the modern technology available. A couple of new folks with the knowhow and brain power joined the Carnage team and we are off to the races, so to speak.

So what have I got planned for Miniatures at Carnage 13?

Right at the moment things are relatively low key. I’m planning on hitting all the other cons and seeing what is new and hot. And of course talking people into bringing those games to Carnage.

So far on the agenda we have talked about trying to drum up some support for the old Classic Battle Tech. Possibly some Heavy Gear as well. It being Carnage 13, I would like to see some Zombie-oriented miniatures games. I’m thinking of offering one myself. Pretty much anything with lots of Carnage and/or a horror aspect would be great.

On the historical side of things, we have talked about finding someone to run a DBA tournament if we can get the interest built up. I’m also in constant contact with the Maine Gang and I am attempting to convince them to bring the Battle of Sabis to Carnage. They will be premiering the game at their first con in May. I am sure both the con and the game will be a great success.

If anyone out there has special ideas for Carnage 13 don’t be afraid to run them past me. My goal is not to have the most games but to have the best games possible.

Til next time…