What to do at NoVA?

NoVA Open 2011 Logo

Dang, I need to figure out what the hell to do at NoVA this year. I’m running out of time in which to put that decision off.

I mean, I’m definitely going (I bought my pass when they went up, as well as the Capital Palette entry), but I have no idea what I’m going to do there:

  • 40K is, I’m quite sure, not going to be it.  Through a combination of the shittiest game of 40K I’ve ever played* at last year’s NoVA, house stuff, and simply being more interested in other games: I literally haven’t played 40K since last year’s NoVA.  The idea of subjecting myself to another eight game marathon without having event spoken to the game since is deeply unappealing.
  • 40K Narrative – I’ve enjoyed playing narrative games with TGS comrade Steve, but I can’t get my head around what they’re doing here.  It doesn’t sound unfun: it just doesn’t sound interesting to me.
  • Infinity is something I’d actually hoped to maybe play in this year, but that’s not going to happen.  We never quite got to full games with it, and haven’t touched it in months. It’s not a good use of my time.  Plus, if I have anything to enter into the Palette, my Infinity models are it.  Tough to play with them in a glass case.
  • Blood Bowl, Dark AgeDropzone, Lord of the Rings, Malifaux, Magic, X-Wing – I don’t play any of these.
  • Wrath of Kings – I don’t play this either.  I guess I have minis for it, but I haven’t even put them together. I guess I’m a step further than that with Warmachine (picked up the Cryx starter a few months ago, and assembled it), but I have less than no desire to actually play it in a tournament setting right now.
  • Seminars – Is maybe my best bet, but in my experience they can be hit-and-miss: some presenters you have to catch at the right time (jet lag and hangovers can make a poorly scheduled seminar a waste of both your time and money), and I think you get the most out of them going in with questions and specific things to learn (not just showing up to see what you can see).  Also, they add up to very expensive pretty quickly.

On top of that: I’ve got less than a month and no free weekends between now and then in which to paint.  I’ve painted precious little this year, and quite a bit of what I have painted has been 15mm (and not suitable for a competition).  So, whatever I’m doing, I have no time to prep for it.

EDIT: Completely forgot about Age of Sigmar.  I’ve yet to play a single game of this thing, but at least I’ve got a painted army for it?

* I just went to dig up a link to last year’s AAR – not there!  I was so non-plussed by last year’s 40K tournament I didn’t even post about it.  That says a lot.  Like, I got a Bronze in the painting competition last year: I’ve got to be feeling pretty not good to fail to crow about something like that.