This past weekend provides a wealth of wargaming opportunities, and we’ve asked Team Poweredplay’s Matt Schuchman to give us his thoughts on this year’s NOVA Open.

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I want to start by saying that I absolutely love the NOVA Open. The format is pretty spot on, and I believe firmly that the FAQ they provide is solid (with a few minor oddities). The terrain is great, the location is nice, and overall it is just a really really great event that I think everyone should attend. Actually, other than the 11th Company GT, it is by far my favorite event.

Just like most other major GT’s the NOVA has some odd quirks; but Mike Brandt and his staff have gone to great lengths to create a fair and fun environment for everyone.

If you don’t like your games to be so competitive then play in the Narrative! It is a fun campaign event which has a story line that moves forward every year. Each game played actually has an impact on how the story progresses. This event is a fun unique experience and is a must try for anyone planning to attend the NOVA.

If you are truly competitive, then I can personally recommend the Invitational (you will have to earn a spot though, so check out the NOVA website to find out where/when you can earn one) which I’ve had the honor to participate in the past two. There is also a fast growing Trio’s event which hopefully will continue to be available next year as it is a very casual environment that still contains very competitive games.

Lastly of course we have the namesake event, the NOVA Open GT which is a 256 player open brawl. It is made up of 8 games which are used to determine the best of the best on the east coast. The first 4 games are played to determine brackets. Then after each player has been placed in an appropriate bracket using their scores from the first 4 games the event is basically broken up into mini bracket tournaments. Each bracket has a champion determined by win/loss. This system helps to ensure that for at least half of your games you are ideally playing against players of similar skill and army power.

I have to say that I was nervous going into the event this year. With 7^th edition just dropped on us, and the rise of the Imperial Knights…well I will suffice to say I had no idea what to expect as far army composition. I went in expecting to see many Imperial Knights and honestly I saw far less than anticipated. I actually saw significantly more Necrons than I expected. I know that Eldar were all over the top bracket but when walking around I felt I saw a fair mix of most armies you would expect to see.

NOVA Open Awards

What the NOVA really has going for it is a two part recipe for a great event. Proper terrain and great missions. I heard tons of people complaining about the complicated missions, but I also saw armies that people claim are dead (flying Daemon Prince based armies and Chaos Space Marines to name a few) winning games because the generals had read/studied the missions beforehand.

I agree with the masses, the missions are complex. But this game is complex and with a game like this…we need a more robust mission. The missions that were used allowed for multiple win paths with nearly any army. They are far from perfect, but I think they are going a long way to making this game better. I would challenge anyone who claims the missions are needlessly complex to go play each mission 5-6 times before complaining. Most of the missions are not as hard as you think…they are just different from how 40K has traditionally been played.

The other aspect of importance is the terrain. Open tables are a huge problem in 40K. I have been to loads of small and large events where the terrain has just been lacking. I understand how much of an investment terrain can be (both time and money) but it makes a huge difference. If your table lacks terrain the game becomes very one dimensional. A lightly terrain’d table makes for a perfect place for a all shooting gun line army to set up shop. It also makes a great place to use Imperial Knights whose biggest drawback is that they like any other walker are slowed by terrain.

But at the NOVA they had very large terrain pieces that often forced a player using Knights to walk through the terrain. It forced players to make choices, take the long way around…or charge through the terrain and risk getting stuck for a few (most likely game changing) turns.

So overall, this year’s NOVA (my third one!) was another great event. I will definitely be going again next year and I hope to see everyone who reads this there too. Also on the near horizon is the Battle for Salvation GT in New York and the 11th Company GT in South Carolina. I highly recommend both of these events!

Matthew Schuchman

Matt Schuchman is a member of Team PoweredPlay, finishing 7th overall in this year’s NOVA Open GT, and 13th in the NOVA Open Invitational. He can often be found playing at Huzzah Hobbies in Sterling, VA, and frequently plays with the Beltway Gamers and the Iron Fist League. He started playing 40k around 1999 with the 3rd edition tyranids, and has been playing Eldar pretty much ever since 4th edition. 

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