My first-ever wargaming convention, and still the one nearest and dearest to my heart, NoVa celebrated its thirteenth convention over Labor Day Weekend in 2024. The 2023 convention was NoVa’s first at the Washington Hilton, and the first year had strong growing pains because while you can plan a great convention it does take a run-through to see how best to utilize the space. Luckily, NoVa is clearly willing to learn from its mistakes and it is by correcting its mistakes that NoVa becomes an even better convention.
NoVa 2024 was by far the best NoVa yet, some issues with people there aside. If you are looking for a weekend dedicated to *all* things wargaming, you cannot go wrong by attending the NoVa Open, unless you are a gigantic jerk.
WEDNESDAY
The Washington Hilton is, as the name suggests, located in DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C. The District of Columbia is known for many things, but one of the things it is known for is limited and expensive parking. As thus, since I intended to drive into and park at the venue, I wound up leaving for NoVa around 11:00 am and getting there at 11:30. I packed my AOS Spearhead, my Dark Angels army, my painting and modeling supplies, my giant clothing bag, my big metal cart, and Salsa the Shihpoo and we headed up north.
Getting to the convention early is, of course, a good thing. Every single major event convention hotel (LVO, Adepticon, NoVa, the GW Warhammer Opens, and probably others) have notoriously slow and packed elevators. By getting to the convention early, I am able to get my room, park Salsa into the room, and unload my car before the big crowds arrive. The Washington Hilton also does not have a mini-fridge in every room, so this also lets me ask for a fridge before everyone realizes they need one. Once we are all packed away, it’s time for Salsa and I to head down to registration and get my badge. Salsa, being a dog, does not require a badge to attend NoVa.
This year, I chose to get a SuperNova bag and shirt. I’m particularly pleased because this year, the SuperNova T-Shirt was an absolute banger of a shirt.
The bag I got was a KR3, which will come in handy come the Grand Narrative. This year, the convention chose not to include a large assortment of miniatures from random companies – instead, we got a bunch of NoVa branded gaming gear (dice, a tape measure, mugs, and water bottles), a bottle of Army Painter Orange paint, a few Infinity models, a BattleTech Expansion box, and a Skaventide box. I did not necessarily want or need a box of Skaventide, as the one Skaven model that speaks to me is not included in Skaventide AND I had purchased the Fire and Jade gaming pack a week earlier and done up the terrain pieces, but such is life. By this time, more Goons are arriving and the hotel is filling up with friends. The anticipation in the air as to the excitement of NoVa is steadily building. My roommate Meg (who is also my Adepticon roommate) arrives.
Everyone else wanders off to a local restaurant (Banana Leaves, if I recall correctly) for dinner, but as Salsa can’t go there we head back to the hotel because it is hot and wander around a bit. We run into Dan and Campbell, where I get confirmation on some of what is anticipated for the 40K Badcast and Salsa gets pets. Once everyone arrives, the general consensus is to freshen up and then head down to the Concourse level ballroom for the Games Workshop reveal panel. This panel starts off promising, as they do give everyone a single of the 2024 Tarot Cards. I already had the one I got, alas. The Warhammer event store is now open, and unfortunately they would not be offering tarot cards as a purchase incentive. Curses!
The NoVa Open 2024 Warhammer Preview has almost certainly been discussed in depth and ad nauseum by this point. It is a disappointment from the legendary high water mark of NoVa Open previews (the 2018 Preview where everyone in attendance received a pre-release Sisters of Battle Cannoness), and the “NoVA Exclusive” portions of the panel are 1) Trivia (Goonhammer’s Neon Goblin takes second place in the AOS trivia round), and 2) an in-depth discussion of the 2024 Grand Narrative setting because Chris Stover was taking an active hand in shaping that Narrative and NoVa is his home convention. Salsa herself found the entire thing to be extremely boring. So after the preview ends, most folks wander over to the Badcast live taping. Salsa and I head over to the bar, to find Norm and Condit. After chatting and wandering for a bit, where Salsa helps herself to as many cuddles from as many new people as possible, we hit the Badcast live show.
The Badcast live show is an absolute blast. I abscond with the large box that Dan and Campbell’s giant Badcast hats shipped in, as this will allow me to easily prime minis that I purchase and build at the convention. I get to rant about something I dislike about Warhammer, and Dan and Campbell are respectful and understanding of my question. Afterwards, Salsa, Meg, (and Craig?) and I meet up with Alice “RagnarokAngel” Lirette (my LVO roommate). I have been wanting to get my two con roommates to meet each other, and Alice is a big fan of Salsa and Shihpoos. After the requisite cuddles, Alice looks at Salsa again and says that it is the little one’s bedtime. As Salsa is giving me her “daddy it bedtime!” glare, I am forced to agree.
THURSDAY
Thursday morning and it was time for Salsa to bid adieu to NoVa. Salsa’s beloved daycare called, and she was eager to answer the call and get some doggy ice cream along with her sister. So after a walk around the block (where she was unimpressed with the giant inflatable Urbie), we went to Shirlington and daycare.
I then spent the morning in the Hobby Hangout until around noon, when I had an appointment to get my flu, COVID-19, and pneumonia boosters. After getting those, I wandered around the con until my first class. I very much do recommend getting these shots if you plan to attend conventions, especially the LVO and Adepticon. Respiratory illnesses are not fun, and if you *can* protect yourself against differing forms of unpleasant Con Crud, I highly recommend you do so.
Thursday afternoon and evening was spent in a Semi-Private Class learning how to make display boards with Oscar Lars. While I have seen online tutorials and the Goonhammer articles, there’s only so much I can glean from reading and videos and this was a chance to use materials to *make* one. This included how to use the hot wire and techniques on how to stabilize the foam both on the cutting board and on the actual display board. While the course was definitely the messiest class I took at NoVa, it was also extremely fun and informative. I was even able to finish up a small board that could fit, say, a unit and its leader.
FRIDAY
After a nice, refreshing workout, I went to my class of the day: Knightmare Chrome taught by Dan Ozborne. This was an airbrush class where we would paint a “Knight Sized” model in about six hours. The model was a 3D print of a nifty robotic Octopus with something akin to a carapace plate to practice stencil use and liquid masking techniques. Dan also taught us his method of painting metallics – which was similar to but ever-so-slightly different than the ones I had learned from previous NoVas (prime black, airbrush translucent brown, then do an overbrush of bronze, a drybrush of a bronze-silver mix, and then a silver final highlight drybrush). The difference for this one was to make use of the shadows and paint them progressively: brown, purple, and then ProAcryl Payne’s Grey. This produces something a bit similar to a heat bloom effect, which looks pretty neat.
The end result was a pretty good technique play-around class that produced some awesome-looking models. The biggest takeaway I got from the class was how to best use liquid masking, from the application to the removal.
After a bit of a nap, I gathered my army (3000 points of Dark Angels painted throughout 2024) and headed downstairs to participate in an organized narrative game. Myself and The Big Aristotle (of the Badcast Discord) hadn’t played 40K in a while, and so we were looking for laid back, friendly, and fun games to refresh our recollections of the rules and have a good time on a Friday night. While we did get a refresh/recollection of the rules, I don’t think the NoVa Narrative nightfights are where I should be spending my time and money.
I think that I need to stop trying to do the NoVa Narrative night fights, and stick to doing pickup games with my friends. While my experience at NoVa was not what I was hoping for, plenty of my friends had wonderful times playing awesome games at the Narrative. I, however, am not someone who is willing to commit to the full NoVa narrative. I don’t want to do the day fights because there’s just so much other stuff to do at NoVa, and so sticking my head into the narrative for the night fights is just an unfulfilling experience. I don’t know the story, so why should I waste the time of other folks who absolutely *do* care about that story? It’s not fair to them, so I’m not going to waste anyone’s time on this next year.
One other thing I will note: I took pictures of in the Narrative featuring a bunch of absolutely amazing armies. However, most of these pictures are awful, because the lighting in-and-around the “Narrative” portion of the Ballroom is atrocious. For some games I played on Saturday, I brought a portable LED light to better see the action in question and take better pictures. So if you *are* going to the Narrative and want some excellent pictures, do bring some additional equipment!
SATURDAY
After a wake-up and workout to wash the lingering taste of the worst case of bad sportsmanship I had encountered at a convention out of my head, I settled in for a few hours of Artis Opus’ painting class.
I had previously taken Byron’s class at the 2024 LVO, but I am someone who likes to take repeat hobby classes so that the lessons stick. And in this case, the venue differences between the Rio in January Vegas and the Washington Hilton in September D.C. were significant. NoVa rooms have much more in the way of light (natural and artificial), and the atmosphere in the Hilton was much more humid. This meant we were able to make glazes to try out OSL techniques, which Vegas was too dry to permit. Taking the Artis Opus class again helped hammer home both the painting technique and the brush cleaning technique.
Afterwards, I met up with Craig and Norman for lunch. I asked them to try a nearby British pub that I had been wandering by for a while (but was always closed) with me. The food was…mediocre, but the company was exquisite. Afterwards, they returned to NoVa to go play Warhammer and I went off to go play Pokémon Go Community Day. While I did catch a Hundo Poplio, it was on my baby account and not my main. CURSES!!!
Following Community Day, I met up with Evan “Felime” Siefring and Christopher “head58” Tatro to do the Army Painter speed painting challenge. The NoVa version of this is that we have an hour to paint a pre-primed and zenithaled mini using only Army Painter Speed Paints – and only the colors chosen by the NoVa Hobby Hangout. I picked a nifty little skeleton person, only to realize that the zenithal on this mini is nowhere near enough for the Speed Paints to actually work very well. Some of the minis have strong, bright white tops and those are the ones that turn out gorgeous and successful in the final judging.
I met up with Garrett and Craig and we gathered our stuff to play the new Boarding Actions book. Aristotle had brought a fully painted set of terrain with him, and once he was out of his class the game could commence. We played Boarding Actions Multiplayer Mission “Double-Crossed” (pp. 162-63).
This game would prove the exact opposite of the Friday night narrative game – it was fun, thrilling, balanced, ridiculous, featured epic cinematic moments, and was played with people who were there to drink beer (including as I would learn the next day, the last of the NoVa exclusive beer), throw dice, and have fun. Playing Dark Angels and Azrael, my Gregbot dice *finally* started to roll saving throws. Funny, that.
By the time the game had wrapped, it was after midnight and while we were all still pretty jazzed from the game, it had been a long day (and convention) and it was time for sleep. While leaving the Exhibit Hall, we had to walk through the Concourse level to get to the elevators/escalators. There was an “Infinity After Dark” event that apparently featured Pineboard racers? If any reader was *at* NoVa and could shed some light on it in the comments, feel free!
SUNDAY
Sunday I decided to sleep in a bit, and skip the gym. This would prove to be something of a mistake, as when I attempted to get a later checkout time I was told they could only extend it to noon – all the people leaving meant that the housekeeping staff would need to clean a bunch of rooms. I then got to spend the better part of an hour packing all my stuff into my car. Other folks had this idea, plus the folks still trickling down for the last days of the GT and the Narrative meant that the elevators were frequently crowded. I was thus almost late for my last painting class of the convention.
The only thing I did on Sunday was attend one last class, “Git Gud at Painting Galaxies” with Sean “BrushForHire” McAfee. Sean looks and sounds exhausted, as this is the last day of the con and its 10:00 am on Sunday. This class went over techniques to learn how to paint galaxies. The main thing I got from this class was how to use a toothbrush to do a good paint splatter, in this case to make a star field.
WRAP-UP
The 2024 NoVa Open experience was an absolute blast.
With a second year of the NoVa at the Washington Hilton under our belts, we can see what works and what does not. The Hotel itself is on the older side, and has some interesting quirks (like the room not having a mini-fridge unless you ask them to give you one). The food this year was pretty solid, but expensive. The hotel brunch is of course brutally overpriced, and the little market in the hotel got overwhelmed early in the morning. This is not different than any other of the big event hotels[sup]1[/sup].
The layout of the hotel this year was far superior: the vendor hall was scattered throughout the Concourse level, instead of crammed into a small antechamber on the Atrium level. This meant the vendor hall had *much* better lighting (except for the stuff in the main hall), and was more spaced out.
The painting classes and instructors at NoVa remain absolutely top notch. The NoVa Hotel classrooms all tend to have a strong, bright light. The ambient humidity of Washington D.C. (being built on the banks of the Potomac River) helps keep the paint flowing to enable us to try many new techniques. There are just so many classes that I can’t do all the ones I want, and taking the classes I want means I have to miss out on other awesome events.
Credit: Kevin Stillman
My biggest regret from NoVa is that I did not buy a couple of four packs of the NoVa Light Lager from Wassen to take home after the convention. It was a good light beer, with some amazing artwork. That was a mistake on my part, and I regret it.
I look forward to my next event and seeing my friends again. I have loot from Comic-Con to give Rob, after all.
See you around the country!
[sup]1[/sup] I’ll note that the Marriott Renaissance that formerly hosted Adepticon tended to have better scrambled eggs. The best con hotel for food is the Atlanta Hyatt Regency (Grand Narrative) and the Rio (Las Vegas Open).
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