Images and Impressions from the Nova (2017)

This was my first time attending the Nova Open in DC, and I'll definitely be back. I didn't play any games in the official events (just casually), and I spent most of my time taking some excellent classes, most notably with Roman Lappat (he's a great teacher!). I took several of his classes, and also a good one with Matt Dipietro.

I didn't get many photos of actual gaming as I was in a class or painting most of the time, but I collected a few nice pictures of game tables, showcase miniatures and other miscellaneous scenes.

This was one of Roman's that was in the case... this picture doesn't do it justice.

A few more from the Roman case!

Ha!

Artist "0161" - Melissa, had several really gorgeous entries, that blue skin tone kills me!

A few from Matt Dipietro... that fish is just crazy.

Some more random shots from the cases below...

Next are a few nice looking tables and stuff from the game room, note - this doesn't do the gaming area any justice. Games on a massive scale were being played on several floors. Clearly 8th edition has really charged up the gaming community; it was impressive how many tables were in play.

Yes the 40K room smelled, literally, like cat piss, so there's that... I guess the rising popularity has brought home the card gamers. 😏

Jason and Mad Mark (The Lazarus Effect) played in the 30K Team event... weird that only this one picture was taken, too many beers I guess.

Both of their armies were painted to a very high standard and Jason's tank had interior lights that were a big hit. These two won the Best Sportsmanship Award for the 30K event... proving finally that somebody does, actually like Jason.

This was our little painting / hobby corner...

One of the coolest aspects of this event was just how far the hotel went to accommodate the crowd. The gaming floors were just amazing, but so was the vendors' area, the seminar class rooms, and especially the designated areas for folks to setup and paint. Army Painter even provided a station of paints and hobby supplies for anyone to use.

Again I'll just say, I'll definitely be back. Having only taken classes and skipping all of the gaming / tournament events, I don't feel that I missed out on anything. Next time I'll likely do the same. If you're not really a "competitive" player and you're on the fence about going next year, just do it... there's so much more than tournaments happening and it's awesome.

Check out the Lazarus Effect for more pictures from the Nova...