The club held its fifth annual Tentcon event on the weekend of August 22-23, 2020. This event started in a tent in the founder's backyard, but now is an annual event of outdoor gaming for the club. Normally held the first or second weekend in June, this year Tentcon was held later due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  It was held in a 30x40' tent in the back parking area of Crescendo Studios in Merrifield, VA. Attendees wore masks, and participation was capped at no more than 25 people at a time. Even with restrictions, it was a great time.  Games played were Warhammer 40k and 30k, Middle Earth Fantasy Battle, Marvel Crisis Protocol, Dropfleet Commander, Blitz Bowl, Warcry, and Aeronautica Imperialis.  Photos below.

The club is starting to resume in-person gaming, as safety allows.  The club leaves it to individuals to decide when and how to start in- person gaming based on their circumstances and level of comfort. Victory Comics has not yet announced resumption of in-store gaming, but Huzzah Hobbies is taking reservations for gaming tables (bring your own terrain). The Board Room has informed us we can resume using our reservation for Sunday afternoons, but I would like to have people sign up to limit numbers in the space. Looking for the most efficient way to handle that sign up process and will post details in the future.

Below is a schedule of club events for a typical week.  An update is sent out by list serve every Monday and posted on the club's Facebook page.

WEEKLY EVENTS:

TUESDAYS - Age of Sigmar at Victory Comics, 6-9 pm. All welcome to battle it out in the Mortal Realms. [ON HOLD]

THURSDAYS - Kill Team at VIctory Comics (6-9 pm) [ON HOLD]

SATURDAYS: Warhammer 40k / 30k at Victory Comics (6-9 pm) [ON HOLD]

SUNDAYS

• Open gaming and socializing at The Board Room in Arlington, 1 pm until 6 pm.  The Board Room sets aside a section of the bar/restaurant for us to put up to four 6x4' tables and gives us part of a storage locker on site to keep our tables and terrain. The Board Room is a great place and offers the chance for drinks and food while playing Warhammer 40k or Age of Sigmar (or Necromunda or Kill Team or Titanicus or Blood Bowl or whatever you want!). Learn more about it at www.theboardroomva.com.  
•  Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game (LotR) happens regularly every Sunday afternoon, 1-6 pm, at Victory Comics and on an ad hoc basis throughout the week.  [ON HOLD]

AD HOC GAMING: Check the Skirmish Whatsapp chat for discussion and meet ups for the games below.

• Necromunda.  Generally plays on Sundays at Board Room.  Club campaign hopes to re-start. Gangs are being added to the campaign via Yaktribe. Contact Martin Rauscher on the Whatsup chats for details.
• Dropzone/Dropfleet Commander Dropfleet is probably one of the best non-GW miniatures games out there, so highly recommend it to any interested in Battlefleet Gothic style big ship combat. Dropzone is more akin to Epic.  Both have great models and stories.  Generally playing on Sundays at the Board Room. 
•  Warhammer Underworlds. Probably the most tactical game GW has to offer. Best way to keep abreast is to join the Skirmish WhatsApp chat. 
• Adeptus Titanicus.  Everyone digs giant robots, and Adeptus Titanicus gives you the chance to fight with the biggest in the Grim Dark. 
• Aeronautica Imperialis.  Great looking models in a skirmish-sized game of aerial combat.
• Malifaux. Steam punk and western themed game. Great models, fluff and ruleset.
• Marvel Crisis Protocol.  There was a lot of excitement for this game pre-coronavirus. Sure it will continue after the lockdown.  
• Star Wars.  There has been renewed interest in Star Wars: Legion and Star Wars: Imperial Assault. 

SOCIAL MEDIA AND CHATS: 

We have multiple WhatsApp chats for Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000, and other games and activities. Current chats are: AoS, 40k, Skirmish Games (KT, Necro, Underworlds), Blood Bowl, Middle Earth, RPGs, Star Wars, Great Hall (general announcements), Sales & Swaps, Literacy (book club), Kidshammer (kids gaming), Video Games, and more!  Follow the club on Facebook at Victory Gamers Falls Church.

Wanted to provide a quick update on what is going on with the club.

• New gaming space! We were able to come to terms to reserve space at the Board Room bar and restaurant in Arlington, VA, every Sunday afternoon, from 1-6 pm.  This was an exciting development, since the location is fantastic.  Lots of light, good food and drink, and centrally located in Arlington right on the Orange Line (Clarendon Metro Station).  You can learn more about the space at www.theboardroomva,com. 
• More games than ever.  At the moment, club members are playing Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000, Blood Bowl, Kill Team, Necromunda, Underworlds, Adeptus Titanicus, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek Assault Wing, Dropzone and Dropfleet Commander, Star Wars Imperial Assault, and more.  The club's biggest problem is too many games and too little time to play them all! Truly a golden age of gaming.
• Getting competitive.  The last six months has seen more and more club members taking the plunge into "competitive" gaming, either Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000, or Underworlds. This is not for everyone, but those who are doing it seem to be having a lot of fun pushing themselves against other excellent players in the area.  Again, not for everyone, but glad to see this developing.
• Still having fun.  Best thing about Victory Gamers remains the people.  It's a great group, and it's been a pleasure interacting with everyone while gaming or on the WhatsApp chats.  Looking forward to a fourth year of gaming and grilling (and drinking) outdoors at Tentcon IV on June 1 in Reston, VA.

New members always welcome, so if you are interested in joining the fun, contact us via the "Find A Game" page on this website.

2018 was big. 2019 brings some changes and opportunities to be even bigger.

How big was 2018?

Well, for a start our club reached over 50 members. We have about 20 different chats going on our WhatApp group, with usually 200+ postings a day (conservative estimate; I've been away from my phone 3 hours and returned to find that many unread messages!) If you don't see a lot of activity on the website or FB page, don't let that fool you.  There's always a vibrant scene going on in the chats! And I swear Victory Gamers was one of the largest gaming groups attending the NOVA Open this year, both playing but also setting up and breaking down (which is something to be especially proud of). We even have members in Portugal and Ukraine now!

Gaming? AoS had another big year. Club members ran not one, but TWO Coalescence Narrative events in 2018, and then threw in another massive narrative all day event in the fall as well.  In addition, members of Victory Gamers pretty much ran all the AoS events at the 2018 NOVA Open. Speaking of tournaments, three VG members attended a GT this fall and all three placed in the top 10. KidsHammer had another successful run at the 2018 NOVA Open and held the first of its quarterly events afterwards at The Games Tavern in November. To end the year, the club ran another months-long campaign at Victory Comics, this year using the Path to Glory format. 

40k? Let's see. Victory Gamers represented at LVO for the fourth straight year. Sunday gaming at the local dojang became a regular thing. TentCon moved to the fall to avoid conflicting with an AoS Coalescence event, but still pulled off another massive multi-player all day affair.  Kill Team exploded on the scene, with lots of activity on that front. And the year ended with 40k launching its own Path to Glory campaign, which will continue in 2019.

But it wasn't just AoS and 40k.  Lord of the Rings became a big thing after NOVA and the release of the box set, with regular gaming on Sunday afternoons at Victory Comics.  And Blood Bowl! So much Blood Bowl. The club launched the Nuffle Ordained Violence Association (NOVA) in the fall and has had monthly gatherings at the Board Room Bar/Restaurant in Arlington. James continued to run his highly successful Star Trek Assault Wing event every Tuesday.  And we finally (FINALLY!) got a game of Dropzone Commander in!

So where do we go from here into 2019?

First off, we need to come to grips with loss of the dojang.  The owner decided to close up shop at the end of 2018, and with it we lost our space to game on the weekend and store our tables and terrain.  That's a big loss. But also an opportunity to re-think what the club wants to be and how to do it.

Some things won't change.  Will still have Tuesday nights at Victory Comics for regular AoS gaming, and Saturday nights at Victory Comics for 40k and Skirmish gaming.  Closure of the dojang is an opportunity to get more people out on these regular nights. We won't run an AoS campaign this spring, but hope Tuesday night will become a chance to get in games of whatever size and format they want, and to show off new armies (Gloomspite Gitz anyone??).  I am committing to being at VC the first Saturday of every month to build up a regular Kill Team community.  Will make it a mix of open games and running NOVA tournament missions.  Blood Bowl NOVA will continue, and LotR gaming on Sunday afternoons at Victory Comics will go on.  Tentcon is being set up for first weekend of June.  And the club will continue to strongly support the NOVA Open through participating in organization, running events, and building terrain.

Some things will change, however. Without the dojang we need to find opportunities for gaming outside the space and time limits that Victory Comics can provide.  The NOVA Open announced that it is looking at gaming space as part of its new warehouse storage deal.  This could be something excellent for the club, so we are interested in hearing more about it whenever the NOVA team announces it.  In the interim, we will look at gaming at members' homes, at Community Centers, or wherever else we can arrange games and storage. 

We also want to increase the opportunities for matched play in AoS and 40k in the DC area between NOVA Opens.  Things are already in the works on this front, and I hope there will be announcements early in 2019.  Victory Gamers was always about building a community, rather than just gaming, so we would love to support others in the community who are building their own events. As a whole, the gaming scene in the DMV has never been better, and Victory Gamers is proud to be part of it!

So if you are already a member, thank you for another great year.  If you are reading this and not a member, drop us a line via the Find A Game page and we'll get you on the list serve and WhatsApp Chats.  We'd love to keep this good thing growing!

I just realized that it's been a year since the last update.  It's not because nothing is going on. Quite the opposite!

The club has been booming.  We have WhatsApp chats going for 40k, Age of Sigmar, Skirmish Games, Painting, Sales & Swaps, a book club, and Kidshammer planning. Recently we added chats for Star Wars, RPGs, and Middle Earth.  With dozens, sometimes hundreds of messages going back and forth on each chat each day, WhatsApp has become a big part of our club.

In the real world, we now have regular gaming on Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday every week.  Plus pick up games are scheduled at other times between members.  Looking to make our Saturday evening session at Victory Comics the regular time for smaller skirmish-sized games, such as Kill Team, Necromunda, or Warhammer Underworlds.

Our games now include 40k, Age of Sigmar, Middle Earth Fantasy Battles, Star Trek Assault Wing, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Kill Team, and Necromunda.  We are starting to play Dropzone Commander too (finally!).

We are starting a Path to Glory Age of Sigmar campaign on September 25, and restarting the Pyrriah 40k narrative in the fall (date TBD).  The club will run one or more Kill Team campaigns this fall and is starting an RPG campaign too. 

Victory Gamers sent over 30 people to the NOVA Open this year, and will send members to the Las Vegas Open again in 2019. On October 20 the club will host its Third Annual TentCon, featuring big multiplayer narrative games in Age of Sigmar and 40k (and other stuff too!).

So, if you are interested in tabletop gaming, this is a great time for it! Contact us and we'll get you involved with all that is going on.

Here are some photos that I took from the NOVA Open 40k Trios event. I have more photos from NOVA, but going to post event by event. 

We had a great summer. It started with TentCon for 40k on the first weekend of June. The following weekend was the AoS Coalescence global narrative event. The 8th Edition of 40k dropped soon afterwards. Which lead to the GW Fate of Konor global campaign. And it came to a glorious end with another fantastic NOVA Open. Including the first ever Kidshammer event at a major con.

I don't have the strength right now to do a full recap, because there was just so much good stuff this summer. Victory Gamers has grown from about 6 people in 2015 to over 30 people on our mailing list and 20+ active on our WhatsApp chats. It should only grow as we prepare to launch new AoS and 40k campaigns starting in October. Stop by, say hello, and join the fun!

Victory Gamers held its second annual narrative-based, Apocalypse-sized, all-day outdoors Warhammer 40,000 gaming event this past Saturday. If you follow this page, you know Tentcon 2016 was so much fun. Well, Tentcon 2017 took it to a new level. Thirteen players, two 6x8' tables, 26,000 points of models on the tables with fantastic custom-built and painted terrain with custom-crafted missions. So much fun.  Here's a couple (hundred) photos, not necessarily in chronological order.

Awards:

Best General- Jungle Hunt Table:  Michael B. (tie-breaker with Alex D.)
Best General - Vale of Tears Table: Trevor A. (tie-breaker with Casey B.)

Best Sportsman- Jungle Hunt Table: Alex D.
Best Sportsman- Vale of Tears Table: Felipe C.

Best Painted: Michael B. (runners up Jesse G. and Casey B.)

Already looking forward to Tentcon 2018!

Apologies for the long gap in posts, but so much is going on! Victory Gamers has been busy on several fronts to increase the quantity and quality of gaming opportunities:

• Warhammer 40k: We've been using the calm before the storm of new 8th edition ruleset to get ready to hit the ground running.
  • Tentcon 2017 - The second annual massive Apocalypse-style narrative game fest is taking place on Saturday, June 3. Thirteen players and over 26,000 points of models on two 8x6' tables. Two custom multiplayer missions. Tons of cool terrain. This might be the last hurrah of 7th edition, since rumors have 8th edition coming out in June. If it is the end of 7th edition, we plan to send it out in all its wacky style!
  • Kill Team - In April, Games Workshop released Shadow Wars: Armageddon - a highly anticipated small unit ruleset, together with some spectacular new terrain pieces. Of course, Victory Gamers had to get one of the box sets, and after going through the ruleset - we're in! Working with Victory Comics to host a weekly 40k Kill Team Night at the store, likely Saturday nights. Plan to kick off in mid- to late-June, once Tentcon and Coalescence are wrapped up.
  • More space! - We love playing at Victory Comics. The store and people are awesome. The downside is that a lot of people feel the same way, so it can be challenging to find space in the evenings and weekends, particularly for games as large as 40k. So, we are starting to rent a large room at the Falls Church Community Center one Sunday a month and are in discussions for another location on one Friday night a month. Space should never again be a problem if these discussions pan out.
• Age of Sigmar: This game has gone from fringe to fabulous in a year. If you have not given it a go yet, you should! (I wrote a post saying that almost exactly a year ago, so I told you so!) We have a regular AoS night on Tuesdays at Victory Comics. We're in the last five weeks of the second of our 15-week campaigns, and participation has tripled at least since the fall.
  • Coalescence - Victory Gamers will be participating in the global Age of Sigmar narrative event called "Coalescence", which will be held on June 10. We will be running the event split on Saturday night, June 10, at Victory Comics, and Sunday afternoon, June 11, at the Falls Church Community Center. More to come on this, but it looks to be something for the memory books.
• Kidshammer: The kids gaming group is also going stronger than ever, and will take it to the next level by running a two-day event as part of the 2017 NOVA Open. The NOVA Open is the largest tabletop gaming convention on the east coast and is a ton of fun. We are so excited by being allowed to be part of NOVA! We also launch a new dedicated webite at www.kidshammer.org. Check it out for everything that's going on. Also, check out an interview that I did about Kidshammer on the Rolling Bad podcast on April 23 episode.
• Star Trek Assault Wing: This group has been playing at Victory Comics on Tuesday nights, and as we've shared space with them we've discovered that they are an awesome group of gamers. Always a lot laughter and excitement going on at their tables. So we are thrilled to promote their events and consider them as part of the Victory Gamers family (we love you guys and gals!). 
• Star Wars: Imperial Assault: The latest addition to the Victory Gamers family, even though it's been a game we've been interested in for years. It is perfect for anyone who loves the Star Wars universe and the game play is fast and balanced. Thanks to Bill Y. and Ted W. for getting this started. Looking forward to doing more in the second half of 2017.