More games will be added as we get closer to the convention, so check back every week or two to see what’s new. Descriptions are below.
Sign up to play a game – shows room and table number
Note: Occasionally games get canceled or dropped. This is usually due to unexpected GM scheduling conflicts. We’re sorry and wish plans always worked out 100%.
TAGS Tabletop Board Gaming Room – Salon H
TAGS, or Tidewater Area Gaming Society is a board gaming club located in the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area of S. E. Virginia (North Carolina to Williamsburg). They enjoy playing board games, specifically strategy-style board games such as Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Eclipse, Power Grid, Robo Rally, Qwirkle, Stone Age, and the like. Some of us are fans of heavier strategy war game, collectible card games, and other things.
There will be a library of games to enjoy all styles including everything from Ticket to Ride, Eclipse, Power Grid, Qwirkle, Dominion, and the like. Bring your own games and find interested players.
Evil High Priest (In Salon P)
(Worker Placement Game/Petersen Games) [13+]
GM: Jamie Bergman
Worker Placement Game:
You are an ambitious priest in a sinister cult, but your Great Old One lies dormant, locked under the awful power of the dread Elder Signs. He depends on your to free him from this half-existence! But you have rivals who seek to claim the prize that is rightfully yours! You must thwart them, while carrying out your plans.
Sign up on Warhorn.
Friday
Open Gaming
10:00 AM to 12:00 midnight
Play a pick up game with old friends or make new friends over a board game. Games are available from the board game library provided by Tidewater Area Gaming Society (TAGS). There is also table space for you to bring your own games.
Terraforming Mars with Gaming Guest of Honor Stephen Buonocore
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Stephen Buonocore
Play Terraforming Mars with the founder of Stronghold Games, publisher of the game.
Quick and Casual Games: Learn, Win, and Take
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
David Seletyn, Matt Jackson
Learn a quick and casual game. Play with others who are learning the game. If you win, you get to take home the copy! Even if you don’t win, you have still learned a new, quick game.
Votes for Women with Featured Game Designer Guest Tory Brown
8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Tory Brown
Play (or learn to play) Votes for Women with its designer Tory Brown. Votes for Women is a card-driven area control game in which you attempt to pass (or prevent the passage of) the 19th Amendment, which provides women the right to vote.
MarsCon Win, Lose, or Draw (Refer to the schedule for location)
10:00 PM to 11:00 PM
David Seletyn
Join in the MarsCon tradition of the audience participation game show event! Everyone is divided into two teams. Each team has an artist, and the rest of the team guesses what the artist is drawing. Be careful! Time is limited and if your team doesn’t guess correctly, the other team has a chance to guess. Come for the laughter, come for the fabulous prizes! It might be the most fun you have at MarsCon.
Saturday
Open Gaming
9: 00 AM to 12:00 midnight
Play a pick up game with old friends or make new friends over a board game. Games are available from the board game library provided by Tidewater Area Gaming Society (TAGS). There is also table space for you to bring your own games.
King Coalition Demo
Stephen Buonocore
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Learn to play this brand new game, taught by Gaming Guest of Honor Stephen Buonocore. King’s Coalition is a drafting and set collection game where you make the best 7 cards in hand by meeting the requirements of bonuses and creating sets and sequences.
History and Future of Board Gaming (Panel – Refer to schedule for location)
Stephen Glenn, Kevin Fowler
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Join gaming guests Stephen Glenn and Kevin Fowler for a discussion of board gaming’s past and future. If you want to talk about the origins of board gaming, why we have so many new games being published today, and what the future holds, this is a great panel for you.
Introduction to Miniatures Painting
10:00 AM to 12:00 noon
David Seletyn
Have you ever thought about painting miniatures, but didn’t know where to start? Here is your chance! You will be provided with a primed miniature (either science fiction or fantasy) and will learn introductory techniques that will produce a “table ready” miniature that you can take home. This program is intended for brand new painters or people who have never painted miniatures.
Maximum Capacity: 10 people
Are We the Baddies? (Panel – Refer to schedule for location)
Tory Brown, Stephen Buonocore, Stephen Glenn
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
This panel includes discussions on the experience of creating opposition decks in games, of playing “the baddies” (e.g. the Axis powers in Axis & Allies, the anti-suffragists in Votes for Women, etc.), and what is involved in making and playing a game that is fun for all players.
So You Want to Publish a Board Game (Panel – Refer to schedule for location)
Tory Brown, Stephen Buonocore, Stephen Glenn
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Learn about the experience of designing and producing your board game idea from the perspective of game designers and publishers. Discussion will include the how game mechanics evolve from idea to implementation, how games are playtested and refined, and how games get to market (traditional publishing, Kickstarter, etc.).
Better Letters Demo
Stephen Buonocore
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Learn to play this brand new game, taught by Gaming Guest of Honor Stephen Buonocore. Better Letters is a quick playing word game played in 60 second rounds
Votes for Women with Featured Game Designer Guest Tory Brown
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Tory Brown
Play (or learn to play) Votes for Women with its designer Tory Brown. Votes for Women is a card driven area control game where you attempt to pass (or prevent the passage of) the 19th Amendment providing women the right to vote.
KaleiDOS Demo
Stephen Buonocore
6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Learn to play this brand new game, taught by Gaming Guest of Honor Stephen Buonocore. KaleiDOS is a ladder climbing, trick taking card game.
MarsCon Trivia (Refer to schedule for location)
Kevin Fowler
10:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Get your team together for MarsCon’s version of a pub quiz! Questions range from all sorts of trivia. Play for laughs and bragging rights.
Sunday
Open Gaming
10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Play a pick-up game with old friends or make new friends over a board game. Games are available from the board game library provided by Tidewater Area Gaming Society (TAGS). There is also table space for you to bring your own games.
Terraforming Mars with Gaming Guest of Honor Stephen Buonocore
10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Stephen Buonocore
Play Terraforming Mars with the founder of Stronghold Games, the game’s publisher.
Building a Board Gaming Community (Panel – Refer to schedule for location)
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Kevin Fowler, David Seletyn
Are you looking for more players for your favorite board games? Board games bring people together, but it takes the players to make that happen. Kevin and David talk about their experience organizing friends and future friends into board gaming communities. This panel will include discussion on the logistics of organizing game play, the concept of the “third space”, and what transforms disparate board game enthusiasts into a community of friends.
KaleiDOS Demo
Stephen Buonocore
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Learn to play this brand new game, taught by Gaming Guest of Honor Stephen Buonocore. KaleiDOS is a ladder climbing, trick taking card game.
King Coalition Demo
Stephen Buonocore
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Learn to play this brand new game, taught by Gaming Guest of Honor Stephen Buonocore. King’s Coalition is a drafting and set collection game where you make the best 7 cards in hand by meeting the requirements of bonuses and creating sets and sequences.