Watch the Skies - Huntsville

Interested in being the U.K. Prime Minister, China's Chief Scientist, or the U.S. SecWar during an alien invasion? Here's your chance!
About this Event

"Watch the Skies - Huntsville" is a megagame - a large-scale simulation game among 40+ players similar to Model United Nations and tabletop game Risk combined. Participants will play in various countries' leadership roles and make critical decisions for the world as they face challenges such as wars, social unrest, international crises, and…aliens? A control team oversees the game to encourage player communication, collaboration, and creativity as the world braces for the incoming extraterrestrials.

Will Russia and the United States forge a peaceful alliance? Will China and Japan work together to harness alien technology and build spaceships? Will India nuke someone? Will terror spread across the globe? You decide!

Player Roles

If you are part of a country team, you will be assigned to one of four roles for a particular country. The roles are Head of State, Chief of Defense, Foreign Minister, and Chief Scientist. If enough players enroll, some countries may have a Deputy Head of State as well.

• Heads of State broker deals between nations and sign treaties, which could do anything from opening up trade relations to mutually agreeing to nuke another country. Heads of State also determine how to deploy spy units to sabotage an enemy nation's army, steal technology, and more.
• Chiefs of Defense are the players who get to stand at the world map, directing armies, navies, and their country's precious space interceptors. Chiefs of Defense must balance their country's ambitions with global terror, since too much war could be bad for everyone.
• Foreign Ministers attend the United Nations Security Council each turn, negotiating with other nations on how to solve international crises - both story-created and player-created. While Foreign Ministers don't have the authority to sign treaties, they can certainly negotiate them at the behest of their Heads of State.
• Chief Scientists attend the International Science Conference each turn, where they show off what their country has researched, make speeches, decide who gets the Nobel Prize, etc. Chief Scientists are also responsible for harnessing alien tech to research cutting-edge technology and stay ahead of the aliens and other countries.

A certain group of registrants will get tagged to play the Alien team, who work behind the scenes to influence the Earth during the time of crisis. Nobody but the aliens know their true objectives...

The role of the press is critical to Watch the Skies. In the real world, you may get your news from social media and other alternate streams of information. However, in Watch the Skies, events move way too fast to surf the web for your news. Players who take on the role of the press will be responsible for gathering news and reporting news. To gather news, you conduct formal and informal interviews with key world figures, eavesdrop, and receive news from Game Control. To report news, you work on a published news release each turn, simulate a radio broadcast, help world leaders make international announcements, etc.
The role of the press in Watch the Skies is fast-paced compared to other roles, but it is also highly rewarding. China may be locked in a war with Japan and would have no way of knowing about the UFO abductions or civil war occurring in Africa were it not for your reporting.

Depending on registration numbers, there will be 8-11 countries (with 4-5 roles apiece), 2+ journalists, and 6 aliens.

You will receive more details about game mechanics and role/team specifics after registration closes.