Hey everyone its that time of the year again. I'd like to welcome all the new students joining us this year at Queens, I hope you'll enjoy your time at uni as much as I have these past 4 years and if this is your first time in Belfast or Northern Ireland in general I hope the “Norn-Iron” culture shock wasn’t too much.

With all the lectures you will hopefully be attending and all the studying you will of course be doing student life can be stressful, and everyone needs a place to unwind and have fun as well as to meet new people - that is where Dragonslayers comes in!

Read on to learn all about Dragonslayers...

Dragonslayers is the largest non-sporting society in Queen's and were awarded QUB Society of the Year 2005/2006, Society of the Year (2nd place) 2006/2007, and event of the year (2nd place) 2006/2007 for our convention Q-Con XIII.

This year we have also been awarded Society of the Year 2007/2008, most involved in the Students Union 2007/2008, Best Website (2nd Place) and Best Event (2nd Place) for Q-Con XIV (more on that below).

Our weekly meetings are held on Tuesdays from 5.30pm to 11pm in the Snack Bar, located on the 2rd floor of the Students Union, and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm in the Clubs and Society's rooms on the 3rd floor of the Students Union. For those not aware the Queens Students Union is located directly opposite the main Queens Lanyon Building on University Road.

What is there to do at Dragonslayers?

Tabletop Games

Dragonslayers members take part in a wide range of tabletop games. We have many active roleplaying groups playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Dark Heresy, Call Cthulhu, G.U.R.P.S, the World of Darkness series plus many others.

As well as roleplaying, we have many War Gamers at the club playing Warhammer 40k, Necromunda, Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Babylon 5: Call to Arms, as well as a wide selection of board games including the Zombies! series, FRAG and the often epic Twilight Imperium.

Were always looking to expand our range of tabletop games so if there's something you want to play why not come down and see about organizing a group.

Console Games

As well as traditional games, Dragonslayers also has a wide selection of consoles and equipment available. We have all three next-gen consoles (Wii, PS3 and X-Box 360) as well as several PS2, X-Box and Gamecube consoles. We have a selection of games for each including, Halo 1-3 and a full Rock Band set-up for the 360, Virtual Fighter 5 and Motorstorm for PS3, Wii Sports and Rayman Raving Rabbids for the Wii, Singstar and Guitar Hero 1&2 for the PS2 and many more.

Our members also frequently bring their own consoles and games and full networking facilities are available for linked play.

We have nine projectors and screens available as well as sets of 2.1 speakers to maximize your gaming fun. We also have members playing multiplayer handheld games on Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, as well as retro consoles such as the SNES and Neo-Geo.

CCG’s and Card Games

Collectible Card Gamers also have a home at Dragonslayers, with Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering and others being very popular. For Yu-Gi-Oh regular UDE sanctioned tournaments and Sneak Peaks are run by our own Mickey Hawk with results and updates posted in our forums.

We also run Magic The Gathering events and hope to see an expansion in this area in the near future. Other card games such as Munchkin, Ninja Burger and Chez Geek are also available for casual play.

Anime

As well as gaming, Dragonslayers also has a weekly Anime Screenings, held in one of the Students Unions conference rooms on the 3rd floor. Every few weeks, with the kind permission of the distributors, we show a selection of Anime. This includes episodes of popular TV Shows, movies and Dragonslayers Exclusives, such as a preview screening of Ghost in the Shell 2 held in 2006.

The current Anime schedule can always be found in Anime section under the information menu this website, and the Anime section of the DS forums.

Does Dragonslayers do anything else?

As well as our weekly meetings every Tuesday and Saturday, Dragonslayers has regular social and gaming events throughout the year. On the social side of things we have regular cinema trips, airsoft and laser-quest trips and nights out just having fun. We also now host CORNUCOPIA!, Belfast's best alternative, goth and industrial night every month in the Students Union.

On the gaming side of things we host several large events each year, including Slayers24, our 24-hour PC LAN and Gaming Event generally held on a weekend every few months in the Snack Bar. Our next LAN for those interested will be a mammoth 36 hour event held in conjunction with NI-LAN on the weekend of the 11th of October.

Our largest event is Q-Con, which is held in June of every year over three days. This year, Q-Con XV attracted over 800 gamers and anime fans, and was the largest event of its kind in Ireland.

How do I join Dragonslayers?

The best time to join Dragonslayers is at the Freshers Bazaar, which will be held on Wednesday the 1st of October in the QUB Students' Union. You can't miss the Dragonslayers stall, we will in the main foyer of the Union across form the shop, and we will have projector screens, consoles, people in cosplay and tables full of games.

The discounted members fee for students at the Freshers Bazaar is just £2 for an entire year's membership. Non-students can join for a yearly fee of £10.

The special Dragonslayers Freshers Night will be held on Tuesday 7th October in the Students Union, there will be members oh hand to show you around if required as well as pick up and play games for you to try. We look foreword to seeing you then.

Look out for more news and updates after the Bazaar.