Adepticon Wrap Up

Yes, I know that Adepticon was over on Sunday, but if the delay of this post isn't a good indication of the sheer exhaustion that resulted from this past weekend, I don't know what would be.

I can also state that this Adepticon was the best experience I've had in the past 6 years of attending the convention! This is going to be a comprehensive article on the weekend, so let's have a little play-by-play, shall we?

Spoiler: While this is an abbreviated article about the weekend, it's still a long one. If you're wanting to skip ahead to my picture links, as well as links of everyone I had the pleasure of interacting with, just hit "Read More" and scroll to the bottom. It's okay, I understand.


Thursday

Ahhh, the first day of the 'Con. The drive was enjoyable, and not terribly long. Grabbed some dinner, checked in, and got a pick-up game in where I got my rear handed to me by a friend with a fairly generic Dark Angels list. Am I ever glad I did too! It was a nice rules refresher, and a solid kick in the pants always helps me recenter for the games the next day! I got to shake a few hands, see some friends I hadn't in a year. Man, I missed Adepticon.


Friday

Big Day! This was the 40K Championships and I couldn't wait. I got down there early to set up and register so I could then play tourist to all the other armies that were brought. Yes, I took gobs of pictures. Yes I will make my Picasa album public. The link will be at the bottom of the article, I promise. I hadn't gotten to play tourist in a couple years, and loved talking to everyone about their armies. I was blown away by some of the showings. It's always a treat to participate in an event where every army fielded is painted.

Game 1 vs Tau. My opponent was a gentlemen and a scholar. No, really. He recited every Tau rule and weapon he was using, at my request because I never get to play them, quickly and concisely. From memory. The game was a blast and I took away a win by tiebreak.

Game 2 vs Imperial Guard. Death Corps of Krieg to be exact, and a stunning army at that! The theme was after WWII and there were propaganda posters on the tanks and pin-up girls on the Vendettas noses. The girls even had gas masks on! This one I lost horribly, though Draigo almost stuck it out til the end. I couldn't have lost to a nicer opponent though and had fun the whole game.

Game 3 vs Imperial Guard. This time it was Vostroyans! It was so enjoyable to play two guard armies that you rarely, if ever, see full armies of, painted and played with. Especially when both are painted to such a high standard. Game 2 taught me some lessons when fielding my army against Guard though, and I made a much better show of it. This one I won through tiebreak again.

Game 4 vs Blood Angels. Holy cow, a Marine army!!! I felt extremely fortunate to only get one power armor army all day to play against. Again, I can't say enough of how enjoyable it was to play against my opponent and we had a blast even though we'd both been on our feet since 8am. Back and forth the dice rolled, and in the end I took a solid victory.

I went 3 and 1!!! It's the best record I've ever had at Adepticon!

I actually had my army judged for painting by Brandon Palmer of GMM Studios and scored a 42 in Painting! Brandon is an amazing artist and I feel very flattered, frustrated and motivated by his scoring of my army. Why all three emotions? Flattered because he felt my army deserved such a high paint score, as he most definitely knows what to look for. Frustrated because I know I could have done better if I hadn't procrastinated on getting them done! Motivated because I WANT to do better for next year!

Saturday

You'd think I could sleep in, but nope, I wanted pictures from the Team Tournament and the Fantasy Championships! So early to rise and time to act the tourist again, after which I entered my Paladins, Draigo and a Dreadnought into Crystal Brush. I didn't place, but it was a good exercise for me to put them in. Unfortunately, it cost me my chance at a pick-up game with CVinton at Dark Future Games, but I brought him homemade cookies as a peace offering :) I also extended those cookies to the DFG crew who were in the Team Tournament, some other folks from St. Louis and anyone I could find to take one, really. A bonus was getting a tutorial in fur sculpting from CVinton while getting to look at one of his 13th Company Thunderwolf conversions. This also meant I missed out on grabbing a game with Old School like we were wanting to. Next year!!!

I played in the morning 400 point Combat Patrol as well, and had a blast as always. I love this event as they are quick, 45 minute games and everyone just plain has fun. I actually went 3-1 again this time around for my record, but more importantly to me, ALL of my opponents voted me their favorite opponent and I won the Best Sportsmen (Hero) Award for this event!!! To me, this is one of the best compliments and awards that anyone could earn, and I am still thankful for it.

I stopped by Skarvald the Troll Faced's team throughout the day, and even snagged some Ogre models from him for his Arabian Themed army project we're planning a joint series of posts about.

I spent the last of the evening watching my friend Brian play in the Fantasy Championships, go 3 and 1 himself, and even have his last game webcast! Brian did great, and I congratulate him on some amazing games.

Sunday

While the last day of the event, it was still fun. I got to really just enjoy spending the morning hanging out with friends and trying to talk to everyone one last time before we all had to go home. We ended the trip the only way we could, the only way we should...with a trip to Portillos for some great Italian Beef sandwiches before the drive home!

Purchases I made from Forge World were in the form of a Relic Contemptor Dreadnought, and enough arms and missile launchers for both my Comtemptor Dreads, along with the show special Cyber Mastiff and Handler figure. I bought three limited and signed prints from Black Library, as well as 4 Washes and 2 Weathering Powders from Secret Weapon. I'm really looking forward to testing those out on an upcoming project!

This may not have seemed like an abbreviated article on the weekend, but trust me, I could have tripled the length and still not gotten it all in. The only way to truly understand Adepticon is to experience it. From the folks who work their tails off to make it happen, to the vendors, to the games and the attendees, this is an amazing weekend to be a part of.

And yes, I'm already making plans for next year...Mwahahahaha!

As promised, here is the bevy of linkage I promised when I started this article. Also, if we met and you have a blog or link of your own, shout out in the comments so I can add you to this list! Anyone left out is the fault of my memory and not on purpose! Just hover and click.

Miniature Tim's Adepticon Photos

Dark Future Games

Brandon Palmer's GMM Studio, and his Blog

Dave Taylor Miniatures

Wolves for the Wolf God

Bell of Lost Souls

Goatboy's 40k Extra Thoughts

James Wappel Miniature Painting

Strictly Average

Astronomican Wargaming Community

Sound off if you had a blast at Adepticon, or even just want to have a blast at Adepticon next year!


- Tim