Surviving Adepticon 2013

I'm back from Adepticon and wanted to get a quick post out into the wilds of the internet while things are still filtering through my head. I intend to get some more detailed discussion up soon, so this will be just a brain-dump so readers know I'm still alive. To be fair, I intended to get regular game reports up as well this year and have failed at that pretty spectacularly!!!

So, high level of Adepticon. I helped TO a number of events that seem to have been very successful. Nilus and I pulled off a great Cake Event, Malifaux Team Tournament, and Story Encounter. I also got to play in four rounds of the Masters (Tied for 5th place) and 1 round of the Avatars (knocked out round 1 due to clumsy mistakes). I would say that on the organization and tournament front, that makes an incredibly successful weekend! I want to give a huge thank you to my opponents (Ryan Hummel, Steve Babcock, Doug LeSavoy, David Barnickle, and James Kroesh) for five really fun games.

I got to play in 2 games outside of tournaments against opponents I have wanted to face in person but not had the chance. Greg who has worked with me at past Adepticons and Gencon was a fantastic gremlin opponent, although things did not go his way. Old Man Mike of Malifools fame was also a fantastic opponent, again with Rasputina falling to a Misaki God Hand. Fun games and Fantastic opponents.

As for the con itself, while it was still an amazing weekend of gaming, this year was a little less enjoyable than years past. Mack Martin brought a dark shadow over the con for me, which I am sure he is pleased with. As the new head developer for Wyrd, he and I had one very contentious conversation, then I got to hear about and field questions of his backbiting all weekend. I will say that it is incredibly disappointing to see this behavior in a company representative. It's expected to some extent from general gamers, but company representatives are often held to a higher standard. Apparently my less than positive opinions on upcoming moves within Wyrd has made me "The Enemy you know" for some Wyrd employees. That was disappointing. Going beyond that, an unexpected stretch of no sleep for over 34 hours ended with me passing out and missing Poker and Board Game night, which I look forward to every year. I have come to the realization I am older than I think and cannot hang with 30+ hour marathons of no sleep any more. I need to carve out sleeping time at future con's to make sure I get in everything I want to do.

News of where Wyrd is going with Malifaux were all over Adepticon this year, with the company representative sharing the plans with anyone who would listen. This is exciting on one hand, as the news is out there. On the other hand, my own NDA keeps me from sharing anything until those other sources share what they heard. I am really looking forward to The Joey Berry (You Tube), Wargamers Consortium, Screaming Heretics Podcast, and Eternal Warriors podcast sharing their interviews!  I was also pleased to hear that one of the dedicated Malifaux podcasts (Through the Breach) was actually granted the privilege of getting some of that Malifaux news as well. I am excited to hear what news was let into the wild as those sources get back from Adepticon and publish!

Overall the best part of the weekend was connecting with friends who I only really get to see a couple times a year. I know it seems like a trite comment, but that really makes these conventions the best. To anyone who I hung out with over the weekend, played games with, or just passed in the hall and chatted with for a while, thank you! You are the people who make Adepticon great for me.

More will be coming (I hope) about individual thoughts and aspects of Adepticon over the next few days/weeks. I have to admit, I am already looking forward to Adepticon 2013.

Adepticon Bound 2012

The time is quickly catching up to the point when I will be loading up the rental and jumping onto the long drive to Chicago for this years Adepticon. Wednesday morning eChris and I will be packed up and on the road to a full weekend of gaming! I have to admit, there is still an awful lot to do.

I had originally offered to bring 10 tables with me to Adepticon to support the Malifaux tournament. Due to some last minute issues, I am down to only 8 making it out. I am hoping to squeeze in a 9th table, but it is not looking like it will happen. On the bright side, the M&SU bar will be making an appearance, with some bar tables painted up as well. Playing on an indoor board will be a different scenario for most players (I believe) and should be very fun!

For those who have been keeping a close eye on the painting total to the left, you will notice I have been adding a couple points here and there through April. I painted up my Miss Demeanor and repainted a Student of Conflict for my crews. I also finally based my Jack Daw and both Hanged onto actual bases, which only took a year since last Adepticon to get done. I did not get a chance to snap any pictures (good or bad) so will need to post some shots after the con.

Podcasting has also taken a hit in the past couple weeks. Between work, family, and preparing for the trip I have missed releasing the last episode. Listeners of Gamers Lounge will be treated to a fair amount of content post Adepticon if everything goes as planned.

So, that brings us to whats planned for Adepticon this year? This is my third year attending the con and the first year I am only taking part in 1 type of gaming event, and then the after con-mixer as usual. That right, this year consists entirely of Malifaux for my "Official" events. I will be acting as judge for the Cake tournament on Thursday evening, and then returning as the primary judge for Friday evening's Malifaux Masters Qualifier #1.

Friday morning, eChris and I will be showing up (in matching t-shirts) for the Malifaux Team tournament with out Neverborn crews. eChris is in the team tournament as his competitive tournament this year, while I am aiming to support him and have some fun. Our first round will be a challenge match vs Cheated Fates Radio. I am certainly looking forward to it. I even tossed out a teaser that if the CFR guys can beat us, I will toss in a Hooded Rider puppet as an extra prize to them! I expect he will be coming home with me.

That brings us to Saturday Morning where I will be jumping into playing in the Masters Qualifier #2 while Nilus takes over as head judge. I am bringing Guild with me this year, a switch up from the All Neverborn I brought to tournaments last year.  I will admit that I am a little nervous about how my games will go this year. I have only gotten in one tournament so far, and while I went 2/1 with my only loss being to Hamelin, I am still not overly confident that the guild will perform well. I do not believe that Hoffman has what it takes to deliver a win in a tournament, and I do not really click with Perdita. That leaves me Sonnia Criid, Justice, both their avatars, and Lucius to play around with. I am comfortable with each of these, but just not as confident as I am with Dreamer,  Pandora, and Colette. The playstyle is not a good fit with how I tend to play Malifaux. Add to that my recent string of losses and bad luck and I am looking at a tournament where I do not feel very confident. Then again, I have had some very good performances with my guild models, and it will certainly help cement Guild as a playable and tournament worthy faction if I can do well.

If I do well on Saturday I will find myself up on Sunday and in the 8 person Adepticon Master of Malifaux competition. I aim to be in the top 8, and even if I am not I will be judging the tournament. Following that, its the now traditional end of Adepticon Mixer and Poker tournament. I have enjoyed this two years in a row and expect this year to be no different. Its a great way to end the overall trip before crashing Sunday night and driving home on Monday.

So, when do I plan to hang out, get in some Gamers Lounge recording, and get in some pick-up games? Pretty much all weekend! I will be bringing along a very small selection (35 points) of Hordes for some small games. I also have my entire Malifaux selection with me. I expect it will be hard to pry myself out of more Malifaux games, as it is my primary game currently, but there is a small chance. I will also be bringing along my puppet wars set, as its a very fun game to play while drinking. Aside from that, I am planning to run down to Lou Mitchel's on Thursday morning for some breakfast. I have mentioned in the past, and will point it out again. This is my favorite breakfast place in Chicago, and one of the places I like to stop while in town. If any readers are in the area and interested in meeting up, Thursday @ 10am on West Jackson Blvd is the place to be!

Adepticon Malifaux 35ss Scrap - Round 4

Round 4, the final round of the tournament, and I find myself at the top table competing against the so-far undefeated Dixon. Funny enough, Dixon is actually from my local play group and we had carpooled to Adepticon. It was also nice to see that across the top 2 tables, 3 of the players were from my local Malifaux play group.

So, the game was Shared Claim Jump, and our lists were as follows:

Me: Pandora, Jack Daw, 2x Hanged, Stitched, 7 stones
His:Viktoria, Von Schill, Convict Gunslinger, Freikorps Librarian, Taelor, 6 stones
My Schemes:Bodyguard (Pandora), Steal Relic
His Schemes: Gather Soulstones, Bodyguard (Von Schill)

After seeing 3 games over the past 3 days played with the Dreamer, I have to imagine your wondering why I chose to switch things up in my final game. First, I had tested this list against Dixon in our local store prior to coming to Adepticon and he was simply terrified of what it could do. Even with the small model count, the list can be fairly devastating.  Secondly, the mission was shared claim jump. I was also taking Steal Relic in the game. This list is really good at board control, with Jack Daw taking away cheating and soul-stones and Pandora making things run. Jack is really tough to take down as well. Add to this Pandora and Jack's high willpower and the added damage from failing Steal Relic, and I thought things would work well.

As a note, Dixon and I replayed the game once we got back to VA, with me using the Dreamer list I had envisioned before Adepticon. I should not have switched up, as the game was clearly in my favor, and the flips were not far off how they played in the tournament.

Turn 1 & 2

The game starts out with me moving from behind some terrain toward the center of the board, using the Stitched creepy fog to stop any stray shots or charges from occurring. Dixon moved his line forward, setting up for a turn 2 frenzy. He was cautious however, keeping just far enough back to force me to extend myself should I get initiative. Turn 2 kicks off with him getting initiative. He begins to shift forward, keeping his Vik's in reserve and working to out-activate me. I am in a tidy little ball of terror, carefully blocking all his approached to force terror checks on any charge or move toward me he makes. He tries to position some targets to entice me out, but I see the Vik's primed for the charge so do not take the bait. Instead I move up to about 6 inches from the center marker and dig in. Defensive Stance's all around, cloaked with Terror. I am all activated and the Vik's launch into thier attack. Vik's run up, switch, and pop into combat with Jack, Hanged, Stitched, and Pandora all within range of his Whirlwind. Attacks start flying and the Hanged drops first, Stitched drops and grabs Reactivate, and then the Vik's turn thier attack on Pandora. Whoops, Pandora stops the attack cold and Vik takes a quick point of damage. Dixon has burned a whole load of Soul Stones by this point, but clearly he is betting the farm on this round. He starts up the Whirlwind shenanigans again (he has nearly drained his hand, but what a load of cards he had to cheat with) putting the first attack into Stitched and then whirlwind onto Jack. I flip Jack's defense, not terribly worried, and the Black Joker makes an appearance. Ouch, this might hurt a bit. Dixon smartly works through the his stonesand remaining hand to whirlwind away as much of my hand as possible, bringing me down to 1 card. Last, Dixon takes control of Jack and attacks my other hanged, flipping into a high mask and killing the Hanged. Stitched pops some damage into Vik and Dixon uses his last stone to survive the gamble from Stitched, and Stitched sacrifices at the end of the turn.

Turn 3-5

Turns 3 through 5 played out in a nearly identical fashion for the rest of the game. Pandora would activate and force as much as possible to flee. Dixon would activate and rally what he could, moving back in after rallying. Jack would try and kill anything he could. I spent the game burning through my stones to keep things fleeing and occasionally kill a model. We had a couple questionable rules calls from the judges (Fleeing models who rally cannot take any actions... not correct) but overall it was 3 turns of the same.

Turn 6

We had a bit of an audience at the end of the game. I had chosen to not steal the relic from the Vik's during 1 turn due to a bad initial flip on my cast, so was hurting from a VP standpoint. Pandora was alive, but I could not get over to the Vik's with enough AP to steal their relic. On the final turn I worked to push everyone possible out of the circle around the objective. First cast stoned a low card and Von Schill resisted. Second Cast was also resisted by Schill, leaving Schill within the area of control. I had to choose to cast on the other 3 models (Convict, Librarian, Taelor) to force them to flee, cast, stones, and they start flipping resists. Librarian flees, Taelor Flees, and the Convict flips a red joker, the only card in the deck that can keep him in the game. Game ends and we measure up. At this point I find out that one of my pushes from Incite was not enough to get me completely within the required control zone, giving Dixon 1 model completely within, and me 0. The game ends, I have 2 points and Dixon gets 6. A fantastic and challenging game (my 2nd most challenging all weekend, behind one of the Wyrd Developers, Zee) and a very solid win to Dixon.

Overall I am very happy with how the tournament and Adepticon weekend as a whole worked out. I went from the mid-tables after a first turn loss to playing for 2nd place in the tournament. Had the score been reveresed (me 6, Dixon 2) I would have grabbed first place on the weekend. I ended up with 20 points, placing me in 6th place overall.

Goals Accomplished???

As a footnote, while I did not achieve a top 3 finish in the Malifaux tournament, I still feel I accomplished my goals for playing int he weekend. One of the other games I played was against Zee, one of the developers at Wyrd. I wish I could remember the whole game to post a battle report, but very simply I cannot. We played a 50 point scrap (single master), Dreamer vs Kirai. My game against Zee was easily the most challenging game of Malifaux I have ever played. I can comfortably say that without taking anything away from any of my other opponents. Over 2 1/2 hours we went back and forth with multiple small interactions each turn, each of which is equal to the challenging tactical interactions I normally see turn a game. I ended up defeating Zee 8 to 0. At the end of the game, Zee commented that he felt it was one of the best games of Malifaux he had ever played. That comment, plus the crowd of 10+ spectators will warm a place in my memory for quite a while.

Adepticon Malifaux 35ss Scrap - Round 3

Game 3 I found myself facing off against my final WHFB opponent from Friday, Matt Birdoff. For those who are not familiar, Matt is part of the Warmongers club out of NY, and a top WHFB player. He is a fantastic opponent, and one of the top sportsmen I have played against. I was glad to face off against him, as I was making my way back to the top tables and was happy to see he was sitting up there as well.

The round was Shared Contain Power. Our lists and schemes were as follows:
Me: Dreamer/LCB, Lelu, Lilitu, 2x Stitched Together, Coppelius, Day Dream, 5 stones.
His: Pandora, Primordial Magic, Doppelganger, Stitched, Candy, Teddy, 8 stones.
My Schemes:Hold Out (Announced), Eye for an Eye (Announced)
His Schemes: Eye for an Eye (Announced), I do not remember his second scheme

Turn 1

During the Friday WHFB games, Matt made mention that he was not worried about beating me in WHFB, as I would have a chance to pay him back during the Malifaux tournament. I hope I kept him thinking this as looking at Pandora across the table is a bit intimidating to me. Pandora is simply a tough match-up for the Dreamer. Playing Neverborn, I beleive Dreamer is one of the best matches for Pandora, as Lilith and the Nephilim just do not have the WP necessary. With the dreamer, I am fairly confident I can pick apart Pandora's crew and Dreamer has at least some oppurtunity with WP 8 vs Pandora's WP 7.

I will also make note in the beginning that Matt chose his scheme well. It was amusing to have him listen to my schemes and then declare the same "Eye for an Eye", as that left him with 2 points for schemes based on me completing my own schemes. Typically opponents are supposed to pick their schemes prior to hearing what the opponent is choosing, but in this case we were joking around and I was not too worried about it.

Jumping into the game I deployed Lilitu and Lelu on the 6 inch deployment line, with the Stitched next to the Dreamer. As usual, I kept Coppelius buried for use later. Normal turn 1 tactics, defensive stance and terrifying. Matt pushed his doppelganger a bit too far up and I was able to jump forward with Lility and lure the doppelganger into my own lines. A quick snack alter and Lelu had cleaned up the doppelganger, taking her off the board. Not a bad start to the game. Matt shifted his models forward with caution after that, and popped the puking snake (Primordial Magic) into a building with nice line of sight to the center of the board. After burying the nightmares, Dreamer scooted a short way forward and prepared to start playing.

Turn 2-3

Its been a while since the games, so turns 2 and 3 ran together a bit for me. Essentially there was a fair amount of scooting around the center of the board. Pandora bounced around dropping damage and making things flee. Lelu, Lilitu, and Coppelius fought a grand melee vs Teddy, Stitched, and Candy in the center of the board. The key in this round was Pandora killing the day dream, popping out Chompy. Cards in hand kept me from putting chompy away again, chompy's wp kept him from actually attacking Pandora successfully (2 attacks, 1 made it though, did not kill her).

Turn 4

Going into turn 4 the board was cluttered in the center. Chompy is standing alone to the right of the center of the board. Pandora is 4 inches away after pacifying him, Teddy and Candy are engaged with Lilitu and Coppelius, My remaining stitched is mid-way between the center of the board and my deployment zone, Puking Snake is sitting in the building just out of Chompy's reach. Pandora activates on initiative and throws out a Self Loathing on Chompy. Chompy stones to meet her cast and fails to resist, and kills himself. Dreamer pops out, waiting for Pandora to complete her activation. Pandora pacifies Coppelius and scoots back toward her deployment zone. Dreamer activates and I realize I cannot get to Pandora. Dreamer flys into the building (no cover here... big mistake) and shoots at the puking snake. I fail to hit it, snake activates and fails to cast. Lilitu activates and lures Candy forward, then takes 2 shots at Teddy. Teddy is floating low on wounds, but stays there until the end of the game. Teddy activates and rips Coppelius apart, taking damage but living with 1 wound due to his regenerate. Stitched activates and tried to duel with Pandora. He fails, takes some pings, but Matt cheats to keep my damage low enough to keep me from reactivating. I will admit that at this point of the game Matt appeared to have unlimited soul-stones, although that had more to do with his flipping well than anything else.

Turn 5

Turn 5, initiative again goes to Matt and Teddy activates. Duelling flips between Lilitu and Teddy result in no damage on Lilitu. Dreamer activates, decides to fly, shifts around a bit, and takes another shot on the puking snake. Pandora activates, she moves for LOS and tosses out Self Loathing on Dreamer. Dreamer burns off the last soulstone but fails to resist, getting hit for 2 damage (reducing to 1 due to spirit). The tough part here was Pandora's flee trigger went off, and Dreamer runs to the edge of the board. On the plus side, Pandora has no line of sight to Dreamer, so cannot force him off the board for the points. Instead Pandora shifts around to get line of sight on Dreamer for the start of turn 6. Stitched activates and gambles with Pandora, failing, dieing, and gaining reactivate. Candy does something but does not really affect the game. Stitched reactivates, Gambles with Candy to kill her, then gambles with Pandora and brings her to 1 or 2 life remaining.

Turn 6

I am worried here, going into the end of the game with Dreamer falling back and on the edge of the board. I win the initiative flip, rally dreamer, and take a gamble. I cannot move, but it looks like Pandora is within 12 inches. I take the shot with Twist Reality, pass the WP duel, hit Pandora, and flip for damage. Red Joker on the damage guarantees death, and Pandora leaves the board with her puking snake. Teddy proceeds to clean up Lilitu, leaving the board with Dreamer on the board edge and Teddy in the center. Game ends.

Scores are added up with Dreamer and Teddy are alive (2 points for Eye for an Eye), Teddy is in the middle of the board (2 points for Hold Out), and Dreamer got the kill-blow on Pandora, giving me 4 for Contain Power. Another 8 point round and a very challenging game. I look forward to playing Birdoff again, as he is a fantastic player. For someone new to Malifaux, he seems to be getting the grasp fairly quickly! If the rest of the Warmongers play similarly, they will be a club to watch out for on the upcoming Malifaux Tournament Scene!

Battle report for my final game will be posted tomorrow.

Adepticon Malifaux 35ss Scrap - Round 2

Round 2 found me at mid-field with my 2 point loss coming out of round 1. I was surprised that I was only mid-field, as that meant there were a fair amount of 0's and 1's scored on the first round. Regardless, I knew I had to push hard for a max score on this round if I wanted to get back to the top tables. Round 2 was shared Destroy the Evidence, which is one of my favorite strategies with the Dreamer, so I once again dug into my Dreamer bag of Tricks. My opponent this round was a young gentleman (10 years old) who had played in the Cake tournament Friday night against some of my local club. He was playing Perdita and an Ortega crew. To be honest, my biggest worry at this point was that maxing my score was going to make me a bad guy for beating up a kid. The day was just not going my way.

To make things worse, Shared Destroy the Evidence is an ideal strategy for the Dreamer Alp Bomb, as alps give the dreamer number and are significant, allowing them to destroy the evidence markers. Our lists and schemes were as follows:
Me: Dreamer/LCB, Coppelius, 2x Stitched, 2xDay Dream, 4x Alps, 5 stones.
His:Perdita, Abuela, Nino, Francisco, Santiago, Papa, 5 stones.
My Schemes:Breakthrough (Announced), Kidnap (Papa, Abuela, Santiago)
His Schemes: I do not remember his schemes

Turn 1

We get underway with me deploying at the center of the board, putting all my nightmares out and keeping Coppelius buried. He puts the Ortega's out in a line across the middle of the board and I can see this is going to be a face-off at the Adepticon Corral! I take the initiative and start out with some typical shenanigans. Defensive Stance and the Alp Neg Willpower bubble starts popping up, and the stitched go defensive stance. On his side, Papa runs up toward the middle of the table, with some support from Santiago and Francisco. Mid-way through my turn the dreamer activates (2 alps plus the stitched in Def Stance, 2 alps not), pop the terrifying bubble, buries everyone, and flys 7 inches up the board. Companioned Day Dream heads forward 6 inches and unburies one of the non-activated Alps out onto the neutral evidence marker. Second Day Dream pops up the board and unburies Coppelius next to Papa. Over the end of the turn, the Ortega's shift around a bit, alp destroys the neutral evidence, and Coppelius paralyzes Papa.

Turn 2 & 3

Turn 2 and 3 were a flurry of activity. Essentially, I win initiative again on turn 2 and activate dreamer to shift around a bit and bring all the nightmares out. 2 alps cover two of my mid-field objective markers, Chompy pops out and eats Sanitago before triggering "Alll Done", Coppelius eats Papa, triggering boom and killing 1 alp, and the Alps pop out and slow/damage Abuela and Francisco. Over the turn Perdita and Coppelius are shot at by Perdita and Francisco, Abuela and Nino fall to terrifying and begin to run away, and things are looking grim for the Ortega's. Come the end of Turn 3, I have destroyed all my evidence markers and Chompy has killed Abuela and is threatening Perdita. Of the Ortega clan, 3 turns has sown their downfall, with only Perdita left alive. Of the nightmares, 1 Stitched and 2 Alps have fallen. Coppelius grabbed 2 eyeballs however, successfully summoning 2 additional Alps to keep me at 4.

Turn 4-6

My opponent wins initiative on turn 4 and starts running away from the nightmares toward the end of the board. I let him scoot away and after a double move he takes a shot at the big guy. I look over the board and want to give my opponent a good game, so take a moment to think through how to do that. I bury Chompy, bury the nightmares on the table (leaving 2 day dreams and a stitched on the board), and then dreamer scoots to the far corner of my opponents deployment zone. One daydream pops out a stitched next to Dreamer and then moves toward Pedita. The other dream and Stitched move forward as well, giving her some targets to shoot at. Turns 5 and 6 consisted of Perdita, 2 Day dreams, and Stitched sparring around the middle of the board, with Perdita successfully killing all 3 nightmares.

End of the Game

Come the end of the game, I had claimed a full 8 points (2 for Breakthrough, 2 for Grudge, and 4 for Destroy Evidence) and my opponent had 0. Despite the score, he appeared to have enjoyed the game and I was happy. Preparation for round 3 began in my head, as I was headed back toward the top tables with 10 points vp across the 2 rounds. Battle Report for round 3 will be posted tomorrow.

Adepticon Malifaux 35ss Scrap - Round 1

Round 1 of the Adepticon 35ss Scrap started with me facing a great opponent playing Rasputina. I am horrible with names, and as such I cannot remember my opponents name, probably because I am getting old.

My first round was Shared Slaughter. Our lists and schemes were as follows:
Me: Dreamer/LCB, Lelu, Lilitu, 2x Stitched Together, Coppelius, Day Dream, 5 stones.
His: Rasputina, Wendigo, 2x Hoarcat Pride, Ice Golem, 2x Gamin, December Acolyte.
My Schemes: Kill Protege (Golem) - Announced, Assassinate (Tina) - Announced
His Schemes: Grudge (Coppelius), Kill Protege (Coppelius)

Ok, so first off notice he did not announce his schemes. No worries here, as he was a great guy and told me up front that he had only played 5 or so games prior to the tournament. So, we start out the game, I deploy everything on the board in the middle of the right side of my deployment zone except Copperlius who I keep buried. He deploys everything on the line across from me and drops the December Acolyte in my deployment zone, behind a building and out of sight.

Turn 1

The game starts with him getting initiative. He begins moving up and I begin the dreamer shenanigans by activating the Stitched and putting them in defensive stance. He cycles through a bit of his turn, and I finally come to Dreamer. Dreamer and the Day Dream activate on Companion, Dreamer makes all the nightmares terrifying, then "I can Fly" over toward the December Acolyte, popped out Chompy and Coppelius, and Chompy proceeds to eat the Acolyte. Day Dream activates from the Companion, shifts slightly to the side, calms nightmare to put Chompy back to sleep, then magical extensions to bury all the nightmares on the board, leaving Dreamer and a Day Dream out.

Turn 2

Turn 2 kicks off with my activation. Dreamer scoots up the board and drops the Coppelius, Lelu, and Chompy into combat with the Ice Golem, dropping a Stitched out next to Dreamer, and Lilitu on the other side of Dreamer. Chompy activates and uses Melee Expert and 1 attack to put some damage on the Golem. Golem activates and drops some damage on Coppelius. Coppelius activates and paralyzes the Golem, returning to attack and grab an eye counter. With that done, Coppelius hits a nearby Gamin, paralyzing it as well. I eat the eye and flip 2 healing flips for a total of 3 wounds healed. He activates a Hoarcat and walks in toward Coppelius to try and make an attack. He ends up in both Lelu and Coppy's terrifying range, fails his flip, takes damage from Coppelius for fleeing. Lelu activates and goes wild on the Golem, killing it. I check off my Kill Protege and start to look at how to line up on Rasputina. He activates Rasputina and brings her up the board slightly, then starts blasting into Coppelius. After a number of biting chills and two big Decembers Curses, Coppelius and Lelu both drop, giving him 14 points. At this point he announced he has accomplished both his schemes by killing Coppelius. I advise him this is not possible, as he cannot declare two schemes targeting one model. He looks shocked, a judge is walking by, and we ask the judge for how to rule this. The judge rules that you can target two schemes at the same model, so I make a note to chat with the judge after the tournament. I am grumpy, but we can still push though. There was a little more moving around, but nothing too intense at this point.

Turn 3

So I head into turn 3 with my eye on the prize. I draw my hand and am fairly confident I can end the game right here. Score going into the round is:

• Him: 2 scheme points, killed 16ss so far
• Me: 2 scheme points, killed 14ss so far

I gear up and start the turn, winning initiative. Dreamer and Day Dream activate, Day Dream  picks up everything (magical extension) and moves 6 inches up the board toward Rasputina. Dreamer flys up the board and casts frightening dreams, cheating to get "All My Friends". Chompy comes out 3 inches out from Rasputina, 2 Stitched come out within 3 inches of Rasputina, and Lilitu comes out next to Dreamer. Chompy activates and launches his attacks on Rasputina. Through a series of onslaughts, Chompy drains his hand to 1 card remaining and all his stones to keep Raspy alive with 2 wounds remaining. Chompy uses his 0 to summon a Day Dream, the new Day Dream activates and pulls Chompy back next to a Stitched and puts Chompy to sleep, returning Dreamer to the table.

My opponent is a bit rocked at this point. At some point during the onslaught the judge had called 10 minutes remaining so we were looking to finish our turn. Raspy activates and tries to walk away. She walks once and shoots a bite of winder and a blast toward a stitched together, dropping him to 1 wound but I cheat to stop the overpower. I activate the hurt Stitched and Gambler with Rasputina to get rid of the card. At this point I smile as I have a 13 in hand, and he has no hand, and I have already flipped the black joker during Chompy's attacks. I have 2 actions left, declare "I Gamble Raspy's life" and put my hand on top of the deck and time is called. With my hand on top of the deck I shockingly look at the judge and ask if I can complete the flip and duel. Ruling is no, game ends immediately, add up points as things stand.

Final score is 2 points for me, 3 points for him. I smile and congratulate him on the game and keep reminding myself (in my head) that I need to be a good sportsman and not get grumpy. Granted, I would not have maxed my score but the Stitched killing Raspy would have put me at 4 scheme points plus 3 strategy points (24ss killed vs 16ss, he has no leaders left), for a total of 7 after my first game. No worries, on to my second game (posted tomorrow).

Adepticon Bound!!!

First let me say thank you to Wyrd for the fantastic art that starts out this post. This is from the Gaining Grounds Malifaux Tournament document Wyrd released. If you have not already picked up Malifaux, what are you doing????

So, I am Adepticon bound! I am very excited to be headed back to Adepticon for my second year at the big event. This year I am planning to head out with 3 other friends from my local play group for a good road trip to Chicago. I am also looking forward to meeting up with old friends I have not seen in a while who will be attending as well.

For the local crew, (and a couple notable remote friends), I pulled together some $$ and sprung for a set of Gamers Lounge t-shirts for them to wear. I know, shameless promotion and all, but I think it will be cool to have a whole group of folks there showing their allegiance to the podcast.I will be porting along the recording equipment as well, and I expect to get some decent recording done similar to last year.

Adepticon is, at its core, a gaming convention. With this in mind, what do I have planned for gaming? I have 3 events I am registered for, one each on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I will close out the weekend with a last big event, the Poker Tournament/Mixer, which I am very much looking forward to. Everything is packed away, so I will not have too many pre-con pictures to share. With that in mind, however, I will talk a bit about what I am bringing.

Friday
Friday morning (11am-ish) I will be carting out my Dwarf's and partaking in a sound beating by 4 opponents in the Warhammer Fantasy "It's How you Use it" 1000 point tournament. This is interesting, as I only have 4 WHFB 8th edition games under my belt so far. I think the Dwarf's are pretty straight forward, as I can mostly ignore the magic phase on my turn. Overall, I am honestly just expecting to get in 4 games and have some fun. I will be looking for Equinox and his Dogs of War during the tournament. If we happen to play I have thrown out the challenge that the loser needs to buy the winner drinks that evening. My wallet is prepared!

Friday evening I plan to help out the local Chicago Wyrd Henchman by running Malifaux Demo's and whatever else he needs. Friday night there will also be a informal Q&A with some notable Wyrd Employees, Dave Bowen, Drew, and Zee.  Drew is better known as Wyrd Sketch on the Malifaux forums, and Dave Bowen is one of the fluff and background writers for the game. I am hoping, at some point during the evening or on Saturday, to pull Zee into a Malifaux challenge game.

Saturday
Saturday I will be back in the action first thing with the morning session of Warhammer 40K Combat Patrol. This beast starts early at 9am, so I will be missing out on a pilgrimage to Lou Mitchels for breakfast. C'est La Vie, onto the beating. I will be bringing a similar list to last years combat patrol to the table, carting out the Dead Tau project for a second year in a row. Even with the possible inclusion of Wave Serpents this year, I opted to stick with last years mix of War Walkers and Dire Avengers. While I expect to do better here than I do in the WHFB tournament, I really am not expecting more than an even win/loss ratio. It will be fun to get some 40K games in, but I am not putting much stock in the games overall.

Combat patrol is due to end at 2pm, which provides a whole lot of time for podcast recording, pick-up games, and socializing. I expect Saturday night to be the core of a party-con atmosphere, similar to last year. I expect I will be easily located near the Hobby Talk HQ guys, and I am looking forward to hanging out with the Phil again this year. Lest I forget, the TEW and Independant Characters crews will be floating around as well, which just adds to the fun.

Sunday
Sunday is Malifaux day. Up early at 8am, I will be bringing out my Neverborn for 4 rounds of Malifaux goodness in a 35ss tournament. There are already a number of predictions and, dare I say, whinging about expectations that the Dreamer/LCB is going to sweep the tournament. I will say up front, I am bringing the Dreamer/LCB along with Pandora and Lilith. I have the most experience with my Dreamer crew based on previous tournaments. To be fair, I made the decision to use him as a master, and Neverborn as a faction, specifically because I have a fairly expensive, customer sculpted, one of a kind miniature to stand in for Dreamer. I figure there is no better place than Adepticon to pull Max the Dreamer out to play. Now, I will admit that the Dreamer crew is very flexible, and I also think I am a damn good player.

All that being said, I am aiming and hoping for a top 3 finish in the tournament. While only the top 2 places are getting prizes, I will be happy to come in top 3 out of 32 players. Regardless of how I finish, my Neverborn will be headed back to the case for regular play after Adepticon. I have been working on additions for my Guild off and on, and plan to switch back to them after the tournament.

I am really looking forward to the competition at Adepticon. I am expecting the nation-wide draw to bring out a fair number of solid players, and to really give a good look at what the competitive Malifaux landscape is currently like. In addition, this will give me some insight into the best structure for the NOVA Open Malifaux tournament I will be running in August.

Road Trip
My road trip days are Thursday heading out and Monday heading back. I have already started planning our trip out, which is solely based around what cool restaurants we can stop at on the way. We will be headed out via Columbus OH and Indianapolis, looking to stop at some of the Food Network/Travel Channel featured restaurants. I also need to find a Tim Hortons along the way. Around or a bit after Mid-Day I expect we will be stopping in Columus, so if your interested in meeting up with the me and/or some of the Gamers Lounge crew, let us know in the comments here or on the Gamers Lounge site.

Monday, as we start the road trip back, I expect to stop at Lou Mitchells for breakfast before we get on the road. I love this place and my schedule over the weekend looks like it will hamper my desire to stop in. If your in the Chi-Town area and didn't get a chance to meet up with us during the weekend, let me know and I will try and include you!

Adepticon 2011

That's right folks, Adepticon has opened the web-store and registration is available for Adepticon 2011. I really enjoyed my trip last year and am booked to return this year for a full weekend of fun. Are you wondering what I am booked for? Let me share.....

Thursday
Thursday will be my travel day. I have made absolutely no plans but will figure things out as I get closer to the event. I figure I have lots of time to work this one out. Driving was not bad last year, and by the same token I am expecting a larger group to head out to Chicago this year for Adepticon.

Friday
Friday I will be playing a little 8th edition WHFB. I have not decided if I will be bringing my Dwarves or building some High Elves for this, but the event was pretty interesting to me. I will be playing in the "It's How You Use It" tournament.

Just getting started or looking for a new challenge? This 1000-point tournament is perfect for new players to the hobby and veterans alike looking to play as many games as possible in one day. Just remember, its not the size that counts.

I am booked for the morning event (11am - 4pm), so will be sleeping in a bit before the tourney, and then taking some free time to hang with friends after. Lots to do on Friday night, and Giodarno's is calling.

Saturday
Saturday is 40K day for me. I will be bringing along a solid Combat Patrol list constructed from my Eldar. I had a lot of fun with Combat patrol last year and the Dead Tau Project will be returning. For those who are not familiar:

The popular Warhammer 40K Combat Patrol tournament returns to AdeptiCon 2011. Combat Patrol is a fast and fun 400-point Warhammer 40K event for all skill levels.
Play four games of Warhammer 40K using the Combat Patrol rule set. Participants will need to supply their own Warhammer 40K army and gaming supplies.

 I am booked for the morning session again, 9am until 2pm. I may need a nap mid-day, but we will see how things go. I expect Jay and I will be recording at some point Saturday afternoon.

Sunday
Sunday is the day for my new love, Malifaux. I will be taking part in the 35SS scrap on Sunday morning. For those who are unfamiliar:

Come join us for the first annual Malifaux Last Scrap tournament at AdeptiCon. AdepitCon wraps up on Sunday so let’s send it off with a bang (or stab, cut, gouge, mangle, bite…you get the idea).
The Tournament will be a 35 Soul Stone Scrap. Factions must be declared at the start of the Tournament. Crews (along with Masters) will be drafted each round after learning your opponents faction and master. Strategies will be predetermined and announced ahead of time - two schemes may be selected each round.

I am unsure who I will be bringing at this point. It is very likely that I will run with my Guild, especially considering Lucius being released prior to then. I have the widest variety with the Guild, and I love Lady J. On the other hand, I am expecting to start playing with Kirai soon and expect to enjoy her play style. Time will tell.

Sunday Night
Last year on Sunday night, after the bulk of Adepticon had wrapped up, there was the post-convention poker tournament and mixer. This was a fantastic event that I would not miss! This year anyone who comes to Adepticon via Geek Nation Tours will also have an open pass into the poker event, which should increase the overall turn-out. I will admit that while I can hope for opponents who look like the picture to the right, I expect that as this is a Gamer convention the room will look more like this:

Adepticon 2010 - DTP @ the 40K Championship

It never fails that when you make plans life jumps up to change those plans for you. In this case, work jumped up to change my plans to post this yesterday, so here we go.

Sunday at Adepticon found the DTP headed down at an ungodly 7am for a full day of 40K championship. I brought along my display board and my army as pictured and listed in the earlier post. I was excited for the day and had a chance before the games started to walk around and snap some pictures of the armies. For those interested in checking out all/most of the 150 pictures taken over the weekend, check out my album here.

Here are a couple pictures of armies I did not play, before I jump into my game reports.



Sadly I did not get the chance to actually play any Tau at the tournament, but I grabbed a picture of this army while walking around.





A couple pictures of a great Tervigon model.



your eyes do not deceive you, that's Dave Taylors Blood Pact on the table. Its armies like this that look so good it makes you wonder why you try for best army appearance. Surprisingly, Dave did not win best appearance or players choice, but more on that later.





And here we have an Ork player with the "right" idea on how to win the tourney! I may have to try this next year.

Championship
That brings us to the three games I played on Sunday as part of the 40K Championship. I have to first point out that while I did not place well in the tournament, these were 3 of the best games of 40K I have had in a long time. All three of my opponents were a whole lot of fun to play. Their armies were very nice and fully painted. They challenged me tactically and I hope that despite giving up the primary objective each game, I provided the same challenge for them.

Game 1







Game 1 I faced off against Brandon from GMM Studio Pro-Painting. Brandon had an incredible army and ended up winning both Players Choice and Best Army Appearance. I have to admit it was well deserved. To top that, Brandon was a great player and an excellent opponent to start the day out.
Lets take a look at Brandon's list:

HQ

Daemon Prince (Wings, Mark of Slanesh, Lash)
Daemon Prince (Wings, Mark of Slanesh, Lash)
Summoned Greater Daemon

Troops

5x Plague Marines (Flamer, Meltagun, Fist, Combi-melta)
w/ Rhino (Combi-Melta)
5x Plague Marines (Flamer, Meltagun, Fist, Combi-melta)
w/ Rhino (Combi-Melta)
5x Plague Marines (Flamer, Meltagun, Combi-melta )
w/ Rhino (Combi-Melta)
5x Plague Marines (Flamer, Meltagun, Combi-melta)
w/ Rhino (Combi-Melta)

Heavy

3x Obliterators
3x Obliterators

The mission was as follows:

• Deployment - 12 inch "Pitched Battle" deployment zone
• Primary Objective - Annihilation: Kill points
• Secondary Objective - Elimination: Eliminate all of your opponents troop choices while having at least one of your own troop choices alive at the end of the game.
• Tertiary Objective - Victory Points: Player must score at least 250 more victory points than their opponent.
• Tactical Bonuses:
• +1 if your opponent has no surviving fast attack choices at the end of the game
• +1 if your opponent has no surviving heavy support choices at the end of the game
• +1 if your opponent has no surviving elite choices at the end of the game

I ended up losing the primary, drawing the secondary, and losing the tertiary objectives here. This was my first time facing the Lash, and I ended up facing a double lash list here. I have to admit that it really did not affect my game at all. Brandon kept much of his army in reserve so the Daemon Princes came in on separate turns. I was able to kill the first lash prince off prior to the second coming onto the board. In addition, the Eldar Runes of Warding and sticking inside my tanks truly limits the effectiveness of Lash overall. The game came down to a lot of ranged shooting and each of us trying to blow apart each-others transports and then dump shots onto the infantry inside. Over two turns my dice turned against me and I was unable to do any damage at all. In one of those turns Brandons smoked rhino ate every single shot fired at it without actually causing any damage.

Game 2

Game 2 I faced Brian's Dark Eldar. I realized after Adepticon that I did not get any pictures of his very nice looking Raider army. This was a great match-up as I have only had a chance to face Dark Eldar one other time and it is always a fun game. I have to admit that it can be a bit overwhelming to face 13 raiders across the table and realize that there is a load of lance shots coming my way. Brian was at Adepticon from Atlanta GA, coming up from the Warfan Gaming club, a club I have played against previously when I was traveling to Atlanta.
Lets take a look at Brian's list:

HQ

Archon (Agonizer, Shadow Field, Trophy Rack)
w/ 5x Incubi retinue
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)
Dracon (Crucible of Malediction)
w/ 5x Warrior retinue (2x Dark Lance)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp, Trophy Rack)

Elite

5x Wyches (2x Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)
5x Wyches (2x Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)

Troops

5x Warriors (Dark Lance, Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)
5x Warriors (Dark Lance, Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)
5x Warriors (Dark Lance, Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)
5x Warriors (Dark Lance, Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)
5x Warriors (Dark Lance, Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)
5x Warriors (Dark Lance, Blaster)
w/ Raider (Dark Lance, Torture Amp)

Heavy

Ravager (3x Dark Lance)
Ravager (3x Disentegrator)
Ravager (3x Disentegrator)


The mission was as follows:

• Deployment - Deployment was long tabel edge, up to 6" away from the center line. (18 inch deployment zone)
• Primary Objective - Seize Ground: Capture terrain elements, to claim a terrain element you must have a unit wholly in/on an uncontested terrain element. To Contest a player must have a unit wholly in/on the element.
• Secondary Objective - Elimination: Eliminate all of your opponents HQ choices while having at least one of your own HQ choices alive at the end of the game.
• Tertiary Objective - Victory Points: Player must score at least 500 more victory points than their opponent.
• Tactical Bonuses:
• +1 if you have a model from a scoring unit within the 3" of the center of the table and your opponent does not
• +1 If your most expensive unit is not fleeing or dead at the end of the game.
• +1 if none of your HQ choices are destroyed at the end of the game

I ended up losing the primary and drawing both the secondary and tertiary objectives on this mission. Against Brian I was simply unable to do enough damage to his mass of raiders and 6 troop choices to bring this out. We both spent much of the game knocking each-others skimmers out of the air and trying to pick apart the infantry that popped out. The highlight of the game was a face-off between Brian's Archon and Incubi retinue vs my Spiders plus Autarch. During the fight my Autarch chose the worse part of Valor and attacked the Incubi opposed to facing the Archon. In a fit of rage, the Archon carved his way through the spiders to pull the face-off with the Autarch. In a surprise move, the Autarch landed enough blows to break the unit and then ran down the Archon as the Dark Kin broke.


Game 3







Game 3 I faced off against Rex's Space Wolves. This was the last game and we were on the bottom tables. I had heard that Rex was a very competent Space Wolves general from Mike Brandt, who faced Rex during the first round. This was something to keep in mind, but I also have not had the same problems with Space Wolves that I have heard other people have.
Lets take a look at Rex's list:

HQ

Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf, Runic Armor, Wolftooth Necklace, Frost WEapon, Storm Shield, Warrior Born)
w/ 2x Fenrisian Wolf
Rune Priest (Wolftooth Necklace, Runic Weapon, Jaws, Storm Caller)

Elite

6x Wolf Guard (3x Combi-Melta, 3x Combi-flamer)
w/ Droppod

Troops

5x Grey Hunters (Meltagun)
w/ Razorback (Lascannon, TL Plasmagun)
5x Grey Hunters (Meltagun)
w/ Razorback (Lascannon, TL Plasmagun)
5x Grey Hunters (Flamer)
w/ Razorback (Lascannon, TL Plasmagun)
5x Grey Hunters (Flamer)
w/ Razorback (Lascannon, TL Plasmagun)

Fast Attack

4x Thunderwolf Cavalry (Fist)
4x Thunderwolf Cavalry (Fist)

Heavy

4x Long Fangs (2x Missile, 1x Lascannon)
4x Long Fangs (2x Missile, 1x Lascannon)

The mission was as follows:

• Deployment - Table Quarters
• Primary Objective - Objectives Markers: At the start of the game 1 player sets up 3 objectives, then the other player chooses one objective as the "Primary objective Marker". At the end of the game a player gets 11 points for control of the primary objective marker, 5 points for contesting the primary objective marker, 5 points for control of each secondary objective marker, and 3 points for contesting each of the secondary objective markers.
• Secondary Objective - Battlefield Control: Have at least one unit wholly in every standard table quarter at the end of the game. The unit need not be scoring nor can this objective be contested.
• Tertiary Objective - Victory Points: Player must score at least 750 more victory points than their opponent.
• Tactical Bonuses:
• +1 If your opponent controls no objective markers at the end of the game
• +1 If you achieved the secondary mission and all units used to control the quarters were scoring
• +1 If your opponent has fewer than 4 units left at the end of the game

I ended up claiming 1 secondary objective marker and contesting 1 secondary objective marker. Rex ended up claiming the primary objective marker and contesting one secondary marker. Rex won the secondary objective with more quarters than I had, and we both drew the tertiary objective. This was a very fun game with a chance for me to finally see what Thunderwolf Cavalry can do. I will admit they can take a boat load of shots and still stick on the table. They also move much quicker than I anticipated. Overall the game was challenging and it came down to bring a bit short on the last turn to contest the primary objective marker. I had waited a bit too long to pull my skimmers into position to make the 24 inch ramming move to claim or contest on turn 5.


Conclusion
Adepticon was an incredible experience and overall the DTP performed as expected. I certainly need to work much harder on my tactics if I expect to place well at a tournament. On the modeling and painting front, I do not feel bad at all on how I scored. I am unsure what the painting score chart looked like, but Brandon had a 45 overall for painting, while I cam in with a 26.  Not a score I am disappointed in. I think the only disagreement I have with the scoring at the tournament was with the sportsmanship award being given to the lowest battle points of the tourney. In my opinion, this turns sportsmanship into a consolation prize, which I think lessens the total award.

Off to Adepticon!!!

This has been a crazy week with several double posts per day. In an effort to slow that down and not step on my own posts, I scheduled this to release Thursday monring.

So, my intrepid readers, you should see this sometime after I am already on the road, driving to Adepticon. My faithful podcast co-host and I are taking the 10.5 hour cross country trek to the convention in Chicago and I, for one, and very excited! I have also successfully turned the 10.5 hours into 12 with a variety of food stops along the way.

So what are my plans at Adepticon you may ask? Well, let me share (even if you didn't ask). We should get into the hotel and checked in at some point between 8pm and 9p local time, and hopefully catch up with some of my local friends in the bar for food, drinks, and catching up.

Friday:

- I am in the 40K Combat patrol tournament in the morning
- I will be open for gaming and roving the vendor hall in the afternoon

Here is a quick look at the combat patrol list I am taking:


So, what do we have here? My list @400

Troops

7x Dire Avengers

w/ Dire Avenger Exarch (Defend, Shimmershield, Power Weapon)
3x Jetbikes (1x Shurican Cannon)
w/ Warlock on Jetbike (Destructor, Witch Blades)

Heavy

2x War Walkers's (ScatLsr, StarCan / ScatLsr, ScarLsr)

Saturday:
- Saturday morning (~8am) I will be at Lou Mitchell's for a Gamers Lounge Podcast Breakfast
- Saturday afternoon I will be haunting the Vendor hall, trying to nail down interviews with a variety of folk.
- Saturday late afternoon I will be playing in the Dice Like Thunder vs Gamers Lounge Podcast Host Challenge 40K game
- Saturday Night (~10pm) I will be at Hooters for Drinks and Wings night with the guys

Sunday:
- Sunday I will be taking part in the 40K Championship all day.
- Sunday evening I will be at the After-Con Poker Game and Mixer, playing cards

Here is a quick look at the Championship list I am taking:


So, what do we have here? My list @1850

HQ

Autarch (Mandiblasters, WJG, Power Weapon, Fusion Gun)
Farseer (Doom, Runes of Warding, Spear)

Elite

6x Fire Dragons
 w/ Fire Dragon Exarch (DBFlamer)
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL ScatLsr)

Troops

8x Dire Avengers
w/ Dire Avenger Exarch (Bladestorm, 2x Avenger SC)
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL Missile)
5x Dire Avengers
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL Bright Lances)
5x Dire Avengers
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL Bright Lances)
7x Rangers

Fast

7x Warpspiders
w/ Warp Spider Exarch (Powerblades, 2x Deathspinner)

Heavy

2x Fire Prism's (Spirit Stones, Holofield, TL ShuriCat)

Monday:
- I have the long drive home

I will have a lot to post when I return. Until then, wish me luck!

Adepticon Model Approval - Part 2

Back during the middle of January I posted about sending in pictures for Model Approval at Adepticon. I received a response from the very affable Matt Weeks and have been remiss in my updates!

Bill,

I sent your photos around and got some feedback from the event tournament judges/organizers. This is a tough call for us. On one hand we really appreciate the effort involved and we have seen things of this nature before at AdeptiCon...but on the other hand the model policy is pretty specific about base size. We dislike telling people they cannot play with their models, but at the same time we do not want you to have any trouble in your games.

At this point, we generally are giving you approval, but would suggest you limit the amount of of large basing if possible. Additionally, getting your opponent on board with the way your models are based will be ultimately important as will be playing your games in the manner you suggested above. I'd just hate for you run into one of those hardcore tournament gamers and have them start complaining about modeling for advantage or anything like that.

Matt

and a follow-up email:

Bill,

I was thinking last night - and I forgot to mention the AdeptiCon INAT stance on scenic bases:

    RB.03B.02 – Q: If a model is mounted on a scenic base and an opponent objects to it, what happens?
    A: If an opponent objects to a scenic base, the model may still be used in the game. However during the game, to the best of both players‟ abilities, the model must be treated as if it were based on a standard-sized, non-scenic Games Workshop base [clarification].


Gives you a good reference point if an issues arises during a game.

Matt

I really appreciate the response and have respect for the stance they have taken. They have given me general approval with the caveat that if I am an "ass-hat" in disguise that the approval was only "General" and can be revoked. I really appreciate this, especially in light that after some more thought Matt provides an additional reference and strategy I can use if there are issues.

I still intend to play along the same lines I always play, which I feel fully supports being a good sport and not using the bases to advantage. I model using my bases for the aesthetic, not to gain some advantage in the game. Look at my win/loss record and this clearly shows!

Regardless, that is starting to beat a dead horse. I am grateful to the response and happy to see the response is in line with what I feel is fair, reasonable, and in the spirit of the game.

Adepticon Models Announced

My trusty Facebook has alerted me that the Adepticon limited edition models have been revealed. You can take a look at them here: Adepticon Models.

I have to say that overall, I am not very impressed. The Fantasy model looks better than ok, but not up to the same standard as the recent years models by Felix Paniagua. I suppose if I had interest in Blood Bowl, the blood bowl model would strike me as somewhat good. As for the Sci-Fi and the Flames of War models, I have to say "Meh". As this is my first Adepticon, I have to admit I am a bit disappointed.

Adepticon Model Approval

I have been preparing for Adepticon in March of this year and realized that I have non-standard models which should be approved prior to my heading out there. I have not finalized my list yet, but I figure if I get approval for the different modified bases on my models up front then I will not have to start every game with:
"Hello opponent, I run non-standard bases on my models. Even though they are clearly not modeled for advantage, would you like to object and win the game that way or would you like to actually play a game?"
Now, typically the answer is "no problem, lets play a game", and to be honest, my opponents have little to fear as I am rarely (if ever) on the top tables. Then again, I may get much better at playing over the next 3 months and it might matter. More importantly, I can reach out to the Adepticon crew and get approval ahead of time, which will make this a non-issue.

As I was already taking pictures, I figured I would post them here. Taking another look at my various models is always a good thing, especially when those who I do not play regularly get to see the comparisons. In addition, I think this might be the first time I am posting a picture of a Grav Tank on the Tank bases.

Enjoy.