I traveled out with my buddy Matt and from Pittsburgh, PA. We took a predawn drive Thursday morning through a few states; Indiana being the worst due to construction, and seven hours later we arrived at our hotel. After a bit of unwinding, I headed over to the Convention Hall to Register and explore.
My Arrival at my First Adepticon
First off I was blown away by the amount of Swag I received just for registering. An entire copy of Runewars, the new Hordes Book, tons of models, bases, and a bunch of other little things. It was so much I immediately took it back to the car so I could be free of any burden as I walked around. My first stop was the AoS game hall!
The AoS Vanguard and Warhost events were in full swing and I got to check out all the great armies on the table. One thing that was palpable on entering the area was the positive energy in the room. Everyone was having fun playing this game. No one seemed stressed from the bottom tables to the top. It was a great thing to see and made me instantly glad I finally came to Adepticon. As I walked the room I began to recognize people I knew from Twitter and I began introducing myself and being introduced to others as well. One of the strengths of this community is how welcoming it has been and this was no exception. One of the highlights was getting to play a fun 2000pt game with Tyler Emerson from The Scruby & Wells Podcast. His Sylvaneth were a beautiful army and my Stormcast were put to the task in 5 great turns of AoS. Tyler pulled out the win and his Durthu was the star of the match for him making three consecutive 9" Charges!
Tyler's Durthu had his running shoes on this day
Day 2 began early as my excitement kept me from sleeping all that much. I didn't have much planned for the day until evening so I really got to explore the convention in earnest. The vendor hall was fantastic and I was lucky enough to meet some 40k podcasters while spending a fair portion of my funds on all the great miniatures in the hall. I spent the rest of the day meeting folks I know from Twitter until my evening when I was lucky enough to attend one of Duncans Painting classes. This experience was eye opening. Roger (the man behind the camera) and Duncan were very open and clearly enjoy what they do. I took away a lot of army painting knowledge from this event as well as insight into how the community creates and posts their videos. I have learned that in order to get to the next step of my painting skill I have a lot to do.
Roger, Myself, and Duncan
Saturday arrived and so did the AoS Championships, which I will go into detail in a future post, I had three fantastic games of AoS. I gave out Combat gauges made by 6 Squared Studios to all my opponents who all immediately used it in the games played! Honestly, they were some of the best games I have ever had, despite a few small critiques. The time flew by and I pulled our a 2-3 record for day one and felt happy in where I sat. Later that night I was humbled to be part of the US AoS Community Meeting. This whole concept began as an idea I sent Tyler Emerson months ago to get us all together to work with Games Workshop in order to take AoS to the next level. Games Workshop was welcoming and very open and the community leaders really rallied and will continue to help push this game to bigger and better things it the future you can be sure of that! After the excitement, I managed to get a bit of sleep and head to the next day.
My and Duncans model (He gave me his! On the left)
While most people were tired from the previous night I had another two games of the AoS Championship. While my first game suffered due to a lack of engagement from my opponent, but he played well and without issue. My final game was easily one of the best games I have ever played in and enjoyed every last moment. I ended with two losses but ended up 44/104 in the event and for my first event I feel proud and look forward to improving year after year.
The AoS US Community Group meet up (missing a few folks)
After the awards ceremony, I said my goodbyes and was once again humbled by acceptance of the community ad hated to leave, but did so knowing I made a fair number of new friends who continued contact with me via twitter with nothing but excitement for our shared hobby. I drove home that night with my buddy Matt and arrived home at 4:40 am. After a night fo sleep and a day of relaxing and recalling stories to my wife, I found a new legitimacy and motivation for this hobby that has yet to die off. Adepticon is now a must-attend event for me and I am looking at other events such as Nova, LVO, and Nashcon to a possibly attend in the future.
Until next year...
If you have ever thought to attend Adepticon I can whole heartily say do it. Jump in and join us in this fantastic event. I meet so many great people and cannot wait to see what the following year will bring to this great game. I hope to see even more of you next year at Adepticon 2018! Feel free to follow me on Twitter as I prepare for next year!
Until next time Happy Hobbying!