So that's the end of my Adepticon photos. I hope that you enjoyed seeing just a little bit of what the convention had to offer.
A month on - and away from the initial euphoria - I give you my considered thoughts on the event.
It is very very hard to put into words the magnitude of the events to outsiders. It is enormous. Staggeringly so. There aren't enough hours in the day to see everything on offer. I don't feel I even scratched the surface especially in respect to new products, demo games, alternative periods and seminars.
Before I went I had the view that I'd have plenty of time to do all I wanted. Of the four days of the convention I signed up for 3 days of competitions. In retrospect I think this was a big error. When Jack turned up on Saturday at midday it was a pretty easy decision to withdraw from the WHFB Championships and devote the time to the convention. We had a great two days checking out the various treats on show.
So what would I do if I could turn the clock back? Well I think that needs to be put in context.
The Horus Heresy event was great visually - and was a catalyst for me finishing my Death Guard - but as a competition it was pretty dire. The scenarios were too asymmetric which means the result was largely determined by the die roll for Attacker /Defender. This was amplified by poor timekeeping. However in my own particular case it made little difference to results. I hadn't played any 30k - and indeed no 40k for 1.9 editions - so my expectations were set low. However the time would have been far better spent checking out the convention. So in retrospect I wouldn't sign up again.
With Fantasy, the Teams and Championships were extremely well run and I had no complaints there whatsoever. What did strike me was the nature of the game. Prior to attending I had heard much of the difference in the game between the North East USA and the rest of the country. I had thought this was likely overstated. However now I think I have a much better understanding. In the Midwest they play No Comp but it is a different no comp than how I envisage it. While I see it as permissive, I also realise it results in harder lists - generally all muscle and no fat or gristle. In the Midwest, "No Comp" seems to be code for "Don't Tell Me What I Can Bring". As a consequence I don't think the armies are particularly hard or honed. Certainly I think a lot of our locals playing with FOB-Lite Comp lists would have done very well - in fact Jeff Kent did. Because we are used to scenarios we are pretty adaptable and playing the scenario is pretty important. For the people of the Mid-West it seems to evolve into Blockhammer. In the first round of the Championships I played a guy with 27 Temple Guard, 47 Saurus and only 10 Skinks. It was no surprise to me that my largely Masters Skaven list maxed out in points.
With that in mind I think in future I would definitely play the Teams. I'd then toss up whether to play the Championships or perhaps one of the 1000 point events. The Championships are a big commitment as they take up half the convention time wise. I guess it comes down to what you are looking to get out of it.
However I definitely am going again. Next year.
For those interested the castings are $2200 airfare, $500 twin share and $200-300 on food. That is for the effective 8 days that you are away. So $3000 and 6 days leave. The trip itself is pretty easy. Up to Auckland - WC USA - Chicago is 24-28 hours door to door. Jet lag was not an issue either way.
If anyone is interested in more info about the event use the "Comments" section or drop me an email.
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