Friday, April 11, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Adepticon 2014 - Part 2 - Warhammer Tournament
I played in my first tournament at Adepticon. Being more of a casual gamer, I was happy enough last year at my first Adepticon to just take in all of the sights of the convention. This year, though, I greatly appreciated the unexpected invitation to participate in the Doubles Tournament. One of the fellas from the Inner Circle club from Maryland needed a doubles partner, and I was pleased to fill in.
Game 1
Very little planning occurred ahead of time (meaning, no planning occurred), and we found ourselves at game-time matched up as "Desperate Allies". That meant we were forced to split our Power Dice, and that meant we essentially self-annihilated our Magic Phase. Sure would have been helpful to pop off that Chain Lightning or that Harmonic Convergence...
During the first game, it was even worse, because we thought we had to split our Dispel Dice, too. So we could neither cast spells nor dispel them. It turns out that the tournament rules overrode the standard rules, so you could at least combine Dispel Dice. Funny, our opponents didn't share that with us. And one of them was the tournament organizer! Hi, Alex!
Here we are advancing forward on Turn 1. Note that we went second on Turn 1. Which means that Alex and Nathan sat on their butts, content to win the game by just sitting back and flinging shooting and magic at us. Putzes. :-) So, yeah, we had to go get 'em.
I took the brunt of the attack while my allies waffled about on the left. ;-)
I softened 'em up, so that our Warriors could mop 'em up.
But, long story short, we lost.
Game 2
In our second game, we faced Ogre Kingdoms (on the left) and Skaven (on the right).
The highlight of this game was achieving a perfect encirclement, something I have tried to do ever since I started playing Warhammer.
Unfortunately, we were unable to close the noose. The plan was to sacrifice the Saurus the unit, and allow an overrun into the waiting Chosen Ones unit. But the Chosen Ones were tempted by the opportunity to run down the defeated Skaven General, and the Chosen abandoned their position instead of reforming. The encircled Ogre unit was thus able to escape the trap. Still, after all was said and done, we actually won the game.
Game 3
While we spent 2-and-a-half hours resolving the 2nd game, we resolved the 3rd game in 2-and-a-half minutes! And this one was a loss. The scenario was a "Fortitude" scenario, where banners, generals, and overlords are worth Fortitude points. In our game, each side had a total of 8 points. The first side to bring their opponent to 5 points wins the game.
On the very first action of their turn, our opponent shoots a cannon at our overlord. The overlord fails his "Lookout, Sir!" roll, and the cannonball takes off his head. He's worth 3 Fortitude. Game over.
It was pretty hilarious.
Other
One of the highlights of the day was meeting all of the British podcasters who came to Adepticon. Last year, the Bad Dice crew came over, and I said hi again this year to Ben Curry, Mark Wildman, and Gareth Dix. HeelanHammer visited as well this year, so I introduced myself to Dan Heelan and Wayne Kemp. I also tracked down Dave Witek and Chris Yu of GarageHammer and chatted with those guys. It was really awesome to put faces and personalities to voices.
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| My good pal, Oko, and all-around good dude, Chad, from the Inner Circle. |
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| My doubles partner, Spencer, playing Warriors of Chaos. |
Very little planning occurred ahead of time (meaning, no planning occurred), and we found ourselves at game-time matched up as "Desperate Allies". That meant we were forced to split our Power Dice, and that meant we essentially self-annihilated our Magic Phase. Sure would have been helpful to pop off that Chain Lightning or that Harmonic Convergence...
During the first game, it was even worse, because we thought we had to split our Dispel Dice, too. So we could neither cast spells nor dispel them. It turns out that the tournament rules overrode the standard rules, so you could at least combine Dispel Dice. Funny, our opponents didn't share that with us. And one of them was the tournament organizer! Hi, Alex!
 |
| Alex is on the left. Nathan is on the right. |
Here we are advancing forward on Turn 1. Note that we went second on Turn 1. Which means that Alex and Nathan sat on their butts, content to win the game by just sitting back and flinging shooting and magic at us. Putzes. :-) So, yeah, we had to go get 'em.
 |
| Mirrored Warriors of Chaos on the left. Nasty Daemon of Chaos on the right. |
I took the brunt of the attack while my allies waffled about on the left. ;-)
I softened 'em up, so that our Warriors could mop 'em up.
But, long story short, we lost.
 |
| "Hi, ho, my job is done here...." |
Game 2
In our second game, we faced Ogre Kingdoms (on the left) and Skaven (on the right).
The highlight of this game was achieving a perfect encirclement, something I have tried to do ever since I started playing Warhammer.
Unfortunately, we were unable to close the noose. The plan was to sacrifice the Saurus the unit, and allow an overrun into the waiting Chosen Ones unit. But the Chosen Ones were tempted by the opportunity to run down the defeated Skaven General, and the Chosen abandoned their position instead of reforming. The encircled Ogre unit was thus able to escape the trap. Still, after all was said and done, we actually won the game.
Game 3
While we spent 2-and-a-half hours resolving the 2nd game, we resolved the 3rd game in 2-and-a-half minutes! And this one was a loss. The scenario was a "Fortitude" scenario, where banners, generals, and overlords are worth Fortitude points. In our game, each side had a total of 8 points. The first side to bring their opponent to 5 points wins the game.
On the very first action of their turn, our opponent shoots a cannon at our overlord. The overlord fails his "Lookout, Sir!" roll, and the cannonball takes off his head. He's worth 3 Fortitude. Game over.
It was pretty hilarious.
Other
One of the highlights of the day was meeting all of the British podcasters who came to Adepticon. Last year, the Bad Dice crew came over, and I said hi again this year to Ben Curry, Mark Wildman, and Gareth Dix. HeelanHammer visited as well this year, so I introduced myself to Dan Heelan and Wayne Kemp. I also tracked down Dave Witek and Chris Yu of GarageHammer and chatted with those guys. It was really awesome to put faces and personalities to voices.
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| Wayne Kemp of HeelanHammer, feeding a massive dead pool of his Skaven army. |
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| At least they're painted well... ;-) |
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| More photos for my buddy and Skaven player, Aaron, to enjoy. |
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Adepticon 2014 - Part 1 - Crystal Brush
So, exciting news. I won a Crystal Brush! Yay! And a second Crystal Brush!! Woo-hoo!!!
But enough about that. You're here for photos. Without further ado...
The very first piece I saw when I arrived on Thursday was this awesome diorama. A scene from Dark Age. Great composition and movement. The terrain really sets the scene, too. Love the mud.
A beautiful piece by one of my heroes, Jeremie Bonamant Taboul.
A great idea by Meg Maples. I bet we see more of this kind of idea over the next year.
And I love the little otter archer in the background.
Here are entries that I really enjoyed.
The rest of the entries are some of my personal favorites.
And my very favorite piece in the show. As always, I'm a sucker for goblins. And the execution is truly astounding.
But enough about that. You're here for photos. Without further ado...
The very first piece I saw when I arrived on Thursday was this awesome diorama. A scene from Dark Age. Great composition and movement. The terrain really sets the scene, too. Love the mud.
A beautiful piece by one of my heroes, Jeremie Bonamant Taboul.
A great idea by Meg Maples. I bet we see more of this kind of idea over the next year.
And I love the little otter archer in the background.
Here are entries that I really enjoyed.
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| Another one by Meg Maples |
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| A very clever and fun idea by my pal, Elizabeth Beckley |
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| I was surprised this one didn't get a trophy. It was phenomenal in person. |
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| Very cool to see the art used to make a political statement. |
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| Very timely to inspire my upcoming introduction to SAGA. The shields are freehand! |
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| By Sam Lenz. Can't go wrong with a Rackham figure. Fantastic work all around. |
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| Another by Sam Lenz. The guy sets the bar high for my category! |
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| By Caleb Wissenback, who kindly co-judges the Capital Palette. |
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| A masterful piece |
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| Heh. |
The rest of the entries are some of my personal favorites.
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| For the forthcoming game, "Twisted". I am already a rabid fanboy of this miniatures line. This piece is by Adam Weller. |
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| More "Twisted". This one by Sebastian Archer. |
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| This piece really immersed you in the scene. Amazing lighting and detail for the canyon. Great concept and storytelling. |
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| Such a cool model. I can't imagine it painted any other way, especially the hard iron look of the engine. |
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| Rackham Mid Noir. Autowin in my book. Love the base, too. |
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| Incredible work by Justin McCoy, head honcho for Secret Weapon Miniatures and Head Judge for the Capital Palette. |
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| Best of Show. The photo doesn't do it justice, of course. |
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| Another one by Marike Reimer. Not only did she paint sheer fabric, but she painted a tatoo, seen through the sheer fabric! |
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| Another fave by Caleb Wissenback. |
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| This was an amazing, rich piece. There was so much to take in. |
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| This one is worth two angles. |
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| Probably my second favorite. |
And my very favorite piece in the show. As always, I'm a sucker for goblins. And the execution is truly astounding.
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