Adepticon 2012, Part II: About KILLZONE and Oh, How the Tables Have Turned!

Yeah, I know, I know, I'm slacking, but I'm still relaxing after what was an amazing convention and (just this weekend) my 22nd Birthday! Time for some more coverage..

The Eldar Waygate at the Forest Table

Adepticon 2012, Part II: About KILLZONE and Oh, How the Tables Have Turned!! 

Adepticon 2012, Part I: Deliverance and Swag!

Huzzah! I survived my third Adepticon in a row!
And as always, my oh my, what a long, strange trip it's been, my friends. Yet again I have to say that this has been the best convention I have ever been to and certainly the best Adepticon for me and I meant that on so many levels. I suppose I'll try to capture the awesomeness of this event in the near future simply because I.. just have to!

So let's begin with..

 Part I: Deliverance and Swag! 

This is what they ended up lookin' like!

This year's perspective was different for me. On Thursday, while most players were surely finishing (or starting.. yikes!!) their armies for the smorgasbord of events and tournaments that Adepticon had to offer I was about an hour drive away from the con with Brian from A Gentleman's Ones.
What were we doing? We were finishing the ten 3x3 tables for the Special Operations: KILLZONE event, of course.

My favorite table!

Early in the morning yours truly got on the train to Chicago where Brian was already working hard, delivering the finishing touches on the tables. We were blessed with beautiful, sunny weather with just enough wind to speed the process of drying. Honestly, I don't even remember what we did that day. It's a blur because it really seemed like we were each doing 10 things at the same time: from fixing smaller imperfections to gluing down lichen, undergrowth, touching up the vehicles and the rust effects. Basically a lot of small things that just brought things together, and yet they were all necessary.

The Gentleman

I'm sure Brian is going to write a lot about the intricacies of the table-building, the many, many challenges we had to deal with and the decisions we had to make. It was pretty much like the Odyssey, except without Vanessa Williams as Calypso. But in the end we managed to return to Ithaca and there was much rejoicing.
Look at the picture on the left. See Brian? See how stressed out he looks onnit? See the table? That's the desert trench table which you can see right above. Literally two weeks ago all we had was a wooden board, some pink foam, 6 lines and a couple of circles drawn. We had no idea what was going to be on it. It was the least finished table, we had run out of ideas, materials and even some steam...
... it turned out to be one of the best pairs of tables. Glorious.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

That day felt like packing for a long vacation.
The tables were as finished as possible given the time we had, everything was neatly arranged inside a truck (something that we didn't have last year), the packets with the rules were printed out (at a disgustingly high price....), the cards and tokens were in a box. Basically all we had to do was drive to Lombard.



Brian and I were at Adepticon around 4:00 pm where we met up with "Frozencore" Joe. Now, to kind of show you how big the line for the Registration/Badge pick-up was lemme steal a picture from Adepticon's Flickr pool..

Original

The line was so huge that it wrapped around the entire grand hall and then it got inside it.. and wrapped around it!
Everyone wanted to be one of the lucky 500 - the first 500 attendees to pick up their badges got a limited edition version of Battle Foam's Shield Bag ($36.99) for FREE! 
It even has a nice patch on it to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Adepticon! 
Now, we got there at 4:00 pm and the whole thing was supposed to being at 5:00pm. Actually we were just in time, because the bag ran out a couple minutes after I got mine, which was lucky I guess. I definitely can't wait to use it - probably for my Warmachine army and/or my Ogres! 


WAIT, THAT REMINDS ME - Brian, you owe me a case of Guiness!!!!


And now for the bag itself.. 
My FIRST real swag bag. I did my best to register on time this year, so that was nice. 

• From Privateer Press I got the sweet Trollbloods Battlegroup for Hordes! Trollbloods were actually the first models I saw by PP and for a while I was actually considering to play them rather than Khador. The Motherland's call was louder, though. It's okay, now I have both! 
• From Mantic Games I got a sprue with enough bits to built x2 Forge Father Steel Warriors! The models look very nice. I'll probably keep them for bits, though, since I already have plenty of gaming systems and projects under my belt.. 
• Let's not forget the lovely metal AdepticConstruct for Adepticon's 10th Anniversary. It's simply gorgeous and it actually stands pretty tall. I think I might actually use it in my army for Adepticon 2013's Team Tournament.

• From Secret Weapon Miniatures (a great website!) I got a 20% Off Coupon, a Dark Sepia Wash and resin base! 
• From GaleForce Nine I got the Mysterious Waters Markers. I really don't have a use for them, though. I wish I had gotten their measuring tool thingy instead. I really need one. ; / 
• From Wyrd Miniatures I got the rulebook for Malifaux game! "Frozencore" Joe plays it, but I honestly can't see myself picking it up any time soon. 
• Wreck Age gave me a metal Drifter Chieftain. I don't know a whole lot about the game, but the mini is alright. 
• Got a yellow paint sample from Badger.
• An Adepticon pocker chip for $25!  
• Tons of promotional brochures, leaflets and coupons that I am never going to use! 
• I bought the Adepticon anniversay glass and the T-shirt as well.

There are a few more things on the picture but I got them on Friday and Saturday, so I'll cover them in the next few posts. Overall a very satisfying Swag Bag! Around ~$100 worth of stuff with tons of interesting bits and pieces.

After the swag we set up the 10 tables. We needed a length of 30 ft. and we got exactly that. The tables fit perfectly on the tables and there was no extra space! We were actually worried that one of the tables wasn't going to fit, but in the end all was well.
We didn't get a pot in the Grand Hall this year. Instead we were in the big hallway with all the other skirmish games, which was not a bad spot to be honest, but we were expecting to be in the spotlights again just like last year - between the Team Tournament and the Crystal Brush area. It makes sense, though - this year there were more spots in the Team Tournament and the Combat Patrol event and the Crystal Brush had to be in one of the hallways as well.

I learned that I should make some business cards - having to write down my name, blog address and e-mail on random scraps of paper is so annoying and unprofessional. Not that I'm a professional, mind you. Any takers that are willing to help me out with a cool design for gratis? :O .. No? Didn't think so.

Next I'll cover the two Friday events for Killzone and some other miscellaneous thingamajiggers. 

Building the Killzone "Booster Pack" Tables: Part II.5

Today was a very long day which was mostly spent driving from Games Plus to Hobby Lobby for useful materials for our "Booster Pack" tables. I had ran out of most of my balsa and basswood sticks and needed a fresh supply for the rest of my trenches, so I got a handful - probably more than I'll need? Then, at Games Plus I stumbled upon a product that I had been ogling online just a couple of hours before we left on our shopping spree. I didn't have to pay for shipping. Score! What was the item, you might ask?

Masterclass Scenics: Mud & Water Bundle - $20.00
from Secret Weapon Miniatures

Come on! With all of the trenches, piles of mud and mine fields I've got going on I just couldn't say no to a kit that makes such cool-lookin' mud AND has a bunch of "water effect" that does not suck. There's a brilliant tutorial on the website to boot.. I'm pretty excited, actually. I just can't wait to be able to throw some mud on my 2'x2', you know?

This is not the first time I've invested in SWM. If you remember, I bought a Rahael 8404 Kolinsky Red Sable brush which I have been using non-stop and have been loving every single.... er.... stroke (Shame on you!!!) with it?


Also purchased a cheap-O set of small resin barrels and crates, because why the heck not? Other than that, I managed to mix more spackling and planks on the side of the smaller and bigger trench and started a small wooden bridge! Joe also worked on his bridge and bought a few things for his tables as well. Nothing too crazy or deserving fancy pictures yet, I'm afraid.

However, we're are already discussing the crazy shenanigans we'll be attempting at Adepticon 2012, and boy is it going to be phatasmagorian! Let's just say that it is time for the orkz to be more kunnin' than brutal.

Reserves Arrive: Barter Bucket, Belgian Spider Goblin Riders, new fancy paintbrush

First, let me say one thing: The Santa Cruz Warhammer Barter Bucket is AMAZING. After I post this, I am officially going to include them on my sidebar, because the idea of trading items, bitz and kits based on wants/haves without the hassle of having to log-in AND with such simple design is very, very much appreciated. What a great place to find specific bits and items without having to pay eBay or PayPal's fees or pay an arm or a leg to bitz-order websites. <3 Thank you, Barter Bucket! Next.. for the rest: