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. 

Product Review: Special Operations: KILLZONE Cards!

In what is probably going to be the very first, official review of Brian's (you know, the glorious man from A Gentleman's Ones?) ultra-mega-spiffy supplement cards for Special Operations: KILLZONE, I'm going to cover the cards and show you some cool shots of the actual product. I think I'm the first person to actually get his grubby hands on the new cards!

Information about the cards, tokens and the various sets + how to ORDER

Here

Building the Killzone "Booster Pack" Tables: Part II

It's always like a holiday when "Frozencore" Joe stops by for some good ole hobby-time. Even on Memorial Day. That's like a double rain--- holiday, all across the sky. I know I promised you an update on Sunday, but with work being annoying and what not we had to postpone everything. But, no worries - we did meet up and a lot of progress was made.

The materials:
Ork Barricades - Resin. You get 6 different barricades for $22. Amazing, considering some of the bits you would need to duplicate them. One of the barricades is a wrecked Ork buggy!
Dap Drydex Spackling - A pink spackling that turns white when completely dry. Used for the "muddy" surface beneath the wooden boards and planks in the trenches and to raise areas.
Balsa and basswood sticks - Various lengths and widths for the ramshackle look of the trench boards used for support.
Gorilla Wood Glue - for gluing. Duh!
Master-crafted Digital Weapons -That would be yer hands!

Building the Killzone "Booster Pack" Tables: Part I

Yesterday "Frozencore" Joe and I met again, this time to start the 2'x2' modular sections for the Killzone table we're going to be making. We decided to lay down the basics - draw some pictures, outline where stuff was going to be located on each 2'x2' segment, try and loot some terrain, etc.

The materials:
3/4'' plywood we got from Home Depot. Thick, sturdy, no chance to bend and a great support for the..
3/4'' pink foam. Also from Home Depot. Both items were cut for us pretty precisely, giving us a bunch of 2'x2' squares. 
Caulk gun and glue to glue plywood and pink foam together. The bond was pretty rock-solid.
Gorilla Wood Glue donated to us by Brian from A Gentleman's Ones. Used for gluing various pink foam pieces, foam core and eventually sealing the pink foam for sturdiness.
White foam core which Joe is primarily using to create the various buildings for his Imperial city board.

What? Green Vostroyans? Soon ALL will be revealed..

The boards:
"Frozencore" Joe: An Imperial fortified city with a lot of vertical action going on. We're talking about ramps and bridges connecting buildings at various heights, bridges over a river and various ways to go up and down the whole thing. Definitely a complicated and terrain-heavy 2'x2' for Joe's Deathwatch Killzone Team, but in the end we all know that it is going to look awesome. He went crazy with his measurements, making sure everything was going to fit and had a pretty detailed picture of his idea.

The wooden part will be a river and from the raised part - a bridge.

This tree? An aquarium decoration. Of awesomeness.

Skarvald the Troll-faced: I was going to go for a jungle/swamp Kroot Mercenaries camp of some sort, but after thinking about it I decided to use my Kommando Ork-themed list. I never managed to write a good enough list using the Tau Codex. Lots of things I liked, others - not so much and for me every attempt to create a Killzone team was a painful process.


Besides, I spent a lot of time browsing for some big trees, simply because I wanted to have a bunch of them, connected with bridges and catwalks all over the place to achieve that "vertical effect", but lack of models and high prices eventually persuaded me to think of something else.

Thus, the Kommando Mercenary Headquarters idea was born. I'm going to keep the jungle/swamp idea, and found something to use as the big tree. There will be trenches, a lot of camouflage, tall grass, a mine field, razor wire, a watch tower, a Deff kopta landing pad, etc. The tree thing you see on the picture above will be covered with ork... stuff. Platforms, ladders, catwalks.  
I like this terrain piece more and more and every time I look at it I get crazier orky ideas. It looks pretty realistic but then it is not. You know what I mean? Next step is getting some spackle and putting it on the sides of the trenches, before I put wooden planks.

One of the terrain pieces that I will be making is a crashed Deff Kopta and a separate terrain piece will be a tree with the Deff Kopta's dead pilot, stuck in its branches with his parachute. With a raven on its shoulder. Yeah-yeah.

Come back next Sunday for more development on the "Booster Pack" Tables. PART II!

Starting your Killzone: "Booster Pack" Terrain Tables

We live in interesting times, Wolf Brothers! We were made to battle in the name of the Emperor, to lead his armies and rip out the throats of the enemies of the Imperium of Man, but in this new Age of Strife our purpose in life is being taken from us! And by whom? Not xenos, not heretics, nor treacherous Chaos-worshippers. No.. Our one and only reason to exist is being taken from us by scriveners and accountants, by lords who have never seen a day of battle, have never held a dying brother in their blood-soaked hands... Our Crusades used to be fueled by glory, honor and pride - NOT MONEY! The assaults and sieges we carried out on so many planets under the blazing heat and light of a thousands suns and countless stars were done because it was our right to do so, not because they were potentially profitable. Dark times await us and Chaos beckons..    
- Skarvald the Troll-faced

So much for my commentary on the price-hike, the new resin/resin-plastic models and the new embargo policy of Games Workshop. Kirby has a great open letter to GW about it which has been floating around various blogs and forums for a while now. I agree with it, but what can I do? Words won't win against Capitalism, so the best thing to do is to figure out a way to still enjoy the hobby while eliminating the factors that undermine my budget. I love this hobby, I love the models, I lost most of the rules and I love my local Games Workshop store, but unfortunately it seems that none of them love me enough to grant me free miniatures on a regular basis.

Enter Special Operations Killzone...

Paincake is Deliciousness Leaving the Body!

Hurr hurr hurr..
Just became a brand spanking new member of the International House of Paincakes Blog Network and I was actually surprised that the person who read my application actually had taken the time to read some of my "articles". That was nice. Thanks, Dethtron. ;P Not sure why I didn't apply earlier.
So, if you have your own tiny, dandy place on the Internets where you like to share your little toy soldier stories with the rest of the world do not hesitate to drop Int'l House of Paincakes an e-mail if you think you are awesome enough.

I threatened them with my Thunderwolf and got accepted in no time.

Funny story about IHOP, though. And this time I'm talking about the place that serves delicious breakfasts 24/7. You might even say it's Warhammer 40,000 related. It was quote a long time ago:
Me and some buddies were driving to IHOP after a party, listening to some 100.3 FM and just commenting on how dark and scary the woods surrounding us were. You know, the usual blabber. Then all of a sudden a raccoon appeared. Man, was the little bugger fast! Our dedicated driver tried to avoid hitting him, but the raccoon apparently really wanted to give Death or Glory a shot and my friend's change of direction actually hit the poor little thing dead on. You could even say it got pancaked.
 
And then it that awkward, semi-sad moment I said the first thing that came to mind.. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! My apologies, PETA.

Other related news..

IS THIS NESSIE?!?

 It might look like a random blob or like left-over material from the construction of a Barby Doll House or something My Little Pony-related.. but this is the beginning of our Adepticon Display Board. It's a 3x3 ft. pink foam square that we are mounting on a wooden board. The stacked smaller pieces of pink foam will be hills and other raised areas and the hole in the middle is going to be broken ice from where one gigantic kraken tentacles and a bunch of other smaller ones (our Objective Markers) will be fighting our Space Wolves. We want the one big tentacle to be the radius of a monstrous creature base and tall enough to be seen from afar.
We'll be doing more work on this table on Wednesday..

And it just so happens that this Wednesday, February 09, 2011 the SIN of ALACRITY Space Hulk table over at A Gentleman's Ones is going to be announced for a raffle of some sort. No one really knows what the catch is going to be, but trust me when I tell you that this table is phenomenal and none of the awesome pictures do it justice. Its big, boxy, death trapy and grimdark. What else should it be? So mark your calendars and make sure you pay Brian's blog a visit.