Road to Adepticon 2018 : Part 1

Hey Everyone! It is hard to believe, but a new Event year is finally upon us.  Great events such as L.V.O. and Waaagh! Paca will be taking place this month, but sadly I am unable to attend either of these excellent wargaming events.  My focus is turned toward March where we will see a Coalescence event followed directly by Adepticon 2018.  I plan to post monthly updates about my hobby, games, and other preparations for Adepticon this year.  I did a similar article series last year for both Adepticon and Nova Open that I very much enjoyed writing and sharing.  These events are great ways for the community to connect for a long weekend of shared comradery and I hope my excitement comes through as you follow my Road to Adepticon 2018.  Today I want to talk a bit about my choice in my army and how its progress is coming along.

A little while ago I began to think about the army I wanted to use for the 2018 event year.  I had decided to take a break from my Stormcast Eternals, which I had been playing since the release of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, but wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do next.  I managed to fill my Hobby time well with my recent Khorne Army inspired by a small slow grow league with a few friends.  Sadly that mini-campaign fell away, but the new Nurgle release has reignited the flame to do it again.

I had given a lot of consideration to adding units to my Khorne army in order to play them a bit more competitively this year.  While I will add to my Khorne this year I never envisioned the army as a competitive force.  I originally built it to be more thematic and casual in play.  Some recent events have shown me that it won't stand much of a chance in its current form so while I am not done with Khorne I decidedly easily that I won't be using them at any major events this year.

The upcoming Malign Portents for Age of Sigmar is promising a lot of love for Death and Nurgle, but neither of these has ever really grabbed me as armies I wish to play.  I am excited to see them on the table, but I knew that neither was going to be an army I could put my heart into for the coming year.  It's no secret that I have been one of the few eagerly anticipating the release of Aelves, in any form, over the past few years.  While it seems we will have to wait a bit longer for a release, which only promises the reveal to be even greater, I decided I did not have to wait to play Aelves again.  I have plenty of Aelves I am currently rebasing that I could have easily pulled from to make my army, but some of the fun in leading up to an event is seeing everyone create their armies and I wanted to make sure I was doing the same.

I originally looked at Darkling Covens or Wanderers as their recent Command Traits and Items in The Generals Handbook 2017 feel very powerful and could create a competitive force.  I built a few lists, but nothing really stuck with me as I made list after list.  Then I had the sliver of a thought in running Daughters of Khaine.  It started as a simple idea, but after talking to some community members on Twitter the concept really began to sink it's daggers in me and refused to let go.  To be honest, the only thing that held me back was the cost of the army, but the more I looked at it the more I gave up that excuse and decided Khaine's Daughters would be storming the Mortal Realms this year!

Oddly enough, once I decided on Daughters of Khaine and list building began I began moving away from using a list that is highly tuned toward competition play.  With some help on Twitter I had built a few very tuned lists, but the more I looked the more I wanted to take something a bit more fun and perhaps crazy.  I decided to forgo a few options so I could fit in 120 Witch Aelves as the idea was too great to not do.  I know there has been some Daughters of Khaine armies out on the scene, but I don't think anyone has been crazy enough to bring 120 of them so hopefully that counts for something.

Also before I get too far ahead of myself I have reached out to the T.O. of Adepticon to verify how he is going to rule on the potentially stacking 5+ saves and if the Cauldrons receive the save as well.  There is some odd wording that could allow it to be ruled either way.  Whatever their decision I am fine with as this army is much more out of doing it for fun and for the love of doing an army like this and not about pushing to win the event.  Overall I just want to make sure I practice and play the army at the event how the T.O. decides to prevent and "gotcha" or "bad feelings" at the table.

EDIT:  The T.O. has let me know that the Cauldrons will not be allowed to stack their 5+ save for Adepticon 2018 so my defensive capabilities go down, but my ability to spread out a bit goes up.  While I don't expect this to change my list much if at all, I will consider putting the Medusa on one of the cauldrons as I playtest.  Either way, it is good to have a quick ruling on the issue so I can prepare accordingly.

One last little detail I am planning to add in is the statue for the Cauldron who will be my General.  I wanted to add a small throwback to The End Times without theming the entire army around The World That Was.  I purchased a Tyrion model on eBay and it should be arriving soon and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.  It should be a subtle nod to the great story of Tyrion's Fall while allowing my opponent to clearly see which Cauldron is my General on the field of battle.

I cannot wait to get the army on the battlefield to begin playing here very soon and I will be sure to post up progress pictures and game recaps in my "Weekly Hobby Update" posts as well as on Twitter so feel free to keep an eye out for all of that fun very soon.

If you are attending Adepticon this year be sure to let me know in the comments below and what you are doing to prepare for the events.  Also, if you will be there feel free to come up and say "Hello" as meeting new people is one of the best parts of National events such as this and I will take any excuse to talk some Hobby.

Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

~Chuck Moore