Much like every other Adepticon, it all began with an early morning and a 9-hour drive from my home in Pennsylvania to Chicago Illinois. This year my friend Matt, TJ, and Sean were all with me and we piled our stuff into the rental hit the road. Not surprisingly the trip went very fast with all of us chatting and having a good time. The awful state that is Indiana even went by quickly and without issue. After checking it to the hotel and settling it I headed out to meet up with friends and grab a quick bite to eat at Portillo’s before heading back to get in line for the Games Workshop Studio Preview Seminar.
After the reveal wrapped up, I joined the volunteers who remained to begin setting up for the next few days of Age of Sigmar. There were plenty of chairs to move, tables to line up, mats to layout, and terrain to place. It was late and most of us had been up for a large part of the day, but everyone put forth the effort in order to get everything set and do it in a timely fashion. Day one was in the books and after sharing a drink with some friends it was time for bed.
The next day I woke up without anything to do, which was a first for a convention, but it was pleasant not having to rush out the door first thing. I wandered down to the Age of Sigmar hall right before registration was about to open for the Vanguard tournament. I jumped in to help check the lists as everyone got ready for a day of rolling dice. A little while after I had a fantastic pickup game with the one and only Anthony Margo a.k.a. AoS Coach. Anthony was bringing his Gloomspite list up against my 180 Witch Aelf Horde int he Relocation Orb scenario. I was blown away by the damage output of the Gloomspite, but no matter how many Witch Aelves he killed there were more to replace them. However, The Orb moved directly into Anthony’s army and he was able to take priority for the first few rounds allowing me to go first while he racked up the Victory Points in beautiful fashion. We played until it became impossible for me to catch up to him. Anthony easily took the day, but it was a fun game and spectacle to behold with the number of models we had on the board. Anthony played everything right and was a gentleman throughout, but there was no time to rest as I headed over to help Paul Wagner with his Age of Sigmar Narrative event, The Gibbering Dome.
Paul had set up the four tables for the event and he had given me and the other Judges (Matt and Heath) control of a table of four players to help watch the story unfold over the next three games. The players at my table really connected and as we began to play through Pauls well-crafted narrative. I began to add in extra bits of fun to the event getting the players to wheel and deal in true Triumph and Treachery style. The players had such a great time they opted to continue playing together. As each game progressed I added more bits of fun to Pauls story such as an impromptu boss battle, exploding spider, spider nest landmines, and even ending the final game with collapsing floors to “encourage” the players to move to their goal as quickly as they could. The players even began having their army stampede over others in an attempt to escape The Gibbering Dome! I was thrilled that Paul had me help run the games this year and see players having fun across his great tables! It was a great way to end the gaming for the day before even more time hanging out with friends for another late night of fun.
Friday saw even more relaxation for me as I had the entire day free except for the Warhammer Heroes awards dinner later that night. I used the day to chat with people, explore the vendor hall, and just enjoy a day of relaxing at the convention. As the day passed I got ready and my friend Matt and myself headed up to dinner. It was incredible to meet and talk with all the other award winners and hear their wonderful tales. After the awards were passed out we all enjoyed a delicious meal together. Matt and I was very lucky to be seated with Carl Tuttle of the Independent Characters and his friend Jody and a few members from the Games Workshop team. We all shared our adventures, stories, and insights from our time within the Warhammer Hobby. It was another late night with friends, but it was truly a humbling experience and a wonderful time.
The next two days I had volunteered my time to help Alex with Grand Tournament along with many others. Alex ran a smooth event and while I was there to help Alex as he is my friend I was also taking notes and learning everything I could from him in order to make my events become even better. The rhythm of a Warhammer tournament set in and everyone shared the workload to make everything seem smooth and easy. I was also thrilled to have been the ringer for the first round on Sunday using Alex’s beautifully painted Stormcast Army. Zachary was paired against me with his Beasts of Chaos army. We had a thrilling game with a lot of models being killed on both sides to make a memorable game! I was very happy Alex and his wife allowed me to help this year and I plan to go more in depth about the tips and lessons I learned during these two days in a future post.
It wasn’t all just helping with the Tournament as Saturday night was also a meet up of leaders and organizers from within the U.S. Age of Sigmar Community as well as some international leaders. It is always humbling to be involved and get so many to talk directly with Games Workshop as well as learn from one another about what we can do better as a community to help the game continue to grow and see our scenes thrive. Even though the community as a whole has many different perspectives and ideas we are all after the same goal and connecting with each other is the best way for all of us to reach those goals.
After the awards were handed out there wasn’t much left to do other than hang out with friends, share drinks, and enjoy some quality guitar playing. The next morning was a sad one, but I was ready to head home and seem my wife and my two cats. The trip went smooth and before I knew it I was home and I parted way with my friends and travel companions to go relax before having to once again face the real world. If you haven’t yet attended Adepticon then you really need to make it a priority for next year. The Age of Sigmar event is continuing to grow and there are some exciting changes to the Doubles format next year that I am already planning to play in if I don’t help out once again. I will see you next week with even more Adepticon 2019 talk but until then, Happy Hobbying!
Chuck Moore