Two months ago, I eagerly asked F:ATties if anyone was going. I was looking forward to meeting any one of you!
None of you replied.
So I packed my backpack and flew from DC to O'Hare. An Uber ride to the suburbs, and I was grounded for the next four days. I saw no Mid-West attractions. All of my time was spent in the Schaumburg Convention Center, the Hotel, or a few chain restaurant bars.
I had a mission. I was competing in Friday's North American DreadBall Circuit finals. I won a regional heat at Origins, and that gave me a free pass (anyone could play, but you'd have to buy a ticket).
But I arrived mid-day on the day before, and I had two things to take care of.
THURSDAY
1) The dealer hall. Any con attendee can tell you: get in and get out of the dealer hall early. As the weekend approaches, the masses show up and navigation is challenging. I hit the floor running with only a few items 'wanted.' I don't 'need' anything. Challenge: I was limiting myself to whatever I could take home in my backpack. So: I got a Forge World Blood Bowl Ogre, a paperback 'Choose Your Own Adventure' for Dungeon Saga, The Walking Dead convention exclusive (Clementine booster), and some airbrush stencils. Done!
2) Zombicide: Black Plague. I bought a ticket to sit down with three strangers on Thursday night and play a prototype game for an eventual convention exclusive scenario. It was themed towards Evil Dead, with a castle defense set up and Evil Ash as the big bad. One of our secret objectives was to find Ash (whatever CMON calls him) and once found, he joined our ranks. We squeaked out a win in two hours. It was fine. A met a couple great guys, won a CMON toy (Evil Ash), and practiced some dice rolling for the following day.
FRIDAY
A day with DreadBall. Five rounds. 9am - 5pm, with an hour lunch. I fielded a well tested DIY 'Frankenstein' team called the Mutants. My league has done very well with this faction. I've taken my licks from them before, and I've dealt a few myself. I won my regional with the team, and I thought it was only proper to have them compete in the finals.
My first match was my most dreaded. It's like the TO knew this too. He paired me against a friend with a tough-as-nails team, the Convicts. Essentially, tough prisoners with shock collars. Those fucking collars can explode, taking players off the pitch. I had strategies against most teams, but the convicts are another beast all together. I was so spooked by this possibility, I asked two league members to help me practice over the previous month. I worked on tactics if given the worst case scenario. Sure enough, I was dealt the worse scenario. And it paid off! I won a hard match agains these lawbreakers.
Matches 2-5 were close and nail biting and nerve wracking. And I won them all.
I know you'll all sleep better tonight having read this: I'm your 2017 North American DreadBall champ.
I won a cool medal, an even cooler dugout, and some swag from Mantic.
SATURDAY
A day of Blood Bowl. Three games. 9 - 5. For as well as I played DreadBall, I got my ass kicked at Blood Bowl and went 0-3. I played a lot in the 90s, but not so much in the past twenty two years. The card game kept my WH world interest in check, and the video game kept me a little tuned in - but god damn. I was rusty. Fortunately, the rust is now kicked off. My first three matches recorded with the NAF are loses, but that's okay. I have no where to go but up. Right? RIGHT?!
I fielded an old-school, second edition plastic elf team. Generic Elf team. I painted bases to represent positionals, and I made 'em a Dark Elf team.
The SWC Syndicate. Depending on the company, SWC stands for 'Sleeps with Charles' or 'Sleeps with Children.'
Match one - Orcs. I got killed. A lot. Score 1-3
Match two - Goblins. Better, but I still lost. At least I lost in a hysterical fashion: The God Damn troll threw a ball carrying Gobo into the end zone. Score 3-2.
Match three - Skaven. The dice failed me. Mind you, I asked them to do a lot. The dice did not hate the rats, which is the only way those bastards can win. Score 1-3.
Saturday night was spent in a banquet room for "Mantic Night." A celebration of all things Mantic Games. The President had a video address (he normally attends, but got held up in the UK), there was some Q&A, and then everybody cashed in drink tokens and played games. I played a game of DreadBall Ultimate using the new, 2nd edition pitch. My Mutants (and three other teams) lost to the Sphyr (shark dudes).
SUNDAY
Uber to the airport at 5am.
OBSERVATIONS
CONVENTION
Adepticon is a small con. Smaller than Origins. However, Adepticon is a very well curated convention. It's billed as a miniature gaming convention, and it delivers. Toys toys and toys! I love toys, and I loved this convention. The dealer hall had a lot of toys, and tools to make your toys look better. I didn't take any classes, choosing to play games instead. However, airbrushing, terrain building, and general game pimping classes are there for enrollment. Plus, the Crystal Brush awards are at Adepticon. Looking at cases of well painted miniatures makes you want to step up your game. I feel the same when attending a fine arts fair.
WARGAMING
I don't war game. Adepticon pretty much cemented in my head that I have zero interest. I dabbled with it post HeroQuest (i.e. Battlemasters), and to a certain degree - fell head over heels for Heroscape. But war gaming? Kings of War, WH 40K, AoS, etc. Nope. I think the skill some of these gamers are putting into the hobby are fantastic. But I just can't get over it: I don't want to measure shit. I don't want to roll two handfuls of dice. I don't want to move my minis on trays. Sidebar: all the con attendees who prepaid for a swag bag at $30, got at least a $150 dollar return of product. INCLUDING A COPY OF FFG's RUNEWARS. FFG was a huge presence and they were giving away palettes of this title to those who bought the bag in advance. I did not, and I'm okay with that...
BLOOD BOWL AND DREADBALL
Blood Bowl has never really left the scene. GW left BB. Now it's back, and bringing new coaches to the scene. Some grognards are enjoying the fresh meat. I can't blame 'em. Blood Bowl is a classic, and I find the level of creativity behind most coaches to be outstanding. Because BB is rooted in satire and parody, I enjoy it even more. We need more levity in our gaming.
Unfortunately, BB is still a classic. A classic of early 90s game design. It's clunky, and it's long.
After two days back-to-back, I prefer DreadBall. It's faster, more tactical, and primarily focused on scoring. I prefer all of those things. Coming right down to it: I like playing five games against five different opponents over the course of a convention day, than three games.
There's enough distinction between the two for me to continue both. I'll be attending at least two more BB tournies this year (Diamond Cup, and whatever it's called at the NOVA Open), and I'll certainly be the TO for one or two DreadBall tournies.
[NOTE: I don't even consider Guild Ball in my assessments. The Ball in Guild Ball is superfluous, and I have to measure (see earlier remark about war gaming). If you dig Guild Ball, more power to you. It's a beautiful skirmish game and you have great minis to paint.]
If my work calendar allows it, I'll go back to Adepticon in 2018. I'll see if I can't post some pictures below.
Games
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