It’s been 2 weeks and I think the high’s worn off – let’s talk about the Deadman’s trip to Adepticon! Oh, also – where the hell have I been for the past 3 months anyway??
In Jack Sparrow fashion, the latterly formerly, because damn it man, this is an Adpeticon article! My 2024 started rough. As of 1/1 I had 0/2 running cars. Somehow, in the midst of all that, I landed myself in the hospital. Woo! So I was a bit uh…
During that time, I kinda fell off blogging, but was still active in the community and watching Adepticon 2024 turn into a bit of a to-do. Folks that I was used to seeing at HMGS: Historicon in my backyard, were committing to travel out to Chicago. There were rumors of the inaugural game of Buccaneer-Ball, and I wasn’t going to miss that! Dan was even coming up from Texas on a train like some kind of old-timey Russian hobo.
Sadly, people did have to drop out last minute, from both Firelock and Pigment. It did leave open room for me though, so I drove 650 miles in just under 10 totally-law-abiding hours, and got to Adepticon in time to start setting up the tables for the next morning’s event.
The Main Event
This was really Pigment’s show this year, as it was last year. As such, I’ll direct you to their site for detailed coverage of that. I was just there to be an extra set of hands and a font of positivity, as I am.
If you’ve never been to Adepticon, it’s the largest wargaming convention in North America (if not the world) and the second largest tabletop event that Firelock attends. The largest is tabletop gaming titan Gen-Con, coming up this August in Indy. For 2024, Firelock was at the main event site, rather than the off-shoot Historicals site in another, nearby venue. If you’ve never been to a large gaming convention, Adepticon is insane. Five thousand gamers, in a massive convention center with wall-to-wall tournaments, event games, vendors, youtube personalities, industry icons, and exclusives. The noise is almost unbearable. By day 2, I had lost my voice.
Medals & Mayhem
After getting to meet new folks from the community, and hang out with old ones – my favorite part of the convention was that I somehow got to play in every tournament except for Oak & Iron.
Thursday: B&P, Land
After providing some loaners and helping out with the Panama game Thursday morning, I was standing too close to the Land tournament. This is one that I had only planned to cover – take photos, check out some lists. Instead, I helped avid community member Dan (not writer Dan) and another new player to get a handle on the rules.
Ironically, I had helped Dan with his 18c Canadian Militia list in the lead-up to Adepticon. When he had to duck out after Round 1, the jump from his list to my also 17c Canadian Militia force was easy to make.
Things went very well in the next round, and I was in the top 5 overall until I met a familiar face: Fernando. You can check out Fernando’s list on Pigment, but you can almost check it out here; because Fernando took the Spanish list from my Armies article, applied some crafty modifications, and then proceeded to beat me like a rented mule with it. I shot from the top 5, straight down to 11th. It was actually my first time playing against him, and he is as friendly an opponent as he is ruthless. It was great seeing him grab 1st place.
Friday: B&V
All day Friday was the Blood & Valor tournament. Rufus likes to schedule a lunch-break between rounds 2 & 3. This was not a Pigment event. Valor always has a small-but-steady turnout. Admittedly, I didn’t bring a list for Valor, I was just planning to spectate, help with rules and take photos until Rufus told me I was ringing. He asked what list I wanted to run and I told him “something hateful.” Which apparently translates to ‘Northern Expedition’ and yes, I’m inclined to agree.
With 8 players at the tournament, and 50 factions in the game, it was good to see that there weren’t any repeats. Names were a different story. Medals went to:
1st Dan Carlson’s Russian Imperial Army (we’ll have a writeup posted soon, and yes, he’s over the moon about it)
2nd Dan Broaddus’ Austrians – this is the same Dan who I helped with the French Canadians for Plunder!
3rd Patrick Wenner’s French. Patrick brought an armored car to this fight, and also medaled in the Plunder Land tournament with a Swedish Militia list.
Personally, I finished 5th. However, I’m going to point out that while Dan, Brody, and Patrick had 22 kill points combined, I slid into 5th place with 11 kill points of my own. And with 337pts removed, I was wiping out 56% of an army every round. The Northern Expedition is hateful indeed, I’m just a terrible general!
Saturday: B&P, Sea
This was the only event all weekend that I said I wanted to play in. Even before I knew I could go to Adepticon, I was working on my list, just in case. By the third day of the con, I was exhausted. I had no voice, I’d been in 2 tournaments already, and I was frazzled from the constant shuffling of loaners/demos/tournament forces.
Anybody who has read the Pigment report of the event knows that there were… shenanigans, involving Firepots. There was also a galleon, a sixth rate, and other large ships. I was pleasantly surprised that the field was not made of new players piloting plastic sloops. However, I was terrified, because it was me in the plastic sloop.
I’ll do a “Best of the Rest” writeup of the force, but I finished 4th over all. The fact that I didn’t bring Firepots (disqualified) or row my boat illegally backward (disqualified) means that actually I finished first!
That’s my story at least, and I’m sticking to it!
Beasts from the East
There was one more tournament that I unfortunately did not get to participate in, for Oak & Iron. I was pretty worn out on competitive play by that time, but Erich snagged gold in that event. When you add in Fernando’s gold from the Land tournament, and Jay’s silver finish at the Sea tournament – it means that the 3 familiar faces from HMGS events here in Lancaster all medaled in Chicago.
I’ve boasted before that even though Historicon is a much smaller event, it is a very competitive crowd of players. With exact Historicon ’24 details still a few weeks out, I can’t speak if any of the guys will make the trip this year – but it was great to see old friends grab medals, swag, and much-deserved respect for strong finishes.
The Best of the Rest
With the tournaments and main venue still ringing in my ears, I went from Friday’s Valor tournament, straight over to the Historicals venue. The change in pace (and brisk Chicago air) was refreshing. Over there, things were quieter. I didn’t have to yell to be heard, which was good, because I could barely speak.
I meant to just check out Fernando and Jon’s games, and then head back to the main venue to watch the Charles Vane narrative game. The two game masters were conveniently located side by side right inside the doors of the gaming hall. When I struck up conversation with Jon, he told me that he had 1 slot left to fill in his big Crowns game. I jumped at that opportunity!
Unlike the fast-paced main venue, I was able to grab tons of pictures of these games, and the blog will host writeups of both of them as we continue Adepticon recaps.
At the booth, Firelock was doing excellent business as usual. This year it was Mike’s turn to be chained to the demo table, and he was busy the entire week building hype for the upcoming Port Royal. And yes, there’s an article with some details on that coming as well. I’m just trying to figure out where I’ll put it – the header is getting a bit full of Firelock titles!
So, a Recap?
There is a lot more content to post from Adepticon. Dan’s Valor-winning list, my Sea list, and the details of the Crowns and Steel event games. But for a “tied up with a bow” recap? I think that overall, the con was a success.
Pigment was down a few members, and it was a weekend of ‘firsts’ for a lot of people. Firelock has the benefit of very loyal, dedicated, and motivated fan base. There are pillars in this community; people who want to see these games succeed, and see other people find as much enjoyment in them as we do. As usual, these people pulled together to cover gaps – whether they were providing loaners, running tables for the event games, jumping on demos, running other titles, or helping to track down errant folders, pairings, and mat bags throughout the whole convention. We owe a heartfelt thank-you to the Pigment crew, Jason, Garrett, and Dan. And those other pillars of the community who jumped into the mix – Jay, Josh, Fernando, Jon, and Eric. Of course, none of this is possible without Firelock and their games, so a tremendous thank-you to them as well.
More Adepticon Reading!
Below you can find the rest of our Adepticon 2024 articles for all the Firelock systems:
- Away to Calaise Jon Lundberg’s Blood & Crowns event game
- For the Tsar! Dan’s 1st place from the Blood & Valor tournament
- DMC Goes Fourth Tyler’s 4th place list from the Blood & Plunder sea tournament
- Fighting For Texas, in Chicago Fernando Arteaga’s Blood & Steel even game
Dead Man's Chest 