Adepticon 2018-Bolt Action

This past weekend Thursday-Saturday I attended Adepticon for the first time.  After hearing so much about it I was finally able to make the dates work with my schedule this year.

Adepticon was a different experience for me as I was not running any games at this convention and only playing.  Although I did commit to bringing a table for Bolt Action which I specially constructed for this event.  Adepticon is also the largest convention I have attended so far and less than 2 hours from home


Jungle Airfield table for Adepticon

I signed up for the Bolt Action doubles event on Friday and Bolt Action Nationals on Saturday.  I bought the doubles ticket not knowing for sure who my partner was going to be, and was eventually able to convince the infamous Brian Ward to make a rare appearance.  It was great to get Brian out as I know he does not like to travel. 

Extra table I provided

When I checked out the schedule I noticed the vendor hall was only open 10 AM-6PM each day which overlapped my gaming schedule Friday and Saturday.  I had already taken Thursday off to make any last minute preparations.  Since my armies were ready and the terrain was done and the Mrs. was working I decided to go down Thursday afternoon to check out the vendors.  This also meant Brian and I would not have to make the drive early Friday AM to make it by 8 AM for doubles.

It all fits, off to Adepticon

It was nice to arrive early and get the lay of the convention.  Right away I met several FB gaming friends and was able to put a face and voice to names.  This happened many times throughout the weekend.  Many intros went something like.... "hello, I am Aaron from FB or Northern Front Podcast.....Oh yeah, I know you..." although we had never met in person, the beauty of social media.

Vendor Hall

SW Legion Hoth Demo

Legion Snow Troopers

AT-ST

Legion Empire

Rebel Scum

Firelock Pirates for Phil



Phil's future purchase

Saw many neat items in the vendor area including many new releases including demos of Star Wars Legion (not sold yet due to the painting aspect).  The item I was most excited about was at Miniature Market.  They had resin barricade terrain that looked really familiar.  When I inquired sure enough it was the Architect of War terrain that had gone out of business.  MM has acquired the molds for all AoW apparently and are recasting in more suitable resin.  Best part was only $5/section which is less than a third of the original cost for the stuff I own.  I am hoping to convince Phil's wife Kati to paint it to match the original and more than double my collection.  Talking to the guys from MM this stuff is not yet on the website, but will be soon at about $7.50/section which is still a steal.

AoW terrain now made by MM

I also visited Trenchworx a few times and eventually acquired a couple of vehicles (BT7 and White Scout car) at 10% off.  I should have bought sooner and picked up the 2 Type 89 IJA tanks they had with them, but they had sold when I went back.  Oh well, I do have a coupon from the show for free shipping.

Very friendly Trenchworx crew

The only other purchase was a impulse buy, and that was a figure tray from MiniDuels.com with two slide out drawers.  I had been searching all over for a stand/table with a drawer as I suspected extra table space would be limited.  I am now set for future events as all my dice and markers nicely fit in the drawers and my display board inserts into the top.  I already have started to paint it as I had Sunday avaialble.   I will eventually add a magnetic sheet to the tray and use it in place of the tea trays I was using.  It also fits nicely on a TV tray.  I did see a number of players with small carts that would also work for a large event like this.

Troop tray made from MDF already painted

drawers open inside of drawers are painted gray for contrast

Display board fits perfectly in tray.... may add a name plate

Apparently cos-play is also a thing at Adepticon.  Some of the BA players came in full regalia.

Soviets

Germans

I am not a fantasy player, but this is how you get me interested.  :)  

Other Gaming opportunities at Adepticon

SW Armada

 Hoth SW Legion

 Endor? SW Legion

Kursk Tank Battle

Bolt Action Doubles Event

 Now on to the events.  Doubles were a blast  I will not bore you with all the game details, you can see the pics with captions below.  The Event was set up for three games. It started at 9AM and ended at 6PM with nice breaks including an hour for lunch which was perfect.


Fighting Germans and Finns playing Sectors scenario

Shinhoto gets first kill

Don't mess with IJA

IJA Armor pressing Finns

IJA for the win

Brian and I played an IJA infantry platoon (Brian) and an IJA Armor platoon (Me).  Our list was pretty much themed for early war all regulars with armor support which could also take on infantry.  We started out hot and scored a major victory in our first game and then went downhill from there.  We did get to play our final game of the day on the jungle airfield against a very well done IJA team which was fun and looked great.


Fall of Manilla IJA vs. Marines in city playing No man's land

Marines narrowly win because my truck could not come out of reserve Congrats to Paul and his father

IJA vs. IJA on my Jungle Airfield we were defenders in Surrounded

Brian's Infantry holding Control Tower

Shinhoto claims second victim of the day

Brian holding the center

Last tank comes on a little to late and we get our second loss

Overall we finished 11th out of 30, so middle of the pack.  We both enjoyed the day and saw some excellent armies and terrain ideas.
 

The day ended after Brian left and I joined Ben C. and Brian K. for dinner at a local brew pub called the Ram.

Bolt Action Nationals

Saturday I was on my own at my first U.S. Nationals event.  The format was four games.  First game was 500 pts (Recon) which had to be made up of units and models from your 1000pt list which was the last three games. 

My IJA force with first attempt at a display board

Examples of some of the wonderful armies and display boards:

I started out on my table again, which was fine as it was only the 2nd time vs. a very good Soviet player.  The scenario was sectors.  I managed a minor victory and was lucky to get it.  I had made a couple of tactical mistakes and was fortunate to get the win.

Back in the jungle facing powerful Soviet force

Twin turrets of death

Tank hunters looking for a victim in my Type 94

IJA hold until the last a manage a minor victory

Second game was against IJA on a desert themed board.  We played key positions and ended up with four objectives.  This was my least favorite game.  My opponent insisted that the walls be treated as high walls and block LoS.  I did not agree, but we rolled for it and high walls it was.  This meant almost no LoS which greatly favored his list.  In my opinion his list was not very historical and very much a win at all cost gamey list.  We also had to consult the TO at least twice as he was not up on the rules and questioned V2 rules when he could not find the answer he wanted.   In the end I ended up with a minor loss by 0.5 points.  It was my fault.  My artillery had 2 opportunities to take out a unit only needing a 3 and I rolled a 1 and 2.  I also made a tactical error which allowed him to decimate a unit with his heavy howitzer Ho-Ro costing me control of an objective.  Oh well such is BA.


No LoS for my Arty and observer tsaken out on first order die

Close run affair Type 94 fails to take out Suicide AT man

Minor loss for my IJA by 1 order die as Objectives were even

Third game was against a fellow player from Janesville, Joe, who is on our FB page, but I had not met before.  He was playing Americans and the scenario was point defense.  He was newer to the game and choose to attack.  The table greatly favored me as it probably had too much terrain.  I pretty much decimated his army (in as friendly a way as possible) and he conceded a major victory to me  at the end of turn 5.  I think we both enjoyed the game and I tried to turn it into a teaching opportunity as much as possible giving him pointers along the way.  Hopefully we will be able to get together locally and play again as he was extremely enjoyable to play.

My deployment for Point defense...hard table for an attacker

Hellcat goes down early

Americans on the move

Moral victory for Joe when his greyhound flames my Shinhoto

IJA are just too tough in the defense and score a Major victory putting them back in the running

Final game was against the ringer Vet Germans on a V2 table with lots of terrain.  The scenario was a unique play off of maximum attrition called "I want my scalps".  Each time a unit eliminated an enemy they received a token (Scalp) which accounted for 1 point.  If the unit with scalp was eliminated the points/scalps were lost as well.   It was an incredible see-saw chess match.  at one point I was down 4-0.  Then I took out a unit with 2 scalps, and then another.  He scored a long shot hit on my Ha-Go light tank and destroyed it, giving him 3-1.  I then destroyed his unit making it 3-2.  Despite my arty landing 3 hits I could not eliminate a last man and he won by 1 point giving me a minor loss.

Tough board with lost of cover

Failed to get many pics as the game was so intense in this narrow loss

 After seeing the overall results I now know why the TO wanted our results right away, as I still had a chance at best Axis general.  Oh well, Bolt Action happened and it was a great game.  I was happy to finish in top 50% for my first outing and with my IJA that I only play occassionally.

In the end Adepticon was a great experience.  Many thanks to the TO, Jeremy, and all who worked behind the scenes to put the event on including the many sponsors who provided prize support.  Having organized many events myself I know it is no small feat and requires a lot of selfless behind the scenes hours to organize.

Esteemed TO announcing final awards

Already looking forward to next year and hoping I can make it fit the schedule again.

Watch out, I will be bringing my A game....LoL