REVIEW: Kilian's Adepticon Journey

  Hello Jungle,

I was fortunate enough to get an invite to the Star Wars: Legion World Championship back in 2019. After Covid and a long wait, it was announced last year, that they would be held at Adepticon. One of, if not the biggest miniature wargaming and paiting convention in the world. It was a no brainer, that I would not miss this opportunity and today I want to take you with me on that wild journey. I will not talk a lot about Golden Demon, since the Star Wars Systems are my main focus.

Preparation

My worst nightmare was packing everything for Adepticon and getting my minis safe for the pond. I wasn't sure how airport security was going to react, my hand carry was slightly bigger than allowed. If they would measure it, I was not sure, what would have happened

Luckily, everything was fine. I had to open the bag in security though because the guys were just interested what I was carrying. So i was standing their at Security in Frankfurt explaining two gals why I was carrying painted miniatures, how a tabletop game is played and that I painted everything in there myself. It was great!

I arrived in Chicago on Monday, a bit prior to the con, to compensate the jetlag and to get some practice games in with team Germany. I hadn't played in a couple of weeks since I got sick and I had to check, what the new meta would bring.

Wedensday

My first day of the con was Wednesday. I had an OSL class with Erik Swinson late wednesday evening. Fittingly we painted Darth Vader from Star Wars: Legion, a prime example for OSL for sure. Erik taught us some basics and showed a really interesting slide, explaining how different colored objects are influenced by different colored light. Useful reference stuff! After about an hour of sketching my Vade looked like this. Not too shabby for the first try, but I just did not have the patience to smooth everything. That was not the point of the class 

I then checked out the main hall where all systems from Atomic Mass Games where played. It was massive! All of the tables had already been set up and they were all looking great. Some of them were absolutely amazing!

Thursday

Thursday was my off-day to enjoy the con. We already got our badges Wednesday night and it was the day of the Last Chance Qualifier, for everyone that did not have an invite to the World Championship. We lined up really early to secure a spot for the demo tables for Star Wars: Shatterpoint. The new skirmish game from Atomic Mass Games, with a really interesting comicy artstyle of miniatures. The line was huge, but it was well worth the wait. We secured a spot at the afternoon and took a look at the cabinets filled with soon to be released miniatures

Personally I really love these new miniatures, they are huge, they are dynamic and I grew up with that Clone Wars art style. I am really looking forward to painting these, and I really hope, that some big names in the painting community pick one of these up and paint them. Just to break out of the Games Workshop routine.

Luckily the game was also very fun! It was fast paced, and brought some unique mechanics, I have not seen before.

Of course I also checked the Golden Demon cases. And while the lighting kinda sucked it was just amazing to see all these art pieces in real life. It is something totally different to see these pieces in real life compared to pictures on social media

Friday - Sunday

The world championships started Friday. I was super nervous and I was looking forward to the painting competition. Altough it was not officially announced, it was announced in the community Discord, that there would be a small painting competition comprising of three categories: Single Miniature, Vehicle and Army. One entry per participant was allowed in every category. The miniatures were judged by a team of Atomic Mass Games during our lunch break on Friday. On one hand, that was very comfortable since I still had to play with those miniatures, on the other had I was really sad, because it just did not have the audience it deserved! There were also some amazing paint jobs there and they all deseved to be displayed in a cabinet as well. Sadly I forgot to take pictures.

At the end of the day, I was placing 2:1 which meant, that I was going to advance to Day 2. That was everything I had hoped for gaming wise. 

During the award ceremony I could score an Honorable Mention for my Army, second place in Single Miniature for my Darth Vader and first place in Vehicle for my NR-99 Persuader, Snail Tank

I was totally blown away and over the moon. I was so happy. I did not paint this tank with the ambition to win a price in mind. I painted it to the best I could because I loved this miniature so much. I spent a good 100 hours for this thing, so I was for sure hoping I would place and taking first place was so worth putting all these hours in. This is such a great feeling and I now can relate to all those having an entry at Golden Demon. It is something very special

Since I made it to Day 2 of Worlds, I had to come back Saturday and play some more games. I did not think, that I could win a single game on Day 2 and even getting there was more than I had hoped for. It turns out, I could not even win one, but two games! It still was not enough to advance to the Top 8, but I got in 16th overall and best player of my faction (Separatists). I simply have no words for this, I was so lucky with my match-ups and everything. It is just bonkers

Wrap-up

What. A. Trip. Adepticon was amazing. Not only because of the prices, more importantly for meeting everyone in the community. Being able to put a face behind nicknames and discord handles. Meeting people in person, chatting with them, meeting Youtubers and great painters. Enjoying and celebrating our hobby for 5 days straight in an awesome location.

If you ever have the time, visit one of the large conventions in the States. It is worth it!

Happy painting, cheers,

- Kilian