40K TOURNAMENTS: Road to Adepticon - Pt 1

Adepticon released it's tournament packs last week and we have the wheels already turning in the BoLS team. Not too long ago, there were some people asking on how we gear up for Adepticon, tournaments and just general understanding of what we do before the big showdown. I am going to go through the latest breakdown of what we have down for two of the major tournaments that we love to play in.

Gladiator:
Last year the Reaver was the big winner and Adepticon has made some recent changes such as restructuring which Super heavies are allowed. Nothing more than 4 structure points, and ruling that flyer blocking is out are the two biggest changes they have made. This has obviously adjusted the power level and balance of the tournament as other uber-units are going to rise to the top. Here are some of our quick first pass ideas of what may be the most potent units and list combo’s that people could bring.



An'ggrath and Fateweaver:
An'ggrath is a monster with 10 strength, 8 toughness, 8 wounds and a crazy amount of attacks that can scale up quite nicely. He also has a 12 inch move that ignores all terrain he can just tear up units. Having a great armor save and with re-rollable saves from Fateweaver he will be a hard combo to take down.

Hierophant:
This big monster is toughness 9 , with a 2+ save and regeration. Its horrific bio-cannon's fire up to 16 shots at str 10 ap 3! per turn That is a lot of pain and it can move 12 inches and fleet up to 2d6 in a turn while still getting that 6 inch charge. Having this unit that will be in your face, can shoot, and assault will be tough for a lot of armies to deal with.



Eldar Flying Circus:
(Vampire and multiple flyers): This list will play to the Eldar's true strengths and fall under Fritz 5th dimension of scoring last turn and you can’t touch me. This is a heavy flyer list that will sit off the board, come in with devastating precision strikes, then take objectives at the last turn. A lot of weapons will not be able to hurt flyers and the Eldar Flyer's two additional saves they will be even harder to take down.

The current meta-game this year may hurt the big tanks and titans because in all honestly they are pretty easy to kill. Imperial Guard, Marines and a lot of other lists can make short work of titans and the common superheavies or at least make them ineffective. The big threat may indeed be the potent gargantuan creatures that you are going have to deal with or well protected flyers that can also protect scoring units.

Team Tournament:
So far we have decided it’s going to be Goatboy, Jwolf and myself. The fourth person is an unknown yet but the one thing that I have to say I love about our gaming group is our ability to work together and develop lists. Our process has been selecting a theme or idea that we can to go with and trying to build the list on our theme. Team tournament is really about having fun and coming up with crazy ideas. (we hear that Goatboy may be playing in an *unique* outfit this year). We started talking about what we wanted to play. We broke apart ideas, tore down suggestions, make changes , studies point values like an accountant, and that's just the first week. Whenever we build lists as a group we take a break-build approach which has benefited us greatly. We build the list trying it out over a bunch of games breaking it down and trying to tweak certain components of the list all the time. We do this with multiple list and units. The vital thing is keeping an open mind, and letting multiple people from our group challenge and improve our lists, instead of getting defensive.

Playtest:
Which brings me to the next thing, once we have done all of the theory crafting we start play testing. With scenarios from previous Adepticons on hand we sit at our game store on Thursday nights and hammer through the contenders. With a ruthless ability to call games the moment you see that something won't work, we are often able to finish games in under 30 minutes. Playing 7 hours a week, you can see it is possible to get a dozen+ games going per testing pair. When people come up with these lists they need to do sufficient play testing to work out the kinks because there are times that you will forget about certain units or you just feel that this unit doesn’t work for you. Sometimes weapons ranges don't mesh well in a list, units may not work efficiently in tabletop use, or spending 1000 points on a super cool model only got you a neat collectible but no easy way to use it. In the end, its good ideas, elbow grease and a bit of luck that will get you there!

~We want to see what other people are doing to gear up for Adepticon? How do you play test out certain units and assemble your lists in the first place? Does your group try to work together to make better list and create a synergy between your gaming group or is it every man for themselves?

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40K TACTICA: Arvus Lighter

Hi all,

Last month we went to Adepticon, which was as always, really fun. The most surprising thing about the Gladiator event was how incredibly annoyed people are about Flyers. I’ll list a few facts about Flyers, and then go into dirty tricks.

Flyers 101
-First, Flyers are hard to shoot. 6s to hit, 12” further than the tape measure shows them, 4+ cover. No blasts or templates can be used on flyers, either.
-Second, Flyers move fast – at least 36” a turn. This means closing with them isn’t possible.
-Third, Flyers cannot be assaulted or rammed.
-Fourth, Flyers occupy space just like any other model
-Fifth, Flyers can leave the board. So if your flyer is shaken or there is no good place to put it on the board, just move it off and bring it on again next turn.
-Sixth, Flyers can always fire all their weapons. So if you give them guns, Flyers can move across the board and fire everything. Which isn’t that big of a deal since Flyers always hit the side armor of ground vehicles, regardless of the facing they are actually on.

Evil Flyer Tricks
Flyers enter the board and are anywhere you want them to be. This means your Flyers can be exactly in the axis of your opponents’ most critical advance and keep them from moving where they need to be. Since they have to move at least 36” each turn, constant blocking require lots of Flyers – and that’s where the Arvus comes into play. At 75 points and a transport option of Imperial Guard (a cheap army), it is possible to have a veritable fleet of Arvus Lighters screening your army against the advancing hordes of enemies while your guns blaze away without fear of assaults.

Flyers can deliver troops anywhere you want them to be, and without the disadvantages of deep strike. Again, the Arvus Lighter is cheap and carries cheap troops, so it is a joy to use in this way.
Flyers can block objectives, just like any other large enough model. The Arvus is big enough for this, but something like an Eldar Vampire can block an objective so that even in the next turn the enemy cannot get to it.

Closing Thoughts
For some reason, people hate Flyers. Maybe it’s the big pretty models dancing around in their backfields, or maybe since they almost all have AV:10 on all facings, they seem easy to kill, but whatever the reason, even solid players will shoot at Flyers they ought to ignore.
On the flip side, smart players almost never fire at Flyers. Which means you can fly them all over the board.

~What are your thoughts on flyers? Do you use them regularly or find them to fickle or overpriced for most games? If you do like to use them, lets hear what your regualr types and tactics are.

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40K TACTICA: The Triple Hodgson

A guest post by Demosthenes,

Hi everyone, before I completely ruin my reputation on BoLS by showing you all my low-down, dirty trick, I feel I should introduce myself so you’ll know who to throw dice at the next time you run into me at a GT/Gamesday/etc. My name is Rob Hodgson (Demosthenes on the blog) and although I started the hobby up in Grapevine, TX, I’ve been happily participating in it down here in Austin, TX for the past 4 years. You BoLS readers may also know me as the painter of my beloved Mordians.

Two weeks ago I went up with the BoLS guys to play in the 40K Gladiator event at Adepticon, using a Chaos Marine army with a warhound titan as my super heavy. It was in round three against an Eldar player that I committed what many around town are saying to be the most delightfully hideous war crime in 40K since Harlequins were a legal army. So, without further delay, here is a breakdown on The Triple Hodgson.

The Set Up
Mission 3 of the Gladiator was like any standard mission: Dawn of War with kill points and an objective to capture in each deployment zone. The one exception was that each player could equip one specific model with a vortex grenade. For me the choice was obvious; a deep striking Obliterator. I knew my opponent had some Fire Dragons and other stuff that could be nasty if they got to close to my titan, so I made a hole for it in the corner of my deployment zone, and put my Thousand Sons in concentric circles around it to make a barrier against my pointy-eared foe.

Turn 1
The Eldar player allowed me to go first, giving me absolutely nothing to shoot at. I walked the Warhound into the nook I’d created for it and walked the rest of my Thousand Sons and my other lash sorcerer onto the board. (I’ve left the other Thousand Son squad out of the pictures because of their lack of relevance to the maneuver).



When my adversary came onto the board, he star engined his three skimmers in a tight, line abreast formation, as close as possible to me, under the cover of a Vampire raider, which put a hole in the outer defense perimeter of my formation.



Turn 2
Here’s where the real magic happened. When my Obliterators with the vortex grenade rolled a 4+ for deep strike, it was like having Christmas and my birthday all on the same day. I placed the squad dangerously close behind his three skimmers, and luckily only rolled a minor deviation. I was still close enough to drop my vortex template right on top of the middle skimmer, which, to my luck again did not deviate. With the snap of a finger, one whole Eldar skimmer and whatever squad was inside it was gone! (I think it was storm guardians).



I then opened up with my titan, and had its two turbolaser destructors each fire a salvo at the two remaining skimmers. One of them was hit twice and exploded, while the other one suffered a singlehit, and was wrecked. Either way, both squads were forced to disembark, and neither one was pinned. There was only one more phase to my devilish plan.



I think at this point, my opponent was just beginning to recognize the bear trap he’d stepped into, and his expressions were getting grimmer as I turned to my Lash Sorcerers standing in front of my Warhound. My first Sorcerer targeted the Fire Dragons, since they were the immediate threat. With a successful psychic test, I rolled a “6” for the move distance, and pulled the whole squad into the vortex! With another successful roll from my second Sorcerer, I yanked the last of the survivors from the crash into the pulsating template of DOOM, banishing over half of the models in his army to the Warp before my opponent knew what was going on.



Aftermath
For the remainder of the game, my opponent flew around with his Vampire, taking insignificant pot shots at me, until the last turn in which he limped his flyer over to his objective to contest it and force a draw on the secondary objective.

I feel I should point out that under normal game circumstances I’m really not as big a jerk as it may seem, it’s just that when I have a vortex grenade at my disposal I tend to get a little too creative with it. Unfortunately this means that I’m not allowed to use the vortex grenade asset at my local gaming store during Apocalypse matches anymore.

~If you’ve got any other good vortex grenade stories, I’d love to here them!

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Goatboy’s 40k Thoughts: I R Tired

As everyone should know, the Flylords went up to cold Chicago to fight it out at Adepticon 2009. Fun was had by all, and as BigRed has posted, we came back with some goodies. I want to give a big shout out to everyone I met. I always enjoy chatting it up and seeing how each area of the world has different takes on the game.

I saw some amazing armies and fought some great games. I had a blast in each of my games (even the ones with implant attack nids and D weapons) and I am planning on coming back again and again. I strive to make this game of ours as exciting as possible, and it was great meeting a bunch of other players that also want the same things from our endless war of the 40th Millennia: Fun, fun, and more fun. If we can’t have fun throwing dice and making the laser gun sound, why are we wasting our time? I might be “hard” player of the group (though JWolf now has designs on the throne), but I still just want to have fun. I came to this tournament to have a blast and I left having a blast and feeling it afterwards with my sore throat and empty wallet.

The Flylords should be on 40k radio at some point in the future. We had an awesome interview and I can’t wait to get the feedback on it. Also if you watch the Titan fight, you can hear me and BigRed heckle Spencer a bit, as well as “help” him as best as we can.

For any player that wants to try and play with the best out there, I advise coming and playing in these tournaments. The organizers did an awesome job (great job Hank!), the venue was perfect, and the overall vibe of the event was cool. Like I said before, I plan on going back again and I hope to be a bigger part of this community as well as game.

Next week it is back to dissecting 40k a bit more, as well as discussing some new tournament thoughts and opinions. I still need to finish up this Arbite squad for a customer as well as paint up some more Daemons for my upcoming Daemon army. I have this itch to get some art done as well as experiment with some humor stuff that might see the light of day. We will see what my brain cooks up. Again if you have any questions, shoot me an email me.

Off to sleep…

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ADEPTICON: Closing Images, Adepticon 2009

Hi everybody:

As we are wrapping everything up and preparing to hit the road, the Fly Lords wanted to let you all know how we fared and leave you with some parting images:

Gladiator Champion: Jwolf (Forgeworld Reaver as prize)
Codicer Champion: Jwolf (Won the 40K rules quiz)
Best Sportman - Invitational Championship : Goatboy (proving one can play hardcore AND be an absolute gentlemen)

Here are a few pictures to give you a feel fo the event.



COBRA vs The Spanish Inquisition




40K RADIO's Spencer and his "Girlfriend"




Space Sharks, JAWSOME!


The Fly Lords in Action






~You can expect many more articles coming in the future regarding some of the tactics (Tactica Arvis Lighter), cool tricks (such as the dreaded "Triple-Hodgson") and awesome armies we saw.

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40K HOBBY: Red Orktober Killcroozer

You all requested more shots of the 12 foot Killcroozer from Adepticon 2009, and here you go. this thing is the display board for one of the Team-tournament teams. How would you score them for theme and team spirit?










~Pretty nice hey. So do you think BoLS should crank out an Apocalypse datasheet for it?

UPDATE: BoLS reader Billy W. photoshopped the Red Orktober together into this nice single shot for you guys:

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GLADIATOR WINNER: JWOLF!!!

Reaver build, demolishes all opposition.

Forgeworld Reaver coming home to TX!

~Pictures and details coming soon!

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40K Army List: Adepticon 2009 Gladiator ~ Part 2

Part 1 of this series, covered Bigred, Jwolf, and Minus67's Reaver builds, but as we were testing out our lists, there was dissention within the ranks! Darkwynn and Bushido Red Panda, decided to try out diffeent approaches to the Gladiator challenge.

The basics first: 2250pts, Forgeworld allowed, Apocalypse rules allowed, no Apocalypse formations, but a single superheavy or gargantuan creature is in. There will be a set of random missions to put the armies through their paces, so flexibility in both maneuver as well at tradtional firepower and assault ability will be a key.

Months back we sat around the table and began the theoryhammer sessions and opened them up for the BoLS readers to check on popular opinion. After several weeks we narrowed the choices down to a handful of serious contenders:

Reaver Builds
8 Destroyer pieplates give them the highest shooting lethality in the game. They can clear elite armies in 2 turns, and cripple horde armies in 3-4. Enemy superheavies are for the most part doomed.

Superheavy Flyer Builds
These are masters of positioning, and can drop off enough elite infantry late game to take objectives or kill ANY single thing in a single firing phase (even Reavers). They have fickle reserves hovever,and only get one chance. They are also useless versus horde armies with lots of long range high-volume shooting (remind you of anyone?)

Angrrath the Unbound-Fateweaver Builds
The most potent assault force in the game bar none. These represent a mortal threat to anything if they can drop in close enough to assault the next turn.

IG Flying Circus Builds
These are able to just loiter and burn down the clock, awaiting last turn objective grabs. They are an almost impossible foe for Chaos Daemon and dedicated assault armies to deal with, but have the same vulnerabilities as the Superheavy flyer builds. They are paradoxically, also vulnerable to dedicated air-to-air flyers, as most of the AV:10 flying transports do not carry AA mounts.

The Plan(s)

Bushido Red Panda: Eldar Superheavy Flyer Build
Bushido is a trickster. He's been playing Eldar a looooooong time and knows many of thier secret ways. His Gladiador game lies in taking his time, and offering up little to no easy targets for an enemy army to sink its teeth into. His ground forces are usually kept out of harms way early game and rely on Eldrad's redeployment to help out. Then the airforce reserves in (quickly with the aid of an Autarch who is not pictured), and begins to take down key enemy units, relying mainly on the Vampire's Pulsar. Those 2 S:D blasts per turn make short work of most targets. Most enemies are hard pressed to repel this much flyer firepower protected by Eldar holofields.

Once the foe is weakened, the Vampire swoops in and unleashes the one-two punch of firedragons to knock out stubborn threats,and guardian-jetbikes to swiftly grab objectives, supported by the original ground based forces. Bushido's list is most potent versus other large expensive targets, elite armies, or Flying Circuses. He runs risks if he hits a massive horde army, but he does win on style points for deploying jetbikes out of a flyer. No one ever said the Eldar weren't cool!


Darkwynn: Anggrath the Unbound-Fateweaver Build
Darkwynn is one of Austin's most aggressive players. He normally runs lists like Black Templars, and prides himself on pretty much steamrollering through the enemy lines, slaying merrily as he goes. Early on in our testing, he decided that the Reaver holding back and blazing away just wouldn't cut it for him. He demanded blood, and there was only one build guaranteed to spill it by the gallon...

His Chaos Deamons list is anchored by a Nurgle Daemon-prince and 3 packs of plaguebearers, who hopefully come in nice an early. Then comes the anvil, as Fateweaver, Anggrath, and another pair of Lords of Change come on down and bring the pain. Anggrath is about the killiest thing in the game; winged, and able to drop even a Reaver in a single round of assualt, or massacring handfuls of infantry at a time. He is already difficult to bring down, and Fateweaver only makes things worse. Add to that the rampaging Nurgle nasties, and the harrassing firepower of the Lords of Change, and you have a recipe for serious pain if the enemy army can't reposition in a big hurry.

No matter how his deployment rolls go, Darkwynn's army will be going straight for the throat.

~By now, the Gladiator is over, and we are all either drinking away our sorrows, or raising our glasses to our triumphs. In any case, we'll let you know how we all did as soon as we can grab a computer. More soon...

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Fly Lords: Gladiator Live Update

+++INQUISITION TRANSMISSION FOLLOWS+++

JWOLF: 2 Massacres of foe
MINUS67: 2 Massacres of foe
Other Fly Lords: Steady Progress


The Eldar Rule the Skies


Check Six Xenos Scum!


Craftworld:1 Titan Legion:0


Vulcan He'stan is gunned down by lasgun fire!


I have to fight THIS?


Killkroozer Inbound

+++TRANSMISSION ENDS+++

~Thought of the Day: The Emperor Protects, 2 rounds down, 2 to go.

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40K Army List: Adepticon 2009 Gladiator ~ Part 1

Come closer my friends, for today we have something very special. It is time for the great unveiling. Along with all the other crazies out there in Warhammer 40k land, the Fly Lords have been secretly preparing for the no-holds-barred, steel-cage-match of the year. The Gladiator is upon us!

The basics first: 2250pts, Forgeworld allowed, Apocalypse rules allowed, no Apocalypse formations, but a single superheavy or gargantuan creature is in. There will be a set of random missions to put the armies through their paces, so flexibility in both maneuver as well at tradtional firepower and assualt ability will be a key.

Months back we sat around the table and began the theoryhammer sessions and opened them up for the BoLS readers to check on popular opinion. After several weeks we narrowed the choices down to a handful of serious contenders:

Reaver Builds
8 Destroyer pieplates give them the highest shooting lethality in the game. They can clear elite armies in 2 turns, and cripple horde armies in 3-4. Enemy superheavies are for the most part doomed.

Superheavy Flyer Builds
These are masters of positioning, and can drop off enough elite infantry late game to take objectives or kill ANY single thing in a single firing phase (even Reavers). They have fickle reserves hovever,and only get one chance. They are also useless versus horde armies with lots of long range high-volume shooting (remind you of anyone?)

Angrrath the Unbound-Fateweaver Builds
The most potent assault force in the game bar none. These represent a mortal threat to anything if they can drop in close enough to assault the next turn.

IG Flying Circus Builds
These are able to just loiter and burn down the clock, awaiting last turn objective grabs. They are an almost impossible foe for Chaos Daemon and dedicated assault armies to deal with, but have the same vulnerabilities as the Superheavy flyer builds. They are paradoxically, also vulnerable to dedicated air-to-air flyers, as most of the AV:10 flying transports do not carry AA mounts.

The Plan
Looking around at our collections, the set of 3 Reavers came immediately to mind, and were quickly claimed by myself, jwolf, and minus67. A couple of the others guys went in other directions with their armies and will be featured in later articles.

An all turbo-laser Reaver clocks in at 1450 pts and left us with 800 pts remaining. Looking over the armies we were most afraid of in testing made the remaining choices obvious.

-The core army would be Imperial Guard as it gave us lots of cheap bodies to block movement, claim objectives, and generally get in the way. Conscripts and Infantry platoons fill the bill.

-Our HQs would be allied Daemonhunter Inquisitors with psycannons, mystics, and sages, to lay down the smack on any pesky deepstrikers and Fateweaver in particular.

-Thunderbolts are great for their price, filled out remaining heavy support slots and gave us a shot of harrassing enemy flyers.

The final piece of the puzzle was how to deal with the fast assaulters such as a Heirophant or Anggrath. If only there existed some type of unit in the game that was only subject to the 1" rule, preventing enemies from coming close, but that also was immune to assaults..... like flyers.

One week of test games later against a series of flyer-blocked and turbo-lasered Gargantuan enemies proved our point. An order was put in to Forgeworld for 3 Arvus Lighters immediately. They are both physically large, can hold an Imperial Guard squad for objective grabs and, are cheap pointswise.

While the overall choices were clear, we each still customized our lists based on personal choice.


Bigred: Reaver Titan Build ~ Legio Tempestus
My list is based on a belief that deepstrikers and chaos daemons are the most prevalent of the serious threats. I am fielding twin Inquisitors with mystic/sages/psi-cannons in terminator armor. This means I can only field a single Thunderbolt, so I'm weaker at dealing with flyers, but those 2 HQs can gun down Fateweaver in a single shooting phase out to 36". Enemies also run the risk of me passing 2 free firing phases to the Reaver for EACH enemy deepstriker who strays to close. My Guard are running a conscript platoon to physically block off the reaver from assault, and an infantry platoon for general duty and Arvus grabs.


Jwolf: Reaver Titan Build ~ Legio Metallica
This list is very similar to Bigred's, but does away with the conscripts to open up more effective elite units of IG wich several heavy weapons spread around. In particular, the list fields an additional squad of stormtroopers with dual plasma to take out priority threats who are hiding.


Minus67: Reaver Titan Build ~ Legio Mortis
This build emphasizes the threat of flyers, and gargantuan creatures. 3 flyers can handle most enemy aircraft, and even keep an enemy superheavy flyer busy for most of the game. It also offers the most reliable pool of flyers to channel the movement of gargantuan creatures, to buy the Reaver time to eliminate them. The tradeoff is only a single inquisitor, who is not in terminator armor (so he can't move and shoot the psycannon out to 36").

~As you read this, the Flylords are locked in mortal combat. We can only hope our plans and work will allow at least one of us to run the Gladiator gauntlet and emerge triumphant. The Emperor Protects!!! I will get you all results and pics as soon as possible.

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Adepticon or Bust!

We are off everybody...

The Fly Lords are hitting the road for Adepticon. We're headed up with the Air team:
-Bigred
-Goatboy
-Minus67
-Darkwynn
-Big Nick

And our super-truckers Groundteam are driving all of our armies, cameras, and bulky stuff:
-Jwolf
-Bushidoredpanda
-Abe

We hope to meet as many of your guys in person this year. Bigred will be the guy wearing this:



We are all playing in this year's Gladiator, then the Fly Lords are judging the Team Tourney, so don't try anything tricksy or Jwolf will dispense the dreaded "Vexantrope to the Solar Plexus" on any perpetrators :) We are going to have a BLAST!

~Wish us luck, and we will give you all liveblogging coverage from the convention floor over the weekend. Details on our Adepticon armies are coming shortly.

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Goatboy 40k Thoughts: Rules Lawyers

I started on this topic a bit last week, and wanted to delve into it more this week, right before I head up to Chicago to throw down at Adepticon. We all know what a rules lawyer is. What I want to do is go into the different aspects of rules lawyers as well as ways to play with them.

First lets look at what is a rules lawyer. Lets thank wikipedia for giving me the following definitions.

A rules lawyer is a player in a game who for whatever reason attempts to use an often encyclopedic knowledge of the rules of a subject to gain an advantage, to annoy or to ingratiate himself with other players, to amuse themselves in a round of banter with others, or to test a rule's solidity.

(slang) Someone who knows, or thinks he knows, even the most arcane and technical rules of a game.

A player who seeks to gain game advantage by invocation of the letter of the game's rules.

Lets break down each definition and see what makes this type of rules lawyer annoying or difficult to play with.

Rules Lawyer 1. I am the smartest!

We all have played the players that seem to “know” everything and make it known they know everything. Hell I’ve fallen into that trap, since I play 40k a bunch and have usually taken on just about every army in the book. At a base level, this type of lawyer is usually the easiest to deal with, as well as the most beneficial to the game. You see the rules of the game are meant to be enforced to make the game run smoothly. Knowing the rules or having someone that can help you figure out the rules is a great help in ensuring the game is played smoothly (or as smoothly as can be). Yes it can be annoying to be corrected all the time, but when you are playing something wrong and it creates an unfair advantage, it is helpful to know how it is supposed to work.

As a player, if I feel someone is just spouting too much during a game, or trying to be annoying by pushing the rules, I make them find it and prove it to me. I know that most of the time they are right, but making them look for the rule and prove it lets me learn as well as lets them look right, thus making them not seem as harsh due to proving that they know what they are talking about. Having proof makes you not look like someone trying to push the rules, it just makes you look like someone that is just trying to make everyone play the game right.

Rules Lawyer 2. I think I know my rules but I forget sometimes…

These are the players that are adamantly stating their rules while forgetting they have changed. We have all done this, with many players going through 3 editions of a game change in their hobby life; it is hard to keep all the rules in check. What you once thought was a rock solid rule, has now changed due to rules changes. I have done it, as you could see with the chaos dreadnought thoughts and vehicle LOS. Many players have forgotten a rule an HQ might have now, or thought a stat was higher in this edition then it was in the last. How many times have you thought your Chaplain’s BS is 5 like in the last codex?

If you are playing someone like that, the best option is to just show them the rules. Instead of arguing back and forth about it, keep your cool and just go to the book. Nothing is more concrete than breaking out the rules and making sure things work the way they are supposed too. I know as a player who sometimes falls into this, the best way to break the stalemate/argument is just to look at it and see. There is never a need to argue or fight about anything in this game.

Rule Lawyer 3. Tweaking or mismanaging the rules will get me that win…

This is the rules lawyer most people think about when hearing the word. It is the player that strives to break a rule or misquote a rule to try and create an advantage. You know the player knows the rules, but you don’t as well as they do. So whatever they say, they must be right, no matter how “broken” it seems. This is where the game moves from being fun, to something just not all the enjoyable. Losing is one thing, but losing because someone was not truthful or tried to break the RAW of the rules just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Each army has advantages and disadvantages. They are designed that way to create games that evolve into something more advanced than a pair of 40k monkeys rolling dice. The game’s myriad units, stat lines, and equipment create a game that is more then just army men on the field. We all can’t have copies of every codex or have access to all the armies so knowing everything is a hard thing to master. When facing someone that is known to do this, the best option I have is to ask for proof for anything I feel is fishy. If you think you are getting taken advantage of, call a judge. Nothing shuts down a player like calling a judge and getting a ruling. If you are not in a tournament setting, ask the most experienced player who is NOT playing the game to help you guys resolve the situation. I have found that folks have a very level head and are impartial when it’s not their own plastic soldiers fighting for their plastic lives on the tabletop.

Use the Rules for Good, Never for Evil

The rules are part of the game, and it is up to us to know them and inform our opponents of them. This game is not secretive nor should you rely on rules deception to eek out a win. Each army should be fairly open to any questions due to having lists open to each of the players. It is up to the players to create environments that are both fun as well as exciting to play in. Remember, the game takes at least two people to run and it is up to the players to make sure things move smoothly.

For those reading this and going to Adepticon, I will be getting up there Thursday night. I plan on playing the gladiator on Friday, judging on Saturday and finishing off my gaming weekend with a run in the invitational on Sunday. If you see me, give me a shout. Or yell at me for the dreadnought shenanigans. Either way come and say hi. It would be great to chat with you guys and get some feedback and ideas for upcoming articles/thoughts/etc.

Let hear your thoughts on rules-lawyers and your approaches to dealing with them. I know every one of us has a really good story on this topic… and as usual email me if you have any questions.

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NEWS: Adepticon 2 Week Warning

With only two weeks left until AdeptiCon 2009, hobbyists across the country and the world are furiously painting to finish up their armies for the “Can’t Miss” event of the year in the Games Workshop miniature wargaming hobby. April 3rd-5th, 2009 will bring hundreds of gamers and hobbyists from across the world to Chicago for a weekend of fun and excitement.

AdeptiCon 2009 Online Registration Closes on March 27th, 2009, at 1700 (5:00 PM) CST
If you haven’t registered yet for AdeptiCon 2009, what are you waiting for? Online registration will close at five PM on Friday, March 27th. After that, you will be able to register onsite at AdeptiCon beginning Friday, April 3rd…but who want’s to risk not participating in your events of choice? Register online today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart to make sure that your weekend is packed full of miniature wargaming goodness.

New AdeptiCon 2009 Guest of Honor: Gav Thorpe
Due to circumstances outside of our control, Alessio Cavatore will be unable to attend AdeptiCon 2009. Never fear – because Gav Thorpe has just confirmed that he will be in attendance.

Prior to becoming a freelance writer, Gav Thorpe worked for Games Workshop as lead background designer, overseeing and contributing to the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 worlds. He has written numerous novels and short stories set in the fictional worlds of Games Workshop, including the Time of Legends 'The Sundering' series, the seminal Dark Angels novel Angels of Darkness, and the Last Chancers omnibus. He lives in Nottingham, UK, with his mechanical hamster, Dennis.

Find out more about Gav at his blog: Mechanical Hamster

I Spy With My Little Eye, Something That Begins with an F…
Free Swag! The first 800 AdeptiCon attendees will receive an Chaos Dwarf Lord from Avatars of War:
http://www.arena-deathmatch.com/images/aow15_blister.jpg

I Spy With My Little Eye, Something That Begins with an M…
More Free Swag! The first 750 AdeptiCon attendees will also receive a set of special AdeptiCon deployment zone markers, courtesy of AdeptiCon sponsor Gale Force 9(http://www.gf9.com/).
http://www.adepticon.org/images/gf9dz.jpg

I Spy With My Little Eye, Something That Begins with an E…
Even More Free Swag! Additionally, players in many of our tournaments will receive objective markers and/or tokens that will be used during the event, and taken home afterwards! Check out some of our tournament marker/tokens below, created by Flying Tricycle (http://www.flyingtricycle.com/):

Lord of the Ring Tokens
http://www.adepticon.org/images/lotrtoken3.jpg (Shot of both/Skull side

40K Team Tournament Tokens
http://www.adepticon.org/images/ttcc5.jpg (all four head on)

From the High Seas, to Middle Earth, to the Red Orktober
Due to the popularity of our non-competitive open gaming and demo events, we’ve worked to add more such events to our roster. We’re adding demos of Warhammer Historical: Trafalgar, War of the Rings, and the Sabol Designs-sponsored “Hunt Within Red Orktober!”

Trafalgar – Age of Sail Naval Combat – Times TBD – Sign up onsite! Sponsored by the Last Square, Warhammer Historical and Lithko Aerosystems.

War of the Rings Demos – Times TBD – Sign up onsite! Sponsored by the Games Workshop Chicago Battle Bunker.

Sunday 10:30 AM – 3:00 PM – The Hunt Within Red Orktober - Sponsored by Sabol Designs. For more information download the PDF below:
http://www.adepticon.org/files/2009Orktober.pdf

Sponsor Spotlights: Sabol Designs & Armorcast
We’ve created two more Sponsor Spotlights, highlighting longtime AdeptiCon Sponsors Armorcast and Sabol Designs. Find out more about these two companies by clicking on the links below.
http://www.adepticon.org/files/2009armorcast.pdf
http://www.adepticon.org/files/2009sabol.pdf

40K Tournament Rules Update
With the recent release of new FAQs and datasheets by Games Workshop, we’ve updated the INAT FAQ and our allowed armies/units lists to reflect these changes. We’ve also added some new questions to the INAT FAQ that have been asked by attendees.

We’ve taken a conscious effort to not reverse previous rulings or listings, but if you’re playing in a 40K Tournament and want to make sure your army list is legal, or how the judges will rule on contentious issues, check out the documents below:

INAT v2.2 http://www.adepticon.org/files/INATFAQv2.2.pdf

Allowed 40K Army Lists: http://www.adepticon.org/09rules/0940KArmyList.pdf

Allowed Forgeworld/Apocalypse Units (only applies to the 40K Gladiator): http://www.adepticon.org/09rules/0940KIAList.pdf

Sponsor Highlight: DragonflyMini.com
In need of a commission painter? Well then your search might be over! For your next painting project consider DragonflyMini.com. Professional, quality service is their standby. With a list of services from army, to character painting and gift certificates there's something for everyone. DragonflyMini.com- your home for high end artistry, without the high end price!

~And I just put the final touches on my last Gladiator mini...whew! See you all there. BoLS is sending up 8 guys this year, so look for the Bell of Lost Souls shirts. Bigred, Jwolf, Goatboy, and many others will be there, so if you want to say hi, tell us we are idiots, or go grab a brewski, here's your chance.

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NEWS: Adepticon 2009 March Update

AdeptiCon 2009 News – Incursion APE’s, Mold-making and Casting, and More!

http://www.adepticon.org/images/2009buzzsaw.gif

Less than four weeks until AdeptiCon 2009, the “Can’t Miss” event of the Games Workshop miniature wargaming hobby! April 3rd-5th, 2009 will bring hundreds of gamers and hobbyists from across the world to Chicago for a weekend of fun and excitement.

2009 AdeptiCon Model Released
The first 800 AdeptiCon attendees will receive their own Grunt APE II model for the new Grindhouse Games miniature wargame/board game Incursion.

http://static1.shopify.com/s/files/1/0022/6852/products/INC102_Grunt_APE_2_large1.jpg?1236478471

Incursion is set in the world of Grindhouse Games’ Secrets of the Third Reich, where American Armored Personal Exoskeletons (APEs) form the front line in Weird War II against the twisted creations of the Third Reich’s Special Weapons Development (SWD).
San Antonio Texas based Grindhouse Games has worked with West Wind Productions to develop Secrets of the Third Reich. They have just gone out on their own and launched a new and expanding miniatures range and website to support their new Weird War II boardgame: Incursion - while continuing to support Secrets of the Third Reich. Jim and John Bailey of Grindhouse Games also run the Alamo Warhammer Indie Grand Tournament in San Antonio every year. As fellow Grand Tournament organizers, Jim and John along with sculptor Seth Nash are thrilled to support the Adepticon.
Find out more about Incursion and Grindhouse Games at: http://www.incursiongame.com/

New Seminar Added and Registration Update!
We’ve added a new hobby seminar to our schedule – Michael Harmon, of Reynolds Advanced Materials, will teach a special seminar on mold-making and casting. Tickets for this seminar are only $8, and will run on Saturday, April 4th, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

Over a dozen events have already filled up, and others are close to capacity as online registration continues at a brisk pace. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to attend the event of your choice – register online today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart/ and purchase your weekend badge and the event tickets you need.

Sponsor Spotlight: Battle Foam
We recently had a chance to talk to Romeo of Battle Foam, one of our newest AdeptiCon sponsors. Find out more about Batte Foam and see pictures of their newest trays and army cases by downloading the Sponsor Spotlight at the link below:
http://www.adepticon.org/files/2009battlefoam.pdf

Road to AdeptiCon: Warhammer and Lord of the Rings Development Reports
Frank Brown and Brent Sinclair continue documenting the process of creating their Lord of the Rings Team Tournament army, while James Hyde and Caius Jennison do the same with their Warhammer Fantasy Team Tournament army.

Download these articles from the links below:
Building a LotR Tournament Army - Part 2 (From Theme to List) Frank Brown & Brent Sinclair
Building a Warhammer Team Tournament Army - Part 2 James Hyde & Caius Jennison

AdeptiCon 2009 Hotel Information – Deadline Extended!
Our original block of hotel rooms are filled, but we’ve gotten additional rooms added and the deadline extended for one week. If you want to make sure you get our discounted room rate, make your reservations today! After Monday March 16th, we won’t be able to help you save money on your hotel stay.

The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center
70 Yorktown Center,
Lombard, Illinois 60148
Phone: (630) 719-8000 - Fax: (630) 719-8079
AdeptiCon Room Rate: $109.00/night - Parking: Free
Group rate available until March 11, 2009 (Subject to availability)

Reservations can be made by calling the The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center directly (1-630-719-8000) or by visiting http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0808063151&key=1184D

Full details of our host can be found on http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=Hotel

Registration Deadline Approaching!
Remember, online registration will close on Friday, March 27th at 1700 CST. After that, you’ll have to take your chances and register in-person at AdeptiCon on April 3rd, 4th, & 5th.

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to attend the event of your choice – register online today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart/ and purchase your weekend badge and the event tickets you need.

Sponsor Highlight : BK Army Painting
BK Army Painting is your complete miniature painting solution - a US-based painting studio specializing in painting whole armies to a quality tabletop standard, at a reasonable cost. Don’t settle for playing with poorly-painted miniatures, or worse – bare metal and plastic. Visit http://www.bkarmypainting.com/ to find out how BK Army Painting can meet your army painting needs.

~The Fly Lords are putting the finishing touches on our Gladiator entries now (expect more info on them as time goes on). We will see you all there.

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POLL: 40k Gladiator Smackdown Edition

Hi guys,

As we ramp up for Adepticon the Fly Lords are waist deep into the rock-paper-scissors metagame of our favorite event: the No-Holds Barred Warhammer 40k Gladiator.

Here is the short rundown:
2250pts
You must build a standard army using normal FOC and codex restrictions.
Forgeworld/Apocalypse units allowed with the following rules:
-no Apocalypse formations or strategic assets
-you may take a single superheavy/gargantuan creature as a heavy support choice.
-you may take any non superheavy/gargantuan creatures as the FOC slot listed in their rules.

Thats it! You must fight across a variety of missions that will emphasize both ass-kicking of the foe as well as control of random objectives, quarters, and other wonky stuff they throw at you.

As you can imagine, a challenge like that gets the gears turning... Several "camps" have been forming around the country as to what is the most potent combo in the game. Here are some of them:

Stompa/Nob-biker Horde
This army runs rampant and tears anything it reaches up in assault. 20-30 nob-bikers using a Stompa as a physical screen early game can do some serious damage if they can reach the foe in numbers.

Superheavy Flyer Transport
T-hawks/Orcas/Vampires loaded with nasty infantry or other supporting deepstrikers can fly about, harrassing the foe with flyer protection, then swoop onto objectives late game in a land-grab that is difficult to counter.

An'ggrath the Unbound
Possibly the single most lethal model in the game, can be supported by various CSM or Chaos Daemons loadouts and deepstrike onto the table, slaying and claiming what he will.

Reaver Titans
The new Reaver combines devastating firepower that can sweep many armies off the table in a couple of shooting phases, and offers flexible Imperial army support options.

Drop Insanity
Drop pods/Termys/Crisis Suits/Soulgrinders/Bloodcrushers/Ect... can be surrounded by entire 2250pt forces of distributed deep-strike nastiness to devastate any army they appear in, and offer numerous targets to try to dislodge in a short span of turns.

IG Flying Circus
A horde of IG in a gaggle of Valkyries can be a difficult target to engage and offers last turn objective grabbing opportunity.

Uber-horde
Orks/IG/Nids can field 200+ models and try to simply lock up opposition in endless tarpit assualts, while sitting on every objective within reach.

The goal my nefarious generals is to vote for your favorite and explain why it will prevail, or better yet offer up a new army suggestion that proves you are battlefield genius!

Poll, Right column, Attack!

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NEWS: APEPTICON 2009 2 Months Out

AdeptiCon 2009 News

We’re a little over two months from AdeptiCon 2009, the “Can’t Miss” event of the Games Workshop miniature wargaming hobby! April 3rd-5th, 2009 will bring gamers and hobbyists from across the world to Chicago for a weekend of fun and excitement.

Beginning February 1st, the AdeptiCon weekend badge will cost $30, so sign up today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart.

Wondering what you get with your AdeptiCon Weekend Badge? Well, besides the ability to register and attend all our tournaments, open games, seminars, and other events, every AdeptiCon attendee will also receive:

1 Chaos Dwarf Model from Avatar of War
A Limited Edition AdeptiCon Femme Militant/Imperial Citizen model, sculpted by Steve Saleh
2 books courtesy of Black Library - One 40K novel and One WFB Novel.
1 bitz bag from The Warstore/BWB
1 bitz bag from Armorcast
1 Sprue from Wargames Factory
And much, much more!

If a Picture’s Worth 1000 Words, What’s Video Worth?

If you’re wondering what the excitement and fun of AdeptiCon is all about, check out our video archives for footage from AdeptiCon 2008.

http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=Video

Warhammer 40K INAT FAQ v. 2.1 Released!

We’ve taken in the feedback from the wider gaming community, reviewed the initial release, and finalized the INAT FAQ for this year’s Warhammer 40K events. You can download the FAQ from the link below and find out how those tricky rules will be interpreted at AdeptiCon 2009.

http://www.adepticon.org/files/INATFAQv2.1.pdf

AdeptiCon 2009 Hotel Information

Remember, AdeptiCon Attendees who want our special discounted room rate, must reserve their hotel rooms by March 11, 2009. Our special reserved block is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center

70 Yorktown Center

Lombard, Illinois 60148

Phone: (630) 719-8000

Fax: (630) 719-8079

AdeptiCon Room Rate: $109.00/night

Group rate available until March 11, 2009 (Subject to availability)

Parking: Free

Reservations can be made by calling the The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center directly (1-630-719-8000) or by visiting http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0808063151&key=1184D

Full details of our new host can be found on http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=Hotel

Register Early!

Pre-register online and your AdeptiCon Weekend Badge (required for entry to all AdeptiCon events) will be discounted to $25. This discounted price will be available until January 31, 2009.

On February 1st, the price for the AdeptiCon Weekend Badge will go up to $30, so don’t delay and register online today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

Coming Soon:

Stay tuned for more AdeptiCon 2009 news coming soon, including Seminar Spotlights, Sponsor Spotlights, and interviews with this year’s AdeptiCon Guests of Honor!

Sponsor Highlight: Armorcast

Armorcast Battlefield Scenery produces high-quality resin terrain, bases, and models suitable for a variety of gaming systems. Check out their online store at http://armorcast.com/store/index.php to see some of their amazing work for yourself.

~See you all there. BoLS is sending up 10 guys and you can expect to see some more coverage coming up soon.

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ADEPTICON 2009 Newsflash

The 2009 Gladiator Champion will Walk!
Previous winners of AdeptiCon's Warhammer 40K Gladiator tournament has walked away with ForgeWorld Death Korp of Krieg army, an Ork army including ForgeWorld battlewagons, and a full Elysian Drop Troops army. This year, the champion of the AdeptiCon 40K Gladiator will receive only a single model: the new ForgeWorld Reaver Titan.
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Titans/reaver/wrttn3.jpg

Standing almost 16" high, this model dominates the battlefield with its weaponry. Don't miss out on your chance to win this phenomenal model: sign up online at www.adepticon.org today!

Rogue Demon Painting Competition Rules Released!

AdeptiCon's Rogue Demon painting competition has become one of the gold standards of the miniature wargaming hobby, and AdeptiCon's hobby seminars have become famous for giving hobbyists a chance to learn from the masters of our hobby. Find out more about both from our flyer at the link the below:
http://www.adepticon.org/files/09seminarsrd.pdf

AdeptiCon 2009 Registration Now Open!
Registration for the "can't miss" miniature wargaming event of the year is now open! AdeptiCon 2009 will return on April 3rd to the Chicagoland area for our seventh year of Games Workshop and other miniature wargaming madness.

Click here to check out our new and improved lineup of events!
http://www.adepticon.org/files/2009schedules.pdf

Pre-register online at: http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

This year we will be moving to the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL, located just outside of Chicago.

AdeptiCon 2009 Hotel Information
The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center
70 Yorktown Center
Lombard, Illinois 60148
Phone: (630) 719-8000
Fax: (630) 719-8079
AdeptiCon Room Rate: $109.00/night
Group rate available until March 11, 2009 (Subject to availability)
Parking: Free

Reservations can be made by calling the The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center directly (1-630-719-8000) or by visiting http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0808063151&key=1184D

Full details of our new host can be found on http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=Hotel

Register Early!
Pre-register online and your AdeptiCon Weekend Badge (required for entry to all AdeptiCon events) will be discounted to $25. This discounted price will be available until January 31, 2009.

On February 1st, the price for the AdeptiCon Weekend Badge will go up to $30, so don't delay and register online today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

~We'll see you guys there!

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NEWS: Adepticon 2009 Registration Opens

AdeptiCon 2009 Registration Now Open!

Registration for the “can’t miss” miniature wargaming event of the year is now open! AdeptiCon 2009 will return on April 3rd to the Chicagoland area for our seventh year of Games Workshop and other miniature wargaming madness.

Click here to check out our new and improved lineup of events!
http://www.adepticon.org/files/2009schedules.pdf

Pre-register online at: http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

This year we will be moving to the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL, located just outside of Chicago.

AdeptiCon 2009 Hotel Information
The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center
70 Yorktown Center
Lombard, Illinois 60148
Phone: (630) 719-8000
Fax: (630) 719-8079
AdeptiCon Room Rate: $109.00/night
Group rate available until March 11, 2009 (Subject to availability)
Parking: Free

Reservations can be made by calling the The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center directly (1-630-719-8000) or by visiting http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0808063151&key=1184D

Full details of our new host can be found on http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=Hotel

Register Early!
Pre-register online and your AdeptiCon Weekend Badge (required for entry to all AdeptiCon events) will be discounted to $25. This discounted price will be available until January 31, 2009.

On February 1st, the price for the AdeptiCon Weekend Badge will go up to $30, so don’t delay and register online today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

What’s New at AdeptiCon 2009
We’ve added new events to the roster this year, including a Lord of the Rings singles tournament, a 2-day Blood Bowl tournament, a new Warhammer Historical demo, and a new, improved lineup of Hobby Seminars.

Many of our signature events have been modified and updated, including the Warhammer 40K Gladiator, which now offers players a chance to field 2250 point armies in four rounds of no-holds barred competition. Read the new rules for all events carefully – even if its got the same name as before, there may be differences you don’t want to be surprised by!

http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=2009rules

AdeptiCon 2009 Allowed 40K Units/Codexes
Are you wondering exactly what is allowed at AdeptiCon for 40K players? Wonder no longer – download our list of allowed 40K rules/codexes, and our list of allowed 40K ForgeWorld units from the links below.

http://www.adepticon.org/09rules/0940KArmyList.pdf
http://www.adepticon.org/09rules/0940KIAList.pdf

Register Today!
Remember, your AdeptiCon Weekend Badge will be available for $25 until January 31, 2009. All events are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so register online today and reserve your spot at AdeptiCon 2009.

http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

~The Fly Lords will be there and we hope to see as many of you as can make it.

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NEWS: AdeptiCon 2009 Dates and Location

AdeptiCon News AdeptiCon will return April 3 – 5, 2009 for its seventh year of Games Workshop miniature wargaming madness. Mark your calendars, put in for the time off work, and start making your travel plans, because AdeptiCon just keeps getting bigger and better!

This year we will be moving to the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL, just outside of Chicago. Full details concerning the new venue (including room codes & rates) will be posted within the next week.

Join the AdeptiCon 2009 Staff!

Become a part of the AdeptiCon 2009 team! With all the extra space we’re going to have in 2009, we’re looking for volunteers who are excited and passionate about the hobby to help us continue AdeptiCon’s tradition of excellence.

We are looking for volunteers in the following areas:

* Operations Staff (Setup, Registration, Tech Support, Breakdown)
* 40K Tournament/Event Staff
* Fantasy Tournament/Event Staff
* Specialist Games Tournament/Event Staff
* Hobby Seminar Instructors
* Communications
* * Terrain Building (Chicago-area residency required)

* * These groups perform the majority of their work before AdeptiCon. All other groups do their work during the AdeptiCon weekend itself.

Note that with one exception (the Terrain Group), Chicago-area residency is NOT required, so no matter where you live you can help make AdeptiCon 2009 happen!

E-mail adeptuswindycity@gmail.com today with your name, contact info, and areas in which you’d be particularly interested in volunteering. A member of the AdeptiCon Council will get in touch with you. Planning for AdeptiCon 2009 begins in earnest, so join the team today!

On the Horizon: The AdeptiCon 2008 Retrospective The AdeptiCon Retrospective will be released in the next day or so, so stay tuned for full coverage of AdeptiCon 2008, including event featurettes, the full listing of award winners, and much more.

~You guys all know where the Fly Lords will be next April

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Adepticon Gladiator: Bigred's Journey

Oh, by now the tales of woe are flying, so lets set the record straight.

Gladiator List:
2000pts

Eldrad
9 Avengers in a dual shuri-cannon waveserpent w/ stones
9 Avengers in a dual shuri-cannon waveserpent w/ stones
Vyper w/ shuri-cannon and eml
Vyper w/ shuri-cannon and star-cannon
Vyper w/ shuri-cannon and star-cannon
Firestorm w/holo,stones, shuri-cannon
Revenant w/dual pulsars

The Plan
The army has great offensive firepower in the 4 strength D pieplates per turn and decent objective grabbing speed. Eldrad would let me reposition the Revenant and the Firestorm (which is the greatest thing since sliced bread) at a minimum based on the enemy deployment. The weakness of the list would be its low scoring unit count which would require conservative use of the vypers till late game.

How It Went Down:



Game 1
I drew a very good opponent with a Space Wolves drop pod army. He was a meticulous player who knew what his army could accomplish and led on the tabletop with skill and efficiency. My conservative husbanding of my backfield units was useless in the face of crazed Wolves dropping into my deployment zone. On turn 3 the Revenant reserved in and methodically began to destroy every Space Wolf within range and LoS. My opponent realized the terrible danger of strength D and hunkered down a handful of small speedy units and waited me out. On turn 6 we both sprinted for the objectives, but alas, Adepticon rules that a titan can only contest and claim a single objective (rather than the 3 I was astride). That was it and with the Wolves having more scoring units remaining I chalked up a solid (but not crushing) loss on objectives.



Game 2
Here it is folks, the talk of Adepticon! Every mission only has a maximun of 32 victory points possible so it was believed by most that that was the largest possible margin of victory. But you all know me, always pushing the borders of the possible. At this years Gladiator, each player got a handful of tokens you could use once per day to reroll failed saves, hits, and the like. You can only use 1 per game and they cost you -1 victory points on the mission final score.

My commendable foe brought a marine list backed up with a double turbo-laser Warhound (worst case for my revenant) and a Callidus. We both deployed, and Eldrad moved my Revenant into a distant safe spot, along with the firestorm and a couple other units. Then, the Callidus used her trickery and moved my titan just within LoS by about 1/2 an inch!!! My foe's inquisitor gave him the +1 on turn 1 which he got, and pummeled by titan with 4 strength D hits. I used a re-roll token but it was to no avail. I was immobilized and both pulsars were stunned. I moved up my army to support my baby and to hopefully buy time with their lives. A handful of Eldar fire knocked down a couple of skimmers and some isolated marines, but no major damage was done. At the top of 2, the Warhound again laid into my Revenant, blowing it skyhigh in a 12" radius S:9 AP:3 apocalyptic explosion that took out all of my army save 2 vypers. That as they say was that.... A couple of minutes later I had filled out my mission sheet with my show-stopping -1 to 32 loss!!!



Game 3
With almost no points to show for 2 games, Mkerr quipped that I might consider dropping out while I was ahead. I might easily lose 2 further VPs in the next 2 games! Hogwash! If the Eldar are anything it is proud. My third game again matched me against a Warhound titan backed up with a Blood Angel army. This one went well. The titan got moving, and the army began to slowly destroy the Blood Angels squad by squad using the pulsars to kill units and the remaining Eldar to mop up stragglers. By turn 6 it was over, with the Warhound dead, and a few Blood Angel remnants stuck out of position. Total victory.



Game 4
This game brought the shorthanded rule, which let my Daemonhunter foe throw my Revenant into reserve till turn 4. I faced 3 Land raiders loaded with Grey knights barreling into my shuriken-cannon armed army for 3 very carefully moved turns. I made it to turn 4 with few losses, and when the Revenant arrived it was over fast. 2 Land Raiders blew sky-high along with their occupants with the pulsar's first volley, and the remainder of the foe's army was mopped up in short order. Total victory.

Thoughts
Well, I started slow, and ended well. I ended the Gladiator right in the middle of the pack so my honor was regained (sort of). I think the best part of the day was re-telling the story of mission 2 all day long to everyone who stopped by to talk. I have to say that win or lose, I had a blast and will be back next year. If I have to strap Solar Macharius to the canopy of my Revenant with Eldrad holding a shuriken pistol to his head, I'll find a way to make my army even tougher.

~To everyone I faced in either victory or defeat.. I SALUTE YOU! You all are the best!

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