Once again the crew of Adepticon delivered an excellent show. The countless hours the staff puts in can really be seen in how smooth the whole event appears to fun. I say appears because I’m sure the staff was putting out countless fires, but as an attendee I didn’t see any of them! For the third year in a row I put in a four hour shift helping with swag bag assembly and setting up terrain. If you get the chance to take a volunteer shift or two I highly recommend it. Not only does it give you a chance to earn some credit towards next show but you meet all sorts of cool people. You never know, you might be meeting a future opponent! I got to work with the famed Digganob outside of his regular uniform! Oh and check out that sweet, sweet The Wargaming Company hoodie! Looks like I’m officially part of the crew! I guess I have been for years, but now I FEEL official!
One of the great things about this hobby, and this show, is how we all come together. I realized I needed some new brushes for my class, but the vendor hall wasn’t going to be open yet. I asked if anyone knew where I’d be able to buy some on the I’m going to Adepticon Facebook group and a total stranger offered me a few of his old ones. We met up and he wouldn’t take anything for them, it was all for the hobby! I was taking a painting class and missed the Warhammer Preview for the first time since I started going to the show in 2019 and GW gave away t-shirts. One of them was Ork themed and my son is now all in for Orks. I put out a request for one of the shirts and someone kindly gave me his. My son is thrilled!
I took a terrific class with the very talented Ben Komets and now I can’t wait to use what I learned. I even bought the perfect figure to use my new skills on! This beast is from Smash Bash!
I played in the Arena Rex and Warmaster tournaments and both were full of terrific people. I even met some new people to game with in my area because of the Warmaster tournament. It is always worth chatting with the people you are playing with, you never know when one lives near by!
The food in Milwaukee was terrific, and there were a ton of locations within easy walking distance of the convention center. On the Warmaster tournament day I even had time to run over to the 3rd Street Market for a nice lunch. In Schaumburg you’d have to eat mediocre convention food! Even if you didn’t leave the show the convention food was provided by local vendors, heck the barbeque place I had lunch at in the 3rd Street Market had a booth set up at the show! Canary Coffee was a nice coffee place and although they were frequently short staffed they made the line go pretty fast. There are other good coffee places in town but this one was closest to the convention center. As always the Swingin’ Door Exchange knocked it out of the park!
The only negative was this years swag bag was disappointing. There were at least three highly sought after new games and I didn’t get any of them. Not only that but the Atomic Mass games pile was full of new Star Wars Legion kits and I ended up with an older Crisis Protocol Set. Heck, even the Badger games minis I got weren’t the Regiment Games Orks that I love, they were historical miniatures! I know Adepticon can’t control what is donated but this year the bags were no where near the same value across the board which I found disappointing. I know the swag bag is a gamble, but this is the first year I picked it up and felt bummed out about what was in it. I’m sure I’ll keep on rolling the dice if I’m able to get one, hopefully next time is better!
I loved looking at the Golden Daemon, I always love seeing the crazy entries. I really liked the 2nd Edition 40k entry, and these two smalls were some of my favorites in the show. The familiar because of how well painted such a small piece was, and the mushroom because of the craziness of entering an accessory painted to a high standard in the Golden Daemon!
I came back and put on my usual show and tell of purchases and haul. Not a bad pickup this year! Not pictured are the various items I picked up for friends who couldn’t make this how. One of the Arena Rex figures was from the (participation) prize pile at the Arena Rex tournament. Is it bad that my favorite purchase was the $6 “Killer Kan feet” at the bottom of the picture which were 2nd Edition Chaos Dreadnought feet?
I had a wonderful time at this show. From taking a painting class, to playing in multiple tournaments, to helping by volunteering, to helping my friends at The Wargaming Company at their booth, to eating like a total animal, to talking to friends new and old, to the Atomic Mass paint and take, and to just wandering around looking at games, the Armies Showcase, and the various painting contests everything was just amazing. I already have April 7-11, 2027 blocked off on my calendar, I hope to see you all there!
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 