Adepticon - Friday

My day 2 of Adepticon started off kind of slow but at least I got to sleep in.  After waking up and coffee, I head to my first of two seminars of the day:  The Badger Airbrushing classes (101 & 102).  While not of significant value to me, I did pick up a few bits of knowledge.  The classes are excellently taught and are entertaining enough to hold interest even if you have a bit of airbrush knowledge under your belt.  I think it is very important to say that these classes are not a Badger sales pitch, Ken is very open and respectful of other quality airbrush producers.  It is equally important to point out, for those that could be interested, that this is not an airbrush technique class.  But if you are thinking about picking up an airbrush, intimidated about airbrushes and/or new to airbrushing there is definitely value and help that can be obtained from this class.

In between those classes was another visit to the vendor hall:

Yes, that is the corner of my bed.

The skirmish outbreak was a bit of a weak moment and I'm not entirely sure about the system as it appears to be a you go, I go activation system (not my favorite) but I suffered some kind of moment of weakness.  I also decided to go back to the Guild Ball booth and pick up their counters:  I'm normally not inclined to spend money on tokens but I guess my money was burning a whole in my pocket.  As you can see I also grabbed some movement tray/bases from Broken Egg Games for Kings of War and tokens for that game.  Wow, I was just weak on Friday.

Another run in with Derek resulted in getting to meet and chat with the creators of Guild Ball.  Then it was off to my first game of the day at 4pm, lol.  It was a Car Wars game run by Lathan from Burn in Designs.  While I had experienced Battletech in my early wargaming history when I was a teenager, I never did play Car Wars (those two games and that particular timing seem to typically go hand in hand).  So with a vehicular combat itch to satisfy, this was an excellent chance to give it a whirl.

Ten players showed up for the game that Lathan was afraid that no one would show up for!  We mutually agreed to pull into one giant game of two teams (5 on 5), last team standing.  Ultimately my team was demolished and I don't think we even managed to kill of a single car of the other team.  I was the last of my team to go down but more to bad tactical decisions rather than good ones.  Lathan also handed out very nice player favors but I think I forgot mine at the table and thus have no photo.  Many beautiful modified cars were available to choose from:

The selection and some nice terrain he designed for the event

My car for the scenario

It was a fun game, well run and great participants but as I suspected, the mechanics and fluidity of Car Wars leaves a bit to be desired.  I can't say what exactly the issue(s) is though and it does manage to capture aspects that some of the competing possibilities are not able to (I think).  Maybe it was just the scale of that many players.  Anyway, as this is a "windmill" topic of mine, further exploration/analysis is planned.  Eventually...

A quick bite to eat and then it was time to head to my second game, Autoduel: First to Valhalla run by Sam.  Another selection of beautiful cars, this time painted by Dave Taylor over at Dave Taylor Miniatures:

Be sure to check Dave's blog for great pics of all the trucks!

From the event description:  "Each player will represent a Praetor driving a kitted out and armored monster truck. Players will race around collecting flags, while attempting send their rivals 'First to Valhalla'."  A very unique custom/home brew game that played very well and was a lot of fun, featuring a flexible "programming" movement/action system that you have to manage as a resource and a unique vehicle damage system that results in fewer movement/action choices and often hilarity!

My truck in the middle

After the first of five players was eliminated, a priceless target of opportunity presented itself.  Born of greed to send that first player to Valhalla, this was the situation when it was my turn to activate (note my vehicle is not in that scrum!):

Why bother with target priority if you can get them all at once!

After my first action, only one of them remained and my second action granted me epic glory:

Witness me!

A great game that I hope Sam continues to polish and bring back to Adepticon and a really fun time with my fellow players.  Oh yeah, the winner's prize:

That wraps my second day at Adepticon and a very late night (at least for me).  At least Saturday is my usual planned relaxed (or more so) day at conventions.

As a note, these last two events took place around the same time as bitz trading and was in the hall right beside that area.  I don't know if it was the new policy, location or what but bitz trading seemed significantly down this year.  Idk.