Ready for Adepticon

Adepticon is three days away and as I was packing up my army I thought about how much things have changed since the last time I went to a major tournament. The last major event I went to was the first fantasy 'ard boyz final. The new deamon book had just come out and they were so over the top I figured I had little chance of placing but I still planned out my army, played test games, owned all the codees, wrote up opposing lists, did internet searches, read all the books, aka did my homework. This is what I did prior to tournaments. I ended up getting 7th which I think was a great finish for high elves and walked away with two big army boxes as prizes for being the first to complete objectives.)

I've always taken what I had and usually avoid the gimmick armies, such as million+ invincible eldar skimmer in 3rd edition and tried to make powerful army that would get decent comp scores. Instead I did my homework, practiced, knew what to expect and it tended to work out. Fast forward to today. I'm preparing to go to Adepticon. The main event is the team tournament. I'm bringing an army list that I have never actually played, pairing it up with three other armies that I have never played with or against. I haven't opened opposing codexes, let alone own them. And I'm ok with that. I'm there to play some games with some friends. If we do well great, if not whatever. That isn't to say I'm not interested in the results but I'm there to enjoy the games rather than the tournament.

For the fantasy event, I took my wood elves. I've only played a couple games of 8th edition so I have no idea what is good in fantasy anymore other than "wood elves aren't." However the new army comp rules allow for some interesting options. The biggest being the possible inclusion of a level 4 wizard. Wood elf magic sucks but their lord level casters have access to two excellent lores, Life and Beast. Now this presents some dilemmas. 1) I need to decide which lore to take: Life or Beast 2)Do I take a naked level 4 or a level 3 with some protection? 3)Do you even need magic in a 1000 points? (probably when nothing in your army gets a save vs. magic). Now I did play a game but that game was mostly focused on learning the rules rather than testing. I also went back to a forum I use to be active on to see what the current thinking was but ended up taking the models that I liked the looks of the best rather than those that are actually good. I think I have a decent army (it would have wrecked at 1,000 points in 7th edition but is significantly worse in 8th.)

I'm not sure that I am ready to do what the guys at Dark Future Games are doing. But I do know the events that I am looking forward to the most are the least competitive. I really wish that I had signed up for two Kilzone events as the games I've played so far have been a ton of fun and not the seemingly more competitive Combat Patrol on Sunday. I don't think there are significant prizes associated with any of the events which is fine with me.

I'm actually looking forward to going which is a bit of a surprise because I've never been impressed with their attitude. Things like the Gladiator and their FAQ (and the attitude that goes with it) have been very off-putting. I'm hoping that by avoid the main events and concentrating on the side events I can avoid most of the WAAC-ness that you here about.