Like the title says, thanks to my dad living about 20 minutes away from the tournament location there is a better than good chance I will be playing in the Warhammer Fantasy Championship at Adepticon this year. There are some pros and cons with Adepticon that I want to think out loud about.
Pros:
1. Cost. I can stay at my dad's house, a mere 20 minutes from the tournament site. No hotel, no rental car, no paying for meals besides at the event. Due to these savings, Adepticon will end up costing a few hundred bucks less than going to any other GT outside of my state.
2. One day event. Having the event wrap up on a single day, a Saturday, is great. Part of my rationale for attending is I can treat it as a visit to see my family on Friday and Sunday with a tournament in the middle. If I was stuck at the tournament site for 3 consecutive days I probably wouldn't have much interest.
3. It's big. Adepticon is, as far as I'm aware, the biggest GT on the circuit in terms of gaming and also vendors, demos, and exhibitions. I'll also get a chance to meet a lot of the folks whose blogs I read regularly and put names to faces. So between being the social butterfly that I am, plus the swag opportunities, the non-gaming portion should be fun too.
Cons:
1. Battlepoints. Every sane person knows Win/loss events are superior. Heck, I believe the Adepticon 40k event is Win/loss now. So why is the Fantasy event stuck in seal clubbing land? I don't hold any notion that I'll be going undefeated, but on the extreme outside chance that I do, I'd hate to lose best general to someone because I didn't beat down any seals I faced badly enough.
2. Soft-scores. My army will be fully painted and based, so I'll at least get average paint scores. I'm not a dickhead with people I play (to my own detriment sometimes since I'm very forgiving) so I assume I'll get good sportsmanship scores. But it really does irk me that even on the outside chance that I go unbeaten I have no way of winning the tournament because I'm not a pro painter. I know 'Best General' is the real prize for me to shoot for, but it absolutely blows knowing that I was eliminated from winning the actual tournament before a single dice was cast.
3. 2,200 point armies. What a bizarre point limit. Does anyone play this amount as their standard game size? 2,000 points is common. 2,500 is common. Heck, even 2,250 is fairly standard. I've not heard of any LGS where 2,200 was standard. I've said it before, but the way Fantasy scales with percentile composition and limited Rare and Special choices means that the armies that dominate at 2,000 are very different than the ones that dominate at 2,500. 2,200 is odd because you can't scale down a 2,500 point list, and using a stock 2,000 point list with a random 200 points bolted on is usually bad. Testing for a whole new point level than what I'm used to will be more time consuming than playing a "known" format. One possible mitigating factor is any losses I take I will almost certainly be able to blame on the points level rather than my own personal shortcomings.
If I had to guess, a 2k list scaled up will be better than a 2.5k scaled down. Hydras and Chariots?
Best of luck attending.
ReplyDeleteBeing 20 minutes from you is awesome. For me it's always the distance and cost that keeps me from these events.
I'm no Fantasy player but yeah, 2,200 is an odd choice but I'm sure they have a specific reason for it. Something that makes sense to them at least. I'm with you on all you cons actually.
North Star was 2200 as well.
ReplyDeleteThe internet rumor for the 2200 point total saw to not allow dual-steam tanks.
ReplyDeleteNo, I am not kidding. Dual Steam Tank is apparently the bane of all 8th edition lists, since no one can take fire as a lore.
Wow if that's true that's so sad. I remember how awesome those dual steam tank lists did at 'Ard Boyz... oh wait.
ReplyDeleteThe official reason is to ensure that you have enough time to get your full games in, which they did not think you could do at 2400 or 2500.
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of griping on the Adeptus Windy City Forums, which is the group that runs Adepticon, about how broken Dual Steam Tanks were at 2400+.
Awesome man! I'll be there, grinding away at the 40k championships/team tournament. It would be cool to meet you, and see how you do at the Fantasy event! Adepticon was fun enough last year, though their tournament format kind of (read: REALLY REALLY) annoyed me. Looks like the change from Battle Points to W/L is going to be superior though :)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, you have my vote to go to Adepticon :)