AdeptiCon Talks

Carl from the Independent Characters sits down and talks with Jon Russell who will be spearheading the Warlord Games Demo efforts at AdeptiCon 2015. They discuss Jon's history with Warlord Games, plans for AdeptiCon, some of the interesting aspects of Bolt Action and Gates of Antares, and how to easily get into Bolt Action! Bolt Action events will be occuring in the Schaumburg Ballroom West all weekend long!

Carl from the Independent Characters sits down and talks with Craig Gallant of The D6 Generation! They discuss The D6 Generation’s involvement with AdeptiCon, the future of board gaming at AdeptiCon, the Sunday night board gaming extravaganza, what Craig has been playing lately and what games he is most looking forward to.Craig and Russ will both be at AdeptiCon, look for them near the board gaming area all weekend!

Carl from the Independent Characters sits down and talks with the our Guest of Honor, Andy Chambers! Once known as the “40K Overfiend”, Andy’s influence on Games Workshop’s universe is indisputable. Andy is a veteran writer and games designer with more than twenty five years experience in creating games dominated by giant robots, spaceships and dangerous aliens. 

Carl from the Independent Characters sits down and talks with the scurvy scalawags behind the pirate game to end all pirate games! Raid, trade, and, cannonade your way around this 800 SQ. FT. board collecting gold and infamy from a dozen Island locations. Beware! Ruthless Cannibals, a terrifying ghost ship and even the legendary Kraken stand ready to consume your crew and drag you to the depths!

We sit down with Jen Haley of Cool Mini or Not and the Crystal Brush to answer a few questions on how the event might work for new entrants.  New categories, new rules, online voting, miniature transportation, and encouragement are all giving in this episode.  So grab a brush and enjoy.

Spartan Games Firestorm Armada debuts at Adepticon 2015.  We sit down the the Organizers to get the lowdown.

Today Andrew gets to sit down with Alex Gonzales (lead Fantasy Organizer) and talk about the Warhammer Fantasy Championships event!

At the heart of Adepticon every year is the amazing volunteer corp that gives endless amounts of time for terrain, set up, tear down, and helps to keep the events we love going strong. We sit down with Jennifer Mehrstedt, the volunteer co-coordinator for Adepticon 2015, and her husband Chris to discuss the process of volunteering including, how can you help, what can be done to help, what you get in return for helping? So take a moment and listen, and we hope that you will be willing to join the Adepticon 2015 volunteer family.  If you are interested in assisting or just getting more information Jen can be reached via koz8248 at yahoo.com.

Adepticon Hobby Czars Chris Borer and Dave Pauwels sit down to discuss the slate of events for the new and improved hobby space at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center.  If you are interested in an early heads up on the instructors, classes, and the hobby area pull up a chair and join us for a chat about Adepticon 2015.

Teras is back this year to talk about Adepticon and his trips he provides via Geek Nation Tours. Geek Nation Tours has a long history with Adepticon and they offer such services as Exclusive first chance at purchasing your favorite events, preferred check-in, and the ability to meet people well known in the gaming industry (Such as representitives from Mantic Games, Cool Mini or Not, Out Law Miniatures, your favorite Pro Painters, and Podcast personalities). Be sure to check out this tour and others in full at:   http://www.geeknationtours.com/   or contact Teras Cassidy directly at:   headgeek@geeknationtours.com

Jasper and Guy from Wargames Soldiers and Strategy Magazine sit down with us this week to take a look at what a full spectrum historical hobby magazine looks like.  Themed issues, Online free content, and Youtube painting tutorials.  We have divided this interview up into two parts.  The week we dive into the results of the WSS Hobby poll, the various historical game systems, and how to get involved with the historical game scene.

Jasper and Guy from Wargames Soldiers and Strategy Magazine sit down with us this week to take a look at what a full spectrum historical hobby magazine looks like.  Themed issues, Online free content, and Youtube painting tutorials.  We have divided this interview up into two parts.  The first part is focused more on the actual magazine, Wargames Soldiers and Strategy.  Next week we dive into the results of the WSS Hobby poll, the various historical game systems, and how to get involved with the historical game scene.

Adepticon is the sum of a massive amount of moving parts.  Volunteers, Terrain makers, Organizers, Attendees, Vendors and much more.  Today we catch up to Alex Landing of Iron Heart Artisans, who helped Adepticon 2014 out in several of those categories.  We discuss Iron Heart as a company, talk about the contributions Iron Heart provided to the terrain efforts.  As well as discussing care and working with MDF terrain.

Part 4 of 4 from the Adepticon 2014 Industry Panel.

Part 3 of 4 from the Adepticon 2014 Industry Panel.

The second part of our four part Industry Panel from Adepticon 2014.

 There were many new events on the schedule for Adepticon 2014.  Adepticon talks decided to attend one in particular and record it for prosperity.  The Miniature Hobby Business Panel, which was the Brain child of Mr Justin McCoy of Secret Weapon Miniatures.  A one hour Q&A Panel bringing three of the great minds business minds present at Adepticon to one room to answer our questions on breaking into the business. Miniature Hobby Business Panel - Insider Perspectives Ronnie Renton - CEO of Mantic Games, Justin McCoy - President of Secret Weapon Miniatures and Iron Box Games, and Victoria Lamb of Victoria Lamb Miniatures, come together to field your questions on the miniature industry in this informal Q&A panel.These companies represent three different perspectives on the miniature market -- and can provide insight whether you're simply curious about the inner workings of the industry, or looking to get into the business yourself.   This is Part 1 of a 4 part recording of this panel.  If you found the panel to be of interest please reach out to Info@adepticon.org and let us know you would like to see more panels in the future.

We round out the Adepticon 2014 vendor hall interviews with three shorter intervies.  We start with Kevin Clark of Iron Box Games talking Angry Sheep and Skid Marks.  Iron Box Games is a brain child of Kevin as well as Justin McCoy of Secret Weapon. We then chat with James Hakola, Mr Dandy, well known for his resin models such as his Thunder Wolves, and various race specific defense lines.  Last but not least we turn to Outlaw Miniatures makers of the alternate Earth history game Wild West Exodus.  Adepticon is one of the first conventions we get to see the great resin models and amazing plastics produced by the very successful WWX kick starter. 

Sunday we caught up to Mr. Ronnie Renton of Mantic Games.  Mantic had been extremely busy over Adepticon, having brought several of the new Battlezone modular terrain kits, as well as Deadzone.  We discuss kickstarter, Mars Attacks, Kings of War, and look towards the future of Mantic Games.

It seems the hybrid board/miniature game Aetherium was one of the surprise hits from Adepticon 2014.  We sit down one last time with Brian, Chris and Vince while the Kickstarter has a few days left to go.  We chat about the Adepticon experience, what we can expect post Kickstarter, the next races, how we will be able to get the next factions, competitive vs casual play and a host of other topics.  So sit back and lets enter the Aetherium.

Spencer Reeve from Cool Mini stops by to talk about the Intro events for Wrath of Kings and Dark Age.  We get the scoop on Wrath of Kings, Cool Mini Expo and we touch base on the return of Confrontation!

Adepticon may be officially wrapped up and packed up for the 2014 season, Adepticon Talks isn't ready to go quietly.  We took time out of the convention to grab a handful of Vendors to share what cool things they hahd brought to the convention.    We open up with John Cadice, and Ross Thompson of Soda Pop/Ninja Division.  The guys had brought the demo set up for Relic Knights, the soon to be released Anime inpired game of amazing awesomeness!  As well as the pre-production models from the highly successful Super Dungeon Explore Kickstarter.  Then we turn to the man behind Secret Weapon Miniatures, and the brains behind Adepticons first industry panel, Mr Justin McCoy. 

Adepticon has been a miniature gaming convention for gamers, by gamers for the past 12 years.  Some great experiences, and great friendships have come out of the convention.  This year we get to see the beginnings of a game and gaming company was in part due to Adepticon.  Anvil Eight, and their miniature/board game Aetherium.  We sit down with Brian Niro and Chris Tavonatti to talk about the origins of Anvil Eight, as well as the game they are debuting via demos in the Harry Caray ballroom all weekend.  Be sure to stop in have a play through, redeem your swag bag coupon for your Aetherium miniature, and consider taking a look at  the Aetherium Kickstarter.  Above all be safe in your travels and we hope to see you all in Chicago inside one week!

Soda Pop Miniatures returns to Adepticon for another year.  Bringing the head to head awesomeness of Super Dungeon Explorer Arena to the events hall, and focusing on Relic Knights in the vendor area.  Deke Stella, and John Cadice sit down with us to bring us up to speed on the latest developments in Super Dungeon Explore, the Forgotten Kings kickstarter, the soon to be available Relic Knights, and just what is Ninja division anyways....

Planning on taking the whole family to Adepticon this year, your not the only one. Every year people make the trip as a family just like other conventions. Today Andrew brings on his wife Melissa Sherman to talk about how to plan the trip with the family in mind. Its important to keep balance of family and gaming and Melissa gives us some ideas to change Adepticon from being that darned "Spouses weekend get away" to a "Family Getaway".

Alex Kaempen joins us this episode to talk Catalyst Game Labs.  The world of Battletech returns to the Westin with two 'historical' events.  The Clans engage Comstar on the planet Tuykkid to determine the fate of Terra on Friday.  Saturday sees the World of Blake strike at Outreach, home of the mercenary company, and Clan recon team, Wolf's Dragoons.  Or if you have a bit of time during any of the four days of Adepticon 2014 there are two Catalyst Game Labs events worth looking into.  Both Battletech and Leviathans offer a way to learn the system and then take part in a convention long continuous event.  If thirty foot tall stompy robots, or 1910 era alternate earth history flying dreadnoughts are your cup of tea, check out the Catalyst Game Labs area at Adepticon 2014.

Today Andrew is joined by Mark Wildman and Gareth Peter Dicks from the Bad Dice Podcast. They are making their second trip to Adepticon and are here to share some trips for making the Trek from across the seas.

For this round of Adepticon Talks we take a look at two different game systems, one making it's return for the fourth year.  The other is making it's Adepticon Debut.  We start off with Infinity from Corvus Belli.  Infinity is running events all four days of Adepticon this year, and most of them working towards Infinity's global rankings.  We touch on the myth of the amount of Infinity Terrain, demos, and pick up games.   Then we turn our attention to Bushido, and we reached out to Toby Nathan of GCT studios to give a high level overview of the game, what sets Bushido apart, and the factions currently available.

In 1995 the world was introduced to the underhive of Necromunda.  Gangs fighting for archeotech, territory, and their very lives.  In 2014 the underhive returns to Adepticon in Necromunda by Night.  Jeremy Olsen sits down with us to discuss GW's first big box skirmish game.  How does the Adepticon model policy interact with this out of print game?  What is the plan for recreating the mass amounts of terrain needed to bring the underhive to Chicago?  Time to listen up as we talk, Necromunda by Night.

Today Andrew sits down with Joe Neet to talk about Mantic Games and their 2014 presence.

With a steam powered fury the gaming juggernaut Privateer Press returns to Adepticon bringing over 70 hours of primal gaming.  Privateer's own Lyle Lowrey joins us to help the uninitiated, but curious con goer negotiate the massive slate of events for Adepticon 2014.  Lyle touches on the differences in the various formats for the flagship games of Warmachine and Hordes, as well as new experiences like High Command.  Be sure to peek your head in on the Lilac room this year, as well as the Privateer Press convention store. 

Wish you could light up the barrels of your lascannons as they give surpression fire? Want your Dragon's mouth to light up as if it's emulating fire? Look no further than Powered Play Gaming for the help and products you need! Today Andrew gets to talk to Chris and Chris about the return of Powered Play Gaming to Adepticon. Powered Play Gaming is a company based on doing all sorts of electronic effects for your army/display boards. Check out their site at www.poweredplay.net 

Malifaux returns to Adepticon for it's 4th year, and we get a chance to catch up with Sean Overton, the new governor-general of Malifaux for Adepticon.  Sean takes us through the event listings, answers a few very important questions about how the Malifaux edition change and the Adepticon official model policy play together this year.  And remember everyone... Malifaux has Cake!

Today Mike Smith (Winner of WHFB Champs Best General 2013) joins Andrew to talk about his prep for Adepticon.

Cool Mini or Not has been a major contributor to Adepticon on the gaming side, the hobby aspect with Crystal Brush, as well as the CMON store.  We talk with Spenser Reeves about all CMON events listed on the current Adepticon webcart.  From the intro games of Wrath of Kings and Dark Age, to to 2014 special events Zombiecide and Sedition Wars.  There is all weekend long Kaosball, tournaments and for fun events in Rivet Wars, and Dark Age.  Spenser touches briefly on the CMON vendor area and what we can expect to find at the convention.  If your looking for more information on the Crystal Brush fear not!  Andrew will have a podcast covering that in the near future.

One of the standout things about Adepticon every year is the player created army displays. Whether you are chcking out 40k armies, Fantasy armies, or factions from any other gaming system, you can always fantastic displays. Today Andrew talks to Brandon Palmer from GMM Stuidios who is known for such projects as his Monty Python Ogres, and Rime of the Merchant Marrienburger. Brandon talks to us about how he comes up with ideas and gives some basic tips for creating displays.

Welcome to an Adepticon Talks double header.  Two up and coming miniature games with RPG leanings, One post apocalyptic and one sword and sorcery based.  We talk with Anton Zelinski of Hyacinth games to discuss Wreckage, and Adepticon volunteer work.  Then we turn our attention to John Cleaves and Freeblades.  Freeblades is also the chosen rule set for the historical gladiatorial and chariot racing at Adepticon 2014.  If you know a RPG friend who is looking to transition into the world of miniature gaming this might be the episode of Adepticon Talks for you. Freeblades - DGS Games Wreckage - Hyacinth Games

Warhammer Fantasy events are one of the main draws for attendees of every Adepticon and today we talk about the 2014 slate of events with Alex Gonzales 

Jamie Welling and Merle Delinger join us tonight to discuss the slate of Historical Events and Lord of the Rings at Adepticon.  We go over the slate of events discuss the current state of the Historical rules set with Warhammer Historicals being defunct since 2012.  We also talk about the Colosseum board being custom built for the chariot races and gladiatoral games.

Not sure how to go about planning your trip to Adepticon? Geek Nation Tours is here to help, they plan getaways for Geeks and their families and today Teras talks about Adepticon offers and plans. We also get a sneak peek at the other 2014 offers.

Have a desire to improve your painting?  Need just a little more confidence to get your conversion just the way you want?  Is your gaming table looking a tad bit bare?  Well never fear their is an Adepticon class that can help you in any of these fields and more!  Chris Borer and Dave Pauwels have managed to assemble on of the best line ups of instructors to assist in helping grow your hobby skills.  We also get a sneak peek at the free painting area completely new to Adepticon 2014.

Happy New Year Adepticon!  We start the Adepticon Talks count down to Adepticon by looking back at 2013 and forward to 2014 with Matthias Weeks and Hank Edley.  We get to talk with these two gentlemen about everything from the webcart, to Kickstarter, from hotels to charity.  We hope your ready, Adepticon Talks 2014 begins now.  The AdeptiCon Talks interviews are an ongoing discussion series with a wide variety of AdeptiCon attendees, staff, organizers and vendors. Conducted by Andrew Sherman and Mark Dieter. these 5-20 minute interviews will give you a quick insight into the motivations and machinations behind the fervor and fury that is AdeptiCon.

Kevin Clark of Cool Mini takes time out of his convention to spread the word of Wrath of Kings. 

We catch Editor in Chief of Ravage Magazine US, Bryan Steele, and discuss what is upcoming for the CMON magazine.  As well as the Crystal Brush, and the Cool Mini or Not Expo

Today we give you a double header of Privateer Press goodness right before Lock and Load 2013.  We start off talking with Matt Dipetrio about the classes he taught at Adepticon, and will be teaching at Lock and Load.  As well we get a tip on brush care.  We then talk with Lyle Lowrey about the 10th Anniversary of Warmachine and the exciting new projects being unveiled this year.

Ronnie Renton takes a moment to talk about Mantic Games and their newest Kickstarter project, DeadZone.

John Cadice of Ninja Division and Soda Pop miniatures takes a moment to tell us about the Robotech Kickstarter, update us on Relic Knights and talk the newest Super Dungeon Explorer expansion

Today Andrew Sherman is joined by Chris Michaels COO of Powered play gaming. Powered Play Gaming are sponsoring the 40K Adepticon Championships this year and as it is Chris's first year attending the event, we talk about the build up. Powered Play Gaming is a new company which sells special effects kits for miniatures. You'll be able to find them in the Vendor Hall by the Cool Mini or Not booth and dont forget to check out their kickstarter - Powered Play - Modeling leaved the Dark ages located at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/79084871/modeling-leaves-the-dark-ages 

Tectonic Craft Studios is one of Adepticon's newest sponsors.  Dan Cotrupe gets on the air with us this evening to share how the company was formed and bring us up to speed after his very successful Kickstarter.  We look forward to seeing what Tectronic Craft Studios can bring to Adepticon and introducing another amazing company to the Adepticon Faithful.

Today Andrew Sherman is joined by James Wappel and he talks about his prep for Adepticon and the event as a whole.

Ken has a chance to sit with reigning Adepticon 2012 Warmaster Brad Chester. Discussions include,  how the changes in edition, the addition of a fourth day and the latest codex coming in before the cut off date affect high level players.