As you may have noticed via all our social posts, the team and I spent last weekend in Schaumburg, Illinois for AdeptiCon, one of the leading wargaming conventions in North America. It was my first time going, so I didn’t know quite what to expect, but the weekend turned out to be chock-full of adventures and friends.
Our trip kicked off with an evening Games Workshop studio preview where we had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at what the team has planned for the upcoming year. We’re not big on #spoilers but they announced the rollout of a new game called Shadespire and discussed ways in which they were going to become more community-focused, even adding tools created by fans to their site. All of the updates were received with hearty cheers, so they’re all things fans seem to be particularly excited about.
The next day the convention opened, where Andrew, community member Matt from Pop Goes the Monkey, and I manned the Shapeways booth. It was exciting to see all of the prep we’d done for the convention ready and in use. The terrain displays looked incredible (more on that in a future post!) and it was great being able to speak with everyone from existing Shapeways customers to people who hadn’t yet heard about us. Giving people the opportunity to see the bits Matt had designed in real life was exciting because it’s the ultimate “ah-ha” moment that you don’t necessary have when looking at something online. Seeing people astounded at the quality of the prints was definitely one of my favorite parts of the convention.
As for the second part of our crafting day, my cosplay also fit right in — I even found some cosplay twins at the Eagle Ordinary booth! It’s always inspiring to see the ways in which other people create their cosplay. It was a good reminder that there’s always so much room for improvement!
We also had a great time interviewing some of the cosplayers around the convention including Christine Yoo Millar who was dressed as a Sister of Battle to match her army. Her armor was comprised of foam and 3D printed PLA embellishments — from symbols like the Fleur-de-Lis to her intricate high heels! While Christine has made 34 costumes, she’d never won a contest (which is BANANAS) so we were beyond thrilled to witness her winning Best In Show at Adepticon 2017’s cosplay contest.
Also of note were the orc rock band called Da Gof Rockerz who were kind enough to enquire if I “wanted to be killed” when I requested a photo with them. Apparently they actually play gigs, so keeping my fingers crossed that I’m able to catch one of their shows soon.
Throughout the convention, Andrew and Matt also had the opportunity to sit down for some podcast recordings with the BeerThralls team, Forge the Narrative, and Combat Phase. We also had a chance to hang out with some other great folks like Uncle Atom of Tabletop Minions, Teri from ThatTeriGirl and Mark Z of Dice Tower.
For more in-depth coverage of AdeptiCon, we’d suggest reading the recaps written by our new friends over at SpikeyBits!
Have I mentioned how excited I am for next year?
