AdeptiCon Historicals 2023 Preview

By Michael Rafferty

AdeptiCon is back! After a triumphant return last year, the premier wargaming convention is back in Schaumburg, Illinois.

AdeptiCon continues to grow year after year, with new events and larger existing events. Wizards of the Coast will be in attendance this year with their new game Onslaught. No longer contained by only the Marriott Renaissance, the Hyatt Regency will again host several events. Historical events like Bolt Action and Flames of War will be there again, but we welcome A Song of Ice and Fire and Lord of the Rings to the growing AdeptiCon presence at the Hyatt.

But you didn’t come here to read about how we’re growing. You want to know what’s going to be run at the con! Battlefront will be hosting a one-day Mid-War National tournament. This will be a four-round event at 100 points held on Thursday.

The new dynamic points system will be used, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Battlefront will also be hosting a two-day Team Yankee National tournament. This will be a five-round event at 115 points held over Friday and Saturday.

New this year will be a World of Tanks tournament on Saturday. This will be a five-round 200-point tournament. If you’re not signed up already, you can register at the door for these events.

Bolt Action is growing rapidly at AdeptiCon and the tournaments are all nearly sold out. Combat Patrol kicks things off Thursday evening with a three-round 450-point tournament. The doubles tournament is Friday, with a 1400-point combined list over three-rounds. The theme of both of these events is “The Rising Tide 1939-1940” but it is not required to follow this theme. Friday also sees a Bolt Action Korea event where you can learn to play Bolt Action Korea from one of the authors.

The standard Bolt Action tournament is on Saturday with a 1250-point tournament with an enforced early war theme. Finally, Warlord is running a con-long Combined Arms campaign. The board will be set up with several nearby tables for a weekend-long campaign. This is designed to have pickup play, so feel free to stop by and play a game. I might even stop by with my 7^th Armoured Cromwell Platoon to give the Axis a few victories.

Saga returns with a slate of tournaments and open-play events. This year the Saga organizers are hosting four Grand Melee events. Thursday sees the Age of Antiquity tournament and Friday the Age of Magic tournament. AdeptiCon is known for its team events and Saga will be hosting an Age of Melee doubles event. Finally, the Age of Vikings tournament is on Sunday this year.

We have a few groups running event games this year along with several individuals. The Lard America guys return with an expanded slate of Too Fat Lardies games including Infamy, Infamy!, Sharpe’s Practice, Chain of Command, and What a Tanker held throughout the weekend.

My own group, The Nerds of War, is trying something new this year. Friday will be “Guadalcanal Day” where we are running three games all themed around Guadalcanal. We’re running a Blood Red Skies air battle in the morning simultaneously with a Victory at Sea fight re-enacting the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The side winning these games will provide some effects in an afternoon game of Bolt Action. This is the first time we’ve tried something like this and if it works we have some ideas for linked games for 2024.

The Nerds of War will also be running some traditional stand-alone games. We’re running MiG Alley with the Lead Pursuit guys on Thursday. We’re also trying a Battletech-style grinder event with Blood Red Skies in our Furball Friday night. This is going to be a social event with all models provided. I’ll be there trying to drink like Churchill while flying a B-29 around the board.

Finally, we are ruining Day 2 of Gettysburg in Black Powder Epic Scale. I’m a huge fan of the epic American Civil War models made by Warlord and ever since they were released, I’ve been wanting to run a game with them. We’re going to do the fighting around the Peach Orchard, Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, and Little Round Top. The models are just about finished and the board is under construction, but we’re very excited to show this off. Expect a battle report in the near future.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the con. Come say hi if you’re at the Hyatt, I’ll be walking around with a variety of historical-themed shirts on slightly tipsy most of the weekend, just as Churchill would have wanted.