Hello All,
Continuing on in our series highlighting upcoming narrative events, we have a very special guest today. Ben was kind enough to take some time from planning the upcoming Warhammer Fantasy (WHFB) event at AdeptiCon 2022 to answer a few questions! This event has caught my eye as it is one of the first WHFB events I have heard of in a while.
1. Tell me a little about yourself, and the armies you play and events you have run.
So here is my brief backstory of my hobby: First started off with Warhammer 40k like most people in 2008, with brief breaks in between switching between different games. I didn’t start to really get involved with the hobby that much till 7th ed. Warhammer 40k, towards the end of the edition I was starting to look for other game systems.
I was living in Germany at the time when I decided to get into AoS 1.0 and started with the classic duardin range, enjoying the game for a bit. Now, I picked that army in part for the models but also as a joke with my friend, an die-hard fantasy player, that I may play his dead system one day with them. Jokes on me! I was just diving into 30k at the time and starting to grow tired of AoS due to the realization the range was never going to be expanded on and wanted more customization and detail games. After getting back in 2018, I was playing some DnD with some friend group, accidentally found out we had an interest with trying out fantasy and kinda dove head first from there….so never played fantasy when it was alive, actually to the point of making a jest of it and ignore it…like I said jokes on me.
I am currently into and collecting 25 different games systems, having only really played and gotten into 21, so been around the block a bit. As for fantasy armies, I play Dwarves, Empire, Ogres and Bretonnians with plans to eventually collect them all. As for events, most of my experience is helping out friends, running small events at flgs with 30k, fantasy and a now dead game called dust 1947. Haven’t run any con or gt events yet, with my first two planned forays actually supposed to be fantasy events at Indystorm and AdeptiCon in 2020 that were cancelled due to Covid. Now to be honest, they were most likely a blessing in disguise as I wasn’t ready both in full comprehension of the game or had enough terrain for tables, so AdeptiCon 2022 will be my trial by fire
2. It’s been a long time since Warhammer Fantasy has shown up at these big events, why now and what are you hoping to get out of this event?
Well why now? The reason goes back to 2019/2020, before we even knew that the Old World was coming back in some shape or form. I was getting into the game myself, saw little groups popping up and communities forming like Squarehammer, the Elector Counts and Mountain Gaming but didn’t see anyone willing to step up to host an event. So kinda was just like: eh if no one else was willing to step up to the plate, might as well take a crack at it myself. Honestly, what I am hoping to get out of this event is to light a fire under other people to come out from the wood works and start hosting events themselves, no matter if this event is a success or failure.
3. Also congrats on your tickets selling out quickly! Do you find there is much of a resurgence or demand for these events?
Thanks, I was a tad shocked but thrilled myself to see the demand was going strong. We sold the first 24 tickets and had a waiting list within a day! AdeptiCon allowed us 6 more slots which have been filling up as those on the waiting list got notified. I believe there has been a real resurgence of fantasy events the past 2 years going strong, only further building with the release of Total War Warhammer 3 and the Old World articles warhammer community has been releasing. People are more than ready to return at all levels from competitive to casual. A good example of this was the triple crown GT that is happening in the UK with 60+ people. So it’s not just a fluke with AdeptiCon. I hope that we can look to double our numbers next year, along with seeing other fantasy events or tournaments. A majority of the players this Adepticon that are actually new blood, with this being either their first fantasy event or first Con they have ever been to…so the future has some exciting prospects of a soon to be growing community.
4. You have described this as a team event, how does that impact your mission and event design approach as a TO?
Boy to be honest it has made my job a hell of a lot harder and required a ton of brainstorming with friends on how to figure out and execute it this year, while trying to balance complexity and narrative with simplicity to not scare people off. Our current system is designed to tell a story through easy numbers we take in from games, that way we can then break down to represent battles taking place over an area of land to show an overall grand campaign that is taking place. While we came up with the name Battle for the Badlands, boards are themed to take place in other far reaching areas to allow for other factions to feel at home kinda like a big total war warhammer game. I am hoping to improve the missions in the future through community feedback this year and continue down the rabbit hole of ideas later with additional playtesting. In the future I hope to include siege battles, reinforcement mechanics, unit experience and generals, just to name a few but didn’t want to spread too thin this year with too many ideas, possibly affecting the overall experience.
5. WHFB is rather infamous for its crazy combos and wonky rules, how are you going to balance the weird rules interactions while not over-complicating things?
Yep all too aware of its infamy from deathstars to army wiping spells, and have only attempted minor fixes to address some of the game mechanic issues. Some examples of these changes are allowing some saves to “save or die” spells, having riders give ward saves to their mounts (lets see more dragons) and lastly trying to solve the old train issue of 5 front, 10 deep unbreakable blocks that bogged down the game. This is in conjunction with every list being reviewed by 3-5 active fantasy players, well-versed in different armies, with the hope of mitigating the blatantly problematic combos by one of us catching them. In addition, there is a basic comp system that encourages additional core choices, while putting on additional limits to how many characters, artillery, flying units, etc you could bring. Lastly, hoping to encourage a more causal playstyle at the event by not having podium finishes as your fighting for your side not yourself and instead having awards around hobby and crazy events going on the battle, examples being who can get the most amount of miscasts/misfires, most characters slain or who can lose and kill the most amount of points total. Besides that our goal isn’t to fix all the crazy combos and wonky rules with another fan attempted rewrite of the rules everyone needs to relearn or a 15 page comp packet. Instead work with what we got and do our best to make it manageable, attempt to address its problems through the community and missions as the people remaining have a true love and passion for the game.
6. What is the story behind this event? Are there any narrative mechanics or new things you are especially excited about?
Our story is yet to be set in stone, with the goal of weaving a narrative through an event series that people feel like they had an impact on. What I am excited to see is the beginning of grudge matches between generals, the push and pull of order v destruction to see who will come out on top and how the map will change. I mentioned themed tables before and am really excited to show off what I came up with for them with players battling it out in dwarven holds, to the jungles of Lustria and the sands of Nehekhara, with many more. Looking to represent as many different factions tables as possible, while giving each a unique cinematic feel. At the end of the day though, what I am most excited about is seeing the return of the Old World back to the center stage, armies people bring and the grand battles that shall occur at AdeptiCon 2022.
Wow! That sounds amazing! Thank you again Ben, I can’t wait to see some pictures and hear how it goes!
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