Adepticon is done

[rosco60559]

So the convention is over, any thoughts from those that attended?

[Alpha 11]

Yes, please, pictures and video if possible!

[rosco60559]

the only video I found was a quick tour of the vendors sunday morning and 1/2 way through the lady goes and here's robotech, mentioned the tourney from Saturday and keeps going. when they showed the booth rpg books were front and center. I made it up to the con around 2/230 placed a forge world order and got back into warzone. dropped by pb's booth checking out the figs in the case and wasn't acknowledged, kevin was packing something up and wayne was staring at his phone. i didn't bother sticking around, had a bunch of resin figs to take home and prep for build/painting.

[Forar]

From what I've heard elsewhere, apparently there were 9 attendees for the tournament. People keep saying a "ringer" joined but that's not quite the term I'd use, assuming an MA or someone associated with the tournament joined in to even out the numbers so all 9 got to play and nobody got stuck with a 'bye'.

According to those discussions, apparently all but 1 player fielded Zentraedi forces, and the one RDF player was rocking a pile of Destroids, not a VT to be seen on the field.

Hopefully there'll be more in depth info shared in the coming days, and ideally some pics/videos to go with it.

[Alpha 11]

From what I've heard elsewhere, apparently there were 9 attendees for the tournament. People keep saying a "ringer" joined but that's not quite the term I'd use, assuming an MA or someone associated with the tournament joined in to even out the numbers so all 9 got to play and nobody got stuck with a 'bye'.

According to those discussions, apparently all but 1 player fielded Zentraedi forces, and the one RDF player was rocking a pile of Destroids, not a VT to be seen on the field.

Hopefully there'll be more in depth info shared in the coming days, and ideally some pics/videos to go with it.

That is kind of sad. Hopefully we get some info, and it at least got a crowd of people to watch and get interested. Though it is just starting out, so I guess having only 10 people play would be understandable.

[Veritas]

I put up some pics in this thread: http://robotechrpgtactics.boards.net/post/2852/thread

[Forar]

To be fair, the game just started hitting US homes 5-6 months ago, and there is a LOT to build and paint even just to barely hit 300 points, let alone also getting in dozens of games to really get a feel for the system and tweak ones force to fit a preferred playstyle. Sometimes things just don't quite work out as we'd like.

I think Gencon will be a more fair representation, based on global distribution, a much larger attendance base (I think Adepticon's population is measured in 1,000's, Gencon's is over 100,000) and around half a year or more for most people to have built figures, painted and played if they felt so inclined.

Now, if only 9 people show up to that one...

[rosco60559]

forar, hate to disagree but when it's talked up and hyped then not even half show for the tourney it doesn't look good. pushing rpg books over the mini's game at a wargame con once again doesn't look good.

[Axoid]

GENCON attendance is more like 30,000, but miniatures is a smaller subset of that. I would figure a RRT tournament at GENCON would probably attract 20 people.

[Forar]

GENCON attendance is more like 30,000, but miniatures is a smaller subset of that. I would figure a RRT tournament at GENCON would probably attract 20 people.

Actually, according to Gencon:

Last year, Gen Con reached all-new attendance records with a weekend turnstile attendance of 184,699 and unique attendance of 56,614.

So, yeah, vastly more than 30,000.

Adepticon doesn't seem to publish their numbers, but from everything I've read, I'd be shocked if they had more than a couple thousand unique attendees.

@Rosco: I never said it looked good. I simply think it's not that big a deal this early on. Whether or not that's the case remains to be seen, but I don't think much can be definitively said until at least Gencon 2015, and probably Adepticon 2016/Gencon 2016 to really round out how dedicated people are.

The number of small leagues/store tournaments will be forever vague at best, so these kinds of events give us at least a glimpse as to progress in terms of market penetration.

But the description of the booth and half of the attendees not showing (after people lauded how quickly those tickets were snapped up)? No, that isn't very good at all.

[Alpha 11]

I put up some pics in this thread: http://robotechrpgtactics.boards.net/post/2852/thread

Thanks for the pictures!

GENCON attendance is more like 30,000, but miniatures is a smaller subset of that. I would figure a RRT tournament at GENCON would probably attract 20 people.

Actually, according to Gencon:

Last year, Gen Con reached all-new attendance records with a weekend turnstile attendance of 184,699 and unique attendance of 56,614.

So, yeah, vastly more than 30,000.

Adepticon doesn't seem to publish their numbers, but from everything I've read, I'd be shocked if they had more than a couple thousand unique attendees.

@Rosco: I never said it looked good. I simply think it's not that big a deal this early on. Whether or not that's the case remains to be seen, but I don't think much can be definitively said until at least Gencon 2015, and probably Adepticon 2016/Gencon 2016 to really round out how dedicated people are.

The number of small leagues/store tournaments will be forever vague at best, so these kinds of events give us at least a glimpse as to progress in terms of market penetration.

But the description of the booth and half of the attendees not showing (after people lauded how quickly those tickets were snapped up)? No, that isn't very good at all.

No, it don't sound good, but this is only the first one. Let's give it a little more time.

[Mike1975]

Palladium NEEDS to play and learn and engage with RRT and RRT players and not treat it like another feather in their caps.

[McPherson]

Very true Mike.
Having some experience being a booth worker at Gencon and the like (before returning to the UK and working several booths at several local UK cons) and the most important thing is generating buzz and hype for the product, and you do that by engaging the audience.

Obviously I wasn't anywhere near Adapticon and I have to give PB the benefit of the doubt and say that the reports of Wayne and Kevin being disinterested and distant were either freak occurrences or biased(or simply a case of being tired after being on their feet all day). If they are true however they either need to step up their game at the next con they are at or do what some companies do and call in volunteers from their fan base (the MA's would be a prime resource here) to help generate the excitement and buzz, run mini-demos at their booth, talk up the product with punters and generally sell up the stuff.

What has me genuinely worried however is not so much the poor tournament turnout (lets face it RRT is still relatively young people may not have armies ready yet) but the fact all the armies that showed up seemed to be Zentradi, does this speak to a inherent imbalance in the game? I've only recently got my RRT stuff being in the UK and haven't played any games yet so I don't know from experience, can anyone with more game hours weigh in on this? Why did the Zentradi have such a massive following when lets face it the UEDF (Especially the Valks) are meant to be the hero's of the game, the poster boys (the space marines to use GW lingo)?

- End of Line -

[Morgan Vening]

What has me genuinely worried however is not so much the poor tournament turnout (lets face it RRT is still relatively young people may not have armies ready yet) but the fact all the armies that showed up seemed to be Zentradi, does this speak to a inherent imbalance in the game? I've only recently got my RRT stuff being in the UK and haven't played any games yet so I don't know from experience, can anyone with more game hours weigh in on this? Why did the Zentradi have such a massive following when lets face it the UEDF (Especially the Valks) are meant to be the hero's of the game, the poster boys (the space marines to use GW lingo)?

We obviously need to hear from the participants as to why, but given the game's infancy, I doubt it'd be because of a points imbalance. My first guess would be the simplicity of assembly. Going from the old, outdated KS listed points (so there might be some variation), an 80 pt Regult formation is 9+Glaug. A Valk Squadron of the same cost is 4 Valks. The one player who played used only Destroids get 4 as well, which ranks in at ~70pts.

The Valks requiring 12 miniatures, 8 of which (G/B) are at least as hard as the Destroids, is a significant amount more work than either other option. Add in that the Zen are relatively basic to paint (lots of solid area, most detail easy to pick out), and no need to try and detail match three separate figures. With the Adepticon restriction on requiring paintjobs, and with the Zen being the easiest to assemble AND paint, I'm not surprised a majority took what was easier.

With some more time, and maybe a lesser painting restriction (I know that's anathema to some), the next tourney should be a little more varied. And that's likely when we'll start seeing if there are any balance issues.

[Mike1975]

Very true Mike.
Having some experience being a booth worker at Gencon and the like (before returning to the UK and working several booths at several local UK cons) and the most important thing is generating buzz and hype for the product, and you do that by engaging the audience.

Obviously I wasn't anywhere near Adapticon and I have to give PB the benefit of the doubt and say that the reports of Wayne and Kevin being disinterested and distant were either freak occurrences or biased(or simply a case of being tired after being on their feet all day). If they are true however they either need to step up their game at the next con they are at or do what some companies do and call in volunteers from their fan base (the MA's would be a prime resource here) to help generate the excitement and buzz, run mini-demos at their booth, talk up the product with punters and generally sell up the stuff.

What has me genuinely worried however is not so much the poor tournament turnout (lets face it RRT is still relatively young people may not have armies ready yet) but the fact all the armies that showed up seemed to be Zentradi, does this speak to a inherent imbalance in the game? I've only recently got my RRT stuff being in the UK and haven't played any games yet so I don't know from experience, can anyone with more game hours weigh in on this? Why did the Zentradi have such a massive following when lets face it the UEDF (Especially the Valks) are meant to be the hero's of the game, the poster boys (the space marines to use GW lingo)?

- End of Line -

Problem is not game balance or anything, it's much simpler than that. After having assembled a full BC all by myself I can tell you that you can do an entire Zen force in half the time it takes to build a UEDF one. Then the requirement right out the gate that they all be painted puts an even harder damper on things, not everyone has that one simple thing in sufficient quantity to use it all putting together and painting models....time.

[tdumontelle]

I played in the tournament at Adepticon and I had a great time. The organizers were people from my regular gaming group. There were 18 signed up and paid, but only 9 showed. The tournament was scheduled at the same time as the Bolt Action Singles tournament, which is very popular, so I think we lost some there (thinking if someone had a conflict they would drop the $5 event). The TO was pretty flexible with the gaming, taking in to account that for many (including myself) these were the first games they got to play. It was a lot of learning the rules as a group and was organized with fun in mind and not blood thirsty power gaming victory. Kevin from Palladium was there and was getting a lot of input and feedback from the players.

Yes! LOL it was all Zentradi. Many said that Zentradi was all that they could be sure to assemble on time. For me, I thought everyone would be playing good guys, so I took Zentradi to balance (smacking forehead). The good thing was that trying to learn the rules when both teams have the same stats etc helped with learning.

So in the end, I paid 5 bucks to enter: I didn't win any catagories, but I walked away with extra order tokens, a destroid, a missle battle pod (or two), three regular battlepods, one or two Valkaries (all three modes), like 7 GHQ 6mm buildings, and one wooden 15 story building. Palladium offered a 25% discount to attendies for booth purchases. I had my first three games and they were all a blast and I met some others who were into RPG tactics. A good start for an new game system.

For now...I must paint more Valkaries!!

BTW: Painted models is an Adepticon policy. Three color minimum plus base.

[McPherson]

Well if its just the case that the pods are much quicker to assemble and paint (I agree with this statement, I'm getting through 3 pods in the time it takes me to do 1 destroid/battloid) then as time progresses things should balance out hopefully.

- End of Line -

[Forar]

Not for nothing, but also keep in mind that a Battlepod has a fairly simple paint scheme. Any effort at all to keep a VT's paint scheme consistent between all 3 modes is going to be a whole series of headaches.

I'm not saying that everyone is slaving at their Guardians for hours here, but the old RRT forums used to have a 'part per mode' comparison for this exact reason.

I'm sure many people don't give a crap, but for those invested enough in miniatures games to make the trek to Adepticon, I'd expect them to be higher on the 'giving a crap' scale.

And without knowing their hours, and respecting that they aren't necessarily young men, I will say that needing to be 'on ones A-Game' for a whole day at a convention is indeed taxing, but that's what makes it all the more important. When I worked a convention last weekend, I was at the center for 9am, we started set up at 10am, finished around 1pm, I fiddled with things for another hour, took an hour off, spent an hour or so getting into costume, and then from 4pm to 9pm did all I could to promote the company/product at the booth. And then on Saturday I did so from 10am to 7pm; 9 hours straight on my feet (costume made it impossible to sit down without shedding like half of it), and then again from noon to 5pm on Sunday, followed by a couple hours to tear everything down, load it and get out of there. And I strove to be as awesome to people at 5pm on Sunday as I was at 4pm on Friday.

Long story short; working a booth isn't just showing up. It involves being engaging, knowledgeable, funny, friendly, knowing when to back off and how to do so without putting people off entirely (a 'missed sale' on one day might be a return customer the next).

Again, I wasn't there, I don't know how accurate that all is, and if we're charitable maybe that was the only 5 or 10 minutes Wayne and Kevin were anything but A++ promoters of RRT and PB.

But I wanted to present some context from someone else that has started doing larger conventions over the last few years, and working a booth is a mix of retail, stand up comedy, philosopher, and untold other hats at any given moment. And that's selling something people LOVE to them for $5-50. Trying to sell them on a game that could run them hundreds or even thousands as the years go by pushes that even further.

[tdumontelle]

I am assembling my second group of 4 Valks. Now that I know how to line up the matching arms, elbows, and weapons correctly, I was able to assemble two Battleoids in about an hour and a half.

[Veritas]

Adepticon doesn't seem to publish their numbers, but from everything I've read, I'd be shocked if they had more than a couple thousand unique attendees.

I just got the email with attendance results; Adepticon had over 2,500 attendees, a record breaker for the event. Compared to GENCON's 56,000, yea it's small potatoes, but since it far more strongly emphasizes miniatures tournaments, I'd say it's a good judge of how things will show in the future. Robotech will always be a niche of a niche (like Battletech), but perhaps the upcoming Robotech live-action movie will garner more fans and players. Can only hope!

[Forar]

Sure.

In 2020 when it finally comes out. (and even that's probably overly optimistic)

[rosco60559]

remember that's 2500 that paid and registered for events, no telling how many more were there to shop in the vendor hall, hang out with friends, jump into pick up games or participate in the Friday/Saturday night swap meets.

also keep in mind adepticon and the adeptus windy city was completely gw only. when both started it was started by the Chicago area gw demo guys

tdumontelle, where about is you're group from? is it around Chicago? I keep trying to find a group talking to a few local shops and got nothing.

as for the movie, i'll believe it when it hits theaters.

[tdumontelle]

Our group is centered around Chicago and the burbs. It originally centered around Bilbo's Birthday Bash LOTR tournament, but many of our members are now doing Bolt Action (Operation Sting Tourney). We don't have a main store we game at, but I think some go to Draxtar. I go to Games Plus sometimes but it is far away from me. Our members actively post on Adeptus Windy City boards.

[rosco60559]

tdumontelle, thanks for the info, might be easier finding a game now I know where to look for you guys. I post as rosco over on awc. i'll probably post something up looking for a game after easter.

[Veritas]

I'm over there too. Excellent!

[Maxgravity]

Some where, on some board, someone posted a photo of RRT armories from Adepticon including a Zent force with candy green regults. Does anyone have a link to that page?

-MaxGrav