Adepticon 2023 is going to be a big event for Firelock Game this year! Running from Wednesday, March 22nd through Sunday, March 26th at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel, Adepticon is one of the finest wargaming conventions in the US. Celebrating it’s 20th year in 2023, the convention promises to surpass last year’s attendance of 6000.
The Firelock crew will be at Adepticon in force and rumor has it plenty of Firelock fans and content creators will be there as well! If you are able to attend, watch for Mike Tunez, Firelock’s main man, Rufus Devane, designer of Blood & Valor & skilled mercenary painter, Dexter Heide, terrain crafter and painter extraordinaire, Jason Klotz of Timber & Sail, Tyler Stone from The Dead Man’s Chest, many of the Blood & Plunder Quartermasters, and myself (Joseph), representing Blood & Pigment this year.
Firelock will be hosting a wide variety of events for Blood & Plunder, Oak & Iron, and Blood & Valor at Adepticon this year. Blood & Pigment and Timber & Sail are privileged to be managing the Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron events at Adepticon this year. Jason Klotz and myself (Joseph) will be organizing these events and running with the assistance of some of the Quartermasters.
All Blood & Plunder (and Oak & Iron and Blood & Valor) events will be held in the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg hotel in the Mahogany Room.
Blood & Plunder Demos & Open Play – Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 1pm-4pm
Tables will be open for casual play and demos in the afternoon of each of the 3 main days of the convention. There are 16 spots for each of these sessions and they all filled up fast! But we’re hoping there’s extra tables and we can accommodate more players so don’t hesitate to come by! There will be 2-3 people ready to run demos and walk through the rules in each of these sessions as well. Please come by if you’re interested in trying the game out for the first time or getting a refresher on the flow of a game. Even if you didn’t get a ticket, come by and we’ll be happy to help if a teacher is available!
Firelock and several Quartermasters and community are planning to provide mats and terrain so you should be able to just sit down and play! We will have a number of loaner armies available to demo with as well.
Demos at Historicon 2022.
If you plan on attending and have a mat and terrain, land or sea, you could bring, we could use a bit more so we can 8 boards ready to go all of the time.
Blood In the Water – Multiplayer Sea Scenario
Thursday, March 23, 6-10pm
Pirate fleet assemble! A Spanish payroll galleon has been sighted with a weak escort! A successful attack will mean Spanish gold for all. Firelock Games, BloodandPigment.com, and TimberAndSail.com are teaming up to host a large multiplayer Blood & Plunder sea battle open to all. New player friendly. Bring a 100-200 point sea force if possible. Spanish/French forces vs Pirate/English/Dutch with Natives on either side. 6-10 players. Multiple tables available.
This is the epic Sea Game of the week! The plan is to have 2-3 Spanish/French players in larger Galleons & Fluyts defend against 3-5 players using smaller Pirate, English and Dutch ships. We have 16 people registered for the event with 2 tables devoted, but it’s possible to split it out to 3 tables and 21 players if the space allows.
The Attackers will use forces around 200 points (it could be your Tournament force) as various Pirate, English, Dutch or Unaligned factions while the Defenders, representing the French/Spanish alliance during Queen Anne’s War could be anything from 150-400 points.
Ideally, we could have 4 attacking forces of 200 points, against something like a 400 point galleon, a 250 point Fluyt, and a 150 point escort ship.
This game session will utilize modified Army Scale rules for ease and speed of game play. One player will be elected Commander on each time. They alone will draw and play activation cards and each player on their team will activate one of their units with that card. (“Simultaneous Activation in Army Scale” from this post on Dead Man’s Chest).
If you’re registered for this event, or interested in joining, please fill out this form and we’ll be able to get games organized faster! If you want to play as Natives or a Unaligned Force, you can select either team.
This event will be new player friendly and we will have a number of loaner forces available. Please indicated if you’d like to borrow a force in the “Force Builder Link” field if you won’t have a force of your own for this event.
Plunder on the Sand – Multiplayer Amphibious Scenario
Saturday, March 25th, 9am-12pm
Summer hurricanes have destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet and scattered 7 million pieces of eight along the Florida coast. Spanish salvage crews and English privateers rush to claim an easy prize. Large, multiplayer Blood & Plunder game open to all. Amphibious scenario with Spanish & allies defending treasure on a coastline while English & allies attack from the sea in ships and boats. 6 players per table, multiple tables available. Hosted by Firelock Games, BloodandPigment.com, and TimberAndSail.com.
We have 3 tables reserved for this event. With 18 people registered, we’re planning on 3 Army Scale games of 6 players, 3 per side. In this game, the pirates will be sailing in to land on the beach and grab salvaged treasure tokens while the Spanish will be doing their best to keep what they have rightfully stolen!
If you intend to play as Spanish/French Defenders, bring a ~200 point land list. If you’re intending to play as Pirates/Dutch/English, bring a ~200 point sea list, preferably with only boats. Again, we will have loaner forces available.
If you’re registered for this event, it would really help if you let us know what you’re planning to play so we know what to prepare for loaner forces etc.
We’re in real need of players willing to bring big ships like the Galleon, Fluyt and 6th Rate Frigate for this event! If you have a big ship and can bring it to the convention, please do!
Blood & Plunder Sea Tournament
Friday, March 24th, 5pm-10pm
The “main attraction!” This will be the only competitive Blood & Plunder at Adepticon. There are still a handful of the 24 spots left for this event as of the writing of this post. This is a 200 points, 3 round, Swiss style sea Tournament.
If you’re registered for the tournament, please share your force with us so we can confirm it’s all legal and good to go so there’s no surprises (don’t worry, we won’t leak you’re top secret power force). This is also a new player friendly event and loaner forces will be available!
Final Thoughts
Adepticon should be awesome this year! The Raise the Black Kickstarter has finally been delivered (in America), there are new lists to explore, and there should be a lot of players present! We’re looking forward to meeting you all, playing some games, and having a great time!
If you have any questions regarding the events listed here or would like to assist or provide ships and terrain, don’t hesitate to contact us or Firelock directly.
For details on the Oak & Iron events at Adepticon, visit TimberandSail.com.
