This part of a brief, personal series on my experiences at Adepticon 2025.

The big day had finally come! The Adepticon Kill Team Grand Tournament had about 90 players signed up, and many veterans from the Worlds tournaments and many GTs as well were in attendance. I really wanted to get into the top 8 and experience that side of the competitive scene.

Day 1

I wasn’t feeling as confident about my competence as I had a mere week ago, though. Keeping a clear head would be key through the 4 rounds. I wanted to be in the zone! I would strive to keep my cool!

So, naturally, when the pairings came up, I voiced a loud expletive when I got matched with Shane S. from the Command Point podcast - the defending champion from Adepticon 2024. I would have appreciated one game to warm up - alas, I guess Tzeentch had better plans. Shane was piloting Felgor, and we were matched on Volkus Layout 3, one of the narrow ones. Felgor would get a safe spot for the central objective and mission play, while also being able to saturate me with threats. Luckily I got to choose the side, taking the safest one with the big stronghold. I left a nominal force defending my home objective and set up aggressively to pose many shooting threats on TP2, hoping that would convince the Felgors to play more conservatively than usual. I got all the initiative rolls, and was playing well - but then tragedy befell me. We were starting to fall behind on the time milestones, I started playing on a hurry on TP3, and confused myself as to which sorcerer I had put “Temporal Flux” on (the skill that allows a Warpcoven operative to teleport back to safety). A few activations later, my opponent realized it, and I got flustered and embarrassed when I saw my mistake even though Shane was very gracious and understanding. I thought the fix was easy: I could simply set the Sorcerer exposed where it ended its activation instead of in safety - and I ended my activation prematurely. Compounding on that, I made a couple of mistakes in TP4, and ended up losing the game. Which was what I deserved, ultimately - but I wish my opponent had beaten me at a tidy game instead.

I needed to switch my mindset a bit. I thought it might be healthier to go fishing for vibes in my next games. Maybe by being more relaxed, I might incidentally be able to play more competently and tidily.

I rebuilt some composure in time for the second round. I faced Erik S., a Blades of Khaine pilot, that was new to the game, on Volkus (you guessed it - layout 5!). I am quite familiar with the team, as I occasionally play it in casual games. I think I did a good job of sharing my understanding of the team as we played, and luckily I got a win. I also gave some useful tips on getting maximum value out of non-reciprocal visibility - Aeldar can fit in some ruins and see marines without the marines seeing them back.

For the third round, I faced Chuck P. on Wrekas, on Volkus Layout 5 again. It was a bit hard for me to stay focused, and made many mistakes at deployment, especially in the order of operatives. But I had one or two good choices supported by decent rolls. I didn’t get the side with the high vantage, so I used the Reposition scouting option to move a sorcerer with Warpflame pistol closer to the ruins. My opponent positioned very aggressively - which allowed me to attack in TP1 with the Warpflame pistol and take one wreka out, followed by “Capricious plan” into safety. Then, I got initiative on TP2, and the same sorcerer took a squig out and hurt the leader. My opponent had consistently bad rolls and the game felt like a slow spiral - however he showed great attitude in the face of adversity.

At the fourth round, I got matched to Patrick C. piloting Wrekas, on Volkus Layout 6. I welcomed the change of map. Unfortunately, on TP2, I had a lengthy discussion with my opponent because I had declared one Sorcerer to be flush behind heavy cover - then somebody kicked the table, everything moved, and my operative was no longer flush. My opponent thought he could push forward his gunner and take a shot, while I kept asking for him to respect my original intention. After 15 minutes of not coming to an agreement, we settled it via a roll - he took it, so was able to activate and take a shot at the Sorcerer. It got wounded, then I activated that Sorcerer to charge a rokkit boy and rolled very poorly on both attacks, nearly dying. I was very frustrated, and made a few bad decisions as I lost my cool, ultimately costing me the game. I think I know how to face Wrekas, but during that game, I essentially did the opposite of that and a few hot Wreka rolls hurt me badly. The good thing is I managed to stay cheerful though the game.

So was my day 1 done. My shame at inadvertently making an illegal play in my first game eclipsed my disappointment in my results - but it is all part of a hobby involving figurines, funky grimdark terrain, and dice. I could hear Tzeentch laughing from the future galactic reaches of the 41st millennium. I kept having lapses in judgement throughout the day, just like in my games from Pod 1. Seems I was intent on stepping on the same stones over and over.

The good part was that I ended in a bracket with many Dice Dojo players, and also several acquaintances from the U.S. Midwest, so I thought it might be a nice way to finish Adepticon if I got to play with them.

Day 2

My 5th round game was against Erik S., the same Blades of Khaine player from the previous day, on Gallowdark Layout 1. He did a much better job than the day before. I was happy to see great skill growth after only a few games. He played much more competently even if he wasn’t super familiar with Gallowdark - he actually came out with a gameplan that put me in the backfoot and was the paper to my rock. Unfortunately he left a few operatives in risky spots and I was able to take them out in TP2, securing a lead upon which I could build a victory.

In Round 6, I had the privilege of being matched to Eric M. from the Dice Dojo. He is a magnificent player and had taught me a great deal about the game in my first few games, while we hadn’t been matched in tournaments recently. Unfortunately, it was Volkus Layout 5 again - if Tzeentch planned it, I certainly didn’t see the reason why. Eric was playing Phobos so that I could expect a tricky adversary with lots of shooting. I think the game was progressing evenly through TP2 even if my luck was failing me. I had a slight Crit Op disadvantage but I thought I had superior positioning. However I severely misplayed my TP3 and my map control eroded to nothing, without a single good roll coming my way to save me from the errors in my ways. So Eric got a solid win and proceeded to contend for the top bracket spot.

Finally, in Round 7, I got matched against Daniel R., the community leader of the Urbana-Champaign Kill Team scene. I have a great deal of respect for him as I have attended one of his tournaments and quite enjoyed the experience. We were matched on Gallowdark Layout 3. He was also playing Phobos, so I think the previous round helped me be prepared. I was moderately surprised at deployment given that he had spread very wide - and with 7 inch movement and free mission actions, he would be ready to shift pressure in reaction to my movements. I went for reposition to try to rebalance my forces, and took an aggressive action assaulting his home room on TP1, opening the door with Mutant Appendage (mission action for 0AP). I did reasonable chip damage on his Reiver Sergeant while taking a few guard shots - then double dashed away via capricious plan. I got initiative on TP2 and even though I had bad rolls, I got some pressure there. The rest of the map saw lots of action and violence, and we were both panting beacons inefficiently as we locked each other in a desperate damage race. I kept having mediocre attack rolls but was getting lucky defences against his marksman to make up for it. I ended up winning, and the result did not reflect how close the game was - it was ultimately decided by dice. His one big mistake was not investing in a heavy barricade for safer staging, and possibly some non-reciprocal obscuring. I came out with a few big learnings of this game as I finally understood how to manage Phobos strengths.

But I shouldn’t fail to metion that lots of other things were happening on the tournament! Chuck (my Wreka opponent from Day 1), and three dojo players (Eric M, my teammate Francesc on Nemesis Claw, and Patrick V on Wrekas) went for 2 wins and 1 draw - a 4-way tie at the top of the bracket. I guess they were perfectly balanced, as all things should be! Michael had had poor results on Day 1, but was doing much better on Day 2.

At the second bracket, Robert P. and Raheem U. from the Chicagoland Dice Dojo ended with strong results.

My opponents from Round 1 and Round 4 went to the top 8. Shane ended up winning the tournament for the second consecutive year.

Aftermath

Since an image is worth a thousand words, I’d like to present the depiction authored by my friend Michael from the Dice Dojo to describe what 7 rounds of Kill Team feel like:

I’m a bit disappointed with my record because this was my big (and possibly last for the year) chance to play a big GT, and I started with the wrong foot in the first round. Maybe this was a golden opportunity to exercise the mental gymnastics necessary to remain competent through the whirlwind of many Kill Team games, although I think I didn’t quite learn the lesson.

But also I think I maxed the Vibes Op in Day 2, which swung the tournament to my personal favor in the end.