In the last quarter of 2012, I discovered crowd funding sites like
Kickstarter and
IndieGoGo which helped me discover new games like
Relics by
+Tor Gaming . I also chose to fund +Kings Of War by Mantic Games which was a game I have been looking into since May 2012. Now for those not familiar with how a crowd funding site works, here is a quick rundown. A company wanting to "kick start" their projects or jump start an existing project, they allow the public to "fund" the project by pledging funds for certain perks. Some perks allow first in line for pre-orders or limited edition items only available through the Kickstarter or IndieGoGo project. Some projects offer incentives to backers for every goal reached beyond their targeted total like autographed items and additional bonus items added to the pledge rewards.
I initially pledged enough for a Kings of War 1000 point Undead Army and then increased my pledge to include any additional new Undead figures produced as a result of their Kickstarter project. So to breakdown the pledge, I invested for 161 figures (1000 point army plus 2 heroes and 3 units) and received an additional 87 figures as a reward.
Now how could I justify an investment of this magnitude to my better half? Enter the
Clash of Kings at Adepticon 2013. The good people at Mantic Games had offered a Cash prize of $1,000 for the winner of the tournament. This was a first for me that a miniature company would offer a cash prize in any tournament. Again, I would need to justify going to Adepticon 2013, so I started crunching numbers and doing my research. I came across
Swag Bag.WMV by AArdvark085 on Youtube with the contents of the bag of goodies you get for being the first few people to pre-register for the convention. Unfortunately, I was not able to be within the lucky 1,000 pre-registered to get a full Swag Bag. I initially gave up on going to Adepticon 2013 but continued to listen to the
Podcasts and followed forums on
DakkaDakka and
Mantic.
When I discovered that it was the 10 year anniversary of
Warmachine by
+Privateer Press , which if you watch the Swag Bag video has the biggest item in the Swag Bag, I had to find a way to get to Adepticon this year. Further research led me to the
Geek Nation Tours Adepticon Package, which truly was exactly what I needed. VIG (Very Important Gamer) badge, 2 dinners, site tour, early entry to dealer room, airport transfers, and the full swag bag the day before the actual convention opens. A few emails between Teras Cassidy of Geek Tours for clarifications and with the understanding of my loving wife, I was officially on the Road to Adepticon 2013.