AdeptiCon 2026 Long War Doubles Showcases Nearly 400 Players and Stunning Armies

The Long War 40k Doubles at AdeptiCon 2026 pulled nearly 400 players into Milwaukee's Baird Center, and the volume of entries produced something beyond competitive Warhammer: a live, densely packed gallery of display-level hobby work that the community is still pulling apart for lessons.

Among the most-discussed entries, the Custom Chaos Knights build earned near-trophy recognition for its conversion work and the tight synergy between the models and the display board framing them. At AdeptiCon's scale, that kind of cohesion is harder to achieve than it looks. Dozens of painters attempt ambitious conversions and stumble on presentation, but this force landed both.

The Sisters of Battle and Slaanesh Daemons board worked a different angle entirely. Pairing a clean militant Order palette against the warm, decadent colourways of a Slaanesh force shouldn't work visually, yet the deliberate contrast drew consistent attention from judges and photographers. Those opposing aesthetics created the kind of tabletop drama that reads well from three feet away, which is exactly the distance that matters in a packed convention hall.

Imperial Agents in the Woods demonstrated what a single anchor colour can do for a large, varied force. A calming blue ran as the unifying thread across the display, set against a green-and-dirt basing scheme, keeping the viewer's eye moving rather than getting lost. With a roster as mixed as Imperial Agents, that palette discipline is what prevented visual chaos. The Ork entries leaned into volume and characterful conversion, with basing that reinforced in-universe anarchy rather than fighting it.

Looking across the field at the Baird Center, three tendencies separated the armies that generated the most photography and judge attention. A unified palette kept individual units reading as a single force rather than a collection of disconnected projects. A display board or even a modest scenic vignette told a story: small environmental details amplified model impact far beyond their physical size. And conversion work was most effective when it registered at tabletop distance through strong silhouettes and high contrast, not only under a macro lens.

At nearly 400 players, the Long War Doubles functioned as an innovation engine. A single display that lands at a mega-tournament gets photographed, shared, and turned into tutorial requests within days. The palette choices and basing textures visible this year at AdeptiCon are already shaping what painters start building toward next season.