2d6 Challenge 2015 Intro

A few months ago my local gaming club, 2d6, decided to hold its first Warmahordes tournament on November 14th, called Challenge. I was one of the organizers and originally I was intended to be the main organizer. As such, I wasn't supposed to play as we believe it's best to always have at least one non-playing organizer.

Due to this being our first self-organized event and lots of players being fairly new to the hobby, the event was 35 points and 4 games only. From a tournament perspective it's unfortunate to determine a winner based on this but our goal with Challenge was to get experience with hosting a tournament and give people a local touranment to attend in an otherwise non-eventful period.

Yesterday, November 13th, I got a call from one of the other organizers telling me I had to bring my models if a standin was needed. Long story short I made 2 lists around midnight: Haley2 and Stryker1. I wanted to use the Haley-list to discover how vital I consider ATGM to be. I'm very intrigued by Trevy's "Haley's Heroes" but I disagree with his choice to leave ATGM at home because I consider them vital for scenario play. Essentially I could ditch them for more powerful shooting, for example Aiyana + Holt, Gastone and Reinholdt, but thunderbolt is an exceptionally powerful ability which has often won me games. With Deadeye and possibly aiming as well I won't even hesitate to target engaged enemy models even. So, based on a 35-point list I played with Haley in my very first tournament I swapped the ATGM for B13th + Tactical Arcanist Corps with the specific intention to notice how much I'd miss thunderbolt and true sight. Disclaimer: What works best at 50 points probably largely depends on the meta. Kiss + Pow12s from Gastone and Holt is way more dangerous against anything but light troops (which ATGM excel against). However I also believe it's largely up to personal preference. Anyways, here's the Haley-list I took:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19 (bonded)
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Tactical Arcanist Corps - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4

For my second list I wanted an anti-arm skew list. I would've taken Siege but a few key models were not painted to a level where I was comfortable fielding them (Challenge, like almost all our tournaments, had painting requirements. If you don't meet said requirements the unfinished models cannot be fielded). Caine isn't much of an anti-arm guy, especially not without Aiyana & Holt. Thus it boiled down to Stryker1, same as I'm intending to play at 50 points for Norwegian Masters in January. 

Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Ol' Rowdy - PC: 9
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Ironically the ATGM found a home here. This was partially due to model restrictions but also because I figured Snipe + Thunderbolt, not to mention rat 7 true sight, would help the list control the table better.

6 hours of sleep later I was ready to play some games! The reports will come shortly.