Battle at Lund - Introduction

This weekend I attended my first tournament abroad in Warmahordes. I've played Warhammer tournaments in multiple countries but this was a first for this system. For me, going on various trips is a big part of this hobby. Anyway, I digress. Battle at Lund was a 3-day convention with ~60 players and ~7 tournaments in total. I attended Swedish Masters on Friday, Road to Invitationals on Saturday and the Invitiationals on Sunday (the top 16 players from previous tournaments qualified for the Sunday tournament). I also got in a couple of practice games while I was there, for good measure. In total I played 16 games over 4 days and I was quite exhausted when we were done yesterday.

The lists I played this weekend were as follows:

Haley2: 

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Haley3: 

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Charger - PC: 4
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Haley Future - PC: 0
Haley Past - PC: 0
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Captain Maxwell Finn - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 2
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire - PC: 4
Viktor Pendrake - PC: 2
Savio Montero Acosta - PC: 3
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Horgenhold Forge Guard - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Captain Jonas Murdoch - Murdoch 2

Haley2 faces Dr Arkadius in a practice game. I find this to be a surprisingly hard matchup for her.

After the Norwegian Masters in January I sat down with different lists. I experimented with some SUSS-casters like Kraye and Nemo2 briefly, moved through other popular casters like Stryker2 and finally settled on the Haley2/Haley3 pairing. My Haley2 list started off as a variation of Trevy's Heroes but took a turn for the experimental: I basically made a list which asks the question - How much shooting can you take before it's too much and you need more support? My previous Haley2 lists have typically been scenario lists. I believe TAC are required for this. While TAC is a great support unit, absolutely tremendous value for 4 points, they do not help you put pressure on the table in the early stages of the game. I have a philosophy that shooting is a dominant factor in most miniature games and wanted to see how far I could push it. Knowing full well how much ranged power my list presents even with choices like TAC and Alexia2 I thus wanted to see if I could simply out-attrition just about everything while keeping Haley safe if those 8 points were shoved into even -more- shooting. Suffice is to say, that experiment got put to the test this weekend!

A terrible string of T1 mistakes against Trollbloods leave me on the back foot in an otherwise favourable matchup.

Alongside this Haley2 solo-circus-shooting list, Haley3 is a decent pairing. Apart from Aiyana + Holt and the Black 13th (which she, unlike Caine2, doesn't really need either) she doesn't want or need the same choices. I was a little constricted by not having Alexia1 but figured Alexia2 would have to do. Combined with Acosta they made for a power pair and hopefully I'd have enough dangerous models to make matchups like Legion playable.

Throughout the convention I played a lot of games against factions I don't face that much on a daily basis, including Khador, Trolls, Minions and Convergence. It is interesting to note how important it is to know your opponent's army. Not knowing the inns and outs means you -will- fall for traps and tricks. I also played Cryx many times and they are so common and strong that I need more experience against them. This weekend really helped in that regard.

Father Lucant with 2 Battle Engines and an Axiom. So much power and so many things I don't know what do. 

I'll get started on the reports right away. I had probably the hardest game of my life, the funniest game of my life and lots more interesting ones. Stay tuned!