The games are done for the 2016 WATC – there is no more we can do. Everyone chips in (like they did at set up!) and packs the tables and terrain away – its much more organised this time than last. Its been a long day for everyone – 4 games in 12 hours is no joke! We wait patiently while the TO calculates the scores…
(From left to right) Richard, Scott, Tim, Jake, Tom, Pete, Mitch, Mike (me!), Matt, Al, Neil, Mark
We are the 2016 Western Australian Team Challenge Winners!
It’s a great feeling to be sure! Our opponents in the final round take out 2nd place while the 3rd is hotly contested as sees the other half of this years ATC team take it out.
It was a roller coaster of a day. I am sure every team experienced it just a little different but the ups and downs of this sort of event are huge. Being thrown under the bus (as the first put up) is now a phrase with meaning! Getting what you thought would be a good match up and they being shown the error of your thoughts or snatching victory from that same match up would see many a yell of excitement! The format is new to the states players at large but everyone seemed to have a good time – even those still new to tournaments in general. But enough of that – onto some of the pictures from the 2016 WATC!
A big thank you to everyone who pitched in and helped with the day – set up and pack up. It never ceases to amaze me the level of support we get from the Perth Community around our events and I am genuinely grateful to everyone.
A special mention should also go to Emma – who ran the WATC event so I could play in it. She did an outstanding job of controlling 64 players across the day and its important to recognise that had she (not me!) made the day the success it was for everyone.
Harlequins – A revisit…
I have posted a lot about harlequins over the last 12 or so months – but this event was the first time I had really tried to run them solo (without Eldar or Dark Eldar allies). I learnt more about them this time for sure as I had no recourse to fall back on old reliable units I was used to using. Here is a brief summary of the units as I see them from the weekends games…
Solitaire – I want to like him, I really do… but he is about 50 points too expensive for what he does, even in the revenge formation like I used him. With access to the storied sword he would be worth it or with that point reduction he would be fine – but as he is, I just can’t support his use in events. He is just too unreliable in his results and at tournaments, consistency is king. Even with the 3++ save and reroll 1’s I found him dying in half my games to small arms fire… and for the 145 points he cost me, that’s just not on.
Death Jester – I have a new found love for the Death Jester. The LD manipulation is fantastic and his board control is actually quite effective. In the 2 practice games I had prior to the event as well as the event itself I always found a use for them – even against fearless enemies. Precision shot with BS 5 and 3 shots with pseudo rending is nothing to sniff at and the special rule to cause fall back on a single kill is game changing. Even against LD10 forces, that -2 means is just under 50/50 pass or fail. The best part is that when charging the unit you just caused to run at you – there is no overwatch coming in. His other use is to absorb overwatch himself by leaving the unit and lone charging before the troupe – yes he dies most of the time but when its him or the troupe – it’s a small price.
Shadowseer – These are a staple in lists for good reason. Excellent stat line, good wargear, reasonable price – they have it all. What the army lacks though is psychic power dice. I always felt that unless I rolled a 5 or 6 for the psychic phase, all I was really doing was casting veil of tears and unless I threw at least 3 dice at it I risked the enemy stopping it or simply failing to cast it as happened on more than a couple of occasions. Outside of the revenge formation, I would like to try running 2 shadowseers per troupe – a level 1 and level 2 in each. This adds extra dice in the psychic phase, extra combat punch (and haywire!) and allows the level 2 to focus on telepathy while the level 1 does the veil casting.
Skyweaver Jet Bikes – I had never used these before this event but I can say simply – I want more! These were fantastic in every game. The weapon options for them should be (0) cost items rather than the extra 15 I paid per bike but they are so very useful on the table. They are fast, durable (for harlequins) able to engage a variety of targets at multiple threat ranges and hit hard on the charge. A price drop on these would see me running 2 large units or maybe more in extra detachments – some with and some without the haywire as the shuriken cannons are exceptionally useful to harlequins as well. Suffice to say there will be more of these in my lists in the future.
Void Weaver – I really struggled to like this vehicle on first pass and being honest, it’s still not my favourite vehicle. Again, the weapon option should be a (0) cost rather than 5 but I can live with that. Running it solo, the prism cannon is a solid choice. I found the weapon flexible and effective for the price I paid. The rear mounted shuriken cannon comes into play more often than you might think and if nothing else it adds another weapon for destroyed results. Running multiples – I think I am sold on the prism cannon regardless – and that’s a surprise for me to be sure!
Troupes – This is largely personal choice I expect but I have reached my conclusion – the Harlequins Kiss is the best upgrade. Bear with me on this – The embrace requires base to base contact and that’s a big ask in a lot of cases and with just a couple its hardly doing much anyway. The Caress is a great item on a troupe master and maybe 1-2 extra players but the main reason for it is to allow you to threaten hard targets – the 6 auto wound/glance is just to unreliable. The Kiss on the other hand is brutal. With 5 in each unit I was almost always killing 3 targets minimum with them alongside all the basic attacks. 8 Models in the unit seemed like a solid number and I never felt under powered unless I had lost 2 or more models before I fought. Having a couple of bare players was also a safe choice to catch the overwatch bullets that snuck through. I want to tryout the shooty troupe (with neuro disruptors) but that’s for another time.
In conclusion, Can Harlequins work in an event format like WATC? YES! Will they always do well? NO! If anything they are more of a finesse army than even dark eldar and there are some match ups that will be straight up loss material. When it comes to team events where you have some say in the match ups – they might just surprise you!