The Classic Gauntlet

[OEAO]

The Gauntlet is a concept from other gaming communities that I haven't seen explicitly laid out on HeroScapers. Basically, the Gauntlet is a generic list of strong archetypes and armies for a particular format or tournament. The purpose of the Gauntlet is to quickly and efficiently test an army by "Running the Gauntlet": you jam your build into all the archetypes and most of the builds to learn its (and your) strengths and weaknesses.

Take the following Gauntlet as an example. It doesn't really matter if every army is 100% optimized because you're looking to get a general sense of how good things are.



Format: 500 Points, 24 Hexes

WtF Nonsense:
6x 4th, Sam Brown, Kyntella
5x 10th, Raelin, Marcu

Range+Screen:
3x Glads, 3x Blasts, Raelin
5x Stingers, Raelin, Kaemon (no screen, but this is the easiest place to put them)
3x Stingers, 3x Rats, Raelin, Kaemon
3x Rats, Q9, Raelin, Hydra
3x Greenscales, Nilfheim, Raelin, Marro Warriors

Bonding Melee:
4x Heavies, Grimnak, Nerak, Marro Warriors
5x Knights, Gilbert, Eldgrim, Isamu
4x Dwarves, Mogrimm, Darrak, Marcu, Isamu, Oto
5x Romans, Marcus, MBS, Raelin, Marcu
5x Death Chasers, Raelin, Nerak, MBS, Theracus

A+ Junk:
Zelrig, Eltahale, 2x Dwarves, Marcu, Isamu
Countless other examples (Cyprien, Airborne, PKs, Braxas, and Q10/Kaemon are all good)



Format: 450 Points, 18 Figures

WtF Nonsense:
4x 4th, Sgt Drake (SotM)
4x 10th, Eltahale, Isamu

Range+Screen:
3x Greenscales, Nilfheim, Raelin
3x Rats, Q9, Raelin, Marro Warriors, Marcu
4x Stingers, Raelin, Kaemon, Isamu (no screen, but this is the easiest place to put them)

Bonding Melee:
4x Heavies, Grimnak, Nerak
4x Knights, Gilbert, Zetacron
4x Dwarves, Mogrimm, Arkmer
4x Death Chasers, Raelin, MBS, Nerak, Marcu, Swog
4x Romans, Marcus, Raelin, MBS, Marcu

A+ Junk:
Same figures as before, except probably Zelrig



Format: 16 Figures, 400 Points

WtF Nonsense:
4x 4th, Alastair
4x 10th, Raelin, Marcu (or Marcus)

Range+Screen:
3x Rats, Q9, Raelin, Marcu
5x Stingers, Raelin, Marcu (no screen, but this is the easiest place to put them)

Bonding Melee:
4x Knights, Gilbert, Isamu
3x Heavies, Grimnak, Nerak, Marcu
4x Dwarves, Mogrimm
3x Romans, Marcus, Raelin, MBS, Marcu
4x Death Chasers, Raelin, MBS, Nerak

A+ Junk:
Same as before, except Zelrig gets even worse



Now, you don't have to test into each specific matchup, but you should know how to play generally into each archetype. The next few CoV episodes will be diving more in depth to the archetypes (how to play with and against them).

I'll also be posting more of these Gauntlets (including a VC-inclusive one with Nathan), which will hopefully make testing your builds less daunting.

Happy Scaping!