Call to Arms Bolt Action Tournament — 8 October 2022

By Kreighton Long

Last Saturday, 8 October, I had the opportunity to attend the Call to Arms convention in Williamsburg, VA and compete in the Bolt Action tournament. The tournament was organized by seven-year TO veteran Kalissa Skibicki. Twenty competitors checked in Saturday morning for a day of competitive gaming. The tournament progressed smoothly and after three different scenarios with three different opponents, the tournament came to a successful conclusion.

All in all the tournament was a success and the participants had enjoyable games on gorgeous tables with some new, and familiar, faces. I for one was excited to see the variety of armies and play styles which was a refreshing change from what has become the norm within my own gaming group. My second round was against a Finnish army which was my baptism of fire against that particular foe. There is a reason they’re a common sight at competitive tournaments!

Following the third round came the awards. Best Sportsman went to Job Watson and Best Painted Force went to Kreighton Long who also captured Third Place with his Romanians. Second Place went to Alexander Bell with his Germans and First Place went to Austin Lane with his Poles.

When asked about his MVP, Austin replied, “MVP was definitely cavalry units. I was running three 12-man veteran lancers. None of my opponents had very vehicle-heavy lists, and my lancers can cut through infantry pretty consistently.

It especially helped round one when the objective was to get off the other side of the table, I was able to charge units and move across the table at the same time. I can handle pretty much anything so long as I have some cavalry surviving, so I was fortunate that I was able to keep all units alive in all three rounds.”

Congrats to the winners and the players and staff who made the event a success! Below you can view a few data pulls from seventeen of the twenty army lists I received after the tournament.

Of the seventeen lists I reviewed after the event there was an even split between Axis and Allied players.

No single faction dominated the tournament which featured a wide variety of armies. Add in Austin’s Polish army and ten different nations were represented!

At 1250 points the order die counts showed a variety of approaches to list building. However, smaller order-die lists tended to be preferred by the players.

Generic Reinforced Platoon builds were by far the most common but some players did elect to take theater selectors.

Excluding transports and tows, the majority of armored vehicles were on the lighter end. It’s safe to say that in order to be competitive a list needed to include some anti-tank options.

Adding in the transports reflects how mobile many of the lists were.

Thank you to the event’s sponsors — Silver Eagle Wargame Supplies and Warlord Games.

You’ll have the chance to play on these gorgeous tables at the upcoming Bolt Action tournaments Kalissa is TOing: Siege of Augusta on 23 January, Williamsburg Muster on 23 February, and the Richmond Open on 6 May. Check out the tournament tables below: