8th Ed. The BEST close combat units in all of Warhammer.

Going into round #14, we will have a slight change to the fight scheduling (which normally involves 8 matches, made up of all 16 contestants before moving onto the next round). As there are a couple of matchups that are best left for the final round (as discussed previously), the scheduling of matches starts to become a bit of a combination lock. I have 7 matchups scheduled, leaving two contestants left (Executioners and Trolls) who have already fought each other!

As soon as the 7 matches are calculated, I'll set these two remaining contestants up with matches (they will be completing their 14th match, as their opposition completes their 15th and final match).

Obviously, everyone will have completed all their matches in the end, but the order will be slightly wonky. I will be including the expanded standings chart with each match, so it will be easy to follow along and see who has fought and how many times... as well as the updated standings so everyone can follow along in real time ( @Lizards of Renown should enjoy that!) .

 

Round #14

 

All for our entertainment
thank you, kind sir!!

Grrr, Imrahil

 

Nothing unexpected there.

Grrr, Imrahil

 

you know me quite well now (with definite reference to the profile flicker exchange! HA!)

Foregone conclusion.

I feel vindicated that the Skullcrushers are now joint 3rd place. I do really think they are one of the most deadly troops that you can face and this verifies it.

1+ armour save, S5 rider attacks (with ensorcelled weapons), S5 mount attacks (and stomp) with the options of +1 attacks and high movement. Pretty fearsome.

There are some obvious counters, but it doesn't change the fact they are versatile and dangerous.

 

I am glad that it is being enjoyed! Makes all the tedious calculations worthwhile . (even if there are only a handful of us that are following the thread, lol)

As you say, they are a potent unit.

Curious to see where they end up. Anywhere from second to seventh place is still mathematically possible. Although second place is highly improbable.

Mine too. I thought they would just barely edge out the K'daai... oops . I honestly expected them to have a K'daai-like run through the tournament. While they are still an extremely powerful unit, I now have a bit more informed view of them.

 

Definitely worth it! I've already learned stuff that I can use in my 8th Edition game planning, list building and playing.

I think third. I don't think that the Beasts will lose enough ground to give them second.

I think that the "informed view" is pretty much the hallmark of this competition.

There's been a bunch of match-ups that really changed my viewpoint on units and rock-paper-scissors match-ups. Obviously there is always the variable of the dice gods (make sure you do the appropriate sacrifices before each game! Or suffer their wrath! ), but on the whole, this is a solid learning exercise that I think any could have a look through and learn something from.

 

We'll have to wait and see how it does against the Destroyer.

I think that the Skullcrushers, Witch Elves, Chaos Trolls and Demigryph Knights all have a legitimate chance at capturing third. The HPA would have to get pretty lucky to do so; possible, but a bit of a longshot.

Glad to hear it!!

And it looks like it's actually going to be completed... despite the hiatus and all.

 

This is what a victory lap looks like....

 

Hooray!

 

I'm pretty sure I predicted this one. It's the Regen save that wins it for the Beasts as well as the ASL for the Hammerers...

 

Also the Hammerers have very little in the way of defense. In all three instances where the Beasts have lost in the tournament, they have lost to superior defense...

• 1+ armour save (Skullcrushers and Demigryphs)
• 2+ ward save (BotWD White Lions)

 

Yep, it's that S4...

 

Here we go, this problematic matchup has arrived. Soul Grinder vs. Mournfang Cavalry. As discussed, I ran multiple matchups for them, but instead of running 2, I actually ended up running 3 different matches:

• Soul Grinder [260pts] vs. 4 Mournfang Cavalry, no command [280pts]
• Soul Grinder [260pts] vs. 3 Mournfang Cavalry, full command [240pts]
  
• Soul Grinder [260pts] vs. 3 Mournfang Cavalry, musician + standard bearer only [230pts]

So in all 3 matchups the Soul Grinder wins, but we're still left with:

• 4 Mournfang Cavalry, no command [280pts] = Soul Grinder Massive Victory
• 3 Mournfang Cavalry, full command [240pts] = Soul Grinder Massive Victory
  
• 3 Mournfang Cavalry, musician + standard bearer only [230pts] = Soul Grinder regular Victory

Simply put, the Mournfang can't reliably wound the Soul Grinder, but can win combat while their Standard Bearer and Musician are alive, causing the Soul Grinder to bleed wounds via Daemonic Instability.

The first match includes no command, so the Mournfang can't win any rounds of combat and trigger the Daemonic Instability

The second match includes full command, so the Mournfang win a few rounds via their musician. However, at only three models, all of which are command models, as soon as the Mournfang lose model, that model is the Musician (because Champions are removed last, standard bearers second last and musicians third last). Once this happens they can no longer win combat rounds and trigger Daemonic Instability.

The third match only includes the musician and standard bearer command models. This is the best setup for the Mournfang as they maintain their musician + standard bearer models even after suffering their first casualty. This means they can trigger Daemonic Instability even at two models strong, giving them more rounds where the Soul Grinder is losing Daemonic Instability wounds.


I have decided that the fairest outcome for this matchup is to award the Soul Grinder with a Massive Victory. My rationale is as follows:

• 2 of the 3 matches ended in a Massive Victory. 2 > 1
• it was agreed that we would add command models (first musician, then champion) to best even out the points total
• purposefully not including the champion in this matchup feels like list building in favour of the Mournfang for this specific match (which would be similar to removing ensorcelled weapons from the Skullcrushers to bypass the White Lions BotWD). This is something we decided against at the onset of the tournament.
• the Mournfang made me run 3 sets of tedious calculations for this matchup and I want them to burn in hell!

Unless there is vehement objection to my proposed decision above, I will make it official and update the tourney. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

 

Sadly (for the little kittens), it has to be a massive victory since this whole contest is about averages.

Poor, poor little Thundercats...

They probably would have done better with GW (but no ironfists) in this match-up... ah, well. I probably would field them with ironfist if I'm going up against DoC anyways so I guess it doesn't really matter.