8th Ed. The Best Monstrous Infantry unit in all of Warhammer

Ha! Awesome!

 

I could really use a couple of rounds of 8th wholesome Monstrous Infantry fighting right now matey…

I’m feeling very 8th deprived with @NIGHTBRINGER MIA..

 

Now I've mucked up...

This round I had given the Ironguts first dibs to battle against the Yhetees, who were the last to have a round 5 battle, but for some reason I lost track of that and decided to give them an extra battle against the Chaos Ogres, meaning they have had seven battles where everyone else had six, and there are now only 3 Round 6 combatants, which is uneven. I don't like uneven even-numbered rounds, my perfectionism shudders at the thought. Thus, I am withdrawing the Ironguts vs Chaos Ogres battle until another round.



Fortunately though I have replaced it on its post with a duel between said Chaos Ogres and the K'daai Fireborn. You can access it here to save you searching through the countless pages of this thread.

This leaves the last two competitors of Round 6 - the Fenbeasts take on the Chaos Trolls!

Key Rules in Play:
Fenbeasts: Always Strikes Last, Frenzy (through Born of Bloodmarsh), Regeneration (4+), Unbreakable, Unstable
Chaos Trolls: Extra Hand Weapons, Regeneration (4+), Troll Vomit



And another Massive Victory for the Chaos Trolls! As with the River Trolls, the greater numbers of the Chaos Trolls and their similarly high Regenerative capabilities meant the Fenbeasts were on the back foot from the start. Though the sludge creatures managed to kill one of the mutated Trolls in the first round, actually faring better against them than against the River Trolls, it wasn't enough to dilute the offensive power of the other seven, and Instability sent the Fenbeasts to their doom over three painful rounds.



And as Round 6 draws to a close, let's take a gander at the scoreboard:



That last result sees the Chaos Trolls further their claim to second place, nipping at the heels of the K'daai Fireborn, who we already know by now are set to win the tourney hands-down. A big leap down the table and we see that the Crypt Horrors, Yhetees, Maneaters, Skin Wolves and River Trolls are also looking pretty solid, but they'll need a good few big wins to catch up to the Chaos Trolls. We then have a middle tier featuring the Minotaurs, Ogre Bulls, Vargheists, Ironguts and Bile Trolls, who aren't doing too badly at this stage but are unlikely to reach the upper echelons any time soon unless something amazing happens. The Fenbeasts, despite their Massive Loss, have lost their tied position with the Kroxigors and dropped one place past the Ushabti to -4 points, but are still looking pretty rosy compared to the Tree Kin, Fimir, Rat Ogres and especially the Chaos Ogres - their Mark of Khorne + Additional Hand Weapon build is not doing them any favours here at all!

With that, it's on to Round 7!


Thoughts? Concerns? Discussion!!!

 

[LoR breathes deeply of the heady fumes of 8th Edition]

Thanks mate, you're a life saver.

I'm pretty sure that it will be the K'Daai and then the Chaos Trolls. It looks like it's only third place that we're really going to see some heavy fighting for.

 

The Seventh Round dawns with a slugfest between the two worst units thus far in the tourney - the Rat Ogres are taking on the Chaos Ogres!

Key Rules in Play:
Rat Ogres: Frenzy, Beast Pack
Chaos Ogres: Mark of Khorne (Frenzy), Additional Hand Weapons



And the Rat Ogres manage to recover some of their fast-diminishing glory! Their superior Initiative and Strength allows them to deal kill two of the Chaos Ogres before they can even react, and the remaining five kill a Rat Ogre but fail equate the Clan Moulder creations' total, even with their standard adding a +1 bonus to their Combat Resolution, and as with all previous battles featuring the Khornate Ogres, it ends with their average Leadership doing nothing to keep them in the fight.



That much-needed win for the Rat Ogres allows them to climb above the Fimir, but they still remain in third-to-last place. The Chaos Ogres, meanwhile, continue their dive to the depths of the table with a whopping -14 points.


Thoughts? Concerns? Discussion!!!

 

I think this is fair. Rat Ogres in large or Horde formations are pretty flipping scary.

I just saw that this is the last two places fighting it out in the gutter for who is best. How appropriate for the big rats!

 

Time for another bout - next up as we ascend the results table, it's forest vs swamp, as the Tree Kin take on the Fimir!

Key Rules in Play:
Tree Kin: Scaly Skin (4+), Forest Spirit (6+ Ward Save)
Fimir: Scaly Skin (6+), Heavy Armour, Always Strikes Last (Great Weapons), Cold-Blooded, Tail Attack (S5)



And it's an unlucky loss for the Fimir, as their high points value, and thus low numbers, lets them down - despite being outnumbered almost 2-1 they tie the Tree Kin to a draw, mainly thanks to their decent armour save and the relatively low Strength of their foe, and could easily have won the combat had they been able to bring a couple of extra models. As it is their attacks dwindle far quicker than those of the Wood Elf Dreadnoughts, and though their Cold-Blooded special rule keeps them in the fight once, the ever-increasing margin of victory for the Tree Kin stops them from repeating the trick in the third round, leaving the Tree Kin with a clear Major Victory.



With this result the places change very little, with the Fimir losing another two points to end up at -10, still the second-worst unit in the tourney (though still way above the -14 of the Chaos Ogres), and the Tree Kin leaving the Rat Ogres behind to draw level with the Fenbeasts, but still in the bottom 5.


Thoughts? Concerns? Discussion!!!

 

It's about time for another round! Next up, the summoned creations of the (Good and Evil) Wizards of Albion take on the statues of Ancient Nehekharan gods - the Fenbeasts are battling the Ushabti!

Key Rules in Play:
Fenbeasts: Always Strikes Last, Frenzy (through Born of Bloodmarsh), Regeneration (4+), Unbreakable, Unstable
Ushabti: Great Weapons, 5+ Armour Save, Unbreakable, Unstable



The closest match yet! Funnily enough in the initial set of calculations for this fight, it was the Fenbeasts that prevailed, as their Regeneration stopped the Ushabti from killing a model in the second round while they were able to kill two at once (a badly-wounded model and another healthy one), reducing the Ushabti unit to half size and setting the game into their favour, such that by the end of the fight, one Fenbeast remained standing with 3.64/16 wounds remaining. However, I realised that every draw in this fight would be turned into a win for the Ushabti, who are able to take, and have in this fight, a Musician, something the Fenbeasts cannot do. After this amendment, the fight went exactly the opposite way, as each additional wound the Fenbeasts suffered from losing to the Ushabti meant the animated statues succeeded in killing a Fenbeast in both the first and second rounds, stopping the swamp-elementals from gaining a numbers advantage and ultimately ensuring one of their own models was the last to remain standing. Thus do the Tomb Kings win another Victory!

Let's update the table:


This result means the Ushabti rise to join the Kroxigors once again on -2 points, while the Fenbeasts sink to -5 points, below the Tree Kin but still above the Rat Ogres, Chaos Ogres and Fimir Warriors.


Thoughts? Concerns? Discussion!!!

 

I'm glad to see the Gods have not completely removed their attentions from the Nehekharans!

 

Time for the next matchup! Next up, the Kroxigors take on the Vargheists!

Key Rules in Play:
Vargheists: Frenzy, Unbreakable, Unstable
Kroxigors: Great Weapons, Cold-blooded, Predatory Fighter, Scaly Skin (4+)



Yep, this was not a good match for the Kroxigors - having to strike last, with their Scaly Skin reduced to almost nothing by Strength 5, against a storm of Frenzied attacks without a doubt forced them onto the back foot. The remaining three do manage to kill off one Vargheist, which is better than some of the embarrassing return attacks we've seen in this tourney, but it is nowhere near enough to stop the Vampiric man-bats from winning the combat so heavily that Cold-Blooded is of no help when it comes to the resulting Break Test.



This short and painful fight puts the Vargheists right up to the middle of the positive rankings, passing the Ogre Bulls, Bile Trolls, Ironguts and Minotaurs (who admittedly haven't yet fought in this round) to start snapping at the heels of the River Trolls. The Kroxigors on the other hand, drop two points to sit level with the Tree Kin at -4.


Thoughts? Concerns? Discussion!!!

 

The shows over folks. The Fireborn, like their bigger brother, are declared champions!

 

They could use a bit of OPness. Nearly every time I watch them in a battle report, they lose.

 

Hmmm I read the OP and I can't work out - Are you actually rolling a *single* combat for the results, an average of a few combats, or just using the mathhammer average of what rolls ought to produce?

 

Using the mathhammer average for all rolls to Hit, to Wound and to save, as part of however many combat rounds it takes for one unit to destroy or break the other.