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

Sorry buddy, have some stuff to deal with IRL (see Dogs & Cats thread)

I'll respond with my full enthusiasm as soon as I can!

 

Well truly this is a surprise to me. It’s everyone knows, I entered these guys as a unit I genuinely thought could win.

As discussed a lot on this thread, doesn’t take away from the fact that they are a pretty fantastic core choice and are very dangerous, but can be mulched in certain match-ups.

But still, SECOND LAST!?!? Definitely didn’t see that coming.

You mean the Trolls bid for Third right?

As I said earlier, my guesstimate is that the K’Daai will win (not massive), the Demigryphs will win (only just, the Savage Orcs will make them work for it) and the Trolls Regen will mean they will just barely beat the girls.

We’ll see if I’m right!

Yeah, I think I called this one earlier... (White Lions BOOOOO!!!)

 

Yup... you're correct. I'll go back and fix that. Good catch.

I didn't think they would do particularly well in the tournament, but I never would have guessed second last. They are a good unit, but I think many people overestimate their abilities. People see their solid stat line and sometimes forget about the extremely steep points cost associated with those fancy stats.

Those MoN Halberd Chaos Warriors are weighing in at 19 points a wound (model). Trolls for instance come in at 11.7 points/wound. Beasts of Nurgle cost 15 points/wound. Skullcrushers come in at 26 points/wound, but that wound is sitting behind a 1+ armour save on a M7 + swiftstride model.

Some solid predictions.

The toughest one to call is the Witch Elves vs. Trolls. Whoever loses the first round loses the matchup.

 

Sorry @Lizards of Renown , the Mournfang officially finish the tournament in sole possession of 14th place. They did have a few memorable moments at points throughout the tourney, and they always have their impact hits to fall back on.

5 Matches left to go!

 

[Sniff, sniff]

I shall bear the Mournfang away on their shields...

 

They did at least manage to finish higher than the mighty Chaos Warriors!

 

That is a FUDGING good point!

 

With that, the entire bottom half of the standings has been finalized. The Savage Orcs still have one match left, but regardless of the outcome, they will end up in 9th.

Any surprises?


Only 4 matches remain, which will finalize positions 2 through 7. The Beasts are guaranteed second place, but could still tied for the position mathematically (although extremely unlikely).

 

The only surprise in looking over the list (for me) is the position of the WoC as I said above. Really wasn't expecting that.

I think that third place will be a tie between the Chaos Trolls and the Demigryph Knights. I'm predicting a win for both of them (not massive) so equal footing on the podium.

I don't think that the K'Daai will lose to the Skullcrushers so they're not in the running IMHO.

 

The Black Guard finishing in 11th is surprising for me (I picked them to lose the tourney). I would not have predicted them to beat the CW, Mournfang or Hammerers.

At the very start of the contest, I would thought that the Mournfang would have fared quite a bit better. Even now seeing the huge separation between them and the the Demigryphs / Skullcrushers feels strange.

 

We all knew it would happen, but it is now official, the Beasts of Nurgle finish the contest in second place... and with an extremely impressive 15 points. The HPA got really unlucky not to reach the regular loss threshold in this match. It ended up with 0.4 wounds left, and was assumed slain. At 0.5 wounds it would have been around for another round of combat, in which it would have dropped the Beasts to 7.9/16 wounds left, for a regular loss instead of a massive one. The HPA now waits on the Witch Elves matchup. It will most likely end the tournament in 7th place, but in the highly unlikely event that the Witch Elves were to loss massively, they would share joint custody of 6th place.

 

I'll say this as well, I definitely never expected the Beasts of Nurgle to come so high in the rankings, let alone 2nd place.

I had them crossed out as winners due to their measly S4. Obviously, they will grind/get stuck/lose in a match-up with 2+ or 1+ armour saves, but even then they'll keep the unit tied up for ages.

The normal weakness of Regen troops is countered by their daemonic 5+ save that they can fall back on if there are flaming attacks. Stomps, -1 to hit from MoN, monstruous infantry so they get to do up to 3 attacks from second rank...

I'm definitely seieng them in a new light now and they might just become a must-include option for my DoC army.

Awesome competition here @NIGHTBRINGER !

 

After seeing the results from the tournament, I think the Beasts of Nurgle are one of the single hardest units to counter on the table top. The Destroyer may be more destructive, but it is also far more easily neutralized.

Ask yourself this, what are the specific counters available to each army in order to bring down the Beasts? Artillery isn't especially effective against them. Most units can't contend with the CC defensive abilities. A Purple Sun would mess them up pretty badly. How would one defeat them with:

• Chaos Dwarfs?
• Bretonnia?
• Lizardmen?
• etc.

From the tournament we have seen at least three counters: WoC have Skullcrushers, Empire have Demigryphs and High Elves have the BotWD. I suppose a character with a 1+ re-rollable save would do the trick nicely (although not every army has access to that).

A fitting way to decide who finishes above the other. A classic final round head-to-head contest.

 

What a lot has been going on in the last 4 days... I had a long weekend and a lot of stuff to do

I agree on the made choice for the Soul Grinder vs Mournfang episode mainly because of this argument:

Pretty hurt by the Massive victory of the Demigryph Knights and the Black Guards, for the Witch Elves fall below the third place and are only to fall even more...

Grrr, Imrahil

 

Looks like you are all caught up. Good to have you back!

Only a couple of matches left to go!

 

The Demigryph Knights put all doubt to rest and claim third place. Mathematically, they could still end up tied for third, but looking at the matchups, it seems extremely unlikely that either the K'daai Destroyer or the Witch Elves lose massively. So while not yet official, I think we can all feel pretty confident in assuming that the Demigryphs will have sole possession of the bronze medal. The battle for forth place is a different matter entirely.


I'm sure @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl will be unhappy to see the Empire claim third spot, but then again he also hates the Warriors of Chaos and the Witch Elves, so this was never going to turn out well for him. Sorry @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl !


2 more matches left to go!

 

That went as I thought, but a little bit worse. Even S5 in a 1+ armour save combat isn't going to help you that much.

And another surprise! I would never have thought when they were entered the DK's had any chance and here they are in 3rd place!

I'm glad the Empire has a showing on the podium.

I think my earlier predictions still stand on the final matches.