Long term readers will know that I am a fan of what I like
to call Universal Truths (new readers should take my word on it).
Warhammer has several of these truths. With any knowledge of
the game, you come to realise some things:
- It is known that the Old Ones descended upon the Old World and gave Poland the ETC gene.
- It is known that Lizardmen will kill Abaddon’s ass when they transition to 40k (the double flee will melt his brains).
- It is known that Daemons and Dark Elves are broken.
- It is known that no comp pack will ever achieve universal acclaim, and, furthermore, none of them will ever make them perfect.
- It is known that the only people that think pushing Malekith around ftw is tactical are the people pushing Malekith around ftw.
Because it is the Greatest Nation on Earth ™, America does most
things everything better.
As most will know, the US Masters (surprised they are not
calling it the World Masters…) are upon us.
The build up, as in any red-blooded American event, has been
exceptional yet again – Check out the videos on OnceBitten360 youtube channel
(I would skip the second one personally, that guest is a muppet…)
Being from the US (USA! USA! USA!), it is of course, bigger,
louder and meaner than any other in the world.
The ‘trash talk’ (or slanderous hate-sodden drivel, if you
have a delicate disposition) and the various #Gates on the www.wargamersusa.com site and across the
Twittersphere have been truly epic.
Of all the Universal Truths to have come out of the USA over
the past few years, one stands out as being far more, well, universally true
than the others.
The North East is where it is *AT*.
The rest of the country, bless them, get confused easily.
[shush at the back there, no one wants to hear that the
defending US Master is not from the North East! Trying to ruin my flow dammit].
The stats are impressive – most of their ETC team historically
comes from there (which means whatever you want it to mean, but what you hear
is that they are all top players), they dominated the top 10 at last year’s
masters and, I am pretty sure, they are the undeniable gods of internet trash
talking and trolling (I hope its trolling, otherwise they appear to get very
very worked up about things).
I was thinking about doing an overall review of the lists
and/or matchups for this great event. As mentioned, however, OnceBittern360
have done a fantastic job, so go check that out.
Instead, I thought I would look at what the self-proclaimed “Best
of the Best”, these Jedi Masters (or is it Sith?) of Warhammer, were bringing
to the party. What have they come up with under Swedish comp to decimate the
mere mortals they are cursed with sharing a nationality with (I’m sure they
like the Canadians, everyone likes the Canadians)?
 |
| Only found in the North East. Fact. |
[point of note, under masters comp pack hills block Line of
Sight, and there are some scenarios/missions in play. The event is 2500 points,
comp scores between 8 and 14 (I think)]
Alex:
You see, this is why I like Swedish. Sisters of Slaughter! I
honestly have no idea what they do, but it’s cool to see them! They are pushing
a Cauldron no less, so have some added cool points Alex.
Other than that though, it’s a standard Dark Elf list (which
is to say, filth). It’s a real show of the book’s power.
A brilliant list for a 13.6
Yay, Orcs and Goblins! Everyone likes to see those boys.
Black Orc on Wyvern and Arachnarok aside, a pretty ‘normal’ army, and a real
threat to lower comp armies with its 13.2. For some reason this sort of list
never seems to do that well over here. I like it, take a bow.
Jacob:
Yay, Orcs and Goblins! Two of them! This one far more
normal, and far meaner. MASSIVE Savage orc unit (no bigguns for comp one
assumes), two big units of Trolls. Bosh. Done. This will ruin some people. Mork’s
War Banner is a nice to see – it *can* be awesome.
Jarret:
Sigh… I hate Empire. That said, its solidly solid, and the
concessions he had to make for the comp aren’t *really* concessions (not
in any real sense). Magical and gunpowder ranged threat, two large and surprisingly
good Halberd blocks, big unit of demis and some stubborn Knights, because why
not? Literally ticks all the boxes. At 11.5 comp he is likely to start some
games around 200 points down, but not an insurmountable problem for such as
safe list.
Keith B:
OK. At what point does seeing Orc and Goblin lists stop
being fun, and become tedious? Rather similar to the last one we saw, this list
has no s**ts left to give, and will ruin hobbies. 12 comp is the perfect spot,
and brings the nice combination of ranged threat and units no one wants to
fight, and very capable of pushing, as well as pretending to be dwarfs. Nice to
see Mork’s Banner popping up again too.
Keith C:
Speaking of Dwarfs… I’m no expert on the new book, but this
seems very solid. Two big blocks few things want to (or can) fight, couple of
Gyrocopters to chaff things up/scald them. 3 solid artillery platforms to bring
the pain, a BS4 Organ gun for close protection. And, of course, two destroy
scrolls. Literally nothing not to love. Despite the power, Dwarfs don’t normally
do all that well in the UK, but be interesting to see how the colonial types
do.
Larry:
The king of trolls has the perfect list. And I don’t say
that because we have spent the better part of six months debating almost every
nuance of it. Lizardmen are great under Swedish comp – you effectively have to
make no concessions at all (if you are not spamming certain things). Lore of
Life for Dwellers fun (and to make the likes of Temple Guard world beaters)?
Check. Support magic? Check. Old Blood to ruin things threatening the Temple
Guard? Check. Couple of 1+ save, strength 7 Scar Vets? Check. Nuisance Chief?
Check. Core allowance bringing over 90 shots for minimal comp investment?
Check. Temple Guard to allow to you dictate the matchup? Check.
It is, quite simply, brilliant. At a 13.4 comp I expect
Larry to do *very* well this weekend.
Matt:
They say Dwarfs are a no nonsense race, so they would be
proud of this list. All the anti magic it will need, no wasted points in Lords.
Shooting core (because it may as well). Hard as nails combat block, because
that too is sensible, and plenty of additional shooting for the lols. I also
personally love Irondrakes. Now, with the Line of Sight system it is easy to
say “hide! Why on earth would you engage that?”. Here his brilliant comp of
13.2 comes to play.
Peyton:
I may have mentioned that Empire bore me. Generals of the
Empire on Griffons, however, get me all warm and fuzzy. Add some light magic
hidden in 1+ save walls and some cannons and it is very hard to argue with the
overall effect of the game. Engineers + Hellblasters also understandably scare
the hell out of some people (sure, you can play around it/minimise their
effectiveness, but that presupposes you have the tools to do so and that those
tools could not be better used doing something else). I like how this list is
well set up to make the best use of the Light magic combat buffs too. Comp 12.2
should mean never having to chase too much uphill.
Rob:
Well, not much army variety in this cold corner of the
United States is there? You don’t have to take a lot of different armies to do
cool things with them though. The last Dark Elf army had Sisters of Slaughter.
Rob is doing his bit for the rule of cool with a Black Dragon. Not enough for
you? Fine, have two (yes, TWO) Manticores! Ultra fast and mobile army, it
should able to engineer the decisive combats it needs. Rob is also going balls
out with his 10.6 comp score, so he has to back himself to crush people with
his monster airforce. And who doesn’t want to see that?!
And there we have it. The lists from the top ten players
form the top region of the top country in the universe.
Be interesting to see how they do! (I’m personally tipping
Larry for the title here, but we shall see).
Interesting that 7 of the ten armies are Empire, O&G and
Dwarfs. The power is clear, does make me think about the difference meta makes.
And no Daemons.
This boggles the mind.
In comparison, the make-up of the top placements in the last
big Swedish event in the UK (a couple of months back now) tells a different
story:
[worth noting the comp has change since then, and we played
2400pts]
1 Daemons
of Chaos
2 Daemons
of Chaos
3 Vampire
Counts
4 Daemons
of Chaos
5 Warriors
of Chaos
6 Warriors
of Chaos
7 Daemons
of Chaos
8 Vampire Counts
9 Dwarfs
10 Lizardmen
11 Empire
12 Empire
13 Ogre
Kingdoms
14 Ogre
Kingdoms
15 Warriors
of Chaos
16 Dark Elves
17 Lizardmen
18 Wood Elves
19 Daemons of
Chaos
20 Lizardmen
So, the wait is almost over – who will triumph and officially be crowned best player in the world?!
Until next time!
Raf
