More tournament results, this time from the US

[hornywingythingy]

This one tossed up some interesting results, screamerstar 1 and 2 is hardly surprising, bit nids, orks and dark eldar being in the top 10 along with csm/cd is interesting, I do think a lot came down to the terrain, then again, tables should look like that with 4+ los blockers, makes for a more tactical game.

 

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2013/10/and-now-40k-meta.html?m=1

 

Anyhow, hope you find it interesting.

[Chaeron]

Sounds like it - that's at least positive...!

[hornywingythingy]

It does make me wonder how much is down to TOs not having enough decent terrain, I keep hearing about people playing on tables with only one los blocker, and thinking that's not on.

[Hellios]

It's not just about LoS blocking terrain. So many tournament boards have less cover than an empty field in winter.

[Tenebris]

Indeed, in my tournament experience very few organizers placed a substantial amount of scenic elements on the boards, some sure but more often than not the bare minimum. And yes it is very beneficial to some units yet cover or no we still struggle. Perhaps less with some solid LOS blocking terrain against the Tau and the Eldar but still we hardy put the dice needed on the board to kill those two armies at range, and if they do not shoot at us neither can we at them...and when we can the balance is again in their favor.

 

I am glad to see the CSM perform well and Daemons too but I think that this is perhaps the exception rather than the norm,...sadly. 

 

sigh...boards not boars...

[hornywingythingy]

Well demons tend to do well with terrain, but they are a far stronger dex than csm, I'm surprised at nids being in there tbh, there's been a similar blog post on 40kdemons, about another tournie that had lots of los blockers in the us recently, I'm hoping its a new trend and will knock on so we start getting more reasonable boards everywhere.

 

*edited for nids not kids, damn predictive text*

[Fibonacci]

If you have never been to a Duel Con, give a try next year.  It is nothing like NOVA, 'ard boyz, Adepticon or most other grand tourney events.  Most of the people there are more of the "forging the narrative" type rather than "flogging the narrative."  Seriously, the narrative events are where most people play. I'm just saying, if you want to get a feel for which armies are the most powerful maybe Duel Con is not the best example. It is a fun time but not so much a waac contest.

[Chaeron]

Well demons tend to do well with terrain, but they are a far stronger dex than csm, I'm surprised at nids being in there tbh, there's been a similar blog post on 40kdemons, about another tournie that had lots of los blockers in the us recently, I'm hoping its a new trend and will knock on so we start getting more reasonable boards everywhere.

 

*edited for nids not kids, damn predictive text*

 

Until you play a 90 Gargoyle list or whatever... Nids can be nasty.

 

Daemons are certainly stronger - all those re-rolls! Curse Grimoire and Prescience...

[hornywingythingy]

 

 

 

Well demons tend to do well with terrain, but they are a far stronger dex than csm, I'm surprised at nids being in there tbh, there's been a similar blog post on 40kdemons, about another tournie that had lots of los blockers in the us recently, I'm hoping its a new trend and will knock on so we start getting more reasonable boards everywhere.

 

*edited for nids not kids, damn predictive text*

Until you play a 90 Gargoyle list or whatever... Nids can be nasty.

 

Daemons are certainly stronger - all those re-rolls! Curse Grimoire and Prescience...

I know, I own a tyranid army, but don't use it for tournies as the best builds are quite time intensive and you risk timing out on your games and missing out on a win, I Las running 30 gargoyles plus the usual and I found it a ballache, I think this is also why you don't see the ork horde run often in tournies, you have to play fast, which means you lose the precision that wins you gamed often, at least in my experience.

[the jeske]

Well demons tend to do well with terrain, but they are a far stronger dex than csm, I'm surprised at nids being in there tbh, there's been a similar blog post on 40kdemons, about another tournie that had lots of los blockers in the us recently, I'm hoping its a new trend and will knock on so we start getting more reasonable boards everywhere.

 

*edited for nids not kids, damn predictive text*

nids hurt demons and other flyer armies a lot , while doing ok vs tau or eldar. You would need more SW for nids to do a lot worse.

 

Terrain had huge influence here. Reece is right that it is not the only thing that makes some armies good and other bad , that skills matter too. But after 4-5 games , you have only the top people at top tables and if top tables have 1 or no loS blocking terrain [or it is very small pices of LoS blocking terrain] , armies that are shoty will do better.

[minionboy]

I'm glad that Reece did this, I've been talking to him for months about terrain coverage in tournaments, and the results at least seem to be in line with my predictions.

 

The new edition is designed to be played with 2 people picking the terrain and alternating placement.  If a player is playing a combat army, they're going to pick LOS blocking pieces, it's just common sense.  If a board is set up without LOS blocking pieces of terrain, then you are basically building a board in favor of players who favor shooting... obviously.

 

As Jeske said, skill makes a huge difference, it's not just terrain.  Skill however can only go so far to compensate when the game board itself is set up in a manner that already puts armies at a disadvantage.

[the jeske]

the big problem here is that the balance is realy hard. On city boards it is realy hard to keep demons in check without some realy good nid players . In general this is not Warmahordes with its 2 forest+4walls+2buildings=perfect balance.

 

I know that from time to time it is fun to poke the taudars , but 2-3 big tournaments like that could warp an enviroment [as in more] . Remeber back in 4th when US tournaments wanted to limit the number of nidzilla ? that didn't go so well.