Week 2 Predictions

Congratulations everyone, especially to myself, Gary, Andy and Leo, who got an absolute pummeling last round, you have made it to Week 2.

Here we are to listen to my largely inaccurate predictions on what will happen this week. We are playing Purge the Foe with Smoke and Mirrors. This means less focus on dominating objectives and more on murder. Which I love. Armies with lots of chaff pieces have to be careful here as often using them to score a secondary, and getting them killed often means a minor VP increase as well as a loss of materiel. Smoke and Mirrors offers options if you have deployed like a spaz.

I don't think any secrets have come in to play yet - come on lads let's get sneaky!

Game 1 - Sam V Gary - Dark Angels(Gladius) v Orks(War Horde)

Double wildcard here so let's see who has made a real difference. I have added a Redeemer and Vindicator, at the expense of most of my Inner Circle and Repulsor whereas Gary has dropped a fair chunk of his Squig riding loons for more Flash Gitz and general mission play.

I believe that the Vindicator and Redeemer help me pretty nicely into an Ork army, as long as I can respect their range on the Waagh turn. I am still learning the limitations of DWK and I think it is mostly the AP2 stuff Gary has I need to be concerned about. Therefore they will be Vindicated. I have also consistently lost to Gary so will need to be a patient hunter and draw the Boyz into a mysterious purple trap.

Obviously backing myself here to smash him 15-5.

Game 2 - Dave V Alex - CSM(Pactbound) V Tyranids (Invasion)

Mr Dave and his horde of armour have been rather up and down recently - a smashing by Alex a couple of weeks ago and then smashing Gary last week. Will the casino cannons do the business in this rematch or will the green gribblies overrun the defences?

Alex has more easy kills in his list, with things like Gargoyles and Lictors and they generally need to be out and about scoring but he could play more defensively on this mission, due to Purge, and task Dave's tanks with getting through 16 wounds of 4++ and 5+++ before a hail of shells and ectoplasm return fire. Dave's mission pieces are similarly blown to smithereens by Alex's ranged so holding the deployment zone against the damn Biovores could prove wise here.

With less demand on holding objectives this could become more of a shoot out and while the Nids are no slouch here I think Dave wins that. I also thought this match up favoured Dave before and I was proven soundly wrong so I am backing Alex for a more marginal win this time - 12-8.

Game 3 - Andy V Ross - Guard V Guard(Silly)

Two opposing factions of Imperial Guard - one sporting a suitable mixed arms force and likely loyalists, the other is mostly fucking Ogryns who have stolen a Stormsword and Knight Crusader!

On paper Andy's heavy gunline should turn a Stormsword and Crusader into scrap metal but I believe Andy dropped Tau because he isn't Kauyon - patient hunter. If he can force Ross to get out and engage then he will be able to deliver the full might of the Rogan Dorns, backed up by a couple of Tank Commanders straight into the super heavies, and they will die. If he gets a bit eager with his armour and exposes the wrong pieces too early the super heavies will eat them up piece by piece.

The downside for Andy is the Basilisk's are going to be completely anemic here, without a lot of good targets. 140 points for a hunter killer is a steep disadvantage in this match up. A potentially 280 point disadvantage. If Andy had a couple more Leman Russ' instead I would have backed him to win here but as it is I think thats a big hurdle. I am going for a Ross win at 15-5.

Game 4 - Ben V Leo - World Eaters V World Eaters

Now this is a game with subtlety, finesse, precision. Two armies poised to strike at a moments notice, to spring the unsuspecting trap. Oh wait sorry wrong universe. Ben is gonna run hell for leather at Leo's face and it will be a bloodbath.

The mission is Purge the Foe afterall and I feel foes are gonna get seriously purged here.

Will Leo be able restrain the nails, as he did against Jack, and play a more careful game or will the battle lust get the better of him?

The main difference between the lists is Leo has double Maulerfiend while Ben has more Exalted Eightbound, quite different styles, within the move forward and punch theme anyway.

I am backing Leo on this one, I think he is going to outchop Ben on this fateful double Angron meeting. 16-4.

Game 5 - Craig V Max - Death Guard V Custodes(Shield Host)

A cheeky Wildcard from Max adds a Callidus and Vindicare at the cost of some bikes, good choices I reckon because, as much as I love the bikes, they are hot garbage. Looking forward to a Vindicare popping the head of some bloated smelly terminator!

Mortarion can be an issue for infantry only Custodes but not if he can get the 9" charge for the Allarus brick - they will mash him something proper. But if they don't make the 9" he will just leave and chew on some smaller boys. Trajann can also put some hurt on him with his once per game but the lack of fights first, across the army, often means Morty can choose his battles.

The Custodes are generally faster however they will almost always be within the plague aura so often saving on their invul which is not ideal. Plague Marines' volume of attacks here can make that count. The Purge score here might be quite low as both armies have a lot of durability, which might mean Craig gets the advantage in his cheap hulls going around doing actions.

I have to back my golden boys here but it might be close 13-7.

Game 6 - Jack V Dave C - Aeldari V Tau(Montka)

So this should be interesting - if the Tau get their sights on anything it will likely be dead. The melta brick can do serious business damage so do they have a guaranteed kill with a Fire Prism (they are fast) or an attempt on the Avatar. If the Avatar has his Farseer buff I don't think they do enough, even with all the re rolls but they technically could - fishing for Lethals with re rolls makes it a possibility and then Jack is down a quarter of his army. If they don't get the job done, though, they will be immediately murdered.

Breachers can effectively destroy anything in Jack's army, other than the Avatar, but if they fail to kill something they, again, will be immediately murdered by Warp Spiders. Bit of a theme here.

Broadsides are great but I think they might struggle to get a bead on the nimble elves here, if Jack plays smart.

Jack's sneakyness is progressing but Dave's list has an absolutely savage output when it gets the opportunity. Got draw written all over it. Loads of secondary for Jack, loads of Primary for Dave. 10-10