Post-Runefang Ruminations

Looking at the results for Runefang V, there are no surprises in the Top 8 placegetters. Certainly there are no players who I wouldn’t expect to be pushing for podiums. All eight participants have played at at least one Masters event.


What is interesting is that the Top 8 finishers used 8 different armies. That is a pretty solid endorsement of the current 8th Edition landscape when a light comp stick is applied to remove the more egregious lists. Certainly under mid to late 7th Edition you’d struggle to see a comparable situation with Daemons, Dark Elves and Vampires dominating.

Another point I noticed is that apart from the Dwarfs (who can’t) and the Daemons each of the armies contained a Level 4 caster (two having multiples). Magic is still a key part of the game though the lore du jour varies from event to event. The triumvirate of Level 4 + BSB + Scroll is such a strong base that it features in pretty much every successful list these days.

One aspect of the lists that did well at Runefang was that apart from Joe’s WoC and Thomas’ Dwarfs they all featured a fair number of drops, allowing expendable or throwaway units. The next move in our local meta may be having a build that includes the ability to clear out this units. In some cases this can be easy e.g. Giant Rats to the more difficult e.g. 20 Dark Elf spearmen.

To this end I think we’ll see more use of Magic Missile lores and Direct Damage spells than has been evident recently. The last 4-5 months locally have been all about hexes and augments. Perhaps it is time for Fire to come back in vogue.