Unfortunately, by the time I got here, all the cool vampires have already been mentioned... so quick! Have another Workshop omake!
At the dawn of a new edition, we have a new champion. Pamela Isley is the champion of the 1st global tournament of the 2nd edition of the greatest tabletop game (and yes, that's a mouthful), beating out many heavyweights from 1st edition tournaments. We interview her to find out her secrets to success.
Congratulations on your victory, Pamela. How do you feel?
Great, of course. I've never gotten better than 4th in anything bigger than store tourneys before, so being able to meet, let alone best, some of the greats is a dream come true for me. Of course, I also wouldn't have made it without the support of my lovely wife, Harley, and my friend and frequent testing partner, Orion. Orion, if you're reading this, go join me next tournament.
You won the list with a Succubus led Drukhari list. A 1st edition mainstay, you're the only one who registered such a list in this tournament. What's your special sauce?
Well, first off, I have to say this - back in 1st ed, most Drukhari players ran Succubus as Warlord because she had a ridiculously good statline. I ran Succubus because she was a hot girl in a skintight suit. We're different. Alright, jokes aside - 2nd Edition introduced Warlord traits, which was good because in 1st edition everyone just took whatever Warlord had the best statline to cost and there was no variability. And I can't blame people for running Archons, because To The Strongest is such a cool rule*. Honestly, I was swayed too. Then I got some test games done with Orion and, well, do you know what the problem is when your army relies on your Warlord dying? Your opponent sends a terrible melee unit to gum him up for three turns and gobbles up all the objectives. There's a lot of ways around that - make your Archon killier, run more Kabalites, and I think there's a good list there, but that's not what people were running, and I just trapped opposing Archons in a blob of ten Kabalites and outscored their Incubii and Scourges.
* For those of you who haven't memorised every datasheet, upon the Archon's death, every non-vehicle, non-monster unit gains scoring. Many lists ran the bare minimum of scoring units plus a naked Archon and focused on non-scoring elites to make the most use out of this.
Speaking of Warlord Traits, you aren't running that many combat drug users. Notably, Mandrakes instead of Bloodbrides, and not taking the full complement of Fast Attack.
I think in general most armies don't want to go all in on their warlord, but it'll take some time for that to get hammered in. Mandrakes and Reavers are specifically a meta pick, though, against what I thought would be the most popular two armies: Servants and Tyranids.
A very correct thought, indeed. The two new armies make up half of all armies played. Have you gotten tested for divination potential?
I would like to say that Orion was the one who made that prediction, not me. laughs. That said, it's the new army smell; people just can't resist it.
How does your choices help you beat those armies?
Well, first off, the Starter Box is a footslogger box. Nothing wrong with that, I would not have picked up this game if I had to paint and play a Ravager in my first games, but that does mark out what kind of forces everyone is bringing. Now, there's been two additional kits for each so far. Servants, I think, got the better of the deal with the Rhino/Vindicator/Predator triple kit and Space Marine Bikers. Unfortunately, Rhinos can only transport Bezerkers, which means it's very predictable how to deal with them, and by that I mean Dark Lances. Predators are more dangerous than Devastators to Reavers, but I think mostly everyone's financially bottlenecked. Buy more Rhinos! Tyranids got the rawer deal, being stuck in the goldilocks zone due to how instinctual and synapse work - the Carnifex/Thornback/Screamer-Killer triple kit is slower than the Tyranid Warriors, which are slower than the Gargoyles, so either the Tyranid player overplays out of their synapse bubble or, well, everything's slow. And all those Warriors clog up your Elite slots! Without Carnifexes, thought, tanks just murder you. It's a tough life.
That explains the Reavers and Ravagers, but not the Mandrakes.
Oops! Right, that comes out of the other reason why I think everyone's running the new folks, and that's the cheap psykers. USA and Valhallan psykers rarely self combust, and Weirdboyz do but are tough enough to take it, but that resilience costs points. Magos and Cult Psykers, though, have the chassis of a sanctioned psyker and the perils of a Weirdboy and are priced to match. And if you did what everyone did and buy two Starters, now you have twice as many psykers. The Seercult Warlord trait on Cult Psykers make it even more tempting. Of course, you're now wounding your Warlord and their bodyguards every third cast you make, and people really get tempted into rolling powers every time they can - especially Magos, who are substitute transports for a faction with none. And then I drop Mandrakes on them. The end.
A nasty trick indeed. For all your planning, what did you not want to encounter?
USA General! I was running mostly melee blenders with vehicular heavy weapon, and Trained By The Liberator makes the first half of my list feel like being on the wrong side of Against Alien Foes while still running enough heavy weaponry I can't just keep my girls indoors. Thankfully, all the pros I met ran Borg or Adept Warlords instead and the rest were 45%ers*. Sentinels are probably the unit I would have the single hardest time dealing with, but no Warlord synergises with it yet, so I saw just the one. And the semifinal match against Wally's Speed Freaks was a nasty mirror match I won only because his commander was nailed to a heavy vehicle and mine wasn't.
* In 1st edition, USA consistently had a winrate between 40%-50%. Statistics showed that this was because new and casual players preferred the army and were more likely to play in tournaments than with other armies, pulling down the winrate. A USA player who is in a tournament they are unlikely to do well in is hence referred to as a 45%er.
Would you recommend your list to other players?
If everyone local's still running double or triple psyker lists with poor mobility, sure! Like I said, though, I do a lot of testing with Orion who mains Servants, and the upcoming Blooded/Brood Brother dual kit is going to cover that mobility weakness of the new armies. The upcoming ranged Space Marines are going to be problematic for my build as USA troopers are, too. Mandrakes are still going to be good for quite a bit, though.
You've mentioned new releases. What hopes do you have for The Workshop?
Release Harlequins, you cowards! My wife has been waiting for them for ages.
We're sure they hear you. Any other closing thoughts?
Orion and I have spent some time building some extremely scenic tables with real, living plants. If you have time, go visit the A Miniature Of War exhibit in the Cainopolis Zoological Gardens, and bring your armies with you! Just don't damage the plants, or they may eat your figurines.