So this weekend all 4 of us are attending the Element Games Grand Slam up at the Northwest Gaming Centre in Stockport. You can hear about our lists in a show we recorded talking about the event here. Just for a bit of fun I thought I would make some round 1 predictions. These will be based mostly off of the lists and not the players behind them. As there are a lot of people at the event that are new to the Age of Sigmar scene or that I haven’t seen playing before.
The lists can be found here.
Grand Slam – Round 1 Draw
So first off we have the grudges for the event which I will go into a bit more detail when doing my prediction.
Table 1 – Liam to win
Gary’s list starts out like a normal Destruction netlist but then drops the Moonclan/Grots for basic Ogors and a Firebelly. Its nice to see something a bit different instead of a cut and paste list. The list should still do okay in this variation however he is lacking bodies on the table and could be quickly out numbered when it comes to objective control.
Liam’s using a pretty standard Sylvaneth build with 2 big trees and 12 smaller ones. Good mix of combat and shooting in the list with high mobility. Works well in most scenarios but can be a bit draw dependant if you are in a field full out of mortal wound output.
Both players have strengths and weaknesses to be exploited in this match up. If Liam can control the board space with Wyldwoods then Gary’s multi-wound infantry will be taking risks to run/charge about the board. This will also help keep the Thundertusk’s blizzard shooting attack far enough away to not 1 shot the Treeman or Durthu. The Scythe Hunter’s should have no problem killing the Ogor’s, even the Bow Hunter’s will hold out well against them with their high save and no rend coming back at them.
If Gary can get into a good position and use the Thundertusk’s shooting to eliminate the Treelord/Durth early on then he should be able to take the game, especially if the scenario is Three Places of Power. I think this game will be a close call but ultimately Liam should claim the victory for the Sylvaneth.
Table 2 – Dan to win
Dan is taking a full Moonclan Squig based army, a similar list just won Heat 3 so he’s probably thinking there is some hidden awesome power here to be unearthed! The list has plenty of bodies and damage output potential, it looks any ranged threat but moves quick enough to see combat early on where required.
Chris is taking what looks like his standard Ironjawz army with a Maw Crusher to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to high armoured targets. This army wants to be in combat all game so should fair well against Dan’s Moonclan if he can bait the Fanatic’s out or give him long charges in the hopes they don’t make the distance.
I would love to be watching this game as it should be a slaughter for both sides with not much left by the end of turn 5. While this game should be close, I think Dan will take the win though as the Fanatics will be a problem for Chris if they do dictate the charges and Chris has nothing to shoot at the 2 Manglers or Giant Cave Squigs to soften them up before they go smashing into a combat.
Table 3 – Russ to win
So Andy is taking quite a balanced Stormcast list with lots of bodies, some decent shooting, a large number of units and 2 powerful 30 wound combat blocks. A strong list that should be able to compete in all the scenarios quite happily.
Russ is taking the still quite new Kharadron Overlords. I’m still really not sure what a lot of this stuff can do or is capable of as I have yet to play against them. It looks like there is a fair amount of shooting in the list with some decent combat potential as well. The army is quite mobile with the Skyhooks and Ironclad to transport them around so overall the army should be quite flexible.
As a lot of the power from the Kharadrons looks like its coming from the shooting phase the Protectors could be a real pain for the Kharadrons to get through with the lack of +1 to hit shooting buffs available to them. I’m not sure how this one will play out without knowing the scenario being played, however I think the Kharadrons will take the win just because of how new they are and the unexpected things they are able to do.
Table 4 – Sam to win
Sam has a very similar list to Andy above, its equally as well rounded and balanced with plenty of scenario play available.
I am taking a strange mix of units, some resilient battleline with Plaguebearers, some good mortal wound output and ranged threat in the Warp Lightning Cannons and flying Stormfiends thanks to Sayl, the problem is the lack of any combat threat outside of the Great Unclean One, who himself is not actually very good in combat unless you roll way over average consistently!
If we roll a scenario that allows me to be quite defensive I can probably hold out long enough for the mortal wound output to do its thing and play for a late game win. On paper though I think Sam has the better list and should be able to claim a solid win in this one.
Table 5 – Craig to win
So Samuel has an interesting Tomb King army with Setra, chariots and some big infantry blocks. He should do well in some games with this style of list, I believe this match up is not in his favour at all though unfortunately.
Craig has a copy of the South Coast GT winning list used by Alex Harison this year. The list is brutal at long range and has very strong combat threats. It can deal with pretty much any list at this event and if played well could quite happily podium or even win the event.
This match up is hugely in Craigs favour as he has the ranged threat to shred the heroes and more importantly kill Setra before he has a chance to really impact the game. Samuel has almost no ranged threat with just 30 archers available to him, however the chariots are fast and can fly with help from Setra so there is still some hope. On paper though Craig should have no issues closing this game out for a major win.
So onto the rest of the match ups.
- Table 6 – Matt Robertson
- Table 7 – Mark Wildman
- Table 8 – Tom Hewitt
- Table 9 – David Allan
- Table 10 – Thomas Kemp
- Table 11 – Gavin Udall
- Table 12 – Darran Palmer
- Table 13 – Ellis Priestly
- Table 14 – Tony Moore
- Table 15 – Byron Orde
- Table 16 – Nick Myland
- Table 17 – Les Martin
- Table 18 – Matthew Tullock
So after round 1 has been finished I will update here to see how many I got right!
My top 3 picks for the winner of the Element Games Grand Slam in this order – Mark Wildman, Les Martin & Sam Davies.