Secrets Unveiled

Welcome back guys, as promised this week I'll go over a few of the lists I think are ones to watch out for at Cancon and what we could probably expect to see at the pointy end and how I feel about my list coming in.

So list number 1; The army everyone hates. 180 plague bearers being run by Leigh Abbey, so this army is quite clearly a great choice of list when playing in the ITC format whether it be the full extreme of 180 or anywhere from 90+ bearers, the resilience and damage from these 7 point objective secured units is just insane, as most of you would already know it is incredibly difficult to ever get kill one against this list let alone even contemplating hold more. The only way you will go toe to toe with this army in ITC is if your list has the ability to be able to push back and force him to actually work for his board control otherwise you are more or less playing out an already written story. This is definitely an army we can expect to see at the pointy end if not take the event out. 

List number 2:
The not so new Ork horde! similar to the plague bearers this army has a pretty intimidating advance and can gain board control straight off the bat which is incredibly important in ITC, the difference with this one is the ridiculous fire power coming out of the mobbed up loota squads, for those of you who haven't been on the receiving end of this yet be grateful, 9 times out of 10 this unit is putting 100-150 str7 -1 Two damage shots into you with re roll ones to hit and generating extra shots on 5's. Some lists just cannot cop this sort of punishment for more then one turn and for some just one volley can be enough to wrap the game up especially being protected by my now most hated stratagem... Grotshield :(
On the plus side this is one of the few armies that can definitely put plague bearers on the ropes so hopefully these neat little Ork lists can put some of those filthy followers of Nurgle on their arse. This is definitely one to watch and i could almost guarantee we will see Orks within the top 10 at Cancon.

List 3:
This one has been around for a while and although i think it has lost a few teeth a lot of people still seem to be keen as mustard for the catachan horde + knight castellan. There's heaps of these lists most with a slightly different take on what is supporting it to suit their own play style I guess, I think some of the better players with these armies will still do quite well but I feel like most are going to fall over the ork and bearer hordes and possibly some of the ynarri lists depending on what they have supporting the catachan. Will we see these lists in the top 5? I don't believe we will but I do think they will do a number on some of the left field lists hoping to sneak through.

List 4:
Probably the most hated faction is about to hit the scene and hit it hard, and of course that faction is tau. There's probably nothing i hate more then having to just pick up half my army looking down the barrel of 9 broadsides but this is now a very real nightmare. Do I think these broadside/riptide lists will win events and or Cancon? No, however they absolutely have the potential to put some of the current top tier lists down pretty hard. A tau list i would genuinely back to win events is any sort of manoeuvrable tau, something like Hayden Manskie has submitted with his fire warrior and devilfish spam list, i absolutely love it, with the addition of some AP shooting this list could be absolutely incredible. I 100% expect to see tau in the top 10 possibly the top 5 as I think it is too soon for people to have adjusted to this meta of potent hordes with the added threat of ridiculous fire power you simply cannot build for it all.

List 5: The sleeper.
Played by one of QLD's heavy hitters, dad#2 Simon Gojky.
he has decided to go with something insanely resilient with a lot of hidden power and a nice bag of tricks, for those of you who haven't seen his list yet, he is running ;
Eldrad
warlock on bike
5 rangers
5 rangers
10 rangers

Troupe master
solitaire (hate this guy)
death jester
death jester

urien
haemonculus with vexator (also hate this guy)

5 wracks
5 wracks
5 wracks

10 grotesques
9 grotesques
9 grotesques

I personally think this list is amazing and has everything it needs to go the distance especially in an ITC format. I'm expecting Simon to grab himself a podium with this one if not take out the event. Multi wound units at the moment i think are really strong especially when given a 4++ and a FNP they really throw out any sort of plans in the shooting phase when trying to figure out where you might be after a turn of shooting, if those 4+ invos are hot your big scary guns aren't getting you out of trouble, and with hidden gems like smite + executioner and the bucket of snipers he can really get through those screens a lot quicker then you might expect, on top of that you will have the constant threat of the solitaire being able to reach in and pick up a few cheeky character kills which will definitely turn a game on its head especially against these plague bearer lists.

Looking through all these lists, contemplating some concerns, re thinking some strategies, I feel pretty good about the list I chose to take, I believe I can compete will all of these top lists with the bag of tech choices I have chosen to take and can commit to an attrition war against these daemon armies. Based on recent tournament experiences I back the strength in my Hivefleet so hopefully it has the guts to pull me through one more event.
for those who haven't seen my list yet this is the general gist of things

nurothrope
malanthrope

6 units of gaunts
2 biovores

broodlord
old one eye
3 units of rippers

patriarch
magus
primus
stealer bomb

The next post probably won't be until after Cancon and I will give you a run down of my games and how the Hivefleet measured up against the current 40k favourite factions.