So the curtains drawn, scores are in and the final results of the 2nd stage are as follows:
Group A – No change from the last update.
Group B – As it turns out, there was no change again from the last update, so Luke, Chris and Alex go through.
Group C – A very close group in the end. I’ll say a congratulations to Antonio as his final result has him as topping the group. However this may be contested as Cyntac should have 5 bonus points from keeping his same army book from the first stage which would put him on 62 points.
Group D – Again no change to the previous rankings
Congratulations to everyone who made it through to the knockout stages.
Qualifying and Predications
QF1: Group A 1st (Dan W – Empire) v Group D 1st (Luke B – WoC). Although Luke does have a tough army, he is still quite new to 8th edition and for that reason alone my money has to be on Dan to go through (I still think he will win the competition too).
QF2: Group B 1st (Luke C – DE) v Group C 1st (Antonio – HE). I have no idea how to call this one, purely as I have never seen Antonio play, so have no idea what to expect from him. Luke has a good record with his Dark elves but is reasonably predictable as nearly always runs a large block of witch elves as a steam roller. If Antonio is able to counter/neutralise this, he stands a good chance of qualifying. Either way this will be the classic high vs dark elf match and should be a good one to watch.
QF3: Group A 2nd (Neil R – DoC) v Group B 3rd (Alex M – Lizards). Both players are wily and great fun to play against, however, as Alex borrowed Neil’s Lizardmen army for this competition (and Lizards were Neil’s primary army), this should give Neil the edge to go through.
QF4: Group B 2nd (Chris R – Ogres) v Group A 3rd (Paul B – Nurgle Daemons). Again this is a tough game to call, solid hitting power vs the ability to ignore toughness! I’ve not seen Chris play his ogres so not sure on the makeup of his list. They are old (not age!) adversaries and have played each other a number of times, so this will also be a good game to watch. I think Paul may just pip Chris but it could go either way.
SF1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF4
SF2: Winner QF2 v Winner QF3
FINAL: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
backtothehammer 