Lone Star Open Finals
Hi everyone, JTFC here. Welp, there is a new sheriff in town. Aeldari cleared leather with the big iron and took it all at the Lone Star Open.
Welcome back. We have our winner, Ben Jurek on the Aeldari.
All stats in this post do not include winnings from this weekend.
Going into the weekend, Aeldari had the highest win rate in the competitive scene. In faction vs faction win-rate they beat everyone except Gene Stealers, CSM, and Death Guard, (Depending on how you cut the stats up). There is plenty of data to indicate that they are performing very well overall and it’s not anomalous.
The top 10 of the LSO were the following:
1st. Ben Jurek- Aeldari
2nd. William Abilez- Tau
3rd. Eric Tadt- Genestealer Cult
4th. Robert Moreland- Astra Militarum
5th. Robert Hawkins- Genestealer Cult
6th. Noah Beddome- Imperial Knights
7th. Russell Tassin- Chaos Space Marines
8th. Robin Roberts- Genestealer Cult
9th. Clifton “Murica” Russell- Genestealer Cult
10th. Junior Aflleje- Imperial Knights
Let’s saddle up and go on a ride through Ben Jurek’s climb to the top.
In round 1 Ben played against a Chaos Soup list and outscored the chaos player 100 to 25. Aeldari had met the Chaos Daemons 128 times so far and won 72% of their games. His opponent ended the tournament in 181st place.
In round 2 Ben played against Genestealers and outscored them 96 to 47. Aeldari had met Genestealers 166 times so far and won only 41% of their games. Not a favorable match up typically. His opponent ended the tournament in 29th place.
In round 3 Ben played against Thousand Sons and outscored them 100 to 68. Aeldari and Tsons had met 264 times so far and won about 56% of their games.
In round 4 Ben played against Genestealers and outscored them 75 to 38. Another possibly unfavorable match up. His opponent here was Robert Hawkins who came in 5th place, and his list is linked above.
In round 5 Ben played against Robert Moreland Astra Militarum and outscored him 94 to 85. Aeldari and Guard had met about 134 times so far and won about 74% of their games. Robert ended the tournament in 4th place and his list is linked above.
Finally, Ben played Russell Tassin’s CSM in round 6. Ben outscored him 88 to 81. Aeldari and CSM had met 218 times so far and Aeldari win about 47% of the time. Russel ended the tournament in 7th place. This game was streamed on Wargames live and I highly recommend watching it. It was one of the best games I’ve watched so far.
I don’t think it was a cake walk for Ben, especially considering the talent he was playing against. You could tell that he knew what he was doing. I’m waiting for the statistics update to include this weekend on Goonhammer to see if there is a trend change, but I don’t think that’ll be the case.
Let’s talk about Aeldari.
Aeldari army wide ability is called Strands of Fate. In summary, they roll 12 dice at the start of the game and put them aside in a pool. Once per a phase, they can use a fate dice for a roll instead of rolling. The dice can be used for hit, wound, damage, save, advance, charge, and battle shock. So let’s say you need a 7 on a charge, and you have a 6 in your pool of fate dice. Well, put a 6 in and then roll 1 dice, you just passed your charge automatically. It’s a great ability.
Their detachment ability is Unparalleled Foresight which allows for 1 wound re roll, and 1 hit re roll for each unit.
Ben took an enhancement called Fates Messenger on his character, Death Jester. It allowed that model to auto take a 6 on a hit, wound or save once per turn. When you couple that with Unparalleled Foresight and Fate Dice, you are probably getting what you want with the Death Jester every turn. The Death Jester also has the lone operative ability meaning you can’t just pick it off the board. A super strong unit.
His other enhancement was on the Phoenix Gem on the Farseer Skyrunner. When the model is first destroyed, it can rez on a 2+. This model made a Fate Dice a 6 once per a turn when used on a unit within range, so keeping this on the boar with Phoenix Gem was very important.
I thought the Yncarne was a very cool model with a nice ability to pop up wherever a friendly unit was destroyed. Just a constant threat that can be hiding in the shadows and retaliate easily the next turn against a unit that killed an Aeldari. A decent profile as well for fighting. I can see this model just hiding and holding a point until the perfect opportunity comes up.
Other than that, he had 3 Fire Prisms which are just outstanding units right now. They can re roll a hit and wound once per a turn as well. So coupled with Foresight you are re rolling 2 separate attacks per turn.
Then he had map control with his smaller units like War Walkers and Warp Spiders. Then the terror and big damage dealer and looming threat of the Wraith knight. Big damage, big toughness, re rolls. Just a terror on the field especially when you can fate the big guns onto key targets.
With all of the re rolls and fate dice, there is so much consistency to this army. The units he selected just add more consistency, so when he picks a target he has a great shot of doing what needs to be done. Aeldari are strong and I can’t imagine playing against them before the errata changes.
It’s a great army and a great player. Great job on your win, Ben.
Here is a link to my podcast, Just the Facts, Commisar. I hope to have the episode with more recap of this weekend, including the Palm Springs Open up by today or tomorrow. And another link for my socials.
https://linktr.ee/justthefactscommissar
I’m gonna keep discussing this event in the comments because there was a lot going on. Please share your thoughts and ask questions if you have any.
-Chris