We are three months in and have a couple events’ worth of data now to begin judging how 7th has shifted the meta and comparative army strength. That said, we still have to keep in mind that many armies still have fairly few representative games. This month I’m going to be looking at only the last three months’ worth of data.
To start, let’s establish the number of total games in 7th we’re looking at:
To break it down by month, we can see that in the three months of 7th, the popularity of most armies has been relatively stable. Space Marines are far and away the most popular army, regularly representing about 20% of the field. 6th edition standouts Eldar and Tau are still holding down with about a combined 25% of the field. Finally, the Chaos powers are checking in at about 10% of the total field (assuming Daemons and CSM are generally interchanged as primary and ally).
With these numbers, you can fairly easily predict the armies you are likely to face at an event. Namely, half or more of your games will likely be against Space Marines, Eldar, Tau and Chaos primaries, with at least one game against Marines at a 5+ round event.
That said, let’s look at how the armies are faring thus far in the new edition:
Eldar are still top dogs, with a 64% win percentage in 7th. The next strongest primary is Imperial Knights, at a 63% win rate. Other armies poking their heads above the 50% win rate, in order, are Tau, Daemons, Necrons, Space Marines, Tyranids and Dark Angels. Yes, you read that right: Dark Angels pushed above 50% with a strong August.
On the other end, Imperial Guard is continuing to be underwhelming, with under a 40% win rate. The three other lowest armies are Orks, Space Wolves and Blood Angels. With the new books for Orks and Space Wolves, we can expect those two armies to make an upward trend.
The above chart looks at WAR, my home-brew Wins Above Replacement stat. Unsurprisingly, most of the armies are close to the middle ground, with the notable exceptions of Eldar, who continue to run away from the field, and Imperial Guard, who are running away from the field in the wrong direction.
With NOVA upcoming, and NOVA’s bracketing system, let’s take a mildly educated guess at what that top bracket will look like:
More of a reach would be to pick the final matchup, but I’ll take a relatively safe guess that it will pit Eldar against Space Marines. Both armies have the tools to excel at NOVA’s mission pack. Looking at mission eight, my guess for winner is an Eldar MSU build, though a Drop Pod army could definitely do well in the matchup.
To start, let’s establish the number of total games in 7th we’re looking at:
To break it down by month, we can see that in the three months of 7th, the popularity of most armies has been relatively stable. Space Marines are far and away the most popular army, regularly representing about 20% of the field. 6th edition standouts Eldar and Tau are still holding down with about a combined 25% of the field. Finally, the Chaos powers are checking in at about 10% of the total field (assuming Daemons and CSM are generally interchanged as primary and ally).
With these numbers, you can fairly easily predict the armies you are likely to face at an event. Namely, half or more of your games will likely be against Space Marines, Eldar, Tau and Chaos primaries, with at least one game against Marines at a 5+ round event.
That said, let’s look at how the armies are faring thus far in the new edition:
Eldar are still top dogs, with a 64% win percentage in 7th. The next strongest primary is Imperial Knights, at a 63% win rate. Other armies poking their heads above the 50% win rate, in order, are Tau, Daemons, Necrons, Space Marines, Tyranids and Dark Angels. Yes, you read that right: Dark Angels pushed above 50% with a strong August.
On the other end, Imperial Guard is continuing to be underwhelming, with under a 40% win rate. The three other lowest armies are Orks, Space Wolves and Blood Angels. With the new books for Orks and Space Wolves, we can expect those two armies to make an upward trend.
The above chart looks at WAR, my home-brew Wins Above Replacement stat. Unsurprisingly, most of the armies are close to the middle ground, with the notable exceptions of Eldar, who continue to run away from the field, and Imperial Guard, who are running away from the field in the wrong direction.
With NOVA upcoming, and NOVA’s bracketing system, let’s take a mildly educated guess at what that top bracket will look like:
I would be fairly comfortable with +/-1 to most of those army guesses. The one reach pick is the single Space Wolf primary, since they can use the new codex and I could see the new book starting 4-0. Imperial Knights are also a bit of a wildcard in that they can add a lot to a struggling Imperial army. That said, while they complement Imperial Guard, it’s hard to think it would be enough to boost them into the top bracket given the current numbers.
- 4 Space Marine armies with 2 Imperial Knight allies
- 3 Eldar armies
- 2 Necron armies
- 2 Tau Armies
- 3 Chaos mixed armies
- 1 Tyranid army
- 1 Space Wolf army
More of a reach would be to pick the final matchup, but I’ll take a relatively safe guess that it will pit Eldar against Space Marines. Both armies have the tools to excel at NOVA’s mission pack. Looking at mission eight, my guess for winner is an Eldar MSU build, though a Drop Pod army could definitely do well in the matchup.