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[40k] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Bang to Rights pt.1

By James "One_Wing" Grover

Welcome to Competitive Innovations, our weekly feature for a number of game lines across the tabletop wargame space. Each week our army list and tactics experts canvass the top tournaments for their game of specialty, looking at the week’s top match-ups and how they played out on the tabletop to let you know what’s hot, what’s not, and what might be coming next as the competitive meta evolves year-round.

It’s Competitive Innovations on a Dataslate day, so you know the drill – time to look at which factions are justifiably paying for their many crimes, and which factions are laughing it up on their plane to Tijuana as they make their getaway with the loot.

If, somehow, you have not thus far noticed that it’s Dataslate day, you can check out our coverage below:

The rest of our regular Dataslate coverage can be found at the links below:

Main Reviews

New Rules

As for our rogue’s gallery, today we’ve got:

  • Scorched Earth Open 2025 – 40K World Championships Qualifier
  • Ides of March 2025
  • 2 GT Bilbao
  • CM Games Warhammer 40K Tournament – Bluffhammer Brawl
  • MAD Warhammer 40k GT 03.08 – 03.09

On Friday we will have Lowest of Men running part 2 with:

  • Cascade Clash: Ascent – 40k Major Spring 2025
  • 11th Barrie Bash
  • Wheat City Open 2025: 40k
  • Safety’s Off “Go Outside, Nerd!” GT
  • Califato Wars

Finally, me again on Saturday covering:

  • BAYERN MAJOR #1 2025 40K
  • Hunter GT Autumn – NSWTC
  • Third Annual Blue Ridge Championship GT
  • Hyper 345: GT

Scorched Earth Open 2025 – 40K World Championships Qualifier

82-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Phoenix, AZ, United States on March 08 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Durante “Glynisir” Bozzini – T’au Empire (Kauyon) – 1st Place

Tau Riptide
Tau Riptide. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hull Spam T’au

Thoughts

If in doubt, just shoot a million guns at it. Classic T’au. Works for overwhelming Aeldari, and is definitely happy that the full bore Bobby G gun club builds are getting toned down. May suffer a bit into Orks though – T9 and T10 hulls are more vulnerable to massed rokkit fire (the latter via a pulsa rokkit) than most, so could find themselves humuliatingly out-dakkaed by Orks, of all things. Or maybe not – Tau also get some new toys, and have some great anti-Infantry tools to pivot to, so maybe expect this to come back, but with Starscythe units to counterpunch any devious greenskins. Well done to Durante on victory.

Jason Flanzer – Chaos Daemons (Legion of Excess) – 2nd Place

Credit: Svbfloorvg

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Fiend-heavy Legion

Thoughts

Our first full-bore casualty of the week, Slaanesh Daemons via Legion of Excess are the latest and greatest faction to soar way too close to the sun, crashing down to earth with more nerfs than I care to list here, and probably just outright dead. If there’s a silver lining it’s that massed Fiends are still pretty good, but even they suffer substantially from the loss of full Wound re-rolls and Thieves of Pain needing Line of Sight. Big RIP, basically, and I do think that’s a little bit of a shame for the more techy, all-rounder versions like this, which had some interesting stuff going on, but alas they perish alongside the more “Whoops all keepers” variants. Congratulations to Jason for going out on a high, which I’m sure Slaanesh approves of.

Ben Jurek – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike) – 3rd Place

Militarum Tempestus Scions Command Squad. Credit: Rockfish
Militarum Tempestus Scions Command Squad. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Infantry Bridgehead

Thoughts

Moving straight to our second big casualty, we have Bridgehead. Probably not as dead as pure Slaanesh Daemons, but taking a similar major knock to the ability to punch up at hard targets is going to need at least some major retooling. That’s especially true since Krieg Engineers also take a moderate hit in Mortal output, so you can’t backfill the capability that way. Fewer Infantry units and (probably) some Dorn Commanders seems like the way through, and Bridgehead is sufficiently unique in how vicious it is out of Deep Strike that there might be surviving builds, but also maybe we’ll get an opportunity to see some other Codex detachments get outings. Well done Ben on taking third place.

Wyatt Harris – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead) – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wraithlord Ynnari

Thoughts

Moving on from our casualties to our first “got away with it” faction, Ynnari catch minimal flak in the Dataslate (this build only goes up 30pts, for example), and look set to be the Aeldari detachment of choice for the next quarter, and to be well positioned to take down some events, although I anticipate Nurgle Daemons being able to put some (disgusting) speed bumps in their way. Given what I expect to arise in the metagame, I think you’ll probably see even more Windriders used in Ynnari, because the combination of massed Lethal Hits (via the Stratagem) in your turn and really strong Overwatch into stuff like Orks is going to be great. Were I taking them out, I’d even consider swapping one of the Wraithlords here for a second Windrider unit, but we’ll see what the future holds. Also a fan of the Banshees with Autarchs, the Leader makes the unit a really nice package for which the price is right, and having two maintains threat projection into the late game. Basically, really love this version of the list, and expect to see more of this sort of thing – congratulations Wyatt.

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Tanner Floyd – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Heavy Infantry World Eaters with two full squads of Terminators.
  • 6th – Peter Elias – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Lots of Aspects (including a big unit each of Fire Dragons and Banshees) plus a Yvraine/Incubi squad.
  • 7th – Don Hooson – Death Guard (Plague Company): Hull-tastic Death Guard with Defilers alongside all the usual hits, and cheaper Executioners instead of Brigands to maximise the number of units.
  • 8th – William Walker – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots): Classic Abaddon Pactbound gunline with Vindicators and Forgefiends as the shooty threats, plus cheap bikers squads to try and spike some super Nurgle pact melta.

Ides of March 2025

62-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Rockport, ME, United States on March 08 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Samuel Pope – Tyranids (Crusher Stampede) – 1st Place

Norn Emissary
Norn Emissary. Credit: Pendulin

The List

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Archetype

Crusher Mash

Thoughts

Big bugs. Bugs that are big. Also numerous, in this instance. If you like unsubtle chitinous violence, jamming many large bugs should continue to excel, and despite some point increases on Exocrines and Tyrannofexes, the net impact on bug quantity is pretty minimal – this list, for example, only ends up down 15pts because it recovers most of the increases from drops on the Neurolictors and Hive Tyrant. I’d maybe expect to see a second acid spray Tyrannofex if Dakka Orks are as good as they look, as playing into their overwatch can be quite challenging, but otherwise this sort of thing (also optionally running as Invasion Fleet) can continue apace. Well done to Samuel for taking the trophy.

Jeffrey Colpitts – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ultravanguard

Thoughts

RIP teleporting Vanguard Centurions, 2023-2025, taken from us nowhere near soon enough too soon. Kind of, anyway – no longer having access to “true” Deep Strike does hurt Guilliman’s heftiest sons, but you did occasionally see variants of this run with Centurions and without Ventris (sometimes even without Ultramarines entirely), and unlike most other common Marine shooty threats, they went down in price to compensate. This list does not, in fact, catch any point increases to offset the 40pts drop on Centurions, so I wouldn’t count out the possibility of it just continuing on with Ventris subbed out for something. Alternatively, we’ve seen some experimentation with Sternguard as a Deep Strike threat that’s still valid, so you could see them appear either as well as or instead of the Centurions, as the 40 extra points makes it much more feasible to work them into the list. I do not, for a second, believe this is the last we’ll hear from Ultravanguard, and presumably Jeffrey will be returning to the shadows to plot his next move even now.

Travis Morton – Death Guard (Plague Company) – 3rd Place

Foetid Bloat-drone. Credit: Rockfish
Foetid Bloat-drone. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hull-heavy Death Guard

Thoughts

Let the annals of infamy forever record that in 10th Edition, in the year of our lord 2025, Games Workshop had to nerf Predator Annihilators.

We’re through the looking glass now, folks.

Anyway – a combined 40pts increase will not, in fact, stop the time-honoured strategy of cramming a bunch of hulls and Mortarion into a list and letting rip. I do wonder if you might find that both Dakka Orks and Nurgle Daemons present issues for it, as the former is less impacted by Contagions than most shooty builds, and the latter may just be able to out-crunch (or maybe squish) you, but these builds have kept going through thick and thin, so I’m not about to count them out. Well done Travis, and I’m sure we’ll see you back with more Nurgle fun soon enough.

Drew Salzborn – T’au Empire (Kauyon) – 4th Place

Fire Warrior Breacher Team. Credit: Rockfish
Fire Warrior Breacher Team. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Classic Tau Combined Arms

Thoughts

Breachers are still pretty good, that’s right. In fact, if you want to explore the full breadth of what Breachers can do, you should definitely look at them in the Experimental Prototype Cadre, because boosted Range, Strength and AP is pretty spicy. That would be quite a different build to what’s here, mind, and this should still be just fine post-Dataslate. Breacherfish provide strong threat projection that cause the foe to be cautious, and your damage output ramps up spectacularly from turn three onwards. While Prototype Cadre is very cool, this setup looks like it should be really good going forward – breachers are great answers to Orks, the volume of threats can overwhelm Ynnari, and the turn three damage ramp up plus ultra high strength weaponry means they can probably take out even the most durable Nurgle builds. Time for a T’au takeover? We’ll find out. Great work from Drew bringing back a classic T’au build with strong future prospects.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Anthony Massicotte – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Ultra heavy Fleet with triple Norn Emissary, Maleceptors and Tyrannofexen.
  • 6th – William Cliff – Genestealer Cult (Xenocreed Congregation): A melee horde build that catches far less of a hit from the one GSC price hike than most builds, as it’s only sporting one full Neophyte unit alongside lots of Acolytes and two Metamorph squads.
  • 7th – Matthew Wood – Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor): The very classic four Infantry unit (3x Warden/Champ, Draxus/Custodians) plus two Caladius recipe.
  • 8th – Connor Flotten – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Lots of Aspect MSUs, couple of Wraithlords, big Incubi unit, and the full triumverate.
  • 9th – Cullen Burns – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike): Lots of drop Infantry, and the unusual (but with the potential to get more common post-Dataslate) choice to go for maximum Ogryns, which is an alarming amount of D2 shooting.
  • 10th – Martin Periard – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Armigers and Agents.
  • 11th – Christopher McInnis – Space Wolves (Ironstorm Spearhead): Your list is named “Oops All Dreads” and yet I distinctly see a squad of Fenrisian Wolves. Shameful.

2 GT Bilbao

50-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Bilbo, PV, Spain on March 08 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Koldo Besga – Leagues of Votann (Oathband) – 1st Place

Trans-Hyperian Alliance Hekaton Land Fortress. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder Votann

Thoughts

Similar to T’au above, this style of build has been valid for huge chunks of the edition, and Votann truck on into the new metagame completely (at least for Oathband) unchanged. If I had to guess I’d expect to see more builds going for the big Deep Strike Hearthguard unit going forward, as it helps diversify the threat profile somewhat, but the core efficiency of Votann stuff should still let them thrive. Well done to Koldo.

Alvaro Perez – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Go-wide Ynnari

Thoughts

Slightly more of a hit to this Ynnari variant due to it maxing out on Fire Dragons, but it also highlights why they’ll be tough to pin down balance-wise. Kabalites with a Venom for the “good” half are just a really nice unit, and perfect Ork killers to boot, so expect to see plenty as we Lethal Surge into the new metagame. Definitely interesting to see no Yvraine in both our featured builds for the day – maybe the fact that she (and bodyguard) are a minimum 250pts investment is just a little too dear for what are (ultimately) T3 models, and Banshees with Autarchs cover the same space more flexibly. Much to ponder, well done to Alvaro for unleashing a cool set of tools.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 3rd – Borja David Palacio Valdueza – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): A big buffed Tervigon with a couple of Termagant swarms backed up by many of the (now not quite so) efficient big bugs.
  • 4th – Dekkers 🦭🤖 – Chaos Space Marines (Creations of Bile): Double Possessed brick plus many brawlers in Rhinos.
  • 5th – VICTOR TEJA – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Double Atrapos with many Armigers.
  • 6th – Rodrigo Serna – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Deathwing GTF with some added Desolation Marines.
  • 7th – Ivan Andres – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Yvraine with Incubi plus a truly spectacular number of MSUs.
  • 8th – Rafael miguel Martinez Legorburu – Chaos Daemons (Legion of Excess): Double Soul Grinder, double Keeper, double Epitome battery. Also a Tormentbringer, RIP to a real one, god forbid Daemonettes have hobbies.

CM Games Warhammer 40K Tournament – Bluffhammer Brawl

33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Knoxville, TN, US on March 08 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Unknown Mission

Jake Durant – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Sean Rice – Aeldari (Aspect Host)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Oh noooooooo. Look – I love me a big block of Necron Warriors. Huge fan. Had a great time with them early in the Edition. Are they probably being slept on a little? Yeah sure, especially in Awakened with Orikan.

Unfortunately, the bane of any Necron Warrior list is an army that can just reliably lift them with impunity, and that’s just going to happen here, like 100% of the time. Eldrad and those Dire Avengers are going to banish those skeletons back to the crypt the first time one pops their head out, and the rest of the Necron army are small, manageable threats of the sort that Aeldari excel at picking off. The Necrons also lack fast ways to crack a Wave Serpent, so the elves are going to be able to set up and control the table at their leisure. This is a horrific, nigh unsalvageable mismatch for the Necrontyr (tragic because it’s a very cool list), and I’m entirely unsurprised that this year’s war of the heavens classic ended up with a decisive elf victory.

Result

Aeldari (Aspect Host) Victory – 93 – 28

Sean Rice – Aeldari (Aspect Host) – 1st Place

Fire Dragons. Credit: Corrode

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aspect Host

Thoughts

The most violent Asuryani takes the crown here, though suffers a fair bit more points attrition compared to the Ynnari. My guess is that we’ll see Asurmen and five Avengers in a Falcon far more, or alternatively see people experiment with Baharroth and a big Hawk unit, which are very strong in Aspect Host. Still a fan of the big hammerblow Fire Dragon unit even at the higher price point though – there’s really nothing else quite like it for levelling heavy targets. Love to see elf victory, great job Sean!

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – Kalen Ogle – Astra Militarum (Recon Element): Pony club! Someone actually did it. Owns. 62 horses and some backup artillery and heavy weapons.
  • 3rd – Cole Cook – Space Marines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Small Marine meme town, using a bunch of Tactical Squads plus some Scouts and Devastators with a wall of Rhinos and Razorbacks.
  • 4th – Keith Loveday – Orks (Taktikal Brigade): Taktikal Brigade but with planes, which to be fair modern military history would suggest are pretty taktikal. Not 100% sure where this one goes, as planes are (mercifully) not compatible with the new More Dakka! detachment.
  • 5th – Aiden Williams – Grey Knights (Warpbane Task Force): All-rounder Warpbane with a healthy mix of Purifiers, Dreadknights and Terminators, and looking very well set for the new metagame with not a Purgation Marine in sight.
  • 6th – Jake Durant – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty): Character and MSU span with a single fully tooled up Warrior unit as a centrepiece.

MAD Warhammer 40k GT 03.08 – 03.09

26-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Fairfield, CA, US on March 08 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Floof Cox – Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension) – 1st Place

Neophytes. Credit: Rockfish
Neophytes. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Horde Host

Thoughts

Floof returns with the Neophyte horde build that took them to the top eight at LVO, throwing out an amount of Deep Strike pain that even Bridgehead winces at. This strategy has, of course, caught the attention of the balance team with its sheer viciousness, but ultimately can pay for the points increases just by cutting one unit of Genestealers, and probably gets a metagame level boost from Bridgehead getting hit a lot harder – right now, you have to plan for handling a Deep Strike Infantry build, but if that becomes more optional again then it’s good news for the revolution. Great work once more from Floof!

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – Christopher Shelton – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): All Armigers and one very dedicated Priest.
  • 3rd – Tyler Nutt – Orks (War Horde): Mechanised melee War Horde.
  • 4th – Scott Cairns – Astra Militarum (Hammer of the Emperor): Dorn Commanders, Russes and Combat Engineers.
  • 5th – Jeremy Ecklin – Aeldari (Windrider Host): Maximum shuriken cannon Windriders and 2×6 Shining Spears if that doesn’t get the point across.
  • 6th – Billy Willis – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught): Tricksy melee Vanguard with the Swarmlord to maximise disruption and two full Warrior units to flense the unsuspecting.

Wrap Up

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