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.
Lowest of Men: Yuletide is upon us, but the last few events of the year have snuck through the oncoming snow before play is halted, bringing with them a few glimpses of the meta to come. Thanks for coming on the Competitive Innovations journey with myself and Wings, it has been an absolute pleasure and, dare I say, the healthiest and most diverse year of comp 40k I have ever analysed and written about. Here’s to many more!
Today:
Warhammer: 40,000 Charity GT by Rogue State Games
Coastal Assault
The Fight Before Christmas 2024 Warhammer 40K Grand Tournament
45-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Mahwah, NJ, United States on December 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown – Chaos Space Marines (Bile) versus Aeldari
Linchpin – Fog of War – Tipping Point
Anthony Vanella – Chaos Space Marines (Creations of Bile) Army List - Click to Expand
Progress, Perfection (2000 Points)
Chaos Space Marines
Creations of Bile
Strike Force (2000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Chaos Lord (125 Points)
• 1x Daemon hammer
• 1x Power Fist
• Enhancements: Prime Test Subject
Swooping Hawks (85 Points)
• 1x Swooping Hawk Exarch
◦ 1x Aeldari power sword
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Hawk’s talon
• 4x Swooping Hawk
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 4x Lasblaster
Troupe (165 Points)
• 1x Lead Player
◦ 1x Aeldari power sword
◦ 1x Fusion pistol
• 10x Player
◦ 3x Fusion pistol
◦ 10x Harlequin’s special weapon
◦ 7x Shuriken pistol
War Walkers (110 Points)
• 2x Bright lance
• 1x War Walker feet
Warp Spiders (125 Points)
• 1x Warp Spider Exarch
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 2x Death spinner
◦ 1x Powerblades
• 4x Warp Spider
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 4x Death spinner
Warp Spiders (125 Points)
• 1x Warp Spider Exarch
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 2x Death spinner
◦ 1x Powerblades
• 4x Warp Spider
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 4x Death spinner
Warp Spiders (125 Points)
• 1x Warp Spider Exarch
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 2x Death spinner
◦ 1x Powerblades
• 4x Warp Spider
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 4x Death spinner
Exported with App Version: v1.24.0 (1), Data Version: v525
Thoughts
Ok, a bit of a blow out to unpack here, but it does allow me to highlight a new meta monster, so let’s get into it. Creations of Bile take CSM combat up a level, with excellent pre-game buffs layered onto some already fast, dangerous combat units. The threat range available once this army gets mid-board is sensational, especially if it takes or rolls for the +2 move – you may notice that makes the entire CSM army as fast as the elves it is hunting for, well, free! Possessed provide the heft and staying power, Chosen add speed and screen clearance with their guns, and Nemesis Claw, a plug in I expect us to see a lot more, shut down enemy efforts to counteract the assault with stratagems.
The Aeldari have problems here – Phantasm and clever positioning can usually help you isolate and dance away from one or two key combat threats in a turn, but if an entire CSM armies stages and rushes at you that option evaporates pretty quickly. The Avatar has been serving as an anvil in lists lately, able to absorb output from quite a few of the meta menaces, but a Possessed bomb with full rerolls to wound in this detachment is going right through him on the dev-wound turn regardless. It’s a recipe for trouble, and it looks like the former menace gave way to the new here in a spectacular romp for the Chaos Marines.
Result
Creations of Bile Victory – 20 – 0
Anthony Vanella – Chaos Space Marines (Creations of Bile) – 1st Place
Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones
The List
Army List - Click to Expand
Progress, Perfection (2000 Points)
Chaos Space Marines
Creations of Bile
Strike Force (2000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Chaos Lord (125 Points)
• 1x Daemon hammer
• 1x Power Fist
• Enhancements: Prime Test Subject
War Dog Huntsman (140 Points)
• 1x Daemonbreath meltagun
• 1x Daemonbreath spear
• 1x Reaper chaintalon
War Dog Huntsman (140 Points)
• 1x Daemonbreath meltagun
• 1x Daemonbreath spear
• 1x Reaper chaintalon
Exported with App Version: v1.24.0 (1), Data Version: v525
Archetype
Creations of Bile Rush
Thoughts
Bile is here! The chonkiest, fastest, and most deadly of the melee CSM stake a claim to being one of the better Grotmas detachments with a storming event win. Anthony loads the army up with units that will benefit from the buffs and game plan, big slabs of combat infantry and Rhinos to ferry them forwards. Huntsman provide a little bit of cheap shooting and some high OC to push forwards, and I imagine this list throws an army of infantry at the opponent whilst these and the Rhinos tick off any requisite scoring. The Prime Test Subject Lord gives you a heavy hitting Legio squad that can remove tanks, and the Possessed go-turn will do similar. All in all, a brutal and effective list we can expect to see a lot more. Great work on the event win!
The Best of the Rest
There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:
2nd – Evan Tomchin – T’au Empire (Retaliation Cadre): Massed Crisis and Broadsides in Ret Cadre.
3rd – Luke McCarthy – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught): Two Melee Warrior Slabs and plenty of small janky scoring bugs.
4th – Chris Finnegan – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Massed Deathwing Knights in Gladius with Azrael leading the charge.
5th – Lane Breneman – Orks (War Horde): Double Battlewagon War Horde, the hero’s calling.
6th – Daniel Guarnaccia – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Triple Ballistus and Deathwing Knights, with a smattering of ATVs and Outriders.
Coastal Assault
36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Fort Walton Beach, FL, United States on December 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
Exported with App Version: v1.23.0 (63), Data Version: v507
Archetype
Aeldari Hull Spam
Thoughts
Alright, fair play, that wasn’t what I expected to scroll through. SIX Wave Serpents, Charles? That’s insane! Absolute go wide transport spam is an Eldar classic but we’ve not seen much of it lately, this build can chuck out a surprising number of mortal wounds, the shooting on the transports is really quite dangerous, and there are loads of points left over for infantry to score and attack positions with. Is this a new direction for the Aeldari? I love it! Well done on the event win.
The Best of the Rest
There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:
2nd – Carter Leach – Chaos Space Marines (Deceptors): Massed Accursed and Cultists with a smattering of supporting shooting.
3rd – Tyler Hammond – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Double Bloodthirster, Skarbrand and lots of scoring pieces.
4th – Jacob Ooton – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic): Thousand Sons Goodstuff.
5th – Steven Rota – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Four C’tan in a Tesseract Vault in Hypercrypt.
6th – Coele Whaley – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): The full 18 Sanguinary Guard and double Vindicator, baller.
The Fight Before Christmas 2024 Warhammer 40K Grand Tournament
34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Dickson City, PA, United States on December 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
Derek Apsche – Chaos Space Marines (Chaos Cult) – 1st Place
Exported with App Version: v1.23.0 (63), Data Version: v507
Archetype
Chaos Cults
Thoughts
Derek’s brand of Chaos Cult nonsense marches on. I like the addition of the Syll’Esske / Daemonette bomb to the list, you can either run these together for a dev wound blender unit, or separately for scoring, and it adds to the general ‘carpet with teeth’ vibe that Derek is becoming infamous for. Really well done on the event win!
The Best of the Rest
There were 4 more players on 4-1 records. They were:
2nd – Stefan Oliveira – Orks (Bully Boyz): The list is titled ‘Glorious Melee Combat’, and I concur.
3rd – Michael Butler – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Paragon / Exorcist / Castigator Bringers of Flame.
4th – Larry Kutch – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force): Triple Librarian / lots of Dreadknight GK.
5th – Craig Valvano – Chaos Daemons: Belly, a GUO, Shalaxi, and multiple Soulgrinders.
Wrap Up
Alright gang, Christmas beckons! Have a fantastic holidays, and we will see you after for an absolute Wild West of a post-Grotmas meta. I can’t wait.
Lowest of Men, out.
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