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[40K] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Cult Hits 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.

Picture me walking into the office of our stats team and finding red lights flashing and  sirens blaring, with TheChirurgeon and Curie wearing grim expressions and stylish military hats talking about triggering “The Iron Hands Protocol”. After a few weeks where Guard and Genestealer Cults have been jointly pulling ahead of the rest of the metagame, some sort of Brood Brothers cell has triggered their takeover plan, and GSC are now leaving everyone else in the dust, landing only narrowly short of an incredible 70% win rate (with a firmly middle-of-the-road player count) and taking a third of all event trophies for the week. Only factions with the quality melee backbone to throw back a cult push (mostly melee Marines and Custodes) are managing to keep up, and the adoption of a Cult build that can just roll people over has suddenly plunged us into one of the biggest metagame skews for a long while.

We do, of course, have a bunch of new Detachments arriving to provide new tools across the game, but hopefully we’ve also got some balance changes on the horizon, because it is clear that Cults are adapting faster than the metagame is.

Let us survey the carnage – today we’re covering:

  • The Leicester 40k Super Major
  • 5. 40Kings Cup
  • Bembel Clash #11
  • WARPSTORM GT CYPRUS
  • Incursion Events 40K Singles GT 30/11 – 01/12/24
  • Athens Warlord

On Friday we’ll review:

  • Gonghammer 2024
  • ADFWGA-HEROCON 24
  • Heroes Of The Mid Table Fall GT 2024
  • MAD Warhammer 40k GT 11.30 – 12.01
  • Open Chemmer Grand Tournament
  • Viking Games – Rise of the Valkyries

A spicy selection of Showdowns has been chosen by our Patrons this week, and we’ll be digging into the following finals:

  • Bringers of Flame Sororitas vs Imperialis Fleet Agents at Incursion Events
  • World Eaters vs Imperial Knights at Gonghammer

The Leicester 40k Super Major

201-player, 7-round Supermajor in England, GB on November 30 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Ben Jones – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge) – 1st Place

Genestealer Cults Biophagus – Credit: RichyP

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Muscle Beach 2K24

Thoughts

Always good to have an example of the metagame menace right out the gate – this build is what has pushed Cults fully over the top, as its explosive, overwhelming nature ensures that almost everyone is fighting against it from behind. With “other cult players” being one of the biggest threats, you’re starting to see players like Ben who are ahead of the curve tooling for the mirror, here in the form of a second squad of flamer Metamorphs, increasing the possible Overwatch coverage you can set up. The Sanctus also helps with that, double dipping as both a very cheap Infiltrator to block out space in deployment and a tool to neutralise enemy Metamorph units – if you pick them for his re-rolls, he’ll deck most of a squad, and maybe take the rest with him via Saintly Paroxysm. Tooling for the mirror definitely paid off for Ben here, as his gatekeeper for the top four was frequent column subject Mike Porter also on Broodsurge, and from there he took down Thousand Sons and Ultramarines to win – congratulations Ben.

Josh Roberts – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place

Marneus Calgar Credit: Alfredo Ramirez
Marneus Calgar Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Triumverate of Terror

Thoughts

In second place Josh unleashes the full terrible triumverate of Guilliman, Calgar and Ventris, the latter two with Company Heroes, which provides all the mid-table control you could possibly need (well, almost all accounting for Cults) while a bunch of Ballistus Dreadnoughts and Vindicators pound the foe into oblivion. The sheer (and on brand) stratagem dominance that the terrible trio provides goes a huge way to stacking the deck in your favour, and it is extremely clear at this point that post-Dataslate Ultramarines are the real deal. Well done Josh on second place.

Michael Costello – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 3rd Place

Tempestus Aquilons. Credit: Rockfish
Tempestus Aquilons. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Anti-Cult Guard

Thoughts

It isn’t just Genestealer Cults players who are engaged in an arms race – Michael’s guard list here looks similarly tuned towards suppressing the good news about the four-armed emperor. Even after the repeat (and deserved) downgrades that planes have seen to their move-blocking abilities over the years, being able to use large bases to block off possible Deep Strike positions and interfere with melee movement/wrap attempts is still high-value into Cults, which is handy in the current metagame. The current UKTC terrain pack is very rewarding for cheap and cheerful planes like the Avenger as well, where they provide good attrition, so you’re not too far out of pocket if you stick a couple in your list alongside standard Guard hits like the Dorn and Aquilons. Small units of Rough Riders also provide useful ways of prising yourself out of tough situations.

That’s clearly served Michael very well here, putting him into the top four after blasting through a wide range of different factions. Congratulations to Michael on third place.

Alex Fowler – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 4th Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Double Mutalith

Thoughts

Rounding out the top four, Thousand Sons specialist Alex continues to put up spectacular results with his spin on double Mutalith, dialing back on Rubricae a bit in favour of extra cultists for board control. This is helpful to me, the writer of this column, as after suffering the psychic violence of having to look up the stats of a forge world unit, I can just say “you know how this works (psychic violence)” and move on. Well done to Alex on the excellent run.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on 5-0 records after the Swiss. They were:

  • 5th – Jack Tite – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): Board control Skitarii spam, ready to bleed all points out of the foe through superior Pteraxii technology.
  • 6th – Sam Nash – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ): Melee pressure Wolves with a mighty 30 Wulfen to sweep through foes, backed by some Lancers and herohammer units to secure Objectives in the wake of the jorts brigade.
  • 7th – Charles Gould – Astra Militarum: Hydra and Russ hull spam with lots of Aquilons in the sky.

Also, you know what – I’ve had a very busy few weeks, so I’m going to be self-indulgent – I went to this, and won Best Aeldari with 4-1 finish, so hooray for me.

Wings' Aeldari - Click to Expand

As you may be able to tell from the title, I’ve been iterating on this for a while, and am very happy with where it’s ended up – if you enjoy a more proactive style of Aeldari list, I highly endorse the products or services featured above.

I’d also like to say a particular thank-you to my opponents from the weekend – five out of five exciting, enjoyable and friendly games, and a really great way to close out the season, so big props to Josh, Adam, Ryan, Ollie and Dale.

5. 40Kings Cup

52-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Emden, NDS, Deutschland on November 30 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Sebastian Müller – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 1st Place

The Lion. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Lion GTF

Thoughts

Taking the trophy at our second event we have the ever-reliable wall of Deathwing Knights, which very much fits into the bracket of “melee Marines that can handle GSC nonsense”, while also being able to go ham and play the role of pressure build against shootier opponents. The Lion acting as a Fight First bulwark further helps dominate against the prevalent melee builds, including other elite melee, and it does feel a little like we’ve hit a pivot point where the Lion should be a default include in these builds for the current metagame rather than the optional bit. Well done to Sebastian for keeping the Unforgiven in the conversation.

The Best of the Rest

There were 9 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – Manuel “BEL” Wieczorek – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Double Dorn Militarum goodstuff.
  • 3rd – Thomas Büttelmann – Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): One big Grimaldus/Crusader block anchoring a massive number of tanks.
  • 4th – Jamil Seif – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Ultra-killy monster mash that cuts the Great Unclean One in favour of high threat pieces like Shalaxi and Skarbrand, and supports them with lots of cheap speedy stuff.
  • 5th – Nico Ringer – Imperial Knights: Canis and a Lancer with Armigers.
  • 6th – Ignaz “RexXxuS” Biegler – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Heavy Hypercrypt with a Vault, Silent King and Doomsdays, plus the Deceiver to potentially go very light on the board.
  • 7th – Andreas Eckle – Nurgle Daemons: Hefty-ish Nurgle Daemons with Rotigus and the Gift GUO, two Soul Grinders and supporting infantry/beasts. A couple of Brigands add extra Firepower.
  • 8th – Finn Howell – Aeldari: Double anvil herohammer with both the Avatar and a full Wraithguard unit, plus a full Yvraine/Visarch Troupe as a counterpunch threat.
  • 9th – Alexander Tepe – Astra Militarum: Double Tank Commander plus go-wide hulls.
  • 10th – Frank Wieczorek – Tyranids (Synaptic Nexus): Shooty Nexus monster mash with a few objective grabbers.

Bembel Clash #11

45-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Hirzenhain, HE, DE on November 29 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Christian Breuer – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge) – 1st Place

Abominant
Abominant. Credit: Corrode

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Muscle Beach 2K24 (shooty version)

Thoughts

More muscular cultists over in Germany, albeit here with a bit more shooting support rather than mirror match tooling. A quick glance at the 5-1s below suggests this broadly was the right call for the local top metagame, as additional anti-tank reach will have come in very handy against a lot of what’s in the pool here. Well done to Christian on the smart pick.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Daniel Klammer – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty): Double Wraiths and double Doomsdays in Awakened, with Szarekh overseeing proceedings.
  • 3rd – Patrick Schmitt – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Monster mash with some extra push pressure from the Swarmlord and a Haruspex.
  • 4th – Mathieu Clerc – Leagues of Votann (Oathband): Double Land Fortress with 10/5 Hearthguard.
  • 5th – Ben Hackländer – Death Guard: Ultracrunch Death Guard with Daemon Engines of all flavours (including two Defilers) and some Destructors, plus Morty as a melee hammer.

WARPSTORM GT CYPRUS

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Limassol, Limassol, Cyprus on November 30 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Alexander Kondakov – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots) – 1st Place

Credit: Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Brawler Pactbound

Thoughts

A return of a classic here, all-rounder Transport Brawler/efficient shooting Pactbound, adding some Possessed in as an extremely hard-hitting counterpunch against other melee builds, and ensuring they can still punch up into all-hull builds via making them Undivided for Wound re-roll access. As with a lot of Chaos lists, this ends up being an assembly of units that get pushed to being just good at their job via Pacts, though I do like the solo Nurgle sorcerer as a dual purpose tech piece – AP boosts for Possessed if they need it, a deep strike scorer you can use Festering Miasma on if you don’t. A great little addition, and a great win for a 10th Edition classic, well done Alexander.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd (4.5-0.5) – Georgios Floros – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): All-rounder Liberator with two big big Sanguinary Guard blocks.
  • 3rd – Todor Mitev – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Lion GTF that squeezes in extra board presence by importing some Sisters and an Immolator.
  • 4th – Leonid Popov – Imperial Agents (Imperialis Fleet): Hey, someone actually did it! Two big Kill Teams, one infiltrating and one dropping from a Corvus, give you heavy hitters, Rogue Traders and support provide even more Infiltrate power, and some generic cheap Infantry and a Grey Knight Terminator unit set up to do the rest.
  • 5th – Dor Cohen – Aeldari: Another one for double Anvil herohammer, this time with supporting Warp Spiders.

Incursion Events 40K Singles GT 30/11 – 01/12/24

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, United Kingdom on November 30 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Scorched Earth – Inspired Leadership – Crucible of Battle

Ross Tully – Imperial Agents (Imperialis Fleet)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Rob Lebeau – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

I mean first up, obviously, a big resounding “hell yeah” for taking the aggro Imperial Agents concept and actually making it work – hurling loads of Kill Teams at the enemy via Infiltrate and backing them up with more Kill Teams is extremely cool, and reasonably well suited to the current metagame to boot. Being able to tangle up close helps against Cults or other melee armies, and some shooty lists will fold to the broad pressure.

Unfortunately, this Sisters build probably isn’t one of them. One of the issues Agents has, even when built like this, is a lack of ranged anti-tank, so it’s relying heavily on getting to combat to cleave through hulls, of which the Sisters here have many. Adding a few Warglaives helps a bit with that in some games, but does little to mitigate it against an army with Miracle Dice.

That means you’re firmly relying, as the Agents here, on pushing the Sisters back hard and outscoring them. Access to Combat Landers to create a bunch of cheap Deep Strikers helps with this, as does the aggression of the list combined with Displacer Field to make it harder to fully eliminate a large Deathwatch squad.

If the Deathwatch go second they might be able to make that stick, as the army is very hideable and has the tools to properly punish early expansion from the Sororitas, neutralising any momentum advantage from the first turn, though Vahl’s unit is a nasty wildcard. If the Deathwatch have to go first they’re in for a rough time – it’s too easy for the Sisters to focus on cleaning them out for a few turns, then backload some scoring by burning objectives to the ground, especially with a couple of Seraphim units to quickly zip to where they’re needed. Not a totally foregone conclusion overall, but the Sisters clearly have the edge, and it looks like they used it.

Result

Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame) Victory – 100 – 65

Rob Lebeau – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame) – 1st Place

Adepta Sororitas Castigator Battle Tank - Order of the Gilded Cilice - Credit: Colin Ward
Adepta Sororitas Castigator Battle Tank – Order of the Gilded Cilice – Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Crunchy Bringers

Thoughts

Tanks for days, sufficient to shrug off all but the most over-the-top offence, and with enough firepower to give as good as it gets. Having Vahl around helps reduce the risk of getting fully bogged down by pressure lists, as does bringing back flamer Seraphim who can screen and/or threaten Overwatch. Still a much harsher environment for this right now than it was a few months back, so well done to Rob for keeping the faith.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Liam Macindoe – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): World Eaters with extra Berzerkers and Kharn.
  • 3rd – Ross Tully – Imperial Agents (Imperialis Fleet): The hero we need, packing Deathwatch Kill Team spam with spicy Leaders and supported by some Warglaives, plus a few Voidsmen units as utility.
  • 4th – Callum Stanley – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): Full send jump pack spam with a bunch of Epic Heroes to lead them.
  • 5th – Luke Vincent – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge): Muscle Beach 2K24, adding some extra speedy support/utility instead of the standard double Ridgerunner squad.
  • 6th – Markus Welbourne – Tyranids (Crusher Stampede): Genestealers out front, Haruspex/Maleceptors in the middle, big shooty bugs at the back.

Athens Warlord

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Αθήνα, Ελλάδα on November 30 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Panos Papadoc – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge) – 1st Place

Genestealers
Genestealers. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Muscle Beach 2K24

Thoughts

More Biosanctic to finish, this version splitting the difference by keeping a double Ridgerunner unit to project shooting threat, but also taking loads of extra hand flamer Acolytes to help out in the mirror. Beyond that, you know the score on this one by now. Congratulations Panos.

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – Guanbo Liu – Death Guard (Plague Company): Crunchy Death Guard with Mortarion, Destructors and Brigands.
  • 3rd – Odysseas Lignos – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Monster mash focused on reach and utility, doubling up on large birds, taking Shalaxi and supporting with lots of Seekers and Screamers.

Wrap Up

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