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[40k] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Dog Days pt.2

By Lowest of Men

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.

The Gauntlet: Phoenix 40K GT

83-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Hoofddorp, NH, Netherlands on March 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Cees Jan Stam – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead) – 1st Place

Dark Reapers. Credit: Rockfish
Dark Reapers. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ynnari with Yvraine

Thoughts

The two main directions of build in Ynnari at present centre around the Yncarne and MSU infantry, or Yvraine with Incubi. This list leaves the Visarch at home to mount the murder brick in a Raider. There are plenty of upsides to this – it is faster, safer from indirect, and less vulnerable to being jumped by fast opposition. Transports are a real pain for the opponent in Ynnari too – demeching the contents is hard for a lot of armies without triggering a Lethal Intent move, AND the potential for the contents to have access to Fights First if they lose a model on the disembark. This opens up new angles of attack. Really well done on the event win!

Daan Van Herk – Orks (More Dakka) – 2nd Place

Wrecka Krew Tankbusta Gunners by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

More Dakka Goodstuff

Thoughts

A greatest hits of the Dakka builds we have seen to date – plenty of Lootas, Tankbustas, a Snagga unit for punch and a Boyz brick as an anvil. Definitely still an incredible force in the game at this moment in time. Really well done on the top placing!

Chris Clayton – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 3rd Place

War Dog - Stalker. Credit: Rockfish
War Dog – Stalker. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

War Dogs and Daemons

Thoughts

Chaos Knights continue their recent resurgence, slamming War Dogs on the table and wreaking havoc. Plaguebearers slot in well here for sticky objectives, and Nurglings open up a few cards without losing expensive pieces. Battle shock nonsense and strength 5 artillery goes a long way right now, and the CK OC game remains insufferable for many armies. Really well done on the top placing!

JC van der Lee – Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force) – 4th Place

Credit: Corrode

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Deathwatch Indomitors

Thoughts

The uppy-downy nonsense of Deathwatch continues to creep into the meta, and this list packs in cheap marine utility via the Lieutenant and ATVs. That core chassis of Marine cheap stuff helps the rest of it to crack on with the business at hand – murdering Xenos both frail and green. Lord knows there’s enough of it in the meta right now! Well done on the top placing.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – Florian den Uijl – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Florian breaks out the triple AC/DC and 30 Possessed to absolutely BODY people on primary. Awesome stuff.
  • 6th – Dino Kho – Death Guard (Plague Company): Chunky Death Guard here with 12 Deathshroud, a Plague brick and Blighthaulers for cheap hard target removal.
  • 7th – Dick van der Harst – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance): More CK / Nurgle Daemon tag-teaming.
  • 8th – Stefan Meertens – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force): Logan Grimnar leads a Thunderwolf charge with Lancer support.

Queen City Clash GT @ The Mighty Meeple

48-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Concord, NC, US on March 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Tyranids versus Space Wolves

Ryan Karrer – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

A. Lee – Space Marines (Gladius Task Force)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Tyranids versus Marines. The box art showdown. The recent video game smash hit blood bath everybody craves. Both these books are SO deep, stocked with a tonne of ways to reframe and use their wide model ranges. Match ups between the two often come down to which flavour they have opted for, and we have an interesting example here, albeit from the two ‘staple’ choices for the factions since release: Invasion Fleet versus Gladius. Both flexible, wide ranging tool kits that give you answers for the widest range of situations, it is no surprise to see them in a final!

The marine list leans hard on 2+ saves and AoC with Redemptors and a Land Raider to jam and absorb pressure. It goes light on combat pressure and the shooting is largely anti-elite. By contrast the Nids list is packing lots of big bugs, with some great hard target shooting in the Tyrannofex and Exocrines for marine bodies. If the Tfex’s can pop off early game (and with their volume of shots this is never guaranteed), then Marine tanks start dropping and the game can spiral. The Nids also have more utility and mission play in their Arsenal to get them over the line and all the right units for hunting for the Marine bodies. It’s a knife edge game, with a lot riding on the early exchanges. In the event, it looks like the big guns of the Tyranids were able to do enough damage to carry the day!

Result

Tyranids (Invasion Fleet) Victory – 99 – 79

Ryan Karrer – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet) – 1st Place

Deathleaper. Credit: Rockfish
Deathleaper. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Invasion Fleet

Thoughts

The long term success of Invasion Fleet lies in it’s incredible versatility. You can tech into hard skew or enemy infantry on a per game basis, and you have stratagems to help all of the key tools sing. Raveners as a plug in have moved over from recent Vanguard Onslaught lists and I love these as early skirmishers / uppy-downy scoring pieces. A well rounded list piloted to a glorious GT win, very well done!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd (4.5-0.5) – Mario Madera – Chaos Space Marines (Chaos Cult): Massed Accursed and Cultists with a bunch of tanks in support.
  • 3rd – A. Lee – Space Wolves (Gladius Task Force): The Space Wolves Gladius list from the Showdown.
  • 4th – Duncan Bluhm – Astra Militarum (Hammer of the Emperor): Double Dorn and plenty of Leman Russ.
  • 5th – Andrew Vawter – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis and the Armigers ride again.
  • 6th – Christopher Johnson – Orks (Green Tide): Cheeky Tankbusta plug ins alongside the Green Tide of Boyz.
  • 7th – Amelia Pollard – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Double Norn Invasion Fleet.
  • 8th – Timothy Huebscher – Chaos Daemons (Shadow Legion): The Fadethirster, a tonne of infantry Daemons, and a Terminator brick.

II GT Hispalis

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Dos Hermanas, AN, España on March 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Dario Gallego – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ) – 1st Place

Credit: Kevin Stillman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Space Wolves Combat Rats

Thoughts

Go-wide MSU Space Wolves is a real vibe in Champions of Russ, where Oaths and Lethals / Sustained takes even the cheapest units up to damage levels worthy of a saga. Lots of the top predators trade on their ability to dunk expensive units in short order, so denying them targets, and hitting them in lots of places at once (looking at your elves) is a great recipe for managing them. Really well done on the event win!!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Capi 🦁 – Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal): Nightbringer, Silent King, and tripple DDA.
  • 3rd – Javier Naranjo – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis, Armigers, and a smattering of Imperial Agents.
  • 4th – Borja FM – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): Vindicators, Baal Preds, and plenty of fast moving infantry.
  • 5th – Fernando Martín Ávalos – Adeptus Custodes (Lions of the Emperor): A little bit of everything in a glorious golden Lions list.
  • 6th – Adri Bispe – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis, Armigers, Imperial Agents. The Knight template!!

Geek Shack GT – Battle of the Zia Sun

31-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Las Cruces, NM, US on March 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Adrian Lopez – Orks (More Dakka) – 1st Place

Ork Deathskulls Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dakka Gitz

Thoughts

This more Dakka list goes exceptionally hard on Flash Gitz, who provide you some additional heft alongside the Tankbustas. Lootas slap but the single wound does leave them susceptible to melting sometimes, so having more support shooting to cash in on the army rule feels sensible. Really well done on the event win!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Jon Camacho – Adeptus Custodes (Solar Spearhead): Good old lots of Dreads in Solar Spearhead.
  • 3rd – Anthony Brito – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): SIX Greater Daemons and some Plaguebearers in the list of the weekend.
  • 4th – Taylor John-Morton – Astra Militarum (Combined Arms): Triple Dorn Combined Arms.
  • 5th – Brandon Byford – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders): Mixed Arms Templars with a Crusader brick.

Wrap Up

There you have it folks! The meta seems to be reasonably diverse, as the community feels it’s way through the Dakka issue, though that hasn’t stopped it claiming some results. Not long now til a host of Chaos armies arrive to make mischief- I can’t wait!

Lowest of Men, out.

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