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.

Good news! even though the balance updates only dropped on Wednesday, a couple of events dived headfirst into the new metagame, giving us a sneak peak of what’s looking hot ahead of the massive showcases for the new format this weekend. They’re both majors even. Ambassador, you are spoiling us etc.

As always, the brave pioneers get front and centre billing and the week’s showdowns, so I’ve split them between the two parts to headline. One other event also used the rules updates, but not the points changes.

That means that today, I’ll be covering:

Denver 40K Fight Club October Open 2024 (Rules & Points)
Malmö Wargaming Weekend 8
Battlefield Birmingham 23 (New rules only)
Mektoberfest warhammer 40k gt
Rapid Fire 2024

On Friday Lowest of Men will look at:

Toronto Fall Open 2024 (Rules & Points)
Edmonton Wargaming Open 40K
Dragons Lair Open 2024
Last of the Summer Winehammer 7
ELBCOAST CUP XIII – GT

…and our Showdowns will be:

Vanguard Ultramarines vs Bully Boyz Orks at Denver Fight Club
Realspace Drukhari vs. Hypercrypt Legion at the Toronto Fall Open

Denver 40K Fight Club October Open 2024

102-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Denver, CO, US on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Take and Hold – Hidden Supplies – Search and Destroy

Ben Neal – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Michael Mann – Orks (Bully Boyz)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Our first showdown of a new era brings an obvious winner from the Dataslate (Orks, more Meganobz, good times) up against the more subtle winners from Codex Space Marines. It cannot be stressed enough how powerful a unit Uriel Ventris is now, as when taken with Company Heroes he gives you both a powerful pre-game buff to use with a shooting unit (here the classic Vanguard Centurions) and an excellent mid-field skirmishing piece that saps your opponent’s Command Points and will to live. To really double down on that skirmishing capability, this build adds in a second unit of Company Heroes with Sicarius, who lets them Scout an Impulsor into position for staging, then start wandering around decking stuff and causing headaches with reactive moves.

The fact that this list has the triple threat of a Stratagem for charge dodging, Sicarius’ reactive move and the CP-sapping from Ventris is, shall we say, a bit of a problem for Bully Boyz, who really rely on their big turns going big, and who can run out of stuff quite sharply if they don’t (and their opponent has the killing power, which yeah this lot absolutely does). On this map/mission their choices are likely either to go ham up front and see if they can bowl the Marines over before they set up, or play cautious with the extra objectives and hope the Ultramarines get cocky and overextend. I think that’s going to be really hard to land though, as the Marines have much better shooting reach via teleporting Centurions and the big Inceptor unit. I think it’s really, really hard for the Orks to deal with their foes here, and I’m kind of short of bright ideas for what to do about it. Given the score, I’m guessing they took a pretty cautious line, but weren’t able to overturn the inevitable.

Result

Space Marines (Astartes) (Vanguard Spearhead) Victory – 100 – 74

Ben Neal – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead) – 1st Place

The List

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Archetype

Vanguard Superfriends

Thoughts

The dymanic trio of Ventris, Calgar and Sicarius notch one up for Macragge here, and it really feels like this build (with the Sicarius addition) is poised for another tilt at the top, as it’s stronger than ever with the new changes, and the general power of the top of the metagame has been tuned down. One to watch, and well done Ben for grabbing the first trophy.

Matt Evans – Tyranids (Synaptic Nexus) – 2nd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Synaptic Monster Mash

Thoughts

In second place we’ve got another build sporting a CP debuff aura and packing a detachment that’s verypotent, but maybe slightly too fair to thrive in the pre-update metagame. Now, the combination of big tough monsters (Norns and the Tyrants) and absolutely devastating shooting from the Zoanthrope unit (helped by Exocrines) creates a formidible wall of bio-engineered pain for foes to break against. It also has a nice little extra sting in the tail from the extra morale-debuffing Parasite, which can set up an exceptional Shadow in the Warp turn to flip things mid-game, or perhaps disrupt Secret Missions at the end in critical circumstances. A daunting list to face off against, and really cool to see this detachment getting airtime, well done Matt.

Michael Mann – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bully Boyz (are back in town)

Thoughts

No surprise to see the Bullyz crashing back into the fray now that Meganobz come with a more reasonable price tag, and though thwarted by the Ultramarines at the end, Michael had a great run through the event, smashing several top lists. I like the addition of the Big Mek/Warboss Boyz unit, imported from other recent successes, as it helps you really lock in your big pressure turns, vital for this army. Great work from Michael.

Colin Kay – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

The Lion’s Den

Thoughts

Rounding out the top four, Colin unleashes a particularly chaotic spin on Dark Angels here with the hilarious plan of pounding foes with Whirlwings till they’re forced to push upwards, then revealing a suite of units that makes close quarters combat about the most nightmarish thing ever. Add in bonus Lone Operatives for when someone has to go stand on an objective, I guess, and you’ve got a really tricky and very dangerous army, which was only defeated by the sheer brute force unleashed by the Bully Boyz above. Well done Colin.

The Best of the Rest

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

5th – Lane Nusbaum – Astra Militarum: Double Dorn, and still double Bullgryns, immediately hammering home just how wild the old price was. Also a unit of Aquilons out doing mischief.
6th – John Holbrook – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): The triple Rhino transport brawler classic here, backed by some Bikers for cheap harrassment and point grabbing and some Destructors for Gun.
7th – Miguel Fuentes – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Big shooty bugs, efficient board control, and a big brick of melee Warriors, presumably as a cost-effective place to drop free Stratagems from a Hive Tyrant.
8th – Patrick Love – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge): Triple MSU Aberrants with an Abominant each, Purestrains and a truck full of Metamorphs for early aggro, Ridgerunners to blast stuff.
9th – Maxxwell Myers – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Don’t want to alarm you, but +15pts per unit still leaves triple Deathwing Knights as a pretty good choice.

Malmö Wargaming Weekend 8

120-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Skåne län, SE on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Björn Eriksson – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bullgryn and Drop Scions

Thoughts

Imagine a world where Bullgryn cost 180pts for a unit. Horrible thought. Anyway – classic tarpit and dakka Astra Militarum here, going for two full drop Scion units to really drop the hammer on turns two and three. Great work Björn

Joakim Engström – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder Invasion Fleet

Thoughts

A pleasingly balanced list in second place here, taking advantage of the flexible nature of the Invasion Fleet Detachment Rule and Stratagems to create a toolbox, with extra Hormagaunts to either flip objectives or do cunning point-grabbing shenanigans via Endless Swarm. I love a toolbox army, and I’m a particular fan of all the neat tricks you can pull off with the Warrior unit here, who deliver a mix of emergency tarpit and all-purpose blender. Add in Exocrines to soften the foe up plus the ever useful Neurotyrant-powered Shadow and you’ve got tricks to take on all comers, which Joakim thoroughly succeeded at.

Olof Svensson – Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension) – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Mechanised Ascension

Thoughts

An interesting GSC build in third place, presumably extremely excited about the bonus point infusion it’s about to receive. The plan here seems to be to use the heavy suite of Transports to ensure that it takes foes longer than usual to clear out the first wave of objective play pieces, hammer them with the shooting from the Ridgerunners and big Neophyte brick, then lean on the new version of Return to the Shadows plus respawns to get over the line. Going for only one big Neophyte brick is unusual for Host of Ascension but it significantly powers up Return to the Shadows, because it means that the opponent is capped at only getting full value out of one big anti-horde unit in a given turn. Means you have to be careful about placement, but because you can fully focus on that one squad for Stratagems etc., you have plenty of ways of doing that. Going low on Characters also removes a vulnerability to Assassinate that Cults can sometimes have, reducing the threat of cautious counter-strategies. Pleasingly devious, expect to see more of it, well done Olof.

Jonatan Holm – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) – 4th Place

Imperial Knight Lancer. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aggro Double Bigs

Thoughts

Sally forth, smash the foe, things of this nature. This isn’t a complex army, but Knights in general have been doing surprisingly OK right at the tail end of the previous metagame, so with a (presumed) reduction in the number of games where Thousand Sons instantly reduce their big robots to a soup-like homogenate, they’re probably decently placed for the future. Thanks to having five points floating, this build can even cover the small increase on Canis just by dropping one Warglaive to a Helverin. Congratulations to Jonatan for upholding the noble arts of chivalry and suchlike.

The Best of the Rest

There were 12 more players on 4-1+ records. They were:

5th (4.5-0.5) – Johan Norrman – Astra Militarum: Triple Bullgryn, lots of Russes.
6th – Joel Larsson – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Deathwing GTF Classic.
7th – Pontus Koch – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): Terrifying mid-board presence from three units of Company Heroes with Calgar, Sicarius and Ventris, then various flexible shooting/scoring options behind them.
8th – Rickard Stormhammar – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): Loads of Ironstriders and Sterylizors, with extra hammers from a Breacher unit and a Ruststalker brick.
9th – Emil Söderholm – World Eaters: Jackhals and Eightbound galore alongside Invocatus and Angron.
10th – Emanuel Meramveliotakis – Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor): Wardens, Venatari and Caladius Tanks with some Sisters to provide protection.
11th – Jort Kassies – Grey Knights: Dreadknights and a big Paladin brick.
12th – Benny Petersson – Tyranids (Assimilation Swarm): A Nornand a melee Warrior brick being endlessly fed by Psychophages.
=13th – Wilhelm Törnered – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Monolith toolbox Hypercrypt with a big squad each of Heavy Lokhusts and Skorpekh, then lots of small units.
=13th – Daniel Fragtrup – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): A bunch of units to watch here, as they all went down in points; Obliterators, Possessed, Havocs and a big unit of Terminators all teaming up.
15th – Jacob Edvinsson – World Eaters: Maximum Eightbound MSUs alongside lots of Spawn.
16th – Cees Jan Stam – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): A final (?) outing for Beastmasters in multiples, but more promise for the future from Ravagers.

Battlefield Birmingham 23

71-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Nassim Fouchane – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Liminal Brutality

Thoughts

Thanks to the alignment of which updates were in play here, Nassim’s opponents get the dubious pleasure of experiencing both cheap Bullgryn and enhanced Tank Commanders at the same time, which I’m sure was simply thrilling. That said, I’m not wildly convinced that having to cut one Bullgryn squad in half and maybe dip a Russ down to a Vanquisher or something is going to massively halt Nas’ upcoming reign of terror, so if you’re planning on winning any majors in the UK in the near future, start taking notes.

Christopher Radford – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wolf Brawl

Thoughts

An intriuging brawler build in undefeated second here, also picking up a (more minor) boost from the new rules now that you can get the “bonus” effects on Saga-keyed Stratagems when using Warrior Pride. Here that mostly feels like it helps the big Blood Claw or VanVet bricks get access to a Go for the Throat full hammer blow prior to Saga of the Beastslayer going up for the army, without needing to compromise on access to Advance/Charge from activating Warrior Born at game start. That helps ensure that the hefty infantry complement here can take on all comers and maraud around the board at pace, creating an intimidating pressure force that doesn’t get hit as hard by some of the points changes as most Space Wolves armies. Great stuff from Chris.

Matt Bell – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) – 3rd Place

Monolith with Death Rays. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Heavy Hypercrypt

Thoughts

Big teleporting boxes. You love them. Unlike some Hypercrypt lists, this one will have to make some small actual concessions to the changes thanks to having two big boxes as is, but it can just change the Tesseract to a second Monolith or something and it’s most of the way there. Teleporting will continue till morale improves. Good stuff from Matt.

Gareth Jones – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 4th Place

War Dog - Karnivore. Credit: Rockfish — War Dog – Karnivore. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Whoops all Dogs

Thoughts

This list is literally never going to be bad as long as the Brigand and Karnivore datasheets exist. Take that one to the bank. Great stuff Gareth.

The Best of the Rest

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

5th – Dan Bates – Ynnari: Lots of melee MSUs (Aeldari and Incubi both), with a big Troupe and big Windrider block as centrepieces.
6th – Gustav Conradie – T’au Empire (Kauyon): Riptide and Skyray spam.
7th – Peter Clappison – Astra Militarum: Big Krieg bricks providing space for Russes and drop Scions.
8th – Simon Fitzpatrick – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Heavy-hitting Skysplinter with multiple big Incubi units plus a Talos squad.
9th – Tom Harris – Salamanders (Firestorm Assault Force): Salamander heroes with the expected Infernus brick, plus a large squad of Assault Intercessors as a hammer out of a Redeemer.
10th – Robert Pate – Imperial Knights: Canis and a Lancer with Armigers and two Assassins.
11th – LUKE RICHARDS – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): A full 30 VanVet salute to the Jump Sanguinary Priest.
12th – Martin Jones – Aeldari: Comedy herohammer spectacular, surrounding the Avatar with Epic Heroes galore, three Wayleapers and some Farseers.
13th – Alex Meehan – Thousand Sons: Heavy Rubricae squads backed by a Daemon Prince and some Forgefiends.

Mektoberfest warhammer 40k gt

44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Augusta, GA, United States on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Seth Piper – Adeptus Mechanicus (Rad-Zone Corps) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Son of a Breacher Man

Thoughts

An unusual AdMech build next, using the ever-reliable Kataphron Breachers to obliterate big targets, and loads of small units to keep the foe at bay as they bleed out to Radial Suffusion. Even the much maligned Cawl gets an outing here, helping ensure there’s always a Battleline unit to soup up the Breachers at the core. Great to see AdMech tinkered with, hopefully lots more of that to come, well done Seth.

Brandon Lovato – Necrons (Obeisance Phalanx) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Obeisance Doomsday

Thoughts

A truly awesome list up next, going for a fully on-brand phalanx of Lychguard to shield the Silent King and Doomsdays as they do their wicked work, with the Nightbringer as a counter-charge threat. I don’t think Hypercrypt has gotten anywhere near enough worse that Phalanx displaces it or anything, but this build does get some decent improvements and is super cool, plus has a genuinely fairly new attractive option in the form of cheaper Triarch stuff, so expect to see some people following Brandon’s lead in the near future.

The Best of the Rest

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

3rd – Colin Wingo – Tyranids (Crusher Stampede): Swarmy and a full Tyrant Guard unit as a nightmare centrepiece, backed by Maleceptors, Tyrannofexen and a Norn.
4th – Mark Perry – Chaos Space Marines (Veterans of the Long War): Abaddon, Obliterators and Plague Marines in Rhinos, definitely a build to watch.
5th – Michael De Legge – Imperial Knights: Canis and Armigers.
6th – Joseph Ettinger – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Classic speedy Flame Sisters.
7th – Daniel Hesters – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Hull-heavy Custodes with an Achillus and Telemon in addition to the standard double Caladius.

Rapid Fire 2024

31-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Scotland, GB on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Allan Davidson – Ynnari (Battle Host) – 1st Place

Eldar Support Weapon - D-Cannon. Credit: Rockfish — Eldar Support Weapon – D-Cannon. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Evasive Aeldari

Thoughts

Keep-away Shooting and a few big melee hammers to punish anyone who tries to go too aggro. It’s a recipe that consistently works for the Aeldari, and which is pretty much guaranteed to continue to put in occasional wins as we go forward when the right person picks it up. Good stuff from Allan.

The Best of the Rest

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

2nd – Bruce Duffy – Emperor’s Children (Veterans of the Long War): Another outing for the Liam Vsl Veterans plan. Brawler (anti)hero-packed units, including Lucius with some Noise Marines, supported by Obliterators.
3rd – Graeme Meiklejohn – Tyranids (Crusher Stampede): Maleceptors and Tyrannofexes galore.
4th – Samuel Norton-Alexander – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Hull-heavy Flame Sisters, going light on Characters to add Exorcists to the mix.
5th – Conar Leach – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Abaddon gunline plus a big roving Warp Talon squad.
6th – Ryan Cook – Astra Militarum: 18 Bullgrun and tanks.

Wrap Up

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[40K] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Doing It Live pt.1

Denver 40K Fight Club October Open 2024

The Showdown

Take and Hold – Hidden Supplies – Search and Destroy

Thoughts

Result

Ben Neal – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Matt Evans – Tyranids (Synaptic Nexus) – 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Michael Mann – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Colin Kay – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Malmö Wargaming Weekend 8

Björn Eriksson – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Joakim Engström – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Olof Svensson – Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Jonatan Holm – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Battlefield Birmingham 23

Nassim Fouchane – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Christopher Radford – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Matt Bell – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Gareth Jones – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Mektoberfest warhammer 40k gt

Seth Piper – Adeptus Mechanicus (Rad-Zone Corps) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Brandon Lovato – Necrons (Obeisance Phalanx) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Rapid Fire 2024

Allan Davidson – Ynnari (Battle Host) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Wrap Up

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