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 perfidious Aeldari return to the battlefield this week, armed with a powerful new codex and ready to take on the world. Globally, there were plenty of 4-1 finishes for them, but no immediate sweep of everything. In Poland, however, they dominated the absolute shark tank of a tournament that is our biggest event of the week. Truly elves are a land of contrasts. More as we get it next week.

Anyway, events. Today, I’ve got:

DiceCrusher2025
Dark Sphere February 40k GT
WARZONE WELLINGTON 2025
Down Under 40k February Dawnbringer GT

On Friday Lowest of Men will look at:

Warhammer World Grand Tournament
40K Okeanos rising GT
ForgeFire Winter Open
Red Dragon 40k GT – February ’25

We will have three Showdowns this week, two voted for by our patrons, and one from the latest Goonhammer contributor to volunteer themselves by dint of making it into a GT final. These will be:

Aeldari-on-aeldari action as Warhost faces Ghosts of the Webway at Dicecrusher.
Bridgehead Strike vs. Solar Spearhead at the ForgeFire Winter Open.
Ultramarine Gladius vs. Solar Spearhead at the Red Dragon GT.

DiceCrusher2025

79-player event in Poland. All the lists for this event can be found in ChampionsHub.

The Showdown

Scorched Earth – Inspired Leadership – Crucible of Battle

Wiktor Schmidt – Aeldari (Ghosts of the Webway)

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vs.

Michał Duda – Aeldari (Warhost)

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Thoughts

Elf fight! A nicely varied elf fight at least, with the all-rounder Warhost taking on a Harlequin build with some Aspect backup. Before talking about where the lists differ, it’s important to highlight the one big overlap – Asurmen with five Dire Avengers and a Transport are pretty much a lock for any non-Ynnari build because of how much value they add between built-in evasive firepower and the once per game murder mode (the latter especially out of a Falcon for Wound re-rolls). If you play Eldar, run him.

Elsewhere, there’s far more to consider. Michał’s Warhost build takes a nice, all-rounder variety of strong units – Fuegan joins Asurmen on the Phoenix Lord front, with his Dragon unit providing great anti-tank punch, while an Autarch with some Reapers provides a reliable, evasive clip of long-ranged firepower. Reapers are making a big splash across early Aeldari builds that have a way of protecting them, usually with an Autarch to power whatever Stratagem they’re using, as now that their big shots do real damage and their small shots still get AP-2 Ignore Cover, they’re a real versatile threat again. Past that, lots of cheap, speedy stuff to harass and score, and a D-cannon to project some indirect threat. Worth noting that the D-cannon is especially strong in Warhost, as it has the INFANTRY keyword so can redeploy for angles with Webway Tunnel, or use Fire and Fade if you really need to get a direct fire shot off. Also neat to see that Wraithlords do seem to have finally landed on being just kind of neat – the new version of Fated Hero combined with being able to get decent hit rolls from any Psyker makes them a good choice if you need a high punch unit with a bit more backbone than the Aeldari standard.

Up against them is a fairly skewed Harlequin build, using two big Troupes and masses of Swooping Hawks as the big threats. All those Hawks plus the Coil of Cegorach give this build an almost unprecedented (for 10th Edition) Mortal Wound output when it wants to go big, and I can certainly see this as an interesting choice for Teams, especially since it can also handle hordes. Lots of cheap transports also provides a bit of depth past the alpha units, and it’ll be a real challenge for some foes to avoid being baited into a fatal trap here.

So which flavour of Aeldari are favoured? Realistically, here it’s the Warhost. Either side here can pick up half of the other’s army in a turn if allowed, but Michal’s build has better tools to dictate the flow of the game. A bit of Indirect plus more disposable cheap fast stuff means that if both sides try to play keepaway, he’ll probably come out on top, and extra Battle Focus tokens and speed will come in clutch if both players have to scramble for a big score late game. I do think the Harlequins have a slightly better chance of creating a big swing turn mind – staging all three Hawk squads then going for a massive, Battle Focus powered sweep forward could be utterly devastating, and the threat of Bloody Dance could be used to ward the foe off till then. In the end, the decisive victory went to the Warhost – either the Harlequins couldn’t open up the opportunity for a big score, or turbo-boosted Battle Focus let Warhost find an angle for the win.

Result

Warhost Victory 19-1

Michał Duda – Aeldari (Warhost) – 1st Place

The List

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Archetype

Attrition Warhost

Thoughts

The Aeldari classic of “do unto others, do not let them do unto you” returns, with Battle Focus, Asurmen and the Warhost Stratagems stacking up to enable maximum damage with minimum exposure to retaliation. Speedy Aspects provide reliable scoring on top of that, and high threat pieces like the Phoenix Lords discourage/punish over-aggressive pushes by the foe. Classic Aeldari, great stuff Michał.

Marcin – Aeldari (Aspect Host) – 2nd Place

Lhykis. Credit: James "Boon" Kelling — Lhykhis. Credit: James “Boon” Kelling

The List

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Archetype

Aspect Host

Thoughts

In second place we’ve got a much more directly violent spin on Aeldari, leveraging the power of the Aspect Host to hit like a truck. The really notable centrepieces here are the full squads each of Fire Dragons and Dark Reapers, the latter going for maximum buff power (and Stratagem utility) via an Autarch. Fire Dragons with Fuegan are very strong all-round skirmishing threats, as the boosted range gives them the reach to melt foes at a respectable distance. In Aspect Host you can also go completely sicko mode with Preternatural Precision (burning a shrine token) to vaporise a truly heroic amount of stuff in a single phase. The Reapers can also play that card, and for both these units the ability to tee up 5+ Criticals with Lhykis makes them extra scary, especially with access to ignoring modifiers for the Reapers. One unit can duck back into a Transport with Skyborne Sanctuary, and the Reapers can lean on their Autarch to Fade Back them to safety since they’ll be operating at more of a distance.

The rest of the list provides loads of threat projection to keep foes at bay while the bodies pile up from the shooting. Spears are lethal in Aspect Host, Spiders area either serious pressure threats (Lhykis’ squad) or great scoring toys, and Banshees discourage people getting too close. The other thing worth highlighting is the use of a solo Warlock Skyrunner as a pure Action model – now they don’t give up Assassinate, they’re very good in this role for their cost. Sad to not see the Avatar out to play, but though I’m certainly going to give him a go, I suspect Marcin is correct not to deploy him – freeing up those points allows the Aeldari to field a great range of both threats and scoring pieces, making this a very powerful build. Well done Marcin!

Maks ‘waf’ Adamek – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 3rd Place

The List

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Archetype

Aggro Double Bigs

Thoughts

Chaos Knights in third place here, going for the power move of doubling up on bigs, both melee capable. The big sell here is that this list can go for a stupendous gut punch from concealment, as the two big boys can naturally move through walls, and two Karnivores can join them via Knights of Shade. That kind of pressure can overwhelm some lists, and I think that probably includes Aeldari variants that haven’t gone hard on killing power (I wouldn’t try it against the Aspect Host above, but the Warhost…), and also gives you a fair shake against some of the ultra-killy Marine lists, providing a window to do enough damage to keep pace on resources. You probably do need heavy European terrain to make this really sing, but in that environment I can definitely see the value here, and Maks took this to an impressive finish with four wins and a draw – congratulations!

Gabriel Sarosiek – Genestealer Cults (Outlander Claw) – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Mechanised Claw

Thoughts

To round out the top four we’ve got a return of the Outlander Claw, going for the classic combination of guns on trucks and extreme Primary denial capability. Like many post-Dataslate GSC builds, Gabriel has dialed back on volume of Battleline Infantry, as you can now plan around a predictable quantity of revivals, which is powerful for a list aiming to manage the opponents scoreline very aggressively. It also frees up points for more raw power – maximum Ridgerunners and Rockgrinders, which is enough firepower that opponents have to respect this as a serious shooting list, not just plan for the standard cult shenanigans. Good to see a souped up version of a classic doing work, great stuff from Gabriel.

The Best of the Rest

This event was doing true 20-0 placings, so I’m just going to cover the rest of the top eight. Sorry to the pair of 4-1 players who managed to fire themselves 10 places deep into the 3-2 bracket somehow.

5th – Wiktor Schmidt – Aeldari (Ghosts of the Webway): Two big Troupes with a Shadowseer and Troupe Master (Infiltrating and throwing out Charge Mortals respectively) as major hammers, Asurmen with some Avengers in the Falcon for attrition and a big once-per-game punch, more small Troupes in boats, and then maximum Swooping Hawks for massive Mortal Wound output.
6th – Grzegorz Wąs – Genestealer Cults (Biosanctic Broodsurge): All the melee pressure fun of Broodsurge with a couple of Rockgrinders added over additional Ridgerunners as more durable on-board pieces. Gut punching elves at speed is definitely a way to fight them, so there could be some real mileage here (and indeed Grzegorz went 2-1 into Aeldari, including beating Marcin’s second place list).
7th – Maciej Pająk – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): All-rounder combined arms Liberator with all the Bangles classics.
8th – WarBrother – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): The arms race toward decent D1 indirect continues apace here with the surprise return of Hive Guard, which does seem distressingly plausible if Aeldari and Bridgehead are getting you down. Termagants and big shooty bugs provide screening and heavier lifting respectively.

Dark Sphere February 40k GT

61-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, United Kingdom on February 15 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Gustavo José Branco Varandas de Sousa – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike) – 1st Place

Militarum Tempestus Scions Command Squad. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder Bridgehead

Thoughts

Bridgehead goes from strength-to-strength right now, with the double Tank Commander variant we see here continuing to be my favourite, especially on UKTC terrain that rewards flank shooting threats (though the weakening of demo cannons in the Guard codex could shift that a little). Current builds are also going ever harder on indirect, as seen here with both Mortars and a FOB, which help in both the mirror and against the Aeldari menace. If you’re an elf hater and wants them to stumble rather than conquer the metagame this is definitely the build you’re rooting for, as the sheer volume of Deep Strike power with Indirect backing is a genuine challenge for fragile, elite builds to handle. It does, also, continue to have the power to take on all-comers, as Gustavo demomstrated here!

Jak Payne – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Cobalt Scions Ballistus Dreadnought. Credit: Charlie Brassley

The List

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Archetype

Calgar Gun Club

Thoughts

Stacking up lots of shooting hulls as Ultramarines also continues to be very strong, though this build breaks from the norm by leaving Guilliman at home, instead building in more go-wide scoring/melee counterpunch units, and an extra utility piece in the extra tough Gravis Captain. If Bridgehead and Aeldari are your main worries, I can certainly see the argument for favouring extra redundancy and board coverage over raw killing power (there’s still more than enough here), particularly on UKTC terrain, and I’ll be interested to see if we get more people trying this version – I suspect it’ll depend on how much of a presence Daemons and Knights end up being as things settle down. Congratulations to Jak on undefeated second place.

Vincent Stein – Orks (War Horde) – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Go fast and krump things

Thoughts

Look, sometimes you’ve just got to drive straight at the enemy and start punching. It’s almost always at least a semi-viable strategy for Orks, and right now seems pretty solid – no one likes dealing with that much pressure, and lists that have focused too much on shooting or techy scoring pieces are going to get overwhelmed. Good job Vincent.

Alaeze Ugoala – Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force) – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Grindy Deathwatch

Thoughts

Rounding out the top four we’ve got a very grindy Black Spear Task Force build, doubling up on Indomitor teams and adding Terminators to create a solid heavy infantry core, and supplementing that with small utility pieces and some Ballistus Dreads. Adding the Dreads on top of a unit of Infiltrators lets you solidly wall out the backfield, meaning that any time the grindy shooting opens up space you can afford to teleport one of the Kill Teams forward, gradually closing the noose on the foe. Deathwatch also help some common Marine choices go the extra mile – Assault Intercessors with a Captain are especially nasty with the Thief of Secrets, while being able to Teleport a Librarian/Sternguard squad makes them a good scalpel for when something that’s especially vulnerable to Devastating Wounds needs to die. A daunting and powerful build overall, well done to Alaeze on taking fourth place.

The Best of the Rest

There were 8 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

5th – Tim Lowes – Aeldari (Seer Council): A mind-bending MSU Seer Council list with lots of Phoenix Lords and a few larger threats, specifically a big Dragon unit and a squad of six Windriders as a Strat Reserve threat.
6th – Ranchen Li – Death Guard: Extra crunchy hull Death Guard with Destructors, PBCs and Brigands, all led by Mortarion.
7th – Aidan Brocklehurst – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): Oathed up not-Blood Angels with a mix of shooty hulls and MSUs.
8th – Charles Holland – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Monster mash favouring the shootier end of things, plus scoring from lots of Lictors and some cheap Infantry units.
9th – Samuel Martin – Adeptus Mechanicus (Haloscreed Battle Clade): Lots of Battleline Skitarii (some in boats), a big squad each of Ironstriders, Ruststalkers and Breachers as alpha units, then many elite Skitarii MSUs for scoring and harrassment.
10th – Alun Perkins – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Speedy Shield Host with 2×2 bikes and 2×3 Venatari.
11th – Jordan Penning – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead): A spin on Vanguard that cuts the Centurions in favour of Sternguard as a much cheaper teleporting threat, and blows the leftover points on hulls.
12th – Oliver Misick – Orks (Taktikal Brigade): Herohammer-heavy Taktikal Brigade that finally lives the dream of Infiltrating a Squigosaur.

WARZONE WELLINGTON 2025

42-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Upper Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand on February 14 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Courtney Thomson – Imperial Agents (Imperialis Fleet) – 1st Place

Elucidian Starstriders. Credit: 40khamslam

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Imperial Fleet Score Horde

Thoughts

Hell yeah someone actually went and pulled it off. Imperialis Fleet provides Imperial Agents with a solid plan to actually win games – heavy access to Infiltrate lets them put down early pressure, Combat Landers and Acquire at All Costs give them good scoring depth, and Displacer Field lets their key units get out of dodge at critical moments. Layering that on top of the baseline depth of bodies that Agents can put down, plus lots of pocket Battle-shock tests from the Subductors, provides a route to substantially out-score opponents, even if you’ll rarely smash them off the board. Adding extra Rhinos for a bit of defence in depth seems good with Bridgehead around as well – I’d be a bit worried about getting hosed off the board on an alpha turn otherwise. Ultra cool to see someone pull this off, huge props to Courtney!

The Best of the Rest

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

2nd – Alastair Helm – Dark Angels (Stormlance Task Force): The Lion and Deathwing Knights charging forward, with Samael and a small Outrider unit providing a supporting surgical strike.
3rd – Steve Joll – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): AN Atrapos and many Armigers.
4th – Sean Sullivan – Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force): A big Indomitor, Talonstrike and Veterans unit each as big hitters with supporting Terminator MSUs and Infiltrators.
5th – Michael Stewart – Ultramarines (Stormlance Task Force): Stormlance Bobby G Gunclub with the John Lennon Stormraven special.
6th – Haydn Korach – Death Guard (Plague Company): Hull-tastic Death Guard with Daemon Engines, Destructors and Brigands galore.
7th – Matthew Searle – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike): Infantry spam Bridgehead with a unit of Rough Riders as a melee counterpunch.

Down Under 40k February Dawnbringer GT

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Beresfield, NSW, Australia on February 14 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Woody Wu – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wolf Jail

Thoughts

Somehow, we are still doing this, albeit with slightly fewer wolves, and many Wulfen. For what it’s worth, I like that as a choice in the metagame – Wulfen feel very good into Aeldari of pretty much any flavour, and reducing the number of eggs you have concentrated in a small number of baskets helps into Taktikal Brigade and Bridgehead. Good choices, well rewarded, strong stuff from Woody.

The Best of the Rest

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

2nd – Jordan Duchatel – Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal): Doomsday and Silent King core with utility MSUs in support.
3rd – Christopher Wright – Aeldari (Warhost): Big squads of Reapers and Dire Avengers (with an Autarch and Asurmen) in Wave Serpents backed up by loads of Aspect MSUs.
4th – Tyler Visser – Genestealer Cult (Final Day): All-arounder Final Day with Purestrains and Hybrid Metamorphs for pressure, GSC hulls for shooting, and speedy bugs for buffing.
5th – Ben Smith – T’au Empire (Auxiliary Cadre): Missile Fireknifes (plus one Starscythe unit), Hammerheads and a pair of Broadsides to deal damage, Rampagers, Hounds and Vespid to switch on the bonuses.
6th – Ryan Duchatel – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): I can’t believe it’s not Blood Angels with melee MSUs, Ballistus and Vindicators.
7th – Brodie Middleton – Aeldari (Warhost): 20 Reapers in Wave Serpents and lots of Aspect MSUs.

Wrap Up

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[40k] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Elves off the Shelf pt.1

DiceCrusher2025

The Showdown

Scorched Earth – Inspired Leadership – Crucible of Battle

Thoughts

Result

Michał Duda – Aeldari (Warhost) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Marcin – Aeldari (Aspect Host) – 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Maks ‘waf’ Adamek – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Gabriel Sarosiek – Genestealer Cults (Outlander Claw) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Dark Sphere February 40k GT

Gustavo José Branco Varandas de Sousa – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Jak Payne – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Vincent Stein – Orks (War Horde) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Alaeze Ugoala – Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

WARZONE WELLINGTON 2025

Courtney Thomson – Imperial Agents (Imperialis Fleet) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Down Under 40k February Dawnbringer GT

Woody Wu – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Wrap Up

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