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[40K] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Most Wanted pt.2

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.

More Warhammer on deck, and today it’s Lowest of Men running down what’s hot and what’s not on the top tables. Today we’re looking at:

  • Utah Open Warhammer 40K Tournament
  • San Antonio Shootout ’24
  • Bunker Down GT 2024 RBBR
  • Cardiff Carnage #2
  • TORNEIO NACIONAL POLAR DE WARHAMMER 40K

Part 1 from Wednesday covered:

  • Raccoon Rumble 2024: WH40K
  • Battle Brothers GT Hosted by Away Games
  • Broadsword Wargaming 40K ITC Seasonal Major VI
  • 40K Iron Man
  • 🔥Napalm Hobbies – FROST FIRE GT – 40K – ITC

The final part tomorrow will look at:

  • The California Cup ’24
  • 4th Annual Flames of Autumn GT
  • 40K Peninsula Feast of Blades ’24
  • Hydra Events GT IIII 2024

Utah Open Warhammer 40K Tournament

98-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Provo, UT, United States on November 09 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

John Holbrook – Orks (Green Tide) – 1st Place

Painboy. Credit: Rockfish
Painboy. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Green Tide Baby

Thoughts

An Ork revival is underway, with a number of detachments given a new lease of life after the dataslate. One of those is Green Tide- in a world of high quality tank shooting, slamming tonnes of Boyz in and applying unreasonable pressure isn’t a bad strategy at all. This list packs massed feel no pain toting Boyz into a list and compliments them with a massive screen of Kommandos in front. Jail, Mr Bond. Really good to see the Green skins back out after a short lived spell of dominance earlier this year. Well done on the event win!

Evan Stump – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dark Angels Gladius

Thoughts

The Eradicator brick may be out, but Dark Angels can still hang. This list goes for two Repulsors to provide fire support and zeros in on forward pressure with Deathwing Knights and Inner Circle Companions. These datasheets are still excellent and Gladius gives you every tool you could want to make them sing. Tried, tested, and very effective!

Bryce Greenwell – Death Guard (Plague Company) – 3rd Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Death Guard Deathshroud Spam

Thoughts

Almost every 2+ save, damage reduction based infantry unit copped nerfs in the last slate – not so the Deathshroud, the glorious signature Terminator of Mortarion’s legion. Massing these guys gives you a potent line of brawlers who can smash tanks, hose down infantry, and body the primary. Compliment that with waves of MSU vehicles and the Primarch for some buffs, and you’ve got a recipe for success! Really well done on the top placing.

Ryan Brown – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) – 4th Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Triple Terminator World Eaters

Thoughts

The Triple World Eaters Terminator list emerged as a WTC meme, but appears to have legs. 60 of them, carrying violent armoured men at you at surprising speed. Terminators love the buffs in the detachment, can absorb enemy pressure slightly more effectively than Eightbound, and get more effective as they suffer casualties. It can simply run through the unwary, and it looks glorious on the tabletop too. Really well done!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – James Walsh – Dark Angels (Vanguard Spearhead): Spicy Vanguard Dark Angels with double Storm Raven!
  • 6th – Thomas Knight – Imperial Knights: Canis, double Cerastus, and some Armiger and Assassin buddies.
  • 7th – McKay Griffin – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ): Massed MSU Wolf trash with a Repulsor to ferry the many, many melee bodies forwards.
  • 8th – Nicolas Wenker – Death Guard: Mortarion, Fifteen Deathshroud, Bloat Drones and War Dogs. It’s coming!
  • 9th – Jake Herrod – Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): Mixed Arms Gladius Black Templars.

San Antonio Shootout ’24

60-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in San Antonio, TX, US on November 09 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

The Ritual – Swift Action – Dawn of War

Ethan Nolen – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Tyler Rowe – T’au Empire (Mont’ka)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

A slight mismatch in this showdown, as the phenomenal damage and punch of the World Eaters goes into a see of T’au guns. Massing Eightbound as has been attempted here gives you some very serious anti-elite trading and trapping potential. Angron is certainly a pest for the fish lads and a return late game can wreak some havoc, but the massed shooting of the Skyrays and Crisis is SO efficient at culling both him and his supporters.

Of the various Tau lists in the wild at the moment Mont’ka is perhaps the rarest, but the forward pressure of early game lethals and assault suits them here as they look to make a lot of violence happen early. Push the screens and transports, gut anything attempting to deal with them, and roll on through. A storming victory for the T’au here. Fast gun good!

Result

T’au Empire (Mont’ka) Victory – 85 – 59

Tyler Rowe – T’au Empire (Mont’ka) – 1st Place

Darkstrider. Credit: Rockfish
Darkstrider. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Mont’ka Pressure

Thoughts

Speedy, shooty, and full of mission play, Mont’ka is a lot of fun. You know you’re dealing with a good T’au player when you find yourself blocked, bodied, and occasionally charged in your own territory, and this list has all the tools to do that whilst Skyrays sit behind and put out hurt. T’au didn’t have a particularly exciting dataslate but they definitely benefitted from others taking harder nerfs, so it is awesome to see them claim an event win here. Really well done!

Dick McTrickle – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Imperial Knight Armiger Helverin
Imperial Knight Armiger Helverin. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Canis Rex and Friends

Thoughts

Imperial Knights have also enjoyed a mini-resurgence as their high skew and high shooting can push them through a few of the games top match ups as long as they can whether a little in the early exchanges. Canis and Armigers is a tried and tested model that gets things done, really well done on the top placing.

Will Davis – Death Guard (Plague Company) – 3rd Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Death Guard Deathshroud Spam

Thoughts

A glorious all-in Deathshroud and Blightlords list that can pop cover from Mortarion and then put a thousand plus points of brawling melee in the centre of the table. Certain meta menaces (Biosanctic) cannot weather this at all, and it remains better than most armies in the game at nullifying combat match ups. Style your way through the shooty ones with some Miasma based modifiers and you can make hay. Really well done!

Ethan Nolen – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) – 4th Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

World Eaters Goodstuff

Thoughts

I was apprehensive about World Eaters after they copped yet more nerfs, but the tested build continues to hold it’s own. A powerful set of rules on some supreme damage dealing units, and plenty of tricks to befuddle the unwary. Keep on slaying!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – Sam White – Orks (War Horde): Triple Kill Rig War Horde with some tasty cheeky Deffkopta squads in there- I’d play this!
  • 6th – Brendan Muller – Leagues of Votann: Votann Goodstuff with Thunderkyn supporting the tanks.
  • 7th – Thomas Reidy – World Eaters: Double Forgefiend, lots of Eightbound World Eaters.
  • 8th – Dominic Pitassi – World Eaters: Massed Eightbound with a couple of cheeky Karnivores.
  • 9th – Kaleb Hansen – Space Marines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Triple Brutalis, triple Vindicator Ironstorm – yikes.
  • 10th – Peyton Beard – Grey Knights: Multiple NDKs and a big brick of Terminators.
  • 11th – David Smith – Chaos Space Marines (Veterans of the Long War): A proper mixed arms Vets list with Chosen, Legios, Obliterators and VASHTORR!
  • 12th – Cory Russell – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ): Mixed arms Russ with plenty of melee hitters backed by a Lancer and Repulsor Executioner.

Bunker Down GT 2024 RBBR

42-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Red Bluff, California, US on November 09 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Adam Dye – Chaos Space Marines (Chaos Cult) – 1st Place

That Gobbo

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Chaos Cult Lord of Skulls

Thoughts

Chaos Cult is eternal. Perhaps one of the strongest ‘rare’ builds of the Pariah era, lots of Accursed with horrific buff stacking is a sensational package to build around, and it turns out they still are even at their increased costs. This list shoves a Lord of Skulls behind them and packs in Daemonic mission play to body it’s way home to victory. Awesome work on the event win!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Thomas Szczepanski – Death Guard (Plague Company): The massed Death Guard blocker list from the showdown.
  • 3rd – Cameron Mitchell – Deathwatch (Liberator Assault Group): Blood Angels LAG with lots of Inceptors and Sanguinary Guard.
  • 4th – Robert Desmond – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Mixed Arms Shield Host with double Caladius.
  • 5th – Larry DeTomasi – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force): Full 18 Cav Wolf Jail – still kicking!
  • 6th – Ruben Zhao – Space Marines (1st Company Task Force): Ultramarines 1st Company Task Force with Gulliman and Calgar!
  • 7th – Michael Szczepanski – Adeptus Mechanicus (Rad-Zone Corps): Rad Zone with Ad Mech mission trash, Breacher bricks, and Canis Rex.

Cardiff Carnage #2

34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Wales, United Kingdom on November 09 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

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

Credit: keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Biosanctic Goodstuff

Thoughts

I have an (industrial) affinity with this list, as it is literally a hybrid (hehe) of versions of Broodsurge that myself and Ben have been running and talking about in recent weeks. He brings home another huge result with it here, what a reign of terror he is on with the GSC at the moment! The usual suspects are there (Purestrains, Aberrants, Abominants), but the build eschews any mining lasers at all in favour of yet another combat brick – the Melee Acolyte Mining Weapons are no joke and useful into a wide array of targets at the moment and it means almost the entire list is available to potential recur later in the game. Super effective, and one of the meta forces to beat. Well done Ben!!!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Scott Lawrence – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Big bug / little bug Invasion Fleet with a brick of Zoanthropes.
  • 3rd – ieuan Bevan – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Triple C’tan / Doomsday Ark Hypercrypt.
  • 4th – Jack Downing – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): Ultramarines Gladius with Calgar and triple Vindicator.
  • 5th – Robert Jones – Drukhari (Realspace Raiders): Loads of Talos, Grotesques, and a Voidraven Bomber in Realspace Raiders.
  • 6th – Luke Quadling – Aeldari: Baharroth brick and Troupe brick makes this elf fanboys heart sing. Amazing list Luke!

TORNEIO NACIONAL POLAR DE WARHAMMER 40K

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in PR, Brasil on November 09 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Note: this event only seems to have played four rounds to get a clear winner, but we’re including it anyway because it hit 28 players and we want to make sure smaller competitive scenes highlighted!

Felipe Castello – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 1st Place

Credit: Kevin Stillman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dark Angels Gladius

Thoughts

Another event win for the Dark Angels Gladius, with the tried and true ‘double gun brick’ variant here making room for the points adjustments by ditching the Repulsor. Very effective and full of damage if you get too close. Dark Angels have kept on rolling, and I am here for it. Fantastic work on the event win Felipe!

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top four was:

  • 2nd – Leonardo Attie de Castro Novato – Leagues of Votann (Oathband): Triple Sagitaur, double Fort Votann with some Hearthguard.
  • 3rd – Silvio Fortes – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic): Glorious triple Forgefiend Thousand Sons with some chaff and HQs.
  • 4th – Simon Lawrence – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Go-wide MSU and double Voidraven Bomber Skysplinter.

Wrap Up

Off we go into the new meta folks! Vindicators are… in demand, many flavours of marine are popping up and the Genestealer Cults are enjoying a rare moment in the sun. Can it last? Is there glorious counter tech just waiting to be put to use? If there is, we might just see it at the International Team Tournament in the UK this coming weekend. See you there!

Lowest of Men, out.

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