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[40k] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Twists and Turns pt.2

By Lowest of Men and 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.

Today it’s Lowest of Men in charge, but with a bit of bonus content from Wings. Today we’re covering:

  • Clutch City GT 2025
  • Leoben 40K Spring Sprint Singles – Alpine Cup
  • *Added*: The Carnival GT
  • East Anglian Grand Tournament 2025 March
  • CAGBASH XVIII 40k Event

On Wednesday we looked at:

  • The Manchester UKTC 40k Super-Major
  • Games of Westeros XIX – 40k
  • Triple Cities GT
  • Warhammer 40K Midtcon Spring 2025

Wings: About that bonus content –  the stars have aligned such that we have not one but three Showdowns today. Lowest of Men is covering the final game of the winner of the Clutch City GT, but there was also an undefeated game featuring our boy Erik Nelson, which he’s sent us his writeup from. Finally, the community down in Buenos Aires got together for a GT-sized event over Sunday and Monday, which missed my normal sweep on Monday evening UK time. I’ve added that in here, with a Showdown to boot – big props to the players down in Argentina (and other parts of South America who travelled to the event), I love to see a new scene flourishing!

Lowest of Men: Hell yeah! Buenos Aires is an incredible city with a highly underrated underground rap scene… very exciting to see they’re getting in on the Warhammer hype as well!!

Clutch City GT 2025

144-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Houston, TX, US on March 01 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The First Showdown

Take and Hold – Raise Banners – Search and Destroy

Alberto Nicolas “The Carthaginian” – Orks (War Horde)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Dominic Gierber – Genestealer Cult (Final Day)
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Thoughts

This is another showdown I’m going to write before peeking at the final score, because I have a reasonable inkling how this should go in theory. Whenever my teammates pair into GSC or we need to take them on at a teams event, my advice is to apply maximum disrespect. Aim for every corner of the board and don’t stop til you get there, and try and root out the returnees from being anywhere significant! Final Day is a new and exciting take on GSC – you get some really good cheap lone ops in the Lictors, You get fast, obnoxious OC and blocking in the Gargoyles, and you get some good output synergies to help units like Aberrants punch up more than previously. It is, however, still fragile and prone to excessive pressure.

Which is a little unfortunate, as over in the GREEN corner we have War Horde! Taktikal has taken the crown as most popular Ork detachment but War Horde remains unmatched for pure, unbridled pressure and disrespect. Orks have often been an issue for the Cult, and the high tempo agro versions especially. This list is deceptively mixed arms, packing in a bunch of Tankbustas and Flash Gitz alongside the melee units, with a big brick of Meganobz as a central pivot. There is also a Battlewagon for style points. Screen clearing shooting, punchy combat pieces, massed MSU and transports? I’d say that’s all the right ingredients for playing the disrespect game and running the Cult out of town…

Result

Orks (War Horde) Victory – 100 – 59

The Second Showdown

Take and Hold – Raise Banners – Search and Destroy

Erik Nelson – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead)

Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Jason Weeks – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance)

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Thoughts

Erik: Thanks to The Lowest of Men for inviting me to write about my finals game at the Clutch City GT. First let me say that Jason was a pleasure to play against and his sunny disposition as our round started really gave me a burst of positivity to help overcome the 6th round fatigue

I had already played Chaos Knights and Imperial Knights this weekend, so I knew this would be a challenging matchup. His list, especially, was heavy on little knights, which are great against elves, their damage output is enough to kill a squad from my army, just like a big knight, so having more of them is better against elves. My army was also pretty heavy on ways to handle infantry threats that were not great in this matchup, so my scorpions, banshees, and spiders ended up mainly being move blocker and action monkeys.

My plan generally was to use my chaff to slow his movement by bottlenecking the little knights, and my movement abilities and death sticky to keep more primary than expected and outscore him on secondaries with elf movement. It still seems like an OK plan to me, and it had some successes. For example, I used Lethal Intent to stop his area denial on turn two and get 15 primary. However, 10 little knights are a lot to deal with, especially when the agents help him hold the back field and my opponent plays wisely. Jason was too good a player to just throw knights forward and hope I wouldn’t kill them, which meant I was in for a primary struggle. My secondary draws were less than optimal and on my go turn my damage fell flat while his damage was consistently getting him what he needed. In the end, it was extremely close. Jason played well, and I had to salvage a draw with some failed battle shocks by him and a charge to get baby area denial barely.

The list, shamelessly stolen from Matthieu Joncour, played really well all weekend. I think three dragons is the minimum you can get away with as the rest of the faction really struggles into massed armor. The bridgehead matchup is not quite as bad as I thought since you have so many ways to move after they drop or interfere with their drops but it’s still tough sledding.

Jason, was a pleasure to play from start to finish and I had a fun weekend of hams and friends.

Result

Draw! 70-70

Alberto Nicolas “The Carthaginian” – Orks (War Horde) – 1st Place

Wrecka Krew Kill Team by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

War Horde Mixed Arms

Thoughts

The glorious, rooting tooting Ork list from the Showdown. All the new ladz, plenty of guns for hard-target removal, and a powerful go-turn with the Meganobz. Sensational work on the first place finish!

Erik Nelson – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead) – 2nd Place (5.5-0.5)

Yvraine & The Visarch. Credit: James “Boon” Kelling

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ynnari Incubi

Thoughts

Ynnari make hay with their incredible ruleset here, and the fights first Incubi brick with Yvraine / the Visarch takes names. This unit is absolutely lethal, and loves the buffs the detachment provides. Troubleshooting carefully with the right units at the right times via Lethal Intent is key to playing Ynnari well, but these go-wide aspect lists with some good combat and bikes in support have all the right tools to apply EXACTLY what you don’t want every turn and give you a huge headache. Awesome work on the top placing!

Jason Weeks – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) – 3rd Place (5.5-0.5)

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

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Imperial Knights with an Immolator

Thoughts

IK continue their quiet resurgence, with a massed force of Armigers, Canis, and an Immolator for cover stripping. The latter makes the shooting on some of the Armigers far more consistent and smoothes over an issue the faction previously had. Chunky, dangerous, and ready to party in a world of cute infantry armies that aren’t always up for  a proper skew scrap! Well done on the top placing.

Noah Pope – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead) – 4th Place

Credit: Keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ynnari Triple Wraithlord

Thoughts

More Ynnari mischief, this build packs in three Wraithlords to give you anchor points to play around. They love being able to pop some fights first at a clutch moment, and give you ample Lethal Intent triggers as the opponent really can’t afford to ignore them. The Incubi brick makes another appearance here – super cool to see my spiky murder elves getting some actions again after nerfs drove them out of many Drukhari lists! Awesome work.

The Best of the Rest

There were 8 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – David Smith – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike): Massed Bridgehead Scions with some Artillery teams in support.
  • 6th – Kaleb Hansen – Space Marines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Aggressively Dreadnought heavy Ironstorm.
  • 7th – Chad Lapham – Space Marines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Very tank heavy Ironstorm with Repulsors and Invictors!
  • 8th – Dick McTrickle – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis, an Errant, lots of Armigers and the Immolator package.
  • 9th – David Hall – Chaos Daemons (Legion of Excess): A proper grab bag of all the best Slaanesh nonsense.
  • 10th – TJ Bruce – Chaos Daemons (Legion of Excess): 18 Fiends and two Keepers. No messing about!
  • 11th – Brandon Lucio – Adeptus Custodes (Solar Spearhead): Wardens Allarus and Bikers supporting the usual Dreadnoughts.
  • 12th – Mark D – Chaos Daemons (Legion of Excess): B’elakor offers some protection at ranged to the usual Slaanesh goodness.

Leoben 40K Spring Sprint Singles – Alpine Cup

67-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Leoben, Steiermark, Austria on March 01 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Peter Steiner – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 1st Place

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

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

War Dogs

Thoughts

Somehow, lots of War Dogs returned. Chaos Knights ebb and flow in the game but, much like their less spiky, spooky Imperial cousins, they are taking advantage of a wider meta that is teching for sneaky fragile bodies of the Guard and Elf variety, and plying several different combat pressure games. All of this is a recipe for suddenly and tragically faceplanting into 13 T10 chassis, and the CK are here to remind us of that fact. A great little index that still has, ahem, legs. I’m sorry. Really well done on the event win!

Bernd Sorger – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place

Old School Guilliman
Old School Guilliman. Credit: SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ultramarines Gladius

Thoughts

Vindicators supported by a mix of Ultras infantry and their staple characters is a well known entity at this point, and it slaps. Stern Guard are punching nicely since their adjustment in the previous slate, and this list is beautifully tooled to manage a whole range of problems. Awesome work on the top placing.

Konrad Schmuck – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 3rd Place

Credit: Kevin Stillman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dark Angels Gladius

Thoughts

I absolutely love the 2+ chunkiness that is throwing triple Vindicator and triple DWK on a table. It is absurdly direct and delicious. Gladius DA remains a force to be reckoned with despite flirtations with +1 to wound marines elsewhere. Once the hype dies down the sheer power of the DA datasheets may well prove tempting once again. Amazing work on the top placing.

William Fuhrimann – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders) – 4th Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Renegade Raiders Mixed Arms

Thoughts

A tastefully poised RR list that coupled some chunky possessed and Warp Talon precision with plenty of shooting from the base of Predators and some Legios. It has plenty of juice for bullying other infantry based armies and the Raiders strats will always present you with surprise ins across a game. Still a deadly list! Well done on the top placing.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • =5th – Philip König – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike): Massed Scions and Engineers with a Dorn Commander.
  • =5th – Luis Stiemerling – Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike): Massed Scions and Engineers with a Dorn Commander.
  • 7th – Thomas Büttelmann – Aeldari (Spirit Conclave): Spirit Conclave with plenty of Wraithblades and Wraithlords with some MSU Aspects in tow.
  • 8th – Matija Mandurov – Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor): Triple Blade Champ Wardens.

Carnival GT

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Villa Luzuriaga, Provincia de Buenos Aires, AR on March 02 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Take & Hold – Prepared Positions – Hammer & Anvil

Simon L – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead)
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vs.

Cristian Ghisolfi – Aeldari (Seer Council)
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Thoughts

The eternal struggle of Elves vs. Space Marines reaches a whole new continent, with the classic Vanguard pressure Ultramarine build taking on the tricksy Seer Council of the Asuryani. From the Marine side of the table, I think eschewing Bobby G for the more traditional double gut punch of an Infiltrating Calgar murder brick and a teleporting Centurion unit is good here, as it both presents extreme pressure to the Aeldari and retains enough points for a lot of backup. Both these units (plus the Inceptors) threaten to mow down the Aeldari with extreme prejudice if allowed, forcing a fair bit of caution from the elves, and the extra Firestrike turrets and Invaders go a long way towards screening out the power of the Seer Council teleport.

That said, the Marines have to be pretty careful too, as their list relies on elite infantry for heavy lifting, and boy do the Aeldari have answers to that. Asurmen is obviously the standout there, but the full Reaper unit is also a serious threat, and able to both protect itself with Psychic Shield and teleport to line angles up, making them very hard to dodge forever.

Both sides end up with some serious advantages, and this game could easily go in either direction. The Marines are helped by having marginally more stuff that can skirmish out onto a point and doesn’t die to a stiff breeze (as the Warlock Skyrunners do), but also have a lot more eggs in some key baskets that the Aeldari can brutalise if given a window. My suspicion is that the durability of the Centurions might be the deciding factor, as they’ve got enough wounds not to fully melt to Asurmen if he goes for it, and can shrug off a Reaper volley pretty effectively with Armour of Contempt. Hammer and Anvil deployment also helps them, as in combination with how good the screening in the Marine build is, it should make it hard for the Aeldari to get a proper gut punch onto them.

It looks like things came down to the wire in the event, with both sides putting in great performances, but the Marines did thwart the Aeldari menace in the end.

Result

Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead) Victory – 92 – 85

Simon L – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead) – 1st Place

Chapter Master Arcus Pluvius of the Rainbow Warriors armed with the gauntlets Rainbows Duplex
Rainbow Warriors Chapter Master Arcus Pluvius by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Go-wide Ultra Vanguard

Thoughts

A classic core with some tweaks around the edges takes the trophy here. The gut-punch Calgar/Aggressor/Apothecary brick returns to provide extreme early threat, and the Centurions are here as always, but outside those two units (plus the Inceptors) this build goes far wider than the standard, providing a huge amount of deep strike protection. That’s great in a metagame that’s fairly heavy on such things, and I’m sure it helped secure the win against the Asuryani – well done to Simon!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Santiago Brassiolo – Genestealer Cult (Final Day): A melee-skewed variant of Final Day with Aberrants, Genestealers and Lictors galore, with some supporting utility toys and lots of Gargoyles.
  • 3rd – Martin Vedia – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): Shooty MSU not-Blood Angels with Ballistus and Predators as the dakka pieces.
  • 4th – Ezequiel Taberner – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Ultra monster mash with Be’lakor, Shalaxi, Skarbrand and the Gift GUO.
  • 5th – Cristian Ghisolfi – Aeldari (Seer Council): See Showdown.
  • 6th – Denis Koropov – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Monster mash fleet that swaps out the regular foot Tyrant for a Winged one, adding extra flexibility.

East Anglian Grand Tournament 2025 March

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on March 01 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Harley Scully – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ynnari Goodstuff

Thoughts

6++ young gun Halrey jumps on the Ynnari train and takes names here, blending in some Wraithlords as pivot points and going wide with Aspects. Lighter on combat here but plenty of reach and guile, and so many jump off points for the Yncarne to cause headaches as well! I like the name-checking of Desolation Marines in the list title in a vain attempt to draw attention away from the fact he’s running Eldar. Really well done on the event win lad, good ‘experience’ for you 😉

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Sam Dickinson – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Good old World Eaters pressure with Angron and Eightbound.
  • 3rd – Toby Bennett – Dark Angels (Stormlance Task Force): Triple Ballistus, triple Deathwing Knights in Storm Lance.
  • 4th – Jack Sayer – Orks (War Horde): Glorious Ghaz-led War Horde.
  • 5th – Dits Symeou – Aeldari (Warhost): War Host with a big brick of Dark Reapers.
  • 6th – Daniel Preece – Death Guard (Plague Company): Lots of Death Guard tanks and an Icon Bearer.

CAGBASH XVIII 40k Event

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hamilton, OH, US on March 01 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Peter Elias – Aeldari (Warhost) – 1st Place

Asurmen. Credit: Wings

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

War Host Aspect Bricks

Thoughts

The non-interactive goodness of War Host comes to play here with an exceptionally brutal list that jams in two big bricks of Dark Reapers AND a full ten man of Fire Dragons to cause exceptional emotional damage. If allowed to play it’s game this list will pick you off on a whim over several turns before emerging to claim the wreckage. Very cool to see lists beyond Ynnari thriving as the Eldar book starts to get going! Well done on the event win.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Benson Bledsoe – Chaos Space Marines (Soulforged Warpack): Lord of Skulls Soulforged? We have a hero in our midst! *Bows*.
  • 3rd – Sam Schafer – Dark Angels (Stormlance Task Force): Triple Deathwing Storm Lance.
  • 4th – Lane DeLong – Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force): Several Kill Teams supported by the usual Marine MSU pieces.
  • 5th – Scott Meechan – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Old school C’tan / Silent King Hypercrypt.

Wrap Up

There you have it folks! A creeping overrepresentation from the Eldar, but nothing world-ending, Fuegan can sleep easy for a little longer. The game has SO many archetypes thriving and at the level of individual factions so many armies seem capable of putting up good runs with completely original lists, and that makes my little nerd heart sing. Get out there and enjoy it.

Lowest of Men, out.

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