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.

This week we have 4 more modest sized events with a surprising variety of lists. The field appears to slowly be widening with more armies able to breach the meta. Will this trend to continue or are we looking at consolidation?

Smash & Bash 4

52-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Austin, TX, US on November 16 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Kenneth King – Beasts of Chaos
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vs.

JC Moore – Fyreslayers
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Thoughts

These are some wild lists and I’m not entirely sure what to make of them. The almost entirely magmadroth list is almost the opposite of what we usually see in Fyreslayers, and the Beasts of Chaos list is also very off-brand.

The Magmadroth list is going to struggle to hold ground compared the absolute flood of beastmen on the board. The Beasts player can basically just ignore everything and just sit on objectives. Bestigors do solid combat damage for their cost and you have plenty here to go around so just send them in and if they don’t kill a magmadroth, send another.

Result

Beasts of Chaos Victory – 50 – 20

Kenneth King – Beasts of Chaos – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

The Best of the Gors

Thoughts

That is so many models.

The Beasts players we see tend to go for a more elite approach, leaning on units like dragon ogors. This is…different. Just flood the board with tons of Bestigors, which as stated above punch pretty good for their point cost and you can include a lot of em’.

The two Great Bray Shamans can hand out run and charge, which is essential for any Beast list, in addition to casting debilitating debuffs on the enemy like reducing their charge range and forcing them to move closer to the enemy.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Gavin Grigar – Beasts of Chaos (4-0-1): Practically identical to the champs list, just a ton of Bestigors.
• 3rd – Matt Taylor – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Dual Kavalos, Crawlers, Teriatric guard and some Harbingers.
• 4th – Eric Oetker – Soulblight Gravelords: Prince Vordrai and Belladamma with Blood Knights.
• 5th – DIMITRI HOCHARD – Hedonites of Slaanesh: Glutos and Keeper of Secrets with Hellstriders and Blissbarbs
• 6th – JC Moore – Fyreslayers: See Showdown.
• 7th – Bryan Lofton – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Kavalos and Mortek Guard with the Teriatric Cohort.
• 8th – Chase Fair – Seraphon: Cav focused Seraphon
• 9th – Isaac Ramadan – Stormcast Eternals: Stardrake and Ionus with the usual good infantry.

Dark Omen GT

47-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Edmond, OK, US on November 16 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – The Vice

Joe Krier – Disciples of Tzeentch
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vs.

Sean Seyer – Slaves to Darkness
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Thoughts

Oh woof, this is a rough one for Slaves to Darkness. Beating Tzeentch really requires you to be able to deep strike and spread out, so you don’t get caught up the gunk of their Horror screen and pelted with spells, or have one of your random ass dudes turned into a chaos spawn and lock down your entire army.

There is the dual Gaunt Summoners which can get you some of the way but not entirely. It’s simply not enough to get around the Tzeentch castle.

Result

Disciples of Tzeentch Victory – 38 – 24

Joe Krier – Disciples of Tzeentch – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Tzeentch Good Stuff

Thoughts

I’ve talked at length about lists similar to this in the past, and a lot of that still stands. The horrors are here to be objective holders and irritating screens to protect the stuff that matters. The reliance on blues and not adding pinks is surprising, but it does the job. Theyll hold their ground while the flamers, Lords of Change and Skyfires pelt the enemy from a distance while they teleport to objectives.

One thing I have left off of this is the frustration of the Chaos Spawn spell which is a major reason this form of list can be a huge PITA. There is no rule that says the Chaos Spawn can’t pull other units into combat, and with a base as big as it has, that’s not a difficult feat especially if the opponent groups their units close together. Cast that spell in their turn, and you can lock down their entire army before they even leave deployment.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Sean Seyer – Slaves to Darkness: See Showdown.
• 3rd – Garrett Keck – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Chosen and Varanguard
• 4th – Peyton Preece – Kruleboyz: Vulcha and Snatchaboss with two Shaman leading Boltboyz and Monsta killaz.
• 5th – Joe Vucic – Beasts of Chaos: Dragon Ogors and gors.
• 6th – Bob Martin – Blades of Khorne: An ecclectic mix of mortal infantry.
• 7th  – LaRon Roberts – Hedonites of Slaanesh: Glutos with a collection of Blissbarb Seekers and Archers.
• 8th – Carter Babbs – Lumineth Realm-lords: Teclis with a Vanari retinue.

ANIMAL AOS

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Verona, Veneto, IT on November 16 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Ambrogio Fachini – Cities of Sigmar
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vs.

Andrea Epis – Sylvaneth
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Thoughts

It’s actually pretty rare for a cities list to ignore humans entirely, instead this creates a very clean divide between an anvil (Duardin) and hammer (Aelves). Unfortunately, a gunline probably could have been appreciated against the Sylvaneth.

The combination of archers and elite hammers in the army make them a pretty good answer to make surgical strikes at the dark aelves and outmaneuver the Duardin. If played correctly, the Cities player will really struggle to catch up to them and will find their primary damage dealers picked up rather quickly.

Result

Sylvaneth Victory – 46 – 30

Andrea Epis – Sylvaneth – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Alarielle and Belthanos Elite Tree Force

Thoughts

This is an interesting number. We’re seeing a lot more Alarielle and Belthanos team ups. Belthanos gives the much needed run and charge to the whole army, while Alarielle is a very powerful support character who can scrap very well in her own right. She also helps offset the more elite design of this list by being able to bring back one of the two giant trees should they die, as they’re the primary hammers alongside the two characters.

The Gossamids create an irritating screen and can do some token shooting. The Twistweald is a new addition which neuters the charges of enemy armies and can actually do some chip damage as well.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Eugenio Leonardi – Stormcast Eternals: Karazai with good stuff infantry.
• 3rd – Lorenzo Tosi – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor leading Slaves to Darkness Good Stuff.
• 4th – Meme Venaruzzo – Stormcast Eternals: Karazai and a Stardrake with the usual infantry.
• 5th – Ambrogio Fachini – Cities of Sigmar: See Showdown.
• 6th – Sergio Godina – Nighthaunt: Stock Nighthaunt with Bladegheists Revenants and Hexwraiths.

Trouble at Mill

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Farsley, England, GB on November 16 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Gareth Parnham – Stormcast Eternals
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vs.

Sam Dutton-Taylor – Idoneth Deepkin
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Thoughts

This Stormcast list is pretty brilliant, particularly against this Idoneth list. It seems almost custom made to blunt the Akhellian Guard spam by reducing their number of attacks with Karazai, and carries just enough ranged support to soften them up while they wait for the moment to strike.

Dealing with this Stormcast list would require a combination of lucky rolls and the ability to dismantle its component pieces from a distance, which this list just doesn’t have the power to do. While the Idoneth list is pretty tanky (by the army’s standards) it really needs to get that alpha charge in to be effective and it simply couldn’t do it.

Result

Stormcast Eternals Victory – 40 – 20

Gareth Parnham – Stormcast Eternals – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Karazai and Ionus with Stormcast good stuff

Thoughts

After his huge price cut, Karazai has become an appetizing alternative to his wizard-y brother Krondys. In combat, Karazai is a lot scarier in combat, and is tanky as hell, inflicting -1 to attacks (and buffing his own attacks as he takes damage). Ionus supports the army with his prayers and his very effective breath weapon inflicts a DOT status that continues to deal damage every round and cannot be removed.

On the ground, Praetors shield both heroes from damage by giving them a ward, Reclusians are solid beat sticks that can be tough to take down with their ability to shrug off non-CORE abilities and Prosecutors can deep strike in and assist with objective grabbing and battle tactics.

Vigilors are a surprising addition but are a decent shooting unit which improves the To Hit of other units right before the charge in.

The Best of the Rest

There were N more players on X-1 records. They were:

• 2nd – Peter Twigg – Idoneth Deepkin: Eidolon of the storm and Ishlaen Guard spam.
• 3rd – Jimmy Mild – Skaven: Grey Seer and Verminlord with Rat Ogors and Stormvermin.
• 4th – Sam Dutton-Taylor – Idoneth Deepkin: See Showdown.
• 5th – Jay Hine – Sylvaneth: Belthanos and Alarielle with Kurnoth Hunters.
• 6th – Darryl Jones – Skaven: Ninja Gunline.

Wrap Up

This weekend is the World Championships of Warhammer which will certainly have a lot of eyes on them as the first WCW of 4th edition. Along with another large event I will be attending (Da Boyz in New York) so it is guaranteed to be an action packed week next time!

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