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.

It’s a big week for Competitive Innovations, the WCW of Warhammer happened in Atlanta with Casper from Denmark taking the crown as the best Warhammer: Age of Sigmar player (for now!). There were also some other very large events happening in the US so we had a lot of games to cover!

2024 Age of Sigmar World Championships of Warhammer

124-player, 8-round Major in Atlanta, GA, United States on November 21 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Jesper Melander (Sweden)  – Ossiarch Bonereapers
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vs.

Casper Torres Karlsmose (Denmark) – Stormcast Eternals
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Thoughts

A fascinating final bout for WCW. Both armies are very resilient and brought strong shooting and melee power to bear.

The Stormcast list has much better casting (and more of it!) to bear and frankly Longstrikes are much better at taking out key targets than the Crawlers are. Meanwhile the Ossiarchs have better melee potential, and are more tanky so it becomes a matter of closing that gap.

In the end it’s a hard fought battle with Casper and his Stormcast taking it.

Result

Stormcast Eternals Victory – 50 – 45

Casper Torres Karlsmose – Stormcast Eternals – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Stormcast good stuff

Thoughts

Krondys has been a bit less popular since his point hike, but doesn’t mean he’s not good! He’s the best wizard in the army, along with a warscroll spell that is very versatile and is able to deal with a lot of different types of units by targeting their weaknesses.

This list is leaning heavily on Prosecutors, which are more versatile than you’d think. Their 3D6 charge and +1 damage on the charge is pretty gnarly, especially if Krondys hit the target with -1 to save. They can deep strike wherever they want and have a better than average odds of charging in from 9″ away. The Vanguard Palladors are a surprise addition, which also make excellent shock cavalry. In short this list is really hoping to focus on hitting targets hard with Prosecutors and Palladors while Krondys and the Longstrikes hang back and offer ranged support.

Jesper Melander – Ossiarch Bonereapers – 2nd Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Katakros and the Crawlers

Thoughts

Crawlers had a bit of a poor showing early on but have started coming into their own. They do some solid damage with their D3+2 damage shots, and anti-infantry but really excel with their ability to pop Fight Last onto a unit. The Ossifector in the list also improves their chance to cause this, so it’s practically a mandatory staple in addition to being the only caster.

Katakros is an excellent support piece and a decent combatant in his own right, he is supported by the Archai and the Deathriders who pull double duty as a hammer and chaff depending on what is needed. The Teriatric Cohort rounds out the list with a deep strike option

The Best of the Rest

Due to the way the event is structured, it’s more difficult to choose a cut off by our usual criteria of “one loss or better”. So instead we’ll cut off at the top 8.

• 3rd – Ronya Andersson (Sweden) – Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos and LOC with a butt ton of horrors and some minor casters.
• 4th – Jean-Baptiste Aymes (France) – Kruleboyz: Kragnos leads a group of Boltboyz, Monsta-killaz, Gutrippaz plus a Shaman and Marshcrawler.
• 5th – Michael Rausch (United States) – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros and Vokmortian with Deathriders and Archai.
• 6th – Benji Askelaad (France) – Nighthaunt: Reikenor and Guardian of Souls with Bladegheist and Hexwraiths.
• 7th – Danny Elvestad (Norway) – Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos and LOC with Daemons and Skyfires.
• 8th – Stark Pister (United States) – Stormcast Eternals: Krondys with Longstrikes, Prosecutors and Palladors.

DaBoyz GT Rochester 2024 AoS 1v1

84-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in West Henrietta, New York, US on November 23 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Shifting Objectives

Gavin Grigar – Beasts of Chaos
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vs.

Basil Inferrera – Slaves to Darkness
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Thoughts

I’d have given this to Slaves to Darkness at my knee jerk reaction. Khorne Varanguard are gnarly on the charge, and Chaos Chosen with Mark of Nurgle can be very difficult to pick up but on the flip side, the Beasts of Chaos here have a lot of models and at 2 wounds a piece, it’ll be hard to push through all of it.

Beasts of Chaos also have a spell lore built around manipulating enemy movement and cutting down their movement characteristic, which hurts extra hard for Slaves to Darkness. Finally and it can’t be understated, Bestigors aren’t a joke with the number of dice they’re throwing at you and volume of dice is a good way to get around the excellent saves Slaves to Darkness units usually have.

Result

Beasts of Chaos Victory – 49 – 18

Gavin Grigar – Beasts of Chaos – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Bestigor hordes

Thoughts

Gavin ran this list in last week’s CI and came super close to a 5-0 with just one tie in the mix. It’s a pretty straightforward list that does a lot of work. The units of Bestigors get a lot of swings for their point cost, 61 Rend 1 attacks in a full unit. This punched up to 81 if the enemy tries to all out defence. They’re also pretty resilient to shooting, inflicting a -1 to wound just for existing. So they can punch quite a bit above their weight class and you got tons more where that came from.

The dual Great Bray Shamans hand out run and charge, which you absolutely want in Beasts of Chaos and cast some pretty debilitating buffs including pulling the enemy toward them, halving their movement and shutting off commands. The ungors are sad little guys who often get run over, but they can slow the enemy down for a bit and retreat out of combat rather than stick around for a losing fight.

Michael Sabetti – Stormcast Eternals – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Karazai and Long Strikes

Thoughts

Karazai has become the new big bad in Stormcast, he’s notably cheaper than his brother and once he gets into combat he fucks shit up. He’s also notoriously difficult to kill, causing a -1 to attack with anyone he is in combat with, another -1 from the Bodyguard Honor Guard rule (Which doesn’t care if the General charges, as long as his Praetors dont) and a 5+ ward from the Praetors. In short, you’re probably not killing this guy unless it’s from range.

The Vanguard Raptors will try to keep that from happening though, pegging problem targets from a distance. The Palladors make pretty impressive shock cavalry, able to effectively shoot twice in the turns they charge.

The Best of the Rest

There were 15 more players on 4-1 records. Due to the size of the event, the top 8 were:

• 3rd – Ryan Byrne – Skaven: Stormfiend and Ratling Gun gunline.
• 4th – Jonathon Corbiere – Stormcast Eternals: Celestant prime leads a cadre of Stormcast good stuff.
• 5th – Dylan Therriault – Cities of Sigmar: Freeguild gunline, Aelf Hammers and Duardin anvil.
• 5th (Yes two 5th places!) – Basil Inferrera – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Slaves to Darkness good stuff.
• 7th – Ross McCune – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Deathriders, Harbingers and Teriatric Cohort.
• 8th – Ridge Hanna – Skaven: Thanquol and a Ratling Gunline.

Renegade Open 2024 – AoS GT

46-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Minneapolis, MN, US on November 23 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Limited Resources

Daniel Dowell – Sylvaneth
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vs.

Jackson Keeley – Lumineth Realm-Lords
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Thoughts

Gun to my head? I’d really think Lumineth would have this rather handedly but it’s not only a super close game but the Sylvaneth take it!

Since the nerf to the Hurakan movement ability the Spirits of the Wind don’t feel quite as oppressive which allows a clever Sylvaneth player to abuse line of sight blocking to avoid the ranged fire. There’s still a lot of melee options here with high maneuverability, like the Dawnriders and Riverblades so one must also account for that, but the Wyldwoods are at least a lot more resilient with their 5+ ward.

As stated above the Sylvaneth take it in a real nailbiter.

Result

Sylvaneth Victory – 46 – 44

Daniel Dowell – Sylvaneth – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Belthanos and his Garden

Thoughts

Sylvaneth have slowly been creeping up the ladder since they got a few targeted buffs that helped them a lot, namely that the range for some abilities that rely on Wyldwoods was extended, and a 5+ Ward keeping Wyldwoods from being instantly picked up the second they’re put down.

Belthanos remains the core of most lists as his board wide Run and Charge is crucial to the whole gameplan for many Sylvaneth units, including himself. The Kurnoths with great swords are the aggressive charge units while the scythes can stand to defend objectives with their anti-charge. Gossamids can be tough to use well but bring some really solid shooting to the table and can be annoying to lock down.

Paul Wilmes – Nighthaunt – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Off brand Nighthaunt

Thoughts

So this is an interesting one. Conceptually it’s similar to how Nighthaunt almost always works, since the army has some very specific design goals, but it’s using some less popular units. We’ll focus on those, since by now you probably know that Bladegheists are a super strong blender and Reikenor is a great caster.

Grimghast reapers fill a similar role to Bladegheist Revenants, with their Crit Auto Wound attacks. The problem is the math is (generally) worse for not much cheaper. Bladegheists have better baseline stats, and get an extra attack per model when they charge (Which of course, you’re always trying to do). Grimghasts however, do get Crit 5+ on larger units and an extra rend on Infantry. When 4th launched we saw mostly Cavalry but there has been a bit of a move away from that so this actually does come up a bit more.

Chainrasps make a solid tarpit, given their Ethereal nature. 20 wounds is a lot to cut through when Rend doesn’t matter (even at a 5+) and makes enemies sitting ducks while the bigger units charge in.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd – Jackson Keeley – Lumineth Realm-lords: See showdown.
• 4th – Daniel Thorson – Gloomspite Gitz: Kragnos and so many squigs!
• 5th – Joe Krier – Disciples of Tzeentch: Tzeentch good stuff.
• 6th – Davis White – Blades of Khorne: Bloodthirster and Slaughterpriest with a collection of various infantry.
• 7th – Aaron Carr – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Arkhan and lots of Mortek Guard.
• 8th – Erich Stock – Sylvaneth: Belthanos, Alarielle and Spirit of Durthu with Kurnoth Hunters and Gossamid archers.

German Major Hamburg 2 – 2024 – AoS

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hamburg, Germany on November 23 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Pascal Weimar – Nighthaunt
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vs.

Dominik de Cassan – Ossiarch Bonereapers
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Thoughts

Result

Ossiarch Bonereapers Victory – 11 – 9

Dominik de Cassan – Ossiarch Bonereapers – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Horses

Thoughts

A paragon of efficiency to make the Ossiarchs proud.

Katakros and the Soulmason make up the central pillar of the list. Katakros and Soulmason hand out buffs, including +1 to saves from Katakros and 5+ Criticals and First Strike from the Soulmason. The three reinforced units of Deathriders will certainly be able to pick up a lot of units when receiving these buffs, but they don’t need them to do work. Katakros’s 18″ Relentless discipline aura helps guarantee they’re all receiving the proper RD buffs every turn.

The Teriatric Cohort can deep strike to pick up any open points and pick up some chaff while the Mortek Guard fill in nicely with the remaining points to hold objectives or shield the Deathriders.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Colin Klären – Kruleboyz(4-0-1): Kragnos leads a legion of Monsta-killas with some ranged support.
• 3rd – Pascal Weimar – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt good stuff.
• 4th – Anjo Steinmeyer – Nighthaunt: Mostly Nighthaunt good stuff, though an interesting twist by including two Cairn Wraths.
• 5th – Bastian Gerstner – Stormcast Eternals: Celestant prime with twenty four Longstrikes and a Lord-Relictor with Vigilors.

Wrap Up

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