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.

As Halloween draws closer, the spectre of Nighthaunt continues to loom over the Age of Sigmar me-wait, what? There are no Nighthaunt in Showdowns or Undefeated this week? Well uh, ok!

We have 4 events this week from England, the US and Canada and as the Battlescroll is really kicking into high gear now we’re seeing some shifts in the meta after a bit of stagnation. Let’s take a look!

War in the Heartlands Act 4

82-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Leicester, England, GB on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Paul Bowden – Seraphon
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vs.

Phil Marshall – Lumineth Realm-Lords
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Thoughts

Two caster armies locked in combat. Both have excellent movement tools at their disposal so a lot of this is going to come down to being able to out-position each other. The edge the Lumineth have here is the superior firepower that allows them to engage at range. Most of their Hammer is wrapped up in Cavalry so the Seraphon player would need to tie them up with their own chaff before the charge.

Unfortunately it doesn’t really pan out this way and the Lumineth absolutely demolish.

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 46 – 10

Phil Marshall – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Hurakan and Vanari

Thoughts

Not quite the Hurakan special, this actually forgoes the Windchargers which are an expected part of these lists at this point. It’s still got 3 foxes though, so the basic strategy on the Hurakan part of the list remains the same. Jump forward, shoot, jump out of danger.

For the cavalry, this decides to lean on the Vanari side which honestly isn’t a bad bet if you want something that can get up close and scrap toe to toe, which wind chargers can’t really do. The Vanari Lord Regent grants reroll charges to 2 Vanari Dawnriders units and +1 to their attack (in addition to himself) so with two reinforced units you can absolutely crash into two units and turn them into dust before they even act, since you can fight one after another in Lumineth.

Dan Bradshaw – Stormcast Eternals – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dragons and Snipers

Thoughts

Pretty straightforward list, eschewing any Enhancements or spellcasting for bruisers. Karazai got a well deserved points drop which makes him a pretty compelling pick now (though usually alongside his brother Krondys and not instead of).

Karazai is a strong beat stick to open up with, who also makes the enemy weaker by reducing their attacks when he is engaged with them. This allows the Stormdrake Guard and Vanguard Raptors to weaken the enemy first before him and the Stormdrakes fly in for the kill. It’s simple but damn if it doesn’t work.

Ross Brace – Idoneth Deepkin – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Idoneth Mid-range

Thoughts

This list goes for a bit of everything to cover as many bases as possible. The Eidolon and Leviadon mostly serve to buff the army, while the Morrsarr and Ishaen Guard try and charge in ahead (ideally in Round 3 when First Strike kicks in). Namarti Reavers can hold objectives and screen out early game charges from hitting their Cavalry.

The Best of the Rest

There were 11 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 4th – Max Barton – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros and soulmason with tons of Kavalos Deathriders and Immortis Guard
• 5th – Geir Vedeld – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Nagash and Deathriders
• 6th – Joe Jackson – Lumineth Realm-lords: Teclis and the Hurakan Special.
• 7th – Knut Vedeld – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros and soulmason with tons of Kavalos Deathriders again.
• 8th – Tom Patton – Kruleboyz: Boltboyz and Monsta-killaz.
• 9th – Ash Coleman – Skaven: Dual Greyseers with Storm Vermin and Ratling Guns.
• 10th – Mark Paddon – Slaves to Darkness: A curious list with some less used units like Legionairres and Sphirax.
• 11th – Russell Taylor – Seraphon: Kroxigors and Raptadon Chargers.
• 12th – Jon Keightley – Stormcast Eternals: Yndrasta with Prosecutors, Knight Judicator with Vigilors, and Neave Blacktalon.
• 13th – Sam Barker – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt Good Stuff.
• 14th – Paul Bowden – Seraphon: See Showdown.

Vault Wars 2024

46-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Springfield, MO, US on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Daniel Pitt – Blades of Khorne
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vs.

Zachary Shinn – Skaventide
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Thoughts

A Khorne list making it to the showdown is an impressive sight, but the thing that’s going to hold it back here is the lack of ranged fire, meanwhile the Skaven player has it in spades. They can simply delete the biggest threats (or the screens keeping their melee guys from getting in) before going in for the kill.

Result

Skaventide Victory – 40 – 24

Zachary Shinn – Skaventide – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Ninjas and guns

Thoughts

The Ratling guns are one of the best, arguably the best unit to come out of the new book so don’t expect reinforced units to go away any time soon. 18d6 shots at 4+/4+ before easily accessible buffs? Why not 2 of them?

Once the Ratling guns tenderize the opposition the Verminlord and Thanquol can push up. Both are very solid Warrior-Wizards who scrap well, and Thanquol’s warscroll spell disables commands for the enemy, making them even more vulnerable to a pressed attack.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Alex Cotter – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs and Skragrott
• 3rd – Eli Sweatt – Beasts of Chaos: Centigors and Dragon Ogors.
• 4th – Madigan Mason – Ossiarch Bonereapers: A collection of Morghast, Deathriders and a Crawler lead by Katakros.
• 5th – LaRon Roberts – Stormcast Eternals: The Dragon bros with infantry and Neave Blacktalon.
• 6th – Tyler Emerson – Stormcast Eternals: Karazai and Celestant-Prime with Neave Blacktalon.
• 7th – Daniel Pitt – Blades of Khorne: See Showdown.
• 8th – Jered Nolie – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Similar to the #4 list, a collection of Morghast, Deathriders and a Crawler lead by Katakros.
• 9th – Joe Carnrite – Stormcast Eternals: Krondys and Vanguard-Raptors with various foot troops.

FLG’s AoS SoCal Open Champs Event

37-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Del Mar, CA, United States on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Scott Adams – Slaves to Darkness
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vs.

Greg Brewer – Gloomspite Gitz
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Thoughts

Troggs are one of the toughest units in the game right now and to take them down either requires something equally hardy to lock down objectives, or a super strong hammer to win out in a war of attrition. Slaves to Darkness does have those, Varanguard and Chosen are capable of doing it. This Slaves to Darkness list seems to take a more defensive bent than most, adding extra harpies and a reinforced unit of Nurgle Warriors which means this list is going to struggle to really take down those units.

Result

Gloomspite Gitz Victory – 43 – 22

Greg Brewer – Gloomspite Gitz – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Troggs and Squigs

Thoughts

Well, this archetype is still kicking. With all the right buffs, a reinforced block of Troggs remains one of the toughest nuts to crack in Age of Sigmar. Play your cards right and you’re looking at a unit with a a 3+ Save, 5+ ward and Heal D3 each round. -1 to be hit if Sneaky Distraction goes off, too. At 5 wounds a piece, they can sit on an objective for a long time, and they do some pretty solid damage in their own right often winning wars of attrition.

Squigs are the much more disposable vanguard. While the Troggs get set up on the objectives, the squigs can wade out early and grab objectives and clear out chaff. They’re not terrible. They can chip off some damage before being put down and Squig Herds obnoxiously deal Mortal wounds when killed making them dying almost a bonus.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Kyle Calip – Stormcast Eternals: Stormcast Good Stuff with Bastian Carthalos, Prosecutors and Vanguard Raptors.
• 3rd – ALEXANDER Gonzalez – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt Good Stuff.
• 4th – Bill Curry – Fyreslayers: Fyreslayers mid range with just about everything in the book in one list.
• 5th – Scott Adams – Slaves to Darkness: See Showdown.
• 6th – Doug Jankowski – Lumineth Realm-lords: The Hurakan Special.
• 7th – Sarah Livingston – Stormcast Eternals: The Dragon Brothers with Vanguard-Raptors, Vigilors and Vindictors.

Grudgefest GT 2024

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lethbridge, AB, Canada on October 19 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Dom Elson – Slaves to Darkness
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vs.

Riley Pichlyk – Idoneth Deepkin
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Thoughts

While the Slaves to Darkness list is pretty standard, this is an interesting Idoneth list to be putting up against it. Slaves to Darkness are a blunt object, a really strong hammer and anvil that beats their foes down if they can get a good swing in on them, while also being resilient enough to take a knock on the head should it come to that.

The Idoneth list here is quite strong, able to pin point weak points in the armor of the Warriors of Chaos by worsening their saves and buffing attack/wound rolls. If they get the charge in at the right time they could do significant damage to them. That said, the Slaves to Darkness list can very easily do the same. It ends up a pretty close fight in favor of the warriors of chaos.

Result

Slaves to Darkness Victory – 42 – 32

Dom Elson – Slaves to Darkness – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Slaves to Darkness Good Stuff

Thoughts

A good, solid list. Sometimes a blunt object is what you need to win the day.

This list consolidates itself down to one drop by just taking Be’lakor. While it means they get no enhancements, it does mean they’re controlling priority almost every time which is very useful for the slower Slaves to Darkness units.

Be’lakor himself can help disable the biggest threat on the board at an inopportune time and also pop First Strike on to himself and two other units. The Chosen and the Varanguard are the ideal hammers, but knights can scrap pretty well too. Rounding it out are Furies which function as a screen and a good vanguard for grabbing objectives early on before the rest of the army catches up.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Riley Pichlyk – Idoneth Deepkin: See Showdown.
• 3rd – Cole Winsor- Disciples of Tzeentch: A menagerie of daemons with Skyfires to add some spice.
• 4th –  Michael Nonomura – Maggotkin of Nurgle: Midrange nurgle list with a bit of everything.
• 5th – Quin Hynes – Gloomspite Gitz: Squigs and Troggs.
• 6th – Joe Thibodeau – Gloomspite Gitz: Mostly Troggs, and a few other things.
• 7th – Brayden Wrubleski – Flesh-eater Courts: Ushoran, a Cardinal and Ghoul King with lots of Knights.

Wrap Up

Some interesting changes and yet more changes just dropped today on Warhammer Community which means we may be back for an exciting couple of weeks going forward. Until next time!

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