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.
Unfortunately, this week’s major event was going to be the Games Workshop Tampa Open, which had to be cancelled due to Hurricane Milton. Thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by the devastation.
Meanwhile, we still got a few smaller events in the UK, US and Germany to go over. This is also the first CI that is fully using the Battlescroll, so let’s take a look at what’s going on as a result of that.
The GAF Jamboree 2024
36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Kingston upon Hull, England, United Kingdom on October 12 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Mike Stewart – Lumineth Realm-Lords
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vs.
Hazel Moon – Slaves to Darkness
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Thoughts
Result
Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 43 – 31
Mike Stewart – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place
The List
See Showdown
Archetype
Teclis and the Hurakan Special
Thoughts
Well the cost on your Hurakan stuff and Riverblades went up so what do you do? Why cut the Vanari of course!
The point hikes on the “problem units” in Lumineth weren’t particularly big, and so it’s not surprising that the cuts where needed tended to remove the token unit of Vanari Warden or Dawnriders. As long as you keep your distance you really don’t need those against most lists. So the basic strategy applies, use the Hurakan Facet of War to jump up with your Fox Spirits and Windchargers, fire then fall back. The Sentinels offer more ranged firepower if the Hurakan stuff doesn’t get the job done, while the Riverblades can jump ahead and be your primary melee force and character assassins.
Teclis of course hangs back and casts spells at the very difficult to counter auto-10, flooding the board in endless spells or buffing his allies.
The Best of the Rest
There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:
- 2nd – Dominic Stonebridge – Stormcast Eternals: Karazai the Scarred, Neave Blacktalon and Celestant-Prime with Vanguard-Raptors, Praetors and Vigilors.
- 3rd – Tom Patton – Kruleboyz: Killaboss, Snatchaboss and Shaman with lots of Monsta-Killaz and Boltboyz.
- 4th – Hazel Moon – Slaves to Darkness: See Showdown.
- 5th – Mikey Herbert – Ossiarch Bonereapers: An odd collection of almost every unit in the book (with a particular bent toward Mortek Guard), led by Arkhan and a Soulmason.
- 6th – Gabe Huddlestone – Skaven: Thanquol and a Verminlord Deceiver with Rat Ogors and two units of Stormfiends.
- 7th – Courtney Brightwell – Stormcast Eternals: Bastian Carthalos leads an assortment of units include Stormdrake Guard, Annihilators and Liberators.
Age of Sigmar Bad Moon Rising GT 2024
32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Coraopolis, PA, United States on October 12 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Rob Mulshine – Disciples of Tzeentch
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vs.
Preston Schlagel – Nighthaunt
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Thoughts
This does have potential to shape up to an interesting fight. Tzeentch has a solid ranged presence and decent mobility to keep Nighthaunt on their toes, especially with the Lore of Change granting them a teleport to try and keep up with the Nighthaunt, not to mention Wyrdflame Host being able to blunt many of their attacks with the -1 to wound.
We know what Nighthaunt do, they hit hard and can fly over chaff like it’s nothing. If you pin them down they just charge over you. So the question is keeping them busy long enough to score off them. The game is super close and high scoring, ending with a tight victory of Nighthaunt.
Result
Nighthaunt Victory – 44 – 39
Preston Schlagel – Nighthaunt – 1st Place
The List
See Showdown
Archetype
Nighthaunt Good Stuff
Thoughts
It’s the same old Nighthaunt, just slightly less of them. Games Workshop has traditionally taken a more ginger route with balance so it may take a bit before they “get there” in terms of nerfs so the MO right now is generally going to be same strat, but make do with less.
Reikenor and Olynder remain the primo casters of the army, so their role is self explantory. The Executioner is a cheap generic hero that you can slap enhancements on and fits into Olynder’s detachment, so you don’t have to balloon your drop count to add them. Hexwraiths and Bladegheist Revenants are your primary hammer, while the Dreadblade Harrows are safely cut down to 1 unit from the usual two, since their nerf makes them less neccesary (though still clutch when you have to steal an objective under your opponent’s nose).
A unique addition here is the Spirit Hosts, which saw a real decline from 3rd. Like most Bodyguards, theyve been changed to give a 4+ Ward to heroes, rather than take the hit for them. It’s good for the Executioner to have bodyguards if he wades into combat, and Olynder and Reiknor appreciate the support too.
The Best of the Rest
There were 3 more players on 4-1 records. They were:
- 2nd – Rob Mulshine – Disciples of Tzeentch: See Showdown.
- 3rd – Ben Klos – Sylvaneth: A super elite list of Belthanos and Alarielle with Kurnoth Hunters and Spiteriders.
- 4th – Nighthaunt: An actually pretty unique list with Nagash, Hexwraiths and reinforced units of Bladegheists and Harridans.
Baltic Bash GT
28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Rostock, MV, Deutschland on October 12 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
The Showdown
Marc Elschner – Skaventide
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vs.
Moritz Rößner – Fyreslayers
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Thoughts
Now this is a showdown. Two armies that really haven’t shown up much in CI, it’s a refreshing change of pace. The Fyreslayers are a resiliant lot, and although they’re slow they can hold objectives incredibly well which would force the Skaven player to force their way up – a tough proposition for a ranged army.
That Said…this is a lot of shooting. Like a lot, and Fyreslayers want you to charge into them if nothing else, as it requires a really strong hammer to bring them down. Armies that simply don’t engage with that nonsense can be frustrating to deal with. If the Skaven player is willing to sacrifice some early gains they can easily melt the Duardin down with ranged fire and then scoop up points in the back half.
Result
Skaventide Victory – 1013 – 7
Marc Elschner – Skaventide – 1st Place
The List
See Showdown
Archetype
Warpstone Guns go brrrrrrrrrr
Thoughts
First and most obvious, Ratling Guns are good, damn good. For 150 points you get 9D6 shots. While that 4+ to hit and 4+ to wound may seem unassuming, the Warpcog Convocation hands out a +1 to wound to 3 Skryre units (plus an extra rend if you’re lucky). Throw in a +1 to hit and suddenly 18D6 shots on a 3+/3+ seems a lot more terrifying.
The Scourgers benefit from these buffs as well but also get the bonus from their Galvaneer leader who pumps their attack stat to 10. So 60 shots at 2+ to hit and 3+ to wound, with an extra rend against the ever prolific cavalry is damn strong.
Rounding it all out is the basic Clan Rat, which keeps the Weapons Teams from being targeted until you weed the unit down to 5, so to even shoot them you have to work through a lot of chaff.
The Best of the Rest
There was 1 more player on 4-1 record and 5 on 4-1-1 (so many ties!). They were:
- 2nd – EPOS one – Slaves to Darkness: Belakor and a Chaos Lord with 2 reinforced units of Varanguard.
- 3rd – Moritz Rößner – Fyreslayers: See Showdown.
- 4th – Robert Krauzick – Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos, Lord of Change and tons of Daemons.
- 5th – Bryce Johnston – Idoneth Deepkin: Midrange list of an Eidolon, Leviadon, Morsarr Guard and Thralls.
- 6th – Marc Krzyzek – Hedonites of Slaanesh: Keeper and Shardspeaker with the Masque, tons of Daemonettes, Seekers and Twinsouls
- 7th – nino janko – Idoneth Deepkin: Very similar to Bryce’s list above, but with Ishalaen instead of Morsarr.
Wrap Up
Thanks again for tuning in and we’ll be back next week with more Competitive Innovations in the mortal realms.
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