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.

Apologies for the delay folks. I was at LVO this week and still recovering from it, but we’re back and ready to roll.

This week is a surprisingly international version of CI. In addition to the expected Las Vegas Open, the biggest Warhammer tournament in the world, we have 4 other events on the same weekend! 2 more in the US, one in Italy and one in Germany and we’re gonna cover them all.

LVO 2025 Age of Sigmar Champs

304-player, 8-round Supermajor in Las Vegas, NV, United States on January 17 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Feral Foray

Mike McAbee – Maggotkin of Nurgle
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vs.

Jeremy Lefebvre – Cities of Sigmar
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Thoughts

The results of this matchup were pretty much a surprised to everyone. While the Cities list is pretty stock, they’ve been doing pretty so-so in the past few months. The Nurgle list came absolutely out of nowhere surprised everyone. We’ll cover both in more depth, so for now we’ll look at both in the match up.

Overall Nurgle is going to struggle a lot more in Feral Foray. Feral Foray really requires that you have a ton of units and the mobility to stretch out. Nurgle doesn’t really have that, while Cities have way more options (Callis and Toll can deep strike, Aelves are fast as fuck boy). That said, both lists have a lot of models, which is a huge selling point and the Cities of Sigmar list isn’t as heavy on the shooting as some lists, which means they have to get down and dirty and scrap with the Nurgle units (where Nurgle thrives).

It’s an nail biting match that only ends shy of 4 points, with the world championship going to Jeremy and his Cities of Sigmar.

Result

Cities of Sigmar Victory – 46 – 42

Jeremy Lefebvre – Cities of Sigmar – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Friendship!

Thoughts

This follows more or less the stock cities of Sigmar lists. Runepriest with Hammerers for that 5+ ward and strong anvil, along with the excellent priest lore. A Sorceress who adds magical prowess with Executioners and Drakespawn as the vanguard who slices enemies up. Adding Darkshards with the Master of Ballistics Heroic Trait is a pretty clever answer to add some cheaper shooting.

Galen and Dorelia Van Denst pair well with Callus and Toll to take down Priests, Wizards and Manifestions that still run rampant through the game. The Freeguild Command Corps also add some much under-appreciated buffs and debuffs like potential double cost command points.

The Assassin guarantees that they will always have more drops, but that has become a potential boon for those willing to play around it. Extra Honor Guard abilities can be deadly, especially Anti-X and Priority Target. The Assassin is a good value too, able to sneak up alongside the anvil units to get in close to enemy Heroes for the kill.

Mike McAbee – Maggotkin of Nurgle – 2nd Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Glotty and the Blightkings

Thoughts

The Glottkin has been in a bit of remission in the new edition as his Blightkrieg ability is a bit more difficult to use properly but he remains an excellent control piece. Blightkrieg still allows units to get into combat when the enemy thought they were safe, and Glottkin hits enemy with a -3 to control which is crucial to holding objectives over the long game. His 24 health and 5+ ward don’t hurt either.

The two units of Blightkings are the primary hammer and anvil. Their attacks aren’t great but they get a lot of them, and volume of dice is often the key to winning the day. The Lord of Blights supports the unit by giving them anti-Charge AND as a lieutenant it can grant the Field Marshal buff. The Blightkings look a lot better once they have 6″ move.

The rotmire creed and Slimux work together to help make sure disease gets put down on the enemy as soon as possible. Rotmire creed doing some less than stellar shooting but able to grant disease to more hard to reach targets, while Slimux drops trees to spread to things they can’t get into combat with.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 were:

• 3rd – Thomas Guan – Hedonites of Slaanesh: Keeper of Secrets leading a legion of Blissbarbs.
• 4th – Jacob Brandon – Ironjawz: A mixed range of different infantry and a big pig.
• 5th – Michael Rausch – Flesh-Eater Courts: Ushoran leading Morbheg Knights, Beastflayers and Crypt Ghouls.
• 6th – Jeremy Veysseire – Flesh-Eater Courts: Ushoran leading Morbheg Knights and Crypt Ghouls.
• 7th – Aaron Elias Newbom – Ironjawz: Kragnos with pigs big and small.
• 8th – Fabien Barbusse – Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos and Lord of Change with a menagerie of daemons.

Weekend Warlord 8 – Endless War

76-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Milano, Lombardia, IT on January 18 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mattia Palombo – Cities of Sigmar
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vs.

Alessandro Nordino – Flesh-eater Courts
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Thoughts

A lot of this is going to come down to the ability for Flesh-eater Courts to break through the Cities of Sigmar enemy lines. The cities list has a lot of good shooting and anvils to hold the line, and the Flesh-eater Courts don’t have a lot of options but to cross no man’s land and get to the enemy.

As expected, the Cities of Sigmar clean house here, decimating the FEC

Result

Cities of Sigmar Victory – 46 – 20

Mattia Palombo – Cities of Sigmar – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Friendship!

Thoughts

It’s been a minute since we saw both Galen and his daughter. Together they make excellent anti-magic users since they can hit Wizards, Priests and manifestations for extra damage, all for a reasonable price. The fusiliers round out the human shooting contingent, much improved since the buffs to their fusil-cannon ability to shoot in combat. Callis and Toll also contribute by being great deep-strikers who can contribute to the wizard-murder.

While the human side tends to oscillate around what’s worth taking, the Duardin and Aelf contingents are pretty stock. Two Runelords, both with their own Reinforced unit of Hammerers are a tough anvil to break through. All of their prayers are really good too, so it’s not even a bad idea to have brought two.

Finally the aelf sorcereress, rather than settling for the usual executioners, creates a vanguard force of Drakespawn to ride out and capture objectives, hitting units hard in enemy territory.

Federico Azzali – Blades of Khorne – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Triple Bloodthirsters

Thoughts

This list is up front about what it wants, with triple Bloodthirsters taking up almost 75% of the list, the majority of the work is coming from these big guys. Making the General a Realmgore Ritualist with nothing in their detachment is an interesting choice, but it also means it’s not going to make their most important game pieces an immediate target for Slay the Entourage.

The Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster is the defacto general here, giving the other 2 Bloodthirsters +1 attack. It also is an excellent Assassin if it can get in combat with a hero. The Bloodthirsters of Unfettered Fury are intended to be monster hunters, but they’re not bad against most things (it’s still damage 4 after all), have a ranged attack and grant 3D6 charge.

The priests function as buff bots for the Bloodthirsters, while the Claws of Karnak and Bloodreavers make effective speed bumps and objective holders.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 were:

• 3rd – Lorenzo Tosi – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Chosen, Varanguard and Knights.
• 4th – Simone Sassi – Nighthaunt: Awlrach leads Hexwraiths and Pyregheists
• 5th – Lorenzo Baccifava – Seraphon: Kroak leads a mix of Kroxigors, Aggradons and Raptadons.
• 6th – Alessandro Angrisano – Sylvaneth: A very elite list with Belthanos, Alarielle and Spirit of Durthu with Spiterider lancers and some chaff.
• 7th – Francesco Righetti – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs supported by magical Gitz.
• 8th – Alessandro Nordino – Flesh-eater Courts: See Showdown.

HAMBURG MAJOR 2025 AOS

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hamburg, Germany on January 18 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Focal Points

Jonas Meinecke – Stormcast Eternals
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vs.

Dario Grohmann – Slaves to Darkness
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Thoughts

Slaves to Darkness is still feeling for its place in the meta as it’s new book is out but despite a perceived power drop from the mission pack it is putting up some pretty good results.

The addition of Krondys over Karazai in the Stormcast list is actually a pretty good call here. It allows them to disrupt the casting of multiple spells in the Slaves to Darkness list, and Krondys’ warscroll spell is excellent against high armored targets. That said, he is very expensive and doesn’t leave the army with a lot else to work with. Most of the infantry is ranged, meaning if the Slaves to Darkness get in close they won’t be able to deal with it as well. The effectiveness is going to largely boil down to who can play their screens better and if the Slaves to Darkness can break through the battleline.

It’s a close battle but Slaves to Darkness clutch a victory.

Result

Slaves to Darkness Victory – 11 – 9

Dario Grohmann – Slaves to Darkness – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Be’lakor and the Good Stuff

Thoughts

Interestingly it feels like Slaves to Darkness lists almost never change.

Be’lakor has become a serious tentpole figure for the army and it’s not hard to see why. He can shut down the biggest threat for a turn (two if the player feels bold enough to hand off the double) he’s also a dual caster caster who’s not bad in combat. If the enemy breaks through he has decent odds of handing out Strike-First and turning things around on them.

Chosen and Varanguard remain the ideal choice for units. Both units get a strike twice once per game, and Crit mortals. If they get into the deadliest thing in the opponent’s army the odds are good they pick it up, especially if Be’lakor handed them Strike-First. Their speed isn’t even a problem if they get the mark of Slaanesh, but if they’re already close to the enemy, Khorne is great too.

Furies round out the list with excellent chaff and objective stealers. Not as much to say, they just do that job well.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Lukas Herbst – Stormcast Eternals: Krondys and Stormcast good stuff.
• 3rd – Till Standtke – Ogor Mawtribes: Big monster trucks
• 4th – Anjo Steinmeyer – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor with Chosen and Varanguard.
• 5th – Jonas Meinecke – Stormcast Eternals: See Showdown.

Akron Brew Brawl-AoS GT

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Akron, OH, United States on January 18 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Sam McEuen – Gloomspite Gitz
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vs.

Alex Dent – Flesh-eater Courts
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Thoughts

An interesting matchup, an army that has declined somewhat vs one in ascendance.

Flesh-Eater Courts play a much more aggressive playstyle that clashes well with the Gitz. The trogg half of the list wants to stand in place, while the gitz want to push up. Squig Herds are dangerous to charge directly since they love to explode in your face and bring back more, even though they don’t control objectives nearly as well as Morbheg Knights. The Knights do have a lot of power to maneuver around them with their FLY ability and get into the Trogg’s directly. With their ability to fall back and charge they don’t fall prey to usual Trap cavalry do of getting stuck in with them and can repeat it, bringing back dead models turn after turn while the Troggs lose whatever dies.

The FEC take a well deserved victory.

Result

Flesh-eater Courts Victory – 42 – 28

Alex Dent – Flesh-eater Courts – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Ushoran and his Court

Thoughts

This list brings a little bit of everything, but mostly focuses on Morbheg knights. Flesh-Eater Courts really struggled when 4th came out, as one of the worst performing armies in the game but as can be seen by their performance this week they’ve really come into their own.

In addition to some excellent points drops across the army, their abilities make them a horde army with a lot of recursion. Between Cruel Taskmaster boosting Rally and Muster Guard, you can return a lot of models as long as the unit remains standing. Morbheg knights are a solid vanguard, able to retreat and charge so that they’re never completely locked down, until Ushoran can move up and join the party. Cryptguard and Beastflayers make good hordes for holding objectives while the heroes buff everything they can.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Dan Sasala – Stormcast Eternals: Karazai and Stormcast good stuff.
• 3rd – Justin Crandall – Gloomspite Gitz: Troggs and Squigs.
• 4th – Sam McEuen – Gloomspite Gitz: See showdown.
• 5th – Chris Fuentes – Stormcast Eternals: Karazai and Stormcast good stuff (again).

Crossroads Carnage – LVcan’tgO

27-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Indianapolis, IN, United States on January 18 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Battle for the Pass

Clay Franchere – Stormcast Eternals
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vs.

Jonathan Williams – Gloomspite Gitz
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Thoughts

This is a surprising showdown. The Trogg-centered Git-lists have been in a reecession, and while this isn’t the most meta Stormcast list it still uses a lot of the really good stuff like Karazai, Longstrikes and Prosecutors. The Dragons also seem pretty well equipped to handle Troggs, able to do some decent damage from afar to soften them up in tandem with the Longstrikes before charging in with Karazai. However, it is greatly held up by the lack of casters and priests, which Stormcast often rely on.

That said, never underestimate the resiliance of Troggs. And with Skragrott in tow, there’s a teleport in their pocket to steal the enemy’s objective that the Priest-less stormcast doesn’t have. The Gitz pull out a win.

Result

Gloomspite Gitz Victory – 42 – 31

Jonathan Williams – Gloomspite Gitz – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Troggs

Thoughts

We haven’t seen Troggs in a good minute. The ideal list morphed into a Trogg and Squig hybrid after Troggs got hit with a points increase, but pure Troggs has sort of shrunken back into its cave. Until now.

Skragrott is the only non-Trogg here, and he’s a good addition to any list due to him being a 2 cast wizard and he can keep the moon in exactly the place you need it to be (probably the center of the table) for that clutch extra turn. Trugg is the other obvious piece to bring, who helps buff the Troggs to be their best. Sure that buff is random, but you almost always get at least one good result when throwing 3 dice (especially Rend +1 or +1 attack).

Otherwise the list is basically just Troggs. Troggs hit hard, are durable as hell and regenerate damage. They’re difficult to pick up once they get where they need to go so so they work well against many different lists, since all they have to do is just stand there.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Jon Anderson – Lumineth Realm-Lords: Sadly, list does not load.
• 3rd – Clay Franchere – Stormcast Eternals: See Showdown.
• 4th – Xavier Green – Kharadron Overlords: A mid-range list with a little bit of everything.
• 5th – Christopher Ridge – Blades of Khorne: Skarbrand and a Bloodthirster Lieutenant with Blood Warrior and Flesh Hound chaff.

Wrap Up

Thanks for another big week. We’re officially in a new season of the ITC so if you’re a competitive player yourself, time to get back out there and crack some skulls and hopefully we’ll see your name up here!

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