Another year is almost in the books and having just wrapped up 24 days of insane content generation and scrambling to push out thirty Detachment focus articles/videos, plus updates for Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k, we’re ready to just kick back and spend some time with our loved ones.
Just kidding, we’ll be locked up in our offices and hobby rooms painting while they do whatever. You’ll notice the site this week may be a tiny bit quieter – it’s not by design necessarily; we’ll have lots of year-end reviews and hobby progress updates there’s still plenty to say about the games we cover. But competitive events do tend to ramp down a bit so Competitive Innovations probably won’t be back in full swing until after the new year.
By our reckoning there was only one singles GT this past weekend, run by some absolute fiends out in Missouri for Warhammer 40k. And while Wings is off, it’s worth talking about it since it’s one of the first big events using new dataslates and point changes from Grotmas. So without Further ado, I present Competitive Innovations in 10th: Christmas Eve Edition.
Winter Slaughter GT
This 27-player, 5-round GT in Raytown Missouri normally wouldn’t meet our 28-player requirements but as a special Christmas miracle, I’m including it today. So congrats to Ted Williamson for winning the Winter Slaughter GT with Canoptek Court Necrons. Ted’s Canoptek Court beat Joe Guzowski’s Firestorm Assault in the final round of the event to take first place.
Grotmas has put players – and us, really – in a bit of a bind; Games Workshop have mentioned that Grotmas Detachments are not going to be in the app until January, which means that unless someone edits their list by hand to have the correct Detachment, I can’t know for certain whether the event allowed new Detachments and they were using one. That said, I’m pretty sure Ted was using the Canoptek Court based on his list given he’s running a ton of Scarabs and Wraiths and using the Dimensional Sanctum Enhancement.
Ted Williamson – Necrons (Canoptek Court) – 1st Place
Ted's List - Click to Expand Crapko has always believed in the humble Scarab so I shall believe as well. His strength is my strength and I shall do my best to make him proud. I may walk in darkness but I walk knowing Crapko will bring the light with him. I sure hope this works. (1995 points) Necrons CHARACTERS Hexmark Destroyer (75 points) Technomancer (105 points) Technomancer (85 points) OTHER DATASHEETS Canoptek Scarab Swarms (80 points) Canoptek Scarab Swarms (80 points) Canoptek Scarab Swarms (80 points) Canoptek Spyders (150 points) Canoptek Wraiths (230 points) Canoptek Wraiths (230 points) Deathmarks (65 points) Flayed Ones (60 points) Lokhust Heavy Destroyers (165 points) Lokhust Heavy Destroyers (165 points) Tesseract Vault (425 points) Exported with App Version: v1.24.0 (64), Data Version: v525
Strike Force (2000 points)
Canoptek Court
• Warlord
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Enmitic disintegrator pistols
• 1x Staff of light
• Enhancement: Dimensional Sanctum
• 1x Staff of light
• 6x Canoptek Scarab Swarm
• 6x Feeder mandibles
• 6x Canoptek Scarab Swarm
• 6x Feeder mandibles
• 6x Canoptek Scarab Swarm
• 6x Feeder mandibles
• 2x Canoptek Spyder
• 2x Automaton claws
2x Fabricator Claw Array (Aura)
2x Gloom Prism (Aura)
4x Particle beamer
• 6x Canoptek Wraith
• 6x Particle caster
6x Vicious claws
• 6x Canoptek Wraith
• 6x Particle caster
6x Vicious claws
• 5x Deathmark
• 5x Close combat weapon
5x Synaptic disintegrator
• 5x Flayed One
• 5x Flayer claws
• 3x Lokhust Heavy Destroyer
• 3x Close combat weapon
3x Gauss destructor
• 3x Lokhust Heavy Destroyer
• 3x Close combat weapon
3x Gauss destructor
• 1x Antimatter Meteor
1x Cosmic Fire
1x Time’s Arrow
• 1x Armoured bulk
4x Tesla spheres
OK something I think doesn’t get enough attention is that people sometimes put some hilarious shit in their lists now, and I’m pretty sure that at least one third of the time they’re doing it so it’ll show up on Comp Innovations. Ted’s comment here is great and it’s what swayed me to go ahead and even do a Competitive Innovations this week.
Anyways, Ted’s list is a good example of how you don’t even need the new Detachments to have a good time with Necrons – those 10/20 point dips on Wraiths put in some good work here in a list running two full squads plus Spyders and three full-size units of Scarab Swarms. The only increase here was on the Hexmark Destroyer (+5), so this is just taking advantage of suddenly having another 35 points to work with that weren’t there before.
Joe Guzowski – Space Marines (Firestorm Assault Force) – 6th Place
Joe's list - Click to Expand Imp Fist Tor (2000 Points) Space Marines CHARACTERS Apothecary Biologis (70 Points) Darnath Lysander (100 Points) Tor Garadon (90 Points) OTHER DATASHEETS Aggressor Squad (240 Points) Bladeguard Veteran Squad (180 Points) Eradicator Squad (200 Points) Inceptor Squad (240 Points) Infiltrator Squad (100 Points) Infiltrator Squad (100 Points) Infiltrator Squad (100 Points) Repulsor (180 Points) Repulsor (180 Points) Repulsor Executioner (220 Points) Exported with App Version: v1.24.0 (1), Data Version: v525
Imperial Fists
Firestorm Assault Force
Strike Force (2000 Points)
• 1x Absolvor bolt pistol
• 1x Close combat weapon
• 1x Fist of Dorn
• Warlord
• 1x Artificer grav-gun
• 1x Hand of Defiance
• 1x Aggressor Sergeant
â—¦ 1x Auto boltstorm gauntlets
â—¦ 1x Fragstorm grenade launcher
â—¦ 1x Twin power fists
• 5x Aggressor
â—¦ 5x Auto boltstorm gauntlets
â—¦ 5x Fragstorm grenade launcher
â—¦ 5x Twin power fists
• 1x Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant
â—¦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon
â—¦ 1x Plasma pistol
• 5x Bladeguard Veteran
â—¦ 5x Heavy bolt pistol
â—¦ 5x Master-crafted power weapon
• 1x Eradicator Sergeant
â—¦ 1x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 1x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 1x Melta rifle
• 5x Eradicator
â—¦ 5x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 5x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 3x Melta rifle
â—¦ 2x Multi-melta
• 1x Inceptor Sergeant
â—¦ 1x Assault bolters
â—¦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 5x Inceptor
â—¦ 5x Assault bolters
â—¦ 5x Close combat weapon
• 1x Infiltrator Sergeant
â—¦ 1x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 1x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 1x Marksman bolt carbine
• 4x Infiltrator
â—¦ 4x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 4x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 1x Helix Gauntlet
â—¦ 4x Marksman bolt carbine
• 1x Infiltrator Sergeant
â—¦ 1x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 1x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 1x Marksman bolt carbine
• 4x Infiltrator
â—¦ 4x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 4x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 1x Helix Gauntlet
â—¦ 4x Marksman bolt carbine
• 1x Infiltrator Sergeant
â—¦ 1x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 1x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 1x Marksman bolt carbine
• 4x Infiltrator
â—¦ 4x Bolt pistol
â—¦ 4x Close combat weapon
â—¦ 1x Helix Gauntlet
â—¦ 4x Marksman bolt carbine
• 1x Armoured hull
• 1x Heavy onslaught gatling cannon
• 1x Hunter-slayer missile
• 1x Repulsor defensive array
• 1x Twin lascannon
• 1x Armoured hull
• 1x Heavy onslaught gatling cannon
• 1x Hunter-slayer missile
• 1x Repulsor defensive array
• 1x Twin lascannon
• 1x Armoured hull
• 1x Heavy laser destroyer
• 1x Heavy onslaught gatling cannon
• 1x Icarus rocket pod
• 1x Ironhail heavy stubber
• 1x Repulsor Executioner defensive array
• 1x Twin Icarus ironhail heavy stubber
• 1x Twin heavy bolter
Oh shit, Imperial Fists are back. And by that I mean actually back, running their characters, even if it is nominally in the Salamanders Detachment. This list runs both Lysander and Tor Garadon, attaching the latter to an Aggressor Squad to give them Ignores Cover and just letting the former run around by himself. There’s the regular Apothecary Biologis attached to Eradicators here, plus a pair of Repulsors to haul around those gravis models and an Executioner for long-ranged punch. It likely struggled to chew through the Wraiths, and although Joe finished 6th, he was 4-0 heading into the final round and playing for the first place spot.
The Best of the Rest
There were four more players on 4-1 records. They were:
- 2nd – Jacob Andes – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Two Bloodthirsters and a 4+++ Great Unclean One with a pair of Soul Grinders for ranged punch.
- 3rd – Jeremy Capko – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders): Surprisingly light on characters but very heavy on Dreadnoughts, running Triple Redemptors and a Ballistus.
- 4th – Tom Deane – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic): Four MSU Rubric units with a single Mutalith and two units each of Cultists and Tzaangor Enlightened.
- 5th – Chris Young – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): A 10-man Berzerker unit with Kharn, two units of Eightbound, and a 6-man Exalted Eightbound unit.
As far as I can tell some players were using the new Detachments – two players were on the Reaper’s Wager Drukhari Detachment, while Ashley Jinx was running the Lion’s Blade Task Force. Of these, David Johnson fared the best, finishing 3-2 with a Reaper’s Wager Detachment running a Solitaire, a Troupe and some Skyweavers. Here’s the list:
David Johnson's List - Click to Expand +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Char1: 1x Drazhar (85 pts): The Executioner’s demiklaives 10x Wyches (90 pts) 5x Incubi (85 pts)
+ FACTION KEYWORD: Aeldari – Drukhari
+ DETACHMENT: Reaper’s Wager
+ TOTAL ARMY POINTS: 1995pts
+
+ WARLORD: Char4: Archon
+ ENHANCEMENT: Archraider (on Char4: Archon) Reaper’s Cowl (on Char5: Troupe Master)
+ NUMBER OF UNITS: 19
+ SECONDARY: – Bring It Down: (6×2) – Assassination: 5 Characters
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Char2: 1x Lelith Hesperax (95 pts): Lelith’s blades
Char3: 1x Solitaire (115 pts): Solitaire Weapons
Char4: 1x Archon (100 pts): Warlord, Huskblade, Blast Pistol
Enhancement: Archraider (+15 pts)
Char5: 1x Troupe Master (80 pts): Troupe Master’s Blade, Fusion Pistol Enhancement: Reaper’s Cowl (+25 pts)
• 1x Hekatrix: Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Hekatarii Blade, Blast Pistol
• 9x Wych: 9 with Hekatarii Blade, Splinter Pistol
• 4x Incubi: 4 with Klaive
• 1x Klaivex: Demiklaves
5x Incubi (85 pts)
• 4x Incubi: 4 with Klaive
• 1x Klaivex: Demiklaves
5x Mandrakes (70 pts)
• 4x Mandrake: 4 with Baleblast, Glimmersteel Blade
• 1x Nightfiend: Baleblast, Glimmersteel Blade
5x Scourges (130 pts)
• 4x Scourge with Heavy Weapon: 4 with Close combat weapon, Dark Lance
• 1x Solarite: Close combat weapon, Solarite Weapon, Shardcarbine
5x Scourges (130 pts)
• 4x Scourge with Heavy Weapon: 4 with Close combat weapon, Dark Lance
• 1x Solarite: Close combat weapon, Solarite Weapon, Shardcarbine
12x Troupe (180 pts)
• 1x Lead Player: Aeldari power sword, Fusion Pistol
• 3x Player with Fusion Pistol: 3 with Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Special Weapon
• 8x Player with Harlequin’s Special Weapon: 8 with Harlequin’s Special Weapon, Shuriken Pistol
2x Skyweavers (105 pts): 2 with Close Combat Weapon, Skyweaver Haywire Cannon, Zephyrglaive
2x Talos (160 pts): 2 with Twin Liquifier Gun, Talos Gauntlet, Twin Haywire Blasters
2x Talos (160 pts): 2 with Twin Liquifier Gun, Talos Gauntlet, Twin Haywire Blasters
1x Voidweaver (115 pts): Close Combat Weapon, 2x Shuriken Cannon, Prismatic Cannon
1x Venom (70 pts): Bladevanes, Splinter Cannon, Splinter Cannon
1x Venom (70 pts): Bladevanes, Splinter Cannon, Splinter Cannon
1x Venom (70 pts): Bladevanes, Splinter Cannon, Splinter Cannon
It’s an interesting list, making use of Archraider to get a Scouting 9″ Venom at the start of the game and running relatively light on clowns. Speaking of Clowns, that big Troupe unit has Stealth and Infiltrate thanks to the Reaper’s Cowl Enhancement, making it an absolute nightmare to avoid. They can plow forward and Advance and Charge or make themselves untargetable by Overwatch as they set up to cause problems.
Final Thoughts
That wraps up our look at the competitive meta. But in the spirit of the season, we wanted to wish everyone reading this a Happy Holiday – 2024 was a great year for the site and it’s all thanks to you. So whether you’re opening presents at the Christmas tree or kicking off your Chanukkah celebration, we wish you the best.
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