As ever, after a few quiet weeks for events we’re back into a blowout weekend, so you’re getting another three part extravaganza as the new Dataslate and books fully kick in. Top billing obviously goes to the US Open Dallas, but we’ve got a tonne of other exciting events to dig into, and a real glimpse of what the metagame is going to look like.

Orks are, of course, everywhere, with Bully Boyz continuing to be the dominant build and showing up all over the place, but some Green Tide players also put in great finishes, and I think may prove harder to counter in the long run. Orks are the most popular army out there this week, but they’re pipped to the top in terms of win rates by Space Wolves (narrowly, and somehow including multiple Champions of Russ builds) and Thousand Sons, who look like the army to beat right now as the only faction north of a 60% win rate in our numbers across the thousand-plus players in GT+ events. I suspect that’s partially driven by them having a very good matchup into Orks, but I’m still taking my opinion that both Wolves and Tsons probably shouldn’t have skated through the Dataslate without a few more adjustments to the bank.

At the opposite ends of the scale, Tau look to be struggling a little out of the gate, suggesting that the point tweaks and Mont’ka nerf might have been a little too much of a double whammy (though some events are still on the Index), and Aeldari are languishing right at the bottom, with possibly their worst performance all edition, and most of the lists that performed well being Ynnari. It took 10 months and what, five rounds of nerfs (?) but we’re finally there. Mission accomplished.

Let’s see all of that again in 3d, starting today with:

Warhammer 40,000 GT US Open Dallas
Maryland Open 2024
Giga-Bites May Warhammer 40k GT
Bugle Bat Reps : Bugles Big Bash 2
MNM Kevät GT

Tommorrow (Thursday) I’ll return with:

The Storm Of Silence: 13th Annual Warhammer 40,000 US Open Qualifier Grand Tournament
Alberta Classic 2024
Brighton 40k GT VII
Ammonite Gaming, Turbulent Tides – The Whitby GT
Capital Clash

Finally, on Friday Lowest of Men will take charge for:

Mayhem 3 in 3D
Ice Breaker Warhammer 40K GT – Renegade Wargaming
The Great Game – Gongaii GT Spring 2024
Barn Found GT ’24 at Gamers Shop
Out of the Furnace V

Warhammer 40,000 GT US Open Dallas

234-player, 8-round Supermajor in Arlington, TX, United States on May 17 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Sites of Power – Chilling Rain – Hammer and Anvil

Samuel Pope – Tyranids (Unending Swarm)
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vs.

Colin McDade – Orks (Bully Boyz)
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Thoughts

It’s a whole new metagame kids – Tyranids vs Orks on the top table of the US Open. Unending Swarm had a good weekend in general, and part of the reason for that is that it matches up extremely well into some versions of Bully Boyz. One of the weaknesses of the Bullies is that Meganobz do not have that many attacks (only 2A base for the twin Killsaws here), so if you’ve got a horde build (particularly one with respawn capabilities) then you can essentially just tie them up forever. That’ll also generally mean they have no way to reach out and handle the Exocrines, which are very good in the matchup if not stopped, and the Winged Hive Tyrant only amplifies the pain here – Paroxysm is the worst nightmare of Meganobz, and it can chill out safely behind a wall of gaunts while handing it out.

Colin’s variant on the list does, however, go some way towards mitigating that, as he’s got both a single big Boyz unit and the full Squighob bonanza block. The latter I’m slightly surprised we haven’t seen more, as while (obviously) pricey it’s a truly bonkers thing for some armies to try and clear out, and does spectacular damage back. Both these units absolutely will smash through a brick of Gaunts in a swing, and the footprint of the hogs also gives you a way to just physically block off some parts of the Battlefield.

On this mission, that does feel like it provides a narrow route to victory for the Orks, as they’re much better equipped to reliably Empower an objective. It feels like they’re hoping to go first, and then on turn 1 bring the Squighogs forward to fully body-block an objective with Mozrog on it, and then focus on keeping that and their home all game (for a total of 9VP a turn), while using the Boyz unit to detonate the Tyranids off at least one mid-field objective each turn (though I suspect they’ll be able to get a Tervigon established on a point turn 2). They might also get to Empower a second with Snikrot. Depending on how Secondaries land that could be just enough to get them there, though it could still be tough, something that’s exacerbated by the smart choice from Samuel to go for spinefists on all the Termagants. With access to Swarming Masses this will give them an actual clip of damage into the Boyz and Squighogs, plus being Pistols means that they can just sit in eternal combat in the mid-field and still score Action Secondaries. The looming threat of the Flying Hive Tyrant is also a concern, as it’s got a much better shot of managing to nick the Ork’s home objective at some point than anything on the other side, and once Waaagh is down in the late game it can just carve through Meganobz with relative impunity.

Despite all this, as long as the Orks get the first turn I think this could genuinely be pretty knife edge, but in the end the superior attrition and objective control of the Swarm gives them the edge. That’s roughly how this seems to have played out – a very credible score from Colin that ran things close, but an eventual bug triumph.

Result

Tyranids (Unending Swarm) Victory – 69 – 63

Samuel Pope – Tyranids (Unending Swarm) – 1st Place

The List

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Archetype

Swarm!

Thoughts

The perfect damage sponge for a Bully Boyz world, as the Showdown demonstrated, and a real wakeup call (alongside Green Tide being real) for anyone who’s been skimping on anti-horde – that ain’t an option any more. This list controls objectives like a champion, and as discussed in the Showdown the use of spinefists makes it very tricky to shut down. Love the Flyrant as a force multiplier and meta pick too – it’s hilariously good into Orks of most stripes via Paroxysm and the force multiplication of being able to double Teeming on a key turn. Well done to Samuel for taking such a cool build to the very top!

Colin McDade – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 2nd Place

The List

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Archetype

Bully Hogz

Thoughts

In second place, a great showing for Bully Boyz, and I think Colin’s choice to take Squighoz and the Boyz brick rather than betting everything on Meganobz and Nobz is a real differentiator here. It means the opponent has to be much more worried about an early Waaagh, forcing a bit of caution, and also gives you something that’s so durable Thousand Sons might bounce off it, which is going to matter a lot in this metagame!

GW terrain is particularly favourable to the bighogs, so we’ll see if this gets replicated elsewhere, but picking the right tools for the tournament at hand is an important skill, and it’s always nice to see that pay off. Congratulations to Colin on second place.

Erik Nelson – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 3rd Place

The List

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Archetype

Rubricae Tsons

Thoughts

In third place we have the Character/Rubricae/Cultist classic, which provides both an incredible reliable and incredibly deadly army with one of the deepest toolboxes of anything out there. I’ve talked about this build plenty of times (and indeed got owned by almost point-for-point this list a few weeks ago), so i don’t have much to add other than emphasising that it may well be the best build in the metagame right now. Congratulations to Erik on piloting it to third place.

Justin Moore – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force) – 4th Place

Grey Knights Nemesis Dreadknights. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

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Archetype

Ultracrunch Grey Knights

Thoughts

Rounding out our top four we’ve got one of the biggest skew builds of the current metagame. 2+ saves all round with access to AoC makes it almost impossible for some armies to interact with this even before you get to the three Redeemers worth of flamer fire, and as long as you can get it round the table it’s a nightmare to stop. That is, again, something that’s a lot easier on GW maps than most (UKTC and WTC will be a lot more hostile), but Justin picked the perfect place to roll this out, and was thoroughly rewarded with a fourth place finish.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 16 cut was as follows:

5th – Mike Muzeni – Thousand Sons: Heavy-hitting Thousand Sons with two Mutalith beasts and a full Rubric block, dialing back the Character contingent to pay for it.
6th – Noah Pope – Astra Militarum: Hello Noah. Very pushy Guard – foregoes the artillery in favour of keeping in max Bullgryn, two Tank Commanders and a couple of Leman Russ Vanquishers, rounded out with lots of Catachans to screen.
7th – Matthew Allee – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): A Wych-heavy spin on Skysplinter, going for lots of Venoms crammed with Wyches and a bunch of Succubi to lead some of them.
8th – Dominic Gierber – Ynnari: Go-wide shooty Ynnari with Scourges and Shadow Spectres, D-cannons to unleash indirect pain, and some Troupe and Wych units for objective flipping.
9th – Kit Smith Hanna – Dark Angels (Ironstorm Spearhead): This list is titled “Don’t worry, +20 on Stormravens was enough of a nerf”, so I invite you to guess what it contains two of.
10th – Genevieve Greene – Leagues of Votann: Lots of Sagitaurs, and two Land Fortresses with a Hearthguard/Champion unit in each.
11th – Charles Pickert – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force): Max ThunderCav and 25 Wulfen.
12th – Tyler Rowe – Adepta Sororitas: A completely out-there hull spam build, cramming in a large number of Immolators and Mortifiers/Penitent Engines.
13th – Andrew Corban – Space Marines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Redemptors and RepExes.
14th – Marc Parker – Tyranids (Unending Swarm): A second showing for the Swarm here, again backing a bunch of horde stuff supported by Exocrines, and adding a brawling venom cannon Carnifex/Old One-Eye brick.
15th – Bryan Kinnee-Crowley – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): Sydonian Dragoon spam backed by some Skitarii and MSU Infiltrators for utility board control, and a big Breacher unit to unleash hell.
16th – Thomas Greer – Orks (War Horde): All-rounder Orks with some Meganobz, and Ghazghkull, Squighogs (one unit with Mozrog), and a bunch of stuff in Transports (including Flash Gitz managing to stick around post-Dataslate).

Maryland Open 2024

93-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Westminster, MD, US on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

TJ Lanigan – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Pressure Tsons

Thoughts

Our second Thousand Sons list of the day, in the hand of long time Chaos mastermind TJ, takes things in a different direction than the Rubricae-centric variant, trading out a bit of reliability and redundancy for pressure. With a Winged Daemon Prince and Mutalith to worry about, foes are going to have to be a lot more cautious, and the Prince also provides some scoring redundancy thanks to Aetherstride.

The list in general also has more scoring reach thanks to sporting Enlightened instead of some Cultists, and while I do think that the Rubricae Tsons build is the “best” in a vacuum, the extra speed here might give it the edge in a Tsons mirror. If it beats the “best” build without sacrificing too many points of win rate against everyone else, there’s a great argument for taking it. Plans within plans from Tzeentch and TJ, congratulations on taking first place.

Mark Hertel – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

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Archetype

Land Raider Spam

Thoughts

Land Raider Spam will continue until morale improves. Mark has re-tooled his build a bit for an Orky world with the use of an Aggressor brick and a Land Raider Crusader that can hold them, and that’s clearly paid off for him with an undefeated finish here. This build continues to be ultra cool, long may it reign.

Matt Lorah – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught) – 3rd Place

The List

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Archetype

Vanguard

Thoughts

An archetype fully unleashed here, taking nearly maximum advantage of the points drops Tyranids got to soup up the sneaky bug special. I cannot emphasise enough the degree to which melee bio-weapon Warriors are a bargain at their new price, and Vanguard is the place they get the most utility. The build also provides great support for exactly one unit of Zoanthropes via Seeded Broods and Invisible Hunter, and Neuronode lets the army adapt very well to the foe’s early plans in a fairly melee-intensive metagame. The last thing to call out is that Barbgaunts at 55pts look to be an absolute bargain – a world of resurgent horde builds is a target rich environment for them, and lots of successful Tyranid lists from the weekend have been putting them to work. Congratulations to Matt on taking third.

Casey Glynn – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius) – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Jump Pack Spam

Thoughts

Hurling melee threats at the opponent faster and harder than almost anyone else – still good. That’s the takeaway from this (and several other) successful outings for the Blood Angels this weekend, and Casey’s variant further leans in on what makes the chapter tick by including the double Death Company Rhino, just a nightmare staging threat to try and plan around, plus a pair of bargain Baal Predators, great as an Overwatch threat in this metagame. Great work!

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

5th – Mathew Burgoon – World Eaters: Very classic World Eaters with Angron and Characters, 2×10 Berzerkers in Rhinos and 3/6/3 Exalted/Exalted/Regular Eightbound.
6th – Shaun Reynolds – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Triple Wraiths to hold the board and the Silent King with three Doomstalkers at the back.
7th – Justin Serrano – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Double C’tan and Double Wraiths with a big shooting contingent at the back – three Doomstalkers and a Doomsday.
8th – Nate Tan – Ynnari: Go-wide shooting with Scourges, various utility Aeldari stuff and a big Troupe/Wych unit.

Giga-Bites May Warhammer 40k GT

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Marietta, GA, United States on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Noah Neundorfer – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Tsons with Tzaangors

Thoughts

Even more Tsons! This time with yet another mild twist on the formula, going for bigger units of Rubricae and making a corresponding reduction in Character count, then using the points for Tzaangors and three units of Spawn, ensuring there’s plenty of stuff to flip objectives or screen the backfield as needed. Congratulations to Noah.

The Best of the Rest

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

2nd – Thomas Byrd – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): All-rounder Gladius Task Force with a Deep Strike Calgar/Apothecary/Aggressor unit, and support from a Redeemer and a mix of shooting, including a pair of cheap Firestrike turrets.
3rd – Collin Cochran – Death Guard (Plague Company): Plague Marines in Rhinos, Destructors, Brigands, and a big Deathshroud brick with Typhus.
4th – Zachary Jeppesen – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty): Awakened with a block each of Warriors and Immortals, loads of Characters, two units of Skorpekh/Lord (one with the Bond) and a full Lokhust unit to finish.
5th – Drew Townsend – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught): Aggro Vanguard Onslaught with three Genestealer/Broodlord units for max speedy pressure backed by Exocrines.
6th – David Purcell – Astra Militarum: Triple Tank Commander, triple Vanquisher. We’re really doing this huh?
7th – Daniel Paniagua – Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor): Custodes Infantry spam with a couple of Witchseeker units to provide Mortal Wound shielding.

Bugle Bat Reps : Bugles Big Bash 2

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Roche, England, GB on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Chris Woods – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Board Saturation Bully Boyz

Thoughts

Another twist on the Bully core here, mitigating the low-attack weakness by packing in lots of Boyz with Warbosses. Great if you run into enemy hordes, but it does open up a few weaknesses to the enemy anti-horde you might otherwise not have. We’ll see where things end up in a few weeks on this, but this is certainly a flavour worth considering.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

2nd – Joseph Dennison-reed – Death Guard (Plague Company): Rhino Plague Marines, Plaguebursts and Mortarion, with one Brigand and some Deathshrouds providing a bit of support.
3rd – Mikey Rzasa – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Eightbound-skewed World Eaters, dropping to just one big Berzerker unit to squeeze a second three-man of regular Eightbound.
4th – George McCoulough – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Four loaded Venoms and a Raider, running out the option on a Kabalite/Court setup as an additional threat.
5th – Bradley Rees – Grey Knights: Four Dreadknights and the big Purifier squad, plus some Strike MSUs and a small Terminator squad with Draigo.
6th – James McLean – T’au Empire (Mont’ka): Breacherfish galore, two each of Sky Rays and Riptides, then a Sunforge squad with a Commander for pin-point murder.

MNM Kevät GT

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Pirkanmaa, Suomi on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Niklas Ojalainen – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bully Boyz with Ghaz

Thoughts

A final spin on the Bullyz for the day, bringing Ghaz into the mix and adding some Warbikers for early objective play. Also sports the (I think very good) choice of a small Boyz unit with a Weirdboy, which provides some great adaptability, stickying home objectives early and Da Jumping to others late. Congratulations to Niklas!

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

2nd – Eero Saukkonen – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): A stripped down variant of the pre-Dataslate Bullgryn/Manticore lists.
3rd – Tom Wikholm – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Monolith Hypercrypt with two Immortal units, a Doomsday and Doom Scythe for extra shooting, Void Dragon for crunch and a small Skorpekh/Lord unit as shock troops.
4th – Lasse Toivonen – Death Guard (Plague Company): Rhinos with Plague Marines, Deathshroud MSUs and supporting War Dogs.
5th – Janne Laurila – Adepta Sororitas: All-rounder Sisters with all the hits, and a bit of a skew towards Characters.
6th – Arto Lampila – T’au Empire (Kroot Hunting Pack): Two big Kroot units and some Farstalkers with Characters, backed by Ghostkeels, Hammerheads and Riptides.

Wrap Up

Definite Bully Boyz and Tsons dominance today, but where are those Space Wolves you were promised? Perhaps they’ll show up tomorrow, once I’ve reminded myself what the hell Champions of Russ actually does. Seriously, the things I do for you people. See you then!

Competitive Innovations in 10th: 2x Gorky 3x Krump pt.1

Warhammer 40,000 GT US Open Dallas

The Showdown

Sites of Power – Chilling Rain – Hammer and Anvil

Thoughts

Result

Samuel Pope – Tyranids (Unending Swarm) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Colin McDade – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Erik Nelson – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Justin Moore – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Maryland Open 2024

TJ Lanigan – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Mark Hertel – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Matt Lorah – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Casey Glynn – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Giga-Bites May Warhammer 40k GT

Noah Neundorfer – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Bugle Bat Reps : Bugles Big Bash 2

Chris Woods – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

MNM Kevät GT

Niklas Ojalainen – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Wrap Up

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