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

By Lowest of Men

It’s the final part of another mammoth week of CI, and today Lowest of Men is in charge, covering:

  • 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

On Wednesday Wings covered:

  • 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

…then hit the following yesterday:

  • 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

Mayhem 3 in 3D

141-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Mebane, North Carolina, US on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Kyle Trayah – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion) – 1st Place

Great Unclean One
Great Unclean One – Credit: RichyP

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Chaos Daemons Monster Mash

Thoughts

A victory here for a glorious monster mash Chaos Daemons list. Daemons in general have had a great win rate but have struggled to close out events, so it’s awesome to see that here. The enhanced Great Unclean One is nigh unkillable for a lot armies, and the mobility and trickery offered by the detachment give the utility and monsters plenty of ways to punish the unwary and put up great scores on primary AND secondary if they can get themselves established on the objectives. The Everstave Lord of Change is a great troubleshooting piece, and Skarbrand is ready to wreck face if anything strays into his path. Interesting to see Be’lakor left out here, but that frees up an awful lot of points for other things. Congratulations on the win!

Michael Mann – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Battlewagon - Deathrolla and Kannon. Credit: Rockfish
Battlewagon – Deathrolla and Kannon. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Battlewagon Bully Boyz

Thoughts

Orks are here, smashing stuff up and generally being unapologetic about it, as is good and right. Plenty of staging here from Trukks and a Battlewagon, which will allow the Nob and Meganob units to cover crucial ground in their go-turn. Scoring utility is trimmed out in favour of raw agro, an approach I can see serving the Orks well! Excellent work on the top finish.

John Casey – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 3rd Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Tsons Goodstuff

Thoughts

Thousand Sons have settled around a core of very potent units – Rubrics, Infernal Masters, supporting chaff and, of course, Magnus. It throws out absurd amounts of damage, it can fight deceptively well if you get in close (especially with a Daemon Prince in support), and it has enough useful idiots to keep enemy combat units at bay for a turn or two as it gets to work. One of the forces to beat in the game at the moment!

Brad Chester – Orks (War Horde) – 4th Place

Snikrot. Credit: 40khamslam.

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ork War Horde

Thoughts

The Ork book is a deep, magnificent beast. One of the as of yet underexplored consequences of that is that the original index detachment is still VERY good, and some of the buffs to units (Meganobz, Stormboyz, Ghaz) actually make it even better than before. It’s certainly where I intend to start my Ork journey myself! This list can stage and then absolutely swing for the fences with huge killer bricks of Meganobz and Nobz, and the slight issues with output experienced in other detachments are very unlikely to trouble it here… Excellent work!

The Best of the Rest

There were 10 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Frank Viruet – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Melee Blood Angels with some supporting Baal Predators.
  • 6th – Horton Doughton – World Eaters: A genuinely amazing WE list with Predators, MSU Terminators, and Spawn, affectionately titled ‘Waddle Party’. I LOVE THIS.
  • 7th – Tivi Piechocki – Adepta Sororitas: Sisters Goodstuff with Castigators, Vahl, Celestine and the Triumph.
  • 8th – Patrick Leblanc – World Eaters: Lots of Jackhals and Berzerkers in this stagey WE list.
  • 9th – Ryan Karrer- Thousand Sons: Tsons Goodstuff with some big Rubric bricks.
  • 10th – Mike Robertson – T’au Empire (Index Kauyon): Longstrike, Hammerheads, and a final hurrah for the Crisis death brick.
  • 11th – Emory Garrett – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Skysplinter Goodstuff with some cheeky Talos.
  • 12th – Roman Malekzai – Death Guard: Plague Marines with supporting Predators and PBCs.
  • 13th – Walker Julliard – Thousand Sons: Alpha-strike Tsons with the big old Terminator brick of death, love it.
  • 14th – Parker Kemp- Leagues of Votann: Loads of Hearthguard and Pioneers in a relatively vehicle-lite Votann build.

Ice Breaker Warhammer 40K GT – Renegade Wargaming

77-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Roseville, MN, US on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Ben Cherwien – Black Templars (Firestorm Assault Force) – 1st Place

Black Templars High Marshal Helbrecht. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Black Templars Firestorm

Thoughts

Ok Ben, you win. This is innovative to the point I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, I hope you’re happy! Loads of melee trading here, some appropriate space control tools in the Redeemer and Inceptors, and the option of exploiting Firestorms transport based shenanigans and enhanced shooting and movement to score and strike across a greater area in the game.  Really well done on taking down the event with something so interesting!!

Mathew Sneed – Death Guard (Plague Company) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

VSL Style Death Guard

Thoughts

Another run out for the Death Guard, who have tapered off a little bit but remain a potent take-all-comers force in the game. Plaguecasters bring some movement debuffing tools (Meganobz beware!), and there is plenty of volume shooting here to take advantage. DG have some great debuffs and weapons for culling and stifling Ork lists, so they feel well placed to take advantage of recent meta shifts. Really well done on the top placing.

Addison Wasson – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) – 3rd Place

Imperial Knights - Armiger Helverins
Imperial Knights – Armiger Helverins
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Canis and the Good Boys

Thoughts

Glorious Armiger spam with a cheeky Canis Rex bringing the pain here. The latter gives you a much more durable and dangerous tool to throw into the mix at a pivotal moment and buy the more vulnerable chassis time, which, coupled with the heavy shooting IK can throw out, might be all you need to break the opposing forces and roll through with the massed high OC that knights have on tap. Really well done!

Brent Gibson – Orks (Green Tide) – 4th Place

Shoota Boyz. Credit: Rockfish
Shoota Boyz. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Green Tide with Ghaz

Thoughts

Green Tide nonsense continues here, with massed boyz exploiting their enhanced durability and wonderful suit of tricks to dominate the board and shut down enemy scoring. I really like the inclusion of Ghaz here to give you something that can body hard targets and also massively amp up the output of the Boyz units themselves on your go turn. Tide should continue to evolve and carve out new tricks and options over the next few weeks, and this is a lovely example of a direction you can take it. Well done on the placing!

The Best of the Rest

There were 10 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – David Arimond – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Triple Caladius and plenty of infantry in this Shield Host build.
  • 6th – Mark Weiss – Grey Knights: GK Vehicle Spam.
  • 7th – Jordan C Rakow – Orks (Bully Boyz): Bully Boyz with a single big brick of Squigz with Boss, awesome list.
  • 8th – Tim Cook – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ): A mixed arms wolves list with some cavalry, some SERVO TURRETS, and a Land Raider.
  • 9th – Dakota Kramer – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Melee Sons with a Land Raider Redeemer.
  • 10th – Alex Vian – Dark Angels (Ironstorm Spearhead): Double Stormraven Dark Angels Ironstorm.
  • 11th – Nicolas Weiss – Astra Militarum: Massed Guard infantry with two Basilisks and two Rogal Dorns.
  • 12th – Max Lipschultz – Orks (Bully Boyz): Battlewagon / Trukk Bully Boyz.
  • 13th – John Van Dusen – Orks (Bully Boyz): MORE Battlewagon / Trukk Bully Boyz.
  • 14th – Mark Behm – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Massed Death Company and Van Vets with Lancers in support.
  • 15th – Carter Sime – Imperial Knights: Canis Rex, a Valiant, and loads of Armigers.

The Great Game – Gongaii GT Spring 2024

34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Forest Grove, OR, United States on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Blood Angels versus Genestealer Cults

Max Schwarzer – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius):
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Tyler Bortel – Genestealer Cult (Ascension Day):
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

An intriguing match up in this showdown, throwing the OBSCENE damage of the Blood Angels against the OBSCENE damage of the Genestealer Cults. Tyler has gone old school with this build in the main, with lots of heavy shooting for the drop turns, a forward deploying Aberrant brick to hold ground, and some cheap supporting Guard units to aid in scoring (Ironically, GSC struggle for cheap action doers these days, thanks a bunch, baked in wargear). As is conveyed from Tyler’s army title, GSC trade on unwary or unprepared opponents, but aren’t the meta force they once were. Why is that? Let’s look at this BA list shall we?

Cheap transports to absorb enemy shooting. Fast, brutal melee units that can expand and cover the board whilst pushing through so much pain that even durable units (like Aberrants) will simply melt. -1 damage to absorb enemy damage 2 or D3 (most of GSC output). Infiltrators to ensure enemy units struggle to sneak in behind them. Everything that currently makes the GSC life difficult is on display here, and with the compromises made on bolstering mid-board control and scoring in Tyler’s list there is slightly less by way of brutal shooting to overcome the challenges in front of them. Fail a few clutch Cult Ambush rolls and things start looking dicey. In the event the GSC made a good go of this, but they were very much playing into a toolkit ready made to exploit their vulnerabilities, and the BA took the win.

Result

Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius) Victory – 95 – 72

Max Schwarzer – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius) – 1st Place

The Sanguinor. Credit: Corrode

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Sanguinius Goodstuff

Thoughts

Blood Angels were just starting to creep onto the radar as a powerful option before the dataslate, and they have continued to thrive after it despite a few points nudges. DC Combat is unrivalled into a whole range of enemy profiles, with melta pistols for rinsing Wraiths and Meganobz alike. The Sanguinor throws enemy trading plans into chaos, and there is plenty of MSU for give and go before you bring the hammer down. A really excellent showing, very well done.

Lukas Troller – Orks (Green Tide) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Painboy. Credit: Rockfish
Painboy. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Green Tide Horde

Thoughts

Another run out for the HORDE, with loads of boyz, teleporting Weirdboy goodness, and a nice Meganob anchor to pivot around and provide some extra output as required. I like the Battlewagon for some extra reach and staging, as actually deploying all the Boyz squads at once can be very difficult! A very potent build that is going to haunt nightmares for the next few months, well done.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 3rd – Harry Gieringer – Salamanders (Firestorm Assault Force): Tactical Squad in Rhino spam. Really. Incredible flex.
  • 4th – Tyler Bortel – Genestealer Cult (Ascension Day): Infiltrating Aberrants, Infantry spam and some Purestrains/a Catachan squad in a Taurox for early board control.
  • 5th – Ryan Cherewich – Death Guard: Plague Marines in Rhinos, Destructors and Plagueburst Crawlers, plus a big Deathshroud block.

Barn Found GT ’24 at Gamers Shop

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Quezon City, NCR, Philippines on May 18 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Francis Fernandez – Orks (Bully Boyz) – 1st Place

Meganobz. Credit: Rockfish
Meganobz. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bully Boyz Goodstuff

Thoughts

At the risk of calling a ‘Goodstuff’ build too early, this is very much the model for Bully Boyz out the gate. Big metal ladz in Trukks, ready to push out and pop two turns of 4+++ to absorb and overwhelm the enemy. Stormboyz provide mission and reach, and the supporting Boyz units bring OC that is otherwise sometimes lacking for it as the Nobz get to work. Really well done on the event win!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Agus Duran – Dark Angels (Firestorm Assault Force): An intriguing Dark Angels Firestorm list with Deathwing Knights, a Land Raider, a Brutalis, and supporting shooting.
  • 3rd – Mark Yam – Death Guard (Plague Company): Plague Marines with supporting shooting, including a Cheeky Helbrute!
  • 4th – Adam Turner – Aeldari (Battle Host): Big bricks of Aspects (including a ten of Hawks with Baharroth), a slab of Wraithblade, and some Windriders backing them up.
  • 5th – Ivan Sison – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Massed MSU Hypercrypt with two C’tan and a Doomsday Ark.
  • 6th – Alexis Sulit – Genestealer Cult: GSC Goodstuff of yesteryear with Aberrants, infantry and Ridgerunners.

Out of the Furnace V

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

Andrew Lewis – Genestealer Cult (Ascension Day) – 1st Place

Nexos
Nexos. Credit: Soggy

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

GSC Massed Acos / Neos

Thoughts

A glorious triumph for the GSC, who pack in massed demo charges via FOUR squads of Acolytes. The Goliath Truck gives you some scope for recycling these, and two Ridgerunners can key off additional AP for two of these at once as they go off. It’s an awful lot of output into certain profiles, and might just have enough to blitz through Meganob units too. No Aberrants here, just raw shooting goodness, and I fear that is probably still the way to go. Really well done on the event win!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Rory Andrew – Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor): Mixed Arms Custodes with Caladius, infantry, and a big slab of Venatari.
  • 3rd – Jacob Stojanovic – T’au Empire (Kauyon): Kauyon Tau with triple Ghostkeel and Riptide and plenty of Stealthsuits.
  • 4th – Rhys Smith – Salamanders (Firestorm Assault Force): Salamanders Firestorm with a big slab of Infernus Marines and supporting characters.
  • 5th – Jamie Connelly – Aeldari: A Wraithguard brick and a big, fully supported brick of Windriders, very tasty!

Wrap Up

That’s it for this week folks! The International Teams Tournament looms in the UK, where you can expect to see a whole bunch of new innovations unleashed. With Orks bedding in, and CSM on the horizon, the game has a few more twists and turns to throw as we cruise into the summer. I can’t wait! Be well out there.

Lowest of Men, out.

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