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Competitive Innovations in 10th: Contempt of Court pt.2

By Lowest of Men

We’re back for part 2, today with Lowest of Men at the helm, ready to delve further into the veritable rampage the Necrontyr dynasties went on at the weekend.

Today, we’ll be covering:

  • The Nottingham 40k Super-Major
  • Münsterland GT5
  • Torino Open Qualifier
  • Mekabrew Mania

If you’re looking for any of the following, go check out part 1 from Wednesday:

  • Unified Tournament Circuit 40K Finals
  • New Years Knockout 2024
  • Critical Hit Grand Clash
  • German Finals 2023

The Nottingham 40k Super-Major

345-player, 7-round Supermajor in England, United Kingdom on January 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Priority Targets – Chilling Rain – Crucible of Battle

Jokull Johannsson – Aeldari (Battle Host): Spinners, Hawks, Yncarne and Wraithguard.
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Josh Roberts – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Shooty/Wraith-spamming Court.
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Well well well, how the turn tables. Aeldari have had it (almost) all their own way since 10th dropped, with this Ignite Triple Spinner / Wraithguard build emerging as their strongest after slate adjustments since it was unleashed at LGT a few months ago. It’s a well known entity, with massed artillery capable of putting the Yncarne wherever it wants, slowing down enemy efforts to contest the board, whilst speedy msu units tick off scoring. The Wraithguard are the hard-target removal, utilising Phantasm to bully a flank and the midboard. This build does an awful lot of things well… but killing Necrons isn’t one of them.

When the game is in a good spot, historically speaking, Necrons are usually a counter to elves of all stripes with their resilience and ability to absorb damage before counterattacking. Glass cannons, shockingly enough, don’t like this at all! In their new and improved form Wraiths are a horrific profile for anything in the 10 WG list to meaningfully hurt, which gives Josh’s Canoptek build phenomenal control of the primary. This event took place WITH the Immortal dev-wound bomb (rest in piece, horrible combo), and that makes life for an Yncarne extremely precarious too. Very hard to see the elves managing to dig out enough board control even with slowing effects on hand (one Wraith brick can start midboard via the forward deploy enhancement anyway, as can the Acanthrites), so Jokull was always going to be up against it, and the generous end game points available in Priority Targets seem to have gone to the Necrons. The age of Elves is over, the time of the ‘Cron has come.

Result

Necrons (Canoptek Court) Victory – 92 – 66

Josh Roberts – Necrons (Canoptek Court) – 1st Place

Canoptek Wraiths. Credit: Rockfish
Canoptek Wraiths. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Canoptek Court Wraithstuff

Thoughts

Serial winner Josh Roberts takes down a huge event with the Necrons. No C’tan in this build, which pumps all its points into mission playing assets instead. Doomstalkers love the full rerolls that the power matrix shenanigans of CC offer, and it works on their overwatch too making them a very scary prospect for elite infantry attempting to traverse the board. I expect to see more Acanthrites popping up in lists as they’re good value for cheap, force multiplying units that can forward deploy and threaten enemy vehicles with their melta shots. A horrible new meta menace ably piloted to victory, very well done on first place Josh!

Jokull Johannsson – Aeldari (Battle Host) – 2nd Place

Wraithguard with Wraithcannons. Credit: Rockfish
Wraithguard with Wraithcannons. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Aeldari Goodstuff

Thoughts

The elves settle for second, as the Wraithguard build gives way to the power of new Necrons. Still an incredible list that leaves many armies in the game completely helpless, time will tell the direction elves head in after the slate, which is sure to prompt some rethinking. Well done on yet another excellent placing with the list your team innovated Jokull.

Jonathan Partridge – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet) – 3rd Place

Hive Tyrant. Credit: Rockfish
Hive Tyrant. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Tyranids Invasion Fleet

Thoughts

An excellent run on Tyranids from JP, who pushes Invasion Fleet and it’s excellent all-rounder set of tools all the way to the podium! Exocrines remain excellent elite slayers, There are some tech pieces in the Trygon reserves threat and a death brick of Zoanthropes (who really benefit from the offensive tech choices of IF), and there is plenty of cheap, mission playing chaff here to get the bugs home on points. Interesting to see Gargoyles stay home in favour of other assets, and it is an enduring joy to me that the Nids book continues to produce such diversity of styles and builds. Really well done!!

Ed Watts – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders) – 4th Place

Black Templars High Marshal Helbrecht. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

‘The Chiropractor’

Thoughts

Ed Watts puts in a stellar run on a list I’m going to call ‘unreasonably chewy’. Massed Crusaders dominate the board and choke the primary, whilst Black Templars pack plenty of output for clearing things that come to dance with them. Helbrecht offers a little trouble-shooting missile from the ranks, and Grimaldus accompanies a brick to make it both tougher and faster. Some Scouts and Assassins help to tick off cards as the rest of it sits on points and dares you to try and clear it. An absolutely horrific build, very well done Ed you lovely man.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 5-0 records who missed the top four cut. They were:

  • 5th – Paul Croghan – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Canoptek Court with loads of Wraiths and utility – no C’tan in sight here either!
  • 6th – Luke Quadling – Aeldari: Aeldari Goodstuff.
  • 7th – Mani Cheema – World Eaters: World Eaters with two big bricks of Berzerkers and MSU Eightbound. No Invocatus rush here which frees up points for more angry bois!
  • 8th – Liam Callebout – Dark Angels (Ironstorm Spearhead): Brutal shooty Dark Angels with triple Redemptor and a Repulsor Executioner.
  • 9th – Nassim Fouchane – Astra Militarum: Big slabs of Bullgryn, triple Manticore, Kasrkin and mission play.
  • 10th – Ross Law – Chaos Knights: War Dogs and Daemon allies. Ross absolutely binned me with this list in round two, and he has excellent hair. Well done on picking up the best CK award that Zach issued in memory of long time CK player Sid Sidhu – a fitting tribute.

Münsterland GT5

50-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Horstmar, NRW, DE on January 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Alexander Tepe – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

World Eaters Goodstuff

Thoughts

More World Eaters success here with this build, which slams in a bunch of Exalted Eightbound and the typical supporting characters and precision pieces. The speed and punch of this army on the table is quite something, and the trapping threat of the Exalted can blow open otherwise close games in a heartbeat, as can Angron’s tendency to say a big red ‘NO’ to the lame idea of simply staying dead. A massive contender for the post-slate future, will they get through unscathed? Really well done on the top placing!!

Jannik Röttgen – Asuryani (Battle Host) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Guardian Defenders. Credit: Rockfish
Guardian Defenders. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

MSU Serpent Eldar

Thoughts

Jannik innovates and packs in two Wave Serpents like its 8th edition all over again. MSU infantry to remove threats and tick off scoring, and the Avatar of Khaine to lock down the board in place of the Yncarne. I really like what Fire Dragons and War Walkers offer Eldar – namely, the ability to close in on and punk Rhinos carrying nasty spiky men that mean the elves harm. A genuinely different and creative elf list as the slate beckons, really well done on the top placing.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on X-1 records. They were:

  • 3rd – Ruben Paul Goldmann – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Massed Eightbound alongside the usual goodness.
  • 4th – Tim Schneider – Leagues of Votann (Oathband): Lots of Sagitaurs and Bezerks with a big Hearthguard brick.
  • 5th – Felix Adam – Necrons (Canoptek Court): 18 Wraiths, Immortals and Doomstalkers in Canoptek Court.
  • 6th – Leo Henkel – Death Guard: Plague Marines, Rhinos and Daemon / War Dog allies.
  • 7th – Ben Hackländer – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Double C’tan, 18 Wraiths. Canoptek scary.
  • 8th – Thomas Büttelmann – Aeldari: Triple Spinner, Triple D Cannon, 10 WG.
  • 9th – Kevin Ebert – Grey Knights: MSU GK Terminators with the usual character support.

Torino Open Qualifier valido per il GT 2024 Warhammer 40K

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Torino, Piemonte, Italia on January 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Grey Knights versus Canoptek Court

Riccardo Ghio – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Giorgio Castelli – Necrons (Canoptek Court)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Canoptek Court claim another victim here, running the primary triumph over the sneaky Grey Knights. GK certainly have output capable of doing serious harm to Wraiths in combat, but it typically requires full Terminator bricks. The MSU approach on display for the GK here gives them more flexibility and game into the wider field (Eldar is a good match up for them!), but means they lack a hammer that can plausibly deal with multiple stacks of Wraith goodness. Canoptek has guns capable of picking off any of the lighter GK bodies which will leave them light on assets in the late game.

We probably have enough data at this stage to briefly note that Necrons appear to have slightly have too much on the field vis a vis their competitors. Wraiths are the biggest offenders really, and not without predators, but if the slate goes after the other top chasers and leaves the new book alone then we might be in for quite a rough few months…

Result

Necrons (Canoptek Court) Victory – 88 – 62

Gorgio Castelli – Necrons (Canoptek Court) – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Canoptek Court Goodstuff

Thoughts

All the nastiness of CC on display here, with a C’tan for smashing up big targets. This is a list that wins by smashing the primary, and with the way most current 10th missions are set up there just aren’t many armies that will get through them in enough places in time to prevent a loss, as it has just enough chaff to tick off the secondaries and it also has the option of taking Deploy and Cleanse and just doubling down on standing in the middle being tough. Scarabs feel ideal for just shoring up those last spaces of screening and board control, and they can block attempts to engage the Wraiths too. An excellent build, well done on the win!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Daniele De Gemini – T’au Empire (Kauyon): A cheeky Tiger Shark alongside smaller Crisis squads, Hammerheads, and supporting utility.
  • 3rd – Riccardo Ghio – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force): The Grey Knights build from the showdown.
  • 4th – Morgan Fortini – Chaos Space Marines (Slaves to Darkness): CSM goodstuff with Chosen and Accursed.
  • 5th – Federico Buggiani – Tyranids (Unending Swarm): Unending Swarm Nids with stacks of Gargoyles and Termagants, as well as Exocrine fire support.
  • 6th – lorenzo Teppati – Aeldari: Avatar of Khaine Eldar with some Fire Prisms in support.

Mekabrew Mania (in a brewery!!) 2024 – Warhammer 40k GT

29-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Augusta, GA, US on January 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. Apparently this was in a brewery. Sweet as.

Daniel Hesters – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) – 1st Place

The Deceiver. Credit: Wings

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hypercrypt Monolith

Thoughts

Hypercrypt, not to be outdone by it’s stodgy Canoptek Cousin, also claims a GT win! Bringing the Monolith along for the ride opens up a whole host of jank from the stratagems suite in this detachment, giving you the option to relocate units after they’re shot, slap a 4++ on the Monolith for those extra scary incoming attacks, and generally wreack havoc. Transcendant C’tan benefit most from the detachment rules, with their built in deep strike letting them get all over the board in your turn be it via teleporting or jumping up and down again via the detachment rule. It is sneaky, shooty, and it WILL find your soft places. Be afraid. Very well done on the event win Daniel!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Robert Birmingham – Aeldari (Battle Host): Triple Falcon Fire Dragons and Triple D Cannons. Glorious.
  • 3rd – Brian Boswell – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Canoptek Court Goodstuff with Nightbringer leading the charge.
  • 4th – Wiley Pappas – Orks (Waaagh! Tribe): An eclectic mix of Greenskin goodness with Ghaz, a Hunta Rig ferrying a big slab of Beastsnagga boyz, and loads of utility pieces.
  • 5th – Christopher Cunningham – Harlequins: He’s not kidding, Harlequins for days with Starweavers, Troupes, Voidweavers and Skyweavers! Epic.
  • 6th – Michael De Legge – Imperial Knights: A Knight Warden, lots of Armigers, and Inquisitorial support. Nice to see IK up there!

Wrap Up

That’s it for this week! Necrons coming in hot and asserting their dominance, with a slate looming. Are they going to get some last minute treatment to protect the overall game state going into February and beyond? Or are the Overlords truly here to stay? Only time will tell!

Lowest of Men, out.

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