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[40K] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Dataslate Deluge pt.3

By James "One_Wing" Grover

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.

As you may have been able to infer, scheduling challenges have not fully abated, but all is now harmonious once more, and I, Wings, bring you a special Sunday edition of Competitive Innovations. Normal Wednesday/Wings and Friday/Lowest of Men service should resume next week, unless you lot somehow rack up 19 events again, in which case who knows.

Speaking of those events, today we’re closing out with:

  • THE UKTC COVENTRY 40K GT : 2-Day
  • 2nd VTC Warhammer 40K
  • The Route 66 Warhammer 40,000 GT – FALL *GOLDEN TICKET QUALIFIER*
  • The GR: Meme Team GT – In co-operation with Cryptic Cabin
  • Palladium Games Presents: “the dumpster fire gt” Fall Edition
  • Queen City Orktoberfest 2024

Part 1 from Wednesday has the following:

  • THE UKTC COVENTRY 40K GT : 3-Day
  • Rumble on the Rivers 40k GT
  • 5. Corsair Open GT
  • Battle Against Breast Cancer 40K Event Hosted by Away Games
  • Dice Like Ice Grand Tournament – Q4 2024
  • Chimera Gaming Fall GT
  • The Portal Fall GT

… and part 2 from Friday covered:

  • Kippers’ Melee 2024
  • New York Open 3 (40k)
  • Goose Hunting Donuts
  • Gaelcon 2024
  • Safety’s Off Orktober GT
  • Battle Against Breast Cancer AZ

THE COVENTRY 40K : 2-Day

84-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, England, United Kingdom on October 26 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Scorched Earth – Inspired Leadership – Crucible of Battle

Tony Barrett – T’au Empire (Kroot Hunting Pack)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Andy Quas-Cohen – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

A classic Xenos clash here, and this is a very unusual matchup because the nature of the Tau army completely changes how the Necron list functions. The sheer amount of board coverage from Kroot plus a generously sized no Deep Strike bubble from the Lone-Spear means that normal hypercrypt shenanigans aren’t going to fly. However, the flip side of that is that the Kroot list is going to really struggle to kill the big Hypercrypt threats here, allowing them to play a very muscular game of 40k and try and handle the bird boys by simply atomising them. What’s more, they definitely have the output to do that – the Tesseract Vault is functionally unkillable in the matchup, and will cheerfully blast through a unit or two per turn.

If I’m the Necrons here, I think I’m seriously considering going for the very unusual Fixed choice of Storm Hostile, paired with Assassinate. Fundamentally, what I’m trying to do is row my boats forwards, sit on objectives and gradually burn out a few of them, all while smoking whatever comes for me. For the Tau not to concede the game on Primary, they’re going to have to send stuff forward to flip them back, at which point they’re back online for Storm Hostile. Once I’ve done that, i no longer have to advance beyond the mid-board, and can gradually burn off side objectives while surgically annihilating the forces of the Greater Good.

As the T’au, there are a couple of options for responding to that. Option 1 is to go all-in on securing one of the three mid-field objectives and aim to use it to coast to 45 on Primary, while relying on the sheer number of units you have to find ways to max Secondaries. Option 2 is to assume you will somehow manage to get a Battleline unit into the wide Crucible deplyment zone on turn 5, and aim for a Secret Mission (particularly good if you go second). You can also use the Piranhas to try and Battle-shock out whatever units from the Necron army are trying to burn objectives down, though the mission rule disrupts that somewhat, as if the Necrons really want something burnt then they can lean on the Silent King having effectively 4+ Ld here.

All that considered, I think the Necrons have an edge, but I certainly wouldn’t count the Tau out, especially if they get to go second. The Necrons did take it, but the Tau put up a strong enough score that they clearly did manage to make a play on the Primary.

Result

Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) Victory – 92 – 84

Andy Quas-Cohen – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) – 1st Place

The Silent King
The Silent King. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Heavy Hypercrypt

Thoughts

Top-heavy Hypercrypt continues to establish itself as a top player in the new metagame here, with the Tesseract Vault shrugging off the points increase (with a little help from some Doomsday Ark friends) to conquer Coventry. This build is particularly vicious, as the Vault adds a level of sheer murderousness that can allow the army to adapt to unusual matchups, while retaining good objective play thanks to the Hexmarks. Very powerful, and well played by Andy to take the event.

Franco McDonnell – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Liebot – https://instagram.com/liebot_pics

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hammer and Anvil Daemons

Thoughts

Daemon Lord Franco takes the second undefeated slot here with a Daemon list that lures the foe in, then cuts them down with a terrifying Slaanesh riposte. Be’lakor with the Gift Great Unclean One force the foe to close in and still leave them with a change of bouncing once they do. Once committed, the Keepers can counterattack and scythe through whatever is in their way, and they don’t die easy either due to their Feel No Pains. Fiends assist all of this by being very disruptive, and they’re particularly good on UKTC terrain as there are plenty of places to stage them. A very strong list well built for the mission pack, congratulations Franco!

Vik Vijay – Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs) – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

Adepta Sororitas Castigator Battle Tank - Order of the Gilded Cilice - Credit: Colin Ward
Adepta Sororitas Castigator Battle Tank – Order of the Gilded Cilice – Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Hull Sisters

Thoughts

Vik rounds out the undefeated slots here with a fairly shooty Sisters build, using the engine of the Triumph to charge up the (still aggressively priced) Castigators and Exorcists, ready to flatten the foe’s forces. The list complements that with lots of solo characters for objective play, using Divine Intervention to double dip on their utility, and in the case of Junith having her as a handy homefield guardian. Using her solo seems particularly interesting in the new metagame, as she ticks the boxes of having a big enough base to screen Aquilons off an objective, sufficient durability that she almost certainly doesn’t die to a squad shooting her (especially because you can just miracle the melta save), and a useful passive ability while she sits there. Good choice.

Rounding the army out, we’ve got Arco-flagellants – one of the ways you beat this is rushing it down with a horde of some sort, and the Arcos will very quickly put a stop to any of that sort of nonsense, and also work well with some of the Hallowed Martyrs rules. Great work from Vik here as always, and interesting to see a seccond non-Bringers Sisters build rising to the forefront.

Tony Barrett – T’au Empire (Kroot Hunting Pack) – 4th Place

Kroot Lone-spear. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Board flood Kroot

Thoughts

That’s so much stuff. This build dominates via its sheer board control capabilities, able to take over the table and the Primary unless the opponent is packing a huge amount of volume damage. As covered in the Showdown, eventually the Necrons rose to that challenge, but until then this was unstoppable, and scored so highly that Tony actually had more total VP than the other two undefeateds even after a loss. I assume Teams players are taking notes. Great to see Kroot taking a swing at the top spot, congratulations!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – James Read – Necrons (Obeisance Phalanx): An all-rounder Obeisance build using the army rule to buff up (mostly) one big unit of Lychguard and the King, then getting value elsewhere from the -1D Vehicle stratagem and the 5+ Lethals for a big Immortal squad.
  • 6th – Danny Evison – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Ultra-heavy Hypercrypt with a Monolith and a Tesseract.
  • 7th – Alex Fowler – Thousand Sons: Say it with me now – double Mutalith Tsons.
  • 8th – Ben Pearce – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Unusual double Voidraven Skysplinter, combining them with a big brick of Grotesques on the ground, and two 5 Kabalite/Court/Archon units in Raiders via cunning splitting.
  • 9th – Billy Guest – Orks (War Horde): Mechanised War Horde with Ghaz.
  • 10th – Denis Naberezhnykh – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Triple Doomsday Hypercrypt with added Nightbringer.
  • 11th – Luke Quadling – Aeldari: Extra shooty Aeldari with Fire Prisms, Voidweavers and Vypers, then extra Storm Guardians to hold the fort.
  • 12th – Alex Berresford – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): A shootier Raiders build using Rubricae backed by Abaddon-powered Vindicators and Obliterators.
  • 13th – Glenn Connolly – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Shooty bugs combined with board control – max Genestealers with Broodlords out the gate followed by lots of Gargoyles to deny Primary.
  • 14th – Ashley Brown – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Classic Brawler Raiders with lots of Rubricae/Legionaries in Transports backed by Destructors and one big Warp Talon unit.

2nd VTC Warhammer 40K

66-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Wien, Wien, Österreich on October 26 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Kevin „planB_God“ Zöllinger – Black Templars (Gladius Task Force) – 1st Place

Black Templar Primaris Initiate with a power fist. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Templars

Thoughts

Black Templars have dropped off a lot this week, but Kevin bucks that trend here by combining powerful Gladius shooting from all the tanks with a uniquely flexible and durable board presence from one big Crusader brick with Grimaldus. The resulting build is extremely adaptable, with shooting that can handle hordes or heavy stuff as needed, and the ability to both protect its hulls from enemy aggro or go out and bully enemy gunlines with the big brick as required. Good use of the available tools, well done Kevin.

Peter Steiner – Leagues of Votann (Oathband) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Trans-Hyperian Alliance Hekaton Land Fortress. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bike-heavy Votann

Thoughts

Votann with a bit of everything is thriving in the new metagame, and that’s very much what we’re working with here. The build is distinguished from some others by using the Land Fortresses as essentially pure chunky bastions, and has extra reach out the gate (plus redeploy threat) from big bike units, which also ensure it still handles hordes without any Hearthguard. Grim and brutal efficiency is what Votann are all about, and Peter definitely showcases that here.

Andreas Geretschläger – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion) – 3rd Place

Be'lakor
Be’lakor – Credit: RichyP

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Monster Mash

Thoughts

Truly an eye-watering array of nasty monstrosities here, and tough ones to boot. This is not a complicated army, but it’s incredibly difficult to push through, and like some other Daemons lists it’s riding high on a reduction in the very top end damage output in the game. Terrifying to behold, but great fun to see out and about, well done Andreas.

Sam Nowrouzi – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty) – 4th Place

Doomsday Ark
Doomsday Ark. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Awakened

Thoughts

As an owner of zero (0) painted Doomsday Arks, I am distraught at yet another cool list I can’t put on the table. This build has a great shooty core from those, then a bunch of utility/herohammer shenanigans using Awakened Dynasty tricks. Being able to revive Szeras or a Bond Skorpekh Lord is  always phenomenal, and they provide some good counter-punch defences for the Arks. I like the setup here of having the Bond lord as a solo then a second unit of Skorpekh shock troops as well – it broadens your threat profile, and lets the extra tough one focus on sitting in places doing Actions unstoppably.  A big Wraith brick finishes things off, eye-wateringly expensive but still giving you a level of durability that’s difficult to match in the game right now, and excellent for holding a position while the guns do their work. Cool combos, and a nice addition of variety here, well done Sam.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – Lukas Wobak  – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught): Toolbox Vanguard with some shooty bugs and a big Zoanthrope unit to do reserves tricks with, plus one big melee Warrior unit.
  • 6th – Mathias Peterlin – Imperial Knights: Canis with a Lancer and Atrapos as the big threat, plus some Imperial Agents Sisters of Battle to broaden the home coverage.
  • 7th – Konrad Schmuck – Astra Militarum: The full triple Aquilons accompanying lots of Russes and a Dorn.
  • 8th – Dominik Tavernaro – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Crunchy flame Sisters going light on Characters to squeeze in a bunch of tanks, two Dominion units, and a Paragon brick.
  • 9th – Sebastian Mühling – Leagues of Votann: All-rounder Votann adding a big Thunderkyn unit.
  • 10th – Armin Geher – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Vindicators backing two units of Deathwing Knights and some Inner Circle Companions.

The Route 66 Warhammer 40,000 GT – FALL *GOLDEN TICKET QUALIFIER*

40-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Sapulpa, OK, United States on October 26 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Brent Simon – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force) – 1st Place

Credit: “Contemptor” Kevin Stillman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wolf Jail

Thoughts

Much like double Mutaliths, the experiment of “how expensive can you make ThunderCav before people stop spamming them” has apparently not reached a conclusion – the aggro that this build presents still just shuts foes out of the game a lot of the time. Considering the smaller suite of units it now gets, I really like the addition of the Ragnar/Assult Intercessor Impulsor unit – it both provides additional mobile models, and a counterpunch that will take out a melee unit that’s come and murdered some ThunderCav if that’s what you need. Good adaptation to adversity, which I guess is on brand for Space Wolves, congratulations Brent.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Brian Moody – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Horde pressure guard, packing a bunch of drop Scions and Cavalry alongside triple Aquilons.
  • 3rd – Richard Cozart – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Russes, drop troops and various small units to control the board.
  • 4th – Steve Goodrich – Orks (War Horde): Triple Kill Rig mechanised Orks.
  • 5th – Josh Cameron – Chaos Knights: Whoops all War Dogs.

The GR: Meme Team GT – In co-operation with Cryptic Cabin

37-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, United Kingdom on October 26 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Euan Bedford-Cooper – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders) – 1st Place

Credit: Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Accursed Cultist Raiders

Thoughts

I’ll admit I did not have these on my bingo card as potentially surviving the nerfs, but here we are. Cultists go fast, smash into the enemy, tanks pick off anything that’s a big threat to them, Legionaries provide some extra surgical output. Still works, apparently, well done to Chaos Lord Euan.

John Swanston – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Double Mutalith Tsons

Thoughts

It’s double Mutalith Tsons. You know about double Mutalith Tsons. You know.

Good work from John.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 3rd – Byron Sidhu – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): A similar cut and thrust Daemon build to Franco’s seen above, sporting the Be’lakor/Shalaxi/Keeper/GUO core plus Fiends.
  • 4th – Stanley Peddle – Tyranids (Crusher Stampede): Mega monster mash, big shooty bugs galore while a Trygon and the Swarmlord push up alongside Maleceptors.
  • 5th – Jack Asher – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge): MSU Aberrants and lots of Purestrains to put foes under serious pressure.
  • 6th – James Parrett – Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor): Infantry-heavy Talons with four units with leaders and a squad each of Allarus and Venatari.
  • 7th – Simon Cross – T’au Empire (Retaliation Cadre): Crisis Toolbox with Ghostkeels and Sky Rays.

Palladium Games Presents: “the dumpster fire gt” Fall Edition

33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Phoenixville, PA, US on October 26 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Sascha Alexander Edelkraut – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders) – 1st Place

Black Templars Ballistus Dreadnought. Credit: SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bait-and-Smash Templars

Thoughts

A second top Templars player bucks the trend of their plunging win rates here, using cheap shooting threats to force engagement from the foe, then extra nasty close-in threats to chop them apart, with the looming threat of melee trapping hanging over everything. Cool to see some lesser used toys like the Invictor get a bit of exercise too, plus the Culexus getting a starring role as a versatile scoring piece (who is also very on brand for the psyker-hating Templars). Very toolboxy, which you know I’m a sucker for, and I love seeing top players finding a way to adapt to nerfs, great work Sascha!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Luke McCarthy – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught): Sneaky Vanguard with Genestealers, Lictormorphs galore, two Exocrines for a bit of dakka and two large Warrior units for heavy lifting.
  • 3rd – Michael Butler – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Ultra-shooty Bringers with max Exorcists and Castigators, plus two squads of Retributors in Immolators.
  • 4th – Craig Valvano – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Slaanesh-skewed Monster Mash, using the Greater Daemon core of Be’lakor/Shalaxi/Keeper/GUO, but supplementing it with two Slaanesh Soul Grinders rather than Fiends, creating an overwhelmingly brutal build.
  • 5th – Kyle Myers – Dark Angels (Stormlance Task Force): Extra aggro Dark Angels planning to just sprint a bunch of Deathwing Knights and the Lion up the board, supplementing them with a maxed out Command Squad/Black Knight unit.
  • 6th – Alex Miller – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Shooty Hypercrypt with three Doom Scythes, meaning terrain isn’t going to save foes from death ray desolation.

Queen City Orktoberfest 2024

31-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Springfield, MO, United States on October 26 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Jason Merten – Leagues of Votann (Oathband) – 1st Place

Einhyr Hearthguard. Credit: Rich Nutter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hearthguard-heavy Votann

Thoughts

Another all-rounder Votann build to close us out here, this time sporting lots of small Hearthguard units, one deploying from a Land Fortress. Make sure you have a plan for Votann, and well done to Jason for winning our final event of the week.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Eli Harvey – Imperial Fists (Anvil Siege Force): A surprise showing for actual Imperial Fists, using Tor Garadon with Heavy Intercessors and a big Terminator Assault Squad with Lysander as protection for lots of shooty Dreadnoughts.
  • 3rd – Lukas Stitt – Aeldari (Battle Host): The Avatar backed by a toolbox of small units and some nasty threats out of Falcons.
  • 4th – Simon Shoup – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion):  Triple C’tan backed by one big Deep Striking Skorpekh unit.
  • 5th – Zac Fulmer – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots): A return to a classic Abaddon gunline with lots of Forgefiends.
  • 6th – Lee Prost – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders): Ballistus Dreadnoughts and Sword Brethren murder squads.

Wrap Up

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