type here...
Patrons: click here to disable ads.
Columns40K Competitive InnovationsGamingCompetitive PlayMeta Analysis
Updated:

Competitive Innovations in 10th: Five Alarm Phaerons pt.2

By James "One_Wing" Grover

Part the second, in which there is more Warhammer. Controversial I know. We’ve got more Necrons, but we’ve also got those brutal Space Marines I promised yesterday, plus some great showings from Aeldari, Genestealer Cults and more. Let’s dig in.

Today I’ll be covering:

  • I GT Iberian Barcelona
  • Dark Sphere April 40k GT
  • Black Tower Brawl
  • Imperialis Capilla GT 3er Aniversario
  • Courage And Honour IX

Yesterday I covered:

  • Leoben 40K Singles – Alpine Cup
  • Scorched Earth Open 2024 – 40K Major
  • Perils Of The Geekery
  • Peterborough Slam GT 6!
  • Midgards April 40k ITC Grand Tournament

On Friday Lowest of Men will wrap up with:

  • Rataclysm 2024
  • Iron Cage GT: Bedford Beatdown
  • Wild Hunt GT: Spring
  • Fools Errand 2024
  • WH40K Glory GT

I GT Iberian Barcelona

121-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Barcelona, CT, Espanya on April 06 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

David Anducas – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) – 1st Place

Deathmarks. Credit: Rockfish
Deathmarks. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Destroyer Hypercrypt

Thoughts

I’ll put my hands up and say I’ve tried and tried to make Lokhust Destroyers work to no avail, but I’m glad they’re out here thriving somewhere. Hypercrypt is definitely their friend, as it mitigates their super awkward footprint, and they’re pretty good into most targets on objectives, providing a bit of all-purpose firepower that Necrons otherwise lack. The rest of this is standard Hypercrypt stuff, though the Cryptothralls are worth highlighting – helping your Immortals last a bit longer in the face of counterfire is extremely helpful, and they’ve generally felt a bit better than I was expecting every time I’ve used them. You also have the flexibility to just not join them to a unit if you need an extra space filler for some reason, which is a decent bit of flexibility. Not earth shattering, but if you haven’t tried them at all since the Codex, I’d definitely follow David’s example and give them a go!

Terroxer El Rojo – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Character-heavy Tsons

Thoughts

After all the 30 Rubricae builds we saw yesterday, this looks a bit more of a return to the norm for Tsons, skewing towards Characters for churning out Cabal Points, and adding some extra heavy hitters in the form of a Mutalith and Daemon Prince (who also gives you a great answer to incautious Technomancers). That gives you the tools to go for more of a gut punch when you need to, at the cost of less redundancy if you mess up. Presumably Terroxer simply chose not to screw up, always a good plan, so congratulations!

Roger Boira – T’au Empire (Kauyon) – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

Tau Riptide
Tau Riptide. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Crisis and Triptides

Thoughts

The lingering twilight of the T’au Index continues here, using the tried and tested combination of mid-tier mobile threats that demand a response and a giant block of Crisis suits that’ll annihilate anything that responds. It’s a pretty good plan – just a familiar one at this point, so there’s not much to say other than congratulating Roger for taking the final undefeated slot here.

Dekkers 🤖🦭 – Necrons (Canoptek Court) – 4th Place

Canoptek Doomstalker. Credit: Rockfish
Canoptek Doomstalker. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wraiths and Doomstalkers

Thoughts

This list also, at this point, needs nothing in the way of explanation, other than maybe highlighting the increased prevalence of five-model Immortal units with a Plasmancer – in a hull-heavy metagame, quite a bit of the damage potential from the unit comes from the Plasmancer themselves, so you get more diminishing returns from the second half of the Immortal unit. Full squads are still a fine pick, but distinctly non-mandatory unless/until hordes start showing up in the metagame.

The Best of the Rest

There were 17 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Pablo Vazquez Salgado – Imperial Knights: Canis Rex and a teleporting Errant for maximum pressure, supported by a mix of Warglaives, Helverins and claw/lock Moiraxes.
  • 6th – OuX – Imperial Knights: Canis and lots of Helverins/Warglaives.
  • 7th – Manel Tulla – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Triple C’tan, two big Warrior blocks with Szeras and a Monolith.
  • 8th – Xavo Melenero L’Escamarlà – Tyranids (Unending Swarm): The list is called “Hor-ma-ggedooon” and it delivers – 120 Hormagaunts, backed by a Hive Tyrant and cost effective Maleceptors/Exocrines.
  • 9th – Usukane RR- Adeptus Custodes: Infantry spam with three units each of Wardens and Guard.
  • 10th – SiLeN Zikeos – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Standard 2/4 Raider/Venom Skysplinter, adding some Ravagers for extra hull-based shooting.
  • 11th – Cajolín waif – Grey Knights: More Grey Knight ultracrunch, but here staying true to the Knights of Titan and taking Paladins in a Land Raider as the final big piece instead of Canis Rex.
  • 12th – Barthes – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Nasty jump pack units and two fairly horrific Land Raiders, one double-packed with Assault Intercessors and one with ten foot Death Company.
  • 13th – Cuervo Marcos – Dark Angels (Ironstorm Spearhead): Gladiators, Redemptors and a RepEx with a Darkshroud.
  • 14th – Miquel Zikeos Team – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Triple C’tan, triple Doomsday.
  • 15th – Lewis Aepda – Black Templars (Ironstorm Spearhead): Lots of dakka from Destructors and Reapers, lots of Crusader squads to skirmish.
  • 16th – Adrian Preciado – Chaos Knights: Doghouse blues, plus a solo Beast of Nurgle to babysit an objective..
  • 17th – Espinosa Cripta – Imperial Knights: Canis and an Errant with Armigers.
  • 18th – Gonzalo “Raven” 🦭🦭🦭 – Death Guard: Classic Rhino/Plagueburst/Mortarion Death Guard with a Rotigus twist.
  • 19th – Garsa Garseta – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Extra go-wide Skysplinter, cutting out Raiders in favour of more units and an extra Venom. Still has a full Wych unit with Lelith, presumably either staging and counter-charging or coming in from Strategic Reserves.
  • 20th – Curro La Orden – Aeldari: The Rhana Dandra special – all the Phoenix Lords packed into some Wave Serpents, all hyping up the Avatar.
  • 21th – Pomork RR- Grey Knights: Three Dreadknights and three Terminator MSUs (two Paladins and some Brotherhood), plus a few supporting power armour units.

Dark Sphere April 40k GT

60-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, United Kingdom on April 06 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Ranchen Li – Death Guard (Plague Company) – 1st Place

Plagueburst Crawler – Credit Beanith

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

2024 Year of the Predator Destructor

Thoughts

Seriously. Apparently if you’re ever asking “how do I diversify my shooting portfolio” or “how do I go wide with threats rather than tall” the answer is just always Predator Destructors, as long as your army has them. This build does both of those things, leaning on Predators to allow it to cover a lot of the board and soak up a few losses while still projecting good damage output into a lot of different profiles. It’s also very much in line with crunch meta, starting exclusively hulls on the table, but unlike a lot of such lists it can clear out a ruin without breaking a sweat – full Plague Marine units with Characters are no joke in a fight, and because they have Fights First they can be a huge pain for similar forces to dig out of a concealed position in turn. That’s a definite attraction to Nurgle’s embrace right now, and this build looks great – congratulations to Ranchen.

Danny Evison – Dark Angels (Ironstorm Spearhead) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Redemptor Dreadnought. Credit: Kevin Stillman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Darkstormraven

Thoughts

I realised after pushing out yesterday’s intro that the way I’d split out events happened to mean that none of the gut punch Marine builds were in part 1. Well, here you go – nightmarish shooting power, loads of Command Points to feed the Stormraven thanks to Azrael, and a big edge in any sort of shooting mirror from the Ravenwing Darkshroud. The Stormraven also puts Necrons on a horrific knife-edge, because if they take a swing at the jet and don’t kill it then whoops it’s Unbowed Conviction time, and any nearby C’tan can say goodnight. A horrifying prospect, I’m sure you’ll agree. This is one of the best shooting armies out there right now, and Danny was able to use its might to take an undefeated second here.

James Pilkington – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host) – 3rd Place

Allarus Custodians
Allarus Custodians. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Infantry Spam with Allarus

Thoughts

Mostly your standard Custodes Infantry spam build, but swapping in a unit of Allarus for one squad, and shrinking a few other things to pay for them. Allarus are another unit that plays well into crunch meta – full Wound re-rolls into VEHICLES means that if you’re confronted by a wall of hulls, you can reasonably expect to use them to clear one target and Slayer of Nightmares elsewhere, preventing you from falling behind the damage race and getting ground down. Well done to James on taking third.

Lewis Smith – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 4th Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Rubricae Tsons

Thoughts

…and we’re back to the 30 Rubricae builds, which makes sense as Darksphere runs with UKTC terrain, which is good for them. Going ultra hard on flamers (both from Characters and the units) hammers home the intention to engage in guerilla warfare using ruins, and reduces the variance on big go turns. Since Tsons already have plenty of ways to tip the fates in their favour, it’s no surprise to see the plan succeeding in Lewis’ hands.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – Niklas Ek – Black Templars (Ironstorm Spearhead): Helbrecht in a Redeemer backed by a bunch of dakka hulls.
  • 6th – Boris Michev – Adepta Sororitas: All-rounder Sisters with the Triumph.
  • 7th – James Ferrier- Necrons (Canoptek Court): Triple C’tan, triple Doomstalker and double Wraiths.
  • 8th – Rory Roberts – Adeptus Custodes: Four block with 2×2 Allarus and a Venatari MSU as the flex picks.
  • 9th – Matt Puffett – Adepta Sororitas: All-rounder Sisters adding some Dominions for extra reach.
  • 10th – Louis Ballington – Black Templars (Ironstorm Spearhead): Shooty hulls and Crusader MSUs in transports.

Black Tower Brawl

44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, United Kingdom on April 06 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Mike Porter – Black Templars (Ironstorm Spearhead) – 1st Place

Black Templars Stormraven. Credit: SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Templarstormraven

Thoughts

The other flavour of gut punch shooting Marines that’s doing the rounds, trading on access to loads of extra multi-meltas instead of Azrael and the Darkshroud. Reapers and lots of melta shots gives you versatility to take down pretty much anything, and you’ve still got the Stormraven to do upsetting things to big targets. The other thing to highlight in Mike’s list is the powerful Impulsor double Eliminator tech piece. Hopping out after the Transport has advanced, shooting, then either hopping back in or wandering onto terrain gives tremendous reach and flexibility, and is a good way to line up some shots on targets that are otherwise managing to dodge the bullet hell. I like it as a way of covering off some fail cases, and presumably helps Mike feel like he’s back playing Harlequins again. Happier times. (Well done Mike).

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Matt Bell – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force): Dreadknights, a Redeemer and a full Paladin brick with a Grand Master to ruin the day of any C’tan that try to skate past on the “not actually Daemons” technicality.
  • 3rd – Andy Quas-Cohen – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Szarekh, triple C’tan and a Tesseract Vault. Lol, I say, lmao.
  • 4th – Michael Armer – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Four block with a pair of Caladius.
  • 5th – Shaun Delaney – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Even more jump pack-tastic than the Blood Angels norm here, adding some Vanguard Veterans and lots of Inceptors to the mix, plus using the value of Death Company Dreadnoughts as Strategic Reserves threats.
  • 6th – Andy Mitten – Space Marines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Redemptors, Gladiators and Destructors.

Imperialis Capilla GT 3er Aniversario

33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Capilla de Guadalupe, Jal., MX on April 06 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

José Isaías Valenzuela – Aeldari (Battle Host) – 1st Place

Credit: Wings

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Double Tarpit Aeldari

Thoughts

“Aeldari” and “crunch” aren’t usually things that go together, but this is as close as you’re going to get – the Avatar and big Wraithblade units are the toughest things in the book, letting you put seriously durable stuff on two key choke points, and D-cannons are exceptional at punishing any enemy hulls that get too close. The same is true of the hilarious full Fuegan Fire Dragon unit, for when you really, really need something to come in from Strategic Reserves (or behind a wall, if there’s no indirect) and vaporise two Gladiators at once. It’s what the meta is demanding, and the Aeldari are ready to answer, apparently! It’s also worth saying that this list is excellent at scoring Secondaries even by Aeldari standards – you can quite often get a few turns of double Cleanse from the Wraithblades on some maps, and you’d thus expect Cleanse/Homers to be a 39pt combo in almost any game, really putting the onus on the opponent to try something drastic then die to d-cannons. Classic Aeldari. Well done José

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd (4.5-0.5) – Jose Benjamín Casillas – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead): Deep Strike shooty Vanguard, using Calgar with Eradicators as the big infiltrating threat, pretty nasty in such a hull-heavy metagame.
  • 3rd – Abraham Thierry – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders): Elegant listbuilding at its finest – two full Primaris Crusader units, a Land Raider packed with Sword Brethren, and Canis Rex. Simple but viciously effective.
  • 4th – Diego Toribio – Black Templars (Ironstorm Spearhead): Reapers, a RepEx and a Redeemer double-stacked with Sword Brethren.
  • 5th – Juvenal Jimenez – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty): C’tan and Wraiths.
  • 6th – Gerardo (Laloc) Esquer – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Classic monster mash.
  • 7th – Manuel Penilla – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Four blocks, cutting one of the Leaders to make them full size and backing with a pair of Caladius tanks.

Courage And Honour IX

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Wales, GB on April 06 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Take and Hold – Minefields – Sweeping Engagement

Nicholas Christensen-Secker – Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Andrew Lewis – Genestealer Cult (Ascension Day)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Two interesting builds facing off here – the extremely Infantry-heavy Sororitas army on one side, and the return of horde GSC with some Guard scouting chaff to smooth over early turns. On an initial read I felt like this should be a cakewalk for the Cults, because they sort of bypass what the Sisters list is trying to do, and no sell a lot fo their units. Out-objectiving GSC is pretty hard, seismics are great for killing power armoured units, and none of the meltas on the Sisters side do much.

All fairly grim, but I do think there’s an actual plan for the Sisters here. The Cult are going to struggle to keep their Characters safe if they want to deal damage, particularly with how vulnerable even the Lone Operatives are to getting punked by Seraphim and Zephyrim, and the Sisters have plenty of stuff to score Homers with. In their position, I’d go fixed, load the Immolators with chaff, and have those to push out as your forward screen, and keep the Flagellants staged in Rhinos behind walls. That hopefully forced the Cult to commit some stuff to stop you pulling ahead on Primary (as they’ll need to expose a real unit to kill a tank), but ensure that you can’t lose the Arco-flags to a Tunnel Crawlers assault. That ensures you’ve got your big horde clearers ready to counterpunch into Neophyte blocks and maybe (maybe?) gives you a shot, given there are only two big blocks. You’re kind of relying on the Cult failing their Ambush rolls on those, because I suspect you run out of ways to handle 20 infantry after clearing the first two, but follow that plan and I think there’s a chance – albeit clearly not one that came to pass here.

Result

Genestealer Cult (Ascension Day) Victory – 100 – 75

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

Neophyte Cult Icons. Credit – Soggy

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Explosive Cult

Thoughts

Much like Aeldari, Cult aren’t super well equipped to field lots of crunch, but they can bring even more demolition charges than usual, and that’ll certainly help. Bringing ultra cheap and expendable Catachans for early scoring is a nice move too – maximum handling of early Tactical draws with minimum investment. Good to see Cult managing to take a trophy, well done Andrew.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Nicholas Christensen-Secker – Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs): Extra mechanised Sisters, packing lots of Immolators with regular Battle Sisters, plus lots of small Seraphim/Zephyrim squads.
  • 3rd – Luke Harris – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Triple Immortals, double C’tan and Monolith.
  • 4th – Jack Chapman – Ynnari (Battle Host): Extremely go-wide scoring/sneaky shooting.
  • 5th – Gareth Lane – Adeptus Custodes: Infantry spam.
  • 6th – Ross James – Orks: Speedy pressure with Nobz in Trukks, Warbikers and Mozrog/Ghaz as ultra hitters, plus the unusual pick of Grot Tanks for some shooty support.

Wrap Up

 

Previous articleThe Best Year in Gaming: Round 2 in the Southeast Conference, Part 2
Next articleEditorial: Stop Thinking – How to Experience Age of Sigmar Fourth Edition Marketing
© Goonhammer LLC