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Competitive Innovations in 10th: How Celestine Got Her Groove Back pt.2

By Lowest of Men

The new slogan may as well be “so much Warhammer, all of the time” so we’re going to get straight into it today – Lowest of Men is in charge, and will be covering:

  • Kippers’ Melee 2023 – 40k (major)
  • Medhammer GT 2023 – Golden Dawn (major)
  • The Pecking Order: Turkey Wars GT 2023 (major)
  • Geekfest – Warhammer 40K GT
  • Last Of The Summer Winehammer 5
  • Austrian GT

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

  • Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament – US Open Tampa (supermajor)
  • Fantasia Fanatic XLIV 40K (major)
  • Gem City GT 2023 (major)
  • Denver 40K Fight Club October Open (major)
  • Dark Sphere October GT
  • 1° GT Mallorca

Kippers’ Melee 2023 – 40k

102-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Nanaimo, BC, Canada on October 14 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Jordan Salamon – Orks (Waaagh! Tribe) – 1st Place

Goff deffkopta three-piece Rotörhead. Credit: Charlie Brassley

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ork Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

90 – 49 Victory against Ryan Burns – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force).

Thoughts

The Ork hot streak continues, with this excellent all rounder build from Jordan. Flashgitz and Deffkoptas provide some ranged punch, masses of boys in Trukks can contest objectives, and Squighogs give you another quick and durable asset to shove on a point and force enemy commitment from. The Nob leading them with Follow Me Ladz can help these to cover even more ground, which really makes the reach and hitting power in this list something that needs to be treated with respect else you get flooded and Krumped (which seems to have happened in the final!) Congratulations on the first place finish Jordan.

Donald Plummer – T’au Empire (Kauyon) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Cadre Fireblade
Cadre Fireblade. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Tau Goodstuff

Thoughts

Another Xenos faction that has settled into a groove here, as the Tau continue to take names in the post dataslate winter. This list achieves that beautiful balance of a lot of mission play assets and techy Lone Op in the Ghostkeel and Fireblade. Not a tonne more to say other than to draw attention to the nice Farsight / Fusion Crisis combo, which can leverage the +1 to wound of the former with the nasty damage profile of the latter to uppercut something via a cheeky Rapid Ingress. lovely stuff, and well done on the placing!

Brendan McKenzie – Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs) – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Sisters…. Mech Rush?!

Thoughts

Glorious Sisters nonsense from Brendan, who shoves a HUGE amount of bodies in transports and rolls forward to dispense justice with flame and weird clawed fist. This list can mission for days with all the assets available, is deceptively hard to demech and clear with so many tank chassis on the ground, and  packs in some Assassin jank for those hard-to-reach places. Heretics beware!!

Ryan Burns – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

Azrael. Credit: Rockfish
Azrael. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dark Angels Gladius

Thoughts

Dark Angels have stayed reasonably similar since the WTC, where the Aggressor bomb, Deathwing Knight and Hellblaster ruination first truly came to light. Desolators may be a thing of the past but this list still shoots like a monster and can pivot around one of the single most durable infantry units in the game. Nice to see another Predator Destructor out – deceptively shooty into the right targets and cheap into to expose without risking much. The Azrael / Bolter Discipline support ensures that with Oaths the shooting units in this list will absolutely go off. Very well done Ryan!

The Best of the Rest

There were 14 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Chris Powell  – Chaos Daemons: An EXTREMELY unusual Daemons list with six Daemon Princes – mini monster mash?! Amazing.
  • 6th – Myles Scott  – Aeldari: Go-wide Aeldari with lots of Hornets and War Walkers with Wraightguard but NO Yncarne.
  • 7th – Sonny Govus  – T’au Empire: Double Crisis brick, double Ghostkeel, double Skyray for a nice symmetrical build.
  • 8th – Adam Green  – Adeptus Astartes: Raven Guard in Gladius so Shrike gets a run out alongside some Centurions and a lot of the usual pieces.
  • 9th – JT McDowell  – Ynnari: Ynnari with Wraithguard supported by cheaper Drukhari Dark Lances.
  • 10th – Jim Downie  – Aeldari: Avatar of Khaine and Wraithguard Aeldari.
  • 11th – Nicholas James  – Ultramarines: Calgar inspired Gladius with Redemptors and Whirlwinds.
  • 12th – Travis Gibson  – Deathwatch: Deathwatch with two full Proteus Kill Teams, sexy.
  • 13th – Mitchell Larmand  – Adeptus Custodes: Infantry bricks with two Calladius in support.
  • 14th – Brent Mooney  – Tyranids: Vanguard with triple Broodlords and Genestealers… yikes.
  • 15th – Ian Harris  – Astra Militarum: A Doomhammer and a Malcador Defender alongside some of the more usual suspects…
  • 16th – Jake Reuser  – Aeldari: Fire Prism / Yncarne Aeldari.
  • 17th – Mike Percival  – Black Templars: Black Templars with a full Assault Centurion Brick and Helbrecht leading some holy bois to war.
  • 18th – garry Sacco  – Black Templars: Judiciar led Bladeguard, some Dreadnoughts and Whirlwinds alongside the usual cheap marine bodies.

Medhammer GT 2023 – Golden Dawn

64-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia on October 14 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Jorge Latorre – Aeldari (Battle Host) – 1st Place

Fire Dragons. Credit: James “Boon” Kelling

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aeldari Goodstuff also Falcons

Final Round Matchup

38 – 15 Victory against Esteban Alzate – Aeldari (Battle Host).

Thoughts

Most of the usual suspects here, but a lovely double punch of Fire Dragons in Falcons coming in from the sky. Full rerolls to wound on these if they hose the same target as the Falcon when they disembark gives you some serious hard target removal without losing the option to protect assets via Phantasm. Aeldari are still slaying, well done on the win Jorge!

Nicolas Francone – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Be'lakor
Be’lakor – Credit: RichyP

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Daemon Monster Mash

Thoughts

“I didn’t hear no bell!” Say the Greater Daemons, because the Great Unclean One stayed at home and nobody else had a bell. The big hitters in this list are still deadly, they can still no-sell enemy shooting via the aura on the first Daemon Prince himself, and a smattering of smaller daemon assets help to shore up scoring. Really nice work on the placing.

Esteban Alzate – Aeldari (Battle Host) – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aeldari Goodstuff

Thoughts

Ooo, a sneaky Battlehost that went big on shrouding tech and hid the list. Let’s assume there was an Yncarne in there, and some other really good units. Nicely done Esteban.

Juan David Muñoz Pérez – Blood Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

Credit: Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Blood Angels Mixed Arms

Thoughts

Juan brings a really distinct and flavourful BA list that spreads the flamers amongst the smashy combat units. It’s thematic, it doesn’t give you any single big unit that you can dunk, and it can reach out and bad touch you if you get too close. I’m actually quite curious who rides in the drop pod here, as it looks like you’ve the option either of jamming the Assault Intercessors somewhere or punking something light with the new flamey boi marines. Either way, this is definitely a list that requires some Finesse to pilot to a placing like this, well done sir!

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – José Pérez  – Aeldari: Yncarne, Fire Prisms, Wraithguard, Nightspinners. Still great!
  • 6th – Daniel Castro  – Astra Militarum: No list submitted here- I reckon it was Ratling spam.
  • 7th – Julián Andrés Rincón Tabares – Adeptus Astartes: Iron Hands in Gladius with Redemptors and freaking CANIS REX. Lovely.
  • 8th – Henry Lam  – Adeptus Custodes: Lots of Allarus, double Calladius, and the usual suspects.
  • 9th – José Pernia – Chaos Space Marines: No list submitted. Alpharius, is that you?!
  • 10th – Luis Mejia  – Astra Militarum: 
  • 11th – Juan Ochoa  – Orks: Tonnes of Squighogz and two full bricks of Meganobz, love it.

The Pecking Order: Turkey Wars GT 2023

64-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Olympia, Washington, US on October 14 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Steve Trimble – Chaos Space Marines (Slaves to Darkness) – 1st Place

Night Lords Rhino – Credit: RichyP

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

CSM VSL Stuff

Final Round Matchup

98 – 55 Victory against Jason Byrd – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance).

Thoughts

The VSL CSM archetype takes more names here, with all the usual heavy hitters and phenomenal reach via Chosen. Once this stages and gets to work it is really hard to wrestle back the tempo in a game, and the Daemon allies tick off any scoring issues you might have as you spring the horrible, horrible trap. Congratulations on the win Steve!

Max Schwarzer – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Chaplain Grimaldus. Credit: SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Black Templar Mech Rush

Thoughts

A lovely thematic list blurb, for an otherwise fairly straightforward Black Templars build that shoves the cheap bodies in transports and rolls forth to dispense the Emperor’s peace. Tonnes of bodies for mission play and some durable spots with the Land Raider, Redemptors, and Tannhauser’s Bones squad. There was some concern about whether Templars would still be able to hang after the changes to Oaths of Moment, but the first weeks of the slate seem to suggest they’re doing just fine thanks to how cost effective their assets are now. Very well done Max!

There was a rule / sequencing mix up in the game between these Black Templars and the Aeldari list below, which resulted in the game result being decided in the Templars favour after the fact. Max wrote in to let us know about the mistake and to make sure we highlight Jorge as being the deserving winner of their game which places Max in fourth overall. Both lists are awesome and it was lovely to see a sporting gesture / ownership of a mistake from Max. Very devout of you sir!

Jason Byrd – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 3rd Place

War Dog - Stalker. Credit: Rockfish
War Dog – Stalker. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

CK with Daemon Allies

Thoughts

Most of the usual stuff here, but the addition of three full bricks of Blue Horrors gives Jason some cheap and durable infiltrators that require disproportionate effort to clear. Chaos Knights really want to control the board state ahead of their Armigers to prevent a blowout turn, and I really like the role that Blues can play in achieving that. Nice tech and well done!

Jorge Alcantara – Aeldari (Battle Host) – 4th Place

Avatar of Khaine. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aeldari MSU

Thoughts

Go wide MSU Aeldari is still very strong, and the Avatar of Khaine gets the nod here ahead of the Yncarne. It might just be that the latter is falling away from being an auto-take now with so many armies teching to deal with it, and I like the use of Banshees and Fire Dragons to add a bit of flavour and some troubleshooting for screens and Tanks respectively. Just watch out for artillery! Congratulations on the placing Jorge, who was the victim of the rules mix up mentioned above and actually placed second overall.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Nicolas Ohlsen-Johnson  – Leagues of Votann: Sagitaur spam with 20 Hearthguard and some lovely thematic names on the characters.
  • 6th – Joshua Bagwell  – Tyranids: Synaptic Nexus big bugs with two Norn Emissaries and the obligatory tag team of Neurolictors.
  • 7th – Ryan Lynn  – Astra Militarum: Loads of battle tanks, some Ratlings, and Scions for scoring.
  • 8th – Rori Patella  – Ulthwe: Avatar of Khaine and Wraithguard Aeldari.
  • 9th – Danny McDevitt  – Nihilakh: Double C’Tan Necrons (hell yeah Void Dragon) with two big Warrior bricks.
  • 10th – Kolby Hopkins  – Space Wolves: Mixed arms Wolves in Gladius with several huge slabs of Thunderwolf.
  • 11th – Zach Philley  – T’au Empire: Tau Goodstuff with Triple Skyray.

Geekfest – Warhammer 40K GT

39-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Shearwater, NS, CA on October 14 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Jonathon Betteridge – Asuryani (Battle Host) – 1st Place

Credit: Greg Narro

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ignite Spinnerstuff

Final Round Matchup

76 – 25 Victory against Laura Whiteland – Chaos Space Marines (Slaves to Darkness).

Thoughts

Triple Nightspinner is still insanely nasty into a whole range of armies, spitting out dev wounds and slowing down the foe as they attempt to close. Plenty of scope for triggering Yncarne movement to bamboozle and outscore the foe. Very nicely done Jonathon!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Phil Cass – Aeldari (Battle Host): Aeldari Goodstuff.
  • 3rd – Laura Whiteland  – Chaos Space Marines: Abaddon, Lucious, MSU Terminators and Noise Marines with a Land Raider, I like it!
  • 4th – Keenan Elliot – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders): Crusaders and Sword Brethren with a Repulsor to ferry them to glory.
  • 5th – Stefan Samson – World Eaters: Tonnes of Eightbound, Angron, and Bezekers. RAWR.
  • 6th – Blair MacDonald – Chaos Daemons: Awesome pure Khorne Daemons lead by Be’lakor and Skarbrand.
  • 7th – Curtis Walker – Grey Knights: Loads of Purgation Squads, MSU Termies and some Librarians.

Last Of The Summer Winehammer 5

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Thongsbridge, England, GB on October 14 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Matt Robertson – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 1st Place

Deathwing Terminator Praetor
Deathwing Terminator Praetor. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dark Angels Gladiusstuff

Final Round Matchup

100 – 91 Victory against Courtney Rhodes – Orks (Waaagh! Tribe).

Thoughts

Robbo highlights the enduring power of Gladius Dark Angels, cramming in some Whirlwinds for winkling out those pesky elves and CSM before they get the jump on you. Deathwing and Aggressors still slap and can take a punch, and the Redeemer anchors the midboard. Very strong, and an enduring force even in the new marine era. Congratulations on the win!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Courtney Rhodes – Orks (Waaagh! Tribe): Orks Goodstuff with the Trukk rush and Flash Gitz goodness.
  • 3rd – Kyle Grundy – T’au Empire (Kauyon): Lots of Crisis and Broadsides with supporting utility.
  • 4th – Charles Gould – Leagues of Votann (Oathband): 15 Thunderkyn and 25 Hearthguard bring the infantry shooting pain, with some vehicles in support.
  • 5th – Michael Duff – Chaos Space Marines: All round lovely giant Mike Duff brings the pain with a CSM hotness build. Cheeky Techmarine with the upgrade to farm CP as the usual suspects do their thing.

2nd Austrian GT

All the lists for this event can be found in TourneyKeeper.

The Showdown

Vital Ground – Chilling Rain – Crucible of Battle

NB: We think this is the correct mission – the pack says to refer to the WTC pack.

Fabian P – Aeldari (Battle Host)

Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Max Gwiss – Death Guard (Plague Company)

Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

The fading kings of the meta come up against a resurgent, smelly challenger. This Aeldari list brings the Fire Prism pain alongside Night Spinner and Yncarne shenanigans. It does what Aeldari do well – pick off a few targets a turn whilst running disruption with the Death God and scoring with the MSU. A powerful game plan, but not without challengers… and here comes one now!

The Death Guard list Max brings to table here is glorious. A massive forward push with Rhino rushing Plague Marines supported by the artillery bombardment of the Plagueburst Crawlers. Get too close and you’re gonna cop a series of free Grenade stratagem mortal wounds from the triple Biologis Putrifiers, who I assume are skulking about in the Rhinos. This is of particular note to a certain Mr Yncarne, who isn’t going to be able to whether much of that without exploding in a shower of putrid chemicals. As the shells pick off the Aeldari scoring, the close confines brawling over primary that Vital Ground encourages is only going to aid the Death Guard in their push here, as there simply won’t be much scope for playing around them. As it is it looks like that carried the day, and Mortarion’s finest overran the fragile Aeldari. I’d have loved to watch this game!

Result

Decisive Death Guard Victory

Max Gwiss – Death Guard (Plague Company) – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Death Guard Rhino Rush

Thoughts

Death Guard never get any respect in this game. I know it, you know it. “Hur hur hur, stand 17 inches away”. You’ve all done it. You know who you are. As true as that might sometimes be, the slate has given Death Guard some genuine play, with the flexibility of their new contagion options giving them powerful debuffing tools into a wide range of opponents. These Rhino / Putrifier type builds we are seeing compound their resilience with the ever present threat of a mortal wound bomb to simply evaporate a hard target, and once those smelly bois get to the middle the shelling from the PBCs can go up a notch via the extra AP contagion as required. Sure, you can stand far away from it. But what if it’s on all the objectives, getting all the points? You’d think we’d have learned from the plight of the Legion itself that underestimating Typhus and his Dark Pacts with the Grandfather is never a good idea… Very well done on a storming triumph Max!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Dominik Tavernaro – Chaos Space Marines: CSM Goodstuff with some Accursed and a cheeky ride out for Fabius Bile…
  • 3rd – Sebastian Kipling – Drukhari: Triple Voidraven Bomber, my god. A rare foray to the top spots for Drukhari – excellent work Sebastien!
  • 4th – Ernst-Clemens Wastler – Aeldari: Aeldari Goodstuff.
  • 5th – Max Mittmannsgruber – Chaos Space Marines: Liam VSL CSM Goodstuff.

Wrap Up

Another explosive week wrapped up. Will Sisters continue their rise, using the cunning and unprecedented strategy of “just take basic Sisters”? Will anyone topple those mischeivous elves from the top? The saga will continue next week.

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