type here...
Patrons: click here to disable ads.
Columns40K Competitive InnovationsCore GamesGoonhammerWarhammer 40k
Updated:

Competitive Innovations in 10th: Leviathan’s Last Orders pt.1

By James "One_Wing" Grover

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you should, by now, be aware that the new mission pack, Pariah Nexus, is imminent, releasing in less than two weeks alongside two new Codexes. Given that, the utility of any deep and meaningful insights I could try and draw from this week’s results is limited, which is a relief because I don’t super have any other than Stormlance Wolves being pretty obviously too good.

We’re still not quite at the end of the Leviathan saga, as it’ll probably be three weeks before the results start flowing, so if you want to put in a respectable performance at your final events of the mission pack, you’ll still be wanting to know what’s up on the top tables. Today, I’ll be looking at:

  • GERMAN SUPER MAJOR
  • Fal-Con 2024: The Falconing 40K
  • Rubicon GT II
  • Iberian Ham GT AEPDA 2024

On Friday we’ll have Lowest of Men covering:

  • Terracon 2024
  • Branson Brawl 2024
  • Golden Ticket Event: Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament
  • IBERIAN OPEN VALLECAS

This week our Showdowns have both ended up in part 2, so I’ll make a guest appearance there covering one of them. Normally I rejig the split of events when this happens, creating a seamless experience for you, the reader, but for some reason there was a big swing in the voting when I was much further into prep work than normal. Presumably one of the candidates was seen leaving the Triumph of Ullanor anniversary celebrations early.

The showdowns are:

  • Renegade Raiders vs Imperial Knights at Terracon.
  • Mont’ka vs Dark Angels Ironstorm at the Branson Brawl.

GERMAN SUPER MAJOR

403-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in BS, NDS, DE on June 08 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Marvin Petersen – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force) – 1st Place

Credit: “Contemptor” Kevin Stillman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wolf Jail

Thoughts

Speak of the canine devil. Wolf Jail continues to thrive thanks to the extreme pressure it can exert early on, access to cheap trade units in the form of Wulfen, and access to the wider Marine roster to tune aspects of the list up and down as needed. Marvin’s version dials back on Wulfen a bit for some more flexible scoring tools, plus an alarmingly deadly stage and counterpunch threat from Ulric and Blood Claws in a Rhino, who function as “super” Assault Intercessors when you really need them to thanks to the Slayer’s Oath. That’s certainly a handy tool to have when playing on european-style terrain, and this list triumphed over an exceptionally large field, so big congratulations to Marvin!

Tim Schlizio – Orks (Green Tide) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Painboy. Credit: Rockfish
Painboy. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Pure Green Tide

Thoughts

Another pressure list in second place here, rolling over foes with three maximally optimised Boyz units and a semi-indestructible Meganobz squad, and using Da Jump with some final units to seal the deal. It’s one of the nastiest stat checks in the game, and there’s absolutely a reason my list for the upcoming Bristol GT has two full tesla Immortal units rather than one. Congratulations to Tim on unleashing this mean, green killing machine.

Max kanter – Orks (Green Tide) – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

Weirdboy. Credit: Rockfish
Weirdboy. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Techy Green Tide

Thoughts

More Green Tide here, utilising the same Boyz core for overwhelming pressure but tinkering with a few choices elsewhere. The Meganobz get cut out in favour of more scoring units and a Kill Rig, the latter presumably intended to help give the army a bit of a damage lift against either T10 units (as it allows for S6 Boyz on the key Waaagh! turn) or to try and win the attrition match in the mirror. Given that the mirror was clearly a very real concern, that seems pretty smart, and it’s not a tool I’d previously considered. Well done to Max for throwing an effective curveball there!

Pascal Haberstroh – Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs) – 4th Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder Sisters

Thoughts

You know it, you love it, you’re (probably) about to see a whole lot more of it, albeit with the Arco-flagellants dialed back a bit now they’re no longer as monstrously durable. Sisters are already thriving as Pascal demonstrates here, and are about to get even spicier.

The Best of the Rest

I’m going with modified UKTC rules here – 4-1s cover over 50 players, so I’m only going as far as people on 4.5-0.5. That’s still another 11 players!

  • 5th (Undefeated) – Christian Matschke – Adepta Sororitas: All-rounder Sisters with a bit of everything and a slight skew towards tanks.
  • 6th (Undefeated) – Niklas Frerichs – Blood Angels (Gladius Task Force): Lots of Gladiators for dakka, Aggressors with an Apothecary in a Redeemer for mid-range and a full Lemartes Death Company brick for when aggro is required.
  • 7th (Undefeated) – Sami Amr – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots): Brawler Legionaries in Rhinos, Nurgle Tanks/a Forgefiend and roving Warp Talons.
  • 8th – Grischa Gerwert – Orks (Green Tide): Pure horde with 100 Boyz in 20-model units, plys some supporting Nobz.
  • 9th – Christoph Winkler – Chaos Knights:  The surprising appearance of a Castellan Knight Tyrant with loads of Nurglings and Karnivores to protect it.
  • 10th – Jan – T’au Empire (Kroot Hunting Pack): Fully leaning into Kroot here, supplementing three big Carnivore bricks with some Farstriders and two full squads of Rampagers! Dips into the wider Empire for a pair of Hammerheads to discourage enemy tanks.
  • 11th – Dennis Gottschalk – Grey Knights: Ultracrunch with five Dreadknights and two Redeemers.
  • 12th – Kayu Orellana – Tyranids (Unending Swarm): Surprisingly light on the actual “swarm” part, this build pours all its value and tricks into two big Gargoylge units, and backs them up with a bunch of monsters.
  • 13th – Adrian Willruth – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Triple Wraiths and triple Doomstalker, further augmenting the firepower with six enmitic Heavy Lokhusts for hordes, all supported by lots of cheap utility stuff.
  • 14th – Pierre Debey – Chaos Knights: A Knight Lancer and lots of War Dogs.
  • 15th – Lennox Hemke – Thousand Sons: Character/Rubricae/Cultists Tsons.

Fal-Con 2024: The Falconing 40K

62-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Moncton, NB, Canada on June 08 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Matthew Reeson – Necrons (Canoptek Court) – 1st Place

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

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Canoptek Court

Thoughts

Our second event winner for the week is running another build that needs no introduction at this point – Canoptek Court is easily the strongest Necron list right now, and the combination of Wraiths and Doomstalkers as two the faction’s most efficient units is what seals that. I am a big fan of the Transcendant C’tan here as well – last time I ran a similar build with the Nightbringer my main takeaway is that I would have preferred the mobility to the pure damage. That may, however, change in Pariah, as not being able to Action after Advancing kills quite a bit of the power of the model. That’s the future though – right now, this is an extremely well tuned version of this list, congratulations to Matthew.

Blair Macdonald – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Chaos Knight Lancer Credit: Mildnorman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Lancer and Dogs

Thoughts

Charging a Lancer through walls is the correct and sophisticated way to play Chaos Knights, and I will not be taking any questions at this time. Great stuff from Blair in undefeated second.

Justin White – T’au Empire (Kroot Hunting Pack) – 3rd Place

Krootox Rampager
Krootox Rampager. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hunting Pack with Rampagers

Thoughts

See I’ve been joking about Guard wanting to get in on melee meta, but even Tau are doing it now. Turns out that in Hunting Pack, where they get an invulnerable save and some extra strat protections, Krootox Rampagers are the real deal, providing a very healthy slab of wounds and threat projection for the cost. Here they’re working with a skirmish line of Kroot protecting plenty of scoring units and efficient shooty hulls, keeping the foe at bay while railguns and missiles do their work.

The most interesting thing about this version is, honestly, that the Kroot contingent is decidedly moderate in size – the big value from the detachment is the early board presence/redeploys and the threat of the respawn on the one big unit, and it would appear that paring down to focus on those, then use baseline good stuff from the rest of the faction works just as well as going really hard on the theme. I like how on-brand for Tau the end result feels, and it’s good to see ongoing experimentation with one of the newest books paying off, great stuff from Justin.

Stefan Samson – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) – 4th Place

He just wanted to kill guys with his axe, is that too much to ask? Credit: Swiftblade

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

World Eaters (slight lean to Eightbound)

Thoughts

All your favourite/most despised (depending on which side of the table you’re usually on) World Eaters toys, with the only deviation from the standard setup being a slight reduction in Berzerkers for a second basic Eightbound unit, increasing the Scout reach to help control the table when other armies are playing melee games too. Well done to Stefan in fourth place.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – Jason Gallant – Astra Militarum: Lots of the normal pressure toys like Bullgryn and Tank Commanders, but loads of Rough Riders and Ratlings for board control instead of any artillery!
  • 6th – Willow Weeks – Adepta Sororitas: Arco-flagellants backed by two Sister squads (one with the unusual choice of a Dogmata), Vahl’s warsuits and various solo Penitents/Mortifiers.
  • 7th – Jonathon Betteridge – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Jump packs galore, plus two units of foot Death Company in a Redeemer for mid-board presence.
  • 8th – Aaron Wall – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Extra shooty Skysplinter, cutting down to just one big Incubi unit for melee and packing Ravagers on top of the normal zappy toys.
  • 9th – Christopher Burgart – Chaos Knights: A Rampager and some War Dogs joined by even more sinister robots in the form of two Nurgle Soul Grinders.
  • 10th – Mike Chapeau – Imperial Knights: Vicious close range pressure from a Valiant and Canis Rex.
  • 11th – Mike Fuendling – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Jump packs galore, but this time filling a Redeemer with a Captain/Vetarans unit and six Bladeguard with a Judiciar.

Rubicon GT II

49-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Kissimmee, FL, United States on June 08 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

John Lennon – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet) – 1st Place

Old One Eye. Credit: Rockfish
Old One Eye. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Monster Mash

Thoughts

Tyranids soldier on here, with their roster of efficient mid-tier monsters, access to a Feel No Pain stratagem and standout utility pieces like Neurolictors continuing to provide routes to victory, even in relatively lean times for the Hive Mind. Which it hates, being the Great Devourer and all. I’m a particular fan of the Dakkafex/Old One-Eye unit, and I’m glad to see them being put to good work in John’s build here. Well done for adding yet another trophy to the terrifying array at Art of War HQ.

Nick Carpenter – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Ultramarines Chapter Champion
Ultramarines Chapter Champion. Credit SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder GTF

Thoughts

This is just an all-rounder Ultramarines list. That’s not a bad thing, to be clear, but there’s not really any great skew going on, it’s just effective use of good units. The only unique hammer blow it’s packing is the ability to Deep Strike the full Calgar/Aggressor/Apothecary brick, unleashing terrible doom on pretty much anything, but even that’s not as extreme as you can do with similar tools in Vanguard. I’ve always had a soft spot for armies that look “normal” doing well at events, so especial congratulations to Nick.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 3rd – Kody Drake – Death Guard (Plague Company): The most 8th Edition-looking list we’ve seen for a while, building a crunchy monster/hull build out of Mortarion, Death Guard Daemon Princes, War Dogs, Soul Grinders and a Great Unclean One for good measure.
  • 4th – Mike Muzeni – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic): Double Mutalith Tsons, dialing back on Characters a bit to pay.
  • 5th – Eric Schreiner – Ynnari: Extra go-wide scoring Aeldari, adding in Mandrakes and Reavers to a plethora of Aspect Warriors, three D-cannons and one big Troupe with the Visarch for Objective flipping/causing problems for melee lists.
  • 6th – Jon Sweet – Nurgle Daemons: An impressive pure Nurgle list that oozes its way across the Battlefield, holding the foe up with four (including Rotigus) Great Unclean Ones while Slimux and some Infantry seize control of the surroundings.

Iberian Ham GT AEPDA 2024

41-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Sant Joan Despí, CT, España on June 08 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Manel Tulla – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force) – 1st Place

Brotherhood Librarian. Credit: Corrode

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Crunchy Grey Knights

Thoughts

It’s not quite ultracrunch but it’s pretty close – lots of Dreadknights, a Land Raider, and just a few Terminators and Strikes as a concession to the concept of “Infantry”. Very effective though! Congratulations to Manel on taking first.

Dekkers 🦭🤖 – Necrons (Canoptek Court) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Plasma Canoptek

Thoughts

As the title suggests, this is the Josh Roberts special, forgoing C’tan in favour of Immortal MSUs with Plasmancers, providing a healthy clip of mortals and anti-horde in collaboration with Illuminor Szeras. The rest is Wraiths and Doomstalkers – you know them, you hate them, but they hate you back so it’s even. Well done to Dekkers!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 3rd – Lewis Aepda – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force): A mixed shooty/aggro Stormlance variant, adding Reapers and Vindicators to 18 ThunderCav.
  • 4th – Xavo Melenero L’Escamarlà – Tyranids (Unending Swarm): 120 Hormagaunts with supporting monstrosities.
  • 5th – Tkila RR – Grey Knights: Librarians and four Dreadknights with some Terminators in a Redeemer supporting.
  • 6th – Ålfred Phobos  – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): The Silent King showing off by zapping around with two mighty Monoliths and plenty of Wraiths.
  • 7th – Espinosa Cripta – Imperial Knights: Canis Rex and a Warden leading Armigers and some Assassins to war.
  • 8th – Alejandro García Peláez – Adepta Sororitas: All-rounder Sisters with a bit of everything.

Wrap Up

Part 1 is over, but plenty more to come in part two, including showdown appearances from exciting new brews. See you then!

Previous articleHobby 101: Sponge Painting
Next articleHorus Heresy: Descending from Above with the Sanguinary Guard
© Goonhammer LLC