The Pariah metagame continues to take shape this week, and we’ve got a bizarrely top-heavy suite of events to provide some additional date – lots of majors, barely any GTs.

In terms of what’s out there, Blood Angels look like the army to beat (the only faction to top a 60% win rate in our data this week), and you’re starting to see plenty of other armies teching for clearing out hordes of 2W infantry, which also happens to be relevant into newly emerging Adeptus Mechanicus builds that go heavy on elite Skitarii. Plenty of heftier builds are doing well too, with heavy Hypercrypt Necron lists thriving, showings for monster mash builds of various stripes, while Bringers of Flame Sisters are also making their presence known. Eightbound-heavy World Eaters also drove a very strong weekend for that faction, and there’s even our first undefeated Genestealer Cults build with the new book!

Still plenty of twists and turns, and plenty to talk about, so let’s dive in, starting today with:

THE SHEFFIELD 40K SUPER MAJOR
Denver 40K Fight Club July Open
Exterminatus IX: Sosig Party
Hometown 40K
Midsummer O.P.A. 2024 WH40K

On Friday Lowest of Men will take charge, covering:

TGX Warhammer 40,000 Event
I Gt Ciudad de Avila
Hee Yaw GT 2024
J-Town Throwdown

This week’s showdowns, voted for by the beloved and valued Patrons, will be:

Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) vs Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort) at the Sheffield Super Major
Astra Militarum vs Adeptus Mechanicus (Cohort Cybernetica) at the Hee Yaw GT

THE SHEFFIELD 40K SUPER MAJOR

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

The Showdown

Take and Hold – Hidden Supplies – Search and Destroy

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

vs.

Jonny Simmons – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

A very thematically appropriate duel on the top table of the week’s biggest event, with the Adeptus Mechanicus once more attempting to steal the secrets of the Necrons technology.

They’re presumably inside that gigantic floating box, the centrepiece of a heavy Hypercrypt build. Silent King, two Doomsdays and big theats/scoring pieces to fill is the premium recipe for Necrons right now, and that’s very much the plan here, going extra big via the inclusion of a Tesseract Vault. That does mean the Necrons are a bit lighter than normal on scoring stuff, but their large targets are formidible challenges for many armies to take down, and as always Hypercrypt can make a few units go a long way.

Up against them are the revitalised Adeptus Mechanicus, and out the gate they present something of a problem for the Necrons with the big breacher unit, which is pretty much the perfect tool for obliterating the vault or Silent King, whichever wants to stick their head out first. There’s a small saving grace for the Necrons in that it’s a Manipulus leading them rather than a Dominus, meaning chip damage via Cosmic Fire is a real asset, but they’re still a definite problem. Also not great is how efficiently the Mechanicus can sweep up Necron scoring pieces with all those Sterylizors, and they also have to worry about getting boxed in early on by Infiltrators, stopping them reaching out and scoring. They do kill the AdMech stuff pretty effectively, but on a lot of missions I’d be very worried about getting crushed on Primary.

That’s a little less of a problem on this mission, which is very generous as one to play defensively on, particularly if the Necrons go second. Defending 10VP Primary turns is extremely doable, and if that somehow goes wrong then playing for Unbroken Wall late game works too. If the Necrons can de-fang the Breachers and Ironstriders then they probably do grind the rest of what’s here out, and on this mission that might be enough to take a win if it cuts off late-game scoring for the AdMech. All that said I’d still give the Hunter Cohort the nod here, but in the event the Necrons were able to just squeak to victory – great stuff!

Result

Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion) Victory – 81 – 80

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

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Heavy Hypercrypt

Thoughts

Heavy Hypercrypt is the premier Necron build right now, and it’s not particularly close. You can slide exactly how hard you go with it up and down, and I admire the confidence shown by choosing “very” and then taking down a supermajor. Fantastic stuff from Andy!

Jonny Simmons – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort) – 2nd Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

All-rounder Hunter Cohort

Thoughts

AdMech are definitively back as of this week, Ironstriders, Ruststalkers and other old friends returning to the metagame with a vengeance. Most of the top builds are running Hunter Cohort, which provides both durability and the mobility to maximise all the upgrades AdMech received in the Balance Dataslate. Great to see a real impact from their buffs, and congratulations to Jonny for deploying them so effectively!

Josh Roberts – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders) – 3rd Place

Iron Warriors Chaos Lord and Space Marines. Credit: SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Mech Brawler Raiders

Thoughts

Josh puts in a second strong performance with his post-Pariah spin on Renegade Raiders, taking advantage of the excellent synergy between their detachment rule and Rubricae units to maximise the number of brawler units he has. The resulting build plays particularly well on UKTC-style terrain, which is great for staged Infantry, but has enough flexibility that you could play it pretty much anywhere to great effect. Well done Josh!

Ben Jones – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

Dark Angels Hellblasters. Credit: Greg Chiasson

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Counterpunch Caliban GTF

Thoughts

The various be-robed elites of the Dark Angels make a splash here, with a tag team of Deathwing Knights and newly empowered Inner Circle Companions providing durable (and still deadly) bait, followed by a lethal greatsword-based counterpunch. If swords somehow don’t get the job done, you’ve also got a full unit of Hellblasters to mow down enemy elites, and I assume that’s a nod to the prevalence of Blood Angels on top tables. More subtly, between Azrael and the Librarians you can put a 4+ Invulnerable Save on a lot of the key units here, helping protect your Marines against anyone else leaning on high AP D2 weaponry to attack the metagame. Putting that all together as Gladius Task Force gives you access to Fire Discipline for the Hellblasters, Lance and AP boosts for the ICCs, and the all-in move of a big Assault Doctrine turn. Really cool use of Dark Angels’ unique toys here, and congratulations Ben on taking fourth.

The Best of the Rest

There was 1 more players on a 5-0 record after the Swiss. They were:

5th – Mike Porter – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius): Maximum bodies in Sons, sporting five 10-model jump units (2x Jump Assault Intercessors, 2x Death Company, 1x VanVets).

Denver 40K Fight Club July Open

94-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Denver, CO, US on July 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Colin Kay – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Heavy Flame Sisters

Thoughts

Colin is another player who has come out of the blocks hot in Pariah, taking a major trophy with the same Sisters build he won a GT with a few weeks back. Sisters have clearly got what it takes to compete at the highest level, and Colin’s slightly heavier-duty version of the army (compared to the ones that have gone hard on Seraphim) gives him the tools to take on both monster mash and elite infantry builds highly effectively. Also, he’s remembered to update his list title now, so good work there. Congratulations!

David Adelman – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion) – 2nd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Monster Mash

Thoughts

In second place we’ve got monster mash Daemons, taking full advantage of their new Dataslate tricks to skip Be’lakor but keep the ability to fire a range of Khorne Daemons (ranging from a Bloodcrusher MSU all the way to Skarbrand) right into the enemy’s face. That’s pretty terrifying, and on top of that this build sports the always potent Everstave/Endless Gift Greaters, and brings back some older tech in the form of Syll’Esske, who is a great speedbump/skirmisher in an elite infantry world thanks to their revival ability. Well done to David on second.

Robert Moreland – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 3rd Place

Retro Leman Russ Exterminator. Credit: SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Big Tank and Bullgryn

Thoughts

Big Tank! Robert was one of the brave souls running an Astra Militarum super heavy before Pariah made them easier to deploy and maneuvre, so presumably he’s now loving life. The list of armies bringing enough long-ranged firepower to reliably punk a Stormsword out of the gate is pretty short at the moment, and teaming it up (as here) with a bunch of Eradicators gives you a pretty flexible firepower setup – you can absolutely dunk the hell out of any large targets, but re-rolling autocannons that gradually pick up extra AP are no joke into elite infantry either. Bullgryn remain an excellent speed bump to shield all of this, and it’s very cool to see more “muscular” Astra Militarum builds coming out to play in the new meta. Great work Robert!

Brandon Roddy – Blood Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

Flesh Tearers Death Company. Credit: Drybrush Threepwood

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Blood GTF

Thoughts

Coming rather out of left field, our first Blood Angels build of the week is not Sons of Sanguinius, instead peppering some great Blood Angels datasheets into an all-rounder Gladius shell. Looking at the tools taken, I’m wondering if this is build is deliberately intended to counter other Blood Angels – Inceptors are great into enemy power armour, Infiltrators can come out to control space if needed, and you’ve still got the big Death Company blocks to roll through them in melee. Also, a bunch of this stuff is just good, and this looks like a really effective all-round setup, also less vulnerable to opponents who are purely teched for mass power armour. Great stuff from Brandon.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

5th – Adrian Lopez – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): A triple threat here, maxing out on Ruststalkers, Ironstriders and Pteraxii.
6th – Andy Shellenbarger- Imperial Knights: Canis Rex and Armigers.
7th – Broc Bowman – World Eaters: Angron, Eightbound and Forgefiends.
8th – Matt Evans – Tyranids (Synaptic Nexus): Mega monster mash with three Norns.
9th – Rob Gonzales – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Quad C’tan and triple Doomsday.
10th – Colin Williamson – Chaos Daemons: Slaanesh-skewed monster mash, packing triple Keeper and a Daemon Prince from that god, plus Be’lakor and a GuO.
11th – Sean Puterbaugh – Astra Militarum: Triple Dorn supported by lots of Bullgryn and a three-model Armoured Sentinel unit to max the value of (now) once-per-game Reinforcements.

Exterminatus IX: Sosig Party

69-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Wagga Wagga, NSW, AU on July 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Alexander Englezos – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort) – 1st Place

Adeptus Mechanicus - Ironstrider Ballistarii — Adeptus Mechanicus – Ironstrider Ballistarii
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Chicken Spam

Thoughts

Bad news for the wallets of AdMech players – chicken walker spam is good again. The Dataslate has thoroughly restored the glory of the Ironstrider datasheet, while the Sydonian Dragoon was already good and now gets improved Conqueror Imperative to play with. Also restored as all-purpose blenders are Ruststalkers, and all of this is very effectively supported by the Skitarii Hunter Cohort, which provides a strong mix of extra durability (via the detachment rule and Bionic Endurance) and the mobility to ensure that Battleline units are always where they need to be to hand out juicy buffs, especially via Battle-sphere uplink. AdMech are infamous for having a fairly long hobby lag between buffs and ending up on the table, and it looks like we’re starting to see the experienced AdMech players like Alexander hit feature-completion on Pariah builds – well done on the win!

Ashley Thompson – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Speedy Flame Sisters

Thoughts

In undefeated second place we’ve got the speedier version of Bringers of Flame, leaning on Dominions in Immolators to get out there and spike key targets (one unit each built for hordes and armour here), and the monstrous power of the full Fire and Fury Seraphim unit to force extreme caution from the foe in turn. Some of the solid core units like Vahl, the Triumph and Castigators round things out, and Ashley’s win here cements Bringers as a top player

Joe Loke – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Heavy World Eaters

Thoughts

World Eaters were close behind Blood Angels as having the second highest win rate in our data this week, and lists like this one are what’s making the running. Eightbound provide reach and tremendous killing power, and can crush some armies via trapping them in melee at the wrong time, while Forgefiends provide flexibility in how the army plays into factions that can fight them head on in melee like Blood Angels and Custodes. The Fiends are particularly nasty with Angron’s re-roll aura, and Blood Offering helps ensure that an enemy spiking their rolls in a gunfight can’t hurt your scoring too badly. Lots of extra strategic dimensions, all told, and while that may not sound very Khornate, “cares not from whence the blood flows” cuts both ways – you’re allowed to do it with cunning and strategy, as Joe showed off here.

Bren Kentwell – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Thousand Sons with a cute dog

Thoughts

This is your regular reminder that Thousand Sons are still very good. They have been continuously very good for a year now. You’d sort of expect Tzeentch would have gotten some new material, but I guess they just like winning too much. This build mixes things up with some Deep Strike Blue Horrors for objectives and a War Dog Karnivore as an emergency counter-charge piece, but mostly it’s the extreme power of all the Tsons tricks that you know and love. Congratulations to Bren.

The Best of the Rest

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

5th – Luke Winters – Imperial Knights: Aggro Imperial Knights, going for Canis and an Errant with loads of Warglaives in support.
6th – Jordan McGregor – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Immolators, Castigators, Dominions and big Seraphim squads.
7th – Andrew SHERMAN- Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): All-rounder GTF Templars.
8th – Greg Maginnity – Aeldari: Go-wide MSU Aeldari.
9th – Michael House – Thousand Sons: Double Mutalith Tsons.
10th – Rowan Kennett – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught): Mawlocs and melee Warriors supported by a big Zoanthrope unit.
11th – Kirby K – T’au Empire (Mont’ka): Breacherfish, Riptides, a unit of Broadsides with Shadowsun to boss them around, and one missile Fireknife Crisis Team with a Commander
12th – Dale Mann – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): An actual sighting of Belisarius Cawl in the wild, here supporting loads of Sydonian Dragoons and Ironstriders.
13th – Jack Blanche – Necrons (Obeisance Phalanx): Silent King and Doomsdays as a shooty core, then a wall of 30 Lychguard with various Leaders, one unit riding in a Night Scythe.
14th – Alex Rigby – Chaos Knights: A Rampager takes the dogs for a walk.

Hometown 40K

42-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Edmonton, Alberta, CA on July 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Scotty Bee – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius) – 1st Place

5 Primaris Space Marine Assault Intercessors of the Rainbow Warriors chapter — Rainbow Warriors Assault Intercessors by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All Rounder Sons

Thoughts

Sons is the detachment to beat right now, and as this build shows it’s got a bit more depth than just being all-in on the jump packs. As with the Blood Angels chapter tactic of editions past, the powerful detachment rule means that even small melee units threaten to inflict severe damage, meaning that if you want you can get a proportion of the heavy lifting done with cheap units like Assault Intercessors, and invest in some heavier tools as well. Here that means a Land Raider to provide protection for the foot Death Company, which helps provide a bastion against other melee builds, and staging against stuff that wants to shoot your units. Good stuff from Scotty!

Kieren Trimbee – Genestealer Cult (Xenocreed Congregation) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Xenocreed Acolyte Spam

Thoughts

Hell yeah! Xenocreed Congregation grew on me a lot over the course of our review of the Genestealer Cults Codex, as it works particularly well with some of the units I was hot on (autopistol Acolytes, Metamorphs) while also papering over the fact that the Army Rule’s current incarnation is underpowered via Enhancements and Stratagems. For those who read the review, yes it apparently turns out you do take a Magus as a cheap tool to sit at home with Deeds that Speak to the Masses, despite how garbage her datasheet is.

This list works by throwing incredibly deadly melee punches at the foe, supplementing them with tricky Characters, and (hopefully) being able to squeeze enough extra value out of Cult Ambush to eventually overwhelm the foe. The metagame is genuinely in a great place for autopistol Acolytes, as full units with Frenzied Devotion will reduce Blood Angels and Eightbound alike to a soup-like homogenate, and they’re perfectly happy to pivot to murdering tanks as well. Seeding a Locus into one squad can be a big headache for these armies as well, as it means if you can lurk in a ruin on an objective they’re going to hve a really tough time prising you out. For more cautious foes, the ability to push Advance/Charge threats in multiple places can put them distinctly on the back foot, and you supplement all of this with great cheap board control from Ridgerunners and Kelermorphs. This army is both a genuinely cool use of the codex and a trailblazer in terms of going undefeated, both things we love to see, well done Kieren.

The Best of the Rest

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

3rd – Jeremy Hoefsloot – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault): Extra-shooty Skysplinter with Voidravens.
4th – Michael Blanchet – Space Marines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Gladiators, RepExes and a goddamn Knight Porphyrion.
5th – John-Ross Cook – Chaos Knights: Dogs and their good buddy Rotigus.
6th – Sebastian Hebert – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): The new standard of Infantry blocks, Venatari and some Caladius tanks.
7th – Matthew Andrusiak – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): All-rounder Ultramarines centred on two Redeemers and a Calgar brick.

Midsummer O.P.A. 2024 WH40K

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Λάρισα, Ελλάδα on July 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Otestis Argiropoulos – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Possessed Pactbound

Thoughts

Our final winner of the day sports an interesting all-rounder Chaos Space Marines build, using the classic Abaddon/Forgefiend combo to force the enemy to engage, then counter-charges with Abaddon’s Terminators and various squads of Possessed, presumably unleashing maximum fishing for Devastating Wounds via Chaos Undivided. If the enemy doesn’t want to come to you, then a big unit of Warp Talons to Rapid Ingress or a nasty Slaanesh Daemon Prince can go to them instead. Nice and flexible, and good to see Possessed getting some play, well done Otestis.

The Best of the Rest

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

2nd – Orestis Stab – T’au Empire (Retaliation Cadre): Starscythes, Sunforges and Riptides.
3rd – guanbo liu – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Infantry and Venatari, skipping on Caladius tanks in favour of a couple of Grav-attacks.
4th – Christos Katsaros – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force): Librarians, Dreadknights and a big Terminator unit.
5th – Stefanos Samotas – Iron Hands (Ironstorm Spearhead): Feirros showing off his collection of cool tanks, specifically Vindicators, Redemptors, a Land Raider and a Stormraven.

Wrap Up

That’s it for part 1, I shall leave you in Lowest of Men’s capable hands for part 2 on Friday, where several more factions land undefeated finishes to hammer home how open the metagame feels!

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.

Competitive Innovations in 10th: Pariah Powers Up pt.1

THE SHEFFIELD 40K SUPER MAJOR

The Showdown

Take and Hold – Hidden Supplies – Search and Destroy

Thoughts

Result

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

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Jonny Simmons – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort) – 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Josh Roberts – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Ben Jones – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Denver 40K Fight Club July Open

Colin Kay – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

David Adelman – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion) – 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Robert Moreland – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Brandon Roddy – Blood Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Exterminatus IX: Sosig Party

Alexander Englezos – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Ashley Thompson – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Joe Loke – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Bren Kentwell – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Hometown 40K

Scotty Bee – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Kieren Trimbee – Genestealer Cult (Xenocreed Congregation) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Midsummer O.P.A. 2024 WH40K

Otestis Argiropoulos – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots) – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Wrap Up

Related

Share this:

Related