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Competitive Innovations in 10th: Scramble Scramble pt.3

By James "One_Wing" Grover, Lowest of Men and Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

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.

We’re running behind this week but that doesn’t mean we can’t finish strong. We’ll be back again on Wednesday with coverage of this wekeend’s events, and hopefully it’ll be a lighter week given Easter Sunday is likely to lead to fewer events.

Montana Beerhammer GT 2025

72-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Clyde Park, MT, United States on April 12 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Take and Hold – Rapid Escalation – Search and Destroy.

John Holbrook – Chaos Space Marines (Creations of Bile)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Jacob Collins – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Wings: It’s me – I’m on the mend and snuck back in to write just a little bit about warhammer, as a treat. This game sees the current Necron hotness of “one big Warrior unit and some Skorpekh” take on the Creations of Bile, and I think it ends up being a useful illustration of the limitations of this Necron strategy.

Obviously that means I’m spoiling this one up front – the forces of Bile won this comfortably, and unlike a lot of Showdowns I didn’t really even have to look at the result to be 95% sure of what I’d be writing here. 3W infantry, especially accompanied by any sort of defensive tricks, are one of the things that Necrons can struggle to deal with, and this Bile list is going to ram three full squads of that flavour straight forward and roll them. It’s especially problematic because the Chosen squad packs the sort of numbers that can detonate the Warrior brick near-outright, and the Possessed are no slouches in that arena either. Even if they get bogged down for a turn, the counter-punch the Necrons can mount just won’t do enough to make that really matter; Skorpekh are great at killing elite MSUs, but will have a rough time into a full squad, and the Void Dragon doesn’t really have the numbers. The Nemesis Claw is a particular kicker here, as if that slams into the side of the Warriors alongside one of the big units none of the Awakened reanimation tricks can be brought to bear. Finally, the Necrons don’t have great tools to reach out and drop the Hunstman, making them extremely annoying midfield points denial.

All in all, this is a horrendous matchup for the Necrons, and they don’t really have an out because of how pushy the pressure that’s coming for them is. Sure enough, the Creations capitalised on it.

Result

Chaos Space Marines (Creations of Bile) Victory – 94 – 51

 

Possessed. Credit: Rockfish
Possessed. Credit: Rockfish

John Holbrook – Chaos Space Marines (Creations of Bile) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Creations of Bile Possessed

Thoughts

TheChirurgeon: John’s Creations of Bile list is interesting in that it trades out a third unit of Possessed and the support of uppy-downy units like Warp Talons and Bikes for a 10-man Chosen unit and a pair of War Dog Huntsmen, which take on the roles of objective holders, ranged support, and anti-vehicle solutions in a pinch. That gives it more play into armies that can eat a charge from a big unit of possessed.

Be'lakor
Be’lakor – Credit: RichyP

Ryan Wyskochil – Chaos Daemons (Shadow Legion) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shadow Legions Goodstuff

Thoughts

TheChirurgeon: There have been a few different versions of Shadow Legion bouncing around at high levels of play, usually with varying numbers of Khorne Daemons and Havocs. The core idea here is still the same, though: Take the best datasheets across both armies and make them even better. This list triples up on big threats – Be’lakor, Bloodthirster, and Great Unclean One – and adds a full unit of Accursed to the mix to enjoy Be’lakor’s protection and re-rolls.

 

Chief Librarian Tigurius. Credit: SRM

Colin Kay – Space Marines (Astartes) (Gladius Task Force) – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Gladius Ultramarines

Thoughts

TheChirurgeon: If you haven’t played against this list, let me tell you the worst part: The CP. Between extra generation from Calgar and the ability to throw out free Stratagems, these lists just operate with an insane amount of CP at their disposal to do whatever they want, including secondary discards to goose their VP opportunities. It’s pretty common to get to round 2 or 3 and see an opponent with 3+ CP just wondering what they should even spend it on. With no vehicles, this list will play more like a melee pressure/midboard brawler list than a traditional Gladius list, which can sit back a bit more and use Vindicators for mid-range fire support.

 

Vespid Stingwings Kill Team. Credit: Jack Hunter

Bryan Scherrer – T’au Empire (Auxiliary Cadre) – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aux Cadre with triple Riptides

Thoughts

TheChirurgeon: The Auxiliary Cadre list gives you a way to supercharge your shooting by putting Kroot and Vespid units within 9″ of a target, improving your AP by 1 and giving you the ability to re-roll wound rolls with the Interlocking Manouevres Stratagem and improve your weapon strength. This is great on everything but particularly useful for the Ion cannons on Riptides, which go up to AP-3 or AP-4 when overcharged. Rampagers and Hounds give you fast units to throw out at your opponents to create those 9″ relationships.

The Best of the Rest

There were 8 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Thomas Moore – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Ynnari with all the same stuff you’re expecting.
  • 6th – Troy Oswood – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Ditto.
  • 7th – Ryan McGuire – Orks (Taktikal Brigade): Yes to Tankbustas, no to Breaka Boyz. Two units of Nobz do a similar job.
  • 8th – Cam Grieser – Death Guard (Plague Company): A shooting-heavy Death Guard build with double Predator Destructors, triple Myphitic Blight-haulers, and 3×3 Deathshroud.
  • 9th – Matthew Hartnett – Orks (War Horde): 5 Trukks disgorge a mob of Beastbosses, Nobz, and Flash Gits.
  • 10th – Kory Mashek – Death Guard (Plague Company): Three War Dogs and some Deathshroud backed up by the Fights First Plague Marine brick.
  • 11th – Mike Pestilens – Grey Knights (Warpbane Task Force): Fucking Grey Knights? You’re a traitor to your principles, Mike. Hope running 5 Dreadknights was worth it.
  • 12th – Quentin Killian – Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force): 3 sets of Veterans backed up by Terminators, jump Intercessors, and a Storm Speeder.

 

Silicon Valley Grand Tournament

50-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Foster City, CA, United States on April 12 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

 

Forrest Phanton – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wolf Jail

Thoughts

TheChirurgoen: Wolf Jail is still around, it just uses Vindicators now instead of Wulfen. The plan is still to trap your opponent in their Deployment Zone early with durable units of Thunderwolf Cavalry, then claim objectives while they try and dig themselves out. The big difference between this and prior lists is trading out Wulfen and Bjorn for a pair of Vindicators, one of the strongest units in the space marine (or Chaos Space Marines) arsenal.

The Best of the Rest

There were 8 more players on 4-1 records. For some reason most of them played Custodes or World Eaters, and they were:

  • 2nd – Jonathan Lee – Necrons (Awakened Dynasty): See Showdown.
  • 3rd – Ruben Zhao – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force): Quad Dreadknights with a pair of Terminator Squads.
  • 4th – Jim Yeh – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): A single biker Captain with quadruple Custodian Guard, triple Vertus Praetors, and triple Venatari.
  • 5th – Taylor Davis – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Look, at Forgefiend!
  • 6th – Will Trovato – Adeptus Custodes (Solar Spearhead): Triple Telemon and triple Venerable Contemptors with a Caladius thrown in for good measure.
  • 7th – John Kilcommons – Adeptus Custodes (Lions of the Emperor): Triple Blade Champions with triple Allarus Shield-Captains running around on their own.
  • 8th – Patrick Kilcommons – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): To quote Patrick, “Only an original list bc goremongers just came out.”
  • 9th – Samuel Cabrera Valencia – Chaos Daemons (Shadow Legion): Shadow Legion with 18 Bloodcrushers and double Rendmasters.

 

Perils Of The Geekery

44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Shawnee, KS, United States on April 12 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Cody Jiru – Drukhari (Reaper’s Wager) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Reaper’s Wager Drukhari

Thoughts

TheChirurgeon: Reaper’s Wager continues to emerge as the best way to play Drukhari following the release of the Aeldari Codex and an FAQ. That said, the goal isn’t so much to actually have a back-and-forth but rather to have a very good unit of the best Harlequins have to offer, then get more out of your Drukhari units with the ability to re-roll 1s to hit and wound.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Aaron Cook – Adeptus Custodes (Lions of the Emperor): Double Allarus with Shield-Captains and unusually no Wardens at all. Aaron finished on 4 wins and a draw.
  • 3rd – Kyle McCord – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): See Showdown.
  • 4th – Broc Bowman – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis, 5 Helverins, 6 Warglaives, some Inquisitorial Agents hanging out.
  • 5th – John Vuchetich – Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal): The Silent King and triple Doomsday Arks. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
  • 6th – Kyle Lamperez – Tyranids (Assimilation Swarm): Triple Psychophages!
  • 7th – Treynor Wolfe – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Some Windriders in this one.
  • 8th – Michael Roberts – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Three big Knights, with Canis backed up by a Lancer and a Crusader with Mysterious Guardian.

 

Amarillo Warhammer 40k Grand Tournament

33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Amarillo, TX, United States on April 12 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Deathwatch Terminators by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

Colton Havens – Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Deathwatch Black Spear

Thoughts

TheChirurgeon: Deathwatch just put out an insane amount of damage with a small number of units, so the game plan is usually “pick a moment to strike, then obliterate the opponent with superior firepower.” This list packs an extra melee threat in the form of the Watch Master with 10 Veterans in a Rhino, who can drop out, advance, and charge for a long-distance punch.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Derrick Ramsey – Chaos Daemons (Plague Legion): See Showdown.
  • 3rd – Vyasar Ganesan – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Triple Tyrannofexes in a list “Shamelessly stolen from Dag Samuelson” per Vyasar.
  • 4th – Josh Archer – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Triple Doomstalkers and double Reanimators for a War of the Worlds vibe.
  • 5th – Josh Anderson – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis and double Knight Crusaders.

 

The Great Game – Gongaii GT Spring 2025

29-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Forest Grove, OR, United States on April 12 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Achilles Ridgerunner. Credit: Rockfish
Achilles Ridgerunner. Credit: Rockfish

Isaac Terada – Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension) – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Host of Ascension GSC

Thoughts

TheChirurgeon: Yep, that’s a GSC list. The Host of Ascension is all about dropping into the battlefield and using the SUSTAINED HITS 1 and IGNORES COVER abilities to focus down bigger opponents with assists from your Ridgerunners and a ton of mining lasers. It’s pretty astonishing how easy it is for a Host of Ascenion army to whttle down even the game’s biggest targets in a single shooting phase, and having three units of Genestealers gives it a tiny amount of melee punch to close with.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Matthew Griffen – Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Yvraine stays home with the Yncarne leading the line instead and an Archon heading up the Incubi brick in a Raider.
  • 3rd – Gwen Freeman – T’au Empire (Experimental Prototype Cadre): Detachment: Gun brings many, many guns and a lot of Pathfinders and Stealth Suits to get in the way of the things that want to punch the guns.
  • 4th – Alex Najdek – Orks (War Horde): Alex would like you to know that his Kill Rigs are his best painted and favourite models. He has also just painted 12 Tankbustas. Fair play Alex.
  • 5th – Sergey Tupikov – Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal): The Silent King is here. Only double Doomsday Orks however, with some singleton Lokhusts and a Triarch Stalker as well.
  • 6th – Zack Coddington – Orks (Dread Mob): No matter what detachment, triple SAG Meks are the order of the day. They back up 3×6 Tankbustas and a big mob of Killa Kans.

Wrap Up

That concludes a week of Competitive Innovations in which our fearless leader was stricken ill and the B-team forgot that we only need to write one Showdown per article. Let’s hope next week is better.

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