Breathe the free air friends, 10th is a competitive game that involves (some) innovation! There’s whole bunch of new builds and surprise outcomes to get into today, so let’s dive in…

Today, I’ll be looking at:

• Torneo Nacional Warhammer 40k Mexico
• Lakes of Blood 2023
• Banished Cup
• No Surrender 2023

On Wednesday, we covered:

• Ratcon (major)
• Fields of Damnation
• Iberian Open Replay La Marca d’Egara
• 40k War for the Forge GT 2023

Torneo Nacional Warhammer 40k Mexico

55-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Mérida, Yuc., MX on September 16 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Luis German Giles – Thousand Sons – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Thousand Sons Agro Scarabs

Final Round Matchup

90 – 72 Victory against Carlos Moreno – Astra Militarum.

Thoughts

Thousand Sons took a significant hit in the dataslate, but reports of their demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated (textbook Tzeentch). One build that is still taking names is the more hammer-blow type approach that builds around Magnus, a Daemon Prince, and a big block of Scarab Occult Terminators, as demonstrated ably here by this first place finish from Luis. With the Umbralific Crystal and the Stealth aura provided by the Prince you can pick your moment and hit extremely hard whilst setting up to weather an enemy response. It’s a little less versatile than the more control-type Rubric lists we have seen, but it can make an enormous mess, and into the unwary it is capable of ending a game in a single turn of targeted aggression. Sorcerers provide no-shooting outside of 18 protection and Tzaangor zip about to assist in screening and scoring. Congratulations on the victory Luis!

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Xavier Barrera – Dark Angels: Triple Ballistus, Land Raider, Aggressors, Deathwing Knights. 2+ saves for days, we will be seeing this a lot more!
• 3rd – Damian Flores Díaz – Ynnari: Go-wide Ynnari with Hornets, Ravagers, and Venoms for some mission play. So much mission play and threat here.
• 4th – Rodrigo Duarte – Aeldari: Aeldari Goodstuff with a Wraithknight. It’s a new world, but it ain’t THAT new.
• 5th – Pavel Echeveste – Necrons: Double Lychguard, Destroyers, and lots of sneaky characters with Doomsday Arks bringing up the rear.

Lakes of Blood 2023 – OCC Qualifier

41-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand on September 15 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Hamish Reeve – Chaos Knights – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Chaos Knight Armigers

Final Round Matchup

95 – 84 Victory against Charlie Kang – Chaos Knights.

Thoughts

Chaos Knights have emerged as big winners from the recent changes, with the threat of being completely bodied off the board by enemy Towering units eliminated. This means they can utilise their strengths – the ability to hide huge amounts of OC on very dangerous shooting and combat platforms (Brigands and Karnivores both excel at their roles, and the latter getting a points cut was certainly a choice that someone made), and then yolo through walls via Knights of Shade at the right moments (read: most moments) to smash into the enemy and steal objectives.

The army boasts phenomenal primary play, which Hamish has further supplemented with the Aura of Terror enhancement, which enables him to sticky objectives with his big boy knight as he seeps up the board, and spread that aura of Battle-shock inducing panic even further. Congratulations on highlighting the power of this index Hamish!

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Haydn Korach – Aeldari: Go wide Aeldari exploiting Asurman and Dire Avengers, War Walkers and lots of Infantry.
• 3rd – Joshuah Megchelse – Imperial Knights: Crusader, Warden, Armigers, and a sneaky sneaky Callidus.
• 4th – Sterling Arnet – Aeldari: Hornets and fast moving infantry with a big brick of Wraithguard.
• 5th – Matt Everitt – Necrons: Ok this list is awesome. Double C’tan (Void Dragon!!), loads of Destroyers, and two full bricks of Deathmarks. Sweet as all hell.
• 6th – Daniel Higham – T’au Empire: Longstrike and triple Hammerheads, you bad bad man. Hull spam taken to the max here with Sky Rays and Devilfish also making an apperance alongside a single plasma Crisis team, love it.
• 7th – Richard Holman – Sisters of Battle: Vahl leads a contingent of Paragon suits, backed up by Celestine, and some Mortifiers and Castigators. Armour heavy sisters, hell yeah.

No Surrender 2023

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Christchurch, Canterbury, NZ on September 15 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Vinnie Purcell – Chaos Space Marines – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Legends supplemented Nurgle Hull Spam

Final Round Matchup

97 – 20 Victory against Jacob Tinning – Aeldari.

Thoughts

Ok, this list is crazy. Go wide CSM tanks, including a few choice cuts from Legends that were evidently allowed at this event. Slamming the Mark of Nurgle on everything (including a freaking Falchion) gives this enormous control in a shootout with enemy armour, as you always have the option of simply no selling their efforts to fire back  at you unless they get really, really close. Like ‘Abaddon hits you in the mouth’ close. A horrific build but also one we will sadly not be seeing grace events without loose treatment of Legends units. Congratulations on a storming win Vinnie!

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Jacob Tinning – Aeldari: Ynnari with a massive focus on mission play via Kabalites and Rangers. Is Ynnari the way forward?
• 3rd – John McLachlan – Tyranids: Invasion Fleet nids with a great mix of monsters, supporting utility and baby bugs. Triple Exocrine for the shooting spine.
• 4th – Tom Phipps – Genestealer Cult: Forward pressure GSC with Patriarch led Purestrains, Aberrants, and Bikers. When this goes first, you will cry. Cheeky Basilisk to get in on that slowing everybody down action.
• 5th – Luke Cruse – Space Wolves: Wolf Lords for days leading up a horde of Thunderwolf Cavalry, backed up by some Ballistus Dreads and support infantry. This looks absolutely epic.
• 6th – Alex Towse – Chaos Knights: Double Rampagers and a horde of supporting Armigers.

Banished Cup

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

The Showdown

Hammer and Anvil – Take & Hold

xl_ – Leagues of Votann

Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Velorr – Chaos Knights

Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Rock and Stone, Mr Bond. This match up pits two lesser seen factions against each other, as the Votann arrive in 10th with their first event win. I’ve not played many games of new 10th yet but I have, remarkably, played this exact match up, and it is a doozey.

On the Dwarf side the Votann pack a dizzying array of shooting platforms in an unusual skew list, with 18 Grav Thunderkyn stepping on from the sides to unleash hell. These little guys can devastate vehicles (especially if they get amped up with Ancestral Sentence) and they overwatch on 5s which allows you to continue to control space after they arrive. Double Iron-Masters help ensure their accuracy, and the list is supported by 12 Hernkyn bikers to shore up scoring and threaten further attacks from the flanks. The list has gone for an ‘activation lock’ style build with a lot of small characters riding in Sagitaurs to zip around and score points whilst being obnoxious to remove.

On the other side, the Chaos Knights bring their sneaky tricks, yeeting OC8 out from behind walls and showering the foe in accurate shooting, as Nurglings help control place and tick off any cards that an Armiger doesn’t fancy. I like the Beast of Nurgle here as a cheap objective holder and deep striking option- in a post artillery world these are much more durable and can help to draw the foe onto the CK guns. Both armies can really put the hurt on one another, as Judgement tokens and Grav let the Dwarfs slap down Armigers that wander into view, and the CK shooting and combat chops up Votann very happily in reply. The Votann rely on hammer blows with three or four units, whereas the go-wide nature of the Armiger list is able to absorb these before punching back with second and third waves of metal chickens. Match up wise this is a close one as a result, and the Hammer and Anvil mission very much forces a brawl in the centre from the get go. As it was the two armies fought themselves to a stand still with a Teams scoring draw that the Votann were narrowly on the right side of.

Leagues of Votann 68-66 Chaos Knights – a draw in teams scoring.

Result

xl_ –  Leagues of Votann – 1st Place

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Thunderkyn Spam

Thoughts

A first GT win for Votann that owes a lot to Thunderkyn, who are now devastatingly cheap at 75 for three. Excellent into vehicles, reliable into hordes, and consistent into marine bodies, the Grav Thunderkyn is an all-star that can cover a wide range of match ups. Several of the key Votann enhancements are all on display here- Grim Demeanour mitigates enemy modifiers, A Long List keeps the Judgement tokens flowing, and it was interesting to see Grimnyr serving in place of Hearthkyn Warriors as the sneaky mission doers. Congratulations on a hard earned first place!

Velorr – Chaos Knights -2nd Place

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Armiger Spam

Thoughts

The CK list from the Showdown, this list boasts great output, mission play, and width of threats. Daemon tech seems to shore up scoring for most Chaos lists at the moment and this was no exception. Expect CK to continue to be a regular feature over the next few months. Great work on the top finish!

The Best of the Rest

There were three more players on 4-1 finishes. They were:

• 3rd – Kostakis – Aeldari: Ynnari with tonnes of mission play infantry and some Dark Lances.
• 4th – Khal06 – Tyranids: Invasion Fleet with Zoans, a Trygon, and Exocrines. A cheeky Norn Emissary makes an appearance!
• 5th – Arlekin – Thousand Sons: Sorcerer and Rubric Spam with a Vortex Beast.

Wrap Up

That’s it for this week! Things are finally in flux, so get out there, try stuff, and have fun.

Lowest of Men, out.