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Competitive Innovations in 10th: Silver and Gold pt.2

By Lowest of Men and James "One_Wing" Grover

We’re back for part two of this week’s review of competitive lists, and today it’s mostly a Lowest of Men show, with Wings sneaking in at the end to take a look at some of the lists from the American Team Championships.

Today, we’ll be covering:

  • North and South GT (major) – Lowest of Men
  • Ropecon – Lowest of Men
  • Bembel Clash – Lowest of Men
  • (bonus) American Team Championship – Wings

If you’re looking for any of the following, go take a look at part 1:

  • The North East Open (major) – Wings
  • Capital Clash Summer GT (major) – Lowest of Men
  • Arch City GT – Wings
  • Peterborough Slam GT! – Wings

North and South GT 2023

60-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hobart, TAS AU on July 28 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Tyler Walsh – Necrons – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Necron Mixed Arms

Thoughts

The emergence of the Necrons from their early 10th slumber continues here, with this wonderful contribution from Tyler. A lot of the usual key ingredients – Warriors, Lychguard, and buffing characters for dominating the primary – are backed up by some serious heavy shooting in the form of three Doomsday Arks and three single Heavy Destroyers. The latter offer nice scoring flexibility as they are cheap enough on their own to throw away for secondaries, and bringing them in from reserves one at a time can also mitigate any horrific overwatch that a large target (and we all know exactly which large target) might want to throw at them before they start shooting right back. The Hexmark here is entrusted with the powerful Sovereign Coronal relic, which helps all of the Necron strats and force multipliers to go all the way to eleven and increase their efficiency and output. Cheap Scarabs offer even more scoring possibilities, and this list looks exceptionally well designed to put up massive numbers whilst offering more punch at a distance than many of the Necron lists that we have seen. A beautifully designed build, great work!

Shannen Butters – Aeldari – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Greg Narro

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aeldari Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

85 – 62 Victory against Nathan Princi – Adeptus Custodes.

Thoughts

They shoot, they score, they teleport a God into your lines and crush your spirits. Question is, what are you going to do about it? Further elf dominance here from Shannen. I really, really like what War Walkers offer in an Eldar list at the moment. They require an unreasonable amount of effort to shift, which compounds the nightmare situation the opponent is already in trying to exchange with the elves on reasonable terms without taking heavy losses, and they can screen space and get into key positions early as the heavy guns do the work from safety. A very powerful take on a powerful army. Congratulations on second!

Nathan Princi – Adeptus Custodes – 3rd Place

Adeptus Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank
Adeptus Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Custodes Mixed Arms

Thoughts

Another contender to the throne balances guns with combat power here, as the Custodes bring grav tanks to the fray. The Calladius is hard to shift, shoots hard, and can screen out space in the backfield whilst still being relevant, and as such contributes to a more flexible game plan than simply jamming the ‘yes’ button on bodies. Exaction Squads provide secondary options, and the Eversor drops in to say hello here (presumably because having as cheap and assassin as possible was the order of the day here!). A tough and varied list, excellent stuff.

James Stewart – Genestealer Cult – 4th Place

Credit: keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

GSC Goodstuff

Thoughts

Another powerful showing from the GSC here, this offering from James packs a few more Aberrants in for some added brawling potential. Forward deploy on the Abominant makes plenty of sense- a lot of people are gunning for the Biophagus via PRECISION and other tricks these days, and being able to get back up the first time you’re kill goes a long way here, as it keeps the precious -1 to wound buff on the Aberrants around that bit longer. SUSTAINED HITS on their hammers is no joke into the right targets too. The Saboteurs stay home and the Sanctus comes in to provide some Lone Operative nonsense from afar. A solid variation on the powerful theme that is GSC as this moment in time. Great work!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – Liam Grossmith – Thousand Sons: Magnus, Mutaliths, and scoring utility. A great all rounder list.
  • 6th – Ethan Armstrong – Iron Hands: A wide range of Iron Hands goodness including a Land Raider Redeemer and big slabs of Eradicators and Aggressors. Brutalis in there for cool points!
  • 7th – Adam Douglas – Thousand Sons: Magnus, Sorcerers, Mutaliths, Termies, Utility. Tsons are having a good time at the minute!
  • 8th – Mariusz Ryba – Raven Guard: Raven Guard Centurions turn back the years, supported by two Repulsors and lots of shooty infantry.
  • 9th – Michael Davie – Aeldari: Aeldari with 20 Wraithguard for the Anvil pivot.
  • 10th – Liam Hogwood – Adepta Sororitas: Castigators, Sacrosancts, and Rhinos to get them to battle. Excellent build.

Ropecon Tournament

44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Helsinki, Uusimaa Suomi on July 29 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

This event was using 20-0 scoring with pure BP for placings, so the top finisher wasn’t undefeated.

Eetu Peltola – Necrons – 1st Place

Canoptek Reanimator. Credit: Wings

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Necrons Awakeningstuff

Final Round Matchup

9-11 Loss against Eetu Peltola – Necrons.

Thoughts

Look, more Necrons! I smell a winter of dominance… double Hexmark here for really hating on elves and GSC units that can’t take a punch, and Warriors make way for a double Lychguard pivot. The Transcendant C’tan is here once again, and Eetu has gone for the Doomsday Arks as well. Very punchy but with plenty of jank and trickery in here, what a triumph the Necrons index is eh. I’ll give a little shout out to the Cryptothralls, whose job it is to soak up enemy fire and buy time for the Lychguard, before reanimating to do it all over again. Just roll 4s bro. Very well done on the first place finish Eetu!

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Kaarle Tuki – Aeldari: Triple Wraithknight Aeldari. Still a thing!
  • 3rd – Juha Ottelin – Aeldari: Go-wide MSU Aeldari.
  • 4th – Aleksi Lehtiö – Genestealer Cult: GSC Battleline carpet with a single Goliath Truck to ensure some early board presence. I’m intending to try this myself, lovely tech.
  • 5th – Indran Yogaswaran – Adeptus Custodes: Triple Guard brick with utility.
  • 6th – Joonas Neva – “Adepta Sororitas”: a BCP mislead, this was actually double Wraithknight Aeldari – bringing Sisters might have been more of a surprise here…
  • 7th – Jouni Haavisto – Orks: Heroic die-on-the-line Ork MSU with a bunch of trucks to outscore the foe. Cracking effort here.

Bembel Clash #8

37-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hirzenhain, HE DE on July 29 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Lukas Lötscher – Aeldari – 1st Place

Credit: Greg Narro

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aeldari with Wraithguard

Final Round Matchup

13 – 7 Victory against Colin Schmid – Genestealer Cult.

Thoughts

Another mighty Eldar build takes the gold here, this one leaving the Wraithknight at home in favour of the Wraithguard ten slab. It’s a rare golden era for wraiths after such a long time in the wilderness, and it’s certainly important to try and remember that even in this most skewed of metas. Both Avatars appear here to perform their roles as durable tank and janky assassin, and this has a great width of assets to out play the opponent. Very well done on the first place finish.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Mario Barkeeper – Aeldari: Double Avatar eldar with some Harlequin characters for utility.
  • 3rd – Tobias Wesselmann – Deathwatch: 20 Desolators and 20 Hellblasters. Glorious.
  • 4th – Pascal Haberstroh – Dark Angels: The Lion, some Deathwing Knights, and assorted marines infantry. Excellent stuff.
  • 5th – Niklas Frerichs – Adeptus Custodes: A Horde of Custodes Infantry.
  • 6th – Colin Schmid – Genestealer Cult: GSC Goodstuff. Double Clamavus for extra screening.

The American Team Championship – Bonus

As ever with team events, go take a look at the summary I put out a while back about how they differ from singles – I’ll be looking at them with that in mind.

1st Place – Art of War

The Lists

Nick Nanavati – Genestealer Cult

Genestealer Cults Clamavus
DJ WON’T by Fowler

Army List - Click to Expand

Jack Harpster – Grey Knights

Grey Knights Army. Credit: Colin Ward

Army List - Click to Expand

John Lennon – Adeptus Custodes

Custodian Guard
Custodian Guard. Credit: Edwin “Lupe” Moriarty

Army List - Click to Expand

Quinton Johnson – Aeldari

Army List - Click to Expand

Richard Siegler – Deathwatch

Credit: TheChirurgeon

Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

To no one’s particular surprise, the powerhouse team from Art of War won the ATC, packing a suite of lists that combines three of the best factions out there, the best Space Marines build and one more techy pick in Grey Knights.

Let’s start out with the obvious stuff – every time we look at teams events we generally see the very best singles factions feature in most loadouts, and that means that it’s not particularly surprising that Genestealer Cults and Aeldari are here. These factions stand head and shoulders above everyone else in singles play, to such an extent that even though everyone knows they’re a factor they’re still pretty much auto-includes, and the builds don’t look wildly different from what shows up in singles. The main thing that is worth highlighting is that there looks to be a higher density of builds with a Wraithknight in the upper echelons of the team loadouts, plus a more consistent inclusion of Night Spinners. That makes sense – teams encourages you to double down on things that factions do uniquely well, and there’s no one quite like the Aeldari right now for mercilessly evaporating people even when they’re hiding behind walls.

Once you’re past those two obvious choices, Custodes are another army that stands out. They’ve been very successful so far in 10th, and have the unique sell of being the best melee infantry army by a massive margin. On a heavy-terrain table that’s going to make them extremely hard to beat, especially if they go for high-durability builds, and sure enough that’s what we see here – lot’s of Custodians, lots of Wardens, lots of chopping. This has the capability to go “over the top” against some other tanky builds like Necrons, and on the right table can hold its own against the top two, making it a powerful inclusion.

Next up – Space Marines. With each faction only being able to appear once in each roster, the changes that someone is going to pick up Marines ends up pretty high, and with Deathwatch sitting substantially ahead of every other Marine option on power level, it’s no particular surprise to see them here. Apart from pure power level, Deathwatch have the significant draw of being pretty strong into Genestealer Cults, and the presence of lots of Infiltrators and a full Desolation brick clearly reflect that here. The mobility and killing power of the Proteus squads gives them game into lots of stuff, but having a strong counter into a known-good faction is ultra valuable. The Hailstrike is also a great inclusion, as it ensures that the high volume weapons aren’t dead if they pair into something a bit crunchier.

Finally, the wildcard and skew list, Grey Knights. This build leans hard into the mobility tricks of Grey Knights – between Teleport Assault and Mists of Deimos, this army can potentially be redeploying all three of its big bricks every single turn, which is a lot for some opponents to try and deal with. Add in all of those units bringing quite a bit of volume to the table, plus high durability, and you’re ready to give some serious headaches to stuff that can’t cleanly bring its killing power to bear on a dime. From looking at the pairings, it looks like the role of this list was as one that could tangle with Aeldari and plausibly come away with the win – it’s such a headache to play against, and so effectively cuts out the utility of their small, fragile units (plus the Yncarne) that it provides a real route to taking points away from a match the opponents are probably aiming for a 20-0 from (and in the event, Jack just won that matchup when it arose).

Potent stuff here, and nice to see Grey Knights acting as a skew/counter build in teams in addition to their sudden surge in singles. Well done to Art of War.

2nd Place – Tundra Tactics

Brad Townsend – Tyranids

Barbgaunts. Credit: Rockfish
Barbgaunts. Credit: Rockfish

Army List - Click to Expand

Andrew Gonyo – Adeptus Custodes

Allarus Custodes by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

Army List - Click to Expand

Cameron Piñeiro – Aeldari

Dark Reapers. Credit: Rockfish
Dark Reapers. Credit: Rockfish

Army List - Click to Expand

Eric Forsman – Genestealer Cult

Primus. Credit: Rockfish
Primus. Credit: Rockfish

Army List - Click to Expand

Oliver Smith – Deathwatch

Deathwatch veteran Isak Al’Tah. Credit: Charlie Brassley

Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

So what’s the same, what’s different? Mostly the former, if we’re honest – GSC, Aeldari, Custodes and Deathwatch all make an appearence here too, though there’s a few different bits of tech in some of the builds. The Aeldari list goes even further down the road of skewing towards indirect by adding a couple squads of Dark Reapers, something that’s also been creeping into singles lists. Turns out that while the Reapers themselves don’t hit like they used to, being much cheaper whips, and 75pts for a Tempest Launcher with some occasional burst damage assistants is still pretty good. Over in Deathwatch, we see the use of Eradicators to shore up the anti-tank capabilities of the army, which again seems pretty spicy as the price on those guys is wild. Also nice to see new Sternguard getting out and about on the table, and Deathwatch is certainly one of the places they’re most exciting. The only other choice of note is that in this setup the Callidus Assassin is chilling with the Deathwatch rather than Custodes, removing the need to bring a Watch Master for Vect in the former, but necessitating that the latter brings a few more utility units to cover scoring.

Right, let’s look at the one big difference, which is that this setup has bugs – a Tyranid build that looks like it’s planning around an attrition gameplan. Lots of Barbgaunts and a carpet of cheap Neurogaunts provide plenty of tools to gum up and slow down the enemy forces, while all the big shooty buys are a pain to remove, and will take a massive toll on enemies as they try and wade through the chaff. This feels like it’s got a pretty good story to tell into Adeptus Custodes, and the combination of lots of blast shooting and huge board coverage means that it can plausibly do something into Genestealer Cults. Biovores are also great at scoring fixed Secondaries, allowing this list to play a “Defender” role by packing a fairly high score floor. From a review of the pairings, it looks like that’s what Brad ended up doing – he jumped on the demolition charge that is GSC four times, and came away with between five and ten points for the team every time (10,8,8,5). In a teams format, that’s honestly extremely legit, being able to neutralise a big score from one of the best factions in the game so consistently is enormous. Well done to Tundra Tactics for picking out that neat tech and coming in second.

Wrap Up

Another week done, and our first look at teams for 10th Edition. There will be plenty more of that in the near future as the WTC is coming up, and plenty more singles to look at next week. Also, don’t forget to check out our competitive faction focus series, publishing every weekday over the next few weeks (you can see the first one, the highly topical Necrons, here).

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