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Competitive Innovations in 10th: Tally Ho pt.1

By James "One_Wing" Grover

A refreshing shakeup this week – while there are some strong showings from our regular metagame villains, this week we’ve got a healthy variety of breakthroughs for other factions, including a particularly admirable surge for Imperial Knights. If you’ve been looking sadly at your enormous robot sons it might be time to give them a bit of exercise, and we’ve also got some spicy performances from the Astra Militarum and Votann.

Let’s take a look, starting today with:

  • German Major Bayern 2024
  • EL Bunker, Bajio Open 2024
  • WARHAMMER 40K NATIONALS 2024
  • No Surrender 2024
  • War for the Forge 2024 40k GT
  • Riverhammer 2024

On Friday Lowest of Men will take up the banner and cover:

  • Roll for Damage GT 2024
  • Dicing Death II GT
  • Iron Cage: September Slaughter
  • East Midlands Slam GT 1!
  • Harlequins Warhammer 40K GRAND TOURNAMENT 2024
  • Thunder Hammer – GameShelf Sept 2024 Warhammer 40K Tournament

This week’s Showdowns, voted for by our Patrons, will be:

  • Imperial Knights vs Skysplinter Drukhari at No Surrender 2024
  • Biosanctic Broodsurge Genestealers vs Imperial Knights at Roll for Damage 2024

German Major Bayern 2024

105-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Regensburg, BY, Deutschland on September 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Mathieu Clerc – Leagues of Votann (Oathband) – 1st Place

Einhyr Hearthguard. Credit: Rich Nutter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Infantry-Heavy Votann

Thoughts

Up top today we have the steadily reliable Leagues of Votann taking a major trophy, with Mathieu deploying a more infantry-heavy build than the norm. Lots of Yaegirs combined with transports and two horrific counter-charge threats (the big Beserks and Hearthguard) force a very cautious gameplan from the opponent, and put a lot of pressure on them to try and win a gunfight with Land Forts at range, which is still reasonably tough with their 10th-edition incarnation. That’s a strong overall plan, and I also like the big Beserk unit quite a lot in the current metagame – it’s the hardest single punch the army can throw, and cost-effective enough on the trade that it can discourage stuff like Deathwing Knights and Warsuits from being too aggressive. Nice to see a Votann build that carves out a fairly unique style despite the small range, and great work from Mathieu on the win.

Malte Höfs – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders) – 2nd Place

That Gobbo

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Accursed Raiders

Thoughts

Accursed Communes are the defining Chaos Space Marine unit right now, providing an early pressure wave that can either flatten foes or put them hard enough on the back foot that you can either outscore them (with Cult) or grind them out of existence (Raiders builds like this). Destructors and flamer Rubricae are an extremely efficient cleanup detail, and the big unit of Chosen provides a final proper hammer to unleash if the cultists run out of steam. Well done to Malte for unleashing the terrible powers of Chaos here.

Dennis Gottschalk – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force) – 3rd Place

Grey Knights Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Ultracrunch Grey Knights

Thoughts

Many Grey Knights builds have switched to Terminators, but in third place we’ve got a reminder that they also play a very good crunch game. Combining Redeemers and Dreadknights gives a wall of resilient threats and reliable damage output, and the speed of the Dreadknights makes it far more mobile than some similar plans can be. In addition, being able to stash a Battleline unit at home till the late game while the big stuff clears the board means this army still retains a strong Secret Mission plan, helping provide a backup option if opponents try to beat it via early Primary denial. Grey Knights in general are having a solid spike in performance right now, and well done to Dennis for showing that there’s a real breadth in the lists you can deploy.

Paul Hilsdorf – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame) – 4th Place

Credit: Evan “Felime” Siefring

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Speedy Flame Sisters

Thoughts

Rounding out our top four here it’s the speedy Bringers of Flame build, here dropping the big flamer/Fire and Fury Seraphim squad to sneak in Celestine and go a bit wider. I think that choice is something of a gamble, because if you run into the triple Accursed lists you really want that unit, but against other top builds you get more from Celestine, and here that worked out well. Great stuff from Paul.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Sami Amr – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Shooty Renegade Raiders with three units of Obliterators and Abaddon.
  • 6th – Marius Wittenborn – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): All-rounder board control Hypercrypt with melee from Skorpekh and Lychguard then dakka from Heavy Lokhusts and Immortals.
  • 7th – Thomas Büttelmann – Black Templars (Righteous Crusaders): Primaris Crusader spam.
  • 8th – Fritz Peters – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Heavy shooty Hypercrypt.
  • 9th – Jens Gottfried – Genestealer Cult (Xenocreed Congregation): Hybrid Metamorph-heavy Xenocreed, with lots of Trucks for riding around, and some Acolytes as a core.
  • 10th – Gunnar Rümpel – Imperial Knights: Atrapos/Canis Rex teamup.

EL Bunker, Bajio Open 2024

76-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Santiago de Querétaro, Qro., México on September 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Xavier Barrera – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

Rogal Dorn. Credit: Rockfish
Rogal Dorn. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Double Dorn Bullgryn Spam

Thoughts

Astra Militarum are another army that’s on the rise, and this list shows off the key strengths driving it. Dorns are extremely efficient killing machines that are a pain to trade fire with (especially with hellhounds to set up Ignores Cover in key 2+ save matchups), and the wall of Bullgryn here ensures that foes don’t really have an option to try melee early on. Catachans and Chimeras provide an extremely effective skirmish screen ahead of that (plus points denial), and I continue to be an enormous fan of the tooled-up Scion squad – very much something you only have to be on the receiving end of once to start respecting. This list does kind of do everything, and in Xavier’s hands it also beat everyone – congratulations!

Amador Perez – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force) – 2nd Place

Credit: Keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Deathwing GTF

Thoughts

In hot pursuit (losing narrowly to the guard in the final) we’ve got the all-rounder powerhouse of the Deathwing GTF build, featuring all the standard hits. We’re all familiar with this by now, but as always when a build is on top for a while, more and more people are gunning for it, so well done to Amador for taking the second place trophy regardless.

Arturo Guerrero – Death Guard (Plague Company) – 3rd Place

Scribbus Wretch, the Tallyman
Scribbus Wretch, the Tallyman. That Gobbo

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Crunchy Board Control Death Guard

Thoughts

In third, we’ve got a Death Guard build centred on the classic combo of Rhino Plague Marines and Brigands, but tweaking a few of the normal choices to increase board presence and coverage. One Brigand out for two Bloat-drones honestly does feel like a pretty decent trade, and in general there’s a bit more redundancy to fall back on here that I really like. Always a fan of tinkering with the standard choices paying off, so great work from Arturo in third.

Roberto Ernesto – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 4th Place

Lord Solar. Credit: Rockfish
Lord Solar. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Tank-Heavy Guard

Thoughts

Rounding out our second top four we’ve got another guard showing, highlighting the breadth of the builds that the Militarum can field. This one goes for down-the-line armoured might, supplementing Dorns with lots of Russes, plus a squad of Kasrkin to fire and reload via Reinforcements. Not super complex, but very dangerous, and thoroughly overwhelming for some foes. Congratulations to Roberto for racking up another win for the emperor’s finest.

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Julio Villarreal – T’au Empire (Kauyon): Go-wide shooty Kauyon with Riptides, Breacherfish and Ghostkeels, one plasma Fireknife unit, and a big counterpunch brick of Krootox Rampagers.
  • 6th – Jonathan Galvez – Astra Militarum: Tank-tastic Guard with lots of Russes and double Dorns.

WARHAMMER 40K NATIONALS 2024

54-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Paarl, WC, South Africa on September 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Ashley Clutten – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders) – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Raider Gunline

Thoughts

No Communes? No problem, apparently! Instead, the tried and true strategy of pounding foes into oblivion with an AP-boosted Abaddon gunline takes an event here, supplemented by Warp Talons providing a strong brawler threat that’s one of the better answers to Deathwing Knights, even at the higher price. I think the secret sauce making this work is the Nurglings – a unit of six of these can string out a long way on Infiltrate, restricting early enemy movement so that the gunline has time to get lined up. Nice as ever to see that even when one unit is dominating a faction, you don’t have to use them to succeed, great work from Ashley.

The Best of the Rest

There were 9 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – David Holmner – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Triple Dorn with lots of infantry to skirmish and two tooled-up Scion units to drop.
  • 3rd – Andrea Balocco – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Ultra-sticky Daemons with maximum Nurglings and a mixture of big and medium monsters to hide behind them.
  • 4th – Brennan Healey – Blood Angels (Sons of Sanguinius):  Jump pack spam, going for cheaper Jump Assault Intercessors as the big core blocks to squeeze in some extra MSUs and a brawling unit of Bladeguard with a Judiciar.
  • 5th – Peter Van Dyk – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Mixed Hypercrypt with a couple of C’tan and some Wraiths backed by Immortals and Doomsdays.
  • 6th – Orion Adams – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Monster mash with the One-Eye/Dakkafex unit.
  • 7th – Steven Wassink – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Deathwing Gladius swapping out one of the Knight units (plus change) for the Lion.
  • 8th – Michael Dawson – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Deathwing Gladius, here upgrading the Repulsor to a Redeemer and adding a Darkshroud.
  • 9th – Dale Jackson – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Four Infantry blocks and two shooty hulls, but with one of them as a Telemon rather than Caladius for variety.
  • 10th – Nicholas Rorich – Death Guard: Two tooled-up Rhino units and cheap go-wide Daemon Engines.

No Surrender 2024

40-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand on September 13 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Purge the Foe – Rapid Escalation – Crucible of Battle

Matthew Pearce – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Francis Mclauchlan – Drukhari (Skysplinter Assault)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Big robots, hell yeah! The standard setup of Canis and a teleporting Crusader is joined by a Lancer for max aggro, and with sticky objectives to boot from the Banner. This build can go, packing the damage output to take out almost any opposition, even the toughest of Dark Angels builds, and being able to leap through securing a few objectives on the way means that you only have to worry about scoring if the opponent can break through. This mission is also perfect for the list – the kill side of Purge is going to favour them massively in this game, and being able to turn 1 Strategic Reserve an Armiger certainly isn’t nothing on top. Their firepower is also great for taking down the Drukhari menace, and the onus is very much on the Aeldari to find an answer.

Not going to lie, it’s going to be tough. Taking down Armigers is fine with the dark lances and small Incubi units, but without a full Incubi unit it’s going to be tough for them to proactively deal with the big ones. Purge is also a nightmare to try and deny objectives on, so the Knights are definitely going to tick up a decent amount of Primary.

I think as the Drukhari here you have to just go ultra cautious and target a Secret Mission, especially if you’re going second. The flip side of the scoring on Purge is that you can get to 20pts very easily, so do that, try to stop a few turns of Kill More from the Knights, and focus on killing the Armigers first. Hope that that gives enough of an advantage on Secondaries to overcome the fact that the Knights may well still reach 40+, and hope that does enough. I think it’s a stiff challenge still, as it’s really only going to take one bad swing and miss turn to create an insurmountable lead for the Knights. That does seem to broadly be what happened – the Drukhari put up an OK score, but the Knights topped 90, which I don’t realistically think the Drukhari ever beat.

Result

Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) Victory – 94 – 75

Matthew Pearce – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) – 1st Place

Imperial Knights. Credit: Matt Pearce

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Big Robot

Thoughts

Hell yeah chivalry is back baby. It’s notable that right now a lot of top builds have tools for spiking one big target at medium range while hefty units like Mutaliths and Deathwing Knights hold the line, but three can be a bit much for them to handle. With that in mind, triple bigs feels like it’s in a better place than it has been for a while, and this particular setup seems strong (though I think you could happily swap in an Atrapos for the Crusader depending on exactly what you expect to face). Great fun to see out doing well, congratulations to Matthew (and thanks for sending us the awesome photo).

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd (4.5-0.5) – John McLachlan – Tyranids (Crusher Stampede): Extra shooty Crusher Monster Mash, maxing out on Exocrines and Tyrannofexes.
  • 3rd (4.5-0.5) – Luke Cruse – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force): Wolf Jail with a few extra shooty units at the back.
  • 4th – Alex Towse – Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis/Crusader at the helm, Armigers and a bunch of Imperial Agents for a bit of extra board presence.
  • 5th – Liam Giles – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): C’tan spamming Hypercrupt, with enmitic Lokhusts to handle any more numerous foes.
  • 6th – Sam Wong – Astra Militarum: Double Dorn guard with a Bullgryn brick to hold the foe at bay.
  • 7th – George Batch – Chaos Knights: Hyper-aggro Chaos Knights with a Rampager and Lancer.

War for the Forge 2024 40k GT

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Coraopolis, PA, US on September 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Malaki Fowler – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic) – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Heavy Thousand Sons

Thoughts

Good news everyone, there’s a new top Thousand Sons build. I’m sure you’re all delighted. We haven’t had enough of those. Give me strength. Anyway, adding Forgefiends on top of the Mutaliths creates a horrifying wall of threats for any foe to try and handle, and adding a Daemon Prince for Stealth makes it even tougher to chew through. It also diversifies the ranged onslaught, so foes get to enjoy a fun mixture of Mortal Wounds and efficient firepower, which they will love, and there’s still a massive warpflamer brick to punish foes who underestimate Overwatch. This list is exceptionally nasty even by the standards of Tsons, great work from Malaki putting it together.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Erik Hnida – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): Mechanised Infantry backed by a full unit each of Ironstriders and Dragoons, Ruststalkers for melee shock value, and a couple of Disintegrators.
  • 3rd – Isaac Jernigan – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Standard Deathwing Gladius.
  • 4th – Joshua Kovel – Space Wolves (Champions of Russ): Champion-flavour Wolf Jail, featuring some Wolf Scouts, something I resent deeply as I had to look up what they do. Scouts, but with lightning claws on the sergeant and a meltagun, apparently.
  • 5th – Larry Paladin – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Deathwing Gladius with a bit of extra shooting, adding a full Hellblaster unit for Azrael to walk around with, plus a Ballistus.

Riverhammer 2024

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Joensuu, Pohjois-Karjala, Finland on September 14 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Eero Saukkonen – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

Bullgryn. Credit: Corrode

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Board Control Guard

Thoughts

Another guard build to round us off, this time cutting the Dorns, and going for the maximisation of Reinforcements via a big Armoured Sentinel squad, and a more grindy plan with double Tank Commanders. Still 18 Bullgryn though. Love those guys. Well done Eero.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Niklas Ojalainen – Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Four Infantry units (one of which is a big Allarus brick), two Caladius tanks, and some extra board presence via the Battle Sister/Immolator split unit from Agents.
  • 3rd – Juuso Sipiläinen – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Shootier Deathwing GTF, adding Hellblasters and an Inceptor squad.
  • 4th – Kaarle Tukia – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Speedy Flame Sisters.
  • 5th – Touko Kästämä – Thousand Sons: Notch up another for Triple Mutalith and double Forgefiend, going very light on Rubricae to afford it.

Wrap Up

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