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[40K] Competitive Innovations in 10th: Underneath the Grotmas Tree pt.1

By James "One_Wing" Grover

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.

Now look, I’m not labouring under any particular illusions that you’re going to be that excited about this week’s columns, because mere hours ago you will have received a (surprisingly early) balance Dataslate, and are thus presumably busy playing around with Battle Forge and complaining bitterly online that your favourite faction was nerfed too hard, or buffed too little. If you haven’t read our (objectively correct) takes on the Dataslate yet, you can check them out below:

We (obviously) received a review copy of the Dataslate and MFM changes, which has fed into this column as well. Thanks to Games Workshop for providing it.

In terms of last week’s events, mostly we have solid confirmation that yeahhhh Cult probably needed a bit more of a whack than they got, with another blowout week at a high 60s win rate. The rest of the Hive Mind had a good time of it as well though, and we also got an exciting surprise – the debut of the first Grotmas detachment on the top tables.

That’s a good excuse to turn our eyes to the results, today covering:

  • Feliz Exterminatus 3
  • Iron Cage: Winter Whammy 2
  • LVO preparation 40k GT featuring Friendship
  • SA40k Commissar Cup GT – Presented by Dragon’s Lair
  • GRIMDARK 23: Julkänslor
  • Hyper 331: GT

On Friday Lowest of Men will cover:

  • Merry Slaaneshmass 2024
  • Fight Before Christmas ’24
  • Da Winter Waaagh 24
  • 40K Finnish champs
  • Quebec City Open III
  • Hour Zero: Heroes Unleashed

Our Patrons have voted for the following Showdowns:

  • (obviously) Warrior Bioform Onslaught vs. Astra Militarum at GRIMDARK.
  • World Eaters vs. Leagues Of Votann at Fight Before Christmas.

Feliz Exterminatus 3

92-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Saint Robert, MO, United States on December 07 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Ryan Verbeck – Tyranids (Crusher Stampede) – 1st Place

Norn Emissary
Norn Emissary. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Crusher Monster Mash

Thoughts

Crusher Stampede’s rampage through the top tables continues here, with Ryan utilising a wall of big dakka bugs hiding behind a spearhead of a Norn Emissary and a spray Tyrannofex. Monstrosities smashing through walls and melting opponents from the battlefield is more than enough to get stuff done when backed up by a few cheap scoring pieces, and a supply of free Stratagems from the Hive Tyrant provides lots of additional ways to chip down the enemy forces. This only gets better post-Dataslate too, with a discount on the Norn providing a few points to tinker with. Well done Ryan, and long may bugzilla continue to thrive.

Josh Cameron – Chaos Knights (Traitoris Lance) – 2nd Place

Chaos Knight Wardog Brigands – Credit: Bair

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Whoops all War Dogs

Thoughts

It never ends. I look forward to seeing exactly this list, but with an ever-so-slightly better army rule many more times over the next few months. Great list name though. Congratulations Josh.

Peyton Preece – Genestealer Cult (Outlander Claw) – 3rd Place

Achilles Ridgerunner. Credit: Corrode

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Outlander Board Control

Thoughts

First up to the Cult plate is the one build that probably did get nerfed to a meaningful extent, which is the Rusted Claw board control list. Premium points denial, a surprisingly large number of hulls and enough cheap Battleline that you almost always had spares into the late game created a winning formula. but post-Dataslate it has significantly weaker OC on the hulls, more approachable Kelermorphs, and needs to find more points for the Ridgerunners. That said, this may also be where we see how new Cult Ambush changes list construction dynamics – if you assume you’re always spending your Resurgence Points on Acolyte MSUs, you could comfortably cut three or four squads from this build, paying for the Ridgerunners with points left for something else on top.

That probably creates an angle you could play here, but I suspect you’ll see this variant further drop off simply because applying the same principle to Broodsurge is even more potent, and they lose less of their current tricks. Still, I wouldn’t count the Claw out, and it’s good to see some players sticking to them even as Broodsurge rises, congratulations Peyton.

Dick Johnson – Ultramarines (Ironstorm Spearhead) – 4th Place

Rainbow Warriors Combi-weapon Lieutenant by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Ultramarine Ironstorm

Thoughts

The conclusion of last Dataslate’s “what if we made Guilliman really cheap?” experiment seems to have been that you absolutely should not do that, as it’s unleashed some very overwhelming Ultramarine builds like this one, which will simply blast many foes off the face of the Battlefield. While it will need to find a good chunk of points to pay Guilliman and Calgar’s new price, I strongly suspect adding super double Oaths into the mix here will make than more than worthwhile, so expect to continue seeing lots of Ultramarines out and about. Great work from Dick.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 5th – Dan Sammons – Astra Militarum: Double Tank Commander, more tanks, double Aquilons.
  • 6th – Caleb Bauder – Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Mixed horde/monsters, using a swarm of 80 Termagants plus some big bugs.
  • 7th – Scott Sasser – Death Guard: Extra crunchy Death Guard with Mortarion, loads of hulls, and just one big Deathshroud and one big Typhus Poxwalker block as additional Infantry heft.
  • 8th – Chris Green – Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor): The WCW winning list takes another swing, using three Warden/Blade Champion units, Draxus with some Guard, and two Caladius as heavy hitters, and adding a scattering of Sisters to provide protection.
  • 9th – John Indellicate – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge): Muscle Beach 2K24 with extra hand flamer Metamorphs.

Iron Cage: Winter Whammy 2

52-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Bedford, TX, US on December 07 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Nicholas Williams – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge) – 1st Place

Credit: keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Pressure Broodsurge

Thoughts

…And we move straight on to the actual metagame boogeyman, the Biosanctic Broodsurge, which can rush and roll over foes of all shapes and sizes with a swarm of Genestealers and Aberrants, backed by some solid shooting from Ridgerunners. The points changes mean that builds like this one which go tight on the filler (in favour of more killers) are going to have to scramble a bit to keep everything they want (it wouldn’t shock me to see one Abominant dropped for a Biophagus, for example), but they’ll still have critical mass for a brutal early to mid-game push, and I suspect this is still the strategy to be teching for come the first post-Dataslate events. Well done to Nicholas for unleashing a fearsome uprising.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Nathaniel Bjorge – Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught): All-in Vanguard with loads of Genestealers and Raveners.
  • 3rd – Colin Kay – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead): Sicarius/Calgar/Ventris mid-board fun with added drop Centurions.
  • 4th – Dominic Gierber – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge): Muscle Beach 2K24 with extra filler.
  • 5th – Christian Alessi – Death Guard: Mortarion, Destructors and Deathshrouds.
  • 6th – Andrew Champion – Aeldari: Heavy shooting Aeldari with the Avatar, Prisms and a Wraithknight.
  • 7th – Brandon Broughton – Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): loads of jump stuff backed by Baal Predators and Ballistus Dreads.
  • 8th – Chad Lapham – Ultramarines (Ironstorm Spearhead): Calgar and loads of Dreads/Gladiators and a RepEx.
  • 9th – Peyton Beard – Grey Knights: Four Dreadknight, a big Terminator unit, and a large Strike squad with a Sigil of Exigence Champion as a headache-inducing midfield piece.

LVO preparation 40k GT featuring Friendship

49-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Calgary, Alberta, CA on December 07 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Adam Green – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

Credit: Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Taurox Guard

Thoughts

For our third event, this is very much a vision of things to come, rather than something about to be case into the darkness. Guard do take some real hits in the Dataslate, and one of the things that is likely to do is push them towards the Taurox Prime/Tempestus Command Squad tactic…which we see winning an event here. I think people have been sleeping on this a lot, as it gives you very reliable force projection that’s hard to counterplay, and now that Aquilons have been hit with a nerf bat double tap, this seems like one of the premium ways to play guard (especially since it loses less on its tanks as well). Some strong thought leadership here from Adam.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd (4.5-0.5) – Tarek Alatrach – Adepta Sororitas (Bringers of Flame): Immolators, Castigators and the Triumph, with extra Battle Sisters and roving Celestine to play the board.
  • 3rd – Kass Kielly-Burke – Death Guard (Plague Company): All-rounder Death Guard with all the hits.
  • 4th – Jonah Sinclair – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Cheap hull spam with one big Cadian squad as (presumably) a Reinforcements annoyance.
  • 5th – Anthony Dalla Lana – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots): Very hull-skewed Pactbound with a Warpsmith for repairs and a few Possessed squads for counter-charge.
  • 6th – David Coren – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): Cawl bossing about lots of Ironstriders and Dragoons, plus a big Ruststalker hammer.
  • 7th – Michael Blanchet – Imperial Knights: Extra large Knights, sporting an Porphyrion, Canis and supporting Armigers.
  • 8th – Kale Greenfield – Black Templars (Ironstorm Spearhead): An unusual use of Spearhead, combining lots of Sword Brethren with Judiciars with cheap Ballistus Dreadnoughts and Templar Impulsors.
  • 9th – Ian Wills – T’au Empire (Kauyon): Tiger Shark and classic Kauyon supporting tools.

SA40k Commissar Cup GT – Presented by Dragon’s Lair

44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Edwardstown, SA, Australia on December 06 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Peter Hatcliffe – Genestealer Cult (Biosanctic Broodsurge) – 1st Place

Credit: Michael O “Mugginns”

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Broodsurge with extra guns

Thoughts

More Broodsurge as we move to our next event, though there’s at least an unusual choice on show here in the form of the big Neophyte brick with an Iconward for extra durability. Presumably they’re here as a mix of volume counterpunch and just as a roadblock to gum up the table at a pivotal moment in melee matchups, adding an extra curveball the army can throw if it needs to reposition. I suspect the high price on resurging full Neophyte bricks will make this less attractive post-dataslate, but I think it was a cool mixup to try in the meta that was, and paid off for Peter here.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Jono Bishop – T’au Empire (Retaliation Cadre): Four Broadsides backing up lots of Starscythe.
  • 3rd – Benjamin Reggett – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Lion Deathwing GTF.
  • 4th – Adam Napier – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Hulls and Aquilons, going extra hard on hulls by adding Agent Sister Immolators.
  • 5th – Lachlan Klenk – T’au Empire (Retaliation Cadre): Starscythe/Sunforge toolbox, with lots of cheap scoring support.
  • 6th – Sam Young – Imperial Agents (Daemon Hunters): I mean fair cop, that’s a flex. 3×5 Grey Knights, a big Kill Team with Draxus, supporting Helverins and scoring tools, what a way to lock in a 4-1 with one of the game’s worst detachments.
  • 7th – Bradley Mc – Astra Militarum: Go-wide hulls.
  • 8th – Dylan Cowan – Dark Angels (Gladius Task Force): Deathwing GTF adding the Fire Discipline Hellblasters back in for what likely turns out to be a final ride.
  • 9th – Marcus Butler – Leagues of Votann: Double Fortress all-rounder Votann.

GRIMDARK 23: Julkänslor

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Stockholms län, SE on December 07 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Take and Hold – Hidden Supplies – Search and Destroy

Jacob Holmström – Tyranids (Warrior Bioform Onslaught)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Simon Selberg – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

A real gun show here, as a new shooty Tyranids build takes on the might of the Astra Militarum and their Rogal Dorns. The obvious surprise, on looking at the Tyranid side, is how few Warriors there actually are in the alleged Warrior detachment. instead of spamming them, the army takes just two units, but the sheer versaility of the Ranged Bioweapon squads means they punch substantially above their weight. The Leaders they’ve got makes their shooting very reliable, they pack a surprisingly serious punch in combat, and they provide great support for the rest of the detachment via sticky-ing objectives and teeing up Ignores Cover, which is a phenomenal asset to the rest of what’s here. Beyond the Warriors themselves, if you just want to blast foes off the board it turns out there’s enough stuff here that you’re happy using the standard, efficient non-Warrior tools to do so. Synaptic Amplification is an excellent generic efficiency boost for all the (ravenous) family, while Exocrines and Maleceptors are both exceptionally well placed to benefit from +2S on their guns into various targets.

How does it stack up to the Guard here? It’s close, and I think it’s probably the Synaptic Micronodes sticky objectives that are the real breakout benefit for the Tyranids on this mission. If they can get their nearby mid-field objectives stickied then that creates immense pressure on the Guard to come forward and play, at which point the Tyrannofexes will be waiting. It also makes it way harder for the cheap Guard stuff to reliably flip objectives thanks to being able to put some genuinely high OC units onto them.

That said, the Guard do still end up with a bit of an advantage in raw killing power, especially as each Tank Commander threatens to take a big bug with them as they die. A lot depends on ordering, of course – once the Tank Commanders go, the Tyrannofexes can push up fairly safely, and really I think the mid-board in this game is just going to be endless hulls and monsters slamming into one-another.

This is why I think the sticky objectives are such a game changer here, because if Tyranids can sticky their near No-Man’s Land objectives, they’re suddenly racking up far more points as that process plays out than they would if they were just getting blasted off them, particularly on this mission. This mitigates their lower volume of scoring tools, and gives them a real shot. The Militarum should, in turn, be looking for ways to use Move Move Move on Catachans to pull a surprise flip, since I think a lot here is going to turn on who can cut the foe down to 5VP Primary turns. It looks like the bugs narrowly managed to tilt that in their favour, walking away with a win.

Tyranids (Warrior Bioform Onslaught) Victory – 11 – 9

Jacob Holmström – Tyranids (Warrior Bioform Onslaught) – 1st Place

Tyranid Warriors. Credit: Rockfish
Tyranid Warriors. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Warrior Onslaught

Thoughts

See Showdown, pretty much – since the detachment is new, I put my read on this list up there. Well done Jacob for showing off new toys in considerable style.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on 3-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – Simon Selberg – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Extra hefty Guard with three Tank Commanders and two Dorns.
  • 3rd – Kim Olsson – Death Guard (Plague Company): All-rounder Death Guard with the unusual choice of a full Blightlord unit.
  • 4th – Simon von Berlepsch – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Aggro Abaddon shooting with a few Rhino-riding brawlers to project threat.

Hyper 331: GT

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Москва, Москва, Россия on December 07 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Anton Vasin – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion) – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bloodcrusher Missile

Thoughts

A relatively esoteric selection of big monsters and two sets of Bloodcrushers for Be’lakor to fire at the foe. Obviously Daemons saw minimal Dataslate changes, and we’ll have to wait and see what Grotmas has for them to judge where things will go from here, but there are some cool toys on show from Anton here, so well done.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd (4.5-0.5) – Alexander “Circus Princess” Zhelonkin – Imperial Agents (Imperialis Fleet): Someone must be hyped for the new detachment, as all four Assassins feature here, backing various cheap infantry and a few additional hammers from a Kill Team and a Grey Knight unit.
  • 3rd – Vladimir Dudkevich – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment): Double Tank Commander and a Dorn.
  • 4th – Kirill “Carstaneedos” Abdullaev – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Heavy Hypercrypt with Szarekh, a Monolith and a Vault.
  • 5th – Roman Brabusov – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion):  Heavy Hypercrypt with Szarekh, the Nightbringer and a Vault.

Wrap Up

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