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Competitive Innovations in 10th: Xenos Roulette pt.1

By James "One_Wing" Grover

Honestly, who knows at this point. The metagame eddies and churns once more, this week bringing us a heady blend of crunch meta, melee meta and some Xenos factions, notably Aeldari and Necrons, throwing their weight around after a few weeks on the back burner. T’au have also woken up after a slightly shaky start, putting in both a solid middle-of-the-road win rate and some big standout performances.

All that and the next mission pack goes up for pre-order on Saturday, along with multiple additional Codexes, any or all of which could unleash big shakeups.

At this point, let’s just enjoy the rest of the Leviathan ride.

This week we’re covering:

Today in part 1:

  • Bugeater GT
  • Southcon 2024 40K Tournament
  • PNW Warlords Clash Warhammer 40K GT
  • Broadside Bash Revived 2024
  • Wild Hunt GT: Summer

Tomorrow in part 2:

  • Wargames for Warriors 2024 – 40K Major
  • Dicehammer Open 40k GT VII
  • 90. Bedburger Scheunenkloppen
  • Hydra GT II 2024

Friday with Lowest of Men for part 3:

  • 2d6 Dawn of Vår
  • From Hell Open 2 – Back into the Trench!
  • Spring Assault at the Ironweld Open
  • Thylacine Cup GT
  • Viking Games – The Battle for Vanheim

We’ve also got three Showdowns this week, two voted for by Patrons and one placed lovingly upon my desk by yet another of Goonhammer’s strongest soldiers.

They are:

  • Aeldari vs Bully Boyz at the Bugeater GT
  • Invasion Fleet vs Skitarii Hunter Cohort from Spring Assault at the Ironweld Open
  • T’au Retaliation Cadre vs Chaos Knights at the Dicehammer Open

Bugeater GT

79-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Omaha, NE, United States on June 01 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Supply Drop – Chilling Rain – Search and Destroy

James “Boon” Kelling – Aeldari (Battle Host)
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Colton Wolinski – Orks (Bully Boyz)
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

As always when one of our squad makes it to a top table, I’m just going to hand over to them for the details – take it away Boon!

Boon: Supply Drop is such a tough mission to end on – you’re not just battling a top-table opponent but you’re also now hoping that when deployment is all said and done, the Alpha and Omega objectives won’t be a disadvantage and create an uphill fight by favoring your opponent.

While Colton had some familiarity with Aeldari, I had recently asked my buddy Bill Stineman to run me through an Ork matchup ahead of the event. Low and behold Colton was running a nearly identical list as Bill ran a few days prior. So after walking him through my list and him walking me through his, we sat about deploying. Having a good idea of what he wanted to do I assumed turns 2 and 3 would be his Waaagh turns and deployed with the following ideas in mind:

  • Ensure no easy charges on T1 that would pin me down (taking a T1 Waagh into account)
  • Balance my deployment with a slight weight towards the far objective
  • Hold the Avatar, D-Cannons, and Skyweavers for last so I knew where his Trukks would be.
  • Deploy so that I could find angles to put his embarked units on foot if I went first

Owing to his fewer drops I was able to deploy knowing his max charge distances and where his greatest mobility was. I wanted to keep him penned in and slowed as much as possible. With the Auatarch, Farseer/Guardians and Avatar center, a D-Cannon, Falcon + embarked, and a unit of Skyweavers on either edge of my deployment zone, Hawks back edge, and the Shroud Runners and Fuegan to my right, I was prepared to push to the far objective should I need to while fast enough to cover the center easily. Knowing that Bully Boyz don’t have much in the way of shooting, I pushed my D-Cannons slightly forward and in the open to gain the best possible coverage out of his deployment zone and get direct shots where possible.

By contrast he deployed heavily to the center with one trukk of double Nobs to his right (my near objective) and two trukks of Nobz and Meganobz to his left side (his near objective). Ghaz and his retinue sat central with everything else while Snikrot infiltrated close to my near objective.

I hoped to go first to pop his Trukks but ended up going second, giving Colton the ability to get out of his zone, shrink the board, and stage for the Waaagh. The Alpha objective (goes away on turn 4) ended up being his near objective while the Omega objective (last objective) was the center – a slight advantage for me. In pre-game my Shroud Runners scouted out along my long board edge towards the far objective.

Without much in the way of shooting his T1 was quick – he zoomed out to stage around the no man’s land objectives with his Trukks, one along the back board edge in support of Snikrot who hopped on my near objective. The other two securing and screening his near objective. The Trukk with Meganobz advanced onto the Alpha objective with bikers nearby, while the other with a single group of Nobz swung towards my DZ to screen and stage for the next turn. Ghaz and his retinue inched closer behind cover, ready to leap out, while the Stormboyz, having rolled a 6 on the advance, sensed an opportunity for a long charge on one of my D-Cannons. Much to my disappointment at having even made it a possibility, Colton made the charge and picked up the platform.

In response, I flattened my center, holding the Avatar and Guardians tight around my objective, and ensuring 23” between the Avatar and Ghaz’s unit so it could not be charged on what was surely to be a Waaagh turn. Everything else grabbed as much board as possible to ensure no Rapid Ingress Meganobz would find a weakness on my flank or backfield. The Guardians easily cleared the Stormboyz while Fuegan moved out to speed bump a Ghaz/retinue movement. The units on either flank swung out to draw sight on the Trukks and my Shroud Runners moved out to contest his near objective from the Trukk with embarked Meganobz sitting there. They shot into his backfield at Gretchin leaving just a Runtherd and then prepared to charge. Meanwhile my right flank Falcon disgorged its Avengers and then combined with a unit of Skyweavers to destroy the screening Trukk with a single unit of Nobz. The Avengers grenaded then shot up the Nobz leaving just a severely wounded Warboss remaining.

The Death Jester softened the other Trukk, careful not to roll too hot and put his embarked Meganobz on the objective. On the other end, a similar story unfolded as the Skyweavers and Falcon handled the Trukk behind Snikrot. Having drawn Engage on All Fronts, my Hawks positioned on the board corner were then in position to fire on the disembarking Nobz after the remaing D-Cannon picked up a few. The result was a second unit of Nobz eliminated with just a severely wounded Warboss remaining. To cap an already vicious turn, the Falcon then made a tank shock charge into Snikrot who was forced onto the wall in order to stand on the objective. He too was left below half-strength. The Shroud Runners completing the charge ensured Colton secured no primary on T2.

Waaagh! Having lost nearly a third of his power the Waaagh began in earnest with Ghaz/retinue advancing out to the midfield objective in range to threaten my Avengers. His Boyz shifted towards my near objective as the unscathed Nobz unit moved to threaten the Hawks, while Snikrot remained in combat with my Falcon. Both wounded Warbosses remained frozen lest they draw an overwatch from either the Hawks or Avengers. Meanwhile on his objective the Meganobz dismounted to clear my Shroud Runners while the Warbikes moved towards center. Finally his third squad of Meganobz came in from deep-strike to relieve Snikrot.

With so little shooting we quickly moved to charges – my Avengers having phantasm’d away from Ghaz made them an exceptionally challenging charge target. With a 9” charge to all three of the Death Jester, Feugan, and the Avengers I opted to hold my Overwatch. The Ghaz charge failed which left just the lone, wounded Warboss to eat the Avenger overwatch, and was promptly dispatched. However, the deep strikers were more successful, completing a charge into the Falcon along with the remaining, wounded Warboss but not surrounding. The Nobz charged and destroyed the Hawks while the disembarked Meganobz destroyed the Shroud Runners. The Falcon, now engaged with two angry Warbosses, Snikrot, and a bunch of trash cans quickly went down. Karandras and his droogs scrambling from the wreckage and looking for vengeance.

With all the pieces on the board, bottom of two was the pivotal turn. The name of the game was counter-charge and eliminate options. Ghaz/retinue bracing in the center now faced the combined might of the Avatar, Farseer/Guardians, a D-Cannon, the Death Jester, Fuegan, a Falcon, and the Avengers. Forgoing the Alpha objective Meganobz, the Death Jester used Fate’s Messenger and his Precision profile to put dev wounds into Ghaz thereby ensuring the Avatar wouldn’t face the Makari shield, then everything else proceeded to pick up the entire retinue.

On my near objective, Special K and the boys finished the Warboss with shooting then charged Snikrot and the Meganobz, dispatching four of them and Snikrot, leaving the squad severely depleted, though the Fight on Death and crackback by the remaing Warboss and Nob put down all but Karandras. The nearby Skyweavers attempted to avenge the Hawks and slow the Nobz in the corner but whiffed and promptly died. Importantly, the Avatar put down Ghaz and Makari thereby leaving the center objective, the Omega objective, practically uncontestable with what Colton had remaining. Joined by Fuegan, two Skyweavers, and the Avengers, I now had a stranglehold on the center.

While the game would continue to be bloody from here, the major power had been stripped from Colton’s list and the remaining units were out of position or unable to stop my holding Primary into turn 4 and 5. Colton had given a hell of a fight and pushed every opportunity he could, but in the end he had too many disadvantages heading into this matchup that proved too difficult to overcome.

Result

Aeldari (Battle Host) Victory – 86 – 42

James “Boon” Kelling – Aeldari (Battle Host) – 1st Place

Avatar of Khaine. Credit: James “Boon” Kelling

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Shooty Avatar Aeldari

Thoughts

Thrilled that it only took one week of Aeldari touching the bottom of the win rates to rouse Boon from hibernation and unleash him upon an unsuspecting metagame. Love that for us, love that for him, congratulations on the big win and golden ticket!

Colin Kay – Black Templars (Ironstorm Spearhead) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Black Templars Repulsor Executioner. Credit: SRM

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Templar Quadrepex

Thoughts

The executions will continue until morale improves, or at least until someone at Games Workshop’s end finally admits that maybe you shouldn’t be able to take both regular and Templar Repulsor Executioners in the same list. Until then, this continues to be very funny, and this spin on it is particularly well tuned to a player-placed terrain environment via tripling up on Lone Operatives and extra Lancers. Congratulations Colin on the undefeated second place!

Nicholas Bialek – Genestealer Cult (Ascension Day) – 3rd Place

Credit: keewa

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aberrants and Horde

Thoughts

Ironically, given they’re joint next to receive a Codex, Genestealer Cults have been having a quiet recovery the last few weeks, which Nicholas continues here. They adapt pretty well to a metagame with a mix of melee and crunch, as both archetypes can be vulnerable to the sheer nightmarish damage potential the army presents out of Deep Strike, and you get good flexible options to apply pressure with the Infiltrators. Great to see players getting a last bit of mileage out of their Index ahead of the new book, and well done to Nicholas.

Ryan Mcguire – Space Wolves (Gladius Task Force) – 4th Place

Gladiator Lancer by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Wolf Dreadnought GTF

Thoughts

This feels extra on-point because I’m pretty sure if you add up Crunch Meta and Melee Meta you get Dreadnought spam. It’s a good shout as a melee build on Player Placed Terrain, as it gives you good durability in the open. I also like the secret sauce of the Jump Chaplain Assault Intercessor units – not only can they be staged a long way away, with access to Logan’s full hit re-rolls on a go turn, these end up being very nasty into almost anything, particularly once the Mortal Wounds from both the Chaplain and the unit’s abilities are factored in. This feels like a really interesting and fairly unique combination of tools to adapt to terrain factors, so well done to Ryan on devising it and doing so well!

The Best of the Rest

There were 11 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Colton Wolinski – Orks (Bully Boyz): See showdown.
  • 6th – Alex Vian – Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): Counterpunch transport Templars.
  • 7th – Miles Engrav – Grey Knights: Lots of Librarians and five Dreadknights.
  • 8th – Chase Campbell – Necrons (Canoptek Court): Triple Wraiths, double Doomstalker and a Transcendant.
  • 9th – Kyle McCord – Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): Counterpunch transport templars.
  • 10th – Tyler Devries – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Ultra hefty Hypercrypt, with the Silent King zapping around with two Monoliths and a Tesseract Vault.
  • 11th – Jason Jones – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Triple C’tan, double Doomsday.
  • 12th – Rylee Mckitterick – T’au Empire (Kauyon): A squad each of Fireknight and Sunforge suits, supported by Ghostkeels, gunships and Kroot. Maximises redeploy potential with access to both the Solid-Image Projection Unit and a Trail Shaper.
  • 13th – Matthew Doughman – Imperial Knights: A crunch meta survivor of Canis Rex and two Knights Atrapos.
  • 14th – Darrel Laumann – Imperial Knights: A Gallant and their gallant Armiger followers.
  • 15th – Treynor Wolfe – Genestealer Cult: Lighter on the Infantry core than normal to pay for Infiltrating Aberrants and two units of Catachans in Chimeras.

Southcon 2024 40K Tournament

44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand on May 31 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Note that this event was only 1500pts, but by the time I realised I had written half of it anyway, so it stays in.

Sean Saunders – Astra Militarum (Combined Regiment) – 1st Place

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

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Tank

Thoughts

That is a vicious quantity of tank for 1500pts, particularly once you factor in the Dorn’s once-per-game ablative protection (generally more potent as you shrink the game, as the opponent will have fewer big shots) and the Tank Commander’s ability to trade for something as he dies. I’m not going to go much deeper than that given this was an unusual game size, but it’s definitely a reminder that if you are playing at a smaller army size event, it’s worth thinking through how it can transform the impact of some units and abilities. Congratulations to Sean.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Caelum Greaves – Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): Ultra-horde AdMech with tonnes of Skitarii, with two full Sterylizor squads adding a bit of damage.
  • 3rd – Francis Mclauchlan – Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead): A skewed version of Vanguard Ultramarines, adding some RepExes to the Calgar/Aggressor and Centurion core. Alarming amounts of chonk at 1500pts.
  • 4th – Chris Elder – Death Guard (Plague Company): Lots of Poxwalkers (including a big unit with Typhus) shambling into battle behind Mortarion.
  • 5th – Joe Kahu – Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): All-rounder GTF with Calgar and Aggressors again the centrepiece.
  • 6th – Alec Whitticase – T’au Empire (Retaliation Cadre): Suits galore, three units of Crisis, a Riptide, things of this nature.

PNW Warlords Clash Warhammer 40K GT

39-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Ellensburg, WA, United States on June 01 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Steve Trimble – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders) – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Aggro Raiders

Thoughts

Sound the new Codex siren here – Renegade Raiders makes its first splash here. Unsurprisingly given the detachment’s strengths, this initial showcase from a previous US Open winner is highly aggressive, build around melee pressure from two big footslogging units (Abaddon’s Chosen and the big Scouting Legionary/MoE unit in a Rhino) and two Warp Talon squads to cycle in and out of touch via their ability and Opportunistic Raiders. More Legionaries and Characters in a second Rhino are still a genuine threat to smaller enemy units on an Objective thanks to Wound re-rolls, while Venomcrawlers round things out with some cheap and cheerful hulls that overcome their low AP challenge in this detachment. Brawling for objectives, it turns out, is still something that the Chaos Space Marines are extremely good at! Congratulations to Steve for leading the chaotic charge.

Nicholas Fromme – Space Wolves (Stormlance Task Force) – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Logan Grimnar Santa Mode
Logan Grimnar as Santa Claus. Credit: Kevin Stillman

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Max Stormlance

Thoughts

Less novel, but still very effective, it’s max ThunderCav and max Wulfen, a real flag-bearer for melee meta here. I do like the tech inclusion of some Hounds of Morkai with a Librarian just to put a bit of fear into any Thousand Sons who try to renew a 10,000 year old grudge, feels well targeted to the current metagame. Good work from Nicholas.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 3rd – Andrew Johnson – Leagues of Votann (Oathband): A bit of everything, most notably a full unit of Thunderkyn with an Iron Master.
  • 4th – Jason Rider – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Skew out the gate here – double Lord of Skulls and 30 Warp Talons.
  • 5th – Alex Pina – Thousand Sons: Truly spectacularly Character-heavy Tsons.
  • 6th – Jason Byrd – Chaos Knights: Lots of Dogs, lots of Nurglings and some Blue Horrors.
  • 7th – Sean Bursek – Grey Knights:  Ultracrunch with two Redeemers and four Dreadknights.

Broadside Bash Revived 2024

33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in San Diego, CA, United States on June 01 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

James Carmona – Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots) – 1st Place

Credit: Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Brawler Pactbound

Thoughts

Hot on the heels of the Renegade Raiders we have a second showing for the new book, here sticking to some tried and true plans albeit with new toys. Nurgle gunlines as Pactbound Zealots are still tremendously effective, as is supplementing them with brawler units in Rhinos, but we’ve got some new tools (or at least, differently utilised ones) in the latter part. Warp Talons are one of the best units in the book now they can jump back into Deep Strike when they’ve murdered something, and this list’s split of Slaanesh and Nurgle on two full units feels potent – the former can use Advance/Charge to reliably hit combat then cycle out, while the latter can play on a flank away from the enemy’s biggest guns while protected by the Nurgle Stratagem.

The other interesting inclusion is three MSUs of Accursed Cultists, where it looks like at 85pts they provide enough utility to a list with tanks to screen that they’re just good. It also highlights something I don’t think I’d really clocked before – Accursed Cultists can ride in a Rhino, so you can use one of the Scout Slaanesh units to do a bit of resilient staging and threat projection out the gate here. All good stuff, and fun to see some new uses of units in the wild, well done James.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Nathan Carnes – Grey Knights (Teleport Strike Force): A genuinely out-there pick to back up a crunchy Grey Knights list – a Knight Castellan. Also features a full Paladin unit with the Sigil and a Grand Master to murderise C’tan.
  • 3rd – Rock Liberty – Thousand Sons (Cult of Magic): A fairly Character-light Tsons build, using the extra points to cram in two ten-model Rubricae squads and a Mutalith.
  • 4th – Tre O’Rourke – World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Lots of the normal core stuff, but cutting out regular Eightbound and some Berzerkers for a pair of Maulerfiends.
  • 5th – Joe Bravo – Space Marines (Firestorm Assault Force): A Redeemer and Stormraven filled with Aggressors and Eradicators are the centre of a flaming hot Marine concoction.

Wild Hunt GT: Summer

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Montague, MI, United States on June 01 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Eric Gibbs – Necrons (Canoptek Court) – 1st Place

Canoptek Doomstalker. Credit: Rockfish
Canoptek Doomstalker. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Canoptek Court

Thoughts

Rounding out our event champions this week, we’ve got a very down-the-line Canoptek Court build showing that skilled Phaerons can still put it to work. Triple Wraiths and triple Doomstalkers is a great balance of durability and shooting, the Nightbringer is still a horrific threat at +40pts, and the suite of utility units the army has access to is excellent. Well done Eric.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – Rick Kincaid – Orks (Bully Boyz): Bully Boyz with Mozrog and some Squighogs (small unit) as a speedy hammer.
  • 3rd – Ben Isenhoff – Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Vashtorr gets a first outing with the new book, accompanying tonnes of Legionaries and one unit of Rubricae packed into Rhinos, with Warp Talons and Destructors in support.
  • 4th – Baxter Seguin – Necrons (Hypercrypt Legion): Destroyer-tastic Hypercrypt, packing in full units each of Lokhusts, heavy Lokhusts and Skorpekh.

Wrap Up

That’s it for part 1 – you get a slightly smaller part 2 from me tomorrow, then another generous ration of delicious content from Lowest of Men on Friday. Make sure to check back in then!

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