I will admit that I was a little bit worried the announcement of 10th Edition might mean a slow couple of months, but uh, that does not seem to be happening. Instead, we have a mighty 12 events this week, three quarters of which have adopted the Balance Dataslate. Lowest of Men will be taking command of part 2 on Friday once more, and I’m going to have to blast through some of this a little quicker than I normally might, what with it being Warhammer Fest this weekend and my poor Baharroth model needing some repairs after tragically falling from a moderate height during a particularly intense session of frustrating non-Aeldari players.

Let’s hop right to it then – today we’ll be looking at:

Mayhem GT (major)
Normandy GT
Frontier Open
Sunken City Massacre
Cross Swords War At The Westward
Valleycon 2023

On Friday, the following will feature:

Rataclysm 2023 (major)
Grand Clash 2023
War Calls 2023
Out Of The Furnace IV: Return To Firestorm
Battle For The Bay 2023 GT!
2D6 Dawn of Vår III: Hot Singles in Your Area

Showdown voting has returned the following results – we’re definitely going to hit one each this week, and you might get another in Friday’s part as a treat. The landslide winners of the vote were:

Ynnari & Harlequins vs Astra Militarum at the Normandy GT
Orks vs Necrons at Battle for the Bay

Do come and say hi if you see me at Warhammer Fest, and we’ll be back next week with coverage of that and whatever else went down, possibly later in the week than normal since Fest runs through Monday.

MayhemGT 2023

113-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Mebane, North Carolina US on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

This event was not using the Balance Dataslate.

All of the top four were undefeated at this event.

Kyle Trayah – Chaos Daemons – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Fs in the chat

Final Round Matchup

96 – 85 Victory against Frank Viruet – Iron Hands.

Thoughts

Two of the hardest monsters to alpha strike with shooting and lots of the powerful, speedy board control tools that have helped Daemons really thrive in the pre-Dataslate metagame and are likely to push them near the top of the pile after it. Of note alongside that is the increasingly common sight of a Pink Horror unit, great for giving you something durable against Desolation volleys to hold home positions, and likely rising in importance as Tau get some quality long-ranged indirect back as well. Congratulations to Kyle for rising to glory even in a world still infested with full-strength Deathwing.

Jamie Beaton – Dark Angels – 2nd Place

The List

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Archetype

Whoops all Deathwing

Thoughts

Speaking of which – it’s a pre-Dataslate event, of course there’s a Deathwing-heavy army near the top. Interesting use of a smash chaplain alongside the normal hits, especially built to hit D4 so he can punk out Fiends and Crisis Suits alongside the normal targets, but otherwise very much Deathwing business as was usual. Still, the smash Chaplain is a genuinely interesting and innovative addition, and really that’s all we can ask for here, so well done to Jamie.

Robert Hawkins – Death Guard – 3rd Place

The List

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Archetype

Ferrymen Pressure

Thoughts

This is very much the wildcard of this top four, as Death Guard haven’t been seen much recently, let alone with Mortarion. Honestly…it actually feels like a surprisingly sharp pick. Astra Militarum’s shooting relies heavily on D2 and D3 stuff, which sucks at killing Mortarion, and unlike a lot of big threats he actually has some amount of defence against Kasrkin – take Gloaming Bloat as his plague and Gift of Plagues it out to 12″ radius, after which they have to either be a range-boosted unit or switch their Order to FRFSRF in to try and alpha him – and even after that he can shrug off some wounds. He also doesn’t care about Desolation squads (indeed this army in general is fairly unbothered by them, in their lane, upsettingly moisturised etc.), and against something like Daemons you get the big, big upside that he’ll be hitting their lines mostly intact as a big old problem. If the pendulum of how stuff dies swings back towards multi-meltas it could be a transient showing for Nurgle’s favourite, but right now (alongside a list that definitely puts the opponent on the back foot) he seems pretty cool. Great stuff from Robert, bringing joy to the hearts of Death Guard players everywhere.

Jeremy Knox – Astra Militarum – 4th Place

The List

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Archetype

Born Soldiers goodstuff

Thoughts

Mostly business as usual, one new feature – an Aegis Defence Line. I’m guessing this is primarily here as a place for Kasrkin to hang out till it’s time to do their thing, substantially reducing the ease with which enemy indirect can deplete their numbers. Do I like that we’re in something of an indirect fire arms race? No, but I have to acknowledge that it’s a clever way to spend 40pts, so well done Jeremy.

The Best of the Rest

There were 15 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

5th – Frank Viruet – Iron Hands Successors: Shooty Iron Hands with Devastators, Desolation Squads and a big VanVet brick.
6th – Nick Kirkendall – Orks: Goff Pressure with lots of Stormboyz and Kill Rigs
7th – Andrew Vawter – Ultramarines: Tigurius and Bobby G with a big Desolation Squad and lots of hulls.
8th – John Casey – World Eaters: Invocatus Eightbound spam.
9th – Don Belec – Dark Angels: Deathwing and Desolation.
10th – Tyler Wimer – Iron Hands: Shooty Iron Hands with lots of Devs and Desolation squads.
11th – Frank DiSalvo – Ultramarines: Bobby G and Tigurius with lots of infantry and a pair each of Redemptors and Invictors.
12th – Ethan McElroy – Ultramarines: Bobby G and lots of Dreads.
13th – Steven Saroka – Votann: GTL Goodstuff with a fort and lots of small bike and Elite units, plus a pair of Sagitaurs.
14th – Rowan Delgado – Genestealer Cult: Industrial/Impassioned with lots of melee units and some big, cheap Neophyte bricks, plus a Brood Brothers detachment with Scout Sentinels.
15th – Roman Malekzai – Disciples of Be’lakor: Lots of Daemonic board control and a trio of Korvax Karnivores as massive hammers.
16th – Ben Poole – Dark Angels: Pure Ravenwing with lots of Black Knights and Storm Speeders.
17th – Jordan Cole – Space Wolves Successors: Wolves Infantry spam with Wulfen, melta-bedecked MSUs and Long Fangs.
18th – Riley Morris – Tau: Farsight with small Crisis teams and a pair of Riptides.
19th – Matt Townsend – Harlequins: Shooty Light Saedath with 3×2 Voidweavers.

Normandy GT

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

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Data-Scry Salvage

Bizuthor – Ynnari & Harlequins: Ultra-aggressive melee Ynnari with two big Troupes, plus some Light Harlequins for objective play and access to the super Death Jester.

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vs.

Larkinn – Astra Militarum: Russ-heavy Militarum.

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Thoughts

I’m going to be honest – it’s a while since I’ve seen a game that feels like it turns so hard on who goes first. Both of these armies are absurdly lethal when they get to do their thing, and both have ways of reaching out and making their opponents lives very difficult out the gate. On the very wide front of Data-Scry, two Scout Sentinels isn’t going to be able to prevent the Shroud Runners (and possibly Scorpions) getting straight down to business if the Aeldari win the roll-off, particularly with some Rangers to eke out space as well. If they can pick up lots of the Mortars or tie up the Kasrkin while the big Harlequin Troupes get into position, that puts the guard into a tricky spot as regards getting Primary foothold. Conversely, if the guard go first then Aeldari are potentially forced to pull quite a lot of stuff into strategic reserves with Phantasm, then gamble on some big charges, as even one turn of unrestrained shooting from three Mortar squads is a big problem for them, and if the Russes can push out before the Aeldari start causing havoc then chewing through six of them is going to be a rough task while under heavy fire.

I don’t think it’s hopeless for either player if they don’t go first, just much tougher. From the Guard’s side, six Russes is still a tough lift for the Aeldari to clear even after getting hit hard, and they might be able to blast the elves to oblivion quick enough to claw back a low-scoring win – though if a lot of their infantry has been swept up, they could struggle on secondaries. The Ynnari, on the other hand, can hide pretty well from everything that isn’t the Mortars, so if those have a rough turn of shooting and the Guard extend into strike range of the Troupes, a swift counterattack that wraps up multiple tanks could create enough momentum and problems to flip things, especially with the Yncarne about. I do think the likelihood is that the first turn decides this, but would favour the Ynnari as most likely to be able to win via the backup plan going second – and whether they pulled off a big alpha strike or counterpunch, the elves took this one.

Result

Ynnari Victory – 97-42

Bizuthor – Ynnari & Harlequins – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Melee Ynnari

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Fast and furious, and a huge winner from the departure of big Deathwing blobs from the metagame, as it’s game plan does sort of rely on not bouncing clean off anything (though the full Harlequin Troupes are up there with Wulfen as things that could at least have a go at landing that kill, just not enough times over the course of a game). With that predator removed, the speed to disrupt shooting lists and versatility to deal with melee pressure from Daemons and World Eaters, Ynnari are a real favourite for Arks part 2, and this list is a fantastic example of how to play them. Particular fan of the extra Banshee mask from the Autarch, who does a lot for this list with his aura too. Well done to Bizuthor.

The Rest of the Best

There were 9 more players with 4-1 or better records. They were:

2nd (Undefeated with a Draw) – Yrian – Votann: Ymyr triple fort, triple bike brick.
3rd – Alariell – Ynnari & Harlequins: Light Saedath Jesters and fusion boats plus all the best upgraded Aspect Squads.
4th – Arrethas – Craftworlds & Harlequins: Swift Strikes/Masterful Shots plus Light Saedath the ultimate in mobile anti-volume firepower.
5th – El-Gringo – Tau: Bork’an Breacherfish skew – seven of the damned things.
6th – loukas – Genestealer Cult: Industrial Neophyte/Rockgrinder spam.
7th – Leo_O – Craftworlds & Harlequins: Another Swift Strikes/Masterful & Light build, this time dialing back the Harlequin contingent a bit for some Night Spinners.
8th – Hu-Goh – Genestealer Cult: Rusted Claw with big Neophyte bricks and lots of Acolyte/Bike MSUs.
9th – Arkeon14 – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff.
10th – Larkinn – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff.

Frontier Open @ Cheyenne Gaming Convention

40-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Cheyenne, WY US on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Balance Dataslate was not in use at this event (at least as far as I can tell from the event pack – the lack of any Dark Angels makes me wonder a bit).

Colin Kay – Black Legion – 1st Place

Abaddon the Despoiler. Credit: Swiftblade

The List

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Archetype

Black Legion

Final Round Matchup

86 – 84 Victory against Cody Jiru – Aeldari.

Thoughts

Incredible power move here, following a similar principle to the few other successful Chaos Marine lists we’ve seen recently, which is to fully go for the throat. Teleporting warpflamers with full wound re-rolls can rip the heart out of many lists, while the big Biker unit with the Black Rune can use Confluence of Traitors to go Red Corsairs mode and become a problem for the enemy right away. That gives the Raptors a chance to get staged somewhere relevant, and keeps the opponent from reaching out and clearing tools like Abaddon and the troubleshooting Contemptor, and that’s apparently enough of a gut punch plan to launch a black crusade all the way to the number one spot. Definitely seeing more people switch to Black Rune Bikers and Possessed rather than Terminators, as in a post-AoC world the T5 is vital for adding durability, so if you’re a Chaos player lamenting the losses of your legions, perhaps follow Colin’s example if you haven’t already.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

2nd – Cody Jiru – Aeldari: Ulthwe Goodstuff with Aspects, D-Cannons and Wraithlords.
3rd – Matt Evans – Cult Mechanicus: Ryza with lots of Sicarans and lots of Dragoons, plus a big lascannon Ironstrider squad to blow stuff up.
4th – Michael Mann – Goffs: Goff Pressure with Ghaz and Stormboyz.
5th – Joel Davis – Craftworlds: Ulthwe monster mash, Wraithlords, Wraithseers and the Avatar.
6th – Jake Degenhart – Genestealer Cult: Lots of Hivecult Infantry and a fairly chunky Auxiliary Brood Brothers detachment with three Russes.
7th – Brandon Roddy – Iron Hands: Infantry-heavy all-rounder Successors with VanVets and Assault Marines alongside the shooty stuff.
8th – Jeff Henderson – Votann: All-rounder Ymyr with a bit of everything.

Sunken City April Massacre

34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in West Branch, MI US on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Brenton Weiss – T’au Empire – 1st Place

Tau Broadside Battlesuit with Missiles. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

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Archetype

Tau Coresides

Final Round Matchup

97 – 86 Victory against Tom Munsell – Chaos Daemons.

Thoughts

The indirect fire escalation continues as CORE Broadsides return, ready to rain missiles down on all and sundry, and here helping craft a list so lethal it managed to blow Tzeentch Daemons off the table in the final. It’s a tricky one, because in most Septs Broadsides need CORE to be worthwhile, but in Tau Sept the ability to drop full re-rolls and an automatic Markerlight on them (from Longstrike) makes them extremely good even when firing indirect. They’re also super hard to shift and more than happy to come out into the open to shoot in some games, and running them here alongside Riptides presents a very solid wall of giant robot for opponents to try and deal with. That’s a great combination with Tau’s cheap skirmishing units and ability to skew their scoring for the late game, and this looks like a solid model for a post-Dataslate Arks build, well done to Brenton.

Jeffrey Keister – Blood Angels – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Blood Angels Jump Packs

Thoughts

Good chip damage resilience thanks to Sanguinary Guard having a 2+ save, a great gameplan against any melee pressure builds, and no more pesty Deathwing bricks to bounce off? Sounds great if you’re a Blood Angels fan, and I particularly like seeing the Sanguinor here, who is a potentially spectacular problem for World Eaters to try and play around if they’re brawling with this army. Well done to Jeffrey.

The Best of the Rest

There were N more players on X-1 records. They were:

3rd – Josh Sugar Howard – Iron Hands: Actual Iron Hands with two Leviathans, a big brick of Desolation Marines and a large brawling Bladeguard squad.
4th – Brock Vermillion – Goffs: Goff Pressure with Battlewagons.
5th – Jon Droope – Aeldari: Biel Tan with massive numbers of small Aspect units.
6th – Isaac Rosebrugh – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff.

Cross Swords War At The Westward

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lee Mill Bridge, England United Kingdom on April 22 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

George McCoulough – Drukhari – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff with Talos

Final Round Matchup

86 – 82 Victory against Mani Cheema – Space Wolves.

Thoughts

Another recent escapee from CORE prison here – Talos. I can already see Liam gleefully scheming about how to put his back on the table. They provide a nice, solid central brawler unit here, anchoring a line alongside the Grotesques and threatening a huge counterattack into anything that gets too close. I quite like the call to go for a Coven trait that builds for offence rather than durability – Talos are tough, but even layering Prophets or Artisans on top of them isn’t going to let them chill in the open for long in the current metagame, so ensuring that they hit hard in the time they’re around (and helping the Grotesques too) definitely feels like a plausible approach. The Bloodbrides seem good in the current metagame too, providing an all-purpose tool that will just absolutely detonate something with the combo of traits in play here. Drukhari needed a little lift to give them the chops to compete in late 9th (and isn’t that a weird thing to be saying), so hopefully George’s victory here is indicative that they’ve gotten one.

The Best of the Rest

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

2nd – Mani Cheema – Space Wolves Successors: Wulfen, Wolf Guard and Skyclaw pressure with Desolation squads behind.
3rd – James Mclean – Tyranids: Lurk Behemoth Monster Mash.
4th – Tomas Hicklin – Blood Angels: Jump Pack pressure with a Gladiator Reaper as extra anti-horde.
5th – Josh Holder – World Eaters: Invocatus Eightbound spam with a Terrax drill.
6th – Andrew MacMillan – Chaos Daemons: Monster Mash (Bird, Be’lakor, Bloodthirster) plus Flamers.

VALLEYCON 2023

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Upper Hutt, Wellington New Zealand on April 21 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Michael Stewart – Emperor’s Spears – 1st Place (Undefeated with a Draw)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder pressure

Final Round Matchup

62 – 62 Draw against Matt van Wijk – Grey Knights.

Thoughts

Something very left-field here – Emperor’s Spears. I’ve heard a few rumours of people taking them out to some success, and here they are taking a trophy, going for the strong all-rounder plan that their unique tools enable. Their unique melee strats are pretty good, being able to take a Judiciar with a 6″ heroic has been good every time people have found ways to do it (even better with Fights First) and stacking Guilliman’s aura on top of their Chapter Tactic for +2″ to their charges allows the Vanguard Veterans to hit their charges from Deep Strike with extreme reliability. That bow wave of pressure is protected from counter-charges by the threat of Defensive Focus on the flamer Aggressors, and the army can make very effective use of Rapid Redeployment to set up early turns. It’s probably not as outright strong as Iron Hands, but it’s a really cool army to see out on the table, and assembles a fairly unique-feeling and still very effective Marine build, well done to Michael.

Matt van Wijk – Grey Knights – 2nd Place (Undefeated with a Draw)

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

The List

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Archetype

Prescient Brethren Dreadknights and Interceptors

Thoughts

Back to known quantities for our last list of the day – Dreadknights and Interceptors looks like a solid pick for a post-Dataslate world, as it hasn’t been bad all through Arks, and the very top builds going down a bit in power is great for it. The Brotherhood Terminator squad here is presumably a nod to needing a home objective holder that can stand up to indirect (then Gate into battle when ready), but most of the rest of what’s here isn’t too surprising – the best units from the book in Interceptors and Dreadknights, power characters and a unit of Purgation Marines to reliably assist with Teleport Strike. All good stuff, well done to Matt on second place.

The Best of the Rest

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

3rd – Oliver Barnes – Black Legion: Abaddon and tonnes of tooled-up Legionary MSUs, plus some War Dogs.
4th – Harry Bright – Adeptus Custodes: Emissaries with two big bike squads.
5th – Fraser Baker – Imperial Knights: House Raven with an Errant/Crusader tag team.

Wrap Up

That’s it from me for this week – I’m off to bounce off the walls looking forward to Warhammer Fest. You’ll get a part two from Lowest of Men on Friday, and we’ll see you back next week to find out who took the coveted Warhammer Fest crown.

Competitive Innovations in 9th: Final Quarter pt.1

MayhemGT 2023

Kyle Trayah – Chaos Daemons – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

Thoughts

Jamie Beaton – Dark Angels – 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Robert Hawkins – Death Guard – 3rd Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

Jeremy Knox – Astra Militarum – 4th Place

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Normandy GT

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Data-Scry Salvage

Thoughts

Result

Bizuthor – Ynnari & Harlequins – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

The Rest of the Best

Frontier Open @ Cheyenne Gaming Convention

Colin Kay – Black Legion – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Sunken City April Massacre

Brenton Weiss – T’au Empire – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

Thoughts

Jeffrey Keister – Blood Angels – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Cross Swords War At The Westward

George McCoulough – Drukhari – 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

VALLEYCON 2023

The Showdown

Michael Stewart – Emperor’s Spears – 1st Place (Undefeated with a Draw)

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

Thoughts

Matt van Wijk – Grey Knights – 2nd Place (Undefeated with a Draw)

The List

Archetype

Thoughts

The Best of the Rest

Wrap Up

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