Back to a big ticket weekend with a healthy clutch of events firing that gives us a chance to see how the metagame is adapting to the massive curveball the Drukhari codex has thrown at it. The largest of these events were the Maryland GT (a Major) in the United States and the Gladiator Gaming GT in Australia, so that’s where we’ll be zooming in today. Lets find out whether any of the 100+ players in Maryland or the legendarily innovative Australian metagame have cooked up something special!

Since there were a couple more GTs in the States on top of these two events, and we’ll cover those in a Lightning Round writeup tomorrow, so make sure to tune back in tomorrow to get a roundup of some of the other new technology that was put to work at the Battle for LA and the Cool Place Spring GT.

As ever, if you’re running an event and want to bring it to our attention you can reach out at contact@goonhammer.com. With that out the way, and without further ado, let’s take a look at the lists.

Note: Normally when one event is twice the size of the other I’d put the bigger one first but, to part the curtain a bit here, I wrote the Gladiator Gaming section on Sunday while the Maryland GT was still ongoing, and as a result some of the content makes more sense with it first!

Gladiator Gaming GT

All the lists for this event can be found in Down Under Pairings. Note that for this event a rule was in effect that the player losing on table 1 in round 5 would take second place even if they ended up with a lower score than another player.

Luke Pearce – Drukhari – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• A GT win for a different spin on Drukhari, going even harder on the Covens and Dark Technomancers angle.
• Cronos provide durable damage dealers with the Technomancers boost.
• Artists of the Flesh Grotesques provide mobile tarpits that can soak up enemy Technomancer output.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Emerging data suggests that Dark Technomancers is one of the the biggest drivers of the Drukhari win rates, so it’s no surprise that someone would eventually try it out with Cronos. These monstrosities are priced very attractively, and their weapons are fantastic with Technomancers, sporting S5 and good AP and really only being held back by D1. Technomancers turns them up to 11, ensuring they’re almost never wounding on worse than a 4+ and giving them the D2 they’re missing. Because one of their two guns auto-hits, the amount of damage they can take from Technomancers in a given phase is also capped at a manageable level, and they can also heal up either by consuming enemy hordes in melee with their tentacles or via the Master Regenerist warlord trait on the Haemoculus, with the former even being able to bring back a dead model. If they get the jump on something and waste it with their guns they also have access to the very powerful Pain Syphon stratagem, which can lock in max Power From Pain for them. This is extremely relevant if this happens on turn 1 or 2, as switching on a 5++ early helps them stay in the game that bit longer. Overall, they end up as another very strong unit once this trait is applied, and give this list something that can brawl much more durably in the mid board than most Drukhari units.

Leaning further into that we have the Artists of the Flesh Grotesques. Melee Grotesques look under-explored in general, as the move to D2 gives them considerably more punch than they had in 8th (where they were pretty popular!) and being able to fly five of them around in a newly-durable Raider makes them much easier to get into position than similar options from other factions. Making them Artists of the Flesh ensures they, too, can play a very effective brawling game. With -1 to incoming damage and a 5+ feel no pain, chewing through the 20 T5 wounds each unit here has is going to be a massive slog – and one that can be undone in an instant if a Cronos unit nearby eats a bunch of chaff (as the Reservoir of Pain ability is locked to DRUKHARI CORE rather than <COVEN> CORE). That isn’t the only benefit from operating near the Cronos either – the Spirit Probe on each unit gives these wound re-rolls of 1 on a turn where you don’t want to pop The Torturer’s Craft, and they also benefit substantially from activating Pain Syphon if they wipe something early. Taken together that makes these look really strong, especially as this custom Coven, and it’s good to see them about, but it’s worth highlighting that they’re especially good in a world where a lot of top lists are relying on Dark Technomancer drive-bys to clear out enemy brawlers – with T5, -1D and relying mostly on invulns and a FNP for defences, these near-completely mitigate the advantages DT-boosted liquifiers bring to the table (an entire boat’s worth kills one Grotesque on average). Sometimes the only way to beat a bad elf with a gun is an incredibly ripped bad elf with a meat cleaver.

The bulk of the rest of the list is familiar stuff – Technomancer Wracks in boats (one unit more than normal), some Incubi as shock troops and some tooled up Characters, here one Archon loaded for murder and one for dropping Ancient Evil into a key combat, as ever taking advantage of the ability to ram non-Coven characters into a Coven detachment with minimal downside. What this list adds up to is something that’s extremely effective in its own right and has a strong gauntlet to throw down in the mirror. The basic game plan of “commit with some durable brawlers, wipe the enemy with Technomancer shooting when they respond” is good, but in a world where your biggest threat is likely to be other Drukhari, fielding the Grotesques that are resilient to both Technomancers and Incubi makes this list really stand out. Having some sturdier units at the heart of the army also helps give you a more flexible plan against AdMech or any other army that can chew through Raiders quickly, something that paid off for this list in the final. Congratulations to Luke on the win, and showing off yet another horrendous thing this book can do!

Dan Savage – Adeptus Mechanicus – 2nd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• The broad toolset and vicious firepower of the AdMech continues to make them one of the strongest options in the current meta.
• Vicious Mars firepower, including some bonus spikes from melta servitors, lets the list flatten enemy vehicles on the double.
• Speedy Stygies units and a core of battle Servitors provide a reasonable depth of board control.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

While they were once again pipped in a close game in the final (here 88-82), AdMech continue to be the non-Drukhari faction that’s best positioned to take a swing at them, and the fact that they were already pretty strong all-rounders prior to the elf book arriving means they’re now a standout faction. For regular readers this list may look familiar, and that’s because Dan ran something similar at the most recent Gladiator Gaming team event, with the changes here mostly adapting the list to be a bit more of an all-comers build. Mostly, that means swapping out the Ironstriders and a small proportion of the position control units he had previously to upgrade his Skitarii to Kataphrons, providing some durable mid-board troops, and pack a Stratoraptor with a Command Uplink in for an emergency anti-aura button.

With those changes in place, the overall game plan here is one that’s pretty common to AdMech builds. You’ve got some nimble, cost-effective chaff that can range forward to force the opponent to fight for control, a sturdier and crunchier second wave of objective holders in the form of the Kataphrons, and the withering firepower of three Skorpy Ds and a Stratoraptor operating under Cawl’s watchful eye. The main specific thing to highlight from this list is a nasty trick that also featured in Dan’s team build – fielding squads of Servitors where you’ve actually paid for the multi-meltas. These give the list a nasty extra spike of damage output for key turns, because the combination of a tech priest boosting their BS, Cawl’s aura and Divinations of the Magos mean that even on a turn where they move out from cover to take some shots, the units with the two multi-meltas are worth an average of three MM hits each – an absolute bargain at 60pts, and something you can boost even further with Daedalosus if the situation is critical. Especially in a meta where both the top predator and many counters (such as Mark Hertel’s spin on AdMech) are going to try and overwhelm you with hulls, having that in your pocket is fantastic.

As with all AdMech lists right now, any takeaways here could be turned on their head by the new book, but the setup here is very effective and the servitor trick is potent enough on that I expect to see it break out more widely if we get a few more weeks with the current rules. Well done to Dan for a great finish, and commiserations on the close defeat to Drukhari at the last.

Brian Lakeland – Drukhari – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• Another undefeated Covens build gives Talos their chance to shine.
• Large Wrack units maximisse the number of liquifiers that can be crammed into the detachment.
• A lone Cronos tees up Pain Syphon.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

OK so it looks like the answer to how Australia’s metagame will adapt to Drukhari is by building better Drukhari builds. Welp.

Just like Cronos, Talos have some real appeal in the new book but have thus far been overlooked in favour of the stock builds that have been crushing events. This list finally finds a place for them. Similar to the Grotesques from the winning list, slapping Artists of the Flesh on them makes them super-strong against other Drukhari builds, with a side order of being real good against a lot of AdMech’s shooting as well. I think the initial shock of not being able to run them with a 4++ any more put people off them out the gate, but they’re still a durable, punchy brawler unit, and something this list highlights is how much more worthwhile the equipment options are in this edition.

In 8th you pretty much always wanted to run these with haywires, a scalpel and a flail but in the 9th book most of the previously bad options got a significant push, and none more so than the ichor injector. This is now both free and extremely good – you can only make a single attack with it, but on hit it does a flat d3 mortals and the attack sequence ends. This is incredibly helpful for upping the unit’s damage against stuff with good invulns or damage reduction while also being better against hordes than an additional scalpel swing would be, making it almost a no-brainer instead of a second scalpel, and worth looking at as a partner for either of the other melee options. There’s also now a case for at least the splinter cannon and heat lance gun options as well, since both are free swaps and both got better. The choice to take the splinter cannons here is probably driven by them giving the best chance to finish off an enemy unit to activate Pain Syphon off the lone Cronos, as if you’re going to get stuck in to melee on turn 2 then doing so with +1 to hit and the 5++ already active is absolute gangbusters. They’re also the most likely option to throw up a positive use case for the Prey on the Weak stratagem, one of the few ways to mitigate their poor accuracy. Fundamentally, I really like the setup on these here, and am itching to see if Talos make more of a splash now people have found a good shell. I also think they’re one of the places the faction can look if hordes become a big deal again, as while chain flails caught a substantial nerf, they’re still one of the factions better tools for countering large enemy units.

Outside of the Talos, this list diverges from the winning build by going a bit harder on characters and making space for a Black Heart detachment to bundle the Raiders into, gaining access to the re-rolls and ability to use Lightning Fast Reactions that are generally a bit better here than Dark Technomancers would be. In order to not compromise on the number of liquifier guns it’s packing, the Technomancers detachment bulks two of its Wrack units out to contain ten models, unlocking the second special weapon slot and ensuring plenty of slimy drive-bys can still occur. The army also slots in a powered-up Succubus, but do note that it isn’t using any of the Cult of Strife nonsense, just packing Precision Blows and The Tryptych Whip is more than enough to make the model worth including. The fact that neither of the undefeated lists at the Gladiator event bothered to pack the Competitive Edge/Dark Lotus Succubus only strengthens by belief that this model is (while obviously broken) not actually a driving factor in Drukhari’s success and that fixing it isn’t going to move the needle on the faction performance. That doesn’t mean there are no other nasty toys here mind – as well as another Hatred Eternal/Djin Blade Archon, this build sports the Poisoner’s Ampule, another exceptionally powerful tool from the book that’s been a bit underutilised thus far because you really need multi-wound Covens models to make Haemoculi worth it. Now that these builds have emerged, they open up scope to explore some of these tricks.

All-in-all, yet another powerful Drukhari showcase piloted to a strong finish. I’m a big fan of a lot of what this list is doing, and big congratulations to Brian on the 5-0 finish and putting another unit back on the competitive map.

Simon Gojkovic – Drukhari – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• Another Talos-based Covens build rounds out the top four.
• Unusually light on Raiders, with the Court of the Archon presumably footslogging or Webway Portaling.
• The dreaded murder Succubus makes her only appearence in this top four.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Not too much more to say here that hasn’t been covered already – Artists of the Flesh Talos still provide a rock solid army core (here packing haywire which will help pop Raiders in the mirror), and the only big notable thing about this list is that I think it has the fewest Raiders of any top four Drukhari build we’ve yet covered, choosing to buy an extra Talos and a mid-strength Court of the Archon with the points instead. This shores up the Talos units even further, and gives you an unusually tough objective utility unit you can shove into the Webway to pop out for scoring purposes when the time is right. It also lets the army squeeze more damage dealing elements in – I think the Raider full of Trueborn is a great pairing with Talos, as they can wrack up a whole bunch of damage while the enemy is dealing with the Talos, and having two murder Succubi as well as Drazhar gives you more powerful trade characters (and fills the gap left by Incubi, who can’t really be justified without a transport slot).

It’s all good stuff, and really this whole top four just hammers home what a nightmare Dark Technomancers is – all three of the best Drukhari builds at this event both lean heavily on it and have teched to ensure they have a plan for it in the mirror. Congratulations to Simon on the finish, and to Australia in general for hopefully speeding up how quickly the axe falls on Technomancers.

The Rest of the Best

Four more players achieved 4-1 finishes at this event. They were:

• 5th Place – Hayden Walduck – Space Marines: A very nifty build here combines two Marine chapters that have seen independent success to create something that’s plausibly even more than the sum of the parts. It mixes Dark Angel Successor (Fusilades/Long-ranged) Talonmasters bodyguarded by three minimal Deathwing Command Squads with brawler capability from Raven Guard Successor (Born Heroes/Whirlwind of Rage) Vanguard Veterans, with some Attack Bikes providing further backup in the latter detachment. Both of these chapters can make do without their superdoctrines, and both contingents are extremely effective at what they do, posing multiple tough challenges to opponents, and the overall build is extremely neat. I do think, if I was running it, that I’d go “real” Dark Angels rather than Successors, and move the Attack Bikes to that detachment for Jink, but this build was clearly effective on the day and showcases some good out-of-the-box thinking.
• 6th Place – Nick Argent – Chaos: The tried and true Infernal Moiraxes stride to war here, with a single Magaera overseeing then and a utility Nurgle detachment off to one side to provide positional tools – Nurglings for early board control, and a couple of Plagueburst Crawlers to durably sit on home objectives.
• 7th Place – Braedon Kilby-Francis – Dark Angels: This build goes nearly full Deathwing, sporting two massive blocks of Deathwing with a mix of missile launchers and melee weapons, and a third large Terminator Assault squad. That eats the bulk of the points, with the rest largely being spent on Characters and a single unit of Infiltrators to round out a patrol detachment.
• 8th Place – Michael Mientjes – Aeldari: Sending some real mixed messages here Michael. You say “Craftworlds are top tier, change my mind” right in the header of this list, yet you spend over half your points on Harlequins. Curious. Anyway, this is a classic Harlequin/Craftworld mix, with some fusion boats and clown characters as roving threats, and a trio of Expert Crafters/Master of Concealment Wraithseers providing a mix of firepower and a sturdy second wave, with some War Walkers and Support Weapons further augmenting the shooting capabilities.

Maryland GT

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Patrick McAneeny – White Scars – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• White Scars get the band back together to take the top spot.
• Goes wider and lower than some of the more traditional builds to better adapt to the Drukhari metagame.
• A Khan on a flying bike leans into that by providing a cost-efficient mobile threat.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

White Scars are one of those armies where, whatever the metagame weather, there’s always going to be the possibility of an experienced player picking them up and taking down an event. Their combination of mobility and late game punch means that if you’ve got the skills to navigate through the early turns, making the right choices about what to commit and where, the avalance of pain you can unleash once the Assault Doctrine spins up lets you punch through the sturdiest defences and ride through to glorious victory, and that’s just what happened here.

A lot of the tools in the list are pretty familiar, but how they’re brought together in this version shows some of the changes top players are making to adapt to the presence of Drukhari as a looming threat. Gone are the days when flying a big unit of Vanguard Veterans around was a good idea – that’s asking to get them evaporated by a multi-charge from Incubi or a squad of Hellions slamming into them. Instead, lists are often either (as here) taking units of five (still more than scary enough to wipe most things Drukhari put down) or full blocks of ten so you can use Combat Squads. The list also showcases Bladeguard Veterans, who never really went away but have been noticeably ticking back up in popularity. The reasoning here is much the same – especially as a melee Chapter like White Scars, a squad of these is more than capable of kicking ass and taking names, and is also durable enough to need serious commitment to down. Transhuman Physiology is as strong as ever on these guys, and is great for helping a unit to absorb a charge from Drazhar-buffed Incubi or a volley of Dark Technomancers firepower. Buffs from the Plume of the Plainsrunner and the option to double move out the gate mean these are frighteningly mobile, and a lot of players are going to understimate just how quickly they can get in their face and pay for it.

Elsewhere, the shooting options here also go a bit wider. It was reasonable common in older builds to see multiple Inceptor units, but both metagame changes and how much of a points piñata those squads represent mean a single, smaller unit as here is more reasonable. Two squads of Attack Bikes make up the rest of the shooting contingent instead, and these are vital for a list leaning on melee damage dealers in both the Drukhari and Death Guard matchups. Against transport-heavy lists, you need to be able to reliably open a boat up on demand to explose targets for the charge/fight phases, while against the Terminator or Daemon Engine blocks of Mortarion’s minions the D2 plasma doesn’t get it done, as the presence of Revolting Stench Vats and Disgustingly Reslient matching up well against the Doctrine tanks the list’s ability to get things done up close. A big pile of melta shots sitting in Captain and Lieutenant auras closes up that weakness, with Recitation of Focus also being available for emergencies or when the Inceptors eat it.

Most of the rest of this is pretty unsurprising, though it’s nice to see Assault Intercessors and the Khan on Bike out to play over similar alternatives. “More chainswords” is apparently the elite, top level answer to Drukhari and the Assault Ints have them, so sure why not, while the Khan on Wrath of the Heavens is a a nifty model to have around on tables with good terrain coverage, as he can zoom 22″ with effective FLY in the movement phase and still charge, giving absurd reach. He’s also very cost-effective – if you’re not planning on buying a relic weapon he’s actually a bargain over a Captain on bike, as now that his buckler is directly equivalent to a storm shield, his (very good, probably 10pts worth) melee weapon is essentially free. It’s not a spectacular saving or anything, but every little helps in a hyper efficient world.

Some extremely sacrificial Land Speeder Storms close things out, and overall you’ve got a very potent list that’s clearly been tuned so that it’s at least ready to take a swing at Drukhari. Sadly, the event was only five rounds, and we were thus denied a final showdown between the Scars and the second place list to see how it fared in the matchup, but hopefully with Scars continuing to surge in usage we’ll get to see that showdown soon enough. In the meantime, congratulations to Patrick for a major win.

Curt Phillips – Drukhari – 2nd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• Another counter-Drukhari Drukhari build brings together Cronos and the damage-dealing power of Hellions.
• Technomancer Wracks, Incubi and some of the regular cast of characters round things out.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

The second of our three undefeated lists sees Drukhari claim their near mandatory place in any modern top four. Just like some of the builds from Australia, however, Curt’s list represents a clear evolution in technology that positions him very effectively for the mirror while also dodging some possible counters. The two key tools he brought to the table were Cronos and 2×10 Hellions. Dark Technomancer Cronos are, as already covered above, extremely nasty and cost effective units, and something I didn’t highlight above and probably should of is the importance of being able to push them to T7 with a nearby Haemoculus. This (plus a natural 3+ save) makes them way sturdier against the massed S6 and S7 shooting that many counter-Drukhari plans are going to bring to the table, with volkite culverins and belleros cannons seeing a particularly steep drop off in effectiveness compared to what they can do to flying boats. Add Master Regenerist to the Haemi for big heals and you’ve got a substantially sturdier core than Drukhari can otherwise muster, and it’s notable that this list cuts down to a mere four Raiders in recognition of getting durability from elsewhere.

The other part of the equation here is the pair of 10-model Hellion units, who feel really good in the mirror. Drukhari aren’t generally sporting much D2 firepower that can operate at long range, meaning these can stay out of harm’s way until they’re ready to zip in and cleave through multiple units in rapid succession, especially when you factor in their ability to pretty much just evaporate a unit of Incubi or a Succubus with Eviscerating Fly-by. We saw these in Brad Chester’s anti-Drukhari Drukhari list last week as well, but I think the shell here fits them even better. In non-Drukhari matchups, having the solid anchor of the Cronos units for these to operate makes them a much more multi-dimensional unit rather than just another powerful trade piece, and the stuff they’re very weak to (e.g. Fire Raptors) is generally much less good against the floating tentacle monsters. Shoring up weaknesses works both ways too – Cronos aren’t as deadly in melee as most Drukhari units, but at 10 models a squad of Hellions is an appaling hammer blow with Art of the Kill, so committing valuable units while they’re on the board is never safe. Finally, they’re another unit that really, really likes Pain Syphon, and has a reasonable shot at finishing off some stragglers with their shooting to switch it on. I really, really like the combination here, and if you forced me to choose I think I’d say this is the most powerful of the four Drukhari lists we’ve looked at this week.

The rest of this is all pretty unsurprising – you’ve got some Techno Wracks, the murder Succbus does show up here, and some Incubi and Drazhar add further melee crunch for when the Hellions are busy elsewhere. It’s a fantastic list overall, and the second place undefeated finish it put in was very well deserved.

Daniel Kennedy – Imperium – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• AdMech and a Telemon come together to build a list fully ready for Raider blasting.
• Large Serberys Raider units provide a formidable early gauntlet to throw down.
• Cawl’s large golden son provides a rock-solid anchor to pivot around in emergencies.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Sometimes in this line of work you’re reading through a list, nodding along and not seeing anything too unusual and then you’ll get to a new detachment and fully double take at the surprise waiting for you.

This list, the final undefeated one from the event, is pretty much a poster child for that experience. A fairly by the numbers Mars AdMech build that suddenly develops a mild case of Auxiliary Telemon in the last few lines. Huh. Well OK then.

Having mulled it over, I can kind of see it. Even with zero stratagem support a Telemon is still extremely durable, being tougher than a Knight against D2 firepower, and can operate extremely independently, just gradually dealing and soaking up damage wherever you need it. A super sturdy anchor like this is one of the few things that the current AdMech book isn’t so good at throwing up, and it makes the risk of melee-heavy opponents being able to overwhelm this army’s battle line in the mid game much lower. While it has to give up a few AdMech tricks (notably, no Fusilave) to pack the Telemon in, its still got easily enough shooting that it can capitalise on any turn of stumbling from the opponent, and between the Serberys first wave and the Kataphron/Dreadnought follow up it really stacks the deck in favour of that happening. Any game where the baddies take a swing and a miss at the Telemon is going to be an absolute disaster for them, and especially with so many people teching towards D2 firepower that’s going to happen pretty often.

I do basically mean what I said about this being unsurprising otherwise – the only thing here that’s even slightly out of the ordinary is squeezing in some Ruststalkers for objective play via Circuitous Assassins, and even that’s been seen a reasonable amount. Outside of the innovative addition of the Telemon anchor, this list serves as a proper end-run for how enduring the strengths of the Engine War-buffed 8th Edition rules for AdMech have proven in 9th. Congratulations to Daniel, and I hope you’ll be back in the future bringing us similarly ingenious innovations with the new book.

Jon Tulman – Death Guard – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• A horde of Inexorable poxwalkers fronts a selection of Death Guard’s go-wide threats for a powerful all-rounder build.
• Particularly nasty firepower thanks to a VolCon and some Blight Haulers can grind a bogged down opponent into the dust.
• Tollkeeper provides yet another way to make aforesaid VolCon even nastier.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

We round out the top four with the highest placed 4-1 build, a strong showing for the Death Guard. Like other recent successful Death Guard lists, what stands out here is the choice to go pretty wide with Daemon engine sand other shooting threats, with Blight Haulers notably continuing their quiet rise back towards serious relevance alongside a VolCon and a PBC.

Unlike some of the other similar builds, however, this one contains an unusually large first wave of Poxwalkers, and when you put the whole thing together what you end up with is a plan surprisingly similar to that of the AdMech build we just looked at. You’ve got a first wave of position holders that’s eminantly killable but has enough wounds to trouble armies that have stayed light on anti horde, and then a much, much tougher core that’s moving up into position behind them, here the Deathshrouds and Blightlords (with near-mandatory Revolting Stench Vats backup). While an opponent is trying to wade through all of that they’re under constant bombardment from the shooting tools (with the Tollkeeper Tallyman doing particularly nasty work with the VolCon), and also eating Smite attrition from the two Plaguecasters, and I suspect what happens reasonably often against this list is that opponents just run out of gas and are ground into the dirt against the Terminator Anvil. When that happens the Haulers and the Drone are still nippy enough to lunch forward for some mid-late game scoring, allowing this army to rack up the high scores that navigated it to the top of its bracket. If the opponent ever needs an extra little nudge towards their demise, the Drone also provides a cheap, flying vector for deploying the Ferric Blight via Flash Outbreak.

Death Guard, appropriately, seem to be bubbling along nicely right now, and Tollkeeper VolCons (also featuring in the other 4-1 list at this event) help an army that already has some decent anti-Druhkari options really go for the throat. Strong work from Jon here navigating it to the top four.

The Rest of the Best

As a five round major, a massive 15 further players finished on 4-1 records. They were:

• 5th – Mark Hertel – Adeptus Mechanicus: Mark brings his Drukhari-murdering AdMech list from Dallas back for another round, racking up a quartet of eye-watering scores from the early rounds (including taking out Sean Nayden’s list for the second major running) but falling at the last to Patrick’s White Scars.
• 6th – Stephen Christopher – Necrons: A full-fledged Novokh silver tide here, with two full warrior blobs, a third 15-model unit and a full Lychguard phlanx marching to war under the watchful gaze of the Silent King and a selection of buff characters. Another victim of the White Scars after an excellent early run, and notable for taking two victories against Drukhari players.
• 7th – Nick De Veaux – Drukhari: Raider spam reaches it’s logical conclusion here in a list sporting a mighty seven of them, split across Black Heart and Poisoned Tongue, giving a balance of power and flexibility. The list also makes the very unusual choice to completely eschew Dark Technomancers in favour of access to the mix of Kabals alongside the Cult of Strife.
• 8th – Jonas Beardsley – Drukhari: Another boat heavy build packs two Ravagers alongside five Raiders, but does still find a place for a couple of units of Technomancer Wracks and a squad of Reavers loaded with grav-talons as troubleshooting units.
• 9th – Sascha Edelkraut – Black Templars: A giant block of VanVets zooms to war alongside Redemptors, Bladeguard and the spicy double super-Chaplain setup that Black Templars have access to. The list packs a nice breadth of solid threats, and can use them to dominate the board very effectively with Devout Push, making this army a force to be reckoned with – Devout Push with Canticle of Hate up is a gigantic pain for lots of lists, including Drukhari, to play around. This list managed an excellent 2-1 record against Drukhari lists, and ran Curt’s undefeated build extremely close in the final round, meaning it looks like Templars continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the new metagame.
• 10th – Matt Lorah – Adepta Sororitas: A go-wide Bloody Rose build that eschews any of the named characters in favour of a trio of Seraphim units, providing more rapid response threats than the conventional builds.
• 11th – Davis Frye – Chaos: Incredible energy here, a trio of Iconoclast Knights join a pair of Exalted Keepers and some objective chaff for an absolutely brutal push list, which only the exceptional shooting of Mark Hertel’s AdMech was able to put down fast enough to avoid getting bowled over.
• 12th – Kyle Myers – Dark Angels: A fairly classic Ravenwing/Deathwing setup – one massive Deathwing block, lots of Attach Bikes and Deathwing Command Squads/Characters to fill things out.
• 13th – Zachariah Herrmann – Drukhari: Another Raider spam build (here sporting the nifty tech of chain-snares in Black Heart), with seven of the things ferrying the usual contingent of Technomancer Wracks, Wyches and Trueborn around.
• 14th – Shaun Reynolds – Adeptus Mechanicus: A pretty similar Stygies build to Hertel’s here, but packing in a second Fusilave instead of one of the transports for a bit of extra utility play.
• 15th – Mike Taylor – White Scars: VanVets, Bladeguard and a character suite provide the core here like in most Scars lists, but the normal Inceptors for shooting support have been traded out for the Drukhari-hunting prowess of Suppressors.
• 16th – Anthony Birdsong – Drukhari: An actual Realspace Raid gets a runabout here, sporting a healthy mix of boat-riding Infantry, with a Technomancers patrol for additional liquification and Drazhar backing it up.
• 17th – Philip Helig – Death Guard: Another Inexorable build that swaps out the Blight Haulers and some of the Poxwalkers seen in the top four build in favour of a second VolCon and PBC, plus the points to fully bulk up the Blightlord unit.
• 18th – Mike DeAngelis – Aeldari: A Drukhari/Craftworlds combo sees MSU Dark Reapers and Wraithseers from a Crafters/Concealment custom faction backing up a forward contingent of Cult of Strife and Blade for Hire models.
• 19th – Benjamin Hunt – Tyranids: Last but not least for today, we’ve got a Kronos/Kraken mix combining the push power of a Dimachaeron and the Swarmlord, the anti-shooting (and very Technomancer resilient) tarpit of a full Warrior unit, and a firebase made up of Exocrines and Hive Guard.

Wrap Up

Drukhari continue to rack up absurd numbers, but there are still some other factions finding ways to succeed, as seen in Maryland. We’ll see a bit more of that tomorrow when we return for a thursday Lightning Round, were we’ll quick fire through two more events and also take a look at how the results and feedback and impacted on my thoughts about Drukhari. See regular readers tomorrow, and hit us up at contact@goonhammer.com if you’ve got any comments, questions and suggestions.