Patrons: click here to disable ads.

Competitive Innovations in 9th: The Dorn Ultimatum

You know the drill from last week, only now you can also see what I’ve been busy with.

If you want a taste of what might be coming next in the Competitive World make sure to go check out our host of Index reviews for 10th Edition from the landing page you can find below.

That means that this is, once again, going to be a bit of a lightning round, especially as you all know what most of these lists do by now. Showdowns are on hiatus till our glorious new dawn, but it’s only fair that all the hard working players out there still get their moment in the (rapidly waning) sun, so lets go. Today we’ll be covering:

  • Terracon (major)
  • Branson Brawl 2023
  • Battle for the Capital GT
  • Xtraschicht 2.0
  • ¡Happy Birthday Mr. Goblin!
  • Carnage – Season 1 – Round 4 – From The Abyss
  • Fal-Con (run by our very own beloved stats bird)
  • SM i 40K 2023

Warp speed engage.

Terracon

111-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Naracoorte, SA AU on June 09 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Adam Napier – Astra Militarum – 1st Place

Rogal Dorn Battle Tank. Credit: Scott Horras “Heresy”

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Born Soldiers Sentinel Spam

Final Round Matchup

89 – 0 Victory against Matt Morosoli – Chaos Daemons. (I’m kind of assuming that the score just wasn’t entered once it was clear who had won).

Thoughts

Guns, hulls, and as few points possible spent on getting some screening in place. This is not a complicated army, but it’s an absolute nightmare to face down unless you can bowl it over incredibly fast (something the Scout Sentinels are ideal at preventing). I like seeing the Primaris Psyker finally make it into a list too, just giving that Dorn even more durability to work with. Utterly overwhelming to play against, the kind of list I’m sort of hoping tenth does a good job of clamping down on, but also a very appropriate way for guard to take a last (?) big trophy with Adam at the helm.

Stuart “Erik From Wish” Trainer – Genestealer Cult – 2nd Place

GSC Rockgrinders. Credit – Soggy

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Mech Rusted Claw

Thoughts

This build continues a trend we saw last week of hybridising several different strands of Genestealer Cult play, taking some big tanky blocks (great with Rusted Claw in a Desolation world), toolbox units like Genestealers, Characters and small Acolyte squads, then a host of durable trucks to get everything where it needs in relative safely. It manages to still throw down some quite challenging direct obstacles (either the wall of tanks or going hard with all the Neos at once) while also having plenty of toys to keep opponents guessing – a successful Genestealer Cult experiment, basically, so well done Stuart (who ended on 5.5-0.5 after a draw against Chaos Knights.

Michael Hamilton – Iron Hands – 3rd Place

Iron Hands Infiltrators
Credit: head58

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder Iron Hands

Thoughts

A truly all-time flex here – third place with Iron Hands without taking the super Contemptor or any Desolation Marines. The list is still all about getting fast shooting into position and blasting people to bits, with two waves of Terminators acting as a protective anvil, and it’s still very potent, but what a way to showboat from Michael.

Dylan Cowan – Iron Hands – 4th Place

Desolation Squad in the scheme of the Rainbow Warriors
Desolation Squad by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Iron Hands

Thoughts

…and then we have exhibit B, your regular shooty Iron Hands build, with the use of the Stalwart chapter tactic instead of Whirlwind being the main unusual thing (plus a Chaplain to boost the firepower of some of the stuff). Otherwise, it’s playing all the hits, coincidentally also what happens whenever the Desolation Marines shoot. Well done to Dylan.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

  • 5th – Jono Bishop – Space Wolves: Upgrade Infantry Spam.
  • 6th – Michael Wood – Khorne Daemons: Be’lakor, Bloodthirsters and a whole lot of Bloodletters.
  • 7th – Shane Miller – Adeptus Mechanicus: I mean points for coming up with something unusual this late in the day – Rad Saturated/Scarifying Weaponry to protect hordes of Skitarii from indirect while letting them flatten the opposition with volleys of radium.
  • 8th – Bradley Bugeja – Dark Angels: Ravenwing/Deathwing/Desolation mix.
  • 9th – Kyle Russell – Imperial Knights: Another late-stage power play – Freeblade Lance with an Errant and a trio of each Armiger flavour, then a Knight Castellan with Mysterious Guardian and the Taranis trait, letting it plan to walk onto the table turn 1, remove the enemy’s ability to deal with it, then dominate from there.
  • 10th – Matt Morosoli – Chaos Daemons: Skarbrand and the super thirster with lots of mobile support units and a brick of Horrors for objective holding.
  • 11th – Daniel Ogden – Votann: All-rounder Ymyr with one fort.

Branson Brawl 2023

54-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Branson, MO US on June 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Peyton Preece – Genestealer Cult – 1st Place

Genestealer Cults Patriarch
Genestealer Cults Patriarch. That Gobbo

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hybrid Rusted Claw

Final Round Matchup

90 – 67 Victory against Adam Adrignola – Astra Militarum.

Thoughts

Rusted Claw stay winning – most of the same things I mentioned for Stuart’s list above still apply, with the main difference being that Jackals are in the early harrassment role. Give your opponent a headache by running rings around them, then a more terminal one by sticking a claw through their skull. Classic cults, well done Peyton.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd (4.5-0.5) – Stephen Henderson – Iron Hands: All-rounder Iron Hands with Impulsor-riding Bladeguard as the midfield brawlers.
  • 3rd – BamBam Hunter – Space Wolves Successors: Infantry/Upgrade spam.
  • 4th – Brent Simon – Chaos Daemons: Be’lakor, Skarbrand and the three Fs.
  • 5th –  Adam Adrignola – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers goodstuff with some Scions.
  • 6th – Taylor Barger – Nurgle Daemons: Ultra-thicc Nurgle with Rotigus, a damage reduction Great Unclean one, loads of Beasts and loads of T9 Soulgrinders.
  • 7th – Lee Prost – Imperial Knights: Taranis with lots of Armigers and a Paladin.
  • 8th – David Clark – Iron Hands Successors: All-rounder Iron Hands with skirmishing Scouts and VanVets, plus a Repulsor for devastating dakka.
  • 9th – Connor Johnson – Thousand Sons: Duplicity with a Scarab brick, a VolCon and a small Daemon patrol for access to Infernal Gateway.
  • 10th – Bryce Watson – Iron Hands Successors: More all-rounder Iron Hands with a Repulsor.

Battle for the Capital GT

41-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Delhi charter Township, Michigan US on June 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

This event was using 20-0 scoring.

Randy Brigham – Orks – 1st Place

Credit: Tom Alexander

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Goff pressure with Ghaz and Kill Rigs

Final Round Matchup

14 – 6 Victory against Ben Isenhoff – Black Legion.

Thoughts

Years of study have demonstrated that there’s basically nothing that can’t be achieved by screaming Waaagh and throwing loads of Goffs at it, it’s practically been a constant of this edition. This is a classic of the genre, with Ghaz leading a bunch of Kill Rigs and various hangers on into glorious battle, and wiping the floor with anything in the way. I do not have anything more complicated to say about it, and frankly that’s fine – well done Randy for making Gork and Mork proud.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Brenton Weiss – T’au Empire: Tau Sept with all the named Character hits, and four big chunky threats (Crisis, Broadsides and two Riptides).
  • 3rd – Eric Gibbs – Chaos Daemons: Be’lakor/Big Bird with a bunch of speedy support.
  • 4th – Lyle Dixon – Salamanders: Lots of Flamestorm Aggressors for mid-board tanking, and a bunch of melta and volume shooting backing them up.
  • 5th – Pete Hoye – Iron Hands: Actual Iron Hands going big on the fancy hulls, with a Leviathan buddying up alongside the super contemptor and a Land Raider Achilles gleaming in their midst.

Xtraschicht 2.0

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in DO, NRW DE on June 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

This event used 20-0 scoring.

Grischa Gerwert – Chaos Daemons – 1st Place

Infernal Enrapturess
Infernal Enrapturess. Credi:t Richyp

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Board Control Daemons

Final Round Matchup

12 – 8 Victory against Bastian Kry – Astra Militarum.

Thoughts

Lots of small, speedy units to keep the opponent on their toes, the increasingly popular Enrapturess/Daemonettes combo for ObSec emergencies, and a gigantic bird to grind people into the dust. There’s a lot of wounds with a Daemon save to chew through before you get to it here, so this list is great at taking over the table, pressuring enemy Primary and racking up the points on Secondaries – nice work from Grischa.

Florian Schmidt – Genestealer Cult – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Kelermorph. Credit: Rockfish
Kelermorph. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Rusted Claw Horde

Thoughts

Even more Cult, really following through on the late edition surge. This version is more of a pure horde/Herohammer setup than the other two Rusted Claw lists from today, packing a massive number of Neophytes for the opponent to deal with, backed by a few utility/harrassment units and lots of Characters seeded within. Extremely effective into the metagame and very hard to stop – congratulations Florian.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 3rd – Christian Breuer – Orks: Goff Pressure with Nobz in a Wagon and a bunch of Stormboyz, plus Kannonwagons for shooting.
  • 4th – Artur Güttler – Grey Knights: I get to say “Prescient Brethren Dreadknights and Interceptors” one last time.
  • 5th – Bastian Kry – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers goodstuff with a Scion patrol.
  • 6th – Mario Barkeeper – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers goodstuff with some extra roving threats, including a brick of Bullgryn, two tooled-up Command Squads and Gaunt’s Ghosts.

¡Happy Birthday Mr. Goblin! ~ Torneo por el 8º aniversario de GTS Madrid Norte

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid ES on June 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Alberto Nicolas – Orks – 1st Place

Kill Rig. Credit: Rockfish
Kill Rig. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Deathskullz ObSec pressure

Final Round Matchup

100 – 70 Victory against Dave Schäfer – Chaos Knights.

Thoughts

The other way to roll over opponents with Orks – throw more ObSec bodies out there than anyone else can reasonably muster, with Kill Rigs ready to bulldoze anyone who gets distracted trying to score Primary. Once again, not wildly complicated but very Orky, excellent stuff from Alberto.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Galán Meldon – Grey Knights: Slightly more all-rounder Prescient Brethren, adding a unit of Paladins and a Venerable Dreadnought to the mix. Still lots of Dreadknights and Interceptors as well. Perhaps I shall never be free.
  • 3rd – Lobo 🐺 – Leagues of Votann: Ymyr 2Fort.
  • 4th – Dave Schäfer – Chaos Knights: All-Dog Herpetrax/Dreadblades
  • 5th – Victor Goñi – Astra Militarum: The ultra-rare non-Born Soldiers guard, packing Swift as the Wind and Recon Operators along with a balance of mobile elements like Rough Riders and very stationary, very shooty ones like Carriages.
  • 6th – Pedro Cabrera López – Craftworlds: Ulthwe Goodstuff with lots of melee aspects and some D-Cannons in support.
  • 7th – Daniel Jason Patton – Chaos Space Marines: Flavourful hull spam Iron Warriors with Vindicators and Defilers, plus lots of Venomcrawlers and a big old brick of Possessed.

Carnage – From The Abyss

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hull, England GB on June 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Nathan Whitbread – World Eaters – 1st Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Invocatus Eightbound Spam with Dreadblades

Final Round Matchup

82 – 77 Victory against Will Jones – Leagues of Votann.

Thoughts

Score Secondaries or die trying. Sorry, that’s a mistake there – score Secondaries and die trying, because it helps you score them. It’s a formula that World Eaters have gone hard on since their book, and it’s still proving very effective, especially as they have the right tools to go through Daemons at speed, a good factor in the metagame. Great work from Nathan.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Will Jones – Leagues of Votann: GTL 2Fort.
  • 3rd – Keith Bailey – World Eaters: Invocatus Eightbound with close support from War Dog Brigands.
  • 4th – Brett Smith – Farsight Enclaves: Mechanised Farsight with a pair of Riptides and three Breacherfish.
  • 5th – Jacob Whitehouse – T’au Empire: Mechanised Farsight with a trio of Riptides and two Breacherfish. Variety is the spice of life.
  • 6th – Laurence Rose – Space Wolves Successors: Upgrade/Infantry spam.

Fal-Con

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

Jonathon Betteridge – Iron Hands Successors – 1st Place

Rainbow Warriors Relic Contemptor with Volkite Culverins by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty Iron Hands

Final Round Matchup

100-33 Victory vs. Christopher Burgart – Chaos Knights

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

The Hands’ reign of terror/rain of missiles reaches Canada, taking on and obliterating all comers with this extra, extra shooty spin on the theme. Not much else to say – it’s an extremely powerful formula that’s cleaning up in this late part of the edition. Well done to Jonathon on the win.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Christopher Burgart – Chaos Knights: Extra aggro Herpetrax, packing a Rampager and a Magaera to obliterate the enemy at close quarters.
  • 3rd – Keenan Elliot – Adeptus Custodes: Shooty Emperor’s Chosen with Achillus Dreads and Caladius tanks.
  • 4th – Marc-Antoine Leclerc – Tzeentch Daemons: Be’lakor, Big Bird and all their little friends.
  • 5th – Colton McInnis – Votann: Ymyr 2Fort.
  • 6th -Joshua Pyle-Carter – World Eaters: Invocatus Eightbound.

SM i 40K 2023

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Stockholms län Sverige on June 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Joel Larsson – Adeptus Custodes – 1st Place

Custodes Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought
Custodes Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Emperor’s Chosen Infantry Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

96 – 32 Victory against Björn Håkansson – Iron Hands.

Thoughts

One last 9th Edition classic to round us out for today – Emperor’s Chosen with loads of small Infantry units to maximise the value of their Shield Host trait and squeeze in the most ObSec possible. Sagittarum around Trajann provide a good amount of shooting to chip away at opponents from a distance, and the bikes and Venetari give you emergency speedy threads – a nice, balanced build that’s never without some options. Well done to Joel.

The Best of the Rest

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

  • 2nd – Tim Nordin – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers with a bit of extra mechanisation from some Tauroxes.
  • 3rd – Christian Olofsson – Chaos Daemons: Be’lakor, Skarbrand and the three Fs.
  • 4th – Björn Håkansson – Iron Hands Successors: All-rounder Iron Hands with Assault Terminators.
  • 5th – Björn Eriksson – Orks: Deathskulls ObSec pressure with lots of Stormboyz and some small Meganobz units to hurl out of Battlewagons.
  • 6th – Jonathan Sleigh-johnson – Harlequins: Light Saedath boats and herohammer.

Wrap Up

That’s it for another week, and it looks like it’s a three way race between Daemons, Genestealer Cults and Iron hands to really lock up the end-game, with a few other factions like Guard and Orks laying the occasional punch. Will that hold steady as the final countdown intensifies? We’ll see.