Good day to you friend, and welcome to another CI. This week we have five total events to cover, though for the sake of my sanity and due to the high amount of tournaments this week I will be covering the showdowns of only three of them. They are:

• I. Lay low the Tyrants GT (OBR vs BW)
• Socal Open (IDK vs Gitz)
• Battle Rage Ballerup (BW vs Nurgle)

Rest assured though that I will still be covering the top lists for both Duckstravaganza 2 & the Gaf Jamboree. What a mad sentence that just was. Anyway, let’s get on with it shall we?

I. Lay low the Tyrants Grand Tournament

38-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hilgert, RP, DE on October 21 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Benedikt Mitscher – Null Myriad:
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Dario Grohmann – Big WAAAGH!:
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

It’s beginning to look like OBR may have settled into a new normal, with points adjustments meaning that the list can anchor around a Mortek Guard block with a Gothizzar harvester – it’s not quite as tough as Immortis, but it’s a lot of wounds to chew through and the harvester opens up a new battle tactic option.

Dario is going for an old school waaagh, like the kind your mother used to make – it’s 30 fucking Brutes just walking up to beat in your front door. Dario’s hero choices have meant there is no Megaboss for extra command ability usage, but the damage output and wound density is surprisingly high for an Orruk list.

As for how they matchup, Dario is casting a lot of spells that don’t even necessarily need to be debuffs or targetted spells at his opponent, meaning Null Myriad is less of a factor. The threat of choking mists alone will force Benedikt to play tight and close to his Mortisans for the spell protection. I think that the Brutes and Pigs with Violent Fury and +1 to hit and wound from BW are some of the best hammer units in the game for their cost, and they would have been more than capable of handling what are otherwise very tough OBR chess pieces.

Result

Big WAAAGH! Victory – 15 – 5

Dario Grohmann – Big WAAAGH! – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Brutes

Thoughts

Like Blightkings in second edition AoS, GW have saw fit to steadily decrease the points of the Brutes since the battletomes release at the beginning of the edition. Unlike the Blightkings of the time however, Brutes are a very respectable and efficient unit whose main drawback has always been that they have to compete with Gore Gruntas, who offer similar damage on a more mobile frame.

At 140 points however, in a list like BW that is happy to play defensively and score it’s passive battle tactics, stacking the center of the board with 30 of them means that there is wound density that isn’t THAT easy to remove (4+ save is something!), but perhaps most importantly every single one of those Brute units can be given violent fury to make them into a mega hammer. Even 5 with +1/+1 and +1 damage from Violent Fury can lift most MSU hammers. It’s a skew list that just works.

Tristan Paffenholz – Jaws of Mork – 2nd Place (5-0)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Fight on death Squigs

Thoughts

This Squig list is most notable in that it has fewer bodies to buff, but an extensive suit of buff pieces to make those bodies truly sing. Points hikes over the past year have made it difficult to fit in a Gobbapalooza (+1 rend), Snufflers (5+ ward, potentially +1 attack), Squig Boss (+1 attack or MW on 6s), Grinkrak (fight on death) AND a Sloggoth (+1 hit) into the old style Squig lists, but it turns out the list works just fine if you just scale back the amount of Squigs… After all, the Herd or Bounder unit with all these buffs will cheerfully trade and crush your best hammer units, then recycle through the shrine using Clammy Hand.

The Best of the Rest

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

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 3rd – Benedikt Mitscher – Null Myriad: See showdown
• 4th – Daniel Drinkert – Allherd: Bullgors, Ungor Raiders & Be’lakor
• 5th – Stephan Kintzel – Fangs of Sotek: Standard double slann summoning list that skips Bastiladons to run a Troglodon
• 6th – Uli Petereit – Befouling Host: Horticulous (extra tree), Gutrot (deep strike utility), then Glottkin and a shit load of individual Beasts of Nurgle

SoCal Open

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Del Mar, CA, US on October 21 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Power Flux

Aaron Newbom – Dhom-Hain:
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Tad Baten – Jaws of Mork:
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Aaron’s list has a minimal nod to Sharks, but it’s all about the Thralls baby. Almost certainly the first time Dhom-Hain has made it to the showdown, it gives the thralls the potential to (if going first in the round) charge, fight (and importantly kill everything within 3″), charge again and fight again. It’s easier said than done, but Wildform (+3 charge rolls IIRC) and Hoarfrost help with the charge and fighty bits respectively.

Tad is however happy to play the combat attrition game, as he has a TON of squigs here, with a focus on bodies over buff pieces that can nevertheless make quick work of the Thralls if they’re caught outside of the Thrallmaster -1 to wound bubble (if Aaron is on defensive).

All said and done, the most important tech here in my mind is Teachings of the Turscoll, which let Aaron (likely) flip the tides of death table so he gets the all important fights first on round two. Squigs may be deadly, but they can’t really take a punch, and Tad has all his damage dependent on the combat phase, meaning that when High Tide is active that entire battle round is hugely lopsided in Aaron’s favour.

Result

Dhom-Hain Victory – 35 – 8

Aaron Newbom – Dhom-Hain – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Namarti beatdown

Thoughts

I have a big crush on Dhom-hain, as someone who fell in love with the idea of double fighting thralls next to a thrallmaster way back when the battletome first came out. Aaron has seen the concept to fruition, with a list that’s able to lean somewhat into the theme (with the buffs like Hoarfrost and Wildform, plus Thrallmaster and Eidolon) but still has enough flex points to give the list some multiplicity with the addition of a few Sharks and a Turtle.

The Tidecaster pairs well with the Wildmage to unlock the Acolytes battalion, which is important for getting Hoarfrost off to help the Thralls crack tougher targets. But it’s not the Tidecaster’s only function, as it allows access to 2 Isharann Rituals instead of 1. In some matchups Aaron can give his army a pseudo Kruleboyz defensive ability of being not visible to enemy shooting more than 12″ away in the first battle round. In these sort of matchups, he can (thanks to the Tidecaster) stack Ritual of the Surging Stream on top of it to help the Idoneth units move up the board and close the distance. In melee matchups, instead Ritual of Deep-sight makes the Namarti incredibly efficient and durable for the battle round (5+ ward). Well done Aaron!

Alec Jerome – Maggotkin of Nurgle: Befouling Host – 2nd Place (5-0)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Fuck you for daring to want mobility in the Combat phase.list

Thoughts

It’s the combat phase control and DPS check list that GW have enabled with their recent dramatic points drops for Nurgle lists, with some cute little tweaks. Furies make for cheap screens that can retreat when they activate in the combat phase, which is made even more effective by their 14″ movement. As a result, they also make great skirmishers to sit on flanks and dare to steal lightly defended objectives or assassinate fragile support characters.

Skabbik is another neat inclusion, because his prayer (if successful) means that as long as the Plaguepack are standing on the affected objective, it cannot be contested by the opponent. Combine that with Plaguebearers and Sloppity to shut off combat pile-ins and it can be very difficult for combat armies to even get to the Plaguepack to kill them.

The Best of the Rest

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

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 3rd – Kyle Calip – Mortis Praetorians: No Immortis whatsoever, as Kyle instead runs Kata, Arkhan, a buffed up Liege-Kavalos & 30 Mortek Guard as it’s core
• 4th – Matt Nguyen – Darkwalkers: It’s the standard pairing of Ungor Raiders and 9 Bullgor, but with no Be’lakor – instead there’s 12 foot Enlightened and 3 cheeky Slaangor
• 5th – Doug Jankowski – Null Myriad: A total of 50 Mortek Guard and a harvester anchor the list, with Katakros and Arkhan doing the heavy lifting
• 6th – Tad Baten – Jaws of Mork: See showdown

Duckstravaganza 2: Battle For the Pond

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Westminster, MD, US on October 21 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Kaleb Walters – Guild of Summoners – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Chicken Factory employees Slaaneshi seasonal workers

Thoughts

It’s a Lord of Change summoning list that is mostly notable for it’s choice of allies. 6 Varanguard are just a fairly efficient ‘all-in-one’ hammer/anvil package that can give the army some teeth in the combat phase, and 11 Blissbarb Archers give the army a bit of cheeky chip damage that it can stack with Kaleb’s many mortal wound spells to kill softened targets, or simply force the use of All Out Defence and put a greater strain on the opponent’s resources.

These things may seem minor, but Tzeentch lists have typically always had about 300-500 points to play with anyway, since the nerfing of the Incarnate. The core summoning shell is in tact, and these things just help the army better stay alive long enough for the Lords of Change to arrive.

The Best of the Rest

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

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 2nd – Nicholas Walters – Bloodtoofs: 12 Pigs, 10 Brutes and a Maw-krusha headline, with a cheeky Skragrott
• 3rd – Frank Sylvester – Grundstok Expeditionary Force: 2 Gunhaulers each carrying 15 Thunderers hurtle up the board with a 3rd Gunhauler bringing a Khemist – yawn
• 4th – Matthew Obringer – Skaven: A mix of bells, Stormvermin, Rat Ogors and even a Hellpit Abomination
• 5th – Jeremy Hauck – King Brodd’s Stomp: Brodd, Gatekeeper & 2 Warstompers
• 6th – Jacob Brandon – Greyfyrd: A fairly standard Vulkite/Hearthguard Berzerker list that brings the unlikely RoR Elthwin’s Thorns for a screen unit that can unleash hell then teleport away to give the army a surprising mobile element

Battle Rage Ballerup 2023

33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Ballerup, Denmark on October 21 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. Note that this tournament made use of heavy soft scoring, though the tournament winner went undefeated anyway and thus won’t affect the showdown.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission –

Jannick Teige – Big Waaagh!
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Anders Knudsen – Befouling Host:
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

Jannick’s list is the second BW list this week that’s making heavy use of Brutes, though he’s also bringing along a cheeky unit of 6 Ragerz as a ludicrously efficient (if made of paper) hammer that can catch people off guard with it’s sneaky speed afforded to it thanks to their innate run and charge and access to Mighty Destroyers.

Up against it is a board control list that’s heavy on bodies and light on permissiveness. There’s not a ton to highlight with this list, as it simply wants to summon a Sloppity and then bog the enemy combat units down in combat and lift them gradually using the Glottkin, GUO & Maggoth lord.

2″ reach on all the Orruk units does help a great deal in mitigating that, as does the lesser used but occasionally useful Mighty Destroyers while in combat to allow a pile-in in the hero phase – useful in helping a corner charged unit adjust and let the full brunt of the unit get in range to murderise some smelly daemons.

Result

Big Waaagh! Victory – 13-7

Jannick Teige – Big Waaagh – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

BW Brutes

Thoughts

After a period of uncertainty in listbuilding for Big Waaagh players, consensus is starting to be reached on what the hell to do about battleline choices in an army that previously made such good use of the (now gone) 80 point Ardboy screen. Ardboys are still good, but their cost means it’s hard to make them the backbone of the army. As such, the consensus seems to be that Brutes are the way forward, and Jannick has brought a lot of em.

This list is a really solid core for anyone looking to start playing BW in fact, as it has a lot of bodies, hammers for days and an incredibly powerful and flexible set of heroes to make the Ironjawz units sing.

The Best of the Rest

Note that this is not the actual top tournament positions (as soft scores were not able to be successfully merged into BCP), but here are some notable finishes based off total score (tournament used a 20-0 system):

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 1st? – Christoffer Karlsmose – Crematorians (4-0-1): Katakros, a Liege Kavalos, Arkhan and 6 Immortis Guards plus 10 Deathriders make for a mobile list
• 3rd? – Kristian Møller – Befouling Host (3-1-1): Nurgle board control with 2 Maggoth lords, GUO & Glottkin plus 3 MSU Plaguebearer units
• 4th? – Jonatan Rasmussen – Allherd (4-1): Be’lakor plus 15 Bullgors and 3 Enlightened on Discs and a Doombull
• 5th? – Svend Kristensen – Allherd (3-1-1):  Another Be’lakor plus 15 Bullgor list, with more screens and Raiders

GAF Jamboree

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on October 21 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Mike Stewart – Fuethán – 1st Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Sharks go brrrrrr

Thoughts

By bringing an Isharann hero, Mike can subsequently use Teachings of the Turscoll and Rune of the Surging Gloomtide to flip the tide table and bring a second ship terrain piece respectively. The flipped tides means those sharks can deliver an absurd amount of punishment in the second battle round, and the second ship is useful in this list largely because it can be used to block up lanes and make it a nightmare for larger based armies to navigate, while the Sharks fly (that’s AoS for you) around and above them unbothered and carefree.

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 more players on a 4-1 and a sneaky 3-1-1 that hit the podium thanks to total score. They were:

• Position – Player Name – Faction:
• 2nd – Jay Hine – Gnarlroot (3-1-1): A sort of greatest hits collection from walking greenery, with 6 Lancers, 10 Gossamid Archers (sneaky good in a combat heavy meta), 6 Sword Kurnoth Hunters plus a Warsong giving the list a lot of play in all phases of the game
• 3rd – Pete Brizio – Stomper Tribe (4-1): My good friend and club mate Podium Pete is at it again with the Gitz RoR plus a Monstrougly Tough Warstomper, King Brodd and a Kraken-Eater
• 4th – Joe Jackson – Fuethan (4-1): Another shark list, this one however running only 3, then stacking the list with Eels, a Turtle, a Sea Eidolon and finally the murder King

Wrap Up

As I worried about in the past few weeks, it would seem that GW have enabled a rather potent and powerful Nurgle control list. I don’t think it’s broken by any means, as demonstrated by the fact that there are lists that can and have beaten the list in the finals of events. It does make me worry however if it’s ability to shutdown certain kinds of combat armies may end up reducing the overall metagame health as players swap to armies better able to weather the storm of nonsense that’s going around nowadays.

Perhaps this is a bit of doomspeak that is unwarranted, but I remain interested in seeing faction win-rate stats in the coming weeks as well as meta representation to see if the top performing lists at the moment are putting a squeeze on things. We’ll see.