Rob: Welcome, Dear Reader, to our coverage of the 2023 Art of War Streamhouse RTT. For those of you unfamiliar, the Streamhouse RTT is an annual 3-round tournament held by the Art of War team at their house in Florida, streamed live. It features some of the best players in the world vying for glory and features some great play, coverage and commentary in the process. This year the AoW team has asked us to help out with seeding and coverage, and that’s just what we’re here to do.

The Tournament

This year’s roster once again includes a host of big names in the 40k competitive scene, including 2022 ITC winner Jack Harpster, 2021 and 2020 winner Richard Siegler, 2017 champion Nick Nanavati, and top finishers John Lennon and Mark Perry. We’ll go into more detail on the list when we cover the seeding.

The Format

Following the lead from GW’s invitational, this event is a Double Elimination tournament, which means there will probably be 14-15 games in total. Players who lose their first game get kicked over to a loser bracket, and the final round will see the winners of the winner and loser bracket facing off. If the winner bracket champion loses to the loser bracket champion, they’ll have to play a second game, which the loser bracket champion must then also win in order to claim top honors.

Building Lists

To keep things fresh, there are limitations on how players can build lists – no player can choose a faction already picked by another player (there is a limit of one army that draws units from Codex: Space Marines). Faction selection goes in reverse seed order, i.e. the 8th seed gets to choose their faction first, and seeds are picked in a blind first/second/third preference fashion so no one knows what anyone else took when they select their faction for the event.

Once the factions have been selected, players build lists using the Arks of Omen rules and then play in seeded fashion (1st seed plays against 8th seed, 2nd vs. 7th, and so on.

The Seeding

As an impartial third party, we were asked to help seed players for the event. This was no mean feat: figuring out where to seed guys like Siegler and Nanavati, former titans of the competitive space who took less of a competitive track in 2022, is a tall order. That said, after some deliberation, here’s how things shook out:

1. Jack Harpster
2. John Lennon
3. Richard Siegler
4. Mark Perry
5. Nick Nanavati
6. Adam Camilleri
7. Quinton Johnson
8. Kasra Houshidar

This was interesting because putting someone in the 1 seed disadvantages them in the event by giving them last pick on faction, and we weren’t sure that was actually the best thing to do with say, Siegler in the mix. That said, there was no way to build this list without putting current ITC champion Jack Harpster #1, and if we’ve learned anything over the last year it’s that Jack is actually at an advantage when he has to play a new army on short notice.

At this point John Lennon should be more than familiar with the feeling of being #2 among the Art of War crew and that’s where he slots in here, though we look forward to the man of many factions proving us wrong. Richard Siegler was the hardest to place, having taken most of the 2022 season off, but we gave him the nod at #3 out of respect for his past wins and his uncanny ability to pick apart matchups and internalize the game.

On the other hand we wanted Nick Nanavati to play with a chip on his shoulder and prove he’s not washed so we disrespected the shit out of him by putting him below Mark Perry. This was our most arguable position, but given they play each other round 1 it doesn’t matter a ton.

After that we have relative newcomers to the AoW scene – Adam Camilleri (of The Thursday Show podcast fame) and Quinton Johnson, who had a strong rookie season last year that kicked off with a #2 showing at Cherokee 2022 using Tau and he’s already won a GT this year using Craftworlds Eldar. These also could be swapped but we gave the nod to Adam again to produce what we felt might be more interesting matchups.

And finally while Kaz is last in our seeding, he’s absolutely #1 in our hearts. We wish his beautifully painted Ultramarines the best of luck.

Army Selection

To ensure no advantage was gained for the higher-seeded players, faction picks were made secretly, with each player having 24 hours to pick which faction they’d use after the player before them picked. Once they were done, we informed the players which factions they would be playing with.

Obviously Kaz started this process by picking Ultramarines (did we mention they’re painted beautifully?), which everyone expected but had the delightful consequence of pushing Dark Angels and Iron Hands Successors out of the event, much to the benefit of every single spectator. After that it became a race to see who would be the first to pick Astra Militarum. But in a surprise twist, each member of the Art of War team passed on the faction, tears streaming down their face, as they insisted that no, they’d bravely let their teammates have the pleasure of throwing out loads of Kasrkin-produced mortal wounds. When the dust had cleared however, not a single one of the players had actually taken the faction, once again leading to a lot of ugly crying and spontaneous outbursts of “no, I love you, man“-s in a display of brotherhood this author has seldom seen.

Anyways, here’s how the faction picks went:

1. Jack Harpster – Harlequins
2. John Lennon – Chaos Knights
3. Richard Siegler – T’au Empire
4. Mark Perry – World Eaters
5. Nick Nanavati – Chaos Daemons
6. Adam Camilleri – Grey Knights
7. Quinton Johnson – Craftworlds Eldar
8. Kasra Houshidar – Ultramarines

The Matchups

Finally, it’s time to talk about the matchups. We’ll be having more detailed breakdowns from the Art of War pilots themselves this week as they go into detail on how they built the army, why they chose those units, and their strategies for play. The first of those will be later today from Nick Nanavati.

For the broad matchup overview, I’m going to turn things over to Goonhammer’s own massive competitive brain, James “One_Wing” Grover to talk about how these may play out.

Game 1 – Jack Harpster vs. Kasra Houshidar

Jack Harpster – Harlequins

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Murderous Twilight Saedath

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

James: After many years of trying, Games Workshop finally managed a partial success on taking the clowns down in Arks of Omen, forcing a re-think on some of the conventional ways of playing them. You can’t lean on durability nearly as much without an army-wide 4+ invulnerable save, and some of the popular shooting out there is largely unaffected by the Light Saedath trait and the prevention of hit re-rolls (most notably Russes).

That means you’ve got to take the fight to the enemy, and Jack’s list here aims to do just that, opting for Twilight Saedath over the other options. Small units of Troupes with special weapons can deal explosive damage in the fight phase and threaten the odd fusion pistol spike on top of that, and he’s also got two Troupe masters loaded for Character hunting, the super Death Jester and a second Shadowseer so that Mortals can still be pumped out even when the Veil needs to be Weaved. Adding Behind Enemy Lines to an already extremely strong Secondary mix allows this army to force through victory points even if the opponent gradually grinds it down, and last up Mirror Architect provides it with some ability to avoid getting punked too hard early, and mitigates the impact of a lot of deep strike shooting choices.

Kasra Houshidar – Ultramarines

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Shooty/Dreadnought Ultramarines

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Running Marines into Harlequins is always going to ba a daunting prospect, but Bobby G, in his infinite strategic wisdom, has brought along a pretty good set of tools for the job. Obviously not benefitting from his re-rolls while the clowns are in the boats is a big blow, but this army has plenty of weapons that are very effective into the clown menace, particularly the two Volkite Contemptors and the Desolation Squad. The master-crafted vengor launcher on the latter is a neat touch too, and plays especially well in this game with Martial Precision – being able to drop an automatic damage 3 hit anywhere on the board at a clutch moment is very nice indeed.

That’s not the only highly relevant Ultramarines strat either. Defensive Focus can make the forces of Twilight pay a high price for trying to engage, while Fall Back and Re-engage can give plenty of flexibility to key units. It also helps the chances of the forces of Macragge that they’re pretty resilient to the Twilight melee – stratagem bombs can still push lots of damage, but on base rate it’s merely going to be good rather than great, which might let the marines plan a counterattack. Tigurius is also great for messing with Psychic Secondaries. The Ultras will need to find a way to avoid the clowns running rings around them, but if they can pull that off, they’re in with a real shot!

Rob: Look I love Kaz and his Ultras but the real win is the one he’s already secured for all of us – keeping a 37-terminator Dark Angels list out of the tournament. What an absolute Chad, sacrificing himself for all of us.

Game 2 – John Lennon vs. Quinton Johnson

John Lennon – Chaos Knights

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Herpetrax Desecrator and Dogs

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Right now if you want to play Knights you have to really lean in to durability – there’s enough big guns out there that you need to be able to soak up a few hits and keep swinging. With that in mind, for my money Herpetrax is your best way of playing Chaos Knights right now. You get extra wounds across the board, and because you’re Iconoclast the Knights are pretty flexible, with even the two gun ones being able to chip through a few infantry models in the fight phase, and the Stalkers being very scary.

John’s list here opts for one big Knight, a Desecrator that’s been stacked with as many defensive buffs as possible to avoid being a liability, and sticks to War Dogs beyond that, providing lots of board presence and redundancy. There’s also some clear tech options for his first round matchup (something the streamhouse format enables) – all that Dogs that can are packing Havoc Launchers, allowing them to chip through sneaky elves even if they’re hiding behind stuff, and playing very well into Guard, a tough matchup, too. Stacking Desecrator and Helm of Dogs re-rolls onto those shots makes the attrition threat very real, and that could be clutch in the opening game.

Quinton Johnson – Craftworlds

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Hail of Doom with the Avatar

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Another list where I’m a big fan of the subfaction selected – I think Hail is where it’s at for Craftworlds right now, simply because it gives you the damage output to absolutely body the opponent. This list goes in on that hard – max Dire Avengers and two big Skyrunner units provides the tools to obliterate almost anything in the game, and bringing the Avatar also gives this list some spicy counter-charge potential. It’s peak Aeldari, all told – mostly incredibly fragile, but also able to hit like a dumpster truck.

That, of course, isn’t enough in 9th – you need a Secondary plan too, somewhere that Craftworlds can struggle a bit. Packing a largely sacrificial squad of Corsairs on top of all the Avengers alleviates that a bit – this list is very well equipped to score Retrieve Battlefield Data mostly out of Strategic Reserves, and has the mobility to push units into the enemy’s deployment zone for Behind Enemy Lines. Playing into Knights also smooths out the Secondary plan considerably, because Bring it Down is a lock, and Warp Ritual is going to be pretty hard to stop, even with Warp Haunted Hull for a Deny. That provides two easy options with a pick between several choices for a third, leaving this well set up to contest this game. The Havoc Launchers do represent a bit of an annoyance, as they potentially force all the Avengers to start off the table, but this list will go through Knights so quickly once they commit that I think it’s got a strong chance – and that’s before factoring in the Avatar, who is extremely good in this matchup. Obviously my Aeldari bias is going to show a bit here, but I like the elves chances a lot.

Rob: This is an interesting curveball from John, who I expected to be back on Tyranids in this event – a favorite faction of his and his pick in the 2022 season. Chaos Knights get some help from better Arks secondaries and there being no Astra Militarum in the bracket but he’ll still have to contend with Eldar and T’au shooting if he wants to break though.

Game 3 – Richard Siegler vs. Adam Camilleri

Richard Siegler – Tau

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bork’an Hulls

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

The T’au lure Siegler back in, but rather than go for Farsight or Tau Sept he’s opted for the more unusual (though increasingly popular) option of Bork’an, providing an infusion of extra mobility, and allowing a second Commander to be outfitted as a reliable, grindy killer.

This list feels very much like it’s aiming for a big beta strike – expose minimal targets early (just throwing a Strike and Fade punch turn 1 if necessary), keep the opponent pushed back with Stealth Suits, and then bring in the planes and start landing big hits on turn two. As Kauyon switches on on turn three the army can then go into mop-up mode, obliterating anything that’s survived the early onslaughts. Cheap chaff like Kroot Hounds provide a bit of glue to throw out when needed, and the Advanced EM Scrambler Shaper provides a tech piece that can either screen a lot of the home field by itself or push to a key position and ruin the Grey Knight’s plans in this opening game. Also on that front, this list has a lot of D2 AP-2 shooting, perfect for picking up Interceptors and Dreadknights alike. The only potential challenge for it is that it doesn’t have any way of sticking full Wound re-rolls on the Crisis Team, opening up the risk of a low rolled turn that lets the Grey Knights take the initiative, which could be fatal for a list with a relatively low unit count. With Commanders and a Hammerhead to smooth out the killing, however, that can probably be dodged – and the Bork’an trait also gives the army much more scope to tank a counterattack turn than normal.

Adam Camilleri – Grey Knights

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Dreadknights, Interceptors and Freeblades

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

This game is going to be such a bloodbath – this list is about as high threat as you can push a Grey Knights army to be, and packed with D2 (and a bit of D3 from the Knights) firepower that’s ideal for taking out the Tau toys. Bork’an means that the Armigers aren’t quite as reliable at instantly murdering Sun Sharks as they otherwise might be, but they’re still a spooky thing for the Tau to have to worry about, and potentially railroad their target prioritisation a bit – you can’t really leave them alive on the board with the Sun Sharks.

Elsewhere, this army is very much tooled to ensure the Tau have minimal breathing room – lots of Interceptors to push up the board at speed, with a Rhino for a unit to stage in mid-table, and running as Rapiers means that whichever unit connects is going to put in big damage. It absolutely dies to the ion volleys that are going to be lashing out at it, but the Tau definitely need their first big swing to land, or they’re going to be up against it. That helps provide a real angle for the Grey Knights against grindy Bork’an, and the fact that they have good Secondaries (Teleport Strike/BEL/Purification) also helps them a lot – the Tau need to end this fast or find the game getting away from them.

Rob: This is an interesting matchup, in part because there’s nothing the T’au can do to stop Grey Knights psychic powers or scoring on Purifying/Warp Ritual. Adam’s ability to win will likely come down to being able to score for Teleport Strike, and just taking that secondary means this game is going to get very brutal very quickly. Should be fun to watch and over quickly.

Game 4 – Mark Perry vs. Nick Nanavati

Mark Perry – World Eaters

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

MSU/Herohammer World Eaters

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

This matchup is good news if you’re Khorne, because there is definitely going to be blood. Mark’s list here follows a lot of current World Eaters builds in going hard on the Eightbound, but beyond that mixes it up a bit – rather than lots of Beserkers, he’s got a couple of Daemon Princes and larger-than-normal Spawn units. The Daemon Princes, especially with Rhinos to screen them, give the army a bit more flexibility in how it chooses to engage, while the Spawn ensure there are plenty of wounds to soak up any Tzeentchian nastiness that’s coming in, while also providing inexpensive sources of volume attacks.

A lot of the choices here should be extremely good into Daemons. While Nick has teched some Skull Cannons to provide ranged damage, most of Daemon’s damage dealing still happens in the Fight Phase, and using Rhinos to protect Berserkers can make them tricky to initiate a favourable fight against (though Mark does have to watch out for the Seeker unit fully wrapping one, which they have the ground coverage to do). World Eaters fighting on Death is also a nightmare for Daemons, as it reduces their ability to trade favourably unless they’re controlling the tempo of battle. Nick has brought tools to help do that, but it’s going to be a careful dance to avoid his Daemons getting sent straight back to the Warp – which might give the World Eaters time for their incredible Secondaries to build a commanding lead.

Nick Nanavati – Chaos Daemons

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Counterattack Daemons

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

In many ways this feels like the list that most techs for its first round matchup. Bringing both Skull Cannons and fast Slaaneshi nonsense provides the Daemons with a bit of scope to dictate the flow of battle, vital if they’re going to overcome their vulnerability to melee damage against an opponent who is all about that. The Indomitable Bloodthirster is also phenomenal here – one can’t exactly describe it as a tech choice since almost every Daemon list takes it, but an opponent who primarily does damage in one phase is the perfect game for it. Kairos’ One Head Looks Back ability is also going to be exceptional when pointed at Blood Frenzy, as pushing the cost on Eightbound to 3CP might actually price Mark out after a while.

Taking that all together with their Secondaries, it feels like the Daemons are unusually well equipped to play the long game against World Eaters despite how good the Secondaries are. If they can carefully stage manage the demise of lots of the Marines over the first two turns, they can use a combination of Warp Ritual and Despoilers of Reality to pick up Secondaries at speed over the final few turns, presumably stacked on the standard Reality Rebels. With fewer Beserkers to deal with than normal, shutting out the World Eaters access to ObSec is pretty practical, reducing their ability to deny Primary and giving the Daemons a good chance to lead them on a merry and ultimately fatal chase.

Rob: I’ve played this exact matchup as World Eaters and it absolutely sucks – there’s very little the World Eaters can do about that wound-capped Bloodthirster, especially if it generates the warp storm points to heal once or twice. It’s also perfectly capable of just not taking 8 wounds from a single round of combat with only 3 Eightbound, so Mark will have to pick and choose how he fights it very carefully. He’ll have no problem tearing through the bloodletters, but the greater daemons are a big problem here, particularly with only one CP-led deny attempt per turn and no way to hit a screened-out Kairos. That bird is going to drop some mortal wounds and it’s going to hurt, so I expect Mark to spend 3 BTP early for the 5+++.

What’s Next: Nick Nanavati Talks Daemons

With our initial preview out of the way, the next step is getting more in-depth on these lists, starting later today with Nick Nanavati walking us through his Chaos Daemons list, how he selected units for it, and how he plans to win with it. In the meantime, if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.