Buckle up, Dear Readers, because this week is the Art of War’s Streamhouse RTT. We already ran our general preview yesterday – link here if you missed it, and today we’re going to be diving into the competitors, looking at their lists, talking about their strategies, and offering a bit of our own thoughts – mine and Wings’ – on how we think they’ll fare during the event.
As a reminder, the event will be streamed live, and you can catch all the action on Wednesday, March 26th at 10am EDT on the Art of War’s YouTube channel.
Now, let’s get into the competitor profiles. We’ll take a look at their armies, and we’ve taken the liberty of asking them some incredibly invasive personal questions about their hopes, dreams, and fears.
Nick Nanavati
Nick's List - Click to Expand
Why did you pick this list?
No one will see it coming! I largely haven’t touched our broken, pointy-eared friends all edition but now is the time to take the training wheels off and show everyone what I can really do! I also genuinely believe Spirit Conclave is a good detachment which solves the Eldar faction’s issue of “being made of tissue paper.”
What’s your game plan?
I’m going to use the ample speed of Hawks, Spiders, and Jetbike Warlocks to endlessly screen, moveblock, and kill enemy scoring pieces. Then their tough units will have to box with all my wraiths for primary while my fast nonsense runs around scoring and contesting.
What lists are you most afraid of for this event?
I have no fears, for I am the one true king. But Kyle’s Space Marine list and Jack’s Custodes are not going to be easy!
Wings’ Commentary
Wings: The depth of the Aeldari Codex is one of my favourite things about it, and the fact that Nick can throw down an extremely real list from one of the least-used detachments is a testament to that. He’s quite right that most Aeldari lists die fast now – you wouldn’t think that losing the ability to make one auto-save in a phase would make that much difference, but it really does. This list does not have that problem – 2+ saves all over the shop, good toughness on top of that, and the ability to use Battle Focus to protect units when they don’t die to shooting outright (far more likely here than for squishy aspects).
What really makes the army tick beyond that is the innocuous solo Warlock Skyrunners. These are great for almost any Aeldari build, as they provide an additional cheap, fast activation, but they’re even stronger here because if the opponent kills them, the army gets big mad about it (especially the Wraithlords, who can stack +1BS from Psychic Guidance with the +1 to hit from the Vengeful Dead token).
That’s especially useful into low drop count armies, which is helpful because I think Nick is right to worry about Custodes. The army can’t do that much to deplete them at a distance, and when Custodes slam in at (mostly) full strength they can blend most stuff. Boosted Hit and Wound rolls will help push back on that, especially with Wraithblades Fighting on death. The only thing I’m slightly surprised by is not seeing D-Scythes on one of the two Wraithguard units – adding one horrendous Overwatch threat would help constrain the options of some foes, and helping into Custodes. The other matchup I’d be really worried about in Nick’s shoes is Kyle’s Dark Angels, because the Deathwing Knights can do a lot of the same stuff Custodians do while caring far less about Fight on Death. Big fan of the list nonetheless, and obviously my biased Aeldari heart would love to see it triumph.
Richard Siegler
Richard's List - Click to Expand
Why did you pick this list?
Playing the T’au Empire at a streamhouse RTT is a classic for me at this point. I’ve been spending a lot of time recently writing Mont’Ka lists and felt this was the perfect opportunity to put it to the test! It’s been my favorite detachment since the Codex released so excited to get it back on the table and since the last event I played with it was Dreamhack Dallas.
What’s your game plan?
My game plan is simple: Touch objectives early and often with Ghostkeels, Piranhas, or Pathfinders and get the action started early. I either get full use of my rules in a big early game battle or I get a big score lead.
What lists are you most afraid of for this this event?
A Shaso’O plans; he does not fear. I shall claim victory for the Greater Good!
Wings’ Commentary
Wings: Apparently deployment zones are a fake idea. This list has unparalleled flexibility to set the table to its liking during deployment, and has the option to launch some tremendous sucker punches early on if the opponent doesn’t respect it. Being able to launch devastating all-out attacks when needed gives it an angle to handle over-tuned Detachments like More Dakka, but it also has the threat redundancy and depth to play a longer, cagier game when required. Much like Nick’s Warlocks, the threat of Pinpoint Counter-Offensive can also sometimes leave a foe with no great options on how to push back without making their life worse down the line.
John Lennon
John's List - Click to Expand
Why did you pick this?
Emperor’s Children are brand new and exciting, and I love the chance to learn a new faction! Fast-moving power armor is probably my favorite archetype in the game, and so I’m excited for a new way to express that even if it’s less loyal than my usual factions.
What is your game plan?
My army is fast and can play quite aggressively. Oftentimes, this means I will try to set the pace of the game and try to win on primary by powering up my Coterie while killing cheap units, and then later in the game my heavier hitters can take on anything still alive. But I love that Emperor’s Children are fast enough to play a longer game as well if I have bottom of turn, and so I will be keeping my game plan flexible for each opponent!
What lists are you most afraid of for this event?
For me, Quinton’s Sisters of Battle stand out as very threatening. I think he hits hard, has plenty of units, and that Sisters are being slept on right now as a very strong army.
Wings’ Commentary
Wings: The new hotness (or maybe hot pinkness) speeds onto the scene here, building around the tried and true Chaos plan of having powerful brawler units in Rhinos to unleash on the enemy as and when they’re required. The Emperor’s Children twist backs that up with very strong anti-Infantry shooting from the Noise Marines, and a durable second melee wave from Winged Daemon Princes, which are easily the best unit in the book. A mixture of Mortals, powerful melee and high durability is exactly what you want on that kind of threat, and Coterie makes them even harder to deal with by giving them access to Protection of the Dark Prince for a 4+ against Mortal Wounds.
Coterie also punishes the kind of cheap early positioning/scoring pieces that are everywhere right now – you can start with a cautious 0 pledge, but if your opponent exposes a target you can kill one, pop Unbound Arrogance to switch on your hit re-rolls, then it’s off to the races. It also lets one of your Daemon Princes respawn, which I’m sure your opponent will just love, and as the Warlord they’ll stick about on the battlefield to keep making dark promises to the endgame.
I feel like the main potential speed bump for the servants of Slaanesh are some of the hull-heavy builds like Richard’s and Brian’s, as anti-tank is a definite weakness of the army, and both have ways to push scoring even when under pressure.
TheChirurgeon: John’s Warlord here is the Endless Servitude Winged DP and that seems like a good pick but also seems like it could be tough to protect for a full game. I’m extremely interested to see how Coterie plays on the table.
Jack Harpster
Jack's List - Click to Expand
Why did you pick this?
I love my custodes and they just got themselves an exciting brand new detachment, there was no world where I didn’t play them. It’s an excuse to put Trajann back on the table and the Allarus captains with the new enhancements got me a little hot under the collar.
What is your game plan?
My game plan is to play a patient, reserved game (I don’t have the speed to do otherwise) while using repeated rapid ingresses to force a scoring lead and make my opponent come forward. When they do, I’ll tee up my biggest swing and knock them out of the park. This list certainly isn’t lacking for damage and I aim to show that off.
What lists are you most afraid of for this this event?
Kyle’s Dark Angels are hard for me to crack and Richard is packing a lot of anti-heavy infantry guns. Those two matchups are going to be difficult but the one I’m most worried about would probably be Quinton’s Sisters. That army is massively slept on at the moment and his army is flexible, fights hard and shoots harder. When the Sisters bullet factory spins up it’s real unfortunate for anything in the way. I’ll have to play very carefully in that matchup to avoid getting hosed down with autocannon shots or blasted by the Vahlgons. Overall though, I feel like I have a good suite of matchups and the ability to win any game I find myself in if I play well enough and I couldn’t ask for more.
Wings’ Commentary
Wings: Lions has landed red hot in the UK metagame, but this build looks quite different to some of the others that have been bouncing around, going in on a mixture of Custodian Guard and extreme herohammer from the Allarus units/Captains.
Frankly, on parsing out just what this build can do, I think everyone else is sleeping on it. One of the more subtle strengths of Lions is that +1 to Wound is transformative for Custodes shooting – it takes it from often being incidental to always at least somewhat relevant. Put it on Custodian Guard, and it’s suddenly very relevant – set them up with full Wound re-rolls and shoot twice with them and suddenly an opponent is at risk of losing a real unit, particularly as Jack has added Kyria and an Inquisitor to a couple of them (who actually get the bonuses, unlike some similar effects). Melee-heavy Custodes builds are usually a one-phase army, but this is very much not that, to an extent to which many players wouldn’t realise until they’re down a couple of vital pieces.
The build can still do incredible work in the Fight Phase, of course – Trajann can amp up to take names multiple times in a game if needed, the Custodians are perfectly good at killing, and all the Allarus squads can get stuff done too, especially with Character buffs. One of the things that makes this list so powerful is that it punishes opponents that try and pick units off one at a time, which is what you often want to do against Custodes, but here that will just allow more refreshes of abilities and more murder.
There are a couple of possible ways to attack it, mind. Compared to most Lions builds this has a lot of drops, so if an opponent can box it in, it may struggle to keep the buffs it is depending on live. It also has no Mortal Wound protection at all, which some armies might be able to take advantage of, but luckily for Jack none of the build here are super deep on those.
In terms of matchups, I think Jack is right to be most worried about Sisters of those here, as full Sacresant units are in an awkward spot for this to reliably handle, and Quinton has brought Aestred and Agathae who can exploit the Mortals weakness. I feel like Richard’s Tau may also be able to push and box the army in if necessary, especially as they have pretty much the perfect suite of guns for Custodes hunting.
Quinton Johnson
Quinton's List - Click to Expand
Why did you pick this?
If we’re being honest with ourselves (Robnote: No one said you had to do that), I’ve played slightly too many games of Aeldari recently, and when the most recent data slate gave pretty notable buffs to sisters, I dug the sacresant spam list out of the trash and have been shocked with how well it’s been doing in testing. I think it’s not great at anything but it’s good at absolutely everything! It’s a very well rounded list that fits the way I play Warhammer exactly.
What is your game plan?
The immolator + castigator machine didn’t change at all⸺it still stings like a hornet! If I can keep those tanks shooting for a few turns, they’ll sandblast any army off the table. Thirty celestian sacresant provide enough of a shield wall to protect my castigators and box in the middle; their new price point makes them a surprisingly affordable selection for this role. When things get rough, I always have Vahl in my back pocket, ready to put the game on her back.
What lists are you most afraid of for this this event?
Really I’d have to say Seegs. He’s the only army that can outshoot me, and if I draw him on the wrong table, I have a lot to fear from those T’au guns! I also want to give a sneaky shout out to Jack’s custodes; his army also packs a punch in shooting and his ability to use Swift as the Eagle to move units after I shoot him will deprive me of the stacking efficiency of subsequent shooting activations.
Wings’ Commentary
Wings: This seems to be the army everyone else is worried about, and it’s definitely a potent one. The army leans in hard on the Grotmas detachment, which now that you can generate enough Miracle Dice to make it function provides an excellent toolbox to keep your Sacresants alive, kicking, and generally making life difficult for the foe, especially at OC2.
While the detachment’s benefits are heavily concentrated on that relatively small set of units, Sisters benefit from a fire support suite that doesn’t really need any rules lift to function – switch off Cover from the Immolator, add +1AP from the first Castigator, then from there the second and third Castigators will blow up pretty much whatever you’ve pointed everything at (and they’re still great when splitting fire against less durable foes). Vahl’s unit also fits into this category, able to punt pretty much anything she likes into the sun, and they also appreciate the extra movement from the Detachment Rule in a pinch.
The last unit to highlight here is the inclusion of Aestred and Agathae, who I feel have been consistently slept on since the Codex landed. You can give units Devastating Wounds in a faction with auto-6s. We know that’s good! We all saw what the Aeldari did! They’re especially good in this detachment because of their Miracle Dice generation, helping keep all the army’s rules flowing freely. This list is new and exciting, and does feel well placed into the Streamhouse metagame with answers to most of what’s about.
Tomorrow: The Five Remaining Competitors
That’s a hell of a first set to look at today, but don’t sleep on the event’s remaining five competitors – we certainly won’t be, and we’ll be back tomorrow to talk about their lists and offer our final thoughts on who we think is going to win this thing. Stay tuned, and we’ll see you then!
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