Welcome to Competitive Innovations, our weekly feature for a number of game lines across the tabletop wargame space. Each week our army list and tactics experts canvass the top tournaments for their game of specialty, looking at the week’s top match-ups and how they played out on the tabletop to let you know what’s hot, what’s not, and what might be coming next as the competitive meta evolves year-round.

Today:

• Münsterland Major 2
• Dawn of Vår 2k25
• Battle on the Bayou
• Down Under 40k May Dawnbringer GT 2

Friday:

• SSG Miniature Metropolis - Meta Shuffle
• Hyper 352: GT
• Midgards May 40k ITC Grand Tournament
• Ammonite Gaming - The May GT 25

Münsterland Major 2

113-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Rheine, NRW, Deutschland on May 10 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Artur Güttler - Grey Knights (Warpbane Task Force) - 1st Place

Grey Knights Nemesis Dreadknights. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Thoughts

Oh no. Oh no no. I'm not going back. I don't have any more musical interludes in me.

Anyway - Dreadknights are very good when there's a bunch of elite 3W Infantry around, and supporting them with speedy melee units that can also do objective work ensures you still score very effectively. Not taking any Purifiers does also keep points free for extra Interceptors, I assume the flex being that with this many Dreadknights, you're confident you'll be able to activate re-rolls in the mid-field when you need them. Given the results, I can't really dispute that, congratulations Artur.

Niklas Fritschen - Chaos Daemons (Shadow Legion) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Be'lakor - Credit: RichyP

The List

Archetype

Board Control Shadow Legion

Thoughts

Shadow Legion continues to thrive, taking our second undefeated slot here, and while there's still a fair bit of flex in lists, Niklas' build shows emerging trends. The Fadethirster and Be'lakor are locks for every list, as are lots of Screamers, but the two big monsters clearly don't give you quite enough hammer blows you can throw by themselves. People are trying a few things to remedy that, and this version goes for a full Accursed Commune, providing both violence and a fairly solid anchor. Other popular options include Havocs, but having the durability and presence from the big Cultist unit frees up this list to fill out with Raptors, who are fantastic for scoring with easy access to uppy-downy. The overall result claims space quickly and effectively with Screamers, brutalises stuff that tries to take it back, and scores exceptionally well, and Niklas used all that to take a fantastic finish.

Grischa Gerwert - Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) - 3rd Place (Undefeated)

Bladeguard Veterans. Credit: SRM

The List

Archetype

Gladius Goodstuff

Thoughts

Rounding out an undefeated podium, we've got an all-rounder Ultramarines list with a bit of everything, with the especially notable standout being the Judiciar/Bladeguard unit, which is popping up everywhere in Marine builds to cause headaches for Emperor's Children and any melee army that can't concentrate serious oomph. You've also got a Desolation squad to make pesty elves sweat, which is never a bad thing, and the two units complement each other, as if a foe is discouraged from pushing forward, indirect chip damage becomes more valuable. You can't really go too far wrong if you just bring Bobby G and friends, and this is a good demonstration of that from Grischa.

Tim Schneider - Orks (Dread Mob) - 4th Place

Zodgrod Wortsnagga - Credit: RichyP

The List

Archetype

More Dakka Memorial Army List 2025-2025 Taken From Us "Too Soon"

Thoughts

It's a More Dakka Stompa list, but it's Dread Mob now. More Dakka's brief reign of terror has woken people up to the effectiveness of tools like the Super Grots, and also the fact that the big Ork robots are pretty nasty - I played against some Gorkanauts as Dread Mob a little while back, and they're way, way more dangerous than I initially gave them credit for. It also helps that the current metagame is largely tilted away from big shooty alpha strikes - you might get unlucky and pair into a more down-the-line Marine build or an Atrapos list (it was, in fact, Grischa's Ultramarines that dealt Tim his narrow loss), but there are going to be far fewer games where you turn up and the Stompa just dies, and if the opponent doesn't respect it (or can't get their threats to it through waves of Grots) it'll do real damage. Big respect for packing a big robot, well done Tim.

The Best of the Rest

There were 17 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

Dawn of Vår 2k25

62-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Oslo, NO on May 09 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Sveinung Knutsen Nøding - Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead) - 1st Place

Yncarne: Avatar of Ynnead. Credit: James "Boon" Kelling

The List

Archetype

Aspect Yncarne Ynnari

Thoughts

Roughly three flavours of Ynnari out there right now, and all of them can win tournaments. This one has lots of Aspects and the Yncarne, eschewing Yvraine and her Incubi brick or any Wraithlords - just lots of small value units, and a couple of Wave Serpents in case you hit anything with big Indirect. Worth noting that Dark Reapers are increasingly numerous in these builds too - they're in a target-rich environment, so it makes sense. Well done Sveinung on the win.

Rasmus Valand Fredriksen - Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal) - 2nd Place (5.5-0.5)

Imotekh the Stormlord. Credit: Wings

The List

Archetype

Shooty Starshatter

Thoughts

Starshatter has been quietly creeping back up the rankings in the last few weeks, and I wonder if it's because it runs counter to general trends - if people are worrying less about early game blasting, then throwing down a Silent King/Doomsday shooty castle is going to give them headaches. The list also tends to do well when it doesn't have to worry as much about other big shooty builds, as Doomsdays are a little hard to hide, and when the foe gets up close and personal Wraiths are also in a great spot in the metagame, simply because they're one of the few units that nothing kills effeciently, at least not now More Dakka is gone. Salt in some cheap scoring pieces, and you've got an effective build if you want to start blasting stuff, which Rasmus piloted to second here.

Jonathan Arkin - Orks (War Horde) - 3rd Place

Wrecka Krew Kill Team by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

The List

Archetype

Elite Mechanised War Horde

Thoughts

It's mechanised War Horde, elite style, going for a bit of quality over quantity with some Breakas, and a bit of shooting support via Tankbustas and Flash Gitz. Nice if you need to soften up some Custodes before you hit melee, and very nice if you run into big Knights, which have definitely been on the march recently. Being able to blast away something that could potentially repulse a go turn helps, for sure, though there is a tradeoff here of not being able to fit in nearly as many Characters, so you do need to be much more judicious about where you stash your very best units to ensure they hit prime targets. I suspect Jonathan was more than up to that task, mind, since he made it to the finals with extremely high scores only to be narrowly thwarted by the pesty Ynnari (who had unsportingly not really brought any really big targets other than Wave Serpents). A great run up to there, congratulations.

Snorre Bugge - Adeptus Custodes (Talons of the Emperor) - 4th Place

Credit: Dan "Swiftblade" Richardson

The List

Archetype

Enhancement Talons

Thoughts

Custodes close out this top four, here running plenty of the current hot tools, but as Talons instead of Lions. This gives you more mobility toys to play with, and also a great suite of Enhancements to really make the Characters pop, and I think the Aegis Projector on a Bike Captain unit is a particularly potent option that should probably be seeing a bit more play, as it's a significant upgrade to durability in a fairly elite metagame. Allarus with -1 to hit is no bad thing either, and they're particularly effective in a metagame where lots of small units bring Leaders (Autarchs and Lords Exultant especially). Broad anti-Mortals is also helpful if you hit a triple Prince build. Nice to see some variety in the Custodes choices, and this has some genuine tricks to recommend it, great stuff from Snorre.

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

Battle on the Bayou

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in New Iberia, LA, United States on May 10 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Unknown Mission

Who remembers to delete the google doc with the tournament pack in at as soon as the event is done? No 40K player is that level of organised. Very suspicious. I suspect the hand of the Inquisition.

Zach Pandelides - Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group)

vs.

Joseph Sanchez - Space Marines (Astartes) (Anvil Siege Force)

Thoughts

Space Marine vs. Space Marine, perfect, let them fight. In this instance, the way these two builds wish to fight is pretty clear - the Blood Angels want to go towards the Ultramarines and chop them up, the Ultramarines want to blow them to pieces. How's that going to go for them, in each case?

For the Ultramarines, the big draw towards this detachment rather than any of the others feels like the option to stick Sustained Hits on a 5+ on Desolation Marines, and the Enhancement for the Gravis Captain to get back up on full. The former is so-so into a lot of the Blood Angels stuff, but pretty decent at chipping down the Death Company or Scouts, and taking models out of the Death Company is important. It feels like the big challenge here is that not enough of their units can confidently go and tangle near where Bobby G or Calgar are, but the full Death Company unit is an absolute exception to that, able to go through most stuff here like a hot knife. Taking a few models out of that with an early souped-up volley seems very strong.

Also useful is being able to blow Scouts up with the vengor launcher, just to keep the activation count on the Blood Angel side down. My basic vibe from lining these lists up against each other is that the Ultramarines will, on average, eventually win out on attrition; only having one "true" hammer restricts the Blood Angels ability to go for the throat in this matchup, and the Ultras having two powerful Characters that can stand back up is a further way that their momentum can be undermined. However, the Blood Angels are absolutely going to be on the front foot early on, and will quickly sweep up the more skirmishing parts of the Ultramarine list. I think the very likely trajectory is that the Blood Angels pull ahead on points early, and the Ultramarines need to try and claw it back as they build up a material advantage. If you're the Blood Angels, that means you want to prioritise sweeping off all the enemy Scouts etc to minimise early scoring. For the Ultramarines, you need to plan to start pushing outward with your big hitters (Bobby G and Calgar, mostly), earlier than you might instinctively choose to, because if you start scoring points too late, you'll lose by default.

I think I would narrowly had this to the Blood Angels, as I've seen enough games like this play out where the side on the defensive is just a little too slow to get things back under control and rack up points. As it is, the Ultramarines showcased their much vaunted organisational talents and managed to just take a victory here by a single point!

Result

Space Marines (Astartes) (Anvil Siege Force) Victory - 81 - 80

Joseph Sanchez - Ultramarines (Anvil Siege Force) - 1st Place

Marneus Calgar Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

The List

Archetype

Siege Force Ultramarines

Thoughts

Look, maximum points from me for taking one of the most maligned Marine detachments and winning an event with it, that's awesome, though I don't think we're suddenly going to see a great swing across to this. I do think being able to double up on reviving one-model armies is cool, and I do think access to Rigid Discipline to use as an aggressive tool with either Bobby G or Calgar's unit is interesting; I mentioned in the Showdown that knowing when to start pushing out with this kind of list is crucial, and end-of-Fight Phase movement is a really good way to properly start motoring on that when it's time. Cool to have to consider a few unique tricks, good job Joseph.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Lynden Obarr - Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis and Armigers.
• 3rd - Zach Pandelides - Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): Melee aggro Liberator with lots of jump packs and a couple of Ballistus Dreadnoughts providing dakka backup.
• 4th - Garrett Gregory - Chaos Space Marines (Creations of Bile): Double Possessed and a big Chosen blob, plus some Vindicator shooting.

Down Under 40k May Dawnbringer GT 2

26-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Beresfield, NSW, Australia on May 09 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Jordan McGregor - Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs) - 1st Place

Credit: Keewa

The List

Archetype

Sacresant Spam

Thoughts

Sisters take a (currently rare) win to round out part 1, maxing out on the discounts the last Dataslate handed down, and fielding a wall of Sacresants with Hospitallers to repulse foes, and Arco-flagellants as well to really lean into the tarpit angle. This buys time for the Castigators to do their wicked work, and you can use the solo Canonesses to go out and score early on. This is really nasty against the various melee-focused armies that are out and about, as the threat of Spirit of the Martyr or a Heroic Intervention followed by Suffering and Sacrifice makes it very hard for opposing pressure pieces to roll through you without taking substantial casualties in return. Hospitallers everywhere also makes the price of failure incredibly steep for the opponent - swing and leave a few models alive and they'll hit back ultra hard, and then bounce back towards significant strength in only a few turns. This is a very elegant build that feels tuned for the current environment, so a well deserved win for Jordan.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Nathan Princi - Adeptus Custodes (Lions of the Emperor): Increasingly standard-issue Lions, double tank, one Shield Captain/Bike unit and Wardens.
• 3rd - Greg Maginnity - Aeldari (Devoted of Ynnead): Extreme Aspect go-wide Ynnari.
• 4th - Matt Hearne - Astra Militarum (Combined Arms): Combined Arms goodstuff with double big Krieg unit.

Wrap Up

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