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.

Small one this week folks. This time we have two tournaments in the US, one in Ohio and one in Washington.

This week we will be covering:

• Columbus Brewhammer '26 - 5 Year Anniversary
• Aegis Games Winter Age of Sigmar GT

Columbus Brewhammer '26 - 5 Year Anniversary

40-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lewis Center, Ohio, US on January 31 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Lifecycle

Ben Klos - Fyreslayers

vs.

Paul Hinderman - Ossiarch Bonereapers

Thoughts

That Fyreslayers list is pretty nasty, but the Ossiarchs have a pretty good answer to it in the form of Archai. The trick is going to be if the Ossiarch player can use their Mortek Guard wisely to keep the Magmadroths at bay and pick them up one at a time with the Archai and their other heavy hitters.

On the other hand, the Fyreslayers do have a bit more maneuverability, which is important on Lifecycle, thanks to their KO Regiment of Renown. The Fyreslayers player does have a shot if they try and avoid playing the OBR's game and not charging into their castle, and keeps focus on objectives.

It appears it does go the way of the Ossiarchs and they win with with a pretty strong lead.

Result

Ossiarch Bonereapers Victory - 76 - 46

Paul Hinderman - Ossiarch Bonereapers - 1st Place

Katakros - Credit Scops

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Katakros Mid-range

Thoughts

Seeing 3 units of Mortek Guard is unusual, but it's a smart play. Mortek Guard are cheap and can be surprisingly resilient with their 4+ Ethereal Save. If the dice go your way they can hold their ground a lot longer than you'd think, and can take a few models with them. They still mostly exist to hold the line against the stronger pieces in this list. The Crawler can lay covering fire onto the enemy and inflict Strike Last before a crucial charge (or covering fire right before an opponent's charge) and the Archai pick up basically whatever they want to charge into.

Katakros is no slouch either, making his allies stronger with +1 to save and scrapping pretty well himself when backed up by Immortis Guard giving him potentially up to a 4+ Ward, and a 2+ save.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Sean Kancir - Blades of Khorne: Baleful Lords with Skarbrand and 4 Bloodthirsters.
• 3rd - Jacob Herzog - Skaventide: DOOMWHEELS!
• 4th - Ben Klos - Fyreslayers: See Showdown.
• 5th - Brad College - Flesh-eater Courts: Tripple SoG Ghoulkings with various infantry.
• 6th - Geoffrey Strubler - Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros with 2 Soulreapers and a Soulmason, Leading Archai and Stalkers
• 7th - Hunter Hoeper - Ossiarch Bonereapers: Nagash and 2 Mortisans with Immortis Guard and Stalkers.

Aegis Games Winter Age of Sigmar GT

24-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Bellingham, WA, United States on January 31 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Cyclic Shifts

Frederick Schmidt - Sylvaneth

vs.

Alexander Frias - Ossiarch Bonereapers

Thoughts

This is a rough one for the Ossiarchs. The Kavalos Deathriders, being the primary Hammer here, are going to have a hard time charging into the Sylvaneth. The Branchwych loves dropping a strike last on incoming enemies so the bigger bodies can lay the smackdown on would be foes.

Ossiarchs generally want to be charged, but big boy Sylvaneth are one of the lists who can pretty consistent crack through the Ossiarch's defenses, and it looks like that's how things pan out given the shellacking they take here.

Result

Sylvaneth Victory - 75 - 38

Frederick Schmidt - Sylvaneth - 1st Place

Warsong Revenant. Credit: chimp

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Sylvaneth Good Stuff

Thoughts

This is basically the best package of Sylvaneth stuff, no fuss, no muss. Alarielle is the most powerful caster in the army and not a bad fighter to boot. While you have very few units, if you lose them she can bring them right back to the fight. Belthanos is a staple, able to give run and charge to multiple units, such as Drycha who will lay the smackdown alongside the two leads.

Rounding things off are the support heroes, the Revenant gives everything a 6+ ward around it, which goes a long way on big models with a ton of wounds. It also works well as anti-magic, able to get the shockingly rare Unbind/Banishment bonuses. The humble Branchwych may not look like much, but if anyone tries to charge your Wyldwoods it can drop a Strike last, allowing everyone else to tear them apart.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Alexander Frias - Ossiarch Bonereapers: See Showdown.
• 3rd - Michael Tunes - Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros and Arkhan with Archai and various infantry.
• 4th - Brian Smith - Stormcast Eternals: Ionus and Iridan with Reclusians, Prosecutors and Vanguard Raptors.
• 5th - Jack Rosenblit - Daughters of Khaine: A mix of Snakes and Aelves, shockingly no Morathi or Krethusa.

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