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.

Welcome back! We got some smaller coverage this week, ahead of the imminent release of the Tzeentch and Lumineth tomes. This week we will be covering:

• Realmshift 3 - England
• Crossroads Carnage: The Crossroadening - United States
• The Ogopogo Open - Canada

Realmshift 3

49-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, United Kingdom on February 07 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Bountiful Equinox

Brandon Eaton - Skaventide

vs.

Duane Maclean - Gloomspite Gitz

Thoughts

Interesting matchup here, though the Skaven are blessed with a lot of tools to really shut down the Gitz. With ways to give -1 to hit and -1 to wound to enemy units, the Troggs will have a harder time swinging in to the flocks of Plague Monks, especially the -1 to hit aura from the Screaming Bell on even turns. The Furnace gives out 6+ Ward saves to them, further mitigating damage.

Meanwhile the Plague Monks have the tools to punch back. Plague Furnace giving -1 to wards and the Priest giving crit mortals to the Monks with their prayer means they're gonna carve through on the punch back. That's before getting into the Verminlords, which hit hard on their own.

Result

Skaventide Victory - 70 - 39

Brandon Eaton - Skaventide - 1st Place

Credit: Jeremy Paul

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Verminlords and Plague Monks

Thoughts

As stated in the showdown, the prime part of this list is the Plague Monks. They're deceptively durable little chaff, 6+ saves but can easily be supported by the Screaming Bell and Plague Furnace to be -1 to be hit, -1 to be wounded, and a 6+ Ward. They can then have a prayer put on them to give them Crit Mortals and +1 to wound, even when they die they explode and can take enemies down with them, pretty cool stuff.

The two Verminlords give a bit more punch to the list. Lord Screech Verminking has a nice once per game buff for Pestilens with +1 to chant. Not Mind blowing, but it can help when the combat gets going. His true utility is his very strong attack and ability to shut off commands on a 3+. The Deceiver is also a strong hammer with crit mortals who can teleport into combat after charging into your chaff you though kept you safe,

The Best of the Rest

There were 8 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Michael Wilson - Blades of Khorne: Baleful Lords.
• 3rd - Bing Torrance - Hedonites of Slaanesh: Shelaxi and Keeper of Secrets with Blissbarb Archers, Slickblade Seekers and Fiendbloods.
• 4th - Matt Juddery - Idoneth Deepkin: Dual Eidolons with Eels.
• 5th - Duane Maclean - Gloomspite Gitz: See showdown.
• 6th - Monty Brindle - Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos with Horrors, and lots of Tzaangors.
• 7th - Joshua Boxall - Sons of Behemat: Kraken Eater, Warstomper, Beast-Smasher and Gatebreaker.
• 8th - Paul Buckler - Kharadron Overlords: KO good stuff with dual Skywardens.
• 9th - Ethan Leach - Stormcast Eternals: Bastian Carthalos with lots of Annihilators.

Crossroads Carnage: The Crossroadening

26-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Indianapolis, IN, United States on February 07 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Life Cycle

Corey O'Keefe - Kruleboyz

vs.

Michael Rausch - Ossiarch Bonereapers

Thoughts

Oh this is a rough one for the Ossiarchs. Charging into Gutrippaz is a hard time since a reinforced unit is 40 wounds, and will usually cause -1 to be hit. They then to clap back Crit Mortals (on 5s, often) so killing them in one go is very difficult. This would mean needing to be very careful to charge and then Power Through to not get left stuck in combat.

Still, that's a lot of wounds to carve through and god help you if those Monsta-killaz get a hold of the Harvester. Kruleboyz win with a crushing victory.

Result

Kruleboyz Victory - 58 - 26

Corey O'Keefe - Kruleboyz - 1st Place

Kruleboyz - Credit: RichyP

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Kruleboyz good stuff

Thoughts

Swamphorde Bullies was probably the greatest thing to happen to Kruleboyz. By fielding massive fields of infantry and keeping them relatively close, you can get +1 attack with Crit Mortals on 5s from the Shaman. While their saves aren't great, they are a lot of wounds and the -1 to be hit is usually enough to keep them safe in combat. It's really difficult to whittle their numbers down without a lot of ranged fire first.

The Killaboss on Gnashtoof is a nice tech piece able to pull an enemy hero out of combat if they could pose a problem, and the Marshcrawla lets Kruleboyz Run and Charge.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Michael Rausch - Ossiarch Bonereapers: See Showdown.
• 3rd - Xavier Green - Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos and Lord of Change with Daemons and the Helsmiths Artillery RoR.
• 4th - Andy Hesik - Ironjawz: Kragnos, Gordrakk and Maw-Krusha with pigs.
• 5th - Mike Nees - Lumineth Realm-Lords: Alarith Stone Lumineth with Callis and Toll.

The Ogopogo Open

24-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Kelowna, BC, Canada on February 07 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Basil Cahill - Flesh-eater Courts

vs.

Gregory Metheral - Skaventide

Thoughts

The Skaven list here is a little funky; while there's good stuff here like Brood Terrors, Rat Ogors and Screaming Bell, two units of Stormfiend with different loadouts is odd and definitely hampers their impact.

The FEC list meanwhile is way more focused on the direct damage and likely will have no trouble carving through this list, especially due to its lack of screening fodder.

Result

Flesh-eater Courts Victory - 67 - 38

Basil Cahill - Flesh-eater Courts - 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

FEC Good Stuff

Thoughts

Just the good stuff, none of the filler. Ushoran brings a solid delusion to the table, while also able to manipulate the die roll for delusions so you're always using the one you want. The Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist has one of the better delusions in the army, able to add +1 attacks to Companion Weapons which is a huge help for itself, the Morbheg Knights and the Zombie Dragon.

Everything else just punches really well; the Beastflayers are more of a screen but are a useful tech piece in case you have to fight a monster, but so much of this list can swing for some raw damage that is hard to survive against.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Santiago Peralta - Stormcast Eternals: Karazai with a mix of good stuff infantry.
• 3rd - Russell Main - Nighthaunt: Lady Olynder and Kurdross with Baldegheist and Grimghast
• 4th - Gregory Metheral - Skaventide: See Showdown.

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