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.

The dust is starting to settle on the balance update (there's still a few stragglers on old points), granting us a revelation of the metagame to come. The short version is that Aeldari and Death Guard are (narrowly) at the front of the pack in terms of top finishes, but that win-rate-wise Genestealer Cults and the unassuming Necron menace are a decently out in front, and Thousand Sons are a substantially so. Despite that, things look a lot healthier overall, and of the stats we track the only number that's immediately worrying is the Thousand Sons one, since they're touching the (bad) magic number of 60%. Hopefully they're in the crosshairs for the full Dataslate whenever that arrives, because for everything else there's time to watch things evolve for a bit.

Under our microscope in Part 1 this week are:

• NOVA Open 2025 Grand Tournament
• Roll for Damage GT - Presented by Dragon's Lair
• ALL STARS August - Hellstorm's 40K Tournament Series
• 30 & 31 Aug 2025 - OWN's Breaking Point GT at Primal Nerds
• HWP Saltier Classic GT

Part 2 with Lowest of Men on Friday will cover:

• La Voz Open 2025
• Belgian Open WH40K
• GITHAMMER IRON GIT GT
• Tabled Talk Grand Tournament
• Malmö Figurspelsförening 40k GT

NOVA Open 2025 Grand Tournament

375-player, 9-round Supermajor in Washington, DC, United States on August 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Folger Pyles - Aeldari (Warhost) - 1st Place

Wave Serpent. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Double Dodge Warhost

Thoughts

The perfidious Aeldari are always ready to seize an opportunity, and alongside the Aspect Host lists we've been seeing for a while, their big breakthrough this week is with Warhost builds like Folgers. These take advantage of the fact that, in Warhost, two units can disembark, shoot, then jump back in thanks to access to both Skyborne Sanctuary and Fire and Fade, letting you put plenty of hurt on the foe with minimal reprisals. The downside of these compared to Aspect Host is that the damage isn't as big, making them dicey into 4-5 big Knight armies. Now that those are rarer (for four Knights) and essentially non-existent, you can bring the Warhost out, and back the big evasive threats with lots of cheap stuff to score and troubleshoot, creating a high reliability army.

In Folger's specific version, he's gone for the classic big Fire Dragon block as the alpha threat (you're still going to need to kill some Knights after all) and then Maugen Ra in a Falcon as secondary. That's a pick that's definitely worth a look, as it's probably the cheapest thing that crosses the line to being a big damage threat, giving the list the space to max out on Hawks and Spiders alongside them. Jain Zar and Lhykhis provide some good troubleshooting on top of that, able to pick off mid-tier threats that end up out of position. I am (obviously) a big fan of Aeldari nonsense, and while I'm probably sticking on Aspect Host for now myself, this is clearly a very strong way to play the army at the moment, and we'll see how the metagame shakes out for which option ends up in front. Congratulations to Folger on the big Nova win!

Brian Daugherty - World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) - 2nd Place

World Eaters Forgefiend. Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Stock Warband

Thoughts

World Eaters continue to perform solidly, primarily (though not exclusively) using lists like this one. The double Berzerker/double Forgefiend core, supported by cheap and deadly spawn and some flex picks, creates a build that just has really solid all-rounder fundamentals, and game into almost anyone. It's fair to say that Aeldari are going to be one of the tougher matchups for them, so we'll see if builds need to adapt to that threat, but the reach from Berzerkers there still gives elves pause, and having lots of Spawn that need at least a moderate answer seems good in that game? Definitely not a reason to avoid World Eaters right now - they're firmly decent army, and as as Brian shows here, can put up great finishes in skilled hands.

Derek Apsche - Death Guard (Virulent Vectorium) - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Mortarion Vectorium

Thoughts

The big trend in Death Guard this week is a substantial up-tick in Virulent Vectorium builds. Hammer is still out there (and we'll be hearing from our own TheChirurgeon on that point later in the week), but it's a much more even split with Vectorium now. Having less stuff on the board just makes the sticky objectives that much more valuable, particularly the way that stickying a bunch of the mid-field with Poxwalkers forces your opponent to go on the offensive, allowing you to engage on your terms. The Feel No Pain Daemon Prince is also a relatively bigger bargain now since he didn't change in price, and durability is more valuable when you have less stuff. Finally, the same is true of Mortarion himself, and we did highlight with Derek's previous spin on Vectorium that taking Morty and a Prince is one of the best ways to dodge point increases.

That's what we see here, providing the tools to bait and obliterate the enemy, albeit not quite enough to beat Folger's elves. In that matchup, the fact that Folger can send out a wave of Hawks and Spiders to clear the Pox screen and still have plenty more scoring in the tank is killer to this army's strategy, and cheap Tzaangors from Thousand Sons can do something similar. Still, it's clear that the right Death Guard builds still have some juice, and Derek was ahead of the curve on the new hotness, here, so well done!

James Lovett - World Eaters (Khorne Daemonkin) - 4th Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Daemonkin

Thoughts

Next up we have what is basically the stock Berzerker Warband build, but instead of Eightbound, a Prince, and the flex slots, they have Skarbrand and lots of Bloodletters. It would appear that firing Bloodletters at the foe is still good when they have to appear 6" away, especially if you're supporting them with uppy-downy Skarbrand. Hanging some Flesh Hounds and Bloodcrushers around with your Berzerkers also provides a neat toolbox of Stratagems that can help adapt to various matchups. Honestly, also, the very easy to turn on 5+ Feel No Pain against Psychic Attacks and Mortals is pretty lit if Thousand Sons are a top army, and it being an optional thing to spend points on means you're not losing any power budget in other matchups. This build can be pleasingly overwhelming when unleashed on foes, and has a great supply of fun tricks to play with, and I think it's a really fun alternative to Warband. Great stuff from James, rounding out the top four and making it a double header for Khorne. Even though that's more of a Tzeentch thing.

The Best of the Rest

This is somehow even more of a nightmare to adjudicate than GW opens. I've gone with the rest of the top 20 - that appears to capture all the top bracket, then the four undefeateds from the next bracket down (which presumably started with everyone else on 4-1 after round five, as I can't figure out how there are four undefeateds in it otherwise).

These were:

Roll for Damage GT - Presented by Dragon's Lair

98-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Fulham, SA, Australia on August 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Note: This event does not seem to have used the new points.

The Showdown

Take and Hold - Search and Destroy

Sam Young - Adepta Sororitas (Champions of Faith)

vs.

Chris Newell - Astra Militarum (Siege Regiment)

Thoughts

Two unusual builds here, with an especially crunchy Champions of Faith build facing a thematic Siege Regiment army. The Champions lean very much into a hammer and anvil setup - you have the standard crunchy Sacresant squads with Hospitallers to bog the foe down, then either Arco-flagellants or Warsuits to hurl at the enemy depending on if they're numerous or tough. You also have a couple of squads of Sanctifiers that can use Scout in Rhinos to get some good early positioning going, and do a very effective job of clearing out enemy screens thanks to the number of Torrent weapons they have.

On the other side, lots of Indirect, and a very Dorn-centric plan. The big upside Siege Regiment offers them is Stealth via the Detachment rule and full hit re-rolls for one of the Commanders with Flare Burst. The former is not super relevant here, as the Warsuits are the only big ranged threat and don't massively care, but the latter gives a bit of heft for trying to clear Sacresant units.

Sadly, even with that this is going to be a bit of a mis-match, I think, especially with the corner deployment. If the Guard put their mind to it, they probably can lift a Sacresant squad, but it takes way too much of their list at once to pull off, and they're only going to get to do it at full power once. They're going to find themselves rapidly jailed in their deployment zone trying to get out from under the second wave, and as soon as they start losing Dorns to Warsuits they're in big trouble. What they really need here is an Infiltrate unit to carve out some expansion space that cannot be Scouted into if the Sororitas go first, because the issue is basically that there's no massive need for the Sisters to be over cautious, and if they then go first the Guard are massively on the back foot essentially permanently. It's a shame to see such a cool Guard list get punked that way, and I feel like on other Deployments the game is much more interesting, but Search and Destroy offers a huge mismatch, which the Sisters clearly put to good use.

Result

Adepta Sororitas (Champions of Faith) Victory - 99 - 36

Sam Young - Adepta Sororitas (Champions of Faith) - 1st Place

Credit: Greg Narro

The List

Archetype

Champions Sacresant Spam

Thoughts

Do not underestimate how tough the Sacresants are. I'm going to tell you this and you're going to forget and underestimate them, but you shouldn't. This build trades on stacking -1 to hit and wound on top of a Feel No Pain, Invuln, and model revival, and while unassuming in footprint, the result can dominate the table against most things. This list also plans effectively for situations where that isn't enough - your biggest problem matchups are things like gatling Infernals (and remember this event was pre-nerf Knights), which are perfectly pitched to push kills through, so having enough big melta to discourage them is very helpful. I also like the use of Sactifiers to control the board and offer some anti-horde power, as that helps avoid getting out-OCed by the other extreme end of what can face this army down. Last thing to say about this is that it feels pretty exciting into Warhost Aeldari, because I think it maybe just bounces them and rolls forward? Intersting to see if this ends up as a counterpick. Congratulations to Sam on the win.

Marcus Butler - Leagues of Votann (Oathband) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Leagues of Votann Einhyr Champion. Credit: Rich Nutter

The List

Archetype

All-rounder Index Votann

Thoughts

As the title suggests, a sendoff for Index Votann. Not flashy, but never worse than solid once they were given the bonus tokens. Well done to Marcus on picking up a final undefeated run with them.

Adam Napier - Death Guard (Virulent Vectorium) - 3rd Place

Lord of Virulence. That Gobbo

The List

Archetype

Knight Tyrant Vectorium

Thoughts

Speaking of sendoffs - a pre-nerf Death Guard/Knight tag team sees one here. Love that for them. To be fair - Knight Tyrants didn't go up very much, and you do maybe give them serious thought, as they're a great combo with the bait factor of sticky Poxwalkers. Will have to see if they fit in once the Death Guard contingent shrinks down. Well done to Adam.

Michael Wood - Death Guard (Shamblerot Vectorium) - 4th Place

Poxwalkers by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

The List

Archetype

Shamblerot Tyrant

Thoughts

I mean yes, you can also just combo a Knight Tyrant with enough Poxwalkers that it doesn't matter if they're sticky or not. This build does have to lose a "real" unit to keep operating, but kind of only one, given it's taken only 135pts of hit rather than 200, so it could well be that there's still something here post update, especially as free bonus Poxwalkers give the army staying power. You can get there just by cutting one of the small Poxwalker units and a Spawn Squad, and this still feels super real after that, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more people try this detachment out given the relatively light tough to its core. Entertaining to see fresh horrors still emerging from the book, and legitimately worth assessing once the metagame shakes out, well done Michael.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 5th - Josh Pope - Thousand Sons (Grand Coven): No-Magnus Grand Coven Goodstuff, adding extra Rubricae and Characters instead.
• 6th - Evan Wolfendale - Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): All-Infantry Shield Host, supporting three Custodian squads with a full six-model Allarus brick and 3x3 Venatari.
• 7th - James Beal - Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead): Infantry shooting Vanguard, with your choice of Centurions, Inceptors or Eradicators to zap around with Stratagems.
• 8th - Peter Skene - Tyranids (Subterranean Assault): Extra monstrous Assault, adding Mawlocs and Old One Eye to the normal mix.
• 9th - Wade Stringer - Death Guard (Virulent Vectorium): General Vectorium Goodstuff.

ALL STARS August - Hellstorm's 40K Tournament Series

39-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, United Kingdom on August 30 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Dom Maidlow - Chaos Space Marines (Pactbound Zealots) - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Abaddon Gunline with Communes

Thoughts

A real return to tradition moment for the Chaos Space Marines here, putting down a Forgefiend/Destructor gunline with Abaddon like it's the autumn of 2023 or something. Anyway - fewer Knights, more mid-weight elite stuff is definitely good news for what Nurgle Pact shooting is putting down, and Accursed Communes are a legitimate headache for Aeldari if they get into position, so not a bad metagame shout. The ultra-high value Nurgle Bikers are always a fun thing to teach people about as well. Honestly - this is a fun, all-rounder kind of army, and I think it's the kind of thing that the excessively brutal five Knight builds just shut out, so it's good to see it back. Well done Dom.

Charles Gould - Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

 

Loyalist Knight Atrapos. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Canis and Cerastus

Thoughts

Speeeaking of overly brutal multi-Knight builds, it turns out that the Atrapos was so over-tuned that it's still the best non-Canis Knight at +40pts. Love that for us. Anyway - even down an Armiger, this build is still very, very nasty, so please don't put all of your big guns back on the shelf just yet. At least it doesn't need any explanation at this point. Congratulations Charles.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Stephen Platten - Emperor's Children (Coterie of the Conceited): Double Prince, double maulerfiend Coterie.
• 4th - Aaron Dorling - World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Standard Warband core, a third Forgefiend and some Helbrutes in the flex slots.
• 5th - Colin Ross - Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Nurgle/Khorne tag team, going for double Great Unclean one and Rotigus, Skarbrand, and then lots of Plaguebearers/Beasts of Nurgle for board presence.
• 6th - James Smith - Chaos Knights (Infernal Lance): Two double gatling Despoilers and lots of War Dogs.
• 7th - Andy Mitten - Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension): Horde Host.

30 & 31 Aug 2025 - OWN's Breaking Point GT at Primal Nerds

35-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Yukon, OK, United States on August 30 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Cam Hawkins - Aeldari (Aspect Host) - 1st Place

Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Spear Aspects

Thoughts

Further signs of the perfidious elf menace, here as Aspect Host. Running Aspects means you only pack one big Transport damage dealer, and Fire Dragons are the natural pick to deal with residual Knights. Outside that, small Reaper units are reliable chip damage in Aspect, and this detachment can use Shining Spears and actually expect them to kill stuff. I've been using one unit in my build and loving them, and on GW terrain (which this event was playing) you have the staging footprint to hide multiple units, making them very effective. Love elves, love Aspect Warriors, simple as, great stuff Cam.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Cody Middleton - Chaos Daemons (Shadow Legion): Extra pressure Shadow Legion, adding a Scout Great Unclean One and two War Dog Stalkers (who also Scout) to the Fadethirster/Be'lakor standard.
• 3rd - Brian Moody - Astra Militarum (Bridgehead Strike): An unusual elite Infantry guard build, combining three big Scion/command units with loads of Combat Engineers and Krieg Heavy Weapon Teams.
• 4th - Colin Kay - Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): Herohammer Brethren/Assault Intercessor MSU and RepEx Templars.

HWP Saltier Classic GT

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Plantation, Florida, US on August 30 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Alex Gandon - Imperial Knights (Noble Lance) - 1st Place

Imperial Knight Lancer. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Canis and Cerastus

Thoughts

This is what we're doing, huh. At least buying the fancy upgrades means dropping an Armiger down to an Assassin, but this is, once again, still a very scary list. Well done Alex.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - David Miloseski - Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Four bigs (Be'lakor, Skarbrand, a GUO and a Bloodthirster) with a big scoring/board presence toolbox.
• 3rd - Rafael Gonzalez - Chaos Daemons (Plague Legion): Morale nightmare funtimes with all the various Characters and some supporting Plague Drones for when damage needs to happen.
• 4th - Trevor Ritter - Thousand Sons (Changehost of Deceit): Lots of Rubricae and Scarab MSUs with some Screamers for early positioning.

Wrap Up

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