This website uses cookies. 
Competitive Innovations in 10th: Operation Sufficient Jackals pt.3
Great news everyone, we solved Knights. As you read this, I will be playing in the ITT (a huge team event in the UK), and I trust that this week's data collection has definitely not been an exercise in lulling me into a false sense of security. Do not imaging a titanic metal boot stamping on a Canoptek Wraith forever. No sir.
Today I'm covering:
- [40k] Brave New Hive World - Ropecon Grand Tournament 2025
- Heart of War Road to NOVA 40K Event with 21st Legion & Away Games
- Waterdeep GT 4ta Edición
- Cross-Swords War At The Westward VIII
- Fleur-De-Lis GT
- W4 - Western Wisconsin Wargaming Weekend
- Incarnatus
- Palm Springs Open 40k GT IV By Dicehammer
- BOISE CUP 40k 2025
- Dark Sphere July GT
- Liberty Open Road to NOVA 40K Event Hosted by Away Games
- Welcome Mr. New Iberian Goblin! (Perretes edition)
- Iron-Claws Wargaming South Mills GT
- Village Brawl GT
- The North East Open 2025
- China Warhammer City Tournament 2025
- Weekend Wars VII - Major - WCW Qualifier Event
- North and South GT 2025
- IRONFORGED I
- I GT de Santa Brígida
- Red Dragon 40k GT - July '25 WTC terrain
[40k] Brave New Hive World - Ropecon Grand Tournament 2025
76-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland on July 26 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Lasse Toivonen - Death Guard (Champions of Contagion) - 1st Place
Malignant Plaguecaster. Credit: Corrode
The List
Archetype
Champions Infantry BricksThoughts
Spicing up the Death Guard placings with some variety here we've got a Champions list sporting a big unit each of Deathshroud Terminators and Plague Marines. This feels very on the pulse, as this feels like it should do better than the regular Death Guard recipes against the hordier/chaff-filled builds people are teching in to handle Knights and Mortarion's Hammer, as the big units here will sweep these off the table with maximum prejudice. Since that's where the metagame has ended up this week - perfect timing, top marks for Lasse.Kaarle Tukia - Tyranids (Vanguard Onslaught) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)
Broodlord. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Hammer VanguardThoughts
A new spin on a classic here - all-in variants of Vanguard have sporadically performed well in the last few metagame cycles, and this utilises the power of the Ravener datasheets to modernise that into something mean. The challenge with those builds (generally lots of Warriors and big Genestealer blocks) was that they'd bowl foes over right up until the point they hit something that could handle them, then they'd pancake. That's still true to a degree here, but the Ravener Voltron units are vastly higher threat than anything the army was playing with before, and so the threshold a foe needs to cross to reliably bounce or handle this is significantly increased. Even against spicier targets, the fact that you can also play with all the Detachment's Reserves tricks with such potent threats is gravy. There probably are still things that can just handle this, but none of them showed up and made themselves known, allowing Kaarle to earn an undefeated second, very well deserved for an innovative snake-themed murder machine.Mika Liu - Chaos Knights (Infernal Lance) - 3rd Place (Undefeated)
Knight Rampager. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Infernal LanceThoughts
All-rounder Infernals here, continuing the trend of the Lance now being by far the best performing detachment, as it's far less of a coin flip on whether the enemy can handle a big Knight onslaught, and does better than Lords of Dread when diversifying into War Dogs. In fact, every Chaos Knights list this week that either went undefeated or earned a TiWP placing (X-0 going into the final round) was Infernal Lance, so it's clearly the place to be. This variant has a nice clutch of shockingly fast melee missiles to unleash, backed by the terrifying power of Infernal-ed dual Gatling Despoilers, and under Mika's command it rampaged to an undefeated third place, good stuff.Heinrich von Keler - Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs) - 4th Place
Credit: Evan "Felime" Siefring
The List
Archetype
Zephyrim MartyrsThoughts
Taking the highest scoring 4-1 spot (losing to the Chaos Knights above) is this spin on Hallowed Martyrs, which takes some of the classic pieces then adds some Zephyrim/Canoness murder missiles. The thinking here, I assume, is that if you're going to sacrifice Characters anyway then it doesn't actually cost that much more to make them do some damage on the way, and Zephyrim/Canoness units are pretty scary to some targets between their Dataslate buffs and the once-per-game on the Canoness. That helps give the list a bit more game if the opponent tries to overwhelm silly Sisters nonsense by just bulldozing them. You might point out that this is the plan of the Chaos Knights build it lost to, and that is true, but the margin was a razor thin 89-87, so there's definitely something to this, and I'm always keen on the extra agency a more aggressive plan gives you. Well done Heinrich.The Best of the Rest
There were 10 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 5th - Eero Saukkonen - Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): Canis and triple Cerastus (two Atrapos, one Lancer).
- 6th - Sami Kekki - Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension): Pure horde host.
- 7th - Ari Hartikainen - Chaos Knights (Lords of Dread): Five bigs and Rotigus.
- 8th - Juha Ottelin - Thousand Sons (Grand Coven): Magnus and max Mutaliths/Englightened.
- 9th - Jussi Koskimäki - Adepta Sororitas (Champions of Faith): Triple Sacresant/Hospitaller blocks running interference for lots of tanks.
- 10th - Tom Wikholm - Chaos Knights (Infernal Lance): Two dakka Despoilers (one with battle cannons, one with gatling), lots of War Dogs and Rotigus.
- 11th - Aleksi Lehtiö - Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion): Khorne/Nurgle Incursion, with the Gift GUO and Be'lakor as an anvil and Khorne stuff to smash things.
- 12th - Indran Yogaswaran - Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): Liberator goodstuff with baal Predators and Ballistus Dreads as shooty backup.
- 13th - Samppa Orhanen - Tyranids (Subterranean Assault): Extra Ravener-heavy Assault with two units each of the two flavours, backed by heavy dakka from Tyrannofexes and a Zoanthrope unit.
- 14th - Niklas Sundström - Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal): Silent King with double Wraiths and double Doomsday.
Heart of War Road to NOVA 40K Event with 21st Legion & Away Games
57-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Westminster, MD, United States on July 26 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Mark Hertel - Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force) - 1st Place
Credit: Corrode
The List
Archetype
Crunchy DeathwatchThoughts
Hi Mark, another event win with Deathwatch is it? Still the only person who seems to notice how great they are? Cool, yeah, same time next month?Seriously though - this build is very durable, has great mobilty from Stratagems, and can absolutely flatten priority targets while not being dead to hordes. In the current metagame, what's not to like? Not sure why only Mark (and, to be fair, a few people who put up strong X-1s this week) seems to get that, but great job.
Max Berlove - Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)
Szarekh, The Silent King. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Doomsday Arks go brrrr.Thoughts
Classic shooty Starshatter here, with a bit of extra Removes Cover tech from a Triarch for any weird 2+ no invulnerable save-spamming builds. You see the enemy, you start blasting with extreme re-roll support, and then you don't see the enemy any more, simple. Great work Max.The Best of the Rest
There were 8 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 3rd - Jeffrey Kolodner - Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs): All-rounder Martyrs with a Sacresant squad an extra sacrificial Mortifiers.
- 4th - Nick McClaeb - Space Wolves (Gladius Task Force): Wolfy Gladius Goodstuff with Lancers and lots of ThunderCav.
- 5th - Zach Hilts - Blood Angels (Angelic Inheritors): Heavy-hitting Inheritors with a large unit each of Sanguinary Guard and Bladeguard backed by Baal Predators and Inceptors for shooting.
- 6th - Stephen Henry - Adeptus Custodes (Lions of the Emperor): Extra shooty Lions with triple Caladius and 3x2 bikes.
- 7th - Malaki Fowler - Thousand Sons (Grand Coven): Magnus Coven Goodstuff with added Forgefiends, and one large Rubricae unit.
- 8th - Leigh Brady - Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal): Silent King with double Wraiths and double Doomsday.
- 9th - Tyler Principio - Death Guard (Virulent Vectorium): Vectorium goodstuff with Mortarion.
- 10th - Brandon Owens - Deathwatch (Black Spear Task Force): Heavy-duty Deathwatch with two Indomitor teams and a Land Raider Redeemer full of Eradicators.
Waterdeep GT 4ta Edición
41-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Aguascalientes, Ags., México on July 26 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.The Showdown
Unknown Mission
Xavier Barrera - Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs)vs.
Vazto Tovar - T'au Empire (Kroot Hunting Pack)
Thoughts
A fascinating showdown here where I'll say up front that I wish I had the mission, but could not find it. On the one hand, Martyrs Sisters are conventionally strong into T'au, because their revival Stratagem is a super reliable way to score. Not this T'au list though - the combination of Krootox Riders being able to (easily) tap a Character in the Charge Phase and the sheer number of units the T'au have are both big problems for the Sisters normal plans, and the impact Mortals from the Krootox in general are just a big headache more widely.The only saving grace for the Sororitas is the lack of high OC or hordey stuff from the T'au - it means they do actually have to play an active game to push Sisters off the objectives to stop them racking up points, and if they kill the Krootox that becomes a fair bit harder. That's easier said than done though, and I cannot get over the extent to which there is just so much stuff on the T'au side of the table relative to the Sisters. From the Greater Good's side of thsi game, I think you just get hyper aggressive with everything - all the hulls come up the board too, and there's a strong shot that the Sisters cannot do enough damage to do anything about it. Sisters are great at reliably killing stuff up to a certain threshold, and I think this T'au army can just overwhelm their killing power.
From the Sisters side, that means they need to be judicious about where they're killing stuff - this is a classic game where they want to pick a flank and fight hard for it, and commit minimal forces to trying to hold the line elsewhere. That can reclaim some of the value of the reviving Characters - sure they may get killed, but if the T'au have to send a valuable unit off to do it, then it's still lessened the load a bit.
Even with good planning though I'd expect the T'au to be able to dominate this game - but the Hallowed Martyrs were just able to flip the script and take a narrow win, so very well played.
Result
Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs) Victory - 76 - 74Xavier Barrera - Adepta Sororitas (Hallowed Martyrs) - 1st Place
Sisters of Battle Imagifier. Credit: Corrode
The List
Archetype
All-rounder MartyrsThoughts
Classic all-rounder Martyrs from Xavier again, putting up back-to-back event wins after last week. Always a power move, and I love the solo Mortifiers as anti-Knight melee defence using Suffering and Sacrifice. Congratulations once more to Xavier!The Best of the Rest
There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Vazto Tovar - T'au Empire (Kroot Hunting Pack): See Showdown.
- 3rd - Joseph Walsh - Necrons (Starshatter Arsenal): Triarch Stalkers, Doomsdays and a big Warrior block.
- 4th - Daniel Rivera - Drukhari (Reaper's Wager): Extra Venom-heavy Wager with lots of Ravagers as well.
- 5th - Isaac Gutierrez - Death Guard (Virulent Vectorium): Vectorium Goodstuff with Predators and a Plague Marine unit.
- 6th - Miguel Angel Zuñiga Garcia - Imperial Knights (Noble Lance): A Canis, Atrapos and Lancer trio.
Cross-Swords War At The Westward VIII
34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lee Mill Bridge, England, United Kingdom on July 26 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Mikey Rzasa - World Eaters (Berzerker Warband) - 1st Place
Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones
The List
Archetype
Helbrute WarbandThoughts
Lots of the favoured Berzerker Warband toys on top here, but subbing out a second big Berzerker unit for some Helbrutes, providing a bit of hammer-based counterpunch into Knights, and annoying deathballs into more go-wide builds that can't reliably lift them. A fun spin on things, and also helps minimise the non-durable attack surface early (since Eightbound can easily high). Good to see World Eaters continuing to just be super solid, good work Mikey.The Best of the Rest
There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Tomas Hicklin - T'au Empire (Mont'ka): Heavy shooty hulls with Riptides, Sky Rays and a Stormsurge.
- 3rd - Tom Godfrey - Orks (War Horde): Mechanised War Horde
- 4th - Jonathan Summerfield - Chaos Space Marines (Renegade Raiders): Monster mash Raiders, using triple Disco, Vashtorr and some Forgefiends, plus a full Warp Talon unit as a roving ingress, murder, repeat threat.
- 5th - Stuart Lee - Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension): Horde host.
- 6th - Kieron Hayman - Astra Militarum (Combined Arms): Dorn spam, two each of Commanders and regulars, protected by two full BUllgryn unit.
Fleur-De-Lis GT
32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in St. Louis, MO, United States on July 26 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Ryan Verbeck - Genestealer Cult (Host of Ascension) - 1st Place
Neophyte Hybrids. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Horde HostThoughts
It's horde host - it brings great scoring and board presence to out-play Knights, and overwhelming force from the big Neophyte blocks for everyone else (and kind of the Knights too, since they're all packing Lethal Hits). By the numbers this is now one of the builds to beat, and this build is set up to score especially strongly to lock in reliable wins, so no surprise to see Ryan thriving with it, good stuff.The Best of the Rest
There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Connor Johnson - Thousand Sons (Grand Coven): Magnus, Multaliths, Enlightened and a couple of Scarab Occult units.
- 3rd - Sam Anderson - Death Guard (Virulent Vectorium): Vectorium goodstuff with an allied battle cannon Despoiler.
- 4th - David Clark - Death Guard (Mortarion's Hammer): Direct fire Daemon Engines, Deathshrounds and a Despoiler.
- 5th - Cody Hogge - Dark Angels (Wrath of the Rock): Deathwing Knights, an Inner Circle Companion squad and the Lion, backed by Gladiator Lancers.
- 6th - Gabriel Patino - Chaos Knights (Infernal Lance): An Atrapos, Tyrant and gatling Despoiler as heavy hitters with lots of War Dogs.
W4 - Western Wisconsin Wargaming Weekend
30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Eau Claire, WI, United States on July 26 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Wesley St. Hines - Astra Militarum (Recon Element) - 1st Place
Cadian Command Squad. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Board Flood Recon ElementThoughts
If you play the ever adaptable Guard and want to pretend to be Genestealer Cults, here's your army - just endless, endless bodies that die annoyingly hard thanks to the Detachment rule, stack infinite OC thanks to various buffs, and can dance around the board very effectively thanks to Move Move Move! and the Stratagem suite. This one is always a supreme scoring build, and Wesley piloted it to a series of dominant victories here, congratulations.The Best of the Rest
There were 4 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Preston Cunningham - Death Guard (Virulent Vectorium): Mortarion Vectorium goodstuff.
- 3rd - Daniel Lorbiecki - Adeptus Custodes (Shield Host): Various Infantry threats, including two units of Venatari, and allied Canis Rex.
- 4th - Jeremiah Petit - Leagues of Votann (Oathband): Triple Land Fortress, several Sagitaurs, and various things to ride around in/with them.
- 5th - Seth Pommer - Orks (Kult of Speed): A proper Speedwaaagh with maximum Deffkoptas, lots of buggies, nasty Biker units with Wartrikes, and Zodgrod's supa Grots.
Incarnatus
16-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay on July 26 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Pablo Assandri - Leagues of Votann - 1st Place
Trans-Hyperion Alliance Einhyr Champion - Leagues of Votann. Credit: Colin Ward
The List
Archetype
Land Fortress HearthguardThoughts
Does the Grimnyr not get to be an amigo? That seems rude to the poor man. He's trying. Anyway - this is a double Fortress build that's gone for the more classic option of putting small Hearthguard units in them over Beserks, which provides extremely good horde clearance when they pop out and use Fire Support. As we've seen this week, that's suddenly a very good thing to have, and this build still has the flexibility to load up a big Beserk brick into one of the Fortresses if counter-charging Knights is more important. Well done to Pablo on the win!The Best of the Rest
There were 3 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Sebastian Pombo - Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): Heavy Liberator goodstuff with a pair of Repulsor Executioners.
- 3rd - Pedro Colares - Grey Knights (Warpbane Task Force): Triple Dreadknight, Crowe's Purifiers and a couple of Terminator squads.
- 4th - Carlos Burmester - T'au Empire (Experimental Prototype Cadre): Lots of Crisis Sunforge squads with tooled up Commanders and various supporting threats.
