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Competitive Innovations in 10th: Victrix at Sea pt.1
We've got new metagame threats rising this week, chasing the memories of Aeldari dominance further into the past. The Ultramarines have received a massive power injection via the new Victrix Guard datasheet, Astra Militarum lists that just want to blast people with big tanks seem to be having a moment, and Necrons are also rising from the dead once more. Unlike the perfidious (affectionate) knife-ears, the Adeptus Mechanicus are also maintaining a strong position near the top, but they've got a whole new set of contenders to deal with.
Part 1 on Wednesday will cover:
- Fantasia Fanatic XLVIII 40K
- Canes Belli War
- The Standoff 2025
- Hive City Rumble GT
- Luxembourg Open
- The Outriders : MK 40k Grand Tournament #1
- Celtic Cup Grand Tournament 2025
- Alba GT 2025
- The Gravel Pit #4
- Cross-Sword War At The Westward IX
- Minsk Eternal GT III
- Mugu Games 40k store championship
- RenegadeOpen2025 - 40K GT
- 21st Legion Presents: The 4th Hammer Down Breast Cancer 40k GT
- The Hobart GT 2025
- 6° TCC
- GT Polar 2025
Fantasia Fanatic XLVIII 40K
114-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Västerbottens län, SE on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.The Showdown
Scorched Earth - Crucible of Battle
Victor Bergenholtz - Emperor's Children (Coterie of the Conceited)vs.
Björn Eriksson - Chaos Knights (Infernal Lance)
Thoughts
It's not quite as notable as the other builds highlighted up top, but triple Prince Coterie is also on the up, presumably inspired by John Lennon's third place finish at the World Championships. After a decent period where double Prince was the norm, people have snapped back to the triple, as their damage reduction and Mortal Wound output make them extremely clutch in some important matchups, particularly Aeldari.This matchup is not, unfortunately for the Emperor's Children, one of those. If you need to kill big Knights, you really want the third Infractor/Lord squad to punch up, and ideally the Maulerfiend that's also missing here (in favour of some Flawless Blades). As is, there's a whole bunch of stuff in this EC army that dies at speed to Gatling Despoilers, and just not really enough punch back to give the Knights any great cause for concern. If the Slaaneshi forces really commit they might deck a big Knight, but will then lose so much when the other two smash back that it won't help. The Knights also have plenty of agency over how the game flows too - they've got lots of sacrificial/bait pieces, and it's Scorched, so they can pick up extra Primary later on if they slow roll things.
To win this, the Emperor's Children have to really hope they can steamroll a big Knight with the Princes without losing one, and hope that their relatively high resilience against D2 shooting keeps them in the game. Given the Emperor's Children army rule can make it slightly challenging to set up a massed gank on a single big target from range, and that there's also Karnivores to contend with as Prince-smashing tools, I don't think their prognosis is great, and indeed this ended up going very hard against the EC (which was something of a trend - they put a lot of people into finals this week, but with no conversions). A bit of an unfortunate case of a build being tweaked for a new metagame, and hitting one of the remaining old-school bully lists.
Result
Chaos Knights (Infernal Lance) Victory - 20 - 0Björn Eriksson - Chaos Knights (Infernal Lance) - 1st Place
War Dog - Karnivore. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Gatling InfernalsThoughts
Triple gatling Despoiler with Karnivores and Nurgle Daemons continues to be the best Chaos Knights list, and it continues not to be close. They're even pretty great into Victrix builds, as a Sustained volley kills five of them, and you have access to Ignores Cover to help ensure those numbers land. Well done to Björn.Samppa Orhanen - Ultramarines (Blade of Ultramar) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)
Ultramarines Cato Sicarius. Credit: SRM
The List
Archetype
Ultramar DreadnoughtsThoughts
Our first Ultramarine exhibit takes undefeated second place here, opting to take the new detachment and a bunch of Redemptor Dreadnoughts. These can take maximum advantage of the flexibility from super Doctrines - if you need this list to be Stormlance task force it is, if you need to Advance and shoot a bunch of Plasma instead, that's also an option. Alongside the dreads we do of course have the new Victrix Guard, here two squads with the special models split between them, meaning both get some extra punch. One unit gets Sicarius, ready to do the always entertaining "reactive 6" move towards you, then Blood Surge", and the other can either be a full Calgar deathball or have Uriel in it while Calgar gets Company Heroes, depending on how the threats been to be spread out. This, obviously, provides extremely high melee threat, and a good deal of inevitability once the pain starts rolling - it can be really hard to get away from the reactives and surges, especially when a second unit can do it via a Stratagem as well. Victrix are strong, real, and unless you like Ultramarines they're probably not your friend, so do consider how you're going to handle them. Well done to Samppa for unleashing the new toys.Victor Åström - Aeldari (Aspect Host) - 3rd Place
Asurmen. Credit: Wings
The List
Archetype
Four Phoenix AspectsThoughts
Not far behind in third place is four Phoenix Aspect host, still a very strong build thanks to its high spike damage and great positioning/scoring. Still a big fan of Asurmen in the Falcon as a second big threat, but I wonder if triple Reapers is still right as Aeldari drop off a little. Much to consider. Well done Victor.Tim Nordin - Dark Angels (Stormlance Task Force) - 4th Place
Ravenwing Outriders. Credit: Kevin Stillman
The List
Archetype
Black Knight StormlanceThoughts
A blazingly speedy Marine build to round out this top four, going all-in on Advance/Charge Ravenwing Black Knights to overwhelm the foe. Well, nearly all-in - the Lion is here too, looking even more spectacular as an option than normal thanks to how great he is at killing Victrix Guard. Many armies will struggle to handle the sheer volume of bikes that are coming straight at them (especially with one squad able to turn 1 Ingress), and even stuff you can't safely charge can struggle with the move blocking and high OC of the squads, and shooting them off through a Darkshroud isn't trivial. A classic all-in pressure build - either your opponent can handle it or they can't, and the threshold for handling it is pretty high (only the Infernals up top put paid to it). Well done Tim.The Best of the Rest
There were 13 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 5th - Lukas Berglin - World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Classic Warband with one Forgefiend swapped out for a second Rhino and some extra chaff.
- 6th - Victor Bergenholtz - Emperor's Children (Coterie of the Conceited): Triple Prince Coterie.
- 7th - Benjamin Hyvönen - Astra Militarum (Combined Arms): Double Dorn and lots of Russes.
- 8th - Viktor Forsberg - Aeldari (Warhost): Fuegan/Ra bob-and-weave Warhost.
- 9th - Mattias Östling - Emperor's Children (Coterie of the Conceited): Triple Prince Coterie.
- 10th - Linus Lindgren - Thousand Sons (Warpforged Cabal): Predators, Forgefiends and Sekhetars galore, plus plenty of Rubricae to hold the line.
- 11th - Fredrik Hägglund - Emperor's Children (Coterie of the Conceited): Triple Prince Coterie.
- 12th - Jesper Wikström - Grey Knights (Warpbane Task Force): Dreadknights, Purifiers and a Land Raider.
- 13th - Jens Haraldsson - Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): RepEx/Brethren, plus two squads of regular Crusaders to add weight of numbers.
- 14th - Patrik Nygren - T'au Empire (Mont'ka): Mont'ka hulls.
- 15th - Ludvig Advin - Aeldari (Windrider Host): 36 Windriders (30 shuriken, 6 scatter) and some War Walkers/Shroud Runners to tee them up.
- 16th - Tomas Häggström - Blood Angels (Liberator Assault Group): All-rounder Liberator on the Fight First jump Death Company plan, supporting them with a couple of Lancers.
- 17th - Olof Geelnard - Ultramarines (Vanguard Spearhead): Cato with some Victrix, Calgar with Heroes, Redemptors and Guilliman.
Canes Belli War
76-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Sinsheim, BW, Deutschland on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.This event does not appear to have been using the new Datasheets.
Florian Sauter - Astra Militarum (Hammer of the Emperor) - 1st Place
Rogal Dorn Tank Commander. Credit: SRM
The List
Archetype
HammerThoughts
As mentioned up to, Guard are on the march, and surprisingly it's not just classic Combined Arms taking top finishes. As a lot of the metagame moves towards closer-ranged threats, and stuff like T'au get somewhat chased out of the metagame, the brave soldiers of the Militarum have shrugged, saddled up in their tanks, and started blasting. This Hammer build works on the assumption that it's going to get a couple turns of shooting with its key toys before foes really get to grips with it, and that by the time they do, they probably won't have enough oomph to pull back into the game. This seems to have worked out very nicely here!There is one surprise in the Roster, which is the appearence of a Russ Punisher. Young whippersnappers may not know this, but once upon a time in 8th Edition, Punisher Commanders were a very real unit thanks to Russ turrets getting to shoot twice, and some very hordey metagames. Right now, my guess is that this is here for the rising Spectacle of Spite builds, as while the Gatling is OK into a lot of targets, it's deeply rude when fired into Wyches, and unlike the Dorns it can still fire point blank if it gets tagged. Outside that the roster is business as usual, but surprisingly effective into the metagame we've ended up with, and expertly steered to the top by Florian.
Stefan Brotzer - Drukhari (Realspace Raiders) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)
Archon with Soul Trap and Huskblade. Credit: Wings
The List
Archetype
Shooty Realspace RaidersThoughts
Spectacle is (justifiably) getting a lot of attention, but it's not the only thing the Drukhari Codex can do, as this speedy/shooty setup shows. Wyches do play a key part here as well - them (and Succubi) being substantially more real in the new book substantially drops the price you need to pay to load up with lots of good counter-charge pieces (especially with Hellions as well), which lets you take plenty of big guns without foes being able to safely rush them down. In some ways this ends up running on a similar logic to the Guard build - a lot of foes lean on close engagement pieces, so if you can punish them for charging and set up good shooting lines early, you can make their lives very difficult. It doesn't have the durability of Guard tnaks to fall back on if foes do break through, but trades that for a really strong game into other shooty hull lists (I'd expect this to smash the winning Guard army quite comfortably). Also, there's a Voidraven. How it's still playable at 245pts with no re-rolls I'm not quite sure, but I guess threatening to blast a key target hiding behind a ruin can be a way to open up stalemates, or something. Answers on a postcard. Great stuff from Stefan - glad there's still some experimentation with different lists going on here.Tim Schneider - Leagues of Votann (Dêlve Assault Shift) - 3rd Place (4.5-0.5)
Cthonian Beserks. Credit: Rich Nutter
The List
Archetype
Delve BeserksThoughts
Speaking of close engagements, this build hurls lots of Beserks at the foe with incredible speed, able to launch truly massive Advance/Charge plays from its Land Forts, and having good Deep Strike threats, including on turn 1. Votann have good toolbox units to support this core, and a couple of Earthshaker units help defang any lurking Aeldari who might do something treacharous like a big counterpunch. They're even better into Spectacle than they are into Aspects, which definitely helps stack the deck during classic elf vs. dwarf showdowns. Well done to Tim for continuing to make this very unique build do so much work!Patrick Philipp - T'au Empire (Mont'ka) - 4th Place
Commander Farsight. Credit: Jack Hunter
The List
Archetype
Mont'ka HullsThoughts
Mont'ka with extra Pathfinders to round out our second major of the day, using the Infiltrators to set up especially nasty alpha strikes where necessary, and as bait when not. Combinging those with Farsight leading a missile team gives a very all-rounder shooting suite. Although this has worked well here, elsewhere good times are coming to an end for the T'au - the combination of more expensive Stealth Suits with some very hostile threats in the metagame look to pose a serious problem. We'll see if the Greater Good can find a way to adapt, in the meantime Patrick.The Best of the Rest
There were 9 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 5th - Julian Lange - Thousand Sons (Grand Coven): Magnus, Rubricae, a big Enlightened unit and a couple of Predators.
- 6th - Bastian Kry - Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): All-rounder Calgar/Guilliman Gladius.
- 7th - Christian Lücker - World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Classic Warband.
- 8th - William Fuhrimann - Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): Dreadnought-heavy Ultramarine goodstuff with no Guilliman in sight. Was there a conspiracy to jump scare me with a bunch of Ultramarine lists in an event without the new rules?
- 9th - Andreas Meinzer - Tyranids (Invasion Fleet): Monster mash with a Swarmlord/Tyrant tag-team.
- 10th - Andreas Nauck - Adeptus Mechanicus (Haloscreed Battle Clade): Haloscreed with a Sanctified Destroyer brick.
- 11th - Sebastian Auwärter - Drukhari (Spectacle of Spite): Extra speedy Spectacle with lots of Wyches, four Venoms and lots of pressure MSUs.
- 12th - Antonio Mejias - Black Templars (Gladius Task Force): RepEx/Brethren Templars with the Grimaldus/Assault Intercessor unit.
- 13th - Pascal Haberstroh - Blood Angels (Angelic Inheritors): Surprisingly shooty Inheritors MSU, adding two Centurion Devastator units and some Desolation Marines to the regular Devastators. Also lots of Sanguinary Guard with Characters.
The Standoff 2025
52-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Portland, ME, United States on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Alex Ing - Adepta Sororitas (Champions of Faith) - 1st Place
Credit: Greg Narro
The List
Archetype
Sacresant ShieldwallThoughts
In the face of new threats and a shifting metagame, the big Sacresant shieldwall continues to hold on, particularly with new Retributors behind it. Here, there's a particular attention paid to preventing the foe from sneaking in behind the barrier, using double Navigator and the Sanctified Amulet to ward off a gigantic amount of space from enemy Reserves. The list insists that challenging the wall is the only way to defeat it, and it doesn't look like any foes were up to it here. Congratulations Alex!Cheng Chen - Adeptus Custodes (Solar Spearhead) - 2nd Place (Undefeated)
Telemon Heavy Dreadnought. Credit: Pendulin
The List
Archetype
Solar SpearheadThoughts
The threat saturation Solar Spearhead special makes a comeback here, another build that's well optimised for an environment where big damage doesn't start until things get close, as there are very few armies you'd bet on against this in a close-ranged struggle, especially not when the first wave of Dreadnoughts can bounce back up. It's also fun that you can unleash a D4 melee Telemon deathball in Victrix meta. To be clear, it's not even that good at killing them, as AP-2 is rough into Armour of Contempt and a 2+, but it's conceptually very funny to invite Cato Sicarius to catch these hands, and their swingback is fairly ineffectual unless they have Oaths up. Great work from Chen.The Best of the Rest
There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 3rd - Travis Morton - Grey Knights (Warpbane Task Force): Dreadknights and Purifiers, but with one fewer Dreadknight and lots more Interceptors than normal. Vroom.
- 4th - Cullen Burns - Adeptus Mechanicus (Haloscreed Battle Clade): Ironstrider/Ruststalker spam Haloscreed.
- 5th - Tait Dickinson - Leagues of Votann (Hearthband): Fortless Hearthband, using one big squad each of Ironkin and Hearthguard as anchors instead, and supporting them with lots of Beserk, Bike and Thunderkyn MSUs.
- 6th - Ian Power - Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): Two big Victrix units, with Guilliman and RepExes.
- 7th - Nick Hardy - White Scars (Spearpoint Task Force): Stormraven Spearpoint, with a big unit of Sternguard taking a turn at being a Hunter's Eye beneficiary.
- 8th - Tyler Chapman - Space Wolves (Saga of the Beastslayer): Herohammer MSU Beastslayer with a couple of Lancers.
Hive City Rumble GT
44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Concord, NC, United States on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Daniel Twitty - Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force) - 1st Place
Marneus Calgar Credit: Alfredo Ramirez
The List
Archetype
Victrix SpamThoughts
Our next winner has unleashed the Victrix Guard to the greatest possible extent, launching all the greatest heroes of the Ultramarines forward with 18 melee monsters protecting them, and a couple of Gladiator Lancers shooting from behind. With fewer mobile shooting pieces than the other Ultramarine build we looked at, this version has stuck to Gladius for access to the all-important Fight on Death Stratagem, which Guilliman makes affordable. You also get even more free Stratagem fun thanks to the old version of Sicarius and Tigurius kicking around, helping you bury the foe in value as well as axe blows (also come on now GW - old Cato should not be 85pts now Victrix exist). Uncomplicated but extremely effective, and an instant top build - well done Daniel.The Best of the Rest
There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Duncan Bluhm - Astra Militarum (Combined Arms): Double Dorn Guard with a big Bullgryn squad and plenty of Kasrkin.
- 3rd - Collin Watts - Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii Hunter Cohort): Ironstriders, Ruststalkers and Infiltrators galore.
- 4th - Nick K - Orks (War Horde): Mechanised melee threats, a big Boyz/Ghaz unit, and one full Flash Gitz squad.
- 5th - Justin Crain - Ultramarines (Gladius Task Force): Double Victrix and Guilliman, supported by various hulls including a RepEx for one Victrix unit to ride.
- 6th - Christopher Johnson - Orks (War Horde): Heavier War Horde, going for two Battlewagons and two full Flash Gitz units.
- 7th - Ronnie Kinney - Leagues of Votann (Hearthband): Go-wide no fort Heathband.
- 8th - Philip Hall - Space Wolves (Gladius Task Force): Herohammer wolf Gladius that also features a big Wulfen unit.
Luxembourg Open
33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Walferdange, Luxembourg, Luxembourg on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Justin Jansen - Necrons (Awakened Dynasty) - 1st Place
Illuminor Szeras. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Anti-Elite AwakenedThoughts
A new spin on Warrior tarpit gives us our first Necron winner of the week, leaning on the fact that there simply aren't very many things that will drop a whole Orikan Warrior unit at once, Victrix Guard aren't one of them, and Victrix (and other Marines) in the open are relatively vulnerable to Lokhust Destroyers. I'd maybe wonder if the second unit is a little hard to position without the Veil, but it proved a really good pick for the metagame, as Justin carved through a bunch of Marine builds on the way to the win (drawing in round 3 against a heavy Grey knights build). Good stuff - I always dream of making Lokhusts work, so I'm glad someone has.The Best of the Rest
There were 2 more players on 4-1+ records. They were:- 2nd (4.5-0.5) - Pierre-Yves Desplanques - Grey Knights (Warpbane Task Force): Dreadknights, Purifiers and a Stormraven.
- 3rd - Florian Faugeroux - World Eaters (Berzerker Warband): Double 20 Berzerker horde.
The Outriders : MK 40k Grand Tournament #1
27-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Newport Pagnell, England, United Kingdom on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Mathew Putney - Necrons (Awakened Dynasty) - 1st Place
C'tan Shard of the Void Dragon. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Awakened HerohammerThoughts
A completely different take on Awakened to close, here leaning more on the herohammer side with reviving Characters and C'tan. A big Wraith unit provides a tarpit to hold one objective, while a couple of C'tan can go team up and conquer another one. The big damage C'tan are yet more things on the list of stuff that goes up in value in Victrix land, as they can keep them engaged and gradually chip away quite nicely. Also a big fan of C'tan, such delights for me to contemplate this week, well done Matthew.The Best of the Rest
There was 1 more player on 4-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Neil Bryant - Astra Militarum (Combined Arms): Double Dorn, double Russ Exterminator, and a Bullgryn squad.
