The past weekend has been an extremely busy one in the 40K world, with a huge number of multi-day events running around the world. That means that as a special treat, this week you get two of these!

Today, we'll be looking at:

• The winning list from the New Zealand Fields of Blood GT.
• The top four from the charity Iron Man GT held in New South Wales.
• The top four from the West Coast Titans GT in Sweden.

Later on, we'll have a second round looking at an event in Utah and the Iron Halo GT.

For today's events, the reason we're only going to touch on the top list from New Zealand becase we were later informed that the event isn't a purely competitive one, with substantial scoring components for hobby, sportsmanship and themed armies. All of these are important parts of the hobby, but ultimately this column is primarily aimed at a purely competitive angle. My original plan had been to pull out the top scoring lists based on games played alone, but I've been unable to find the mission pack and the criteria for pairing players seems to be rather opaque. Having said that, the top scoring undefeated player did get there with a reasonably strong strength of schedule, so we'll have a look at their list.

For the other two events, as mentioned last week, the first was a five-round Iron Man (i.e. play all the rounds in one day like absolute legends) event held as a charity fundraiser for a member of the local gaming community. Once again, if you think you can help out with the charity drive in any way, check out the post from the event organisers here or the fundraiser page direct here. Finally, the West Coast Titans GT in Sweden saw another strong field of European players come together. For this event, some of the attendees filled out a pre-event Q&A about their lists, which you can see here if you want some extra context.

With so many events to cover, the individual write-ups this time are going to be a little bit shorter, especially where we see something that's we've covered before. We're definitely starting to see some patterns emerge in the lists that are succeeding, so some of this is starting to look distinctly familiar - but there are still some surprises in the mix, so let's get into it!

New Zealand Fields of Blood GT

You can see the full set of lists from this event in Down Under Pairings here. After six rounds, one player sat undefeated with the top score on all gaming metrics, so unsurprisingly that's the army we're going to look at!

Michael Taylor's Custodes

Custodes Telemon Dreadnought. Credit: CrabStuffedMushrooms

The List

The Standout Features

• The Dread Host makes another showing, with a giant brick of Allarus being the chosen weapon to fire into combat via their stratagem.
• The Unstoppable Destroyer Bike Shield Captain continues to be one of the nastiest single-model units in the game right now.
• The Castellan's Mark allows some reactive positioning with the infantry squads.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Custodes continue to perform strongly in 9th, and lists tend to be built around three of the Shield Host options in War of the Spider - The Solar Watch (generally bikes and infantry), Shadowkeepers (heavier gunline elements) and the Dread Host (terminators and dreads). While there's a considerable overlap between the options used by the various flavours, this is a great example of the last one.

The Golden Light of the Moiraides stratagem, in combination with a large squad of Allarus Terminators, gives you a brutal punch to throw on either turns 2 or 3, generally putting at least one powerful, obsec squad into melee on whichever objective is most valuable to you at the time. That lets the rest of the army focus on establishing a durable hold on some other objectives while the Telemon picks off your opponent's biggest damage dealers. Your opponent then ends up faced with no weak points to press the attack while also having to deal with the constant threat of the Bike Captain taking control of their backline, making retaking control of the game an uphill struggle.

There are some counters to this version - anything that can properly carpet the board in bodies is going to be at least somewhat tough, because even though it has a good amount of firepower to clear targets out it's not too happy if it gets screened out of charging straight into touch on an objective (something that makes Marine Infiltrators a pain as well). Here the large Sagittarum squad in combination with the Castellan's Mark can potentially help a bit against an opponent on a screening plan, as it lets the list line up some fairly powerful volleys of shooting wherever it's needed. In other matchups, it can instead make sure the storm shield Custodian squad is in position to take an objective that needs a stronger hold on it.

The Sagittarum and the Mark are the main interesting bits of new tech here, but the relic in particular is worth consideration for any players who have a free slot, as it's another way of mitigating Custodes being a bit slow out of the gate, one of their few drawbacks.

Otherwise, the Golden Host continues potent, and armies relying on re-rolls to shift big targets can continue to weep salty, salty elf tears.

New South Wales Iron Man GT

Switching over to our next event, here covering the top four conveniently puts all the lists that went 5-0 or 4-1 on our radar. Iron Man GTs are a significant test of endurance as well as gaming skill, and you'd think that might encourage players to bring armies that are low model count and a bit easier to pilot when you're getting into your 14th hour of 40K in a day. The denizens of NSW are clearly made of sterner stuff however, as the big story coming out of this event has to be the first and second place finishes for two different spins on horde Orks.

Peter Zessin's Goffs - 1st Place

Credit: John "JackMann" Beattie

The List

The Standout Features

• Ghaz and Da Boyz take down an event with a list very similar to Shane's from the YHP Labor Day GT.
• A Burna-bommer as a tech choice, smoothing out the option of Engage on All Fronts or providing a devastating mortal wound bomb for some games.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Peter's winning list hammers home the fact that Ghaz and Skarboyz are the real deal. There isn't really much new to say about this, as it's very much a spin on a list we've looked at before, with the main difference being cutting a few Boyz from the last mob and one Trukk to squeeze in the Burna-bommer. Flying 'Eadbutt continues to be a tremendously powerful stratagem that provides a huge trump card in some games, and I imagine the calculation is that very few lists come close to being able to push back the Goff horde early, so cutting back a few models for a tech piece can prove worth it. Clearly it did in this case, and given that I'm sure this won't be the last time we see a list using this setup, we'll have to wait and find out which option the metagame favours.

That's kind of it - if you want to see more about how this kind of army functions do have a read of our previous coverage of similar lists, and if you're playing other armies make sure that you're packing the firepower to beat this kind of list!

Forrest Castle's Orks- 2nd Place

Credit: Charlie Brassley

The List

The Standout Features

• A different flavour of Ork horde, trading out brute force for being able to play wider around the field and heftier harrassment pieces.
• Waves after waves of beautiful red Boyz to drown the opponent early.
• Nasty ObSec Deathskullz units to lock in the win.
• A Da Boomer Gunwagon buffed up with Visions in the Smoke adds some surprisingly nasty firepower.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Conventional wisdom up till now has been that there are two main Ork builds, the Ghaz horde or the Deathskulls buggy list, but this army makes a convincing play at adding a third. It's definitely in the horde bucket, with >100 infantry bodies, but rather than concentrating them into a few giant units to steamroller the enemy this list goes wide, with only one full squad (which you always want so you can threaten Da Jump and Unstoppable Green Tide) backed up with lots of smaller units. The list includes a mixture of Evil Sunz Boyz, who can form a speedy first wave with Zhadsnark, and Deathskull Kommandos/Meganobz, both of which benefit massively from gaining Objective Secured. The list is rounded out by Deffkoptas, which help a lot with secondaries, and a Gunwagon ready to blast away with Da Boomer, picking up hit re-rolls from Visions in the Smoke and potentially an invulnerable save from the Big Mek.

What you end up with is an army that doesn't throw as heavy an initial punch as the Goff hordes, but has a much more developed "plan B" if it comes up against an opponent that can weather the initial storm. Clearing out 70 Boyz is a much more realistic prospect than 120, but by the time the dust settles on that exchange (and some armies will still get overwhelmed) this list is going to be everywhere, with ObSec units holding multiple objectives and threatening most of the board. Add in the fact that if the gunwagon is ignored it can throw out some real punishment (especially against other hordes) and you've got something really interesting. It does open up a few weaknesses that the more conventional hordes lists don't have - taking Grind Them Down against this army is a real option (though could prove to be a trap as you usually want to kill the big Boyz squad first), and losing the big Green Tide threat after the first unit goes down sucks, but having substantially more flexibility on the board and a unit toting some actual ranged firepower is a good payoff.

This kind of unconventional twist on a faction is exactly the kind of thing I love to see, and it's nice to see that Orks apparently have even more depth to them. Hopefully the 8th Edition holdouts who were insisting that real Ork lists had to feature Evil Sunz will be happy now.

Jack Lavercombe's Aeldari - 3rd Place

Yvraine, the Herald of Ynnead by Corrode

The List

Note: This list features a Black Heart Patrol detachment clearly intended to unlock Vect that features Yvraine. Whether a detachment with Yvraine, Drahzar or the Yncarne in "works" for this is something different TOs rule in different directions, and in this case I'm assuming the TOs ruled that it does work.

The Standout Features

• An incredibly out there list that stacks up a whole bunch of pressure elements.
• Grotesques in Raiders with -1D as peak early objective grabbing technology.
• Wraithlords and (probably) deep striking Wraithguard add to the wall of tough bodies.
• Min-squad shining Spears as troubleshooters.
• Access to Vect so it can take a mulligan on the first thing an opponent tries to break the stranglehold.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

I mean innovative lists is one thing, but innovative Elf lists is absolutely the content I'm here for, and this is an extremely spicy number. Its first, bold move is to remind players that you can, you know, just put Grotesques in Raiders. In an edition where transports are good, transports with tough stuff inside to lock-in objectives are even better, and taking non-maxed squads of stuff is way more viable than in 8th, this seems like an incredibly obvious move once someone shows it to you, but it hasn't put in any performances up till now. Taking Artists of Flesh on that detachment makes the strategy even better, as it makes both the Raiders (who benefit from it) and the Grots inside way tougher to shift, and because of working for the transports is actually convincingly better for the list than just being Prophets, something this trait struggles with when looking at Talos or larger Grot squads. Making a really firm play for the early mid-board is a huge asset to Aeldari lists, and this setup along I could see being tried in a number of shells (it would probably complement Harlequins pretty well).

Here, the Craftworld detachment alongside it doubles down on applying pressure. With Expert Crafters, Wrath of the Dead and an Autarch, the Wraithlords are going to have very reliable shooting output, and also be a serious threat to a lot of armies in melee. Flat three damage looks real good in a world where Gravis armour and Custodians are all the rage. It's also worth remembering that the cutoff for giving out 3VP for Bring It Down is 11+ wounds, so the Wraithlords and Raiders skirt under it. Being a Craftworld-centric army that gives up none of Abhor, Bring it Down or Assassinate for max points is extremely appealing and quite rare. Going deeper on the Wraith plan, this list features Wraithguard and it's a good shell for them. These have been perpetually nearly good enough, and being fielded alongside a lot of other units with similarly durable defensive profiles and strong re-roll support is a good look for them. I assume they're coming in via Webway Strike, and should help keep the pressure up when they do.

Rounding out the notable Craftworld units we have two min-squads of Shining Spears. I've been looking at min squads of these myself in Crafters lists - taking Skilled Rider on the Exarch makes them disproportionately annoying to take down, they're always a real threat to any sort of infantry character, and are cheap enough that you don't mind trading them off to pull of an assassination or score a secondary. I prefer 2x5 if you're planning to use them to make plays for objectives, but this list has that thoroughly sewn up elsewhere.

Finally, adding Vect helps this list avoid getting blown out by a big play from opponents, something that's crucial for a more grindy pressure list like this. Obviously if your local TO doesn't allow Yvraine in Black Heart you'll have to mix up the detachment a bit, but I think she's closer to a nice-to-have than mandatory, and replacing here with an Archon and spending a few points elsewhere doesn't seem like the end of the world. You do lose a caster that maybe is planning on doing Psychic Ritual in some games, but that's perpetually a high-risk play, and the flip side is that you can take a better warlord trait.

This list does, unfortunately, have one key weakness - it simply doesn't have the weight of attacks to take on a true horde list, and indeed the loss it picked up was against Peter's Goffs. It's a little awkward that the Wraithguard are filling the role of spot anti-tank here, as otherwise I'd consider whether swapping them out for sword Wraithblades might help - adding another unit that can slice up an enemy horde in melee seems like it would help quite a bit.

Given metagame trends I do think that this weakness is a problem - but I'm still thrilled to see this list doing real work, and it shows off powerful ways to use numerous elements that could be tried in other configurations. In addition, neither Craftworlds or Drukhari are in a fantastic place right now, so finding ways to make them work is a strong accomplishment.

Nathan Campbell's Mixed Marines - 4th Place

Salamander Eradicators. Credit: Rockfish

The List

The Standout Features

• The White Scar Blender-bus detachment rides alongside Salamander shooting once again.
• More mid-board focused shooting elements than the last iteration of this we saw.
• Eradicators - so good that you'll max out on them even if you can't get them in the right detachment.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

This list iterates on a model we saw at the Varbergs GT, featuring a White Scars contingent that's basically two of the most murderously-loaded Impulsors you can get backed up by firepower from Salamanders successors. It isn't especially complicated, it's just really, really good.

White Scar Bladeguard are horrific, benefitting massively from the chapter litany and Kor'sarro's buff to become even more dangerous than they are in any other chapter, with the additional boost of being much more mobile around the board once they've stabbed their first target. Salamanders, meanwhile, are an exceptional shell for Gravis units thanks to the Obsidian Aquila, and here the successor choice includes Master Artisans to lean-in to running lots of small Gravis units.

At this point, with the Marine codex imminent, there isn't much more of a deep dive worth doing, as the codex is bound to shuffle stuff up. Maybe the CORE change will hurt some elements of this, but equally maybe Heavy Intercessors make the Salamander contingent even more insufferable. Ultimately, I think this list configuration deserves to be remembered as one of the best things you could be doing in pre-codex 9th, and it's nice to see it put in one more performance pre-book.

West Coast Titans GT

If horde Orks were the big winners in NSW, over in Sweden the story of the day was melee power armour, with the entire top 4 running melee focused loyalist Marines of some flavour. Let's get into it.

Johan Nicolaisen’s Space Wolves - 1st Place

Credit: Richyp

The List

The Standout Features

• Stormfang Gunships get frighteningly cheap in this configuration huh.
• Wulfen enjoy a last glorious ride with 3++ storm shields.
• Ragnar remains one of the baddest men in space.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The challenge with the various off-brand loyalist Marines at the moment is that you need a really compelling reason to run them over optimised codex Marines. This list finds one in the form of a Stormfang Gunship loadout that looks frankly eye-wateringly cheap, considering that they're substantially more durable than most flyers and have a very powerful built-in main gun. Similar to the Stormtalons in the Imperial Fist list we saw last week, these can rack up kills against a broad range of targets (and in this case are especially well tuned to killing Primaris) and severely punish lists that skimp on ways to deal with AIRCRAFT. Between them and the Relic Contemptor, this list packs a tonne more long-ranged firepower than most Wolves lists do, all in packages that are challenging for some armies to take out. 9th favours ranged threats with the durability to operate for more of the game rather than just front-loading an alpha strike, and these do a great job of this, further opening up the option of Engage on All Fronts with their mobility. The fact that a unit of Blood Claws can lurk in one ready to strike for an objective is gravy.

Obviously these elements won't win the game alone, and need a melee element to support. Luckily the Space Wolves are well equipped to fill this, with an Impulsor full of Bladeguard, two units of Wulfen and Ragnar himself ready to provide it. This setup does feel a tiny bit light on ways to deal with a pure horde, but the attrition from the Stormfangs will help a lot in that situation, and I wonder if that's the reasoning behind running a unit of Assault Intercessors (who are very good at killing off Boyz or Gaunts). Any higher quality targets are going to have a very bad time, as all of these will go through them like a hot knife. I'd worry a bit about this setup (and, to be honest, the list in general) against Harlequins, as while potent these units aren't numerous and the house of cards can rapidly fall apart if an opponent can line up some efficient trades. The flip side is that this list is brutal against armies like Death Guard or Nurgle Daemons, who are relying on their objective holders being too tough to kill. Wulfen do not believe in this ridiculous concept. While Harlequins are top tier, they're a smaller part of the metagame than armies on a tarpit plan, so I think running this list is a reasonable shout, and with ground-bound hordes ever more popular, the Stormwolfs look really good.

Like any Marine list, we'll have to see exactly what the new book holds for this one, though here we can make at least one clear prediction - the storm shield change is really bad for Wulfen. For Terminators and Custodes the new version is definitely a sidegrade, but with a base 4+ save it's just flat bad for Wulfen, and my current expectation is that there will be a lull in their usage between the wargear changes getting applied and the new Wolf Supplement coming out. They are great at playing the missions, so they could hold on, but they're undeniably a tougher sell. However, 2W smallmarines also immediately makes the already (to my eyes) aggressively costed Stormfang even better, as you can pack it with twice the wounds of ObSec goodness. Having seen how it slots in here, I've definitely got it down as a unit to watch when we come to assess the impact of the new books.

I always enjoy being surprised by seeing a unit in lists that's been out of favour for a while, and this one is no exception, and congratulations to Johan. If you have a few floating grey bricks on your shelf, consider dusting them off - things are looking good.

Niels Jonsson’s Space Wolves - 2nd Place

The List

The Standout Features

• Ah crap there's more of them I have to think of more things to say. At least it's different.
• Closer to the kind of Wolf lists we saw early on in the edition - Infiltrators to contest the mid board with a Bladeguard/Impulsor followup.
• Still adds in some flexible ranged firepower in the form of a Scorpius, Eliminators and the RelCon.
• Morkai's Teeth Bolts do some brutal work here, letting the Phobos Lord pull double duty while buffing the shooting threats, or help the Bladeguard on demand.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

While the tools used to achieve it are very different, the overall model here has some similarity to the previous list, mixing flexible ranged firepower that's hard to hide from (here the Scorpius) with mid-board melee murderers (even more Bladeguard). The biggest difference in composition is going hard on Infiltrators and Incursors, and packing some Aggressors. That ends up leaving this army with a pretty comprehensive game plan against hordes and deep-strike based threats, but at a cost of having less raw killing power against lists that put up a thick wall of tough bodies. Evidence suggests that wasn't a dealbreaker, as Niels managed to take out Pär Hylander's 18 Beast of Nurgle list in the final round, so I think there's a degree of personal taste in choosing between this list and the one above. Having access to the Morkai's Teeth dunk for multi-phase re-rolls against something you really need dead right now is great too, and this list has the tools to use them extremely well in almost every matchup.

Just like the above, there's a degree to which we'll need to wait and see how the new Codex shapes up before we'll know where Wolves go from here. Not relying on Wulfen is a definite plus, but equally with the new Forge World book looming on the horizon, it's an open question as to whether the Scorpius is going to be allowed to continue its reign of terror as the go-to shooting solution in an Obscuring Terrain world. Ultimately, it's great news that Space Wolf players go into the changes with multiple possible angles of attack.

Viktor Engström’s Blood Angels - 3rd Place

Blood Angels Chaplain Lemartes. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

The Standout Features

• Blood Angels herohammer lives!
• Invictors provide a healthy mix of early pressure and mobile character screens.
• A big Sanguinary Guard squad potentially buffed by the Angel's Wing threatens a terrifying hammer blow.
• Servitors everywhere hold backline objectives, a task beneath the warriors of the Blood Angels.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

One of the biggest strengths Blood Angels had coming out of Blood of Baal was that their named Chaplains provide bargain-priced murder characters once you stick Mantra of Strength on them. Herohammer in general got a bit weaker in 9th, but it would appear that with the right setup, Blood Angels can still manage to support it. Invictors, which have already proven to be extremely good in Blood Angels, help with this a whole bunch, as having multiple models that can provide Look Out Sir starting mid-board gives you lots of places you can position your characters to set up mid-game charges (also discouraging enemies from coming to swamp them in melee). This list can quickly make huge swathes of the board feel very unsafe for any opponent relying on quality units, and take hold of objectives while doing so.

In combination with the threat the Sanguinary Guard present, that puts opponents in a real bind - they have to commit to an attack somewhere or fall behind on Primary, but when they do this list will counterattack with overwhelming force, and if they've misjudged how much pressure they need to apply, it'll be difficult to recover. This list uses Servitors to cover its backfield needs so that it can pile as many points as possible into things that can contribute to a mid-board ruck, and the result is pretty frightening to behold.

It does have weaknesses - with only one Sang Guard squad I can see it struggling against armies that can launch multi-pronged attacks, as it doesn't feel like it has quite enough tools to launch multiple counterattacks. It picked up its loss against the list we're about to take a look at, which is a fairly minimal example of an army that can launch multiple thrusts that aren't "all-in" but are substantial enough to need a real answer. It's also another army that's plausibly got real issues against Harlequins, as their ability to dictate the terms of engagement will end badly for it.

Even in its weaker matchups, however, the mobility of the threats in the list should allow it to overperform in the hands of a skilled pilot, and it's extremely unforgiving to any mistakes an opponent happens to make. It's also notable that Viktor pulled off some very high scoring wins with the army, suggesting that in games where it takes control it does so very effectively. Like with Wolves, we'll have to see exactly what the upcoming Marine changes hold for Blood Angels, but having a successful list like this as a reference point ahead of that is extremely helpful.

Olaf Svensson’s White Scars - 4th Place

White Scars Infiltrators Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

The List

(yes I know the picture is an Infiltrator, not an Incursor. It's too cool not to use)

The Standout Features

• White Scars continue to stake their claim as best Codex melee Marines.
• Outriders keep the list fully on-brand and provide a hefty punch from turn 3 onwards.
• The grav Rhino, White Scar alternative to the grav Pod, shows up.
• A few nasty Phobos tricks close things out.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

White Scars - they're really, really good.

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Most of what we're seeing here shouldn't be a massive surprise at this point. The notable options here that aren't as common are:

• The grav Rhino. Many Scars players are using this but it's worth flagging for those now familiar. Hunter's Fusillade in combination with the FAQed version of the Scars Chapter Tactic gives grav Devs coming out of a Rhino huge reach without opening them up to being intercepted out of a pod.
• Lord of Deceit on the Phobos Libby lets you do some nasty stuff with deploying Incursors, setting them up very aggressively then pulling them back if they're not needed.
• Temporal Corridor lets you fire Incursors into melee from miles away thanks to being able to Advance and Charge.
• Reivers and Outriders both flip to being absolute nightmares once their damage goes up to 2, and with re-roll wounds available from the Chaplain the Outriders in particular provide a great answer to things like Beasts of Nurgle. Look for this list to open-palm-slam a Primaris Bike Chaplain in once the new model launches.

That's probably all we need to cover for this list, as the rest of what it can do is well covered by previous articles. The sheer mobility and array of tricks they can bring to bear has made Scars one of the stars of the early edition - and as I keep having to say (because of all the Marines), we'll have to see where the Codex takes them from here.

The Rest of the Best

Two more players managed 4-1 records at this event.

In 5th place, we have Kim Rasmussen's Death Guard. Nothing too surprising here - it's Poxmongers with 3x Plaguebursts (entropy cannon flavoured), 3x Blight Haulers and 3x5 Contaminated Monstrosity Chaos Spawn squads, with all the relevant buffs to back both up. This list continues to do exactly what you want in 9th by combining hard to shift gunline elements that will rack up a considerable toll over the game with some lethal, durable push threats to take and hold the mid-board while they do their work.

Mercifully for my attempts to keep the word count down this week, nothing too surprising in 6th place either, where Andreas Kjell's Harlequins rounded out the 4-1 bracket. This version is on the Soaring Spite plan, and goes slightly heavier on Troupes in Starweavers than some we've seen, but doesn't fundamentally shake up the winning formula that's seen Harlequins burst onto the top tables this edition.

Wrap Up

One mammoth column for the week down, one to go. Join us in a few days time as we look at what the Americans have been up to. Until then, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, hit us up at contact@goonhammer.com.