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Competitive Innovations in 9th: Rock On Pt. 1
Wings: It's true - Corrode and TheChirurgeon have laid a devious trap for me elsewhere in the content mines, and I am busily trying to tunnel my way out. I did have time to pull together the Best of the Rest writeups though, so you are getting to enjoy at least some of my words this week.
It was yet another busy week last weekend with an absolutely stellar mix of meta lists gracing the tables and winning our hearts. We saw the rise of the Kraken, the first forays of the fully formed flying V of the Votann, and people once again asking, ‘How do I put Flamers in this?’ The answer of course being, ‘you just do, you idiot’.
This week we've got a two-parter, and today will be covering:
- Baltic Cup X (Major)
- Warhammer World Matched Play Event (Major)
- The San Antonio Shootout (Major)
- Denver Fight Club
- Team Stonehammer's Protect Ya Neck GT
- Atomic City Warzone
- 2D6 GT
- Corsair Open GT
- Lightly Salted Fall GT
- Bunker Down GT
- Guard, making a final push with the old book, against Chaos Knights at the Warhammer World event.
- Genestealer Cults vs. Harlequins at the Corsair Open GT.
- Votann vs. Emperor's Children at the Lightly Salted Fall GT
Baltic Cup X
94-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hamburg, HH, DE on November 12 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Andy Diceskill - Chaos Knights & Daemons - 1st Place
Knight Abominant. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
We Didn’t Start the FireFinal Round Matchup
17 - 3 Victory against Carsten Steiner - Harlequins.Thoughts
House Vextrix, No Abaddon, Tzeentch Flamers, Greg’s Mom Changecaster, that makes sense, Pink Horrors? I’m on the Fence Panoply, A-Bomb, Favour of Dark Mechanicum 3 Executioner, 2 Karnivore, 2 Stalkers, I’d like some moreWe didn’t start with Flamers! They were always burning since this codex’s been turning. We didn’t start with Flamers! We didn’t light, but why try to fight it.
Yes. I did that. And I will do that again. Turn away if you must.
I am not sure if you have heard, but Flamers are pretty good, and they have shockingly found themselves shoehorned into yet another Chaos list to great effect. A Knight Abominant kitted with as much damage mitigation as possible in the forms of Favor of the Dark Mechanicum and Panoply of the Cursed Knights says good-bye to 4 of the War Dogs that would have followed him around in months past and hello to a patrol of Tzeentch’s favorite followers. The speed of the war dogs and survivability of the Abominant really allows for an aggressive midboard presence that has to be respected and really forces opponents to deal with the problems either at range or with excellent board positioning or face the clap back from the 8 undercosted pyromaniacs waiting in the wings. The top scoring list at an event that went with differentials, Andy was undefeated into Blood Angels, Eldar, Harlequins, and T’au showing that the list has teeth into many archetypes.
Sebastian Maack - Adepta Sororitas - 2nd Place
Credit: Keewa
The List
Archetype
Domo ArigotoThoughts
Thank you very much, Mr Robotso For doing the jobs my Retributors should do And thank you very much, Mr. Robotso For helping Falcon write about something nobody wants to Domo Domo Domo DomoThe other completely undefeated list at this event, Sebastian Maack takes the well established list concept of Sisters of the Bloody Rose and says, ‘What if I just don’t want to take Multi-meltas?’. Now, I don’t know why you’d want to do this, as it sounds like pure lunacy, much like most of Styx’s discography, BUT, Sebastian and a number of others have apparently found some spice by shoe-horning in 3 Helverins with Hunters of Beasts. The +1 to hit against Monsters and Vehicles does make them a very fast and reliable harrying pack that can also effectively clear screens and, perhaps more importantly, nightmares like backline Noise Marines, in a way that allows the core blocks of Repentia easier access to his opponent’s underbelly. With wins against Harlequins, Orks, EC and Abbadon, and the mirror match, he just might be onto something. I understand they also beat Space Wolves, but JonK plays Space Wolves so I am made to believe that isn’t a challenge.
Thomas Brutscher - Goffs - 3rd Place
Ork Beastboss on Squigosaur. Credit: Magos Sockbert
The List
Archetype
Fight For Your Right to PartyThoughts
Ok, I said I was going to do this lyrics thing the whole way through and I changed my mind. It was a dumb idea and I’m already tired. Let’s get right to the crux of this list: It is Goffs, it has Kill Rigs, it says, ‘I love punching things but I hate that Ghaz takes a hundred years to walk across the board sometimes and I own 6 Killa Kans and they’re pretty decently costed so I’m going to run them even if my mom doesn’t want me to because I’m an adult and I do what I want.’ Most importantly, it is beautiful.I know what you’re saying, ‘Hey Falcon, talk about the Meganob Trukk Boyz’, or ‘Hey Falcon, tell us a little bit about the choice to run 2 Beastbosses on Squigosaurs! One clearly built to inflict damage with Headwoppa’s Killchoppa and Brutal but Kunnin’ while the other holds the midboard all by his lonesome relying on Beasthide Mantles and ‘Ard as Nails to carry the day’. No, I don’t want to. Thomas somehow manage to play themselves into 3 Chaos Daemons lists in a row at the event on his way to 4 wins and a single draw and that seems fine by me. Do not besmirch this legacy by trying to explain away this art.
Carsten Steiner - Harlequins - 4th Place
A Solitaire. Photo: Corrode
The List
Archetype
Dancing in the DarkThoughts
Like Bruce Springsteen said,You can’t start a fire You can’t start a fire without a spark This gun’s for hire Why aren’t you running Twilight or Light? Stop being difficult
There is not much to say here. Take a bunch of starweavers like you always do, fill them with troupes as you should, make a troupe master marginally more killy with Player of the Dark adding a plethora of mortal wounds into the Cegorach’s Rose + Queen of Shards equation. Shove models into the opponent until you both die. Victory. A good showing for a poor, forgotten flavor of troupes.
The Best of the Rest
There were 11 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 5th - Jonas Dobberow - Emperor's Children: Emperor's Children with a lot of Noise Marines, the big Terminator blob and Abaddon, and a Discolord and some Possessed in the flex slots.
- 6th - Fred Otto - Asuryani: Trade-focused Ulthwe with a bunch of Aspect Warriors and Psykers, and a pair each of Falcons and Phoenix Lords.
- 7th - Dominik de Cassan - Adepta Sororitas: Bloody Rose Goodstuff with some Hunters of Beasts Helverins in tow instead of Retributors.
- 8th - Klaasemann Ludwig - Imperial Knights: House Krast with the Paladin/Crusader Princeps combo and lots of Armigers in support.
- 9th - Thorsten Martin - Necrons: Eternal Expansionists with lots of Scarabs and melee Destroyers.
- 10th - Sebastian Gehart - Harlequins: Twilight Saedath with two big foot Troupes alongside boats and Characters.
- 11th - Nikolai Anthony - Tzeentch Daemons: Pure Tzeentch with a bit of everything - Pink Horrors to hold the line, a big Lord of Change to throw out damage, and Flamers for big hits.
- 12th - Immanuel Wolf - Tau: Farsight Enclaves Triptide.
- 13th - Boris Zietzke - Tyranids: Behemoth monster mash with two Flyrants, Old One Eye and a Maleceptor. There's a Tyrannocyte too, which raises the hilarious prospect of drop pod One Eye.
- 14th - Jens Bothur - Imperial Knights: Taranis with the Paladin/Crusader combo, a Gallant, and four Armigers to fill.
- 15th - Jannek Lindemann - Tau: Farsight Enclaves Triptide.
Warhammer 40,000 Matched Play Event
72-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on November 12 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.The Showdown
Matchup & Mission - Death and Zeal
Max DeBarr - Chaos Knightsvs.
Alec Courtney - Astra Militarum
Thoughts
One final Hurrah for the old Guard. As the new Astra Militarum codex has been unveiled for all to see, it is fitting that we can venture into the hallowed halls of Warhammer World for a top table with 40k’s oldest codex putting in some work. In one corner we have Max DeBarr running about as vanilla a Chaos Knights + Abaddon list as you can get. A tried and true competitive combo for months now, Abby has proven to be an incredible centerpiece for a pack of 11 war dogs to bound around. In the other, is the guard. A plethora of Plasma guns and 3 demolisher cannons in a trench coat that managed to squeak by the bouncer by the skin of their secondaries, Alec managed an impressive string of high-scoring wins taking down Black Legion, Templars, Imperial Knights, and Sisters of Battles to make it to the main event. This list takes advantage of the balance dataslates, where it can create a pretty impressive TAC conglomeration of models that we have seen a few people of late run into the occasional top 4.With Death and Zeal being the mission, terrain would be key. If the guard can keep their demolishers from being exposed in the early game and bog Abaddon down in a weight of bodies, they do have a chance to pick off multiple war dogs a turn and play the mission to victory. That said, the deployment bunches so many of these guard squads together early and really favors the mobile firepower of the war dogs. Top this off with only really having to worry about 1 phase worth of damage means that 1 misplay in screening and the leader of the Black Legion will have ample opportunity to just run rampant through the guard just like he did on Cadia.
Result
Chaos Knights Victory - 97 - 62Max DeBarr - Chaos Knights - 1st Place
Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones
The List
Archetype
Who Let the Dogs OutThoughts
The party really has been nice and bumpin’ for Abaddon’s Dog Walking service. There isn’t much to say that hasn’t already been said about this list as it has been shown to be capable of winning on the big scene for some time now. The war dogs of the chaos knights codex are extremely efficient killing machines that really just require a solid quarterback to hold the middle of the table and add some close combat protection and Abaddon is one of the best units in the game at doing both of those things.Luke Richards - Hive Fleet Kraken - 2nd Place
Trygon Prime. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
I Hate Everything About YouThoughts
We did it. We finally made it to the part of the show where we get to talk about Tyranids again. And I hate it. What is this? Look at it. Just look at it.This list went undefeated at a major event.
Get out of here.
In all seriousness, in what most had assumed would be the way of things, Kraken has moved up in the world to usurp the stagnant Leviathan warrior lists that had bogged down many a heart and mind and at least with this list there is ALL sorts of variety. It was like Luke asked himself, ‘I wonder if I just took one of everything, what would happen?’ And the answer was, ‘You’ll win a bunch of games silly’. Gargoyles, Lictors, Horms and Genestealers provide fast bodies that can flit around the board and maintain primary scoring pressure at all times while a Tyrannofex, your compulsory Reaper of Obliterax adorned Hive Tyrant, 3!?! Venom Cannon Carnifexes, and a Trygon Prime on Meth (The Passenger is a helluva drug) create a lot of chonky threats your opponent has to deal with in short order.
Thomas Aldred-Muzsla - Necrons - 3rd Place
C'tan Shard of the Void Dragon. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
All Star by Smash MouthThoughts
3 lines into this list and I just wanted to type ‘Yes, this is just obsec with extra steps’ but then I saw that this fool of a Took decided to run both the Nightbringer AND the Shard of the Void Dragon. What an absolute animal. It is a testament to the strength of being able to say ‘I took Ancient Machineries’ that this brave list was able to go 4-1 with 3 100 point wins and their lowest score being an 83 point loss to Black Legion while beating such meta defining armies as, ‘checks notes’ Imperial Fists twice in the same event. No matter what anyone says, understand that you are indeed an Allstar and you should get your game on or some such business.Nathan Watson - Astra Militarum - 4th Place
Credit: Jay (Steel Mentor)
The List
Archetype
ShadowplayThoughts
Okay, hear me out. I have had to talk about Astra Militarum more than once in the same article. I did everything, everything I wanted to, and yet here I am talking about a list whose only loss at this heralded event was to the above insanity that was the Silent King, Void Dragon and Nightbringer. AND OF COURSE IT WOULD. What does this list do against multiple C’Tan other than hope for the best and expect the worst? A list just praying it gets to take on knights of any variety, this old guard eschews too many toys for ranged aggression and utilizes a handful of Tempestus Scion squads to maintain forward presence. It is unfortunate that it took such an early loss and had to rise to its position in the pack like the Red October.The Best of the Rest
There were 10 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 5th - Mark Pinder - Adeptus Custodes: Emperor's Chosen Goodstuff with loads of Dreadnoughts and two bike units.
- 6th - Ian Hancox - Adeptus Custodes: Emperor's Chosen Goodstuff with two Contemptors, two bike units and a Telemon.
- 7th - Alec Courtney - Astra Militarum: See showdown.
- 8th - Stefan Donovan - Chaos Daemons: Monster-mash mostly focused on Khorne and Tzeentch with Be'lakor, the Indomitable Bloodthirster and a Lord of Change in charge.
- 9th - Mitch Greer - Blood Angels: Blood Angels with the very unusual choice of a trio of Tactical Squads in Razorbacks to anchor the big swings with Sanguinary Guard and Death Company.
- 10th - Mark Underhill - Chaos Daemons: Even mashier Monster Mash, adding Skarbrand to the mix on top of the standard big three.
- 11th - Mark Robertshaw - Harlequins: Light Saedath with a broad mix of tools, lots of Troupes in boats but also two bike squads (a two and a four) and two solo Voidweavers to provide some big shots.
- 12th - Scott Pirie - Chaos Daemons: No list
- 13th - David Graham - Nurgle Daemons: Soul Grinders and Beasts of Nurgle abound, with Slimux and a Great Unclean One in charge.
- 14th - Marcus Robinson - Ynnari: Ynnari Wraith spam with Wraithseers, Wraithblades, a big brick of D-Scythes and a Hemlock. Interesting skew - near army-wide Damage Reduction and a lot of threat up close, which could overwhelm some lists.
The San Antonio Shootout
61-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Texas Championship Circuit , San Antonio, TX, US on November 12 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Jony Velazquez - Chaos Space Marines - 1st Place
Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones
The List
Archetype
Jump AroundFinal Round Matchup
100 - 92 Victory against Kit Smith Hanna - Tyranids.Thoughts
Ok, this time I am serious. No more song stuff. Jony brings together a real piece of work with this event winning Creations of Bile list, eschewing multiple large blocks of Possessed like we’ve seen in other successful builds for 1 big blob with the Black Rune of Damnation and Master of Possession support and then multiple small squads of terminators and chosen to unga bunga down his opponents throat while the 2 Venomcrawlers and squad of Havocs provide a modicum of long range firepower and screen clearing potential.Removing the ever-present Abaddon from the list does free up more points for some more surgical toys that are generally lacking in the more head-down ABC playstyle that Creations lists generally get sucked into.
Colin McDade - Adepta Sororitas - 2nd Place
Credit: Evan "Felime" Siefring
The List
Archetype
Kiss from A RoseThoughts
The Bloody Rose you know and love, there is not much to really say here as we’ve seen slight variations on this list for some time now. Take Repentia, Zephyrim, Retributors and Vahl in some mix, add whatever leftovers to taste, and faith your way to victory.Georg Bobkov - Creations of Bile & Daemons - 3rd Place
Nurgle Daemon Prince - Credit: RichyP
The List
Archetype
FirestarterThoughts
As we have seen time and again since the release of the Daemons codex, when it comes to Chaos, if you have the option, you might as well just take Flamers and honestly, if there is a list that really could use them to up it’s game it is Creations of Bile. Eschewing any possessed at all and going with 1 large block of terminators and 2 large blocks of Chosen, George’s list slides a small vanguard of Flamers into the mix to shore up the shooting game that CoB generally miss out on.As a big Bile fan, I do enjoy this take on the list though it is a little slower than those running possessed and feels like that speed might make it harder to play into Tau or Guard, something that seems to have been the case as George’s only loss was to the Astra Militarum in a match he still managed to score a 90 in.
Kit Smith Hanna - Tyranids - 4th Place
Tervigon. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
AnacondaThoughts
Here we have a more densely defined Kraken list taking up the 4th spot (and the other top table army) at the shootout. Kit’s Kraken nids are an interesting take moving back to the aggressive Raveners over Tyranid Warriors and more importantly, sliding in a Maw-Clawed Tervigon with Heightened Senses. This big baby mama provides a ton of strategic value, ensuring the block of 30 Termagaunts in the list stick around far longer than they have any right to, and potentially creating an extra unit in a pinch, while providing a back-up boxing bully to the Reaper Tyrant and his bodyguards. Keep an eye on this one, it’s a doozy and I am not surprised that it still scored an impressive 92 in its only loss.The Best of the Rest
There were 8 more players on4-1 records. They were:- 3rd - Georg Bobkov - Creations of Bile & Daemons: Creations of Bile with three big bombs of heavy infantry (Terminators and two Possessed units) backed up by a Vanguard of Flamers.
- 4th - Kit Smith Hanna - Tyranids: Kraken with lots of Zoanthropes and Raveners with a Tervigon/Termagant blob to hold the centre.
- 5th - Samuel Cook - Death Guard: Inexorable Plague Marine spam with a trio of Plagueburst Crawler at the back.
- 6th - TJ Bruce - Chaos Daemons & Chaos Knights: A tooled-up Indomitable Bloodthirster with Flamers and Daemonettes for harrassment, then a trio of Executioners to blast enemies into tiny pieces.
- 7th - Steven Fox - Tyranids: An interesting new way to use the Leviathan trait - two Tervigon/Termagant bricks with Harpies and a Flyrant overhead for damage.
- 8th - Brett Urbanowski - Astra Militarum: Gunnery/Spotter Guard with bodies, Tank Commanders and Manticores, fitting in a few Scions and a Primaris Psyker to open up Secondary options if, for some reason, the Guard ones aren't sufficing.
- 9th - Apollo Chang - Tau: Heavy Tau Sept with three big Crisis blobs and a pair of Sun Sharks.
- 10th - Jason Manning - Word Bearers: Abaddon with a big unit each of Terminators and Chosen, plus a few Noise Marine units.
Denver 40K Fight Club November Major
57-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Westminster, CO, US on November 12 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Travis Armstrong - Adeptus Custodes - 1st Place
Adeptus Custodes Blade Champion by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms
The List
Archetype
Handlebars by FlobotsFinal Round Matchup
84 - 68 Victory against Cody Jiru - Drukhari.Thoughts
I feel like I’m doing the time warp again. Allarus Custodians? In this economy? What is this? January 2022? Travis brings a small collection of Emperor’s Chosen goodstuff (Namely Trajann, Tip of the Spear Bike Captain, and a large block of Custodian Guard), and then decides he can ride this bike without handlebars and drops jet bikes entirely for 3 Venerable Dreadnoughts.While we have seen triple Ven Dreads multiple times in the last few months, they’ve mostly been part of the heaviest dreadnought builds, here they make a less mobile but more stalwart shooting base for this custodes list to base itself around and it seems to have paid dividends. The addition of Spear Venatari is also a unique tech choice, giving back some of the speed lost by the lack of jet bikes at a fraction of the price.
The Best of the Rest
There were 5 more players on 5-1 records. They were:- 2nd - Zaak Kerstetter - Blood Angels: Go-wide Blood Angels with three units of Death Company and Lemartes alongside the usual suspects and a Whirlwind.
- 3rd - Cody Jiru - Drukhari: Drukhari Goodstuff with a bit of everything across Black Heart, Architects and Strife, including a quarter of Talos floating ominously back into the metagame.
- 4th - Matt Evans - Tyranids: Synaptic Goading/Naturalised Camouflage custom hive fleet that's spamming Termagants - 90 of the things, with various mortal sources behind them.
- 5th - Frank Guerra - Tyranids: Kraken with a big Warrior blob backed by lots of Raveners and Zoanthropes.
- 6th - Joel Davis - Asuryani: Ulthwe with lots of big bois, namely the Avatar, three Wraithlords and two Wraithseers, plus D-cannons and Hawks to ruin the opponent's day while they're dealing with the heavy stuff.
Team Stonehammer Present: The Protect Ya Neck GT
50-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on November 12 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.Chris Kinnair - Necrons - 1st Place
Canoptek Scarab Swarm. Credit: Rockfish
The List
Archetype
Three’s CompanyFinal Round Matchup
90 - 64 Victory against Joel Kirk - Hive Fleet Kraken.Thoughts
Ah, do my eyes deceive me? Is someone playing triple ctan in this year of our Lord 2022? Why yes they are! Triple C’Tan lists have mostly taken a backseat to more stand Silent King builds in the Nephilim Necron era, what with the sheer power of Necron secondaries it is hard to shift away from the big green metal galoot but the changes in the latest balance dataslate to the King do open up at least some argument to dropping him from lists again.The triple C’Tan list as an excellent meta call if you know you can avoid certain matchups as the wound gating and mortal wound output of this list is stifling to the more elite lists out there.
Wings: ...interesting.
Keith Wilkinson - Emperor's Children - 2nd Place
Emperor's Children Noise Marines. Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones
The List
Archetype
Bring in Da NoiseThoughts
Noise Marines and Abaddon, name a more iconic duo. Emperor’s Children continue to put up excellent numbers at the top end of events as their incredible ability to manipulate the fight phase and the shooting prowess of their troop choices make them a force to be reckoned with in the right hands. It is hard to say if Abaddon is really necessary in these lists when options like Lucius are right there, but it is really difficult to pass up on the utility he has to offer.The Best of the Rest
There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:- 3rd - Michael Armer - Imperium: A bunch of Emperor's Chosen armour (three Caladius tanks and two Telemons) anchoring the board for Tempestus Scions.
- 4th - Sam Boardman - Iron Warriors & Daemons: A big unit of Terminators two Heldrakes and a Land Raider (hell yeah) present a wall of armour to the enemy, setting them up for Flamers to pop out of the wall and roast them.
- 5th - Matthew Williams - Thousand Sons & Daemons: Duplicity with 10/5/5 Terminators and a bunch of Flamers waiting in the wings.
- 6th - Aaron Mosquera - Emperor's Children: The fairly standard Emperor's Children build with a Daemon Prince and some Possessed in the flex slots.
- 7th - Ash Loftus - Blood Angels: Go-wide Blood Angels with three Death Company units, adding the Sanguinor for a nasty surprise.
- 8th - Alastair Marjoram - Ultramarines: Ultramarine Guilliman Dreadnought castle with some Inceptors for an extra damage spike.
