Welcome to Competitive Innovations, our weekly feature for a number of game lines across the tabletop wargame space. Each week our army list and tactics experts canvass the top tournaments for their game of specialty, looking at the week’s top match-ups and how they played out on the tabletop to let you know what’s hot, what’s not, and what might be coming next as the competitive meta evolves year-round.

Hello again! This week we have 3 events, all of pretty impressive size including one of the Warhammer Open events, the brand new Canadian Branch in Edmonton! Worth noting that going forward, all 3 events are still using the 2024-25 GHB and we probably will start seeing the changeover next week.

Age of Sigmar GT - Warhammer Open Edmonton

78-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Edmonton, AB, Canada on June 14 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Carl Ong - Soulblight Gravelords

vs.

Michael Sabetti - Sons of Behemat

Thoughts

This is a tough call. Soublight are still relatively new and untested, so there's a lot of experimentation going on. Trueblades do seem like the natural infantry to be taken thanks to their attack buff against Monsters, and there sure are a lot of them. Prince Vhordrai supports said Trueblades rather well, but it requires killing units to get the most out of him and with a total of 5 whole units on the table that's not going to proc very often.

On the Sons of Behemat side, Kragnos is going to make mincemeat out of Vhrodrai, Ushoran and Mannfred if he can get his hands on them, all 3 being monsters. This means the biggest pieces on the Soulblight side struggle to actively confront some of the bigger threats on the Sons of Behemat side which means they would have to pick combats carefully.

Overall it is extremely close but ends with a victory for the giants.

Result

Sons of Behemat Victory - 35 - 32

Michael Sabetti - Sons of Behemat - 1st Place

Warstomper Credit - Instagram: Exitwarp

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Kragnos and Brodd

Thoughts

Kragnos and Brodd get a cabin in the mountains together and raise a couple of pigs.

Kragnos probably needs no introduction, he makes it so any Destruction units can run and charge. He's also a terrifying opponent on his own. Brodd is arguably the strongest combatant, and also the only priest. His Warscroll prayer is solid all around buffs to hand to himself and the Warstomper who is also there to deal with large horde units as his attacks scale against large groups.

Rounding things off is Da Hurtlin' Hogz which has become a darling in a lot of Destruction lists. The Pigs do some impressive damage once their momentum is capped at 3 and because Kragnos gives them a 3D6 charge that is incredibly easy to do. They also get an ability to navigate around chaff with Pullin Ahead to add D6" to their move after charging, so they offer a lot more flexibility for getting to places the giants can't.

Gavin Grigar - Blades of Khorne - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Mortal Foot Troops

Thoughts

This list wants to drown you in dice. The Wrathmongers are swinging 21 Rend 1 Damage 1 attacks (Wuth Crit 2 hits) and while their +1 attack buff doesn't help each other, it does help the Blood Warriors and Heroes in the list including the Aspiring Deathbringer and Bloodmaster.

The Realmgore Ritualist and Bloodsecrator mostly exist to cast the very important Prayers Khorne has, while Skarr Bloodwrath is a solid beat stick hero who can come back once per game (which means more blood tithes).

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 were:

• 3rd - Carson Whitlock - Ogor Mawtribes: Foot Ogors with Gluttons and Gnoblars.
• 4th - John Zoshak - Seraphon: Seraphon Good Stuff.
• 5th - Matthias Krushel - Daughters of Khaine: Morathi with a Ironscale and Bloodwrack Shrine. Blood Sisters and Khinerai for troops.
• 6th - Matt Beasley - Disciples of Tzeentch: Lord of Change and Fateskimmer with Tzaangor archers and horrors plus a slaves to darkness RoR.
• 7th - Dave Bonselaar - Skaven: A Moulder skewed list with Thanquol, Moulder, Brood Terror and lots of Rat Ogors.
• 8th - Carl Ong - Soulblight Gravelords: See Showdown.

Wicked Dice Tournament

46-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Geltendorf, Germany on June 14 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - The Jaws of Galet

Timo Wiebel - Cities of Sigmar

vs.

Colin Klären - Nighthaunt

Thoughts

Truth be told, I'm not sure what to make of this. These lists are both very odd! Both are very shooter heavy, though obviously the Nighthaunt list is substantially moreso. The Cities of Sigmar have a stealth advantage here in that their shooting units lose 1 rend when they move, but Nighthaunt don't care about that so they can keep moving backwards as necessary (although the Fusilators lose half their shots). This means they can do a much better job keeping out of range, as the Pyregheist shooting is so short.

The Cities of Sigmar player could do better at charges given they actually packed cavalry, but that's a struggle as well since Pyregheists can shoot into combat and dominate on numbers so they would need to clear a lot of those out before even thinking about it.

In the end, the Nighthaunt score a solid lead.

Result

Nighthaunt Victory - 13 - 7

Colin Klären - Nighthaunt - 1st Place

Nighthaunt Reiknor the Grimhailer. Credit: Magos Sockbert

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Pyregheist Spam

Thoughts

This is certainly a new one to me. Pyregheists are the faction's second attempt at a ranged unit and while it's not impressive on its own, they can put in work in large enough numbers. Their ranged attack is pretty close, 10" is worryingly close to be, but thats why you pack redundancy. With 17 Rend 1, Damage 1 shots at full strength, when you got 8 units repeating that they can pick up *a lot* of stuff. If they get within 6" they can also ping a few Mortals and boost their control score to boot. They still can shoot into combat too, so getting in close is not a guarantee you'll survive.

Reikenor is the best caster in the faction, so his inclusion is natural. The Krulghast Cruciator helps lists that go wide like this, by letting each unit ignore the first wound each phase within 12". The Black Coach is a solid melee brawler, which can also bring back the Cruciators if they get pinged early.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Nikolas Berg - Seraphon: Seraphon Good Stuff with Raptadons and Bastiladon.
• 3rd - Tobias Schwarz - Disciples of Tzeentch: An insane list that needs to be seen to be believed. Kairos with tons of Fateskimmers as Auxilaries..
• 4th - Timo Wiebel - Cities of Sigmar: See Showdown.
• 5th - Erik Stork - Slaves to Darkness: Be'lakor with Chosen.
• 6th - Alex Zobl - Fyreslayers: Midrange foot list with a bit of everything.

Small Town Throwdown: The Great Stampede

44-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Cypress, CA, US on June 14 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Limited Resources

Tad Baten - Nighthaunt

vs.

Kyle Calip - Nighthaunt

Thoughts

It's a ghost off!

On one side, Tad is rocking a more traditional Nighthaunt list, with a few quirks. It's going to want to get charging early and keep charging after. Kyle went for a list thats heavy on Pyregheists, who want to engage in a lot of midrange and point blank shooting in order to buff their control score and overwhelm the enemy with numbers.

The Pyregheists tend to work well against slower armies that don't have their own ranged answers, since they often need to get alarmingly close to shoot. Their shooting isn't even bad, but going against another (more charge happy) Nighthaunt list means they're probably going to close that gap pretty quickly. The the fact that rend is going to waste is certainly a problem as well.

Actually, in fact, nobody's rend matters! Since Nighthaunt saves are largely kind of bad (to make up for being immune to rend) a lot of combats are going to turn into coin flips as somebody rolls more 4+ than the other guy.

It's a good fight but ultimately the win goes to Tad's Harridan list.

Result

Nighthaunt Victory (Tad Baten) - 46 - 34

Tad Baten - Nighthaunt - 1st Place

Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief. Credit: Rich Nutter

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Nighthaunt Good Stuff

Thoughts

This is an interesting twist on the Good Stuff meta for Nighthaunt. You got your Olynder and Dreadscythe Harridans which make up a staple in most lists. Olynder being one of the better casters in the army (only beaten out by Reiknor) and she heals and has a pretty sweet warscroll spell that shuts off positive modifiers for the enemy.

The Black Coach has gotten a bit of a new lease of life thanks to its price cut. It's a solid beat stick that can teleport where it is most needed and if it picks up an enemy unit can bring back the Knight of Shrouds, which is good since they tend to be early targets due to being pretty strong beat sticks and enhancement caddies.

Rounding things off we have the Mymourn Banshees which are pretty useful when going up against lists with a lot more spellcasting than Olynder can handle with their ability to throw out another unbind. The Stalkers are a very surprising pick. Not the best infantry but for their point costs do good damage on the charge, and since they can nominate a target to get +2 to charge with, they can deep strike 9" away and charge in fairly reliably.

Brian Horton - Seraphon - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: JarloftheMoose

The List

Archetype

Kroak Good Stuff

Thoughts

Lot of the expected tools of the trade here. Kroak leads the army with his spellcasting, mostly to drop mortal wounds on the enemy while his Skink minion can be used to extend the range of spells (and shut off Wards should he need to). The Kroxigors and Bastiladon are incredibly hard hitting hammers while the Hunters of Huanchi and Terradons help slow down the enemy so you can time your attacks and swing on your terms.

Naturally the Saurus Guard round things off by being Kroak's bodyguards to avoid him going down early from ranged fire.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd - Christopher Hernandez - Ogor Mawtribes: Gluttons and Gnoblars with Kruleboyz RoR.
• 4th - Robbie "Bear" Steinbring - Stormcast Eternals: Krondys with 2 units of reinforced Palladors and Longstrikes.
• 5th - Adam Beautement - Soulblight Gravelords: Mannfred and a Vampire Lord with Barrow Guard and Barrow Knights.
• 6th - Kyle Calip - Nighthaunt: See Showdown.

Wrap Up

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.