Welcome to Competitive Innovations, our weekly feature for a number of game lines across the tabletop wargame space. Each week our experts canvass the top tournaments and grand opens for their game of specialty and bring you what teams are hot, what teams are not, who’s rising, who’s falling, and what might be coming next as the meta evolves year-round.

It's our first CI after the Fall Battlescroll and so we're finally going to see how things shake out. Was it the total overhaul we hoped for? Eh...not so much, but there are some more interesting lists gaining traction that are seriously worth looking at.

The big headline event is the massive Sydney Grand Tournament. Sadly it did not use the battlescroll but it definitely has some of the most interesting lists we've seen to date. After that is the very rarely featured Czech Republic, and a smaller event in the US to round it all off.

Sydney Grand Tournament 2024

120-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Sutherland, New South Wales, Australia on October 04 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. This event did not use the battlescroll and due to the number of perfect records we will instead deep dive these lists rather than delve on the 4-1s.

The Showdown

Mission - Feral Foray

Terence Voller - Kruleboyz

vs.

Gary Chen - Nighthaunt

Thoughts

First, props on making it to the finale with Kruleboyz. Just a shame it has to go this way.

The Kruleboyz list has a shot, pun intended. One of the best defenses against Nighthaunt is being able to keep away from them, and hit them from a distance. Put some poison on one of the reinforced units and you can volley a lot of shots to try and pick apart the most dangerous pieces first. Kragnos makes a pretty solid way to charge in and mess stuff up personally. This is also pre-battlescroll so he can charge in the opponent's turn (after they do all their charges, so no getting out of it Nighthaunt) and try and whallop them.

It's a good fight, but this is still no frills Nighthaunt Godd stuff, and it pulls a respectable lead that's still closer than you'd think.

Result

Nighthaunt Victory - 46 - 30

Gary Chen - Nighthaunt - 1st Place

Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief. Credit: Rich Nutter

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Nighthaunt Good Stuff

Thoughts

Pre-Battlescroll so no surprises here. Lady Olynder and Reikenor make a powerful casting Duo, while the Harrows teleport around to steal objectives and buff control scores of other units. The Dreadscythe Harridans, Bladegheist Revenants and Hexwraiths are your primary hammers, charging in and slicing up most anything they come into contact with. A single unit chainrasps functions well as a screen against early charges and to hold backline objectives.

Joel Graham - Lumineth Realm-Lords - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Vanari Wardens Credit: Joshua Saunders

The List

Archetype

The Hurakan Special

Thoughts

Again, stock meta list here. The Twins and the Windmage are your casting support while the Hurakan Units push up, shoot, then fallback. The Wardens make a solid screen for the heroes while the Dawnriders ride up as a more permanent presence on the front line.

I apologize, I'm not trying to be flippant. You've just seen this before. However we do have...

Corey Papinniemi - Disciples of Tzeentch - 3rd Place

Credit: Liebot - https://instagram.com/liebot_pics

The List

Archetype

Tzeentch Daemons

Thoughts

Ah finally something new. Not only is Disciples of Tzeentch still relatively rare in the 5-0 spot, not a single Tzaangor Skyfire in sight. As the list name implies, this really leans in on the Wyrdflame, which is clearly how GW intended the army to look. And this is pre-buff, making it more impressive.

For the most part, it's not actually all that technical. All those daemons? They exist to hold the line and protect the Lord of Change and Kairos while they sling spells from the back. All of them have Wyrdflame ranged attacks so even if they don't end up doing a ton of damage, they inflict the -1 to wound which combined with the Lord of Change's -1 to hit Aura, makes actually dispatching those daemons a tall order. And that's before Kairos and the Lord of Change sling more Wyrdflame keyword spells at you. In short you either need to be terribly resistant to magic or be able to get around that wall or shoot the Lords of Change and that can be tough for some armies.

The Changeling is an amusing bit of whimsy here. It can redeploy within 3" of the enemy during deployment, which will often result in its death but if deployed with some forethought it allows you to hit them with spells much earlier than you might have otherwise (at only 18" for Tzeentch's spells, a lot of deployments don't let you cast offensive spells Round 1) so you can get out Bolt of Tzeentch early and hit them with Wyrdflame and on a 3+ half the movement characteristics of any threat that might try for an early charge. Even if they try and deal with it, that's taking attention of the primary threat.

Jasper Rowley - Ossiarch Bonereapers - 4th Place

Credit: Swiftblade

The List

Archetype

Nagash and the Deathriders

Thoughts

Another novel list, brilliant in its simplicity. Nagash is obviously the core of this list, he can throw out his Warscroll buff for 5+ Wards or bring back a dead Deathrider. He can also throw Empower Nadirite Weapons onto one of the Reinforced units. The Deathrider's goal is to ride ahead while Nagash comes in after and cleans up anything they can't deal with.

The Liege mostly exists as a generic locus to carry the enhancements, and he can do a decent job working alongside the deathriders both as a more forward source of Relentless Discipline order and attacks one after the other with a unit of them.

End Times Grand Tournament 3

50-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Jihomoravský kraj, Česko on October 05 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Joachim Berger - Blades of Khorne

vs.

Daniel Ziesel - Nighthaunt

Thoughts

The Blades of Khorne player puts up a solid fight, with a really interesting list. Skarbrand hasn't seen quite the same love as he did before, and he's joining up with a generic Bloodthirster. With the Hounds behind them, the Claws of Karnak make a pretty solid Alpha Strike, doing solid damage before they go down (to harvest for Blood Tithes).

Trying to charge the Nighthaunt first is generally the play, or shooting them far enough away they can't charge is generally the play and as a result they actually do pretty good holding their own against one of the toughest lists around.

Result

Nighthaunt Victory - 34 - 30

Daniel Ziesel - Nighthaunt - 1st Place

Nighthaunt Reiknor the Grimhailer. Credit: Magos Sockbert

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Nighthaunt good stuff

Thoughts

Even with the points changes and nerfs, this stuff is still good. While players now have to be more cautious now that There is No Escape is only once per turn run and charge or Retreat and charge is still really good, especially when your army has a built in charge from combat.

Dreadblade Harrows don't make an appearance here, though its hard to say if that's going to be true for every list. Instead Craventhrone give some ranged attacks to soften up a unit before the Harridans charge in. Otherwise this list works the same as most every other 4th edition Nighthaunt list. Dreadscythe Harridans and Bladegheist Revenants are the primary hammer to pick up enemy units while Reikenor is your big caster and Awlrach can teleport and reposition units. The Kruleghast Cruciator mitigates damage somewhat but mostly exists to carry enhancements.

Andreas Schwarz - Lumineth Realm-Lords - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Vanari Dawnriders Credit: Joshua Saunders

The List

Archetype

The Hurakan Special

Thoughts

The usual Hurakan list, though only one Spirit of the Wind, that's still sufficient to buff the unit of Windchargers and help them jump in, shoot, and flee to safety while Sentinels can remain mostly in place and fire. The Vanari Dawnriders can then ride on up and pick up the softened up units and capture objectives.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Lukas Lerner - Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt good stuff.
• 4th - Filip Habán - Skaven: Thanquol with Ratling Guns and Rat Ogors, and a Verminlord Deceiver with Night Runners.
• 5th - René Horký - Stormcast Eternals: A real grab bag of stormcast models, notably with Karazai, Desolators and Vanguard-Raptors.
• 6th - Joachim Berger - Blades of Khorne: See Showdown.
• 7th - Šimon Jung - Ogor Mawtribes: Foot Ogors with Gluttons and Ironguts.
• 8th - Alexander Sluka - Cities of Sigmar: The usual friendship team of Hammerers, Executioners and Fusiliers.

PDREX Presents Age of Sigmar: World REXposition at CRITCON

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Portland, OR, United States on October 05 2024. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Close to the Chest

Alex Herman - Beasts of Chaos

vs.

Mason Knox - Cities of Sigmar

Thoughts

This one is brutal.

Beasts lists don't really have ways to deal with shooting attacks very well and the opposition leans in on a lot of shooting from Fusiliers. Thanks to the Command Corps, even if they deploy in 9" away from the cities they're going to get lit up by two squads of Fusiliers with Covering Fire, and Beasts Armor saves just aren't cutting that.

Since Beasts lost the way to pull units out of formation like they could in 3rd, it means that the Cities player can do what they do best, turtle up and wait. Once the Fusiliers soften things up the Executioners and Hammerers can do the job of putting down the stragglers. It's an absolute bloodbath with the Beasts only scoring 6 points.

Result

Cities of Sigmar Victory - 48 - 6

Mason Knox - Cities of Sigmar - 1st Place

Conner Tolbert

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Cities of Sigmar Friendship

Thoughts

First, the standard loadout of a Runelord and Hammerers and Sorceress and Executioners remains the go to. Through the Runelord you get access to a reasonably priced foot priest and a very tanky unit to protect him. The Sorceress gives access to the very versatile Cities spell lore and some very strong melee units with Mortal criticals on 5s when they charge.

This list dips more into the human side than most lists do however. Callis and Toll are becoming a fan favorite across several Order lists and naturally is quite at home in Cities as they grant an option for deep strike and a solid anti-Wizard unit.

The Fusiliers see some action fresh off their buff that allows them to fire in combat. Ideally you don't let that happen, but it does make them more of a threat if the enemy closes the gap. With the Supressing Fire order they make solid backup, able to inflict Strike Last on the enemy before the Executioners charge in. The Freeguild Marshal lets you spread out orders by hanging close to one unit and sending the Envoy to another, while also granting the Command Corps (and himself) a 5+ ward. The Command Corps aren't the terror they were in 3rd but they do have a solid suite of buffs, namely that it lets both Fusilier unit benefit from Covering Fire. Finally the Warforger gives another +1 to save to the Fusiliers, making them incredibly difficult to dislodge in combat.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Scott Smith - Ironjawz: Kragnos with reinforced Brutes, Ragers and Gore-Gruntaz.
• 3rd - Alex Herman - Beasts of Chaos: See Showdown.
• 4th - Michael Bernstein - Seraphon: Seraphon Good Stuff, particularly with Kroxigors, Raptadon Chargers and Hunters of Huanchi.
• 5th - Alexander Geiger - Skaven: Vizek with Stormfiends, Ratling Guns and Doom-Flayers.

Wrap Up

Next week will probably be the first fully-battlescroll'd CI, so hopefully we see some showings from big events to really shake things up. Unfortunately, next week also would have been the GW Open in Tampa, but unfortunately due to the hurricane the event was cancelled.

Stay safe to all those residing in Florida at this time.

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