Hello, Dear Reader! Welcome back to our ongoing attempts to fill in for James "One_Wing" Grover as he wanders the fields of Worthingtonshireham or whatever, searching for himself or inner peace or some shit. The past couple of weeks saw top ITC competitors James "Boon" Kelling and Innes "Mr. Supermajor" Wilson filling in and offering expert analysis but this week you get my dumb ass, all hopped up on Dayquil and the hubris of being 655th in the ITC (and falling!).

There Is Too Much Warhammer

Look, do me a favor: If you ever see someone online, or better yet, in person - telling you that Games Workshop is killing competitive play or that people are losing interest or some other nonsense, you slap them right in the mouth. Because they are wrong as shit. Last week, we had Nine GT events to cover, and across every tournament app a whopping 1,974 people played in events (704 in GT-sized events). This week, there are eleven GT+ events to cover with 691 players, and by our count there were 1,873 players playing in events overall. That's an incredible number of players. This time last year there were two GT-sized events hosting a total of 94 players.

The 40k competitive scene has absolutely exploded, far surpassing anything we'd seen before the pandemic. There are more events than ever, more rounds in those events, and more people playing in them. Warhammer 40k is not only alive and well, it's healthier than it's ever been, possibly because so many of you just really, really love Tyranids or something. And generally once you get past Tyranids and Hail of Doom Craftworlds and maybe Harlequins I legitimately believe there's a very solid meta out there with plenty of competitive options, and even with those factions in there it's clear some other armies can compete. We'll talk about which in a bit.

Anyways, this is a roundabout way of me saying that I'm going to be splitting the article up into two again this week - today I'll cover the five largest events, then I'll do a roundup of the remaining six tomorrow.

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The Frontline Gaming Bay Area Open

This 9-round, 139 player event was the largest of the weekend, and had the most surprising result of the bunch. You can find lists for the event in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Secure Missing Artefacts

You can watch the match stream here.



vs.

Thoughts

I asked our resident Sisters (and sometimes Orks) player Shane Watts to write about this one, since he's intimately familiar with Bloody Rose:

Shane: The mission was Secure Missing Artefacts, so 5 objectives, with 2 armies that want to get stuck in.

Even though both of these armies skew towards melee, the Sororitas list has some scary firepower sprinkled in to deal with threats at range. So if they can leverage firing lanes they can do some work. If they go first, they have a turn 1 missile via the rhino rush repentia, assuming anything is mis-deployed by the Tyranid player.

This Hydra Tyranid army though has some massive advantages in speed and ob sec. 3 Carnifexs to play bully and sneaky obsec, plus the Parasite to do the same. Lots of sneaky obsec tools in this list and ways to pull out some jank.

Both of these lists can stack some advantages over the other, but with the objective game favoring the Tyranid list, the Sororitas might have an uphill battle.

Result

85-82 Win By Jesse in an absolute knock-out brawl. Both players killed large portions of each others armies, trying to scrape every point, Tyranids via killing unit champion/characters, Sororitas via killing as many as possible for No Prisoners. Every fight was big in this game and was a great watch, especially from a sportsmanship standpoint.

Jesse Sell – 1st Place

Sisters of Battle Seraphim. Credit: Corrode

Adepta Sororitas

See Showdown

The Standout Features/Archetype – Bloody Rose

The Bloody Rose are the melee-focused subfaction of the Sororitas, bolstered by a Codex Supplement released in Vigilus Alone.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

We had Matt Robertson drop by to talk about the Sisters recently - the Adepta Sororitas are secretly one of the game's top factions and have been putting up solid results over the past few weeks, with an average first loss round of 2.7 and a good share of top 4s. Bloody Rose - which take their rules from the Vigilus Alone campaign book - are the most competitive of the lot, primarily for their ability to mess things up in melee and make the most of Paragon Warsuits.

Michael Costello – 2nd Place

Tyranid Hormagaunts
Credit: Pendulin

Hive Fleet Hydra

See Showdown

The Standout Features/Archetype – Hive Fleet Hydra Swarm

This particular flavor of Tyranids puts a lot into big units of Hormogaunts and Termagants that can use the Hive Fleet Adaptation to get +1 to hit. The Screamer-Killers can also benefit, as they'll count as five models any time they go up against vehicles one-on-one. The list also has access to Hunt/Feed Biomorphologies, which will often be used to get +1 to charge rolls, or the pregame move.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Well it's not Leviathan or Kraken, and that's pretty interesting in and of itself but what really piques my interest here is the choice of units and the decision to go with hordes. If we get a set of major nerfs to Tyranids in the form of point hikes in the next month or two, this is likely to be the kind of list that survives relatively unscathed since it goes pretty light on the units that are currently filling out Leviathan and Kraken lists in multiples.

Stephen Box – 3rd Place

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard. Credit: Jack Hunter

Blood Angels

The Standout Features/Archetype – Lots of Sanguinary Guard

This list has one plan, and that plan is to punch you in the mouth. The Death Company can use their pre-game move to easily make a first-turn charge happen, and even if they don't, their threat range is more than enough to push an enemy back into their own deployment zone and give you room to spread out and take superior tactical positions. and if you are foolish enough to give the Death Company their turn 1 charge, the Sanguinary Guard will be there the following turn, ready to finish the job.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

We don't see Blood Angels show up often, and it's worth looking at a list when they do. Stephen Box is one of the two or three best Blood Angels players in the world, and while this list isn't super unique, it's a testament to Stephen's ability that he was able to take this to an 8-1 finish at an event filled with Tyranids and T'au that ostensibly have better matchups. This list isn't much different from what you'd have run pre-dataslate, but Armour of Contempt makes it all the more resilient and frees you from being at a disadvantage by not having access to Storm Shields (Sanguinary Guard have a 2+ save).

The Rest of the Best

The event used a top 8 cut after the first six rounds, so here's the rest of the top 8:

• 4th – Paul McKelvey - T'au Empire – T'au Sept running Longstrike and a pair of Hammerheads, plus a unit of Broadsides
• 5th – Tyler Nutt - Tyranids – Hive Fleet Leviathan goodstuff
• 6th – Dustin Lane - T'au Empire – Dal'yth Sept that goes all-in on Battlesuits to maximize their durability by giving them the benefit of cover, making the list's massive number of Crisis Suits, Stealth Suits, and Broadsides even more durable. Also he's running Aun'Shi and an Onager Gauntlet commander, which are both cool as hell. Dustin's Crisis Commanders are absolute monsters.
• 7th – David Hetherington - Tyranids – Hive Fleet Leviathan goodstuff
• 8th – Ashton Frizzell - Chaos Knights – Ashton's list runs House Herpetrax with an Abominant, a Desecrator, and 7 War Dogs - 1 Brigand, 3 Executioners, and 3 Karnivores.

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Rocky Top Rumble

This 8-round, 111 player event took place in Knoxville, Tennessee. You can find lists for the event in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Conversion

You can watch a stream of this game ">here.



vs.

Thoughts

I asked our resident Eldar genius, James "Boon" Kelling, who Nick Nanavati informs me is a "highly cerebral player," to comment on this one.

James: Joe's list is running a fairly standard Leviathan monster set - twin Harpy's, twin Flying Hive Tyrant with Tyrant Guard, and a Maleceptor. He then fleshes this out with a combination of Neurothrope, Zoanthropes, a Deathleaper, two Venom Cannon toting Carnifexes and a couple of small Warrior squads with a single unit of minimum sized Gargoyles. It’s typically powerful, but its unusually concentrated and as a result there isn't actually a ton of depth to the list. Without the large, durable Warrior blocks that can output a fair amount of damage in combat and shooting, or Raveners to press the threat range, the list is a bit assymetric and relying on a combination of monsters and Deathleaper to do its durable objective sitting. To The Last is common for Tyranid builds that rely on a block of Tyrant Guard to keep the two Hive Tyrants safe, but both are built to go forward meaning the whole trio of To The Last units will not be able to avoid the fight unless you'rewilling to sacrifice a third of your combat power. In addition, the list gives up 12 points on Bring It Down, not great, but 8 points of that is relatively straight forward as it's units you need to kill anyway so it's not a bad choice with a lot of upside- particularly because 4 points are pulling double duty for TTL (if chosen).

Brad's list is a bit unconventional for a Hail of Doom/Masterful Shots build. It certainly leverages the typical mix of Dire Avengers and Shuriken Cannon bikes, double Farseer (one with Kurnos' Bow/Mark of the Incomparable Hunter), and Barry Boy Blue, but Brad opts to bring in not just one, or two, but four bare-bones Corsair units except for a single CP farming Way Seeker. In addition to bring cheap objective sitters (and ObSec on the Voidscarred) the Corsair units offer a bit of combat counterpunch with their 2-3 attacks base and auto-wounding 6s to hit at AP-3 which can be especially effective into Tyranid monsters. All told, the weight of Hail of Doom and combat punch (buoyed by two Banshee and a Scorpion squad) is a good match into this Tyranid meta. However, the secondary game can be a little hairy here - the list does give up No Prisoners fairly trivially, and can cap at 14 points. It also may struggle to balance on common Eldar secondaries like Psychic Interrogation or Warp Ritual due to the only psyker Characters being the two Farseers who want to be casting their powers. In a pinch it can take To The Last on the three bike squads, reliably keeping two of them safe a turn with Fire and Fade + Matchless Agility but the Harpy's might make that a fatal decision. More likely it'll leverage Dire Avengers and Voidscarred to complete a Nachmund Data.

I think this is anyone's game - but given Joe's lean on the heavy monsters and how much Brad's list doesn't care about high Toughness, I lean towards Brad in this matchup.

Result

Brad wins, 94-71. Old Man Chester is an extremely skilled player and he's built his list specifically to fight Tyranid monsters. Running into Joe's list in the finals is a gem of a matchup for him.

Brad Chester – 1st Place

Windriders. Credit: Rockfish

Craftworlds Eldar

See Showdown

The Standout Features/Archetype – Hail of Doom

We wrote about Hail of Doom at length last week. Brad's got 30 Dire Avengers and 15 Windriders to pump anything that moves full of enough shuriken fire to kill it dead.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

What's interesting about Brad's list is that he's chosen to forego guardians entirely, opting for Corsair Voidreavers as his Troops in one detachment, and supplementing them with two units of Voidscarred, including a Way Seeker.

Steven Crawley – 2nd Place

Maleceptor. Credit: Rockfish

Tyranids

The Standout Features/Archetype – Leviathan with Harpies

Steven's running a dual-Harpy Leviathan list similar to the one he ran at the Dallas Open a month ago.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

There isn't a lot to say about this list, which brings the same top units other Leviathan lists do, opting to take a pair of the criminally undercosted Harpies to support a pair of large Warrior units, some gargoyles, a Maleceptor, and some Venomthropes and Zoanthropes.

Spotlight: Seth Oster's T'au Empire

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Team. Credit: Rockfish

T'au Empire

The Standout Features/Archetype – T'au Custom ObSec

This is a new one, and it's such a cool concept that I felt it was worth calling out and showing off. Because god dammit there are too many Leviathan lists and not enough lists doing legitimately innovative things with good armies. The key here is the Play Their Part custom Sept Tenet, which gives the Crisis Suits the ability to count as 3 models each when holding objectives and combos with Blocking Tactics to have them gain ObSec when they charge.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

If you watch this list on stream it immediately becomes obvious why it's cool as hell - it's got a ton of mobility and the ability for zipping around the table and the Crisis Suits being able to gain ObSec on the charge and count as 18 models means the list can basically pinball around the table, stealing objectives from opponents and winning the primary VP game. It's a very cool list that creates a unique, aggressive play style. I absolutely love it.

You can watch this list do its thing on stream in game 3 of the Wargames Live ">stream here.

The Rest of the Best

Four other players finished with a single loss:

• 3rd – Joseph Gillespie - Tyranids – Leviathan running double Maleceptor and Pyrovores.
• 4th – Joe MacMillan - Tyranids –  See the Showdown, above.
• 5th – Seth Oster - T'au Empire – See the Spotlight, above.

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The Goonhammer Open UK

Hey, it's our event! The Goonhammer Open UK was a smash success, with 96 players competing across 6 rounds in Nottingham. You can find the lists for the event in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

 

Matchup & Mission – The Scouring

This one's a bit of an odd one, because Mani Cheema got matched down in the final round, leaving Innes and David to play on the top table, though Mani's scores were such that it was very unlikely he'd lose the event as long as he won his final game, owing to racking up three 100-point wins.

You can find a stream of this game from Hellstorm Wargaming ">here.



vs.

Thoughts

Innes was in this game, so I dragged him back for one more Comp Innovations to ask him to write about the game. He wrote this in the third person, probably because he didn't know I'd just plop his text in here. I'm going to leave it as-is because that's funnier.

Innes: In a mission like The Scouring where the brawling is guaranteed to happen in the middle, a list like David's has all the tools for success. The game is condensed into a very small space which allows for the Warriors 9s to make the most of their multi-phasal output. Innes's list has a lot of tricks and tools for scoring, which can all offer some solace in the form of doing things like stealing primary and committing smaller chaff, but lacks the raw output of the datasheet strength David has on show. In a mirror match where the game is decided on surviving in the center, David's speed with Harpies, and resilience with 9 man Warrior Squads means that his path to victory is fairly simple, crushing everything in the path from his deployment zone to the opponents. Innes's path to victory is similar, but distinctly different in how many resources he has invested in tools like Gargoyles and the Parasite of Mortrex, and leveraging these will be key to getting his points scoring off the ground and shutting down David's scoring.

Result

95-55 to David. David got second turn which forced Innes to expose his army to begin scoring, and with only minimal shooting to bring to bear, the damage output David expected to take from a turn 1 salvo is negligible. With the advantage in getting to start the trading a turn earlier, and hemming Innes in his deployment zone, David coast-to-coasted his army for a clean win.

Mani Cheema – 1st Place

Dire Avengers. Credit: Rockfish

Craftworlds Eldar

The Standout Features/Archetype – Hail of Doom

Mani's running the other top competitive option in today's meta, the Hail of Doom Asuryani. He's maxing out on Dire Avengers and Windriders, plus he's got a ton of Skyrunner characters to make sure he's going as hard as possible on the shuriken guns angle. On top of that he has Baharroth and the Swooping Hawks to double up on frustrating bullshit to deal with.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Mani likes to build insane skew armies and really lean into a specific, potentially broken mechanic, and this list epitomizes that, pretty much going as hard as possible on non-Guardian shuriken weapons while leaving just enough room for the truly fucked machinations of Baharroth and his entourage, plus a unit of Banshees.

David Gaylard – 2nd Place

Hive Tyrant. Credit: Rockfish

Tyranids

See Showdown

The Standout Features/Archetype – Double Harpy Leviathan

Oh hey this list again.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

This list has already shown up multiple times in this article, so it's not really worth going into again here. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Innes Wilson – 3rd Place

Credit: Kevin Genson

Tyranids

See Showdown

The Standout Features/Archetype – Leviathan Goodstuff

Innes swaps out his Harpies for Carnifexes, a Tyrannocyte, and a lot of Pyrovores.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Innes tries fixing what ain't broke, and ends up with third place for his trouble. If you haven't played against them, let me tell you: Pyrovores are an incredibly annoying unit to go up against. They're stupidly tough thanks to having 5 wounds with T5 and inexplicably a 3+ save, they're impossible to charge, and they can put out stupid amounts of damage even at 18" away. On more dense tables they'll be in their element.

Ben Allen – 4th Place

Harlequins Troupe and Starweaver. Credit: Corrode

Harlequins

The Standout Features/Archetype – Light Saedath

The fighty Harlequins. Not a lot of frills here, just a crapload of Troupes in transports.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

This is my nightmare. Just a bunch of piñatas filled with murderous clowns, ready to jump out and cut you up with swords. The only heavy weapons are fusion pistols, and the list is going to live or die on its ability to get into combat with you first and roll 4+ invulnerable saves when you try and strike back. Harlequins are still pretty good, it turns out.

The Rest of the Best

Five other players went 4-1 at the Goonhammer Open:

• 5th – Kye Grundy - T'au Empire – T'au Sept with Longstrike and Devilfish Breachers.
• 6th – Brian Seipp - T'au Empire – Farsight Enclaves with Kroot Hounds and Vespid for fast support.
• 7th – Matt Robertson - Tyranids – Kraken Tyranids running 8(!) Pyrovores, 15 Raveners, and two Parasites of Mortrex. It's a very mobile list that makes best use of the Raveners being durable, nasty melee units.
• 8th – Nathan Roberts – Jormungandr Tyranids for a change, running heavy on a variety of big monsters with a Haruspex, Toxicrene, Tyrannofex, and Exocrine.
• 9th – Will Whitaker – T'au Sept with Longstrike, Aun'Va, and a Riptide for support.

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I GT Andorra

This 5-round, 76-player event was held in Ordino, in central Andorra. Lists for the event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Unknown Mission

vs.

Thoughts

Ah cool, the first one of these I have to analyze and of course it's the one without a known mission or stream of the game. This is really where it benefits the Tau to still be packing a unit of AFP Crisis suits, for sheer volume of fire. If you're the T'au player, your goals are twofold: 1. Use plasma to crack open the Starweavers, and 2. Use the AFPs and CIBs to wipe out the clowns who get out. The Crisis suits can screen a bit with Kroot, and they can tank a little bit of Harlequin melee, but not very much, so they need to be careful about staying out of combat. This is a matchup that potentially favors the T'au player choosing Kauyon, in part because of the ability to fall back and shoot late and score additional hits along with the 3-unit redeploy may outweigh the benefits of re-rolling 1s to hit, but it's a bit of a gamble.

For the Harlequins player, the goal is to smash into the T'au player early and often, relying on a pile of 2-damage shooting to make quick work of the battlesuits before they can dig in and just shoot the Harlequins off the table. It's a matchup that heavily favors being the first to strike.

Result

The T'au win, 75-54. That's good enough to win the game - and decisively - but that low score knocks Roger into second place on battle points - he needed at least a 90 to tie Manel Tulla.

Manel Tulla – 1st Place

Asuryani

[expand]

++ Outrider Detachment -3CP (Aeldari - Craftworlds) [60 PL, 8CP, 1,170pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Craftworld Selection . *Far-Flung Craftworld*: Hail of Doom, Masterful Shots

Detachment Command Cost [-3CP]

+ Stratagems +

Stratagem: Relics of the Shrines [-1CP]

+ No Force Org Slot +

Seer Council (Unit) [2 PL, 40pts] . Warlocks: 5. Quicken/Restrain . . Warlock: Witchblade

+ HQ +

Farseer [5 PL, 90pts]: 1. Fateful Divergence, 1. Guide, Witchblade

Karandras [7 PL, 140pts]

+ Elites +

Dire Avengers [7 PL, 130pts] . 9x Dire Avenger: 9x Avenger Shuriken Catapult, 9x Plasma Grenades . Dire Avenger Exarch: Stand Firm, Two Avenger Shuriken Catapults

Striking Scorpions [5 PL, 110pts] . 4x Striking Scorpion: 4x Mandiblasters, 4x Scorpion Chainsword, 4x Shuriken Pistol . Striking Scorpion Exarch: Biting Blade, Deadly Ambush

+ Fast Attack +

Swooping Hawks [8 PL, 180pts] . 9x Swooping Hawk: 9x Lasblaster . Swooping Hawk Exarch: Lasblaster, The Phoenix Plume (Shrine Relic)

Vypers [3 PL, 45pts] . Vyper w/ Shuriken Cannon: Shuriken cannon

Vypers [3 PL, 45pts] . Vyper w/ Shuriken Cannon: Shuriken cannon

Windriders [12 PL, 270pts] . 9x Windrider - Shuriken Cannon: 9x Shuriken Cannon

Windriders [4 PL, 60pts] . 3x Windrider - Twin Shuriken Catapults: 3x Twin Shuriken Catapult

Windriders [4 PL, 60pts] . 3x Windrider - Twin Shuriken Catapults: 3x Twin Shuriken Catapult

++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (Aeldari - Craftworlds) [42 PL, 830pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Craftworld Selection

Detachment Command Cost

+ No Force Org Slot +

Seer Council (Unit) [3 PL, 60pts] . Warlock Skyrunners: 4. Protect/Jinx . . Warlock Skyrunner: Witchblade

+ HQ +

Baharroth [7 PL, 140pts]

Farseer Skyrunner [6 PL, 120pts]: 2. Doom, 4. Executioner, 5: Mark of the Incomparable Hunter, Warlord, Witchblade . Kurnous' Bow

+ Troops +

Guardian Defenders [4 PL, 90pts] . 10x Guardian Defender: 10x Plasma Grenades, 10x Shuriken Catapult

+ Elites +

Dire Avengers [6 PL, 120pts] . 9x Dire Avenger: 9x Avenger Shuriken Catapult, 9x Plasma Grenades . Dire Avenger Exarch: Avenger Shuriken Catapult

Howling Banshees [5 PL, 105pts] . 4x Howling Banshee: 4x Banshee Blade, 4x Shuriken Pistol . Howling Banshee Exarch: Cronescream (Shrine Relic), Mirrorswords, Piercing Strikes

+ Fast Attack +

Shining Spears [6 PL, 130pts] . 2x Shining Spear: 2x Laser Lance, 2x Twin Shuriken Catapult . Shining Spear Exarch: Heartstrike, Shuriken Cannon, Star Lance

+ Heavy Support +

War Walkers [5 PL, 65pts] . War Walker: 2x Shuriken Cannon

++ Total: [102 PL, 8CP, 2,000pts] ++

[/expand]

The Standout Features/Archetype – Hail of Doom

Another Hail of Doom list. This one has guardians and a War Walker in it, plus a couple of units of Vypers.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

It has more Vypers, I guess. Also there's a War Walker in it.

Roger Boira – 2nd Place

Shadowsun. Credit: Rockfish

T'au Empire

See Showdown

The Standout Features/Archetype – T'au Sept with Shadowsun

Roger's list retains Airburst Fragmentation Projectors to take on more hordelike targets, and they're also just really good against harlequins, where you need the volume of shots to push through damage.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Shadowsun with a bunch of Crisis Suits isn't anything new. It's interesting to see a unit of Vespid here, as it's always cool to see the ways GW made the internal balance of the new T'au book good enough that almost every unit can get some play.

OuX – 4th Place

Imperial Knights

The Standout Features/Archetype – House Taranis

With Imperial Knights being a relatively fresh release, it's worth digging into a successful list from the new book. This list opts for a pair of big knights - a Crusader and an Errant - flanked by 5 Warglaives and a pair of Helverins. Helverins may be the game's best backfield objective holders at the moment, and so maxing out at two of them makes sense with the Warglaives able to flank the larger knights at midtable. This isn't terribly different from what Jack Harpster was suggesting last week, trading out the Gallant for more Warglaives that offer more speed and versatility.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

The new knights book has some real chops, and we're seeing a lot of loyalist and chaos lists that go heavy on armigers as a way to give the army a ton more flexibility and speed on the table.

The Rest of the Best

Eleven other players finished 4-1 so we'll just focus on the top 8 here.

• 3rd – Paco Chamorro - Tyranids – Leviathan with two Harpies.
• 4th – OuX - Imperial Knights – See Above.
• 5th – Alejandro López - Blood Angels – Sanguinary Guard with Eradicators and a Redemptor.
• 6th – Sir Charles - Harlequins – Dark Saedath with Skyweavers.
• 7th – Gonzalo Raven - Harlequins – See the Showdown, above.
• 8th – Pablo Medina - Harlequins – Dark Saedath with a Solitaire.

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The Storm of Silence 2022

This 5-round, 76-player event was held in Spokane, WA. Lists for the event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

 

Matchup & Mission – Unknown Mission

vs.

Thoughts

Another Hail of Doom vs. Tyranids showdown, this time with Matt Evans' Hive Fleet Kraken running a single Harpy and a Tyrannocyte while loading up on Warriors as the army's main fighting force, though there are some Pyrovores in there as well just to be super annoying. The goal for the hail list is to vomit damage at its opponent, though this time Zaak has traded a lot of the extras - Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees - for a Detachment of Dark Harlequins with a unit of bikes. This gives the list slightly more punch, trading a bit of potentially overkill melee for a more versatile but equally fast and deadly obsec option, but does mean slightly less pure shuriken damage output. That's bad news considering how many Tyranid Warriors he needs to chew through in this matchup. In a hilarious twist, the Tyranid Warriors are also uniquely suited to shoot through Harlequins, with the ability to get exploding 6s on their Devourers and re-rolls to wound of 1. Yeah it's S4 AP0 shooting but that's actually perfect for making quick work of 4++ invuln goobers.

Result

The Tyranids take this one, 99-81, cementing Matt's position at the top of the event.

Matt Evans – 1st Place

Tyrands

See the Showdown, above.

The Standout Features/Archetype – Kraken

Kraken goodstuff that goes heavy on warriors to give it a ton of bodies to chew through. There's a little of everything in here, though it eschews a Malanthrope for lots of Pyrovores.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

The list runs a Tyranid Prime, which isn't super common - the Prime gives it access to the Guidemind Synaptic Imperative, which can be solid for upping the damage output on the Tyranid warriors start shooting their Devourers and getting re-rolls on wound rolls of 1.

Josh Bagwell – 2nd Place

Tyrannofex. Credit: Rockfish

Tyranids

The Standout Features/Archetype – Kronos Shooting

Josh's list goes heavy on shooting threats, with tons of Heavy Venom Cannons, an Exocrine, a trio of Tyrannofexes, and a Tyrannocyte to max out its shooting capabilities and make the most of that +4" range and improved AP at half range from Kronos.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

It's certainly a departure from what we normally see, taking advantage of the fact that Tyranids have surprisingly good shooting for an army that seems like they should be more melee-focused.

Zachary Bryant - 7th Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Death Guard

The Standout Features/Archetype – Mortarion's Anvil with Mortarion

Hell Yeah, brother. Zachary's list blows past all these boring Tyranid and Eldar lists by being a contending (though not a TiWP, sadly) Death Guard list in May 2022. And by doing it with Mortarion of all things. Many of you looked at the new Chaos Knights book and said "hm what about a knight?" Zachary just scoffs at your foolishness, saying "I've got all the knight I need right here."

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

The most interesting part of this list is that it goes really light on the one unit you'd expect to be the core of the list - there are only 5 Deathshroud Terminators here, capable of backing up a Daemon Prince, but clearly not acting as the core of the list. Instead, Mortarion is helped by a pair of Fleshmowers and a pair of Volkite Contemptors, which here are babysat by the Tallyman and his Tollkeeper relic. Mortarion and the Fleshmowers are as fast as the Death Guard get without seeking outside help, and in a post-AoC world (and potentially a meta that's light on T'au), Mortarion can be a really nasty threat. Zachary's road to 4-1 was no picnic either - he beat Tyranids round 1, Argent Shroud Sisters round 2, and T'au with Broadsides round 3 before falling to Josh's Tyranids in round 4.

The Rest of the Best

A bunch of other players finished 4-1 so again we'll just focus on the top 8 here.

• 3rd – Vincent Weibert - Tyranids – Kraken goodstuff with lots of Raveners.
• 4th – Marshall Reeves - Adeptus Custodes – Emperor's Chosen with a single Telemon and Galatus. Custodes still have some real play and Marshall earned a TiWP for this one.
• 5th – Zaak Kerstetter - Asuryani – See the showdown, above.
• 6th – Ben Neal - T'au Empire – T'au Sept with a Stormsurge.
• 7th – Zachary Bryant - Death Guard – See bove.
• 8th – Alex MacDougal - Tyranids – Kraken Goodstuff with lots of Raveners.

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Midwest Conquest GT 2022

This 5-round, 51-player event was held in Independence, Missouri. Lists for the event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

 

Matchup & Mission – Death & Zeal

You can find the stream of this game on the Heroic Morale 40k Twitch channel, here.



vs.

Thoughts

Finally, a matchup I can relate to - struggling against Tyranids with Thousand Sons. Death and Zeal isn't an ideal matchup for the Sons here, who really don't want to be in melee with most of the Tyranid swarm and want to stay out of Shadow of the Warp range and Maleceptor mortal wound spam early. This is all made more difficult by the fact that the mission puts the deployment zones only 18" apart and pushes both teams to the middle of the table. Luke's list makes a few interesting decisions, opting for 10/5/5 Scarabs instead of the two 10-model blocks and going with Contemptors over the more contemporary option of a dreadblade full of Huntsmen. In the long run that likely hurts him, as the Huntsmen may be more consistent and able to handle threats at a longer range.

The biggest challenge for Luke is that there aren't many good secondary options on this misison and map - Wrath of Magnus is generally a bad idea against Tyranids running a Maleceptor (and flush with deny attempts), though with two units of 20 Termagants here it is much more of an option than it would normally be against Leviathan lists, but a few bad casts can ruin that quickly, especially if Calvin can hide those units. That may be the best of some bad options however, as Mutate Landscape isn't good against those same deny attempts and on a map with only 5 objectives.

Result

The Tyranids win, 88-52. Calvin was able to dump out a ton of mortal wounds early on to keep Luke off Wrath, while the Terminators weren't able to hold off a winged hive tyrant in the middle of the table. Ultimately Tyranids are too good an army, point-for-point, to go up against sporting the likes of placeholder units like Tzaangors. Calvin ends up taking 2nd, thanks to being 1 battle point behind Jaosn Merten.

Jason Merten – 1st Place

Tervigon. Credit: Rockfish

Tyranids

[expand]

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Tyranids) [107 PL, 9CP, 2,000pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Gametype: Matched

Hive Fleet: Leviathan

+ Stratagems +

Hive Predator [-2CP]: 2x Extra Warlord Trait

Rarefied Enhancements [-1CP]: Extra Bio-artefact

+ HQ +

Neurothrope [5 PL, 100pts]: Power: Catalyst, Power: Hive Nexus, Power: Onslaught, Power: Smite, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Synaptic Tendrils

Tervigon [11 PL, 225pts]: Adrenal Glands, Massive Scything Talons, Power: Hive Nexus, Power: Paroxysm, Relic: The Maw-claws of Thyrax, Warlord Trait: Heightened Senses

Winged Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 205pts]: Adrenal Glands, Lash Whip and Monstrous Bonesword, Power: Hive Nexus, Power: Paroxysm, Power: Smite, Power: The Horror, Relic: The Reaper of Obilterax, Warlord Trait: Adaptive Biology

+ Troops +

Gargoyles [4 PL, 80pts] . 10x Gargoyle: 10x Fleshborer

Termagants [12 PL, 210pts]: Fleshborer, 30x Termagant

Tyranid Warriors [4 PL, 75pts] . Tyranid Warrior: Deathspitter, Dual Boneswords . Tyranid Warrior: Deathspitter, Dual Boneswords . Tyranid Warrior: Deathspitter, Dual Boneswords

Tyranid Warriors [4 PL, 75pts] . Tyranid Warrior: Deathspitter, Dual Boneswords . Tyranid Warrior: Deathspitter, Dual Boneswords . Tyranid Warrior: Deathspitter, Dual Boneswords

+ Elites +

Maleceptor [9 PL, 170pts]: Power: Hive Nexus, Power: Neuroparasite, Power: Psychic Scream, Power: Smite

Zoanthropes [7 PL, 150pts]: Power: Hive Nexus, Power: Neuroparasite, Power: Smite, 3x Zoanthrope

+ Heavy Support +

Carnifexes [22 PL, 415pts] . Carnifex: Adaptive Physiology: Synaptic Enhancement, Enhanced Senses, Heavy Venom Cannon, Spore Cysts, Two Carnifex Crushing Claws . Carnifex: Enhanced Senses, Heavy Venom Cannon, Two Carnifex Crushing Claws . Carnifex: Adrenal Glands, Enhanced Senses, Heavy Venom Cannon, Two Carnifex Scything Talons

+ Flyer +

Harpy [11 PL, 195pts]: 2x Heavy Venom Cannon, Adaptive Physiology: Dermic Symbiosis

+ Dedicated Transport +

Tyrannocyte [7 PL, 100pts]: 5x Deathspitter

++ Total: [107 PL, 9CP, 2,000pts] ++

[/expand]

The Standout Features/Archetype – Leviathan Goodstuff

A single harpy, Maleceptor, Tyrannocyte, and a trio of Carnifexes round out the big units here.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

It's got a Tervigon. Those only show up in some Tyranid lists, I think?

Calvin Smith – 2nd Place

Tervigon. Credit: Rockfish

Tyranids

See Showdown

The Standout Features/Archetype – Kraken Goodstuff

Another pile of the game's better units, trading out a Harpy for lots of Raveners.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Ah wait, my bad - this one also has a Tervigon. This one has a Sporocyst, though.

BamBam Hunter – 3rd Place

Credit: Patrick "theKingslayer" Richard

Space Wolves

The Standout Features/Archetype – Wulfen

Wulfen make JONK irrationally angry just as like, a concept, so any time I see a list do well with them I like to point them out to him and showcase them. Also Space Wolves capturing third at an event and finishing 4-1 is worth talking about.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Bam doesn't quite score the coveted TiWP for the Wolves, but he does go home 4-1, a rare and impressive feat for Space Wolves in this meta. Bam's running 3 units of Wulfen here, which is just rad as hell, plus he's showing off the fact that there's still a place for Storm Shields with his Wolf Guard. There's a ton of melee in this army, which also runs 10 Bladeguard Veterans, and it's supported by a pair of Eradicator units.

Brett Perkins – 4th Place

Genestealer Cults Magus. That Gobbo

Genestealer Cults

The Standout Features/Archetype – Pauper Princes

Hey, it's Genestealer Cults! Remember them? They had a codex come out in February 2022 also! It was real, I saw it. It was even pretty solid there until Tau/Eldar/Tyranids came out.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

We don't see many Genestealer Cult lists make good showings these days, and so Brett deserves a commendation for getting this far. Brett's running a trio of Ridgerunners, a 10-model unit of Aberrants that can pack a nasty punch, and a 10-model unit of Purestrains to do the same.

The Rest of the Best

Here's the rest of the top 8, who also finished 4-1:

• 5th – Tedd Williamson - Necrons – Triple C'Tan running the Void Dragon, Nightbringer, and a Transcendent along with some Flayed Ones.
• 6th – Luke Peacock - Thousand Sons – See the Showdown, above.
• 7th – Duncan Ensminger - Asuryani – Hail of Doom eldar with some big Guardian blobs.
• 8th – Joe Guzowski - Death Guard – Inexorable running 10 Blightlords, and 2 10-model units of plague marines, with one in a Land Raider of all things. Also, there's a Predator Annihilator. What year is it?

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Tomorrow: The Rest of the GTs

Well, that's it for today. I certainly got tired of writing up "Hail of Doom" and "Tyranid/Kraken goodstuff," though there were a few interesting and fun surprises with Death Guard, Blood Angels, and Space Wolves. Tomorrow I'll offer a few stat thoughts on the meta and run through the rest of the events pretty quickly.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.

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