That's right readers, I'm back in the hot seat, fully charged and ready to go. Just going to look over at the event list for the week, as I'm sure the community will have played a very normal amount of Warhammer this weekend past.

...ah crap.

It looks like we've got ourselves a two-parter this week, as we had a mighty ten events taking place, including five majors(!). Those will feature in this article, and tomorrow we'll look at the weekend's five GTs in part 2.

That means today we'll be looking at:

• The Atlantic City Open
• GW Open San Diego
• Terracon
• Wargames for Warriors
• Kirtonian Carnage

Tomorrow will cover:

• The Grinning Demon Series GT
• The Branson Brawl GT
• Da North West GT
• The Pecking Order: Oh Sweet Summer Child GT
• Bembel Clash

Just before we get into the lists, I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has pulled together to cover the column in my absence, especially Boon, Rob and Innes. You should also go check out the awesome work our team has been putting into 40K Stats, where you can find detailed breakdown of faction performance from the weekend and more. That should now be highlighting players who put in a TiWP finish, so I'm retiring the slightly awkward manual process of adding stars for now, but it may return depending on feedback (and I'll add a note next to anyone who was an undefeated runner up).

Chapter Approved is, of course, nearly upon us and yesterday's WarCom preview suggests that some big changes are coming, so let's dig into this week's results and see who the top dogs are ahead of that.

Atlantic City Open 2022

181-player, 9-round Supermajor by Frontline Gaming in Atlantic City, NJ, US on June 10 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Secure Missing Artefacts

Thomas Ogden - T'au Empire: Tau Sept Goodstuff with three Crisis Teams specced for killing different targets.



vs.

Anthony Vanella - Tyranids: Leviathan Goodstuff wth a big Warrior blob and two units of Raveners.

Thoughts

I may have been on a break, but it has not escaped my notice that Tyranids continue to be rather good, even after their initial FAQ toned down a couple of the most extreme things in the book, and Anthony's list here showcases why - they get a lot of stuff on the table and it has a lot going on. Big damage can be thrown out in multiple phases, there are multiple big bricks of multi-wound models, and the bigger monsters take a lot of killing too. It's also super flexible on the table, able to chain around key buffs with Synaptic Link Range, steal objectives with Deathleaper, and pull off hit and Overruns with Flyrants. In the face of all of that, most lists really struggle to degrade the Tyranid forces enough before they're picked apart and overwhelmed themselves - but Tau are definitely one of the armies that can do that.

While other builds are seeing use still, Tau Sept with Crisis (and often Longstrike) appears to be dominating because if you load out your units right you end up with incredibly broad killing power, able to adapt to all of the nasties out there, and all coming from units that are non-trivial to catch and alpha strike. This build shows that off, with a variety of different Crisis Loadouts meaning that Thomas can load the re-rolls onto which ever unit is right for a given situation, and go to town. Even the mighty defences of Leviathan will eventually crumble if exposed to this onslaught, so the question we're looking at for this matchup is whether the Tau can being enough of their killing power to bear before the Tyranids can start playing the game they want to.

On this mission, and using player-placed terrain, the prognosis is honestly pretty good, especially if the Tau player gets to move an objective first. The Tau player can focus on trying to keep firing lines open during terrain setup, especially on the centre objective, and given that they definitely have the edge in shooting here, that allows them to try and focus on scoring 8pts plus the mission primary for the first few turns while wearing the Tyranids down and drawing them in. Having Longstrike in this situation is a massive boon, because it's going to create The Fear from the bug side of the table that one false move from a key model could see it instantly departing the table (and there are no Harpies to fly over and alpha him). The solo Broadsides also feel very strong in this matchup simply because they provide the Tau with something that can walk on to a primary objective and demand an actual threat be committed to remove them, acting as perfect bait (though a Flyrant bodying one then Overrunning away is an issue).

That isn't to say this is definitely going the Tau's way, far from it. They're unlikely to be pushing for the centre early on, leaving the Tyranids to take early control of the table, which means that if they fall behind on dealing damage, they risk not being able to swing the scoring back in their direction later on. The Tau also don't have much wiggle room for messing up and getting one of their own units annihilated by psychic firepower, and plausibly have a harder job on Secondaries - they probably can Grind, but Tyranids have a strong Stranglehold plan and can pretty reliably play Psychic ones too. Tau could just got for a "kill em all" plan, to be fair, loading up on Abhor and Assassinate, which since they definitely want to be cleaning up the table anyway, could be an interesting move (though for my money the Tyranids have a bit too easy a time protecting some of their stuff once they know that's the goal).

Whatever options were picked, the Tau were, in fact able to pull a victory off here. The Tyranids scored pretty high too, likely reflecting the fact that they're going to pick up a lot of Primary in the early game pretty much whatever happens, but the sheer attrition that trying to play against this Tau build represents clearly won out.

Result

T'au Empire Victory - 95-83

Thomas Ogden - T'au Empire - 1st Place

TX7 Hammerhead Gunship. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Tau Sept Goodstuff

Thoughts

It's Tau - there are Crisis Suits and lots of guns. Digging a bit deeper, it's clear that the arrival of Tyranids in the metagame has really boosted Longstrike's utility, as he's a great deterrant to what they're doing, and I like the two solo Broadsides a lot - with a Tau Sept re-roll the opponent can't just ignore them entirely, and they're very cheap for how tough they are, making them a great choice to sidle onto an objective when you need something expendable but non-trivial to clear, especially relevant when player placed terrain might leave you short of safe places to score. Clearly a hyper effective build overall, and congratulations to Thomas on the win.

Anthony Vanella - Tyranids - 2nd Place

Tyranid Warriors. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff

Thoughts

Leviathan continues to be the strongest Hive Fleet out there, though this build does import a little bit of the style of some of the Kraken builds, focusing on making sure it has lots of bodies on the table to pressure the opponent with. Thanks to how far the bugs can transfer Onslaught for Advance/Charge, all of these footslogging units can be in the opponent's face in the blink of an eye, and there's so much stuff to chew through here that if the other side ends up on the back foot, it's very difficult for them to come back. The lack of Harpies does mean that the army doesn't have that instant shooting reach out of the gate, so lurking threats like Longstrike can be a bit more dangerous, but the flipside of that is that it doesn't have the potential liability of them getting shot down to deal with either. Anthony is no stranger to these columns, so it's no surprise to see him doing well with such a powerful build - and congratulations are due (even if he has betrayed the Aeldari cause).

TJ Lanigan - Thousand Sons - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Cult of Duplicity

Thoughts

The mighty Scarab Occult Terminator, in combination with the extreme psychic firepower that Thousand Sons can present, continues to keep their book in the conversation. This build isn't particularly complicated, but does present real challenges to many opponents. There are very few things that can reliably take out a full unit of the Scarabs at range, and that's particularly true for Craftworlds, where they're generally relying on Psychic buffs (easily denied) to punch up into units of that level of durability, and in return the grinding, all-purpose firepower they throw out can erase multiple units in a single turn, and provide heavy ObSec pressure that some armies really struggle to match. Sorcerous Facade provides a bit of a mobility boost, Rubrics are great backfield objective holders, and even once they've played against this army a few times people are still going to underestimate how deadly the Psychic phase it puts out can be. It was eventually defeated in the semi-finals by Thomas's Tau, which is a tough matchup - they can probably smoke out a full Rubric unit when one commits, and can work to get the first strike advantage (though even in that game the Sons put up a decent score).

Daniel Wohlmuth - Asuryani - 4th Place

Windriders. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Hail of Doom Windriders

Thoughts

Hail of Doom is one of the other armies to beat right now, providing another angle on very broad firepower, access to flexible finesse units like Phoenix Lords, the nightmare Farseer combo, and ability to put together one of the most reliable To The Last plans out there. Daniel's build makes use of Shuriken Cannon Windriders and Swooping Hawks as To The Last choices, all three able to keep safe on key turns between Skyleap, Matchless Agility and Fire and Fade, and this allows the Phoenix Lords to go out hunting to fight for Objectives. That feels like it's a concession to player placed terrain, as it's much easier to create a position for a single-model ObSec unit to hide and be a total pain on an objective than it is to protect larger units, letting this list punch above its weight on Primary. Expendable War Walkers and Vypers help with that too, and overall this list puts a bunch of challenging obstacles in the way of an opposing victory while being quite difficult to get to grips with. It was eventually defeated by Anthony's Tyranids, who have the sheer unit quality to just go over the top of what this is trying to do, and also have a particulaly brutal counter for Phoenix Lords in the form of the Reaper of Obliterax.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the Top 8 was as follows:

• 5th - Anthony Birdsong - Asuryani: Hail of Doom with a million Shuriken Catapults - loads of Dire Avengers, three units of Guardians, and lots of catapult Windriders.
• 6th - Brenton Weiss - Tau: Tau Sept Goodstuff with lots of Crisis and Longstrike.
• 7th - Mark Parker - Tyranids: Monster Mash Leviathan with a mighty 8 Carnifexes and a pair of Harpies.
• 8th - Jared Vail - Harlequins: Light Saedath with one big unit of Voidweavers, two small Bike squads, then a bunch of players in boats.

US Open San Diego Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament

130-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Games Workshop, San Diego, CA, United States on June 10 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. This event used a top bracket where placing was on knockout basis, and the results below reflect that ordering.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Conversion

Matthew Geyer - T'au Empire: Tau Sept Goodstuff with Longstrike and Crisis Teams.

vs.

Cooper Waddell - Tyranids: Leviathan Goodstuff with a big Warrior blob then big bugs (a trio of Carnifexes and an Exocrine) behind them.

Thoughts

We go live to our second Tyranid vs. Tau game with a corner deployment. Hmm. This time around we're on US Open terrain rather than player placed, which definitely makes it harder for the Tau to ensure that they have open firelines, but gives them the upside of it being very easy for them to stay at a safe distance from the bugs out the gate, aiming to try and whittle them down then spread out and take over. Longstrike and a Hammerhead make it even scarier for the Tyranids to emerge than it was in the other game, and significantly reduce the power play potential of bringing a trio of Carnifexes out.

Once again, however, the Tyranids are going to absoletely dominate the Primary here, especially early on (and with a less favourable mission Primary for the Tau compared to Secure), and the Tau need to turn the game around pretty quickly in order to do that. This game was streamed on GW's Twitch channel, so I've been able to watch back over the video to see what happened, and the game plays out roughly according to the Tau's plan, handing them a victory (and it may have been bigger than the logged score, it sort of looks like they stopped counting when the game got called). They start very backlined, sacrificing many early points beyond a 4pt Primary, but the Tyranids took Psychic Interrogation and No Prisoners, meaning they're fully committed to taking the Tau down for points. Especially as they miss Interrogation turn one they then have to really go for it from turn two onwards, and although that kept their scoring going, it allowed the Tau to put in a powerful counterattack, plus drop deep strikers and fast units behind the main Tyranid force (which has a relatively small footprint despite having lots of units), splitting their attention and clawing back Primary. Eventually, the board was largely clear of bugs, and the Tau picked up big scores in the late game to take the win.

Result

T'au Empire Victory - 74-71

Matthew Geyer - T'au Empire - 1st Place

Shadowsun. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Tau Sept Goodstuff

Thoughts

No huge shocks here, with another Tau lists heavy on the suits, but bringing a Hammerhead alongside Longstrike instead of the Broadsides, giving some easier angles on Engage (and effective on the GW terrain setups). Congratulations to Matt for racking up the Greater Good's second big triumph over the Hive Mind this week.

Cooper Waddell - Hive Fleet Leviathan - 2nd Place

Credit: BuffaloChicken

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff

Thoughts

More Leviathan, and another heavy dose of on-table pressure, this time with a bit more of a shooting spin via the trio of Carnifexes, Exocrine and Pyrovores. That helps make it dangerous for opponents to touch the central ruins on GW maps, and the Carnifexes do, of course, effortlessly switch to brutalising stuff in melee when needed. The Parasite of Mortrex with Alien Cunning is worth calling out too, as it's been showing up quite a bit - the ability to go very fast with ObSec and turn off your opponent's ObSec at the same time via the Enfolding Strike stratagem is pretty great! A nice extra barb to catch out unwary opponents, and well done to Cooper for piloting this build to a runner up finish.

Mark Ferek - T'au Empire - 3rd Place

Tau Commander. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Farsight Enclaves

Thoughts

Good to see it's not just Tau Sept getting an airing, with the aggressive Farsight Enclaves making a strong showing here in the hands of Mark. Crisis Suits and tooled up Commanders are still the order of the day, and Farsight get to run lots of the latter, which is very handy. That's even better on the GW terrain layouts, which tend to reward fast, flying Infantry, and having Farsight alongside the Precision of the Hunter Commander as someone who can prise enemies out of cover in the Fight Phase definitely adds value. Drop Zone Clear is, also, one of the scariest things in the game to try and plan against, as it's more than capable of putting multiple enemy units in the bin, potentially crusing an under-resourced flank. Not being able to take Longstrike is sad, but it's clear that the Enclaves still have a tonne of power.

Joel Wilson - Tyranids - 4th Place

Carnifex. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff

Thoughts

More Leviathan Goodstuff, this time focused on ensuring that opponents can't hide forever, bringing both a Harpy and multiple Maleceptors to bear. This list looks like a nightmare to play against on any mission with a central objective, because balancing what to commit to the centre in the face of the mortals and countercharge potential is a very tricky task, and lots of armies are going to mess that up then pay the price. Only (apparent) master bug hunter Matt Geyer was able to take this list down in an incredibly close semi-final, and congratulations to Joel on the great finish.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 (based on bracket progression, so the players who won their first game in the top cut) was:

• 5th - Hogan Franklin - Tyranids: More Leviathan Goodstuff, this time with 3x5 Warriors and a pair of Harpies.
• 6th - Chase Chappell - Ynnari: Easily the most out-there list in the top finishers, this build combines the Yncarne and lots of other Psykers with two dangerous planes (a Hemlock and Voidraven) and two Falcons stuffed with Aspect Warriors. That gives it good early reach, good resilience to early melee pushes and lots of nasty tricks to play with. A few Ynnari builds have started popping up now that bringing the non-Craftworld stuff doesn't break Strands, and this is a cool showcase of an unusual thing to do with them.
• 7th - James "Boon" Kelling - Craftworlds: Our boy Boon, running the Hail of Doom hotness, but mixing it up with a Webway Gate and some powerful short-ranged shooting from Fire Dragons.
• 8th - Ashton Michael - Tyranids: Leviathan Goodstuff.

Terracon

98-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Naracoorte, SA, AU on June 10 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Unknown

Adam Napier - T'au Empire: Tau Sept Goodstuff with Longstrike.

vs.

Matthew Clegg - Imperium: An unusual skew lists, sporting three of each of the special Custodes Contemptors alongside some Astra Militarum Scions and artillery for objective play and no-LoS shooting.

Thoughts

The Custodes Forge World datasheets are very strong, and combining them with Guard for objective support and a bit of indirect fire echoes some lists we saw in the later part of 8th Edition. The Dreadnoughts and Custodes captain are all strong, independent brawlers, each of which demands proper attention to put down, and they can confront the enemy in enough places at once that they won't be able to push back everywhere. All the time they're dealing with that, the artillery picks away at key models and the Scions lock in objectives and secondaries, a nice combo overall.

For that plan to work, however, the Dreadnoughts need to be able to weather the storm the opponent is planning to throw at them for a meaningful amount of time, and in this game it just doesn't feel like that's going to happen. The Tau are well set up to take very little meaningful damage from artillery (spiking Longstrike possibly excepted), have the mobility advantage to ensure that they get the jump on the Dreadnoughts, and will do totally horrific things to them when that happens. Worse, they can make judicious use of Strike and Fade to ensure that even if they do happen to whiff the first time, they still don't lose that much stuff in exchange, and can just have another go on the next turn. A deep striking Crisis team is also a huge threat to the artillery, potentially forcing quite a bit of the Imperium's objective tools to be used for screening. I'm not convinced that the Imperium side has much of a plan other than coming out swinging and hoping the Tau's dice go cold for the first two turns running, after which enough of a rampage might ensure to tip the game, but the hope of that feels pretty forlorn, and the scoreline reflects that.

Result

T'au Empire Victory - 89-26

Adam Napier - T'au Empire - 1st Place

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Team. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Tau Sept Goodstuff

Thoughts

I'm afraid it's one of those weeks where we're on the third event and all I've got to say about some armies is "nothing too surprising". This build does pack more objective chaff than normal, with lots of Kroot and Kroot Hounds, which gives it quite a bit of flexibility as to how it approaches early turns compared to some of the builds we've seen so far. Fundamentally, however, the incredible strength of Crisis Teams and Commanders, with Longstrike as a terrifying swing piece, are still what's powering this. Congratulations to Adam on the big win.

Jason Horne - Tyranids - 2nd Place

Credit: PierreTheMime

The List

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff

Thoughts

Leviathan Goodstuff, two Harpies. Rob said that's all I have to write for these builds, but I do like the solo Pyrovores as sacrificial pieces - I'm hammering that point a bit, but I think it's especially important when the metagame is so lethal. Great stuff from Jason.

Adam Camilleri - Dark Angels - 3rd Place

Ravenwing Dark Talon. Credit: Greg Chiasson

The List

Archetype

Dark Angels

Thoughts

A hearty, company-policy-mandated Hell Yeah to Adam for taking a major top four slot with Dark Angels.

This build is very cool - Relic Terminators have always been low-key one of the better units in the Marine Codex, and Armour of Contempt has pushed them even more, since there's less downside to not having a Storm Shield. Expect to see a tonne out and about given there are new plastics from Horus Heresy! As Deathwing, with Apothecary backup, they're super hard to shift and ObSec, making them a great anchor for an army to operate around (with the other Terminator unit being great for staying home for Stubbonr Defiance). The rest of this list does that very effectively - it's packed with fast shooting units between the planes and Storm Speeders, and the fact that almost all the things it cares about are either Terminators or hulls (other than some bike squads for emergency pushes) makes it extremely difficult to take down with high-volume weaponry. It's got reach, it's got durability, and it's got Dark Angels - what more could you ask for?

Stuart Trainer - Tyranids - 4th Place

Tyranid Hormagaunts
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Leviathan Pressure

Thoughts

I can't, in good conscience, just give this one the Leviathan Goodstuff treatment, as the plan here is a lot closer to the Kraken Pressure builds we've seen in previous weeks, just choosing to favour Leviathan's extra durability and flexibility (via Hive Nexus) instead. The key interaction here is the ability to keep the big Hormagaunt brick protected with a 5+ invulnerable save by applying the Zoanthrope Synaptic Imperative to them, massively boosting their resilience (especially on top of the mini-transhuman Leviathan gives them). While Gaunts probably are a little overcosted, opponents gunning for Tyranids aren't really planning for getting swarmed, so having them can really wrong-foot their game plan. Combine them with lots of extra-tough Warriors and cheap Pyrovores and you have an army that can really dominate the board and Primary scoring, and one that denies opponents many juicy targets for units like Longstrike. A nice alternate take on Leviathan, congratulations to Stuart on rounding out the top four.

The Best of the Rest

There were N more players on X-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Peter Skene - Tyranids: A Custom Hive Fleet build combining Territorial Instincts (Monster ObSec) with Augmented Ferocity (boosted charges) to make monsters out of Deep Strike extra dangerous and disruptive.
• 6th - Benjamin Reggett - Adeptus Custodes: Emperor's Chosen with lots of Dreadnoughts and Caladius tanks.
• 7th - Jeremy Martino - Adepta Sororitas: Bloody Rose with lots of bodies in Rhinos to contest the board, Zephyrim for pressure, Repentia to trade and a unit of Paragon Warsuits to act as an anchor.
• 8th - Matt Morosoli - Chaos: Possessed Spam? At this time of year? In this Edition? At this latitude? Apparently more likely than you think. Word Bearers provide the tricks and buffs, and a Slaanesh Daemon patrol provides Advance/Charge then its off to the races.
• 9th - Matthew Clegg - Imperium: See Showdown.
• 10th - Ryan Kennedy - Adepta Sororitas: A tanky Valorous Heart list with a full 20-model Sisters brick backed by lots of Sacresants.

Wargames for Warriors 2022 - 40K Major

68-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Lehi, UT, US on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Recover the Relics

McKay Griffin - Tyranids: The list is titled "Oops All Spore Mines" and that's pretty accurate - lots of stuff that can throw out mines, a big unit of Warriors to anchor the mid-board, then super-powered monsters to finish.

vs.

Marshall Peterson - Orks: Goff Pressure with Ghaz, nasty Characters, max Squighogs, then two Battlewagons packed with Beast Snagga Boyz and Tankbustas.

Thoughts

Yet another angle of attack the Tyranid Codex has available to it is making a lot of Spore Mines. I'm fully on board that the assumption of creating them should be baked into unit costs, as making them cost reinforcement points tends to just make them unusable, but right now it's maybe a bit too easy to make a lot of them, between Harpies, Biovores, and if you're really committing as McKay has here, Sporocysts. Just moving around the board against this army is very quickly going to become a painful experience, and the army still has plenty of the standard tools to play with as well, all brought together by a big Warrior brick to hold the centre.

Up against it we have an incredibly cool Ork build from Marshall, which has exceptionally strong Goff energy. Nothing particularly complex - just hurl a wall of Squighogs, loaded Battlewagons and powerful characters at the opponent, presumably while Makari lurks behind a wall at home sitting on an objective. The Goff alpha turn can be incredibly potent, and having so many Squighogs really amplifies how wide a front this list can hit on when it matters, plus allows any advantage to be capitalised on thanks to their mobility.

It's great to see Orks making a final, but unfortunately this is one of those games where one army could almost have been designed in a lab to ruin the other's day. The Orks are very short on answers to the Harpies, which are excellent at kiling the Wagons and Squighogs alike, the attrition from the Spore Mines is going to be horrendous, and the central Warrior anvil is surprisingly problematic - any alpha strike from the Squighogs is relying on massed D2 attacks, which Reinforced Hive Node (on top of Leviathan Transhuman) seriously impedes. The Orks can't play cagey as they'll get picked apart, have to overcommit if they want to commit at all (likely resulting in a brutal counterattacK), and to add insult to injury the Reaper of Obliterax means that even Ghaz can't rock into melee safely. Even the mission is pulling against the Orks here - they're short on stuff to cover six objectives, and don't have the reach to kill lots of Tyranid units for the mission primary.

It's never super fun to see a mismatch like this, and hopefully Chapter Approved and points changes will give the Orks a bit of love so that dedicated Warbosses like Marshall have the tools to fight back against the Tyranid menace.

Result

Tyranids Victory - 93-34

McKay Griffin - Tyranids - 1st Place

Credit: BuffaloChicken

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff (with Spore Mines)

Thoughts

All covered above - all the normal Leviathan nastiness, but now with enough Spore Mines to make any opponent weep with frustration. Congratulations to McKay for the big flex of winning an event with a Fortification.

Jordan Gledhill - Adepta Sororitas - 2nd Place

Credit: Evan "Felime" Siefring

The List

Archetype

Valorous Heart

Thoughts

Sisters are another faction it's good to see putting in some better performances. There are a few choices in this list worth highlighting, but it's fundamentally just playing the strong all-rounder game this faction has always excelled at, but the addition of Armour of Contempt and the upgrade to the Valorous Heart Conviction gives it enough durability to actually compete. Of particular note are the Paragon Warsuits, which have great output with Vahl and take a lot of killing through the defences they now have (and also vastly prefer seeing heavy venom cannons in the meta rather than dark lances). They're a super cool unit, and it's nice to see they can actually play the central brawler role they're intended for with the right support.

The other units of note are Ephreal Stern and the two small melee units, all of which give this army a nice toolbox of responsive threats that can trade up into a decent variety of stuff between them. Stern is great at murdering Aeldari characters or incautious Neurothropes, Arco-flagellants will annihilate Aspect Warriors, and the Repentia will still carve up elite 2W units like Grey Knights. The overall investment in these isn't huge, but helps give the army lots of ways to respond to the opponent's setup, something you always want. Great stuff all round.

Scott Rumple - Space Wolves - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Space Wolf Successors

Thoughts

Dealing with the best lists in the meta demands the ability to do big damage, and while Tau are the premium way to get access to that right now, this list identifies a pretty terrifying alternative - lots of Wulfen. With Whirlwind of Rage on top of the Superdoctrine, these are going to slam absolutely eye-watering numbers of high-damage wounds into almost anything, and their ability to fight on death is a huge advantage in a metagame stuffed with Tyranid Warriors and Ravener units that often come in at around the 150pt mark. It means that this list can engage on multiple fronts, and even if the opponent interrupts and wipes one unit they probably die too, ensuring that the overall balance of damage goes in the wolves favour. The extremely violent energy of the army extends to the Wolf Guard, who rely on Armour of Contempt rather than Storm Shields for the most part, which frees up points for tooled-up sergeants sporting hammers and a melta shot (to go with Master Artisans). A Long Fang pod also extends the damage-dealing potential to the shooting phase, and forces big Tyranid bugs to be pretty careful about how they deploy.

Despite that tooling, it was McKay's Tyranids that took this army down in round 5, though I do think the specific Spore Mine build is especially strong into this list, as they're extremely dangerous to both Wulfen and Wolf Guard. The overall run for this list was very strong however, taking 90VP+ victories in the other five games, suggesting that Scott's landed on something real here!

Chris Johnson - Tyranids - 4th Place

Hive Tyrant. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff

Thoughts

Leviathan, two Harpies, lots of efficient stuff, extra durability from some Venomthropes and the Parasite/Alien Cunning combo. It's good.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on X-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Marshall Peterson - Orks: See Showdown.
• 6th - Chuck Burns - Adeptus Custodes: Shooty Emperor's Chosen with Sagittarum, a couple of Achillus Dreads and a Caladius, alongside a single big squad of Bikes.
• 7th - Damien Owen - Orks: More Goff pressure, this time with Kill Rigs and Trukk Boyz Meganobz, passing on Ghaz to go wider.

Kirtonian Total Carnage

60-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Tear Down their Icons

George McCoulough - Drukhari:

vs.

Martyn Stapleton - Chaos Knights: Shooty House Vextrix War Dog spam.

Thoughts

...And now for something completely different as a new spin on a former top faction faces down the recently enhanced Chaos Knights. In the Drukhari corner we've got something that feels like an updated goodstuff build, with a nice balance of shooting (from the Ravagers and Trueborn), durability (Grotesques and Wracks) and shock melee (Characters and Incubi), all brought together by the high mobility of Venoms and a nifty flex unit in the Reavers. Most of the time these are a speedy harrassment piece, but with the Stimulant Innovators/Test of Skill combo they get one turn of being able to punch up pretty nastily, and from pretty much anywhere on the table to boot. All good stuff, and well suited to giving the Drukhari a go in the current metagame.

Chaos Knights can be pretty spooky for Drukhari mind - George's list has brought a generous amount of Darklight, which helps a lot, but a good turn of melta from the Chaos side can seriously reduce that, and against War Dogs it can be tricky for Drukhari to flip enough objectives on key turns if they whiff on damage.

This game ends up as one where rather than talking about relative strengths beyond that first, we're instead going to look at the score and try and work back from that, because the Drukhari achieved a very dominant victory here, by a larger margin that you'd probably expect given they'll likely have to work hard for early primary. What specific things might explain that?

There certainly are a few (beyond "has adequate darklight"). The Prophets of Flesh faction trait happens to match up extremely well into the War Dog Brigands, as boosting their wound rolls on the gatling guns isn't going to do anything into the Grotesques or Wracks, massively slowing down any attempts to clear those. The melta will still do the trick, but that means it isn't pointing at the Drukhari vehicles, which is a problem in itself. The Reaver unit is also super good here, potentially able to take out one Brigand then tag another, massively punching above their weight. The Venoms also let the Drukhari stage their powerful melee threats relatively safely - they're small enough to be easily hidden behind terrain, making it quite hard for the War Dogs to pop them in shooting, and thus ensuring that come the Aeldari turn, whatever is inside gets to counterattack at pretty much full effectiveness. While Unyielding Rage is a godsend for soaking up those swings, Incubi certainly have the potential to spike enough damage through it for a kill, and with the Vexator Mask in the Drukhari list, they can safely engage at least two targets. Finally, the mission is helpful for the Drukhari too - the deployment and map helps them score Herd, and they can quite feasibly max out the mission primary, helping offset any early low scores.

Despite all that, I don't think this is a total wash for the Chaos Knights - I think you'd maybe want to swing harder on one flank than you normally might to try and ensure you don't get picked off piecemeal. Pulling a couple of Brigands off the board turn one with Hunting Hounds also feels like it could be a strong play - it helps force the Drukhari to be a bit more careful, and might allow some angles on the Ravagers if they're playing cautious. It's definitely uphill from the Chaos Knight side, but unlike some of the other Showdowns this week I wouldn't rule out the Heretics winning a rematch. Given how many events are firing in the UK right now, maybe they'll get one!

Result

Drukhari Victory - 99-31

George McCoulough - Drukhari - 1st Place

Haemonculus and Wracks of the Coven of Twelve | Credit: Garrett "John Condit" Severson

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff

Thoughts

Covered in the showdown, but basically just a really nice, well-balanced Drukhari build with a bit of everything. Definitely a big fan of the Reaver unit, especially in a monster-heavy metagame, as they project a lot of threat given how low their price tag is, and don't have to go after big targets - they're just as good, if not better, using their enormous Advance/Charge range to pin down and eliminate Swooping Hawks or Windriders, especially if those are To The Last targets.

James Mclean - Hive Fleet Leviathan - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Maleceptor. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff

Thoughts

A truly deluxe number of Tyranid Warrior units on show here, giving an opponent a frankly exhausting amount of stuff to chew through. Nobody managed that, leaving James as an undefeated runner up.

Josh Holder - Grey Knights - 3rd Place

Grey Knight Paladins. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Paladins and Interceptors

Thoughts

Grey Knights are another faction that loves Armour of Contempt very much, as it makes all their efficient infantry even more efficient, and lets them build one of the most durable tarpits out there using Paladins. Anchoring the board with a big squad of those (ObSecced up with Unyielding Anvil) while Interceptors zip around ripping up enemy stuff and performing Purifying Rituals is a powerful combination, and the fact that the anvil unit here is pretty durable against psychic powers as well (thanks to a 5+ against Mortals and great deny protection) is very good against top builds. I also like the inclusion of a big unit of Purifiers here, as they can adapt to multiple roles depending on what the opponent has. If they're leaning on lots of D2 weaponry you can keep the unit together to maximise Untained and Unbowed, while if you just need lots of Psychic firepower they can Combat Squad and unleash lots of Purifying Flame. I'm very high on Purifiers in general, and I feel like Grey Knights as a whole have a lot of potential right now if the top builds get taken down a fraction by Chapter Approved.

Simon Laxton - Drukhari - 4th Place

Grotesques. Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff

Thoughts

A second Drukhari build to round out the top four here, going a bit harder on gumming up the board and packing a third Ravager, but losing the ability to use hidden Venoms to stage melee threats. It does have a lot of sacrificial ObSec thanks to all those Wracks, allowing it to be very disruptive to the opponent's Primary scoring while Ravagers do their work, which is a good angle.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on X-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Tom Bunnell - Tyranids: More than thirty Tyranid Warriors (including a ten model unit dubiously named "The interesting times gang"  with a couple of Tyrants and Harpies backing them up. Leviathan Goodstuff is very real, and it can hurt you.
• 6th - Patrick Baron - Tyranids: We've had Leviathan lists that looklike Kraken builds, and to restore balance we now have a Kraken build that looks like a Leviathan one, packing all the goodstuff toys and lots of Spore Mine generators.
• 7th - Martyn Stapleton - Chaos Knights: See Showdown.
• 8th - Antony Baron - Space Wolf Successors: Wolf Guard, Wulfen and Redemptors, plus a whole bunch of Eradicators.
• 9th - Jamie Denny - Death Guard: Plenty of Mortarion's Anvil Plague Marines, plus Mortarion himself.
• 10th - Gary Moore - Astra Militarum: Cadian Conscript spam, someone only went and actually did it.
• 11th - Mikey Rzasa - Genestealer Cult: Twisted Helix with max Purestrains, lots of other Troops, and plenty of cool characters. Put in very impressive run, making it to the final round undefeated (including taking out a Tyranid list), but was eventually assimilated by James's Hive Fleet.

Wrap Up

Part 1 down, come back tomorrow for part 2 as we take a look at the weekend's GTs. Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com.

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