We advance ever-closer to the great Edition refresh, but the top dogs of late 9th Edition are still duking it out with some enthusiasm. This week it's the turn of various flavours of Ulthwe Aeldari build to surge to prominence, perhaps making good use of how adaptable they are in order to attack the (relatively broad) set of top builds. Otherwise, the usual suspects are putting in work. Let's take a look at:

• The Maryland Open (major)
• Wargames For Warriors 2023 (major)
• The Primary Objective Spring Championship
• Alberta Classic 2023
• High Noon Showdown GT 2023
• The Riverside Classic Grand Tournament

I'm on holiday this week, so I am treating myself to a mere single Showdown, which as voted for by the Goonhammer Patrons is:

• Leagues of Votann vs Astra Militarum at the Riverside GT

Go time!

Maryland Open 2023

87-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Westminster, MD US on May 20 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

TJ Lanigan - Tzeentch Daemons - 1st Place

Be'lakor, The Dark Master. Credit: Skails

The List

Archetype

Tzeentch Daemons with Be'lakor

Final Round Matchup

93 - 73 Victory against Jesse Melvin - Astra Militarum.

Thoughts

TJ continues his rampage on behalf of the Changer of Ways, continuing to run the build with Be'lakor for a dose of counter-charge potential and flexibility in how you set up and plan for key turns. Other than that we're just looking at some great position holders in the Horrors and powerful mobility and firepower from the Flamers and Big Bird, an enduringly winning combination. Well done once more to TJ.

Matt Lorah - Ulthwe - 2nd Place

Wraithguard with Wraithcannons. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Ulthwe Aspect Goodstuff

Thoughts

In second place we've got a build that demonstrates how powerful an engine the Ulthwe Craftworld trait is, giving this all-rounder Aspect-heavy build the reliability it needs to land Wrath of Khaine for high Secondary scoring. I like the use of a (relatively) cheap Wraithguard unit as a tarpit as well - stick Fortune and Will of Asuryan on them and they're not trivial to move off an objective, something that this list definitely needs in order to play out the rest of its plan, and cheaper than the Avatar in the same slot. Given that the build already has plenty of melee power from the Aspects, the lack of Avatar isn't going to hurt too bad, and the overall concoction looks enjoyably different but still very potent. Congratulations to Matt.

Mark Hertel - Iron Hands - 3rd Place

Rainbow Warriors Relic Contemptor with Volkite Culverins by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

The List

Archetype

Board Control Iron Hands

Thoughts

Another rampage continued here, with Mark doubling down on his melee/board control spin on Iron Hands, adding loads of Scouts and Speeder Storms along with a couple of MSU Assault Squads. The brutality of Drop Devs, the super Contemptor and big Desolation brick mean you can still out-shoot plenty of armies, and against the very few that you can't you suddenly have a great plan B, along with plenty of tools to play Secondaries with.. Nice work from Mark.

Jesse Melvin - Astra Militarum - 4th Place

Rogal Dorn Battle Tank. Credit: Scott Horras "Heresy"

The List

Archetype

Born Soldiers Goodstuff

Thoughts

Plasma Leman Russ goes *whoosh* *fwoom*. Or something. Is that the noise they make? Who knows. This build can blast almost anything off the table, and was only held back from the trophy by TJ's Tzeentch list, which is specifically designed to beat this exact kind of plan. Jesse doing the Emperor's work here.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 5th - Daniel Moscato - Tzeentch Daemons: A crunchier Tzeentch list, going for some Soul Grinders and Screamers for more ability to push up the table.
• 6th - Adam Lilly - World Eaters: Angron and a Bloodthirster pal just going absolutely ham on the universe.
• 7th - Andrew Gonyo - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff with 3x3 Armoured Sentinels alongside the normal hits.
• 8th - Cody Seeger - Chaos Daemons: All-rounder Daemons with Be'lakor and a Bloodthirster leading lots of Flamers and Flesh Hounds to war.

Wargames For Warriors 2023 - 40K Major

72-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Lehi, UT US on May 20 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The first and second place players here were both undefeated with a draw, having clashed inconclusively in round 5.

Scott Rumple - Space Wolves Successors - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Jump Pack Upgrade/Wulfen Spam

Final Round Matchup

93 - 67 Victory against Ben Jurek - Goffs.

Thoughts

Mosly business as usual for current Space Wolves here - loads of jump pack units with as many upgrades as possible crammed into them, Wulfen as absurd hammer blows and a big Desolation brick to pop Keen Senses and hose the opponent off the table. Only notable thing to point out is the addition of a Judiciar to add a second source of Fight Last for complex games against other melee armies. Otherwise, this build has been a reliable source of wins throughout Arks and it doesn't look like it's losing any steam in the endgame, well done to Scott.

Thomas Hegstrom Oakey - Aeldari - 2nd Place

Credit: Keewa

The List

Archetype

Ulthwe Aspect Goodstuff with the Avatar

Thoughts

Another top finish for Ulthwe here, on a pretty similar broad plan as Matt's build from Maryland - anchor the table with something durable and scary, use Aspect Warriors and Phoenix Lords to rack up the points. Here the durable and scary toy is the Avatar, and there are also loads of Rangers to prevent any sort of early alpha strike and lure opponents into position, providing lots of adaptability for the Aeldari to play with, something they should absolutely be trusted with, and will never do anything bad with. High fives for Thomas for taking the Avatar to the top.

Ben Jurek - Goffs - 3rd Place

Ork Beastboss on Squigosaur. Credit: Magos Sockbert

The List

Archetype

Goff Pressure with Kill Rigs

Thoughts

Ben racks up another very strong Ork performance, going with the classic Goff plan of absolutely overwhelming the enemy. With lots of Stormboyz, powerful Characters and Kill Rigs zooming up the table, the opponent basically has one turn to make a serious dent in the Waaagh's capabilities before it strikes, and after that there aren't many lists capable of out-brawling it (Scott's Wolves proving the exception in this case). Well done to warboss Ben.

Richard Kilton - Deathskulls - 4th Place

Big Mek in Mega Armour. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Board Control Deathskulls

Thoughts

A very different Ork list to round out the second top four of the week, sacrificing the sheer, overwhelming brutality of Goffs for extra board control and harrassment capabilities, letting it aim to outplay opponents on objectives when it can't win the brawl. This build fell down to the ultra-flexible Ulthwe list from Thomas by a single point, and otherwise took down all-comers, so congratulations to Rich, another storied warboss.

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Marshall Peterson - Orks: More Goff Pressure with Kill Rigs. Clearly something in the air down in Utah.
• 6th - Mike Gruenberg - Adeptus Custodes: Double Telemon Dread host, with a big unit of Allarus as a tertiary anchor.

The Primary Objective Spring Championship

57-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Westminster, CO US on May 20 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Zaak Kerstetter - Asuryani - 1st Place

Eldrad Ulthran by Corrode

The List

Archetype

Ulthwe/Harlequin Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

90 - 65 Victory against Joel Davis - Aeldari.

Thoughts

Like the Orks, the Aeldari of Ulthwe are clearly having a busy week, here focusing less on Aspect Warriors and more on general all-around play, building strongly for the reliable RBD/BEL/Warp Ritual plan. Looks like the first two rounds alternative secondary options were found to sub in for one of these, but the back four rounds were all solid, dependable scores in the 80-90 range that got the job done, similar to how some of the recent Swift Strikes builds play, but with Ulthwe bringing access to a bit more Psychic dominance instead of the pure damage. Nice work from Zaak.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Joel Davis - Craftworlds: A hilarious crunch-skewed Ulthwe build, taking a bunch of Wraithlords, Wraithseers and D-Cannons with the Avatar as a centrepiece.
• 3rd - Tom Sagona - Black Templars: Melee-heavy Templars going for a full Terminator Assault brick and two big VanVet units, plus a bit of shooting support from Eradicators and (surprisingly) Hellblasters.
• 4th - Colin Kay - Black Legion: Abaddon with the current hot skew support for him, which is a big Biker unit with the Black Rune, maximising the frequency with which opponents will only wound on 6s, and a big squad of flamer Rubricae to toast people with wound re-rolls.
• 5th - Michael Mann - Thousand Sons & Daemons:  A very unique Tzeentch build here, going for lots of Pink Horrors and Rubricae to hold the table while Magnus jets around causing problems on purpose.
• 6th - Jake Degenhart  - Genestealer Cult: Another unusual combo meal here, taking lots of Hivecult infantry and Genestealers to provide objective play and melee pressure then a trio of Russes in an Auxiliary Support for blastin'.

Alberta Classic 2023

37-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Calgary, Alberta CA on May 20 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Ozzie Meloche - Ynnari - 1st Place

The List

Archetype

Melee Ynnari

Final Round Matchup

100 - 55 Victory against Seann SPB - Space Wolves.

Thoughts

I'm consistently surprised it took so long for Ynnari builds with Hellions to catch on - it turns out that an already strong unit with access to a perfect suite of buffs are pretty great, acting as a huge hammerblow unit that's also adaptable to scoring Secondaries thanks to being INFANTRY. Add that to the normal Ynnari mix of some big Harlequin haymakers, cheap expendable Shroud Runners/Rangers to bait the enemy, and the Yncarne to punish anyone who kills the wrong thing at the wrong time, and you have another fantastic Aeldari list to play with. Excellent work from Ozzie.

The Best of the Rest

There were 3 more players on 5-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Anthony Dalla Lana - White Scars: All-out pressure White Scars, packing 30 Assault Terminators and Guilliman.
• 3rd - Thomas Walker - Adeptus Custodes: A fairly shooty Emissaries list with Sagitarrum, Dreadnoughts and a Caladius around a Fulminaris, plus Inquisitor Eisenhorn along to do some dubious investigations.
• 4th - Seann SPB - Space Wolves: A mix of all the fancy Space Wolves toys, with Bjorn leading a couple of Wulfen Dreads to battle alongside the strong unique infantry picks.

High Noon Showdown GT 2023

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Oklahoma City, OK United States on May 20 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

William Ivey - Astra Militarum - 1st Place

Cadian Commander. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Born Soldiers Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

95 - 76 Victory against Will Davis - Death Guard.

Thoughts

Extra infantry-heavy goodstuff here, bringing loads of Cadians to force the issue on scoring, and some Combat engineers to further shore up Boots on the Ground at a bargain price. Otherwise, business as usual, well done to William for blasting to victory.

Sweet Lew - Leagues of Votann - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Einhyr Champion. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Ymyr Goodstuff

Thoughts

A nice, balanced assembly of Votann tools in second place here, packing a single Land Fortress and then lots (by Votann standards) of things that can spread out across the board or from deep strike, ensuring that if the opponent can be rolled up apace, Lay Claim is still very viable Well done to Sweet for taking an undefeated second place.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd - Steve Goodrich - Emperor's Children: Loads of Noise Marines, a huge Possessed unit with the Rune as an anchor, and some very potent herohammer to back it all up.
• 4th - Jon Hofmann - World Eaters: Invocatus with lots of Eightbound and some extra herohammer, two more Juggernaut Lords and a Daemon Prince getting stuck in as well.
• 5th - Will Davis - Death Guard: A classic Mortarion's Anvil Blightlord brick with lots of Deathshrouds in support, which carved a messy swathe through most opponents before finally falling to the power of Guard shooting in the final.
• 6th - David Villareal - Salamanders: Top-heavy Salamanders, going for big splashy heroes like Guilliman and Bray'ath alongside melta and Desolation death.

The Riverside Classic Grand Tournament

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Jurupa Valley, California US on May 20 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Conversion

Alex Spathopoulos - Leagues of Votann: No-fort Ymyr with big Bike units, big Thunderkyn squads and some nasty teleporting threats.

vs.

Joshua Howard - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers goodstuff, enlivening proceedings with a Dorn and a few Scion units.

Thoughts

Gun violence is bound to ensure here as two shooty factions face off. The Votann list feels pretty well-tuned to this matchup specifically, as no Fortresses and some extra mobility is very good for them here. Born Soldiers Guard are one of the better armies at dealing with fortresses, since they have the volume of quality S8 shots to push through the defences, and can also go full fish on hit re-rolls with Kasrkin/Leontus to mitigate the inability to re-roll wounds. Bikes do still die pretty nastily to plasma Russes, which is certainly a problem, but they've got the volume to make a real impact first.

That's what they're going to need to do here, as the problem the Votann do still have is the vast superiority of the Guard Secondaries. They can take a real swing at scoring a solid amount on Bring it Down, but their options start looking pretty sparse after that. Prospects might normally be OK here, but because the Guard have three Scout Sentinels it's going to be tough to pull it off on turn 1, and after that the battle is going to be in full swing, not a time when you want to be dedicating units to scoring this (though having Unrelenting Toil in the list means you could still go for it). The Guard also have enough stuff to make teleporting into their deployment zone for BEL a dicey prospect, and as the Votann player I think you probably end up on BID/Ancestors/Engage. That's going to give you an OK score, but not a guaranteed big number, wherease Guard can roll with their standard plans and expect to get solidly into the 90s if not disrupted.

That means the Votann have to directly and swiftly attack guard's Secondary scoring, and the better news for them is that they do have the tools for this. Bikes, Hearthguard and Sagitaurs can go through those Infantry squads like a hot knife, and picking off the Vehicle Officers with Strat Reserve Thunderkyn is pretty realistic. The sniper High Kahl is also serious business here - Leontus can shrug it off, but the Ogryn-less Command Squad and the Commissar are pretty easy prey. The Votann want to keep up a steady scoring clip while annihilating whichever targets available to them that do most to tank the Guard scoring each turn. For the Guard's part, they should identify any options they have to make the Votann scoring less than reliable, protect their Officers from getting immediately sniped, and focus on annihilating the Bikes and Thunderkyn as quickly as possible, as without them it'll be tough for the Votann to get the job done, particularly with a second wave of Infantry coming out of Deep Strike. My gut says that the Guard probably can defend their scoring well enough to take the win here, but in the event the Votann were able to narrowly edge it, and given the low scores on both sides I'm guessing that focusing on Secondary denial was the method chosen!

Result

Leagues of Votann Victory - 69 - 62

Alex Spathopoulos - Leagues of Votann - 1st Place

Leagues of Votann Einhyr Champion and Khal. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

See showdown

Archetype

No-Fort Ymyr

Thoughts

Mostly covered in the Showdown, though I guess worth noting that as Votann lists go the Secondary choices here are pretty flexible, it's just that the Guard matchup narrowed them down. I really like this version overall, and it's always great to see that not just Forts can push Votann to the top, well done Alex!

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Austin Ellingson - Khorne Daemons: Smash-tastic Khorne monster mash with Skarbrand, the Indomitable thirster and Be'lakor leading a howling charge of Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds.
• 3rd - Xavier Michel - World Eaters: I just want to be able to write "Invocatus Eightbound Spam" and move on and all these rude World Eaters players keep doing something different. Invocatus is here, but it's Berserkers hitting spam numbers (with lots of Rhinos to ferry them), and some War Dog Executioners in shooting support.
• 4th - Joshua Howard - Astra Militarum: See showdown.
• 5th - Kyle Parry - Craftworlds & Harlequins: Another Ulthwe list that mixes some speedy, throwaway units (here Windrider MSUs and Harlequin stuff) with some hammer blows, here from a brick of D-cannons.

Wrap Up

Another week down, this time with the sneaky Aeldari in ascendence, meaning that a triumverate of Marines, Daemons and Elves seem to be on top? Will that hold up next week, or will a late-stage challenger emerge?

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