Time for part two of Competitive Innovations, and Lowest of Men is at the helm once more.

Today, we'll be looking at:

• Gibraltar GT (major)
• Winter Warfest 2023
• Peterborough Slam GT!
• Berks Spring Assault GT

If you're looking for any of the following events, go check out Wednesday's Part 1:

• Warhammer Fest (supermajor)
• Tau Tipping 2023 (major)
• Isarauen Frühjahrscup

Gibraltar Grand Tournament

70-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Gibraltar on April 28 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

This event was running at 1750pts. From the Army Lists, we're also guessing that they might have been playing with access to a limited, pre-selected suite of stratagems.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Tide of Conviction

Boldo Kalabera - Tyranids: A Tervigon with a carpet of gaunts and some monstrous friends.

vs.

Joseph Moscardini - Blood Angels: An all-rounder Blood Angels list with some of the normal jump pack hits, but also Redemptors and Bladeguard.

Thoughts

The Gibraltar GT is an event for thematic armies, thematic terrain, and some unusual restrictions including limiting players to a number of stratagems to be selected at the list building stage. As such we get a wonderful final between two armies you wouldn't necessarily see elsewhere. Blood Angels and Tyranids is an interesting match up - the forces of the hivemind have the damage to utterly ruin marines that expose themselves, but the sons of Sanguinius have the speed and punch to get into crucial targets quickly and can power through most Tyranid defences on a whim. Typically it was a match up that used to slightly favour the latter.

On the Tyranid side, Boldo has gone wide with a really unique range of tools that showcase all the shooting, psychic, and combat punch the nids offer. A Tyrannofex can throwdown some heavy shooting, there is strong psychic game for Warp Ritual with the Tervigon and Neurothrope well positioned to provide, and speedy Gargoyles and Gaunts offer some primary play. The fight last threat of the Venomthropes and combat punch of Old One Eye and Screamer Killer and deal with enemy forces that make the lines, and there are plenty of monsters to benefit from the Leviathan defensive buffs.

In the other camp Joe has powerful resources with which to punch up and control space, between Sanguinary Guard squads and Redemptors with a big block of Bladeguard to lock down the ground. On Tide of Conviction with the threat of a Death Company assault this looks extremely strong, and without having seen the game I am honestly curious about how this went down, as it feels like the Blood Angels have a wealth of trading assets to take down the Tyranid monsters with. It feels like some astute fight lasts and savvy objective play from the Tyranids (the -1 damage on the Carnifexes certainly helps!) must have been crucial in turning over the marine offence and rolling through to a large end game win. Very well done on the win Boldo!

Result

Tyranids Victory - 80 - 60

Boldo Kalabera - Tyranids - 1st Place

Tervigon. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Tervigon All-stars

Thoughts

As stated above, this is a delightful themed list with a little bit of everything. The Tervigon provides an anchor and regenerative play for the mission, and the blend of shooting psychic and combat can hurt the enemy from all angles. A shout out to the relic claws on the Tervigon is certainly merited - I've never seen the Maws of Thyrax out and about in the wild but this helps the Tervigon slap more reliably and get stronger the longer it manages to stay alive. Lovely thematic tech appropriate to the event, you love to see it!

Francisco Javier Domínguez Granado - Dark Angels - 2nd Place

Credit: Dark Angels

The List

Archetype

Ravenwing Dark Angels

Thoughts

A thematic but perhaps more brutally efficient build here, as melta-heavy Ravenwing and Bladeguard are very much options being explored by Dark Angels players as they navigate a post transhuman world. This list can still slap it in a key point as required, and the reach and punch of the bikes and speeders is extremely potent, especially when it goes first and gets to engage on its terms. Nice to see Sammael out leading the charge, and this list looks extremely potent if it can get moving. Great job.

Angel C4KILLER - Drukhari - 3rd Place

The completed Drazhar. Credit: Dan "Swiftblade" Richardson

The List

Archetype

Coven Heavy Drukhari

Thoughts

A very punchy and agressive Drukhari build from Angel that follows the recent trend of maining Covens and building into damage rather than resilience. Master Torturers is brilliant on large packs of Grotesques, giving them full rerolls to wound for a single CP, and making it essentially free on wracks. The msu squads and Mandrakes shore up RBD, and Drazhar and the Succubus help to provide incision target removal. The Cronos is also a lovely piece of support here- it can  handout full power from pain boosts early, resurrect combatants as it kills things in melee (with more chance to do so with the exploding sixes of Splinterblades), and combined with the Grotesques presents a real tarpit problem for the enemy to solve. Congratulations on a top placing!

Aaron Mosquera - Iron Hands - 4th Place

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

The List

Archetype

Iron Hands Goodstuff

Thoughts

Iron Hands Goodstuff with Desolators at a Gibraltar event, Aaron?! you bad, bad boy. You all know what this does, and it looks like it continued to do it here!

The Best of the Rest

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

• 5th - Antonio Rivera Jimenez - Custodes: Emperor's Chosen MSU with a small slab of Wardens for holding ground.
• 6th - William Marsh - Tau Empire: Double Riptides with Crisis, Longstrike, and Commander support.
• 7th - Joseph Moscardini - Blood Angels: The Blood Angels list from the showdown.

WINTER WARFEST 2023

56-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Ipswich, Queensland AU on April 28 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Wayne Russell - World Eaters - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Lord Invocatus Rush

Final Round Matchup

95 - 85 Victory against Jacob Warn - Orks.

Thoughts

Some lovely tech to compliment the raw alpha power of the Invocatus rush on display here, with some Terminators and Rapier Carriers to provide shooting support. The latter are great, chucking out a bunch of heavy bolter shots to punish anything in the open, whittle down screens, and demand a response. Kill them and you're only helping the World Eaters secondary game and Blood Tithe scoring. The Terminators offer similar chaff removal and can also amp up their damage in combat via Red Butchers to become serious blenders as required. It's a beautifully well rounded take on World Eaters, congratulations on taking first Wayne!

Paul Gurney - Nurgle - 2nd Place

Plagueburst Crawler. Credit: Raf Cordero

The List

Archetype

Mixed Nurgle

Thoughts

A very shooty take on mixed Nurgle, marrying the punch and resilience of Death Guard daemon engines to some supporting shenanigans via a Nurgle daemon detachment. This allows Paul to sneak Mamon the Transfigured in for some cheeky rerolls across his units, some Nurglings for board control and two Soul Grinders to add to the already impressive output of this list. Triple mower drones has so much punch and punishes any under commitment or poor positioning, all of which contributes to the extremely strong Death Guard secondary game.  It will roll right over the unwary in the name of the Grandfather, and I really, really like it. Well done!!

The Best of the Rest

There were 8 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Jacob Warn - Orks: Goff pressure with triple Battlewagons, Nobs and Meganobs with Trukk support. Hyper mobile, hyper scary!
• 4th - David Trueman - Drukhari: More Coven and Wych Cult tag teaming with Artists of the Flesh Grotesques, big stacks of Hellions, and some Corsairs for CP generation.
• 5th - Jacob O'Donnell - Harlequins: Twilight with a tonne of Troupes in Starweavers and the usual supporting characters.
• 6th - Sam Littler - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff with two Rogal Dorns. Hero.
• 7th - Dylan Close - World Eaters: Dylan overachieves and misses out on Khorne's sacred number with Angron, a Land Raider, and the usual suspects.
• 8th - Sam Lemin - Custodes: Emissaries Imperatus with a truckload of Sagittarum, Praetors and supporting HQs.
• 9th - Dylan Petterson - Iron Hands: Iron Hands with a Brutalis, two Gladiators and a Drop Pod / Termite Drill one-two from reserves.
• 10th - Peteru Lesa - Leagues of Votann: Ymyr with a single Fortress, double Sagitaur, and Hearthguard / Thunderkyn punch.

Peterborough Slam GT! 2

42-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England GB on April 29 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Data-Scry Salvage

James Gregory - Leagues of Votann: Ymyr with an extra dose of melee punch from three units of Beserks.

vs.

Jack Tite - Disciples of Be'lakor: The Dark Master leading a mix of Daemons and War Dogs to battle.

Thoughts

An archetypal late 9th showdown here, as those with loads of guns go up against those who are gonna try their best to stab you really good before you can use them. In the Votann corner we have a very chunky Ymyr build, hyping up the double Fortresses via a Forgemaster, throwing out three trading pieces worth of Bezerks, and lashing out via a Biker based alpha strike and a Thunderkyn beta-blow. This combination has been working well for the Leagues in recent months, but it hinges on demolishing the opponent quickly enough to compensate for a very vulnerable secondary game. Light on assets to trade and screen with, the dwarves need to clean up quickly before this hurts them too much.

In the other corner we have Jack Tite's excellent Daemons build, an iteration on a list he has put to good effect previously by combining some supporting shooting with a flood of melee trading pieces flying in from the ether. Beasts of Nurgle slap in Disciples of Be'lakor, where the rerolls to hit send them to the moon in terms of mortal wound output. If you aren't careful this list will have you trapped and dunked in short order. Getting the job done in a big go turn from reserves feels like the play here, and the Votann really lack anything that can go and absorb the pressure that isn't very important to their own plans.

The mission was Data Scry Salvage, which you might know as the unforgiving hold 2 hold 3 mission where when you start to lose, you lose real hard. The need to spread out hurts the Votann's lack of assets, and the wide deployment offers the Neverborn a whole host of angles to attack from. If Fortresses start getting cuddled its usually going to be Jenga. Looks like the Daemons put the shut down on very ruthlessly here. Amazing work Jack!

Result

Chaos Daemons Victory - 100 - 57

Jack Tite - Chaos Daemons - 1st Place

Be'lakor, The Dark Master. Credit: Skails

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

100 - 57 Victory against James Gregory - Leagues of Votann.

Thoughts

A delicious build unpacked above. Disciples can amp up the output via full rerolls from their shadowy overlord, have the ability to blank a failed save via Blessing of Be'lakor, and boast the shooting and combat potential to go toe to toe with a wide range of enemies. Jack is a master of the Daemons, and he flexes his muscles once again here. Awesome stuff.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Jamie Brown - Chaos Daemons: Be'lakor heads up a big stack of Flamers, with Skarbrand, Beasts and Fiends providing the thrust.
• 3rd - Matt Arvida - Ravenwing: Massed Ravenwing with Black Knights, Speeders, Attack Bikes and a Dark Shroud to take advantage of the angles on offer at Peterbrough.
• 4th - Tom Moynihan - Adeptus Custodes: Shadowkeepers MSU come to scrap in combat with loads of Allarus, some Venatari, and three squads of Sagittarum.
• 5th - James Gregory - Leagues of Votann: The Ymyr Fortress build from the showdown.
• 6th - Jamie Balcombe - Adeptus Custodes: Custodes ace Jamie brings the pain with a Solar Watch golden slabs build. Love to see shiny Geralt (the Blade Champion) in there, as well as some Helverins for hitting back at range.
• 7th - Paul James - Dark Angels: 6++ problem child Paul James adapts to post-Deathwing life with this forward pressure Ravenwing build, stuffed to the gills with guns to deliver an early knock out. Double Storm Speeder Thunderstrikes and a bunch of cheaper speeders can lock in BEL whilst the rest of it shoots a massive crater where your head was supposed to be. Lovely stuff.
• 8th - Adam Gill - Orks: Triple Kill Rig Goff Pressure with lots of Storm Boyz and Squig Hogs.

Berks Spring Assault GT - Presented by BWG

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Robesonia, PA US on April 29 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

TJ Lanigan - Tzeentch - 1st Place

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

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

97 - 76 Victory against Jesse Melvin - Astra Militarum.

Thoughts

Whoops all Tzeentch continues to flex its muscles in a shooty meta game, no-selling enemy ranged efforts and boasting a very strong secondary and primary game of its own. Exalted Flamers offer additional punch for MEQs, and the Master Mutator Lord of Change can sprinkle mortal wounds around with Oprah-like glee. Great work on the win TJ!

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Matthew DeFranza - Asuryani: A novel Children of the Open Skies Custom Craftworld build that utilises a huge slab of Wraithblades as a pivot as Aspect Warriors and a Falcon of Fire Dragons get the killing done.
• 3rd - Derek Apsche - Chaos Space Marines: Black Legion doing what they do best and yeeting Terminators, Abaddon, and some Bikers at you. Tasty.
• 4th - Jesse Melvin - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers goodstuff. Some Rough Riders and Ratlings make the cut alongside the usual suspects.
• 5th - Alex Miller - Leagues of Votann: Greater Thurian League come to play with two squads of Hearthguard for throwing chonkodwarves at a timely moment, and Uthar to babysit the Rail-Cannon Fortresses.

Wrap Up

That's it for this week! As our edition slowly ebbs to a close it is nice to still see a few creative sparks at work in amongst the more solved builds and armies. The meta-game seems to have settled down a little post data-slate, with the worst offenders trimmed back but still very much alive and kicking, and the top set staying much the same as it was before albeit slightly less oppressively. It seems a healthy and engaging time to be competing, so get out there and make the most of these halcyon days says I! You never know what you've got 'til it's gone. Be well out there.

Lowest of Men, out.

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