It's happening agaiiiiinnnn.

We've hit another week where truly spectacular amounts of Warhammer has happened all around the world, with just over seven hundred players participating in an event of GT size or larger before you count the main event of the WTC. That means we've got another huge week to cover, so this article is going to be split into two parts. Today we'll be looking at:

• The Goonhammer Open US
• The UKTC Leeds GT (Supermajor)
• The WTC Warmaster GT (Major)
• The St. Albans GT
• The Killing Fields Of Istvaan III

On Friday we'll be back for round 2, looking at:

• Denver 40K Fight Club (Major)
• The Iowaaagh! Open (Major)
• Grand Onslaught 4
• Bogota Grand Tournament 2022
• War for the Forge GT

That list does not yet include the WTC main event, because bluntly there is zero chance I get to it till the weekend at the earliest - the fact that such a huge amount of tournaments managed to happen on top of an assembly of the world's best players jetting off toe Belgium is fantastic news for the game, but means this is going to be a hefty one.

As always, if a player didn't win the event, but did finish undefeated and only lost out on tiebreakers, I'll note it next to their placing. The UKTC events are an exception to this, because the way they're structured means that everyone in the Best of the Rest came through the Swiss undefeated.

Goonhammer US Open 2022

38-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Rockville, MD, US on August 13 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Secure Missing Artefacts

Andrew Gonyo - T'au Empire: Farsight Enclaves with heavy alpha strike power, making use of Sun Sharks and a Riptide alongside Hammerheads and Commanders.

vs.

Derek Apsche - Death Guard: Inexorable with high pressure from Mortarion and a Dreadclaw.

Thoughts

The top table at the GHO kicks off a fantastic week for Death Guard, and like a lot of the lists that are doing well it draws on the powerful tools of the Inexorable Plague Company. Enemy Charge reductions via their stratagem and access to the Ferric Blight to make enemy vehicles easier targets are both spicy, and this was the most popular (but not the only) company seen in successful lists across the weekend. Where this list diverges from the crowd is in bringing Mortarion and a Dreadclaw along for the ride, creating a build that can very quickly put the boot into an opponent, and is very hard to recover against. The Terminators can come down in the pod turn one, if needed, Rhinos ferry the Plague Marines up the board at speed, and if battle is joined with this army at mostly full strength, the combination of the Gloaming Bloat, challenging charges for deep striking counterattack units, and the high durability of the list makes it very hard for opponents to come back. Great to see Mortarion out and about!

GHO Finals

Unfortunately, this matchup does somewhat highlight the risk of bringing Mortarion - he's tough enough that many lists can't alpha strike him, but when you run into a build that can it's a big problem. Gonyo's build is very much designed to do exactly that - between Hammerheads, Sun Sharks (increasingly seen as an MVP for Tau), an Ion Riptide and Commanders there's a massive amount of good shooting pointing Mortarion's way, and most of it is fast enough to get into firing positions if he tries to hide. One of the reasons Mortarion was popular at the GHO is that the VT terrain kits we use make it a bit more plausible to shield him against some lists, but Tau's speedy threats are going to draw a bead on him, and absent some low rolls, there's a good chance Mortarion goes down out the gate if Tau went first.

According to intrepid reporter TheChirurgeon, that's exactly what happened here - Tau went first and made Mortarion dead, and had a very uphill struggle from there. the Dreadclaw and Rhinos do give the Death Guard some play even after that, as they can at least get up the table to engage the Tau before they're shot to pieces, but Tau damage output is still hideous (and the Iontide happens to be very good in this matchup too), and while Death Guard racked up a respectable score, Tau won the day. However, both players on the top table walked away winners, as Win Path placings were in effect, so despite losing this game, Derek still had the better tie breakers thanks to being the only player to enter the finals on 5-0, so took the belt.

GHO Finals

Result

Tau Victory - 88 - 57

Derek Apsche - Death Guard - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Inexorable with Mortarion

Thoughts

See showdown - uses lots of the popular Death Guard tools, but puts an extra emphasis on pressure with Mortarion and the Dreadclaw, which performed very strongly indeed. Congratulations to Derek on taking home the coveted champion's belt.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Samuel Kenney - Hive Fleet Leviathan: Leviathan Goodstuff with some big shooty bugs at the back. He faced off against Craig Valvano's Chaos Knights on table 2 in the final round, which you can see above.

Credit: Andrew Gonyo

• 3rd - Andrew Gonyo - T'au Empire: See showdown. Worth also noting that Andrew had an absolutely brutal bracket through the event, taking out a whole bunch of powerful builds.
• 4th - Sara Timmons - Adepta Sororitas: A rare and impressive showing for the Valorous Heart, taking advantage of their durability with two full units of Zephyrim, loads of shooty Sisters, and a squad of Paragons to bring it all together, alongside the expected herohammer stuff.

The UKTC Leeds GT

212-player, 7-round Supermajor in England, United Kingdom on August 13 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Conversion

James Marsden - Necrons: Novokh with a big warrior block, two full Flayed One units and the Silent King.

vs.

David Gaylard - Hive Fleet Leviathan: Leviathan Warrior Spam with a couple of Stranglethorn Harpies overhead.

Thoughts

Hell yeah Novokh! As documented yesterday, I'm a big fan of this Dynasty, so it's great to see James pilotiing them to the top table here. The secret is, apparently, even more Flayed Ones. These very much do rule as Novokh, because they benefit hugely from the extra AP and access to a +1 attack stratagem, and the damage that a full unit can throw out with buffs up (especially here with the Silent King to provide wound re-rolls and CP to power buffs) is extremely legitimate. They're also, honestly, kind of the perfect thing for carving through Leviathan Warriors, they've got enough strength from Hungry Void to hit the important S5 breakpoint, and enough attacks and AP (plus exploding 6s) to make a serious dent. As long as they get the jump on the Warriors the fight looks pretty favourable for them, and even when they don't they're pretty likely to at least not get fully wiped, allowing them to reanimate and get some damage in too. Gauss volleys from the Warriors also aren't half bad for this job, and in general David has to worry quite a bit more about getting ground down in a mid-board engagement than he normally would with his list.

That's not to say he doesn't have some assets to work with mind, just that he's going to have to use them effectively. The two budget Harpies are excellent here, because in this game the bombs are premium, doing any of inflicting a big chunk of Mortals on one of the infantry blocks that can't be reanimated from, taking out the Silent King's Menhirs, or trying to pop the Command Barge if it's skulking in safety. The guns are also just better for the job of ripping through infantry than the Venoms would be, and given that they can fairly quickly take out the things in the Necron list that seriously threaten them, they should be set up to inflict massive attrition damage over time unless one gets popped first turn (which could happen). They're also not the only source of Mortals, with Neuroparasite being another horrifyingly effective tool against the big block. The other asset that David has available is a greater ability to set the terms of engagement - he's got a very fast melee threat in the Flyrant, and the Warriors can aim to engage the Flayed Ones from a safe distance via Onslaught giving them Advance/Charge.

Unfortunately for the bold, glorious heroes of the Novokh, this creates two somewhat contradictory incentives - the counterattack threat makes you want to be somewhat cautious, but the sheer amount of attrition that the Tyranids can throw out mean that this isn't really an option unless they get a very high-rolled shooting turn out the gate. Ultimately, I think Necrons have to go aggressive here - dodging a counterattack doesn't help if none of their units are in a fit state to engage by the time the initial skirmishes happen, and Necron Secondaries can allow for some very front-loaded scoring if you push hard early on. They do also have some inexpensive but fairly threatening units waiting in deep strike in the form of the Ophydians, great for picking off the smaller nid characters if they're left unprotected, and at least some chance of pulling a surprise charge of their own if they manage to use the Orb of Eternity to close the gap between the Flayed Ones and their prey after the unit suffers some casualties. It still feels like the Tyranids have enough of the right answers that it's still in their favour (and David did take the win), but trying to push hard before the attrition adds up, and score big early on, definitely feels like it gives Novokh a chance.

Result

Hive Fleet Leviathan Victory - 86 - 60

David Gaylard - Hive Fleet Leviathan - 1st Place

Tyranid Warriors. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Leviathan Warrior Spam

Thoughts

See showdown, and also many previous editions of this column. David keeps lining these up and knocking them down, and leaps to a fairly comfortable lead at the top of the ITC with this result.

James Marsden - Necrons - 2nd Place

Credit: Mike H

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Novokh

Thoughts

Mostly covered in the showdown - a healthy mix of durable and deadly infantry blocks, fast units to flank and perform Actions, and the Silent King as a mid-late game hammer blow. Fantastic to see a non-ObSec build break through this hard - well done to James.

Ben Hampshire - Knights Renegades - 3rd Place

Note: Ben also won Best Painted at the event, and was kind enough to send us some photos of their truly incredible army.

Credit: Ben Hampshire

Credit: Ben Hampshire

Credit: Ben Hampshire

The List

Archetype

Dogwalker

Thoughts

Note: Ben also sent us their thoughts on the list and their semi-final game against David's Tyranids. Take it away Ben.

This is standard Abbadon dog walk in Herpetrax, which I initially picked because it felt the most forgiving on low game-count. I’ve come to love the Iconoclast +1 Attack/AP on the charge, the extra wounds, and the tricks you can play with Warping Presence. It’s a melee list, for the most part, spearheaded by three Karnivores (they’re great, I’d like to have them in two separate units for deployment but slots are tight), one with the absolutely auto-include Bloodshield. The block of Stalkers is the core - with Icono buffs they actually crump things pretty well in melee and people are very scared of 5 meltas staring downfield, even if on the table they’re pretty consistently underwhelming. The Helm of Dogs is auto-include too, and the rest of the list randomly has 20 points free for Blessing of the Dark Master (it barely ever matters in my experience). An advantage we have is the ability to use Dreadblades within our detachments (they’re specifically exempt, along with Freeblades, from sub-faction soup restrictions), so we can abandon Herpetrax and grab some good Dreadblade traits for our gun dogs. The pair of Executioners do super-consistent backline work with Precision Cruelty (+1 AP/D on a 6 to wound), for some sweet damage 4 autocannon action, and one has the auto-include Mirror of Fates (CP regen), which activates to give one automatic 6 per round to guarantee one D4 shot. The Moirax with Bold Tyrants (+1AP on shooting within 18") is a tech piece - I think that Deep Strike on a Dog with Warp-Borne Stalker is amazing, even if all it does is alleviate the deployment traffic jam, but with this guy I wanted to take something that could reliably clear 5 carelessly positioned Retributors or a slightly larger amount of careless Zephyrim/Repentia. It seemed good on paper, but was maybe not quite so effective in practice. Abby himself has no traits - they’re good, but Chaos Knights can't benefit from his buffs to Let The Galaxy Burn and he always puts Chapter Master on himself so Eternal Vendetta is useless, and the final trait isn’t worth a CP in my estimation.

The Scouring is a mission I’ve played 3 times total (both on WTC terrain), mostly because it isn’t in the regular pack. One of those games was Chaos Knights. Unpacking is hard - the gaps out of the deployment zone are VERY tight, and I definitely castled in the wrong corner with my deployment here. I also don’t know how I win if I go second, because the Harpies just occupy my only ways out of deployment and then the pressure is too much. Luckily this didn’t happen, and instead I tried to rush primary as hard as I could while David played very cautiously, getting a 12 on turn 2 and holding one banner down while giving him 2 4s, but eventually the chip of his shooting and the fact that one War Dog goes missing every turn thanks to the Winged Hive Tyrant reaches critical mass, and after Abaddon dies on turn 3 I make my last push to score as many points as I can before the tide of Tyranid Warriors (who are bruised, for sure, but haven’t taken anywhere near as much damage from the autocannons as I would have liked) swamps me, and David can get banners up, complete Auspex scans and swing the game back around into a solid win.

Huge thanks for the commentary - great to see some hands-on experience with an increasingly popular list. As ever - if you do well at a big event and want to send me some thoughts about your army (and they don't have to be as comprehensive as Ben's here, anything helps) you can send them to us at contact@goonhammer.com, or via Facebook messenger (or Discord if you're a patron). As long as they arrive by midnight UK time on Monday, I'll do my best to work them in.

Alex Ginns - Adepta Sororitas - 4th Place

Battle Sisters. Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Bloody Rose Goodstuff with Paragons

Thoughts

Bloody Rose close out the supermajor top four, packing a bit of extra crunch compared to the standard builds with some Paragons. The UKTC terrain gives you pretty reliable options to hide these, making them fairly attractive, and once they're in the list an Immolator starts to look quite a bit better, because the opponent's anti-tank focus is going to be split. Also worth noting that packing Retributors into the Immolator then using Carry Forth The Faithful can get a lot of melta shots into a key target turn one, something that's often hard on the UKTC maps, so another value add. Congratulatiosn to Alex on 4th.

The Best of the Rest

There were two more players on 5-0 records after the Swiss. They were:

• 5th - Aiden Smalley - Death Guard: A powerful Inexorable pressure build, with lots of Plague Marines in Rhinos, an expanded Biologus Putrifier aura to buff them thanks to the Fugaris Helm, and some shooting backup from Plaguebursts and a VolCon (also helped out by the Ferric Blight). Very tough to shift, modular ObSec to apply as needed, and it should be shouted out that Aiden was actually 2nd on battle points after 5 rounds, but couldn't stay for the finals.
• 6th - Nathan Whitbred - Tyranids: Leviathan Warrior spam with lots of psychic firepower backing them up.

WTC Warmaster GT

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Death and Zeal

Jaime Paris - Leviathan Goodstuff: Lots of Warriors, a couple of stranglethorn Harpies, and Zoanthropes, Venomthropes and characters to fill.



vs.

Liam Hackett - Necrons: Ghost Ark spam Eternal Expansionists, backing up four Arks with Warriors with a big Lokhust Destroyer unit and the Silent King.

Thoughts

Ah. Ghost Arks. One of the most nightmarish models to paint in the entire game, which has tended to hide just how good they are. They're durable for the price, give you some mobility that Necrons might otherwise lack, have more firepower than opponents tend to expect (especially now they're CORE and can use the Silent King's aura), and as Eternal Expansionists give you a way to ram some ObSec onto a position that deposits some super ObSec when killed. Also, you can blow them up in the middle of the opponent's lines with Revenge of the Phaeron, which is always big and clever. Add in some Necron powerhouse units like a full Destroyer brick for massive damage, an ObSec Command Barge to shore up Code of Combat, and of course the Silent King, and you have an pretty powerful combination that puts opponents under enormous scoring pressure very quickly (especially as the Arks are CORE, so can do Ancient Machineries), and opens up far fewer attack surfaces while doing so than the more conventional Necron builds.

The tradeoff there is that you don't have access to nearly as many units that can prise opponents off an objective in melee, so you're very reliant on either your shooting being strong enough to do the job, or just being able to out-ObSec them. In this game, the auspices feel pretty good that the Necrons will manage that - Ghost Ark shooting is at least OK into Warriors, and Warriors don't just scythe through the Arks in response. The big Destroyer unit is also a headache for the Tyranids here, as full re-rolls on those is pretty perfect into a lot of what the Tyranids are packing here.

The Harpies are, at least, OK here - the Necrons can certainly kill them, but they'll draw a lot of firepower while that's happening, and the bombs are pretty good, providing options to either pressure the Silent King, deplete the Destroyers a little, or just drop Spore Mines onto an objective that it looks like the Necrons want to take. All in all, however, the Tyranids have a very tough time here - their Secondary options are very weak (even a Psychic option might get shut out by Szarekh), while the Necrons are pretty excellent (Machineries and Treasures should be locks, Code or just running up the points on No Prisoners are a fine third), and they just don't really have a good answer to the dynamic of an ObSec Ghost Ark taking an objective, then if killed in the Fight Phase dropping out 20 model's worth of objective control. Nothing about the mission gives the Tyranids any reprieve (I'd rate them higher, if still unfavoured,on Recover the Relics or Tide of Conviction), and the Necrons couldn't be stopped.

Result

Necron Victory 19-1

Liam Hackett - Necrons - 1st Place

Ghost Ark. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See Showdown.

Archetype

Ghost Ark Eternal Expansionists

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Because it's up there with 150 model hordes for the most hateful army to paint. Also, all of the good reasons in the showdown - a wall of Transhumaned vehicles with layered ObSec is something many armies aren't ready for, and the extra mobility makes it even better at the already phenomenal Necron secondaries than most. Well done to Liam for conquering one of the hardest fields out there.

Jaime Paris - Tyranids - 2nd Place

Hive Tyrant. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See Showdown.

Archetype

Leviathan Warrior Spam

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Y'all know the drill - this is one of the best lists out there, and that's why it took first and second at the two biggest events this weekend. Given how hard Tyranids got nerfed, that's honestly slightly eye-watering.

Matt Morosoli - Drukhari - 3rd Place

Drazhar, the Master of Blades. Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

You can't keep a good extremely evil faction down, and Matt shows that off here by taking third with Drukhari goodstuff. The build is very well tuned to WTC-style terrain, as it has a mix of tools that provide reach to deal damage to opponents that are skulking (the Voidravens) and stuff that can brawl very effectively through heavy ruins (the Wyches, Grotesques and Incubi). Finally, the Hellions provide the best of both worlds, with the speed to reach out and punk something when required, and the infantry keyword needed to mess around with terrain when not. Needs to pick its battles well against lists like Sisters that can match it on a trade game, but as always for Drukhari the mobility helps a lot with that. Congratulations to Matt on third.

Olivier Weiss - Salamanders - 4th Place

Salamanders Aggressors. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Salamanders Goodstuff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Speaking of lists that can brawl like champions through heavy terrain, we've got the return of a whole bunch of classic Salamanders toys here. Applying Never Give Up to VanVets lets them goo off and bully opponents off objectives as needed, Flamestorm Aggressors are both very potent on rate with the superdoctrine and a big headache to work around with Born Protectors, and the Eradicators can plonk themselves on an objective, annihilate any heavy target that dares emerge, and rack up big points from The Promethean Creed while being nigh-on immune to D1 attacks if you pump enough stratagems into them. Awesome to see the champions of humanity making a real impact, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this list spark a mild trend (especially if lists with 40 Flayed Ones catch on). Great stuff from Oliver.

The Rest of the Best

Five players finished on 5-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Liam Vsl - Harlequins: Loads of Troupes in boats, some footslogging ones for objectives, and two small shooty Skyweaver units for harrassment.
• 6th - Sam Procopio - Blood Angels: Lots of Sanguinary Guard, a unit of Death Guard, and some Eliminators and Scouts in a Speeder for position player (and extra shooting from the Elims).
• 7th - Jan Reisenauer - Craftworlds: Ulthwe Goodstuff spamming Shroud Runners, bringing Asurmen and Baharroth, various small Aspect units, and a big Hawk squad. Lots of high rate-of-fire shooting, high mobility, and the psychic might of Eldrad and a Farseer at the helm gives this list a lot of angles, and it plays Craftworld objectives pretty well.
• 8th - William Fuhrimann - Imperial Knights: Taranis packing the Princeps Paladin/Crusader teamup and lots of Armigers.
• 9th - Ruud Steenbakkers - Harlequins: Light Saedath purely packing Troupe Masters, Shadowseers, boats and Troupes.

The St Albans GT

31-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on August 13 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Death and Zeal

Dom Maidlow - Drukhari: Lots of melee brawlers from the Coven of Twelve, and some Black Heart shooting threats in support.

vs.

Louis Fitzsimmons - Chaos Space Marines: A brutal Creations of Bile build focused around herohammer from two Discos, a Daemon Prince and Abaddon supported by a large block each of Chosen and Bikers.

Thoughts

A proper throwdown here as the forces of the Coven of Twelve try to reclaim stolen treasures that Bile liberated during his time in Comorrogh. Something like that anyway, Dom put some fluff in so I felt I should too.

Anyway, it's also going to be a throwdown in terms of how it plays out - both armies have loads of units that want to brawl, whether it be the Grotesques, Wracks and Incubi from the Drukhari side, or the flesh-hungry Creations of Bile on the other. Both sides have brought strong traits for the matchup too - the extra AP from the Coven of Twelve helps all those Wracks and Grotesques to put some hurt in when they strike (and the lack of damage reduction doesn't super matter here), while the Chaos forces obviously love their ability to Fight on Death, and enjoy having access to Advance/Charge via stratagem to match the Drukhari's mobility.

Fight on Death changes the calculus for the Drukhari quite a bit - without that, it feels like the threat of the big Incubi unit and/or Drazhar checking in and taking down the Chosen or Bikers is really tough to work round, but once the offenders are near-guaranteed to die in response, the Chaos side can be quite a bit more muscular. That helps it move its incredibly potent characters into position, then launch a rolling murder spree in the mid game.

That's the theory, anyway - but from the Drukhari side you've got the advantage of considerably higher mobility, plus transports that can provide layered objective control. A quarters map is ideal for exploiting these advantages, plus the fact that rather unusually, Drukhari seem more likely to build an ObSec advantage here than the Chaos side. It's certainly a concern that quite a few of their units risk "bouncing" if they engage either of the big blocks, but Reavers should be able to swoop round and pick up some Cultists at some point, which will build a bit of value on that front, and even just swooping a unit into position to move block a Discolord could be pivotal.

As Chaos, I think your goal here is to force the Drukhari to hesitate too long in dealing with the big blocks, and then translate the wound-capped characters in the list (something Drukhari struggle with) into insurmountable momentum from there. If the Drukhari can be kept on the backfoot their Secondaries start to look pretty dicey, whereas Specimens for the Spider and The Long War both look great if the game plays out that way. That feels like enough, taken with everything else, to provide Chaos with the edge, and they were able to leverage this to take victory.

Result

Chaos Space Marines Victory - 97 - 65

Louis Fitzsimmons - Chaos Space Marines - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Creations of Bile Herohammer

Thoughts

As outlined in the Showdown, very much a one-two punch here. The Chosen and Bikers provide enough pressure and mid-board durability early to get the character hammer in place, and then the rampage starts. It scores very efficiently while playing exactly the game it wants, and has enough depth of units despite all the herohammer to contest the table. Only concern I'd have with it is that it feels like it folds pretty hard to Harpies, but other than that it looks awesome, and a very fun way to use the Chaos book. Well done to Louis.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Stephen Box - Blood Angels: Having come up with the Centurion Blood Angels build, Stephen has here switched over to a go-wide version, bringing three units of Death Company and a Death Company Smash Captain to make Fury hard to stop, and lots of Assault Marines to cover space at a bargain price.
• 3rd - Paulie Wallis - Drukhari: All-rounder Drukhari Goodstuff, combining Black Heart, Artists of Flesh and Cult of the Cursed Blade, the latter two choices helping ensure the army has some staying power.

Killing Fields Of Istvaan III

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Estevan, SK, CA on August 13 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Tide of Conviction

Frasier Parry - Harlequins: Dark Saedath spamming foot Troupes, with a big Voidweaver unit at the back.

vs.

Riley Tremblay - Adepta Sororitas: Bloody Rose Goodstuff

Thoughts

It's not an edition of Competitive Innovations without at least one game that Tide of Conviction turns into a complete bloodbath, and this one very much has that energy. The Harlequin build here is very unique, going for the high-risk plan of lots of foot Troupes without a Webway Gate to help deploy them, but with the extra killing power and trade potential granted by the Dark Saedath, which kind of has to get the nod over Twilight in this plan for access to The Silken Knife if it runs into any flamer-heavy lists. Two Shadowseers ensures big coverage for Shield from Harm to help them stay in the fight, a trio of Voidweavers ensures the army has an answer to an opposing shooting threat that can stay at range, and the solo Voidweaver and Skyweavers provide small units to push into the opponent's deployment for Deadly Performance.

Up against it we have a pretty standard Bloody Rose build on the big Retributor unit plan. That doesn't feel super helpful here, as the full squad probably still folds to a charge by a troupe, meaning they just have to be a bit more careful. Much, much more helpful is the Seraphim squad, which are total nightmares for the Harlequins, as they can drop in and flame twice units, once with max shots, doing appreciable damage even through Shield From Harm, and catastropic damage to a unit that's strayed outside. I would, finally, say that this matchup definitely feels like an advert for finding the points for a Novitiate unit where possible - having a 75pt unit that could pick up Vahl's buff and take a huge chunk out of a Troupe would be awesome here.

As is often the case with Tide of Conviction, I feel like what ends up deciding this game is the dynamics around how it forces you to play objectives. The Harlequin list is super cool, but without a supply of boat Troupes it has a harder time setting up layered objective control than normal, and pretty much all of its units are things it doesn't want to lose. Harlequin secondaries also force them into the opponent's half of the table, where on Tide the Sororitas can pick up a very good score over time while playing defensively, letting them set the tempo a bit. Given how good some of their units are at trading up into the Harlequins, that's extremely powerful, and the counterattack potential from their characters is also very relevant.

The Harlequins still have some options - notably that they're in a better place to launch a pro-active multi-pronged attack to try and overwhelm the Sororitas. If they can take out lots of the Sisters at once while pressing them back, and then make them pay to reclaim ground via their Mortals on death that feels like it could provide the momentum to make something happen. Even then, however, there's a real risk that even after being depleted the Sisters can crack back hard enough that they can maintain their Secondary scoring, and if they then roll the Harlequins over before the game ends, that'll secure victory - something that broadly tracks with the scoreline.

Result

Adepta Sororitas Victory - 82 - 54

Riley Tremblay - Adepta Sororitas - 1st Place

Credit: Evan "Felime" Siefring

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Bloody Rose Goodstuff

Thoughts

All covered in the showdown, and you know this stuff by now anyway. A great performance from Riley here.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Frasier Parry - Harlequins: See Showdown.
• 3rd - Darren Jac - Orks: Goffs with loads of infantry and Ghaz.
• 4th - Byron Livingstone - Chaos Daemons: Lots of Keepers, then Be'lakor and Rotigus in a Patrol.
• 5th - Corey Trumbley - Dark Angels: The "whoops all Deathwing" end of the Dark Angels spectrum, with the unusual (and probably pretty good in the metagame) pick of Lazarus for reliable Mortal Wound protection.

Wrap Up

One part down, one part to go - see you on Friday. Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com.

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