OK, so the new bit here is that seemingly every other week I need to introduce this column with "it's the biggest week yet for Competitive Innovations" because it is, again. This week we've got ten events from around the world to cover, and only the fact that a few others narrowly missed the GT threshold kept it from being a full on dirty dozen. With so much content, we'll be splitting things in two once more.

Today we'll be looking at:

• The Adelaide GT
• Into the Hellstorm - The Chainsword
• The Hammer of Wrath GT
• The Mythicos Studios Mahweh GT
• 3City Heresy 2021

Tomorrow we'll cover:

• The Kent GT
• The FactoruM GT
• The North and South GT
• The Saltier Classic
• The War on the Shore GT

There's familiar faces, familiar lists, Orks smashing another event, debuts from Grey Knights and Thousand Sons, everything you could possibly ask for. Let's roll.

Adelaide GT

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

Andrew Penn - Orks - 1st Place

Dakkajet. Credit: Rockfish

The List

The Standout Features

• Freebooterz bring some Deathskull buddies along for ObSec support.
• Guns for days, still. Guns for days.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The Speedwaaagh notches up a GT win here in Andrew's hands. Like some of the other early successful Ork builds, this list uses the extreme power of the Freebooterz clan kultur as its core, turning Scrapjets, Dakkajets (surely in the running for one of the most improved units of the edition at this point) and Squigbuggies into real killing machines, and projecting some serious early threat. In addition to those, the massive anti-ObSec aura of the Badskull Banner on a Deffkilla Wartrike (also way better this edition) is another consistently potent tool, helping tip the tide of scoring in the Orks direction.

Taking away the opponent's ObSec is obviously particularly potent when you've got some of your own, and where this build differs from other Freebooterz lists we've seen is that it brings a Deathskullz detachment along too. While Freebooterz can hand ObSec to one unit with Get Da Loot, Deathskulls have it build in on their infantry, making those units of Kommandos and Stormboz in the second detachment very potent for flipping control of things in the mid-board (especially alongside the Banner) and the Big Mek great for sitting with the Squigbuggies on a home objective and preventing it being flipped by enemy deep strikers. The other thing this detachment does is add more Fast Attack slots, which Orks are generally hurting for, and putting the Shokkjumps in this detachment makes sense. Deathskull-style re-rolls are at their most valuable on units with a few high-quality shots, and the high strength and boosted-BS of the Shokkjump's main guns therefore benefits the most out of the various buggy flavours.

This list provides high pressure right out the gate, good tricks for objective control and is extremely sticky on the board thanks to Ramshackle. Make sure you've got a plan for it, or be prepared to get run down by the Speedwaaaagh. Congratulations Andrew!

Samuel Marshall - Ultramarine Successors - 2nd Place

Ultramarine Suppressors. Credit: Jonathan Reynolds

The List

The Standout Features

• Master Artisans Ultramarine Successors with a little extra tilt towards objective play.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The core of what we're seeing here is pretty familiar at this point - the combination of Master Artisans, Whirlwind of Rage and the Ultramarines superdoctrine/stratagem sheet (in particular Rapid Redeployment to allow Invictors to be deployed aggressively then pulled back if needed) combines with Invictors, Dreadnoughts and Suppressors to create a very potent Marine build that's extremely good against Drukhari in particular. With the perfidious Dark Eldar now back as the faction with the biggest target on their head, it's a good time to be running out builds like this, so I'm not surprised to see this army doing well.

That doesn't meant there's no innovation here though - I saw a question from someone on Facebook as to how these builds do enough to contest objectives, and it's clear that Samuel wanted a bit of extra coverage in that regard. Suppressors flexing to Action or Objective play in the mid-late game is one of the ways these lists do keep that under control, and a third unit of these helps double down on that, but in addition this list includes far more Troops than usual plus a unit of Eliminators. The Eliminators are very flexible from this point of view - they're a third unit that can be scout deployed and pulled back if needed, letting them block out space or push forward for early control when the situation needs it, while two units each of Assault and regular Intercessors can sit wherever they're needed and help to fend off bitty ObSec units like Kommandos, or go into Stratagic Reserves to swing for ROD or stealing a position mid-game.

Even after moving some points over to these the army is absurdly deadly, with lots of re-rolls plus the Seal of Oath ensuring it can hit like a truck out the gate, and it's got plenty of staying power from the dread core plus mobile firepower from the Suppressors to see it through the mid-game. Add some extra consistency in playing for objectives to all that and you've got a powerful list which thoroughly deserves the 5-1 finish Samuel took it to.

Chen Gao - Dark Angels - 3rd Place

Dark Angels. Credit: Greg Chiasson

The List

The Standout Features

• Deathwing Bladeguard continue to rise in popularity as the perfect mix of durability and threat.
• Exceptional Objective play from ObSec bikers, a gigantic Deathwing tarpit and Rites of War.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

We've not seen a full on Deathwing/Ravenwing mix for a while, and this is a fantastic build to remind us of why they're great. Most of the units in this list range from decent to good normally, but slam the Deathwing/Ravenwing buffs and/or ObSec on them and they become properly exceptional. For brawling around the mid-board, you really can't do that much better than three units of Bladeguard with perma-Transhuman and one massive tarpit of Deathwing Terminators to take on all comers. All of this is likely to be ObSec thanks to either the Deathwing rule or Rites of War from the Chaplain, and the the smaller Bladeguard units complement the big block very well, as they can fan out to hunt down individual opposing threats if they try and engage on a lot of fronts. 5-model Bladeguard units are also in a good weight class for dealing with Drukhari - they're nasty enough to wipe many things you can throw them into without being so valuable that getting a unit cut off and taken out is disastrous, exactly what you want. Meanwhile, the large unit is a daunting prospect for even the nastiest melee threats to roll into, capable of bouncing even properly terrifying opponents then flattening them in response. You really want some shooting to soften these bricks up, and that's one of the things that Drukhari are merely OK at (plus what they do have hates Transhuman), so this is a very effective army core for standing godzilla-like in the mid-table in the current meta. The choice of Litany of Faith to protect against Mortals (undeniably the biggest weakness of this setup) as new books arrive is cute too.

Supporting it, we have a number of tools aimed at other goals, with one more Deathwing unit plus some Ravenwing. The additional Deathwing presence is a unit of Assault Terminators, perfectly set up for teleporting into the opponent's backfield then causing enormous headaches. The unit is a massive pain to kill, will flatten most average targets in melee, and has natural ObSec from the Deathwing bonus, making it perfect for this. Also winning big from ObSec are the two vanilla biker units, always winners as Ravenwing - it turns out adding ObSec and a 5++ to a unit that's already tough for its price tag makes them extremely good, and opponents will need to be constantly wary of them zipping out to steal a key position (including in their turn if they charge them thanks to Swift Strike). Samael-boosted Attack Bikes provide a precision tool for taking something clean off the table, and a lone Land Speeder lets the list set up Targeting Guidance if it needs a little extra push on flattening something.

Finishing up with some nifty buff tools, this list has speed, staying power and plenty of ways to lash out when needed - a great example of what Dark Angels can do, and good work from Chen.

Stephen MacGregor - Thousand Sons - 4th Place

Credit: Charlie A

The List

The Standout Features

• Thousand Sons notch up a top four debut with this grindy, objective-focused list.
• Three units each of Rubrics and Scarabs provide a bunch of tough-to-shift ObSec units and some deployment tricks, plus help with Cabal points
• Chaos Spawn give the list cheap and lethal melee punches via Fated Mutation.
• Soulreaper cannons and VolCons provide lots of anti-horde grind.
• Tricksy Cult of Duplicity toys make the army hard to pin down.
• An absurdly tanky Daemon Prince rolls around dunking anything that gets in his way.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

One thing that's always nice to see with a new book is when it clearly tries to give some iconic but underwhelming units a bit lift and succeeds. Rubricae and Scarab Occults both looked way more exciting in the new book, here they are smashing it on the tabletop - a very promising early sign. For Rubrics, adding a second wound and making soureaper cannons extremely worth taking just on base rate makes them pretty attractive in general, and being able to act as an additional Cabal Point battery by purchasing an Icon of Flame is also a good way to reward you just for including them. They really come into their own in the Cult of Duplicity, of course, as being able to teleport around the table in an emergency with Sorcerous Facade plus forward deploy with Risen Rubricae and pull back with Master Misinformator all combine to make them exceptionally flexible for playing objectives. All that adds up to make them strong for primary play, and they help accumulate grindy power for the army from their soulreapers, boltguns and psychic cast, making them attractive troops.

Scarabs might, if anything, have gotten more better mind you. They like the boosted soulreapers too, but their melee weapons jumping to D2 represents a massive increase in their offensive potential, while Unwavering Phalanx is incredibly good at keeping them alive (and bargain priced on 5-model units as we see here). All that plus the surprise addition of natural ObSec (not just for Dark Angel terminators any more) makes these super strong, and here can act as a heftier tool for objective play mid-board. They can also protect any of the characters with Implacable Guardians in a pinch, and ObSec plus their boosted combat stats makes using Selfless Automata on them even more exciting than ever.

Next up for improved units - Chaos Spawn. The heftier basic statline the newer books give these doesn't quite make them good by themselves, but adding in Fated Mutation is more than enough to get them over the line as shock troops, as this allows you to boost their attacks and select the result you want from their mutation table. Most of the time you're going to use that to guarantee they're re-rolling wounds, and suddenly they're a real threat to elite infantry. Even better, while the new version of Weaver of Fates (applying a flat 4+ invulnerable save) is a downgrade in many use cases, it isn't CORE locked, so you can stick a 4++ on your unit of Spawn before sending them off to murder something, and suddenly they're a genuine pain to kill as well. Fun stuff!

Over in the land of Characters, Ahriman is still mostly just Ahriman, a powerful, reliable caster to blast your opponent (with the extreme high-roll potential of Baleful Devolution being particularly good on him) and help with operation Spawn missile by casting Temporal Surge on them when it's go time. More interesting and novel are the two others. The Infernal Master is just good, a really strong unit with lots of applications, who here can flex between messing with the opponent via slowing their stuff with Bladed Maelstrom or bumping a VolCon up to S7 with Malefic Maelstrom as required, and can shut down defensive shenanigans with Egleighen's Orrery. That's a lot of stuff for 90pts, and you should definitely get one if your a Tsons player. The final character in the trio here is perhaps the most hilarious, being a truly monstrous hunter of enemy elites and characters. Conniving Plate and Undying Form combine to specatularly tank the damage output of honestly nearly everything, especially with a 4+ Invulnerable save as well. Seriously, what kills this? Drazhar with Hatred Eternal misses on average dice by my maths, and how many characters can say that? Opposing defences are also likely to get smashed aside, as the Prince is sporting Twist of Fate (Tsons-branded Death Hex) which he can auto/undeniably cast with a Cabalistic Ritual if needed, and can buff up to 6A and S9 with Swelled by the Warp. This guy is exhausting, and definitely looks like the real deal as far as additions to the herohammer pantheon go, so expect to see him in lots of lists.

VolCons are the last unit, as good here as ever (maybe better, access to a boost to S7 is honestly huge for them) but we do obviously need to talk about Psychic Powers. Other than the buffs/debuffs mentioned the list is mostly set up to just unleash terrible psychic damage on the enemy - and that's fine. With lots of tough units, lots of ways to get around the board and not that many answers for really tough stuff at range, being able to just bury key targets in mortals is ideal, and this list gets a whole bunch done in that regard.

Playing against this list is going to hurt - it has lots of ways to manipulate the board to its advantage, the attrition damage it throws out is huge, and it has some very powerful punches to throw when the going gets tough. It is still very low model count, probably its main weakness, and the big challenge for breaking out into the metagame will be whether that's something that can be consistently navigated. I like this build a lot as an attempt to rise to that challenge, so congratulations to Stephen for doing Tzeentch's work and putting scores on the board.

The Rest of the Best

Two players finished on 4-1-1, and one of them got paired up in the final round against the eventual winner, so that's what I'm treating as the cutoff here. They were:

• 5th - Gabe Dello - Drukhari: Some deliciously different Drukhari choices here, featuring a Dark Creed detachment with a big unit of Haemoxcytes and melee Grotesques to really ramp-up the mid-board pressure, plus get some disruption going via the Fear Incarnate Warlord Trait.
• 6th ✪ - Adam Napier - Drukhari: A much more conventional Cronos build, though does go a bit heavier on the Technomancers than some lists by including Ossefactor Wracks.

Into The Hellstorm: The Chainsword

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

Matt Robertson - Adepta Sororitas - 1st Place

Morvenn Vahl. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• Matt's unstoppable Sororitas rampage continues.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

He's at it again folks. Presumably he took umbrage at the question as to whether Sisters are a gatekeeper list in the meta review. This build rules, and you can read more about it in previous articles here and here. Congratulations to Matt for another big win.

Dick van der Harst - Necrons - 2nd Place

Canoptek Wraiths. Credit: Rockfish

The List

The Standout Features

• Eternal Expansionists continues to conquer tournament tables for the Necrons.
• Discounted Lokhust Heavy Destroyers are a strong backfield tool.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

If you want to proparly compete with Necrons right now Eternal Expansionists is overwhelmingly your best option. In a book that's otherwise been left behind by the march of 9th Edition, this Dynastic Code remains one of the best in the entire game, and gives Necron players an angle to attack on, namely utterly dominating Primary scoring.

How it works isn't super complicated, but this army is very well built so that every unit gets a boost. Sticking ObSec on fast, durable units like Wraiths lets them tangle for supremacy against a wide variety of opponents, and gives you the option of pressuring your opponent straight away. It also makes the use of scout deployment very risky against the list, as it has the reach to slam plenty of D2 melee into anything that tests its patience. The pre-game move part of the code also helps the large Warrior blocks a lot, as it means they can reasonably reach a mid-table objective turn one every game, and may also be able to move up to exploit any large pieces of Obscuring terrain that are just outside the deployment zone. Each unit is fully supported with a Chronometron and My Will be Done, Resurrection Orbs are available when needed, and a Reanimator can use Reanimation Prioritisation to boost whichever one needs the most help. There are still units that can prey on these out there (full units of Strife Bloodbrides are extremely bad news, for example) but their biggest predators (full claw VanVet units and pre-nerf Enriched Rounds) are just that bit less common right now, so these can do a lot for you - though obviously Tsons and Grey Knights can both be very bad news as Psychic Mortals bypass Reanimation.

Behind the Warriors you have the last "alpha" units of the list in the form of Catacomb Command Barges. These are pretty strong just on rate, and are great with the Code, as they're exceptionally tough compared to almost anything else out there with ObSec (especially the one with Enduring Will). Their buff to the Warriors also helps ensure that the list can do at least some damage up close, at least enough to overwhelm whatever ObSec tools the opponents have brought.

Rounding things out we've got three solo Heavy Lokhusts, some Cryptothralls and some Scarabs. First up, these ensure that the list has the bodies to fully bubble out its backfield, which is super important to its plan. WIthout fast, high-damage rapid response units it can't afford to have something like a unit of Deathwing Terminators drop behind its main force, and small, bitty units help with that. ObSec also means that if smaller units manage to slip in they do actually need to kill whichever of these they roll into to take an objective, not always trivial. Finally, they all have some flexible utility - Scarabs are another fast tool that can go flip an objective if needed, both they and the Cryptothralls can sit somewhere and operate Ancient Machineries if required, and the Destroyers give you at least some chance of popping a key enemy vehicle that's being pushy, especially if they team up with the Chronomancers.

Finding ways to make weaker books really perform is always impressive, and I like just how much value this army can squeeze from the high-points of the Necron codex. Great work from Dick.

Mani Cheema - Drukhari - 3rd ✪ Place

Credit: Wings

The List

The Standout Features

• Drukhari goodstuff, with a focus on board control.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

If you needed any more of an indication that Drukhari are taking back over, look no further than the fact that Mani has immediately put the Blood Axe buggies back on the shelf and is tearing up the battlefields with Dark Eldar. This list is pretty much the standard-issue goodstuff build with some extra tilt towards board control, with two 10-model Wych units, 3x5 Hellions and a large Court of the Archon all making this that much stickier in the mid-board than normal. The Hellstorm board setups provided a good level of coverage, so this likely paid off throughout the event, and only Matt's Sisters were able to (narrowly) keep Mani from winning yet another trophy.

Rob Edwards - Harlequins - 4th Place

Harlequins Troupe Master. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• Troupes and boats galore.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

We've not seen pure Harlequins in any great number for a while, as all the more fickle Aeldari players have switched over to Drukhari. They've still got their fans though, and here we see Rob take them to a top four finish with a build utterly dedicated to the art of going fast and killing things. No messing about with expensive Shadowseers for buffs or protection - instead this build goes nearly as hard as it can on mobile Troupe units (seven mounted, two on foot) and a full trio of Troupe Masters (including one with the Domino Shroud) to ensure they're re-rolling wounds all the time. The only breaks from this pattern are a couple of Skyweaver MSUs (great for tying up shooting threats or ticking off Engage in an emergency) and a Death Jester with Humbling Cruelty, who ensures that if the list runs into an Overwatch risk it can't take, it has an answer.

All running as Soaring Spite and with fusions on six of the mounted units, that adds up to a build that can hit like a truck straight out of the gate, and is an absolute nightmare to try and commit against. It can very easily move around the board to exploit terrain and stage big pushes, and when it does commit it's extremely difficult to avoid. A healthy mix of melee weapons across the units means it can crack open whatever target it finds itself facing (vital for any list that aims to win games by dealing massive damage) and the Twilight Fang Skystrider Troupe Master is one of the biggest headaches in the game for opponents to work around (in that they almost can't, and just have to accept that their best character is getting smoked when the time is right). Focusing so heavily on Troupes and Masters is a reasonable change from some of the builds out there, and it seems to have paid off in spades for Rob - great work.

The Rest of the Best

One more player finished the event on a 5-1 record. They were:

• 5th - Greg Chamberlain - Death Guard: Another outing for Greg's event-winning Mortarion's Anvil build.

Hammer of Wrath GT

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

Junior Aflleje - Blood Angels - 1st Place

Sanguinary Guard. Credits: That Gobbo

The List

The Standout Features

• Junior's latest iteration of Blood Angels picks up an event win.
• A Whirlwind and larger Sanguinary Guard squads lets the army swing for big AdMech units.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Junior continues to do Sanguinius's work here, keeping Blood Angels at least somewhat in the conversation despite their plummeting win rates overall. We last saw one of his builds picking up a second place finish during the depths of AdMech's pre-nerf dominance, and as always with returning top four stars we can look at how their list has changed to try and divine what meta changes might have driven it. Here there are a fair few changes - most notably, a Whirlwind has (re)appeared, the Librarian has swapped out for a smash Chaplain, and the Sanguinary Guard squads have bulked up. My take on what's driving this is that it's likely down to AdMech's swing towards large Ruststalker/Infiltrator units that sometimes feature the Temporcopia or Archived Engagements. For Blood Angels to beat these, it's vital for a Sanguinary Guard unit to be able to rock in and take one out, and being able to drop Fight Last on them with Suppression Fire and having the extra killing power of a few extra Sanguinary Guard bodies really helps with that. These units also aren't valuable enough that you can really afford to throw a Librarian at killing them as well, so not bothering with a Null Zone missile seems to line up with that, and taking axes rather than swords makes sense if you only need to take targets as far as their invulns. For only a few more points, the smash Chaplain is also vastly deadlier killer in his own right than the Librarian, and every unit being able to stand on its own is good in a hyper-efficient metagame.

Pretty much everything else here does - you've still got a unit each of Inceptors and Eradicators for some pin-point killing, VolCons for doing VolCon stuff, and Infiltrators/Company Veterans for objective play. It's a good template for a melee-focused Marine list in general, and the Sanguinary Guard work well in it, so some value is definitely being squeezed out of the Supplement. My only mild concern with it is that I think it's better tuned for AdMech than Drukhari, so if the latter keeps going back up in number, I could believe some further tweaks (maybe bringing back more Bladeguard) might be in order. That's nitpicking though - this was clearly the right list on the day as it won the event, so congratulations to Junior.

Jason McKenzie - Adeptus Mechanicus - 2nd ✪ Place

Ironstrider Ballistarius. Credit: Rockfish

The List

The Standout Features

• Powerful melee threats head up this week's first Veteran Cohort build.
• Four of the six Skitarii traits, Cantic Thrallnet and data tethers everywhere create an extremely adaptable build.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

AdMech players are still feeling out what builds work the best post-nerf, and having had a heavy presence of mixed Lucius/Mars builds over the last couple of weekends, this week it seems to be the turn of the Skitarii Veteran Cohort to take centre stage, with this powerful Mars build leading the charge. It does a great job of demonstrating how I think the Cohort is best used - a relatively modest contingent of actual Veteran Skitarii, and then a heavy presence of the powerful melee choices that get the best support from the stratagems. With Ruststalkers, Infiltrators and Raiders all present in large units, whichever of the units is best placed to do some nasty damage can zip forward for an Advance/Charge with Expedited Purge Protocol. WIth a Broad Spectrum Data Tether use available from the Dragoons, a whole bunch of Skitarii Warlord traits and the Cantic Thrallnet around, whenever a unit does make its move its going to be loaded to the gills with all the best buffs for the situation, hopefully letting it punch out whatever it touches, and then soak up pain in return using Bionic Endurance.

The Dragoons also provide the list with heavier melee support, and it's worth noting that Aggression Override isn't CORE locked like the rest of the stratagems for the Cohort. Adding +1A to Dragoons (and then popping Chain-taser Protocols on top) makes them extremely nasty when going into mid-quality enemy units, and I think this setup is particularly notable with the new Ork Codex out there - these hit at S8, so Ramshackle no longer applies, with the result that an incautious unit of buggies is going to fully evaporate when charged - just Chain-taser on a unit of four pushes your average damage right onto the cusp of 24W into T6 4+ buggies, really broadening the number of fronts on which you can project threat. That's honestly true of this list in general, and it ends up as an extremely scary brawler build, able to push up and lurk in terrain mid-table while the Ironstriders and Disintegrator pick off some initial targets, then unleash a spectacular melee push in the mid-game to bowl the opponent over, with the Skitarii units gradually occupying the space as they proceed.

With some of the other nasty AdMech tricks up its sleeve as well (Seismic Bomb from the Fusilave, Wrath of Mars into a key CHARACTER from the Raiders) this list is a huge challenge to play into, and does a great job of showing off the appeal of the Cohort route - superior board control, and incredibly adaptable close-quarter units. A very strong (undefeated) showcase from Jason.

Kyle Parry - Aeldari - 3rd ✪ Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

The Standout Features

• Harlequin troublemakers and Craftworld artillery/objective play puts up another strong performance.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Kyle is another returning feature for Competitive Innovations, having picked up a first place finish with his mixed Aeldari a little while back. There are a fair few changes in the latest iteration of his build, but the basic game plan lines up with what mixed Aeldari are generally looking for right now - the very efficient artillery (and optionally objective play) options that Craftworlds have team up with something that can brawl in the mid-board. Here there's pretty heavy investment in the objective play side of things - alongside six Shadow Weaver platforms, the list has two squads each of Warp Spiders and Hawks. Between Web of Deceit and Skyleap, these can represent deep strike/redploy threats pretty much whenever needed, ensuring ROD is a lock for the list (especially with Spiders' ability to use their 4d6 super move and still Action even once their redeploy is done). Having six platforms and various infantry bodies to place also allows the list to screen out its own territory extremely effectively, forcing the battle to the mid-table. Here, two big units of Skyweavers stand ready to rampage around making a nuisance of themselves, slamming into combat boosted up with Murderous Entrance to deal damage, tagging tanks then mowing them down with Cegorach's Jest, and of course having one unit on a 3+ invulnerable save with Prismatic Blur as often as possible. As Dreaming Shadow, they can also do a little extra damage when finally taken off the table, which is never a bad thing for such expensive models.

Via charging things that don't want to be charged, fusion pistol drivebys and forcing enemy characters to worry about being punked by either the Twilight Fang Troupe Master or a warlord Death Jester using An Example Made and re-rolls to genuinely worry them, this list aims to make enough trouble in the mid board to hold the enemy in place while the Shadow Weavers (increasingly popular because of how broadly useful they are) and extremely strong secondary plan of the army win out, and that was a good enough strategy to carry it to the top table. I do think the list will need to worry a bit if Grey Knights/Thousand Sons become a major force, as Skyweavers are bluntly awful into massed Smites and the like, so we'll see if their brief resurgence here lasts. For now though, great job Kyle.

Carlos Kaiser - Grey Knights - 4th Place

Grey Knight Kill Team
Credit: Pendulin

The List

The Standout Features

• Interceptor trickery provides Grey Knights with a powerful option to build around.
• Rapiers and a Words of Power Chaplain allow the list to absolutely flatten something with Tide of Convergence up.
• The ultimate Grand Master Dreadknight makes a predictable apperance.
• Terminators provide some durable bodies to sit around performing Purifying Rituals.
• Good To the Last plan.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

We've got a couple of Grey Knight lists to look at this week, and both of them show off some of the standout tricks you can do with the book (plus some of the things that are just good). This list is the more subtle of the two, working around a couple of key interactions - Ethereal Castigation allowing large Interceptor units to operate with relative impunity from Rhinos, and the combination of the Rapiers attack boosts (from their psychic power and stratagem) and Words of Power to unleash a spectacular damage spike from one of the big units when the time is right.

Lets cover Interceptors first. These are honestly just fantastic on their base stats, and will be a fixture of lists just generally, but this build takes them a bit further by running full units with Rhinos. This leverages their Ethereal Castigation power, which lets them shoot then Normal Move in the Psychic Phase, allowing them to either get back into a Rhino they've just left, Eldar-style, or go shooting off to hide behind a wall somewhere else. Their speed also makes them an excellent delivery vector for the buffs the Rapiers bring to the table, as just adding an extra attack to a full squad creates a melee unit that can go toe to toe with most things, and going further can make them a near unstoppable force. Stacking up TIde of Convergence, Words of Power from the Chaplain and the Deadly Efficiency/Symphonic Strike combo will cause almost anything to evaporate in a fine mist of quality attacks and Mortal Wounds, and with plenty of reach out of the Transport (remembering that you can use Empyric Declamation to apply Words in a later phase if they weren't on the table in the Command Phase).

This provides some exceptional threat projection, and forces the opponent to be very cautious in the mid board. That provides a window for this list to push its Terminators up the table and start racking up points for Purifying Rituals, without having to commit any of the units that end up as its To the Last targets (the Interceptors and the GMDK, and we'll get to him). The overall effect here is a good one - this list can pick up a good score if the opponent doesn't engage it, and cause massive amounts of damage if they do, forcing them to fight on the Grey Knights' terms, and maximising the chance of them pulling off a powerful first strike, or walking into a trap like Heroism's Favour creating a surprise Heroic for a nasty squad.

That also gives the list a chance to bring its various powerful characters to bear. Draigo is as nasty as ever and will cheerfully kick the stuffing out of most opponents one-on-one, while the long line of furious hammer-wielding Apothecaries that the Grey Knights are notable for get a worthy new addition here, with the option of a surprise Advance and Charge to catch opponents out. The (literally) biggest news, however, is of course the Grand Master Dreadknight, here seen arrayed with the collection of toys that you're going to see on them a lot in the next few months. Servant of the Throne gives them one turn of a 3+ invulnerable save per game, letting them tank even the nastiest of onslaughts, and Sigil of Exigence means they often won't even need to bother trying, teleporting across the table in response to being shot. On the offence, the sweep attack from the nemesis greatsword makes them strong into almost any target, and Empyric Amplification appears to be totally worth it even if it's just their own guns they're boosting. Round things out with the option of another redeploy via Teleportation Shunt and Fight on the Move to stop it ever being bogged down and you have an exquisite all-rounder that's a worth centrepiece for any list. You can go even harder on these as we'll see in the other build, but you basically need a good reason not to include at least this loadout in your lists, it's very powerful.

Watching people explore new codexes is always great fun, and it's great to see some early successes come together, and I think it's particularly notable that this list took out both Drukhari and AdMech lists on the way to 4-1. Great work from Carlos, and I'll be keeping an eye out for future iterations of his lists.

The Rest of the Best

Four more players finished on 4-1 records, and one player on 3-1-1 got paired up in the final. They were:

• 5th - Jeff Poole - Drukhari: Drukhari goodstuff, with a little twist of running a trio of Venoms to give more mobility around the board.
• 6th - Ally Huang - Thousand Sons: More Thousand Sons fun here, this build going for a large unit each of Rubrics and Scarabs, backed up by a Mutalith Vortex Beast.
• 7th - William Saunders - Salamanders: Pretty much the same build William ran to a third place finish a few weeks back.
• 8th - Jeff Jew - Adeptus Mechanicus: General Mars goodstuff.
• 9th - Danny Kwan - Dark Angels: Deathwing units of various stripes backed up by VolCons and Inceptors.

Mythicos Studios Mahwah GT

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

Anthony Vanella - Drukhari - 1st Place

The List

The Standout Features

• Cronos Drukhari

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Anthony's back with another top four finish, this time taking down the entire event, and there's pretty much nothing new to say about his build that we didn't cover the last few times he showed up. It's a great list and he clearly knows how to play it to maximal effectiveness, so fantastic work again.

Nick De Veaux - Drukhari - 2nd Place

Drukhari Kill Team. Credit: Charlie Brassley

The List

The Standout Features

• Drukhari goodstuff that goes the phantasm grenade spam route.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another build that doesn't need massive amounts said about it, as it's fundamentally a Drukhari goodstuff build using all the favourites, but there are a few things to highlight. This build has adopted the recently resurgent plan of strapping a phantasm grenade launcher to every available surface, and running 3x10 Wyches alongside that provides it with slightly increased mid-board delay/disruption to maximise the window to make use of these. The Poisoned Tongue detachment with three Raiders also lets it set up for significant deployment flexibility via Insidious Misdirection. Finally, adding a Lhamean to the Court of the Archon is a mildly cute way to squeeze a little extra value out of the Trueborn when they dismount (or the Archon's venom blade), and I guess she can also step in the way of any attack that's going to massively overkill one of the more valuable models with the 5+ ignore wounds.

Ultimately, I would say the raw power this list is bringing to the table is slightly lower than the Drukhari average, but its a conscious trade for the ability to pack every nasty trick and situational advantage available, which brought it victory in every game except one where it slammed into a Cronos build. Good work from Nick.

Daniel Axe - Imperial Knights - 3rd Place

Credit: SRM

The List

The Standout Features

• When one Dominus class Knight isn't enough...
• Unusually large number of CP kept back for emergency Rotates.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Slamming two giant Knights onto the table is certainly one way to make a statement! I must admit up front that I was surprised that you could squeeze two Dominus Knights, a Magaera and two Armigers into a list, and once you've worked out that you can it certainly looks quite appealing. A Valiant and a Magaera together provide absurd amounts of pressure on the opponent, and because they're both sporting a nice mix of high-powered flame weapons and big shots, plus have Krast-boosted melee (especially valuable on Dominus Knights as it mitigates their 4+ WS) they're very flexible in what they can take down up close. Meanwhile, a Castellan remains one of the nastiest shooting trump cards you can throw out there, and with Cold Eradication and Cawl's Wrath it's again extremely reliable. This list's plan isn't especially complicated, pushing an absurdly brutal thrust straight towards the mid table while the Castellan flattens anything that pokes its head out, but it's still going to overwhelm plenty of armies. The fact that it has the points free for two Armigers also helps a lot, because it means that Stranglehold is in the conversation secondary-wise, as "get on three objectives, blow the opponent off at least one" is pretty viable, meaning that you're solid on that, Grind them Down and whatever the best score you can salvage from the mission or Purge the Enemy is.

The other thing I like is the economy shown in picking traits/relics - the list definitely needs more CP to potentially power Rotate Ion Shields on the Castellan, so shows admirable restraint by only buying a single extra trait and relic each. It ensures that all the Knights are characters, and crucially that all three big ones can be sitting on a 4+ save against AP-2 shooting at the same time, and calls it a day there, which is likely the correct play. Sensible decisions and an ususually over the top angle of attack clearly paid off, as the list picked up some strong scores, so great job to Daniel.

Andrew Zoitas - Iron Hands - 4th Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

The Standout Features

• A giant psychically charged robot and a bunch of durable infantry squeeze maximum value from the Iron Hands supplement.
• Good early shooting reach from Suppressors.
• Assassin helps to prise enemy chaff off things in an emergency.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Iron Hands continue to experience a mini-renaissance, and this list kind of shows why - their supplement is just good with plenty of the better Marine tools, and they also have the unique draw of being able to pick some giant Forge World nasty and take it to the moon. In this particular build a Leviathan dreadnought steps up to the plate, instantly upping the chances of victory against anyone who played in LVO 2020 by causing them to cower under the table. It also becomes a  pretty mean all-round deathball once buffed up with Psysteel Armour and Blessing of the Machine God, and can wander around with permanent Devastator Doctrine thanks to Methodical Firepower. Without CORE, most Chapters can no longer give their opponents the Leviathan Dreadnought Experience, but once you factor in the nipple volkite this gets pretty close, which is a good place to be if you're a Space Marine.

That's obviously not the only trick the list has up its sleeve either. Iron Hands 6+ ignore wounds (buffable to a 5+ with Reject the Flesh, Embrace the Machine) is extremely good on 3W infantry in particular, as it means you're likely (just over 2/3rds of the time) to shrug off the first flat three damage hit they take, really boosting their endurance. Add in an Apothecary to get them back up, and the Inceptors, Terminators and Aggressors here are all going to last a bit longer than normal, while still being pleasingly deadly. Other Iron Hands strats are also nifty on them - both the Termies and Aggressors get mileage out of The Gorgon's Rage (and it allows the hammer Termies to get all the way up to 2+ to hit if they combine with Fury of the First) and Inceptors being able to overwatch on a 4+ is going to punish the hell out of an opponent who tries to lock them in combat.

That lets you play a bit more aggressively with the Aggressors than you otherwise might too, which ensures the army can fight on multiple fronts in the mid-board when needed - Terminators can go one direction, Gravis stuff and maybe the Leviathan can roll in another. There's also a concession for the need to sometimes prise chaff out of combat in the form of an Eversor, who's also pretty good for rolling around the backfield causing trouble in a pinch. The event was also running Shadow Assignment as happening in step 10, so against something like Grey Knights a Culexus could be swapped in. Finishing up with some Suppressors, who combine good early firepower with excellent Engage or Action support and some troops creates a flexible, powerful build that really makes the most of what Iron Hands can do. Great stuff to round out this top four.

The Rest of the Best

One more player finished this event with a 4-1 record. They were:

• 5th - Luke McCarthy - Drukhari: Another Cronos build, which only lost to...Anthony's Cronos build. Normal Codex.

3City Heresy 2021

The standings for this event are in Tourneykeeper, and the lists are linked from this thread on the Polish 40K forums. The event was using 20-0 scoring, and I've ranked based on that.

Patryk Maik - Adeptus Mechanicus - 1st Place

Adeptus Mechanicus - Tech-Priest Manipulus
Credit: Pendulin

The List

The Standout Features

• The Lucius/Mars classic conquers Europe.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

While the Veteran Cohort has been getting some play this week, I'm still on the train that Lucius/Mars is the best AdMech build out there, and this is an extremely down-the-line example of why. Huge killing power out the gate for almost every other target (and good reach on it thanks to the planes and the Solar Flare), the ability to demand that the opponent try to clear out large units of heavily buffed Skitarii from the mid-board, and very sticky vehicle threats thanks to buffs from Doctrinas and chaff launchers on the planes, and great board control out the gate from the Infiltrators and Raiders. I suspect the 20-0 format does slightly favour this build over Cohort lists simply because it's more likely to just completely blow the opponent off the table and take a big win, but if you told me I had to take AdMech to any event tomorrow, I would honestly just copy/paste this list into BCP and go wild. A timely reminder that even if Drukhari are back on top, AdMech are a very close second here, and well done Patryk on the win.

Michał Gogi Cieślik - Adeptus Mechanicus - 2nd Place

Skitarii Marshal. Credit: Pendulin

The List

The Standout Features

• Lucius/store-brand Mars.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

It's an AdMech double here, taking both the undefeated spots at this event, and this second build is functionally extremely similar, despite not actually having Mars in the setup. The reason you want Mars is to get re-rolls on Ironstriders and Stratoraptors, and this build just accomplishes the same thing with a different tool, using Servo-Focused Auguries to put even better re-rolls on the cognis weaponry assuming you can get them into half range (not hard), and adding a 6+ ignore wounds on all the beneficiaries to boot. Trading Canticles out for this swaps the spike turns of maximum defence or damage for more reliable performance over the course of the game, which can be worth it in the right metagame (e.g. if you expect lots of opponents that ignore Light Cover, at which point the value from Canticles diminishes a bit). It does have the side effect that there's no point putting Serberys Raiders in that detachment (hence them mocing across here) but overall the plan works out the same - use hyper reliable cognis lascannon shots to annihilate the opponent's most powerful threats, then grind them down under the iron heels of Lucius Skitarii they can no longer deal with. It's a cool variant, so thanks to Michal for showing it off.

Jakub Vladdi Podruczny - Chaos - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

The Standout Features

• Emperor's Children max out on bitty harrassment units.
• Swole-armed Armigers punch out a hefty amount of damage.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Covering 20-0 formats is always fun, because every now and then you run into a list like this that's clearly being tried out for some sort of team tournament shenanigans and has turned out to be surprisingly strong in singles too. Emperor's Children continue to be one of the most effective Legions that CSM have access to, both thanks to near-unfailable deep strike charges from Honour the Prince and some of the things you can do with Noise Marines. The first part is what this list is building around, with a bunch of bitty melee units that can come in from deep strike and just make a nuisance of themselves, slamming into something and either doing moderate damage or at least tagging the opponent to stop them doing much. Excess of Violence should at least let the Warp Talons mow down enemy hordes with reasonable effectiveness, and although the units aren't great individually, having lots of them lets the army aim for favourable trades upwards wherever possible. They also make the list good at playing Engage and Action-based Secondaries, and it can put up a very skewed target profile on deployment, as with the Chosen in the Rhino to go on the board alongside the Knights the army can put all six jump pack units in the sky.

The War Dogs are how the list deals damage, as combining Infernal Power with the House Vextrix re-rolls makes these extremely dangerous to a wide range of targets. I like the unusual choice to take one volkite and one lightning lock on the Moiraxes, as though the locks are better against most targets, going all-in on those would leave the models a bit anemic against targets with damage reduction, something this build partially mitigates, especially with the melta War Dogs on top (though in the aggregate I still think heavy Ramshackle lists would be a problem for it).

I think this build ends up way more dangerous and potent than it might appear on first glance, though I do think that its threats are brittle enough that some armies are going to take it clean off the board very rapidly (and it did, in fact, take a 20-0 loss to one of the AdMech armies). It's definitely unique and interesting though, so thanks to Jakub for a fun army to puzzle out.

Michal "Bania" Ruminski - Chaos Daemons - 4th Place

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

The List

The Standout Features

• Brutal Daemon pressure to the max.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Big Be'lakor continues to put Daemons back in the conversation, because apparently just one more incredibly powerful high-speed push threat was what these monster mash lists were missing to get them back into competition (well, that and Enriched Rounds becoming mildly less of a guaranteed one-shot on a big Daemon). This list just throws a truly absurd amount of early violence your way, as four Keepers was bad enough when they didn't have backup from the nastiest Daemon of them all and RR1s to hit, and I like the choices for the backup too. Big Bird is great as ever, and extremely difficult to deal with while under the gun from the forward party, but the use of Bloodletters is much more unusual, and honestly I'm into it - one of the ways this list can lose is if the opponent gets some ObSec stuff round the main body and clears out the Daemonettes, so having a large unit of ObSec models waiting in the wings with a reliable charge and the volume to clear out a big enemy unit is a great way of closing that off. It does mean you lose the Nurglings that these builds commonly sport, which can be a downside in some matchups but does also remove easy targets, and it's not like the list ever isn't going straight for the mid board.

Essentially, this army basically only gives the opponent one window to deal extreme damage to it before its right in their face, and if it gets to swing hard at the opponent they're going to struggle to ever get back in the game, especially with the Bloodletters to help keep the boot on their throats. It's a particularl vicious celebration of all things chaotic, and fun stuff from Michal.

The Rest of the Best

20-0 scoring, as ever, plays havoc with the conceit of this section, but hitting the rest of the top 8 sweeps up all remaining players on 4-1, so lets go with that.

• 5th - Michal Duda - Asuryani: A rare sighting of a pure Craftworlds list in the wild, building around (unsurprisingly) Dark Reapers, Warp Spiders and highly-buffed Shining Spears to make the best of a bad book.
• 6th - Michał "Wiśnia" Wiśniewski - Adepta Sororitas: Argent Shroud/Bloody Rose tag team.
• 7th - Grzelich - Dark Angels: Two large Ravenwing Biker squads and a big block of Deathwing create a powerful tri-pronged attack in this build.
• 8th - Pochłaniacz - Adeptus Mechanicus: Pure Lucius horde - still pretty good, it turns out!

Wrap Up

Five down, five to go - come back tomorrow for lots more list reviews! Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com.

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