After a few quiet weeks, this weekend was another big one, with three mid-sized GTs firing to give us more juicy, juicy intel on what's hot in the world of Warhammer 40K. There's a lot to get through here so I'll keep the preamble short this time, the only housekeeping things are:

• All these events did use the new Marine and Necron books and didn't use the new FW, Deathwatch and Space Wolves rules - unsurprising since they released on the day-of.
• People wanting further fun lists to look at should go and check out the results of the West Australia Team Challenge in Down Under Pairings. As a team event it doesn't really fit the formula of this series, but there's some cool stuff in the rosters the top few teams packed.
• As ever, if you have any event tips or things you think I should be covering, hit us up at contact@goonhammer.com.

Let's get into it!

South Georgia GT

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

Stephen Mitchell's Goffs - 1st Place

Credit: Tom Alexander

The List

The Standout Features

• Ghaz and da Boyz take (yet) another fantastic finish.
• Smasha guns provide inexpensive backline objective holders.
• Heavier Meganob contingent than normal provides a bit of crunch.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The story of Orks in 9th has been pretty much a continuous process of proving the naysayers wrong, and Stephen can credibly claim to have been at the forefront of that, taking a top finish at an early 9th event with da Boyz (which we looked at in our faction focus) and clearly never looking back from there!  Looking back at that early list, it's honestly impressive how on the mark the early build was - the only real change from that initial version is swapping out a Nob with Waaagh Banner for a couple of units of Kommandos. The incredible value of inexpensive deep strikers that can somewhat hold their own in a fight in 9th is something I've banged on about a lot in this series, and seeing an already successful list changed to add more of them really hammers that home.

Outside of that, there isn't a gigantic amount to say about this list - Ghaz and Boyz provide a huge amount of pressure,  and backed up by some sneaky objective grabbers and heavier hitters can put an opponent on the ropes and run away to victory. The element seen less commonly in Ork lists is the Smasha Guns, but even they fit into what are at this point well-defined 9th edition patterns - something you can park on a home objective that's non-trivial to kill and will rack up a small amount of value over time is very often a strong choice.

I don't feel like Orks have anything to prove in 9th any longer - the only bad thing I can say about them is that their rise hasn't been quite as meteoric as Daemons - but it's great to see them putting in another strong performance in the hands of one of their early adopters, so congratulations Stephen!

Daniel Hesters' Dark Angels - 2nd Place

The prettier of the uglier two DA flyer models. Credit: Greg

The List

The Standout Features

• Dark Angels flex their muscles as a chapter to watch.
• Ravenwing out in force, including planes!
• The Apothecary/ATV combo continues to win hearts and minds.
• Helix adepts make a showing

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Having been the butt of many a joke over the course of 8th Edition, Dark Angels have emerged from the new Marine codex and their temporary index in the surprising position of looking like one of the strongest chapters, and with two (spoilers) top four finishes in this week's article have gotten right to work on proving it. Clearly they have just been biding their time.

The power of Dark Angels comes mainly from the exceptional power of the abilities granted to some Ravenwing and Deathwing units - picking up invulnerable saves (via Jink or High Speed Focus) or perma-transhuman on units that are still competitively costed is great, and helps the chapter be very sticky on the board while still being mobile and deadly. As well as that, they're the only chapter that gets to take an Apothecary on a bike, which is ridiculously relevant given how strong they are out of the codex and because it lets them keep up with Invader ATVs. Fail to pop all three of them in a single round of shooting? Then it's bad news for you my friend. The Apothecary is just going to slap the side of the remaining one, intone the ancient words of "you can fit so many ATVs in this unit" and pop there's another one to deal with. Somewhat surprisingly this interaction survived the FAQ, so make sure you get a good feel for when you do and don't have enough firepower to one-round a unit.

In general, this list looks like a lot of successful Marine builds - it starts with the opponent under some amount of pressure thanks to Infiltrators and an Invictor starting up the board, and piles more on quickly thanks to fast-moving mid range firepower (here the ATVs and planes) being able to quickly join them, with a hammer unit (Deathwing Knights) waiting in the wings. Something this list includes that I haven't seen as much of as I'd expect is helix gauntlets on the Infiltrators, and I think there's a good chance of them catching on more widely, as for a relatively low cost they make the units significantly more durable, which certainly fits well into plans like this!

Let's talk about the planes too. Aircraft were dominant for much of 8th, but have really fallen off in 9th because they contribute very little to the missions, so you need to be very confident of your ability to maintain board presence before you blow lots of points on them. The durability of the Dark Angels, combined with the powerful unique tools of the Dark Talon, make them one of the best armies to use Aircraft with (stabbing me right in my elf-loving heart all the while), and it's clear that the Talons are serious considerations for the first time in a while.

It's great to see Dark Angels winning, and it's also cool to see a Ravenwing-focused build on top, as many of the others I've seen thus far have gone heavier on the Deathwing, so great job to Daniel on the finish.

Jaime Paris' Mixed Space Marines - 3rd Place

Roboute Guilliman by Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• An outside-the-box build sees Bobby G leading a mixed contingent to victory.
• Wolf Guard (essentially vanguard veterans) show off the general-purpose power of the lightning claw/shield build.
• Attack bikes, plasma inceptors, grav devs and suppressors provide a whole laundry list of nasty shooting tools

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The challenge of writing a series like this is that you think you've got a handle on how lists fit together and then a new book lands and someone throws down something like this. Having wrapped my head around it, this basically does fit the pretty standard Marine pattern, but it pulls together some more unusual tools to do it. You've got your early board control and your melee dominance units (the Wolf Guard and Guilliman) and then a whole bunch of different mid-range shooting options. The big advantage the setup that's used here bring to bear is that between Bobby's aura and the Seal of Oath, it can productively take swings at two different large targets at range out of the gate, with the Seal of Oath comboing especially well with the grav Devs, letting them operate at the kind of peak performance they used to. You also have the Morkai's Teeth Bolts to set up even more wound re-roll angles, as they surprisingly aren't locked to only impacting Space Wolves units, and are a unique way to set up Bobby with wound re-rolls.

That'll help the list build up some substantial early advantage, and the list then has a reasonable number of tricks to keep the momentum. Tigurius can combine his Master of Prescience ability with a reliable cast of Psychic Fortress to make those mid-range shooting units very tough to shift, while the Wolf Guard are extra-effective at dominating the table thanks to being able to heroic (up to 6" if needed via Counter Charge). Opponents are often going to struggle to get control of the game against this list, and that's a problem, because if Bobby G hits them while they're still reeling it's quite likely to be game over - you need to have a real counterattack plan for him lined up, and a lot of people are going to get overwhelmed here instead. The fact that opponents might have to chew through Victrix Guard with an Apothecary picking them up is really just an extra level of mean!

This list does get a tiny downgrade from the new releases - the loss of Touch of the Wild makes the Smash Wolf quite a bit less deadly, leaving the list slightly shorter on answers for single targets, but not to a degree that I think will hold it back substantailly. All in all, very cool to see something unique.

Tim Pinney's Adepta Sororitas - 4th Place

Credit: Starvolt

The List

The Standout Features

• A list we saw take down an RTT a few weeks ago returns for greater glory!
• Shooty Sororitas continue to look very strong post-weapon upgrades.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

We've finally crossed that threshold where we're going to start seeing repeats a bit more often - we took a look at Tim's list out of the field at an RTT a few weeks back, and it's clear that it was just as strong as it looked because here it is again putting in an even better performance.

Everything we said then still applies - the massive boosts to heavy bolters and multi-meltas really unlock the Sororitas Codex as a more flexible book, no longer forced to gravitate towards melee as their only way to do serious damage. Mortifiers are now one of the better general-purpose units in the game, able to seriously threaten almost all targets at all ranges, while strong stratagems and abilities make Retributors nasty wielders of the new (literal) hotness that is the multi-melta. Combined with still being able to dip into the melee nastiness of Repentia for an emergency hammer blow, Tim has demonstrated that there are now multiple great builds available to the Adepta Sororitas, and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of them.

Will Taylor's Astra Militarum - 5th Place

Valhallan Leman Russ. Credit: SRM

That's right, we're going rogue - there's only one more 4-1 list from this event, and it's interesting enough that it deserves a quick write-up of its own, especially given that the tools it uses to succeed are about to get a lot better!

The List

The Standout Features

• Death Korps Riders add a powerful angle to a standard guard shell - before their big buff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Guard are in a rough spot in 9th Edition, so anyone performing strongly with them deserves some of our time, and this list is particularly timely thanks to the units it augments the standard guard shell with. When reviewing the Forge World Compendium, I thought the upgraded Death Korps Death Riders might be exactly what Guard were looking for - fast, durable, cheap and moderately melee capable. I have increased confidence in that opinion now, because here they are helping shepherd guard to a 4-1 finish before the substantial upgrades from the new book get applied! Yarrick backing them up helps them hit as hard as possible in melee, and it really does feel just that little bit of extra capability in the fight phase opens things up a lot for the army. The Forge World Compendium isn't pure give for this army, as the Krieg Engineers do get taken down a peg, but they're quite a bit more substitutable.

There's not that much to say about the main body of this list - three Gunnery/Spotter demo commanders, sixty guard bodies, special weapon commands in strat reserves and two Full Payload artillery pieces is about as standard as you get for a guard core right now. The Death Riders are what single it out, and I'll be very interested to see if more players follow Will's lead in adding them to their lists.

Renegade Mini GT

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

Asa Carlson's Slaanesh Daemons - 1st Place

Daemonettes of Slaanesh. Credit: Richyp

The List

The Standout Features

• Keepers of Secrets - pretty good it turns out!
• A very heavy Fiend presence to trap mid-table lists.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

"People who liked stuff before it was cool" is clearly this week's theme as we scoot on over to the Renegade Mini and see Asa Carlson, very much the pioneer of modern Slaanesh builds, taking the trophy.

Slaanesh Daemons heavy on Keepers winning events isn't news any more - Daemons have rocketed up the rankings even harder than Orks - but seeing so many Fiends is slightly unusual. I suspect they're a response to the inexorable rise of Marine lists dedicated to controlling the mid-board, acting as a particularly powerful deterrant to units like multi-melta ATVs, who probably have to bring themselves into strike range to operate but really don't want to get tagged and trapped. Marines all being two wounds now adds value to them as well thanks to their D2 claws, and I could definitely believe they'll end up being here to stay. The only drawback with them is that they aren't great at locking down either Plasmaceptors or Vanguard Veterans, so if those units grow even more popular than they are now other strategies might have to be tried.

For now though, another trend-setter takes their army of choice to victory - well played Asa.

Kevin Leonard's Nurgle - 2nd Place

Myphitic Blight-Haulers - Credit Beanith

The List

The Standout Features

• Blight Haulers hit the big leagues post-melta buff.
• Epidemius and a GUO provide strong boosts to the Haulers.
• Plague Marines and Nurglings fill the list out with durable objective holters.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Even before the recent wargear updates Blight Haulers were starting to show signs they might be low-key better than Plagueburst Crawlers because of the all-important ability to push up the table. With an extra shot and a buff added to one of their guns for no additional cost, it looks like their time to shine (or at least look weirdly and disgustingly slick) is here, and this list goes all-in on souping them up to optimal performance. The Ironclot Furnace makes them a complete nightmare to shift, the bell-toting GUO threatens to revive them if an opponent fails to get a full unit kill (while being a pain to take down himself) and Epidemius is likely to start quickly handing them hit re-rolls as they reap a tally for Nurgle. This list pushes a horrendously durable and dangerous wedge right up the table and demands the opponent has an answer for it, and has tough enough stuff to sit elsewhere on objectives that trying to outflank it will be tough.

Some armies can still answer it reasonably well mind - White Scars feel like a strong counter, able to slam into it in melee then cycle charge while they take it down, and I can see Thundercav doing the same out of the new Wolves book, especially as they can unlock the ability to fall back and charge with Hunter. Ultimately that won't matter too much in the long run - Death Guard have a new book coming so it may turn out that this list is mostly a placeholder. What it does do, however, is ensure that when that new book does arrive, Blight Haulers are one of the units everyone is watching.

Drew Ward's Ultramarines - 3rd Place

Redemptor Dreadnought. Credit: SRM

The List

The Standout Features

• Sergeant Chronus rides a Land Raider Achilles...into the sunset because sadly the Imperial Armour Compendium kills the core gimmick here.
• Bobby G and Tigurius leading Redemptor Dreadnoughts and Eradicators looks like a strong core for future investigation.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Yeah so one of the less fun things about this column is having to look at a cool list and say "welp, sure is the last time that works". The obvious standout here is Chronus in a Land Raider Achilles, and while he can still ride one after the Imperial Armour update it gets both weaker and more expensive, which for a unit that was already only at the better end of "fringe" is pretty much the kiss of death.

It's kind of a shame because this list looks like a lot of fun - boosted multi-meltas are obviously great for the Achilles, and pushing it up the board blasting away alongside multiple Redemptors (with a Master of the Forge to keep it stocked with health) is a hilariously brutal strategy. Realistically, there's almost certainly something in a similar vein you can do with Ultramarines even after the changes - add a third Redemptor and maybe a Contemptor in some sort of configuration and you've still got an extremely strong wedge to go with Bobby G, and can draw huge value from his re-roll aura. Ultramarines seem to be experiencing a sudden surge in popularity, and Bobby G is a fixture in a lot of the lists, so hopefully we'll see Drew again in the near future with a newly tooled up build.

Colin McDade's Harlequins - 4th Place

Harlequins Troupe. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• It's the Soaring Spite Harlequin build.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Soaring Spite Harlequins would like to remind you that they're very much still here and very much remain one of the best armies in the game. It is worth noting the choice to sprinkle a couple of melee weapons into many of the Troupes, helping them punch up a bit in emergencies and hold on to the ability to menace something like a Devastator squad now the wounds of the target have doubled.

That's kind of it - there's very little left to say about Harlequins, and honestly as someone with a deadline for filing this, I'm fine with that, so thanks to Colin for saving me some paragraphs!

The Rest of the Best

Four more players made 4-1 finishes at the event. They were:

• 5th: Our very own Cyle Thompson with Ultramarines Successors. Combining the Ultramarine super doctrine with small units and Master Artisans provides a mobile force that can stay accurate while staying mobile, and remind everyone that Successors still need to be kept in mind even as they're a bit less good now.
• 6th: Eric Forsman with Harlequins. Another Soaring Spite build, this time with one big foot squad as well. I think that's a strong call at the moment, as having something to crack a large VanVet or Thundercav squad is a big help.
• 7th: Nicholas Weiss with Imperium. Custodes anchor the board and a large contingent of plasma-toting Lambdan Lions protected by a Refractor Field provide a hammer blow.
• 8th: Axel Johnson with Blood Angels. I've talked about Vanguard Veterans quite a bit and this list shows why - three massive squads mixing hammers and chainswords with shields fly around the board terrorising anything that looks at them funny.

Amiable Bright - Plague War 2020

The lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. Note: the standings for these event cut off after round 4 because of IT issues.

Alex Macdougall's Hive Mind - 1st Place

Tyranid Hive Guard. Credit: That Gobbo

The List

The Standout Features

• The Hive Mind pick up their first GT win.
• Powerful shooting elements backed up by just enough board control from the Acolytes and Zoanthropes.
• Hand flamer buff looks to prove distinctly helpful.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Rounding off a triple-header for players winning with the lists they're famous for, Alex Macdougall secures the Hive Mind's first GT win of the edition (because really, who else was going to do with it). For anyone familiar with Alex's lists and Tyranid trends the tools he's using aren't going to be a huge surprise - he was an early adopter of Ridgerunners (and backing them up with Hive Guard), and Zoanthropes, Rippers and a singleton Exocrine are some of the better tools Tyranids can bring to bear. Kronos for shooty bugs and Bladed Cog so that the Ridgerunners can have Single-Minded Obsession powering them is also all pretty down the line.

The notable shakeup to the tools this army has, of course, is the boost to hand flamers. Being able to use hand flamer acolytes out of deep strike without having to blow Lying in Wait is a big deal, as it both saves substantial amounts of CP for better things and lets them plausibly take out two horde units in a single turn when they first arrive, either by using Perfect Ambush to double-shoot or shooting one thing and charging another. That gives this list a powerful answer to horde melee armies, one of its likely predators otherwise given how shooting-heavy it is, and definitely strengthens the faction's overall lineup considerably. The smaller flamer unit is also something you probably wouldn't have bothered with previously - with the 2CP buy-in of Lying in Wait going anything less than all-in wasn't super worth it, but now a smaller unit is a perfectly decent way of menacing your opponent's objective grabbers or piling extra pain onto something like an Ork horde.

Beyond that, while this list does just give up full points for Bring it Down and can give up Abhor, neither are trivial to score against it and might cause an opponent to make poor targeting decisions if they try. This has been a hallmark of the few somewhat successful Hive Mind lists we've seen, and does seem to be pretty much mandatory - the army doesn't have that much that can go ham in a mid-board fight, so it needs to make sure it isn't bleeding Secondary points too badly if that's what the game comes to. It's clear that this has been considered while building this list, and anyone trying to win with a weaker faction should be doing the same.

The fact that the Hive Mind pretty undeniably is a weak faction, or course, means that this win is particularly impressive, so big props to Alex for taking down the event, and I hope all the Tyranid/GSC lovers at home are paying attention!

Marshall Reeves' Custodes - 2nd Place

Credit; Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

The List

The Standout Features

• The Shadowkeepers remind us that "Custodes Stuff" is still just generically pretty great!
• Upgraded storm shields keep the centre of the force extremely strong.
• Allarus and Praetors provide hammer units.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Custodes have slipped a little in my estimation over the last month - they're still excellent, but probably at the high end of tier 2 rather than truly top tier. However, one would still be foolish to underestimate them and this list shows why - it's basically just a few blocks of absurdly tough troops backed up by a few nastier threats and some characters and still put in a comfortable second place finish at a GT.

The big, notable thing here is the upswing in the number of Storm Shields in the army - these used to be most often seen slotted onto a single model in a squad, but in Custodes the new version uniquely shines as being pure upside, as with Aegis of the Emperor they still give a 3++. That makes the five and four model squads here incredibly tough to shift, which is exactly what you want from your units in 9th! They can seize control of key positions, the cheap Prosecutor squad can hold a home objective, then the Bikes, Terminators and Bike Captain can maraud around the board picking stuff up. Not a super complex plan but clearly an effective one, and it's all further enhanced by the extra durability option the Shadowkeeper stratagem gifts them.

I expect to see some quite big shakeups in Custodes over the next few weeks as the Imperial Armour Compendium slams into the metagame, because they get some big gains from it. Venatari Custodians in particular would potentially slot into this strategy nicely, so it'll be interesting to see if they start popping up. In the meantime, congratulations to Marshall for keeping the Golden Host in our minds.

Garry Sacco's Dark Angels - 3rd Place

Deathwing Terminator Praetor. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

The Standout Features

• Hellblasters! Actual genuine Hellblasters!
• An huge Deathwing brick provides an all-rounder unit for the ages.
• Bikers, a Deathwing Command squad and an empty Land Speeder Storm provide some board control.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

It should be a sign of just how good Dark Angels seem to be that they can even make Hellblasters do a tonne of work! To be fair, these are assault Hellblasters, who did quietly get quite a bit better in the Codex (going up to three shots each) but if I'm honest I'd probably still have expected to see plasmaceptors in most lists. No fear here though, and Azreal's 4++ bubble should definitely help keep them in the game a bit longer, and they have enough shots to ruin a lot of days.

Cool though seeing Hellblasters out is, the most eye-catching unit here is obviously the huge Deathwing block, backed up by Belial and a Chapter Ancient handing out a 5+++. Taking full advantage of the ability to mix equipment in Deathwing units, the squad is tooled up so that it's a reasonable threat both in melee and at range, squeezing the maximum benefit from picking up Chapter Master re-rolls and forcing the opponent to have to try and do something about them. Shifting them is, of course, no mean feat thanks to their ridiculous layered defences, and the block can act as a trump card against a lot of melee-focused armies.

With a large tarpit unit like that one of the ways to lose is to get outflanked, and here a big bike squad helps to shore up that weakness. Although basic bikers don't natively get Jink, as long as you only feature one big, shootable Ravenwing unit you can lean on High Speed Focus to keep them alive (or here lean on the Lion Helm early on), and with a 4++ they're an extremely strong unit.

Finally, we see what's already emerging as a strong utility pick in a small Deathwing Command squad. You know the drill by now - small non-CHARACTER INFANTRY units with native deep strike are super good in 9th because they help with secondaries a tonne, and the fact that this particular setup takes serious firepower to put down and will comfortably kick the crap out of something like a Kommando unit is even better.

Dark Angels have got power and they've got depth - well done to Garry for exploring more of it.

Cory Coebel's AdMech - 4th Place

Pteraxii Sterylizor. Credit: Pendulin

The List

The Standout Features

• The old stand-by of a Mars gun-fest fills out our final slot of the week.
• Pteraxii Sterylizors make another showing as a good all-rounder.
• Robots and Ironstriders present some severe shooting threat.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another relatively easy write up here to close things out - AdMech are one of the best factions to run right now if you like shooting-heavy gameplay, as they provide some of the strongest broad-spectrum firepower and back it up with high-quality units to fill other roles. Here, hails of Cawl-buffed phosphor and autocannon rounds will grind down absolutely anyone who can be kept at arm's length, and powerful additions from Engine War in the form of the Pteraxii and Raiders (plus priests in a Dunerider) provide board control to try and make that happen. The full unit of Pteraxii is going to be particularly scary for some opponents, as against pretty much anything that isn't a dedicated melee unit they'll be able to survive long enough to deploy Deeply Sunk Talons and lock the target in combat, which is excellent against something like Plasmaceptors planning to use a fall back and shoot ability. Bringing powerful anti-horde capability to the table as well makes these feel like a strong addition to the list, and definitely the main thing that really stands out for this particular build. They can also do a reasonable amount of damage on the charge, and can even punch up against T5 stuff if the list sends in a unit of Vanguard at the same time to drop toughness.

There isn't that much more to the army beyond that - the fact that the Ironstriders are such a mobile ranged threat (which can also discourage chargers heavily via Cognis Overwatch) is another major asset for it, but fundamentally AdMech just have a really good, flexible combined arms gameplan right now, and this army deploys it extremely effectively - well played Cory.

The Rest of the Best

Tragically, because of the lost pairings I've only got the details of where the top four ended up so this section will remain blank. I choose to believe that the Craftworlds list with a Wraithknight that was 3-1 after round 4 took one of the remaining slots - it definitely went 4-1 in my heart.

Wrap Up

I hope you've enjoyed another mammoth edition of this column, and that it's got the list-building juices flowing in all of your minds. I will admit that my one disappointment out of this week is that there aren't any Necron lists taking top spots in GTs just yet. They're clearly a lot better than they were, and there are some powerful builds out there, but no one's pushed through to a big finish just yet. The numbers of players using them at the events was still relatively sparse, so hopefully over time more will start popping up - tune back in next week and we'll see if any have turned up then! Comments, questions or suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com.

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