It would appear that Guard players as a whole think they've sneaked under GW's winrate radar for long enough, because it's another big week for them - but Arks is still throwing curveballs at us. This week it's the turn of Orks to suddenly spike up in success, seemingly delighted to get stuck into the current metagame thanks to being able to brawl with the melee lists, and at least take a shot at rolling over a guard gunline before they know what's going on. The pace of events also shows no sign of letting up, and I'm once more going to be joined by Tom Lowman on Friday to cover some of the events.

Today I'll be looking at:

• The Southampton GT (supermajor)
• Warhammer World GT (major)
• Grimdark Grand Tournament
• Mighty Meeple GT

On Friday Tom and I will be covering:

• The Rocky Mountain Open (supermajor)
• Ordo Fanaticus Presents: Rosehammer (major)
• 'Ere We Go Again Ladz GT
• BFS Competitive GT

Another continuing trend is that the unruly masses of the Goonhammer Patrons continue to agitate against the managed democracy that I have painstakingly established, once more trying to achieve a complete tie in the Showdown voting spread. Unfortunately for them, cracks have begun to show in their unity - one event inexplicably received far fewer votes than all the others, and on another one devious patron snuck in and added a single vote after everyone else had stopped paying attention to the count. That gives us two outliers, and I figure it's worth us taking a look at a more unusual Orks game too, so that means in total we'll be covering:

• Goffs vs Daemons & Dreadblades at the Rocky Mountain Open
• Harlequins vs Iron Hands Successors at Warhammer World
• Goffs vs Genestealer Cults at the BFS Competitive GT

Let's go!

The Southampton GT

197-player, 7-round Supermajor in England United Kingdom on March 10 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

David Gaylard - Astra Militarum - 1st Place

Cadian Command Squad. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Born Soldiers

Final Round Matchup

92 - 83 Victory against Mani Cheema - Dark Angels.

Thoughts

Yeah you can't fool me Guard players - if players of David's calibre are bringing them to a supermajor, they're definitely good. This list packs in most of the usual suspects from standard Born Soldiers builds, but in line with some other players at the bleeding edge of the metagame, David reduces the standard Russ count by one in favour of taking a second three-model unit of Armoured Sentinels. The more people play with these the more they're realising how exceptionally good they are - they have every keyword under the sun, so can have a massive range of buffs dropped on them (most notably the full version of Lord Solar's), they're extremely durable for the price, incredibly fast, and dangerous in two phases. It turns out that with full hit and wound re-rolls on, nine D2 attacks will cheerfully cleave through an enemy character or push back a squad of Marines, especially on top of some good plasma shots, and because Maverick Manoeuvres does not prevent you from charging after using it, the reach they present is incredible.

That's a significant help in pushing back against opponents who try and roll guard over, and adds massive board control threat to an extremely murderous build. Sentinels were the big story in Southampton, and huge congratulations to David for using them to take the trophy.

Mani Cheema - Dark Angels - 2nd Place

Credit: Greg Chiasson

The List

Archetype

Mixed Dark Angels

Thoughts

Mani continues to put in strong finishes with Dark Angels, mixing up his previous recipe by adding more Terminators and pivoting to Attack Bikes in the ravenwing part of the list. That allows the use of Lazarus to provide some anti-Mortal defences on pretty much everything that's targetable, helping mitigate the impact of Kasrkin going for a big split fire. It also means that more of the shooting is benefitting from the wound re-rolls that the Talonmasters provide. In the end, this wasn't quite enough to overcome the might of David's guard, but only by a slim margin, adding another excellent finish to Mani's record.

Ed Watts - World Eaters - 3rd Place

Credit: Dylan Gould

The List

Archetype

World Eaters Secondary Pressure

Thoughts

Invocatus and the boys have got one plan - roll over the enemy, and score massively while doing so. The lists intentions are, uh, not subtle - it's got MSU melee threats galore with Invocatus to hurl some of them forward pre-game, and plenty of ObSec among the force in order to deny the opponent Primary. Simple, right?

Mostly, but there's a key subtlety to the list that opponents are going to need to adapt to as they start facing World Eaters. Normally, the way you'd beat something like this is by playing keep-away and picking it apart. Sure it has some speedy threats, but they're ultimately just Space Marines and it all dies. A lot of the time that means muscle memory for how to play against a fighty list kicks in, and players go for a cautious plan - then realise around turn three that they're never going to catch the World Eaters scoring.

The trio of faction Secondaries that World Eaters get are incredible, being extremely easy to force scoring on in almost every matchup (the only notable exception being Knights, where The Blood God's Due is a little weaker), and adding that to the strong early Primary scoring and denial this list represents means that playing cautious often isn't an option - If you table this army on turn four, but they've scored 20-25 Primary and 45 on Secondaries, it might already be too late to catch them.

That means you have to take the fight to them much more actively, and focus on speed of elimination - but that means playing on their terms, their Secondaries are still great while you're doing this, and if you're in the mix with them a badly timed Blood Surge can ruin you. Do not make the mistake of underestimating what this list can do, and congratulations to Ed for a fantastic finish with the hot new book.

Rob Lebeau - Ymyr Conglomerate - 4th Place

Trans-Hyperion Alliance Hernkyn Pioneers - Leagues of Votann. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Ymyr Bike Spam

Thoughts

An unusual Votann list to round out the top four - Bike/Heathguard spam. Not a single Fortress or Beserk in sight, just 18 Bikes and 3x5 Hearthguard to be buffed up and sent out hunting. Not complicated, but able to lay down tremendous firepower with a lot more mobility than the Votann norm, and plausibly able to just body some armies off the table in a few turns. Dwarf biker gang supremacy, it would appear.

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 more players on 5-0 records who missed the top four cut. They were:

• 5th - Nassim Fouchane - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers goodstuff with three full units of Sentinels (two Armoured, one Scout).
• 6th - Mark Vickery - Craftworlds: Melee Aspect warrior spectacular with lots of Banshees and Scorpions, a unit of Hawks to snipe stuff out for Wrath, and a mighty three Phoenix Lords. Also D-Cannons, because blowing stuff up is big and clever.

Warhammer 40,000 Matched Play Event

81-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England GB on March 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Data Scry Salvage

Christopher Radford - Harlequins: Twilight murder clowns.

vs.

Stefan Donovan - Iron Hand Successors: Redemptors, a super Contemptor and all the trimmings.

Thoughts

Yeah this is just going to be a bloodbath. Both sides here are about as murderous as you can get in their respective factions, the Iron Hands packing guns for days and the Harlequins ready to obliterate foes via a mixture of punching and melta shots. So who comes out on top?

This event was using GW Open terrain, and I think on Data Scry (playing on layout 3) the Harlequins get the better of that. They're able to stage their forces very effectively in the big ruins with strike range on almost every objective, letting them do a bit more to decide the pace of the conflict. They can also fairly reliably flip objectives off the Hands thanks to having far more reliable ObSec, especially as they have plenty of tools that give them a shot at assassinating the Rites of War Lieutenant.

I don't think that's a foregone conclusion though, because the Hands do have the upside that they actually have stuff that can stand on an objective and demand the Clowns close in to fight it. Using Redemptors as pawns to push onto positions may not be the usual play, but here I think it's got some legs - realistically two boats will need to come and engage to reliably fusion a Dreadnought to death, and if everything that does then gets ground into oblivion then material advantage will flow in the Harlequins direction pretty fast. Having a couple of VanVet units is good as well, it helps provide some amount of counter-charge potential, and a route to try and take the initative back at a key moment. If I'm the Hands here I think I pick Codex Warfare, Shock Tactics and either Cold Fury or Grind, and put my efforts into trying to force through 4VP primary turns while killing absolutely every clown visible to me to score high on Secondaries and deny Harlequin Primary. It feels like if this battle goes long the Harlequins might get ground out, something Iron Hands love to do, so I'd aim to maximise the possibility of that going off.

From the score, my guess is that the Harlequins were able to take down a bit too much of the Hands force a bit too quickly, fully suppressing Primary Scoring while heading to a high Secondary score of their own. Chris plays Marines very skillfully as well as Harlequins, so I suspect that experience let him plan out the perfect plan for victory!

Result

Harlequins Victory - 83 - 62

Christopher Radford - Harlequins - 1st Place

A Solitaire. Photo: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Violent Twilight

Thoughts

Someone somewhere in GW HQ is resetting a clock - Harlequins are vying with Tyranids for the most heavily nerfed faction in the game, and here they are still winning a major. I think the reason Chris has been able to pull that off is that he's recognised what you need to do with post-nerf Harlequins in the current metagame - go loud.

There are too many factions that are either absurdly deadly or grindingly durable out there, and with their own durability massively reduced, Harlequins have to be able to go for the throat. Twilight provides the best tools for that via their extra melee output, powerful stratagem and improved consolidation to shut down opposing gunlines, and this list is tuned for ultraviolence. Most Troupes are fully equipped for melee and has two fusions, providing the best multi-phase threat possible, and they're backed by lots of lethal characters. Two Death Jesters (including the super one) threaten to pick off key utility characters, while a Solitaire can go out and disrupt a nest of mortars or similar. Interestingly there's no Shadowseer here at all, presumably because spending points on something that isn't just killing opponents as hard as possible doesn't align with the list's goals.

You can't keep the clown down, it would seem - well done to Chris on taking the event.

Mikey Herbert - Adeptus Astartes - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Desolation Squad by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

The List

Archetype

All-rounder Iron Hands Successors

Thoughts

Sounding the big "content creator advantage" siren here as Mikey puts fully painted Desolators down on the table a mere week after they release, adding a new angle of attack to his Iron Hands build. In general, this is a bit more of a balanced all-rounder build than the all-in Redemptor gunlines we've seen elsewhere, bringing both some classic VanVets and some off-brand Harlequins (scouts in Land Speeders with a bunch of special weapons). That helps force some caution from opponents to buy time for the Reaper, VolCon and Desolators to inflict serious damage, and also ensures the list has ways to reach out and prise enemies out of the big ruins on the GW layouts. The speeders also help with pushing Cold Fury if that's needed in the matchup, and the result is a very flexible build that lets Mikey leverage his years of practice with Marines to great effect - congratulations!

Jack ‘Ghaz’ Masters - Goffs - 3rd Place

Credit: Tom Alexander

The List

Archetype

Goff Pressure

Thoughts

As mentioned in the intro there's been a lot of Waaaghfare going on out there this weekend, and this list gives us our first sight of that. Like most Ork lists it has a very clear priority - get lots of angry ladz up the table at speed, get stuck in, and let the Grots worry about scoring points for Get Da Good Bitz and holding the boring home objectives while the boyz have some fun. Stormboyz, Kommandos and various Transport-enabled units provide plenty of speed, Ghaz and a Deff Dredd provide some sturdier tools to hold down key positions, and high-speed killer Characters threaten to pull off timely assassinations or big swings if the opponent takes the eye of the ball. Brutal, Kunnin' and clearly effective - well done Jack.

Dominic Mathews - Genestealer Cult - 4th Place

Credit: BuffaloChicken

The List

Archetype

Melee Twisted Helix

Thoughts

Genestealer Cults continue there excellent recent run here, and bring another new option to the table - Aberrants. These have perpetually been just on the edge of playable, with the occasional spam list showing up, and with the latest changes in Arks plus the general improvement to the factions fortunes they look more attractive than ever. Here they serve as a second wave/shock troops to back up the early pressure from the Acolytes and Purestrains, and also to discourage things like Knights from trying to barrel through the precious Neophytes. The Twisted Helix buff and Stratagem also give them some extra adaptability, pushing them to S9 when Knights need to be dead, and offering the option of extra attacks if the enemy tries to swarm them.

A tooled-up Abominant and Patriarch add further threat saturation, and combine to mean that opponents are going to discover a far less squishy core than normal if they push through the Cults initial forces. Neophytes and a Kelermorph will inflict their standard chip damage amidst the confusion, and lots of cheap Acolyte units provide plenty of tools to throw away on objectives or harrass the opponent. Great to see even more of the cult roster out and about on the field, well done to Dominic for a masterful infiltration of Warhammer World.

The Best of the Rest

There were 10 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Tristan Whitehead - Space Wolves: Theme-tastic wolves with lots of named Characters, Wulfen Dreadnoughts, Hounds of Morkai and a Repulsor to top it all off.
• 6th - Mark Pinder - Adeptus Custodes: Solar Watch Warden bricks.
• 7th - Stefan Donovan - Iron Hands Successors: Artisans/Whirlwind successors with a trio of Redemptors and the usual suspects.
• 8th - Jamie Balcombe - Adeptus Custodes: Solar Watch Warden bricks.
• 9th - Andy Rusdale - Iron Hands Successors: Artisans/Warded successors with a trio of Reapers.
• 10th - Nick Teague - Chaos Knights: House Vextrix all-in on a Knight Tyrant with the Blessing of the Dark Master as an hard-to-shoot threat.
• 11th - Willem te Slaa - Dark Angels & Freeblades: Full Ravenwing (including lots of Outriders for ObSec) with Helverin backup.
• 12th - Simon Dann - World Eaters & Dreadblades: Invocatus with Eightbound and robots, specifically a Defiler, two Maulerfiends and some War Dogs.
• 13th - Robert Kimpton - Drukhari: Classic Raider-heavy Drukhari Goodstuff in a Realspace Raid.
• 14th - Wayne Jimmison - Orks: Goff robot rampage with a Gorkanaut, Killa Kanz and Deff Dreads.

Mighty Meeple 40k GT # 2

35-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Concord, NC US on March 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Kyle Trayah - Chaos Daemons - 1st Place

Daemonettes of Slaanesh. Credit: Richyp

The List

Archetype

Board Control Daemons

Final Round Matchup

97 - 62 Victory against Jeremy Knox - Astra Militarum.

Thoughts

A much more go-wide spin on Daemons than some of the other options that have been succeeding recently, but definitely well suited to its final match against Guard. The Indomitable bloodthirster and the fully buffed Big Bird are some of the hardest things to shoot off out there (as long as you remember to keep the Bloodthirster screened from a Kasrkin bomb in range of the Finial), and having lots of the three Fs (Flamers, Fiends, Flesh Hounds) provides tonnes of mobile pressure that doesn't die easy to guns. The Troops round off the recipe with an incredibly hard to shift objective-holding unit (the Horrors), two speedy ObSec threats (the Daemonettes) and an extra hammer from Deep Strike (the Bloodletters). Like most Daemon builds the power here isn't immediately obvious on first glance, but their reliable grindy strength give players the tools they need to place strongly at events - well done Kyle!

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Jake Miller - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff.
• 3rd - Jeremy Knox - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff (with some cool guys on horses).
• 4th - Luke Henderson - Adeptus Custodes: Dreadnought/Bike-heavy Emperor's Chosen.
• 5th - Doug Henningsen - Chaos Knights: Herpetrax/Dreadblade War Dog Spam.
• 6th - Matthew Knapp - World Eaters & Daemons: Invocatus with surprisingly few Eightbound - instead, a full brick of Terminators, lots of Berserkers and a bunch of Bloodletters drawn by the violence.

WH40k Level Up Grimdark Grand Tournament

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Pensacola, Florida US on March 11 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Hogan Franklin - Adeptus Custodes - 1st Place

Credit: Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

The List

Archetype

Solar Watch Warden Brick

Final Round Matchup

86 - 84 Victory against Zerker Perry - World Eaters.

Thoughts

What does it take to hold the line against World Eaters (just about)? Apparently a massive number of Custodian Wardens counter-charging them. With plenty of showings this week on top of an event win a few weekends back, the Solar Watch brick appears to be the real deal - chewing through the big units with all the defenses up is such a slog that stacking Advance/Charge on top of that is enough to overwhelm most foes. The list is also easily the best at playing two of the three Custodes secondaries, providing far more flexibility in choice than the Golden Host normally get. Needs to be a bit wary of Guard, which are best tuned to just blow it away, but a real nightmare for a lot of popular builds to deal with, and in Hogan's hands enough to win the event.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Thomas Powell - Dark Angels: Full Deathwing/Inner Circle, going for the unusual choice of two Apothecaries to spread the auras wider.
• 3rd - Cliff Nelson - Black Templars: Lots of Sword Brethren and Impulsors, plus Gladiator Reapers.
• 4th - Chris Johnson - Astra Militarum: Wave after wave of Krieg Infantry screening a pair of big tanks (a Baneblade and a Banesword).
• 5th - "Zerker" Perry - World Eaters: Invocatus with lots of Berserker and Eightbound MSUs, plus a pair of Daemon Princes.
• 6th - Warren Watts - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers with a Scion Patrol.

Wrap Up

That's it for part 1 - plenty more carnage in part 2, so make sure to come back on Friday.

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