We're not too far out from the tournament scene winding down just a little bit for Christmas, but this week is another massive one for results, with a UK Supermajor, two US majors, and a mighty seven GTs. In the UK, the forces of Tzeentch continue to tighten their grip on the metagame, while Stateside the Astra Militarum codex made it's debut in the big leagues, putting up some impressive results (and providing helpful datapoints suggesting that they do not, in any way, need to retain their Dataslate buffs).

There are plenty of other factions performing strongly too, with more strong finishes from Votann and notably excellent weeks from Tau, Custodes and Orks, so lots to talk about, and a reasonably healthy spread of armies. I am going to go out on a limb, however, and suggest that the Flamer situation probably is warping the metagame enough that a small emergency nerf would be justified ahead of the next balance dataslate - probably making them cost +5-10pts each when taken in an army that isn't mono-Daemons, similar to taking Incubi in Ynnari (I don't think it would be fair to increase the cost in pure lists without other things coming down, so that needs to wait for a full Dataslate). I think we'll cope if things wait till the Dataslate, but the remaining events of the ITC season will be much more interesting if souped Flamers aren't quite as prolific. Probably uh, sort out Kasrkin while the hood is up too, hmm?

Anyway, it's a massive week so that means a two-parter. Today we will be looking at:

• UKTC Leicester Super-Major
• Warzone Atlanta (major)
• Feliz Exterminatus
• GT Benéfico ~ ¡Todo Por Ellos!
• Heroes Of The Mid-Table

On Friday I'll be covering:

• Merry Slaaneshmas (major)
• GT de Egara
• The Cleveland Chainsword
• The Warhound at Game Grid
• The Hertfordshire Winter GT

The Goonhammer Patrons have spoken, and this week for showdowns we're going to have:

• Thousand Sons & Daemons vs. Horde Goffs at the UKTC Leicester Supermajor.
• Astra Militarum vs. Chaos Knights at Feliz Exterminatus.
• Ymyr Votann vs. Emperor's Chosen Custodes at Merry Slaaneshmas.
• Nihilakh Necrons vs. Iron Hands Successors at the Hertfordshire Winter GT.

Lots to look at, so let's kick off with the biggest event of the week!

The Leicester 40k Super-Major

242-player, 7-round Supermajor in England, GB on December 03 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Conversion

Vik Vijay - Thousand Sons & Daemons: A version of the Thousand Sons & Flamers list that focuses on quality - none of the cheap/expendable stuff you see in some of the other versions, just a full brick of Scarabs, maximum Rubricae and as many Flamers as you can squeeze in beyond that (which turns out to be quite a few).

vs.

Brian Seipp - Orks: Last year's Leicester champion returns to the scene of the Waaaagh with Orks in hand once more, forgoing popular choices like Kill Rigs and Beast Snaggas in favour of as many bodies that can get straight into the opponent's face as possible, while racking up Secondary points at speed.

Thoughts

This is honestly the kind of final I love - on one side the list that is definitely the "army to beat" right now, and on the other...100-odd Green Boys. Both of these armies are point scoring machines - Thousand Sons essentially get to max the Warpcraft Secondary of their choice in almost any matchup, can easily rack up Sorcerous Prowess against an army with this many units, and can either dominate Wrath of Magnus against armies with casters of their own, or take No Prisoners or Banners as required against other lists (I'm figuring this as a No Prisoners game). The Orks have a very strong plan on this front too - Green Tide and Stomp 'Em Good kind of rack up for free as this army plays out its default plan (rolling the enemy over), and it has great support for Get Da Good Bitz. Both players entered the top four with multiple 100VP victories to their name, but who comes out on top when they clash?

On paper, the obvious answer is the Thousand Sons - they have excellent anti-horde tools in the army, and their game plan only really requires that they successfully scythe through the Orks while sitting on two objectives for most of the game. However, while they certainly do have the tools to crush the horde, I don't think you can count out the possibility that the Orks pull off a win here, especially as this feels like one of the better missions for them to have a go at it. Conversion has a decent amount of progressive points theoretically on offer, lets the Orks start very close to the Sons, and has an objective map where keeping the Sons from scoring 8pt Primary turns is pretty practical. There are also a couple of tools in the Ork list that the Sons have to be very wary of - Meganobz with Hit Em Harder up are a huge threat to Scarab Occults, and the Trukk Nobz with claws are pretty good at reaching out and clearing a Rubricae unit. If the Orks go first, and the Sons haven't deployed extremely cautiously, there's a genuine chance that enough damage can be done and enough retaliation soaked up thanks to Waaagh's invulnerable save that the Orks build up a winning lead.

The main challenge is that the relative lack of ObSec in the Ork build means the Thousand Sons only really need to spike a few saves once or twice to thwart that plan. With every Sons non-Character being ObSec and immune to morale, and the Orks not having any ObSec threat projection, even a single Rubric surviving a fight might hand the Sons a big primary swing, and I don't really think the Orks can afford that at all - chances are good here that unless things go perfectly for them they are going to run out of stuff before the game is out, and to win given that they need to have mostly maxed their own scores till that point and kept Sons low on Primary and their non-Prisoners Secondaries. The fact that the Orks are definitely going to come at the Sons also means the Flamers can likely all deploy on-board and expect to get lots of value quickly (though I guess at S5 there's at least a chance of them low-rolling into Orks these days). In summation, the most likely outcome feels like the one that eventually emerged - the Orks put up a good score and kept the Thousand Sons from maxing out theirs, but were defeated by Tzeentch's machinations in the end.

Result

Chaos Victory - 90 - 76

Vik Vijay - Thousand Sons & Daemons - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Thousand Sons & Flamers

Thoughts

Right now this is the list to beat - it's very plausible that Guard have some tools to challenge this, but until they're fully and widely deployed this combination of Tzeentch's finest rules the metagame. Strong evidence for this is provided by the fact that most of Vik's team (Dice Down) were sporting small variations on this (all using an Infernal Gateway Fateskimmer in the Daemon Character slot), some packing more screening units or a Rhino for position play. Vik has stuck with just maxing out as hard as possible on the key units, maximising the challenge for any armies that have invested points in D1 weaponry (particularly shooting, which sucks into the Flamers too) and giving him the tools to take home another trophy - so big congratulations.

Brian Seipp - Orks - 2nd Place

Meganobz. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Goff Horde Pressure

Thoughts

Kill Rigs? Neva 'erd of 'em. This list aims to beat you in the orkiest way possible - potentially slamming 50+ axe-wielding bodies into your face turn one and demanding that you do something about them, scoring heavily in the process (with Lootas adding an extra Get Da Good Bitz unit). Definitely a big tick in the box for flavourful gameplay incentives from Secondaries there, and frighteningly effective on the day - Brian dropped a mere 16VP over the five games in the main rounds, going into the top four at the top of the standings. I do wonder if in a Thousand Sons-heavy metagame filling one of the Battlewagons with Beast Snaggas for some ObSec (or swapping to Deathskulls, which Brian suggested when we talked at the event) might be necessary if the horde rides again, but given how close Brian came to making it back to back Leicester Trophies with this, it probably doesn't need much tuning!

Nassim Fouchane - T'au Empire - 3rd Place

Tau Riptide. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Farsight Alpha Strike

Thoughts

The UK metagame continues to suffer the consequences of Nassim discovering that armies other than Iron Hands exist, making his second consecutive UKTC top finish, and proudly telling me just after round four that he'd played two hours and ten minutes of 40K so far over the weekend. That's what this list is designed to do to people - utterly annihilate them over a handful of turns at most, thanks to ultra-murderous units with the mobility to get angles out of the gate. The list is also pretty difficult to crack with shooting even when it doesn't get the first turn - Nassim comfortably survived going second against Votann and blew them to bits as normal in return. Nassim's run was eventually (narrowly) curtailed by Vik in the semi-finals, but another strong finish here means that Nassim's team (the Warmasters) are making a strong play at catching up with Dice Down at the top of the UK metagame.

Jake Wilstrop - Thousand Sons - 4th Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Scarab Occult Spam

Thoughts

Thousand Sons & Flamers may be the new hotness, but Jake's been a loyal devotee of Tzeentch for much longer than that, and is another player featuring in his second consecutive UKTC top four after taking second at Coventry. The appeal of this build over Flamers is, broadly, that it has an even stronger passive Secondary game thanks to excelling at Banners (especially with an Ardent Automata squad), it completely no-sells points that opponents have invested in D1 killing power, and it can better handle a situation where the opponent has one nightmarish melee threat that can wipe a Scarab brick then die - all while still having plenty of anti-horde game thanks to all the Scarabs. The lack of mobility can sometimes bite against armies that can shut down the passive plan (which I suspect is what happened against Brian's Orks in the semi-finals), but the baseline challenge this army presents to opponents is extremely high.

I had the pleasure of playing against Jake in round four, and can thus personally attest that he also knows exactly how to use the army to best effect, using the effective Secondaries to force the opponent's game plans, and being ready to turn them into nothing but dust when the opportunity presents itself. A great performance here!

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 5-0 records after the regular rounds. They were:

• 5th - Mike Porter - Harlequins: Light Saedath boats, Troupes and Characters. Given how hard Mike has been winning with this build this year, why wouldn't you keep playing it?
• 6th - Josh Roberts - Thousand Sons & Daemons: Duplicity and Flamers, cutting a few models from the Scarab brick to buy extra Tzaangor Enlightened to screen in the mirror.
• 7th - Daniel Whitaker - Harlequins: Twilight Harlequins with a couple of bigger foot Troupes and a Webway Gate alongside the boats.
• 8th - David Gaylard - Thousand Sons & Daemons: Dice Down's second undefeated player is (unsurprisingly) sporting a very similar build to Vik, but swapping out a few flamers for a Rhino to help project some resilient board control on a second front.

Warzone: Atlanta 2022

83-player, 7-round Major in Marietta, GA, US on December 02 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

John Lennon - Hive Fleet Kraken - 1st Place

Hive Tyrant. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Kraken Pressure

Final Round Matchup

56 - 30 Victory against Jaime Paris - Hive Fleet Kraken.

Thoughts

It's clearly a week for top four regulars, as over in the US John Lennon takes down yet another GT with the latest iteration of his Kraken Pressure build. The core plan of slamming Raveners into the opponent to lock them up then withering them away with Zoanthrope Smites and various hit-and-run options remains present, but there's a bit of tuning here to deal with some expected metagame menaces, notably doubling up on Flyrants with Tyrant Guard. That lets John safely stage threats with long reach against Votann, and they're pretty durable against inbound Flamers thanks to T6 and a 2+ base save - a brick of five of the Daemons only kills ~one and a half on average dice, and will extremely pay for their hubris shortly afterwards. Given that this will also be extremely good against Guard, expect to see more people following the lead of the undisputed Kraken master.

Nick Nanavati - Aeldari - 2nd Place

Guardian Defenders. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Swift Strikes

Thoughts

From a recent repeat champion to a returning one, it would appear that Swift Strikes provides the perfect flavour of Aeldari mobility nonsense to lure Nick to the tournament tables, and given his extensive experience crushing events with such armies it's not hugely surprising to see him in second here. The sell of Swift Strikes is that it gives you incredible reach with Swooping Hawks, allowing you to gradually whittle away the enemy army if they stay passive, and use other Aeldari tools to counterattack brutally if they play aggressively. The strong Aspect Warrior contingent allows you to use Wrath of Khaine to rack up points, a Farseer can be Quickened back and forth for a Warpcraft Secondary, and Nick adds a Webway Gate as some extra tech to up the army's passive Secondary plans. Baharroth lurking next to a gate can make The Hidden Path very tricky to stop, and a full unit of Guardian Defenders threatening to emerge from it and Bladestorm anyone who tries is going to give real pause to some lists (it also allows filling the relatively lacklustre Craftworld Troops slot with an actual alpha unit).

That helps the list force the opponent to play the game it wants, while also helping to push back an opponent who just tries to rush the list off the table (one of the ways to deal with some of the mobility tricks). It's a great inclusion in an already strong plan, and as an avid elf partisan, it's good to see one of the best Aeldari players out there repping the Asuryani.

Thomas Byrd - Ymyr Conglomerate - 3rd Place

Trans-Hyperian Alliance Hekaton Land Fortress. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Ymyr

Thoughts

Ymyr are the clear early winners out of the Votann book, with the combination of extra range and an army-wide invulnerable save taking key units to the next level. Bikes being that much harder to counterattack off the table, and Beserks actually getting a save are big sells, as is allowing Land Fortresses and Teleport Crest Hearthguard to shrug off even the nastiest incoming attacks, and having an extra way to dump mortals on enemies is never bad.

The main things to call out in Thomas's specific build is the fact that, having gone in on Hearthguard, it eschews a second Land Fortress so it can still include some Beserks, and that he's spent some points to tool up the Hearthkyn. I think having at least some Beserks is vital right now - there's enough stuff (e.g. Scarabs) where there's just no substitute for a reliable source of D3 melee that you're leaving value on the table if you don't include them. Having access to a mole mortar on one unit is nice for helping get stuff into Flamers too. Meanwhile, over on the Hearthkyn, adding a magna-rail shot to each unit means that the cost of ignoring these while dealing with the other stuff (which people very much want to do against Votann) is set considerably higher, and it also provides a minor backup option if the enemy manages to punk the Land Fortress with some of their own heavy hitters still alive. I'd probably pack mauls on the second unit of Beserks as well, if I'm honest, but other than that I think this might be my favourite Votann build I've looked at so far, as it manages to get in all the things you really want and have a good balance of choices on the table.

Stephen Mitchell - Black Legion - 4th Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Black Legion

Thoughts

Rounding out our top four we have Abaddon leading his own legion for a nice change, and incorporating a strong current metagame pick in soulburner Decimators. Decimators are one of those units that are a good acid test for whether something's a bit skewed in the meta; they're slightly overcosted as all-rounders, but very good at doing their specific thing (going through targets with good saves and no mortal protection), making them exceptionally strong when the metagame leans that way. Both Votann and Thousand Sons fit that bill, so here the Decimators are, riding with Abaddon and the Black Legion, whose faction trait and emergency flex button (Confluence of Traitors) provide good support for the Daemon Engines. They even provide a way to get some serious value from Merciless Hatred, as jumping one of them ahead to Wanton Massacre turn one is genuinely valuable.

Elsewhere, the list uses one of the other strong Black Legion tools (the Cloak of Conquest) to great effect, allowing Abaddon or the Terminators to gain ObSec if their hype man is nearby, making it very tough to shake the Dark Gods' grip on a position. That's (obviously) very handy for scoring big on the primary, and it's great to see Stephen using this to put in a strong performance with an iconic but somewhat under-represented legion.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on either 5-2 records or who went 5-0 over Saturday and Sunday (who I have marked with a star). They were:

• 5th - Brenton Weiss - Tau: Heavy-duty Tau Sept with two each of Sun Sharks and Riptides plus a Crisis block and nasty Characters.
• 6th - Lee Harris - Chaos Knights & Daemons: (Mostly) Herpetrax War Dogs and Flamers.
• 7th - Brett Urbanowski - Astra Militarum: Old guard with Gunnery/Spotter tanks and Infantry and a Scion detachment for extra board control.
• 8th ✪ - Andrew Whittaker - Astra Militarum: Gunnery/Spotter Guard with the more unusual choice of a trio of Wyverns alongside the Tank Commanders and Russes.
• 9th ✪- Marcus Johnson - Orks: Goff Pressure with Meganobz in a Battlewagon instead of a third Kill Rig.
• 10th - Jaime Paris - Tyranids: Kraken Pressure with lots of Raveners and a pair of Harpies.
• 11th - Collin Watts - Chaos Daemons: Monster mash and Flamers, taking Be'lakor, an Indomitable Bloodthirster and a Keeper, so maximising the speedy melee angle on the big threats..

Feliz Exterminatus

55-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Saint Robert, Missouri, US on December 03 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

This event was running new Guard as keeping Vehicle Armour of Contempt from the Balance Dataslate, and losing everything else from it.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Tear Down Their Icons

Chris Campbell - Chaos Knights: Herpetrax Knights with a buffed Abominant and Desecrator.

vs.

Dan Sammons - Astra Militarum: A smorgasbord of the nastiest toys in the guard book, centred around three units of Kasrkin and lots of plasma Russes.

Thoughts

Ah, welp, here it is - that sure does look like pretty much exactly the Guard list we're all slightly worried about. Three units of Kasrkin to buff to the gills and unleash frankly traumatic amounts of damage once Solar buffs them up, plasma Russes and a Gatekeeper Tank Commander for ranged blasting, and infantry and Sentinels to fill. Also, a Deathstrike, which may or may not be a meme (jury still slightly out) but definitely puts the fear of Missile into the opponent. The damage output from this army is extreme if it can draw a bead on the enemy, and the Russes are very durable in response (and while I don't think they're likely to keep AoC in the long term, all this list has to do is spend 25 extra points on Armoured Tracks to get the same deal where it really matters). I like the use of an Ogryn Bodyguard to make one of the Command Squads much more durable as well, as this helps a lot with locking in Inflexible Command and Boots on the Ground.

So, the question is "can the toughest Chaos Knight you can build stand up to this", and unfortunately the somewhat alarming answer is no, not even slightly - Dan's back three games apparently consisted of rapidly annihilating whatever his opponent put down, and with big Knights not being able to hide from the plasma/Gatekeeper onslaught, this game was the most one-sided of the three. Once the big Knights are down, multiple units of Kasrkin that can pick up two Armigers at a time means there's very little way for the Knights to pull back without their heavy hitters, and I'm afraid this does feel like one of those games you could play ten times and get a pretty consistent result. Guard vs Knights is a notoriously challenging matchup to balance, since both have big guns and big targets, but you definitely want big Knights to be at least playable and if a popular matchup ends up always being this one-sided, they kind of aren't. It's still early days, but some of the units in the Guard build here are definitely straight onto the watch list.

Result

Astra Militarum Victory - 99 - 42

Dan Sammons - Astra Militarum - 1st Place

Kasrkin Kill Team. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

See showdown

Archetype

All the best guard toys, really no other way to put it that I can think of. Although.... Hey. Hey if you're that guy in the comments who hates when I call things "goodstuff". Look at me. Meet my eyes. Born Soldiers Goodstuff.

Thoughts

Very little of this should be even slightly surprising if you read our Guard review or have paid any attention to online content since the book landed. Kasrkin with stacked buffs are absolute nightmares, able to reliably split fire and tag 6MW and a bunch of AP-3 saves into multiple targets, one of the squads can teleport into position to pop off, and Dan's use of Recon Operators on one squad here helps stage another. Meanwhile Russes are now very good on rate in general, and extremely good in the case of the plasma build or Gatekeeper (some builds also sport one Vanquisher to scare enemies). Sentinels are pleasingly inexpensive early pawns, the Secondary game is pretty good, and you need to be packing some serious guns to take this out fast, not a feat that anyone managed to achieve. Dan has a very good track record of zeroing in on the best builds quickly, and anyone planning to take to the field with the guard should probably be starting from this as an example of what to do (tweaking a few things to add Armoured Tracks if you aren't getting AoC). Well done to Dan on the win.

Brent Simon - Chaos Daemons - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Daemon Vehicle Spam

Thoughts

Brent proves that his run at the US Open Kansas City wasn't any kind of fluke, racking up an undefeated run with his unique Daemon Vehicle spam build. The list works by putting surprisingly tough units into a lot of different parts of the board, and packing enough lethal counterattack potential that it can punish whatever the opponent tries to do about it, pushing through lots of points on Reality Rebels and Warpcraft while it does so. I suspect a huge number of opponents underestimate the power of the army, and it's fantastic to see something so wildly out there continue to perform.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd - Stephen Henderson - Tyranids: A rare strain of Leviathan with the Exoskeletal Stablisation Feed Adaptation, allowing the big unit each of Termagants and Warriors to stay shooty as they speed round the board.
• 4th - Mycroft Holmes - Orks: A very fluffy Snakebite list going for big units of Beast Snaggas alongside Squighogs and Kill Rigs.
• 5th - Sean Dilley - Word Bearers: A big Terminator brick, Possessed and some Noise Marines backing them up, and swolen squads of Accursed Cultists to contest objectives early on.
• 6th - Chris Campbell - Chaos Knights: Herpetrax with the classic Abominand/War Dog/Desecrator setup.
• 7th - Howard Watts - Ultramarines: A gunline of Bobby G, Tigurius and a whole bunch of Dreadnoughts.
• 8th - Nicholas Rupel - Chaos Knights: House Vextrix gets a look in as well, combining a Desecreator with a large number of War Dogs (mostly shooty but with three Karnivores to rush the enemy).
• 9th - Don Plumlee - Tyranids: Kraken Pressure with lots of Spore Mine generation thanks to Biovores and a Sporocyst.
• 10th - Kyle McCord - Imperium: An honestly extremely scary looking mixed Imperium build, taking the best toys from the new Guard book (Solar, Barbicant Kasrkin, Gatekeeper and plasma Russes) and adding in Dreadknights and Interceptors from Grey Knights to control the board and unlock Warpcraft options.

GT Benéfico ~ ¡Todo Por Ellos!

40-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, ES on December 03 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Alberto Nicolas - Orks - 1st Place

Ork Beastboss on Squigosaur. Credit: Magos Sockbert

The List

Archetype

Horde Deathskulls

Final Round Matchup

99 - 90 Victory against Miguel Keko - Tyranids.

Thoughts

It's a good week to be green, with a second top finish for a very hordey Ork build. Compared to Brian's from Leicester, this sacrifices some of the raw killing power that Goffs represent for a solution to the ObSec problem - being Deathskulls. That makes shutting down opposing scoring early a cinch thanks to all the Kommandos and Stormboyz, and the list backfills some damage output by incorporating Kill Rigs. If the opponent is scrambling to prise the main body of the list out of their lines the Rigs can provide an overwhelming second wave, and having them sporting the Deathskulls anti-mortal trait is also very valuable against lots of popular lists. In a Thousand Sons-heavy world I think there's a good chance this is the way to go with this army over Goffs, and if that proves to be true, congratulations to Alberto for being ahead of the curve.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Miguel Keko - Tyranids: Leviathan Carnifex Spam.
• 3rd - OuX ™ - Imperial Knights: Imperialis Freeblade Lance with an Errant to hand out Advance/Charge like candy to a bunch of Armigers.
• 4th - Raven ??? - Harlequins: Twilight Saedath with a big melee Skyweaver squad alongside the boats and Troupes.
• 5th - Jua-Diego Wendigo - Chaos Daemons: Khorne-heavy Monster Mash, taking Skarbrand and a Bloodthirster alongside Be'lakor, packing lots of Bloodletters, and only dipping into Tzeentch for...well I'll give you three guesses.
• 6th - Pablo Medina - Harlequins: Twilight Saedath with two decently-sized units of melee Skyweavers.
• 7th - Cajolin Waif - Blood Angels: Go-wide Blood Angels with Astaroth.

Heroes Of The Mid-Table

34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Langley Twp, BC, CA on December 03 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Alex Macdougall - Forces of the Hive Mind - 1st Place

Genestealers. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Final Round Matchup

94 - 74 Victory against Christopher Weatherford - Adeptus Custodes.

Thoughts

The master of the Hive Mind returns, mixing up the Kraken Pressure formula by bringing along some Twisted Helix friends, and honestly that seems pretty sound. Tyranid Secondaries are mediocre at best, and bringing some cheap cult infantry along provides a bunch of help scoring either Shadow Operations or Behind Enemy Lines while the opponent is figuring out how to navigate a board full of Raveners, Warriors and Spore Mines, and the Magus provides handy additional flex between Warpcraft and throwing out Fight Last, something that a melee-heavy army like this is very keen on. The Purestrain unit rocketing across the board early on is also a natural fit for the Kraken plan - it ensures the opponent starts the game on the back foot pretty much all the time, and if it can spike out a key threat while doing so, all the better. Great to see Hive Mind combo out and about, so well done to Alex, and I guess we'll soon find out if there's anything sneaky that Astra Militarum can bring to the servants of the star gods too.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Brendan McKenzie - Adepta Sororitas: Bloody Rose with heftier units of Retributors, 10/5/5 Zephyrim and a Sacresant brick.
• 3rd - Liam Bath - Necrons: Extra Crunchy ObSec Necrons with Wraiths and Lychguard, plus the Void Dragon.
• 4th - Christopher Weatherford - Adeptus Custodes: Emissaries Imperatus leaning on the Shield Host style rather than Into the Darkness (which it doesn't have enough CP for), using Pyrasite Spears and a big block of Shieldguard to lock down the table. Pyrasite units seem like a decent shout at the moment, as if gives you a much better shot at cracking through Knights, who can give Custodes huge trouble by out ObSeccing them with Bondsman abilities up.
• 5th - Mike Garcia - Adeptus Custodes: Another more unusual Custodes build, taking Solar Watch with Sally Forth and four big infantry blocks. Here, Aquilon Custodians provide the punch to scare off an Armiger, as they can comfortably go through one even with Damage Reduction up.
• 6th - Darren Thibault - Genestealer Cult: Industrial Cult with massive numbers of Infantry, a decent number of Bikes, and an Iconward to punish anyone who doesn't manage to wipe a whole unit.

Wrap Up

Make sure to come back on Friday for more Guard, more Votann and more Showdowns - we've got plenty more to talk about, and you don't want to miss it.

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