Last week was a big old upheaval for competitive 40K thanks to the release of the first Balance Dataslate, and thanks to the intrepid players and TOs at Northern Warlords, this week, we get a first glimpse of the new metagame in action. Players voted overwhelming to adopt the changes and re-submit lists, so we're promoting that event to an honorary major as the biggest showcase of what's on the horizon. Elsewhere, a few other events adopted small parts of the changes, but none of the army construction or points update, so we'll need to wait till this weekend's Austin roadshow to see the impacts landing at the supermajor scale. That said, we do have some excitement from Da Boyz thanks to a victorious debut for the Black Templars codex, so there's plenty to talk about this week. Let's dive on in.

As ever, the big list of archetypes is available here, and lists that went into the final round undefeated/otherwise in position to win an event are marked with a ✪. The other thing is that Lists of the Week is delaying its return till next week for the honestly much happier reason that by and large the lists I was most excited by this week made it into the major top fours.

Northern Warlords

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. This event was using a modified 20-0 scoring system for tie breaking within win brackets only.

Mani Cheema - Tyranids - 1st Place

Hive Guard. Credit: Rockfish

The List

The Standout Features

• All the buffs that Tyranids can lay hands on, slammed straight onto Hive Guard.
• Unchecked Ferocity and Genestealers provide flensing melee power when a counter-charge is needed.
• Genestealer Cults provide blips for turn 1 movement meddling, objective play and a stratagem counter.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

We saw a first sight of a post-Octarius Leviathan list last week, and as ever Mani has taken one of the core strengths of the new builds, which is how good they make Hive Guard, and experimented with what happens if you go as hard as possible on that. A full 18 impaler-cannon wielding bugs, buffed by either Swarm Leader or the more usual Kronos tricks and added Bioweapon Bond, duly reported for duty, and put a stamp on the new metagame by successfully blasting five opponents off the table.

There's honestly not that much to say about that bit of the plan - everyone knows massed indirect fire is very good, but it's not the only trick the list has up its sleeve. The Octarius Leviathan supplement was fantastic news for Genestealers as well, as in addition to Swarm Leader they get the ability to flex across to the Kraken trait on demand with Hyper Adaptation and can blend pretty much any target they slam into when you stack Relentless Flurry and Unchecked Ferocity. The latter buff there is a neat addition - this list already wants a Tyranid Prime as the cheapest caddy for relics/warlord traits, so why not throw that on if you've got the points? Being able to tear almost anything to shreds is vital to the Genestealers ability to project threat - they ensure that anything that dares come close to the Hive Guard (often important to stopping them) is going to get punished mercilessly in response.

Finally, and also helping with Hive Guard protection, we have the 4AE detachment. I wasn't originally going to spend too much time on these, but now it's been announced that the GSC codex has been delayed till January, this old add-on will be around for a bit longer. A small 4AE detachment is a phenomenal combo with Hive Guard, as they massively shore up the list's vulnerability to early charges. Pay a CP for extra blips with Scanner Decoys and you can create a barrier on the edge of your deployment zone that the opponent can't end their first turn moves within, no matter how fast they are. Start the Hive Guard far enough back from that and they're not getting charged out the gate unless the opponent has a Psychic Phase move. Alternatively, if they're relying on some sort of Advance/Charge stratagem, A Plan Generations in the Making is available to shut that down and leave the perpetrator awkwardly swinging in the wind, ready to be brutally eaten by Genestealers. Don't need any of that? Then you get three naturally Deep Striking units for ROD. So much value, and expect to see this in a lot of Hive Mind lists at least until the new book comes out.

"Some sort of answer to Hive Guard" definitely appears to be the next thing you need to be packing in most of your armies (even if most lists aren't quite as all-in as this one), and it looks like Tyranids are about to get another run near the top of the metagame. I'll be fascinated to see if this is what Mani is bringing to Austin (Hive Guard should excel on the plexisquare boards), and congratulations to him for adding "first event win of the new meta" to his long list of accomplishments.

Jason Roberts - Necrons - 2nd Place

Necron Ophydian Destroyers. Credit: Colin Ward.

The List

Archetype

C'tan Eternal Expansionists

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Hell yeah Necrons! It's great to see skeleton success straight out of the gate after their buffs, and not too surprising that it's with a build that's already got some pedigree, which is dual C'tan Eternal Expansionists. The fundamental plan here is that the speedy ObSec Canoptek stuff gives you the ability to dominate the early primary scoring, while the C'tan can afford to stay more cautious for long enough that by the time they get stuck in the opponent can't kill them past their Necrodermis, and they give you ten free To the Last points. Two C'tan and 10 Wraiths are the core of that plan, and you can fill to taste from there, with this build going for a large Warrior blob and more Scarabs for objective stealing.

It is fair to say that this build doesn't lean that hard in on the actual upgrades Necrons got, but they're not irrelevant either, doing a few key things. First up, Wraiths were already the unit that was kind of carrying a lot of builds, and CORE makes them even better, allowing one unit to slam into the enemy at +1 to hit (My Will Be Done) and S7 (Disruption Fields), which significantly increases their breadth of appropriate targets (and giving them a real chance at punking a Dreadknight that's been softened up with C'tan powers). It also allows you to stack Relentless March on top of Protocol of the Sudden Storm for a 14" move on turn 1, combining with the Relentlessly Expansionist move to get them 20" up the board and still able to charge, making it even harder to hide from them than it already was. That's obviously very good for an army that wants to play disruption early on, and Wraiths will continue to be an absolute mainstay of pretty much every flavour of Necron army (it is not a coincidence that there are two boxes of them sitting on my painting table waiting for this column to be done).

The other new members of the CORE club on show here are Flayed Ones and Ophydian Destroyers, and the big deal for these (beyond Disruption Fields also being extremely good on the Ophydians) is that being CORE unlocks the ability to perform the Ancient Machineries action. This is a pretty good secondary held back from greatness by there being limited numbers of natural Deep Striking units that can accomplish it (or at least ones that you don't hate having in your list, sorry Deathmarks). Now both these units can contribute it's far more tractable, and gives flexibility to not choose ROD against opponents with good screening or to use it on maps where you can lock it in on a close objective to draw the opponent into the C'tan's grasp.

Eternal Expansionists builds were narrowly clinging on to relevance before the Balance Slate arrived, so providing a few extra nudges like this is great news for them. It's also worth considering that one of their problems was that they particularly struggled against high damage alpha strike builds, as they need to be able to stay on the table for a while to make their plan work. Combining a few upgrades with a more welcoming metagame (though all Hive Guard isn't great) will hopefully see a few more showings for the Dynasties, and great job Jason for kicking that off.

Dan Bates - Adepta Sororitas - 3rd ✪ Place

Credit: Evan "Felime" Siefring

The List

Archetype

Martyred Lady

Why it's Interesting in 9th

In third place we have Dan showing off one of the more unusual Sisters builds out there, which is Martyred Lady. We saw Stephen Box putting in some good work with this a few months back, and because it has quite a lot to offer in team events it's starting to increase in popularity in the WTC-adjacent parts of the UK metagame. What the list brings to the table compared to the more conventional builds is that it's extremely tenacious at fighting for the table - it has multiple ways to apply ObSec to Sacresants (the Dogmata and the Death Before Disgrace stratagem) and multiple ways to make to make the opponent pay when they try and chew through the units (Rejoice the Fallen and A Martyr's Duty).

All of these are priced to move, and Sororitas units tend to be pretty cost efficient damage dealers anyway, meaning that it can be extremely difficult to pull ahead of this army on value. Adding further to that is the Order Conviction, which as well as buffing units after they lose models also ensures a steady tide of Miracle dice as trade units like Repentia and Zephyrim are loaded up with ObSec and sent off to die in the most annoying fashion possible.

That powers all the normal Sororitas nonsense, and building up a stash of dice helps power the final unique trick, which is the Blade of Sacrifice super Canoness. Going full buff mode on her sees her swinging with 6 attacks at S6, re-rolling everything and every successful wound automatically doing two Mortals instead of normal damage, which represents one of the few character threats on par with Succubi, and is fantastic for bypassing good invulns. Word of the Emperor ensures she gets a chance to swing almost all of the time, having The Passion on cranks the damage ceiling even higher (not forgetting you can use an Act of Faith to auto-hit on a 6 to guarantee at least one extra), and as long as you have three Miracle Dice banked you can get her back up on 3W with Divine Intervention ready to do it all again the first time she dies. In a list that's already going to bleed the opponent badly over time, this can be a final big swing to push a game into this list's corner.

It's great to see a wide variety of Sisters lists performing right now, and they should be well placed to flourish going forward - the faction is well designed and flexible, but wants to play an interactive game and so could struggle into the blowout AdMech and Ork builds. With those taken down a notch, the field is ripe for Sisters to take a big swing at the meta, and it's worth highlighting that Dan's final round loss to Mani was a pretty close thing. Very cool stuff overall, look forward to seeing more from this list!

Josh Roberts - Iron Hands Successors - 4th Place

Rainbow Warriors Relic Contemptor with Volkite Culverins by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

The List

Archetype

Iron Hands Successors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Minotaur Iron Hands Successors are another big winner from the updates almost by default, because they were one of the few builds powerful enough to take a proper swing at the top armies beforehand, and stay just as strong as ever. Fantastic early shooting, multiple Bodyguardable Character Dreadnoughts that can lumber up the board with impunity then cause havoc in melee, and enough speedy units to control the board and slam massive, Chapter Tactic-boosted melee damage into whatever is annoying you, and Josh has added some extra weight on that front by going for a murder Chaplain, ideal for zooming around a ruin and knocking over an entire unit of Hive Guard.. The fact that we've seen lots from this list even in the last few months is a testament to its strength, and it goes into the new metagame as one of the armies to beat. Good stuff from Josh.

The Rest of the Best

Two more players finished on 4-1. They were:

• 5th - Mark Crombleholme - Drukhari: Grotesques and Talos galore in this extremely Covens-heavy Drukhari build, which also packs in a few Cronos to set up Pain Syphon and Drazhar because he remains Drazhar.
• 6th - Mark Wildman - Drukhari: Lots of experimental stuff on show here, with Cursed Blade Hellions joined by Dark Creed Grotesques and a newly cheaper Ravager, all in a Realspace Raid.

Warzone Atlanta

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. This event was using player-placed terrain, and from a few discussions it sounds like this weakened lists running lots of non-flying vehicles quite a bit. The event was also using Path to Victory standings.

Jack Harpster - Grey Knights - 1st Place

Grey Knight Nemesis Dreadknights. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Jack takes the Art of War trophy cabinet one step further along the road to complete structural failure by absolutely smashing this event with his Grey Knights, finishing two wins clear of his closest competitor.

While there aren't any massive surprises on the list, I think it is worth highlighting that this specific Brotherhood combo (Swordbearers/Prescient Brethren) is making a pretty credible play for a place as the "best" build. Combining the Swordbearers ability to spike out high value opposing targets with the Prescient Brethren operating on high gear all the time thanks to the incredible power of Foresight with Prescience to power it seems to offer the highest consistent value that Grey Knights can achieve. I do still like the brutality of the Blades of Victory version, but I think the complete package that this build represents does edge it out. This is one of the builds to watch in the new world, and I'm sure we'll see Jack smashing more events with it in the near future - great stuff.

Stephen Mitchell - Adeptus Mechanicus - 2nd Place

Skorpius Disintigrator
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Mars Goodstuff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Pour one out. I'm sure AdMech will be back in a new and powerful form soon enough, but it won't look exactly like this. I do think the presence of three Skorpius Disintegrators in this (very successful) list is a strong sign that we'll be seeing a lot more of them soon enough, as they're still a very decent unit in Mars especially. Congratulations to Stephen for sending his current build off in style.

Jaime Paris - Space Wolves Successors - 3rd Place

Imperial Fists Scout Squad. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Space Wolf Successors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

A fantastic finish from Jaime here that really shows off what Space Wolves do best - board control and objective play - as well as some neat new tricks that he's devised. In terms of the board control stuff we've got the usual suspects on show here - cheap Wolf Guard with access to great supporting stratagems and mid-game Advance/Charge thanks to Hunter, brutal herohammer character seeded among them, and three Cyberwolves as the cheapest Engage/Oaths tools that any marine chapter gets access to.

In a world of Dreadknights and Interceptors, however, the standard Space Wolf board control plan looks a little more fraught because they do, fundamentally, rely on the opponent having at least some things that don't want to be in melee. With every unit in most Grey Knight lists a serious threat to a unit of Wolf Guard, you need other answers for clearing space, and on top of a (larger than normal) unit of Long Fangs this list finds those by seeding a bunch of melta weaponry around, and switching to Master Artisans instead of the more normal Born Heroes as the second part of the Chapter Tactic. I honestly think this is kind of genius - there are Iron Hands lists out there doing the same thing, but the specific move of putting a couple of meltaguns and a hit re-roll on some Wolf Guard is kind of magical. For anything less lethal/durable than Dreadknights the other five models in the squad will still cheerfully flatten them, but being able to spike down one big target with melta then gank the other with the Armour of Russ is great. That extends beyond the Wolf Guard - Space Wolf/Successor Scout Squads get the unique ability to take a meltagun in addition to the Sergeant's gun, so two Land Speeder storms are zipping around and adding two more melta shots each and further improving the objective game.

That's super cool, and exactly the sort of innovative thinking we love to see here. It doesn't make the Grey Knights matchup a freebie by any means (it looks like Jaime was 1-1 against them over the weekend), but finding a way to mitigate a weak matchup with tools that still contribute to your strenghts is a real pro move. Great stuff, looking forward to seeing more of this build in action.

Mark Perry - Freebooterz - 4th Place

Killa Kans. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Freebooterz

Why it's Interesting in 9th

While it's from an archetype that was squarely in the crosshairs of the Balance Dataslate, this build is pretty likely to have some enduring relevance as it really isn't a million miles away from remaining legal in the new world, as it's already only using two planes and only needs to find a replacement for three individual buggies (and/or mob them up). Straight swapping one for a Boosta Blasta gets you a third of the way there too, and this build should definitely still be a force to be reckoned with from next week, even if all it does is add a Boosta Blasta and a couple of Warbiker units.

It manages this because it's trying out some new tech. Deffkoptas have been on the rise as more people have gotten them painted and discovered that they're just really good for their cost (especially as they give you a tool you can hold in reserve for free), but it's the Killa Kanz that really stand out as something new. I'm glad to see these getting a runaround at last, because they looked great out of the codex in the exact role they've got here - extra pressure. For your 135pts you get a huge number of 3+ save Ramshackle wounds, and with (essentially) a heavy flamer strapped to each and some dangerous melee attacks they're not something the opponent can afford to ignore. The inclusion of a Waaagh Banner Nob to babysit them is cute too - poor melee accuracy is one of their drawbacks, but +1 to hit goes a long way to solving that, and unlike Warbosses the Banner hands this out to non-CORE units.

The list also gets some neat extra value out of that model by strapping on the Ded Shiny Shoota, a pretty solid addition to the ranks of relics that provide enough killing power that you kind of just take it when you can, and that's especially true in Freebooterz where it's both good as an option to kick the buff off and benefits meaningfully from it if you start elsewhere. That's also another place that the Killa Kanz are handy - if your opponent feeds something to their Skorchas, that's essentially a freebie Competitive Streak for the turn, as while Gretchin can't benefit from the Kultur, any Freebooterz unit triggers the buff.

Cool stuff overall, and hopefully Mark's success here (plus the other Ork build we'll be looking at later on) should help to reassure Greenskin players that there's plenty of Waaagh energy left in their book. A great performance by another Art of War all-star.

The Rest of the Best

Four more players finished on 6-2. They were:

• 5th - Sean Nayden - Aeldari: A new twist on mixed Aeldari from Sean here that looks designed to maximise the value from player-placed terrain, as it's using three squads of Dark Reapers specced for high damage shooting, a bunch of War Walkers and some transport-bound Drukhari. It's certainly interesting, but I probably wouldn't want to run it out on most terrain maps, Drukhari/Craftworld soup takes a big hit from the Balance Dataslate (as the reason you were taking Drukhari was the cost-efficiency of their trade units) and the fact that the losses this picked up were against Grey Knights and Mark's mostly-still-legal Freebooterz list suggests its prospects going forward aren't stellar.
• 6th - Seth Piper - Orks: The Kill Rig makes its presence known with a very strong showing for what's very nearly a pure Beast Snagga Snakebite list. Three Kill Rigs loaded with Beast Snagga Boyz, Mozrog and a vanilla Squigosaur, filled out with Squighogs and Rukkatrukks to taste. Looks incredibly brutal, and that won't be the last we see from the Kill Rig this week.
• 7th - John Lennon - Hive Mind: Leviathan with a 4AE add-on, getting in all the juicy Hive Guard buffs and having plenty of points left over for lots of Genestealers and Devourer Gaunts.
• 8th - Hunter Nichols - Space Wolf Successors: More Space Wolf Successors, more extra meltaguns snuck into the list, this time in the hands of some units of Skyclaws. Standard stuff for the archetype beyond that.

Da Boyz GT

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

Kevin Roach - Black Templars - 1st Place

Black Templars High Marshal Helbrecht. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

The Standout Features

• Black Templars land in style with a major win.
• Buffed-up Crusader Squads rush up the field to drown the opponent in chainsword attacks.
• Redemptors squeeze maximum value from Uphold the Honour of the Emperor.
• Ultra-tank Chaplain soaks up pretty much anything thrown at him.
• VanVets and Eradicators squeeze even more value from the Codex.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Hell yeah! The Black Templars book is one of my favourites of the edition thus far, so it's fantastic to see it land an early big win, and sporting plenty of the fancy new Primaris Crusaders to boot.

This army leans in hard on new tricks in general. Most obvious out the gate, the new (and excellent) new versions of Grimaldus and Helbrecht are here, leading a trio of Redemptor Dreadnoughts to war. Redemptors are one of Marines best units in general, and adding a 5+ invulnerable save from Uphold the Honour of the Emperor, 6+ ignore wounds from Grimaldus, aggressively priced Chapter Master and the ability to become ObSec on demand with Strength of Conviction makes them all-star powerhouses, and realistically every Templars list should start with two or three.

That was pretty obvious as soon as we looked at the book though, so let's see what else is here. First up, the Tannhauser's Bones Chaplain looks to be just as vicious as predicted, and in fact this list finds a way to make him even more of a nightmare to kill by slapping on Iron Resolve (extra wound and a 6+ FNP). Since he also has the ability to put up both Canticle and Litany of hate at the same time thanks to Bombastic Delivery, he can just chill out in the mid board tying down the opponent's best unit while the rest of the army operates on turbo mode around him. This guy is going to be everywhere, so make sure you learn to remember that For The Emperor's Honour exists so you don't get blown out by it.

In terms of what he's buffing, a souped up VanVet unit with a Champion of the Feast Sergeant and the Icon of Heinmann isn't shocking, as it makes an already great unit exceptional, but seeing 3x10 Primaris Crusaders is something of a pleasant surprise. The melee build of these did look like the most promising, as it provides you with an unusually cheap way to stack up wounds and astartes chainsword attacks, and it looks like that's enough to get there with the right buffs. Specifically, in addition to Grimaldus' aura and Uphold, this list sports a Judiciar (also a unit that loves an essentially free 5+ invuln) with the Aurellian Shroud to shield the horde from an enemy alpha strike, and threatens to juice them up to the max on the offensive with Psalm of Remorseless Persecution, pretty much the ideal buff for volume attackers. Add in the fact that Grimaldus guarantees they go pretty fast out the gate, and these represent substantial enough pressure in combination with the Redemptors to justify a position in the list. One squad also has the Sword of Judgement to really put the fear of Sigismund into whoever they charge.

The last neat trick the list has up its sleeve is using the new version of Devout Push with Eradicators. With careful positioning, this can now let you do a very lightweight version of Fire and Fade through a wall, and a small squad like Eradicators is perfect for doing this. They add a bit of extra spike damage for any matchups where the Redemptors aren't getting things done, and when you can protect them become a strong choice.

All told, this is a strong indication that the Templars fancy new toys are at the real deal to at least some degree, and I can't wait to see more spins on this flavourful and strong book out and about. A fantastic win from Kevin.

Brad Chester - Grey Knights - 2nd ✪ Place

Grey Knights Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Pipped to the top spot by a single victory point, Brad takes a very strong second place with another iteration on Grey Knights, this time going hard on amping up Fight Phase capabilities by packing both the Prescient Brethren and the Rapiers. I think I stand by my assertion that the PB/Swordbearers build is slightly stronger, but what this fundamentally demonstrates is that there are merits to a variety options, and you can tune as needed depending on the metagame and/or terrain you expect. If, for example, I knew an event was going to have particularly heavy Obscuring terrain, the balance might swing towards this choice over the Swordbearers, but on lighter or player-placed setups you definitely want to be able to exploit the firing lines. Ultimately, in the hands of the Art of War team, both versions were able to take major top four slots, so congratulations to Brad.

Matthew Bailey - Thousand Sons - 3rd Place

Tzaangor Enlightened. Credit: Mike Bettle-Shaffer

The List

Archetype

Duplicity/Time Pressure

Why it's Interesting in 9th

This combo continues to look like the strongest option available from the Thousand Sons book, combining the extra tough to shift Cult of Time Scarabs with the additional alpha strike/mobility capabilities of the Cult of Duplicity (especially on warpflamer Rubricae), allowing the list to brutally maximise the first turn when it gets it, and providing plenty of depth with which to win the game when it doesn't. This build leans slightly harder towards depth than pure pressure, sporting a ten-model Time Rubricae squad as a backup place to drop all the reanimation abilities if the opponent manages to spike out the Scarabs, Rhinos for protection from indirect fire and heavy psycannons in deployment, and cheap units of Enlightened as minimal harrassment/Engage units. I can definitely believe that with some of the strongest alpha strike builds in the metagame somewhat de-fanged we'll see more armies making the choice to build for the longer game, and if you're a Thousand Sons fan this is a fantastic list to use as your baseline. Excellent work from Matthew (who finished 4.5-0.5).

Dante Thunderstone - Chaos Space Marines - 4th Place

Terrax-Pattern Termites. Credit: Pendulin

The List

The Standout Features

• So many guns and so many re-rolls.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Is it complicated? No. Is getting a top four with pure Chaos Space Marines awesome? Absolutely yes. This list has one plan - unleash the turn two alpha strike to end all alpha strikes thanks to the combination of a spectacular number of Volkite and Noise Marine shots with the Remnant of the Maraviglia. All of these love wound re-rolls very, very much, and while it's absolutely an all-in gameplan, it's one that's vicious enough to work, even in the pre-nerf metagame. I'm sort of vaguely hoping that you don't need to build lists like this to try and succeed in the new world we're going into, and the lack of AP on most of the shooting does leave this looking dicey against Grey Knights (it lost into Brad Chester's list), but it does serve as a startling reminder that if you find the right combination of units from an older book you can pull some wild combos. A super cool concoction from Dante.

The Rest of the Best

Eight more players finished on 4-1. They were:

• 5th - Jeffrey Hanson - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, Swordbearers and Prescient.
• 6th - Michael Fox - Death Guard: Mortarion's Anvil Blightlord Bomb with the big man himself also floating around.
• 7th - Luke McCarthy - Drukhari: Venom spam.
• 8th ✪ - Thomas Bojanowski - Adeptus Mechanicus: Lucius Veteran Cohort with lots of Onagers backing up the infantry and Fusilaves. Onagers are another unit to watch, as they've also been quietly pretty good since the book landed, just outclassed by the best of the best.
• 9th - Joseph Dragonetti - Adepta Sororitas: Argent Shroud shooting and Sacresants alongside Bloody Rose trade units.
• 10th - David Koszka - Adeptus Mechanicus: An unusual Metalica list with a couple of units of Electro Priests (one of each) and some Kataphron Breachers backing up some more routine options.
• 11th ✪ - Isaac Scharp - Death Guard: Terminus Est Poxwalker horde gets its first successful outing for a while, with a whole bunch of Terminators providing a rock solid second wave for the army.
• 12th - Neil Burns-Morales - Orks: Triple Kill Tank and a whole bunch of buggies. Definitely pretty funny, plausibly improved post-Balance Dataslate as it has weaker competition.

Westminster Hobbytown GT (major)

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. This event was using Path to Victory scoring.

Marshall Peterson - Orks - 1st Place

Kill Rig. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Mech Orks (new addition)

Why it's Interesting in 9th

It's Kill Rig Time. Now that enough time has passed for players to actually get these theoretical lists painted up we're starting to see them perform at events, and Marshall is right at the forefront of that with his brutal Goff/Deathskull build. At it's heart the plan here is a simple one - run your opponent down with loaded Kill Rigs and Trukk Boyz - but there are some kunnin' subtleties in there too. Full units of Goff Kommandos are seeing quite a bit of play, because in this clan they can flex seamlessly between the standard role of providing early objective control and being a genuinely scary melee unit. They also provide weight of early numbers that can start up the table when the list wants to absolutely go for it, which is very valuable to the overall plan. Finally on this front, Squighogs are pretty pushed for the price, and as Goffs they can just detonate something when they need to by turning on exploding fives, so a couple of units is a good thing to have in the back pocket.

"Start closer to the enemy" is about as subtle as Goffs get, but the Deathskulls are a bit more sneaky and help to give this list an excellent mid-game plan. Specifically, in addition to two units of Stormboyz (just all-round great utility units), this detachment crafts two of the toughest characters it possibly can, which combines with the natural ObSec of this clan to turn them into brutal Primary trump cards. If the opponent is short of ObSec units (and the weight of attacks from the Goffs will trivially carve up most Troops options) then it can be incredibly difficult to control scoring against this army, allowing it to reliably win by massive margins. I'm not just speculating there either - across five rounds, no opponent scored higher than 45pts against this list, and three picked up scores in the 20s, which is pretty wild for a list that definitely isn't built around blasting the opponent off the table in two turns.

Freebooterz have dominated the Ork conversation since the book landed, but with those getting taken down a peg and Kill Rigs finally migrating from painting tables to tournament tables, builds like this are ready to make a serious play for leadership of the global Waaagh. Congratulations to Warboss Peterson for leading the charge into a new mechanised Orky future.

Sensei Swag - Imperial Knights - 2nd Place

Imperial Knight Castellan. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

The Standout Features

• The House Raven Castellan goes for its regularly scheduled walkabout.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Nothing super complicated here, but seeing Knights doing well prior to their upgrade should be an encouraging sign for their players. Raven is one of the three basic directions you can take pure Knights at the moment (with Krast and Freeblades) being the other two, and their appeal is that they support the Castellan the best. You get access to Kolossi Eternal to provide a reasonably cost-efficient way to bump it up to a 4+ invulnerable turn one, letting you invest your trait in Cold Eradication, and popping Order of Companions on one remains extremely funny to this day. Two Magaeras specced for durability is the logical combo with that, as they can ride out in front to keep the enemy away from the Castellan while it does its wicked work. Finally, three Warglaives provide some bodies to play for objectives, and I guess the other notable thing here is that this army won't need the Freeblade Armiger for ObSec any more (though could still choose to bring one as a Mysterious Guardian).

Knights have definitely got some promise as the metagame turns, and on some level are well placed to benefit from Grey Knights being good, as a third 15pt Secondary is the key thing that's really holding them back from success at events. As we enter the new metagame, this is definitely one of the builds to watch to see if Sensei Swag can make these advantages pay off.

Travis Armstrong - Grey Knights - 3rd ✪ Place

Grey Knights Kill Team. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Dreadknights and Interceptors, Brethren and Rapiers, you know the drill by now. There are a few clever tweaks here - running the basic Dreadknights on just the guns to save points is totally fine, as they're still fine in melee and the shooting is key, taking A Noble Death on the Techmarine can buy you a crucial 5pts if opposing flankers try and steal a home objective from you, and the Psychic Epitome Librarian is a great answer to threats like Drazhar (as I can personally attest to running into a similar built at Coventry). This list really maximises what you can squeeze into an already exceptional archetype, and expect to see more and more builds trying these cunning plans. Good stuff from Travis.

Luke Perkins - Drukhari - 4th Place

Credit: Wings

The List

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Heavily mechanised Drukhari on show here, providing the standard mix of mobile shooting and trade threats that have made the faction so strong for most of the year. While this list could have come off worse from the changes if it had fewer Venoms, it still finds itself needing to shave around a hundred points post Dataslate, and we'll probably see at Austin this weekend whether adapted versions of these Goodstuff builds succeed (and Venom/Ravagerheavy may well be the way to go), or if players pivot fully across to Covens. That's for next week though - for now, congratulations to Luke for rounding out the top four.

The Rest of the Best

Six more players finished on 4-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Colin Kay - Orks: Another Kill Rig build, this one not bothering to load them, instead packing in more terrifying threats like Ghaz and a Mega Dread.
• 6th - Michael Mann - Drukhari: Cronos Drukhari/Goodstuff hybrid. Fares about as badly as possible out of the changes.
• 7th - Chris Van Winkle Can Winkle - Harlequins: The Bikes and Boats classic.
• 8th - Daniel Bradley - Adepta Sororitas: Argent Shroud/Bloody Rose combo.
• 9th - Brandon Roddy - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, with the Wardmakers stepping up to join the Prescient Brethren and providing access to Projection of Purity.
• 10th - Zaak Kerstetter - Imperium: Shadowkeepers backed up by guard, but it's Full Payload Manticores rather than the normal Scions. I can kind of see it - not having enough units to pick off stragglers is a definite issue Custodes can run into, and Manticores will thoroughly solve that problem in a lot of cases.

Gameology Pasadena Old-Town Showdown GT

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

Carlos Kaiser - Adeptus Custodes - 1st Place

Telemon Heavy Dreadnought. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Shadowkeepers

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Look, flying around the battlefield to deal massive alpha strikes is all the rage, so why shouldn't Custodes get in on the action? The Ares is pretty reliant on a vehicle-heavy metagame to get big value out of its guns, but the recent top lists have been pretty favourable on that front, leaving it well poised to ominously float around eradicating buggies, enemy planes and Ironstriders galore. Alongside two Telemons in a list where most of the rest of the value is either a Character or can deep strike, it also represents extremely strong defensive skew - your opponent's choice of what to shoot early on is likely to entirely comprise of T8 Shadowkeepers vehicles, and the army has a big pool of CP with which to power Grim Responsibility and The Emperor's Auspice. Adding a Vexilla Magnifica to this makes it especially strong against Freebooterz, as they don't have any easy targets to pick off and are thus likely to be operating at 6s to hit during their alpha strike.

Having all its best guns on hyper durable chassis should allow it to safely de-fang the opponents best toys early on so that the Venatari can operate safely once they drop, chasing down opposing stragglers while the Telemons finish the job. Two Telemons and an Ares is also a hell of a To the Last pick, forcing your opponent to fire into incredibly durable targets if they want to deny you points, perhaps ignoring the more mobile threats that are chasing down objectives.

This definitely does end up as a skew list, and it's in huge trouble if the opponent goes first and can take out the Ares, but it's definitely not something everyone is going to be prepared for, and robust enough that even the nastiest lists can stumble, especially Freebooterz (which it defeated in the final round). A nice answer to one of the biggest threats from Carlos.

The Rest of the Best

Four more players finished on 4-1. They were:

• 2nd ✪ - Logan Heath - Freebooterz: Four planes, lots of buggies, enjoyable unit names.
• 3rd - Benjamin Briggs - Adeptus Mechanicus: Mars/Lucius with all the viciousness that entails.
• 4th - Derek Page - Dark Angels: A shedload of Terminators of various flavours backed up by a couple of VolCons.
• 5th - Steven Masuta - Death Guard: Mortarion's Anvil Blightlord Bomb.

Maple City GT

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

Randy Brigham - Orks - 1st Place

Kustom Boosta-blasta. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Freebooterz

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Pour another one out. Congratulations to Randy for joining the ranks of players seeing off the old builds in victorious style.

The Rest of the Best

Five more players finished on 4-1. They were:

• 2nd - Luke Bumpus - Adeptus Custodes: Extra mobile Shadowkeepers, with a trio of Pallas Grav-Attacks floating round alongside some Vertus Praetors and the usual suspects.
• 3rd - Kramer Doyle - Drukhari: Drukhari goodstuff.
• 4th - Daniel Kennedy - Drukhari: Cronos/goodstuff hybrid.
• 5th ✪ - Mike Henderson - Adepta Sororitas: Another Engine spam list, this time going big on Penitents, supported by Argent Shroud Retributors and some Valorous Heart objective holders, plus a whole bunch of named characters.
• 6th - Ben Isenhoff - Thousand Sons: Magnus gets in on the action alongside a bunch of powerful Duplicity tools.

Legion Events November

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. This event ran three rounds for everyone and cut to a top four, who played two more.

Joseph Gillespie - Thousand Sons - 1st Place

Thousand Sons Aspiring Sorcerer. Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

The List

Archetype

Time/Duplicity

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The Time/Duplicity combo racks up another top performing build for Thousand Sons, though it's fair to say that this one has a slightly different plan than the standard pressure builds. It's certainly still trading off the ability to throw lots of good stuff in the opponent's face quickly, but rather than going broad with Spawn it's instead gone heavy, aiming to saturate the opponent with 2+ save targets (the Sicarian gets one these days), presumably spike out their best answers with the big Scarab squad, then grind them into dust.

Seems legit, honestly, and while not cheap the Sicarian does look pretty cool in Thousand Sons. A free 5+ save obviously helps it stand up a bit better to dark lances, but the real prize is dropping Ensorcelled Infusion on its autocannons, which makes them a spicy AP-3 D3. Add in Presage and Malefic Maelstrom from the Infernal Master and you've got a spicy killing machine, especially as the latter buff gets it to the crucial S8 breakpoint where it can chew through Ork Vehicles. It's probably not better than the buffs you can drop on VolCons in Thousand Sons, but in a list that's already sporting a bunch of 2+ saves, it's a cute alternative.

Those 2+ saves are coming from lots of Terminators, with two Duplicity MSUs joining the standard big Time block, which doesn't leave room for that much else in the list, but provides exceptionally durable and mobile models to push for objectives, and if the opponent stumbles here this army is ideally placed to exploit it. I think going this hard on Terminators can be risky against armies with lots of melee trade tools, as you're not going to be able to screen them to stop (e.g.) Incubi coming in and cleaning house, so some games are going to be very cagey affairs, but Thousand Sons aren't short of ways to manipulate the situation to their advantage, and have the upside of being able to melt most trade pieces they bait out in the psychic phase.

Being able to operate a slightly different spin on the plan and still win a GT just hammers home that Duplicity/Time should be the default entry point for competitive Thousand Sons lists right now, as they just give you the greatest value to the plans that work. Congratulations to Joseph for showing this off.

The Rest of the Best

Three more players played in the top four. They were:

• 2nd - Jeremy Stan - Adeptus Custodes: Double Telemon Shadowkeepers with a big brick of Shieldguard.
• 3rd - Jesse Carmack - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, Swordbearers/Blades of Victory.
• 4th - Cody Hostuttler - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, Prescient Brethren/Blades of Victory.

Wrap Up

Honestly, my mood after compiling this is a complete turnaround from a few weeks ago, because not only have we gotten the first taste of the new metagame, even at the events that hadn't adopted the updates there were some exciting and innovative new builds on show at the top of the standings. We've got the first big showcase for the new patch at Austin this weekend, and you'd better believe I'll be keeping a close eye on it, so tune back in next week for all the details. Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com.

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