As readers of Monday's Meta Review might have noticed, there's a new sheriff in town. The heavy gatling psilencer is kind of like a six-shooter, and Grey Knights are definitely some flavour of law enforcement, so we're going with that.

For the first time since Drukhari/AdMech took over, we're seeing a new book hit a genuine breakout period. Not enough that it's supplanted the top two, but a more compelling pitch for the third place slot than either Orks or Sisters managed, mostly because they have somewhat better matchups into the big two. After a few weeks of increasing prevalence and decent performances, a bunch of strong players have taken the faction out at once and the results speak for themselves - six top four slots across four majors, including four undefeated runs.

We'll jump into that in just a second, but we're going to start with a new section, reflecting some feedback on the recent format updates. While Grey Knights have thrown a bit of a curveball this week (and diversity is better in general), top fours are still tending to be populated primarily by the usual suspects, with more quirky and out there builds frozen out. Going down to only covering undefeated runs from GTs hasn't helped with that, as more unusual builds generally had a better chance of sneaking into a top four there.

Last week I tried out picking a couple lists that would otherwise be in Best of the Rest sections and giving them a full feature. People seemed to like that, so the change this week is that we're bringing that to the forefront. Before diving into the results every week, I'm going to pick two lists that I go through while preparing Best of the Rest sections (with the option of going a bit deeper down the standings at majors) to highlight lists that are particularly unusual or innovative, and we'll look at those before we go into the regular result roundups.

As ever, if you like this let me know via contact@goonhammer.com, and as a reminder I'm maintaining a list of common archetypes here.

Lists of the Week

This section highlights two lists from Best of the Rest sections that are particularly unusual or innovative.

Ian Harris - Chaos - 2nd Place - Kippers' Melee 40K

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Standout Features

• Obliterator-packed Assault Claw provides a turbo alpha strike.
• Thousand Sons Fire Raptor eats up Presage and Ensorcelled Infusion
• Raptors, Cultists and teleport Rubricae provide some ROD coverage.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

This list caught my eye because of how hilariously all-in it is. There are lots of builds out there at the moment that are built to do massive damage on the first turn, and this army adapts to that reality by being able to hide over half its points in a gigantic super drop pod during deployment. Six Obliterators and the Master of Possession with Daemonsmith can all fit in the Kharybdis, allowing them to lurk in the skies in a leisurely fashion then slam down, buff up, and unleash truly spectacular damage thanks to the extra hits, re-rolls from Infernal Power and a second round of shooting for one squad from Endless Cacophony.

That's a lot of damage (and pretty broadly relevant too), but what if you wanted more? Bring a Fire Raptor of course! Thousand Sons have quite a bit of depth in their book, and one of the things they do well is uplift whatever horrendous Forge World vehicle you're a fan of, as they provide them with a 5+ invulnerable save just for showing up and have numerous buffs that aren't CORE-locked. Presage, Malefic Maelstrom and Sorcerous Infusion are the big standouts here, and mean the Raptor is going to hit like a freight train, further adding to the frankly monstrous damage this army can do out of the gate - lots of armies are just going to evaporate to the onslaught it throws out.

That brings me on to the final thing I like about this list - despite investing a tonne of points in ultra damage combos, it has surprisingly good coverage for secondaries like ROD - both the Rubricae unit and the cultists can redeploy thanks to Sorcerous Facade and Tide of Traitors, and the Raptor unit can cover a tick too. Add a Forgefiend to sit durably on an objective and you've got an army that's not as bad as you might expect at racking up points while the opponent scrambles to deal with the big punches.

All in all, I think this showcases how to make clever use of tools available to build hard towards a plan - every unit has a specific role to play, and the end result is extremely mean. Great stuff.

Todd Morrison - Necrons - 7th Place - Crucible 9 GT

C'tan Shard of the Void Dragon. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Standout Features

• Eternal Expansionists gets mean with double C'tan and some Skorpekh.
• Good To the Last plan when needed.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

This list is more of an evolution of an existing archetype than an entirely new thing, but I particularly like the specific assembly here. The conventional board flood Eternal Expansionist plan has dropped off in popularity as armies have gotten deadlier, because you just can't rely on staying on the table long enough to rack up the points you need. The way to adapt to that has generally been to seed in some more deadly units, but getting the balance between killing power and wound count right can be a tricky needle to thread.

I feel like this list gets the balance pretty much spot on - it's still got lots of mobile tarpit wounds across the two Scarab units (both of which can have an invulnerable save early on from the Chronomancers) and Wraiths. The Wraiths can obviously do a bit of damage, but when more crunch is needed the army has unit of Skorpekh to blender something (ideally hiding them mid board till then) and two C'tan for a big finish. The C'tan fit well into a metagame where shooty alpha strikes are popular, as they're largely impervious to that (though need to watch themselves against Grey Knights), and also provide the list with a good To the Last plan - hide the C'tan and one Wraith unit till late and it's going to be very tricky for most armies to take those points. Vehicles being everywhere also makes the Void Dragon very spicy.

It's no secret that Necrons are really struggling right now, so builds that can give them a fighting chance are always refreshing to see, and I think this is a good example of one of the better armies you can assemble. Very cool from Todd.

Crucible 9 GT (Major)

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

David Ozawa - Grey Knights - 1st Place

Grey Knight Nemesis Dreadknights. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors(ish)

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The thing that's overwhelmingly clear as we head into this week's results, with a lot of Grey Knight builds to look at, is that Dreadknights are more important than Interceptors in driving the faction's success. Interceptors are also an exceptional unit, but every one of the winning builds is running at least four Dreadknights (most five), while the number of Interceptors is tuned up and down depending on what else the particular player wants to squeeze in.

In David's list, rather than going wider on Interceptors he's brought along Purifiers backed by an Apothecary as a bit more of an infantry tarpit, and indeed one that can potentially be very strong in the mirror - Untained and Unbowed to reduce incoming damage by 1 is fantastic against both the shooting and melee of Dreadknights. It also provides the list with some infantry that can much more easily tank an incoming Squigbuggy volley, which can help a lot in the Ork game. In games where there's no specific thing they're countering, an extra burst of psychic firepower in the midgame is hardly going to hurt. It's certainly not definitively better than taking Interceptors, but it neatly demonstrates that all of the melee power armour Grey Knight datasheets are pretty strong, and you can tweak them in and out of the list as the metagame dictates. You won't want to go below two Interceptor squads, as you need enough to fan out for Purifying Ritual early, but once you've got that base covered you can flex a bit.

Elsewhere, the things that catch my eye about this army (and indeed are things we'll see more of) are the fact that not all the Dreadknights have a teleporter (in fact only one does) and that one of the Gate of Infinity casters has the Gem of Inoktu. The key thing you really want to be able to do with Dreadknights is teleport two in a single turn to crush a vulnerable flank, and this setup provides you with a very reliable ability to do that once, and assumes that after completion you can cover your bases with Gate from the Grand Master that jumped from there on out.

This army has definitively fired itself straight onto the list of games you must have a plan for. The Dreadknights will be upon you very quickly, they're a pain to kill and have very broad, very lethal firepower. Thanks to the strength of combining Purifying Ritual with Stranglehold or Engage, Grey Knights also tend to score their secondaries extremely efficiently, and are doing so with units that can take a hit and butcher stuff in melee. My impression from my games against them thus far is that you either want firepower/melee threats you're confident can carve through Dreadknights at pace, or tools to sweep all the power armour off the board very quickly, and to focus on obliterating their ability to contest one flank once they've blown their redeploy, giving the best chance of capping their scoring. It looks like no one managed to pull that off against David though, and when the dust settled he took down the major in style - congratulations.

Nick Nanavati - Grey Knights - 2nd ✪ Place

Grey Knights Strike Squads. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Hot on David's heels (and also undefeated) we have Art of War's Nick Nanavati, running straight down the line of Dreadknights and Interceptors, maxing out on the latter. Nick combines this with going a bit wider on the Dreadknight Teleporters, giving his list some more mobility to react if the opponent tries to pull off a hammer blow on one flank (as suggested above).

In order to pay for that, Nick has made the call to forgo the swords on most of his Dreadknights, sticking to the fists. While the sword build is clearly the strongest all-rounder, if you need to harvest the points this seems totally fine, as what you need from the Dreadknights are durable models that are threats both at range and up close, and they're still clearly ticking that box when throwing punches, just not quite as extravagently. With sword-armed Grandmasters and plenty of Interceptors to prise the regular Knights out of combat with hordes if things go wrong, I suspect this wasn't that much of an issue.

The final thing to highlight here is that there's some real variation in the Brotherhoods being used. Swordbearers and Rapiers do appear to be the most common, but they're not universally picked and plenty of others appear to have a place. Nick's opted for the Prescient Brethren, and the extra ration of CP from Divination can definitely help power all those Teleporters he's spent points on, while Foresight on a GMDK's shooting or melee is extremely vicious. Do make sure to familiarise yourself with whatever specific toys your opponent has access to!

That about wraps this list up - great work from Nick as ever!

Cannon Biggs - Grey Knights - 3rd Place

Grey Knight - Justicar
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors(ish)

Why it's Interesting in 9th

More Dreadknights, more Interceptors, but also more Purifiers and more variety in Brotherhood choices. The Blades of Victory help amp up the already considerable pressure Dreadknights can present by letting a Grand Master and a buddy stroll foreward pre-game with Vanguard Aggression, while the Wardmakers Chaplain provides power-swap flexibility with Masters of the Word plus the ability to ruin some armies days with a well-timed shot from Projection of Purity. In a detachment that's mostly comprised of non-Brotherhood units the opportunity cost for setting this up is relatively low, and Invocation of Focus can further help with setting up a reliable Gate. Given that landing pressure at the right time is even more important if you're going in on the Blades of Victory plan, it's a near setup.

The only other thing to highlight here is the Paladins - these were rather cruelly treated by the point cost gods, but being able to cast Armoured Resilience on themselves very much is their key selling point, and they can definitely become a real pain to prise out of cover (and are another unit with a better story to tell against Ork shooting). At the current price tag I think they're unlikely to be a breakout hit, but it's cool to see them doing some work. Some interesting tools on show from Cannon on the way to third place!

Jack Harpster - Blood Angels - 4th ✪ Place

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Blood Angels Jump Pack Spam

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Filling out our first top four we have a token non-Grey Knight list in the form of Jack's Blood Angels. Jack has been consistently defying metagame trends and racking up strong finishes with the sons of Sanguinius, and this list definitely leans into their strengths. It presents five units (once the VanVets split up) that are extremely fast and will generally annihilate whatever they touch, plus in the case of the Sanguinary Guard are particularly good at carving through other power armoured units, so Grey Knights beware. The units also have some tricks that makes it hard to avoid a fight with them - the Death Company can use Forlorn Fury to land a charge out the gate or move to haunt the mid-board, while the combo of Unbridled Ardour and ObSec from Rites of War makes it extremely trick to take central objectives from the Sanguinary Guard without a fight that they'll likely win.

The other Blood Angels specific trick that Jack is leaning into is Angel's Sacrifice, which can force an opponent to target one of the Blood Angels characters while their melee units put the boot in. Here the Bike Chaplain is designed to maximise effectiveness when doing that, with the Armour Indomitus giving a turn of a 3+ invulnerable for a fighting chance against even the nastiest opponents, and an Adamantine Mantle to make bursting him down with smites non-trivial. It's a very strong strategy and really helps the army get a bit more out of its models, which is vital as fundamentally low model count is always what Blood Angels are running up against. Their units are great, but they aren't super numerous and losing a couple early on can be a disaster. Having a turbo-tank Chaplain minimise the chances of that in style, and the build here is a great combo of Codex and Supplement tools. With these tools in hand, Jack had a real go at pulling an upset for the Blood Angels, only being taken down by Nick in the final round by a pretty slim margin. Great stuff, and a definite beacon of hope for Blood Angels players!

The Rest of the Best

Two more players finished the event on 5-1, and another two on 4-1-1. They were:

• 5th - Quinton Johnson - Drukhari: Drukhari Goodstuff with an extra ration of Wych units for board control.
• 6th - Riley Corbitt - Drukhari: A different Drukhari Goodstuff spin, this time featuring 3x10 Hellions and some Ravagers, notably running the Wych units as Cursed Blade so the Hellions can be S/T5 at the same time.
• 7th - Todd Morrison - Necrons: A spin on killy Eternal Expansionists that's recently gone up in popularity, which running the Void Dragon and Nightbringer along with some Skorpekh for a deadly core.
• 8th - Garrett Befera - Orks: An unusual twist on Blood Axes, running lots of transport-bound infantry alongside some Squighogs and Squigosaurs, finished up with a Deathskulls utility detachment.

Imperium’s Decay (Major)

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

Eric Hoerger - Grey Knights - 1st Place

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

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Jetting over the Atlantic we find that the Dreadknight menace is well and truly on the rampage here too, with Eric taking down a major with a perfect example of the Archetype. No especially complicated configurations here - just four fully tooled Swordbearers DKs and plenty of infantry to control the table while they get the job done. Way back in 8th I got swept off the table by Eric's Talos (Corrode: me too, which made me paint mine!), so he's definitely a man who knows how to make the best use of durable, multi-phase threats, and that's been rewarded by a first place finish here - congratulations Eric.

Simeon Pollard - Imperium - 2nd ✪ Place

Adeptus Custodes Venatari Custodians. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

The Standout Features

• Speedy Shadowkeepers and Guard team up to conquer the table on the double.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Our second undefeated player from this event has taken a recipe that has seen proven success and mixed it up - just what we like to see! Adding a few Scions to a Custodes list for objective utility can be very handy, as it opens up secondaries like ROD much more reliably, allows you to hold home objectives with a less valuable tool than Custodians, and insures against finding yourself just out of stuff on the final few turns.

Often a detachment like the Guard one here is just bolted onto a conventional Custodes build, but Simeon has used the flexibility the Guard provide to unlock a different route - going fast. Vertus Praetors and Venatari are both great units and both pretty well suited to a Grey Knight-heavy metagame, as they can strike from outside of easy engagement range and have weaponry that's effective at cracking open Dreadknights and power armour alike. It's also not like you're investing in stuff that's bad everywhere else - Venatari are probably the best all-round unit the faction gets, while the combination of speed, melee punch, and Stooping Dive means that the bikes can never be safely ignored, while being a pain to take down through various defensive strats.

Going big on Salvo Launchers for the bikes also means that this list is surprisingly good at ranged anti-tank, often one of Custodes' weaknesses. With eight accurate melta missile shots and a couple of Caladius tanks backing them up, stripping out a few high value targets at range is very achievable, and allows the army to neutralise whatever is best at killing Bikes/Galatus dreads then roll the opponent over. One of the ways to beat Custodes is to give them a bit of space and strip away enough of their assets that you can safely overtake them on board control, and against this build that's a far, far riskier strategy, especially as the presence of the Guard means it can probably run on fumes for one turn more than average when things start going wrong.

Conventional Custodes lists are perfectly fine right now, but I really like seeing some alternative innovations that address some of the ways to counter them. Big fan of Simeon's work here, and a well deserved second place.

Keith Wilkinson - Grey Knights - 3rd Place

Grey Knights Army. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another list that plays the archetype extremely straight here, with the main learning point being that the Prescient Brethren stratagem is good enough on any flavour of Dreadknight that you'll happily pack three into that detachment even when not getting much else from it.

Michael Duff - White Scars - 4th Place

White Scars Assault Intercessor Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

The List

Why it's Interesting in 9th

A bit of a blast from the past for our final top four, with Michael reminding us that even if the glory days of White Scars are past, the power level of their tricks is high enough that in the hands of a practiced player they can still run rings around the opponent. Lots of VenVets and Bladeguard to benefit from the Chapter Tactic, Plume, Kor'sarro and Superdoctrine, creating huge pressure, plus Rhino-mounted Devastators to reap full value from Hunter's Fusilade. It's also worth noting the concession to an increasingly psychic metagame in the form of taking Litany of Faith on the Chaplain, something I've seen cropping up on more lists in the last few weeks.

There is one other novel tool here I really like in the form of an incredibly jacked Chapter Champion, who via accumulated buffs is throwing around a minimum of 8 S8 AP-3 D3 attacks in the first round of combat, with full wound re-rolls against Characters, and if those somehow sound like rookie numbers you can push it higher once the Assault Doctrine switches on or if Kor'sarro/the Chaplain are nearby. A 70pt model with a 6" heroic and the numbers to legitimately threaten to one-round a Dreadknight from turn 3 onwards is certainly a thing. It's always great to see a player stamp their own mark on a popular archetype with a unique bit of spice, so congratulations Michael on the 4th place finish.

The Rest of the Best

Seven more players finished up 4-1. They were:

• 5th ✪ - Chris O'Connor - Orks: Freebooterz, but with a definite twist to the norm - bulked up 10 model Kommando units, extra Warbikers and Ghazghkull leading things up, ready to provide big value across the board via his souped up Great Waaagh.
• 6th - Kenneth Knott - Drukhari: Kenneth's unusual Realspace Raid board control build puts up another decent showing, going wide with three solo Talos and lots of transport-bound Infantry.
• 7th ✪ - Rowan Hesse - Chaos: Be'lakor Daemons and Plaguebursts land another strong showing here, with a Lord of Change joining in the fun for maximum psychic firepower.
• 8th - Matthew Williams - Thousand Sons: All the hot Thousand Sons toys on show, with a large Duplicity detachment with 3x Rubricae and 2x MSU Scarabs joining the Cult of Time packing a big block of the latter.
• 9th - Ben Stimpson - Orks: Blood Axe buggies.
• 10th - William Reed - Death Guard: A very shooty Mortarion's anvil build, skimping on Terminators to pack in three VolCons and two PBCs, plus some Bloat Drones for roving threats.
• 11th - Miles Woolfenden - Chaos Space Marines: Big respect here - pure World Eaters ride to a 4-1 finish on the back of a mixture of Daemon Engines and Dreadnoughts supporting a core of Khorne Berserkers in Terrax Drills.

London Open (Major)

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. The new post-LGT terrain maps for this series were in use, with the addition of large Obscuring L-blocks to each player's deployment zone on every map (see here for the full details).

Malik Amin Rubio - Adeptus Mechanicus - 1st Place

Adeptus Mechanicus - Skitarii
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Mars/Lucius

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Extra L-blocks weren't enough to slow down Malik's blistering run with his lethal AdMech build, and he takes another major crown. The army is much the same as it was at the LGT - it has a hyper-deadly alpha strike from three Stratoraptors and a Solar Flare unit (with a Command Uplink from the Fusilave to switch off key defensive auras if needed) and can leverage AdMech's exceptional army-wide buffs and the depth of quality models (plus To the Last choices) Skitarii provide to roll with most punches opponent's can muster. Add in a couple of units of melee Skitarii (new in Malik's build since London) to prise opponents out of the heavier terrain setups and you've got a great example of one of the game's best armies - and in the hands of an exceptional player, it's no surprise to see it taking another trophy.

Sid Sidhu - Grey Knights - 2nd ✪ Place

Grey Knights Interceptors. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

You can tell when an army has had a good weekend when I run out of things to say about it in the space of a single article. Lots of stuff we've already talked about on show here, with another vote for the Prescient Brethren and the Divination warlord trait in Sid's build. One final thing to call out - Dreadknight shooting being as good as it is means that Brother Captains have ended up better than I expected, as their re-roll aura can make a substantial impact when you need to gank something and an extra caster/upgrade character/acceptable melee fighter isn't something you're ever too sad to have. Congratulations Sid on the undefeated finish.

Dom Maidlow - Drukhari - 3rd Place

Drukhari Incubi. Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Double Trueborn/Talos hybrid

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Talos and double Trueborn Drukhari flavours have both been on the rise, so why not do both at once? Why not indeed! This list gets fewer units on the board than the average Drukhari concoction (though bringing in the two solo BSF Ghuls does mitigate that), but what it does have hits hard and can take a punch, with the Artists of the Flesh Talos in particular being a nightmare to kill with D2 weaponry. That helps with matchups where opponents can erase other Drukhari threats from the table, especially with Insidious Misdirection on the table as well to pull the Raiders with the Trueborn in when required - it's quite a bit harder to do serious damage to this build out of the gate than the Drukhari average.

For two-Talos units running one with the gauntlet and one with a scalpel is also cunning choice, as it hedges a bit between wanting to be able to put down chaff/2W models accurately and wanting to be able to dunk on targets with damage reduction. That reduces the chance of any opponent being able to no-sell them completely, ensuring that they're always relevant and have to be worked around carefully.

It shouldn't be massively surprising that slamming two strong Drukhari strategies together can produce an effective synthesis, but Dom has still brought us a new one for the pile of battle tested ones, so good work!

David Gaylard - Adeptus Mechanicus - 4th ✪ Place

Skorpius Dunerider. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Mars/Lucius

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another vicious Mars/Lucius powerhouse from another member of team Dice Down, trading out the Fusilave for slightly more melee punch. Beyond that, you know how this stuff works - exceptional alpha strike punch, exceptional durability, and plenty of units to occupy the table. Congratulations to David for taking fourth after an extremely close loss to Sid in the final round.

The Rest of the Best

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

• 5th ✪ - Clement Tournade - Space Wolves: Classic Space Wolves successors here, with Redemptors, Long Fangs and Wolf Guard providing high-quality threats galore.
• 6th - Thomas Douch - Adepta Sororitas: Incredibly angry pure Bloody Rose, with all the melee goodness you could possibly want backed up by two units each of Retributors and Dominions.
• 7th - Tom Lewis - Drukhari: Realspace Raid Talos/Cronos.
• 8th - Guillaume Botbol - Thousand Sons: Cult of Duplicity with lots of Rubricae and two small Scarab units.
• 9th - Giulio Cesare Ghermandi - Drukhari: Drukhari goodstuff with a couple of Talos and a big unit of Haemoxytes tacked on to the end.
• 10th - Tom Green - Ultramarines: Ultramarine Successors with some extra Troops in place of Suppressors.
• 11th - Robert Atkinson - Orks: Beast Snagga bonanza with three Squigosaurs, a Kill Rig and a whole bunch of Goff Squighog Boyz.

Tables & Towers Flames of Autumn (Major)

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

Matt Lorah - Adeptus Custodes - 1st Place

Adeptus Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Shadowkeepers

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Neatly proving the point that Custodes are still managing to hold up on their own, we've got Matt's list here, sticking to a lot of the standard Shadowkeepers tools (Telemon, Shieldguard, Galatus Dreads, Venatari) but joining Simeon's list in also bringing a couple of Caladius tanks along for the ride. This again makes the list a bit shootier, and that feels like it's got to be a reaction to the metagame - with more armies like Grey Knights in the mix, Custodes need either or both of a bit more mobility or some ranged punch, as otherwise they risk having the pace of the game dictated to them. The Caladius' main gun also happens to be ideal for hunting Dreadknights, especially with Trajann amping them up, and is decent into Drukhari as well, so it's hardly like you're ever going to be too sad to have the around except possibly into Orks, as Ramshackle hurts it bad. Definitely a trend to keep an eye on, as while Custodes can still win events we've been seeing less of them around recently, so if the players succeeding are the ones who are building lists with more ranged reach then that's something to take note of! Congratulations to Matt on the win, especially after what look like three tough games in the back half of the event!

Patrick McAneeny - White Scars - 2nd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

White Scars

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Patrick's been a long time Scars fan, and this isn't the first time we've seen him take a podium spot with the army, as he won the Maryland Open with a Bladeguard-heavy list earlier in the year. He's back with a very refined list that just takes a pure distillation of the best Marine damage dealers, slaps on White Scars mobility tricks and goes for the throat. It's not especially complicated, but it's fast, makes excellent use of the synergies available to it, and between speedy Devastators and VolCons has the tools to soften up almost anything prior to the wave of VanVets scything through the opposing ranks. From the pictures I've seen the Tables and Towers terrain is very good, which also helps this kind of list operate - the shooting threats it has are easy to hide and reasonably mobile, and the VanVets can haunt any mid-table ruins and make prising them out very challenging. Simple, clean and highly effective - great stuff from Patrick.

Jesse Melvin - Death Guard - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Inexorable with Mortarion

Why it's Interesting in 9th

In third place we have a Death Guard build that leans hard on the durability aspect of the faction. With the exception of a single token Poxwalker unit, any soft targets are brutally culled from the list in favour of Daemon Engines, Deathshrouds and Mortarion. Everything here is particularly tough to crack at range, and running as the Inexorable provides access to the Ferric Miasma stratagem, which along with the ubiquitous Foul Blightspawn makes coming in for a charge a very risky prospect as well. While not as shooty as some lists, a couple of VolCons with Tollkeeper still represents some respectable damage, meaning opponents aren't going to be able to operate in complete safety either. I'm guessing that what the list is trying to do is roll up the table in force so that the opponent feels they have to commit to pushing back, then hit back super hard with Mortarion and the Bloat Drones, shattering the enemy assault and sweeping on to conquer the table from there. It's pretty classic stuff, but some armies are going to find this exact assembly of tools especially difficult to stop, making it very appealing. Great work from Jesse.

Anthony Vanella - Drukhari - 4th ✪ Place

Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Cronos Drukhari

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Grey Knights may be muscling in on the limelight a bit this week, but Anthony is the perfect player to provide us with a reminder that Drukhari are still great, taking yet another top four with his tried and tested Cronos build, which we've now looked at several times.

The Rest of the Best

Six more players achieved 4-1 records. They were:

• 5th - Andrew Gonyo - Grey Knights: A Swordbearers list that's a little shorter on the Dreadknights, going down to only three in favour of a few more infantry.
• 6th - TJ Lanigan - Chaos: TJ's Thousand Sons/Death Guard experiment continues, with a big brick of Scarab Occults providing lethal protection for a clutch of Plagueburst Crawlers.
• 7th - Ryan Snyder - Adeptus Custodes: More Shadowkeepers, again with a couple of Caladius tanks seeded in.
• 8th - Christopher Gosselin - Orks: Freebooterz buggies and planes.
• 9th - Ken Knox - Adeptus Mechanicus: Mars Veteran Cohort with a heavy melee presence.
• 10th - Conor Lobbb - Drukhari: Cronos and Wyches, making the unusual choice to bring no Kabal detachment.

The Pecking Order: Winter Might Come GT

Zachery Nelson - Thousand Sons - 1st Place

Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

The List

The Standout Features

• Cult of Mutation provide powerful meddling capabilities.
• The nightmare Cult of Time Terminator brick provides a supreme wrecking ball.
• Extra characters can take advantage of any stumble from the opponent.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

While Grey Knights are the biggest news from the weekend, the Thousand Sons haven't been idle, and Zachery has emerged as Tzeentch's most favoured servant for the week. The Cult of Time half of this list is already starting to look like a bit of a known quantity, but that doesn't make it any less potent. A full brick of Scarab Occults is a a complete nightmare on the table - they can be moved into position with the Umbralefic Crystal, stacking Presage, Wrath of the Wronged and Infernal Fusilade allows them to trivially take out multiple units at range, they're a huge pain to kill with shooting thanks to Unwavering Phalanx and because they're ObSec they're very tough to ignore. With the Cult of Time, trying to chip them down is also a non-starter - they can bring back one model a turn with Time Flux (relying on Rites of Coalescence to have healed any wounds) and another by waiting for Smite to hit WC9, using Pact from Beyond to auto-cast at that value, then activating Warped Regeneration. Given that they're also fearless, anything less than bursting the whole unit down can feel like a massive waste, and that's often only really doable in melee. I've played against this unit a few times now, and my whole game plan going forward is shaped around getting Drazhar and a squad of Incubi into these, because nothing less will reliably clear them and leaving them alone is a shortcut to defeat.

The other half of the list is a little different from the norm, trading out the common Cult of Duplicity for Cult of Mutation, essentially a swap of a pro-active mobility tool in the form of Sorcerous Facade for a mobility debuff you can drop on the opponent with Warp Reality. Facade is extremely good, but you don't always want to cast it, and Warp is truly exceptional as such effects go, being hard to avoid and extremely effective. The list leans in to a plan of the opponent being bogged down by that and having to deal with the Terminators by bringing a few more characters than normal, meaning that it has a truly mighty reservoir of Cabal points and psychic firepower. There's also lots of trickery and flexibility baked into the character setups, and while this army may be a little more fragile than some Thousand Sons lists, it's truly stacked with ways to confound the opponent, and Zachery demonstrated all the requisite cunning to ride these to victory. Congratulations!

Lukas Troller - Orks - 2nd ✪ Place

Trukk. Credit: Rockfish

The List

The Standout Features

• Trukk Boy herohammer pressure creates a different spin on Orks.
• Redder Paint Squigosaur as a truly horrendous tarpit.
• Super fighty Kommandos can get the jump on enemy infiltrators.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The big news out of the Ork book has definitely been Buggies, but there are a few other strategies being experimented with and applying pressure through mechanised infantry is a notable feature of many, as Trukk Boyz is one of the most powerful tools in the book if used right.

This list goes in hard on that plan. Basic Nobz often struggle to find a niche but here they look very good - they provide a good balance of price and ability to kick 'eads in for packing the Trukks, and with Big Choppas and the buff from the Trukk Boy Warboss (whose aura switches to affecting the specialist mob keyword) they should have enough heft to take a real chunk out of the enemy when they connect. They're also not the only thing that can get into the opponent's face fast - large units of Goff Stormboyz and Kommandos can use either their speed or infiltration to join the fray on the double, and with the Goff buff, Power Klaws, breacha rams and access to Unbridled Carnage they're a legitimate threat to anything that makes an early foray towards the mid table, and can pretty comfortably trade up if allowed.

That's a lot of fast pressure, and to complete the picture here we've got some powerful herohammer and a trio of Squigbuggies. A bit of indirect firepower is always great for a list like this as you can use it to punish opponents that try and skulk out the way (plus here in particular one buggy can make some improbably rapid moves with Drive By Dakka). The characters help the pressure tools crack any obstacles they can't overcome alone, and two of them are exceptional at bogging down the opponent's finest toys - the Redder Paint Squigosaur is a daunting prospect for most melee tools to try and engage, while the Megaboss with the Super Cybork Body is eye-wateringly difficult to kill. Having these around means that if this list gains a foothold mid-board it'll be difficult to push it out in time to recover the Primary.

For any Ork players despairing a bit at the lack of old-fashioned melee pressure in lists this build should be a breath of fresh air - it wants you to go fast and krump things, and isn't that what Orks is all about? Impressively, it also pulled a win against the Freebooterz build in the final round, which to me highlights that there's something real here. Great work from Lukas.

The Rest of the Best

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

• 3rd - William Gill - Adeptus Custodes: Triple Telemon Shadowkeepers.
• 4th ✪ - Nicolas Ohlsen-Johnson - Orks: Buggy/plane Freebooterz.
• 5th - Devin Cross - Orks: A speed-focused Goffs build, combining Ghaz with various Speed Freekz and Beast Snagga units.
• 6th - Rich Dudley - Drukhari: Triple Trueborn and Cronos, in one of those builds that really makes your eyes water at just how much stuff Drukhari can cram into their armies.

Kippers' Melee 40K

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

Bryan Taylor - Death Guard - 1st Place

Plagueburst Crawler - Credit Beanith

The List

Archetype

Shooty-ish Death Guard

Why it's Interesting in 9th

For our final undefeated list this week we've got Death Guard, bringing a fairly conventional suite of tools in an unconventional Plague Company. Running as the Ferrymen gives this army a particularly brutal punch to thrown on a key turn by boosting the range of the Foul Blightspawn's auras with On Droning Wings, making it almost impossible to crack a castle that the list has assembled with melee and potentially allowing it to run away with the scoring. With plenty of Poxwalkers also available to buy time to set that sort of positioning up, and some great shooting from Tollkeeper buffed VolCons to pick off enemy flankers it's a pretty cool strategy, and gives you an angle to really stick the boot in against opponents planning a big melee turn (as Drukhari and Grey Knights both tend to). A neat twist from Bryan.

The Rest of the Best

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

• 2nd - Ian Harris - Chaos Space Marines: See Lists of the Week.
• 3rd - Rodney Norman - Imperial Knights: An unusual Imperialis Custom household that keeps its Knights in the fight to the bitter end with Defiant Fury and Stormstriders, and surrounds a tooled up Valiant and Magaera with lots of Armigers.
• 4th ✪ - Garry Sacco - Dark Angels: Garry returns with his mixed Deathwing/shooty Dark Angels list, notching up another strong finish.
• 5th - Liam Bath - Necrons: Infantry heavy Eternal Expansionists, with multiple full Lychguard units alongside Warriors and Wraiths.

Wrap Up

A big week in the books, and I know for an absolute fact that there's going to be at least one big event to write about next week because we're running it! I've checked all the army lists so I can say with confidence that the majority of top builds are represented, and we'll see how they fare across the six rounds. If you're coming to the GHO UK do say hello (I will be very obvious as I'm head judge), check out Hellstorm Wargaming's stream coverage if you're not, and we'll have all the juicy details from that plus other events next Wednesday. Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com.

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