We've had some big weekends of gaming this year, but none quite so spectacular as this. The inaugural GW roadshow pitched up in Orlando, luring just shy of 200 players into the back yard of the Art of War team (with, as we shall see, predictable results), two additional majors fired in the US, and six GTs were held around the world. That's a total of nine events for us to look at this week, which means it's time for another multi-part teamup spectacular.

In today's first part, we'll be looking at the following events:

• GW Orlando Roadshow (major), which Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones will be covering
• Glasshammer GT
• Common Grounds GT
• West Coast GT (that being the Swedish west coast).
• Western Wisconsin Wargaming Weekend

In tomorrow's edition, we'll be hitting the other two majors, covering:

• Flying Monkey (major)
• Wargames for Warriors Charity Major, which Jon "JONK" Kilcullen will be taking the reins for.
• Your Hobby Place GT
• Auckland GT

It's a big one folks, and there's lots to see - innovative spins on top factions, returning classics, the continued rise of the Orkish menace, we've got it all. Let's hit it.

GW US Open - Orlando (Major)

You can find all the lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings.

Richard Siegler - Adeptus Mechanicus - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List



The Standout Features

• The Skitarii Veteran Cohort Army of Renown makes a big showing
• A whopping 111 Skitarii bodies to plow through
• 3 units of Ruststalkers
• Trading out Forge World Lucius for Metalica

Why it's Interesting in 9^th

Mr. Siegler once again demonstrates that 40k is his world and we’re just living in it with an impressive first-place showing at the Games Workshop Orlando tournament. In recent weeks we’ve seen the power of the Adeptus Mechanicus weakened with a series of nerfs but somewhat untouched by these – save the changes to enriched rounds – is the relatively new Skitarii Veteran Cohort from the Book of Fire campaign supplement. The list trades a premium in points for a significant increase in durability, giving the army’s vanguards and rangers a 5+ invulnerable save, an extra +1 in cover, and +1 to their Ld and Attacks characteristics. This has a transformative effect on the army, making them into a much more capable force in melee, and able to use the unique terrain layouts of the event (which feature several large ruins in the middle of the table) to maximum effect.

Also interesting about Siegler’s list is the decision to switch from Lucius to Metalica, trading the additional durability offered by the forge world trait for the added access to stratagems and relics in the supplement published in the Book of Rust. Meanwhile Lucius doesn't help much against other melee armies that can effectively move through the table's ruins and hit them in melee. With the terrain at the event doing wonders for hiding large melee armies, there's a big upside to pushing for a more melee-heavy build of Admech, and though Ryza offers greater immediate benefits through the Forge World Trait, Siegler felt that the added jank and capability from Metalica stratagems like March to War and Purity of the Machine were more important. The list thrives on being able to advance and charge long distances, projecting massive threat ranges. It's also got the bodies to surround Drukhari Raiders, preventing those models from being set up when the vehicle is destroyed.

 

John Lennon - Adepta Sororitas - 2nd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List



The Standout Features

• The holy trinity of Vahl, Celestine, and a buttload of Sacresants
• A pair of Dominion squads for firing off holy bolts
• Three rhinos to protect fragile units from early game shooting

Why it's Interesting in 9^th

A few weeks removed from the Lone Star Open the ITC’s current leader returns with another impressive outing, again sporting the Adepta Sororitas. This time Lennon has jettisoned the Battle Sanctum (potentially unable to deploy it in an environment that does not have player-placed terrain), in favor of an additional Rhino that he can use to shore up some deficiencies against indirect fire that caused him problems the last time around. On the table, John's approach is to lure opponents into his 24" kill zone by inflicting chip damage on the opponent and scoring early, then once they've made that mistake, the army closes in around them with a mix of melee units and terrifying damage output from Blessed Bolts storm bolters and Cleansing Flame flamers.

This list pulls many of the same tricks we explored in our interview with John about his list at the Lone Star Open - check that out here. The list mixes the Orders of the Bloody Rose (+1 Attack and AP when charging, charged, or intervening) and the Ebon Chalice (two Sacred Rites, discard one miracle die to turn another into a 6) to get the most out of its units. Bloody Rose Repentia take full advantage of that extra attack and AP boost while also benefitting from the Ebon Chalice's ability to power out 6s on the miracle dice - John can save his natural high rolls for their charges and use the order trait to smooth results elsewhere.

 

Steve Trimble - Adeptus Custodes - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List



The Standout Features

• A trio of Telemon Dreadnoughts
• Trajan and the Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike as the HQ duo
• Shadowkeepers are back, baby

Why it's Interesting in 9^th

Custodes have continually been at the periphery of 9^th edition top 4s since the edition’s release, as it turns out that having incredibly durable, high output units is really good in an edition that prioritizes holding objectives. On the other hand, Custodes’ actual tournament win rates have fallen short as they seem to be more a gatekeeper faction than a true contender, but recent meta developments have made triple Telemon lists much more palatable for their durability against meta threats like dark lances and cognis lascannons - Grim Responsibility helps change the maths there, especially if combined with The Emperor's Auspice.The nerf to Enriched Rounds was also a major boon for them, since Custodian Infantry was one of units hit hardest by the Stratagem's ability to push through loads of damage - a 2+ save looks a lot worse when you're making 30+ saves from a single unit.

We've seen this list before, most recently taking second at the Maul at the Mall event in July, though at the time, that list was running the Emissaries Imperatus subfaction for access to The Emperor's Hand Stratagem to power up Venatari Shooting on arrival. With the nerf to Enriched Rounds there's suddenly much more value in having access to the Grim Responsibility Stratagem available to the Custodian infantry units, too, to drop the strength of incoming attacks by 1 - potentially forcing radium carbines to wound on 6s, for example. It trades some of that offensive power for durability and on the whole seems to benefit.

The overall plan is likely to soften the enemy up a bit turn 1 where you're able, then smash through with the Venatari using the Superior Fire Patterns Stratagem on turn 2 to tilt things in the Custodes' direction and seize control of the board from there. On top of that you have old classics like Trajan and the Jetbike Captain to provide support where you need them.

 

Jack Harpster - Blood Angels - 4th Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List



The Standout Features

• Dante comes out of retirement for One Last Job
• 3 units of Axe-armed Sanguinary Guard
• 10 Vanguard Veterans with Claw and Shield
• 5 Death Company with Jump packs and thunder hammers

Why it's Interesting in 9^th

The real surprise of this top four is the Blood Angels list, with the Sons of Sanguinius finally making a strong showing. Since its release, the Blood Angels supplement has been regarded as lackluster, of a kind with the Deathwatch book, but while recent months have shown Deathwatch to be quite capable of pulling out interesting tricks, the Blood Angels have had no such fortune on the competitive stage. This seems in part because the book’s particular tricks leave much to be desired, and the book’s strengths – fast, powerful melee strikes – are typically met or outdone by other Space Marine factions, such as the Space Wolves or White Scars. Even the baseline power of their Chapter trait giving +1 to wound looks poor in a world full of things with Transhuman Physiology and similar effects.

In the hands of Jack Harpster we see a Blood Angels list capable of performing as ably as any of its competitors, and relying on the strength of the book’s chapter-specific datasheets – most notably Sanguinary Guard and Death Company. The army also benefits tremendously from the event’s terrain layouts, which allow an army like this to hide almost in its entirely as it approaches the opponent. Ultimately this is likely the largest factor for the army - being able to hide on the approach made taking this much jump infantry viable and Jack was able to use that advantage to great effect, slingshotting across the table and, in one hilarious case, wrapping up multiple Drukhari Raiders with his units at the same time, preventing more than one of them from being able to use the Emergency Disembarkation Stratagem to let models out as they were destroyed (one exploded and cleared the way for a few more models, but it was pretty rough).

 

The Rest of the Best

The GW Opens are using a NOVA-style cut to brackets, and for these events we're going to feature the remaining four players who finished in the top half of the top bracket. This time around, they were:

• 5th - Cannon Biggs - Adeptus Mechanicus: Another Sktarii Veteran Cohort, this time opting for the Mars Forge World and the benefit of Canticles.
• 6th - Brian Jones - Freeblade Lance: Brian's list makes great effect of a Knight Cerastus with Helm of the Nameless Warrior, but ultimately wasn't able to overcome the incredible disadvantage to knights from the terrain layout in the Vital Intelligence mission.
• 7th - Mark Aescht - Daemons: Be'lakor shows up in the Tzeentch-aligned Detachment of this list to lend some help as the third big daemon alongside an Exalted Lord of Change and Keeper of Secrets.
• 8th - Gavin Conn - Necrons: Relentlessly Expansionist Necrons still have legs. Possibly too many of them? Or too few, depending - this list makes full use of the event's terrain layout to run Skorpeks and Wraiths across the table.

 

Glasshammer GT

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

Brodie Middleton - Aeldari - 1st Place

Night Spinner. Credit: Wings

The List

The Standout Features

• Asuryani shooting goes bigger than ever with the addition of a Lynx.
• Drukhari detachment skewed hard towards trade-up units and interference.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Always fun to start with a list that is fully after my own heart here - Drukhari/Asuryani is pretty much my favourite army to play, and right now it looks to be one of the hottest properties on the market. Craftworlds have genuinely very strong artillery units like Dark Reaper Exarchs, Night Spinners and Shadow Weaver Platforms, but anything in the Asuryani roster that has half a chance of holding down the mid-board is extremely expensive, and often still not great. Drukhari are perfect for filling this gap, as Raider-bound units provide a relatively inexpensive and moderately durable way of holding down space, and incredibly powerful trade-up units like Incubi and Succubi can punish the opponent for trying to push forward, de-fanging their nastiest threats while the artillery does its job.

This particular build contains a major shakeup to the formula by including a Lynx. While all the artillery choices are excellent, sometimes you just want something dead, and a Lynx provides an exceptionally nasty main gun to do that with. It's also reasonably easy to protect - in inclement matchups you can throw it into Deep Strike with Cloudstrike for a single CP, and it hits sufficiently hard that you can rely on racking up some value when it arrives turn two. On heavier boards, it's also strong with Fire and Fade, as while large it is under 16W, so eligible for Obscuring terrain. With Orks on the horizon I think it's a choice that people will be looking at even more - its main gun hitting at S12 means that it's perfectly statted for blowing away buggies and Dakkajets clean through Ramshackle.

The tradeoff with the Lynx is that it isn't cheap, leaving fewer points for Drukhari units than normal. With that in mind, the list eschews any Kabalite presence and skips out on the normally popular Drazhar, instead sticking with a bunch of Wyches, Succubi and Incubi. I think that makes sense - Succubi and Incubi are the most aggressively priced trade-up units in the book, bringing you the most bang for your buck, while the Wych units are pretty decent at running interference (especially the larger squad). It also ensures that the list has plenty of CP to power the Lynx, and with the list having some heavy-duty anti-tank firepower from the large skimmer losing Black Heart/Obsidian Rose re-rolls from the Raiders stings a bit less.

It's a very cool list overall, and certainly not doing anything for my resolve not to welcome a massive chunk of resin into my own life. Congratulations to Brodie on the win.

John Swallow - Drukhari - 2nd Place

Kabalite Trueborn. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• John goes one better than last week with his Voidraven and darklight spamming list.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

There are so many events to cover this week that I'm going to keep things brief when we hit lists that I've covered before, so for this list I suggest you go and have a look at last week's article. It's another build that's fully ready for an Orky future, and I'm glad to see John climbing up to the second place slot on the podium this week.

Mike Porter - Aeldari - 3rd Place

Harlequins Troupe Master. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• Reapers, Spears and Harlequins feature in another returning winner.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

The UK's best are on a hell of a tear right now, as this is another back-to-back top four finish, this time from Mike Porter. Adding Shining Spears on top of all the nastiness Harlequins bring to the table creates a list that nothing is safe from, and you can see more in last week's writeup. Congratulations to Mike on another excellent finish.

Vik Vijay - Adepta Sororitas - 4th Place

The List

The Standout Features

• The Ebon Chalice continue their strong 9th Edition showing in this potent mixed build.
• MSU Zephyrim in the Bloody Rose provide powerful missiles to throw at overcommitted enemies.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

This event had a truly stacked field, because in fourth place we find another of the UK's finest throwing down with this extremely spicy Sisters build. The Ebon Chalice are one of the most improved orders in the new Sisters book, as the Cleansing Flames stratagem is extremely powerful and the ability to double up Sacred Rites in their detachment provides strong support for mixed builds, letting you have The Passion up on Bloody Rose melee choices while still getting the flexibility to pick a second on the main body of your army. This list exploits that to the fullest, with a very stripped down Bloody Rose detachment that's essentially just four missiles to throw at the enemy at the right juncture, then a substantially heftier Ebon Chalice contingent that's got answers to almost everything. If hordes are getting this list down it's got the full flamer Retributor squad ready to drop Cleansed by Fire (optionally boosted with Holy Trinity) to drown targets in wounds. If tougher foes are the problem, an array of multi-meltas and mortal wounds from Blessed Bolts and Cleansing Flames are ready to go, with considerable reach turn one thanks to being able to pre-game move the Rhinos with Dominions in. Finally, the full Sacresant squad with halberds, buffed up by Morvenn Vahl, is a fantastic all-purpose blending machine that will take down pretty much anything, especially if Word of the Emperor takes away invulnerable saves first.

Celestine as a roving threat, plus some Crusaders and basic Battle Sisters for objective play completes this build, and what you end up with is an army that has a huge number of threats on the table, considerable reach, and answers to almost everything. Sisters have a bunch of different valid builds, and this is very much one I'm a fan of, congratulations to Vik for rounding out the top four.

The Rest of the Best

There were no additional players on 5-1 at the end of the event, but the player who finished fifth on 4.5-1.5 got paired up in the final, and thus could have won the event, so that's where I'm putting the cut for this one.

• 5th ✪ - Konrad Bartkiewicz - Iron Hands Successors: The minor Iron Hands renaissance continues, with this build leaning on a similar-ish plan to Alex's build last week. The superdoctrine allows Devastastor squads and Dreadnoughts to be extremely flexible and deadly out of the gate, while taking the Whirlwind/Heroes Chapter Tactic allows the modest contingent of melee threats (here 3x5 claw/shield VanVets) to punch above their weight when needed. With everything rounded out by a character VolCon, you've got a lean, mean killing machine, and it's no surprise to see that it made it to the top table in Konrad's hands.
• 6th - Ben Jones - Drukhari: A list with even more Voidravens than John's packing the full three alongside some fairly standard Drukhari support. It's definitely a potential headache for go-wide builds, because with three bombs potentially being dropped there's a pretty high chance that key units start taking serious damage.

Common Ground Games GT

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. This event was using WTC-style 20-0 scoring.

Simon Fitzpatrick - Drukhari - 1st Place

Drukhari Raider. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• Drukhari goodstuff that maximises the Obsession value on its Raiders.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

One of the list building tensions in the Drukhari book is that, when comparing Black Heart and Obsidian Rose, Raiders tend to get a bit more value from the former (the hit re-roll ends up better against any sort of hit penalty, and the Power from Pain boost matters) and the stuff you put inside (especially Trueborn) from the latter. This build has gone for the cunning choice of not choosing - putting together an incredibly bare-bones Black Heart detachment to cram the Raiders into, then Obsidian Rose for the Trueborn and blaster Kabalites for maximum re-roll utility.

Beyond that, this is all standard Drukhari goodstuff, and as we know by now the rule for Drukhari and AdMech is that I'm going to find one interesting thing to say about each build then move on - I like this list's unique conceit and it clearly payed off, congratulations to Simon on the win.

Innes Wilson - Chaos - 2nd Place

Credit: Innes Wilson

The List

The Standout Features

• Be'lakor continues to spearhead a minor renaissance for Daemon-heavy armies.
• Epidemius provides some exceptional cross-faction synergy.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

In terms of strategy, this list has some surprising similarities to the Craftworlds + Drukhari/Harlequin builds we've seeing - it combines a superfaction's most reliable sources of long-ranged firepower with some durable mobile units that can dominate the mid-board. Being as it is a Chaos list, of course, the exact tools at play are rather different. Plagueburst Crawlers have been pretty much enduringly great since they were first released, and they love the boost they pick up from Epidemius, making them deadlier and tougher as they (or Be'lakor - he's a NURGLE DAEMON too) start racking up their toll on the enemy. Their presence punishes opponents that have includes lots of small, bitty units in their army (which can certainly describe AdMech or Drukhari) and is a nightmare for anyone who has even slightly skimped on anti-tank. Backing them up with some VolCons is just a reflection of the metagame we live in - there's almost nothing else that racks up D2 shooting so efficiently, and they backfill a major gap in the arsenal for Marines and Chaos alike.

Moving over to the Daemons detachment, it's great to see Be'lakor continue to really perform. Making a single monster that's worth that kind of price tag is a tough design task to pull off, but the combination of his defences, mobility (with Locus of Swiftness, and yes this event was running that this works, which we think is sensible) brutal damage output and the flexibility Pall of Despair gives you does seem to all add up to a genuinely compelling package, and that's great. Here, the additional synergy with Epidemius is particularly hilarious - while the PBCs are the main reason you want him, Be'lakor jumping to T8 if he kicks around for long enough is pretty funny. Every Daemonic overlord needs a wingman of course, and here the ever monstrous Big Bird provides that in all his nigh-indestructible glory, ready to pile on the additional psychic pain and generally just refuse to budge for as long as needed.

Various Daemonic units for utility and objective round this out, and you end up with something that can reliably stall the mid-board for the few turns needed for the attrititon provided by the Death Guard to really rack up, and you've got the option to just ram Be'lakor straight into a fight with Advance and Charge when needed too, generally ensuring that he takes at least something with him. It's a sweet looking list, and a well deserved second place for it in Innes' hands.

Christopher Irvine - Drukhari - 3rd Place

Drukhari Kill Team. Credit: Charlie Brassley

The List

The Standout Features

• Drukhari goodstuff with extra troops.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

It's a Drukhari goodstuff list, mainly notable for skewing a bit harder towards objective play by filling out the Raiders with extra Blaster Kabalite squads so more ObSec stuff falls out when they die, helping with Primary in the early-mid game. In WTC 20-0 scoring, tools that ensure you rack up at least an acceptable score in games you lose become more valuable, so I think that's a smart choice for the format compared to the Drukhari standard.

Thus concludes my contractual one nice thing to say about every Drukhari list - well done to Christopher on the third place finish.

Derek ‘Pye’ Douglas - Imperium - 4th Place

Credit: Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

The List

The Standout Features

• Custodes bring some Scion buddies to help out with objective play.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Similar to the Drukhari list above, this list sees a powerful faction making some tweaks to account for the 20-0 format. A substantial proportion of the Custodes detachment is pretty standard stuff - Trajann, Bike Captain, Custodians (skimping to only one shield here to save points) and a Telemon are going to be fixtures of lots of builds, and Custodians specifically over Sagittarum makes sense when you're aiming for higher scores from objective play. Running Vertus Praetors instead of Venatari is a bit less common, but for a price premium it gives the list exceptional reach and board control in whichever section they're occupying. String out five bikes at max coherency and they take up a huge amount of room, often enough to stretch between two objectives, and with the ability to move in the opponent's turn too thanks to Stooping Dive the opponent can never afford to rest easy. They also combine with Trajann and the Telemon to put up a formidable set of To The Last targets, especially with a Vexilla Magnifica for extra defence.

Having the bikes certainly helps with objective play, but Custodes are an army that risks running a bit thin on the board even on the way to victory, and only being able to pick up a narrow win. That's not what you want in 20-0, and that's probably why the list is happy to spend a couple CP to bring along a detachment of Scions. Four naturally Deep Striking units that can tick off ROD, Engage or just land on objectives as needed goes a long way to closing this format-specific weakness, and it clearly paid off with the list nudging a few close pursuers out the way for a fourth place finish. Great work from Derek.

The Rest of the Best

With WTC scoring there's really no hard and fast way to cut this, so I'm going to go with two more lists, as that's about how many additional 4-1s we'd have in a normal event of this size (40 players).

• 5th - Brodie Atkinson - Iron Hands: Supreme skew from the Iron Hands here - two Fire Raptors, a Leviathan and three Redemptors leave opponents facing some of the chunkiest killers that Marines have access to.
• 6th ✪ - Stefan Robertson - Grey Knights: An impressive last outing for old-school Grey Knights, and an appetiser for anyone looking forward to unleashing Nemesis Dreadknights in the new book.

West Coast GT

You can find all the lists for this event in Best Coast Pairings. This event was using WTC-style 20-0 scoring.

Olof Svensson - Drukhari - 1st Place

Credit: Boon

The List

The Standout Features

• Cronos provide the toughest anchor Drukhari have access to.
• The rest of the list makes opponents' lives very difficult by trading up and striking where least expected.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

With two event wins this weekend we've gotten a big reminder that Dark Technomancers still rules when you apply it to Cronos - high-powered, multi-damage autohit weapons are pretty much always in style, and when they're attached to durable, cost efficient bodies they're even better. This list supplements them with a lot of the standard Drukhari hits, including both murder Succubus builds for trading up, Trueborn and a bunch of Incubi. The only unit I'll draw particular attention to is the MSU Hellions, as the fact that these are INFANTRY (so can perform ROD etc.) makes them hyper flexible - they're deadly enough that they can contribute to the fight in some games, and can flex to objective play in others. With lots of points wrapped up in the Cronos, that ability to change tacks becomes even more important than normal.

I guess the other thing to call out about Cronos builds is that there is a huge question mark over their heads if the Freebooterz Ramshackle lists really hit the big time - if their damage output into key targets is getting consistently halved that might prove a challenge (though they've surprised me with outlasting meta shifts before, and Matt Root managed to beat Orks with them). However, right now they're a strong choice and earned a well deserved win for Olof.

Sebastian Larsson - Chaos Daemons - 2nd Place

Credit: Liebot - https://instagram.com/liebot_pics

The List

The Standout Features

• Be'lakor leads up a different flavour of Daemon list, this time going for nightmarish pressure.
• Fiends ready to lurk in the mid-board and tie up crucial targets.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

As you'd expect for a Daemon with the keywords for all four gods, Be'lakor isn't a one-trick pony, and here we see him injecting new life into another classic Daemon strategy - Exalted Keeper spam. Three of those Advancing and Charging up the table was bad enough, but slam in Be'lakor as a fourth even deadlier threat and a force multiplier for the Keepers (since he gives them RR1s to hit) and you've got something that's just going to body some opponents clean off the board. That intense early pressure is going to give Big Bird time to rack up some considerable psychic attrition damage, and this list has plenty of points left over for utility tools. Three units of Nurglings gives it the ground coverage to ward off turn 1 redeploy tricks (especially vital for this kind of army against AdMech), Furies and Daemonettes are great for playing objectives and a couple of small Fiend units provide a final headache for the opponent to deal with. These can trivially hide in terrain, but because BEASTS can naviagate through Breachable they threaten to leap out and trap something in combat at any time, and are dangerous enough that making a play for picking off a weak character is also on the table. In a list that's already going to leave many opponents scrambling for purchase on the game that's a powerful final addition, and it's great to see Slaanesh-heavy armies back after something of an absence. Strong stuff from Sebastian.

Daniel Hesselberg - Drukhari - 3rd Place

Drukhari Mandrakes. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• More Drukhari goodstuff, this time reviving the plan of slapping a phantasm grenade launcher on every available surface.
• Poisoned Tongue detachment opens up re-deploys for three Raiders worth of units.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Since the rise in Raider prices we've seen slightly fewer builds that go hard on phantasm grenade launchers, but this army is here to remedy that and unlike Technomancer Cronos I think this could prove to be pretty future proof, as Ork Leadership scores are pretty poor. With a total of 11 PGLs in the list and lots of grisly trophies to help switch them on, they provide an extra angle of grindy damage that might make the difference in close-run games, and is totally fine right now as an extra way to pick off some Skitarii. It isn't even the only unique thing this list has going for it, as it's on the plan og sneaking in a Poisoned Tongue detachment with the exact three Raiders that can be re-deployed with Insidious Misdirection. All that adds up to a Drukhari list that sacrifices a little raw power for increased flexibility on the table, and as ever that's the kind of thing that can really make the difference in the right hands - well done to Daniel.

Jonathan Sleigh-Johnson - Adepta Sororitas - 4th ✪ Place

Credit: Evan "Felime" Siefring

The List

The Standout Features

• The premium melee and ranged Orders come together for a brutal Sisters build.
• Hand flamer Serpahim help close the gap against hordes.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Pure viciousness on show from the Sisters here, with two detachments tuned to unleash maximum retribution up close and at a distance. The Argent Shroud shooting setup is exceptionally strong in 9th, as adding a per-squad re-roll and the ability to shoot on the move increases the reach and already considerable reliability of Retributors and the new hotness that is Blessed Bolts Dominions. They're ready to alpha strike nearly any kind of target off the table from relative safety (thanks to pre-game moving Rhinos), and against hordes of chaff (the only thing close to a blind spot for them) the Seraphim in the Bloody Rose detachment can back-fill.

Ministorum hand flamers going to S4 was a big change, and making Cleansed By Fire a non-Order specific stratagem turns these Seraphim into very effective tools for clearing out high model count armies. With the ability to fire normally on arrival via Deadly Descent then unleash a max shots volley with Cleansed, you're looking at an average of 38 S4 hits when these check in, numbers to make a Salamander proud and make some decent trades. In a game where you don't need that they're also just generically fine for objective play. Alongside them in the Bloody Rose you've got some classics - three units of Zephyrim (extremely effective missiles to throw at the enemy) and two Repentia squads. Bloody Rose Repentia are still among the game's very finest killers, and while they're another unit with a mild Ramshackle question mark over their heads, the fact that Sisters as any army has so much access to melta and mortals means they've got a strong chance of hanging tight when Orks arrive, so expect to continue seeing these because of how great they are in every other matchup. This list appears to be on the common plan of having one unit in a Rhino on the table and one that's ready to go in Strategic Reserves, and that's definitely a strong starting point.

Rouding things out, we have Celestine and Morvenn Vahl, and it probably does need to be acknowledged at this point that these two seem to be making it into near every top tier Sisters list. For Vahl that's no surprise - she's just wildly pushed in a number of ways, but for Celestine to be consistently making it into armies as a 200pt beater/harrassment unit really does speak to just how good she is at that, and how annoying to finally put down. Like with Be'lakor, a definite credit to the design there, as making this unit work in this role was a tough sell that's been landed extremely effectively.

What makes Sisters so particularly effective when a build like this is assembled is the spikes of reliability that Acts of Faith offer. This list has mobility and tools that can answer everything, and with the ability to lock in success at a crucial moment skilled players can reliably rack up the wins. Congratulations to Jonathan for taking the Sisters to the top table.

The Rest of the Best

This event was 28 players, so on the same logic as above, there wouldn't be any additional 4-1 players with standard scoring.

Western Wisconsin Wargaming Weekend

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

Oliver Smith - White Scars - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

The Standout Features

• White Scars burst out of retirement to take first and second place at a GT.
• Hyper optimised Marine goodness - VanVets, VolCons and Devastators are apparently all you need.
• Hunter's Eye makes VolCons especially good at blowing through Shroudpsalm.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

White Scars are a bit like Salamanders, in that every few months someone will pick them up and remind us that they're still pretty good! Oliver Smith is something of a repeat offender in that regard, having previously piloted a somewhat similar build to the top 10 at the Dallas Open, and he's back again taking down a GT.

In terms of the tools he's using, lots and lots of VanVets are an unsurprising choice for the core. Durable, (extra) speedy and dangerous into everything thanks to their lightning claws, these are one of Marines' best tools just generally and exceptional in Scars. Running as 10-10-5 also allows them to be split across five separate units when needed (which I think will be a lot of the time), and until the majority are dead nowhere on the board is going to be safe for the opponent.

Backing them up, you've got premium shooting options and a small scattering of tools for objective play. VolCons are great everywhere, and the Hunter's Eye is a cute choice to amp one unit up, but Devastators are another unit that's good in lots of Marines and great in Scars - they can start off in a Rhino and blast out with Hunter's Fusilade to take out a key target straight away. One squad of these are the predictable all-melta squad, and for the other Oliver has gone with a recent hot piece of tech in a squad with three grav and a melta. Grav is both cheap and extremely good into many AdMech options, as when they activate Bulwark Doctrina their save jumps to a 3+ and they become valid targets for the multi-damage, while having one multi-melta means you can still have four shots from it thanks to a cherub in games where you need extra anti-tank punch. Marine units have been slightly left behind efficiency-wise by recent books, so tricks like this to squeeze the maximum value out of their roster are extremely welcome.

After that, all that's left are some cheap units for objective play (including a couple of Land Speeder Storms, which are still very efficient for this) and Characters, with a Techmarine and the unsurprising Rites of War Chapter Master ready to make the VanVets even more of a pain than they already are. This list packs a truly vicious punch overall and is extremely well tuned to exploit the slightest stumble from opponents, as a swarm of VanVets is perfect for ensuring that once they're down, they stay down. Good work from Oliver once again.

Tyler White - White Scars - 2nd Place

White Scars Infiltrators Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

The List

The Standout Features

• You wait weeks for a White Scars list, then two turn up at once.
• Dials back a bit on pure damage for a bit more flexibility.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Now obviously we've just come from a Scars list, and lots of the same things apply here - VanVets that can Advance and Charge haven't stopped being good a few sentences later. This build is a little less all-in though - it dials back five VanVets and one of the VolCons in favour of units that can flex to slightly different roles. You've got Infiltrators to screen either the mid-board or backlines as needed, a unit of scouts that can Combat Squad and pick off multiple ticks of ROD in games that demand it, then the more eye-catching additions in the form of the Bike Chaplain and Bladeguard. The Chaplain bringing Canticle of Hate to the table makes deep striking the VanVets a much more feasible prospect in this build, as you've got a great chance of landing the charge straight away, and he is of course another horrific murder machine thanks to the combo of Benediction of Fury and Mantra of Strength. With that extra flexibility on deployment enabled, that means the build can afford to swap one squad of VanVets out for Bladeguard, who provide better tanking on a point (thanks to an extra wound and Transhuman Physiology) plus the ability to hit at D3 once you activate the superdoctrine (either naturally or via Adaptive Strategy). It's not a hugely different prospect, but it gives you one more angle to adapt to some matchups.

I think that largely covers off the key differences here, and beyond that you're looking at a pretty similar prospect - White Scars are still hyper fast and hyper dangerous, and an army you underestimate at your considerable peril. Strong stuff from Tyler.

John Miller - Death Guard - 3rd ✪ Place

Credit: PierreTheMime

The List

The Standout Features

• Mortarion leads the Inexorable to a strong performance.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

This is pretty much a laundry list of all the stuff that make Death Guard strong, and the big difference between it and the average build is that it buys Mortarion rather than a third copy of several of its key units. That can be high risk in the current metagame, but paid off big time here because there were zero AdMech lists in the field, at which point he looks extremely strong and is a huge asset to the list's overall plan. It's got enough Poxwalkers to fan out across the board early to bog the opponent down, pushes the wedge of the Termintors and Blightspawn towards a central objective, and has excellent attrition damage from the VolCons and PBCs, especially with the option to push out the Ferric Blight via the Bloat-drone and Flash Outbreak.

Add in Mortarion's ability to provide at least one turn's worth of speed bump into pretty much any army that isn't AdMech or Sisters and you've got something that's very tricky to deal with - a lot of the time he's going to body check into an army already softened up by the shooting and deal enough damage that they can't pull back into the game, especially if he's running with the Gloaming Bloat. That style of plan cartainly paid off for John, who took the build to the top table and a pretty narrow defeat against Oliver in the final.

Matthew Ehlinger - Harlequins - 4th Place

Harlequins Troupe. Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• Bikes and Boats

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another returning classic, the OG 9th Edition army about which I largely ran out of interesting things to say, rounds out this top four. Soaring Spite bikes and boats, similar to White Scars, is a build that's just an enormous headache to try and play around, as it's incredibly fast, drops absurd spike damage when it wants to, and has some punishing tricks for opponents that don't know what they're up against. It is reasonably brittle, and like Mortarion can struggle into AdMech thanks to their ability to just erase units of Skyweavers, but still has a lot to offer a skilled player. The standout thing about this spin on it is how light it goes on melee weaponry on the normal troupes - with the Skyweavers to brawl, the Infantry are handed just a few embraces to ensure they're not safe to charge, but are clearly on a plan A of riding things out within the boats, maximising their stickiness on objectives. Congratulations to Matthew on the finish.

The Rest of the Best

That covers all the players who finished on 4-1 or better records.

Wrap Up

We're (slightly more than) halfway there folks, but there's plenty more to come tomorrow, so make sure to tune back in and we'll see you then. Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com as ever.

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