This week the Balance Dataslate has fully hit, and there's a huge number of events to talk about including the latest GW Roadshow supermajor, so this week's column is bumper sized, and shows off what look to be some early patterns in the new metagame. I'm going to refrain from digging into that too much this week - while there are some armies that get a lot of good results, I also think it's pretty clear that there are some new list design incentives at play, and a more genuine chance that players can tune their lists to go after the new top dogs than the builds that were dominant prior to the update. I'm excited to see what players come up with, so let's get into our first big batch.

As ever, any player who was undefeated going into the final round of an event (where it makes sense for the scoring used) gets a ✪ next to their placing.

Lists of the Week

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

Tomas Christensson - Necrons - Games of Westeros X - 10th Place

Destroyers. Credit: Wings

The List

The Standout Features

• All in on CORE upgrades here, with Szeras and Zanhdrekh turbo charging plenty of toys.
• Lokhusts getting an actual look-in.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Last week saw a strong showing for Necrons at Northern Warlords, but that list didn't really lean super hard into the upgrades Necrons got, which felt like a bit of a shame.

No such worries here - this build goes in hard on turning Lokhust Destroyers and Wraiths into killing machines, thanks to the double threat of upgrading them with Szeras and applying a Transient Madness to them with Zahndrekh. With two uses of My Will Be Done also available, whichever units get dispatched to do the army's dirty work are generally going to be on peak form, and at that point they're serious threats, ready to put big damage on an unsuspecting opponent. While losing ObSec from Eternal Expansionists to go Sautekh hurts, having access to Zahndrekh's Counter Tactics is also extremely good, helping shut down an alpha turn from the opponent by, for example, stopping Single Minded Annihilation or Teleport Shunt. The list also ends up pretty resilient to small arms fire thanks to packing almost nothing with toughness less than five, and opponents are going to find there's a reasonable number of demands on their big guns, and will punish anyone planning on blitzing it with chip damage thanks to multiple Szeras reanimations.

Fundamentally, I desperately want this kind of list to be feasible, so it's fantastic to see Tomas taking it out and putting up a good showing, even if I suspect that we probably need to cross our skeletal metal fingers for a few point cuts as well to make Necrons a proper metagame force. It only increases my resolve to get my force out again in the near future, and I must confess I'm now looking at my Lokhust Destroyer collection more speculatively!

Jack Tite - Orks - Twisted Onslaught Oblivion - 3rd Place

Warbiker Mob. Credit: Rockfish

The List

The Standout Features

• Speed Mob gets a first showing.
• Freebooterz tee up plane dakka.
• Evil Sunz fire warbikers at the opponent.
• A big unit of Deffkoptas takes maximum advantage of Attack out of the Sun.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

A first showing for a new Army of Renown is always worth talking about, and the Speed Mob looked very strong when we reviewed it so it's good to see it in the wild. This army squeezes a tonne of value out of the Mob's extra rules, and also makes cunning use of the fact that unlike a lot of them, there's no requirement to be a mono-subfaction army.

Bringing Freebooterz for the main dakka detachment lets the army get big value from the two Blastajets it brings along. While the stuff on the ground doesn't get the Freebooterz kultur, they are still Freebooterz units, so them killing stuff provides the planes with +1 to hit (and they've got enough firepower that they're absolutely going to kill stuff). Also notable in this half of the army is the large unit of Deffkoptas, an absolute all-star here. They're deadly in combat thanks to tripling up the extra attack when attacking with their blades, and can deep strike, shoot, then escape in the same turn thanks to Attack out of the Sun, really rewarding you for bringing a big squad. Speed King at the centre of this amps up the firepower in general.

The Evil Sunz detachment is where we see the other highlight of the Speed Mob, which is Warbikers. ObSec and an extra attack makes these already good units fantastic, and running with a Fasta Than Yooz warlord lets you fire them at breakneck speed into the opponent with Advance/Charge, either dealing damage or flipping an objective and tying something up as needed.

It's clear from some of the other builds we're going to look at this week that there are still extremely real Freebooterz lists available, but I'm expecting to see more players following Jack's example and trying out the Speed Mob too - if this is anything to go by, there's something real here.

GW US Open Austin (Supermajor)

All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. As usual for the GW events, I'm basing the top four on the players who reached the semi-finals in the top bracket.

Richard Siegler - Drukhari - 1st Place

Credit: Corrode

The List

The Standout Features

• Talos and Grotesques take up the mantle of "Drukhari build everyone loves to hate".
• Adding a big Wrack unit and a Court of the Archon ensures the army can be durable on all fronts.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Two things here that shouldn't really surprise anyone - Siegler making the triple, and Covens Drukhari sweeping to metagame prominence. Even without any points cuts, a metagame shift that brought in more Grey Knights while reducing the number of cognis lascannons out there would have been great news for Artists of the Flesh Covens builds, but with significant discounts as well (this list is net cheaper post Balance slate than it was before) this immediately becomes one of the armies to beat. I do think it's potentially easier to tech for than some of the old-style Drukhari builds (you want big damage), but that's offset by the fact that it's very good against the damage output of Dreadknights and Hive Guard, so well placed in what looks to be the new metagame.

In terms of how this list breaks down, it's got the Artists of Flesh toys as a brutal first wave, capable of dealing and soaking up significant damage, and then the Cronos as flexible damage dealers sitting behind that initially, then perfectly happy to go off hunting in their own right once the biggest short-ranged damage dealers are dealt with. Rounding the build out, there are two chunky infantry units that can occupy space or an objective and need at least modest attention to clear out - and if the opponent focuses on those, then the Talos are going to roll them over.

The layers of threat in this list ensure that the opponent has to make some very difficult choices, and is going to get punished badly if they get them wrong. The Cronos die easier than the Talos, but they're not trivial targets and if the opponent focuses them first, they may run out of time to stop the AoF stuff hitting them. Similarly, unless you're packing a massive amount of anti-horde tools, trying to take this army off objectives and outmaneuvre it just isn't going to be practical, as clearing either the big Wrack unit or the Court will take long enough that the Cronos/Talos can respond and crush whatever has committed.

It's maybe not as complicated a plan as we're used to from Drukhari, but it performs extremely effectively, and in some ways acts as more of a list check on what the opponent's got than the old builds did - to beat this, you have to either have a real plan to push the AoF wave back, or the right tools to completely evaporate everything else double time, no mean feat into the wall of 5+ to ignore wounds that this army represents (and remember that because of this the AoF trait does actually matter on Wracks, as D2 weaponry stops being a reliable answer). Expect to see people reaching for the big, big guns in response - there have been more Castellans out and about than we've seen for a while, and that'll probably continue, other Imperium armies want as many meltas as they can get, and factions that don't have those need to get out the high volume, high quality D1 stuff instead.

Now that it's clear that this list is the real deal we'll see whether this time, the meta actually can adapt. Drukhari performed extremely well at Austin (and elsewhere), but there's now a very clear target on the head of this build for players to try and respond to, and this time it isn't just "they're faster then you, deadlier and have more stuff". For now, however, huge congratulations to Richard for conquering the US Open series, and for seeing off the challenge from one of the UK's finest. Speaking of which...

Mani Cheema - Hive Mind - 2nd ✪ Place

Hive Guard. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Hive Guard Spam

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Mani's reign of terror goes global, flying in to Austin with Hive Guard in tow and making it all the way to the (let's be honest, inevitable) final showdown with Siegler before being defeated. In terms of the list, it's pretty similar to what we saw last week with one major change - dialing back the 4AE contingent slightly in order to squeeze in a big unit of Devourer Gaunts. This makes sense, especially on the (clearly valid) assumption that Covens are going to be big, and based on the terrain at the US Open. Extra 4AE units provide a bit less value on this, as there aren't corner ruins they can pop up and skulk in (as are common on UK tables), and even with two units Scanner Decoys gives you enough blips to do what you want regarding preventing early charges into the Hive Guard. On the flip side, the big gaunt unit gives you a weapon that can clear out essentially any horde build without you having to commit the Genestealers or get into melee, and if you go for the full stack of Swarm Leader, Relentless Flurry and Single Minded Annihilation you get the kind of numbers that are going to obliterate (quick maths suggests they kill a couple of Talos on average-ish dice, and comfortably put a full Grotesque squad into the bin).

That helps shore up the fact that while Hive Guard are devastating into most targets, they're specifically only OK into Artists of the Flesh stuff, with the combination of damage reduction and 5+ ignore wounds substantively denting their output. Having the Gaunts as a backup plan, and able to flip a flank that's being pressured by Grotesques in a hurry, definitely helps shore up the matchup (though not, in the end, quite enough to flip the game against Siegler).

Whether this list or the more balanced, toolkit approach taken by John Lennon (which we'll see in a second) ends up dominant will be interesting to see - you certainly get more "free" wins with this build, but it's also plausibly easier to come up with counters for, and if nothing chases Artists of the Flesh out of the metagame you probably do want a build with more angles of attack. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough whenever Mani next throws down at a major, and big congratulations to him for putting in a great showing across the Atlantic.

Anthony Vanella - Drukhari - 3rd Place

Credit: Corrode

The List

Archetype

Covens

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another outstanding performance from Anthony here, joining the general trend of pivoting Drukahri hard towards Covens with the head start of having already been thriving with Cronos for most of the year. This list's plan is ultimately very similar to Siegler's - there's tuning on the exact unit sizes (more Talos instead of one unit of Grotesques), slightly different tooling for the objective holders (Haemoxcytes instead of vanilla Wracks and a solo Raider to help get one of the tarpits where they're needed) and the cool use of a Master Haemoculus (sensible, as the Poisoner's Ampule rules and helps the list push back against Rites of War, which is strong against it) but the basic plan is the same - push giant slabs of monster at the opponent, demand that they deal with them, then overwhelm them if/when they can't. It proved highly effective in Anthony's hands as well, taking him to a 7-1 finish after winning the third place playoff, and given his past record I imagine it will be mere weeks before we see him back again. Great stuff!

John Lennon - Hive Mind - 4th Place

Maleceptor. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Rounding out the semi-finals we had John's more "balanced" take on what you can now do with Tyranids, sacrificing pure killing power from a brick wall of Hive Guard for better defensive tools and a couple more big ObSec/horde clearing units.

Defensively, this list stacks wide-ranging -1 to hit and to the S of incoming attacks via the Malanthrope and Maleceptor (the latter using Encephalic Diffusion to set it up), making it a formidible challenge to take an early swing at. I've played against a list chaining out Gaunts with that combo before, and with Leviathan's 6+ ignore wounds on top, the dropoff in effectiveness of pretty much any kind of offensive tool is going to be palpable (especially with far fewer Freebooterz Dakkajets around). This means the list is much more capable of gradually expanding out to occupy space, and having two Termagant units thusly protected means that opponents who are vulnerable to the Flurry combo are going to be hard pushed to prevent it going off. While it has fewer Hive Guard than Mani's build, the ones that are here are also going to be operating at peak performance, with the Maleceptor using Focal Essence to amp up their damage rolls and AP as well as all the other goodness (and the option of blowing Flurry here too on an alpha turn if nothing else is going on).

Beyond that, this list does have more concessions towards objective play than Mani's, with a Lictor, some Sky Slashers and an extra unit in the 4AE detachment (splashing for a Patriarch, who can actually murder stuff unlike a Magus, seems like a good choice too), and is a distinctly more balanced affair that probably racks up fewer free wins, but is also less likely to slam face first into a hard counter. I do wonder if we'll end up somewhere in the middle on maybe two units of five, as I suspect the main concern with this build is if people start teching for Hive Guard and start reliably packing indirect fire/other tricks to remove the unit turn one - without them, this list is a little short of answers to chunkier targets. Lots of exciting developments to keep an eye on as the metagame evolves, and congratulations to John for making it an even Drukhari/bug split at the top.

The Rest of the Best

How to assign this for these events is always a headache because of accounting for the bracketing and the top four. This time, I'm just going to try going for the remaining five players who achieved 2+ wins in the top bracket. They were:

3 Wins

• Sean Nayden - Drukhari: An updated spin on Drukhari Goodstuff, with lots of Hellions, a Ravager to provide some heavier firepower at a lower price than Trueborn, and a cute headache-causing Patrol detachment that uses Webway Raiders for a free use of Webway Portal on some Kabalites, and Dark Mirth to make the Archon and a Venom incredibly annoying to be around.
• Jack Harpster - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, Swordbearers and Prescient Brethren, now with Castellan Crowe.

2 Wins

• Justin Moore - Adeptus Mechanicus: Unlike Druhari AdMech got exactly one buff, and fair play to this list because it dives right into that. Lucius Kastellan Robots did always look like they might be fringe funny, because if you make them CORE you can Solar Flare them, and now they're cheaper and everything else is pricier, that looks pretty cool! Outside of that, lots of Mars infantry and some utility units, plus a Ruststalker bomb.
• Colin McDade - Drukhari: A Realspace Raid with lots of AoF Covens stuff backed up by some Technomancer Cronos and Drazhar.
• Brian Jones - Imperial Knights: The master of the Freeblade Lance returns, going extra big with a double Relic Castellan (Cawl's Wrath/Sainted Ion), then plenty of Moiraxes, a Preceptor and a Magaera in support. The entire list is now ObSec, which means that it's an intimidating combo of bid damage and big pressure.

Games of Westeros X (major)

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

Christophe Fiedler - Grey Knights - 1st Place

Grey Knights Nemesis Dreadknights. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

A full Brotherhood triple threat here, eschewing some of the normal support tools like Techmarines to make the fifth Dreadknight in the army a Grand Master rather than a regular schmuck. That ensures that the key box of having a Prescient Brethren GMDK is ticked, and this continues to look like the key to making the very best Grey Knight builds - it turns out that getting what will often be full (or nearly full) hit and wound re-rolls with Foresight on something as deadly as a GMDK is pretty damn good for 1CP.

I'm not totally sold that this build outperforms a two Brotherhood version with a few more utility models and a third basic Dreadknight, but that's ultimately going to be meta dependent - this version is less vulnerable on Assassinate against opponents with reach, and can smash out some absolutely brutal alpha turns when it goes hard on all its different tricks at once thanks to its surprisingly deep pool of CP (who needs extra traits/relics when all your guys are Dreadknights?). It does also look to have been a strong choice in the 20-0 format, as this list absolutely crushed the scoring, finishing more than 10 BP clear of the nearest conteder. That's outstanding stuff, so huge congratulations to Christophe.

David Klang - 2nd Place

Credit: Head58

The List

Archetype

Iron Hands Successors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

This week is rapidly proving to be a tour through all the big winners of the updates, with our next build being a pretty straight-up iteration of the Iron Hands alpha strike into board control builds that were already performing pre-patch. The fundamental logic here is that you only need the stratagems, traits and superdoctrine from Hands to send the performance of the Dreadnoughts and Devastators through the roof, so you can use your Chapter Tactic on something that makes the Vanguard Veterans extra deadly against whatever they slam into. That creates a build that can go incredibly hard early but has the depth to control the board and keep swinging all the way through the game (especially as the Character VolCon with Company Vets to bodyguard is a total nightmare to remove), and it's absolutely one of the Marine versions to watch as we enter the new metagame. Great work from David.

Daniel Hesselberg - Drukhari - 3rd Place

Drukhari Alliance of Agony | Credit: Garrett "John Condit" Severson

The List

Archetype

Talos Drukhari

Why it's Interesting in 9th

More Talos in our next Drukhari build, showing off another thing you can do with them, which is to bring a Realspace Raid. With lots of Talos and their discount you now actively do want a Haemoculus around, making a RSR way more attractive than it used to be, and if you're not bothering with Cronos then there's a reasonable amount to gain by just smooshing everything into a single detachment. There are a few other cool things on show here too - the use of Poisoned Tongue means that the list can choose to leave the opponent with essentially only Talos to target if it wants to by pulling the Raiders with Insidious Misdirection, and the Blood Glaive Succubus with Precision Blows can be a bit less of a gamble on the mortals into some popular targets than the Tryptych Whip one. Ultimately, however, the Talos are the stars here as well, further hammering home that they're the new thing you must have a plan for. Excellent performance from Daniel.

Andreas Holm - Tyranids - 4th Place

Swarmlord. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Leviathan Goodstuff, but with a Harridan.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

long, weary exhale

So, one of the things I like about 9th compared to 8th is that there's generally much more care put into designing how buff combos can fit together, and in combination with a Forge World compendium that brings the units far more in-line with the normal codex stuff, we've seen far fewer successful lists that just stack every conceivable buff onto the biggest, nastiest resin monstrosity around and call it art.

Well good/bad news depending on whether you're a member of my international league of villany dedicated to the destruction of Forge World or not - we're back on that for a bit. Tyranids have just received a new set of rules compatible with their 8th Edition stuff and already had a high-end Forge World toy that was nearly good enough looming overhead in the form of the Harridan. This thing was already reasonably terrifying at its 700pts price tag, and the combination of giving it access to easy +1 to hit and supporting it with massively augmented Hive Guard gives you an alternative route to a build that can just body slam opponents straight out of the game, and one that's extremely well placed in the current metagame.

Massed cognis lascannons were the bane of the Harridan, but with those massively diminished in number and Freebooterz reduced in effectiveness, it's far less likely that you'll lose it out of the gate, and with Dermic Symbiosis you get to use it at full strength unless the opponent can clear 26 wounds (or I guess 23 before its a risk to use its self buff) off it. That's tough for even shooty builds through Encephalic Diffusion, and when this nightmare shoots back, it can reliably smoke two strong opposing units without really breaking a sweat - add Pathogenic Slime and Bioweapon Bond and you're almost always looking at eight shots per gun that hit and wound on 2s for four damage each, giving you a real chance of smoking a Dreadknight with each arm (or at least bringing them into range for the Hive Guard to easily mop up) and crucially being excellent in mirror matches because even Mani numbers of Hive Guard don't reliably kill the Harridan in a single turn at -1S but the Harridan absolutely does fly over and pick up 10+ of them, not caring about opposing Maleceptors to boot.

It's very strong, is what I'm saying, and the plus the Hive Guard are going to leave plenty of opponents in the dust very quickly. It is "all in" on the assumption that you won't ever hit a game where the opponent goes first and can kill the beastie, with Iron Hands or a glorious Knight Castellan resurgence probably being the biggest threat on that front, but with three different players taking the Harridan to X-1 finishes over the weekend this soon after the new rules have gone live I'm pretty convinced there's something here. Congratulations to Andreas, vanguard of our new dragon overlords.

The Rest of the Best

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

• 5th - Jonas Hedlen - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, pure Prescient Brethren.
• 6th - Jonathan Sleigh-Johnson - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, pure Prescient Brethren.
• 7th - Carl Mindedal - Drukhari: A novel Drukhari setup leaning into the point drops, combining Artists of the Flesh Grotesques to hold the board with a trio of Black Heart Ravagers blasting away from the back, completed with some Red Grief killers as shock troops.
• 8th - Oliver Iyer - Iron Hands Successors: The Minotaurs version of the general Iron Hand Successor Dreadnought/Devastator/VanVet builds.
• 9th - Jonas Axelsson - Necrons: A mixed ObSec build, combining a detachment of hulls with Eternal Conquerors/Interplanetary Invaders with an Outrider of Wraiths/Ophydians as the standard Eternal Expansionists setup.
• 10th - Tomas Christensson - Necrons: A Sautekh build heavy on newly upgraded toys - you've got lots of Wraiths and Lokhusts, lots of powerful characters (including Szeras), a big hammer of Skorpekh and some Scarabs to finish. All-in on new CORE, and looks phenomenally fun, great to see it get 4-1.
• 11th - Johan Norrman - Iron Hands Successors: Dreads/Devs/VanVets.
• 12th - Johan Nicolaisen - Iron Hands: Actual Iron Hands with Devs and Dreads, but then a full on Fire Raptor instead of VanVets. I mean it's one way to give you an answer to skulking Hive Guard!
• 13th - Mikael Christensson - Imperial Knights: Loads of Warglaives and a few Moiraxes lead up by a Crusader, with the powerful combo of Glorified History and Defiant Fury to keep all the Knights swinging big all the way till they're dead.

Clash of Alba: Winter Assault (major)

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

Innes Wilson - Iron Hands Successors - 1st Place

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

The List

Archetype

Iron Hands Successors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Scotland got its first ever major this past weekend, and we're thrilled to see regular Goonhammer guest contributor Innes Wilson taking it down, bringing a slightly different spin on the Iron Hands Successor Minotaurs builds to bear. It's still got drop Devs and VanVets, and still gets big value from squeezing in a second character Dreadnought in the form of Hecaton Aiakos, but unlike some builds it forgoes the Redemptors, swaps out Born Heroes for Master Artisans and packs in some multi-melta Land Speeders as strong users of that modified trait, then rounds it all out with a Whirlwind Scorpius.

That does a couple of things for the army compared to the standard. First up, it takes out what are normally the list's most obvious targets in the Redemptors - all the big hitters here can either hide, get bodyguarded or start off the table, and that makes it far stronger against conventional shooting. With lots of vehicles and high value targets in the metagame, mobile multi-meltas with a hit re-roll are also very good, and fulfil double duty of shoring up the Engage/Oaths plan while trading. Having Artisans re-rolls also means the list can be a bit more judicious about when it unleashes the Devastators, as it's less reliant on the Superdoctrine to get hits out of them, and can potentially have Hecaton in position to bring up Wisdom of the Ancients to further help on that front too. Finally, the Scorpius provides a reliable clip of damage, helps soften up opposing artillery, and in matchups where the other side doesn't have enough reach, is a third To the Last choice alongside the two character dreadnoughts, which can force the opponent to make some extremely risky plays to try and stop a free 15pts.

All in all, this list brings all the vicious alpha strike strength of the Iron Hands builds to the table while also having the option to be a bit more cagey and gradual about how it uses resources when the game calls for it. It's powerful stuff, and fantastic to see Innes picking up the big win.

Steven Burns - 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

At this point, I am basically out of things to say about these builds unless they're doing something particularly unusual - they're super strong, the versions with the Prescient Brethren are dominant, and they're going to be a key part of the metagame going forward (and generally another good advert for bringing lots of anti-tank). Congratulations to Steven on the undefeated run with this vicious army.

Larry Martin - Grey Knights - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Gonna have to figure out if Greg can rig up this page to play the DJ Khaled "Another One" drop as you scroll through. I'm sure that wouldn't get annoying or anything.

Great stuff from Larry in third place.

Simon Fitzpatrick - Drukhari - 4th ✪ Place

Credit: Wings

The List

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

In some ways I think this is healthy to see - unlike the Covens lists, which end up getting a net buff from the Balance Dataslate, this build takes the Drukhari nerfs on the chin and is still fine. It's down ~2 units worth of stuff compared to where it would have been, but it still has plenty of vicious killers to draw - it just needs to be a bit more judicious about how it trades with them. The strength of Talos in the Grey Knights matchup means that we'll probably see more players gravitating that way of the Knights of Titan stay on top (though this list did pick up a win against them), but if you like using your Transport-heavy Goodstuff builds, Simon has ably demonstrated that that's still a viable plan.

The Rest of the Best

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

• 5th - David Brown - Imperial Knights: Pure Armiger House Krast, with Landstrider chilling out in the middle of it all to make them extra aggressive.
• 6th - Jonathan O'Neil - Grey Knights: A rather more balanced Grey Knight list than we normally see, going pure Prescient Brethren and packing some Terminator squads to hold the mid-board.
• 7th - Dave Murray - Imperial Knights: House Krast with a bunch of Armigers and a Castellan.
• 8th - Duncan Brown - Imperial Knights: Two House Raven Castellans (and boy is that bringing back some dark memories) with two Helverins and a trio of Warglaives in support.
• 9th - Colin Greeves - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, Prescient and Swordbearers.
• 10th - Paul Metcalfe - Necrons: Double C'tan, mixing up Novokh melee (including the exciting new option of a big Flayed One bomb) and some Eternal Expansionist Scarabs.
• 11th - Aaron Young - Wolfspears (White Dwarf Space Wolf Successors): A completely wild combination of stuff here, mixing some of the normal Space Wolf tools with a Gladiator Valiant, Bolter Inceptors to get big value out of Track and Hunt and Killing Blow, and the hilarious metagame flex of a max-sized unit of Hounds of Morkai.
• 12th ✪ - Allan Davidson - Death Guard: Shooty Mortarion's Anvil.
• 13th - Brodie Campbell-McRae - Death Guard: Poxmongers with a reasonable number of Poxwalkers and a duo of Blight Haulers to benefit from buffs.

Renegade Open (major)

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

Matt Root - Black Templars - 1st Place

Black Templars High Marshal Helbrecht. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Standout Features

• The power of Relic Bearers on full display with defensive tools on nasty melee units and an Apothecary to revive the holders.
• Redemptors and Uphold the Honour of the Emperor are the new iconic Marine combo.
• Helbrecht and the Tannhauser Chaplain, because why wouldn't you.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Matt Root finally takes a break from winning majors with Drukhari to...win a major with Black Templars instead. Sure, go off king. That also makes it back-to-back major wins for Templars lists after last week, and there's some overlap with last week's but also some alternative spicy tech. Overlap wise, Redemptors with a 5+ invulnerable save and access to the nifty Templars stratagem sheet are incredibly strong, Helbrecht is one of the deadliest men in space, and the Tannhauser's Bones Bike Chaplain with Rites of War is an incredibly annoying utility/board control unit that's going to give many opponents fits. Expect to see this stuff in most Templars lists, it's too good to leave on the table.

Elsewhere, however, this build shakes stuff up compared to last weerk exploring the nasty things you can do with Relic Bearers rather than going in on Crusaders. Specifically, this list does what we were broadly expecting to see - sticks one of the exceptional ablative defence tools on a couple of brutal melee units, and then packs a Chaplain so that when the opponent does chew through it, the bearer gets right back up. Bladeguard are phenomenal anyway, and becoming nearly immune to chip damage (and great against Hive Guard) is a huge deal for them, while in a world that suddenly has fewer dark lances and cognis lascannons around the Terminators sit pretty with the Crux Obsidian for -1D on their first model. They also have the asset of both being hyper relevant in the Grey Knights matchup, where Templars psychic defences already stand them in decent stead.

To crack into either of these units will need serious attention, and if the heavy firepower is going into these then it isn't going into the Redemptors, who will cheerfully mow down whatever is in their way if ignored. Add in the full buff combo of Fires of Devotion and Litany of Divive Protection and whichever melee unit is best suited to the situation becomes an unstoppable wrecking ball, rolling through the opponents best stuff with relative impunity. I must admit that I also love the Holy Orb Attack Bike, the mental image of the gunner overhead hurling this precious relic into the opponent amuses me and it's genuinely a useful trick to have in the back pocket.

Black Templars - they rule. Back-to-back major wins is a hell of way to start their competitive run, and I look forward to seeing more people try them out as people get their Helbrecht's finished. Congratulations to Matt for finding a new way to achieve glorious victory.

Charlie Andre - Grey Knights - 2nd Place

Grey Knights Kill Team. Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Intereptors.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Maybe we could get the music to shuffle so that sometimes you get Arianna Grande singing "thank you, next" instead? Can I think of enough relevant music references to sustain this bit?

Anyway - Charlie is a fantastic player, as evidenced by his slew of top showings this year, so it's no surprise to see him picking up Grey Knights and crushing most of the competition, falling only to Matt's Templars. Great work.

Oliver Smith - White Scars - 3rd Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

Archetype

White Scars

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Oliver Smith has shown admirable dedication to keeping White Scars in the conversation, with a GT win in the summer and plenty of other good performances under his belt, and here pulls off an impressive major top four finish with the latest iteration of his list. As ever, this list is built around VolCons and the Scars best synergies - claw VanVets are at their best in this chapter, with both massive reach early on and massive damage late, while Hunter's Fusilade lets Scars ration out their use of Devastators over the course of the game as they pop out of a Rhino.

Nothing totally new here, though it is clear that Oliver has updated this to adapt to the metagame - the third Devastator squad is new, and definitely well positioned for the current environment, and to give even more depth to the anti-vehicle capabilities two of the VolCons are sporting one chainfist, letting them do truly brutal stuff to Dreadknights, and forcing Grey Knights players to be a lot more cautious than they'd naturally want to be.

Both of these look like smart choices, so it's great to see them rewarded with a top finish - congratulations to Oliver.

Tim Doran - Salamanders - 4th Place

Salamander Eradicators. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Salamanders

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Looking at a White Scars/Salamander top four and having to check I haven't fallen into some sort of time vortex, and I think I'm still in 2021.

This list has a definite plan for why it's bringing the sons of Vulkan back, and that plan is damage. With Dreadknights and Talos on the rampage, the ability to throw massive punches at mid range is ideal, and this list has that in spades - all the normal firepower of a bunch of Redemptors and VolCons amped up with a full brick of Eradicators and a trio of Land Speeders to squeeze value from the superdoctrine and chapter tactic re-rolls, and then Eliminators on top of that to threaten untimely death for unwary characters. This list will fully mow most armies down if given a chance, and it's far more likely to get one against the new top builds than the previous set. It's also notable that the ignore AP-1 part of the Salamander tactic is in one of the patches where it's pretty good right now - it helps tank gatling psilencers against Grey Knights and doctrined-up VolCons against other Marines, both extremely relevant and helping make this army even more attractive.

I'm not sure I can say, hand on heart, that this is better than the top Iron Hands builds for the discerning Marine player who really likes killing, but seeing builds like this bubble back up is defintely encouraging, as alongside White Scars in third it shows that there's maybe some broader breathing room to try various builds. Great to see Tim bringing the fires of prometheus back.

The Rest of the Best

Three more players finished on 5-1. They were:

• 5th ✪ - Connor Haugen - Dark Angels: A full-on Deathwing deathball, with four big Terminator bricks (including the very flexible Relic bolter/claw squad), buff characters and not really much else.
• 6th - Tim Royers - Imperium: Knight of the Cog splashes a House Raven Castellan into a mostly Mars list, with the rest of the army mixing up some large Ranger squads with various goodstuff tools and plenty of Ironstriders.
• 7th - Alan Bauerly - Adepta Sororitas: Argent Shroud witha unique blend of fun toys, slamming a Castigator, Exorcist and Paragon Warsuit unit down on the table and daring other players to call them underpowered as they blow stuff to bits. Also features a full Battle Sister squad with loads of buff support.

Invasion 40K (major)

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

Rasmus Valand Fredriksen - Drukhari - 1st Place

Credit: Wings

The List

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another spin on post-update Drukhari Goodstuff, though here with the notable change of bringing in some Ravagers. I'm a fan of that - they were nearly there at 140, Trueborn got pricier while they went down, and the metagame definitely rewards having plenty of Dark Lance shots. Beyond that, The Dark Creed get a showing just as a utility element, with the tooled up Haemoculus bringing multiple ways of annoying the opponent to the table, and a unit of Haemoxcytes for objective play now looking very competitive with Wyches.

Just like the other goodstuff build, this is a clear sign that traditional Drukhari builds are still fine, they just have to work with fewer free value trades than they could rely on before. In the right hands, that's no obstacle to victory - congratulations to Rasmus.

Bjørn Olsen - Orks - 2nd ✪ Place

Wazbom Blastajet. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Freebooterz

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another post-Balance spin on a previous favourite in the second undefeated slot brings us our first look at post-patch Freebooterz. Much like Drukhari Goodstuff, it is in fact still very strong, it's just had the edges sanded off it - it's now limited to only the two planes and the Squigbuggies getting guaranteed shots turn one, and its mobility around the board is reduced by having to squad up the buggies and substitute Deff Dreads into some of the slots. That still leaves an extremely potent army capable (as ably demonstrated here) of performing well at events, but gives opponents a bit more of an opportunity to actually push back or devise counter strategies - as it should be.

Outside of the buggies, the other thing to highlight is the Krushin' Armour/'Ard as Nails big Mek - just like we've seen in some of the Deathskulls herohammer lists, anything that lets you make a super tough ObSec Character (which Freebooterz can turn on with Get Da Loot) is an exceptionally valuable addition to a list otherwise short on it. You want the Mek anyway for the Force Field, and this is a great way to get more value from him.

All in all - still a list you can play, still a list you need to plan for, but playing a much fairer version of its plan. Congratulations to Bjørn for keeping the Waaagh rolling.

Tore Eskeland - Dark Angels - 3rd Place

Dark Angels. Credit: Greg Chiasson

The List

Archetype

Deathwing

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Whoops all Deathwing. The raw brutality and resilience of this list ensures that it's always going to pop up now and again, and in an all-Deathwing list where you don't need Azrael as much Lazarus is a cool choice currently - it helps against Grey Knights, reduces the vulnerability to Thousand Sons making a mockery of your defences, and even gives you some defences against Talos ichor injectors. All good stuff, and we're always happy to see Dark Angels putting in performances - great work from Tore.

Tore Grødeland - Grey Knights - 4th ✪ Place

Grey Knight - Justicar
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

"?...hit me baby one more time ?".

The bit will continue until morale improves.

Having said that, there is actually something I wanted to highlight on this one too, which is the return of the Words of Power Chaplain. This largely proved superflous in the immediate post-release builds, and I suspect not being great into the best Drukhari or AdMech builds (where it was either spectacular overkill or had few good targets respectively) was a factor in that. With heftier Drukhari builds and Black Templars deathballs in the mix, and AdMech largely AWOL, I can see that conversation re-opening (though it may prove insufficiently relevant in the mirror). Certainly food for thought, and I'm generally a fan of players giving tools some new experimentation after a big shift in the meta, so cool stuff from Tore.

The Rest of the Best

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

• 5th - Sveinung Nøding - Tyranids: A second outing for the Leviathan Harridan, with pretty much the same tools in support.
• 6th - Sebastian Kjeilen - Adepta Sororitas: Mostly melta-heavy Argent Shroud, with an old-school minimal Ebon Chalice detachment for the Warlord Trait.
• 7th - Mariusz Wawrzyn - Drukhari: A total of 15 Talos/Cronos and very little else.
• 8th - Eirik Kristoffersen - Adepta Sororitas: A classic Argent Shroud (again with loads of melta) and Bloody Rose mix.
• 9th - Steven O'Neil - Adeptus Custodes: Shadowkeepers with an extra-shooty Troops loadout.
• 10th - Sondre Skår - Chaos Space Marines: Triple Iron Warriors Lord of Skulls with a Discolord, ready to carve through unprepared opposition post-haste.
• 11th ✪ - Thomas Harkestad - Tyranids: Leviathan/Kronos Monster Mash, with the standard block of Hive Guard backed up by a Dimachaeron and Barbed Hierodule.
• 12th - Davidus Kammarov - Necrons: The full comedy Triple Monolith/Silent King combo, with a Triarch Stalker for re-rolls and a bare minimum of Scarabs to fill things out.

Deck Box Masters Grand Tournament

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

Keir Hornyak - Grey Knights - 1st Place

Grey Knights vs Tyranids
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors.

Why it's Interesting in 9th

"?...Celebrate and dance so free, One more time... ?".

I like the Rhino, and am faintly surprised we don't see them as a one-of in more builds? A good choice from Keir.

The Rest of the Best

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

• 2nd - Jonathon Betteridge - Aeldari: Harlequins and Craftworld artillery.
• 3rd - Nicholas Lawrence - Drukhari: A modest number of Talos with some goodstuff backup.
• 4th ✪ - Andrew Tanner - Iron Hands: Leviathan Dreadnought spam Iron Hands. No really, there are three of them. Looks mean.
• 5th - Teddy Mavrogiannis - Hive Mind: Leviathan and 4AE team up once more, this time with a couple of Barbed Hierodules for some heavy hitters (and to benefit from the Maleceptor's Encephalic Diffusion).
• 6th - Brian Strongman - Tau: Goes hard on the only plan Tau have, which is to blow people into bits very quickly, and packs three Broadside units and a tooled-up Riptide to try and do just that.
• 7th ✪ - Colton McInnis - Adepta Sororitas: Argent Shroud special/heavy weapons are joined by some board control Martyred Lady tools, lots of Sacresants to utilise ObSec in particular (plus of course the Blade of Sacrifice murder Canoness).
• 8th - Christopher Burgart - Chaos: Aggressive Chaos Knight toys team up with Be'lakor for extra pressure (and the handy Nurgling buddies he brings with him).

Glasshammer GT

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

Vik Vijay - Grey Knights - 1st Place

Grey Knights Army. Credit: Colin Ward

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

"?...All in all it's just another brick in the wall..?"

Regular tournament champion Vik taking down a GT in a very tough field is no surprise, and like the last Grey Knight build I do have something to highlight here - I like the use of First to the Fray on the Prescient Brethren GMDK, as it increases the chances of squeezing maximum value out of Foresight over the course of the game. It's a neat extra angle, and another thing I wouldn't be surprised to see more lists try out. Fantastic stuff as ever from Vik.

The Rest of the Best

Six players finished on 5-1 records. They were:

• 2nd ✪ - Rich Bladon - Imperium: Knights and Scions - classic combo, now with Knights that count as extra models. Also features a Full Payload Manticore to give it a shot at blasting some Hive Guard out of cover early on.
• 3rd - Maciek Chamier-Cieminski - Drukhari: Talos and Cronos, with Grotesques to hold the table and Hellions in support.
• 4th - Jon Talbot - Death Guard: Shooty Mortarion's Anvil with lots of Poxwalkers and a murderous brawler Daemon Prince.
• 5th - Dusty Justy - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors, Prescient and Blades of Victory.
• 6th - Christopher Radford - Space Wolves: Dreadnought-heavy Space Wolves, with both character dreads and two VolCons, with the rest of the list filled out with Wolf Guard, Long Fangs and cheap objective units.
• 7th - Josh Roberts - Iron Hands Successors: Mostly the standard Dreadnought/Devastator/VanVet stuff, though goes heavier on VanVets instead of bringing Redemptors.

Nemesis 40k

All the lists for this event are in Best Coast Pairings.

Darren Jac - Orks - 1st Place

Ork Kill Rig. Credit: Magos Sockbert

The List

Archetype

Freebooterz

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Another option for Freebooterz players finding themselves down a few units - just add Kill Rigs. They're pretty good, and in Freebooterz have the extra appeal that if there's a squishy target you can use their auto-hit gun to kick off the buff. I think if I was playing this I'd probably cut one Shokkjump so I could fill one Kill Rig with Beast Snaggas for a bit of extra objective durability, but that's definitely just tinkering round the edges - this build looks very potent, and gives Ork players another place to fall back to.

The Rest of the Best

Four players finished on 4-1. They were:

• 2nd - Gord Weppler - Tyranids: Another Harridan. The big board in my bond villain lair that alerts me to Forge World nonsense has a lot of flashing lights on it. Should probably check that out.
• 3rd - Cory Burns - Adeptus Mechanicus: Mars Veteran Cohort with lots of melee Skitarii and Suphurhounds, no planes.
• 4th ✪ - Christopher Kulak - Thousand Sons: Pure Duplicity with a couple of shooty Helbrutes to handle long-ranged anti-tank.
• 5th - Tom Carter - Orks: Deathskulls Herohammer, with some Squigbuggies and a big unit of Killa Kans backing the bosses up.

Twisted Onslaught Oblivion

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

Louis Fitzsimmons - Grey Knights- 1st Place

Grey Knight Kill Team
Credit: Pendulin

The List

Archetype

Dreadknights and Interceptors

Why it's Interesting in 9th

"? Guess who's back? Back again...?".

One more Dreadknight list to close us out, this one featuring Purifiers and the psychic murder Librarian, both good flexes into some of what's out there, but potentially again held back by lack of relevance in the mirror. Does not seem to have held Louis back though, as he stormed to victory including a win in the mirror.

The Rest of the Best

Two players finished on 5-1. They were:

• 2nd ✪ - Franco McDonnell - Chaos: Be'lakor/Mortarion tag team to victory, with Epidemius-buffed Plagueburst Crawlers in tow.
• 3rd - Jack Tite - Orks: See lists of the week.

Wrap Up

Next week - probably more events. I haven't checked (conserving my brain power to think of a bit for Grey Knights next week), but based on trends it seems pretty likely. See you then! Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com.

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