Welcome to Competitive Innovations, our weekly feature for a number of game lines across the tabletop wargame space. Each week our army list and tactics experts canvass the top tournaments for their game of specialty, looking at the week’s top match-ups and how they played out on the tabletop to let you know what’s hot, what’s not, and what might be coming next as the competitive meta evolves year-round.

It's been a month since we last checked in, feels like forever! Events tend to wind down at the end of December and into the new year, so there just haven't been any events of decent size in the past few weeks but we come back with not only the official Games Workshop Palm Springs GT but 3 other events around the US and Canada. This week we have:

• Age of Sigmar GT - Warhammer Open Palm Springs - United States
• Parabellum GT 2026 - Canada
• Winter Slaughter 2026 - United Stated
• Akron Brew Brawl-January GT-AoS - United States

Age of Sigmar GT - Warhammer Open Palm Springs

46-player, 8-round Major in Palm Springs, CA, United States on January 16 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Noé Aquino - Stormcast Eternals

vs.

Matt Nguyen - Sylvaneth

Thoughts

It's difficult to get a read on who would win this one. The Sylvaneth list is largely the Herohammer big boys list we expect, with Belthanos leading the charge of giant monsters and dragonfly cav to victory. The Stormcast list is...less predictable and feels a lot more rigid. Reclusians can definitely stand their ground against a Sylvaneth charge, which is going to be the key to victory, using their resistance rolls to shut down some of the gnarlier abilities while the Questor use their own teleports to snag objectives.

It's a close fight but the Stormcast barely pull ahead here.

Result

Stormcast Eternals Victory - 59 - 57

Noé Aquino - Stormcast Eternals - 1st Place

Iridan the Witness. Credit: Rich Nutter

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Reclusians and Questors

Thoughts

Reclusians and Questors are some of the strongest melee units in the army so this list doubles down to focus on their strengths.

All ruination chamber units can shrug off non-core abilities once per turn on a dice roll. Iridan lets them reroll  this making it even harder to try and remove them with spells, so opponents will have to charge them to try and make headway. Which just means that Iridan will use their "Wings of Death to make them -1 to hit, while also buffing the strength of the Reclusians with his Warscroll prayer's -1 to rend. Reclusians are already very strong with their  Crit mortal weapons and four chances to reroll 1s to save.

While Reclusians tend to hang back and guard the rear, Reclusians are the ones you send out to capture objectives. You can pick an objective and make it even harder to pick them up, plus they have a built in teleport.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 includes:

• 2nd - Brian Cox - Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros and 2 Mortisans leading a mix of Archai, Stalkers and a Crawler.
• 3rd - Aaron Elias Newbom - Ironjawz: Wrekkaz and Brute Ragerz.
• 4th - E Pryor - Skaven: Thanquol with Hellpit Abominations.
• 5th - Matt Nguyen - Sylvaneth: See Showdown.
• 6th - Evan Markham - Kharadron Overlords: KO Good stuff, Ironclad Edition.
• 7th - Trish Celefaze - Stormcast Eternals: Annihilators and Prosecutors.
• 8th - Ian Wood - Sylvaneth: Belthanos and Spirit of Durthu with Kurnoths.

Parabellum GT 2026

34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Sainte-Thérèse, QC, Canada on January 17 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Lifecycle

Simon Côté-L'Écuyer - Sylvaneth

vs.

Vincent-Pierre Martineau - Soulblight Gravelords

Thoughts

Lifecycle makes this interesting because it favors armies that are mobile but can also stand their ground. Since the main objective is constantly shifting, they need to be able to get there, but then castle up as they hold the main objective and a secondary or two (if possible).

Sylvaneth definitely have an edge on mobility. The problem is they then struggle to hold their ground if they don't get that clutch strike on the charge. Soulblight meanwhile have disposable mooks to snag objectives and keep their Vampires in the rear until the time comes to strike.

The Soulblight clutch this by a pretty solid margin.

Result

Soulblight Gravelords Victory - 61 - 42

Vincent-Pierre Martineau - Soulblight Gravelords - 1st Place

Prince Vhordrai. Credit: Matthew 'chimp' Ward

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Prince Vhordrai and Blood Knights

Thoughts

The main hammer in this Prince Vhordrai, the Vampire Lord and their Knights. Vhordrai passes out permanent buffs to Vampires when they kill a unit, meaning once the engine gets going it only gets stronger. This is not even accounting for the fact he's very strong on his own. The Vampire Lord gives the Knights extra rend and reroll charges, making them very hard to escape.

Most of the rest of the list is chaff, able to help hold points and screen out enemy charges, so the infantry don't get caught unawares.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Loic Gosselin Delort - Kharadron Overlords: KO good stuff.
• 3rd - Romain Gosselin-Delort - Seraphon: Slann and Old Blood Carnosaur with Krox, Aggradons and Raptadon Chargers.
• 4th - Cedric Delort - Ossiarch Bonereapers: Triple Mortisans with 2 Harvesters, Stalkers and Teriatric Cohort.
• 5th - Simon Côté-L'Écuyer - Sylvaneth: See Showdown.
• 6th - jean-vincent frucot - Flesh-eater Courts: Abhorrent Ghoul King with Crypt Horrors, Cryptguard and Morbheg Knights.

Winter Slaughter 2026

31-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Westminster, CO, United States on January 17 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Creeping Corruption

Thomas Burgett - Skaventide

vs.

Justin Foster - Stormcast Eternals

Thoughts

The Reclusians here can be very resilient with the ability to shut down a lot of abilities targeting them with Resistance rolls, thanks to Iridan giving them a reroll. However this is unlike a lot of Skaven lists in that its planning on charging right at you!

Likely thanks to the high amount of Crit Mortals in this list, the Skaven player has a real chance to filter the enemy out with Clan Rats and then hit them with the hammer in retribution given the Skaven a win here.

Result

Skaventide Victory - 61 - 54

Thomas Burgett - Skaventide - 1st Place

Clanrats. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Triple Verminlords

Thoughts

This is wild. I can't say I've ever seen a list quite like this.

The SoG Screaming Bell is a known quantity, one of the best support units in the game right now. It adds +2" to movement or -1 to be hit to nearby units depending on the turn. Meanwhile the Triple Verminlords are all powerful beat sticks, with the Warbringer being the most straight forward, swinging a Damage 3 Crit Mortals flail that can finish off a unit it didn't quite get in the combat phase. Lord Screech is slightly less lethal, having Crit Two Hits instead of Mortals, but he still gets 7 Damage 3 attacks and can support the others with his buffs, and shutting off enemy infantry commands. Finally the Deceiver isn't as strong as the other 2 but it still gets crit mortals and has more tech for moving around to get into a better position.

The clan rats do what you expect, snag objectives and filter enemy units out, then come back to die again.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Schuyler Bishop - Ogor Mawtribes: Monster Trucks with a few Gorgers for deep strike potential.
• 3rd - Derick Senter - Daughters of Khaine: Morathi and Krethusa with foot aelves.
• 4th - Justin Foster - Stormcast Eternals: See showdown.
• 5th - Ben Bauman - Seraphon: Slann Starmaster with some Kroxx and Saurus Warrior Jail.
• 6th - Matt Eimers - Lumineth Realm-Lords: Severith and Light of Eltharion with Alarith Stoneguard.

Akron Brew Brawl-January GT-AoS

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Akron, OH, United States on January 17 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Alex Dent - Flesh-eater Courts

vs.

Dan Sasala - Soulblight Gravelords

Thoughts

The beast flayers probably came in clutch here for FEC, having an answer for Vhordrai and the Vengorian lord is huge, and then they can answer with their own giant beasts. Honestly there's not a ton of Finesse to the FEC list and it's likely just brute force led them to victory here. Not many armies can stand up to a well aimed charge with giant Bats/Dragons.

Result

Flesh-eater Courts Victory - 65 - 42

Alex Dent - Flesh-eater Courts - 1st Place

Terrorgheist, one of the many Monstrous Denizens you may meet in Thondia Credit: Serotonin

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Terrorgheists and Beastflayers

Thoughts

Interesting to see a list that doesn't use Ushoran win an event.

Naturally, the two Ghoul Kings are the pillars that make the list work, since both of them offer a delusion to make the collection of Terrogheists and Zombie Dragons work. The Terrorgheist version gives +1 to charge (and run and charge when within 12" of it) while the Zombie Dragon gives +1 attacks once they're in the thick of things.

And that's largely it. Send in a swarm of giant monsters and devour the enemy. The included Beastflayers mostly work as screens, but they can punch the occaisional monster that they run into well better than you'd expect for their 110 point cost.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Dan Sasala - Soulblight Gravelords: See Showdown.
• 3rd - Neil Addleman - Kharadron Overlords: KO Good Stuff
• 4th - Justin Crandall - Sylvaneth: Scourge of Ghyran Drycha and Spirit of Durthu lead a mix of everything.
• 5th - Chad Bahl - Daughters of Khaine: Morathi with Shadowstalkers and Snake ladies.

Wrap Up

It's good to be back everyone, thanks for tuning in for another week of Competitive Innovations for AOS!

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