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 a whirlwind tour this week as we go to a major GT in Australia, one of the biggest all year, and then two smaller events in Germany and the United States. This week we will be covering:

• CALL to GLORY 2026 - Australia
• March of the Phalanx: An AAG Event - United States
• HAMBURG MAJOR 2026 AOS - Germany

CALL to GLORY 2026

131-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lyneham, Australia on January 23 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings. Due to the size of the event we will only go over the top 8.

The Showdown

Mitch Bugg - Ogor Mawtribes

vs.

Sav Baskakov - Kruleboyz

Thoughts

I'm rather surprised how much of a blowout this is. Gutrippaz under Swamphorde Bullies are tough, 2 wounds a piece at 20 models is a lot to crack through and the -1 to hit hits Ogors particularly hard. If that doesn't go off, a double swinging unit of Ironguts certainly could put out the kind of damage needed to bring them down. Without a monster there isn't really anywhere great for the Monsta-killaz to go, other than to try and slow down the waves of Ogors.

This ends in a huge victory for the Ogors.

Result

Ogor Mawtribes Victory - 76 - 26

Mitch Bugg - Ogor Mawtribes - 1st Place

photo credit: Keewa

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Foot Ogors

Thoughts

Even by foot Ogor standards this is very straightforward. The Ironguts are the strongest unit in the army, a reinforced unit is swinging with 25 Rend 2, Damage 3 attacks, and they can swing a second time if theres something really ornery to kill.

Gluttons are a solid backup fighting option, not as strong as Ironguts but they can still slug it with the best of them. Gnoblars screen out threats and protect the (frankly better than its point cost implies) Ironblaster.

Jamie Sherlock - Disciples of Tzeentch - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: Silks

The List

Archetype

Cultist spam.

Thoughts

Well this seems...annoying. The Jade Obelisk are a bit of a wild card. They're not great but a 4+ ethereal save also isn't terrible. It makes killing them a total crapshoot unless your opponent sends a unit in with a lot of attacks, and they will almost certainly waste more time killing them than you did putting the cultists up there.

Once the enemy is locked in to play you have a lot of options to beam them with spells, Kairos, the Magister, Changcaster, Fateskimmer or even send in the much more punchy SoG Kairic Acolytes and Tzaangor Enlightened.

It's a weird list, very off model, but it's an interesting one.

Jacob Strachan - Idoneth Deepkin - 3rd Place (Undefeated)

Raf's Sharks. Credit: Raf Cordero

The List

Archetype

Allopexes

Thoughts

Allopexes are an extremely versatile unit, packing both a strong shooting attack and the ability to fight in melee (especially if the target has taken damage). The rest of the list supports the Allopexes in this endeavor.

The Eidolon supports them from the rear, casting a spell to hit enemy units for -1 to saves and halving the run and charge rolls of the enemy. The Ikon of the Storm allows them to retreat, shoot, and charge again so one is never left lacking on damage. The Leviadon finally gives them the important 5+ Ward to make the (admittedly frail) Allopexes that much hardier.

Zak Rockman - Sylvaneth - 4th Place (Undefeated)

Sylvaneth Spirit of Durthu. Credit: chimp

The List

Archetype

Twistweald?

Thoughts

This is new. The Twistweald were a newish unit that hasn't gotten much love. They're an interesting unit if used correctly though. Decent attacks but the real trick is they can gum up the board by sending them out ahead of the army and use their warscroll ability to subtract D3 from any would be charging units. From there, the player can ping them with Kurnoth Hunters and charge in with Durthu or their allied Allopexes.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 includes:

• 5th - Jordan Maus - Sons of Behemat (4-0-1): Brodd, Gatebreaker, Warstompers and 4 Mancrushers.
• 6th - Jasper Rowley - Kharadron Overlords: KO Good stuff.
• 7th - Sean Weatherstone - Hedonites of Slaanesh: Synessa and Dexcessa with a Keeper of Secrets and demons.
• 8th - Adrian Croft - Helsmiths of Hashut: Urak Tarr leads Bull Centaurs, Dominator Engines and artillery.

March of the Phalanx: An AAG Event

46-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Machesney Park, IL, United States on January 24 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Surge of Slaughter

Austin Thimesch - Helsmiths of Hashut

vs.

Xander Bennett - Slaves to Darkness

Thoughts

This is a pretty good matchup for the Helsmiths here. The spearmen are pretty resilient against attacks from the (Likely Khorne marked) Warriors and Chosen and they don't have much choice but to charge in and hope to spike high. All the while the rocket batteries will pelt away at them while the Bull Centaurs finish the job.

Result

Helsmiths of Hashut Victory - 66 - 37

Austin Thimesch - Helsmiths of Hashut - 1st Place

Urak Tarr Credit: Mildnorman

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Dwarf Hammer

Thoughts

Although there's a high list diversity here, the general thrust is quite simple. The spears in this list exist to serve as a strong wall against enemy advances. Behind those are the Deathshrieker batteries and Tormenter Bombard. Once you've successfully softened them out, charge in with the Bull Centaurs, Urak Taar and the Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Dustin Forman - Flesh-eater Courts (4-0-1): Terrorgheists and Zombie Dragons
• 3rd - Xander Bennett - Slaves to Darkness: See Showdown.
• 4th - Carlos Munoz - Idoneth Deepkin: Allopexes and Eels.
• 5th - Ryan Ama - Ossiarch Bonereapers:Dual Mortarchs with lots of Mortek Guard and Harvesters.
• 6th - Brad O’Keefe - Maggotkin of Nurgle: Rotigus with Plaguebearers and Blight Kings, with an allied Daemon Prince.

HAMBURG MAJOR 2026 AOS

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hamburg, Germany on January 24 2026. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission - Bountiful Equinox

Dario Grohmann - Sylvaneth

vs.

Flo Voggenthaler - Soulblight Gravelords

Thoughts

This is a very close fight, which is only decided by a hair's length. Both armies have a lot of potential to move around, with Sylvaneth having their teleporting trees and Soulblight having some deep strike but also recursion. The trick is that the Soulblight units aren't very durable, there's just a lot of 'em. Sylvaneth meanwhile have a lot more punch on the charge, meaning Soulblight must carefully manage their debuffs and respond at the right time to get decent damage in.

Result

Soulblight Gravelords Victory - 51 - 49

Flo Voggenthaler - Soulblight Gravelords - 1st Place

Prince Vhordrai. Credit: Matthew 'chimp' Ward

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Prince Vhordrai with Vampires and Deathrattle

Thoughts

This list splits the difference by accompanying Prince Vhordrai with Askugan Trueblades and then a separate retinue for Deathrattle. Prince Vhordrai is a strong hammer on his own, but his ability to hand out permanent buffs to the (not too shabby) Askugan Trueblades augment him well and gets the ball rolling. The Vyrkos and Vargheists are also vampires and while they can benefit from Vhordrai's buffs, they're more a piece of movement tech to snag objectives or screen out enemies.

The Deathrattle contingent is a slightly more cost efficient version of bringing Blood Knights. Barrow Knights are no slouch, slightly worse stats but have crit mortals, as to the foot Barrow Guard. Just generally strong units on the offense, if slightly more vulnerable to attack.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd - Dario Grohmann - Sylvaneth: See Showdown.
• 3rd - Hendrik Schumacher - Blades of Khorne: Skarbrand and 4 Bloodthirsters
• 4th - Lukas Harder - Idoneth Deepkin: Allopexes.
• 5th - Lukas Langlott - Slaves to Darkness: Legion of the First Prince, mostly Khorne focused.
• 6th - Michel Neumann - Skaventide: SoG screaming Bell with Rat Ogors, Brood Terrors and Stormfiends, and a Plague Furnace with Monks.

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