Bay Area Open is finally over and now we can take a look at the top armies that rose to the top featuring KNIGHTS! Check out each list of the top 5 players.
Bay Area Open saw all kinds of different lists from players all across America. Of course, only a few of those lists could make it to the top. We’ll be sharing our thoughts on what managed to place well.
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40k Knights Dominate Top 5 Placings at BAO
#1 Death Guard (Don Hooson)
Straight away, this list stands out because it’s only got seven CP. in a meta where we see Cultists and about twenty CP per army, this goes to show that CP isn’t necessary to pull out a win. Unlike most lists that run Knights, he only brought one. For the most part, we see three Knights supported by a battalion of Imperial Guard or Cultists depending on faction.
Just looking at this list, we can see the strengths and playstyle. The Plagueburst Crawlers hung back and shot at things that he didn’t have LOS on. The hulking ten-man Terminator squad probably Deepstruck or spread out, with the Knight and his Armiger buddies walking up the field.
We can see here that the Knight has the most damage output on the table. The terminators and Plagueburst Crawlers are a close second.
That is just evidence of a good list. He created two equally scary targets for the enemy to try and deal with. If the opponent focus-fired on one unit, he would capitalize on the other to kill.
#2 Imperial Knights (John Weyermuller)
Like we said before, most Imperial armies are running three or more big Knights and gas up on CPs from the Imperial Guard. This list does just that. Of course, with fourteen CPs, it only makes sense to bring Kurov’s Aquila to try and get them back.
What’s interesting here is the household the player chose the Knights to be a part of. House Raven is the aggressive house that allows his Knights to still fire their weapons after advancing. They’ve also got a neat stratagem for two CP to reroll ALL rolls of 1 made for the Knight.
Two Gallants sprinting up the field and one being able to reroll rolls of 1 is something solid for a first turn. Meanwhile, The Castellan and Crusader act as a solid firing base to pepper targets the Gallants can’t quite get to. Then we have the Guard that stay on backfield objectives and play cards/take naps.
#3 Catachans (Jack Harpster)
The army is registered under Catachans but the exact list is unknown. We do know that there was a Castellan Knight along with two Blood Angel Slam Captains. He had the CPs to make the Slam Captains especially gross with relics and the Death visions of Sanguinius stratagem giving them the Black Rage.
#4 Adeptus Custodes (Geoff Robinson)
Another well-known combo is the Custodes on bikes paired with Imperial Guard for the CP. Getting a total of twelve CP to spend on all the nasty Custodes on bikes and having the possibility of getting the points back on a 5+ made this list resilient and fast.
The Custodes don’t have the highest strength weapons in the game, but they are incredibly fast and hard to kill. Basic troops are T5 with a 2+ save. It’s almost like the Imperiums version of Death Guard.
To throw in some disruption, a measly 85 points got him a Culexus assassin. The Culexus’s job is to be a speed bump to the enemy while Custodes close the gap. He also really..really hates Psykers.
#5 Imperial Knights (Mark Carrion)
Two battalions for a whopping nineteen CP! We’ve got the standard issue Imperial Guard/Knight combo. But this person also sprinkled in some Slam Captains and even Death Company. This is the first time we’ve seen Death Company place in a competitive list in a while!
Two CP to have your Death Company move and advance before the start of the first turn is an almost unbeatable gap-closer. You have the ability to tie up units that you don’t want shooting at you. Something like a Predator or Land Raider that is out of position.
Moving onto the Knights, he brought three melee variants and took them as a part of House Terryn. Terryn have a nasty stratagem that lets them fight twice (assuming he didn’t kill everything the first go round). Their Household trait also lets them roll an additional D6 on the advance or charge and discard the lowest. Terryn is built for Gallants.
For the most part, the top armies that placed were had the skeletal structure of lists we’ve all come to know (Knights, Custodes, Guard etc.). However, every player brought something a little unique which was actually refreshing and it ended up obviously doing well.
What do you think of the top 5 army lists? Do you play a list similar to one of these? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
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About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
