With FAQ after FAQ, it looks like 40k is in a place where all kinds of lists have what it takes to be competitive in 2019. Take a look at these top 5!
Coming from the Last Chance Open (one of the UK’s biggest ITC events) we’ll be breaking down the top lists that the players managed to muster. Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can look back at all the details and check out how everything ended!
1st Place- Eric Hoerger: Drukhari
Looking at Eric’s list, he did what most competitive Eldar lists do. They sprinkle in detachments from all kinds of Eldar factions. In this tourney, he just used Harlequins and Dark Eldar.
Bottom line, this list had haywire weaponry coming out of its ears. Skyweavers and Taloses were able to keep just about anything back with the haywire firepower. Nearly 1,000 pts were sunk into bringing the Talos squads. This just goes to show how effective a unit can be if you pull the trigger and decide to go all-in on one thing.
All in all, the list seems very fast with most things having Fly. Skyweavers were taken to distract the enemy from the real Talos issue as well as keep pressure constantly on the board. Fantastic job getting first place!
2nd Place-Alex Harrison: Tau
Do you see what we see? The main engine of the force are the two Riptides, and missiles shooting twice with Shadowsun. He brought the Fire Warriors in a Battalion to get some Command Points as well as more Markerlight shots for the Riptides to capitalize on. The same thing goes for the Farsight Marksmen in a Vanguard Detachment.
You’re thinking “Two Riptides isn’t that bad, I could kill at least one in a turn” but you’d be wrong. You’d also have to chew through eighteen shield drones. The Riptides would Nova Charge their Burst Cannons and turn whatever they needed to into Swiss Cheese all while a bunch of angry Xenos frisbees were intercepting shots for them. This list is straight forward and simple. However, very effective. Oh and missiles-. Lots and lots of missles….
3rd Place- Simon Priddis: Orks
This army was designed to fling bodies at you in the fastest way possible- before you had any chance of reacting. Almost all of the Ork characters were on bikes. On top of that, they were Evil Sunz so they got some extra movement out of everything.
Between sixty Stormboyz boosting their way up the field and at least one blob of thirty Slugga-Choppa Boyz getting Jumped up a turn, this turned out to be an extremely oppressive list. Gretchin were brought for a cheap Battalion and so that the player could have some models in his backfield. This list is deceptively fast and brutal. Orks were able to bury just about anything in enough dice to make sure it wasn’t getting back up.
4th Place-Mike Porter: Chaos Marines
We’re not sure why the list is shown as cut off, but we can still break everything down. Starting off, the player actually brought Abaddon and a massive entourage of Cultists with the mark of Slaanesh. Remember that Abaddon lets friendly Heretic Astartes auto-pass morale if he’s close enough so those Cultists weren’t going anywhere. To make matters worse, he could always use the Tide of Traitors stratagem to bring them back to full strength. These Cultists just wanted to stick to the board.
Obliterators with the mark of Slaanesh were brought along specifically to be able to shoot twice with the Endless Cacophony stratagem. (He could also use this on the massive Cultist blob if he wanted to as well).
Lastly, two massive blobs of Tzaangors were fielded to crash into a unit and make it disappear. Tzaangors are deceptively hard to kill and can really slice and dice espically closing the gap with Dark Matter Crystal. Don’t forget Ahriman (i.e Pocket Magnus) was right behind them slinging psychic powers.
5th Place- Konrad Bartkiewicz: Deathwatch
Deathwatch was paired up with Sisters of Battle and a Knight for this list. The Sisters actually had some tank busting firepower thanks to the Exorcists with the added on Hunter-Killer missiles. However, the real legwork in the list was done by the Deathwatch and the three Veteran squads armed to the teeth. These squads were a real problem to uproot from the board. His Vet squads were full of stormshields and different models to hand the bonus out to everyone (i.e Terminators, Vanguard, and Bikes) making them operate like a well-oiled machine.
Lastly, the Crusader was there to act as an insurance policy against any other Titan that might have popped up. They also have happy feet so he could completely clear a screen in a matter of a few steps if he so wished.
Looking back at the lists that made it to the top five, they are all completely unique. It looks like GW has finally come to a more-balanced version of 40k.
The meta isn’t as stale as it was and the same three lists aren’t always popping up. Great job to everyone who took an army of their own design and managed to come out on top! Let us know what you think about their lists and unit options in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials:@RealmbrushPainting
Bio: Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. 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 reach out or get your models painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
