The 40k meta continues to change going into the fall! Don’t miss our top competitive and homebrew Warhammer army list picks for the last week!
Tons of tournaments are happening this weekend, however, we’re going to rewind the clock and see what held it down army wise just one week ago. If you missed these posts then, we got you covered now with our top army list picks from the last week!
Looking at the Wars on the Shore 40k tournament, thirty players came to the event and rolled dice. Using the ITC rules list, these three lists rose to the top. Let us know if your list looks similar!
Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can look back at the details of the event as if we were there ourselves!
3rd Place: Imperial Soup- Lee Harris
Bringing out a classic Imperial combo, some Imperial Guard acted as a more expensive CP battery than usual for a Custodes Spearhead detachment and Krast Knight. Looking at the Guard Battalion first, two Tank Commanders were brought and 1CP was spent for the Emperor’s Fist Tank Company Vigilus formation. And of course, the Guardsmen sat on objectives and helped screen the more valuable units.
For the Custodes we were talking about earlier, Trajann led three Caladiuses and a Telemon in a Spearhead. Trajann is just a bit more expensive than a regular Shield-Captain but comes with an incredible ability unique to himself. He can fight twice, heal D3, or gain D3 CP back. (The CP regen is huge in this list but the other options are still nice). We all know how brutal Caladiuses are so there’s really no surprise that these WOUDLN’T show up in a Custodes list.
As for the Knight, Lee ran a Warden. Being the midway point for Knights, it took the best of both worlds. Great list overall.
2nd Place: Ad Mech Soup- Dominic Metzger
While this is another Imperial Soup list, the structure is completely different. Starting off a Brigade of Cadian guard ran the Emperor’s Wrath Artillery Company Vigilus Formation. cheap HQs, Infantry squads, and indirect fire were spammed in this list.
With a Brigade to be filled out, you have to have all kinds of battlefield roles filled. For the most part, Dominic brought the bare minimum in the cheapest way. With things like 30-pt Tech-Priests and 35-pt Scout Sentinels, he was able to put the majority of his points into real workhorses like some Basilisks (for the Vigilus formation) and mortars for horde clearing.
For the other two detachments, a Blood Angels Supreme Command was brought with the classic Smash Captain/Mephiston combo. However, one of the choices that made us scratch our heads was that Lemartes was brought too. Without any other Death Company to buff in the list, he was like a Smash Captain LITE with fewer attacks and a re-rollable charge.
Finally, an Ad Mech Spearhead was led by Cawl and rocked two Dunecrawlers as well as three of the new Skorpius Disintegrators. We’ve seen this unit appear at the top of the charts quite a few times now with both weapon loadouts. It’s safe to say that the Skorpius Disintegrator is just all-around a good option for its points.
1st Place: Chaos- TJ Lanigan
Moving on to the first-place list from the event, this army ran the best of the best that multiple Chaos factions have to offer. Starting off, a Chaos Daemons keyworded Battalion ran the Plaguebearer package with a thirty-man blob of Pink Horrors. Plaguebearers are nearly impossible to scoop off of the board and Pink Horrors are deceptively tanky with a 4++ invuln and have an incredible amount of shooting.
For the second Detachment, Ahriman led two Daemon Princes of Tzeentch, both being armed with wings and talons. Ahriman and his crew would hang back in the Daemon blobs casting psychic shenanigans until the time was right to strike in melee (for the Daemon Princes at least).
As for the tanky side of the list, a huge blob of Blightlord Terminators struck the field with axes, flails, and combi-bolters. These guys are the way all Terminators should feel being T5 with a 4++ invuln AND a 5+++ FNP. These guys could deepstrike in 9″ away from the enemy and feel pretty confident that they wouldn’t get scooped off the board too easily.
For some extra hate, he threw in two Foul Blightspawns with the insane toxic flamer profiles. These guys are characters too so with their protection, they could be seeded in the Plaguebearers’ ranks and wait for someone to get too close.
This list is a great one with a deceptive amount of staying power. While it might not rock too many big models, these units are all incredibly points-efficient and worked exactly as they should. Great job coming in 1st!
These 3 40k armies bucked the trends and did well in competitive events. Don’t miss the top homebrew army lists that shocked the meta this week.
3 New 40k Homebrew Army Lists That Shocked the Meta
Looking to some of the more unique lists found in tournaments, these are our top three of what was spotted over the weekend. These lists brought units/factions that no one really expected and still managed to do decently well.
Iron Warriors: Ryan Stanton- Wars on the Shore
This is probably the first time we’ve ever covered Iron Warriors in a list review. And on top of that, they even brought a full battalion of regular Chaos Marines! Making use out of the same Chapter Tactics as their Loyalist counterparts, the Imperial Fists, this player loaded up on siege weaponry. For the heavy-hitting firepower, a dual butcher cannon Contemptor hit the field. Along with some Las Cannon/missile launcher Havocs with the mark of Slaanesh for the Endless Cacophony (shoot twice) strat.
As for the rest of the list, three whole Vindicators were taken. This list is just decked-out with things we didn’t expect to see. While these tanks have high strength shots and are fairly cheap, people still don’t like the random shot output from the big cannon and usually opt out of taking them. However, this list made full use of them along with a Knight Despoiler. Taking the best of both worlds, the Despoiler was given what looks to be 2x avenger gatling cannons for the dakka. Great job!
Dark Angels: Fletcher Stevenson- Wars on the Shore
The Ravenwing showed up in full force with Sammael leading the charge in his Sableclaw. Looking at the very first detachment, this Outrider took up most of the points for the list. However, these bikes were all mixed with bolters, plasma guns, chainswords, and a ton of speed.
A Ravenwing Darkshroud hit the field giving it’s helpful -1 to hit aura to the other bikers it hovered beside. On top of that, a Dark Talon was brought along to break up the fire concentration on the enemy and bring some turn-one heat.
Finally, for some CP, a Battalion was taken with a mix of characters on a bike/land speeder. The bare minimum amount of troops were taken to flesh out the detachment and some plasma Inceptors were thrown in for some reactive plasma firepower. All in all, what an awesome unique list!
Farsight Enclaves: Jerald Springer- Wargames Con XI 40k GT
Starting off this awesome Tau list, the Farsight Enclaves hit the field sporting “The Eight” LOW selection. This is the first time we’ve ever covered these guys making an appearance in a competitive setting as well! With eight characters total giving off different effects and buffs, this LOW group is filled to the brim with rules.
To support all of the different battlesuits inside of The Eight’s group, two Battalions of Tau were brought along with Drones for extra protection and stealth suits for mid-field disruption in the early game. Overall, great job on this list!
What do you think about these armies that rose to the top at the Wars on the Shore GT, how about the homebrew lists we loved so much?
Do you run a similar list(s)? What are your thoughts on the Chaos Knights rules? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter each morning as well!
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.
