fbpx JOIN LOGIN JOIN

Space Marines Get Bumped Off: Top 3 40k Army Lists Before Christmas

space marine wal hor tourneyTired of seeing Space Marines army lists top the charts lately? Well, they got bumped off at the Warhammer 40k Fight Before Christmas GT!

The Fight Before Christmas GT saw all kinds of lists come to take the gold. With Chapter Approved, Faith & Fury, and Blood of Baal fresh and on the shelves, there have never been so many factions with solid tricks up their sleeves. At the end of the day, these were the three lists that crawled to the top.

Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can look back at the event as if we were there ourselves.

fight before christmas wal

3rd Place: Eldar- Nick Nanavati

iyanden wraithguard eldar wal hor

 

nanavati fight before christmas

Overall, this list had plenty of small bodies to sit on objectives. Plus three big targets to soak up firepower and deal it right back. Craftworlds were mixed with Dark Eldar and two Battalions and a Supreme Command were brought.  Netting a nice little CP battery for in-game shenanigans. As for the three big targets, a unit of ten Warlocks on Bikes came decked out with spears at a whopping 540 pts. Taking up over a quarter of his points in one unit. These guys were able to pop off a D6 smite (since there were so many in a conclave), as well as do loads of D3 damage instances with spears that always wound on a 2+. Taking all this into account with their speed, these dudes are an uncommon unit to see, but definitely decent.

Finally, two squads of Grotesques were brought with a total of fourteen T5 bodies with four wounds a pop marching onto the field to play. keeping close to the Haemonculus, they were able to hack their way through the enemy with loads of single-damage attacks and keep on walking. These guys are a classic Dark Eldar bruiser unit that we’ve seen do well from the earliest days of 8th. Great job overall!

2nd Place: Eldar- Jack Harpster

Dark Eldar hor wal

 

jack harpster fihgt before chirstmus

In a similar list, Jack brought two Battalions and a spearhead with the same Warlocks on Bikes unit bringing 8 spears as well. However, trading in the Grotesques for some classic Craftworld armor, three Fire Prisms and Night Spinners were brought, making this list a more shooty version of the first.

Fire Prisms were brought for tank-popping firepower, getting to shoot its main S12 cannon twice if it moved less than half or remained still in the movement phase. That was a total of six S12 -5AP D6 damage shots that enemy tanks had to eat a turn. Even with an invuln, that’s a brutal amount of heat to withstand.

As for the Night Spinners, these are perfect for plinking a couple wound off of heavy armor or just shredding elite units trying to walk up the board. Having a flat two-damage cannon that rends on 6’s it forced Primaris Marines to stay in cover and hold objectives from safety.

Great list!

1st Place: Chaos Marines- TJ Lanigan

chaos wal

 

tj lanigan fight before christmas

Making the most out of the Faith & Fury hotness, a small detachment of Alpha Legion Dark Apostles and Possessed hit the field. Unlocking all sorts of new Stratagems for the book, the detachment was also a surprising wrecking ball. With two Dark Apostles and a Master of Possession juicing up a unit of 18 total Possessed. The Possessed could chew right through enemy units trying to get too close. With so many models in the unit, the hard part was keeping them out of the enemy’s sights.

Looking at the rest of the list. Ahriman and his band of merry men, two Daemon Princes, rolled onto the field. This is a small trio that we’ve seen across list after list. The psychic potential you get from these three models is just too good not to pass up.

Moving on, tow Poxbringers led a Battalion of Nurglings. It seems the since Plaguebearers went up another point, Nurglings might have taken the spotlight. For firepower, three Plagueburst Crawlers hit the table for some indirect firepower as well as the ability to hose enemy units that tried to get too close. (if they somehow managed to make it past the Possessed and Dameon Princes). And lastly, almost 200 points were thrown into summoning with reinforcement points. This was a small toolbox aspect of the list that let TJ pull out smaller Daemon units when needed.

Overall, this list is quite unique as it’s the first Chaos list we’ve seen after Chapter Approved. We may be seeing more Chaos lists take this shape as we get even more tournaments under our belt.

What do you think about these lists? Are you surprised that Space Marines didn’t steal the spotlight once again? What are your thoughts on the new Chaos list composition?

Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter (with discount coupon codes) each morning as well!

About the Author: Wesley Floyd

Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, King of sprues.