Don’t miss the five armies for Warhammer 40k that made it to the top at the highly competitive ATC’s as the overall champion!
The 2019 ATC brought players from all over the country for competitive 40k. The ATC was a “protected” format which had certain regulations and restrictions on what could be in each list so keep that in mind as you check out these armies from the Wobbly Gentlemen.
You can watch live coverage of the 2019 ATC’s over on the Pro Tabletop Twitch channel!
The ATC saw over four-hundred lists to roll dice and with that, only one team made it to the top. Check out these five lists that took home first place.
Austin Wingfield-Chaos
Austin brought in the Chaos “big guns” to the tabletop. Ahriman, Mortarion, and three Lord Discordants in a Flawless Host Vigilus formation were the all-stars of the army. These characters are the Chaos go-to option and were supported by screens of two hefty Plaguebearer squads.
Mortarion, being the wrecking ball that he is, could charge just about anything he wanted and buy time for the Plaguebearers/Lord Discos to make it up the board. Ahriman hung back a bit and shot psychic powers filling the role as Magnus LITE.
Brad Chester-Aeldari
This list took the Wave Serpent chassis and spammed it in just about any way possible. Running off of 5CP and a dream, this list had plenty of high-Toughness target saturation to deal with.
We all know how good Wave Serpents are currently, but the Night Spinners and Fire Prisms are a new unit getting the spotlight for the Eldar. These guys operate off of the Wave Serpent body and have some unique weapon firing stats. Fire Prisms could decimate any armor with low-shot high-Strength firepower whereas the Night Spinners got some high shot output at S6-7.
To add a little speed to the list, an Airwing of Crimson Hunter Exarchs were taken. These have proven themselves to a staple unit in Eldar Flyer lists because of their Psychic ability as well as the pivot, move, pivot rule called Wings of Khaine.
Kelsey Haley- Imperial Guard
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the workhorse of the list was three Shadowswords. Working off of 7CP, all of the other points left over from the three Steel Behemoths were thrown into pure support.
Astropaths were given Psychic powers purely to help the Shadowswords survive. Meanwhile, Trojans were parked closeby for increased shot accuracy. This list ran off of an obvious, easy combo but was the absolute bane against Knight lists if they went first.
Nick Rose- Orks
Starting off, Ghazghkull and a Weirdboy led a Battalion of three squads of thirty Gretchin. A second Battalion with eighty more Gretchin was taken with Grotsnik making a guest appearance. This is the first time we’ve ever seen him pop up in a competitive list.
Finally, another Battalion full of, you guessed it, ninety more Gretchin was fielded. That’s a total of 260 Gretchin bodies swarming the field protecting the real damage output of the list. A Big Mek with the Souped-up Shokka joined forces with Kaptin Badrukk and his Flash Gitz for the real shooting element of the force. A Deff Kopta, Nob with Waaagh! Banner and Runtherder were also sprinkled into the list.
All in all, this must’ve been confusing to see at first. You’d think that nearly three-hundred T2 bodies would be easy to chew through. That is, until they become fearless and are holding all of the objectives all game long!
Juice- GSC
Juice opted for a Brigade for his first detachment for his CP-hungry GSC. The Brigade’s real power came from a 17-man squad of Hand Flamer Acolytes that could pop up outside of 3″ and drown any kind of low-toughness models in a tidal wave of auto hits.
Jackals loaded with demo charges were also brought along to toss battle cannon-strength demo charges at enemy armor. Of course, Mortar squads were also brought for turn-one screen clearing.
It’s also worth mentioning that these guys had ALL of the character support with a clamavus, Nexos, Kelermorph, Patriarch, Magus, and Primus working together.
For the last detachment, a Battalion was brought being led by a second Patriarch and Acolyte Iconward. Two fatty Acolyte squads of Rock Saws mixed with a bare-bones Acolyte squad made up the Troops selection. The Rock Saws cleaned up whatever the Jackals couldn’t take down and the other squad just went after lighter targets with their rending claws.
Overall, these were some great lists that made it to the top. There were all kinds of characters and units in their armies that other players have overlooked in 8th edition. This just goes to show that there might be more competitive options for your faction out there than you expected. Have these lists inspired you to start a competitive list? What faction is your favorite?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
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.
