Here are some of the shockingly good 40k army lists that players used against the grain of the Space Marine meta last weekend at the Winter Warfare GT.
The Wargaming Guild Open: Winter Warfare 2020 brought in a whopping seventy-five players for a 2,000 pt ITC tournament. While the time-tested meta bruiser lists were there, these players brought something nobody really expected and didn’t do too bad!
Thanks to Best Coast Pairings we can look back at the event as if we were there ourselves.
Dan Gilbert- Dark Angels
Starting off with the Dark Angels, this list brought some really interesting choices. Of course, we have an obvious cheap Battalion. However, instead of a Thunderfire Cannon, Dan went with a Forge World Rapier Quad Launcher. While the shot profiles are similar, this thing can hit like a thunder hammer which takes a lot of people by surprise.
Next, a total of four Flyers that we literally never see used were brought along. These were taken to add a little speed to the list while getting up in their opponent’s face with some mean strafing capability.
And finally, all of the Ravenwing was brought out to play! A Talonmaster on a Land Speeder hit the field with two Bike Squads as well as two Black Knights rocking hammers and plasma. And to give the list a bit more survivability, a Darkshroud was brought as well.
When was the last time you saw that many Ravenwing units in the competitive field?
Ryan Williams- Salamanders
Bringing an all-Salamanders list, Ryan used some units we might not readily think “fit” the Chapter. Of course, the fluffy option would be to drown the enemy in promethium. But taking a more reserved approach, this list made heavy use of mechanical walkers like Warsuits and Dreadnoughts.
Intercessors filled up the mid-board while the Warsuits infiltrated up and forced the enemy to deal with them first. beyond that, a firing line of Eliminators, a dakka Leviathan, a Whirlwind, and two Contemptor Mortis Dreads lined up and unleashed a variety of holy volleys. ~Definitely not what we would readily expect to see in a Salamander list. Awesome job.
Edward Morgan- Forces of the Hive Mind
Jumping into this GSC/Nid list, right away this army stands out. Rolling onto the table with a whopping eight Ridgerunners, Edward had a plethora of fast harassers and objective grabbers at his disposal. We’ve hardly ever even seen one of these units used in a GSC list and he brought eight! Plus, with the fact that they were armed with a mining laser, if they were ignored long enough, they could do some real damage to armor.
Moving into the Tyranid aspect of the list, a couple of cheap Battalions were brought filling the Troops slot with Termagants and Ripper Swarms. But to add more of a “punch”, nearly 300 pts were dropped into a unit of the meta-tested Hive Guard as well as three total Exocrines.
Amazing job having the courage to spam a unit that nobody ever brings and still showing the other lists that they aren’t bad at all!
With these lists broken down, which one is your favorite? Do you have a list that uses units nobody ever seems to play? Is it more about the skill of the player over the unit being used?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
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.
