Brian Seipp’s 5-0 Orks took the Epsom Downs GT army lists crown with the new 11th Edition codex sitting on shelves he wasn’t allowed to use.
You really couldn’t line up the timing much better than this. Codex Orks hit its street date on Saturday, September 5, the exact same morning the Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament at Epsom Downs kicked off. So yeah, copies of 11th Edition’s first codex were physically in the building, but nobody could put a single page of it on the table.
That’s because GW’s player pack requires a codex to be available for purchase on its own at least seven days before it’s legal for play, and with the street date landing on day one of the event, the book missed the cutoff by a week. So the Orks that went 5-0 through a 65-player field did it using rules the new codex was already replacing.
Then the standings only make the weekend stranger. Two players left Epsom Downs undefeated, and the player who scored more battle points wasn’t even the one holding the trophy.
Epsom Downs GT: Top 3 Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- Orks took first and fourth at Epsom Downs with the new codex still illegal: Codex Orks went on sale the same day the event started, so GW’s seven-day rule kept the new book off every table.
- Two players finished 5-0, and the one with a perfect 500 came second: Alex Ginns scored 100 battle points in all five rounds and still finished behind Brian Seipp’s 490.
- All three top army lists leaned on big infantry bricks with characters attached: Sixty Boyz, twenty Einhyr Hearthguard, and fifteen Infernus Marines gave every top-three army plenty of bodies to work with.
Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we’ve got the pairings and scores to walk through how each of these armies actually got there, rather than just staring at the final standings. You can also check out our Warhammer 40k tournament guide for more on following these events.
Brian Seipp’s Freebooter Krew Orks Won on Rules That Were Already Obsolete
Seipp didn’t try to get clever with the basic idea here. He brought Freebooter Krew along with Equatorial Hordes, made Ghazghkull Thraka his Warlord, and then packed the rest of the army with more bodies than anybody else near the top of the standings. It’s about as Orky a plan as you can get, but what makes it more interesting is how consistently it worked into Marines, Dark Angels, and Aeldari over the same weekend.
Freebooter Krew Roster Breakdown
Three blocks of 20 Boyz form the backbone of the list, and every one of those bricks gets a Painboy. Ghazghkull leads the first unit, a Warboss with Kunnin’ Hunta takes the second, and another Warboss leads the third. Bringing three Painboyz tells you exactly what Seipp expected those Boyz to spend the weekend doing: getting stuck in and being obnoxious to remove.
Zodgrod Wortsnagga brings 20 Gretchin up the board with them, while a Bannernob carrying the Git-spotter Squig joins 10 Flash Gitz for the part of the army that actually shoots. Wazdakka Gutsmek operates on his own, a Trukk with a wreckin’ ball handles utility work, and another two 11-Grot units plus 10 Kommandos take care of screening and scoring without pulling one of the big Boyz units away from the main job.
All told, Seipp put 60 Boyz, 42 Gretchin, 10 Flash Gitz, and 10 Kommandos on the table. GW gave Ork players 15 Ork detachments to work with, and Seipp went straight for a setup that let him flood the board and keep opponents dealing with it.
How Freebooter Krew Wins the Attrition Race
The scores show just how hard that plan was to slow down. Seipp opened with a 100-16 win over Marines, then followed it with 100-10 against Dark Angels. By that point, two rounds in, he’d given up just 26 battle points total.
Aeldari finally made him work for it in round three, but Seipp still came through 90-50. Round four swung right back the other way with a 100-33 win.
That game set him up on table one in round five against Michael Costello, who would eventually finish third. Then Seipp closed the event with another 100-point game, winning 100-34. So that’s four max scores and nothing below 90 across five rounds, which definitely isn’t somebody scraping together wins at the end of the game.
Alex Ginns’s Hearthguard Covenant Votann Maxed Every Round and Still Finished Second
Ginns’s finish is where the standings get a little weird. He played five games and scored 100 battle points in every single one, finishing with a perfect 500 out of 500. Somehow, that was only good for second place.
Hearthguard Covenant Roster Breakdown
Ginns ran Hearthguard Covenant with Needgaard Oathband alongside it, and most of the list is built around 20 Einhyr Hearthguard split into two ten-model bricks. An Einhyr Champion takes Warlord and the Oathbound Speculator with one unit, while a Kahl carrying the Ancestral Crest handles the other. Best of all, both units can deep strike, so they can go anywhere he wants.
The rest of the army fills in around them rather than competing for the same job. Berehk Stornbrow rides with five Cthonian Beserks, Uthar the Destined operates alone, and 10 Hearthkyn Warriors cover the Battleline slot. All while a Kapricus Carrier and Sagitaur handle the transport side.
Then you’ve got the heavier support. Six Brokhyr Thunderkyn bring the guns alongside another five-model Beserk unit, a Hekaton Land Fortress, two units of three Hernkyn Pioneers, and 10 Hernkyn Yaegirs. Plenty of the 11th Edition Votann detachments reward getting involved early, and Ginns built a list that wasn’t interested in waiting around.
How Hearthguard Covenant Wins the Damage Race
The perfect 500 wasn’t built on a bunch of close calls either. Marines went down 100-41 in round one, followed by T’au at 100-54.
Matt Puffett’s Sisters gave him the closest game of the weekend, but even that ended 100-78. Space Wolves were his final victory in round five with another 100-41 result.
So nobody knocked Ginns off 100 points in a game, and the closest anyone got was still 22 battle points behind him!
Michael Costello’s Forgefather’s Seekers Salamanders Lost One Game All Weekend
Costello’s Salamanders went 4-1, and the only loss came on table one against Seipp in the final round. Before that, opponents couldn’t stop what the Salamanders were there to do.
Forgefather’s Seekers Roster Breakdown
Vulkan He’stan is the Warlord and leads a five-model Infernus Squad, while Adrax Agatone runs with three Bladeguard Veterans. Then Costello brings the piece you don’t see every day: three Librarians, each carrying a different setup with Fusillade, Temporal Corridor, and Prescience.
They aren’t hanging around in the backfield either. Fusillade joins 10 Devastators carrying four multi-meltas, Temporal Corridor goes with 10 Infernus Marines, and the Libby with Prescience rides with 10 Sternguard Veterans. Add in the five Infernus Marines with He’stan, and Costello has 15 of them with pyreblasters, which makes anything trying to push minis into his part of the table pretty miserable.
An Impulsor, Land Raider Redeemer, Land Speeder, five Scouts, and a Stormraven Gunship (RIP) round out the list with transport, mobility, and reach. Forgefather’s Seekers with Librarius Conclave attached gives Costello enough character support to keep several of those units doing their jobs at the same time.
How Forgefather’s Seekers Win
Costello started with an 88-61 win over Sisters before getting dragged into the tightest game any of the top three played all weekend. Lawrence Baker’s Drukhari pushed him all the way to 100-95 in round two, and Baker still ended up finishing eighth.
From there, Costello beat Emperor’s Children 86-46 in round three and 100-48 in round four, which put him on table one for the final game with a shot at the event.
Then he ran into Seipp’s Orks. So, while that 34-100 loss was Costello’s only defeat of the weekend, at the top of a five-round GT, one bad pairing at the end is enough to turn a run at first into third place.
Final Thoughts on the Epsom Downs GT Army Lists & the Warhammer 40k Meta
What makes Epsom Downs interesting is that it gives an Orks Codex result to compare against now that the new codex is legal.
Seipp’s three-brick approach just put together a 5-0 weekend under the outgoing rules. So, the next round of GT results should start showing whether that kind of board-heavy Ork army survives the rules change, gets even nastier, or gets replaced by something else entirely.
We’ll be watching where every faction sits right now as those new codex results start coming in.
🔗 Related Reads:
- How to Play Orks
- How to Play Leagues of Votann
- How to Play Space Marines
- Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- More Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- 40k Tournament Guide
- Warhammer 40k Factions Guide
- Latest 40k Balance Dataslate
Do you think Seipp’s Orks still go 5-0 at Epsom Downs with the new codex legal?
