John Gianforte’s 6-0 Salamanders took the Denver 40k Fight Club Oct. Open army lists crown as two Space Marine lists finished unbeaten and never met.
The top three at this 105-player event all wore power armor but still played very differently. Salamanders loaded up on armor and flamers, White Scars went with bikes and jump packs, and Chaos Space Marines packed in the melee. So, even with Space Marines grabbing both top spots, there’s plenty to digest here.
This isn’t a total surprise either, since the Salamanders already took Napalm Hobbies tournament back in August, so they’ve got more than one good weekend behind them, lol.
Denver 40k Fight Club Oct. Open: Top 3 Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- Two Space Marine lists went 6-0 in a 105-player field and never played each other: BCP’s tiebreak gave Gianforte’s Salamanders first and Kay’s White Scars second.
- Gianforte had to beat the third and fourth place finishers in the final two rounds: he beat Trae Burnett’s Chaos Space Marines 89-72, then rolled through Caleb Lefor’s Votann 100-36.
- Ironstorm Spearhead turned up as a second detachment in both unbeaten Marine lists this weekend: Gianforte paired it with Forgefather’s Seekers, while Kay brought it alongside Assault Brethren and Stormlance Task Force.
Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we’ve got real pairings and battle point data to see how the weekend played out.
Forgefather’s Seekers Salamanders Took the Crown With Armor and Flame
Gianforte showed up with a motor pool full of multi-meltas and Vulkan He’stan right in the middle, which is pretty much what you’d expect from Salamanders.
Forgefather’s Seekers Roster Breakdown
Vulkan’s the warlord and the only character, so Gianforte clearly wanted the rest of his points going into guns and vehicles. Three Gladiator Valiants and a Land Raider Redeemer make up the armored core, all carrying multi-meltas.
The infantry focuses on getting close and bringing targets down before they can charge. Two Infernus squads bring flamers, while the six-man and three-man Aggressor squads add more flame and some power fists. Three Impulsors get them into range before they’re shot off the table. The newer Salamanders detachments really reward players for bringing plenty of flamers, so this type of list probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Three Eradicator squads (two with melta rifles, one with heavy bolters), an Invader ATV, and one Scout squad round things out. Sure, that’s a lot of anti-tank, but with Votann, Knights, and Grey Knights in the top 20, you can see why he brought it.
How Forgefather’s Seekers Win the Damage Race
Gianforte opened with a 94-54 win over Jason Easley’s Votann, then hit his closest game of the weekend in round two, edging out Stoic Nauj’s Death Guard 77-65. Nauj finished fifth, so that wasn’t an easy list to get past. Next came a 100-28 win over Matthew Murrell’s Emperor’s Children and a 94-76 win over Andrei Gorin’s Astra Militarum.
He still had to get through the eventual third- and fourth-place finishers in the last two rounds. First was Trae Burnett’s Chaos Space Marines, who he beat 89-72 in round five, and then Caleb Lefor’s Votann, who he finished off 100-36.
Stormlance Task Force White Scars Outran Six Straight Opponents
Kay went with bikes and jump packs for his White Scars army list, so there’s no lack of speed here.
Stormlance Task Force Roster Breakdown
Kay split his characters across three groups. Kor’sarro Khan is the warlord, with an Apothecary carrying Imperium’s Sword and Company Heroes along as bodyguards. Suboden Khan rides with one Outrider squad, and a Captain on Bike takes the other, which gives him two biker bricks that can go after different objectives in the same turn.
The vehicles keep up just fine. Two Land Speeders and a Storm Speeder Thunderstrike zip around shooting things, while six plasma Inceptors drop in wherever they’re needed. A Vanguard Veteran squad with jump packs and Furious Assault takes care of the flanks. Then there’s a regular Land Raider, a melta Eradicator squad, and an Impulsor to give him some heavier pieces in the middle.
Three Scout squads finish the list. That’s plenty of cheap bodies to handle the less exciting objective and action work, which leaves the bikes and speeders in this White Scars list free to keep going after things.
How Stormlance Task Force Wins the Movement Phase
Kay’s first two games weren’t close: 100-32 over Andrew Lee’s Black Templars and 100-16 over Abby Stealer’s Genestealer Cults. The next two were a lot tighter. He just squeaked past Mathew van den Heever’s Astra Militarum 88-83 in round three, then Mike Pestilens’s sixth-place Daemons 88-82 in round four.
He got more breathing room in round five, beating Phillip Schwan’s seventh-place Blood Angels 100-31, before closing with a 67-59 win over Andy Shellenbarger’s Imperial Knights. With three single-digit wins, that 6-0 record looks a little less comfortable when you check the scores.
Veterans of the Long War Chaos Space Marines Lost Only to the Champ
Burnett’s Chaos Space Marines army list put up 566 battle points, more than either unbeaten Marine player, but finished third. Which is a lot of scoring for a list that missed out on the top two.
Veterans of the Long War Roster Breakdown
Kravek Morne is the warlord and leads three Mutilators, while a Terminator Sorcerer with Eager for Vengeance takes a full ten-man Chaos Terminator squad. So before you’ve even looked at the rest of the army, he’s already got two big melee bricks ready to go.
And there’s even more melee waiting behind them. Two ten-model Possessed units and a Defiler give Burnett plenty to send forward. Two Chaos Biker squads and a Red Corsairs Raider unit each bring meltaguns, so the support pieces can pop a tank if it wanders too close. Two Cultist Mobs hang back and handle the cheap objective-holding jobs.
How Veterans of the Long War Wins the Brawl
Burnett had a pretty comfortable first four rounds, going 100-25 over Nicholas Kwong’s Custodes, 97-39 over Jayde Russell’s World Eaters, 100-57 over Brandon Roddy’s eighth-place Grey Knights, and 97-68 over Aleka Xenakis’s AdMech.
That round five Salamanders game was his only loss, but he came right back with a 100-42 win over Mykola Lukashenko’s Dark Angels to lock up third.
Final Thoughts on the Denver 40k Fight Club Oct. Open Army Lists & the Warhammer 40k Meta
These lists went all in pretty different directions, but both of the top players brought Ironstorm Spearhead as their second detachment. So if that one keeps showing up at the next few GTs, we’d expect more Marine players to build around it, at least until the codex gets figured out more.
đź”— Related Reads:
- How to Play Chaos Space Marines
- Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- More Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- 40k Tournament Guide
- Warhammer 40k Factions Guide
- Latest 40k Balance Dataslate
- Munitorum Field Manual Points Updates
Which of the Denver 40k Fight Club Oct. Open army lists would you rather bring to your next event?
