Don’t miss the top Warhammer 40k army lists featuring Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, and Death Guard from Rocky Top Rumble.
Rocky Top Rumble is over, and now we can look at which 40k factions’ playstyles and army lists managed to secure a place at the top!
Check out what these winners brought in their armies, with our expert commentary on their selections.
Final Tournament Standings:
Studying these winning army lists for their tactical synergies can provide great insights for playing your army since the latest balance dataslate rules changes and points updates. If you want to elevate your game even further, consider applying to Team USA to compete at the World Team Championships each year!
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1st Place: Stephen Mitchell – Chaos Daemons (Demons) Army Lists
At Rocky Top Rumble, Stephen’s Chaos Daemons list didn’t sprint to the win—it slowly, deliberately, and disgustingly shuffled its way across the board while refusing to die and politely asking your units to fall apart.
Leading this mobile disease lab was Epidemius, tallying up the gifts of Grandfather Nurgle with a grin only a Plaguebearer could love. Around him lumbered not one, but two Great Unclean Ones, big, bloated, and all too happy to soak wounds, clog movement lanes, and occasionally turn nearby units into mush with their giant rusty weapons.
Rotigus added another layer of awful, bringing utility, mortal wound potential, and that extra bit of “no, you may not remove this model by normal means.” Between him and his pals, Stephen basically parked a wall of unkillable sadness right in the middle of the board.
Supporting this stinking frontline were a trio of helpful horrors: a Poxbringer, a Sloppity Bilepiper, and The Changeling. The Poxbringer buffs, the Bilepiper makes everything around him weirder and harder to kill, and The Changeling… well, The Changeling exists to make enemy psykers cry and give the whole army a little Tzeentch-flavored distraction.
On the battleine side, things stayed functional. One unit of Blue Horrors added a splash of warp-powered annoyance, while three squads of Plaguebearers formed the backbone of the list—slow, tough, and way too stubborn for their point cost. They don’t kill much, but they don’t have to. They just exist in places where you really wish they didn’t.
For extra distraction and more wound-soaking goodness, a single Beast of Nurgle slithered its way in. Not flashy. Not fast. But it takes forever to remove and will gleefully slobber on anything that gets too close.
Then came the curveball: two Soul Grinders. These towering crab-demons brought some real, honest-to-Chaos guns to the table—something you rarely see in a Daemons list. With their combination of melee threat and long-range firepower, they added just enough punch to force opponents to spread their attention—and then regret it when the Daemon line slams home.
2nd Place: Bryan Dorsey – Chaos Space Marines Army Lists
3rd Place: Gabriel Nixon – Death Guard Army Lists
Final Thoughts on Army Lists:
And that’s the Rocky Top Rumble—Chaos Daemons shuffling to victory with all the grace of a drunken Plaguebearer, while Chaos Space Marines and Death Guard brought their own brand of chaos to the mix. So if you’re inspired to unleash your inner Nurgle or just looking to add more shenanigans to your army, remember: in 40k, every little bit of chaos counts!
From planning to play in the next big tournament to just looking to spice up your games at home, take a page from these winners and remember: every unit counts, and sometimes, all you need is a good plan and a whole lot of golden armored bodies.
See the Top Warhammer Army Lists & 40k Tournament Schedule for this year
What do you think of the results and top Warhammer 40k Rocky Top Rumble army lists for Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, and Death Guard?
