These three 40k armies rose to the top going undefeated in a tournament of almost one-hundred players. Check out what they used to smash the competition.
The Beef & Wing Brawl 40k tournament in New York was held over the weekend bringing in nearly one-hundred players. Of that, the top three lists finished with a 5-0 perfect record. Let’s dive into the details on each list.
Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can look back at the details as if we were at the event ourselves.
3rd Place: Aeldari- Tim Deetlefs
The Eldar pulled from three different codexes (as usual) but brought some units we didn’t quite expect. Looking at the first detachment, two huge blobs of Craftworld Guardian Defenders were taken. We normally see one blob of these guys running around in most Eldar lists. However, this player decided to double down on some serious T3 firepower.
Next, three Night Spinners were fielded in the list. In our 8th edition tournament reporting history, we’ve never seen a single, let alone three, Night Spinners pop up! And of course, the battalion was lead by Eldrad because he’s a psychic powerhouse.
Next, a Battalion of Harlequins were taken making full use of their Troupes. A Shadowseer and Death Jester made the cut for the detachment but we’re pretty surprised we didn’t actually see a Solitaire show up! a 3++ invuln and a once per game Blitz ability is almost too good to pass up for under 100 pts. Maybe the recently FAQed FAQ changed things a bit now?
However, this list was too tight to squeeze one in. (Plus, it made 3rd place so the list obviously was doing something right).
Finally. A smaller Dark Eldar detachment was taken and surprisingly enough, it wasn’t Kabal of the Black Heart which has been the theme lately among DE lists. This guy brought two cheap Succubus HQ choices and spammed some Wyches with shardnets. These troops can move quick, get into combat, and literally tie-up whatever they’re fighting. If they need to get rid of some real firepower, they can tarpit it until the late game by preventing it from falling back. Great job!
Looking at 2nd place, GSC took the spot with a list that’s surprisingly small. A Twisted Helix Anointed Throng detachment was the real combo piece of the lists bringing in two squads of Aberrants that could be loaded with combat tricks. With a Cult-specific stratagem, them lets them fight twice along with the support coming from the Vigilus Anointed Throng these guys were a major threat to anything they touched.
To support them, some Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor Acolytes also laid on the heat, literally. 19 total hand flamers could pop up outside of 3″ of enemy screens and blow them away in a wall of fire. That left a hole big enough for some Rock Saws and a Patriarch to get through and deal some damage.
The Kelermorph was taken because he’s honestly too good not to. Between character sniping and almost guaranteed squad-killing, there’s always one Kelermorph needed.
Lastly, three Tank Commanders were taken to make up for the lack of firepower in the list. They all brought the cheap Battle Cannons and Heavy Bolters loadout.
1st Place: Chaos- TJ Lanigan
And last, but most certainly not least, the classic Daemon package was mixed in with some Blightlord Terminators. Plaguebearers were beefed up with cherry-picked Nurgle characters and held objectives all game. Meanwhile, the Horrors were able to throw down some serious Daemonic firepower and added some speed to the list. Ahriman led some Daemon Princes in a Supreme Command detachment for a mean psychic phase.
And lastly, a massive squad of Blightlord Terminators were fielded. These guys are really slow so they were probably deepstriked in on turn 2 to peel screens back or secure objectives up the field. All in all, this is a great twist to the classic Daemon package we’ve been seeing come in 1st place over and over.
Do you run something similar to these lists? Have you put your own twist to it? Tell us about it in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
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.
