Pactbound Zealots Chaos Space Marines took the Squig City Casino Royale 2026 army lists crown over more CSM and Custodes, with all three finishing 5-0.
Three players’ Warhammer 40k army lists went undefeated at Squig City Casino Royale 2026, and somehow the one with the lowest battle points took the title. Which is weird, because Tiebreakers don’t usually get that wild in the top three, but this weekend they absolutely did.
Nicolas Ohlsen-Johnson’s Chaos Space Marines finished 1st with 402 battle points and the toughest undefeated schedule. David Bierek’s Chaos Space Marines took 2nd with 435 BP in the same Pactbound Zealots detachment, but with a totally different build. Finally, Hunter Siems’s Adeptus Custodes put up 486 BP, maxed four of five rounds at exactly 100, and still landed 3rd.
That’s an 84-point gap between Hunter and Nicolas, basically a full game’s worth of scoring, but opponents’ win percentages decided the trophy.
The other big story here is the Chaos Space Marines’ 1-2 finish with very similar lists.
Squig City Casino Royale 2026: Top 8 Warhammer 40k Army Lists
Updated on April 29, 2026, by Rob Baer with the latest winning armies
- Pactbound Zealots Chaos Space Marines took 1st and 2nd at 5-0: Nicolas’s named-character fiesta and David’s triple-Defiler firebase both went undefeated on the same detachment.
- Talons of the Emperor Custodes scored 486 BP across five rounds: Hunter’s six Custodian Guard squads and twin Land Raiders almost beat the field on raw scoring.
- Three undefeated players in the top 3 split by opponent tiebreaker: Nicolas at 72 OGW% pulled it over David at 68, and Hunter at 58.6.
- Nicolas Ohlsen-Johnson’s Round 1 nearly cost him the title: a 73-72 single-point win on Table 1 in the opening round set up the eventual run.
- Hunter Siems hit 100 BP in four of five rounds and still landed 3rd: pure scoring without the strength of schedule to back it.
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Nicolas Ohlsen-Johnson’s Pactbound Zealots Chaos Space Marines Took the Crown on the Toughest Schedule
Nicolas’s winning Chaos Space Marines tournament list, “Pacting Makes Me Feel Good,” is a Pactbound Zealots detachment bursting with what seems like every named character in the codex.
Abaddon leads as Warlord at 270 points, backed by the elusive Cypher, Huron Blackheart, and Vashtorr the Arkifane for a 655-point character core that makes the army feel like a Chaos VIP lounge with guns.
Pactbound Zealots Roster Breakdown
After that all-star lineup of characters, the rest of the list keeps the pressure on lock from there. The Cultists screen, Slaanesh-marked Chosen and Red Corsairs Raiders handle melee work, and Garreon’s Masters of the Maelstrom pack adds more character support. Two small Chaos Biker squads bring fast Meltagun and Power fist threats as well to the flanks.
The big damage comes from two Nurgle Defilers, each loaded with Ectoplasma destructors, Excruciator cannons, and Hades lascannons. Two Venomcrawlers also add more shooting and melee threat, while a Chaos Rhino helps get bodies where they need to be.
How These Pactbound Zealots Won
At Squig City, Nicolas went 5-0 with 402 battle points, but it was anything but a soft run. He opened with a nail-biter, beating Joel Talley’s Chaos 73-72, then followed it up with wins over Adepta Sororitas, another Chaos Space Marines list, Astra Militarum, and finally Keaton Marschman’s Orks 92-77 on Table 1.
The lowest-BP 5-0 taking the title might look strange at first, but Nicolas’s 72% opponent game win percentage tells the real story because he definitely didn’t coast through the bracket. Instead, he fought straight through it.
David Bierek’s Pactbound Zealots Chaos Space Marines Took 2nd on Triple-Defiler Firepower
David’s second-place Chaos Space Marines list, “I woke up and chose violence,” uses the same Pactbound Zealots detachment as Nicolas, but takes a much nastier route. Abaddon and Vashtorr were the named-character muscle, while two Lord Discordants on Helstalkers replace the Cypher and Huron package.
Pactbound Zealots Roster Breakdown
David’s list is built on volume and pressure. Four Cultist Mobs put 40 Cultists on the board, doubling Nicolas’ screening footprint. Two small Chaos Biker squads bring fast Meltagun and Power fist threats, while a Helbrute adds more close-range punch with a Multi-melta and Helbrute hammer.
The real hammer is three Defilers at 250 points each, which total 750 points of daemon-engine nonsense, backed by the Cultist screens and Lord Discordants. So, while Nicolas went for named-character variety, David went for bodies, engines, and board pressure, and they both worked.
How Pactbound Zealots Went 5-0
Overall, David finished 5-0 with 435 battle points. He opened with a 92-54 win over Astra Militarum, then edged out Necrons 75-62. Round three was a full 100-39 stomp into T’au, which is exactly the kind of matchup three Defilers want to have.
The big win of the day came in round four, where David crushed World Eaters 89-15 on Table 1. Against an army built to win by punching very hard, his screens and daemon engines simply didn’t let his opponents’ hits land where they needed to.
Then he closed the event with a 79-65 win over Adepta Sororitas, in his closest game of the weekend.
Hunter Siems’s Talons of the Emperor Custodes Scored 100 BP Four Times and Still Took 3rd
Hunter’s third-place Adeptus Custodes list, “Custodes Eagle,” is a Talons of the Emperor infantry brick with Imperial Agents support. The core is simple and very golden, with six Custodian Guard squads making up roughly half the army by points.
That’s about twice what most Custodes lists bring, and probably why this build is so hard to crack.
Talons of the Emperor Roster Breakdown
Overall, the list puts 25 Custodian Guard models on the board across six squads, backed by four Witchseekers with flamers and four Prosecutors with boltguns. Those smaller units handle screens, objective chores, and light fights while the golden wall parks itself where it wants.
The Imperial Agents side of things adds Inquisitor Draxus as Warlord, plus a Callidus Assassin for character hunting. Because 25 Custodes can solve plenty of problems, but sometimes you still need someone sneaky to go ruin a Warlord’s day.
The armor package is just as blunt with two Venerable Land Raiders plus a Caladius Grav-tank with a Twin Iliastus accelerator cannon. Sure, it’s not quick, but it’s brutally durable and gives the infantry block a serious ranged threat.
Why Hunter’s 486 BP Wasn’t Enough
Hunter went 5-0 with 486 battle points, the highest total in the top eight. He scored 100-23 into Devin Lopez’s T’au, 100-20 into Robert Esposti’s Chaos Space Marines, and 100-30 into Drew Lindell’s T’au.
His closest games were 96-73 against Joel Rodgers’s Space Marines and 90-73 against Tyler Stice’s Deathwatch, and that kind of scoring usually wins most events outright.
The issue instead was with the strength of schedule. Hunter faced three T’au lists, Space Marines, and Deathwatch, which left him with a 58.6% opponent game win percentage. That dropped him behind Nicolas and David on tiebreakers.
So the Custodes infantry did exactly what it normally does: stand there, score points, and refuse to die. Unfortunately, the bracket just didn’t hand Hunter enough top-table heat to turn 486 battle points into first place.
Final Thoughts on the Squig City Casino Royale 2026 Army Lists & the Warhammer 40k Meta
When it comes to Packbound Zealots, you can run the character-stack version, or you can run the volume-stack version. Right now, the codex doesn’t seem too picky as long as you’re pushing the right pressure points.
This week, Hunter’s Talons of the Emperor army list is both a warning sign and a proof of concept for the Warhammer 40k Meta. A Custodes infantry build with Imperial Agents support can absolutely win the battle points race against most of the field. The big question is whether the bracket hands you the top-table fight needed to turn that scoring into the event win is a different beast entirely.
So, for anyone practicing for their next tournament, Pactbound Zealots looks playable in multiple forms, and the Talons of the Emperor can score like a top-table army when the matchups line up.
Three 5-0 players separated by tiebreakers says less about one list being clearly better than the others and more about how messy five-round standings can get. Once you’re sitting in the top three, sometimes all you can do is hope the math doesn’t decide to betray you.
See the Top Warhammer Army Lists Meta & 40k Tournament Schedule for This Year
🔗 Related Reads:
- How to Play Chaos Space Marines in 40k
- How to Play Adeptus Custodes in 40k
- More Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- 40k Tournament Guide
- Latest 40k Balance Dataslate
- Munitorum Field Manual Points Updates
What do you think about the Squig City Casino Royale 2026 army lists and three 5-0 players in the top 3 split by opponent tiebreaker?
