Check out the top 40k tournament army lists for Deathwatch, Ultramarines, and Necrons from the Manchester Super-Major 2026 tournament, which saw some great factions hit the podium.
The latest Manchester Super-Major results are real-time insights for anyone who likes usable 40k tournament tech.
Now we’re breaking down the top 40k army lists from the event and calling out the choices that mattered so you can spot meta trends fast and tune your own roster.
Top 8 Warhammer 40k Army Lists: 2026 Manchester Super-Major
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!
Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can look back at the event as if we were all there ourselves. Click this special promo link to save $20 on a year’s subscription to BCP.
1st Place: Innes Wilson, Deathwatch Army Lists
Innes Wilson’s Black Spear Task Force is basically a “wide brick” Deathwatch plan: lots of chunky Kill Teams that bully mid-board, backed by enough high-quality shooting to pick up the things that matter, and just enough sneaky positioning tech to make opponents play honest.
A Captain in Gravis Armour Is The Melee-Problem-Solver
This Captain is the list’s problem-solver in melee, and Thief of Secrets turns him into a snowball. If he kills something in combat, his melee weapons get a permanent boost to Strength, AP, and Damage for the rest of the game. That’s the kind of upgrade that starts as “cute” and ends as “why is that Captain one-rounding real units?”
The Judiciar Provides Deepstriking
The Judiciar is here to make a key area of the board feel like a bad decision to contest. The point is simple: he’s a melee rules piece that helps a unit win the moment of contact.
Beacon Angelis is the spice. It gives the bearer’s unit Deep Strike and lets that unit use Rapid Ingress for 0CP. That’s huge because it turns a “maybe later” threat into an on-demand interrupt, dropping in after an opponent commits and setting up a charge posture or just stealing real estate at the worst possible time.
The Lieutenant with a Combi-weapon is a classic Operator.
This is the list’s utility operator. He exists to be inconvenient. Perfect for holding a back corner, tagging an objective at the wrong time, threatening chip damage to light units, and generally being the model opponents hate allocating real resources into.
The Watch Master is the list’s force multiplier
Once per battle, after selecting an Oath of Moment target, the bearer can pop the Tome to make a second enemy unit an Oath target as well.
That’s the turn where this army stops trading and starts evicting. Two Oath targets means the shooting bricks can split focus without losing efficiency, or one target can be stripped by incidental fire while the rest of the list dunks the “real” target.
Deathwatch Veterans hold objectives and dish out hurt
This unit is the list’s main melee threat and mid-board bully, built like a classic Deathwatch “try and move me” squad. Shields keep them standing, thunder hammers bring real punch, and the power weapons keep the volume honest.
The Intercessor Squad helps score
These are clean scoring bodies that do the basic jobs: hold home, rotate to a mid objective, screen angles, and be annoying.
The fun part is how they interact with the Judiciar plus Beacon Angelis package. Beacon makes the unit he’s with Deep Strike and enables 0CP Rapid Ingress. That means this squad can suddenly become a late-game objective heist or a “surprise, there’s OC here now” play that swings primary at the worst time.
Three Fortis Kill Teams take out threats on objectives
These are the backbone of the list’s volume and quality shooting. Plasma incinerators give real bite into elite infantry, while the rocket launchers and grenade launchers provide that “something for everything” toolbox.
They’re meant to stand in the mid-board lanes, punish anything that steps out, and still have enough bodies to keep objectives contested through incidental fire. Three units is the point, because the opponent isn’t solving one problem; they’re solving a whole firing line of semi-durable, objective-capable threats.
Two Incursor Squads bring utility and early pressure
Incursors are here to make early turns awkward. Forward deploy presence, early objective tagging, angles on light units, and a mine for that little “gotcha” damage bump.
Two Indomitor Kill Teams help hold the mid-board
These are the adult units. Heavy bolters and rifles give steady output, flamestorm gauntlets punish anything trying to brawl up close, and the melta package gives real teeth into monsters and armor.
Two bricks is where the mid-board starts feeling like a no-fly zone. There’s always a durable anchor available, even if one gets focused down, and it becomes harder for opponents to find a clean target to trade into.
Infiltrator Squads help with area denial
Infiltrators are the screening and denial piece. They lock down deep strike angles, protect home objectives, and stop opponents from doing the classic “drop in, steal points, laugh” routine.
How This Deathwatch Army List Wins
The list doesn’t try to outspeed the table. It tries to own the middle with durable bodies, delete priority targets on demand, and use Mission Tactics plus Oath manipulation to make the key turns feel unfair.
One important note: Mission Tactics only turns on for units that actually have the ability on their datasheet, mostly the Deathwatch and Kill Team stuff, and each tactic is a once-per-game button. That means the list is built to maximize how much of the army benefits from those “one big turn” spikes.
This army scores by owning the mid-board with Kill Team bricks while the utility units quietly do mission work. The Incursors and Intercessors handle early and late objective touches, the Infiltrators keep the backfield from getting punked, and the Fortis and Indomitor core makes sure primary scoring stays stable by forcing opponents to commit real resources just to contest objectives.
The Beacon Angelis package adds the late-game “appear where it matters” play that can swing primary on turns 4 and 5 without needing to win a fair fight.
2nd Place: David Gaylard, Space Marines Army Lists (Ultramarines)
How This Ultramarines Army List Wins
This Blade of Ultramar list is the “make midboard miserable” plan with a blue paint job. Guilliman and Calgar squat in the center like they paid rent, turning every trade into a bad deal, while the Ballistus Dreads, Predator Annihilator, and Repulsor Executioner do the unglamorous work of cracking tanks and popping transports on schedule.
Once the big stuff is limping, the Sternguard step in to tidy up with efficient mid-range fire. The Scouts, Incursors, and Intercessors keep the board honest with screens and early objective pressure, and then Uriel and the Combi Lieutenant bring the sneaky-angle plays that punish anyone who thinks the game is just “push forward and hope.”
3rd Place: Chris Kinnair, Necrons Army Lists
How This Necrons Army List Wins
This Awakened Dynasty build plays like it showed up to the table wearing a seatbelt and carrying a sledgehammer. The Silent King, plus Szeras, form the central “command bunker,” stacking buffs and durability while still punishing anything that peeks.
Imotekh and a Chronomancer keep the machine running smoothly, while the double Psychomancers add that pesky mind game layer that makes midboard trades feel awful. The fun trick is the Lokhust Lord with Veil of Darkness, popping the Heavy Destroyers into the worst possible angle for someone’s favorite tank.
Then the Skorpekh package does the dirty work, counterpunching anything that tries to shove Necrons off objectives, while Immortals, Scarabs, and Tomb Crawlers handle the screen-and-score grind until the big pieces take over.
Final Thoughts from us on Warhammer Manchester Super-Major Army Lists
The Manchester Super-Major gave a pretty clean snapshot of where strong 40k lists are living right now. Deathwatch Army lists showed up with the “own the middle, pick the fights, press the once-per-game buttons at exactly the wrong time” game plan, Ultramarines proved the mid-board bully plan still works when the characters and guns line up, and Necrons Army lists turned the table into a slow-motion problem nobody enjoys solving.
If anything in these lists made you stop and think it would work for you, steal it. Not the whole roster, just the parts that fit. A reactive ingress threat, a double-target spike turn, a teleport angle that ruins someone’s day, or a scoring shell that keeps points ticking while the heavy hitters do the loud stuff.
That’s the kind of “small change, big results” tech that shows up in podium lists for a reason.
See all the Top Warhammer Army Lists & Latest 40k Tournament Schedule
What do you think of the results from the Warhammer Manchester Super-Major 40k Deathwatch, Ultramarines, and Necrons army lists?
