Sam Nash’s 7-0 Thousand Sons took the Birmingham 40k Super Major army lists crown by running the table undefeated in a Chaos-heavy top cut.
Just under 200 players showed up for the Birmingham 40k Super Major, and Sam Nash was the only one who left the top-cut bracket without a loss. He did it with Thousand Sons, an army that has been sitting near the top of the current 40k meta for a while now.
The names behind him make the run look even better as Chaos Space Marines finished second, Tyranids landed third, and T’au took fourth. That is a top bracket packed with tough, board-hungry armies that don’t just disappear when the shooting starts. We saw the same durable-army trend at the Nottingham Super-Major, and Birmingham looked just as rough.
The Birmingham 40k Super Major: Top 3 Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- Sam Nash went 7-0 with Thousand Sons to win a 198-player super major: his lowest score all weekend was still a 95!
- Chaos Space Marines took second and Tyranids finished third, giving the podium to durable board-control lists: none of the top armies were fragile alpha-strike builds hoping one big turn would do the job.
- All three of these top 40k army lists are built to play the long game: durability and board coverage are doing the heavy lifting in 40k right now, and Birmingham showed it again.
Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can track the event through real pairings and battle point data.
Sam Nash’s Hexwarp Thrallband Sons Never Gave a Game Away
Everyone at the top tables had the same problem: deal with Sam’s list, but no one seemed to do it. He ran Hexwarp Thrallband and Sekhetar Cohort, with Priority Assets and Take and Hold as his Force Dispositions. It is exactly the kind of army that is hard to remove and just as hard to ignore.
Hexwarp Thrallband Roster Breakdown
His Warlord was a Sorcerer in Terminator Armor, and the full list came in at 1,995 points. Starting out, the core is ten Scarab Occult Terminators with the Terminator Sorcerer tucked in. That is the unit opponents have to commit serious resources into, and even then, it often stays on the table. Two Rubric Marine blocks back it up, each with a Sorcerer attached, giving the list plenty of psychic output and durable bodies that shrug off small-arms fire.
The rest of the roster fills in the pressure. A winged Daemon Prince of Tzeentch gives Sam a fast threat, two Tzaangor Shamans add more casting, and a Defiler brings a real gun with a nasty melee profile. The board control comes from the bottom of the sheet: three units of Sekhetar Robots and three units of Tzaangor Enlightened, which gives the army a lot of extra bodies to park on objectives.
There is no single gimmick here, because this is not a list trying to win the game on turn two. It wants the game to keep going because every extra turn gives the Thousand Sons more time to grind the opponent down.
How the Hexwarp Thrallband Wins the Grind
The scores say plenty. Sam posted 100, 100, 97, 95, 100, 97, and 100 across seven games. His worst result all weekend was a 95. Which is a list maximizing the mission round after round.
The plan is pretty straightforward. Hold the home ground with the tough units, flood the rest of the board with Tzaangor and Sekhetar bodies, and let the Scarab Occult block control the middle while the sorcerers do their work. Do that seven games in a row against the best players in the building, and you end up with the top 40k army lists at 7-0.
Theo Hayat’s Soulforged Warpack Walled Up Behind Six Daemon Engines
Second place had a very different look. Theo Hayat brought Chaos Space Marines in a Soulforged Warpack with Purge the Foe, led by Vashtorr the Arkifane. Where Sam’s list grinds through control and pressure, Theo’s list hits the table with big daemon engines and makes opponents deal with them.
Soulforged Warpack Roster Breakdown
Three Defilers and three Venomcrawlers are the whole build, pretty much. Yup, you read right, it’s 11th edition, and that’s still six daemon engines, all with real damage output, and all annoying to bring down. Vashtorr is the Warlord, while a Warpsmith keeps the machines running, which is exactly what the list wants when its plan depends on expensive engines staying alive.
The rest of the army is cheap on purpose. Two Cultist Mobs and a unit of Red Corsair Raiders handle the objective work, while two units of Chaos Bikers give the army some extra movement when it needs to push. It is a wall with guns, and it is perfectly happy to let the opponent waste time trying to break it down.
How the Soulforged Warpack Wins the Damage Race
Theo finished 6-1, with his only loss coming in the last game of the weekend. He scored 100, 96, 96, 100, 100, and 100 through the first six rounds before a 52 in the final ended the run. That’s six games of heavy scoring before the last table got away from him.
The daemon engine wall wins by forcing bad choices. Every Defiler that needs to be answered is another target pulling fire away from scoring pieces, and while the opponent is trying to chew through the engines, the cheap Chaos units are sitting on objectives. It’s still a grind, just with a lot more metal and claws, and it carried Theo all the way to second place.
Florence Maunders’ Subterranean Assault Tyranids Attacked From Under the Table
Third place went to a sneakier kind of pressure. Florence Maunders ran Tyranids in the Subterranean Assault detachment, with Disruption as the Disposition and a Neurotyrant as Warlord. This is a reserve army from top to bottom, built to show up where opponents least want it.
Subterranean Assault Roster Breakdown
The units make the plan obvious here, and stop if you have seen this before. Three Mawlocs and a Trygon come up from underground, five Raveners and multiple Primes threaten the flanks, and Deathleaper, a Lictor, and two Neurolictors wait for openings. This army is not interested in standing still.
The support models all keep it together. The Neurotyrant Warlord and a six-model Zoanthrope unit bring the psychic punch and synapse the swarm needs, while two units of Hormagaunts run around scoring on objectives. The Primes carry the enhancements, including Vanguard Intellect and Tremor Senses, to push the reserve plan even harder.
How Subterranean Assault Wins the Board
Florence finished 5-1, scoring 88, 100, 98, 95, and 100 before a 47 in the semi-final ended the run. That is five strong games, one bracket loss, and a top-three finish at a 198-player event.
The plan is disruption, and the detachment’s name doesn’t hide it. Put Mawlocs and Raveners into the enemy backfield, force the opponent to turn around and deal with threats in their own deployment zone, then let Hormagaunts and lurking units clean up the objectives that matter. Pinning that kind of army down is miserable, and most of the field couldn’t do it.
Final Thoughts on the Birmingham 40k Super Major Army Lists & the Warhammer 40k Meta
Put the top three lists side by side, and the pattern is pretty clear. The armies winning right now are the ones that stick around, trade losses well, and keep scoring. They are not banking the whole game on one huge damage turn either.
A grinding Thousand Sons list, a wall of Chaos daemon engines, and a Tyranid reserves army all leaned into durability and board control at Birmingham, and all three ended up on the podium.
So if you are building for your next tournament, that is the part you should take seriously. Durability and board coverage are doing the real work in 40k for 11th, even with the current points values, and event results keep pointing in the same direction.
🔗 Related Reads:
- How to Play Thousand Sons
- How to Play Chaos Space Marines
- How to Play Tyranids
- Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- More Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
- 40k Tournament Guide
- Latest 40k Balance Dataslate
- Munitorum Field Manual Points Updates
Which of these three top lists would you actually run at your next event?
