Unbeatable Nailhammer GT Army Lists: Space Wolves Take 1st and 2nd

Spikey Bits » Warhammer 40k Army Lists » Unbeatable Nailhammer GT Army Lists: Space Wolves Take 1st and 2nd

Tristan Whitehead’s 5-0 Champions of Fenris took the Nailhammer 11 army lists crown, with a 4-1 Saga of the Great Wolf list right behind on battle points.

Space Wolves getting first and second at a 34-player UK GT is the kind of weekend that does not happen often these days. Tristan Whitehead went 5-0 with Champions of Fenris. Callum Bromley went 4-1 with Saga of the Great Wolf, losing the final round but holding second on battle points.

That’s the same Logan Grimnar warlord pick, but with two completely different detachment shapes, and a 27 BP gap between them at the top, followed by Zac Brooks-Richardson’s Dark Angels Gladius, which rounded out the top 3, also at 4-1, locking Lion El’Jonson and triple Deathwing Knights into third.

Nailhammer 11: Top 3 Warhammer 40k Army Lists

Use these winning armies to sharpen your own lists alongside the latest balance dataslate updates and points changes.

Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can walk back through the whole event with real pairings and battle point data. Click this special promo link to save $20 on a year’s BCP subscription. And if you want to take your game to the next level, consider applying to Team USA to compete at the Warhammer World Team Championships.

Tristan Whitehead’s Champions of Fenris Space Wolves Took the Crown With a Land Raider Closer

Tristan’s list does what Champions of Fenris is supposed to do, with little to no distractions, it seems. Logan Grimnar holds the line with Bjorn the Fell-Handed hitting up front, while a Land Raider rumbles down the table carrying ten Wolf Guard Terminators with relic greataxes.

The detachment rewards Wolf Guard going into the fight, and Tristan built the whole list around that one turn.

Champions of Fenris Roster Breakdown

First up, Logan Grimnar leads the list as the warlord with a Wolf Guard Battle Leader running the Wolves’ Wisdom enhancement for the late-game CP push. Bjorn the Fell-Handed gives the list a real hammer up front, and Arjac Rockfist sits in a Terminator brick for the Foehammer threat. Two Iron Priests handle repairs on the Land Raider and chip damage where they need to.

Then the body of the list runs on straightforward Wolf Guard aggression. Two squads of ten Wolf Guard Terminators with relic greataxes go alongside six Wolf Guard Headtakers, and the Land Raider carries Logan plus a Terminator brick into murdermake range.

A Gladiator Lancer is the long-range support answer, while Fenrisian Wolves, a Scout Squad, and an Intercessor Squad handle scoring and screen duty.

How Champions of Fenris Wins 

Looking at the round scores, Tristan opened 94 and 93 in rounds 1 and 2, then posted 96 in round 3 and closed with 86 and 83. He didn’t score a round below 80, and he was the only player in the bracket to finish without a loss. Champions of Fenris turns Wolf Guard into the late-game finisher, and a 10-strong Terminator brick coming out of the Land Raider on round 3 or 4 is the plan that wins that BP race in most cases.

Callum Bromley’s Saga of the Great Wolf Space Wolves Brought a Murderfang-Ragnar Body Slam

So Callum took a completely different read on the same faction. Saga of the Great Wolf rewards stacking elite characters, and Callum’s list packs Arjac, Bjorn, a Captain in Terminator Armor with the Grimnar’s Mark enhancement, a Lieutenant with combi, Logan Grimnar, Murderfang, and Ragnar Blackmane

Saga of the Great Wolf Roster Breakdown

The list overall is seven characters before you even get to the rest of the army, which is a lot to deal with. Plus, Murderfang riding into combat next to Ragnar, leading a Blood Claw brick, is the body slam this list can use again and again.

Next, three Wolf Guard Terminator squads of five give the list damage redundancy, where Tristan ran two squads of ten. The smaller bricks let Callum threaten more parts of the board at once, and two ten-strong Blood Claws bodies handle the scoring work plus the Ragnar delivery vehicle. A Thunderwolf Cavalry trio also adds the mid-board threat that Tristan offloaded onto the Gladiator Lancer.

Overall, it’s the character stack that is doing the real work. The Captain in Terminator Armor with Grimnar’s Mark gives Callum a way to land a Terminator brick further up the table on turn 2 without overcommitting. Wolf Scouts, an Intercessor Squad, three Wolf Guard Headtakers, and three Thunderwolves cover scoring and midfield.

How The Saga of the Great Wolf Wins the Middle Phase

Callum’s round scores tell a different story from Tristan’s. He opened 95 in round 1, then 77 in round 2. Bounced to 96 in round 3, took another 77 in round 4, and lost the final round on 80 BP against an opponent who scored higher. That round 5 loss kept Callum from a perfect 5-0 alongside Tristan, but his 425 BP held second on the bracket.

So you can see, the Saga of the Great Wolf rewards trading early to set up the Murderfang-Ragnar charge in the middle game, and Callum’s run shows the bet paying off through round 4 before running into a higher ceiling in the last game.

Zac Brooks-Richardson’s Gladius Task Force Dark Angels Closed Third With Lion + Triple Deathwing Knights

Zac’s Dark Angels run a different problem entirely. Lion El’Jonson at 315 points is a real commitment, and Gladius Task Force makes the rest of the list to play around him. Azrael with the Lion Helm and Sword of Secrets backs the Lion up, while three squads of Deathwing Knights work as the closers that can land wherever they want.

Gladius Task Force Roster Breakdown

The character core here is short and lethal. Lion El’Jonson takes the warlord slot and the bulk of the points commitment, so Azrael’s aura and invul-stacks ride the closest Deathwing Knight brick to plug what the Lion can’t reach. A Lieutenant with a combi handles the Oath redirect, and the character core stops there.

Triple Deathwing Knights do the heavy lifting on the damage end with Maces of Absolution and a Watcher in the Dark each, plus the Knight Master with a Relic weapon. That gives Zac three independent hammer threats per turn.

Two Ballistus Dreadnoughts hold down the back line. Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs, Sternguard Veterans, and an Incursor Squad handle mid-field action, while a Scout Squad and Intercessor Squad sit on objectives. The whole thing runs on Lion, plus the Knights doing the killing, with everything else looking for targets of opportunity.

How Gladius Task Force Wins the Damage Race

So Zac opened the weekend with 95 and 94 in rounds 1 and 2, then ran into a 28 in round 3. That round is the only loss in the run, and the only thing keeping him from a 5-0 placing. He bounced back, though, with 90 and 85 in rounds 4 and 5.

Overall, Gladius gives Dark Angels a board-wide tempo bump on Knights and Deathwing infantry, and Zac’s plan is to point all three Knight bricks into priority targets in rounds 2 through 4 before the opponent’s hammer can answer. Round 3 is the round where that plan got tested, and the wheels came off, but the rest of the weekend says, hey, there may be something to this strategy.

Final Thoughts on the Nailhammer 11 Army Lists & the Warhammer 40k Meta

Overall, the Nailhammer GT is a small snapshot of where the 10th edition meta is pivoting in the UK as it goes into the new edition. Champions of Fenris took it 5-0, Saga of the Great Wolf chased one round behind on a 4-1 record, and both leaned on the same Logan-led warlord build but with very different detachments. 

The loyalist-Marine lockout of the top 3, also tells us something about where Index-and-codex armies still have headroom over the xeno and Chaos end of the table in this points cycle.

So, going into 11th, Space Wolves and Dark Angels both look ready to carry over what works without a heavy rewrite.

🔗 Related Reads:

• How to Play Space Wolves
• How to Play Dark Angels
• Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
• More Top Warhammer 40k Army Lists
• 40k Tournament Guide
• Warhammer 40k Factions Guide
• Latest 40k Balance Dataslate
• Munitorum Field Manual Points Updates

What’s your take on the Champions of Fenris vs Saga of the Great Wolf detachment fight going into 11th edition?

PREV ARTICLE

« 7 Warhammer 40k Imperial Faction Packs Arrive With New Detachments +Rules