Here are the top three Warhammer 40k army lists from WarGamesCon 14, with Black Templars taking first, T’au second, and Orks third.
Updated June 14th, 2026, by Rob Baer with new information and links to relevant content.
WarGamesCon 14 wrapped with Matthew Allee’s Black Templars on top, with a Helbrecht-led melee army built around Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs, three Sword Brethren squads, and a shield-hammer Terminator brick out of a Land Raider. We break down what the winning list actually does, plus what Justin Moore’s Tau and Collin McDade’s Orks did to round out the top 3.
Standings and rosters come from Best Coast Pairings.
Final Standings:
Here is the WarGamesCon 14 Warhammer 40k Championship coverage.
1st Place: Matthew Allee – Black Templars Army List
Matthew Allee’s Black Templars went undefeated through WarGamesCon 14 with the kind of melee-first build that’s hard to play against. Helbrecht leads a shield-and-hammer Terminator brick out of a Land Raider, three Assault Intercessor squads with Jump Packs score secondaries and chew through enemy screens, and three Sword Brethren squads work midboard. Templars don’t really do anything but charge, and this list goes all-in on that.
The Black Templars index cards spell out the rules running this build, with Templar vows, melee charges turning into mortal wounds, and lethal hits from the Lieutenant once the brick gets into combat.
Helbrecht rides with the Terminator brick and feeds lethal hits into the rest of the army, with an Ancient attached for the Oath buff and a shot at resurrecting a Terminator at the end of the phase.
Next, two solo melee characters cover the rest of the heroes: Judiciar hunts enemy characters with the precision strikes profile, while the Emperor’s Champion runs after the assassination secondary.
Then, a Lieutenant tucks into one Assault Intercessor squad to keep lethals up there too, and the combi-weapon Lone Operative is the cheap model that sneaks onto a midboard objective. Then holds it through one shooting phase and scores the secondary.
For fast movers, three Assault Intercessor squads with Jump Packs handle mobility and secondary scoring. These guys deep strike, charge, and clear backline screens with ease.
Helbrecht and the Ancient ride inside the Land Raider with the Terminator brick. With storm shields, thunder hammers, and a 4+ feel-no-pain stacked from the Ancient’s resurrect, the Terminators are the anvil, while the three Sword Brethren squads work the middle of the board to push damage and hold midboard,
2nd Place: Justin Moore – T’au Empire
Justin Moore took T’au to second, the only shooting army to crack the top three at WarGamesCon 14. The full roster is above. This was the only ranged army that finished in the top three in a meta that was dominated by melee first builds.
3rd Place: Collin McDade – Orks
Collin McDade’s Orks took third, the second melee army in the top three. You can check out the full roster in the screenshots above.
Three things to take from Matthew’s list if you’re building Black Templars in 10th: lean on Helbrecht and the Ancient stacked into the Terminator brick, run multiple Assault Intercessor with Jump Pack squads for secondary scoring and screen-clearing, and use Sword Brethren as your midboard answer instead of more Intercessor bodies. Templars work best when every melee character has a job, and the army can pressure multiple objectives at once.
More Warhammer 40k army lists from WarGamesCon 14 are on Best Coast Pairings if you want the full top 8. For the Black Templars starter box, the Orks rules guide, and the Tau codex review, we have you covered, and the current 10th edition meta breakdown shows where these three armies sit overall.
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