Need some inspiration while you list build? Check out these top homebrew 40k army lists we’ve seen since the 2020 Las Vegas Open.
The 2020 LVO brought people from all around the world under one roof to compete for the same thing. With so many players and such a high spirit of competitiveness, we saw some armies change the way the meta looks now. But speaking of the meta…
There are a few bold players out there that refuse to jump on the bandwagon for different factions and take the things they want to play with. These guys go against the grain and end up doing pretty well. Check out these top off-meta lists since LVO.
The Top Hombrew 40k Army Lists In 2020 (so far)
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Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can look back at the event as if we were there ourselves. Now let’s check out these dope lists.
Winter Warfare 2020: Edward Morgan- Forces of the Hive Mind
This list was plucked from the list of armies at the Wargaming Guild Open: Winter Warfare 2020. GSC, which is already an uncommon faction rolled out some units nobody expected to see.
Jumping into this GSC/Nid list, right away this army stands out. Rolling onto the table with a whopping eight Ridgerunners, Edward had a plethora of fast harassers and objective grabbers at his disposal. We’ve hardly ever even seen one of these units used in a GSC list and he brought eight! Plus, with the fact that they were armed with a mining laser, if they were ignored long enough, they could do some real damage to armor.
Moving into the Tyranid aspect of the list, a couple of cheap Battalions were brought filling the Troops slot with Termagants and Ripper Swarms. But to add more of a “punch”, nearly 300 pts were dropped into a unit of the meta-tested Hive Guard as well as three total Exocrines. Awesome work.
Hellfire 40k RTT: Francis brodeur Durand- Grey Knights
This list comes from the Hellfire RTT.
This Grey Knight list took to the field without using any Paladins, which is considered by most as one of the best units to pick from. Instead, Voldus and a Grand Master Dreadknight led a chunky squad of ten Terminators and Strike Teams to fill out a Battalion.
However, to add some speed, fifteen total Interceptors hit the board and teleported wherever they needed to be at any given notice. While these guys were jumping on objectives and conducting surgical strikes, two Dakka Ravens also flew up the board as a distraction.
Overall, this list is dope and brought a list eerily similar to the way some Aeldari lists work. (I.e pick a fast-moving unit to cap objectives and create pressure with a bunch of Flyers). Nice work!
Two Rivers Open GT: Tau- Jeremiah Petit
Diving into this Tau list from the Two Rivers Open GT…
You might be thinking that you’re seeing the outline for a Riptide spam list, especially with Firesight Marksman and Drones. But that wouldn’t be a homebrew! This army literally put all their eggs in one basket with Jeremiah bringing the Taunar Supremacy Armor.
The Taunar itself is a walking monstrosity of firepower. It’s got a 2+ BS and has a whole host of firepower. Being T8 with 30 wounds, it’s definitely not going to roll over for just anybody. However, costing over half of the army’s points, if this thing went down, it was a done deal for the Tau. That’s why 24 Shield Drones swirled around the Suit all game, basically giving it 24+ wounds for the enemy to handle. And with whatever points were leftover, they were put into a couple of smaller suits designed for mobile objective grabbing and Primaris blasting. Awesome job rocking a behemoth on the tabletop that’ll make players turn their head!
Also, note the custom Tau Tenets that were selected for the Supremacy armor and the other Detachments as well. Farsight loves them some dual commanders now!
Barrie Bash 40k Major: Jessie Rocha- Berzerker Soup
This Knight/ Berzerker list was spotted at the Barrie Bash 40k Major. swapping the roles a bit for screen-killing and tank-popping, Jessie proved that Berzerkers definitely have a use in 8th edition.
For this list, it worked exactly like a one-two punch combo. some Khorne Berzerkers were loaded into Rhinos and were covered by volley fire from three Knight Despoilers. With each Knight being armed with two thermal cannons and a missile pod, basically anything with armor was as good as dead. As for the screens/objective grabbers in the enemy’s force, they only lived as long as it took the Rhinos to drop their angry bois inside. Very simple, but very awesome list. It’s always nice to see Berzerkers do work.
Giga Bites & Alpha Strike Podcast GT: Brad White- Tau
Brad used the Farsight Enclave rules and spammed the literal mess out of some Suits. From Crisis to Bodyguard and Iridium Suits, this list had an overall majority toughness of 5 and some fairly mobile firepower. Starting off, two Commanders with Missile Pods hung back and shot volleys of missiles at whatever was in range. Meanwhile, cheap Troops were brought to fill out a CP battery. However, paying for Shield Drones whenever able, this list accumulated a whole swarm of particularly hard Drones to kill.
Moving into the next Detachment, two Enforcers wielding their Cyclic Ion Blasters were brought along. With ATS, these guys can be some especially nasty Primaris killers on the board and we’ve actually broken the unit down in an earlier post.
Moving beyond that, nearly 400 pts were dumped into a blob of Crisis Suits almost all with ATS and Cyclic Ion Blasters! That’s six S8 AP-2 D3 damage shots per model! Again, we’re seeing Shield Drones thrown into every possible entry as well. That way, a cloud of angry frisbees could jump in front of nasty shots and keep the list functioning at max strength.
For the last detachment, another Enforcer hit the table with Tau’s version of a Smash Captain- a Coldstar Suit with 4x Fusion Blasters. And for the remaining points, where most players might try to bring Riptides, Brad actually went with an Infiltrating approach bringing two Ghostkeels and some XV25 Stealth Suits. Overall, great job bringing a Tau list completely unique to what 90% of the meta runs these days!
Looking back at some of our favorite recent homebrews, even the factions that have been featured more than once took things in a completely different direction. That should go to show how healthy the meta is. Plus, not all non-meta units are as bad as we think they are!
What’s been your favorite homebrew list we’ve gone over? Are you brewing up a list right now yourself?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
