Winning in the “Wild West” of 40K
Check out the 3 top lists from the closest to unrestricted 40k tourney you’ll find in the USA today.
Hey all,
Warzone: Columbia recently took place at the SCARAB Gaming Convention in Columbia, South Carolina. This convention is hosted by some of the best people in Warhammer 40k. Their approach to the game translated into another great event in the Southeast.
Below you’ll find the top three lists. You will see a lot of Forge World in here. This event was held using the Warzone: Atlanta army guidelines, missions and FAQ (which is largely based on the Games Workshop FAQ). This is the closest to unrestricted 40k that you’ll find in the country right now. This is a huge testament to the fact that the fun in 40k is completely up to the players and this event had no shortage of fun.
Chaos Daemons and Magnus the Primarch:
This first list features Magnus. We have talked a lot about this guy on the FTN Podcast. I am a true believer. I think Magnus is a freight train of destruction. The only breaks this train has is completely up to player skill. It is easy to move these heavy point sink units into the wrong position and instantly lose half your army in the enemy shooting or assault phase. This is not a list for the inexperienced player. I am not saying we should all run out and buy Magnus models but I am saying that if you get good with him, you’re going to win a lot of games.
Magnus is a force multiplier and can make excellent use of Psychic dice and you are gonna need a lot of them. Thankfully, the list below has them. In non kill point missions this list can crank out powerful Tzeentch chariots to add many more wounds and anti tank power to the ground.
The Aegis Line combos very well with the Daemon of Tzeentch special rule that allows these daemons to re-roll the result of a 1 on any save. The Blue Horrors are always going to have a great save and continue to give you reserve reliability for your big guys, if needed. Protecting your large daemons from alphastrike is critical in today’s environment.
Horton Doughton’s Daemon of Tzeentch List:
Rehati War Sect
Magnus
Tzeentch daemon prince, wings, armor, familiar, level 3, staff of arcane compulsion
Tzeentch daemon prince, wings, armor, familiar, level 3
Tzeentch daemon prince, wings, armor, familiar, level 3
Daemon CAD
Herald of Tzeentch, level 1, paradox
11 Blue horrors
11 Blue horrors
Aegis line, comms relay
Craftworld Eldar and Corsairs:
You guys may have already heard or read a lot about the Eldar Corsairs. They sort of combine the best of both the light and the dark Eldar into a potent force. Their leaders can get a small amount of psychic powers and a Shadow Field. It just takes one roll to get Fortune to turn this into the Deathstar unit we’ve all grown to love (loath?)
Regardless of your feelings on that subject – resilient units are an absolute necessity in tournaments today. There are units that can dish out a massive volume of fire that would melt away anything other than the stoutest of units. Note that you can make these first two lists with just two detachments. This Eldar list is comprises of two Combined Arms Detachments giving the Troops here Objective Secured.
Ob Sec, great saves and a high volume of fire are one of the reasons Eldar are so dominant. This list also has the crazy powerful Skathatch Wraithknight. This guy can jump out of combat and is an absolute value for his points. His D guns are replaced with multi shot melta lances. If you’re playing Eldar in an environment that modifies the D chart this guy is probably already in your list.
Corsair bikes have the ability to jump away after they have fired Overwatch. This helps make these Troop units even harder to assault and clear off of the table.
They also fire poison weapons, if the jump ability wasn’t enough. Ha! It sounds like a lot of rules, and it is, but these guys are actually fun to play and capture the feel of Dark Eldar a lot better than the current Dark Eldar rules do. If you are a Dark Eldar fan you should definitely check the Corsairs out.
This list gives the general two units that they can absolutely jam into the face of the enemy. This allows the rest of the 10-11 units to scurry around the board throwing quality fire down range and to claim progressive and end game objectives.
This is another army, outside of the Wraithknight, that requires a lot of skill. It is easy to get your fast moving units out of position. The small body count in each unit means that if the opponent also has an MSU style build they can match you shot for shot and you may have less dudes to absorb wounds.
Thomas Byrd’s Eldar List:
Primary: Eldar Corsairs CAD:
HQ: Corsair Prince on bike w/shadowfield, void sabre and wild psyker upgrade
Collector of Ancient Treasures: Cegorath’s Revenge
TROOP1: Corsair Cloud dancer jetbikes (3) w/splinter cannon, 1x Felarch upgrade
TROOP2: Corsair Cloud dancer jetbikes (3) w/splinter cannon, 1x Felarch upgrade
TROOP3: Corsair Cloud dancer jetbikes (5) w/TL shurikan catapult
FAST1: Hornet (1) w/2x Pulse lasers
FAST2: Hornet (1) w/2x Pulse lasers
HEAVY1: Corsair Warp Hunter (1) w/Void burner
Eldar CAD:
HQ1: Autarch on bike w/shard of anaris and banshee mask
HQ2: Farseer on bike
TROOP1: Eldar Windrider jetbikes (3) w/Shurikan cannons
TROOP2: Eldar Windrider jetbikes (3) w/Shurikan cannons
TROOP3: Eldar Windrider jetbikes (3) w/Scatter lasers
TROOP4: Eldar Windrider jetbikes (3) w/Scatter lasers
FAST1: Warp Spiders (5) w/Exarch
HEAVY: Vaul’s Wrath Heavy Weapon Platform (1) w/Distort Cannon
LoW: Eldar Skathatch Wraithknight w/2x Inferno cannons and 1x Scatter Laser
Chaos Renegades:
Chaos Renegades is a controversial list. It gets all the best IG artillery but pays a few less points for it due to the lower ballistic skill and a leadership rule called ‘Uncertain Worth.’ This assigns a random leadership characteristic the first time a unit is called upon to take one.
Taking the Covenant of Nurgle opens up the ability to take a throng of Objective Secured Zombies. They don’t have an armor save but they do have a great 4+ Feel No Pain.
Taking the Ordnance Tyrant upgrade on the Warlord allows you to hit (but not target) your own enemy troops with Blast Barrage. It also allows you to take some Artillery in the Elite slots and Quad Launchers in the Troop slots, letting you put a ton of blasts on the table. The ability to hit your own models extends into close combat. You can create some pretty nasty situations for your opponent when you slide in some lucky Hits on the scatter die.
The low BS can be buffed a bit by paying just a few points for Militia Training and you’ll see that here on the Rapier Laser Destroyer Batteries. This gives a plus 1 BS. I know this weapon is twin linked but this army really struggles with opening up a Gladius or Lions Blade without the Rapiers doing some of the work.
This list also includes a KDK Gorepack. The addition of this fast moving element takes up some of the slack of the slow moving and static elements of the army. The Flesh Hounds can scout, but I don’t really endorse that unless you’re going first since it prohibits you from charging. The Chaos Bikers are stock here with no upgrades. This may seem like a waste of potential but these are almost exclusively used for cleanup after a volley of shots, as a roadblock or held in reserves to late game objective grab.
The Cabal is a bit of a bargain buy as well. There are only a couple of key upgrades here. This gives you what I would consider on the minimal side of dice to be effective. Playing against Tau or Eldar you’re going to want to get off the Cabal Special Power that allows you to Shoot with an enemy unit within 30 inches. The Spell Familiar allows you to re-roll failed checks. These guys can be placed with Artillery units to give them an effective toughness bonus and reduce the downside of ‘Uncertain Worth.’ They can also hide inside of zombie units to help give some extra assault push with their Force Axes. Don’t forget that all Chaos Characters have to Challenge so be careful! There are a few psychic powers that help your zombies get across the field as well. Since you’re likely only taking these guys for the Cabal power, don’t be afraid to roll on the more obscure psychic trees.
Paul Murphy’s Renegade List:
Renegades & Heretics: Renegades of Vraks (Combined Arms Detachment)
HQ
Renegade Command Squad [4x Disciple w/ Lasgun, Flak Armour]
- ···Arch Demagogue [Covenant of Nurgle, Flak Armour, Laspistol, Ordnance Tyrant, Warlord]
Elites
Renegade Heavy Ordnance Battery
- ···Artillery Carriage [4x Crew, Earthshaker Cannon]
- ···Artillery Carriage [4x Crew, Earthshaker Cannon]
- ···Artillery Carriage [4x Crew, Earthshaker Cannon]
Renegade Heavy Ordnance Battery
- ···Artillery Carriage [4x Crew, Medusa Siege Cannon]
Renegade Heavy Ordnance Battery
- ···Artillery Carriage [4x Crew, Medusa Siege Cannon]
Troops
Plague Zombie Horde [40x Plague Zombie]
Plague Zombie Horde [40x Plague Zombie]
Plague Zombie Horde [40x Plague Zombie]
Renegade Field Artillery Battery
- ···Field Artillery [3x Crew, Heavy Quad Launcher]
- ···Field Artillery [3x Crew, Heavy Quad Launcher]
- ···Field Artillery [3x Crew, Heavy Quad Launcher]
Renegade Field Artillery Battery
- ···Field Artillery [3x Crew, Heavy Quad Launcher]
- ···Field Artillery [3x Crew, Heavy Quad Launcher]
- ···Field Artillery [3x Crew, Heavy Quad Launcher]
Heavy Support
Renegade Rapier Laser Destroyer Battery [Militia Training]
- ···2x Rapier w/ Additional Crew
- ·······4x Crew [4x Lasgun]
Renegade Rapier Laser Destroyer Battery [Militia Training]
- ···2x Rapier w/ Additional Crew
- ·······4x Crew [4x Lasgun]
Renegade Rapier Laser Destroyer Battery [Militia Training]
- ···2x Rapier w/ Additional Crew
- ·······4x Crew [4x Lasgun]
Chaos – Khorne Daemonkin (Formation Detachment)
Gorepack
- ···Chaos Bikers [2x Bikers]
- ·······Biker Champion [Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon]
- ···Chaos Bikers [2x Bikers]
- ·······Biker Champion [Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon]
- ···Flesh Hounds [5x Flesh Hounds]
- ···Flesh Hounds [5x Flesh Hounds]
- ···Flesh Hounds [5x Flesh Hounds]
- ···Flesh Hounds [5x Flesh Hounds]
Traitor Legion: (Formation Detachment)
Force Options (Supplement options here) [Black Legion]
Cyclopia Cabal
- ···Sorcerer [Additional Mastery Level, Force Axe, Melta bombs, Power Armour, Spell familiar]
- ···Sorcerer [Additional Mastery Level, Force Axe, Melta bombs, Power Armour]
- ···Sorcerer [Force Axe, Melta bombs, Power Armour]
Obviously, the ‘meta’ everywhere is different but here these lists proved to be the strongest on this weekend. In an environment where 99% of everything published in 7th edition 40k is legal you can expect they had to battle through some pretty difficult lists and players. Even in at cutthroat competitive event the sportsmanship was the best. If you can put Warzone: Columbia on your list of events to attend next year I highly recommend it.
~What do yo think of the “Wild West” of 40K?
