Goatboy’s 40K: Team USA – ETC Champions’ Two Meanest Lists
Team USA went 6-0 to sweep the European Team Championship. Here’s a look at two of their most potent lists.
Goatboy here again and if you know me – you know I am friends with a good deal of the USA ETC Team. This means I was pretty excited to hear how they well they did in the event this last weekend by winning the whole thing. They even went 6-0 this year (3rd team to do it) with some pretty exciting matchups and wins (by 1 point – which if you see how ETC scores it isn’t 1 point per say – it is 1 pt from becoming a tie). Overall it was a great job by team USA which is normally looked at being behind the meta a bit by other countries.
What Surprised Me
This leads me into what I found really interesting about the team and their lists this year. The Majority of the lists felt like good single player lists and not just extreme team focused armies. ETC is normally a hard event to judge lists from. The majority of the armies are very extreme as you are limited to 1 army per team. This means the combinations become very weird as you try to find armies that don’t take too much away from other armies and allow your team to compete. USA only had a few extreme lists and they didn’t do nearly as well most likely because of it.
A lot of ETC is set up to try and trap other countries armies into bad match ups to try and create a set of 3 guaranteed win games. You know that someone is going to have a bad match up so you can either try to dodge it – or pull it and hope you can give some of your other buddies better games. This is why a Team event is a lot of fun as it isn’t you just trying to win all your games – it is your team trying to just win more games. This way you go from a game where you have to win and instead into a game where you just need to try and get some points. ATC does this as well – but ETC has 7 man teams so you get a lot more variety and abilities to trap.
The Strongest Are Strongest Alone
Going back to army choices – 2 lists from team USA stood out as extremely strong single player lists. The others are also good Single player lists – but they need some tweaks to bring them to the next level or are something you already expect (Ynarri Eldar by Nick N). The two players that brought these strong lists are Nick Rose and Tony Kopach. Both of these guys are pretty well known in the competitive circles with Nick Rose being one of my best friends even though he left me by moving to Boston (sob, sob). Tony is well known too and has many an event win under his belt. Plus he is a decent guy too. Let’s look at Tony’s list as I think it is the easier one to play out of the two and something that is beating up players on the East Coast.
Tony Kopach’s List
== Brigade Detachment== Astra Militarum [65 Power Level] [970 Points] {12 CP] <Catachan>
HQ1: Colonel Iron Hand Straken(75) [4 PL] [75pts]
HQ2: Company Commander (30), Powerfist (8), laspistol (0) [2 PL] [38pts]
HQ3: Company Commander (30), Powerfist (8), laspistol (0)Kurovs Aquilla (RELIC-FREE) [2 PL] [38pts] -WARLORD<
Strategic Genius>
Elite1: Ministorum Priest (35), Chainsword (0), laspistol (0) [2 Pl] [35pts]
Elite2: Platoon Commander (20), Powerfist (8), laspistol (0) [2 PL] [28pts]
Elite3: Platoon Commander (20), Powerfist (8), laspistol (0) [2 PL] [28pts]
TR1: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
TR2: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
TR3: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
TR4: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
TR5: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
TR6: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
TR7: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
TR8: Infantry Squad (4×10=40), Chainsword (0) [3 Pl] [40pts]
FA1: Hellhound (73), Inferno cannon (20), Heavy bolter (8), Storm bolter (2) [6 Pl] [103pts]
FA2: Hellhound (73), Inferno cannon (20), Heavy bolter (8), Storm bolter (2) [6 Pl] [103pts]
FA3: Hellhound (73), Inferno cannon (20), Heavy bolter (8), Storm bolter (2) [6 Pl] [103pts]
HS1: Heavy Weapon Squad (6×3=18), Mortar (3×5=15) [3 Pl] [33pts]
HS2: Heavy Weapon Squad (6×3=18), Mortar (3×5=15) [3 Pl] [33pts]
HS3: Heavy Weapon Squad (6×3=18), Mortar (3×5=15) [3 Pl] [33pts]
==Battalion Detachment== Blood Angels [24 Power Level] [423 Points] [5 CP] <Blood Angels>
HQ4: Captain with Jump Pack (93), Thunderhammer (21), Storm Shield (15) (6 PL) [129pts]
HQ5: Captain with Jump Pack (93), Thunderhammer (21), Storm Shield (15) (6 PL) [129pts]
TR9: Scout Squad (5×11=55), 4x Bolters (0), Combat knife(0), Chainsword(0) [4 PL] [55pts]
TR10: Scout Squad (5×11=55), 4x Bolters (0), Combat knife(0), Chainsword(0) [4 PL] [55pts]
TR11: Scout Squad (5×11=55), 4x Bolters (0), Combat knife(0), Chainsword(0) [4 PL] [55pts]
== Super Heavy Auxiliary Detachment== Imperial Knights [30 Power Level] {604 Points] [0 CP}<House Raven>
LoW1: Knight Castellan (510), Twin Seigebreaker Cannon (2×35=70), Shield Breaker Missiles (2×12=24) [30 Power
Level] [604pts}
Using the List
This list showcases the power of regrowing CPs, armies with powerful Stratagems, and multiple avenues of damage potential throughout the turn. The change to 12CP from a Brigade is extremely powerful as it allows you to have enough room to do a ton of Blood Angels nonsense (Attack twice, deep strike in, charge far, do more damage, etc) as well as having your Knight always reroll 1’s throughout the turn. The AM are also powerful as you can combine squads and create a wave of close combat death if needed. Hell Hounds are also very good but you can easily do whatever you want in FA with either Turtle Riding Turds or Sentinels based on your play style. This is the current good Imperial Soup and you can take this and tweak it in multiple directions. You could add in Custodes instead of BA if you want -go for more Knights if you need or just make the AM element smaller as you don’t want to play with all the models. It really is just a mixture of the best Imperium stuff with the strongest Stratagems.
Nick Rose’s List
Next up lets look at Nick Rose’s Tyranid list. It is a good example of a mean as heck horde that can swamp the board, ignore leadership, and do a ton of damage via Smites and other Mortal wound options. Plus it has a ton of weight of numbers with bodies everywhere. This one is a lot harder to play as it is a huge amount of models, it requires paying attention to distance and moves, as well having most of the phases covered with some trick/option. Plus it has a lot of potential to change up a bit especially with GSC coming out soon.
== Battalion Detachment == [755 Points] +5 CP (64PL) <Brood Brother>
HQ 1: Acolyte Iconward (53): Autopistol, Blasting charge, Rending claw (0) (Relic Icon of the Cult Ascendant) Warlord
(Focus of Adoration) <Brood brother> – [53 pts] (3PL)
HQ 2: Magus (73): Autopistol, Force Stave, (0) Pyschic Powers (Mass Hypnosis) <Brood brother> – [73 pts] (4PL)
HQ 3: Patriarch (150): Monstrous Rending Claws (0) Pyschic Powers (Mind Control) <Brood brother> – [150 pts] (7PL)
TROOP 1: 19 Neophytes (19 x 5 = 95): 19x Autoguns, 19x Blasting Charges, 19x Auto Pistols (0) Power Maul (4)
<Brood Brother> – [99 pts] (10PL)
TROOP 2: 19 Neophytes (19 x 5 = 95): 19x Autoguns, 19x Blasting Charges, 19x Auto Pistols (0) Cultist knife (0)
<Brood Brother> – [95 pts] (10PL)
TROOP 3: 19 Neophytes (19 x 5 = 95): 19x Autoguns, 19x Blasting Charges, 19x Auto Pistols (0) Cultist knife (0)
<Brood Brother> – [95 pts] (10PL)
TROOP 4: 19 Neophytes (19 x 5 = 95): 19x Autoguns, 19x Blasting Charges, 19x Auto Pistols (0) Cultist knife (0)
<Brood Brother> – [95 pts] (10PL)
TROOP 5: 19 Neophytes (19 x 5 = 95): 19x Autoguns, 19x Blasting Charges, 19x Auto Pistols (0) Cultist knife (0)
<Brood Brother> – [95 pts] (10PL)
Battalion Detachment == [1245 Points] +5 CP (73PL) <Kraken>
HQ 4: Neurothrope (70): Claws and Teeth (0) <Kraken> Pyschic Powers (Psychic Scream) – [70 pts] (4PL)
HQ 5: Neurothrope (70): Claws and Teeth (0) <Kraken> Pyschic Powers (Onslaught) – [70 pts] (4PL)
TROOP 6: 30 Hormagaunts (30 x 5 = 150): 30xScything talons (0) <Kraken> – [150 pts] (9PL)
TROOP 7: 29 Hormagaunts (29 x 5 = 145): 29xScything talons (0) <Kraken> – [145 pts] (9PL)
TROOP 8: 30 Termagants (30 x 4 = 120): 30xFleshBorer x 30 (0) <Kraken> – [120 pts] (9PL)
TROOP 9: 30 Termagants (30 x 4 = 120): 30xFleshBorer (0) <Kraken> – [120 pts] (9PL)
ELITE 1: 3 Venomthropes (3x 30 = 90): 3x Toxic Lashes (0) <Kraken> – [90 pts] (5PL)
ELITE 2: 4 Zoanthropes (4x 40 = 160): 4x Claws and teeth (0) <Kraken> Pyschic Powers (The Horror – [160 pts] (8PL)
ELITE 3: 4 Zoanthropes (4x 40 = 160): 4x Claws and teeth (0) <Kraken> Pyschic Powers (Catalyst) – [160 pts] (8PL)
ELITE 4: 4 Zoanthropes (4x 40 = 160): 4x Claws and teeth (0) <Kraken> Pyschic Powers (Catalyst) – [160 pts] (8PL)
Using the List
So many bodies and gribblies just being a pain in the butt. This is the army that you just sigh when you see it across the table top. The other team lists were not bad – Brad Chesters just needs some tweak to make it more single player viable – but these are the two I like a lot. Team USA did very well and I am proud to know these guys. I heard that the cheers were very loud when they were announced they won and it is great to hear it was a positive event.
I think the only real issue I have heard is again some issues with slow play. ETC are 4 hour round so it is hard to imagine a game not finishing in 4 hours. I do not know the real answer to fix this beyond just penalties or round losses if players can’t finish. I do wonder if the Stratagem and multiple levels of rerolls might be another issue to look at. But all of that discussions if for another time. Heck we got a Chapter Approved coming later this year so all these lists might not matter for LVO. We’ll see.
~Which of those two lists do you like the most?
