Goatboy’s 40K Meta: 2 MEAN Lists from NOVA Invitational
Goatboy here, with two cools lists from the Nova Invitational to show you what’s hot in 40K right now.
One of these days I will make it up there – between family, anniversary, and time frame it gets hard for me to make the jaunt up east. But – I still hold hope I can get up there, lose in the invitational and experience the Nova for once. We’ll see as kids get older, dealing with them gets easier, and my wife lets me have a chance to throw some dice down. Both these lists are Imperium, utilized Imperial Knights in some way, and lo and behold both have the Command Point battery regeneration. This should tell you what will most likely get nerfed come a few weeks after the Nova.
The New “Top List”
We’ll first look at Tony Kopach’s list. I took the list from the normal event as I am pretty sure this is the same one as it matches up with what his ETC list was as well. This list is what I think is the best overall list right now in 40k. It does everything, gain CPs, have some crazy damage potential, and can win just about any game it goes against. A ton of people played this or a version of it in the Invitational as well as the main event. Its going to be the new “Flyrant” list that GW will most likely use to build their new rebalance FAQ that will come out. Enough of it – here it is.
Guard Brigade – Catachan aka Meat Heads
HQ: Company Commander – Warlord, Power Sword, Plasma Pistol – Kurov’s Aquila
HQ: Straken
HQ: Primaris Psyker
HQ: Primaris Psyker
Elite: Priest
Elite: Platoon Commaner w/Powerfist
Elite: Platoon Commaner w/Powerfist
Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Infantry Squad
FA: Hellhound w/Storm Bolter, Heavy Bolter
FA: Hellhound w/Storm Bolter, Heavy Bolter
FA: Sentinel w/Multilaser
Heavy: Heavy Weapon Team w/3x Mortars
Heavy: Heavy Weapon Team w/3x Mortars
Heavy: Heavy Weapon Team w/3x Mortars
Blood Angel Battalion
HQ: Captain w/Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer – Usually Gets Angels Grace
HQ: Captain w/Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer – Usually Gets the Veritas Vitae
Troops: Scouts X 5, Bolt Pistol and CCW
Troops: Scouts X 5, Bolt Pistol and CW
Troops: Scouts X 5, 4 x Bolters, 1 CCW/Blade
Super Heavy Auxiliary – Imperial Knights – That’s So Raven Household
LoW: Castellan, 2x Seige breaker Cannons, 2X Missiles
This one is pretty simple to look at as it has some insane damage potential in the Knight with the Raven Stratagem, Missile Stratagems, and heck a ton of other Stratagems all provided by the crazy set of Command points the army has starting, regrows during the turn, and can use. This is a pretty distinct example of the issue with Command Points currently – especially when you have an army that can get a Brigade as easily as the Imperium and Astra Militarum can. The two other detachments are so hungry for command points that while the Guard army can use them – it is just not needed with the strength of their Orders, bodies, and board presence. If you somehow have a big monster and don’t get to go first vs this list – expect the Castellan to remove whatever you have invested a ton of points in. It is interesting to not see the FW Hellhounds as their explosion is better but it makes sense to keep it all GW.
2nd Verse – Same as the First (almost)
Next up is the King of Gentlemen 40k – Alex Fennel. First of all congrats to him as he also become a father around the same time I did. Alex is always a nice guy no matter how many times we had lopsided match ups when we played. I always appreciate his pink armies when I see them on the table top and it is great to have him doing well in the Invitational. I know his Nova Open record wasn’t too hot – but after so many games of dice you can’t expect all the rolls to go your way. Anyway let’s look at his list.
Battalion Detachment – Astra Militarium – Vahallan
HQ: Company Commander, Bolt Pistol – Warlord
HQ: Company Commander, Bolt Pistol – Kurov’s Aquila (Notice a trend)
Troops: Infantry Squad, Mortar Team
Troops: Infantry Squad, Mortar Team
Troops: Infantry Squad, Mortar Team
Troops: Infantry Squad, Mortar Team
Troops: Conscripts X 23
Super Heavy Detachment – House Taranis
LoW: Knight Gallant
LoW: Knight Gallant
LoW: Knight Gallant
Super Heavy Auxiliary – House That’s So Raven
LoW: Knight Castellan, Two Siegebreaker Cannons, Two Missiles
Here we have a much more heavier investment in Knights with 3 Gallants. It is interesting as this army is very similar to the one from LVO – in that it has 3 super Assault Characters backed up by some Guard. This one has less Guard and the big Monsters are much meaner but it seems to be the same. He also took what is turning out to be the most offensive unit in the game with the Knight Castellan – with the upgraded Plasma Cannon. That thing just murders stuff right now – and while it is good I think it really just shines in armies that have access to a ton of Command points – which allows it to use That’s So Raven stratagem each and every turn. I am thinking if they make it just once a game or remove some of the CP tricks – it might not be nearly as brutal. Plus with the Vahallan taking less Casualties due to Morale – it means the Conscript blob will stay around a lot longer. Morale tricks are very powerful in this edition – especially with some of the Horde armies that can use it and abuse it.
Alright that is just the Invitational – we’ll look at the top 8 to see if there are any other interesting lists. I think will see some big changes come the FAQ all due to how the roll out of CP and over use of regrowth mechanics has hurt the game. It does mean some armies might just disappear – but man it does get annoying seeing every Imperial list have the annoying 30-60 guards men sitting in the back.
~What do you think these lists mean for where the game is headed?
