Welcome to Competitive Innovations, our weekly feature for a number of game lines across the tabletop wargame space. Each week our army list and tactics experts canvass the top tournaments for their game of specialty, looking at the week’s top match-ups and how they played out on the tabletop to let you know what’s hot, what’s not, and what might be coming next as the competitive meta evolves year-round.

For those who celebrate we hope you had a good Thanksgiving. We’re a bit late this week because we have a chonky Competitive Innovations this week with 6 events. This week we’ll cover:

• RenegadeOpen2025 – AoS GT
• A Kerfuffle at Shuffle – GT Edition
• Fantasia Fanatic XLVIII AoS
• Garden City Slaughter
• Dice Tower GT – Campania Warbringers (Rank 1 – Lega Caos 25/26)
• The Standoff 2025 AoS

RenegadeOpen2025 – AoS GT

56-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Minneapolis, MN, US on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Roiling Roots

Eric Brost – Idoneth Deepkin
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vs.

Colin Jarrell – Stormcast Eternals
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Thoughts

This is a wild one. A more Allopex heavy list might have a better shot here since it could do more ranged fire before getting close, but dual turtles with Morsarr Eels is a slower more tanky list, into a Stormcast list that is equally very tanky. In a scrap, the Stormcast can probably hit harder, and have the ranged and magical power to try and thin the herd before fighting on their own terms.

Result

Stormcast Eternals Victory – 70 – 51

Colin Jarrell – Stormcast Eternals – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Stormcast Midrange

Thoughts

This is a unique list but pretty easy to break down.

Tornus gets top billing as a support leader. He can give the Prosecutors and Reclusians extra Rally dice and accompany any unit into combat to give -1 to hit to an enemy unit. The Lord-Veritant is a priest, which gives that crucial teleport for your guys who have already landed and need to get somewhere else fast. Stormcoven give you a wizard and they can either inflict Strike First on an ally or Strike Last on an enemy unit. Handy stuff.

The rest of this list is pretty much straight hammer. The Longstrikes are still one of the better shooting units in the game, with very long range and shockingly high rend. Everything else can slam down and charge into the enemy at full blast. With all the buffs and debuffs going around they’re quite tanky too, which makes them difficult to remove.

The Best of the Rest

There were 9 more players on 4-1 records (or better). They were:

• 2nd – Joe Krier – Flesh-eater Courts (4-0-1): Monster mash with terrorgheists and zombie dragons.
• 3rd – Daniel Thorson – Gloomspite Gitz (4-0-1): Troggs with a splash of squiggs and Sunstealas.
• 4th – Jack Stanek – Slaves to Darkness: Archaon with Knights and Theridons
• 5th – Paul Wilmes – Nighthaunt: Kurdross with a mix of Chainghasts, Grimghast Reapers and Bladegheist Revenants.
• 6th – Riley Pichlyk – Idoneth Deepkin: A herohammer list with an Eidolon of the Sea, Akhelian King, two Leviadons and other minor heroes.
• 7th – Mike Geppert – Cities of Sigmar: Freeguilders
• 8th – Bill Sweidan – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Dual Reinforced Morghast with KO RoR.
• 9th – Devon Mohn – Ogor Mawtribes: Butcher and Firebelly with loads of Gluttons and Mawpack.
• 10th – Matt Casper – Gloomspite Gitz: Squiggs and Troggs.

A Kerfuffle at Shuffle – GT Edition

37-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Brea, CA, United States on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Surge of Slaughter

Kyle Calip – Kharadron Overlords
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vs.

Trish Celefaze – Stormcast Eternals
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Thoughts

Oh this is a gnarly one. The Annihilators are pretty nasty, and can get real swingy. Breaking through the strong defenses of the KO with mortals when dropping in and then swinging with Rend -2 Damage 3 hammers. They’re pretty much banking on that to work and against a lot of enemy units, it would work.

The KO have the disposable bodies to try and shield their more important pieces, and with very careful positioning they can anticipate when the annihilators come down to try and blunt their attack, and respond with guns (and harpoons) in kind.

It’s a really close battle but the KO squeak out a victory.

Result

Kharadron Overlords Victory – 52 – 48

Kyle Calip – Kharadron Overlords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

KO Good stuff, with a Frigate

Thoughts

So with the nerfs to Skywardens and Frigates this list kinda goes back to the drawing board and focuses more on the Vongrim and a giant ass Ironclad.

The Ironclad is a really good gun platform, with some absolutely gnarly shooting attacks that deal 3 and 4 damage a pop. It can take a hit too, with 18 wounds at 2+ save. It mostly hangs back and shoots holes in the enemy’s defenses before bringing the Vongrimm up to fight close to close. The Vongrim all fight better than their price belies and they don’t need a ton of support to be effective. The Thunderers also hang back, shutting off Wards or reducing control as needed.

E Pryor – Skaventide – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

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Archetype

Hell Pit Abominations

Thoughts

The whole gameplay plan here is sending in Hell Pit Abominations to be A Problem. At their price point they are shockingly efficient with 13 Rend 2 Damage 2 attacks and 14 wounds, heal up if you dont kill them and have a 1 in 3 chance to not die when it hits 0.

This is even before other stuff comes into play to support them. The Army of Renown hands out a buff each round to one model, usually the extra attacks but +2″ speed or 5+ Ward can be nice. There’s also 2 spiteful attacks which let you detonate a model, but they get Strike First to do some damage before going down, and then do some mortals or -1 Attacks. The two Master Moulders get to heal them up, and add +1 to their charge. The artefact and trait support them further with +1 attack and a free AOA or AOD.

Thanquol gets to either hang back and cast spells, shoot or charge in and fight alongside them.

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd – Putang ina Mo – Stormcast Eternals: Iridan leads Questors and Reclusians.
• 4th – Brian Horton – Seraphon: Kroak leads Saurus Warrior jail and KO RoR.
• 5th – Thomas Guan – Slaves to Darkness: Herohammer with Archaon, Be’lakor, Eternus, Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount, Centurion Marshal and some Knights.
• 6th – Aaron Newbom – Hedonites of Slaanesh: Shalaxi with Twinsouls and Fiendbloods.

Fantasia Fanatic XLVIII AoS

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Västerbottens län, Sweden on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission – Bountiful Equinox

Jesper Melander – Ossiarch Bonereapers
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vs.

Albin Glaumann – Lumineth Realm-Lords
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Thoughts

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 53 – 49

Albin Glaumann – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Lumineth Herohammer

Thoughts

This is pretty much the goto list for Lumineth right now. Ellania and Elathor are excellent warrior Wizards who can switch between offense and Defense, either adding the round to their damage or making a 4+ Ward. They also get the excellent total Eclipse spell to tax commands and teleport out if things get hairy. The Enlightener and Cathallar support as level 1 wizards, but the Enlightener can ping spells onto two targets and the Cathallar can manipulate control, which helps with the low model count.

Severith is a nuisance in the shooting phase and a very mobile target, working in tandem with the Riverblades to snipe objectives. The Light of Eltharion is a beat stick which can be sacrificed quite easily since he can be restored. Bringing it all together is the Bladelords which give Heroes a 5+ ward, and deal sizable mortal wounds, making it hard to pick up the small number of units the army has.

Callis and Toll make an appearance as they are want to do in many Order armies. They’re a great deep strike piece, wizard killer, and great for shooting down any endless spells that might try and block your path. Their followers really aren’t bad in a fight, either.

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd – Marcus Persson – Nighthaunt: Olynder and Kurdross with a mix of good stuff infantry.
• 3rd – Per Sigvallius – Gloomspite Gitz: Snarlpacks and Squiggs.
• 4th – Jim Svensson – Slaves to Darkness: Darkoaths.
• 5th – Craig Turner – Flesh-eater Courts: Ushoran and King on Terrorgheist with Crypt Horrors and Ghouls.
• 6th – Jesper Melander – Ossiarch Bonereapers: See Showdown.
• 7th – Anton Sandström – Stormcast Eternals: Herohammer Ionus, Iridan, Lord-Celestant on Stardrake and various infantry.

Garden City Slaughter

33-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in St. Catharines, ON, Canada on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mark Palinski – Idoneth Deepkin
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vs.

Connor Mitchell – Kharadron Overlords
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Thoughts

This is a real tough one. Both armies have some great shooting going for them so they can absolutely prod the fences to try and find a hole in the enemy’s defenses before charging in, but both really want to charge in. Whoever gets the first good charge is going to be able to pick up a lot of things, between the Skywardens+Frigates First Strike and -1 to be hit, and the Allopexes extra attack on wounded units and ability to respawn from the battle formation.

Result

Kharadron Overlords Victory – 75 – 57

Connor Mitchell – Kharadron Overlords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

KO Good Stuff

Thoughts

We haven’t seen KO as much in the Showdown since they got hit with nerfs, but looks like they still got some gas in the tank. Brokk leads the list by handing out +1 attack to melee attacks for pretty much the whole army (notably Skywardens and Vongrims) and give the frigate run and shoot/charge. Much of the game plan then is to charge with the Frigate, bringing the Skywardens with you, dumping them out and then just slashing through the most dangerous thing.

Vongrims are surprisingly tough fighters for their cost and can hold objectives and cleaning up anything else that needs dealing with the Skywardens couldn’t get to.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd – Mark Palinski – Idoneth Deepkin: Allopexes.
• 3rd – John Enns – Soulblight Gravelords: Very Herohammer heavy with Nefereta, Vhordrai, Radukar (with some Nightguards), Vampire Lord and some Vargheists.
• 4th – Jake Seguin – Flesh-eater Courts: Ushoran and King on Terrorgheist with Cryptguard and Royal Beastflayers, plus a Zombie Dragon.
• 5th – Matt Roy – Flesh-eater Courts:
• 6th – Sean Nolan – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros and Soulreaper with Stalkers and Deathriders.

Dice Tower GT – Campania Warbringers (Rank 1 – Lega Caos 25/26)

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania, Italy on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Raffaele Hung – Helsmiths of Hashut
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vs.

Stefano Bruno – Lumineth Realm-Lords
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Thoughts

Well the Helsmiths have a lot more bodies so that’s a move in their favor. It definitely helps control missions with lots of objectives while the Lumineth try and just keep control of a few objectives and become a bit of an impenetrable wall.

The Lumineth have the advantage at some insane movement. Severith especially can bounce around the field and is difficult to catch. The Riverblades can also bypass the wall of troops and get straight to the meat if they need to and lock down those rocket batteries. It’s a close battle but Lumineth pull ahead.

Result

Lumineth Realm-Lords Victory – 52 – 44

Stefano Bruno – Lumineth Realm-Lords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Lumineth Herohammer

Thoughts

The thrust of this list is the same as the one from Fantasia Fanatic up above so I won’t repeat myself. The only real difference is that due to points changes they sacrificed Callis and Toll instead of 5 Bladelords, and took some Riverblades as a cheaper teleportation/assassination piece.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd – Ambrogio Fachini – Fyreslayers: Magmadroths with a few Flameseekers.
• 3rd – Enrico Pinali – Nighthaunt: Olynder and Kurdross with Pyregheists and Banshees.
• 4th – Salvatore Piscopo – Blades of Khorne: 5 Bloodthirsters.
• 5th – Raffaele Hung – Helsmiths of Hashut: See Showdown.
• 6th – Alessio Rossi – Maggotkin of Nurgle: Rotigus with Blightkings, 2 Harbingers of Decay and a Daemon Prince.

The Standoff 2025 AoS

29-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Portland, ME, United States on November 22 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Surge of Slaughter

Dylan Therriault – Cities of Sigmar
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vs.

Wyatt Traina – Slaves to Darkness
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Thoughts

The COS has a unique list here since it contains basically no shooting, which would be a good silver bullet against Slaves to Darkness. Since he didn’t go that route, that does put things on a bit more of an even keel.

Both sides are relying heavily on their Cavalry to carry them, and both are quite tanky so a lot of it is going to rely on who gets the charge in first, which Slaves to Darkness do have a bit of an advantage on if they take the mark of Slaanesh for a 3D6 charge. If they don’t, they can always take Khorne for an extra attack. Meanwhile the Cavalry are a lot harder to take down, able to cause a -1 to wound them.

Similarly, Chaos has Chosen and COS has Executioners. Executioners are much faster, but Chosen can take more of a hit, while both can hit crit mortals so they’re hoping to spike hard on those 6s.

Result

Cities of Sigmar Victory – 60 – 40

Dylan Therriault – Cities of Sigmar – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Freeguilders – with some Aelves

Thoughts

This is a surprising deviation from practically every COS list we’ve seen in 4th edition. On the surface, a lot of the staples are here: Cavaliers, Fusil-Major and a return of Zenestra after many shelved her. While there isn’t nearly as much shooting to cover the troops, they still work how they did before, Cavaliers can switch hit as both a charging hammer and a tanky anvil, and be ripped back to Zenestra’s side as long as they’re not stuck in combat.

The big change here is the Aelves. Executioners are pretty nasty and an underrated unit. If they charge, they get Crit Mortals on 5s, and with 41 attacks that’s an average of about 12 mortal wounds (and that’s before the Rend 1 attacks go through). With the Sorceress in tow, she can inflict -1 to hit and to wound to the unit they charge in, protecting them from any knock back, and she can issue Strike them Down to give the Aelf unit a +1 to hit.

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd – Wyatt Traina – Slaves to Darkness: See Showdown.
• 3rd – Oscar Savastio – Nighthaunt: Guardian of Souls and Cruciator with 9 Pyregheist units.
• 4th – Chris Collmus – Kharadron Overlords: KO good stuff with an Ironclad.
• 5th – Matt Carter – Maggotkin of Nurgle: Rotigus and Orghotts with Blightkings and Blightlords.

Wrap Up

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