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.

Hello fellow adventurers of the Mortal Realms. As the year winds down we tend to see fewer events as things wrap up for the year and holiday obligations keep people away. That said we still have 2 events this week:

• Devon Destruction V – United Kingdom
• LEIPZIG MAJOR 2025 AoS – Germany

Devon Destruction V

42-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on November 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Sam Farrall – Stormcast Eternals
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Mike Pooley – Disciples of Tzeentch
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

This is an interesting matchup to be sure. The Stormcast have some solid ranged fire from the Vanguard Raptors to try and peg Kairos from afar, while the Prosecutors and Reclusians hit like a truck if they can get into him. The problem is all those Tzaangors standing in the way. They’re not exactly terrifying, but at 2 wounds a piece its a lot of wounds to chew through and they can bog down some big targets.

Tzeentch meanwhile has a lot of mortal wounds through their spells, which are the perfect silver bullet for cracking the high saves of the Stormcast. They have a lot more ranged fire, especially thanks to their Helsmith allies, to be able to keep bombarding them from afar and avoid an engagement as long as possible.

Result

Disciples of Tzeentch Victory – 67 – 47

Mike Pooley – Disciples of Tzeentch – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Tzaangors

Thoughts

Nothing too crazy here, at first. Kairos is still the best caster in the army, able to cast 3 spells at a +1 and rolling the lower die into the higher one, he’s damn near impossible to unbind. He also swaps a battle tactic card for another, in case the ones you brought are no longer cutting it. The lack of a generic Lord of Change does make him more vulnerable, since he won’t be -1 to hit, but there’s enough generic Tzaangors in the way to keep melee threats from hitting him.

The Tzaangor Shaman is another caster who can help bring back dead Tzaangors to keep the tarpit going, while the Skyfires are a pretty nasty shooting threat who make it easier for the other Tzaangors to clean up in melee by granting them +1 to hit. The Ogroid rounds things out by being a really powerful melee threat who can instantly teleport into combat with another unit, giving himself a 4+ ward and some gnarly damage.

The spicy addition is the Helsmith’s battalion. The rocket battery and bombard are particularly good at handling Monsters and infantry, respectively, but will do in almost any situation. The bombard also shuts off commands which is really nice.

Michael Wilson – Blades of Khorne – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bloodthirsters and Cavalry

Thoughts

Now this is a list. It’s not very technical but it does the job. The Skullcrushers can work together in tandem to charge and fight one after another thanks to the battle formation. The Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster urging them on with a free D6″ move, and joining the fight himself, alongside the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage.

The Bloodcrushers are less effective but they’re a cheaper and fun tech piece that can move 2D6″ before fighting to try and snipe an objective.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 3rd – Damian Rees – Flesh-eater Courts: Two Ghoulkings on Terrogheists with Knights.
• 4th – Sam Farrall – Stormcast Eternals: See Showdown.
• 5th – Paul Buckler – Kharadron Overlords: KO Good Stuff.
• 6th – Glen Chalk – Gloomspite Gitz: Squiggs and Snarlpacks.
• 7th – Natty Rees – Sylvaneth: Sylvaneth big boys.

LEIPZIG MAJOR 2025 AoS

30-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Schkeuditz, SN, Germany on November 29 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Bountiful Equinox

Marco Fritschka – Fyreslayers
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

David Richter – Flesh-eater Courts
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

This is a tough one, because while the Fyreslayers have the damage, the  FEC have the bodies. The Cryptguard are excellent at holding the line, able to strike first or get a 5+ ward, that lets the bigger units in the army like Ushoran get in and scrap.

That said, the Fyreslayers list hits hard and cannot be underestimated. It can clear out a lot of units and tank hits just as well so a lot of it is going to come down to how well the bigger monsters in FEC can scrap with them. In the end the Fyreslayers win by a sizable victory.

Result

Fyreslayers Victory – 55 – 45

Marco Fritschka – Fyreslayers – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Magmadroths with Callis and Toll

Thoughts

These lists don’t have a ton of finesse but they hit hard. The SoG Magmadroth Son hits hard on his own, but adds +1 to damage when the Father is in combat, hurt, or dead (so basically any time after the first phase). So just pack up as many as your list fits and go to town.

Since the price went up, players have been figuring out what to do with the points after dropping one, and Callis and Toll is a nice switch up. It adds some shooting to the army and a way to deal with endless spells trying to block your path.

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Pascal Weimar – Skaventide: SoG Screaming bell, Brood Horror and Rat Ogors. Plus Plague Furnace and Monks.
• 3rd – Dario Grohmann – Ossiarch Bonereapers: Katakros with a ton of Stalkers.
• 4th – Tobias Gerk – Nighthaunt: So many Pyregheists.
• 5th – David Richter – Flesh-eater Courts: See Showdown.
• 6th – Christopher Heil – Skaventide: Similar list to 2nd place, though Nightrunners instead of Jezzails.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.