Competitive Innovations in 9th: Chaos Reigns 2020

As the rest of the world has shut down, Australia has dutifully stepped into Sweden’s role of providing us with a steady trickle of competitive events to pore over. Both this past weekend and the one coming up feature GT-sized four-round events, which for my money hits the threshold where the top lists are really worth looking at. Chaos Reigns 2020 (it’s the event name, not a description of the year) was the first of these, and saw an extremely diverse set of lists rise up from the 42-player field to fill the 4-0 and 3-1 brackets, so today we’re going to zoom in on the top four and do a quick spin through the rest, as is our fashion. The Australian playerbase have continued their fine tradition of taking an immediate swing at any new tier list we put out, so this should be a particularly good one for fans of some factions that have been having a tougher time recently!

The event was put on by Beyond Games and Hobby, and the organisers were kind enough to point me at the photos they’ve put up from the event when I reached out with a quick event pack question, and it looks like players had a blast. I’ve put some of the best ones below, check out the full album here if you want to see more!

Next weekend sees the Objective Secured First Blood event in West Australia, and with another healthily sized field I’m looking forward to checking out even more innovative brews. For now, lets get into this week’s crop!

All of the lists from this event can be found in Down Under Pairings.

Craig Sumpton’s Blood Angels – 1st Place

Note: Because of when the list cut-off was, the new Blood Angels supplement wasn’t yet in effect at this event, so this list was running off the Index.

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• Blood Angels put the fear of the Emperor into everyone by taking down an event before their new supplement comes online.
• An incredibly mobile list thanks to being packed with jump packs and infiltrators.
• Plasma Inceptors and Vanguard Veterans still tusselling over which of them is the best unit in the Marine book.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

It’s fair to say that reactions to the new Blood Angels supplement have been somewhat mixed, including from us, but this list is a timely hint as to why some of the flashiest toys they had in 8th didn’t come back. Bluntly, the Blood Angels gameplan works extremely well with the new Space Marine codex anyway, and they’re a great home for Vanguard Veterans and Plasma Inceptors, which are two of the best units in the book, and this list shows off both operating to full effect. The army is is hyper-mobile thanks to starting several units in the mid board and most of the rest wearing jump packs, and the whole force can hammer forward, unleash a horrifying volley of plasma death, then lash out with the various jump pack units to eliminate anything that dares to try and make a stand. Mephiston and the Primaris Apothecary both support the moving castle plan, compensating for the lack of an invuln on a lot of the units, while a few smaller units like the Assault Intercessors and Company Veterans can meander around picking up secondaries. The list has a whole host of different configurations in terms of what it can chuck in deep strike depending on the matchup, and can go heavier or lighter in that direction depending on how easily it can hide units both in the deployment zone and the mid board. I’d certainly assume at least one Sanguinary Guard squad is starting there most of the time just because of how much more careful that forces the opponent to be until they’re down.

Obviously since this event the new supplement has dropped so it’s worth thinking about what impacts it has on the army. The first thing is, paradoxically, that it might have to consider swapping Mephiston out for a jump pack Chief Librarian. Mephiston now has to pick his powers from the Sanguinary discipline, and while it’s pretty strong this list is making Psychic Fortress do a lot of work, so without a bigger overhaul would probably want to keep access to the Librarius discipline. That overhaul doesn’t feel super likely, because Plasma Inceptors are even better post codex, as they can pop Descent of Angels to boost up their hit rolls, allowing you to Chapter Master one unit and drop the other into the Captain’s aura and use the strat so that you get high accuracy from both. While losing the ability to heroic with the Vanguard Veterans is a minor downgrade, the Unbridled Ardour strat going to only 1CP is great news for the two small units of Sanguinary Guard here, making the setup pretty attractive. Realistically, while there are more directions you now can go with Blood Angels post-supplement, this build still seems really good with only minor shuffling – you can spend the points you save from downgrading Mephiston to a jump Chief Libby on a storm shield for the captain, or maybe boost up the Company Veterans a bit. You can also spend a few extra stratagems – double warlord traits on the Captain to add Gift of Foresight on top of the storm shield would make for a formidible emergency killer, and you might want to consider Master Crafting the lightning claw on the Vanguard Veteran sergeant. Having thought about it, I think the spiciest option would be to double up on traits for the Captain, give him Artisan of War so that he can get relic-level damage output from some Master Crafted lightning claws, then give him the Visage of Death as his actual relic. That turns him into a supreme ObSec machine that guarantees flipping an objective when you really need it.

This build does a great job of throwing down a gauntlet to the metagame, because it’s definitely the real deal and probably averages out to getting slightly better out of the book. The only real drawback it has is that its plan is one that the metagame is already gunning for, since it’s pretty similar to what White Scars can do. That, of course, didn’t stop Craig navigating the army to a win here, so congratulations to him.

Jayden Capps Drukhari – 2nd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• Honestly I take my eyes off this list for one second. Going full Technomancer is still good enough, apparently!
• Reapers are still worth maxing out on at their new, slightly higher price.
• Hexrifles everywhere threaten to really ruin the day of unwary characters.
• Sslyth join the roster of “cheap non-character jabbos for scoring secondaries with”.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Hot on the heels of the Blood Angels as the other undefeated list at the event we have the Drukhari. In terms of what’s in the list it isn’t a huge surprise – in the early days of 8th it seemed clear that this was by far the strongest Drukhari build available, with Dark Technomancers being extremely well positioned against the metagame, but it vanished near-completely from the metagame for some time, the Reaper took a mild hit in the new Imperial Armour Compendium, and with it not being seen at all since the new Marine build landed, I must admit I’d been operating on the assumption that it had been edged out of the metagame by the recent changes.

Apparently not, because here it is, and it went through some pretty tough competition to get here, handling both Marines and Sisters on the way to the top. The principle of the list is pretty simple – it plays like the old Venom/Ravager spam of old but with a different set of units to lean on Dark Technomancers, because Disintegrators just aren’t cost-effective enough any more. While any Aeldari list suffers a bit when the metagame shifts towards slightly more durable armies, the sheer number of wound-boosted D2 shots that this flavour of Drukhari can throw down is a massive asset in a world dominated by Marine infantry, and it’s no slouch against other top tier builds either. Daemons hate Technomancered-up splinter fire with a passion, and the list being able to go extremely wide and having a good rate of fire means that it has a shot at challenging Harlequins at their own game. This list is definitely operating in a target-rich environment, and the only real drawback it’s dealing with is lacking a proper melee hammer unit – it is relying on taking up good positions and shooting the opponent off of theirs. That’s never a perfect place to be in 9th, where having at least some melee units is frequently key, but unfortunately as of now there aren’t really melee options that properly cut it against Marines – pretty much all of them get punted into the sun by shield/claw Vanguard Veterans, and that’s the option you need a plan against at the moment.

That definitely feels like it leaves this list as the best Drukhari build to tide players over to the new books, and if you’re planning to copy it I heartily endorse following the other optimisation Jayden has made, which is bringing a couple of Ssylth. After being kind of worthless forever because of being able to get shot up, not being a CHARACTER is now an advantage, and you can just straight up chuck both into Webway Portal to put yourself on easy mode for Scramblers. Definitely worth it for the tiny point investment, and combined with how good it is at Engage, this list has a solid secondary plan.

I imagine playing it is quite nerve-wracking, because being short of that one melee counter-attack unit that you’d like to be able to rely on means that if you do end up behind with this army, it’s often going to be game over, so well done to Jayden for piloting it through to second place.

Mitch Byrne’s Chaos – 3rd Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• A bona-fide Chaos Knight list cracks into a top four. I know there are some Daemons. Shut up, we’re counting it.
• The Infernal Castigator combo proves a potent way to get the most out of the Chaos Knight books.
• House Khometis ensures the army can both punch up when the going gets tough and utterly delete a few key targets when it really matters.
• Nurglings shore up the objective side of things.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

Grumble grumble stupid playerbase, taking a tier 4 rating as a challenge. Not really, of course – I’m delighted to see another much maligned faction steered towards a good finish, with Mitch’s Chaos Knights here leaning on one of their nastiest interactions. The 16 shots on the Castigator Bolt Cannon means that it’s the very best combination with Infernal Power, allowing the Knights to throw out a withering hail of D3 firepower, sufficient to scythe through many elite armies. The tempest warblade the Castigators wield in melee is extremely handy in the current metagame as well, with 8 flat three damage attacks with good AP being better placed than either a conventional stomp or a big melee weapon, making the Knight just a great choice for the heretics in general.

This list makes a few choices that are clearly tuned to the current metagame on top of that. House Khomentis (which gives you +1 to hit and attacks in melee while below half health and a 5+++ against psychic mortals) was rather overshadowed by Vextrix for the Infernals in 8th, but 9th is a very different kettle of fish. With more of a focus on close engagements and melee, and fewer armies tuned to reliably pop entire knights at range, staying highly active in the fight phase at essentially any point on their damage track is really good, meaning that this list is going to brutally punish any stumble that an opponent makes. It also gives the army access to the first of its two powerful emergency murder buttons, which is the combination of the Dread Hunter trait and Daemonic Shrike relic on the warlord. These combine to, once per game, allow the warlord to unleash a volley of fire at an additional +1D, an extra point of AP and full re-rolls on hits and wounds, pretty much deleting any one unit that isn’t protected by a hefty invulnerable save. The Shrike is just good in general with the Castigator as you can use it every turn, further incentivising the use of this house.

The other big trick it has up its sleeve, coming back to those invulns mentioned earlier, is the Khornate Target on the Rampager. This allows it to switch off both its own and its opponents invulns for the turn once per game, and that means that the first big target this model gets into each game is going straight into the bin, even if it’s something normally nigh-impossible to kill like Big Bird. A 3++ and -1 damage doesn’t look nearly as impressive when you’re facing flat 6 damage attacks that go straight through invulnerable saves, and this model is going to be going straight opponents at heavily boosted speed (and the ability to Advance and Charge with Full Tilt) or T9, and with mortal resistance to boot. It’s a heck of a pressure piece to throw at the opponent while the reliable firepower of the Castigators grinds them down, and seems like a strong choice right now!

Finally, of course, this list does sneak in a few Nurglings and a Changecaster. What can I say – there are very few lists that a few Nurglings won’t make better, and just having them and the Changecaster to hide at the back holding objectives and generating extra re-rolls is very handy for the list. There are other ways you can go with this, but this version fits in well here as it’s dirt cheap while still being very useful.

As we discussed in the Tier List article, because Knights are so dependent on bringing some helpers along I’m basically willing to count anything 75%+ Knights as a list for them, so congratulations to Mitch for getting a score on the board for them.

Ben Leeper’s Hive Mind – 4th Place

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

The Standout Features

• Horde/point denial Hive Mind reaps the benefits of the hand flamer buff.
• Enough bodies on the board to seize control of the table if the opponent doesn’t engage, Acolyte hybrids to brutally punish them if they do.
• Zoanthropes provide a very hard to crack anchor to work around.
• Lictors and a minimal character spread build strong secondary capabilities.

Why it’s Interesting in 9th

We round out the top four with another pair of factions that’s been relatively rare near the top this edition, but this one I’m a bit less surprised to see. In fact, lists like this are one of the reasons we were quite bullish about promoting the Hive Mind in our rankings. What Ben has done is construct a list that takes all the lessons Tyranid players have developed over the edition to heart (minimising secondary weaknesses, packing Lictors and Zoanthropes) and then push it over the top with the new power of hand flamer Acolytes. The threat these present from deep strike, and the near inevitable damage they’ll deal when they turn up, massively improves the Hive Mind’s ability to control the flow of the game, making lists like this far more consistent and powerful. Gaunts have always been cost effective and Zoanthropes have always been super durable, but the problem you had before is that they had no real counter-punch, so your opponent basically had free reign to try and work round them and to hit you wherever it would hurt the most at any given time. Now, overcommitting their forces is going to result in a summary roasting, with the additional pressure that whatever their best unit is will probably have been marked for wound re-rolls via Single Minded Obsession. Bladed Vigor also means that if you choose to bring in only one unit at a time they’ll be that much harder to put down for the first tirm.

Having to play cagey, especially as lists grow ever-more melee focused, is a tough spot to be in against this army, becuase you’re on a real clock against it. It packs more ObSec bodies than anyone except the most extreme Ork lists, and can quickly spread out to take control of primary scoring. Wait too long to push back against it and you’ll lose on points (especially given it has strong secondary plans) but go for it too hard and you’ll lose enough materiel that you’ll get overwhelmed. The Zoanthropes arguably amp up the pressure even higher, as they’re an extremely tough central anchor to crack and mean that the list has a long tail for scoring – on Take and Hold missions it’ll probably still pick up at least some points in later turns even if it loses control of much of the board.

Put that all together and list re-captures the 8th Edition GSC energy of being a gigantic headache to play against, needing very precise timing and allocation of resources to put down and punishing both an opponent who makes a mistake and a pilot who doesn’t use it properly. Nice work from Ben here!

The Rest of the Best

With only four rounds, quite a few more players ended up in the 3-1 bracket, and there’s a pretty decent mix of stuff going on here as well.

• 5th Place – Courtney Hill – Necrons: By an agonising 3VP Courtney missed out on a top four spot with a list firmly after my own heart – a Necron list built for no-holds-barred brutality, featuring two full squads each of Wraiths and Skorpekh as Eternal Expansionists backed up by both the Void Dragon and the Nightbringer.
• 6th Place – Aaron Thompson – Adepta Sororitas: A mixed Sororitas list from Aaron here, packing Valorous Heart Retributors as a shooting firebase backed up by a large number of wingèd Bloody Rose sisters in a mix of Zephyrim and Seraphim squads.
• 7th Place – Travis Kirke – Chaos: The triple Lord Of Skulls list pops up in its natural home of Iron Warriors, backed up by a small contingent of Daemons to manage early objectives.
• 8th Place – Marc Boye – Ravenwing: A pure Ravenwing Dark Angels list shows that it isn’t just Deathwing that can get the job done out of their powerful Index, featuring a full squad of Black Knights, Apothecary-backed ATVs and even some Land Speeder Typhoons.
• 9th Place – Mark Moore – Chaos Knights: Mark swings for the (im)moral victory here by showing up on hard mode and navigating a challenging faction to a strong finish. The list uses a custom Iconoclast house with the powerful Endless Torment buff to amp up two Despoilers with dual Thermals and a host of Moiraxes and thermal spear War Dogs, and saves 100pts for summoning as an alternative way to help out with objectives.
• 10th Place – Michael Mavay – Custodes: Michael reminds us that there’s still plenty of power in the Custodes book even without Forge World, locking down the board with a big unit each of Allarus and Vertus Praetors, and anchoring the line with 3×3 storm shield Custodians.
• 11th Place – Luke Day – Black Templars: Grimaldus and Helbrecht lead an uncomplicated but clearly effective force of Primaris infantry, backed up by two (regular) Contemptor dreadnoughts.
• 12th Place – Nathan Slapp – Chaos: Our last entry for this week, and another unusual build, sees a horde of Cultists and Daemonettes take the field, backed up by a big blob of Noise Marines, a few Daemon Engines, and some Fiends. Very unique, and definitely something that would be a head scratcher to work out a plan against.

Wrap Up

Thanks once again to Australia for keeping the flame alive both for those of us who love poring over lists and the readers at home, and congratulations to all the players who made the field here so diverse and interesting. As mentioned, we have another big four rounder from down under next week (are these just a thing now?) so be sure to tune back in then. Comments, questions or suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com as ever.