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.

Welcome to part 2 of our big Competitive Innovations in the mortal realms. We have the three larger events from last weekend: Old Town Summer Strike in the US and the Welsh Open and Warhammer Scourge of Ghyran event in the UK.

Old Town Summer Strike

103-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Lake Forest, CA, United States on August 09 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Mission – Bountiful Equinox

Thomas Guan – Kharadron Overlords
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vs.

Leo Rautonen – Kharadron Overlords
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Thoughts

Rock out with your Guns out!

Yes those are the same list. Both Leo and Tom are highly ranked players who likely chose to submit the same list to see what would happen and they faced a duel for the final championship of this week’s largest event.

I say a lot “depends who goes first/gets the first hit in” but when the lists are literally identical there’s not a lot else to be said. It really is just who is the better pilot. In this case Leo gets an absolutely demolishing victory.

Result

Kharadron Overlords Victory – 66 – 34

Leo Rautonen – Kharadron Overlords – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Kharadron Overlords Good Stuf

Thoughts

So the current KO book is pretty insane.

It’s a lot to break down and I wish I could go into all of it, but here are the highlights: All boats have 2+ Saves, Frigates can charge and dump a bunch of mortal wounds and first strike damage on you all while keeping their infantry protected with a -1 to hit aura. If you survive that then they power through off of your stuff,  (and once they power through, they can take their guys with them!). Tracer Rounds also shut off their negative modifiers to hit and the Grenade shuts off ward rolls so they’re probably getting into your stuff anyway.

If you try and charge them, the Flakguns (not on the list but can be taken thanks to the subfaction) can take away one of your die rolls, possibly causing it to fail, then you have to deal with Arkanauts shooting you on the charge and then the Frigate can just leave and shoot anyway!

Alec Jerome – Blades of Khorne – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Gorechosen Herohammer

Thoughts

Very cool to see this Army of Renown do well. The Mighty Lord of Khorne leads the army, naturally. His +1 to wound Aura is a lot easier to make sure it hits everyone when every unit is only one model after all. The Bloodsecrators +1 attack once per game is a great buff when going on the charge but importantly its artefact gives +D3 attacks to everyone. He has to damage himself and cannot be healed, so its best to put that on someone who probably won’t be fighting.

The Slaughterpriests chant prayers from the (pretty decent) spell lore, importantly blunting rend and dropping a few mortals from a distance before charging in. As for the actual damage dealers, the Deathbringers and Skullgrinders have very similar profiles. The Skullgrinders are a bit better against Monsters, while Deathbringers are more generalists. Both have unique talents that help them stand out, the Skullgrinders boost rend and force Strike Last, while Deathbringers can interrupt Command Points on a 5+ and also slay enemy models by rolling a 2D6 before combat.

Overalll if these things get into combat with you theyre probably gonna run you over. This is even before getting into the bonuses of the AOR like the 4+ ward and 5+ don’t die.

Adam Beautement – Soulblight Gravelords – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Soulblight Good Stuff

Thoughts

A good stuff list without Vordrai leaves a lot of room for other stuff. Neferata leads the pack here. If the Vargheists stay within 6″ of her they are -1 to be hit but they have the flexibility to spread out and teleport if you need them to go to out of the way objectives. They also fight pretty good with 10 attacks per unit at Rend -1 Damage 2.

Next the Wight Lord supports the Barrow Guard. His +1 to charge aura and fight one after another is very helpful in making sure to maximize the body count before the enemy swings back. The Vengorian lord is a great beat stick and has  a -1 to rend aura to help make the entire army more durable.

Finally Radukar has a great +1 to wound aura for the Barrow Knights and thanks to his 8″ move can keep up with them pretty well. The Kosagi are a flavorful (soon to be) legends addition which gives him a 5+ ward to make sure he gets there. They also can fight pretty well themselves!

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 includes:

• 4th – Kyle Calip – Kharadron Overlords: Pretty much every infantry in the book, and an Ironclad to drive them around.
• 5th – Thomas Guan – Kharadron Overlords: See Showdown.
• 6th – Frederick Schmidt – Daughters of Khaine: Krethusa and foot aelves.
• 7th – ALEXANDER Gonzalez – Blades of Khorne: The Gorechosen AoR with a Mighty Lord of Khorne, various priests and a ton of Deathbringers.
• 8th – Kruleboyz: SoG Skummdrekk and Killa-boss on Vulcha with Gutrippaz and Bolt Boyz.

Welsh Open 2025

86-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Wales, GB on August 09 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matthew Gouldesbrough – Ossiarch Bonereapers
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vs.

Dominik de Cassan – Disciples of Tzeentch
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Thoughts

That is a lot of birds. The OBR’s biggest hurdle is two things, ranged damage and hordes, and this has both.

While this Tzeentch list forgoes the usual running of Skyfires, it still has some powerful spellcasting. Using mortal wounds to bypass the OBR’s very strong saves is one of the best ways to deal with them, as once you can crack through their armor they really don’t have that many wounds to cut down. While the Stalkers are pretty good at dealing with infanty, Tzaangors being two wounds a piece is rough since they only do 1 damage a swing. High rend sure, but you’re only able to take out so many Tzaangors in a turn while your stuff is getting chipped away.

What I’m saying is this is pretty handedly a Tzeentch victory and it goes pretty much as expected.

Result

Disciples of Tzeentch Victory – 75 – 23

Dominik de Cassan – Disciples of Tzeentch – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Birbs

Thoughts

Tzaangors punch pretty well above their weight class is you’re willing to gin the numbers a bit. While their 4+ to hit isn’t great, it’s still Rend -1 1 attacks, with 8/10 of those being Greatblades for 2 Damage. Willing to be aggressive and they get Crit 2 hits. With the Shamans in tow, they can run and charge too, making a turn 1 charge pretty doable on a lot of maps.

Kairos supports the army as the best caster in the book, casting the Burning Sigil to buff up the Tzaangors and the Tome of Eyes to make his casting even better.

Alex Bruce – Cities of Sigmar – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Freeguilders

Thoughts

We’ll see variations on this list a few times this week so rather than repeat myself, here is the jist: since Pontifex Zenestra got a huge leg up in Scourge of Ghyran, human focused lists have been the new meta for the army. Her warscroll prayer gives some powerful movement powers, by teleporting human units back to her side, or denying movement of enemy units within 5″ of Human units. The second one is key, because it means you can spread out wide and force your opponent to struggle to find purchase on those crucial objectives, especially when paired with the Soulscream Bridge which can help relocate units to crucial locations, or simply create a barrier thanks to its huge size.

The Cavaliers and Cannons make up the majority of the damage in the army, allowing the cannons to pelt opponents from afar while denying them a way to get into combat. The Cavaliers can then deal with anything that can’t be dealt with by shooting at it, and then be teleported back to the Pontifex’s side. Freeguild Corps can be spread out to deny movement and tax your opponent’s command point usage with their warscroll ability..

Peter Twigg – Cities of Sigmar – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Freeguilders

Thoughts

And look, here it is again! Pretty much the same spiel, this one just has Callis and Toll to give more options for dealing with manifestions, and brings more Cavaliers to have more options for dealing with melee threats.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 includes:

• 4th – Josh Cann – Cities of Sigmar: Yep, Freeguilders.
• 5th – Krzysztof Zylawy – Blades of Khorne: A Mighty Lord of Khorne leads a legion of mortals.
• 6th – Mike Chadderton – Kruleboyz: A Killa-boss on Vulcha with Gutrippaz and Monsta-killaz.
• 7th – Alden Plows – Lumineth Realm-lords: Severith with Windchargers, Scinari Enlightener with Bladelords and Avalenor with Light of Eltharion.
• 8th – Matthew Gouldesbrough – Ossiarch Bonereapers: See Showdown.

Age of Sigmar Scourge of Ghyran

39-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in England, GB on August 09 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Dean Lymath – Slaves to Darkness
Army List - Click to Expand

vs.

Alex Godfrey – Blades of Khorne
Army List - Click to Expand

Thoughts

This is a pretty gnarly fight for the Blades of Khorne. The biggest challenge will be the speed that the Slaves to Darkness can move at, with a Slaanesh mark they can make a 3D6 charge which is quite scary on Chosen. Khorne units do not have great saves so if they can get the early charge thats really going to hurt them. The Slaves to Darkness list has fewer detachments so they’re going to get to control who goes first. Blades of Khorne’s only real shot is they have a lot of disposable chaff they can use to stonewall the Knights and Chosen, but they may struggle to crack their armor.

Result

Slaves to Darkness Victory – 65 – 45

Dean Lymath – Slaves to Darkness – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Abraxia with Chosen

Thoughts

We haven’t seen much of Abraxia since her release, since her core version is so focused on her being a beat stick and supporting Varanguard (who are already pretty expensive, so you might as well take Be’lakor at that point).

The Scourge of Ghyran version is a bit more flexible. Importantly, she gives +1 to rend to all units without a mark of chaos on them, which allows her to really amplify the early game before you’ve been able to hand out your marks. Between the Chosen and 2 units of Knights thats a fair number of hammers to wail on some stuff while the Sphiranx hangs back and hits an enemy unit with Strike Last to make sure it never gets a chance to swing.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 includes:

• 2nd – Eddie Eccles – Kruleboyz: Kragnos leads a collection of Kruleboyz foot heroes and troops.
• 3rd – Thomas Waller – Sons of Behemat: King Brodd, Warstomper and Kragnos with 3 Mancrushers.
• 4th – Richard Churchill – Slaves to Darkness: Atraxa with tons of Ogroid Myrmidons.
• 5th – Neil Samuels – Disciples of Tzeentch: Kairos and Lord of Change with Tzaangor Skyfires and Enlightened. Plus a Gargant mercenary.
• 6th – Ian Adkins – Blades of Khorne: Skarbrand and Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster with lots of Bloodletters and various foot heroes.
• 7th – Philip Spence – Nighthaunt: Cav focused Nighthaunt led by Kurdross.
• 8th – Ben Foote – Skaven: Lord Screech Verminking and a SoG Screaming Bell with lots of Doom Flayers.

Wrapping Up

The meta seems to be in a health place going forward. We’re seeing a lot of different lists pop up, even within the same army. However the suspiciously Khorne and Kharadron shaped shadows are a bit concerning. We’ll have to keep a watchful eye on that going forward. See you next week!

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