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.

After last week’s bonanza we have a much more sane 4 events this week, but they’re quite large! They include:

• Nashcon Age of Sigmar GT 2025
• Gateway Open Age of Sigmar 2025
• GoldCon 2025
• Summer Slaughter: Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament

Nashcon narrowly breaks a hundred players while the rest still put up respectable numbers. Last time the KO book was tearing up the meta, with Cities of Sigmar and Blades of Khorne close behind. Will that persist this week?

Nashcon Age of Sigmar GT 2025

101-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Nashville, TN, US on August 16 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Nashcon uses a unique ruleset where players submit 2 lists and then can choose which ones they use before each game (as long as both are used at least once during the event). Unfortunately we can’t see which list was played in the showdown, so we’ll review both lists.

The Showdown

Kevin Lathers – Fyreslayers
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vs.

Walter Brock – Flesh-eater Courts
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Thoughts

It’s hard to make any specific judgements on this battle because both players brought some very different lists. I’m going to guess the First (Magmadroth) list in the Fyreslayers went up against the second (Ushoran and Knights) FEC list because those are hedging closer to “the meta options”.

Fyreslayers are seeing a bit of an uptick since Scourge of Ghyran, particularly with Magmadroths but it’s surprising to see it going toe to toe with Flesh Eater courts here. A lot of it is going to come down to if the Fyreslayers player can get those Magmadroths in early because they do hurt. A lot. The Morbheg Knights, meanwhile arent too hardy if you can get attacks in on them first. Ultimately the Fyreslayers gets a crushing victory.

Result

Fyreslayers Victory – 75 – 52

Kevin Lathers – Fyreslayers – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Magmadroth and Infantry mixed/Single Magmadroth leading Infantry Dwarves

Thoughts

Magmadroth lists have gotten big since Scourge of Ghyran dropped. Aside from the monster traits, the Runeson gets a big buff by being able to boost his damage by 1 on all attacks as long as the Runefather is in combat. In turn the Runefather hands out a +1 to wound to 1 unit each turn so give him the trait that reduces rend by 1 to make him extra durable and send him in. The first list leans more on this interaction, but is still supported by Hearthguard Berzerkers (which are probably still the gnarliest hammer in the book) and the Flameseekers, which while particularly solid at Anti-Monster duty, they’re very cheap for being a 9 man unit.

The second list plays in more on infantry, with the two major differences being in their choice of Regiment of Renown. The first list includes the Sky-Port profiteers which give 3 new support command abilities. The fyreslayers particularly like the teleport (since they inherently lack access to one) and the healing (to increase their durability). The other list includes Callis and Toll, who are excellent for dispatching endless spells blocking their path, as Foot dwarves often lack ways around it other than to charge in.

McKenzie Ewing – Soulblight Gravelords – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Deathrattle/Vampire Infantry and Elite Cav

Thoughts

The first list seeks to bury you in bodies. While there are some strong units here, the Askurgan Trueblades and Kosargi Nightguard are no slouches, most of it is chaff to gum up the board and hold objectives. Nefereta makes them harder to kill with her -1 to be hit aura, and the Vengorian Lord in addition to being a pretty solid hammer reduces Rend by 1. So while these units may not *look* impressive you’re gonna have a hard time really reducing their numbers.

The other list is much more straight forward. The Vampire Lord can reroll it’s charge (and another Blood Knight Unit as well) and then with the Army of Renown you can charge again to get to the real target. There’s even some room for finesse, you can put a unit or two in deep strike to bring in later to capture objectives as well.

Calvin Rarie – Blades of Khorne – 3rd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Gorechosen

Thoughts

These lists are the same; he just swapped the battle tactics, which makes them easy to talk about. There isn’t too much finesse here; the Mighty Lord of Khorne has a +1 to wound aura 12″ from his (rather generous) base and the Priests can offer support by dropping some Mortal wounds from far away while the Skullgrinders and Deatbringers charge in.

Skullgrinders can give a unit +1 rend once per game (per model and you’ll notice there are five!) and Strike Last to an enemy unit once per turn. The Deathbringers meanwhile can pick up a model by rolling higher than their health on a 2D6. Then once all is said and done, both get to swing in with 4 Rend 1 Damage 3 attacks. Thanks to the Army of Renown those are all Crit Mortals, by the way. Then hitting them back they all get a 4+ Ward and a 5+ chance to not die upon receiving their final wound. Insane; if you don’t have a way of hitting them hard from a distance you probably won’t survive the combat phase.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 includes:

• 4th – Michael Rausch – Blades of Khorne: Bloodthirsters/Deathbringer Gorechosen
• 5th – Victor Szafranski – Sons of Behemat: 3 Gatebreakers and Braggit’s Bottle Snatchas RoR.
• 6th – Christopher Kershner – Stormcast Eternals: Neave Blacktalon with Longstrikes and Palladors/Tornus with Palladors and Tempestors.
• 7th – Luke Edinger – Nighthaunt: Nighthaunt Good Stuff
• 8th – Xavier Green – Daughters of Khaine: Krethusa and Foot Aelves.

Gateway Open Age of Sigmar 2025

61-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Collinsville, IL, US on August 16 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Jacob Schopper – Sylvaneth
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vs.

Cody Gilman – Cities of Sigmar
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Thoughts

This one could prove tricky for the Cities of Sigmar, since it’s based a lot on ranged weapons and Sylvaneth can deeply abuse the obscuring rules this season to their benefit. However, even if they can’t get good shots in, the Cities of Sigmar’s real benefit is area denial. If they can keep the Sylvaneth from being able to charge they may be stuck out in the open where they can get shot at. The Kurnoth will really need to pull their weight to weaken enemy units before their other stuff can charge in.

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the currently dominant Cities manage to take a solid lead.

Result

Cities of Sigmar Victory – 47 – 33

Cody Gilman – Cities of Sigmar – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Freeguilders

Thoughts

We’ve seen Freeguilders used a lot lately so the format is probably becoming familiar here. Zenestra has a prayer that allows you to deny the enemy the ability to get within 5″ of human units, and to teleport them back to safety by her side. The Fusil-Major can mark a target, reducing their save, so you can then follow up with shots from the cannons and charge in with the Cavaliers. The Command Corps are able to spread out and tax command point usage, while also denying movement thanks to Zenestra’s prayer. Finally, Callis and Toll are Deep Strike options who can dispose of pesky Wizards and manifestations without needing to bring your own Wizard.

The interesting addition here is the Sky-Port profiteers, a new RoR from the KO book that recently dropped. While the units are certainly fine (adding a few more guns too the list) the real boon is they add a few more command abilities that really synergize well with COS, especially the ability to heal up units and too teleport them out of harms way. A few stray mortal wounds to enemies on objectives is a nice perk too.

LaRon Roberts – Blades of Khorne – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Gorechosen Deathbringers

Thoughts

This list is very straightforward. You use the Mighty Lord of Khorne to buff the Deathbringers up to 3+/2+, the priests to drop damage down from a distance and just send the Deathbringers in. The Deathbringers get to kill a model instantly if you roll above their health value on a 2D6, thankfully, this is only once per turn but even then theyre all swinging with 4 Rend 1 Damage 3 attacks (with crit mortals!) before buffs, so they’re gonna do a lot of hurt. They’re also very hardy with their 4+ save and 5+ don’t die so unless you can remove a lot of them from a distance first it’s hard to cut through this many heroes.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 includes:

• 3rd – Jimmy Rudloff – Daughters of Khaine: Scourge of Ghyran Krethusa and foot aelves.
• 4th – Dyllan Holmes – Glomspite Gitz: Squiggs and foot Moonclan.
• 5th – Yancy Aviles-Bofill – Blades of Khorne: Gorechosen Deathbringers
• 6th – Gloomspite Gitz – Alex Cotter: Troggs, with some wolves and Fanatics for chaff.
• 7th – Cities of Sigmar – Corey O’Keefe: Freeguilders
• 8th – Cities of Sigmar – Dillon Corcoran: Freeguilders, again.

GoldCon 2025

51-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Nerang, QLD, Australia on August 15 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Steven Fitzpatrick – Cities of Sigmar
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vs.

Luke Harwood – Kruleboyz
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Thoughts

Given the rise of Cities of Sigmar lately I would have easily placed this in their court, but it looks like fate had other ideas.

Cities, obviously, have much better shooting to go around. The Boltboyz aren’t bad though, don’t get me wrong! It’s probably what saved them, since the list doesn’t need to close the gap nearly as much as some more melee orientated list they can sit back and plink away at the Cities units to thin their numbers first (especially those troublesome Guild Corps and Cavaliers).

It’s a really close game but Kruleboyz pull off a narrow win!

Result

Kruleboyz Victory – 54 – 51

Luke Harwood – Kruleboyz – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Kruleboyz Goodstuff

Thoughts

This is a genuinely impressive list. We’ve been seeing Kruleboyz creep up the rankings in past months and after not really performing in the edition they debuted (nor really at the launch of 4th) it’s nice to see things changing.

The Shaman has some excellent debuffs and buffs in their spell lore, able to inflict -1 to Attacks to an enemy unit and +1 to saves to your own. The New Battle formation can also grant them +1 attack so if you pelt them with arrows first the Monsta-killaz and Gutrippaz can finish the job, with the Gutrippaz particularly difficult to kill with their -1 to be hit.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top 8 include:

• 2nd – Scott Wyatt – Seraphon (4-0-1): SoG Oldblood on Carnosaur with Aggradon Lancers and Krox.
• 3rd – Zac Ivanisevic – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and SoG Abraxia with Chosen and Knights.
• 4th – Jayden Hargreaves – Slaves to Darkness: Be’lakor and Sorcerer Lord with Chosen, Varanguard and 2 Chariots.
• 5th – Jarryd Wilson – Sylvaneth: Alarielle, Belthanos and Durthu with Greatbow Kurnoths.
• 6th – Peter Horlock – Maggotkin of Nurgle: Scourge of Ghyran Rotigus with plaguebearers and Blightlords with a Daemon Prince.
• 7th – Carl Hotko – Fyreslayers: Magmadroths with one foot Runemaster.
• 8th – Henry Wagner – Sylvaneth: Alarielle, Drycha and Spirit of Durthu with Gossamids.

Summer Slaughter: Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament

36-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Piscataway, NJ, United States on August 16 2025. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Dylan Therriault – Cities of Sigmar
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vs.

Jacob Brandon – Skaventide
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Thoughts

I’d hand this one over to the Cities pretty easily. Dylan is the top ITC player right now and the Cities of Sigmar freeguilders meta has been brutal into a lot of armies. Meanwhile this Skaven list is…odd, and I’m not sure what to make of it. I will say it’s absolutely a ton of bodies to chew through, and thanks to the Bell’s -1 to be hit aura that makes the problem even worse to deal with.

The Skaven do put up a pretty good showing, likely by flooding the board with so many bodies it’s impossible to remove them all until the late game, but Dylan wins yet another GT.

Result

Cities of Sigmar Victory – 72 – 65

Dylan Therriault – Cities of Sigmar – 1st Place

The List

See Showdown

Archetype

Freeguilders

Thoughts

We saw a similar list higher up, so you know the deal. Zenestra has her prayer to aid in both moving units around and area denial, Fusil-Major marks targets so the fusiliers and Cav can pick them up off the board, and the command corps spread out to tax command point usage (while also engaged in area denial thanks to Zenestra’s prayer).

The Best of the Rest

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

• 2nd – Ian Ponting – Hedonites of Slaanesh (4-0-1): Glutos with a mix of Seekers and Twinsouls.
• 3rd – Jeremy Veysseire – Kharadron Overlords: Brock with a Frigate and Ironclad with Thunderers, Endrinriggers and 2 units of the new dudes.
• 4th – Jacob Brandon – Skaven: See Showdown.
• 5th – Scott Hawke – Maggotkin of Nurgle: Rotigus with Blightkings and a Daemon Prince.
• 6th – Jake DiBattista – Gloomspite Gitz: Squiggs with a sprinkle of Troggs.

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