The Goonhammer Open UK kicks off tomorrow, and we can’t wait!
With all the lists in, we have some faction stats for exactly who’s making up the field. The first numbers are factions as self-reported in BCP, while the second set are condensed into “top faction” which consolidates stuff like Marine Chapters into “Adeptus Astartes” or CSM Legions into “Chaos Space Marines”:
Treating the Marines factions separately, Sororitas are the single most-played faction, with 13 lists – way more popular than they normally are! Right behind them are Dark Angels (including the wings, with a Deathwing and two Ravenwing lists) and Death Guard on 10 lists each.
There’s a surprisingly low turnout for Drukhari – the most popular non-Marine faction at LGT with around 10% of the field, here just 7 lists for a little over 6%. Ad Mech are equally unpopular with just 3 of them showing up, though it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see them take the podium with Malik playing a similar list to the one that’s he’s taken to LGT and London Open wins recently.
Equalling Drukhari, we have healthy numbers of Grey Knights and Thousand Sons, with the new books staying popular and Grey Knights players in particular hoping to repeat the faction’s successful weekend just gone. From the Marine supplements, there’s no sign of Imperial Fists or Raven Guard. Every other book is represented at least once, with Iron Hands and Deathwatch being the most popular after Dark Angels (both lists self-reported as Adeptus Astartes are IH successors). Necrons are still hanging in there in terms of popularity despite being perceived as quite weak, matching Thousand Sons on 6.
Not appearing at this tournament are Craftworld Eldar, with no standalone lists, though they do make up part of the Aeldari soup; even worse off are Genestealer Cults, who aren’t putting a single model on the table this weekend – all three Tyranids players are pure bugs, with none of the Cult along for the ride.
Finally, Orks are also popular with 7 players bringing them along – there’s lots of buggies and planes in evidence, but also a Gargantuan Squiggoth! There’s a diverse mix of subfactions too, with only 3 Freebooterz lists; the Squiggoth is Goffs and there’s some Blood Axe buggies, and otherwise a lot of Deathskulls and Snakebites. No sign of Bad Moons or former faves Evil Sunz.
That just leaves the singletons – Aeldari, Harlequins, Chaos Daemons, Chaos Knights, and T’au Empire players will be richly rewarded for showing up, as they’re all picking up automatic best in faction awards, while I guess I’ll be giving BiF GSC to myself!
With all the lists in and checked, pairings have gone up ready for Saturday, so if you’re attending then make sure to check out your round 1 opponent! Additionally, bear in mind that we will be requiring masks in the gaming hall, so please make sure to bring some – we have some spares on hand but we’re not anticipating having to hand these out to everyone.
If you can’t make it, then you can still join in by watching the streaming provided by Hellstorm Wargaming who will be covering all 6 games. Make sure to check them out!
