Here are a few of my favorite lists with at least 5 wins from this year’s BAO.
In total there were 15 players withm at least 5 victories at this year’s BAO. Of these players 5 went undefeated, and only one was the true champion. (Go Brandon!). Listed below are a few armies I thought stood out from the rest. They were either fun, unique or both and kudos to each player for designing a list that suited their own style and performing well with them. One quick note, I did not include Brandon’s list here because I wanted to show you guys lists you haven’t seen yet. Now, onto the lists!
Logan Mulroney (pictured above in the back row with the grey shirt) piloted a Chaos Daemons Infernal Tetrad list to a 5-1 record and a 10th place finish.
Daemonic Incursion
Tallyband
Herald of Nurgle: Locus of Fercundity, Lv. 2, Doomsday Bell
6 x Nurglings
Plaguebearers
Infernal Tetrad
D. Prince of Khorne: Armor of Scorn, 2x Greaters, Lesser, Flight
D. Prince of Slaanesh: 2x Greaters, Lv. 3, Soulstealer, Warp-Forged armor, Flight
D. Prince of Nurgle: 2x Greater, Lv. 3, Flight
D. Prince Tzeentch, 2x Greater, Lesser, Lv. 3, Impossible Robe, Flight
Daemon Flock
Furies
Nathaniel Emond (above on the right) piloted a White Scars CAD backed by Inquisition and a Knight-Atrapos to a 5-1 record and a 13th place finish.
White Scars CAD
Chapter Master: Bike, Artificer Armor, Storm Shield, Glaive of Vengeance
Librarian: Bike, Hunter’s Eye
Bike Squad: 2x Grav
Bike Squad: 2x Grav
Bike Squad: 2x Grav
Bike Squad: 2x Flamers, Meltabombs
Command Squad: Champion, 3x Grav, 2x Storm Shields, Apothecary, Bikes
Relic Whirlwind Scorpius: Battle of Keyleck Legacy
Cerastus Knight-Atrapos: Occular Augmetics
Inquisitorial Detachment
Coteaz
Inquisitor: 3x Skulls
Henchman Warband: 2x Servitors w/Plasma Cannons, Acolyte
Henchman Warband: 3x Acolytes, 3x Servitors w/Plasma Cannons
Matt Root piloted a variation of his GT winning War Convocation list to a 5-0-1 record and a 2nd place finish.
War Convocation
Tech-Priest Dominus
Kataphron Destroyers
Kataphron Destroyers
Onager Dune Crawlers
Sicarian Infiltrators
Sicarian Ruststalkers
Skitarii Rangers
Skitarii Vanguard
Sydonian Dragoons
Knight Crusader
Company of the Great Wolf Detachment
Rune Priest: Lv 2,
Servitor
Servitor
3x Drop Pods
Carlos Kaiser piloted (easily my favorite list of the tournament) his GuardDar to a 5-1 record and a 6th place finish.
Astra Militarum CAD
Command Squad
Veteran Squad
Veteran Squad
Vulture: Punisher Cannons
2x Earthshakers
Wyverns: 2x Wyverns
Wyverns: 2x Wyverns
Void Shield Generator: 3x shields
Inquisitorial Detachment
Coteaz
Hereticus Inquisitor: Liber Heresius, 3x Servo-Skulls
Henchman Warband: Chimera, psyker, 3x servitors w/plasma cannons
Eldar CAD
Warlock
Windriders: 3x Scatter Lasers
Windriders: 3x Scatter Lasers
Windriders: 3x Scatter Lasers
Windriders: 3x Scatter Lasers
Windriders: 1x Scatter Laser
Wraithknight
I would also like to give a special shout out to Matt Barlow for not only getting best Tyranids but also being 1 perils, and failed grounding test away from making the top table and competitng against Matt Root for the championship. Also, there were two Blood Angels players in the top 16 with a 5-1 record. Danny Kwan, and David Hetherington. Guys I want your lists! You seem to be the only players whose lists I don’t have. So if you can, shoot them over to
Frontlinegamingpeteypab@gmail.com
for a special edition of List-Tech. Stay tuned for the rest of the week because I will be coming at you with more lists, and a photo gallery complete with captions in the following days.
Epic coverage Pablo! And darn your Long Islands!
Forgot to mention Nathaniel Emond’s bikes were all modeled on FW jetbikes. Other than the manta, probably the most expensive army there.
Also, where can we find painting scores from the weekend
Great coverage, Pablo.
I really hope we can get those interview style articles on these lists. Would love to see some insight into these lists.
Carlos Kaiser has a fun anti-warp spider list. but where does his scoring come from? 1 Wraithknight, 1 vulture, and 1 unit of scatbikes doesn’t seem like it would be quite enough.
How is one hq and a troop a cad?
2x Veteran Squads means 2 minimum sized veteran squads.
The format goes (# of units)(Name of Unit)(Upgrades, models added)
So Tag, Carlos actually has 5 units of scatbikes. So erm,
5x Windriders: 3x Scatter Lasers. I will fix these to make them more clear. Teaches me to cut corners.
That’s still kinda confusing, unless you mean one unit of 5 bikes with 3 scatter lasers.
I realized it after lol, and changed the lists accordingly.
I would love to see those Blood Angels list.
Well until I see they also had Scatbikes and Wraithknight and then I’ll just sigh but I can dream about it being different.
Interesting to see a Tetrad list – often they feel weak since losing one of those 4 models is a massive blow to the overall effectiveness of the army. Would be interesting to see his thoughts and gameplans.
Also would like to know more about the Tyranids list. Was it just standard Flyrant spam with Mawlocs?
Great job Pablo! Get those blood angels list I want to see them!
Wonder how war convocation will do after they lose access to drop pods? Will we still see them make it to the top tables?
I’very heard of some success swapping out with a 2nd knight. Personally I would like to see more of the giant robots. People don’t put them in a lot of their ad mech lists though they’very always done very well for me. The giant unit of them is very hard for most armies to handle. Even waded into a taucurion without losing a model.
A lot of the theory-craft / whining I’ve seen so far points to it being a huge nerf, but only time will tell (if/when that change ever gets ratified by GW and the ITC). It certainly seems like it will have a large effect for an army full on infantry with short range but lacking any way to get them there.
Incontrol runs his list without pods, taking a Libby conclave instead and he does well, but then again he is one of the best of the best
The Librarian Conclave is a pretty good substitute given how powerful those new Marine psychic powers are.
Yeah, a lot of the best WarCon players don’t use Drop Pods at all; InControl runs with the Conclave and DrInsanotron runs it with double-Knight.
I’ve been theoryhammering a war convo with triple onagers, some lascannon balistari, and beefing up the rangers and vanguard to 10 to get a third special.
There are a lot of variations of the Warconvo. Geoff has a libby conclave right now. Others include 2 knights, Kastellans, triple onager, wyrdstorm formation, beefing up all the units in the army to 10 man squads, and so on and so on… Only time will tell and currently, we have 3 more months with pods and might even be longer. Who knows… Pods are a great tool; but in the grand scheme of the war convocation toolbox, they aren’t necessarily needed.
Way to go Matt Barlow!
I was defeated by David Herthington in Round 2. List from memory:
I.G.:
Vendetta, Wyverns x2, squad of guardsmen (veterans, IIRC) … Commissar?
Blood Angels:
Libby dreadnaught, Warlord with Drop Pod
The FW nasty dread that is 13, 13, 12, ugly meltagun and such, 4 Hull Points. With Drop Pod.
Snipers
GravGun Devastators inna Drop Pod, Combat squads the other 5 marines
Melta Devastators inna Drop Pod, Combat squads the other 5 marines
Throw in some tactical Blood Angels. Maybe.
Danny Kwan is a regular at my FLGS. His list, from memory (we play often enough and he rarely varies it):
Outflanking Scouts, Mephy, 3 Drop Pods of BAs. 4th with a Dreadnaught. 2 Storm Talons, 1 Storm Raven. At first look, the list is nothing that makes you shudder, but Danny is really good with his list. And a really good-sport, opponent.
-Casey H.
BeerHammer
Hey, thanks for the nod Casey. Here’s my list. It’s essentially two CADs.
Blood Angels CAD
HQ
Librarian (ML1), Veritas Vitae, Force Sword, Auspex
Mephiston
Elites
Furioso Dreadnought, Frag Cannon, Melta Gun, Drop Pod
Command Squad, Melta Guns (x3), Drop Pod
Troop
Tactical Squad (x5), Melta Gun, Sergeant with Infernus Pistol, Drop Pod
Tactical Squad (x5), Heavy Flamer, Sergeant with Infernus Pistol, Drop Pod
Heavy
Fire Raptor, Heavy Bolter Sponsons
White Scars CAD
HQ
Librarian (ML2), Hunters Eye, Force Stave
Troop
Scout Squad (x5)
Scout Squad (x5), Land Speeder Storm with Heavy Flamer
Fast
Storm Talon, Skyhammer Missile Launcher
Storm Talon, Skyhammer Missile Launcher
Drop Pod
Heavy
Centurion Devastators, Grav Cannon and Grav Amp (x2), Sergeant with Grav Cannon and Grav Amp and Omniscope
I would be curious to hear your thoughts on why you’re running Mephiston. He’s certainly got his strengths, but he doesn’t seem to be filling any of the usual roles here. Do you typically fish for specific traits on Strategic by rolling twice, or are you rolling on other tables? How have the Infernus Pistols measured up?
Mephiston is a bad MOFO. He’s got lots of bonuses. Good Psychic buffs, Good Psychic defense, Good Melee ability. He might throw him in with the Cents from time to time for endurance.
At 1st look, the Grav cents seem like the core of the list. Then again the fliers add another dimension. If you have enough fliers that can hover to score, you can steal a game or two when things go wrong.
It’s kinda a triple threat with Grav Cents, Fliers, and Psychics.
I’d like to play against it. It feels like my Orks would have all the tools to deal with it, but it would be interesting to prove that theory.
Uhm, that’s exactly right with the triple threat idea! Although I tend to rely more heavily on my fliers towards the later part of the game for last minute objective grabbing or other random shenanigans. My list really starts to fall apart if people are able to destroy my fliers early on.
Generally, I liken my list to a alpha striking glass hammer. If I can knock out my opponents critical assets on turn one or turn two then I’m usually free to do as I please with my fliers. But as with all players, I try my best to play to the mission. So if I’m lucky enough to go second in a mission with first strike/blood, then I’ll null deploy and hope for a successful alpha strike.
I’ve found that it’s easier to deal with Monstrous Creatures and pesky Nurgle Drones when I’ve got a potential strength 10 close combatant. He’s also useful against vehicles and the occasional Imperial Knight. It’s better to have him and not need him than need him and not have him.
I typically roll on the strategic table and try to fish for number 4 by rolling twice. The CAD also allows me to re-roll for warlord traits so that helps out. I generally get useful traits.
The Inferno Pistols are literally hit or miss. When they work, they work well. But having that additional Melta shot has proven to be extremely useful in most circumstances.
Overall, I built my list with adaptability in mind. Occasionally, it works that way… lol.
Very cool, tactical army! Kudos on the high placement at BAO and thank you for sharing your thoughts behind your list.
thanks Pablo for sharing this!
would you happen to know the top 2 ork lists in BAO of Jacob Ballad and Ronny Minasian?
Curious how did the orks fare in the BAO tourney in today’s meta.
@pablo Hey man do you have a copy of the 3rd place player and James Carmona’s list? those are the only 2 not available on blood of kittens and I want to practice at home against and with them.
Thanks for the lists, Pablo! I listened to the latest Signals from the Frontline and hadn’t realized just 3 of you ran the entire tournament! Wow… sorry about coming down on you about the live coverage. I’m surprised you even did it at all with all that you guys must be handling out there.
Looking forward to more lists and the list-tech articles!
Ah yes that news would be a bit important to know! Also, not to toot my own horn here but Reece and Frankie are sometimes a bit too busy signing autographs and posing for pictures to properly run a 200 person tournament.
Lol JK Reece and Frankie, it was a team effort! Thanks for the praise Heldericht.
Not to be a downer but none of these lists really seem especially “worth looking at” because they’re all pretty meta. These lists are pretty much what we see at every tournament, right? 🙂
I can’t tell if you’re kidding, but I’ll assume you’re not.
Besides War Convocation (which is generally taken to top tables by Matt Root himself and is rarely seen outside of his or Geoff Robinson’s hands), none of these lists are “Meta” at all. Please show me which major tournaments had these lists at the top?
Those imiperial guard + eldar lists are just everywhere man.
And those mono Dark Angels lists winning big tournaments. Happens all the time.
I don’t know man, you obviously not only took the time to read the lists but also thought it would be worth your time to comment and voice your opinion. If anything they were worth looking at just to affirm your opinion of what you think a tournament meta is.
They may be of different worth to you then someone else but I think your comment proves they were at least “worth looking at” if only to have something to voice your opinion on.
I agree, this stuff is commonplace. Battle company with the remainder of its points put in one place or another is still battle company. I see DA battle company regularly.
The IG Eldar list looks original at first but it’s actually just scatbike spam bundled into IG. Not seeing why that’s interesting.
The DA list wasn’t even listed in this article… He specifically says it at the beginning.
By your metric, every tournament list with a strong unit is a derivative of another list out there.
Tell us, what is an interesting, competitive list for you?
So common place that it’s the exact same lists as the Top 10 from LVO right? Oh wait…
I have a feeling nothing is interesting to you. When is the last time pure DA won a major tournament? Even if it is “just scatbike Eldar” how often do you see Guard+Dar+Inquisition? Can’t say I’ve ever played against that. Sure the White Scars Battle Companies and the War Convocations were nothing new (although most WCs don’t feature Librarian Enclave) but there were still plenty of different lists that placed well.
But… What about the other lists???? I mean…. If that Eldar list is you’re only real complaint then that means 75% of my article at least didn’t DISinterest you.
That’s a lot better than then click bait articles you see get passed around online at least eh? Victory!