Ghazghkull Thraka Wins A 120+ Player Major

Matt Castro

3 years ago

Lists, data, and all stats are based on information pulled from either Best Coast Pairings, Down Under Pairings, or tabletop to. If you want to make sure your event is included in this weekly article series toss me an email at legiotitanicus at gmail dot com and I’ll make sure that I add it to my list for analysis during the week.

**Thought for the Day from Guest Writer: Gork and or Mork and or Liam Hackett**

WAAAAAAAAAAGH!

Guest Writer: Nathan Henning

I will also be reaching out to tournament organizers (TO’s) for event winner’s email addresses moving forward (or if you win at a GT level event let me know!).

This week we had 3 GT or larger events taking place according to BCP, DUP, and Tabletop TO (Qualifying events had at least 30 participants):

Uprising: Adelaide (this is the ITC championship for Australia)
Nottingham GT
Fort Palooza GT

In today’s article we will be covering overall meta status and the following event:

Uprising: Adelaide (The ITC Championship of Australia, more on that in a minute)

Overall

Factions	Top 10	Top 4	Winners
Drukhari	6	3	1
Tyranids	4	1	0
Grey Knights	4	2	1
Custodes	2	2	0
Orks	2	1	1
Tau	2	0	0
Chaos Knights	1	1	0
White Scars	1	1	0
Admech	1	1	0
Iron Hands	1	0	0
Death Guard	1	0	0
Harlequins	1	0	0
Blood Angels	1	0	0
Deathwatch	1	0	0
Genestealer Cult	1	0	0
Dark Angels	1	0	0

Not as many events this week, but the breakdown hasn’t changed much. We have a consistent top 5 factions with Drukhari performing the best overall with 6 Top 10 placings, 3 top 4 placings, and one overall even winner at the Nottingham GT (Coverage for that event will be up on Wednesday). Following up right behind in overall performance are Tyranids with 4-1-0, Grey Knights at 4-2-1, Custodes at 2-2-0, and finally Orks at 2-1-1 (whose champion Liam Hackett will be discussing his list below). Not much changing, but in interesting news we did see 2 Tau armies pre new codex pop into the top 10 in tournaments over the weekend, perhaps as one last hurrah to celebrate the 8^th edition book? It will be interesting to see what the reset with the new GT and MFM pack will bring to the table. Will we see Drukhari brought low? Will the crusher stampede finally run out of momentum? Will the new golden overlords hoist the Emperor’s banner over a pile of their foes corpses? Will Hammerheads and rail guns make us dream of having infinitely tall obscuring terrain? Only time will tell.

Event	Location	Pax	First	Second	Third	Fourth
Nottingham GT	UK	286	Drukhari (Thin City)	Crusher (Harridan)	Grey Knights (Prescient/Swords)	Iron Hands (Born Heroes/Whirlwind)
Uprising: Adelaide	AU	126	Orks(Ghaz and Goffs)	Drukhari (Thicc City)	Drukhari RSR(Thicc Wyches)	Admech (Robits)
Fort Palooza GT	US	46	Grey Knights (Prescient/Swords)	Chaos Knights (Armiger spam)	Custodes (Emperor’s Chosen)	White Scars

For meta composition of the Top 4’s also hasn’t changed dramatically, but there are a few interesting tidbits to pull out. First the Orks are breaking with the Speedmob tradition and bringing Goffs and Ghaz accompanied by kill rigs, and then for Drukhari we’re seeing a surge in Real Space Raids with wyches. However, top placing Tyranids continue to be Crusher focused. It will be interesting if these top 4’s are consistent with LVO this weekend especially with the emergence of new rules for Custodes and Genestealer cult coming into the meta. Especially with lists for LVO revealed on Monday to be very heavy in Custodes armies, and some of those people being very high-ranked in the ITC (cough John Lennon cough).

TLDR, the meta appears to be relatively stable with an established list of top flight factions, but look for disruption with a new GT pack, new points, new codexes, and Tau on the horizon.

Uprising: Adelaide

An Introduction to the event from one of the events TOs

Uprising: Adelaide is a 126 player, 8 rounds super-major that ran this weekend in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the second year of the event after COVID shut down CanCons venue and it is now the home of the Australian ITC Championships. We have aimed for this to not only be the end of season event, but the highlight of the player’s season. This year, I believe we delivered on that promise.

We had over $7,500 in prize support, including trophies for best in faction and ITC season championships. Access to a fully licensed bar, with QR codes for ordering at the table.

But most importantly the terrain here is what sets us apart. We have at least 13 pieces per table and utilize terrain pieces like ruined walls, barricades, and industrial structures that most events neglect. It leads to balanced tables where terrain can be adjusted to the mission and should balance going first and second.

Finally, we did brackets of 4 for the last 2 games on day 3. The winners of each bracket earned a prize, giving everyone something to play for, which significantly reduced the amount of day 3 drops we had. It also meant that the final game of the event was the most important game as it decided the event winner. Liam Hackett had to face Matt Morosoli twice and won both times to seal his victory. Including pre event RTTs, Liam has won 21/22 games played in Adelaide and 3/4 vs Matt Morosoli who is the only person who has beaten him.

Lists

First Place – Liam Hackett

Expand for Army List

++ Battalion Detachment -3CP (Orks) [90 PL, -4CP, 1,700pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Clan Kultur: Goffs

Detachment Command Cost [-3CP]

+ HQ +

Makari [3 PL, 55pts]

Warboss [5 PL, -1CP, 105pts]: 4. Brutal but Kunnin, Attack Squig, Da Killa Klaw, Kombi-skorcha, Power Klaw, Stratagem: Big Boss

Weirdboy [4 PL, 70pts]: 2. Warpath, 4. Fists of Gork

+ Troops +

Beast Snagga Boyz [5 PL, 110pts]
. 9x Beast Snagga Boy: 9x Choppa, 9x Slugga
. Beast Snagga Nob

Boyz [5 PL, 90pts]: Trukk Boyz
. Boss Nob: Choppa, Choppa
. 9x Ork Boy w/ Slugga & Choppa: 9x Choppa, 9x Slugga, 9x Stikkbombs

+ Elites +

Kommandos [4 PL, 55pts]
. Boss Nob: Power Klaw
. 4x Kommando: 4x Choppa, 4x Slugga, 4x Stikkbombs

+ Fast Attack +

Megatrakk Scrapjets [15 PL, 270pts]
. Megatrakk Scrapjet
. Megatrakk Scrapjet
. Megatrakk Scrapjet

Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies [15 PL, 270pts]
. Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy
. Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy
. Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy

+ Heavy Support +

Kill Rig [10 PL, 190pts]: 2. Frazzle, 6. Squiggly Curse

+ Dedicated Transport +

Trukk [4 PL, 75pts]: Grabbin’ Klaw

++ Supreme Command Detachment +3CP (Orks) [15 PL, 15CP, 300pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Clan Kultur: Goffs

Detachment Command Cost [3CP]

+ Primarch | Daemon Primarch | Supreme Commander +

Ghazghkull Thraka [15 PL, 300pts]

++ Total: [105 PL, 11CP, 2,000pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

Key Features

Ghazghkull Thraka is a melee beatstick quite capable of picking up Talos or Cronos in the thick city matchup or robots, or well anything that gets close enough for him to put a power klaw into.
Kill Rigs are fantastic units, they can provide psychic support, melee support and fire support. Playing basically every phase of the game. It can also deliver boyz to combat if they need to be carried someplace. Also being T8 they are modestly durable units as well
No really Kill Rigs are great, they have 4 damage 3 attacks, 4 damage 1 attacks, and then 6 damage 2 attacks. That means in Goffs they have +1 strength on the charge and exploding 6’s, and they can advance and charge during a waaaagh turn.
Also, they have a whole pile of psychic support if you need it, which why wouldn’t you want to pile on some mortal wounds?
Kommandos provide some early board presence or the ability to get in first turn, or they can do actions.
All of this then backed by solid buggy artillery in the form of Squigbuggies and Megatrakks.

TLDR

Hard to go wrong with Ghaz, Goffs, kill rigs, a pile of boyz with buggy support.

Liam Hackett Q&A

What is the general strategy behind your list?

It’s a very defensive army: that capitalises on the double benefit from Ghazghkull Waaagh to have a single turn of explosive aggression. The general strategy is to score high playing safe but capitalise on mistakes if people try to be aggressive back. I typically take Warp Ritual, To the Last, and Banners. For a nice 37 secondary, 40 primary (87) points without ever going past the halfway point. The kill rigs form the backbone of this list, as characters they do warp ritual but also have hefty melee output near -Ghazghkull and warboss (hit on 2s, full re rolls to hit) and can heroic intervene. Due to their size, I was able to tag dense terrain features very often for some ranged defense too. This makes objective defense really strong: hard to shift in shooting, can’t tag objectives as I have a huge base and can heroic intervene, and if you do shoot or charge the rig and kill it, ten obsec Boyz jump out.

The reach on the rigs is phenomenal. 12′ move. 6′ advance and potentially 3d6 charge with Waaagh+Ramming speed stratagem. It’s hard to hide from.

Couple that with the ‘tremor shells’ stratagem the lobba on the Rigs has access to, and I can really manipulate the flow of the game.

Pretty much 80% of my game plan is play safe and deny my opponent points for 1 turn and then that’ll secure the win!

What was the most challenging matchup of the weekend and why?

would honestly have to be my rd 5 and 8 opponent Matt Morisoli. He has a Drukhari list with a boatload of WRACKs and other artists of flesh units. I built my list with meat mountain in mind, but his focus on the infantry side of things really skewed our games (we.plaued twice, due to pod system). In general, I learnt that 10.wracks are unlikely to be killed by a rig (so he could safely contest my objectives) and so I had to adopt a new plan. My plan was to box the Drukhari in: step one is keep Ghazghkull in a central ruin, forces the Talos and grots to stay away (he will kill a unit of Talos or a unit of grotesques easy! Fists of Gork for 9 attacks at S16 with exploding fives, 4 damage flat with full re rolls will do that haha) and step 2 is to charge aforementioned WRACKs and use the 1cp Ork strat to pile in consolidate 6′. By activating my units in the right order, I could get 12′ move with the boyz to fling them into Matt’s deployment zone and surround his “bunker” ruin. (i.e the ruin he had his haemoxytes, 2x big unit of WRACKs, all characters, grots, Talos in). It won’t stop the Talos, but everything else can’t move through the Boyz and so he became trapped in his deployment zone turns 2-4, robustly securing the primary lead. When the Talos do come out Ghazghkull trades very well, leaving little that kills the rigs quickly.

What was your MVP unit for the event?

Ghaz exceeded my expectations at this event by leaps and bounds. Combo with the kill rigs on objectives makes target priority a little wacky for my opponent’s. I found many people either left him alone, or committed so much resources to kill him. By and large he moves up and stays out of line of sight near the rig doing Warp Ritual.

In my first game Ghaz killed 3-4 sisters characters and got me a TTL point. In game 2 he killed a Telemon, an Achilles AND Trajaan valoris (poor custodes). Game 3, he flipped some assault intercessors, a Redemptor and a chaplain! (In this game, the rigs took the brunt of fire and Ghaz got in T3).

In round 4, he killed nothing, but a cheeky Ghaz lurking around a corner kept a unit of 5 kastellan robots far away from the objective I needed to win. Round 5 he traded a TTL Talos unit, and tagged Drazhar, grots and another Talos unit to stop them advancing into my lines. He died but died doing what he loves (and won me that game). Game 6, Ghaz killed a barbed Heirodule AND a Dimachaeron. Incredible! Game 7 he flipped 5 kastellan robots (played Ben again, and he was aggressive rather than defensive), making his points back in a single phase. And in game 8, he got Drazhar, 2 Talos and 5 WRACKs into the bin before he died. I didn’t take TTL in this game so didn’t mind him dying.

In general, I loved the event and I had 0 bad games. I enjoyed my list a bunch and found some of the off meta picks helped me secure games I think other Ork lists wouldn’t.

Is there anything or anyone you’d like to shout out?

Me and some other QLDERS (translation: Queenslanders, people from the state of Queensland) do a podcast called The Normal Blokes. It’s a podcast dedicated to improving the competitive 40k experience, with laughs as well as tactics. I’d also like to shout out all the Uprising Tournament Organisers for a great weekend

Second Place – Matt Morosolli

Expand for Army List

++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (Aeldari – Drukhari) [18 PL, -3CP, 266pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost [-2CP]

Obsession: Kabal of the Black Heart: Thirst for Power

+ No Force Org Slot +

Court of the Archon [10 PL, 136pts]: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Sslyth
. Sslyth
. Sslyth
. Sslyth
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)

+ HQ +

Archon [5 PL, -1CP, 90pts]: Ancient Evil, As Detachment (Kabal), Huskblade, Overlord, Splinter Pistol, Stratagem: Tolerated Ambition, The Djin Blade
. Splintered Genius (Black Heart): Splintered Genius

+ Troops +

Wracks [3 PL, 40pts]: *Custom Coven*, As Detachment (Coven)
. Acothyst: Wrack Blade
. 4x Wracks: 4x Wrack Blade

++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (Aeldari – Drukhari) [27 PL, 525pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost

Obsession
. *Custom Coven*: Dark Technomancers (All-Consuming)

+ HQ +

Drazhar [8 PL, 145pts]: Hatred Eternal, Warlord

+ Troops +

Wracks [3 PL, 40pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Acothyst: Wrack Blade
. 4x Wracks: 4x Wrack Blade

+ Heavy Support +

Cronos [8 PL, 170pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Cronos: Spirit Vortex
. Cronos: Spirit Vortex

++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (Aeldari – Drukhari) [79 PL, -4CP, 1,205pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost [-2CP]

Obsession
. *Custom Coven*: Artists of the Flesh (All-Consuming)

+ Stratagems +

Stratagem: Prizes from the Dark City [-1CP]

+ HQ +

Haemonculus [5 PL, -1CP, 90pts]: As Detachment (Coven), Poisoner’s Ampule, Stratagem: Tolerated Ambition, Twisted Animator
. Alchemical Maestro (Custom): Alchemical Maestro

+ Troops +

Haemoxytes [8 PL, 100pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. 9x Haemoxyte: 9x Wrack Blade
. Haemoxyte Acothyst: Wrack Blade

Wracks [12 PL, 180pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Acothyst: Wrack Blade
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. 15x Wracks: 15x Wrack Blade

Wracks [6 PL, 135pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Acothyst: Wrack Blade
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. 11x Wracks: 11x Wrack Blade

+ Elites +

Grotesques [12 PL, 140pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver

+ Heavy Support +

Talos [12 PL, 210pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Talos: Talos Gauntlet, Talos ichor injector
. . Two heat lances
. Talos: Talos Gauntlet, Talos ichor injector
. . Two heat lances

++ Total: [124 PL, -7CP, 1,996pts] ++

Key Features

Drukhari goodstuff in the form of Thicc City, but this time with more grotesques and wracks than some iterations
Eight grotesques hit very hard in melee combat, Talos also hit hard in combat. Then once you add on -1 damage, Feel No Pains, and Power From Pain they become hard hitting units that also just won’t die.
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough Cronos can bring back dead units if they kill anything in melee, which they might since you’re saturated with high-value and high-impact targets
And then there are Wracks armed with osseofactors, an assault 1 AP -3 D2 gun always wounding on a 2+ (into monsters, infantry and essentially all non-vehicles). They’re also moderately dangerous in melee combat if you get to close to those bricks. Then if you tack on durability from their FNP and the Haemoxytes being at +1 to their invulnerable save and ignoring their first failed save.

TLDR

Wracks swarming around big brutes, all durable, and then well Drazhar to carry them to victory

Matt Morosolli Q&A

What is the general strategy behind your list?

The list attempts to control the primary objective game through the use of a number of objective secured units and then multiple tricks to keep myself scoring objectives, it makes use of the bodyguard rule on the archon so he can stand in buildings and not be shot at in some matchups, the alchemical maestro resurrect on the haemonculus so he can stand in the open for a phase if he needs to and come back to life, and perhaps most importantly the twisted animator rule to restore d3 wracks to a unit at the start of my command phase to attempt to steal objectives. I would often place a single wrack on an objective, let it die and then resurrect back on to it.

The rest of the list is built to be tough and do damage, to move and advance with power from pain on turn 2 and bully my opponent, between the grotesques, talos and cronos i was able to achieve this and double down on my primary plan by attacking my opponent. The list also has good little combinations of units that can fight for a flank on their own. I would often send just the cronos, or the cronos and a unit of grots on a little adventure to go and contest 1-2 objectives and skirmish with my opponent, most notably making a lot of use of fire and fade on the Cronos.

What was the most challenging matchup of the weekend and why?

Liam’s orks unfortunately just had my number in this event, I lost to him twice, both in the open and then in the top pod cut in rounds 5 and 8. I unfortunately don’t have the ranged damage to deal with 2 kill rigs with ramshackle as well as the 6 buggies, while the cronos using the dark technomancer +1 damage do a great job of thinning out heavier targets in a lot of games, that doesn’t work against ork vehicles. Coupled with the mass of 1 damage attacks with explodes and rerolls, he basically has the perfect profiles to deal with both my wracks and bigger tougher units. Our round 8 matchup was much closer due to the mission and secondary choices and going first in both games didn’t help, however Liam was the best player with the best list on the weekend and if I was going to lose to anyone, I’m glad it was him.

Outside of that ork matchup, there was no game I didn’t feel confident into, I played almost all of the meta matchups including Sisters, Knights, Crusher and the mirror DE match twice and felt in control of all of those games.

What was your MVP unit for the event?

The army really functions as a unit, and everything works really well together. I think the big wrack squads with the ossefactors are probably MVP purely on points scored over the weekend. The 3 and 4 ossefactors on the big units were repeatedly very valuable, with the CA changes coming in next week and this list no longer being able to take the cronos, i’ll be leveraging more ossefactor shooting in the next variation of this list. Honourable mention to the humble haemonculus who ressurected wracks, turned off the bodyguard aura against Morvan Vhal, ressurected on an objective to score some primary points and KO’d my opponent’s succubus in an early mirror match.

Is there anything or anyone you’d like to shout out?

The TO team did a fantastic job running this event, it’s currently the peak of the pandemic in Australia and despite all of the challenges they’ve grown it into something to be proud of, an absolutely awesome way to end the ITC season in Australia.

If you enjoyed reading this, the list or are curious about the thought process going into the list writing or event itself, check out the Art Of War War Room where I am a regular content contributor, some of the best competitive 40K content on the internet is housed on the site and I teach weekly classes with the other coaches on just about every topic relating to 40K.

Third Place – Simon Gojkovic

Expand for Army List

Faction: Drukhari
Points: 2,000 | Starting CP: 9

-1CP Alliance of Agony
-2cp 2x Prizes from the Dark City
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Detach 1: Realspace Raiders Battalion 0cp 1,999

Kabals – Black Heart (+1 turn PFP & LD, Merc get it too, reroll 1 hit per shoot / fight)
Covens – Artists of the Flesh (-1 damage)
Cults – Cult of strife (Fight first, +1 charge if no one else in combat w target)

Archon =70
• Wargear: Venom blade
• Warlord: Ancient evil (1 unit in engagement range fights last)
• Relic: The Animus Vitae (6” Grenade, once if hit, d3 mortal W or d3+3 on 11 or more. +army counts PFP +1 turn till end of turn)

Master Haemonculus =90
• Warlord trait: Master Regenesist (Fleshcraft heals 3)
• Relic: Poisoner’s Ampule (once, unit within 9” – 2+ d3MW, no auras)

Master Succubus =95
• Warlord trait: Competitive edge (Attack again with each attack that doesn’t inflict damage)
• Relic: Triptych Whip (Ap -3, D2, Poison 2+, +3A)
• Combat drug: Adrenalight (+1A)

5x Kabalite warriors =40

10x Haemoxytes =135
• Wargear: 2x Liquifier gun, Acothyst w Liquifier gun, Electrocorrosive whip

10x Wracks =95
• Wargear: 1x Liquifier gun, Acothyst w Electrocorrosive whip

5x Wracks =45
• Wargear: Acothyst w Electrocorrosive whip

5x Wyches =60
• Combat drug: Hypex (+2M)

Court of Archon: 4x Sslyth, 3x Ur-Ghul =120

5x Grotesques =175

2x Talos =210
• Wargear for each: Talos ichor injector, Talos gauntlet, 2x Heat lance

Key Features

An RSR improves efficiency of all your core units around the Archon by letting the Archon’s reroll 1’s to hit aura affect everything in the RSR instead of only the Kabal units, which is particularly nice on Talos who only have a 4+ BS and gets quite tasty when suddenly your coven units are hitting on 2’s rerolling 1’s from turn 3 onward
15 grotesques provide a potent melee hammer unit that with -1 damage is exceptionally durable and has a wound and toughness profile that’s inconvenient for many high damage weapons. Then you have Talos who are wonderful and terrifying creations with T7 near the haemonculus, a 5+++, and 3+ armor. Just as Urien Rakarth intended.
The Archon isn’t quite as killy with a venom blade, but the Animus Vitae can provide a moment of surprise if your opponent deployed to aggressively or assumed they had until turn 2 to get into position, when suddenly your whole army has advance and charge on turn 1. It’s also a good way to get those small efficiencies like +1 to hit onto your units, and it also throws mortal wounds into the bargain. It’s a shame it’s only once per game.
And you don’t want to forget the succubus, with Strife you can put together one of the most efficient infantry killers in the game in the form of the competitive edge/Triptych Whip equipped succubus who rerolls anything that doesn’t hit the damage step, wounds on 2’s and causes 2 damage. Also with adrenalight they’ve got a nice they’ve got a nearly absurd 10 attacks on the charge, so say goodbye full marine squad.

TLDR

Strife, Black Heart, and Artisans of Flesh all at once means you have blender characters, blender monsters, and blender infantry (yes grotesques are infantry).

Simon Gojkovic Q&A

What is the general strategy behind your list?

It is a tough list, that creates pressure and has surprising mobility from turn 2 onwards. It grinds people down while not dying quickly in the process. I run it in a real space raid to ensure the big “hit” is consistent (with reroll 1’s).

What was the most challenging matchup of the weekend and why?

It’s the one I didn’t end up playing. I have practiced a few times against Liam at home and really struggle against beast snagger heavy lists (his list in particular).

The mirror is also challenging as it can go either way. My mirror in round 6 I got the win because of mismatched secondaries my opponent took that let me punish him for it.

Round 7 vs Matt (who came 2nd) was another mirror that turned on me. So, my only loss of the weekend.

What was your MVP unit for the event?

MVP is different in different match ups. Against sisters, and GK, my grots haul ass. against crusher stampede it’s all about the wracks! and the talos are just always good! I think they all work really well together.

Is there anything or anyone you’d like to shout out?

Shout out to the event organisers. The event was great, really well run, wonderful time management and extra stuff organised in and around the event. great terrain and really responsive to questions.

I have a FB page and YouTube channel Godhammer Ganubg that people can follow / check me out on. It is not being used as much nowadays as my timelapse camera died which is a shame, but they can search for Godhammer gaming on FB / youtube and find me there.

Fourth place – Ben Warrior

Expand for Army List

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Imperium – Adeptus Mechanicus) [115 PL, 2,000pts, 8CP] ++

+ Configuration +

Army of Renown – Mechanicus Defence Cohort

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Forge World Choice: Forge World: Lucius

+ Stratagems +

Stratagem: Archeotech Specialist [-2CP]: 2x Archeotech Specialist

Stratagem: Mechanicus Locum [-2CP]: 2x Mechanicus Locum

+ No Force Org Slot +

Cybernetica Datasmith [2 PL, 40pts]: Relic: Temporcopia

+ HQ +

Tech-Priest Dominus [4 PL, 75pts]: Macrostubber, Relic: Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Warlord, Warlord Trait (Mechanicus Defence Cohort): Cacophonous Leadership

Technoarcheologist [3 PL, 55pts]

+ Troops +

Kataphron Breachers [6 PL, 105pts]
. Kataphron Breacher: Arc Claw, Heavy Arc Rifle
. Kataphron Breacher: Arc Claw, Heavy Arc Rifle
. Kataphron Breacher: Arc Claw, Heavy Arc Rifle

+ Elites +

Corpuscarii Electro-Priests [3 PL, 75pts]
. 5x Corpuscarii Electro-Priest: 5x Electrostatic Gauntlets

Cybernetica Datasmith [4 PL, 80pts]: Logi, Mechanicus Locum, Warlord Trait (Lucius): Luminescent Blessings

Cybernetica Datasmith [3 PL, 75pts]: Artisans, Mechanicus Locum, Relic (Lucius): The Solar Flare, Warlord Trait (Codex 6): Supervisory Radiance

X-101 [2 PL, 25pts]

+ Heavy Support +

Kastelan Robots [10 PL, 190pts]
. Kastelan Robot: Incendine Combustor, Kastelan Fist, Kastelan Phosphor Blaster
. Kastelan Robot: Incendine Combustor, Kastelan Fist, Kastelan Phosphor Blaster

Kastelan Robots [30 PL, 460pts]
. Kastelan Robot: Heavy Phosphor Blaster, Kastelan Fist, Kastelan Phosphor Blaster
. Kastelan Robot: Heavy Phosphor Blaster, Kastelan Fist, Kastelan Phosphor Blaster
. Kastelan Robot: Incendine Combustor, Kastelan Fist, Kastelan Fist
. Kastelan Robot: Incendine Combustor, Kastelan Fist, Kastelan Fist
. Kastelan Robot: Incendine Combustor, Kastelan Fist, Kastelan Fist

++ Total: [115 PL, 8CP, 2,000pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

Key Features

TLDR

Ben Warrior Q&A

What is the general strategy behind your list?

The strategy is rely on the durability of the kastellans and kataphrons. Kastellans being 7 wounds T7 2+ 5++ and -1 damage against shooting in my deployment zone/ on objectives is really tough to shift. Especially when you add transhuman and ignore ap -1-2. Kataphrons are 2+ t5 3 wounds and -1 damage so they are great back field objective holders as no out of LOS guns can shift them. Corpsucari and x101 are action monkeys and can go into strategic reserve using the Lucius deep strike stratagem to do ROD. Or deploy to do banners. Characters provide the tech – teleport, fight last, double obsec aura, reroll hits in melee. All of which affects the robots. Then you combine the canticles to buff durability (light cover for an almost army wide 1+ save and then -1 to hit in melee) and tech (3d6 pick the highest charge for out of deep strike or the teleport) Kataphrons hold the back field and pepper vehicles with arc rifles. The infantry units do actions or horde clear and the robots push the center/ teleport if an opening is there and just don’t die/hit super hard.

The army likes getting charged. I have 2 sources of fight last. And if you charge me I can set to defend anywhere for +1 to hit

What was the most challenging matchup of the weekend and why?

Most challenging match up was against Liam Hackett’s orks. Both times. The robots can’t play ghaz. He picks up an entire unit in one turn.

What was your MVP unit for the event?

MVP unit would have to be the robots. They just put so much work in. Although in my last game against Simon 5 corpuscari went hard and killed a talos from full wounds haha

Is there anything or anyone you’d like to shout out?

Shout to The Normal Blokes. It’s the club I play for. Like 10 of us went down and it was great fun.

Fifth Place – Chris Wright

Expand for Army List

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Aeldari – Drukhari) [121 PL, 9CP, 2,000pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Obsession: Kabal of the Black Heart: Thirst for Power, Realspace Raid
. *Custom Coven*: Artists of the Flesh (All-Consuming)
. *Custom Cult*: Stimulant Innovators, Test of Skill

+ Stratagems +

Stratagem: Alliance of Agony [-1CP]

Stratagem: Prizes from the Dark City [-1CP]

+ No Force Org Slot +

Court of the Archon [10 PL, 118pts]: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Sslyth
. Sslyth
. Sslyth
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Ur-Ghul: As Detachment (Kabal)

+ HQ +

Archon [5 PL, 90pts]: Ancient Evil, As Detachment (Kabal), Huskblade, Overlord, Splinter Pistol, The Djin Blade, Warlord
. Splintered Genius (Black Heart): Splintered Genius

Haemonculus [4 PL, 70pts]: As Detachment (Coven), Master Regenerist, Stratagem: Alliance of Agony WLT, The Animus Vitae

Succubus [4 PL, 95pts]: 3 – Hypex (Combat Drug), As Detachment (Wych Cult), Precision Blows, Stratagem: Alliance of Agony WLT, The Triptych Whip
. Agoniser & Archite Glaive
. Show Stealer (Custom): Show Stealer

+ Troops +

Kabalite Warriors [3 PL, 40pts]: As Detachment (Kabal)
. 4x Kaba
lite Warrior: 4x Splinter Rifle
. Sybarite: Splinter Rifle

Wracks [12 PL, 170pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Acothyst: Electrocorrosive Whip
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. 18x Wracks: 18x Wrack Blade

Wracks [6 PL, 82pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Acothyst: Electrocorrosive Whip
. Wrack w/ Special Weapon: Ossefactor
. 7x Wracks: 7x Wrack Blade

Wracks [3 PL, 45pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Acothyst: Electrocorrosive Whip
. 4x Wracks: 4x Wrack Blade

Wyches [3 PL, 60pts]: 3 – Hypex (Combat Drug), As Detachment (Wych Cult)
. Hekatrix: Hekatarii Blade, Splinter Pistol
. 4x Wych: 4x Hekatarii Blade, 4x Plasma Grenades, 4x Splinter Pistol

+ Elites +

Grotesques [12 PL, 175pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver
. Grotesque w/ Monstrous Cleaver

+ Fast Attack +

Hellions [11 PL, 255pts]: 1 – Adrenalight (Combat Drug), As Detachment (Wych Cult)
. Helliarch: Hellglaive
. 14x Hellion: 14x Hellglaive, 14x Splinter Pods

+ Heavy Support +

Talos [12 PL, 210pts]: As Detachment (Coven)
. Talos: Talos Gauntlet, Talos ichor injector
. . Two heat lances
. Talos: Talos Gauntlet, Talos ichor injector
. . Two heat lances

++ Total: [121 PL, 9CP, 2,000pts] ++

Key Features

Ah the list I like to call Thicc Wyches, a list based on the durability of thick city with fast hard hitting wych cult units as support and fast moving elements.
Wracks, grotesques, and six Talos provide the base of the army. A relatively slow moving, for Drukhari, brick of -1 damage bodies with FNPs and invulnerable saves the only get better as the game goes on and you’re losing assets
The wych cult part though is extremely interesting, by using a custom cult featuring Test of Skill you get +1 to wound into monsters and then Stimulant Innovators lets you double up on some of the most useful drugs in the game (+1 attack, +1 strength, and +2 movement). Meaning that if you also pop Hyperstimm Backlash on say a unit of Hellions your models will basically be flying custodes or at least without the 2+ armor save
Speaking of Hellions, they are very good. With a base move 14” and then T4 and 2W they’re a mobile platform that’s quite durable. They also are quite solid in melee combat with S4 Ap-1 D2 melee weapons, which means they can put quite the hurt into things that don’t have any form of damage reduction. Adrenalight being the choice also makes them, base 4 attacks (5 if you pop Hyperstimm Backlash) on the turn they charge.
Behind it all also is a solid character support cadre, thanks to the realspace raid the Archon provides rerolls to your otherwise modestly inaccurate Talos and since he wants to be in the fight with Ancient Evil those rerolls will make everything hit on 2’s rerolling ones in melee from turn 3 on
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Triptych Whip succubus is extremely efficient at murdering things with precision blows meaning she can spit out mortal wounds at a ferocious rate if you can spike 6’s in combat

TLDR

Thicc city provides the meat, and Hellions provide a ferocious fast moving flurry of punches

Chris Wright Q&A

What is the general strategy behind your list?

The general strategy is pretty standard for thicc city. The default plan is to push forward and either pressure the opponent into playing overly defensive or to blend through them if they push forward. I have a variety of durable units in the army to allow me to be flexible about which units I send out first and which I am more careful with. Against a sisters army with a lot of meltas I will send the wracks forward and look to counter with the talos, whereas against crusher stampede I will send the court and grotesques forward and look to make the most of the damage the wracks can put out. I also had a big unit of 15 hellions, but I’ll talk more about them in a second.

What was the most challenging matchup of the weekend and why?

The toughest game of the weekend was definitely the thicc city mirror against Simon Gojkovic. He’s a fellow member of team Australia and a good friend. I felt the matchup was all about getting the right units into combat with the right targets. He had a lot of grotesques, and I wanted my talos fighting them if possible. I wanted my grotesques fighting his wracks, and I wanted to be careful with my wracks to make sure I got to make the most of their poison into all the high toughness going around. I also wanted to get good use out of the hellions poison shots and fly-by strat. I felt like I did a pretty good job of setting up these engagements, but Simon focussed less on that and more on turning it into a flank vs flank game and that suited his secondaries better than mine

What was your MVP unit for the event?

My mvp for the weekend was the unit of 15 hellions. I knew the terrain was going to be heavy at the event, and not only would there be a lot of places to hide them, but there would also be a lot of dense cover for them to take advantage of. They give me some extra speed, and they can threaten to wipe a whole flank by themselves. They were in the test of skill and stimm innovators cult, so they get an extra combat drug once per game, and +1 to wound monsters and vehicles. Combined with the strat to double drugs on a unit for a turn this can be absolutely devastating. In one game they came out and killed 3 armigers by themselves. The squad of 15 also makes the eviscerating fly-by strat terrifying. Any character that gets near them will get immediately taken out, and it can kill a lot of infantry if needed too. Against armies with indirect shooting, I would consider deepstriking them, and often bring them down in a safe spot t2 and look to use them t3. Against squigbuggies in particular just putting them in dense cover is a huge deal, as that combined with lightning fast reactions makes them hit on 6s.

Is there anything or anyone you’d like to shout out?

I’ll just shoutout to all the downunder 40k guys for making it such a great weekend

And that’s a wrap for our coverage and analysis of the Uprising: Adelaide event. For Wednesday look forward to seeing the coverage of the Nottingham GT and the Fort Palooza GT event. Also, more player Q&A’s as well!

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