These 3 40k army lists took the Maelstrom Massacre 40k tournament meta by surprise. It’s fun to bring homebrews that give top armies a run for their money.

Jumping into the Maelstrom Massacre GT, this was an ITC event that brought over thirty players under a single roof. While meta lists were definitely there, some players decided to surprise their opponent with uncommon factions and units. And they didn’t do too bad either!

Thanks to Best Coast Pairings, we can look back at the event as if we were there ourselves.

James Hemstock- Grey Knights

Not only did James surprise everybody with a Grey Knight list, but he also spent over 500 points of it on two Land Raiders! With the brunt of his army also going into a Paladin squad and supporting characters, this list also came in 7th place with 3/5 wins. That’s not too bad with a faction that was considered unplayable by many. Paladins were a melee blender that bought time for the Land Raiders in the back to pop enemy armor with their lascannons.

Meanwhile, Draigo stood around for the rerolls and the Apothecary was tasked with pulling his fallen brothers from the brink of death. Awesome job, doing what so many others are afraid of doing!

Ron Taylor- Armiger Spam

This is a list that uses a popular faction. However, we’ve never seen a build quite like this. Ron brought a total of eighteen Moiraxes armed with two Lightning Locks. If you didn’t know, these were the new Forge World variant of Armiger weapons that are Heavy 6 S6 AP-2 1 damage with exploding 6’s to hit. That’s 12 shots per model as well, totaling to be 216 S6 shots a turn. That would devastate any screens, Orks, Tyranids, GSC, you name it.

Plus, with the help of a Valiant’s turbo flamer and harpoon, this list was able to walk on the board and claim some serious ground.

Ryan Reynolds- Death Guard

As for Death Guard, would you believe a list was taken without Mortarion showing up? This list mainly operated off of a pretty fluffy playstyle. A bunch of longe-range/indirect fire was taken in the form of Plagueburst Crawlers and Myphitic Blight-Haulers. Three Plagueburst Crawlers lined the backfield and pelted enemy lines while sitting on objectives while the Blight Haulers devastated armor that got too close with six multi-meltas and missile launchers focus-firing its position. A few Plaguebearers and other units were sprinkled in for screens, objective capping, etc. Great job!

Overall, these lists definitely go against the grain of the meta. So with these under our belt, what are your thoughts on them? Will Grey Knights just get even better now that Chapter Approved is out? Can Death Guard still pull off wins without Mortarion?

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