Welcome back list review fans. James “One_Wing” Grover isn’t the only one that can do these (though he’s almost certainly better at it). Now that we’re finally getting into the full swing of the 2020 ITC season, it’s time to continue our process of regularly digging into lists and examining where things are going. Wings did a wonderful job talking about the meta game overall in his post last week about lists at the then-upcoming North East Open (and we had a great follow-up interview yesterday with the winner, Konrad Bartkiewicz), so this week I’m going to go a little bit shorter, focusing on three interesting lists, then I’ll be talking to the three Goonhammer authors who will be attending about what they’re bringing and what they hope to accomplish.

Before we begin I should warn you that while I’m looking for strong lists, I’m also far more easily distracted by janky bullshit than Wings is, so if it seems like I’m tilting in that direction well, you’ll know why.

Also, one IMPORTANT NOTE: This event is NOT using the new Space Marines FAQ, as it dropped within the two-week deadline for the event. So while many lists at the event reflect recent meta shifts, don’t be surprised if the Iron Hands have their last hurrah here.

Chris Rethemeier’s Chaos Space Marines

A lot of Chaos Space Marine armies currently focus on running a Possessed bomb like the one we pointed out last week being run by James Mackenzie. The mass of difficult-to-hit-and-kill Possessed certainly bring a lot of attacks to the table and can cause real problems for some lists, especially when supported by a Thousand Sons Supreme Command detachment. If you aren’t into souping or running all of those models however, there’s the alternative: the Triple Lord of Skulls list. Originally put out as an idea following the points drop on the Lord of Skulls in Chapter Approved 2019, the list basically takes advantage of the LoS’ sudden efficient cost to run what are essentially three slower Knights that can benefit from Chaos Space Marine character auras and psychic powers, such as the Lord Discordant’s Aura of Discord, which gives them +1 to hit as Daemon Engines, while the Master of Possession can improve their invulnerable saves by 1 with Cursed Earth and give them re-rolls of 1 on their hit and wound rolls using Infernal Power.

What’s interesting about this list is that it’s potentially less susceptible to Grey Knight smites than Possessed, owing to having more wounds and a much longer range. The trade-off is that the Lords of Skulls are large, easily-targeted vehicles, though removing Imperial Fists from the mix will likely benefit them. The downside is that I’m still not sure we’re past the point where armies are tooled out to deal with what is basically three Knights, and Imperial Fists are still very much at the top of their game for this event.

The Army

Iron Warriors Super-Heavy Detachment (+3 CP, 1,290 points)

LoW: Lord of Skulls w/Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon

LoW: Lord of Skulls w/Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon

LoW: Lord of Skulls w/Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon

Iron Warriors Battalion Detachment (+5 CP, 710 points)

HQ: Lord Discordant w/Autocannon, Mark of Nurgle, Techno-Virus Injector

HQ: Master of Possession w/Mark of Tzeentch, Cursed Earth, Infernal Power

Troops: Chaos Space Marines x5 w/Bolt Pistol + Chainsword, Mark of Slaanesh, Champion w/Chainaxe

Troops: Chaos Space Marines x5 w/Bolt Pistol + Chainsword, Mark of Slaanesh, Champion w/Chainaxe

Troops: Chaos Space Marines x5 w/4x Boltgun, Autocannon

HS: Obliterators x3 w/Mark of Slaanesh

I caught up with Chris to ask him about his army and what his plans are.

The Plan:

Chris: My plan with the list is fairly simple. Being such a low model count there is only so much play with the list. Against any army that is short range I want to go second and hide in a corner and use the 48″ range of the Lord of Skulls to my advantage. The Lord of Skulls is underrated by many people because it feels similar to a Knight. However they do not play like a Knight. They degrade in a positive manner as their attacks increase and their strength is irrelevant. If you leave one alone it will kill you.

The Expectation:

I think this list has the potential to go 4-1 if you can avoid Grey Knights. And this list will do that easier than the Possessed list. I started off this season trying the Possessed list but i found that list to be completely unforgiving. This is my first season playing competitively and I’m not confident enough to run the Possessed list. It is most likely a better list, but much tougher to pilot.

Cody Boe’s Necrons

Necrons didn’t seem much action in the North East Open but thanks to the massive Warhogs presence at the Fargo Two Rivers GT, we can count on Cody Boe bringing his into the fray. Despite a bunch of much-needed points drops in CA19, Necrons still aren’t that good, often relying heavily on having the first turn in order to ensure that their triple-Doom Scythe strategies can actually operate. But in the hands of a skilled player, they can still surprise and deliver some wins, particularly with the number of shenanigans they can pull off and the Doomsday Ark shrugging off high-damage attacks thanks to Quantum Shielding. Take that, Devastator Doctrine Iron Hands!

The Army

Sautekh Battalion (+5 CP, 684 Points)

HQ: Imotekh the Stormlord (+1 CP), Warlord: Hyperlogical Strategist

HQ: Orikan the Diviner

Troops: Immortals x5 w/Tesla

Troops: Immortals x5 w/Tesla

Troops: Immortals x5 w/Tesla

EL: C’Tan Shard of the Deceiver

FA: Canoptek Scarabs x3

Sautekh Air Wing (+1 CP, 450 Points)

FLY: Doom Scythe

FLY: Doom Scythe

FLY: Doom Scythe

Sautekh Battalion (+5 CP, 865 Points)

HQ: Cryptek w/Chronometron, Staff of Light

HQ: Lord w/Staff of Light

Troops: 5x Immortals w/Tesla

Troops: 5x Immortals w/Gauss Blaster

Troops: 5x Immortals w/Gauss Blaster

HS: Doomsday Ark

HS: Doomsday Ark

HS: Doomsday Ark

The Plan:

Cody: With the Chapter Approved 2019 points drops, I feel Necrons are at a decent spot Meta-wise. Marines are still a force to be reckoned with, but in my opinion, Necrons are very good into the non-Iron Hands flavors. It will be interesting to see how much the match-up changes with the new nerfs handed down by GW recently, which are not in effect for this event. My list for our upcoming GT here in the frozen north of Fargo is running a bit of a twist on the more common Necron lists you typically see. I’m running a double battalion and an air wing of the Sautekh Dynasty, giving me access to a whooping 15 CP! (it’s a lot for Crons at least). Also, not one, not two, but three named characters even: Imotekh the Stormlord is my Warlord, giving me a tanky character who is pretty hard to take down with sniper fire at 2+, 4++, 6 wounds T5, a once per game ability to call down some lightning on an unsuspecting victim for a potential d6 mortal wounds to a non character unit, and can be a decent counter charge beatstick with four Str 6, -3 Ap, 2 damage swings. He also can grant two of our infantry units a buff with +1 to hit, advance, and charge. Orikan the Diviner grants 5++ to infantry units with 6” and has the potential upside of powering up into a Str 7 T7 combat threat later in the game. And last but not least, we have a C’Tan Shard of the Deceiver, casting illusions and dirty tricks on our opponents. His ability to redeploy himself plus D3 units at the start of the first battle round is a real game changer. Going first? Lets move some units to line up better shots into their lines. Going second? Lets disrupt my opponents plan of attack and re-position stuff to our advantage. The Deceiver can also give us Necrons another source of mortal wound damage. My personal favorite C’Tan power to cast is Cosmic Fire, dealing d3 mortals to every enemy unit within a 9” bubble on a 4+. Combo this with the aforementioned Imotekh’s ability, and also our 3 Doom Scythes’ own Amalgamated Targeting Data Stratagem, and we can viciously punish any army that wants to stay castled up.

Six squads of Immortals fill out the battalions, providing our main objective grabbing units. Having 15 Cp allows us to spam the crap out of our Sautekh Dynasty specific stratagem: Methodical Destruction, granting a +1 to hit army-wide vs a single enemy unit, maximizing the number of hits we can get, especially with our tesla cannons on our immortals getting 2 extra auto hits on hit rolls of 5+, or even 4+ with our Imotekh buffed units! Two squads of immortals are kitted out with Gauss blasters for some ap-2 shots when you need to force a few more wounds on to things. A single 3-man squad of Canoptek scarabs fills our 2000 pt list, and mostly acts as a bit of a bodyguard for the Deceiver, and can even dish out a further D3 mortals in combat with a stratagem. And finally, 3 Doomsday Arks provide great backfield firepower with their Doomsday Cannons throwing D6 shots each of Str 10 Ap -5 D6 Damage down range at 72”. They also have two rapid fire 5 gauss flayer arrays ready to blast things that get too close. In closing, I really feel Necrons can compete in the current and future competitive 40k meta. Will they start winning every GT? Alas, probably not. They should however be able to go toe-to-toe with almost every faction.

The Expectation:

My expectations for this GT is a solid 3-2 record, with 4-1 being a realistic possibility with good match-ups. Of course the ultimate goal to take down the whole thing and go 5-0, but there is going to be quite a few very good players in attendance.

Ben Cherwien’s Adeptus Astartes

I love this list because it’s not Iron Hands, and also because it features BLACK TEMPLARS. Boon knows this list better than I do, so I asked him to write a few thoughts on it. You don’t really see Black Templars much, owing to the fact that both White Scars and Blood Angels are just plain better at fighting in melee, but the BTs can pull off some nasty tricks.

The Army

Black Templars Battalion (+5 CP, 845 Points)

Stratagem: Relics of the Chapter (-1 CP)

HQ: Chaplain w/Jump Pack, Litany of Faith, Litany of Hate, Relic: The Crusader’s Helm

HQ: Chaplain Grimaldus w/Litany of Divine Protection, Fires of Devotion, Litany of Hate

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Bolt Rifle

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Bolt Rifle

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Bolt Rifle

EL: Terminator Assault Squad x10 w/Thunder Hammer + Storm Shield

Black Templars Battalion (+5 CP, 696 Points)

Specialist Detachment: Sword Brethren (-1 CP)

HQ: Captain w/Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Field Commander: Master Swordsman (-1 CP), Relic: Teeth of Terra

HQ: Captain w/Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer

HQ: High Marshal Helbrecht, Stratagem: Hero of the Chapter (-1 CP)

Troops; Incursors x5

Troops: Incursors x5

Troops: Infiltrators x5

Adeptus Astartes Spearhead (+1 CP, 451 Points)

Raven Guard Successor, Traits: Master Artisans, Stealthy

Stratagem: Token of Brotherhood (-1 CP)

HQ: Captain w/Jump Pack, Raven’s Fury, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer, Warlord: Shadowmaster

HS: Eliminator Squad x3 w/Bolt Sniper Rifle

HS: Eliminator Squad x3 w/Bolt Sniper Rifle

HS: Eliminator Squad x3 w/Bolt Sniper Rifle

HS: Thunderfire Cannon

Boon: Ben is big on his Black Templars, and I think at first glance you’d struggle to identify what’s so scary about the list. Sure, there’s the large Terminator squad, but the toughness only goes so far under weight of fire. Sure, there’s some hard-hitting characters, but their hard hitting nature is combat focused and they need to get there without being targeted out. Screen out and you’re fine. Right?

The beauty of Ben’s list is that you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Screening units are a boon for Ben who will almost certainly combat lock, either naturally, or using their many special capabilities that Black Templars can bring to the table. It’s at this point, with all those smash characters bearing down on you, that you’ll find that you frustratingly cannot target them because you can’t escape those wrapping Terminators and everything else is either hidden or not a threat. It’s at that point that you’ll realize you’re about to waste a whole lot of firepower that the situation is going to very rapidly decline once those Terminators free themselves up. Finally, you’ll realize that you may have lost the game a turn ago, before you ever conceived it possible.

Ben’s list is built for Iron Hands and I think he’ll certainly roll any iteration that he comes across. He has a multitude of tools and deceptively flexible options here, but a couple of items I’d call out are Devout Push and Tenacious Assault which enable huge mobility and positioning advantages in his charging units (or non-charging units – watch out!) as well as a capability to lock units in combat without wrapping. The latter is monstrous in this list. He also brings a Raven Guard smash captain that will ignore your OW for those crucial lists that can disrupt his charges or threaten his damage dealers (Tau, stratagems). Overall it’s far more versatile than the sum of its parts and I love this list for its capability to deceive. Truly it’s a list that requires both vision and skill to play, and I think Ben brings both here.

The Expectation:

Boon: My prediction is that Ben will go 4-1

The Goonhammer Crew at the GT

In addition to these lists, there are also three Goonhammer authors attending the event:

Chase “Gunum” Garber

James “Boon” Kelling

Cyle “Naramyth” Thompson

Cyle and James have already seen some notable success this season, with the former winning the Wheat City Open GT last month and the latter winning a LVO RTT pod and on pace to jump back into the top 20 after he adds a fourth score to his name. Chase is… well, let’s just say that Chase has different goals, as we’ll see from his list.

Chase “Gunum” Garber’s List

Dark Angels suddenly being good and popular made them too trendy for Chase, who after a year of playing them with very little reward, somersaulted head-first into Harlequins.

Harlequins Battalion (+5 CP, 707 Points)

Masque Form: The Frozen Stars: Hysterical Fury

Stratagems: Enigmas of the Black Library (2 Relics, -3 CP)

HQ: Shadowseer w/Neuro Disruptor, Twilight Pathways, Webway Dance

HQ: Troupe Master w/Power sword, Shuriken Pistol, The Storied Sword

HQ: Troupe Master w/Harlequin’s Kiss, Shuriken Pistol

Troops: Troupe x5 w/5x Shuriken Pistol, 4x Harlequin’s Kiss, 1x Harlequin’s Embrace

Troops: Troupe x5 w/4x Shuriken Pistol, 5x Harlequin’s Kiss, 1x Neuro Disruptor

Troops: Troupe x1 w/Shuriken Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss

EL: Death Jester

EL: Death Jester

EL: Solitaire w/Cegorach’s Rose, Harlequin’s Caress, Harlequin’s Kiss

Harlequins Battalion (+5 CP, 1,182 Points)

Masque Form: The Soaring Spite: Serpent’s Blood

HQ: Shadowseer w/Mirror of Minds, Neuro Disruptor, Shards of Light

HQ: Shadowseer w/Fog of Dreams, Neuro Disruptor, Veil of Tears

HQ: Troupe Master w/Faolchu’s Talon, Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss, Soaring Spite: Skystrider, Warlord

Troops: Troupe x5 w/Fusion Pistol, 4x Harlequin’s Caress, 1x Harlequin’s Blade

Troops: Troupe x5 w/Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Blade

Troops: Troupe x5 w/2x Fusion Pistol + Harlequin’s Blade, 1x Fusion Pistol + Harlequin’s Caress, 1x Neuro Disruptor + Harlequin’s Caress, 1x Fusion Pistol +Harlequin’s Kiss

EL: Death Jester

FA: Skyweavers x6 w/Haywire Cannon, Zephyrglaive

DT: Starweaver w/2x Shuriken Cannon

DT: Starweaver w/2x Shuriken Cannon

DT: Starweaver w/2x Shuriken Cannon

The Plan:

Chase: My list for this GT is really just focused around counter Marines as much as I can. Now, after looking at the attendees for the GT the Marine menace won’t be as prevalent as I had originally thought, but the thing to point out is that this event will still be running Buff Iron Hands and not doing the most recent FAQ. My list will be focusing on putting major pressure on my opponent’s turn one and relying on AP to mean nothing. -5 Executioners? Who cares! 4++! I’ll also have +1 to deny to try and stop people who use things like Death Hex or Null Zone. I have enough Melta to punch through a lot of armor that is floating around the game right now. I will also be using my Death Jesters and general ground forces to tear apart infantry. My list picks Recon, Old School, and some sort of killy secondary pretty often. I have also been playing around with Behind Enemy Lines due to being able to be in my opponents deployment zone on turn one.

The Expectation:

I expect to go 4 – 1, but since it is a 5-round event, battle points will be huge and I can very well take the whole thing dependent on match-ups. As long as I don’t see Necrons, I think I’ll be fine against everything I’ve seen so far.

Editor’s Note: It is now basically guaranteed that Chase will play against Cody during the event.

James “Boon” Kelling’s List

Boon’s been refining his Eldar for some time, having taken them to LVO back in January. His showing was less than stellar then but since then he’s learned some new tricks and refined his list. He’s certainly built a list that can handle taking on Marines, although of course pre-nerf Marines remain an uphill struggle.

Custom Craftworlds Battalion (+5 CP, 809 Points)

Craftworld Attributes: Expert Crafters, Masterful Shots



HQ: Farseer Skyrunner w/Witchblade, Twin Shuriken Catapult, Shuriken Pistol

HQ: Spiritseer w/Shuriken Pistol, Relic: Faolchu’s Wing, Warlord: Seer of the Shifting Vector

Troops: Dire Avengers x5 w/Avenger Shuriken Catapult, Exarch w/2x Catapults, Avenging Strikes

Troops: Dire Avengers x5 w/Avenger Shuriken Catapult, Exarch w/2x Catapults, Avenging Strikes

Troops: Dire Avengers x5 w/Avenger Shuriken Catapult, Exarch w/2x Catapults, Avenging Strikes

FA: Shining Spears x8 w/Laser Lance, Twin Shuriken Catapult, Exarch w/Star Lance, Swooping Dive

FA: Shining Spears x7 w/Laser Lance, Twin Shuriken Catapult, Exarch w/Star Lance, Skilled Rider

Custom Craftworld Spearhead (+1 CP, 769 Points)

Craftworld Attributes: Expert Crafters, Masterful Shots



HQ: Yvraine

FA: Hornet w/Crystal Targeting Matrix, 2x Hornet Pulse Laser

FA: Hornet w/Crystal Targeting Matrix, 2x Hornet Pulse Laser

HS: Night Spinner w/Crystal Targeting Matrix, Twin Shuriken Catapult

HS: Night Spinner w/Crystal Targeting Matrix, Twin Shuriken Catapult

HS: Support Weapons w/Vibrocannon x3

HS: Support Weapons w/Vibrocannon x3

Custom Craftworld Spearhead (+1 CP, 769 Points)

Craftworld Attributes: Expert Crafters, Masterful Shots



HQ: Warlock Skyrunner w/Witchblade, Twin Shuriken Catapult, Shuriken Pistol

HS: Falcon w/crystal Targeting Matrix, Starcannon, Twin Shuriken Catapult

HS: Falcon w/crystal Targeting Matrix, Starcannon, Twin Shuriken Catapult

HS: Falcon w/crystal Targeting Matrix, Starcannon, Twin Shuriken Catapult

The Plan:

James: This is a little bit of a different take on my LVO list which I thought performed very well despite my 3-3 finish. For any of you who may have followed my Road to LVO, you may recognize that my current list is the double spear alternative that I was originally considering. Corrode: the same concept underpins Konrad’s list which we talked about the other day.

This list is built for the Marine meta – across the board the army does multiple damage with each shot at high AP and strength with the combination of Masterful Shots and Expert Crafters increasing the likelihood that the lowered number of shots find their target and punch through. I’ve added in some Crystal Targeting Matrixes which give me some extra mobility on the vehicles while maintaining effectiveness in many situations. The big change however is that I have dropped the Fire Prisms, added the second Spears unit, and then added in a couple of Hornets – more on those in a minute.

The additional Spear unit is a takeaway from my game with Stephen ‘Juice’ Fore at LVO running the Brohammer list. His first turn allowed him to drop pod in his grav-devs and nuke my Shining Spears which made my ability to break his mobile Chappy Dread castle from a distance far more difficult, and where I ultimately came up short. While I learned from this game against his comrade in arms, Jeremy Knox, a second Spears unit would have been invaluable in both games and may well have been the critical piece I needed to win.

Running this version of the list in some league matches I’ve found that the army still puts out a scary amount of firepower, remains just as durable and redundant, but has an extra mobility and late-game reach that the previous list lacked. The ability to reserve one or both Spear squads for turn 2 or 3 has been a huge boon in keeping my opponent on their heels and has turned more than a couple games where a single squad would have been just a speedbump for my opponent. It also gives me some increased flexibility at the table with buying an extra Exarch trait for a deep-strike charge and swapping Ghostwalk on one of my casters. If I need it, it’s there, if not, then I don’t need to swap a CP and Smite.

The Hornets. This to me is the most controversial part of the list. They are familiar to many from past editions but haven’t seen a lot of play recently due to the shift in their weapon profiles and the high cost for a single T6, low wound model. However, I’m bringing them back out. They recently took a point decrease, though at 100 points with dual Hornet Pulse Lasers and 105 with a CTM, they still aren’t cheap. Losing the Fire Prisms means losing some very reliable long-range output as well as 3 T7 hulls that help bolster the overall toughness of my list with the other 5 T7 hulls. However, in most games, it was near impossible to shield or hide everything and I was forced to decide between Night Spinners and Fire Prisms, often to the detriment of one or the other. The Hornets have a very low profile, and while wide, are were capable of being hidden by level 1 ruins. Moreover, their own output is significant at 48” with 6 shots at Str 6, Ap-3, and 2 flat damage they complement the rest of my army very nicely with their 18” base move. Finally, they do not degrade – while only being T6 and 8W, they still require a bit of a concerted AT effort to remove while maintaining effectiveness if they are not. The result is that the list does not lose very much in they way of offensive punch, and in many ways gains, durability is not overall deeply affected and also becomes less of a requirement with the second Spears squad. The same target priority and secondary challenges that were evident in the previous edition of the list still exists as EVERYTHING puts out effective multi-damage shooting. Big Game Hunter is a dead giveaway, but other killy secondaries become challenging since any wounds allocated on the Vibros, Hornets, Falcons, or Night Spinners for BGH will exclude the unit for Marked for Death, Butcher’s, etc. When all is said and done, I’m prepared for this to be a weak point in the list, but I think it’ll be an unheralded strength.

The Expectation:

4-1. I’m optimistic for the event, and I’m hoping to dodge Mark Weiss’ Grey Knights. But I’m looking at Cyle’s bullshit Iron Hands and thinking “Your time has come Cyle, the seize mechanic cannot save you now.”

Cyle “Naramyth” Thompson’s List

Cyle’s still on his Space Marines bullshit, taking full advantage of the event’s cutoff. “How does he sleep at night,” you ask? Apparently on a bed of plaques and trophies. Anyways, here’s his list, which at least has the dignity to not be the Brohammer Leviathan list, but is taking full advantage of his ability to sit in Devastator Doctrine all game.

Cyle “Naramyth” Thompson: Let me tell you the panic I had when the Space Marine FAQ dropped while I was on a plane home 9 days before a GT when I would not have any time to crash build or paint due to real life obligations. I killed my phone twice in Battlescribe. I had a whole Nanavati level YOLO into Impulsor rush White Scars that I could maaaybe get if I could get my 4th Impulsor built, another painted, and power fists onto the Sergeants. I think I could have at least gotten them table-ready and even been able to blast through a home test game to sort of get a rep in with them (Editor’s Note: This is super important. It’s usually better to play the worse army you know well than the better one you haven’t played before). I had a plan. And I wasn’t super happy about it but I was willing to submit on Saturday. Then the TO comes out that we will not be using the Space Marine FAQ as it’s under his two week cutoff.

Whelp. Guess I get to give the Iron Hams one last ride.

Iron Hands Successor Brigade (+12 CP, 2,000 Points)

Chapter Traits: Master Artisans, Stealthy

HQ: Captain w/Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer

HQ: Primaris Lieutenant w/Power sword

HQ: Techmarine w/Chainsword

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Stalker Bolt Rifles, Aux Launcher

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Stalker Bolt Rifles, Aux Launcher

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Stalker Bolt Rifles, Aux Launcher

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Stalker Bolt Rifles

Troops: Intercessors x5 w/Stalker Bolt Rifles

Troops: Scouts x5 w/Boltgun

EL: Dreadnought w/Twin Lascannon, CCW, Storm Bolter

EL: Primaris Apothecary w/Stratagem: Chief Apothecary (-1 CP), Warlord: Father of the Future

EL: Relic Contemptor Dreadnought w/Cyclone Missile Launcher, Dreadnought CCW, Storm Bolter, Twin Lascannon

FA: Suppressors x3

FA: Suppressors x3

FA: Suppressors x3

HS: Devastators x5 w/4x Grav-Cannon and Grav-Amp

HS: Eliminators x3 w/Bolt Sniper Rifle

HS: Eliminators x3 w/Bolt Sniper Rifle

HS: Eliminators x3 w/Bolt Sniper Rifle

HS: Thunderfire Cannon

DT: Terrax-Pattern Termite Assault Drill w/Twin Volkite Chargers

The Plan:

Cyle: I’ve won two events with almost this exact list and you can certainly read my reports on the matter. So what’s the gist? Be the Iron Hands nightmare one last time with distributed MSU shooting, a difficult to kill dread sort of just standing in the middle table shooting whatever it can see with his smaller cousin right behind him ready to help with anyone who wants to tangle and the the tech marine with The Ironstone keeping everyone repaired. I’ve cut the Company Champ and Libraran and have replaced them with a Primaris LT (most likely my Burning Blade caddie) and the Father of the Future FNP bubble Primaris Apothecary. In testing the Apothecary has been excellent helping keep my Suppressors alive and bringing them back if they do get killed while the LT can be a similar counter charge threat while also providing his reroll bubble to the dreads or Eliminators. Losing the Librarian as a flex piece and having a locked in Warlord does sting but having access to two more warlord traits if needed is still pretty good and I still have play in the Psychic phase with Armour of Contempt against mortal wounds and Souls of Iron to shutdown a key Warptime or other nonsense.

The Expectation:

4-1. A few A+ caliber players are coming up from the Minneapolis area (and Boon) and I know they play a lot more nu-Eldar than I’ve really seen, and if I can’t seize on Boon I don’t know how he will do when he isn’t immediately put into his chair. In addition a lot of Warhogs are coming and enough of them have got reps against me to know my game plan. One of them will probably get a win off of me.

Godspeed, Goons

Well that just about wraps it up. If that looks like a lot of people expecting to go 4-1 well, you’re not wrong. Something’s gonna have to give here, and it’ll be interesting to see what. Will Boon be able to overcome his morale-destroying run of marine armies at LVO and rebound to a win? Will Chase surprise everyone by not getting dumpstered by Cody? Will Cyle and the forces of evil triumph one last time with Iron Hands before their rules relegate them to being merely among the top tier? FIND OUT NEXT WEEK WHEN WE INTERVIEW THE WINNER UNLESS IT IS CYLE.

Also if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.