Last month’s US Open in Orlando, Florida, was the first official Warhammer 40,000 tournament for the current edition. It shook up the meta with innovative terrain layouts designed to combat the “first-turn advantage” commonly believed to be inherent to the game.
With the second Open Series event – in New Orleans – on the horizon, Paul Murphy and Nick Nanavati, who commentated on the action in Orlando, have been kind enough to share their thoughts on how the results from Orlando will shape army lists in New Orleans.
“Heading into Orlando, there was a perception that going first had a dramatic effect on winning a game,” Paul explains. “The stats from the event suggest this was not the case. What this means to me is the door on army-list design is busted wide open.
“When you combine this with the bracket-based winning structure of the US Open Events, it’s an interesting exercise to predict what players will bring to the tournament in New Orleans.”
“The meta of Warhammer 40,000 is an ever-shifting landscape,” muses Nick. “Last month we saw tremendous diversity amongst factions in the top eight, with Richard Siegler’s Adeptus Mechanicus taking the crown.”
“Lately, we’ve been seeing a resurgence of Drukhari. They have the highest win-rate of all codexes across competitive events,” Nick continues. “However, the New Orleans Open terrain format widens the field considerably.”
Paul agrees: “In Orlando, the players with the most success were the ones who studied the terrain layout prior to the event and adapted to it. It created specific and deliberate lanes of fire and manoeuvring opportunities, which translated into players being able to develop late-game strategies, fewer bad matchups, and tighter, better games.
Players loved the ability to manoeuvre outside of their deployment zones to score points, which let them implement strategies that they felt kept them in the game even when paired against a tricky faction or poor matchup. Jack Harpster’s seven wins with a melee-centric Blood Angels army are a great example, and far from the only one.
“Obviously, player skill and success go hand in hand, but the terrain layout gave players the opportunity to develop strategies beyond deployment and turn one,” Paul continues. “We saw armies like Tzeentch Daemons, Necrons, and Imperial Knights place high in the rankings. This is very encouraging.”
Even armies that traditionally proved challenging in a tournament meta, like Adeptus Custodes, placed high, with Steve Trimble taking fourth place with the Emperor’s guardians.
How does Paul think this will change the army lists at the New Orleans event?
“I expect to see more armies that rely on good terrain placement and lines of fire, because now players can expect this on each and every table. To me, this opens the door for even more Blood Angels, Necrons, and Orks.”
Nick is especially seen to see the latter take their place at the top tables, but is aware that experienced Warbosses may have to shake up their tactics for New Orleans. “Orks have brand new rules and datasheets with a lot of power behind them on the table,” he enthuses. “We’ve seen a lot of success globally with Freebooterz and Blood Axes running a hilarious amount of buggies rocketing up to the top tables. However, the abundance of ruins may create choke points, forcing Ork players to adapt.”
“Basically, any army that relies on mid-range firepower and board control are excellent choices,” Paul suggests. “I expect to see Adepta Sororitas highly represented as well. They have a wide variety of tools available to them and the squads can ‘tech’ for whatever the player feels they will need for their opponents. Will we see them taking more flamers in anticipation of the battle happening more up-close and personal?”
John Lennon’s second-place Orlando list might be a good guide to how Adepta Sororitas forces in New Orleans might look.
“While overall efficiency and synergy with unit choices are critical, I think we’ll see many players bringing things they would not have normally considered viable for a competitive event,” Paul continues. “I’m looking forward to the variance we will absolutely see across armies like the Orks and Astra Militarum.”
Nick concurs: “At this next event, you can expect a lot of board control-centric combat armies dominating the ample ruins scattered around the table.”
“Orlando showed players what was possible,” adds Paul. “I think many players came away with an ‘ah-ha!’ moment, and if they’re also joining us in New Orleans, it’s a good bet that they’ve gone back to the drawing board. It’s truly going to be anyone’s event, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.”
Thanks for your insights, guys. The next instalment in this year’s Warhammer Open takes place between the 1st and the 3rd of October at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans.
A few tickets are still available if you want to help shake up the meta with an innovative list – for everyone else, you can join Nick and Paul for live play-by-play analysis and top-tier commentary at twitch.tv/Warhammer across the whole weekend.