The First Warhammer 40k 9th Edition GT Tournament Results!

A few days ago, I was surprised to receive a DM from a reader and great player about a little tournament that went under the radar over Warhammer 40k 9th edition launch weekend. This event like many had been postponed because of pandemic, but was able to hold a two event with 31 players last weekend! It was originally intended to be a 8th edition event, but at the last minute with the blessings of the attendees it was changed to a 9th edition tournament, making it the first GT ITC level event of its kind for 9th edition!

The event was held at  Wizards Asylum GT in the heart of the USA, Wichita, Kansas. The event was very interesting as players were forced to changed lists to reflect the new points and as well the Indomitus box units were allowed in as well! So enough jabbering we know why you are here, on to the Top 3 lists!

Dan Sammons 1st Place Wizards Asylum GT 2020 – Imperial Fists – Sisters of Battle

Aaron Cook 2nd Place Wizards Asylum GT 2020 – Adeptus Custodes

Ben Cherwien 3rd Place Wizards Asylum GT 2020 – Grey Knights

I was able to chat a bit with the 1st place winner Dan Sammons about the event and his initial takeaways about 9th edition. Here are some of his observations. Dan noticed a lot of the Top Lists not relying on Aura abilities; this makes sense as mobility, fewer HQ choices, and less need to kill, makes stacking Auras not as important. Dan said that for the most part about only half of the secondaries were taken with Big Game Hunger and Attrition being big winners. Recon, Abhor the Witch, While We Stand, and Assassinate depending on list construction also being prominent. Dan can see armies denying secondaries as very good current strategy, especially with Adeptus Custodes so good out of the gate. Like many competitive players Dan agrees that the secondaries currently constructed are not balanced and need some work, but overall finds the direction of the game in a good place.

Beyond the top three lists, three other players ended the event with only one lose, one Craftworld/Harlequin soup, an assault Alpha Strike Blood Angels, and another Adeptus Custodes list. Adeptus Custodes were also around 20% of the field at the event. Now of course this is so early, but one thing interesting to see was that soup or multiple detachments were still a thing, as players seem willing to pay 2-3 CP tax to get those extra powerful synergies. The other explanation and more probable is that many players were just playing their 8th edition armies stuck to them. Either way this was an unexpected, but fun first look into Warhammer 40k 9th edition army lists!