The Bristol GT: Players to watch

Charles Gould
5 days ago
6 min read

The lists are in for the Bristol GT Super-Major, and with pairings going live this afternoon as this is posted we can start to see the sparks fly. Ahead of the dice starting rolling I have picked out just a few of the players here to take a look at throughout this event that I expect to be doing very well.

The Faction breakdown

I wont spend too long looking at the meta here as we broke it down in our previous blog post: here. But there is a clear trend for gunlines backed up by a core of durable punching, with the counter meta looking to apply loads of melee pressure across the board. Necrons, Marines, and Defilers are out in force and will be on every players "I need to answer" plan if they want to do well.

Now lets get into the ones to watch themselves:

Jonathan Summerfield - Powerhouse Wargaming

One of the previous Bristol event winners, Jonathan, is a long-time CSM player and has played them pretty much since they released, mainly in Renegade Raiders and various gunlines. This is a good meta for him if he has stayed true to his play style and comfort. Giving him almost a home-field advantage you could say.

Jonathan's List

Chaos Space Marines

Pactbound Zealots

Abaddon the Despoiler (270 points)

Cypher (90 points)

Huron Blackheart (120 points)

Kravek Morne (120 points)

Cultist Mob (50 points)

Chaos Bikers (70 points)

Chosen (250 points)

Chosen (125 points)

Defiler (250 points)

Masters of the Maelstrom (115 points)

Red Corsairs Raiders (110 points)

Whilst not his comfort pick, this is very much one of the emerging meta lists and archetypes coming out here using the Pactbound Zealots Detachment. Looking to leverage the critical hits on 5+ when he takes sustained from the Nurgle Defilers this just takes their damage to the next level.

This is backed up by a very strong melee core of Chosen units with Abaddon and Huron (+ Masters of the Maelstrom) providing a lot of flexibility and utility. There is plenty of screening and mission play with the infiltrating Raiders and the Bikes, with the cultist Mobs providing some good backfield screening.

Whilst this looks like quite an elite list, this is very much able to pile on the damage and control the entire tempo and board state, thanks to those smaller units that are happy to play the flanks. Very much one to keep an eye on, the powerhouse that is Jonathan, as he approaches this weekend, looking to hopefully, for him, take down his second Bristol GT event win.

Nassim Fouchane - Warmasters

Another one of the UKTC supermajor winners, we've got Nassim Fouchane, with one of the current bad boys in the meta with the Ultramarines. Looking to repeat his Windsor and Leicester Supermajor wins with the Ultramarines, this is a fairly standard list we see now with plenty of victrix and plenty of ranged firepower, looking to go toe-to-toe with the Defiler meta thanks to their 2-up armour save and armour of contempt access.

Nassim's List

Ultramarines

Blade of Ultramar

Lieutenant with Combi-weapon (95 Points)

Marneus Calgar in Armour of Antilochus (140 Points)

Uriel Ventris (95 Points)

Intercessor Squad (80 Points)

Ballistus Dreadnought (150 Points)

Incursor Squad (80 Points)

Repulsor Executioner (230 Points)

Storm Speeder Hammerstrike (125 Points)

Victrix Honour Guard (220 Points)

Wardens of Ultramar (105 Points)

Now this might look like just a very very simple list. It is playing "honest Warhammer". We have lots of guns and some very good melee staging. The reporter executioners and the ballistas are able to combo together to make some pretty darn scary firepower, looking to dominate the fire lanes around the flanks. The Victrix push up the middle with Calgar, providing some buffs for the detachment but also aggressive staging for when they connect.

Ventris is able to provide a lot of utility here, with access to deep strike, enabling a rapid ingress play with his Victrix but also the aura of dispair on him is fantastic for disrupting the opponents game plan.

Mikey Rzasa - Powerhouse Wargaming

Going back now to the most recent Bristol GT in 2025, we have the best overall from that event. Mikey back on his beloved World Eaters. One of the nicest guys to play at the top tables. He is a lot of fun to play against. He's back to his melee pressure comforts after a detour into Sisters recently. I'm very excited to see how he brings the sons of Angron on to the table this year.

Mikey's List

World Eaters

Berzerker Warband

Angron (340 points)

Khârn the Betrayer (100 points)

Lord Invocatus (110 points)

Master of Executions (95 points)

Slaughterbound (100 points)

Khorne Berzerkers (180 points)

Chaos Rhino (85 points)

Chaos Spawn (90 points)

Eightbound (135 points)

Exalted Eightbound (140 points)

Jakhals (65 points)

it is great to see the big angry man back on the table and returning to World Eaters lists. However it is not just end of edition fun. Angron is actually a very good answer to Defilers and World Eaters are being positioned as one of those few factions that are fast enough to close the gap and look to punch up into Defilers, thanks to some aggressive melee staging and efficient anti-vehicle play with the Exalted Eightbound as well.

The rest of the list provides some good core utility, with the jackals providing sticky objectives and screening while the rhinos transport forward the squads of berserkers to jump out and connect with the opponent. These spawn units are fantastic early game, with their speed able to move, block, or score early doors as everything else stages up for some non-committal trading. World Eaters are all about controlling the tempo and ensuring that you have a good flow on the game, which this list looks to do well. Narrowly missing out in the top cut last year, Mikey will be out for revenge this year and looking to improve his record!

Paul Bridge - black corw gaming

Now let's take a look at a very very strong player but also on a slightly counter-meta list, looking to build into the current strength and counter what is good rather than just running what's good himself. This is a good idea for multiple reasons:

Firstly it enables a better knowledge gap between you and your opponent.
It can help put you in favorable scenarios if you are taking something that is nine times out of ten favored for the result.

we have plenty of leagues of Votann players in the UK and Paul is one of them, with plenty of experience on the faction as he has been running them for several years now.

Paul's List

Leagues of Votann

Mercenary Oathband

Berehk Stornbröw (95 Points)

Buri Aegnirssen (95 Points)

Kâhl (80 Points)

Kâhl (65 Points)

Kapricus Carrier (75 Points)

Brôkhyr Thunderkyn (80 Points)

Brôkhyr Thunderkyn (160 Points)

Cthonian Beserks (100 Points)

Cthonian Earthshakers (110 Points)

Einhyr Hearthguard (270 Points)

Hernkyn Pioneers (80 Points)

Hernkyn Yaegirs (90 Points)

Paul is bringing a very interesting Leagues of Votann list, looking to play into the current meta. This is a great example of a counter build and Wotan have been doing very well recently in that sort of regard, able to take down the big vehicles very effectively with the anti-vehicle shooting from the Grav cannons but also those Einhyr Hearthguard being very efficient shooting and hard to remove once they get into the game and positioned well.

their weakness is that the overall Votann can be quite slow. However thanks to the Yaegirs and Kapricus carriers, Paul is going to be able to play that early game very effectively with those initial units as the rest of the army stages up behind. There's a nice little bit of indirect to keep units like Elves quite honest but also provide a bit of utility as well. This weekend will let us know if the theory is solid or if it might need some tweaking.

Its all happening this weekend

If you are coming this weekend, we look forward to welcoming you, if not we hope to see you virtually in our official livestream on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UKTCTV

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