Teams Explained: The Pairings Process

If you’ve only played singles events, a teams round at a UKTC ITT can feel like a magic trick.

You arrive at your table thinking, “Cool , I’m playing Warhammer.”Then the captains step away, shuffle some paper, pull out their phones, and start whispering like it’s a poker final… suddenly you realise you’re also playing a second game. One that happens before dice hit the table and often decides what “good” looks like for your whole round.

That’s the pairings process.

At UKTC International Teams Tournaments you’re a 5-player team, each player brings a different faction, and round pairings are random in Round 1, then move into a win/loss bracket (winning teams play winning teams). Within that team-vs-team matchup, your captains pair the players, and that draft is “half the magic” of teams 40k.

Let’s break down how pairings work, what the roles mean, and how to think about it if you want to walk into your first ITT weekend feeling like you belong in the pairing room (instead of watching in confusion while your captain starts doing mental arithmetic).

The purpose of pairings: you’re not chasing wins — you’re chasing results

In singles, you’re mostly trying to win your game.

In teams, your job is to deliver a team-useful score into the matchup you’re assigned — even if that matchup isn’t your favourite. That’s why the pairing process matters: it’s how you try to engineer the best set of five matchups (and avoid the worst ones).

It also means every list has a purpose. UKTC teams players don’t talk about bringing “a strong list”. They talk about bringing a roster with roles.

The core mechanic: Defenders & Attackers (the “draft”)

Most teams pairing systems (including UKTC teams events) follow a simple rhythm: Defenders go out first, and the other captain responds with two Attackers. Then one gets accepted and one gets refused back into the pool.

Here’s what that looks like in plain English:

1. Each team selects a Defender (a player you’re willing to put forward first).

2. The opposing team offers two Attackers into that Defender.

3. The Defender’s captain chooses which Attacker to accept — and refuses the other back into the remaining pool.

4. The Defenders then get to choose the table they want to play on, for more information on the terrain in teams events we have a full post about just that topic you can check out after this.

5. Repeat until all games are set.

That’s it. That’s the “mini-game.”

And it’s unbelievably deep.

How this plays out in a round

With five players a side, the draft usually resolves into three “chunks”:

1) First Defender pairing

• Both captains put forward a Defender.

• Both captains offer two Attackers into the opposing Defender.

• Each captain picks which Attacker their Defender takes, and refuses the other back into the pool.

After this step, you typically have two confirmed games (one for each Defender).

2) Second Defender pairing

You do it again with the remaining three players:

• Put forward a second Defender.

• Offer two Attackers.

• Accept one, refuse one.

Now you’ve locked in two more games.

3) The “last match”

With five-per-side, you’ll end with one unpaired player on each team, and they play each other as the final matchup.

If you’ve ever watched a captain grin and say “fine… we’ll take the last game,” this is why.

A quick glossary (so the pairing room makes sense immediately)

Defender The player you put forward first. You’re saying: “We can live with whatever you throw at this.”

Attackers Two players offered into the Defender. Think of it as presenting the opponent with two bad options and asking them to choose the less bad one.

Accept / Refuse The Defender’s captain chooses one Attacker to play. The refused Attacker goes back into the remaining pool and will appear later.

Pairing leverage Any list that forces uncomfortable choices. Sometimes it’s a hard counter. Sometimes it’s just so consistent that it “can’t be ignored.” (UKTC calls this “draft leverage.”)

Why pairings are so addictive (and so skill-expressive)

Pairings aren’t random - they reward preparation.

They reward:

• Knowing your matchups (not perfectly - just enough to make good offers).

• Understanding your roster roles (who can defend? who must hunt? who can take a hit?).

• Communicating clearly inside the team.

• Making calm decisions under time pressure while the room gets louder every round.

And they create drama, instantly:

• “Do we protect our best player for later… or spend them now to delete their hammer?”

• “If we defend with this list, what two attackers do we expect to see?”

• “If we refuse that, what are we actually setting up later?”

That’s why the UKTC blog calls it “high-drama decisions” — it’s a tactical game layered on top of 40k.

A practical example (what captains are thinking)

Let’s say Team A has:

• Hammer (wins big into specific matchups)

• Anvil (doesn’t lose big)

• Tech Piece (targets a common meta archetype)

• All-Rounder

• Wildcard 

  
  

Team B has a similar spread.

Team A chooses their first Defender

They might throw out the Anvil — because it’s hardest to “blow out,” and even in a bad game it can deliver a stable team score.

Team B offers two Attackers

They offer:

• a matchup they think is a safe win, and

• a matchup that’s high-risk but could spike a massive score.

  
  

Team A accepts the lesser evil

The Anvil takes the “safe win” (because “safe loss” is fine), and refuses the scary one back into the pool — where Team A can try to catch it later with their Tech Piece.

That’s the whole loop: present problems, choose survivable pain, engineer your spikes elsewhere.

Three pairing mistakes first-time teams make

1) Defending with the wrong list

If your Defender can be blown out by multiple factions, you aren’t defending — you’re donating points.

A good Defender is usually:

• consistent,

• resilient to the current bogeymen in the meta,

• able to score even when behind.

2) Offering “two good matchups” by accident

If your two Attackers are both great into the Defender, the opponent just accepts the less catastrophic one and keeps the worst one in their pocket for later.

Good Attack offers usually include:

• one that is clearly strong, and

• one that forces a different kind of concession (mission play, terrain interaction, attrition, etc.).

3) Pairing as if it’s singles

In teams, a small loss can be a win for the roster.

If your team needs stability on a table, the correct assignment might be:

• “go lose by a little, don’t implode, score what you can.”

That’s not a consolation prize — it’s the job.

How to prep for pairings

One evening. That’s all you need to get started.

Do a single session where your five players:

• write down “good / bad / horrific” matchups at a high level, if you really want to take this to the next level for each match up you can put a rough estimate of how many teams points you will bring back "Small win / Small Loss / Big Win / Draw... etc."

• practice one mock pairing draft,

• then talk about what surprised you.

UKTC’s own advice is blunt: pairing practice is the easiest performance upgrade a team can get.

Why this matters right now: the ITTs are selling out fast

If you’ve been telling yourself “we’ll try teams sometime,” here’s the problem:

• Winter ITT (Jan 31 – Feb 1) is sold out, and it’s the world’s largest 40k team tournament.

• Spring ITT (May 2 – 3, 2026) is sold out too.

  
  

Both events have waitlists larger than several GTs

Your next shots on the calendar include:

• Summer ITT (Aug 8 – 9, 2026) in Leicester

• Autumn ITT (Nov 14 – 15), with tickets going on sale May 29 

Save the date now, mark your calendars so you never miss a launch.

And if the last drops taught the community anything, it’s that teams doesn’t “hang around” in the shop anymore.

the pairing room is where teams weekends become unforgettable

You can absolutely show up to an ITT and just enjoy five great games.

But if you want the full teams experience - the atmosphere, the squad energy, the shared wins, the clutch moments with four teammates behind you - you need to understand the draft.

Because once you’ve felt a pairing plan land perfectly… you will never look at “random opponent, good luck” the same way again.

For more information on the upcomming ITTs check out their pages on our website: uktc.events

For tickets to all our upcomming events check out our store page and grab them before they're gone! uktc.events/shop