Meta Monday 40K

Warhammer 40K Competitive Monday Meta Review: The Rise of the Machine

Welcome to another Meta Monday 40K, the weekly roundup from Grimhammer Tactics covering the latest Warhammer 40K tournament meta trends.

See all past editions of Meta Monday 40K here.

The World Championships of Warhammer have come to an end after a thrilling weekend in Atlanta, GA. The winner is no stranger to top finishes. Richard Siegler piloted his Ad Mech to victory against liam Vsl and his Aeldari Aspect Host (which I featured in last week’s Meta Monday post).

world championships 40k

World Championships of Warhammer 2025 – Atlanta, GA – 402 Players

The best players in the world gathered in one epic amazing event to go toe-to-toe with one another to determine a World Champion for Warhammer 40K. In order to receive a “golden ticket” invitation to compete in this event, players must first earn one in a GT sized qualifier. These are generally awarded to the players who won or placed very highly at a major event so the field is arguably one of the strongest fields of singles competitive play in the world right along with the World Team Championships Warmaster event.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 for the World Championships of Warhammer 40K for 2025 along with their lists.

1. Richard Siegler – Ad Mech – Skitarii Hunter Cohort – 8-0

Click to see the List

Richard Siegler aka “The Machine”, one of the founders of Art of War, is one of the best Warhammer 40K players in the world. In fact, an argument can be made that he IS the best in the world having earned multiple top finishes in events over the years including the Las Vegas Open, NOVA and plenty of others. Siegler has been somewhat absent from singles play for quite some time having focused most of his competitive time lately playing alongside his Art of War teammates in team events.

Richard took his Ad Mech all the way to the top opting to run his Skitarii Hunter Cohort list as opposed to maybe the more popular community choice of Haloscreed. This list features 30 Sicarian Infiltrators and 10 Ruststalkers. The Infiltrators of course have the infiltrators rule allowing Richard to gain maximum board control early. These are all backed up by 3 squads of 3 Ironstrider Ballistarii, 2 of which are armed with those deadly lascannons while the other squad has Twin Cognis Autocannons. And of course in the heart of the gunline we have Cawl handing out rerolls ala “Oaths” for Space Marines.

This is simply a deadly list taking full advantage of the best that Ad Mech has to offer. Everything in the list basically benefits from the Skitarii Hunter Cohort detachment rule giving all those dangerous units Stealth and the benefit of cover from 12+” away.

Congratulations goes out to Richard for taking home the win and being crowned the World Champion.

2. liam Vsl – Aeldari – Aspect Host – 7-1

Click to see the List

Another player who’s not a stranger to top finishes, liam most notably won the London GT this year, an event with 1000+ attendees. For the World Champs he broke out his Aeldari and did not disappoint having taken it all the way to the finals losing narrowing to Richard. Along the way he only had to go through the entire Art of War gauntlet defeating Ben Jones, last year’s World Champion Folger Pyles followed by legendary players Nick Nanavati and John Lennon.

The path to the top was not an easy one for Vsl who is right up there among the world’s greatest players. His list was pretty standard faire for Aeldari featuring a fast moving Aspect Host built centered around 20 Swooping Hawks, 15 Warp Spiders and Fuegan and his merry band of Fire Dragons. In the upper levels of play, movement is king and Vsl’s list features tons of speed, hard hitting power and Aeldari movement shenanigans with Battle Focus.

Well done for running the gauntlet in this event and congrats to liam for a Finals appearance.

3. John Lennon – Emperor’s Children – Coterie of the Conceited – 7-1

Click to see the List

It should not surprise anyone to see John Lennon’s name among the top finishers. John lost to liam in the semi-finals, but won his final round to finish 7-1. John has been among the world’s best for many years now and took a faction many had written off due to low win rates and went very deep into the event. There were only 8 Emperor’s Children players in total making up one of the smallest factions represented at the World Championships this year. John has piloted this build to victory in several events this season, however and has a firm command of the faction of course.

If list names had its own award, John would have certainly won it this year. His list is pretty typical from what we’ve seen with the army since their codex launched sporting triple Demon Princes backed up by 3 squads of 6 Noise Marines, this list packs a hefty punch. The Pledge of Unholy Fortitude enhancement allows the Demon Prince to flip a hit, wound or saving throw to a 6 once per turn, which is clutch for defensive play keeping it in the fight longer.

The Demon Princes are fast, have potential for high impact mortal wounds on the charge and of course pack a serious punch in combat. Pressuring the middle of the battlefield with such durability and hard hitting power lets the Noise Marines sit back and eliminate threats that pop out to deal with them at range.

4. Giorgio Castelli – Deathwatch – Black Spear Task Force – 6-2

Click to see the List

Probably the biggest surprise and Cinderella story of the event, Giorgio was one of only four players brave enough to enter this event with Deathwatch and he was rewarded with making it to the semi-finals where he fell to the eventual champion, Richard Siegler. He would go on to lose his final matchup against John Lennon, but his rise to play in the semi-finals is a tremendous accomplishment especially with Deathwatch.

Giorgio’s list features the usual compliment of hard-hitting Indomitor Kill Teams but the list has a nice little twist in the form of a 6 man Centurion Devastator Squad. And why is this relevant here in this list? Because of the “Site-to-site Teleportation” stratagem. This Strat allows you to select up to 2 Kill Team units or 1 Adeptus Astartes Infantry unit in the Fight Phase and put them into Strat Reserves and if the unit does not have Deep Strike, it gains the Deep Strike ability.

Popping those Centurions up and down over and over allows him to get ever important lines of sight to enemy threats with devastating firepower all while being able to position them to protect them from a clap back. A devastating ability we’ve seen John Lennon use with his own Space Marines Vanguard build in the past. Giorgio takes the idea, throws in some Kill Teams with brutal firepower, some Incursors to let them hit on 2s with Oath of Moment re-rolls and it’s a recipe for success.

Well done on taking this list deep into the World Championships.

5. Folger Pyles – Aeldari – Warhost – 7-1

Click to see the List

Folger Pyles was last year’s World Champion in 2024 and is one of the best players in the world (seems like a recurring theme doesn’t it?) This year he brought out his Aeldari Warhost to the party.

It’s a build very similar to Vsl’s Aspect Host only adding in Eldrad for that ever important CP generation and making the most of the maneuverability of the faction with the bonuses to Battle Focus granted from the Warhost detachment ability. And what’s better than being able to get out of a transport, shoot and hop back inside with a unit? Being able to do that with 2 units! Well…maybe not “better” as Vsl did make it to the Finals BUT Folger is certainly no stranger to the top placing of events and, as I mentioned before, is a World Champion himself. Folger’s only loss in the event actually came to Vsl who defeated him in the mirror.

While Folger fell short this year he did defeat some incredible opponents along the way such as Dan Sammons, Kyle McCord and his Art of War teammate Jack Harpster in an incredible run to a 7-1 finish.

Final Thoughts

While the World Championships of Warhammer 2025 have come and gone now, there’s still a lot to be excited about. We got several reveals for Warhammer 40K at the event to include the release of the new Captain Titus model for Ultrmarines and the announcement of the “500 Worlds” coming next year which looks to be similar to Psychic Awakening at the end of 8th Edition. So maybe we will see some new rules and detachments as we enter what is likely to be the final 6 months of 10th Edition.

Congratulations goes out to Richard Siegler for taking his Ad Mech all the way to the top and winning the World Championships of Warhammer 40K for 2025. While I was unable to attend myself as I discussed in my post last Friday, I’m hoping I get the opportunity to play in 2026. We will see!

If you’re new to the game or want to improve quickly, then don’t forget to grab my FREE eBookForging Your Path to Victory: A Beginner’s Guide to Competitive 40K. A great starting point for those looking to jump into Competitive 40K. Subscribe and get your free copy!

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See you on the tabletop.