‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Unbeatable List – Bay Area Open 2026

4 Minute Read

Jun 10 2026

Take a look at the recent 2026 Bay Area Open winning list for Warhammer: The Old World, and why it works.

The other weekend saw the 2026 Bay Area Open take place. You can find results here. Held in the (you guessed it) Bay Area it saw saw 28 players fight it out. Its one of the biggest and oldest West Coast events and from all accounts a ton of fun. The event used some heavy comp, based around German Comp, which you can find here. As a result the armies there might look a bit different from ones at other events. In the end after five rounds of combat only 1 army went 5-0 and was undefeated. This was Sean Smaker and his Dwarven Expeditionary Force. This continues Expeditonary Force’s sting of victories, though this list is different from the last one we looked at. So today lets take a look at the list and why it works.

Sean’s Unbeatable List

Mountain Bolt Squadron
GermanComp

Characters [547 pts]

Burlok Damminson [85 pts]
– Furnace hammer
– Rivet gun
– Heavy armour
– General

Thane [191 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Handgun
– Full plate armour
– Battle Standard Bearer [Strollaz’ Rune]
– On foot
– Master Rune of Piercing
– Rune of Accuracy
– Rune of Rapid Fire

Thane [136 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Handgun
– Full plate armour
– On foot
– Master Rune of Bursting Flame
– Rune of Accuracy
– Rune of Rapid Fire

Engineer Sapper [70 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Heavy armour

Runesmith [65 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Heavy armour

Core Units [578 pts]

2 Scout Gyrocopters [120 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Clatterguns
– Heavy armour

12 Thunderers [149 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Handguns
– Heavy armour
– Shields
– Expeditionary Marksmen
– Veteran (champion) [Handgun]

13 Rangers [189 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Crossbows
– Heavy armour
– Shields
– Ol’ Deadeye (champion) [Crossbow]
– Standard bearer [Rune of Courage]
– Musician

Special Units [775 pts]

4 Gyrocopters [280 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Clatterguns
– Full plate armour

Grudge Thrower [110 pts]
– Stone thrower
– Hand weapons
– Light armour
– Rune of Forging

Cannon [105 pts]
– Cannon
– Hand weapons
– Light armour
– Function over form
– Rune of Reloading

Mercenaries [100 pts]

Doomseeker [50 pts]
– Hand weapon

How the Lists Works

Sean’s list is a shooting heavy list that also does a lot of points denial. 4 units of Gyrocopters, 12 in total, give it a lot of mobility, certainly more than older Dwarf lists had. They also give it decent blocking and redirection options allowing for good screens. Just a ton of clatter guns are great at wearing down enemy units. The units are also pretty hard to kill, and a signal wounded gyrocopter can just jet off and keep the unit from being below 25% at the end of the game. A number of armies have no real answer for them.

Army also has two decent shooting blocks, with the Thunderers being decently mobile. These units put out some extra shooting and are hard to charge. The sappers should be able to make sure they are Entranced most of the game really limited the damage enemies can do charging into them. With both sides limited to 1 attack and no impact or stomps the Dwarven standing and shooting extra combat res can often turn the tide. A pair of pretty scary gun thanes help out with this adding extra shooting output.

Burlok and a little arty speak for themselves. Lastly there are a couple cheap Doomseekers. These guys are useful little bits that can protect arty and flanks and even hold up charges. They also are hard to get points off of, which is a big theme with the list. Overall its a pretty deadly shooting list, even if it doesn’t have the a ton of units to hold objectives.

Final List Thoughts

Expeditionary Force is definitely the Dwarf list of the moment. It’s having a lot of success and various builds of it have one the last few major events. It is worth nothing that both those events were heavily comped, so this is likely a factor. However the list is just a really strong one in general. Nor do I think that Sean’s run was due only to getting good match ups. He played a lot of tough lists, Orcs and Goblins in round one, then Wild Herd, O&G, Expeditionary Force and lastly Jade Fleet. Those are all top tier armies theses days. Kevin Morgan, who Sean beat in the final round, sending his Jade Fleet packing, is also a very strong player. This is just a strong list that’s having it’s moment, played by a great player. So congrats to Sean and everyone who played at BAO!

Let us know what you think of the event and list, down in the comments!

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Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers Warhammer: The Old World, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe mourned over loss of WFB for its entire hiatus, but has been reborn like a gaming phoenix with Warhammer: The Old World.

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