As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.
Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders
Here are the results from last weeks polls.
There was no wording to add to the current living rule book this week so the rules have been unchanged.
THIS WEEKS POLLS
We’ve covered movement, so the next step is to cover the all important shooting phase. It’s a big one this week with multiple polls! So buckle up!
Firstly as a unit on the table top can represent hundreds of individuals how should hits on that unit be treated? As Physical damage (i.e. the unit has a number of wounds and is removed from play once this reaches zero) or as morale where a unit can degrade from good to poor and so on but can have the ability to rest and recover.
Name Suggestions?
Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.
2,000 point, 3 game Age of Sigmar Tournament, 26th February 2022
Age of Chumps own Rhys Sallabanks ran a one-day tournament in Titchmarsh, UK, yesterday and I was fortunate to attend. Running on the same weekend as Sheffield Slaughter we didn’t have a full Chump tournament attendance, but there were 10 players (including Rhys) which made for a great atmosphere.
I ran my Big Waagh list similar to The Nameless King, with a few tweaks. I took out a Big Stabba, and a unit of Ardboyz and replaced them with a 2nd Warchanter and Ironskullz Boyz.
Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs:
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh! – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Battleline 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
Units 4 x Ironskull’s Boyz (80)*** 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*
Core Battalions *Warlord **Hunters of the Heartlands ***Ironjawz Fist
This boosted the army to 2,000 points and meant I iwould not get a Triumph. I was a little concerned that this would give my opponent their triumph, but with +1 to wound from Waaagh Points I didn’t think I’d miss mine. Plus, the second Warchanter would give me an extra Violent Fury and some redundancy for the +2 Waaagh points.
Game 1 v David (Lumineth Realm Lords) – Savage Gains – Won 20-0
David didn’t have a typical LRL army with only 2 units of 10 Sentinels. His main damage and problem causers were Severith, Eltharion and 20 Wardens.
Refused Flank, with LRL ahead of us – Great scenary!
David went first and took the centre two objectives. He damaged some of my units with the Sentinels, and moved Severith forward who did 3 wounds on the Maw Krusha. Severiththen charged the Ironskull’s Boyz but failed to kill them. In my turn the Wurrgog Prophet stared at Severith but only did 4 wounds before I had to stop as he was close to killing himself. I used Mighty Destroyers to open a lane for the Maw Krusha who used Fast Un to move nearer Sevirth. I then Hand of Gork’d 10 Brutes onto the objective on my left.
I charged the Maw Krusha into Severith, having zoned him out so he could only retreat in one direction. Doing 1 wound in shooting, Severith moved at the end of the shooting phase putting him 11″ from the Maw Krusha! I rolled the charge… and got him. Despite having called ‘Monstrous Takeover’ I left the objective and charged Severith – killing him.
The Brutes then charged a small unit of Wardens and killed them as well.
I then got turn two, Brutes charged 10 Sentinels, Maw Krusha charged the 20 wardens, and the Eels were also charged. I destroyed much of what I charged, although David did kill the Maw Krusha in his second turn. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough left to hold all the objectives, so when 6 Brutes walked onto his home objective, he couldn’t shift them off.
Game 2 v Chrissie Coram (Ironjawz) – Power Struggle – Won 14-6
Chrissie has recently switched back to Ironjawz, and had an extra toy for this tournament — Kragnos!!
Chrissie’s Lovely Hellboy inspired Kragnos.
Chrissie went first and took the centre objective with Kragnos getting maximum points. I then moved my Arboyz to keep two lines of screening troops between me and Kragnos. I also cast Hand of Gork on 10 Brutes, who successfully charged Chrissie’s 2×5 Brutes and killed them all over 2 turns, with minimal loss. I also positioned the Wurgogg so that he would be within 12″ of Kragnos if Chrissie charged my screens.
I won the second turn and didn’t move much except to shuffle my screens a little. This mean I got max points again for minimal effort. In Chrissie’s second turn, she took my left objective which was held by 2 Big Stabbas. Unfortunately, she failed the charge with the Maw Krusha leaving me with 1 Big Stabba. Kragnos charged in the centre into 2 Arboyz units. He killed one, but failed to kill the other completely.
I won priority again turn 3, but with Kragnos in combat I gave the turn to Chrissie, and destroyed her right most objective. The Maw Krusha finished off the Big Stabbas, and Kraggy retreated to achieve Savage Spearhead with monsters, and get out of 12″ range of the Wurgogg. My turn 3 was again mostly uneventful, although my Gore-Gruntas caught the Shaman and Warchanter in combat and killed the Shaman.
Chrissie won turn 3, and took the central objective putting us on 2 each. Unfortunately, she had to leave Kraggy within 12″ of the Wurgogg because of this, and so I took the opportunity and stared at him with the Wurrgog! The Wurgogg died but not before doing 14 wounds to Kraggy. This allowed the Brutes to charge Kragnos and killed him, taking the central objective back.
Chrissie won turn 4, moved the Maw Krusha to the centre, scoring 3. And I scored 3 as well.
Turn five saw me trying to charge the Maw Krusha and failing with a reroll; Chrissie had more luck charging my Maw Krusha but with finest hour on both big guys minimal damage was done. I won 28-21, but it was touch and go throughout, and a great game.
Game 3 v Moobs (Cities of Sigmar) – Power in Numbers – Won 19-1
Moobs was using Living Cities so was able to hold 3 units off the table and come on the board edge. This made me deploy with my screens forward and everything else back, and the Maw Krusha in the middle so it couldn’t be shot when the Irondrakes came on the board.
I was given first turn and the Gore Gruntas charged the Branchwraith and a unit of Freeguild Guard. I also cast Hand of Gork on Brutes to reduce Moobs options for bringing on units to his board edge or my left. The Gore Gruntas left the Branchwraith and Freeguild on one wound/model as I split my attacks, but took the objective.
The Fulminators came on turn 1 and were joined by the Frostheart Pheonix who took the objective on my left. They killed the Ardboyz, but the one Fulminator failed to kill any Big Stabbas. In combat I finished off the Branchwraith & Freeguild. Unfortunately, he miscast with the Hurricanum and failed Emerald Life Swarm meaning the shooting was only 2 dice… for most of the game!
Turn 2, and another Hand of Gork blocked off some of my left, reducing the options for the Irondrakes further, whilst the Maw Krusha charged the Fulminators killing 3 of them – helped by the fact they couldn’t unleash hell because of the Big Stabbas. The Brutes meanwhile pushed onto and towards other objectives. Moobs ran and charged the Warchanter on my central objectives, killing him and capturing it.
Moobs won turn 3, and the Irondrakes came on on my left, but were only in range of Ironskull’s Boyz – and failed to kill them! The Pheonix killed the other Warchanter and took my other objective, but gave up the centre one again. Meanwhile the Pheonix Guard charged my Gore Gruntas (in turn 2) and finished them off.
My turn 3, and my man of the match (the Wurrgog) went mad and stared the Pheonix to death without losing any wounds…. and that was game!
So I finished 3-0, as the only person undefeated and another 3 wins for Big Waaagh! They really suit my playstyle and are a great army! I’m looking forward to trying out some Kruleboyz content at some point this year.
I won a Warcry boxset sponsored by SCN Hobby – thank you Sarah!
Cheers Rhys for a great tournament – Goes to show that you don’t need large tournaments all the time; small ones are just as fun!
The Armada Two Player Starter Set is the perfect place to start your journey onto the seas of Pannithor in the Kings Of War universe.
Everything you need for two-players to start their own fleet of courageous Basileans or marauding orcs, along with a rulebook, tokens, ship cards and a paper gaming mat.
Players control 6 to 9 ships in 10 different scenarios. Rules cover speed, fire, boarding action, weather, wind, terrain…
The Mantic Games YouTube channel has a great set of introduction videos on how to play Armada.
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Wind & Initiative
Part 3 – Movement
Part 4 – Shooting
Part 5 – Boarding Action
Part 6 – Evading & Ramming
Miniatures
For official Miniatures, Mantic Games have the a fantastic range of products. This range is also constantly being added to with new models.
They have a number of fleet sets all listed at £37.50. Or alternatively you could purchase the two player Armada Starter Set for £87.50. This contains two fleets, rules, tokens and gaming mat.
Kings of War is the miniatures wargame from Mantic Games. Designed to go along with the accompanying 28mm Fantasy Ranges the game features players maneuvering large blocks of miniature soldiers around the battlefield in search of victory.
Kings of War is a new concept for mass battle miniature wargaming — a game that is both easy to learn and fast to play! With few and simple rules, there is little to get in the way of the fun and slaughter. Kings of War is a challenging game of strategy, where you can pit your wits against your opponent without devoting half of your brain power to remember a plethora of convoluted rules.
And that’s not all, the innovative turn structure allows you to play Kings of War using a time-keeping tool (like a stopwatch or a chess clock) to time your moves. As the seconds tick away, the pressure and excitement this adds makes ‘Kings of War’ unlike any other large-scale wargame you’ve ever played before.
Death by Dragons on YouTube has a number of videos explaining how to play Kings of War.
Part 1 – What you need to play
Part 2 – The Movement Phase
Part 3 – The Shooting Phase
Part 4 – The Combat Phase
Miniatures
You can pretty much use any fantasy miniatures for this game as most on the market make good proxies in the game. You can even use your old Warhammer fantasy armies. However for official Miniatures Mantic Games have the a fantastic range of products.
They have a number of armies sets all listed at £110. Or alternatively you could purchase the two player A Storm in the Shires set for £80. This is currently on pre-order only but contains 87 miniatures of Orcs and Halflings as well as a copy of the rules.
All of us at Woehammer have been playing wargames in various forms for around 30 years now. So we thought it may be a good idea to go through what we think are some of the best things to do as a beginner who is just starting out with miniature wargaming as a hobby.
William – I would definitely recommend anyone new to the hobby to get whatever hobby bits they need and to start small with a basic box of troops/battle line, and just practice techniques and colour themes so that the money invested is small and you get a basic grip on things. Like undercoating, base coats, washes, highlights, dry brushing, learning to thin paints and building a good foundation. Then when you do buy that starter box, whole army or whatever, you are more confident and not so overwhelmed by everything.
Peter – So much to say and so little time! Firstly, you may have been attracted to the hobby by all the beautifully painted miniatures you’ve seen online, in a shop window or magazine. My first tip is never to compare your own work to these, especially when you’re just starting out. Much of the time the beautifully painted minis you see will have been painted by professionals or someone who has been painting minis for decades. Always compare to your past self, if you see improvement and you like your work then that is all that matters. Looking at those minis is great for inspiration, but that’s all I would use them for.
The Citadel Colour Website has a number of fantastic painting tutorials for the beginner explaining many of the basic techniques as well as how to paint some of their miniatures. These are a great start for those just starting out in miniature painting.
Don’t necessarily buy your miniatures straight from the manufacturers like Games Workshop. If you shop around you can often find retailers who offer a 20% or like our friends at SCN Hobby World a 25% discount on the models and paints you want.If you’re just starting out and just want to test some colour schemes then eBay may be your best option to find second hand models to practice on.
Start small, plan ahead. Make sure you like both the aesthetic of an army and their play style before you dive right in.Once you find an army you like, start with a small force of perhaps 500 points and paint that up.
Every wargamer ends up with a large backlog of miniatures, IF this is something you want to avoid then try and restrict yourself to buying new units only once you have cleared your current backlog.
When it comes to painting, many of us have moved away from Games Workshop spray paints (£12.99) and use Halfords (£8.99) paints instead. Just as good and a fraction of the price.
Though the above are metallic, you’ll find tonnes of black primer and white primer there too.
Declan – Most important advice I’ve had… “your Hobby, your way”. There’s so many options with collecting, assembling, painting, playing and loads of companies that produce toys including some great smaller ones. Don’t be put off by others or what you see on social media – 99.9% of gamers are welcoming to new players and happy to share wisdom. I’m more into playing, so with that in mind:
Find a local club if you can – social media is great for this – and if you can’t don’t be afraid to start a small club and see what happens. Shop locally where possible as your Freindly Local Games Store (FLGS) – you don’t need to buy directly from Games Workshop or the other manufacturers, and your local shops will often have places to play or small events that you can dip your toe into. These smaller local events often are okay if you bring unpainted models so you can get into the gaming straight away.
Hull’s Angels Wargaming Club
If you do want to go to avents check out the Tournament calendars available in your area, and let the organiser know you are new.
Don’t worry about Hobby slumps – they happen to us all – just find something you enjoy and paint / play / read around that.
And finally – there is no requirement to play Games Workshop games or use their miniatures – there are so many great manufacturers and game systems out there; you will likely find a niche and you’ll be surprised how many people will play it… sometimes all a community needs is for someone to go first.
A Game of Black Seas by Waerlord Games
Dave – Buy items like snippers and tape measures from your local hardware store rather than places like Games Workshop.As a comparison, a Games Workshop tape measure costs £5.50 whereas an equivalent from Screwfix will cost £3.99.
Likewise with Brushes – you can get cheap brushes by the dozen from Amazon and sometimes good deals in wilko etc.
Paints, the obvious place to start is GW as these are likely your first exposure and most of the tutorials you find and free lessons in store will be with their paints. It’s worth trying out contrast and shades as a beginner. You can great bang for your buck with Vallejo though and these will last you longer for less.
Vallejo Model Colour Set
Glues, lots of cheap options are available, you need a polystyrene cement for plastics, superglue for resins or the rarer metal miniatures.
Very First minis – GW stores if I remember correctly will give you a free mini for an introductory painting session. Maybe ask a buddy if they have a spare mini if you want to find out how you feel about painting.
But ask yourself, are you Painting minis or starting an army?
If you enjoy painting and want to pursue that, you might start with something relatively simple like Stormcast or space marines. It’s worth thinking about what you want to do though, something like ogres has lots of different textures and can help you learn new techniques to deal with furs, flatter panels, skin and faces on a relatively forgiving model. Choose a model with a relatively open pose if you see one you like, brush control is not easy and accidentally catching something you already painted can be frustrating. Most of all, though, choose a mini which excites you.
GW paint Starter Set with Space Marine Miniatures
Starting an army.
Find a faction you like and read up on their lore, ask anybody you know who plays them about how they play. See if you can get a few games with a borrowed army and see if you enjoy them. Be a bit self-aware, if you aren’t the sort of person who can face painting hundreds of termagants, or whatever, then that’s probably not the army compositionfor you.
Here’s what you probably should do and nobodyactually does – choose the minimum ’legal’ army and build and paint that while playing to learn the game and your army. Don’t be tempted to buy a big army box or a dozen units as it can be disheartening and you could end up with models you don’t really want. Path to Glory/Crusade can be an option here if you’re playing one of those games. For smaller skirmish games this is less of an issue but do finish your base gang before moving on.
If you aren’t playing Path to Glory, or similar, consider building your army up in blocks of a playable amount. E.g. get some 500 point games and after you have finished your first block of models then collect another 500 and play 1k etc.
500 points of Orks for Warhammer 40,000
Stickwithitness….. there will be times when you’ll get frustrated or disheartened. I think it’s worth trying to have a mix of units insofar as you can to avoid that. E.g. if your first army is for AoS and you’re looking at a couple of battleline and a leader, try and get two different battleline which build a bit differently and paint a bit differently to give yourself variety.
Give yourself ‘rewards’ if that works for you e.g. painted your battleline unit then treat yourself with a monster, a character or a tank.
Perfect is the enemy of the good. Get your minis painted and on the table, don’t be intimidated just get paint on them.
There you go, all our sagely advice written down for prosperity. Hopefully it helps!
I read Gaunts Ghost’s on their first release, but lost track of the books after a while. When Black Library offered the first trilogy on ebook at a discount I picked them up and have started to re-read them. You can read my review of the first book First and Only here; and the second Ghostmaker here.
The last book of the opening trilogy is Necropolis:
On the world of Verghast, a grinding war between two hive cities – one loyal to the Imperium, the other fallen to the worship of the Dark Gods – is bolstered by the forces of the Astra Militarum, spearheaded by the Colonel-Commissar Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only. But bitter rivalries and treachery threaten to derail the defence of Vervunhive, and it falls to Gaunt to take command of the Imperial forces and forge victory from an almost certain defeat.
Necropolis is the third book in the Gaunt’s Ghosts series and it is getting closer and closer to being Sharpe in Space…! Or at least Sharpe does Warhammer. Whilst the first two books were essentially collections of short-stories about the Ghosts this is the first story about one battlefield from beginning to end.
Vervunhive is under attack from a neighbouring hive and the Warmaster has sent a few Imperial Guard regiments to shore up the defenses – but Gaunt and his fellow commanders are about to find that there is something more troubling is behind the attack – and that the defenders are not all fully invested in ensuring Vervunhive stands.
Abnett keeps all the action clear despite dotting around about the various combat zones. He also brings short vignettes of soldiers and hivers fighting and dying for minimal gains – or none at all. The Gaunt’s Ghosts novels are beginning to show the randomness of combat in the 41st millenium and the cruelty of it, the Imperium and the luck (or lack of it) that dogs the Ghosts.
The Emerald City Open was a five game event over two days that took place in Pull-em-ups, WA on 19th and 20th Feb. It saw 46 players fight it out to be claimed champion.
Most Selected Faction/Subfaction
No suprise that Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar lead the way again in the number of armies.
Win Rate
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The Top Three Lists
These were the top three lists from the Emerald City Open tournament.
Mat Beasley – Legion of the First Prince
Matt won all five games beating Slaves to Darkness/Ravagers in Round 1, Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in Round 2, Daughters of Khaine/Khailebron in Round 3, Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in Round 4 and Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in the last round.
Allegiance: Legion of the First Prince – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Beast Master – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders ———-
Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)** – Lore of Ruinous Sorcery: The Master’s Command Kairos Fateweaver (435)* – Lore of Ruinous Sorcery: The Master’s Command Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280) – General – Command Trait: Ruinous Aura – Artefact: Armour of the Pact Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)** – Sword – Mark of Chaos: Khorne The Contorted Epitome (255)** – Artefact: Fourfold Blade – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline ———-
10 x Bloodletters (115)** 5 x Flesh Hounds (105)* 5 x Flesh Hounds (105)*
Declan – Matt is running an army that has been popular in the UK since AOS3 dropped back in September – in Magic the Gathering it would be called a ‘control’ deck.
Be’Lakor can cause a unit to miss entire phases once a game (which can mean two turns), Kairos can change a dice roll once a game, and the Khorne Daemon Prince halves charges.
This allows Matt to complete almost impossible Battle Tactics or – more usefully – stop an opponent succeeding in one. In games where winning by 1 point is a win this is a great ability.
However this army is not ‘pick up and play’ and needs practice, practice, practice to get right – as such a great result for Matt.
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Mason Knox – Seraphon
Mason managed an impressive four wins over the weekend, losing only to Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in Round 4. He beat Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in Round 1, Cities of Sigmar/Living City in Round 2, Lumineth Realm-Lords/Alumnia in Round 3and Cities of Sigmar/Living City in Round 5.
Army Faction: Seraphon – Army Type: Coalesced – Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Beast Master – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS ———-
Engine of the Gods (265)* – Artefacts of Power: Fusil of Conflagration – Prayers: Heal – Mount Trait: BeastMaster Skink Priest (80)* – Prayers: Guidance Slann Starmaster (265)* – General – Command Traits: Arcane Might – Spells: Stellar Tempest
BATTLELINE ———-
5 x Saurus Guard (115)* 1 x Stegadon (265)* 1 x Stegadon (265)*
BEHEMOTH ———-
1 x Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)*
OTHER ———- 10 x Chameleon Skinks (230)* 10 x Chameleon Skinks (230)*
TERRAIN ———-
1 x Realmshaper Engine (0)
CORE BATTALIONS – *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1965/2000
Declan – The Seraphon army has been tearing up the tournament scene recently and that is because it has a toolbox of options and so can pivot into any meta and any changes to the meta. Mason has taken a few of the usual suspects – Bastiladon with Solar Engine, Stegadons and Engine of the Gods – and has added his own unique twist with 2 x 10 Chameleon Skinks.
I don’t remember seeing so many before and they add their shooting to that of the longer range monsters… and the shooting meta is strong at the moment.
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Alexander Gonzalez – Soulblight Gravelords
Alexander also won four of his five games, losing only in Round 4 against Cities of Sigmar/Living City. Along the way he beat the Ossiarch Bonereapers/Mortis Praetorians in Round 1, Beast of Chaos/Allherd in Round 2, Soulblight Gravelords/Vyrkos Dynasty in Round 3 and Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in Round 5.
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435) – General – Deathlance – Command Trait: Pack Alpha – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Foetid Miasma – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Radukar the Beast (315)** Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380) – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
Battleline ———-
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** 10 x Dire Wolves (135)**
Units ———-
20 x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1 20 x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions *Hunters of the Heartlands **Battle Regiment
Declan – 40 Grave Guard! Wow! I’ve fought 20 of them before and they can kill a Mega Gargant over a couple of rounds of combat. Backed up by Mannfred and a Zombie Dragon, this army can get where it needs to get to.
The really secret tech (may not be secret) is Mannfred’s command ability:
From: Wahapedia
Considering most armies pay 1 command point for a one phase +1 to hit this is amazing value for a command ability. Sure it’s a relatively small range but with the smaller boards and Mannfred’s ability to run away from combat this is almost impossible to stop. Then it’s Grave Guard for the win!
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Wildcard – Brian Cox – Beast of Chaos
Brian won 4 games with Beasts of Chaos and finished the event in 7th. He lost second game against eventually 3rd place finisher Alex and his Soulblight Gravelords/Vyrkos Dynasty list. He won against Beasts of Chaos in Round 1, Legion of the First Prince in Round 3, Cities of Sigmar/Living City in Round 4 (which included 40 crossbows, 4x Stormdrake Guard and 4x Fulminators) and Daughters of Khaine/Khailebron in the last round. Truly a great achievement.
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders ———-
Doombull (115)* – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Grashrak Fellhoof (150)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Savage Dominion Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)*** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Battleline ———-
3 x Bullgors (130)** – Great Axes 3 x Bullgors (130)** – Great Axes 3 x Bullgors (130)** – Great Axes 3 x Bullgors (130)*** – Great Axes 3 x Bullgors (130)*** – Great Axes
Units ———-
3 x Tzaangor Enlightened of Beasts of Chaos (95)*** 3 x Tzaangor Enlightened of Beasts of Chaos (95) 3 x Tzaangor Enlightened of Beasts of Chaos (95) 3 x Tzaangor Enlightened of Beasts of Chaos (95) 10 x Ungor Raiders (90) 10 x Ungor Raiders (90) 10 x Ungor Raiders (90) 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (95) – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations ———-
Doomblast Dirgehorn (45)
Core Battalions *Warlord **Hunters of the Heartlands ***Vanguard
Declan – Another great choice from Peter. 17 drops is immense and really brings a clear example of MSU (multiple small units).
The ally – Mindstealer Sphinx – at 95 points is a bargain of a Monster in the Realm of Ghur allowing Brian to pick up the Monsterous Takeover battle tactic, and his large number of units probably gave him good control over the board.
I’ve not played BoC in the AOS3 because they aren’t doing well or present in the Meta much. Hopefully this will encourage a resurgance – and the game will be better for it! Congratulations to Brian for doing really well with a lower tier army!
Lone Star GT was a five game event over two days that took place in Texas, US on 19th and 20th Feb. It saw a 100 players duke it out to be claimed champion.
Most Selected Faction/Subfaction
No suprise that Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar lead the way in the number of armies, but perhaps Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty having six is fairly surprising.
Win Rate
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The Top Three Lists
These were the top three lists from the Lone Star GT tournament.
Zachary Kennedy – Seraphon
Zachary won all five games beating Lumineth Realm-Lords/Syar in Round 1, Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in Round 2, Jiwan Noah Singh and his Ironjaws/Bloodtoofs in Round 3, Ronjaws/Bloodtoofs in Round 4 and Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of sigmar in the last round.
Declan – the Seraphon have a lot of options… so many in fact that they seem able to adapt to any meta, with almost any list. This is different to Mike Stewart’s List from Bloodshed in the Shires, but is just as good. Zachary has chosen to give up the possibility of chosing start player for the artefacts and extra command point from Warlord battalion.
From Wahapedia
For example the Fusil of Conflagration is another mortal wound at distance to take off the last few wounds. It’s not going to win games, but its a great little addition for all important mortal damage. The Bastiladon with Solar Engine is a great piece giving large ranged damage, whilst there are off-the-wall selections including the Ark of Sotek.
It’s a really interesting list, and I’m not sure how I would beat it – especially with the large units of Skinks with all the buffs applied!
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Gavin Grigar – Gloomspite Gitz (Yes! Really!)
Gavin the winner of the LVO in 2022 returns with a Gloomspite Gitz list and manages to take them to five wins over five rounds (Declan take notes!) Why not check his recent interview out with the AoS Coach on winning a grand tournament like the LVO here. During Lone Star he beat Disciples of Tzeentch/Hosts Duplicitous in Round 1, Idoneth Deepkin/Fuethan in Round 2, Karl Rohr and Legion of the First Prince in Round 3, Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in Round 4 and Thomas Zhennan Guan with his Maggotkin of Nurgle/Droning Guard in Round 5.
Leaders Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)* Fungoid Cave-Shaman (95)* – Lore of the Moonclans: Squig Lure Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig (110)* – General – Moonclan Stabba – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Battleline 36 x Squig Herd (480)* – Reinforced x 2 12 x Squig Herd (160)* 12 x Squig Herd (160)*
Units 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75)* 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75)*
Declan – WooHoo… Gloomspite Gitz…! I’m amazed; Gavin has done brilliantly here given the current win-rate of GG – 31% according to The Honest Wargamer Stats Team. I know personally how much of a tarpit the 36 squigs are (72 wounds) and when killed they can come back through the Loonshrine.
Clearly Kragnos does all the heavy lifting here, and I am amazed he didn’t get shot off the table, but Gavin appears to have dodged all the shooting. This shouldn’t distract from the achievement though – 5-0 with Gitz… living the dream!
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Jonathon Schlieszus – Ossiarch Bonereapers
Jonathon also won all of his games. Along the way he beat the Maggotkin of Nurgle/Munificent Wanderers in Round 1, Sons of Behemat/Taker Tribe in Round 2, Ironjaws/Bloodtoofs in Round 3, Legion of the First Prince in Round 4 and beat Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in Round 5.
Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Mortis Praetorians – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis (450) Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (360) Liege-Kavalos (185) – General – Command Trait: Katakros’ Chosen – Artefact: Artificer’s Blade
Battleline 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 1 10 x Mortek Guard (140)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield 10 x Mortek Guard (140)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield
Declan – With the changes to the Nagash warscroll in the December update there was some concern on twitter that the Ossiarch’s would struggle to keep up with their previous successes (or Owen Jackson’s previous successes!!!).
The Mortek Crawler gives ranged attacks whilst the Harvester sits behind the Mortek Guard and brings them back. They are difficult enough to kill without this added survivability. You really need to go all in to kill the Guard… and even then you may not be successful.
Finally Arkhan is a great Wizard with bonuses to cast, but his utility and benefit comes from his command ability:
Wahapedia
The extra range gives Curse of Years a scary 24″ range so it’s almost impossible to avoid the mortal wound output. Either dispel it, or hope your opponent fails to roll 6s in the first roll!
Another great success with an army that is seen as weak in the meta. Well done to Jonathan.
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Wildcard – Chris Carlile – Skaventide
Chris won three games with Skaventide which is no easy thing in the current meta. He lost his first two games against Nighthaunt/Reikenor’s Condemned in Round 1 and Ironjaws/Ironsunz in Round 2. After that though he came back swinging beating Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in Round 3, Cities of Sigmar/Greywater Fastness in Round 4 and Kruleboyz/Big Yellers in the last round.
Declan – This is an interesting pick from Peter and I can understand why he’s gone with it. 60 Clanrats is a brave collection of cowards, but a cheap way to hold back objectives, whilst the Warp Lightning Cannons scour the board of your opponent’s models.
Thanquol has loads of Warp guns… but the suprise here is Lord Skreech. In fact I’ve never faced in Age of Sigmar and had to look up his scroll!
Wahapedia (again)
He has more keywords than I’ve seen in most warscrolls, re-roll 1s to wound in combat, and can bring in summoned Clanrats with Dreaded Thirteenth Spell (and cause mortal wounds at range) and can use his Knowledge to select the right tools at the right time. A list I would love to play – although perhaps not with my Kragnos!
Three more models completes for the tournament army. Like the rest these are mainly base coats and washed with very little highlighting apart from any exposed skin or any yellow.
I’ve still got another 15 of these lads to paint!
Meanwhile I’m also nearly done with the Beast-Skewer
