This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Miniparadice Anniversary Tournament that took place in Germany on 23rd and 24th July. It involved 38 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Allegiance: Tzeentch
– Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Krysothea – The Lady Of Arcana (400)*
Lord of Change
– Staff of Tzeentch and Rod of Sorcery
– General
– Command Trait: Spell Hunters
– Artefact: Wellspring of Arcane Might
– Lore of Change: Tzeentch’s Firestorm
Kai & Ross – The Surfing Bird(s) (435)**
Kairos Fateweaver
– Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch
Birdie Mc Birdface (140)**
Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch
– Artefact: The Fanged Circlet
– Lore of Change: Unchecked Mutation
– Krondspine Bonded
Vilitch & Thomin (180)**
Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch
– Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate

Battleline
3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)*
3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)*
3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)*

Behemoths
Changespine, Incarnate of Tzeentch (400)*
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
– Allies

Endless Spells & Invocations
Umbral Spellportal (70)
Chronomantic Cogs (40)
The Burning Head (20)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 65
Drops: 4

Peter: This army revolves around the quick Screamers of Tzeentch (16″) and buffing them with heroes while the Krondspine eats stuff and the casters chip away mortal wound damage via various spells.

This Hosts Arcanum army will allow you to move D3 of those Screamers of Tzeentch units 6″ before the battle even begins. Meaning that with their 16″ move they have the potential threat range of 34″ in the first turn alone. They’re ok in combat as well with 3 attacks each hitting on 4+ and wounding on 3+, no rend though and only 1 damage per attack. That puts their average damage output at 3 damage before any saves are made. They’re better against monsters as the damage changes to D3 and means that average damage output jumps up to 9 damage.

The Fanged Circlet, which has to be taken in a Hosts Arcanum list as the first Artefact isn’t exactly a burden to take when once per battle it will allow you to summon a unit of 6 Screamers of Tzeentch near the Changecaster.

But really the Krondspine is here to do all the smashing while the Screamers of Tzeentch cap off the objectives.

This is a strong magic list made stronger by the ability to auto unbind one spell in the 1st, 3rd and 5th rounds. If they don’t want you to get Purple Sun off then it’s unlikely you’ll manage it unless in rounds 2 or 4. On top of that the Lord of Change has the Wellspring of Arcane Might allowing it to re-roll it’s casting and unbind rolls. The Chronomantic Cogs will also give this ability to other casters as well.

This list has three spells for causing mortal wounds on the enemy, Tzeentch’s Firestorm (CV9) allows the player to target an enemy unit within 18″ and roll 9 dice with each 6 causing D3 mortal wounds. Unchecked Mutation (CV6) also with a range of 18″ can also cause D3 mortal wounds on a unit, if that successfully removed a model then it will cause an additional D3 mortal wounds on the same unit. Finally there’s Bolt of Tzeentch (CV7) also with a range of 18″ which automatically cause D6 mortal wounds on a target unit within range. But where you’re reading 18″ these can be extended to 36″ with the use of the Umbral Spellportal.

In summary this list is designed to dominate the hero phase unbinding enemy spells and doing a lot of mortal wound damage with its own.

Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle
– Subfaction: Filthbringers
– Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Rot Coven Rotbringer Sorcerer (120)*
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease
– Lore of Malignance: Cloying Quagmire
Rot Coven Rotbringer Sorcerer (120)*
– Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease
– Lore of Malignance: Cloying Quagmire
Rot Coven Rotbringer Sorcerer (120)*
– Lore of Malignance: Blades Of Putrifaction
– Lore of Malignance: Magnificent Buboes

Battleline
10 x Putrid Blightkings (500)***
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)***
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)**
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)**
10 x Plaguebearers (150)***

Units
2 x Nurglings (105)**

Endless Spells & Invocations
Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)
Shards of Valagharr (50)
Purple Sun of Shyish (70)

Core Battalions
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Bounty Hunters
***Expert Conquerors

Additional Enhancements
Spell

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 142
Drops: 9

Peter: Another Rotbringer Coven list that leans heavily into magic – it even has the much discussed Purple Sun.

It’s no surprise that it perhaps drew with the other magic heavy Disciples of Tzeentch list that won the event as they would perhaps cancel each other out.

With offensive units (Pusgoyle Blightlords) and defensive units (Plaguebearers) this army is going to try and get all over the objectives as soon as it can. All the while the Nurgle magic and disease points will be taking their toll on the opponent

Brett: Moggotkin are popular in Germany it seems with 2 of the top 3 armies from the faction. They represent the 2 most popular sub-factions (Filthbringers and Drowned Men) which are either side of the magic/combat divide. Colin appears to like variety, the Blightlords aren’t battleline of course. Nurglings in Bounty Hunters is interesting but there isn’t room anywhere else for them. How embarrassing to be killed by a damage 2 Nurgling.

At it’s heart this is a castle type army that can sit on objectives while being hard to remove. Including the Blightlords give it some offensive punch, particularly as Bounty Hunters but they will almost be sniping since you don’t want them to be isolated and unsupported. The Endless Spells round out the offensive part of the list. Shards of Valagharr (CV5) and Gnashing Jaws (CV6) are both reasonably easy to cast. Shards is an interesting and unusual inclusion, removing fly and having movement makes it much easier for slow moving Blightkings to come to blows. You want that because every 6 is a disease point. It’s easy for the large unit 10 thing unit to max disease points every turn.

One last point, each of the Endless spells is also diseased since it was cast by a Rotbringer. All up this is a pretty tight army that should outlast most others. If you can avoid the Blightlords and remove the Rotbringers it should be easier to tackle. It’s not flashy but board control and consistent mortal wound output will win games as you can see here. Even the chosen spells lean into the toughness (debuffing your opponent) and increasing the application of disease points. Host Arcanum into this army would have been very interesting to watch. The Host Arcanum army featured big daemons for the most part that aren’t also the best at combat. Into an army with 5+ wards that can resist a lot of their magic forcing them to rely on combat. Where the HA will get mortal wounds (from disease points) that they can’t shrug.

Otherwise the army saw off all comers including Sons of Behemat, I can’t see the list but I’m guessing it had Manchrushers. It’s an interesting win since this isn’t a DPS army and Sons are a DPS check. Goes to show that playing the mission and not the player is the important part.

Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle
– Subfaction: Drowned Men
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Lord of Afflictions (210)*
– General
– Command Trait: Overpowering Stench
– Artefact: The Splithorn Helm
Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)*
– Allies

Battleline
4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)**
– Reinforced x 1
4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)**
– Reinforced x 1
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*

Units
1 x Pusgoyle Blightlords – Single (110)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Bounty Hunters

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 360 / 400
Wounds: 125
Drops: 3

Peter: This is a time honoured list from the earlier General’s Handbook and one that was fairly common. Lots of Pusgoyle Blightlords with their 8″ movement plus the pre-game movement as well. The Lord of Afflictions gives options to drop two fly units with him from reserve. The whole list revolves around pinning you in your deployment zone and making your way through the really tough Nurgle units. Board control is its key.

Be’Lakor has been added to this list in place of a second Lord of Afflictions. He’s a beat stick himself, but can add to the pinning effect with his once per battle ability The Dark Master where on a 3+ in each phase the chosen unit cannot act.

A quick army (8″ move) with a tough hide means you’ll be hard pressed to steal the objectives away.

Brett: As Peter said this is a fairly common army that reaches back to before Season 1 kicked off. It plays well into the new harder Battle Tactics with it’s combination of resilience and movement. Drowned Men giving everything other than Belakor a 8″ pregame move is a big part of this. You can see how your opponent deploys and reacts. That also makes taking Bounty Hunters and a Battle Regiment more palatable, reducing the sting if you don’t finish deploying first.

The inclusion of Belakor brings 2 casts/unbinds to a list with little magic and is a combat monster with several powers to enhance his combat effectiveness, or longevity at least. The army is very combat focused, his high mobility with the Lord of Afflictions The Swarm Descends giving long range and threatening home objectives. The Blighlords can chew through screens efficiently giving the army a strong chance to deal with shooting. Through the event he only lost to the winner (in the final round) and took down several armies with access to solid shooting. The mobility and robustness of the army would have been an issue for both Idoneth and Stormcast.

Disease points make staying in combat for any length of time a loosing proposition. It gives a solid advantage against Ossiarch and Stormcast who have good saves but whose damage output might not be as high as the elves.

Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Great Nation: Zaitrec
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Vanari Lord Regent (155)*
– General
– Command Trait: Fast Learner
– Extra Spell: Lambent Light
– Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh
Hurakan Windmage (120)*
– Extra Spell: Guiding Flurries
– Lore of the Winds: Transporting Vortex
Scinari Loreseeker (170)*
– Artefact: Gift of Celennar
– Extra Spell: Lambent Light
– Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh

Battleline
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*
– Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*
– Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)*
– Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)*
– Lore of Hysh: Total Eclipse
– Reinforced x 2
30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)*
– Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh
– Reinforced x 2

Endless Spells & Invocations
Chronomantic Cogs (40)
Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 107
Drops: 1

Peter: Players often complain about Lumineth, but right now after the release of the new handbook, they’re not in a good place with a sub 45% win rate. That’s why I chose this list, Daniel’s done exceptionally well to claim four wins in the tournament.

Brett: I’d complain about this list as well – that’s 60 archers with 30″ range and potentially MW on 5+. This sort of list was common on the release of Lumineth and faded when no one would play them. An average 20 MW a shooting phase is enough to get anyone’s notice. Here Daniel has played into the small heroes to maximise troops so has 3 x 10 Wardens, arguably better than the Sentinels, for screening and generally being painful to deal with. If you charge into them they get extra rend and wound on a 3+. Assuming they don’t redeploy and leave you hanging for the next shooting phase.

Everything in this list is a wizard and everything has unbinds so your hero phase is likely to be “interesting”. Their spell lore is incredibly good at buffing and protecting the slightly soft Aelves, Speed of Hysh, doubling movement, Lambent Light, rerolls hit rolls with missile weapons, Protection of Hysh, 5+ ward. Guiding Flurries adds range and Transport Vortex, well that’s just a teleport. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, you’d be mad to give an elf a chisel lest he carve his initials in your forehead with it. This lot would probably expect you to thank them.

The heroes are here mostly as buff characters but do offer some combat capacity if pushed (not the Windmage though). The army can easily divide into 2 shooting castles and dare you to engage. If need there is still the ability to teleport using vortex. This style of army was popular in the past but faded with the rise of DoK and Sons. And probably the painting of so many Sentinels. There are definite counters and because virtually the whole army is Galetian Veterans they are very susceptible to Bounty Hunter units. Good work from Daniel in piloting such an army and particularly in taking out 2 armies thought to offer good counters.

Final Tournament Placings

For the full tournament placings and other lists see Tabletop.TO