Top Three AoS Lists for the Proving Grounds

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This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Proving Grounds that took place in Canada on 22nd and 23rd October. It involved 15 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.

Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.

If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?

Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.

The Top Three AoS Lists

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm)
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Lord-Imperatant (175)*
General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome
– Spell: Celestial Blades
Lord-Commander Bastian Carthalos (300)*
Lord-Relictor (145)*
Prayer: Translocation
Knight-Judicator with Gryph-Hounds (205)*

UNITS
3 x Annihilators (200)***
3 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (240)***
2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)***
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
5 x Vindictors (130)**
5 x Vindictors (130)**

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord (Magnificent Bonus: Additional Holy Command)
**Expert Conquerors
***Bounty Hunters

ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS
Holy Command: Call for Aid
Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley

TOTAL: 1995/2000
WOUNDS: 83
DROPS:10

Brett: Now we’re talking, 1 of almost everything really good in the SCE book, drops be damned. The result is some really powerful mortal wound projection and good mobility with Translocation, Annihilators and Fulminators. That combined with Bastian and 30″ shooting is punishing. He’s only lost to a list that could get close enough in the early rounds. With the Annihilators only coming in from reserve the Idoneth could really get an advantage in early rounds. We never see 2x Holy Commands, but I think they are underrated. Here they are giving an extra round of shooting and an extra 10 wounds.

This is just a fun list to play with and has some of the best or most interesting units SCE can bring.

Declan: Small tournaments are great in that you can win with a good 4-1 result, and it means the number of 0-5s is hopefully limited — in this case zero! But Matthew has come out on top with a SCE list that has teleporting, armour saves, and good shooting. It’s also a list we’ve seen before but Translocation has gone out of favour recently – so it’s good to see it still being good enough to get success.

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Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin
Army Subfaction: Nautilar
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADER
1 x Eidolon of Mathlann Aspect of the Storm (355)**
Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Arcane Corrasion
1 x Akhelian King (250)**
General
– Command Traits: Unstoppable Fury
– Bladed Polearm and Falchion
– Artefacts: Armour of the Cythai
– Mount Traits: Voidchill Darkness
1 x Lotann (115)**

BATTLELINE
1 x Akhelian Leviadon (500)*
Mount Traits: Ancient
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
10 x Namarti Thralls (130)***
10 x Namarti Thralls (130)***

TERRAIN
1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)

OTHER
2 x Akhelian Allopexes (330)*
Alpha Allopex
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Bounty Hunters
**Warlord
***Expert Conquerors

TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)

Brett: This is a very interesting top 3, this list beat the one in first and was beaten by the list below in third. I haven’t seen that before. Idoneth is still throwing up a lot of variety, they haven’t taken a lot of tournaments so there is no “net list”. Here there is a return to the Allopexes/Leviadon with a supporting cast of infantry. Of course Eidolon and the Ahkelian King are here as hammers. Turn priority is important for Idoneth and would have worked in Pendelton’s favour against first place. The heavy hitters here and Reavers could do devastating damage to the small SCE units in the first turn and then deal with Annihilators. Pretty much every other list would have suffered exactly the same way, unless they had Gotrek or a Big Dragon.

Declan: Good to see IdK still doing well – even if they are Aelves. This is a relatively ‘normal’ list since the new book with Leviadon (big turtle), some sharks, a king and a Eidolon. It’s an interesting list which seems to rely on the characters, sharks and turtle… although don’t underestimate the Thralls. I prefer them in bigger units, but they can still contribute to the game.

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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm)
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADERS
Gardus Steel Soul (150)**
Lord-Relictor (145)**
Prayer: Translocation
Lord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)**
General
– Celestine Hammer
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts
– Spell: Thundershock
Gotrek Gurnisson (485)**
Allies

UNITS
5 x Liberators (115)*
Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
5 x Liberators (115)*
Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
5 x Liberators (115)*
Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)
Everblaze Comet (100)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Expert Conquerors
**Battle Regiment
Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley

Total: 1965 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 485 / 400
Wounds: 74
Drops: 5

Brett: And so here is an army you don’t want to get close to, Gotrek , 5+ wards and fight on death for all of those enticing Liberators. Long range shooting and a dragon are always pretty effective. This list is really banking on Everblaze, Stardrake and the Longstrikes to weaken you at range (30″ to 36″). If there is a weakness it’s the crippling lack of mobility in this force. You can teleport (or translocate them) but their scoring opportunities are going to be fewer with only 4″ to 6″ on everything other than the dragon. You really want the enemy to be coming to you which looks like what happened. His only loss was to another fight on death army. Zainthar Kai is brutal with so many attacks and they get to you fast so it makes sense.

Declan: 2 big characters! We’ve not seen Gotrek in a while and the little dwarf is here to provide a big bubble that the enemy doesn’t want to go into. He’s still a monster in combat and can safely kill most things in the game if he can roll normally.

It’s also great to see a Stardrake doing well – it’s seen as overcoasted by most players but the model is great – even I own one. It’s also a great centre piece for drawing attention to the army – something Gotrek just can’t do.

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Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar
Army Type: Living City
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Doralia ven Denst (115)**
Freeguild General (100)**
Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Lifesurge
Freeguild General on Griffon (290)***
General
– Command Traits: Ironoak Artisan
– Sigmarite Runesword
– Artefacts of Power: Spear of the Hunt
– Mount Traits: Soaring Guardian
Galen Ven Denst (115)***
Haskel Hexbane (180)***

BATTLELINE
Demigryph Knights (175)*
Preceptor
– Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Demigryph Knight’s Lance
Freeguild Greatswords (150)*
Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Guild Champion
Freeguild Greatswords (300)*
Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Guild Champion
Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)**
Standard Bearer
– Piper
– Marksman
Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)**
Standard Bearer
– Piper
– Marksman
Freeguild Guard (170)**
Standard Bearer
– Drummer
– Sergeant
– Freeguild Sword and Shield

OTHER
Hexbane’s Hunters (180)**

CORE BATTALIONS
*Bounty Hunters
**Battle Regiment
***Command Entourage – Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000

Brett: Is this someone that also plays Warhammer Fantasy battles? This looks a lot like a Fantasy army (also if you are checking on Best Coast Pairings this is listed as Beastclaw Raiders but as you can see, it isn’t). Good to see the Underworlds here with Hexbane, now go see if you can find his warscroll. Huge number of rank and file combat and shooting hampered only by it’s short range. And that’s what’s happened by the looks of it, every army that needed to charge died to a hail of fire. Even the Lumineth list which was Stoneguard following their glow up in the new book. Lists with long range shooting to hit those crossbow men did a lot better. This is the first of the 3/2 lists and scored really well in all rounds (that he won) other than the last. Stoneguard are really good now.

Hard to disassemble a castle like this without shooting or spells, your best option is to play the mission and try to get tactics where you can avoid engaging. Either way try to get rid of the Demigryph Knights as soon as possible to limit his movement and remove them as a threat to your smaller units.

Declan: I’ve not reviewed a Cities of Sigmar list in a while and this one’s interesting. With both the Ven Denst’s making an appearance and with Freeguild Crossbowmen there is a ranged threat here that is not to be ignored. I’m interested in the Greatswords though.

3+/3+ is the stat-line Games Workshop are using for models and units they want to be good in combat. So the Freeguild are going to hit, and the 4+ armour save is not to be ignored. They are not cheap at 150 points for 10, but with a unit of 10 and 20, they will be able to push out some damage. It’s not seen often, as they’re probably not good enough for a 5-0, but they are great if you want to have fun and have a good paint scheme.

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for the SoCal Open Age of Sigmar Champions Event

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This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the SoCal Open that took place in USA on 22nd and 23rd October. It involved 45 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.

Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.

If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?

Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.

The Top Three AoS Lists

Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals
Army Type: Scions of the Storm
– Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar
– holy command: thunderbolt volley
– Grand strat- no place for the weak

LEADERS
Celestant-Prime (325)
Knight-Draconis (300)
General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Mount Traits: Thunderous Presence
– Spells: Flaming weapon
Slann Starmaster (265)

BATTLELINE
Stormdrake Guard (340)
Liberators (115)
Dracothian Guard Tempestors (220)

OTHER
Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)
Aetherwings (65)

Battle Regiment

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Everblaze Comet (90)
1 x Chronomantic Cogs (40)

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Declan: Partying like it’s early 2022! Dragons and Longstrikes are back, but Ramon’s brought a Slaan as well. An interesting choice which shows the strength in depth within Order. Particularly with Stormcast Eternals.

The Celestant Prime is kept in reserve until needed so Ramon’s early turns are about the Dragons and Endless Spells and then when you’re reeling… bang goes the Prime. Its Prime Time!

Brett: Something to look out for, Thunderbolt Volley with the Longstrikes (edited). Real opportunity to remove a screen just about anywhere and then introduce the Prime.

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Army Faction: Beasts of Chaos
Army Subfaction: Allherd
– Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)**
Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Sundering Blades
1 x Tzaangor Shaman (135)**
General
– Command Traits: Dominator
– Artefacts: Blade of the Desecrator
– Spells: Wild Rampage
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
1 x Grashrak Fellhoof (150)**
Spells: Wild Rampage

BATTLELINE
30 x Tzaangors (525)*
3 x Icon Bearer
– 3 x Brayhorn Blower
– 6 x Tzaangor Mutant
– Pair of Savage Blades
10 x Ungors (65)*
Brayhorn
– Banner Bearer
– Ungor Blade and Half-shield
10 x Ungors (65)*
Brayhorn
– Banner Bearer
– Ungor Blade and Half-shield

BEHEMOTH
1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Chronomantic Cogs (40)
1 x Ravening Direflock (30)
1 x Wildfire Taurus (70)

OTHER
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)***
5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (150)***

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Expert Conquerors
**Command Entourage – Magnificent
***Bounty Hunters

TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)

Declan: A list from before the Battlescroll, it’s still great although now more expensive. A great swansong for this version by Matt, but don’t expect Beasts to stop getting 5-0s. I still think they are very good.

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Army Faction: Sylvaneth
Army Subfaction: Winterleaf
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADER
1 x Arch-Revenant (120)*
1 x Branchwych (130)*
Artefacts: Acorn of the Ages
– Spells: Verdant Blessing, Regrowth
1 x Warsong Revenant (305)*
General
– Command Traits: Spellsinger
– Artefacts: The Vesperal Gem
– Spells: Verdurous Harmony, Verdant Blessing
1 x Celestant-Prime (325)*

BATTLELINE
10 x Dryads (100)**
Branch Nymph
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)***
Scion
– Glade Banner Bearer
– Waypipes
– Protector Glaive
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)***
Glade Banner Bearer
– Waypipes
– Scion
– Protector Glaive

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40)

OTHER
5 x Gossamid Archers (220)*
Flitwing Scion
6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Scythes (500)**
Huntmaster

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Bounty Hunters
***Expert Conquerors

TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)

Declan: it’s great to see a proper submarine effort and Roberto has done well here. It’s easy to get disheartened but he didn’t. Sylvaneth are difficult to get to 5-0 so a 4-1 is a great result.

Again showing the versatility of Order with Allies from Stormcast and it Prime Time again. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone full Destruction!!

Brett: Combining the Prime and Gossamid is a brave change, that’s equivalent to 6 more Kurnoth or Durthu. Always good to see something new and Roberto almost pulled it off. If you are planning on using the Prime it’s always worth remembering that you have 300+ points off the table for 2 or 3 rounds. It’s hard to make his cost up, the Prime works well with Stormcast because they are often short of units after round 3.

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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
Army Type: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumph: bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Spells: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)*
Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Breaka-boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)*
Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
Spells: Flaming Weapon
Orruk Warchanter (115)**
Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha (240)**
General
– Command Traits: Supa Sneaky
– Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
Orruk Megaboss (140)**
Artefacts of Power: Destroyer

BATTLELINE
Orruk Ardboys (255)***
Ardboy Boss
– 3 x Waaagh! Drummer
– 3 x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer
– 6 x Orruk-forged Shield
Orruk Ardboys (85)***
Ardboy Boss
– Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer
– Waaagh! Drummer
– 2 x Orruk-forged Shield
Orruk Ardboys (85)***
Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer
– Waaagh! Drummer
– Ardboy Boss
– 2 x Orruk-forged Shield

OTHER
Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)
Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)*
Boltboy Boss
Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)**
Boltboy Boss

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Expert Conquerors

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

Declan: Talking of Destruction, Aaron came in 6th with a 4-1. His Big Waaagh list takes the Kruleboyz and the points increases and decreases nett out in the new Battlescroll.

Aaron’s Big Waaagh works in most phases so there’s no hiding with the Boltboyz giving much needed range support and the Wurgogg staring down the world. Another great result.

Brett: The weakness of both Boltboyz and the Wurgogg is combat, they need to be screened. Screens don’t come much heavier than 15 Ardboys, that’s tough to deal with.

Final Tournament Placings

AoS Meta Stats W/Ending 23rd October 2022

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Only one GT this week, so I’ve had a check up on the data and added some extra features for player rankings onto the database.

The Running Stats

This graph shows each faction win rate for the four weeks leading up to the date at the top. This should show the effect of new Battletomes dropping as well as changes players make in adapting to the meta.

Faction Win Rates

The above shows the various factions win rates since the new GHB dropped back in July.

Player Results by Wins

This graph has at least two purposes. Firstly it shows the faction popularity by the number of players and secondly it breaks down those players results in terms of the number of wins they achieve.

Tournaments in Winning Positions / 5-0 Results

This graph simply shows the number of times a faction has started the final round with 4 wins from 4 and also how many 5-0 the factions have achieved.

Win Chance

This shows the chance each faction has of achieving 5-0. This is calculated using the number of players that go 5-0 against the full number of players using that faction.

Like above, this show the chance of getting 4 or more wins (including 5-0).

And finally the chance of going 3+ wins (including 5-0 and 4+).

AOS Hall of Fame

Below is a list of all the players who first achieved a 5-0 with a faction. The list is completed in date order (earliest first).

The only factions still yet to achieve 5-0 are Blades of Khorne, Gloomspite Gitz and Kruleboyz.

Player Rankings (W/Ending 23rd October 2022)

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These are the player rankings calculated by us at Woehammer using the method described earlier this week. We think this method levels the playing field between those playing factions with a high win-rate and those playing with a low win-rate. Almost like a handicap system in Golf or similar sports.

Calculation Summary

Points are awarded to each player for a win or a draw. Points are calculated for each faction. To calculate a factions win score is a fairly simple process:

Take their current win rate as shown in our weekly AoS Meta article and times this by 5:

e.g. Lumineth Realm-Lords: 51.02% x 5 = 2.6

This is the expected number of wins that faction should achieve in a 5 game GT. Next divide 100 by this value to give a score for each win.

e.g. Lumineth Realm-Lords 100/2.6 = 39.2 per win.

When a player has finished their tournament multiply their result (draws are counted as 0.5) by the score.

e.g. a Lumineth player achieves 2 wins and a draw; 2.5 x 39.2 = 98 points

Current Rankings

The best four results as a total make up a player’s score.

NORTH AMERICA

EUROPE

OCEANIA

WORLD WIDE

My Database

Below is the file for all of the data we hold at Woehammer in regard to GT’s. This has everything from tournament results to player ranking calculations.

Combat Patrol: Tyranid – Beginners 1,000 Point Starter Army

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Today we’re looking at the Tyranid Combat Patrol box, continuing our series of 1,000 point start armies using the Combat Patrol boxes as our base.

I’ve put links throughout this article to buy the items at Element Games (UK only), but hopefully you’ve got a FLGS nearby who can also help. If you buy from Element Games, you also help Woehammer as we get a small affiliate bonus.

Combat Patrol Beginners Armies
Aeldari (Eldar)
Adeptus Sororitas
Blood Angels
Orks

Combat Patrol Tyranid

Like the other boxes the Combat Patrol box is filled with goodies and makes for fantastic savings when you’re starting out in collecting an army for 40k. They are RRP of £90 (or local equivalent), but most FLGSs provide a discount on this.

Inside the box you get:

Hive Tyrant (£36)
3 x Tyranid Warriors (£35)
36 x Termagaunts (£63)
3x Ripper Swarms (included on Termagaunts sprues)

That’s a total of £134 if you were buying these kits separately, meaning you get a saving of £44.00

To add to this boxed set, we’re going to add a few extra units that’ll give you something different to paint and expand your synapse.

Meaning that the total army including Codex: Tyranids comes to a total of £238.50.

Element Games provides this all at discount, meaning the whole lot including the book will cost you just £165 – that’s not much more than the RRP of the models in the Combat Patrol box.

The Army List

This is the list I’ve come up with

HQ
Swarmlord – 240 points
Tyranid Prime – 90 points
Tervigon – 215 points

Troops
5 Tyranid Warriors – 155 points
12 Termagaunts – 84 points
12 Termagaunts – 84 points
12 Termagaunts – 84 points

Fast Attack
3 Ripper Swarms

997 points
(depending on loadouts)

Swarmlord

Games Workshop – The Swarmlord

This is our first of 3 HQ choices – perhaps overkill but we need the synapse – and he’s a close combat monster. This kit will allow you to assemble a Hive Tyrant, or a winged Hive Tyrant instead but with all the Termagaunts, who doesn’t want this hunk of awesome to lead them.

Games Workshop via Wahepedia

13 wounds, with a 4+ invunerable save and only Melee weapons… but with 9 attacks, damage 3 and -4 AP. He’s slicing and dicing almost anything in the game and even Terminators are relying on their invulnerable saves.

In addition (what a phrase) he’s a two power psyker and ignores the first damaging hit in combat. In a 1,000 point game he’s definitely going to be a target.

Tyranid Prime

So this is more of a niche choice, but he’s here because I’ve got a unit of 5 Tyranid Warriors so I’ve got one left over. Just ensure he’s obviously different, watch your opponent panic and get the rest of the army in. Seriously he’s just a Primaris Captain for the ‘Nids and they are ten a penny.

However he makes a great painting opportunity and a good model to practice on before you do the Swarmlord.

Tervigon

Much like the Swarmlord, I’ve chosen this because of the number of Termagaunts… the Tervigon get’s you more! But if you’re bored of them you can build it as a Tyrannofex.

Tervigon from Games Workshop

The Tervigon also has 17 wounds, so he’ll either drag shooting from the Swarmlord, or be the one left when you get in close and brutal… but as mentioned above he helps the Termagaunts… a lot

Games Workshop via Wahapedia

You could get another box of Termagaunts for his once per battle, but yours are going to die getting to the enemy so you’ll be fine.

Tyranid Warriors

Not everyone likes them but the models are iconic which is why I’ve bought another 3 of them… so there are 6. As above one of them is our Prime for Synapse coverage, but the other 5 are in one unit.

Games Workshop

I use these for the ranged threat… so Venom Cannon and Deathspitters are my choice — but of course you can make your own choice if you prefer different load-outs.

Games Workshop via Wahapedia

None of the options will set the world alight, but they allow the Warriors to hold some more distant objectives but still contribute to killing the enemy. Plus… they are Assault weapons so you can move and shoot.

Termagaunts

36 Termagaunts… 36! I love hordes and this is awesome… what a box! Of course you may not be so keen especially as a new player and here Contrast Paint is your friend. Have a play with some options and chose a paint scheme you are happy with.

I’m a fan of the spinefists, but the devourers are also good and allow the Termagaunts to provide a similar role to the Tyranid Warriors. Spinefists mean you’re going to be getting closer to the enemy – which may backfire.

Games Workshop via Wahapedia

You also get them coming back with the Tervigon.

WHAT NEXT?

There are two main ways to take the army… monsters or more troops. Monsters are Carnifexes, Haruspexes, a Tyrannofex or a Toxicrene. The names may be confusing, but you’ll have it down in no time.

Other options are foot troops and you’ll need Hormagaunts… and Genestealers for more combat punch!

Remember you can purchase these at your FLGS or local supply source, but if you’re in the UK and fancy helping Woehammer out, you can use Element Games!

I hope you enjoyed this, how would you build a 1,000 point list from the Combat Patrol Box? There may well be aspects of the codex or units that I have not included that you think should be, so why not let us know in the comments below.

Declan and Eeyore

A Tale of Wargamers – Part 1

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Welcome to the first Tale of Wargamers article on Woehammer! Back in the 90’s these were my favourite article to read in the White Dwarf and I wanted to recreate them, but with a twist!

For a start, we’re all beginning as if we are complete novices to wargaming. We’re limiting ourselves to only £25 a month and we’re assuming we have none of the paints or tools required to begin! We had £50 for our first article (£25 from both September and October).

Our budget has to do a lot of work, as it also has to cover our supplies!

So if you’re new to the hobby or even just an Old Guard starting a new army why don’t you join in and let us know what you bought with your budget and any tips you may have in the comments below.

If you’re not UK based then use the below as a guide for your monthly budget:

Euro – €35
US Dollar – $35
Australian Dollar – $75

The above has been calculated using a box of Cadian Infantry as the marker:

Costs at time of writing (27th October 2022)

Quick Jump Menu

Declan (UK) – Astra Militarum (40K)
Peter (UK) – Warhammer Fantasy (Dwarfs)
Brett (AUS) – Traitor Guard (40K)
Patrick (US) – Harlequins (40K)
Dave (UK) – Age of Sigmar (Ogor Mawtribes)

Declan

BUDGET – United Kingdom – £50 for September & October

When Peter suggested Tale of Wargamers for the club I jumped at the chance. Like Peter, I think these articles are one of the best ever to appear in White Dwarf (and they keep coming back so someone must agree with us).

I had a lot of ideas, but I’ve been meaning to re-alight my love of the forces of the Imperial Guard – Astra Militarum.

Our first month is September, and then straight in October so we have £50 to spend, but the rules have thrown another spanner into the works… we have to assume that we have no hobby supplies… not easy!

First purchase: Astra Militarum Start Collecting Set:

From Games Workshop

This is a great box, packed with value and with an RRP of £57.50; I can get it for below £50! Let’s say a discount of 15%, so £48.88

It also makes a 16 power army:

Total Models: 12
Total PL: 16

HQ
Lord Commissar × 1 [PL: 3]

TROOPS
Infantry Squad × 10 [PL: 3]
Guardsman × 9
– Sergeant × 1
– Heavy Weapons Team × 1

HEAVYSUPPORT
Leman Russ Battle Tanks × 1 [PL: 10]
Leman Russ Battle Tanks × 1

What’s Next: well, I can’t actually do anything in October, but this purchase will help me get a flying start in November as I’ll be able to buy the hobby products I need and not need to go back and get toys in a couple of months.

ItemCostRemaining
Sep & Oct Budget+£50.00£0.00
Start Collecting Set-£48.88£1.12

Peter

BUDGET – United Kingdom – £50 for September & October

I’ve decided on a slightly different approach to Declan.

For a start I’m going to build up a Warhammer Fantasy Dwarf army in readiness for the forthcoming Old World release by Games Workshop. While that be maybe more than 12+ months away, I can still use the army against Dave in our Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition battles.

I’m a painter (albeit not a great one) before a gamer, so I’ve decided to get a lot of the supplies a new wargamer would need before beginning, as well as a single model to paint up.

My first stop was our friends at SCN Hobby World. These guys are great, and as I’m signed up to their mailing list I benefit from 25% off GW prices!

As Declan mentioned we had £50 in total to spend, so my first £25 went on the excellent paint and tool kit from Games Workshop. I managed to get this for just £20.63 from SCN Hobby World.

But that was all I bought in September. Although that did give me a decent supply of paints (13 in total), a brush, a clipper (must have in my opinion) and a mouldline remover.

ItemCostRemaining
Carry Over£0.00£0.00
September Budget+£25.00£25.00
Paint and Tool Set-£20.63£4.37

That left me £29.37 for October, and I visited SCN once more, this time for some plastic glue, a large bash brush, some citadel paint (Castellan Green) and a Runelord! All of this came to £24.37 and leaves me exactly £30 for November!

ItemCostRemaining
Carry Over+£4.37£4.37
October Budget+£25.00£29.37
Plastic Glue-£3.79£25.58
L Base Brush-£4.44£21.14
Castellan Green -£2.36£18.78
Runelord-£13.78£5.00

With that I had all the essentials I needed to get started and a model to put some paint on!

My purchases were fairly simple, although the original paint set came with a lot of tools, it didn’t include plastic glue. I also realised I had no spray can to undercoat my miniature and so bought a large base brush so that I could do this by hand with Abaddon Black temporarily. I also decided to buy some Castellan Green as I knew the colour palette for the Dwarf army would be Green and White/Cream. The green that came with the paint set was too bright so I decided to pick up the Castellan instead. I also decided a Runelord would be a nice little character model to start with and to test out the scheme.

The purchases arrived and I got painting …

I have most of the colours to get the base coats down as well as a shade with Agrax Earthshade. He was base coated with Abaddon Black using the large base brush and then his armour was painted with Castellan Green. His cloak was painted with Corax White as was the rune being held by the tongues. The rune and flames were painted gradually blending from white to yellow to red and finally to black.

I could have finished the model completely using the paints on hand. If you want to save money, you can use the white and black to lighten the paint colours to create your highlights and shades. I chose not to do this as it can be hard replicating the colours across on an entire army and remembering the mix can be hard. Easier for me to use the set colours that GW and other suppliers provide.

My tip for this month is to find an old tub or biscuit tin and use it to store your spare pieces of models you get. These become a great source for future conversions (using bits from different kits to make unique or stand out models).

it doesn’t look much now, but before long you’ll have a metric tonne of these pieces stored away

Brett

BUDGET – Australia – $150 for September & October

Like Peter I came into the hobby because I like painting first but then I found competitive play. I like multiple systems including Saga (fantastic historical with small bands) or Bolt Action (WWII). My first thought was to pick up a Saga warband and but that might be a bit short.

I’m Australian and we pay a bit of a tax for Games Workshop products so I have a $75 limit. That’s enough to pick up an entire army in Saga (but not all of the rules – they are online). Instead I too have gone with Imperial Guard, as older models they are a bit cheaper. If you are on a budget, factions with older models like Drukhari, Guard, Skaven, S2D, and Seraphon are a bit cheaper.

Keeping my advice in mind I’ve also gone with Guard, as a Chaos player though this will be Traitor Guard. I’ll have to save up to afford Blooded though so I’ve headed to one of our discount retailers (Gap Games in Brisbane) to order Cadian Shock Troops

With my remaining $15 dollars I’ve also picked up some prime from Bunnings:

The paint delivery is pretty quick so make sure you move the bottle across the model but it’s 20% of the price of Chaos Black.

That leaves me with about $10 to buy some brushes and look at paints. I will be looking to use “Slapchop” and probably Army Painter speed paints because they are a little cheaper. But for now I’m off to research traitor guard colour schemes.

ItemCostRemaining
September Budget+$75.00$75.00
Cadian Shock Troops-$60.83$14.17
Black Spray-$5.20$8.97

For October I’m starting with a balance of $83.97 and that should be enough to get me the hobby supplies I need. The first order of business is – decide on a colour scheme. In the end I’m going to follow a grey and black style based on some ideas from Midwinter Mini’s (his Blackstone Fortress series). This means I’ve purchased Grey instead of Black Spray for the same price. Plan in hand it’s off to the hobby store which looked a little like this

ItemCostRemaining
Carried Forward+$8.97$8.97
October Budget+$75.00$83.97
Citadel: STC S Base Brush-$8.69$75.28
Tamiya Extra Thin Cement – 40ml-$8.54$66.74
Vallejo T11001 Tools 9pc Plastic Modelling Tool set-$25.64$41.10
Citadel Base: Leadbelcher-$5.06$36.04
Vallejo 72051 Game Color; Black 17ml-$4.74$31.30
Vallejo 70951 Model Color; White 17ml-$4.74$26.56
Speedpaint; Gravelord Grey-$8.55$18.01
Speedpaint; Hardened Leather-$8.55$9.46
Speedpaint; Crusader Skin-$8.55$0.91

Leaving us with a total of $0.91. I picked up a hobby set with both nippers and a knife for cleaning up the pieces as we clip them. The bonus is that this set also has a cutting mat and file as well as being portable. Like everyone else I recommend plastic cement, Tamiya’s Extra Thin is almost the gold standard and is cheaper than GW’s glue. It’s also a compatible base to make sprue goo (for a future article).

Nippers and knife in hand it doesn’t take long to assemble the squad: –

Unfortunately the box I’m using only provides the heavy flamer and Grenade launcher. I’ve only included the Grenade launcher although you can have one heavy and one special gunner in each squad. Pretty easy to assemble but you need to be a little bit careful to line up the legs with weapon options that make sense. I gave them a quick prime and then set to painting my first model. Because I am building these as traitor guards I’ve also gone through and carefully removed all of the aquilla’s. Each model has 3.

With a limited palette I’ve used the prime as base of the uniform. After than I’ve painted the base, boots, helmet and the cap of the water bottle black. With a grey prime there are some issues with speedpaints becoming darker but that can work for you. In this case I’ve used Hardened Leather on all of the attachments on the belt (scabbard, bottle carrier and pouches, black on the grenade). Finally for the skin I’ve used a light coat of white to lighten the primer and then crusader skin to give colour and texture.

I’ll add a little bit more colour next week (when I can afford it). I don’t use washes a lot on my models but speedpaint and the black can both be a little too satin. I’ve used a very light application of white for some highlights on the uniform, I’d recommend dry brushing to make it easier, before finishing with a 1:3 mix of black and water to wash the model. I’d prefer Agrax Earthshade and will wait to do the rest when I have the budget to buy it.

Next month I’ll start the next squad and talk about some ways to play with the models before you have a full 500 points.

Patrick

BUDGET – United States – $70 for September & October

I’ve been interested in Harlequins for a long time. GW makes some absolutely beautiful models, and the limited range makes list building simple, but challenging. On top of that, all of the minis can be bought directly from GW within the monthly budget restrictions of this series, which makes it easy to balance month-by-month when to buy models and when to buy paint and supplies.

So the first step is to plan your army. When I’m looking to build my Harlequins, I want to look at the direction of my purchases based in 500pt increments. 500pts is the minimum sized game you can expect to see outside of a skirmish game, like Kill Team. These small games are the best starting point, and you should be able to find more experienced players in your area that are willing to run these tiny games with you.

I don’t recommend you buy the army’s codex just yet. The rules for everything can be found online, but due to potential copyright issues I won’t explicitly state where they are available. Use online resources to determine points costs and use that first 500pt list to plan your first purchases. My 500 point army looks like this:

  • Twilight Saedath
    • Shadowseer
    • Troupe Master
    • 10 Troupes
    • 1 Starweaver

This gives me an excellent core to my army. The Troupes are mandatory for the army, and the Shadowseer provides excellent buffs and availability to psychic powers. The Troupe Master gives me a solid melee-centered warlord, and the starweaver makes sure that one of my Troupes squads makes it into melee in one piece.

For my first purchase (note that we are allowed $70 USD for the first article) is going to be focused on getting the bare core of this army assembled. The core in question to going to be the Troupe Master and 5 Troupes. We are going to get them built and primed, but I’ll hold off on painting until I have a usable 500pt force.

For my first purchase, I’m going to pick up the cheapest Patrol detachment that GW makes – a Harlequin Troupe. The box contains 6 minis – 1 of which can be built as a Troupe Master, giving me immediate access to my required HQ and Troops slot for my Patrol. This box retails at $42, but I will be buying at a 15% discount. This is the maximum discount that GW will allow a retailer to advertise, and most online retailers have this discount factored into their price. If possible, buy from your local store, but I will have enough money at the end of the article to make up the difference, if you can’t get that discount.

Now that you have a couple of sprues, you are going to need some way of getting all of the pieces removed, trimmed, and glued together. For removal and trimming I recommend using a simple pair of toenail clippers (clean them first!) and a pocket knife. Technically any piece of relatively sharp metal can be used to shave mold lines, but be sure that whatever you use can be used safely.

For glue I recommend using plastic glue, rather than super glue. By volume the cheapest plastic glue that you can buy is Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner. The airbrush cleaner is chemically identical to their plastic glue, is half the price of their plastic glue, and comes in a bottle with nearly 4 times the volume. It will get a little pricey for the first purchase, but this glue will hold you over for the entirety of this Harlequin army (all the way to 2000pts), as well as my Horus Heresy and Age of Sigmar armies. I’ve never found Tamiya in a local shop, but it can be found on MegaHobby.com for $10.50. The downside to this glue is that it doesn’t come with a convenient applicator, like their plastic glue, so I recommend having some cotton swabs on hand for application, just be careful about your glue getting on the parts of your mini you don’t want melted.

So at this point I have 6 minis that are assembled and on their bases. To avoid arriving to a game with a gray tide, I’m going to go ahead and prime my minis at this stage. I buying a rattle can of flat gray primer. I find mid-tone grays to be a great starting point for all of my color schemes, assuming I’m not using a lot of contract paints. To save cost, I’m leaving the game store and walking down the street to my hardware store, where I can get a rattle can of Rust-oleum 249088 Flat Grey Spray Primer for $4.98.

At this point I have 6 primed minis, usable for Kill Team but not quite a large enough force for 40k. Here’s what I’ve spent, and what I have left over to buy paint in November:

ItemCostRemaining
Sep & Oct Budget+$70.00$70.00
Harlequin Troupe-$35.70$34.3
Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner-$10.50$23.80
Ristoleum Grey Primer-$4.98$18.82

Dave

BUDGET – United Kingdom – £50 for September & October

I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the Tale and thought long and hard about what I wanted to do. I eventually settled on an Age of Sigmar army and then Ogor Mawtribes. I knew that the new Ogor book was coming soon and it looks like most of the range is still intact. The majority of the Ogor sculpts are quite old but have aged like fine wine. This means that, even with a modest budget, it’s easy to pick up some great models.

I started off on my journey with a pack of brushes from The Works for £6, this gave me 16 assorted brushes. Enough to see me through my project if I look after them.

Next, I needed my paints. I found an army painter starter set for £20.83 on Amazon but missed out as the offer was discontinued before I could pick it up!

After hunting around, I decided to get my paints from Element games, they gave a good discount on the paint ranges and also let me save ‘crystals’ which I might use for a discount in future months,

I picked up the elf paint set, a pot of black and a pot of old gold from Vallejo, a pot of inktense wood from scale 75 and a pot of Reikland flesh shade from citadel. This cost me £31.61 but will stand me in great stead going forward.

Now, for some Ogors to paint! A lot of the crew have been hunting for cheap clippers and glue but in a big brain move I found three ready built and unpainted Gluttons from Troll Trader for £9. Now, this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and if you love building and customisation then it won’t be yours. My time is limited though and so is the budget…..

This put me at £46.61 for the month and it was time to start painting.

I slopped on my black and then dry brushed with off white to get started. I then used the inktense wood on all the wood items and two coats of Reikland flesh shade on all the skin. Metals were nice and simple, just a matter of choosing silver or gold. Then everyone got some nice jazzing coloured pants.

I am not a fan of the silver from the Vallejo set but everything else was great and I’d recommend it overall.

Next month I will be picking up another three gluttons, some basing materials and a few more paints. This will include a black spray as undercoating with a brush…… sucks.

The following month I hope will be models only and the army will really grow apace. I already have a few events planned for my new army, including the Woehammer Tournament next year.

My challenge at the moment is that, awaiting the new book, I really can’t plan my army. I’m guessing I can’t go wrong with a few battleline though.

See you next time and….. Get in mah belly!

HamsFan

ItemCostRemaining
Sep & Oct Budget+£50.00£50.00
Paints & Tools-£31.61£18.39
Ogor Gluttons-£9.00£9.39

Battlescroll – October 2022

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Age of Sigmar update from Games Workshop

If you not noticed yet, Games Workshop have released their long awaited update to the Age of Sigmar battlefields today… and it looks like they’ve made some proper changes. The article is here and explains their reasoning for each of the changes made.

They’ve also clarified that the previous Battlescroll has been replaced, but they’ve added the ‘old’ Battlescroll rules where appropriate with changes in Magenta.

Points, Points, Points!

This doesn’t mean that points are necessarily easy to follow and you’ll need your favourite army’s FAQ. Any previously announced points changes are still in the game, but not listed here – check our Warhammer App, Warscroll Builder or the FAQ for them. May get a bit confusing, but I’m sure we’ll all get used to it.

Games Workshop’s ‘Metawatch’ covers this change

Rule Changes

It’s Sunny Out There

As regular readers of Warhammer Community will know they have made a change to the Purple Sun to stop it killing big Monsters in one go. I did this in a game at Swords and Boards… to a MawKrusha so I’m glad it’s no longer possible.

Games Workshop Battlescroll – Purple Sun

It still has the additional rend, but now is limited to D6+6 wounds… makes it better against Gargants as well! Still pretty good and I’ll still definitely consider it for my Squigs and Gitz.

Primordial Beasts

Readers of our Top Three AoS list articles will know that Beasts of Chaos have been doing well since their White Dwarf update… very well.

Games Workshop Battlescroll – Beasts of Chaos

This is a small tweek which may slow down Primodial points (used for summoning) and not make it quite so reliable. Worth noting though that you don’t have to be in combat to use this… just the start of the phase. So make sure you do this twice per Battleround with a monster. It’s still good.

Poisons and Spells?!

Skink Priests can use warscroll abilities and pray and so Swampcalla Shaman’s can now do both actions on their warscrolls.

Games Workshop Battlescroll – Swampcallas

This is a simple change but one which will have a good impact. A lot of Kruleboyz players don’t even look at their spell-lore unless they have Gobsprakk, and this effectively gives 1 or 2 ‘free’ wizards that weren’t being used for spells before… and everyone likes free stuff. This may even tempt me to put them in a Big Waaagh list now.

Spiders in the Woods

We all know Spiders are great… and the Arachnarok’s are great fun. But in an Age where a lot of armies can run Battleline Monsters they’ve been left behind. No longer.

Games Workshop Battlescroll – Spiderfang

This is also another elegant solution and rule. It’s already in other armies so its not ‘rules-bloat’ but Spiders needed the help. The only problem is I don’t know how many Gitz players have one of these as most are built as Shrines! Ah well — time to get a fifth one.

Points Changes

Sure the rules are a fun change and will make some difference (particularly the Swampcalla) but we’ve all come here for the points… so what have they done? Well first up – and hold onto your hats here – they have put the points change on the Battlescroll. Hurrah! Success! Secondly they appear to have paid attention to my last Battlescroll review (way back in Winter last year) and gone a little more adventurous with the reductions. Well done GW.

Points Reductions

Many Battletomes get point reductions including Cities of Sigmar, Hedonites and Slaanesh, Stormcast Eternals, Skaven, FEC, Bonereapers, and Soulblight Gravelords. Check out the Battlescroll to see for yourself what’s changed.

But… here at Woehammer we have some biases and mine is for Gitz. Given that last time I complained about the lack of adventure look at this:

Games Workshop… Thank you!

20 point reductions all over the place including on 2 of the Battleline units that Gitz players the world over use consistently. There’s a reduction for the Webspinner – common in many armies – and for Skragrott. Maybe he’ll see play.

The stand our for me is Squig Herd at 140… but that’s because I love my Squigs. However the key takeaway for me here (and it’s repeated on the other discounts) is that they are making bold moves. This will save real points and has real potential to get another unit into the army. Sure, they could have reduced the whole book and poor Trogg generals might feel a little hard done by – but this is a great start. More of the same please GW.

A Bit of Both

Two armies get increases and decreases. The first to help change what a Seraphon list looks like and the second to help the Kruleboyz… but hit the Bonesplitters a bit.

It’s great to see some of the common units get increases and characters get big increases. This is important because if you’ve only got one in your list a 5 point adjustment will make no difference. Also the Skink Priest is slowly reaching where he needs to be… although I do think the Kroak increase is a little harsh. He’s a superb model, but I think that has more to do with his inclusion than it being the best build for Seraphon.

After appearing as the poster-boy enemies of the Stormcast – and then being the whipping boys in tournaments – it’s good to see reductions… and Gitrippaz are finally at the point at which the Orruk Warclans chat may even decide to take them. I’d be tempted as 20 wounds for 160 isn’t bad. Especially if you make them expert conquerors and lurk at the back. It’ll take a proper unit to shift them and not a small teleport.

Meanwhile it’s a little strange to see Bonesplitterz hit. Sure the Wurrgog was having fun and appeared in a lot of lists and I’m not really surprised to see his points go up, but Big Stabbas?? Is this because of a few lists with loads of them and not many games… so it’s all skewed. Seems a tad early to be making changes here.

Bad Boys… Bad Boys… What Ya Going Do?

So we’ve seen the good guys get reductions, and the middle get changes… who was bad and is on Santa’s naught list?

Games Workshop Battlescroll (slight edit by Woehammer to get in column)

And I don’t think anyone reading our Top Three Lists will be suprised here. Dragon Ogres are in almost every winning Beast List now (and there’s a lot of 4-1s and some 5-0s) and Cockatrice’s have suffered in a similar way as Big Stabbas. Perhaps a bit harsh as the Cock-Army never seems to get into the top 3 but this is a disadvantage of the ‘overused’ warscroll syndrome.

The second Bad Boy is Maggotkin… and this will be making a difference. There’s a lot of flies out there and Games Workshop may be about to see their sales drastically drop off, but a 10% increase is significant and promises to affect the armies – perhaps losing 1 or 2 Blightlords. They are already a small army (albeit packing a punch) and this may be enough for them to fall down a few rungs. That’s not to say I think they’ll be no more 5-0s — there’s some good players using this list.

And finally the generic or universal warscrolls and top of the Bad Boy list is the Krondspine… and my only reaction is ‘good’. I know everyone can take it but that doesn’t make it fair or good – hopefully there’ll be fewer of them now. Only time will tell.

Conclusions

My last review of the Winter FAQ gave GW a failing grade. Not enough changes, and not big enough. I think they’ve significantly improved here and although everyone will want their favourite warscroll to be a little cheaper I think there’s a good balance here. Of course only time will tell, but this is a much improved Battlescroll with some brave decisions on points. And I hope the community will welcome it as an improvement to the Age of Sigmar.

Most importantly – what do you think?

— Declan & Eeyore

Top Three AoS Lists for the South Coast Series – Southampton

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This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the South Coast Series Southampton that took place in the UK on 22nd and 23rd October. It involved 23 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.

Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.

If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?

Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.

The Top Three AoS Lists

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm)
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Gardus Steel Soul (150)*
Knight-Draconis (300)*
General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Thunderous Presence
– Spell: Thundershock
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate

Battleline
5 x Liberators (115)*
Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
– 1x Grandweapons
4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)*
Drakerider’s Lance
– Reinforced x 1
2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*
Drakerider’s Lance

Behemoths
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)*
Allies

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Holy Command: Call for Aid

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 81
Drops: 1

Brett: Almost all of the dragons list with a Krondspine. Mobility and some decent punch, I like how Matt has dangled the MSU Liberators there just so you can kill something easily. That he can summon on to an objective or block a point with Call for Aid (return the Liberators once slain). Gardus for his 5+ ward, most likely near the 4 Stormdrakes, Knight Draconis so the Drakes are battle line. Hallowed Knights giving a 50/50 fight on death. This list can control a lot of the board, a 4 man drake unit can span 20″. The drakes can move 12″ and shoot 12″ making first turn priority important. He can dangle the Krondspine as a target and engage at will. The Knight Draconis is likely to stay close to the big drake unit as well for Thundershock to control the charge phase.

Depending on match up and mission going first might even be an advantage with this list, Blaze of Glory and fight on death is going to punish any successful attacks on the drakes. As the only 5/0 and with really high scores Matt tabled a number of his opponents. And that’s what this list really needs to do, in the early turns remove as many hammers as possible then clean up. The drake’s 9 wounds and profile make them very hard to shift. For opponents, what do you go after? None of his opponents had a lot of shooting or ranged shooting with MWs, the first list with drakes had pairs matching into the 4 drake unit. Hint – that doesn’t work well even with teleports.

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Allegiance: Nighthaunt
Procession: Emerald Host
– Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Krulghast Cruciator (150)**
General
– Command Trait: Cloaked in Shadow
– Artefact: Beacon of Nagashizzar
Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)**
Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish
Spirit Torment (115)**
Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon

Battleline
10 x Chainrasps (110)***
10 x Chainrasps (110)***
5 x Hexwraiths (160)
5 x Hexwraiths (160)
5 x Hexwraiths (160)
10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)*
10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)*
10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)*
3 x Spirit Hosts (125)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Mortalis Terminexus (85)

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

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 107
Drops: 12

Brett: Nice to see Emerald Host back (and not Scarlet Doom) which means a few changes to the unit list. Emerald host slowly withers the opponent. This list plays into that, lots of units which take longer to clear (big hitting units don’t carry over their damage as far). Then Lady Olynder can once per battle brings back D6 models in every unit (they are all summonable). The Beacon also returns 1 model to each summonable unit (all of these). That will let the army stick around longer and score more. Mortalis Terminexus plays really well into this strategy as well (either heal or mortal wounds). There is still the Spirit Torment to help a unit that is being pressured and Krulghast for the damage debuff.

It’s great to see something different from Nighthaunt. Lots of options here with great speed from the Hexwraiths. It’s weakness is probably into something durable that does a lot of damage or the first round list he ran into. It would have removed a minimum of 2 units a turn and the Grimghasts are good, but not likely to kill Fulminators. Lady Olynder is vulnerable to long range shooting as well.

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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers
Army Subfaction: Petrifex Elite
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Arkhan the Black (340)**
Spells: Protection of Nagash
1 x Liege-Kavalos (170)**
General
– Command Traits: Mighty Archaeossian
– Artefacts: Godbone Armour

BATTLELINE
20 x Mortek Guard (280)*
Mortek Hekatos
– 2 x Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade and Shield
20 x Mortek Guard (280)*
Mortek Hekatos
– 2 x Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade and Shield
20 x Mortek Guard (280)*
Necrophoros
– Mortek Hekatos
– Nadirite Blade and Shield
5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)**
Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Nadirite Spear and Shield

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Nightmare Predator (60)

TERRAIN
1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)

OTHER
3 x Necropolis Stalkers (175)**
Dread Falchions
3 x Necropolis Stalkers (175)**
Dread Falchions

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Bounty Hunters
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1950/2000)

Brett: Arkhan and 3 x 20 blocks of Mortek. Need to say more? They aren’t going to go far but you aren’t going to shift them either. Deathriders and Necropolis Stalkers give a little more manoeuvrable but this is an army that is going to spread out slowly and dare you to charge. And that works (see Ironjawz above). Beasts of Chaos overwhelmed them through a combination of strong rend and bodies (including summoning). The first round draw is more interesting, the Tzeentch list is essentially Horrors and Flamers, hard to kill and a lot of shooting. But they’d have to come into range (charges) and it had less bodies than this list. The ability to control more of the board and force your opponent into an unfavourable match up is the way this list grinds out wins.

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Allegiance: Ironjawz
Warclan: Bloodtoofs
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)*
General
– Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist
– Command Trait: Hulking Brute
– Artefact: Destroyer
– Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat

Battleline
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*
1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*
1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*
Jagged Gore-hackas
– Reinforced x 1
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
Jagged Gore-hackas
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
Jagged Gore-hackas

Behemoths
Rogue Idol (430)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 126
Drops: 1

Brett: Not a particularly techy list, Ironjawz with a Mawcrusha and Rogue Idol, 2 Warchanters and a mix of 12 gore-gruntas and ardboyz. In true orcish style, it either went off like a frog in a sock or didn’t quite get over the bar. Ironjawz struggle against armies that can bury them or screen them with cheap bodies, the pigs damage isn’t as prodigious as you might like. If you can feed screens to the Mawcrusha and Idol and pepper them with MWs as both of the Chaos lists did here you have a good chance. Still not an easy list to play against, particularly with how quickly the Idol can reach you, priority is key here. With only one Mawcrusha Matt hasn’t had to worry about giving himself another artefact. Interesting way Matt’s mixed tanky (Hulking Brute) and damage (Mean ‘Un) on the Mawcrusha.

This is still a solid Orruk list that can take a tournament (or close to) depending on the day and opponents.

Final Tournament Placings

GT Woehammer Rankings W/Ending 23rd October 2022

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The below top ten’s have been calculated using the Woehammer method for rankings explained on the website a little over a week ago. The aim of this system is to give everyone an even chance of taking a tournament win regardless of the faction that they play.

For the full workings on how these are calculated, please click this link.

FLG’s SoCal Open Age of Sigmar Championship Event

BCP rankings also show Ramon Silva taking this event leading 2nd place Matt Nguyen by 15 battle points over the course of their 5 wins at the weekend. Unfortunately using the Woehammer points system, Matt now finds himself in 5th behind Benjamin Hosking (ranked 7th on BCP with Slaves and Aaron Newbom (ranked 6th on BCP with Big Waaagh). Roberto Campos-McDonalds drops a position to fourth.

Tournament multiplier: 1.1

PNW Masters

Stark Pister clings on to hi BCP 1st position in the tournament, while 2nd place Tom Guan falls to third from 2nd after Mattias Krushel scores higher for his wins playing with Skaven.

Tournament Multiplier: 1.0

Quest of Champions – Final

The UK’s biggest event last weekend saw Freddie Leggett take another victory, while Toby Meadows and Mike Stewart finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Toby Meadows jumps to 1st in this case thanks to his wins with a faction desperately waiting for that new tome to arrive (well done). Our very own Kieron Bailey jumps up to 3rd from 13th thanks for three really great wins with a faction in the sub 40% win rate bracket!

South Coast Series Southampton

William Nicholl and Michael McLean swap positions on the podium after finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively according to BCP. Ian Belcher jumps from 7th to 4th with 3 wins under Ogors!

Tabletop Minis TTM 2 Dayer AoS

Riyathe, Liam and Grant all maintain their BCP positions with the only reordering occurring among those with two wins as the factions with lower win rates (Gloomspite Gitz and Ogor Mawtribes) outscore the more successful factions of Daughters of Khaine and Sons of Behemat.

The Proving Grounds

On the podium Pendleton and Matthew swap positions while once again the factions with lower win rates rise to the top of the 3-2 bracket.

Book Review – Sons of Selenar

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A Novella for The Siege of Terra by Graham McNeill

With The Siege of Terra in full swing, Graham McNeill takes us down a little cul-de-sac to close off the story-arc of the ‘Sons of Selenar’… or the Shattered Legions. This is an interesting departure from the other Siege of Terra books, in that it has characters from the Horus Heresy series who have been with each other for some time and gone through a number of adventures together.

Sons of Selenar from Black Library

From the book:

The Shattered Legions crew of the Sisypheum, broken and at the end of their endurance, find themselves divided – torn between following their resurrected captain on a suicidal mission or obeying orders to return to Terra and rejoin their Legion brothers.

Following a series of garbled messages intercepted by the Kryptos, the divided warriors descend to the shattered surface of Luna. Here, their bonds of loyalty, duty, and their devotion to one another will be tested as ancient horrors of the earliest days of gene-manipulation are unleashed, and a long-buried secret is revealed.

A secret that will have far-reaching consequences for the future course of the galaxy, no matter who eventually claims Terra.

The Shattered Legions – a group of loyalists separated from their own legions, find themselves hiding in the solar system following a void battle, when they receive a call for help from the surface of Luna. Ancient technology is under threat from the Sons of Horus and they are being called to help.

This is a strange – but I imagine essential – addition to the Siege of Terra, and I can understand why it is a novella and not part of the main story arc. The characters have all been introduced in some depth in the Horus Heresy series and – as I note above – have already have adventures, battles and close-calls within that series. This then left the writers of the Siege of Terra books in a quandary – the need to close this particular story-arc, but not confuse people who are just reading the Siege of Terra – like me!

And they have succeeded – sort of. This story has what you need in a Horus Heresy novella, but it should probably have been released under that series and not the Siege of Terra series. There is only a minimal link to the Siege of Terra proper – they are on Luna – and Black Library could easily have released it alongside.

The writing is of course good as we’ve come to expect from Graham McNeill but the characters are already developed, and I would have liked to have a little more description of them, even if it would have been superfluous for those who’ve read all the Horus Heresy novels. They fly, fight, kill and die whilst struggling to save the secrets of Gene-manipulation… and there’s some more history about the Emperor thrown in for good measure.

Overall a good book, but you really need to have read the Shattered Legion novels from Horus Heresy first.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

— Declan

Check out the full list of Book Reviews we’ve done on Woehammer here