This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Big Bristol Brawl that took place in the UK on 3rd and 4th December. It involved 41 players (Including our very own Danny) 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.
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Pre-Tournament Analysis
I thought I’d add a bit about the meta at the event before we jump into the meat of the article. If this is popular I’ll continue doing this on future top three articles.
Ranked Players
Below shows the players already ranked in our Woehammer rankings form events before the Bristol GT.
11 Players had already taken part in 1 GT before this event, with the highest ranked player (Luke Churchus) being 22nd in the UK. Remeber these rankings are based on our own handicapped rankings system explained here.
Faction Breakdown
The Bristol Brawl saw an unusually high number of Daughters, Blades of Khorne and Slaanesh armies, with all three seeing double their expected representation based on the current worldwide meta.
On the flip side of this, the tournament saw no representation from Ironjawz, Slaves, Cities, Kharadron and Big Waagh where we would have expected at least one army to be present.
Of the high win rate factions Beast of Chaos and Disciples are as expected while Ogor Mawtribes and Soulblight see a slightly higher number than compared to the meta.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Nighthaunt
– Procession: Scarlet Doom
– Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (955)*
Spirit Torment (115)*
– General
– Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts
– Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Battleline
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)*
– Reinforced x 1
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)*
– Reinforced x 1
3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*
Units
2 x Chainghasts (95)*
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 74
Drops: 1
Declan: Greg has been using Nagash since AoS3 dropped, and quite a bit before that. In early AoS3, there was a period we met 3 or 4 times and he beat me every time with a Soulblight version…. here he has taken Nighthaunt instead which allows him to use the Nighthaunt alleginace abilities on the charge and back it up with Nagash’s magic dominance.
When they charge the Bladegheists are almost certain to roll 4+ and get one of the debuffs on the table. But the truly frightening thing is that these debuffs stack. I’m not a fan of the mechanism, but it’s the core of how Nighthaunt work and it is scary when a 10+ is rolled followed by a few 8+ (because you can always go down the table).
There’s no denying that Nagash is the centrepiece though and – although he is seen as weaker in the last update – he can still take on an army (and at 955 points he needs to). I’d love to tell you how to kill him, but the truth is I still don’t know but I imagine it’s got something to do with mortal wounds (preferably at range). It’s definitely not a Mangler Squig (last time I charged one in, I did no wounds to Nagash).
If you’ve not met him before he lives up to his role as the Lord of the Undead… with 8 spell casts, all with bonuses and the piece de la resistance… Arcane Bolt as many times as you like. (see you’ll be glad you brought the ranged mortal wounds. He’s a beast and sometimes the best thing to do is get ahead on points, stand on objectives and hope he and the Bladegheists can’t shift you. Good luck; you’ll need it!
Allegiance: Fyreslayers
– Lodge: Lofnir
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)**
– General
– Command Trait: Blood of the Berzerker
– Artefact: Axe of Grimnir
– Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient
Battlesmith (150)**
Battlesmith (150)**
Battleline
Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)*
– Ancestral War-axe
– Artefact: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve
– Magmadroth Trait: Flame-scale Youngblood
Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)*
– Ancestral War-axe
– Magmadroth Trait: Lava-tongue Adult
Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)*
– Ancestral War-axe
Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)**
– Ancestral War-axe
Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Warlord
Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Total: 1940 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 90
Drops: 7
Edit: The maximum number of Magmadroths you can take in a Lofnir list is six, not five as the comment below eludes to.
Ethan: This Lofnir list leans on heavy on the idea that more is more, taking as many magmadroths as you can fit in 2000 points. It’s obviously an effective strategy, having worked out well for Alex, with his only loss being Hagg Nar where I can only predict Morathi’s unkillable rules made for a major issue for an army so light on units.
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes
– Army Subfaction: Boulderhead
LEADER
1 x Kragnos (720)
1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)*
– General
– Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
– Prayers: Heal (🎶Living on a Prayer🎵)
1 x Butcher (135)*
– Cleaver
– Spells: Molten Entrails
BATTLELINE
2 x Mournfang Pack (175)*
– Skalg
– Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
1 x Stonehorn Beastriders (310)*
– Blood Vulture
2 x Mournfang Pack (175)*
– Skalg
– Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)
Danny: Andy helped me out with our Ogor Tome Review – so it’s awesome and very interesting to see him go 4-1 and 3rd at this highly competitive event – WITHOUT cannons or Gnoblars. Andy has basically stuck with this tried and tested core of a Frostlord backed by Kragnos – the big(ger) man offering 3d6 charges for those sweet 3d6 MWs on the charge, along with a huge pressure piece while the Frostlord, specced out with Arcane Tome + Flaming weapon for more reliable damage and Touched by the Everwinter to also make him a priest with the ability to heal himself – or Kragnos. So he’s doing it all. Another ‘big cow’ joins the pressure party as the first battleline pick.
Two units of Mournfang fill out the tax, allowing for some excellent objective play, hardly inconsiderable damage and their new and improved resistance to shooting attacks.
Andy also included a Butcher for some utility spell casting and to babysit the mawpot, although he informed me that he regretted including him overall as he always ended up out of range to be useful and felt like wasted points overall.
Andy had a tough route to 4-1, remaining on top table most of the event, taking a big win against IDK to kick off, followed by a tough Blood Knight list, then the Kroak list that beat me, a grudge match over the ‘new’ 4x Ironblaster + leadbelcher Ogor list before finally losing to the event’s winner Greg. The amount of pressure this list can put out can clearly only be resisted by unrendable ghosts with Nagash bringing loads back and shunting fistfuls of MWs through Kragnos’ 2+ save – definitely a counter to what is otherwise clearly a list that very few armies in the game can really withstand.
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine
– Army Subfaction: Hagg Nar
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADER
1 x Melusai Ironscale (115)*
– General
– Command Traits: Zealous Orator
– Artefacts: Crown of Woe(hammer)
1 x Morathi-Khaine (680)*
1 x The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE
10 x Witch Aelves (115)*
– Hag
– Death Pennant Bearer
– Hornblower
– Sciansá and Bladed Buckler
15 x Blood Sisters (420)*
– Gorgai
10 x Blood Stalkers (360)*
– Krone
ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)
OTHER
9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (150)*
– Shroud Queen
5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)*
– Shryke
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)
Danny: It me! First things first, I’m working on an in-depth tourney report including some deeper thinking on my list and a breakdown of the games, so for now I’ll give you the digest of HOW the list works rather than get bogged down in the why.
It’s relatively simple – a twist on the Morathi on the bowsnakes. I took 15 spears and 10 bows to lean more heavily into the reliable MWs. Witch aelves are a cheap screen and battleline pick with bladed bucklers for some hopeful clutch saves and mortal wound bouncing. I took Ironscale to make the sneks battleline and enable the run+charge for some key threat projection, but also because I wanted Hagg Nar to speed up Blood Rites, which saves me loads of CP and helps Morathi perform a lot better in early rounds (when she’s still alive!)
This event didn’t allow book battle tactics, so instead of a 2nd squad of Khinerai, I opted for Shadowstonkers, who are also just a relatively tanky and super mobile scoring piece.
Jaws rounds out the list as a spare point filler and another source of MWs against slower targets that my spear sneks might be scared or unable to get into. It’s all wrapped up in a one drop bat reg because this list really, really wants to avoid getting doubled. Of course, sometimes you come up against another 1 drop in round 5 and lose the roll-off….more on that and other exciting, brain-melting moments in my full report.
Want to say a quick but big kudos to both the organisers (Alex and Jonny) from our club, Sigmar’s Pilgrims, and to all my opponents and everyone else there – it was a hugely competitive field but the vibe was friendly and jolly as all hell – a fantastic, super hard fought event!
Final Tournament Placings
