This is the top three AoS lists for Bloodshed in the Shires that took place in the UK on the 4th and 5th February. It involved 80 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Great Nation: Helon
– Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Archmage Teclis and Celennar, Spirit of Hysh (700)*
– General
Scinari Cathallar (110)*
– Artefact: Silver Wand
– Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
– Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage

Battleline
5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)*
5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)*
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)*
– Lore of Hysh: Overwhelming Heat
20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)*
– Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
– Reinforced x 1

Other Units
20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)*
– Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
– Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations
Rune of Petrification (60)
The Burning Head (30)
Umbral Spellportal (80)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 91
Drops: 1

What a whopper! Of course, at the top is Teclis, who knows all the spells, and casting 4 at casting value 10 (Without a roll, making crucial spells like Total Eclipse all but inevitable). Through the Umbral Spell Portal, he can throw Searing White Light through to deal a staggering number of mortal wounds all over the place. Between the book spells, Burning head and Rune of Petrification mortal wounds will be dropped all over the place. Adding to the headache, Searing Heat and Rune of Petrification also inflict movement penalties, slowing the enemy army to a crawl.

The rest of the list is mostly pure efficiency. Sentinels still have some of the deadliest shooting in the game, and with 2 units supporting each other, their range is extremely deadly. Even if the enemy gets close, Helon gives +1 shots, putting opponents in a no-win situation. Wardens will keep the enemy at bay while Windchargers move up and grab objectives.

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness
– Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Archaon the Everchosen (860)*
– The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
Gaunt Summoner on Disc of Tzeentch (240)*
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Universal Spell Lore: Levitate

Battleline
3 x Varanguard (290)*
– 3x Daemonforged Blade
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
3 x Varanguard (290)*
– 3x Daemonforged Blade
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
3 x Varanguard (290)*
– 3x Fellspear
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 75
Drops: 1

New Slaves are starting to make their first splashes in the scene! Initial impressions (including my own) is that there isn’t a great deal of depth to the competitive parts of the book – and Ben here is proving that out with a 3 warscroll list – that is nevertheless highly effective.

Varanguard are pricey at 290 but obviously still slap. The main question when taking them is ‘which weapon’ – with three units, Ben has opted for 2 units to have the Daemon blades (additional mortals on 6s) for tough armour/unrendable cracking – and one ‘scalpel’ unit with rend 3 (on the charge) lances. Keeping them MSU fulfills the battleline tax – and marking them all as Nurgle (-1 to wound in melee) means that on the off-chance they don’t vaporize whatever they go into, or get counter-charged, they could well stick around to hit back down the line.

In KOTET, they can all run and charge, which gives them a huge degree of threat projection and in a battle regiment, Ben probably often gave first away for a devastating first turn of multiple charges where a double could end it there – or postured up carefully and pounced once the opponent over-extended.

Archaon has been a controversial topic among the community since the new rules dropped, but Ben here finds success – given Archaon selects his Mark at the start of the game, there’s tactical flexibility there – for my money, I’d bet he marked him Nurgle most of the time and used him as a durable, utility platform (especially for issuing fight on death to the Varanguard) with a huge board presence.

A cheeky gaunt summoner rounds out the list for a vulnerable but incredibly reliable source of casting – with the Slaves heroic action ‘Draw on Power’, he will have been casting 3 spells on 3d6+1 with one re-roll.

Big congrats to Ben for a strong showing with the new book.

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness
– Damned Legion: Cabalists
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
– The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
– The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Cunduit
– Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
– Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
– The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
– Universal Spell Lore: Levitate

Battleline
10 x Chaos Knights (460)*
– Cursed Lance
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon
– Reinforced x 1
9 x Corvus Cabal (80)*
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
9 x Corvus Cabal (80)*
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided

Units
10 x Chaos Chosen (480)*
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Varanguard (580)*
– Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations
Soulscream Bridge (80)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 118
Drops: 1

Big Phil’s list – unchanged from his LVO outing – operates a bit differently to Ben’s, by dint of the 10 blob of Nurgle Knights with the banner – making the unit 30 wounds of 3+, -1 to wound and -1 to rend. Combined with the Soulscream Bridge – reliably cast in Cabalists along with the other important buff spells of Daemonic Power (+1 to hit and wound) and Daemonic Speed for a 3d6 charge – they operate as an alpha pin piece.

Then, the 6 Varanguard follow up behind, marked Khorne to ensure they obliterate whatever they reach. Two sets of cheap’n’cheeky deepstriking Corvus Cabal fill out the battleline while 10 Chosen bring up the rear as a durable, very slappy 3rd wave. Marked Undivided, if they take an objective off the opponent, or kill a hero/monster, they have the ability to start stacking important buffs from the Eye of the Gods table – such as additional rend, +1 to charge, etc!

As mentioned, this is all supported by a brace of sorceror lords – who in Cabalists, and including Arcane Tome, while within 3″ of one another – will be putting out 5 3d6 casts!

It’s a savage list that only lost to LRL Helon, who are capable of throwing out insane weight of mortals while also being Slave Cavalry’s worst nightmare, -1 to hit.

Big love to Phil (whose interview about the Slaves book we’ll be just about to publish as you read this) for pioneering a list I imagine we will see more of in the very near future.

Allegiance: Fyreslayers
– Lodge: Greyfyrd
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)*
– General
– Command Trait: Blood of the Berzerker
– Artefact: Draught of Magmalt Ale
– Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient
Auric Runesmiter (120)*
– Runic Iron
– Artefact: Ash-cloud Rune
– Prayer: Ember Storm
Auric Runesmiter (120)*
– Runic Iron
– Artefact: Volatile Brazier
– Prayer: Prayer of Ash
Battlesmith (150)**
– Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
– Artefact: Nulsidian Icon
Auric Runeson (80)**
– Ancestral War-axe
Auric Flamekeeper (90)**
Doomseeker (80)****
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master

Battleline
10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (300)****
– Poleaxes
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (300)*
– Broadaxes
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)***
10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Molten Infernoth (40)
Runic Fyrewall (40)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Command Entourage – Magnificent
***Galletian Veterans
****Galletian Command

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Aspect of the Champion

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 126
Drops: 11

To save us getting any info wrong on the list, I reached out to Dominic, who kindly agreed to write a few words on how his list works. Congratulations again, Dominic. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you and your Fyreslayers this season.

Dominic Stonebridge: If I were to summarise the build of this list – it was designed to be able to score maximum points every turn. It plays the primary well, finds easy battle tactics, and offers the chance to stop your opponent from achieving theirs. It’s a real grind list, but you win warhammer on scoring the most points…and that was the idea behind this list.

Firstly, I chose Greyfyrd for the additional artefacts and extra wound on the heroes. Taking a large number of survivable heroes enables easy scoring of battletactics, especially when coupled with those in the book.

Given the inability to shoot the heroes, the Magmadroth now plays a different role as you can afford to send him into more risky situations if he’s going to trade well, rather than having to protect him to keep the 4+ ward on the Hearthguard! Here I’ve built him as a combat machine with the ability to double his axe attacks and also fight twice once a game. In one round of combat you can get his big axe of 10 attacks – 2s, 2s, -3, 3 and fighting twice…clear a screen and pile into the good stuff or save it for something you really want dead.

Two priests give you options to run and charge but the artefacts are the real tech…one makes you invisible to spells for one hero phase (one of the biggest threats to the slayers GC) and the other gives a reroll and double range of the Magmic invocations. This enables you to pin your opponent at 36” with the wall or start getting mortals into your opponent turn one…such reach slayers lists are normally lacking. This also achieves your battletactic just having one on the board…wild.

Now the Battlesmith. The main event. A 4+ rally, with which you can do 3x using the leadership of the alpha, though I’ve mainly used that for three AODs or AOAs. He also has a 4+ spell ignore bubble and dishes out a 6+ ward, which one a game becomes a 5+. This Slayers list ticks with all the GC alive, and he helps you do that.

The Flamekeeper is next up who gives you a nice little toolbox. Once five slayers die in range, which you’ve probably rallied back on a 4+, he can make a unit charge in your opponents combat phase (or your own to avoid unleash hell!), give plus one damage or fight on death. Fight first and on death Hearthguard play really well into alpha lists or use a counter charge to get onto an objective and stop, say, a battle tactic.

The runeson is mainly there for more survivability and to babysit one unit of Hearthguard, as he shrugs wounds onto them, and then the Doomseeker offers a teleporting GC – opening up even more battle tactics.

Finally, onto normal units…Vulkites with dual Handaxes can get 30 attacks in a unit if they charge and also fight on death. You can use them really effectively with the slayers runes, such as -1 rend or mortals on 6s to wound, and they’ll trade really well if used properly. They also offer screens against alpha armies with high rend…as Hearthguard will die if you can’t roll 4 ups! You can get these Vulkites onto a 5+ ward and -1 to wound too…making them actually quite hard to shift and a bit of a battle tactic trap!

Last but not least, the Hearthguard. A hammer and an anvil – you can deepstrike them with a rune smiter who, in the absence of sharpshooters, can’t be shot and therefore you no longer need to stay in your castle as you once did as a Slayer player! You can build multiple castles around the board…

Final Tournament Placings

For the full tournament placings, visit Best Coast Pairing