Tournament that took place in the USA on the 25th and 26th February. It involved 79 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

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Cherokee Open (US) – 79 Players

Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz
– Army Subfaction: Jaws of Mork
– Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Squigboss (80)*
– Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (160)*
– Spells: Itchy Nuisance
1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)*
– General
– Command Traits: The Clammy Hand
– Artefacts: Staff of Sneaky Stealin’
– Spells: The Hand of Gork

BATTLELINE
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (280)
– Bounder Boss
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (280)*
– Bounder Boss
36 x Squig Herd (360)**
12 x Squig Herd (120)**

BEHEMOTH
1 x Mangler Squigs (260)

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Scrapskuttle’s Arachnacauldron (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)

OTHER
1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Galletian Veterans

TOTAL POINTS: (1940/2000)

Dale returns with back to back 5-0s with Gloomspite Gitz. So there’s definitely something in the book. For those who didn’t catch that review, here’s what I said last time:

Dale has gone with Squigs for his main force with Bounders providing some great Spears of damage and the Squig Herd doing mortals when they run away, and the herders can get them back. The lack of command abilities on them worries me, however, a little as people get used to the army… especially with shooting. The buff pieces all have a place as well, with Squigs getting free moves, the moon doing as required, and 5+ward on one unit. It definitely requires some memory to keep all the moving parts in your head.

So, what to add? Well let’s use the time to talk about Skragrott:

He’s got loads of new abilities; most of which are build on the previous book. First up he’s a Warmaster so counts as a General in the army as well as your selected one. Great for Command Ability ranges. He’s still a 2 cast Wizard but he’s been reading those books in the last 3 years and now knows the full Lore (if in a Gloomspite List). This is great if the Fungoid is better placed to use his Hand of Gork.

He loses his extra command points, but gets a free command ability each turn – a great substitute. For me the best addition is that he also shines the Light of the Bad Moon so there’s a third source for the benefits – moon, shrine, Skragrott. He retains his 4+ ward and can move the moon… and then his new spell is great! 24″ mortal wound causer — you’re going to want some Mystic Terrain. I’ll do a deep dive into the Warscroll in the future, but he’s now a great addition to any Gitz army.

Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals
– Army Type: Scions of the Storm
– Army Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Holy Commands: Thunderbolt Volley
– Holy Commands: Call for Aid
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Bastian Carthalos (300)**
1 x Lord-Relictor (150)**
– Prayers: Translocation
1 x Lord-Castellant (160)**
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Thundershock
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master

BATTLELINE
4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (480)**
5 x Liberators (120)***
– Liberator-Prime
– Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield
– Grandweapon
5 x Liberators (120)***
– Liberator-Prime
– Grandweapon
– Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield
5 x Liberators (120)***
– Liberator-Prime
– Grandweapon
– Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield

OTHER
3 x Aetherwings (70)*
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
– Raptor-Prime
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
– Raptor-Prime

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Galletian Sharpshooters
**Warlord
***Galletian Veterans

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Before I jump into the list breakdown, I would like to note that I attended Cherokee this year (78th place, please don’t look at me), and faced Matthew’s list in the first round. He was an absolute pleasure to play, and he stomped me into the dirt.

Matthew brought a fair number of mortal wound-dealing and heavy-hitting units. Bastion is insanely tough with great damage output and the Slann-esque ability to place mortals anywhere on the battlefield. The Fulminators use their breath weapon mortals to soften up tougher opponents before charging in to finish them off. The longstrikes are there to fish for 6’s to hit froma safe distance, to try to pick off a unit left out in the open (and their Aetherwing buddies to make those standard shots a little more reliable).

Past that the list focuses on standard-issue units to perform standard-issue jobs. The priest uses translocation to sling his GCs into position (or throw Bastion into you backline). The Lord-Castellant uses his lantern to buff the saves for the Fulminators, leading to the sweet 1+ save, and the addition of the Arcane Tome allows him to weaken his opponent’s heavy-hitters to further protect units like Fulminators and Bastion, who might otherwise be at risk from volume-of-dice attacks.

Great work from Matthew to grab 2nd spot at such a huge event, and great game from me as well! I look forward to seeing where this army goes as we progress more into this GHB.

Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Army Subfaction: Helon
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Archmage Teclis (700)*
1 x Scinari Calligrave (110)*
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat
– Aspects of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
1 x Scinari Cathallar (110)*
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts: Silver Wand
– Spells: Total Eclipse

BATTLELINE
5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)*
– Windspeaker Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)*
– Windspeaker Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)*
– High Sentinel
– Spells: Protection of Hysh
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)*
– High Warden
– Spells: Etheral Blessings
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)*
– High Warden
– Spells: Solar Flare

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)
1 x Rune of Petrification (60)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000

Jon: Jonathan made sure to get every drop of effectivity out of his list when he made the bold decision to only include one group of Auralan Sentinels in his list. With a maximum shooting range of 24″, requiring line of sight, and two massive obscuring terrain features in the middle of the board it’s very impressive that he was able to surgically pull off his HVT’s.

Two Galatian Champions enable him to consistently play for the generic battle tactics while the full endless spell suite means you can almost assuredly score three to four Lumineth Realm-Lords specific tactics. The Calligrave’s signature spell that ONLY affects heroes that are in line of sight clearly was a great pick.

An interesting decision of giving the Cathallar a Command Trait instead of giving Teclis the nod as General means “This One’s Mine!” is almost never going to be achieved, but it doesn’t seem that Roberts missed it. Great showing from Jonathan! I look forward to hearing about it from attendees and fans in the coming weeks.

Army Faction: Skaven
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADER
1 x Verminlord Deceiver (420)
– Artefacts: Shadow Magnet Trinket
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
1 x Verminlord Warbringer (400)*
– General
– Command Traits: Devious Adversary
– Artefacts: Warpstone Charm
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
1 x Grey Seer (120)**
– Spells: Skitterleap
1 x Grey Seer (120)**
– Spells: Skitterleap
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
1 x Thanquol (430)**
– 4 x Warpfire Projectors
– Spells: Skitterleap

BATTLELINE
10 x Night Runners (90)*
– Nightleader
20 x Clanrats (100)*
– Clawleader
– 2 x Clanrat Standard Bearer
– 2 x Clanrat Bell-ringer
– Rusty Blade
20 x Clanrats (100)*
– Clawleader
– 2 x Clanrat Standard Bearer
– 2 x Clanrat Bell-ringer
– Rusty Blade

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Warp Lightning Vortex (80)
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)
1 x Lauchon the Soulseeker (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Gnawhole (0)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)

Peter: We previously states that the Skaven book was one of the oldest books. This is obviously a mistake, with it being under a year old.

Skaven are currently struggling, but with the right pilot, they are still able to compete in the meta… and this army is full of lovely Skaveny tricks. I played a very similar list at Warfare last year and got a small win, but it was touch and go, and a double would have killed me. The army has lots of strike and fade tactics and can hit you wherever Zachary wants. There’s not much you can do to stop them striking where they want with the Gnawholes and Skitterleap.

The Big Combo here is Thanquol and Lauchon. The Soulseeker can move Thanquol who normally can’t Skitterleap… and get him closer than 9″. This means he is superb at horde clearing. If you’ve got a Squig Herd it’s going to die quickly! Just hope there’s some left to flee and cause mortal wounds.

With 4 Warpfire Projectors Thanquol is doing 2 mortal wounds for each model within 8″… easily killing any hordes out there. The only protection I found was a cunning redeploy and then try to catch him with a double turn… but it’s risky especially with his Unleash Hell having no negatives… so he can move, fire, unleash hell, fight in combat…! Ouch.

It’s not all Thanquol, the Verminlords are great models and can really dish out damage when they need to. It’s a great list – don’t underestimate it!

Tournament Placings

For the full tournament placings visit Best Coast Pairings.