Tournament that took place in the UK on the 25th and 26th February. It involved 74 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

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Warhammer World: Matched Play Event (UK) – 74 Players

Allegiance: Fyreslayers
– Lodge: Greyfyrd
– Mortal Realm: Aqshy
– Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Auric Runefather (120)*
– General
– Command Trait: Spirit of Grimnir
– Artefact: Axe of Grimnir
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Auric Flamekeeper (90)***
Auric Flamekeeper (90)***
Battlesmith (150)***
– Artefact: Nulsidian Icon
– Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Auric Runemaster (130)***
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
– Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse
Auric Runesmiter (120)***
– Runic Iron
– Prayer: Ember Storm

Battleline
15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (450)*
– Poleaxes
– Reinforced x 2
30 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (480)**
– Reinforced x 2
10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)**
10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Runic Fyrewall (40)

Core Battalions
*Galletian Command
**Galletian Veterans
***Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Aspect of the Champion

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 162
Drops: 10

Peter: We previously mentioned that the flamekeeper charge was in the hero phase. This has been corrected to the combat phase.

Mike Stewart (of Team England fame) is on a personal mission to establish Fyreslayers as a meta-threat, and by Grimnir’s beard, he’s doing it.

There’s a surprising amount of tech and overlapping buffs in effect with this Fyreslayers list. The lynchpin to it all is the double Flamekeepers, who gain the ability to unleash a range of buffs depending on how many units have died nearby. Perhaps the most devastating of these options are a +1 damage effect to a unit, and the ability to make a unit charge in the combat phase – meaning a scary unit of 15 Hearthguard can suddenly threaten you in your OWN turn, which can make positioning/trading well for the opponent a complete nightmare.

To keep up on board control, given FS limited movement options, Mike has opted for a metric tonne of Vulkites. They’re not impressive on their own, but they provide excellent fodder for the Flamekeepers, and with their volume of attacks can still make for a great target for the +1 damage buff – or to just charge something and yoink the objective they thought they’d just taken, with relative impunity. Additionally, with Curse on the Runemaster, if it goes off, then the 30 Vulkites can pretty reliably just nuke something into oblivion with mortals.

Knowing a player of Mike’s calibre, I’m sure there’s all manner of extra sneaky plays baked into his list, but I think that covers the top line – a deceptively fast (with the out of phase charges) list full of ‘surprise hammers’ that creates plenty of ‘damned if you do/don’t’ scenarios for the opponent. Great work!

Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz
– Gittish Horde: Jaws of Mork
– Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)*
– General
– Command Trait: The Clammy Hand
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Grinkrak The Great (190)*
Skragrott, The Loonking (160)*
– Lore of the Moonclans: Nikkit!Nikkit!
Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (80)**
Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (80)**

Battleline
20 x Moonclan Shootas (125)*
20 x Moonclan Shootas (125)*
36 x Squig Herd (360)**
– Reinforced x 2
36 x Squig Herd (360)**
– Reinforced x 2

Units
1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)*
6 x Grinkrak’s Looncourt (0)*
5 x Gobbapalooza (145)**
– Spell1: Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)**

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 250
Drops: 2

Declan: Well it seems like Squigs are the go-to option from the new Gloomspite Gitz book at the moment and another 5-0 registered. It great that there are so many squig armies already painted or getting painted – good to see the ladz getting their time at the top. Simon has taken a lot of units that recent readers will have seen, but he’s got some new ones as well. The Gobbapalozza makes an appearance, and it is great to see it. The models were always georgous, but apart from some hardcore Gitz Players (looking at Nathan of Honest Wargamer fame), they were rarely used. They are now more streamlined and able to hand out additional rend to shooting units – hence the 2 units of Moonclan Shootas here.

Simon has also taken the new underworld warband which – Grinkrak the Great – who can give models the chance to fight on death. Great for the large units of Cave Squigs in Simon’s army. You’ll need shooting to deal with this, and even so, D3 Cave Squigs will come back for each herder in the unit. But they do run away with no command abilities possible.

It continues to be a great list, but I do worry about the Cave Squig’s chances long-term against shooting armies. Only time will tell as people get more experience playing with and against the new book.

Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle
– Army Subfaction: Blessed Sons
– Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Be’lakor (355)
1 x Lord of Plagues (140)*
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Gift of Disease
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
1 x Bloab Rotspawned (320)*
– Spells: Blades of Putrefaction
1 x Lord of Afflictions (230)*
– General
– Command Traits: Overpowering Stench
– Incubatch
– Dolorous Tocsin
– Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm
1 x Orghotts Daemonspew (320)**

BATTLELINE
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)**
– Blightlord
– Icon Bearer
– Sonorous Tocsin Bearer
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)**
– Blightlord
– Icon Bearer
– Sonorous Tocsin Bearer
10 x Rotmire Creed (130)**

TERRAIN
1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)

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

TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)

Ed: What an interesting and extremely top-heavy list! With only 630pts spent on battleline and a mere 25 models on the board, this list favours an intelligent approach where every piece needs to be played correctly. While 2 Maggoth Lords and 10 blightkings can both take and put out a decent amount of wounds they lack the footprint to reliably hold objectives on their own which means that Marco would be leaning heavily on the techy elements of his list and superior positioning to control the board. With a list like this, it doesn’t do to play cagey and reactively. You need to be aggressive and take decisive, perhaps risky, actions to get the best results.

This list has a lot of ways to inflict extra disease points to help supplement his damage output. If he chooses his battles carefully, Marco has the tools to remove important units from his opponent’s army with surgical precision. But he’d need to be cautious never to leave himself open to reprisal because with only 25 models in your whole army, even minor losses can cause big problems. Be’Lakor can neuter a particularly troublesome threat once per game if the dice are on your side. The Lord of Plagues with Tunnel Master is a troublesome Galletian Champion too – harder to put down than the average foot hero and thus requiring extra investment on the part of an opponent to deny your opportunity for battle tactics.

Surprisingly this list leans kind of heavily on magic. Bloab, Be’lakor and a Lord of Plagues with an Arcane Tome. They all have access to some great spells that really maximize this list’s potential but Nurgle is not a strong competitor in the magic game. Marco may have been lucky that his path to glory didn’t pit him against some of the wizardly boogiemen that are common right now like Tzeentch or Teclis.

Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Legion: Petrifex Elite
– Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours!
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Liege-Kavalos (160)*
– General
– Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian
– Artefact: Helm of the Ordained
Mortisan Soulmason (120)*
– Lore of Mortisans: Arcane Command
Mortisan Boneshaper (110)*
– Artefact: Godbone Armour
– Lore of Mortisans: Drain Vitality
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master

UNITS
6 x Necropolis Stalkers (340)**
– 2 x Dread Falchions
6 x Necropolis Stalkers (340)**
– 2 x Dread Falchions
10 x Mortek Guard (140)
– Nadirite Blade and Shield
10 x Mortek Guard (140)*
– Nadirite Blade and Shield
5 x Kavalos Deathriders (180)
– Nadirite Blade and Shield

ARTILLERY
Mortek Crawler (200)
Mortek Crawler (200)

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
Bone-tithe Shrieker (50)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Galletian Veterans

ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS
Artefact

TOTAL: 1980/2000

Alice: This season, Ossiarch Bonereapers really have to work with what they have. With only 2 Galetian Champions in the army, neither exactly standouts, they often have to compensate in other ways. The lone boneshaper exists to pick up a few battle tactics, and has a pretty nice horde clearing spell.

The primary lineholders are the mortek guard, with the Deathriders acting as outriders to grab some objectives and score the faction’s unique battletactic. The units really holding the list up are the Necropolis Stalkers, which benefit heavily from the Galetian Vets battalion so both ranks can attack. In precision stance they can hit with 20 Rend -2 Damage 2 attacks from the primary weapon, and 6 Rend -3 Damage 3 attacks from the special Dread Falchions. While fully buffed from the Soulmason they can reroll 1s and get a bonus attack per model from the Liege. Few things can face a fully buffed unit of these alive and live to tell the tale.

The Crawlers round off the list with the only shooting attacks in the army. While the Rend 0 shots can miss often, that 5 damage will absolutely chunk anything it successfully does hit.

Tournament Placing

For the full placings, visit Best Coast Pairings