This is the top three 40k lists for the War Calls 2023 event that took place in Perth, Australia on the 22nd and 23rd of April. It involved 43 players vying to be crowned champion in a 6-game tournament.
As we head into 10th edition and beyond we wanted to start providing a source for lists that are being used successfully in tournaments around the world. The size of the 40k community and the sheer number of events means we won’t be commenting.
Before I jump into the Top Three 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 40k Lists
Pre Game Stratagems: Gene-sire’s Gifts (-2 CP), Relic (-1 CP), Warlord Trait (-1 CP) Starting Command Points: 3 Warlord: Primus Army Trait: Pauper Princes The Pauper Princes Arks of Omen [108 PL, 1998 pts]
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Acolyte Iconward [4 PL, 65 pts] Magus [4 PL, 80 pts] – Power: Last Gasp – Power: Might From Beyond – Power: Psychic Stimulus, Psychic Familiar Primus [4 PL, 70 pts] – Relic: Reliquary of Saint Tenndarc – Stratagem: Warlord Trait – Warlord, Warlord Trait: Alien Majesty
Arks of Omen Detachment (Orks) [117 PL, 1CP, 2,000pts] Arks of Omen Compulsory Type: Fast Attack) Clan Kultur: Goffs
Stratagems
Stratagem: Heroic Support [-1CP]: Speedboss
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Beastboss on Squigosaur [9 PL, -2CP, 160pts]: – ‘Ard as Nails – Beasthide Mantle – Stratagem: Relic, – Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord Boss Zagstruk [6 PL, 110pts] Warboss on Warbike [6 PL, -2CP, 115pts]: – Brutal but Kunnin – Da Killa Klaw – Power Klaw – Stratagem: Big Boss – Stratagem: Extra Gubbinz
This is the top three AoS lists for the London Open that took place in the UK on the 14th and 15th of April. 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: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Zilfin – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Honour Is Everything – Amendment: Trust to Your Guns – Footnote: Without Our Ships We Are Naught
Leaders Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Ex-Grundstok Aether-Khemist (80)* – Artefact: Spell in a Bottle – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Aether-Khemist (80)*
Battleline 15 x Grundstok Thunderers (405)* – 3x Aetheric Fumigators – 3x Decksweepers – 3x Aethercannons – 3x Grundstok Mortars – Reinforced x 2 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (270)* – 2x Aetheric Fumigators – 2x Decksweepers – 2x Aethercannons – 2x Grundstok Mortars – Reinforced x 1 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)* – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon – Frigate Regittings: Magnificent Omniscope
Units 3 x Endrinriggers (120)* – 1x Grapnel Launchers
Behemoths Arkanaut Ironclad (500)* – Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon – Major Installation: The Last Word
Russell Taylor: My list is designed around the ability to have one big turn so when I decide it’s the time to go which is usually turn 1 but can be delayed then I can devastate state my opponent’s army.
The key to this is being able to move my ships and get the thunderers out afterwards this is why I have included the soulscream bridge because it allows me to disembark the units inside the ironclad after bridging them meaning I can apply the extra rend from the khemist to my thunderers and also meaning that my 12 inch range guns are also in better range, I took the footnote that allows two commands to be given to a ship so I can fly high my frigate and disembark using two command abilities mirroring the use of the soulscream bridge. The admiral allows me to give another additional rend once per game which can also be used without disembarking if I don’t need to stack all the rend at once.
The combination of these tactics mean I can deploy in the corner out of range of my opponent and then strike with easy killing priority targets and then clearing up in the next few turns.
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Army Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired – Holy Command: Call for Aid
LEADER 1 x Knight-Zephyros (100)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox 1 x Aventis Firestrike (270)* – Spells: Thundershock
BATTLELINE 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* 4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (480)* 5 x Drakespawn Knights (110)* – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Dread Knight 10 x Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows (380)* – 2 x Thunderbolt Crossbow 5 x Sequitors (120)* – Sequitor-Prime – Stormsmite Greatmace (Sequitor-Prime) – 2 x Stormsmite Greatmace
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Everblaze Comet (90)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
Dan Sidders: The One with the Goat The list is built with 3 things in mind: it needed to be 1 drop because of the battle pack, it needed to unlock some tome tactics & I wanted it to be a combined arms force that had melee & ranged damage.
The fulminators are battleline in Hammers of Sigmar and delete anything they hit but need a delivery mechanism. That’s where the Drakespawn Knights come in. 10 wounds on a 3+ save for 110 points on cavalry bases. Turned sideways they can screen enough ground to cover a block of 4 large dracoth bases. They also have 10” move the same as the Fulminators so can move up at speed and maintain the screen. They unlock the Pioneers of the Realm battle tactic to contest enemy home objectives with a Cities unit which I completed in 3/5 games. There’s no requirement to control the objective and often one lone survivor would just sneak in during the late game to score the points.
I wanted to get away from the Wildform, Translocate option I had been running because i was throwing the Fulminators forward too early and recently I’ve been trying to slow my gameplay down slightly to force myself to make better decisions.
The shooting hammer came from 10 Crossbow Judicators who have the Rapid Fire rule giving them exploding hits, which when buffed to hit on 2’s provides the highest output shooting available to Stormcast into anything but a 2+ save. It also provides 10 models to stand on an objective and fills a battleline slot. The downside being that they only have 18” range; so I needed something to screen them in order to deepstrike within range.
So my third battleline slot was filled with 4 Tempestors who, like the Judicators have crossbows with exploding hits and the benefit of some rend and mortal wound breath attacks. These guys were deployed out of scions 9” away from my opponents front line – the Judicators sat behind. Lots and lots of shots poured into the enemy. The Tempestors could then risk a charge or simply stand there – the unleash hell they put out is like getting a free fight first! Averaging 10 wounds into any target without a ward. With 24 wounds on a 3+ they generally took up my opponents attention for a couple of turns while the fulminators closed in.
The utility pieces in the list were provided by the heroes; the Zephyros innately teleports and counts as 10 on objectives with Stubborn as a Rhinox but always started the game right on the back line. The comet has 36” range so can be deployed outside of unbind range turn 1 due to the Arcane Tome. The Goat, Aventis Firestrike who dropped to 270 points in the recent battlescroll gives me a 2 cast wizard allowing for a mystic shield and Thunderstrike for a -1 to wound aura within 18” boosting the survivability of the fairly elite force. The fact that he’s a 14” flying monster means he can get into the action to supply a well placed roar and also shift from deployment up behind the shooting units to hand out +1 to hit which solves the need for AOA on both units to maximise the damage potential.
The MVP’s were the 5 sequitors who were a second screen for deployment and an objective holder in the early game. Activating their 5+ ward helped to make them stubborn when needed and then when they went down I used Call for aid to resurrect them further up the field and hunt a hero for the No Challenge too Great tome tactic using their exploding 6’s to hit. Perfect now there are lots of Galetian champions running around!
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords – Great Nation: Helon – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Archmage Teclis and Celennar, Spirit of Hysh (720) – General Scinari Cathallar (120) – Artefact: Silver Wand – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Battleline 5 x Hurakan Windchargers (140) 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Overwhelming Heat 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (320)* – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh – Reinforced x 1
Units 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (320)* – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh – Reinforced x 1
Mo Ashraf:It’s a fairly standard Teclis castle build with 2×20 sentinels doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The changes to the standard list were taking only one unit of Windchargers and also taking Gnashing Jaws/Horrorghast as endless spells.
The biggest change is that I took sharpshooters on the sentinels, which meant I wasn’t a 1 drop and instead a 6 drop. Throughout the event, I was out dropped by everyone bar 1 player, so didn’t get the choice often to choose 1st or 2nd. I realised this was a mistake though, and in the future, I will go for the 1 drop as the one game I lost could have potentially been avoided if I chose to make them go first.
The extra endless spell meant that one of the book battle tactics of having 2 endless spells on the field was fairly easy to achieve, especially in the late game when opponent wizards were killed off. But the lack of extra units of windchargers/screen meant that the army did feel fairly small.
The list starts really starts to excel later turns of the game when it can start moving up out of the castle to score more objectives, so early game is about killing from a distance as much as possible.
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Greyfyrd – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Gotrek Gurnisson (480) – Allies Auric Runefather (120)* – General – Command Trait: Leader of the Duardrazhal – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir Auric Runeson (80)** – Ancestral War-axe Auric Runemaster (130)** – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Auric Flamekeeper (90)** – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm (Galletian Champion) Grimwrath Berzerker (110)*** – Artefact: Draught of Magmalt Ale – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Battleline 10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (300)* – Poleaxes – Reinforced x 1 10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (300)** – Poleaxes – Reinforced x 1 20 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (320)*** – Reinforced x 1
Kevin Lathers: A rare Gotrek list hits the upper ranks of a GT. Gotrek seems like a natural fit for Fyreslayers: he’s a duardin, they’re a duardin, etc. But he doesn’t really provide much FS don’t already have, such as the ability to kill things in the combat phase. So it’s uncommon to see him.
This list leans hard into him with the Runefather taking Leader of the Daurdrazhal, a CT which allows Gotrek to benefit from the Fyreslayers’ runes (most importantly the movement rune).
He also has a natural buddy in the Grimwrath Berserker, who is basically a mini-me for Gotrek. Between the two of them there’s basically nothing in the game that can stand up to them in the combat phase.
The rest of the list is two units of HGB, brick walls to both screen and hold objectives and Vulkite Berserkers, another objective holder and infantry with a little more mobility. These are supported by a flamekeeper to add a little utility and/or damage to them depending on the situation.
What’s conspicuously missing from the list is a Battlesmith, so this army will be without 4+ Rally, a 5+ ward once per game, and the very helpful Nulsidian Icon which can block offensive/endless spells on a 4+ (almost needed vs. Tzeentch, Seraphon, or LRL). Instead, this list is going to really rely on the 4+ wards from the HGB and Gotrek’s ability to soak up damage as a distraction carnifex.
Oh, and the Molten Infernoth, which does the thing it always does: knock MWs into anything and everything for 40 points.
Overall, this list will take some skilled piloting, but if done right the infantry can hold objectives while Gotrek and Mini-Gotrek clean the board of pests.
There’s a lot of YouTube and Twitch for Warhammer and Age of Sigmar but there’s not many using the written word. So it’s great to be able to share a Friday Follow that we know you’re going to love.
Plastic Craic has been a one-man enterprise for a while with some great articles focusing on Peter’s love of Age of Sigmar! (Much like our own web-master Peter).
Well the good news he’s coming back… and he’s brought some friends. I’ll let him tell you what’s going on though – go to PlasticCraic.blog, check it out and if you like it (which you definitely will) join his Patreon. It promises to be a blog we all keep an eye on over here on Woehammer.
This is the top three AoS lists for Smash & Bash that took place in the USA on the 22nd and 23rd of April. It involved 62 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: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: King’s Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Dankhold Troggboss (200)** – General – Command Trait: Loonskin – Artefact: Glowy Howzit Skragrott, The Loonking (210)* Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)* – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Battleline 9 x Rockgut Troggoths (480)* – Reinforced x 2 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (160)*
Well, there’s no doubt that the new Gloomspite Gitz book is better than the original, but I must admit that I’m still suprised to see Troggs smashing their way to a 5-0. Christopher didn’t have an easy route either ending on the other Destruction go-to army – Ogor Mawtribes.
The Troggs don’t have the bodies that you might expect in a Gitz list, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have sneaky tricks in abundance, and Christopher has brought along some Gobbos to help his Rockguts. The Fungoid can Hand of Gork – a great threat to his opponent – whilst Skragrott can do that, and can keep the moon where you need it to be – as well as giving a little ranged damage with his scroll spell.
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
A spell that wouldn’t be out of place in an Aelf book. Glorious stuff.
Meanwhile the Rockguts are healing in both turns, and if you can kill nine of them – 5 can come back! That’s a hell of a hammer piece appearing within 12″ of the Loonshrine near the end of game (because you’re not killing them early). It’s great to see the list do so well, and a list mostly unchanged from the Trogg lists before the new book (with the notably addition of Skragrott). Goes to to show what a few well placed warscroll re-writes can do.
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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Army Subfaction: Bloodlords – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330) – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts: Ar’gath, the King of Blades – Prayers: Killer Instinct, Blood Sacrifice 1 x Skarbrand (380)** 1 x Realmgore Ritualist (100)** – Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Bloodbind – Aspect Tunnel master 1 x Bloodmaster (110)** – Prayers: Unholy Flames, Blood Sacrifice
BATTLELINE 20 x Bloodletters (360)* – Bloodreaper – Icon Bearer – Hornblower 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)* 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)*
INVOCATION 1 x Bleeding Icon (40) 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Skull Altar (0)
OTHER 5 x Garrek’s Reavers (70)* 6 x Bloodcrushers (360)** – Icon Bearer – Hornblower – Bloodhunter
CORE BATTALIONS: *Galletian Veterans **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Khorne’s new book is having a rush of blood to the head and starting to post results! This here is a forerunner for a very solid competitive archetype, and here’s how it works.
The big, daemonic blob of core synergy here is the Thirster of Unfettered Fury projecting a -1 to hit aura, and taking the command trait ‘FIrebrand’ that makes him into a priest. Because of the warlord battalion, each priest in the list knows two prayers – and the Khorne scripture is SO GOOD. With him is 20 Bloodletters, who in Bloodlords, are doing MWs on 5s to hit instead of 6s. The Thirster also has the ability to give a unit a 3d6 charge – meaning this blob is suddenly annoyingly hard to kill with the Thirster parked beyond, but also capable of long-bombing and handing you a whole bunch of MWs on a bronze platter.
Skarbrand is simply another very scary beatstick that can’t be ignored, meaning the other priests – the Ritualist and Bloodmaster, whose warscroll spell can give daemons +1 to wound vs a target – are probably free to do their thing, unmolested. Factor in two key Invocations, the Bleeding Icon to turn off inspiring presence in an aura and the Hexgorgers to absolutely lock down casting – and you have a very difficult equation to solve.
There are more moving parts to this list and a whole lot of strategy and further synergy based around Blood Tithe use that is all acts as a force multiplier but would take an essay to explain – but that gives you the core idea. A nasty, ‘everything is scary’ list full of movement shenanigans and board control. A great result and a sure sign of Khorne lists to come.
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Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Urbaz – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Master The Skies – Urbaz Artycle: Settle the Grudges – Amendment: Trust to Your Guns – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
Leaders Aetheric Navigator (85)*** – Artefact: Voidstone Orb Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Artefact: Celestium Burst-grenade – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90)*** Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90)***
Battleline 3 x Endrinriggers (120)* 3 x Endrinriggers (120)** 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)** – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)** – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)*** – Main Gun: Sky Cannon
Behemoths Arkanaut Ironclad (500) – Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon – Major Installation: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram Arkanaut Ironclad (500) – Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon
Kharadron and I have a love/hate relationship, I love the concept and like to see them do well, but I don’t love their play style or look. Jame’s list is brilliant, no attempt to outdrop you – he isn’t going to deploy near you anyway. 2 x Ironclads and a Gunhauler all with Sky Cannons is no joke, 50/50 to hit at long range (but all out attack can help) with only 2 shots but D3+3 damage. And through the artycles, amendments, and footnotes, those boats have +2″ movement, +1 to wound against a unit, a reroll of a 1 and once per battle 3D6 charge. Guess which Ironclad that’s going to go on (battleram rolls for mortals with a number of dice equal to the charge roll).
On top of the boats shooting, their embarked Akanaut’s are Galletian Sharpshooters. Very difficult to use their disembarked ability to give them +1 to hit to anything contesting objectives. But there is no reason they can’t target a GC from the boat with All Out Attack after a fly high command. The Galletian Command is an unusual choice for a non combat army but a decent way of accessing the season’s Battle Tactics. It might leave you open to the Bodyguard being killed, but the Admiral could contest an objective effectively particularly late game. But wait, there’s more – this is not just a shooting army. There are a lot of moving parts and buffs. From the Navigators reading the winds to the Admiral granting rerolls to the reading the winds, drops, movements, and profiles. It’s a lot to keep track of. Essentially, though, if they shoot, they will lift most units in the game.
They would have the drop on most of the armies James faced, the loss to Ogors is interesting – Ogors do have tricks to get close and if they do they can dominate. They are hard to put down as well. Poor Fyreslayers though, slow, forced into the open and gunned down.
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Allegiance: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Thanquol on Boneripper (430) – 4 Warpfire Projectors – Lore of Ruin: Skitterleap Verminlord Warbringer (400)* – General – Command Trait: Devious Adversary – Artefact: Warpstone Charm – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Warlock Engineer (100)* – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Clawlord (110)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Aspect of the Champion: Fueled by Ghurish Rage
Battleline 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100) – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100) – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100) – Rusty Blade
80 clanrats and 2 warp lightning cannons, who cares how you go, this army is going to be a laugh with lots of death. There is no special list tech here, just some really hard-hitting hammers (Thanquol, Warbringer, and even the Hellpit) with deep deep screens. Thanquol has his skateboard (Lauchon) and is built for maximum melee. He’ll hit harder than a Mawcrusher. The Warbringer will, with this build, hit as hard a Thanquol (8 x 3 damage attacks) with his melee weapons. It’s a great list for killing, but maybe not for scoring. That’s an issue for Skaven their heroes are either massive or very small (5 wounds), and season 3 battle tactics are hard work for them.
At that’s how Smash and Bash went down; 4/0/1 and finishing in 9th with a few close battles. The only one he didn’t overcome was 2nd place, Blades of Khorne. And when your army is all about trading bodies to maintain position and killing your opponent, your worst nightmare is an opponent that wants exactly that. The more you kill, the more bloodtithe, and Khorne isn’t fussy who died. Bloodthirster/Skarbrand on Thanquol is going to depend on who goes first and the dice. Brilliant to see on the tabletop. Fantastic list to see, maybe hindered by the new season, but it is still a very effective and bloody machine that will grind out wins.
This is the top three 40k lists for the BFS Northeast Team Championship that took place in New York State, USA on the 22nd and 23rd of April. It involved 120 players in teams of 5 vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament. These are the top individual lists and not the top 3 teams. If team lists are of interest please let us know in the comments below.
As we head into 10th edition and beyond we wanted to start providing a source for lists that are being used successfully in tournaments around the world. The size of the 40k community and the sheer number of events means we won’t be commenting.
Before I jump into the Top Three 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 40k Lists
Space Wolves Successor (Born Heroes , Whirlwind of Rage, Custom Chapter) Arks of Omen 0 CP, 2000 pts, 110 PL
HQ
HQ1: Captain on Bike: Chapter Command: Chapter Master, Combi-melta, Hunter, Rites of War, Stratagem: A Trophy Bestowed (0CP), Stratagem: Relic of the Chapter, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Stratagem: Warrior of Legend, The Armour of Russ, Thunder hammer, Warlord [145 pts, 8 PL, -3 CP] HQ2: Primaris Lieutenant: Neo-volkite pistol, Master-crafted power sword and Storm Shield, Stratagem: Relic, The Vox Espiritum [65 pts, 5 PL, -1 CP]
This is the top three AoS lists for Valleycon 2023 that took place in New Zealand on the 22nd and 23rd of April. It involved 26 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: Khorne – Slaughterhost: The Bloodlords – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! -Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)** – General – Command Trat: Firebrand – Artefact: Argath the King of Blades Skarbrand (380) Realmgore Ritualist (100)* – Prayer: Blood Sacrifice Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne (160)* Bloodsecrator (110)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne (110)** – Artefact: Halo of Blood
UNITS 30 x Bloodletters (540)** – Gore Drenched icon 10 x Bloodreavers (80** – Reaver Blades 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Reaver Blades 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** –Reaver Blades
Peter: We’ve corrected this article to say that Bloodlords can be buffed to cause mortals on 5+ and not 4+ as previously stated.
Hero-hammer is alive and well in the land of Khorne. While I think their book was initially overlooked due to the insane rules from Slaanesh, there is a lot of potential in the new Blades of Khorne battletome. They remain a very tech-y army with a moderate to high skill level, but in the right hands they can get a lot of work done.
In this case, Shaun has packed more than half the points for his army in heroes, and a further quarter of his points in a single, massive unit of Bloodletters.
Working from the top of the list, we’ll start with the Fury Thirster. I think you’ll see this unit + command trait combination a lot. The Thirster starts as a great force mulitplier, allowing one unit per round the chance to roll 3D6 for a charge, as well as providing a -1 to hit debuff for enemies within 8″. Giving him Firebrand allows him the ability to chant prayers as well, and Khorne’s Prayer Scriptures are good enough that you’ll want to pack as many priests as possible. He’s also taken Argath, which will cut ward from nearby units, allowing those aura mortals to go through more easily.
He’s followed up by Skarbrand. Skarbrand’s role in the army didn’t change from the last tome. He’s still a massive beatstick character that suffers from some durability issues. Luckily he’s one of the few bracketing units in the game that gets better as he takes damage, so if your opponent happens to leave him standing with only 1 or 2 wounds they are in huge trouble. His damage output became more reliable in this tome, but he lost the ability to increase the number of attacks for Carnage, so you’re banking on that single die. At his bottom bracket that’s a guaranteed 8 mortal wounds, with a potential 16 mortal wound spike, so that one attack can still be very effective if aimed correctly.
I’ll lump the Realmgore Ritualist and Bloodsecrator in the same bucket, as they both have the same goal: time their once-per-game ability well, then die. The blood tithe points gained from their deaths will be 1 shy of summoning an extra GC to the field, and since their attack increases are once per game, it means they can be effective in death. If you don’t have the opportunity to have them killed, you still have two priests running around the field, both of which are GCs, so scoring some late-game battle tactics should be well within your reach.
The Bloodmaster and Herald are both Daemon priests (5 priests in this list!), and serve different purposes. The Herald can move quickly around the battlefield, and carries a healing prayer that can bring back a few of those bloodthirsters as they die, while the bloodmaster buffs them by giving them +1 to wound against an enemy unit. Tie the bloodletters unit near enough to the Bloodthirster to get a 3D6 charge and they’ll fling themselves across the field lightning-fast while setting off the Bloodlords army trait. Give them All-out Attack and you now have a 30-strong unit fighting in two ranks (thanks to their shiny new 2″ weapon range), hitting on 2s, wounding on 2s, with mortal wounds happening on hit rolls of 5+! A large enough squad can reasonably survive most enemy’s Unleash Hell, so you’ve got a very powerful mobile unit that can dish out a ton of damage.
Past there you have three units of Reavers. They are decently cheap battleline, and work well for screens and blood tithe points. Shaun has also taken a Magnificent Command Entourage, bringing an extra artefact on the Bloodmaster, giving it permanent fight-first (note that this also gives the bloodletters fight first due to The Blood Must Flow in a roundabout way).
Congratulations, Shaun, on your first place win! I love to see Khorne come out strong, and I’m sure we will see more Khorne lists in the near future.
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Heartwood – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Warsong Revenant (300)* – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Lore of the Deepwood: The Dwellers Below Treelord Ancient (330)* – Artefact: The Vesperal Gem – Lore of the Deepwood: Treesong Arch-Revenant (120)* – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
UNITS 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Scythes (500)* 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* 3 x Revenant Seekers (240)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 10 x Shadow Warriors (120)* – Allies
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS Spiteswarm Hive (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1990/2000
Not the first, nor likely the last time I’ll find myself writing about Lee Wilmot’s Sylvaneth play, I feel it’s worth commenting on a thread of consistency between his Sylvaneth lists that is often glossed over in favour of unit to unit analysis: The kind of list Lee runs, and the reason he is so successful with Sylvaneth vs top factions such as Gitz, KotET, LRL and so forth, is that the lists he makes score well. Lee’s use of things such as the Vesperal Gem on the TLA (automatically cast once per round), tech choices like the Dweller’s below (Sylvaneth’s generic anti-horde spell) and frankly, the inclusion of a TLA at all (to create a tree 3″ away where-ever he wants, once per game) combine to form a picture of consistency. If piloted well, this kind of list will consistently flip objectives each turn and score Battle tactics, building to a trading advantage that allows Take What’s Theirs (the GS) to be scored at the end of the game.
I do have some questions about how this style of list handles some of the new fast – or spell dominant – books like Seraphon, Slaanesh and KO (always KO) so if you see this Lee, please reach out! That said, this list style allows a base formula to be applied each game, with little room to interact for the opponent (unironically a massive positive for tournament play, and the pillar of LRL’s general success) and provides great scope for adjustment on the fly based on battlefield conditions, Revenant Seekers provide mobility and improve consistency by resurrecting Kurnoths that are killed off by Fight On Death or long range chip damage effects while the combination of the pet Shadow Warriors unit and the Tree Revenants allow for objective sitting once the combination of spell damage, ranged damage and Strike and Fading Kurnoth Hunters clear the way. It’s an extremely well structured way to approach list building for the GT environment where a broad range of matchups will be played and a great show of Lee’s system mastery.
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: King’s Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Skragrott, The Loonking (210)*** – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Dankhold Troggboss (200)** – General – Command Trait: Loonskin – Artefact: Glowy Howzit Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (100)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)*** – Artefact: Staff of Sneaky Stealin’ – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Webspinner Shaman (65)*** – Lore of the Spiderfang: Curse of da Spider God
UNITS 40 x Moonclan Shootas (250)** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (160)** 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (160)** 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)*** 24 x Squig Herd (260)* 5 x Gobbapalooza (160)** – Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance
Gitz are back baby… although its perhaps more accurate to say that they have arrived for the first time. Sam has brought a ‘soup’ list to 4-1 here and snagged 3rd place. (A soup list in Gitz is one with a few keywords, so in this case Troggs, Squigs, Spiders and Gitz (in the form of the Gobbapalooza))
It’s great to see the Gobbapalooza popping up in lists now that it’s been made into a single warscroll which makes it much easier to understand and – more importantly – stop ‘gotcha’ moments because an opponents forgot which of the 5 scrolls the little green guy was in the last book!
The Webspinner is a fun addition in this list to also represent the Spiderfang, and he’s brought along a free scuttletide (well the Dankhold has!) This makes these three models very good value and we’ll definitely see it in a few more lists before the book has run it’s course.
The main backbone is the Troggs though – hitting like a freight train you’ll need to hit first and hit hard – and then kill them again when they come back from the Loonshrine. It’s a lot of muscle with a small number of attacks but good damage on the Rockguts.
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
They have the ‘elite infantry’ profile of 3+/3+ which routinely means 2+/3+ and have rend 2, damage 3. Sure you don’t get many attacks, but it makes your opponent sweat when they have to take those saving throws. Even Annihilators have cause for (some) concern.
It’s great to see the Gitz getting near the top now and to have so many players dust off their collections after 3 years in the attics. Hopefully I’ll get a game or two in with them soon… getting serious FOMO watching all my fellow Gitz get in the reps!
Once again I find myself in the situation of taking my own advice on Hobby Slumps. It’s not really a slump, so much as no tournaments to aim for and not enough time to do models that need a lot of detail. So, following on from last week’s terrain I’ve got the bug for painting grey (strangely) and I went into my still to be painted box of terrain and picked out two new Guardian Idols to build and try.
Age of Sigmar Terrain
I’ve painted two models this week. The guardian idols are from the Realmscape Expansion set and they are very nice models. They are however a little strange for gameplay and for the storyline! They are clearly the damaged walls of a settlement but Sigmar’s followers are supposed to be building new settlements… and they don’t block line of sight very well. However they are very nice and imposing.
Pictures
How do they play?
Okay, so my standard format doesn’t work brilliantly with terrain & scenery, but it definitely helps make the table! However, as I’ve said above, they are a little less impactful for gaming purposes. I think I’ll need to base together on a scenery base to allow them to be ruins! Could help them block line of sight if I set them up appropriately.
Woe Points and Hobby Bingo
This also contributes to two of the methods I’m trying to use to reduce the pile of shame or potential! Woe Points is -6 for these group and three squares of Hobby Bingo which I’ll ask Peter to update for me! If you want to be involved in either of these aides to clearing the pile of potential then join us on our Discord Channel.
Paints Used
The painting scheme used is the same as the Giant Head from last week; repeated here with a sparkly new picture!
Buying a Box
I got mine through Element Games and you can too and support the show. There are walls in the box as well which I hope to get to later.
This is the top three 40k lists for the Grand Clash 2023 event that took place in the Canada on the 22nd and 23rd of April. It involved 47 players vying to be crowned champion in a 6-game tournament.
As we head into 10th edition and beyond we wanted to start providing a source for lists that are being used successfully in tournaments around the world. The size of the 40k community and the sheer number of events means we won’t be commenting.
Before I jump into the Top Three 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 40k Lists
Iron Hands Successor (Custom Chapter, Master Artisans, Whirlwind of Rage) Unbound Army (Faction) 0 CP, 1997 pts, 130 PL
HQ
Primaris Lieutenant [65 pts, 5 PL, -1 CP] – Neo-volkite pistol – Master-crafted power sword and Storm Shield – Rites of War, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord Primaris Techmarine [70 pts, 4 PL, -1 CP] – Stratagem: Hero of the Chapter – Target Protocols
As Snorri Whitebeard led his company through the winding mountain paths towards the rendezvous, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Despite the snow-covered terrain, their spirits remained high as they sang dwarven songs of old, fuelled by the hope and promise that Belegar had given them. He had promised change, a chance to reclaim their lands from Urk, Grobi and Thaggoraki filth, and Snorri had left his father’s side to join him in this quest with many of the younger Dwarfs following his lead.
Snorri’s thoughts drifted to his father, the Lord of the Whitebeard clan, as he marched alongside Belegar. He had heard Belegar’s speech promising change and hope for the future of the dwarves, and for the first time in a long while, he felt a sense of optimism. However, his father would not listen to Belegar’s words. He was a stubborn dwarf who only listened to words that pleased him and was content to watch their lands, and people slowly eroded.
Snorri had argued with his father about the slow decline of the dwarves many times before, but this time was different. Snorri couldn’t help but wonder whether he would ever see eye to eye with him on the matter
As they neared the foothills. Snorri noticed a gyrocopter overhead and couldn’t help but mutter a curse under his breath at the unpredictable engineers who piloted them. Despite this, he recognized the potential usefulness of the contraption for scouting ahead on their journey.
Their arrival at the rendezvous where they were to meet other like minded Dwarfs was met with suspicion from a half-dead looking Manling known as Von Ehrenreich, who claimed they were trespassing on ancestral lands and owed a tithe to his lord. Belegar, however, refused to back down, asserting that these were ancestral dwarf lands and that they owed nothing to the Manling lord. As they made their plans to move forward, Snorri couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease at the unfamiliar cream and purple colours of the messenger and his bodyguards, likely mercenaries.
Their unwelcome guest departed, and Belegar and his captains planned their movements. Belegar and Snorri would head south in the morning towards the Black Mountains, gathering more volunteers from Dwarf settlements en route. The rest of the force would move east to Zhufbar and collect more supporters.
Snorri and Belegar set forth only for their journey to be interrupted by the mercenary company of Captain Dienst, who blocked the road out of the foothills. Snorri noted the poor quality of their equipment and the presence of a hedge wizard, dabbling in Elgi business and likely to come to a bad end. Despite the odds, Belegar refused to back down, demanding that they step aside. Snorri steeled himself for battle, ready to fight their way out and continue their quest to reclaim their lands and restore the glory of the dwarven people.
The Dwarf Plan – Peter
For those who have been following our Tale of Wargamers, you’ll recognise that this force is the one that I’ve put together over the last six months. Belegar, the Gyrocopter and the Ironbreakers along with a Rune of Spellbreaking for Snorri, while also giving the Gyrocopter Vanguard, it all rounded it out nicely to 1,000 points.
With that, Dave challenged me to a game of 8th edition Fantasy, and I gladly accepted! I knew my list wasn’t that competitive with Belegar included and taking up just over 300 points that could be spent on additional troops, but that didn’t matter for the narrative we had in mind. Seeing Dave’s list, I knew the Pistoliers would be a problem, as would his missile troops. My best bet would be to try and remove the Pistoliers early and have the Gyrocopter harrass his missile troops while my footsloggers marched up and beat the crap out of everyone else. Deploying, I decided to try a refused flank on the left, hoping that I could challenge his smaller units before I talked that massive block.
The Empire Plan – Dave
When Pete and I set this game up I mulled over what I fancied playing for a while but as the shape of the campaign started to form in our minds it became clear that Pete’s intrepid dwarfs would be the ‘good’ guys and so I elected to take the ‘baddies’. We were re-learning the game at the same time, and so I wanted to play something that covered all phases of the game but which was not too complex. This led me to my old favourite, the Empire, which can really do pretty much everything(ish).
As my army was travelling into the foothills to confront the dwarfs and given their objective, I thought I would dispense with war machines as they didn’t fit what I had in mind for the narrative and would be another thing to re-learn/remember. For my leadership core, I wanted to take a Captain to leave myself with plenty of points for troops, I definitely wanted a wizard as I know from experience that a well-timed cast can turn a game. I chose a Level 2 as I didn’t want magic to dominate the game as it sometimes can in 8th Edition Warhammer. I decided on Fire for my lore, as I recall it isn’t necessarily the strongest, but it has some great direct damage, some buffs, and one of my favourite spells – Flame Cage. Flame Cage makes units take a Strength 4 hit on every model when they move and then disappears, this can absolutely change games and really mess with the opposing General’s plans (and head).
Possibly controversially, I didn’t choose a Battle Standard Bearer….! A Battle Standard Bearer would give me extra combat resolution for the unit they are in but more importantly, I could reroll any failed leadership checks within 12″. I chose not to take one as I thought a battle this small might not merit it, it would take some of the risk out of the game but I quite liked the idea of just rolling with it and again I wanted to have more points for troops.
Now I was on to what I usually consider the fun stuff! I needed some good bread and butter first, and this would be my main combat block, a big unit of spearman – a horde no less! The spearmen can fight with an extra rank, so this would potentially mean all of them fighting. My general would be in this unit, and I hoped that they would be able to give a unit of dwarf warriors a fairly stiff fight. Basic dwarf warriors would be a tough proposition for my State Troops, but if I could get a buff off from my wizard and get another unit in the flank, I might do OK. I chose another smaller block of State Troops as my second unit, this time halberdiers. Halberdier’s extra pip of strength would really help against the tough dwarfs and their high armour. I hoped to use these in a tag team with the spearmen against any of the hardier dwarf units and grind them down. I decided to pop my wizard in here. This was risky as he is worthless in combat, but I wanted to make sure he had plenty of use out of his spells and would be in range.
I needed a bit of firepower so that if the dwarfs had leaned into shooting I would have some response, to this end I added a unit of handgunners and a unit of crossbowmen, these would chip away at the dwarfs at range and might not threaten large combat blocks but could really work lighter and smaller units.
In my opinion, every Empire Army should have a unit of knights. They are so cool! I took a minimum sized unit of five, which could potentially be a terror to any smaller dwarf units and would threaten the flanks of the more unwieldy dwarf combat blocks. In a pinch, they could also be sacrificed to redirect any angry dwarf lords!
Finally, I added a unit of pistoliers. I really like pistoliers blasting away with their pistols, and as Fast Cavalry, they should be able to run rings around dwarf warrior blocks (if they don’t get shot off first).
I had some points left and I thought I would add a magic item to my wizard to make him a bit more effective so he got the Channeling Staff, with a lucky roll I might get an extra power dice to punch through the dwarf anti-magic.
Looking at Pete’s army when we were setting up, I knew I could be in trouble, I could potentially kill everything else in his army, but Belegar would be an unholy terror. I had to make sure that I had the freedom to move and that my cavalry could delay Pete’s big warrior block with his characters. If I could deal with the dwarfs a piece at a time I might be OK and that meant one thing – the Gyrocopter had to go as it had the movement and firepower to remove my options to do just that.
The Armies
Deployment
Turn 1
The battlefield erupted with the sounds of clanging metal and thunderous hooves as the humans made their first move, sending their cavalry charging forward to threaten the dwarf left flank. Both sides exchanged volleys of fire, causing chaos and confusion. In the midst of this chaos, Snorri’s heart sank as he watched the gyrocopter he had spotted earlier fall from the sky in a fiery wreckage.
Calling for an advance, Snorri marched his troops forward alongside the Ironbreakers of Karak-Durn. As they moved forward, Snorri felt the tingling of magic in the air, sensing the wizards’ presence too late to stop the first attempt. However, he was ready for the second attempt, quickly responding and expertly stopping the fireball the hedge wizard had summoned with ease.
1st Turn
Turn 2
With the Gyrcopter destroyed, the humans turned their firepower upon the Thunderers, almost wiping the Dwarfs out. “We’ve got to stop the Manlings from turning our left!” Belegar shouted across to him from the other side of the Dwarf Warriors. Snorri nodded, and his warriors, the Greenbite Guard, formed up facing the human Horsemen. What he had first thought to be human knights turned our to be Pistoliers with Knights supporting them. Seeing the Dwarfs turn to face them, the Pistoliers withdrew behind some ruins, leaving the Knights facing off against the angry Dwarves. They had to act quickly, though, as it wouldn’t be long before the human troops would be in a position to flank the Dwarfs.
Feeling the distinctive tingling of Magic once more, Snorri could feel immense power flash through the air. Being unable to counter, Snorri watched helplessly as a fireball consumed more of the Thunderers, despite their losses they held firm.
2nd Turn
Turn 3
The remaining Thunderers having little option, stealed themselves and charged into the Hedge Wizard and his troops hoping to down the Manling before he could inflict any further damage on the Dwarf troops. Thorim Brokkson ordered his Ironbreakers into the Crossbowmen ahead of them, but fighting over the fences and bushes proved troublesome for the stouter Dwarfs and their charge was unexpectedly held in place.
Kaboom! Every being on the battlefield was laid low by a mighty explosion that almost deafened all those in the valley. Snorri, seeing double as he staggered to his feet. The humans were retreating now, and leaving the Dwarfs were they lay as they recovered from the explosion. “My King, they retreat!” Snorri called to Belegar, but there was no response…
3rd Turn
Ruger Dienst blinked the dust from his eyes, the afterimages from the blast still seared there in purples and pinks. They had succeeded in spite of everything, the Dwarf Lord was trussed up and being hauled on a wagon as quick as they dared on these mountain paths. However, things could not have been said to have gone to plan. Jensch, the Fire Wizard, was gone and while he expected losses, this was a surprise. The Wizard had been with him since Altdorf and though he had always been unstable that damn staff he had received from Von Ehrenreich’s representative, Thanamann, had done something to him, tipped him over the edge it seemed as he had been heard chattering to it in the night. The explosion, or whatever it was, had killed most of the heavy cavalry and most of the halberdiers but it had flattened everyone around it long enough for the pistoliers to dash in and net the dwarf.
The Dwarf flying machine had been put down, a malfunction or a lucky shot, thank Ranald if that thing had been aloft they would have had no chance. As it was, he knew the situation, he needed to get the dwarf to Von Ehrenreich and his part in this was over, he could use the gold from this job to provision for the journey to the Border Princes and rejoin the Boss there. Ruger trudged down into the valley towards the camp and the rest of his men filtering in to the rendezvous, he could see it had grown somewhat, more men disaffected or disgruntled tempted to the life of adventure the Boss offered. Better to take a chance of glory in the Princes, in his view, than a nothing life on the farm – that was the deal he had taken. Dienst mused on his chances, he couldn’t abandon the artillery and baggage and run for the Noble’s Manor, turning up with no artillery and a starved band would likely get him killed if he ever even reached the Princes. He would need to hope the Dwarfs couldn’t reinforce and catch him with the numbers to stop him in time, he had campaigned with them before – over a day a man might outpace them but they would never tire and the odds slowly tuned their way. No, he would move swiftly but cautiously with a fighting rearguard behind. Then, Von Ehrenreich could deal with the horde of angry dwarfs on his doorstep and he would be away with a full purse.
Dwaft After Game Thoughts
Wow! What a game. I don’t think Dave or myself had quite remembered what an affect Dimensional Cascade could have. In a way it worked out well for me in that respect as Dave had to throw quite a few dice at each spell to make sure that I couldn’t dispel them. This resulted in two irresistible force rolls during the three turns of the game, the first knocking a single wound of his wizard and the next one essentially knocking out a good portion of his army.
My plan didn’t quite work out, as Dave took out the Gyrocopter very early doors after I stupidly gave the first turn away – hoping that by bringing him closer it would make it easier for me. After that he could pick off the Thunderers without reply and then focus eventually on the foot troops.
During the entire game I killed precisely 5 models which were three Handgunners and two crossbowmen after my Ironbreakers completely whiffed in that final turn! That meant with Dimensional Cascade, Dave actually killed more Empire Mercenary troops than I did, with his count at 16 models!
Great fun either way, now to plan Belegar’s rescue..
Empire After Game Thoughts
Wow! That was great fun and such a blast (tee-hee). Despite almost annihilating two of my own units and my wizard becoming best friends with Tzeentch, things actually kind of worked somehow. The crossbowmen were heroes for finishing off the Gyrocopter, picking off a few of the Ironbreakers, and actually holding them up. They were certainly going to lose, but they had bought time. The handgunners worked out too, though I wonder if I shouldn’t have switched them out for some skirmishing archers and put the wizard in there…… ahem.
Speaking of the wizard, he got off a good fireball and some buffs before invalidating local maps. Maybe it is the Skaven player in me, but I was still happy with him! The pistoliers also did well for me. With the gyrocopter gone, they could really get to work chipping at Pete’s Thunderers and jamming things up. I have never actually tried Outriders, so another time I might go for those, but I was pleased with pistoliers (maybe a unit of each?). The spearmen and General didn’t end up in a scrap, but could they have won…… well, maybe. I think it might have ended with the last dwarf warrior falling to the spearmen and then Belegar just killing away until his Mom called him home for tea.
Next time, we are planning a slightly bigger game, so what do you think I should I add or switch out?
This is the top three AoS lists for the Quest of Champions that took place in the UK on the 1st and 2nd of April. It involved 38 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.
Fabian Quinn: List theory and design – The list was actually played the weekend before by Tom Mawdsley at the Justice Series GT at Just Play Games. When I saw some of Toms games on Twitter and saw how much fun he was having I immediately wanted to play the list. I have played KO before in a few tournaments so had a general grasp on the army but not with the new book.
The list and interactions – This type of list really wants to be one drop to decide who is going first due to how fragile the list can be and how close some of the deployments are. Zilfin allows the Frigate to become battleline helping to have two behemoths in a one drop list.
Heroes Arkanaut Admiral – An absolute all star giving out +1 rend to a non Skyvessel, a free command ability to his flagship and the Thunderers every turn. Aether Khemist – Handing out +1 to rend to a Skyfarer unit every turn helps getting through armour, especially if used injunction with the Admirals Grudgebreaker rounds (+1 rend) units in the army can get up to 4 rend! Brokk Grungsson – He’s sooooooo much fun and adds a little combat punch to the list to help finish off units that may have been left after some bad rolls.
Units Frigate + Endrinriggers -15 wounds on a 3+ save with the healing of the riggers is amazing, especially with the +2” to move (from the second free Endrinwork, thanks Zilfin!) meaning placing Brokk in here adds a close combat threat that has not been seen in KO before. When your opponent hears the words I’m declaring a charge they often have to do a double take!
Thunderers – These guys are amazing to kick out of a boat and point at your opponents biggest baddest unit especially with +2 rend!
Ironclad – Still good to help protect and transport the Thunderers plus heroes. The Ironclad in this list is also a great defensive piece to disrupt your opponents charges with the great Endrinwork ”The Last Word” and Supremacy mine!
Overall the list was very fun to use and it really does reward great deployment and positional play. I would definitely say its a double edged sword where poor rolls, deployment and placement can lead to losing very easily.
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Astral Templars (Stormkeep) – Mortal Realm: Ghyran – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Karazai, The Scarred (550)* – General Knight-Vexillor (120)* – Meteoric Standard – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Spell: Celestial Blades Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard Knight-Vexillor (120)** – Meteoric Standard Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (330)**
UNITS 5 x Vindictors (130)** 5 x Vanguard-Hunters (110)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes 5 x Vanguard-Hunters (110)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes 6 x Praetors (280)*
Brett: Hero hammer combined with some Vexillor madness for ranged Mortal Wounds. That doesn’t show how carefully this list has been crafted – Astral Templars has become the choice of Stormhost with the new books bringing monsters back on to the table. Vindictors for home plate and Vanguard Hunters to get out there and take exposed objectives. This is a Stormkeep so there is not air assault element, that inbuilt teleport is especially useful. You can back up the Tunnel Master easily. With ranged and melee attacks their output isn’t great but they have access to Unleash Hell and can prevent a Vexillor being sniped. The 4 Vexillors are all handy 6 wound Galletion Champions opening the new battle tactics to this list.
Hammers though, this list has them – Karazai is effective but needs protection and has it with the Praetors. 6 is unusual but will take a lot of punishment and can dish it out as well (19 attacks hitting on 3s). The biggest issue is keeping up with Karazai. And from Turn 2 or 3 the Prime is going to enter, auto charge and delete something. Stormcast are normally pretty worn down by Turn 3 normally so this is a really powerful way to preserve some offensive force. A very strong showing with a faction that isn’t seen as that competitive, drawing with Gitz is a very solid result. It says a lot that such a small army could hold Gitz back in their current state and with the pre data slate rally. Karazai is great anti-horde.
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Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Type: Pretenders – Grand Strategy: Glutton for Depravity – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Contorted Epitome (190)* – Spells: Born of Damnation – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Sigvald (205)* The Masque (140) Keeper of Secrets (400)* – General – Command Traits: Strength of Godhood – Shining Aegis – Artefacts of Power: The Crown of Dark Secrets – Spells: Flaming Weapon
BATTLELINE Blissbarb Archers (150)* – High Tempter Blissbarb Archers (150)* – High Tempter Blissbarb Archers (150)* – High Tempter
OTHER Blissbarb Seekers (200)* – High Tempter Slickblade Seekers (400)* – Hunter-Seeker
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1985/2000
Phil Marshall: Slaanesh Pretenders – How did it work?
I decided to run a fairly balanced list that could perform a role in each phase of the game. Pretenders sub faction jumped out to me off the bat as a faction that was very strong due to the command point mechanics that I took advantage of. In Pretenders you receive 3 command points instead of 1 if your general is alive. This combined with the strength of godhood command trait is a super strong combo as one part of this allows you to issue the same command 3 times in a phase for the use of 1 command point which is a super strong mechanic which is what the list was built around. The other aspect of the command trait is that it gives the general plus 1 rend and plus 1 damage when it issues a command till end of the turn, which can make my general slightly obnoxious at potentially rend 4 and 7 damage. The artefact that I feel will be the most common is the crown of dark secrets due to the ability to potentially shut down the best hammer in your opponenets army. You pick a unit at the start of the game and if they are within 6” of your general they count as only having 1 attack. Helps when your general is a keeper of secrets, so maximising the rang of this.
How did the list play then? I myself am quite an aggressive player and I chose to play this list as an aggressive castle, pushing down the board. The Masque works really well for this with the mechanic to set up in your opponents territory 3” away from units to pressure people who out drop you taking the turn to mitigate them taking the early double against you before you have enough depravity to make your units more survivable. The other way of using it is to capitalise on deployment errors and taking off key pieces of having a good target to start the depravity train as you are wanting to get to the 36 depravity as quickly as possible to give the army the 5+ ward. In all my games the masque was my turn 1 depravity generator, popping finest hour, avoiding monsters means that it was consistently 9 attacks 2s&2s rend 1 (or 2) damage 2. Then the rest of the army was making the most of impassable terrain and setting up a tight screen of the blissbarbs and utilising the generals ability to auto 6 run all 3 units to get the maximum range out of the, all out attacking all three in the shooting phase to be 2s & 3s and in some instance triple unleash hell! The Blissbarb seekers really compliment the Blissbarb archers and are looking to do some chip damage to the main shooting targets and the unit that you are looking to gain depravity from the Euphoric Killers trait in the combat phase. Blissbarbs split firing is also great at handing out temptation dice to also try and gain more depravity or do additional damage if they decline. Its looking to pressure the table turn 1 and assert an aggressive position on the board. The Blissbarbs with the 63 shots have most likely cleared the screens in the 1st turn and the army is well positioned to unpack with a double going into turn 2. With the Speed of the Keeper and the Slickblades you are in a great position to get where you need to be and take off key pieces in the corresponding turns. The list has two great targets for the Keeper with the once per game double fight in either the Slickblades or Sigvald (depending how big his charge is). With the Epitome’s warscroll spell giving plus 1 to wound against D3 units and the ability to shut off command abilities within 3 its looking to follow those combat pieces as it essentially makes the Slickblades potentially rend 4 with the Blissbarb Seekers and the ability to shut off of all out defence. The Slickblades then become 31 (or 41) attacks 2s 2s either rend 2/3/4 depending on what you have been able to accomplish in the turn so far. With the 2” reach and potential fight twice you could have already generated the 24+ depravity so that on the second swing you are doing MWs on 6s to hit as well. There is some serious damage that can come out of this unit. Sigvald is a great hunter of units as well, due to the strike first mechanic, with getting attacks equal to the charges it is great when you role high, a lot of the time I was, this meant that I could have a great option again in the double fight as he strikes first and then the strike last is countered out and normal sequencing resumes so he would activate twice before my opponent and allowing no ward saves. Highlight was charging an unwounded Thanqoul, lifting him, piling in to an unwounded Verminlord and lifting him as well. Siggy did me proud on my way to a 4-1. The list was great at striking in waves and generating the depravity needed to summon a keeper in 4 of my 5 games.
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (355)* – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – The Lore of the Damned: Levitate – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Battleline 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* 5 x Chaos Marauder Horsemen (105)* – Flails – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Reinforced x 1
Units 10 x Chaos Chosen (480)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Ensorcelled Banner: The Dread Banner – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Chaos Warshrine (185)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
Brett: Slaves to Darkness is currently the most played faction in AoS, Legion of the First Prince, though, isn’t being taken as often as some others. So it’s refreshing to see a very different list with a mix of units seen often and some less common ones (including BeLakor himself). Chaos Maruader Horseman and the Warshrine make a return with the more common Chaos Knights (and the OP Mark of Nurgle – how do you kill these things), Corvus Cabal and Chosen. Everything fits into a Battle Regiment to try and control priority. With 2 Chaos Sorceror Lords and Belakor, the Soulscream Bridge is a good investment to overcome the slow movement of the Chosen.
Mobile and tanky are a hard list to play against, particularly if it goes first and those chosen get to fight twice. But equally, avoid the knights and hit those Chosen hard, and this army will struggle (it’s relatively easy to take down an unbuffed Chosen unit). That’s why the Battle Regiment is such an important choice. With so few units and so few Galletian Champions, there is play to denying them battle tactics if you don’t think you can grind them down. The knights can move extremely long distances, making it harder to avoid them, though. Losing only to a Hedonites list that could both tie them up and doesn’t mind losing models (depravity baby) as well as archers (see Phil’s write up above for how he dealt with this list and the low drops). Taking both Kharadron and Gitz is fantastic. The shorter range on Kharadron and Deamonic Speed probably played into that result.
The steamroller that is Gitz doesn’t dominate the Nurgle Knights as well as they do other mounted units. And buffed Chosen on the charge with fight twice can clear a lot of chaff. 6th is a very commendable result, particularly with a unique list.
