This is the top three AoS lists for the HWP Bloody Beach GT that took place in the USA on the 20th and 21st of May. It involved 31 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords
– Subfaction: Barak-Zilfin
– Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies
– Triumph: Inspired

Kharadron Code
– Stick To The Code (Amendments): Prosecute Wars With All Haste
– Stick To The Code (Artycles): Master the Skies
– Stick To The Code (Footnotes): Without Our Ships, We Are Naught

LEADERS
Arkanaut Admiral (125)*
– General
– Command Traits: Ex-Grundstok
– Artefacts of Power: Celestium Burst-grenade
– Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Aetheric Navigator (85)**
– Artefacts of Power: Voidstone Orb
Codewright (90)**
Aether-Khemist (80)**

BATTLELINE
Grundstok Thunderers (405)*
– Gunnery Sergeant
– 3 x Honour Bearer
– 3 x Grundstok Mortar
– 3 x Aethercannon
– 3 x Aetheric Fumigator
– 3 x Decksweeper
Arkanaut Frigate (300)*
– Heavy Sky Cannon
Grundstok Gunhauler (170)*
– Sky Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: Zorbacorp Debtsetter spar torpedo Grundstok Gunhauler

BEHEMOTH
Arkanaut Ironclad (500)*
– Great Volley Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: The Last Word
– The Admiral’s Flagship: Arkanaut Ironclad

OTHER
Endrinriggers (120)*
– Mizzenmaster
Endrinriggers (120)*
– Mizzenmaster

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000

We have a mystery writer this week adding their comments for the Kharadron Overlords.

Mystery Writer: Currently a lot of KO lists tend to fall into either a melee focused, or a shooting heavy alpha strike archetype such as the feared “thunderbridge” list, that usually would bring 25 rend stacking Grundstock thunderers, that would essentially alpha strike turn one and blow your army to smithereens. Due to this It’s absolutely refreshing to see a super well thought out list that doesn’t put all its ather gold into one basket , but instead brings a lot of mobility, mortal wound output, one of each boat, some heavy shooting supported by some utility and melee options, as well as some very fun potential tricks!

As with most KO lists it is really worth looking at the “Sticking to the code” choices first, as it provides good insight into what the list might try to accomplish in the first couple of turns. For Artycles, we very often see the +1 wound vs a unit or the +4 rally (or both at once), however, this list has opted for the extra 2” movement on the boats! This coupled with the 2D6 run, and a boat being able to receive 2 commands in the same phase (meaning we can run a boat 2D6 and issue run and charge from the admiral) the Navigator hero phase move shenanigans, the humble Gunhauler could move up to 38” from deployment, for the most insane bombing run (as it can drop bombs on units it flies over), and still make a charge move for a potential 50” threat range and thats without the 3D6 charge! The list also has a handy Codewright, which I assume will try to swap to the 3D6 charge once the Gunhauler and the frigate ran up and down the board a few times to confuse the enemy!

KO have some incredible artefact choices, so picking them is fairly difficult as you might be giving up something potentially game-changing. We have a handy “Command encourage” battalion to help make the choice a bit challenging. Matthew has chosen to go with the “Celestium burst grenade”, which is a fairly standard choice as it turns off wardsaves for a unit, making them even more vulnerable to the incredible shooting of KO, along with a voidstone orb, for a potential game changing auto unbind. The command trait “Ex-grundstock” makes our Thunderers battleline, meaning we can double reinforce them to a huge 15 man stack that can receive a couple extra rend on their weapons, along with a potential +1 wound from inspired, making them incredibly scary.

The subfaction choice is also worth noting. Barak-Zilfn has become a fairly popular subfaction as of late, as it makes the Frigate battleline, making a one drop very achievable while also making the minimum 3 battleline requirement incredibly easy. However, the subfaction also provides 2 great endrinworks, which also provides some fun options. The ironclad received “The Last Word Arkanaut Ironclad”, giving it a free shooting action with one of its guns when charged, which along with “unleash hell” from the thunderers on board and the supremacy mine, makes the Ironclad incredibly resilient to charges. The other upgrade went to the Gunhauler, which, in the charge phase, gives it the ability to roll dice equal to the charge roll, and for each 4+, it inflicts a mortal wound. This could be combined with the 3D6 charge roll, for some very spiky damage output, meaning this speedy boat can go around the entire board (with its insane 56” threat range) , lifting screens off and/or stealing side objectives.

Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz
– Grand Strategy: Protect da Shrine!
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Dankhold Troggboss (200)**
– General
– Command Trait: Loonskin
Skragrott, The Loonking (210)*
Webspinner Shaman (65)*
– Lore of the Spiderfang: Sneaky Distraction
– Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
Madcap Shaman (70)*
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork

Battleline
20 x Moonclan Stabbas (125)*
20 x Moonclan Stabbas (125)*
6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)*
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)*
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)*
– Reinforced x 1

Units
1 x Dankhold Troggoths (180)**

Endless Spells & Invocations
Quicksilver Swords (60)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Troggherd Heavies

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 3

Gitz is a great book if internal balance is your thing. There are some many viable factions, Troggoths builds are maybe the most common, but you still see people mixing up Leaders and the Battlelines. Curtis has done that here, going down the Troggoth line but adding in a Webspinner Shaman and running Stabbas (shooters would be the usual pick). The Webspinner is a cheap caster who can just give himself run and charge on a 4+ (on 2D6) as well as counting as 10 models on objectives. Look for him to be holding an out of the way objective.

The Stabbas are about objective control (they control an objective within 9″ if there are more than 20 models). This list can spread to cover a lot of objectives easily. It forces the opponent to make choices they probably don’t want to make – chase the Stabbas for easy clearance or pin down the Rockgut Troggoths? If you let the Troggoths (especially the Dankholds) roam, they’ll cost you, but the Stabbas are pontentially worth as much as a battle tactic each round.

Otherwise, the list is fairly standard, Skragrott, because you really have to even at 200pts. Madcap for possible teleport and CP along with the Dankhold to buff the Rockgut and cause havoc. Only Blades of Khorne created issues. Their output, if the dice run hot is epic, all others succumbed to the goblin tide.

Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords
– Army Type: Legion of Blood
– Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Neferata (390)*
– Spells: Waste Away
1 x Vampire Lord (130)*
– Spells: Spirit Gale
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
1 x Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (440)**
– General
– Command Traits: Doomed Minions
– Deathlance
– Artefacts: Cloak of Mists and Shadows
– Spells: Vile Transference

BATTLELINE
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)*
– Skeleton Champion
– Standard Bearer
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)*
– Skeleton Champion
– Standard Bearer
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)**
– Skeleton Champion
– Standard Bearer

OTHER
10 x Blood Knights (460)*
– Kastellan
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– Templar Lance
20 x Grave Guard (280)**
– Seneschal
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
– Great Wight Blade

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1955/2000)

I commented recently that we’ll be seeing a fair few variations on the Legion of Blood archetype – and here we are! Skip ahead if you’ve heard this one before…

It’s Neffie – who I think even after the FAQ ‘nerfs’ (I mean, did anyone really think they were going to remain that way?) is still a fantastic tactical pick – and tanky as all fuck VloZD (thanks to being ethereal from Cloak of Mists) – msu Deathrattle battleline tax and the two usual hammers, a brick of Blood Knights and a brick of Graveguard.

The way it works on the table is just a big push forward with a bunch of stuff almost no opponent will be able to easily deal with, thanks to Neffie’s -1 to hit aura, great healing potential on all the vamps, Deathrattle popping up on objectives all over the shop, and ethereal (with the FAQ, no longer ‘unrendable’) Blood Knights as the vanguard. It’s simple, tanky, and very effective.

Interestingly it lost only to Khorne, who I imagine have the sheer MW output in a demon list (which it will be given it’s Reapers of Vengeance) to cut through those ethereal saves and kill stuff off before it can heal back all the damage – but that says a lot about what you might want to bring to counter Legion of Blood lists!

Either way, congrats to Whitney for being two of the big bad meta threats along the way to a podium finish.

Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Subfaction: Ivory Host
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Katakros (440)
Mortisan Boneshaper (120)
– Spells: Empower Nadirite Weapons
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Mortisan Soulmason (160)
– General
– Command Traits: Show of Superiority
– Spells: Reinforce Constructs
Mortisan Boneshaper (120)
– Spells: Drain Vitality

BATTLELINE
Kavalos Deathriders (170)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade
Mortek Guard (300)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Nadirite Blade
– 2 x Necrophoros
– 2 x Soulcleaver Greatblade
Mortek Guard (300)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Nadirite Blade
– 2 x Necrophoros
– 2 x Soulcleaver Greatblade
Kavalos Deathriders (170)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade

BEHEMOTH
Gothizzar Harvester (210)

TERRAIN
1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

Plenty of Mortek Guard and Deathriders backed by the typical heroes as part of an Ivory Host. Exploding 6s is always fun. Deathriders for mobility and pressure on objectives with a tough castle at the heart. With 2 Boneshapers and Katakros, the reinforced Mortek Guard will be very tough (impossible) to shift for most opponents. Add a potential fight last (from the crawler), and combat armies are in a world of hurt, especially if a guard unit gets both Nadirite Weapons and Soul Guide (+1 to wound). A wide, slow, and very tough castle to stake out the centre of the table and small units of Deathriders to snipe units or objectives. Tunnel master and Empower Nadirite Weapons on the same Boneshaper is interesting, probably signalling a late game Tunnel Master for either a Battle Tactic or to take an objective away from their opponent.

The list did struggle to score. Taking objectives isn’t easy with 4″ of movement, that’s why we have Deathriders. The combination of toughness and damage output worked well against the mostly melee opponents with the list dominating everything from Idoneth to Blades of Khorne). Unfortunately KOs shooting and mobility were too much to overcome, KO will probably remain a counter to OBR with their improved combat on top of their strong shooting and mobility (yes, I know it isn’t what it was).

Final Tournament Placings