This is the top three AoS lists for the Quest of Champions – Heat 3 that took place in the UK on the 2nd and 3rd of June. It involved 42 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
– Subfaction: The Flayed
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Indomitable

LEADERS
Slaughterpriest (110)**
– Bloodbathed Axe
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Curse
Realmgore Ritualist (100)**
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)**
– General
– Command Traits: Firebrand
– Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice, Unholy Flames
Bloodsecrator (110)***

BATTLELINE
Blood Warriors (380)*
– Blood Champion
– Goreaxe and Gorefist
– 2 x Icon Bearer
– 2 x Goreglaive
– Reinforced: Once
Blood Warriors (380)*
– Blood Champion
– Goreaxe and Gorefist
– 2 x Icon Bearer
– 2 x Goreglaive
– Reinforced: Once
Flesh Hounds (100)**
– Gore Hound

OTHER
Mighty Skullcrushers (200)***
– Skullhunter
– Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Ensorcelled Axes
Mighty Skullcrushers (200)***
– Skullhunter
– Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Bloodglaives

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
Hexgorger Skulls (50)
Bleeding Icon (40)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Galletian Veterans
**Warlord (Prayers)
***Vanguard

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Good lord…

Aqua Teen aside, we’re going to start by addressing the large, blood-covered elephant in the room:

There should not be this many tops spots in a tournament that are all held by the same army. Khorne is an army that has a relatively high skill ceiling. It takes a good player to keep track of all of the rules, the different interactions between mortal and daemon units, and the best way to position units to be sure that all the abilities align.

That being said, they are also a relatively forgiving army. You can easily retake your home objective in the last round through summoning. You have a ton of freedom on positioning and movement through murderlust, killer instinct, and bloodbind. You have decent protection from spells thorugh Hatred of Sorcery, and you won’t often find an opponent who can reliably dispell your prayers, since that would require facing an army that wants to bring a lot of priests.

So where does that leave us? With a top 3 article where all of the top three lists are Khorne. It also leaves us facing the difficult prospect of GW’s inevitable attempt at balance. I expect to see some changes to our movement rules as well as points increases on some of the big-hitter units (Skarbrand, Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury, and Skullcrushers to name a few).

I’m going to skip a lot of the detail I normally would go into for each list. The army is going to play roughly the same, even with different unit compositions and subfactions.

This first list has a wider focus on mortal units, with a couple of Fleshhounds thrown in for a cheap screen with an added unbind. The general is a Fury-thirster with Firebrand and Ar’gath (get used to that combination, because it’s in every list). Double skullcrsuhers and reinforced Blood Warriors makes for a selection of extremely tanky units, and while this list won’t necessarily kill as fast as a daemon-centric list, it can outlast many armies. It will also see a ton of mortals dropped on the enemy as those tanks die.

The realmgore ritualist, bloodsecrator, and slaughterpriest are all straightforward units. Each of them has one job, and they perform that job admirably.

Overall a solid list that aims to control the board first, and kill second.

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
– Army Subfaction: Bloodlords
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)*
– General
– Command Traits: Firebrand
– Artefacts: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
– Prayers: Heal, Bloodbind
1 x Bloodmaster (110)*
– Artefacts: Halo of Blood
– Prayers: Unholy Flames, Killer Instinct
1 x Bloodsecrator (110)*
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
1 x Bloodmaster (110)**
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct
1 x Bloodmaster (110)**
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct
1 x Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne (160)**
– Prayers: Killer Instinct, Blood Sacrifice

BATTLELINE
10 x Bloodreavers (80)*
– Blood Chieftain
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (80)**
– Blood Chieftain
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Reaver Blades
20 x Bloodletters (360)***
– Bloodreaper
– 2 x Icon Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
10 x Bloodletters (180)***
– Bloodreaper
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
10 x Bloodletters (180)***
– Bloodreaper
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower

INVOCATION
1 x Bleeding Icon (40)

OTHER
5 x Wrathmongers (140) 3
– Wrathmaster

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

Faction Terrain – Skull Altar

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Speaking of killy daemon-centric lists: here’s one. 4 priests, one of which can reliably resurrect the central damage dealers of the list, coupled witht he Fury-thirster and bloodsecrator already have the list immediately stacked to provide some tankiness to a killy list (much like the realmgore and bloodsecrator were providing killiness to a tanky list, above).

Reavers are cheap screen, Bloodletters deal damage. The bloodsecrators helps them deal more damage, and the wrathmongers help them deal even more damage. By the time all of the buffs are in place it isn’t out of the question to see one of those larger bloodletter units swinging with 4 attacks per base, hitting and wounding on 2+’s, dealing mortals on 5+’s. Ossiarch Bonereapers woudl have a hard time withstanding an assult like that, and few other armies would outlast that combat phase.

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
– Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours!

LEADERS
Skarbrand (380)
Wrath of Khan Bloodthirster (330)**
– Artefacts of Power: Halo of Blood
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)**
– General
– Command Traits: Firebrand
– Artefacts of Power: Ar’gary, the King of Blades
– Prayers: Killer Instinct
Bloodmaster (110)**
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice
Realmgore Ritualist (100)**
– Prayers: Bloodbind
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Slaughterpriest (110)**
– Hackblade and Wrath-hammer
– Prayers: Curse

BATTLELINE
Bloodreavers (80)*
– Meatripper Axe
Flesh Hounds (200)*
Flesh Hounds (100)*
Flesh Hounds (100)*

OTHER
Garrek’s Reavers (70)**

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Bleeding Icon (40)
1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Skull Altar (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Galletian Veterans
**Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

There’s nothing here that we haven’t really touched on in the last two lists. Garrek’s Reavers are here because they are the cheapest 10 wounds that points can buy, and they make excellent fodder for blood sacrifice. Skarbrand also makes an appearance, working as one of the best independent units in the army, where he is perfectly happy to ignore all of your buffs and go wander into the mid field to punch everything he sees.

Overall, excellent work to all of our top 3. This can be a difficult army to run, and it’s good to see some variety in the lists.

Allegiance: Fyreslayers
– Lodge: Vostarg
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge
– Triumphs: Indomitable

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

Battleline
10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)**
10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)***
20 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (320)*
– Reinforced x 1
20 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (320)*
– Reinforced x 1
20 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (320)*
– Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations
Runic Fyrewall (40)

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

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Aspect of the Champion

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 191
Drops: 11

Final Tournament Placings