This is the top three AoS lists for the Flying Monkey Con 2023 that took place in the USA on the 23rd and 24th of September. It involved 47 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: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster (300)*
– Artefacts of Power: Halo of Blood
Slaughterpriest (110)*
– Hackblade and Wrath-hammer
– Prayers: Killer Instinct
Realmgore Ritualist (110)*
– Prayers: Bloodbind
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (310)**
– General
– Command Traits: Unrelenting Hunter
– Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
Slaughterpriest (110)***
– Bloodbathed Axe
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice
– Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust
Skarbrand (380)***

BATTLELINE
Claws of Karanak (100)**
Claws of Karanak (100)**
Bloodreavers (80)***
– Meatripper Axe
Bloodreavers (80)***
– Meatripper Axe
Bloodreavers (80)***
– Meatripper Axe
Flesh Hounds (100)***

OTHER
Garrek’s Reavers (90)***

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)

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

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Patrick German: I love this list because Thomas has included a handful of off-meta picks. We’ve talked at length about the Slaughterpriests, Realmgore Ritualist, and Skarbrand, but we don’t see people deviate from certain selections very often and still come in first.

Thomas has opted to use a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage as his general, breaking away from the usual Fury-thirster. Ar’gath is still there, as it is in most Khorne lists, but unrelenting hunger is a more unique choice. This allows the Bloodthirster to either make a pile-in, normal move, or charge attempt at the end of the combat phase, depending on whether he is within 3″ of an enemy unit or not. Keeping the Bloodthirster stuck in combat with the option of throwing out an Apoplectic Frenzy in the following hero phase is an excellent strategy to quickly cut your opponent down. Using the Rage-thirster in a Reapers of Vengeance list also helps mitigate the relatively poor to Hit characteristic of the Great Axe of Khorne. The potential damage output is great, but only hitting 50% of the time isn’t.

THomas has also included a Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster with the Halo of Blood. You know that usual combination we see with the Bloodmaster + Halo of Blood + Bloodletter bomb? This is the bloodthirster bomb. Commander of Tyrants and Marshal of Khorne’s Legions combined with the Halo of Blood is going to allow the above bloodthirster to fight first in the combat phase and get hit with a free All-out Attack. This is an amazing combo as it allows your ward-denying, mortal wound-causing, axe-weilding general to obliterate whatever he’s in combat with, hopefully before they have the chance to swing back.

Meanwhile, Thomas has two sets of Claws of Karanak, 4 units of Reavers (one of which is the Garrek’s variety), and a unit of Flesh hounds. These are his scoring pieces and will help generate some additional blood tithe as they inevitably die. Of particular note are the Claws, which are more easily able to score early battle tactics like Surround and Destroy due to their pre-game move.

All in all, this is an excellent example of what can be done with the Khorne Battletome, and it’s great to see these experiments achieving first place. Congratulations to Thomas on his victory, and I hope to see more of this creativity in the future!

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
– Army Subfaction: Bloodlords
– Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Bloodsecrator (120)*
– Artefacts: Banner of Blood
1 x Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne (160)*
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice
1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)*
– General
– Command Traits: Firebrand
– Artefacts: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
– Prayers: Killer Instinct
1 x Bloodmaster (110)**
– Prayers: Witchbane Curse
– Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon
1 x Bloodmaster (110)**
– Artefacts: Halo of Blood
– Prayers: Unholy Flames
1 x Slaughterpriest (110)**
– Hackblade and Wrath-hammer
– Prayers: Bloodbind

BATTLELINE
10 x Bloodreavers (80)
– Blood Chieftain
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Meatripper Axe
20 x Bloodletters (360)*
– Bloodreaper
– 2 x Icon Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
20 x Bloodletters (360)*
– Bloodreaper
– 2 x Icon Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)**
– Gore Hound
– Burning Roar
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)**
– Gore Hound
– Burning Roar

INVOCATION
1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Skull Altar (0)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Patrick German: This is more of a traditional list when compared to the above. Derick has opted for Bloodlords, which is a fun choice. Extra mortal wounds for those two bloodletter squads is deadly, and the fact that you can keep summoning bloodletter units for the rtealitvely low price of 4 blood tithe points means that the fun can continue into the late stages of the battle.

Derick has included two 360 pt bloodletter units which will be doing an average of 20 mortal wounds after a charge, assuming they are fighting backed up by the Bloodsecrator’s extra attacks. The bloodthrone will put in work to keep those letters alive, as his warscroll prayer can bring back D6 bloodletters ona 2+ (assuming he is within 3″ of an enemy unit). He’s also included 2 bloodmasters in his list, one for each bloodletter unit, to provide some extra support and damage.

Past there, Derick has included a unit of Bloodreavers (excellent for taking an objective or dying to generate some blood tithe) and two units of flesh hounds to score battle tactics and grab objectives.

This is an excellent list with a lot of good tools in the toolbox. Derick can threaten large portions of the board, providing a unit that can screen the opponent away from his scoring units while killing enemies off objectives.

Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts
– Grand Court: Court of Delusion – The Feast Day
– Mortal Realm: Shyish
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Crypt Haunter Courtier (110)**
– General
– Command Trait: Dark Acolyte – Deranged Transformation
– Lore of Madness: Spectral Host
Abhorrant Archregent (240)*
– Artefact: The Dermal Robe
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
– Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
Abhorrant Archregent (240)*
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
– Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)**
– Mount Trait: Horribly Resilient
– Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation
– Lore of Madness: Blood Feast
Varghulf Courtier (160)**

Battleline
10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)
9 x Crypt Horrors (330)**
– Reinforced x 2
9 x Crypt Horrors (330)**
– Reinforced x 2

Endless Spells & Invocations
Malevolent Maelstrom (50)

Core Battalions
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Spell

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 124
Drops: 8

Hanna Leppänen: This list is a pretty typical “99” Horror list, which has two double-reinforced units of Crypt Horrors. It is not a Hollowmourne list, so it trades Battleline Horrors and Run+Charge for Delusion: Feast Day which gives you the option to use Feeding Frenzy ability without CP being spent. It also gives you the option to pick CT and Artifacts freely because the FEC book is the last one to have subfaction -locked CT/artifact. Haunter Courtier as General makes the Horrors battleline instead. Overshadow can be hard GS to complete depending on the meta, so kudos for Shannon for being successful with it. Some summon choices (particularly Flayers) can help a bit to chase down teleporting battleline units.

That being said, this list foregoes screens apart from the 10 Crypt Ghouls and pretty much is designed to go all in and table your opponent early on. 9 Horrors are 36 wounds with 6+ ward, and if you don’t kill them in one turn, they can get mustered back, and make no mistake, 9 Horrors hit super hard, especially with Feeding Frenzy and Hoarfrost. They can also be quite fast even without Run&Charge, since on a casting roll of 10+ Deranged Transformation (easy enough with Primal Dice and Acolytes batallion) can be applied to 3 units, and can choose the same unit multiple times, giving a unit of 9 Horrors effectively 12″ extra movement! No wonder there are multiple sources of the spell in the army.

Horribly Resilient (Royal blood heals 3 wounds instead of D3) for ZD mount trait is an uncommon pick, but makes one think the GKoZD’s role is to give the re-roll wounds aura, Feeding Frenzy, Rend aura and to keep up with the Horrors, while staying alive as well as possible.

Allegiance: Seraphon
– Constellation: Fangs of Sotek
– Mortal Realm: Ulgu
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Slann Starmaster (290)*
– General
– Command Trait: Lord of Celestial Resonance
– Artefact: Spacefolder’s Stave
– Spell: Comet’s Call
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)**
Skink Starpriest (130)**
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Skink Starseer (150)**
– Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur

Battleline
5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)*
5 x Saurus Guard (140)*
10 x Skinks (90)**
– Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers

Units
6 x Aggradon Lancers (380)**
– Reinforced x 1

Behemoths
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)**
– Allies

Endless Spells & Invocations
Suffocating Gravetide (30)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 480 / 400
Wounds: 86
Drops: 2

Danny Wadeson: Well, it’s a Seraphon list with the Spinedog. I wish it wasn’t, but this is the timeline we live in. Perhaps one day GW will relent, and admit that the boney nuisance was never really meant to be used outside of fluffy campaign play and we’ll all go back to being able to move our models around, but until then – let’s just ignore it and see what else Mr. Freed was rolling with.

It’s your standard Fangs core, minus Kroak (the Spinedog points gotta come from somewhere) – and, leaning into the theme of balancing star-power with some brute, physical force – he also brings a reinforced unit of Aggradons. Overall it’s quite an interesting idea, partly due to the fragility of pure-magic Starborne builds that rely on rapid summoning to control the board and put up screens. But the Spinedog shutting down falling back also combos with the Aggradon rage counter, meaning if the Spinedog can tag something, and the Aggradons charge it – and that enemy unit somehow survives, then the Aggradons Rage counter is guaranteed to tick up. Over a couple of rounds I can imagine that leaves the opponent rather a lot to be wary of while the Starborne shenanigans carry on in the background.

The list lost only to Khorne, which isn’t terribly surprising, and definitely proved it can deal with Gitz! Either way, congrats to Freed for a great result.

Final Tournament Placings