This is the top three AoS lists for the Anvil of the Gods that took place in UK on the 13th and 14th of January. It saw 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Note: With the Battlescroll release just around the corner, I’ve made the decision to suspend comments on these lists as they’ll all likely change in points and become invalid soon.
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
Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Legion of Night – Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Vampire Lord (150)* – General – Command Traits: The Bait – Artefacts: Morbheg’s Claw – Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard 1 x Necromancer (100)* 1 x Mannfred Von Carstein (400)** – Spells: Waste Away, Fading Vigour 1 x Wight King on Skeletal Steed (170)** 1 x King Morlak Velmorn (220)**
BATTLELINE 30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (110) 3 x Fell Bats (90) 3 x Fell Bats (90)
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40) OTHER 10 x Black Knights (130) 5 x Black Knights (130) 4 x The Sons of Velmorn (220)**
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
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Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Subfaction: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Banners Held High
LEADERS Alchemite Warforger (110)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Transmutation of Lead Battlemage (100)* – Spells: Hoarfrost, Pall of Doom – Arcane Trinkets: Realmstone Orb Battlemage (100)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Pha’s Protection – Arcane Trinkets: Ancient Grimoire Freeguild Marshal on Griffon (270)** – General – Command Traits: Grizzled Veteran – Freeguild Lance – Artefacts of Power: Sigmarite Warhammer Pontifex Zenestra (180)** Black Ark Fleetmaster (90)**
OTHER Skullreapers (190) – Icon Bearer – Skullseeker ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Wrath-Axe (70)
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Crematorians – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Arkhan the Black (380) Katakros (500)* Liege-Kavalos (180)* – General – Command Traits: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefacts of Power: Lode of Saturation Mortisan Soulmason (160)* – Spells: Hoarfrost
This is the top three AoS lists for Big Bristol Brawl Winter GT that took place in the UK on the 6th and 7th of January. It saw 39 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Note: With the Battlescroll release just around the corner, I’ve made the decision to suspend comments on these lists as they’ll all likely change in points and become invalid soon.
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: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Mortis Praetorians – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (380)* Liege-Kavalos (180)* Mortisan Ossifector (120)* – General – Command Trait: Aura of Sterility – Artefact: Gothizzard Cartouche – Lore of Ossian Sorcery: Reinforce Constructs
Battleline 4 x Morghast Archai (440)* – Spirit Swords – Reinforced x 1 4 x Morghast Archai (440)* – Spirit Swords – Reinforced x 1 3 x Immortis Guard (220)* 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1970 / 2000
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Army Subfaction: King’s Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable LEADER 1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (110)* – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Madcap Shaman (70)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x Dankhold Troggboss (210)** – General – Command Traits: Alpha Trogg – Artefacts: Glowy Howzit 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)** – Spells: Nikkit! Nikkit!
BATTLELINE 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (170) 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (340)** 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (340)** 3 x Rockgut Troggoths (170)** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (170)** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (170)**
Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Army Subfaction: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
LEADER 1 x Ionus Cryptborn (400) 1 x Archmage Teclis (740)* 1 x Scinari Cathallar (120)* – General – Command Traits: Eye of the Blizzard – Artefacts: Phoenix Stone – Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x The Light of Eltharion (230)*
BATTLELINE 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – High Warden – Spells: Overwhelming Heat 5 x Vanari Dawnriders (120)* – Steedmaster – Standard Bearer – Spells: Speed of Hysh 5 x Vanari Bladelords (120)* – Bladelord Seneschal
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Anvils of the Heldenhammer (Scions of the Storm) – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Pillars of Victory – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (330)** Knight-Arcanum (100)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Luckstone – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Knight-Incantor (120)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Gotrek Gurnisson (480)** – Allies
Battleline 5 x Sequitors (110)*** 5 x Sequitors (110)*** 5 x Sequitors (110)***
Units 6 x Castigators (180)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Castigators (180)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Castigators (180)** – Reinforced x 1 3 x Castigators (90)**
Below are the up to date win rates for Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor as at 23rd January 2024.
For a complete breakdown, including Faction Popularity, Wins in Succession and Subfaction Win Rates, visit our Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor stats page
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I’ve recently started rebasing a lot of my fantasy models and as part of that this fella popped into the queue that I thought would be a perfect candidate to be an example for the first months slow-grow challenge.
Lore
Morgan was born and raised in the imperial city of Nuln, famed for its Gunnery School, Master Engineers, and all things gunpowder. The city was a paradise for many, but for Morgan, it was a banal and unchanging city, mired in conduct and blinded by its own decadence. Being the eldest son in his family, he was sent away to the officers’ academy, as was the custom for the city.
He spent four long years learning the intricacies of battle, swordsmanship, and, of course, artillery. The long studying of formations and artillery bored him senseless and he gained a reputation as an exceptional, yet troublesome student, as he failed to show up for most classes, feeling that his skills were outpacing the curriculum.
For Bernhardt, it was the Cavalry where his true passions lay, he was said to be able to outride even the Reiksguard knights whenever they passed the great city and was well known for goading his fellow nobles into races and other such events where horses and wagers were involved.
His disregard for the rules, reckless behaviour and lust for adventure eventually got him expelled from the academy, much to Bernhardt’s relief, though this would haunt him for years to come, as he was denied entry from every knightly order in the Empire he attempted to join, even the Pistoliers would have nothing to do with his insubordination (much to the delight of his former peers and teachers).
This is how Morgan Bernhardt got the Grudgebringer. A young Morgan Bernhardt had failed several times to become part of the Empire’s knightly orders and went to drown his sorrows in an inn. After some drunken back and forth with the patrons of the bar, Morgan gave an inspiring speech about forming an army better than knightly order.
This impressed the patrons that they offered to be the first soldiers of the Grudgebringers company. An eccentric old Bright wizard (a wizard skilled in the Lore of Fire) then comes and declares his admiration, since he’s too old to join and fight he gives Bernhardt his magical sword, the Grudgebringer and tells him to make good use of it.
Morgan’s mercenaries have enjoyed a properous first year of operation, commanding an unsullied respect on their home turf in the Imperial probvince of the Reikland. The Grudgebringers have since marched to the troubled Border Princes where they hope to join a major campaign to prove themselves worthy of greater fortunes. The Grudgebringers are composed primarily of both cavalry, led by Morgan, and heavy infantry led by Lieutenant Schepke.
Morgan Bernhardt
Grudgebringer
Really, I’d like a magic weapon to reflect the sword he has in the campaigns of Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omens. I think this is something that would have to be homebrewed and then checked with opponents before using it in a game.
Firstly, it was a sword, and he also owned a shield, so it would be classed as a hand weapon.
Its main ability was being able to shoot fireballs at enemy once it had enough magical energy built up. So we’d need to include some kind of magic missile profile that could be used in the shooting phase.
Grudgebringer in action
There are two profiles from the Core Book and Forces of Fantasy that we can base this upon.
So, the Burning Blades profile looks almost perfect for what I want. It just misses the target slightly on not having the ranged attack. The Burning Blade, in this case, could also somehow be linked the Fireball spell.
So I think we would need to write. Special Rule for the Grudgebringer Sword in this case:
GrudgebringerSword
A sword with a hidden past. The bearer is able to strike down their foes in flame.
The Wielder of this Sword can cast the Fireball spell from the Lore of Battle Magic (page 321) as a Bound spell, with a power level of 2.
Points
With the 5 points for Burning Blade, we need to accommodate the Fireball spell as a bound item.
Luckily, the Ruby Ring of Ruin does just that. So we’ll take the Burning Blade cost and rules and add those to that of the Ruby Ring of Ruin. This’ll create the 35-point Grudgebringer Sword magic weapon.
So, with that done, we can complete our unit profile for Commander Morgan Bernhardt.
Of course, if you wanted it to be a totally legal build without opponent consent, yous just take a Ruby Ring of Ruin and Burning Blade as the magic items and head cannon it as the Grudgebringer Sword, but where’s the fun in that?!
I’ve heard and read a lot of comments recently about how Old World/Fantasy is more expensive than Age of Sigmar. So let’s compare in the easiest way, shall we? Like for like.
(Comment – so far in Australia/NZ and the US it’s quite a bit more expensive (Australia is terrible as always); maybe check pricing in those markets as well)
Night Goblins (Horde Army)
Night Goblins are generally considered to be a horde army in Fantasy, and their comparison in Age of Sigmar (Gloomspite Gitz) are similar. So if you were to compare the two, how would you do it? Luckily, this is easy, as everything inside the Vanguard: Gloomspite Gitz box can be used in Fantasy. Below shows a table of the models’ points cost in Old World and their equivalent in Age of Sigmar.
What you do have to bear in mind is that you would probably purchase a number of upgrades and magic items for the hero and units in this Old World list, so you could probably add a further 50 points to this list (units already include a full command).
Warriors of Chaos (Elite Army)
Interestingly, the Chaos Warriors works out to be more expensive in Old World nut. This is driven by the Chaos Lord. Again, though, with upgrades and magic items, the Old World list is likely to be a few points more. So cheaper to collect in Old World than Age of Sigmar? Possibly not because your units are cheaper points wise than AoS, meaning that although you save points on heroes, it probably doesn’t bridge the gap on a 1,500 point list with more units.
Beastmen Brayherds
Our final example is Beastmen Brayherds. This Vanguard box appears to be more cost-effective in Age of Sigmar. But again, the Bray-Shaman is pointed higher in Old World than AoS, but possibly not enough to bridge the gap left by the units.
Final Thoughts
Yeah, OK, Age of Sigmar monetarily is going to be cheaper than the Old World. But the gap isn’t as much as I first thought. For AoS armies where there is an equivalent Vanguard box that can be used in Old World (like the three mentioned above), it doesn’t work out much more expensive to build a 1,000-point list. And for 1,500 points, you’ll maybe be spending close to £100 more than you may do on an AoS list.
Where it does get expensive is in using the newly (?) Released Old World minis for building armies like Tomb Kings or Bretonnians.
What may be interesting to do is a 1,500 point list costed up for Old World and Age of Sigmar. Perhaps part 2….
The 2023 2024 Las Vegas Open Age of Sigmar Championships had the most participants ever! Since the last LVO I have played in a few more GTs and they’ve become a bit more routine but still fun.
This tournament uses the GHB 2023-2024 (aka Andtor aka “God I hate blizzard”) and a battlescroll that has passed its expiration date. Once again it was held at the Rio, an off-strip hotel in Las Vegas. The Rio is still kind of a dump, but it’s improving! We celebrate improvements here, folks. I personally stayed on the strip in the (cheap af) Flamingo.
I was attending with some of my Georgia Warband teammates (big congrats to teammate Jon Anderson on his stellar 5-0 with LRL). Sadly we had fewer of us going this year, but still enough to be called a crowd. I got in a few days early to do some hiking this time instead of Vegas shenanigans. The parks were cooler than the hotels anyway, so that was well worth it.
It’s da desert
I ended up going 4-1, placing 56th out of 345 (lower in the 4-1 bracket) in the main event, and 3-0 in the doubles, placing us 5th out of 65.
My List
Army Faction: Fyreslayers - Subfaction: Greyfyrd - Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge - Triumph: Inspired LEADERS Auric Runemaster (130)* - General - Command Traits: Master Priest - Artefacts of Power: Volatile Brazier - Prayers: Heal Auric Runesmiter (130)* - Forge Key - Artefacts of Power: Ash-cloud Rune - Prayers: Prayer Of Ash Ionus Cryptborn (400)* Battlesmith (150)** - Artefacts of Power: Nulsidian Icon Auric Flamekeeper (90)** - Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)** - Ancestral War-axe - Artefacts of Power: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve - Mount Traits: Coal-heart Ancient BATTLELINE Auric Hearthguard (360) Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)* Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)** ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Molten Infernoth (50) 1 x Runic Fyrewall (60) CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord (+1 artefact) **Warlord (+1 artefact) TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000 Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App
Dragon
Fyreslayers are not in the best spot in the meta, but I still had a couple lists to choose from. While more match-up dependent, I decided on an Ionus ally list because he’s cool and I like dragons. This year I got a little more practice so I at least knew the gist of the list. An alternative list idea that seemed to work well was a Flameseeker spamming Greyfyrd or Lofnir, but I was uncertain about it with so little practice.
This list itself plays as a grinding control list. It’s attempting to shift the battlefield in such a way that Ionus, the droth, and the AHG are all frustrating opponents, hurting their damage or objective staying power, while you slowly grind them down. Further, Ionus’ ability to instantly put out invocations means that on turn 1 you can use your Runemaster for either invocation (depending on needed ranges and invocations) and then not worry about failing the other.
Ionus’ breath attack + soul burn, his -1 attacks characteristic ability, and his halting of inspiring presence all add up to make him a potent ally in Fyreslayers. Not only does it add to the army’s ability to take a hit, but it ensures that any damage hangs on the opponents sticks. Killing 20 skeletons and watching the rest flee to battleshock is very nice. He also adds ranged mortal wound output on top of the infernoth’s and AHG’s (with searing heat) to burn down high save targets.
The list is tricky to play though: it has fewer wounds than most Fyreslayers lists and damage is concentrated in three key hammers. The single flamekeeper means that Vulkites can become somewhat of a hammer too, and that turned out to be very important in a couple matchups. But with fewer bodies, getting them there is tricky when they might well be the unit that dies. The flamekeeper also means that even the AHG can hang some two damage attacks onto opponents. 31 attacks at a 2 damage isn’t anything to ignore even if they have no rend.
Games Summary:
Every one of my opponents were great and fun. I liked all my games. I do have awful memory so the exact details of these events are probably slightly different from reality, but this is as best as I can remember. Sometimes memories blur the rounds together.
Game 1: Win vs. Jules Nguyen on Kharadron Ovelords. Game 2: Win vs. Landon Jennings on Ossiarch Bonereaper. Game 3: Win vs. Steaphen Isaac on Ogor Mawtribes. Game 4: Loss vs. Gavin Grigar on Cities of Sigmar. Game 5: Win vs. Josh Chournos on Soulblight Gravelords.
Day 1: Games 1-3
Tourney space: it’s big and full of nerds
Game 1 vs. Jules Nguyen’s KO on Power Flux
Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords - Army Subfaction: Barak-Zon - Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies - Triumphs: Indomitable - Stick To The Code (Amendments): Prosecute Wars With All Haste - Stick To The Code (Artycles): Settle the Grudges - Stick To The Code (Footnotes): There’s No Reward Without Risk LEADER 1 x Aetheric Navigator (100)* - Artefacts: Voidstone Orb 1 x Arkanaut Admiral (140)* - General - Command Traits: Stormcaller - Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon 1 x Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (170)** BATTLELINE 6 x Endrinriggers (120)* 3 x Endrinriggers (120)* 10 x Arkanaut Company (90)** - Skypike 6 x Endrinriggers (120)** - Mizzenmaster 3 x Skywardens (130)** - Custodian BEHEMOTH 1 x Arkanaut Frigate (300)* - Heavy Sky Cannon - The Admiral's Flagship: The Admiral's Flagship - Great Endrinworks: Prudency Chutes 1 x Arkanaut Frigate (300)** - Heavy Sky Cannon OTHER 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)* - Drill Cannon CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment **Battle Regiment TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Jules was a fantastic opponent who took the impending infernoth incineration like a champion. Her list was a mostly-melee KO list which can be quite potent and could potentially get around my screens to dismantle my key pieces.
With that in mind I set up with a HEAVY screen surrounding my core, setting up my vulkites to ensure a top of 1 attack will do nothing but kill them at best while getting bled for some wounds with their fight on death. Her shooting could potentially clear some of them, but probably not enough to completely remove a screen. I measure to ensure my infernoth will easily be getting into range of at least one boat as well.
With that, she gives me top of turn 1 and I proceed to end the game through sheer luck. I plop the Molten Infernoth between her two boats, roll doubles, and proceed to kill half her army. I did somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 mortal wounds total, possibly more. I note her bravery and losses, then move Ionus up to ensure no inspiring presence, the rest run. I also manage to put soulburn on some stuff and lock him in a spot to tank her if she does want a reprisal. But that’s basically the game.
KO being KO she still completes multiple tactics as she instead opts to just score points and avoid combat at all costs. As your battle points are based on tactics achievement/denial, this does deny me some points and garner her some. Very clever on her part and just good play in the face of a bad situation in which she was diced. Hats off to her for not only staying cool but staying fun.
I win a major victory, 25-10.
Game 2: Win vs. Landon Jennings’ OBR on Fountains of Frost
A non-null myriad list! Actually one of my larger fears as this gives tanky/strong OBR access to more tools that could destroy me. Meanwhile, null myriad does nothing against me. Ivory Host is particularly potent and allows for the deathriders to absolutely SLAP.
Landon decides to give me the top of 1 and I proceed to plop a fyrewall immediately in front of his Immortis. I move up and toe tap objectives while I keep my guys spread out and behind terrain. Sadly I make a massive misplay here and forget to account for the drop location of my AHG, causing them to be weirdly split by terrain.
Still, I have screened my big boys well and his only option is to kill the AHG and shield vulkites while also getting hit back by my own monsters. He rams the deathriders down my throat and picks up a large amount of my Auric Hearthguard. Luckily my Shield Vulkites stay strong and hold him. He also runs the Morghast to get over the terrain and positions for a double.
He gets the double, brings back a deathrider and heals his boys up. I deny him crucial spellcasting with Ash-Cloud Rune; this puts his plans in a bit of disarray as it catches even some of his own units disallowing mystic shield. I had specifically dropped my AHG earlier than I wanted just to have the ash-cloud in place for this. He sends the Morghast in along with the Liege-Kavalos and finishes off the AHG and most of the shield vulkites. However, importantly, Ionus, my droth, and my axe vulkites live.
On the bottom of two I proceed to dumpster his deathriders with axe vulkites + flamekeeper, his morghast with the magmadroth, and Ionus seals Arkhan back in his tomb. His morghast don’t completely die, but they die enough. The Immortis are locked up doing the slow walk around the entire back end of the board while trying to keep their hero in range of the shrug.
Round 3 sees me finish tabling his army with his only remaining units being his general, and the Immortis. At this point he’s on his back foot and can’t get enough done in this round to do much to me.
Round 4 and 5 are basically a talk out at this point and I win a major victory, 23-18, denying him his grand strategy.
Game 3: Win vs. Steaphen Isaac’s Ogors on Lines of Communication
Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes - Mawtribe: Boulderhead - Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder - Triumphs: Bloodthirsty Leaders Butcher (140)* - Cleaver - Lore of Gutmagic: Blood Feast Huskard on Thundertusk (330) - Blood Vulture - Mount Trait: Rimefrost Hide - Prayer: Pulverising Hailstorm Frostlord on Stonehorn (460)* - General - Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter - Artefact: The Seat of Alvagr - Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder - Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Battleline 4 x Mournfang Pack (340)* - Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists - Reinforced x 1 4 x Mournfang Pack (340)* - Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists - Reinforced x 1 4 x Mournfang Pack (340)* - Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists - Reinforced x 1 Endless Spells & Invocations Suffocating Gravetide (30) Faction Terrain The Great Mawpot Core Battalions *Battle Regiment Total: 1980 / 2000 Reinforced Units: 3 / 4 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 108
Steaphan is probably my favorite opponent of the event. A cool guy and I appreciate how chill he was. This match is a grind and basically hinges on me being able to slowly, but surely, do wounds to his army before he can table me with charges.
This works great as he has low mortal wound protection outside his two mounted heroes.
I also opt to counter-deploy far from his Stonehorn and Huskard, I know this will eat up one whole turn for him to run them over. This gives me the screening potential to eat up a double and be completely fine.
As expected the game devolves into us both smushing our armies together in the center. Through the power of a 3+ ward and an enhanced rend rune (fyreslayer heroic action) I am able to kill his Stonehorn and then his Huskard. The attack reduction from Ionus is CLUTCH and is an immense help in letting me tank his army. Premeasuring to always ensure any hits onto my vulkites/AHG receive a -1 attack is great. Proper screening goes a long way here.
Once his stonehorn and huskard die the mournfangs aren’t long for this world and I proceed to table him. While it comes at great cost to me, I still am able to clear him from the table. The slow soul burn, shooting damage, fight on death, and magamdroth swings really help the list grind. I win a major victory, 24-19.
Day 2: Games 4-5
Game 4: Loss vs. Gavin Grigar’s Cities of Sigmar on Limited Resources
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar - City: Hallowheart - Mortal Realm: Ghur - Grand Strategy: Reclaim for Sigmar! - Triumphs: Inspired Leaders Battlemage on Celestial Hurricanum (260)* - Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Battlemage (100)** - Arcane Trinkey: Realmstone Orb - Lore of the Collegiate Arcane: Wildform Alchemite Warforger (110)* - Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Steam Tank Commander (270)** - General - Command Trait: Divine Champion - Artefact: Mastro Vivetti's Magnificent Macroscope - Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Battleline Steam Tank (230)* Steam Tank (230)* Steam Tank (230)** Steam Tank (230)** Units 6 x Freeguild Command Corps (170)* 6 x Freeguild Command Corps (170)** Core Battalions *Battle Regiment **Battle Regiment Total: 2000 / 2000 Reinforced Units: 0 / 4 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 118 Drops: 2
A night of drinking and eating sees me entering day two a bit hungover but having a good time. I find that I get my worst possible match-up: CoS tanks. I know full well they can not only shoot me off the board but also fully heal any and all mortal wound damage I can apply while tanking on a 1+ save.
Round 1 I set up the fyrewall to block and bank on it not going away. However, I have a choice: put Ionus up far enough to hang his prayer on the opponent if he doesn’t die or keep him back and get a few more points next round but he can’t accomplish anything effectively.
I choose poorly. His tanks easily do 16 wounds to Ionus, taking only 3 tanks to kill him despite +2 to save. Almost all wounds are from the mortal wound output of the alchemite warforger, so there isn’t a lot to be done.
Ionus goes down and he gives me the top of 2. I can’t accomplish anything except a tactic and point capture as I have no way to do damage to his tanks. I hang some more wounds on the tanks, which he heals. He kills the droth.
At the top of 3 I accomplish another tactic then scoop. He was easily going to table me in his turn. My army has no way to deal with shooting damage of that magnitude, especially against a great player with good target selection. Major Loss, 27-17.
Game 5: Win vs. Josh Chournos’ SBGL on Geomantic Pulse
Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords - Army Type: Legion of Night - Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses LEADER 1 x Vampire Lord (150)* - General - Command Traits: Master of Magic - Artefacts: Morbheg’s Claw - Spells: Hoarfrost - Aspects of the Champion 1 x Vampire Lord (150)* - Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x Mannfred Von Carstein (400)** - Spells: Fading Vigour BATTLELINE 30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (110)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (110)** 3 x Fell Bats (90)** 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (150)** OTHER 10 x Grave Guard (160) 5 x Black Knights (130) 20 x Grave Guard (160)** CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Battle Regiment TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
The benefit of losing is that you are free to drink to your heart’s desire. My heart has a great desire! Josh is chill and really nice. So it’ll be a good match.
His list relies on swamping down opponents with his deathrattle then hammering the enemy with grave guard. Theoretically this should be potent, but I have enough damage and tank that I think I can deal with it.
As always, I punish my opponent for giving me turn 1 by walling them off. But the wall has to be 1” from terrain so his skeletons can still swarm around it. My infernoth goes off and does a lot of mortal wounds to various units on his side of the board. Most will come back but it’s a good start. I shoot the black knights, killing a few and slowing them.
His turn sees him just running forward and banking on a double by dropping his units from the graves and smashing into my screens. He then proceeds to nail a 9+ charge on some guard.
He gets the double and it’s looking grim after those charges. But he fails to kill my smith by 1 wound and can’t touch Ionus or the droth. This is his doom as I turn it around, killing basically everything in his army with Ionus, the droth, and my vulkites which had swung wide to deal with the zombies. The infernoth plus Ionus prayer and shooting finish off all of his heroes.
I get the turnaround double here and he calls it. Even bringing back units he wouldn’t be able to do anything and I notch the win. We talk out some objective play and tactics then go to eat and drink more! I win a major victory, 28-14.
Day 3: Doubles Event
Big naked guys and little naked guys burn down a forest and beat up some murderous women.
I am roped into the doubles event on day 3. I initially did not sign up, but my teammate Fred convinced me as he was injured and could not play in the main tournament. He has one arm, so between us both we have three. I name the team “Team Eric” in honor of my good friend, and usual doubles partner, Eric Urbas.
He plays King Brodd’s warstomp and I play a cobbled together slapfather 1k list. It’s a good time and I maintain a “slow drip” of beer buckets. By round 3 I am quite drunk against our final opponents.
Round 1 sees us play “The Everchosen.” An Ironjawz and S2D combo that could be a potent round 1. However, with proper screening and the ability to tank anything for at least one combat, Fred and I clear them. Oh, not to mention an early infernoth double that clears a lot of models off the field. Major Victory, 24-20.
Round 2 sees us play “Bigs and Littles” which is a match of King Brodd’s in a mirror plus Squiggy Gitz. Both Gargant armies do basically nothing. Between two King Brodds almost no damage is applied. I particularly enjoy both just not hitting anything with terrain ever. Luckily a magmadroth fighting twice can down a gargant. Once that happens their army falls apart and we get a win. Awesome dudes, though. Zachary’s ward saves will haunt my nightmares forever. Fred is amped and I’m happy it’s a good time.
Round 3 has me slurring my words and entering a match versus “Season of War’s” Sylvaneth plus DoK combo. Oliver and Jordan are cool guys and very chill. In stark contrast to Fred who has gone off the deep end and destruction is in his veins now. Fred hits full ahead on the gargants, losing their ward as they spread. Luckily my magmadroth easily clears the Swords and through the power of lava blood kills the Cauldron. King Brodd dies, but he tanks long enough. We end up clearing all of DoK and leaving Belthanos to try to do it on his own. But he can’t and we end up winning it. Major Victory, 27-24.
Oh, and in all three rounds we had King Brodd throw the forge at the opponent’s. It was free ammunition!
We manage a 3-0 somehow and finish 5th out of 65 teams. A good showing.
Conclusion:
Good times with good people. I did worse this year than last, but the only way to do better was a 5-0. I think one was in the cards, but sadly I fell short.
The list itself turned out to be quite potent. I feared it was actually an 0-5 list, but it performed admirably. Still, it has a huge hole against mortal wound shooting armies, so it just wants to dodge those matchups. Sadly, one of them happens to be meta at this moment.
Like last LVO, the molten infernoth is a monster that can’t be stopped or reasoned with. It simply must destroy all.
The real takeaway for this list was that deployment is THE most important game time for this list and how you move on turn 1 can make or break things. Properly spacing and screening won me most of my games more than anything.
My highlight might be the hiking before LVO. The desert’s beauty is in stark contrast to the usual tree-filled east coast. Such an alien landscape was a treat to explore in The Valley of Fire.
ROCK AND STONE!
It seems that no one can escape travel frustrations during LVO. Our flight was delayed, but luckily it was with friends and we played narrative Age of Sigmar in the airport. Azyr is now without power after the Big Waagh! orruks stuck a fork in it. Otherwise we got home safe and everyone started getting LVO-Covid, as is tradition.
Airport Narrative Event: Plugs are the objectives
Will I go to LVO again? We’ll see. I may skip next year and instead go to Japan or something.
By now you all know what I’m doing for WIP Wednesday but if you’re unsure check back at my first article!
Third Week
Not a lot done this week as real-life got in the way and spent the weekend away… However I did do something hobby-related I’ve not done in a while – made a paint mix!
I’ve mixed Castellan Green & Moot Green to highlight the Imperial Bastions. I have chosen to make a mix because I intend to do more scenery using the same scheme and didn’t want large variation in colour. The mix was approximately 50/50.
I then used a heavy drybrush on the Imperial Bastions from last week:
I have gone for a very heavy drybrush, to add some lighter colour over the original Castellan Green. There’s still lots to do of course, but they took 2 hours to get to here so reasonable progress despite the lack of any weekend hobby.
Next week
I’m hoping to get more done on the Bastions and the accompanying weapons and scanning equipment… but I’ve got other things on the go so I’ll see how I feel during the week. With no deadlines at the moment I’m just painting what I like – and it’s a nice change to painting for tournament deadlines.
– Declan & Eeyore
Not too much from me this week, what with all the work I put into LVO last week. I did manage to paint up an Oldhammer Dwarf. But I’m not sure whether to use him as a unit Champion or Dwarf Thane. What do you think?
This is the top three AoS lists for Top Three AoS Lists for Mulligan Mayhem 2 that took place in Canada on the 13th and 14th of January. It saw 13 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
Army Faction: Beasts of Chaos – Subfaction: Quakefray – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – General – Command Traits: Propagator of Ruin – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Great Bray-Shaman – Spells: Merciless Blizzard (100)* Doombull (180)** – Artefacts of Power: Bleating Gnarlstaff Grashrak Fellhoof (180)*** Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (270)*** – Spells: Raging Storm Beastlord (140)*** – Artefacts of Power: Brayblast Trumpet
Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Army Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Knight-Incantor (120)* – Spells: Celestial Blades 1 x Ionus Cryptborn (400)* – General – Prayers: Translocation 1 x Lord-Castellant (160)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome
BATTLELINE 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (210)* 4 x Stormdrake Guard (340)* – Stormdrake-Prime – Drakerider’s Lance 5 x Vindictors (110)* – Vindictor-Prime – Azyrite Signifier
OTHER 5 x Vanguard-Hunters (100)* xxxx – Hunter-Prime – Astral Compass
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
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Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Subfaction: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Banners Held High
OTHER Black Ark Corsairs (90) – Reaver – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Vicious Blade and Repeater Handbow Freeguild Command Corps (170)** Black Ark Corsairs (90)** – Reaver – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Vicious Blade and Repeater Handbow
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
Around the new year 2022 Warlord Games did a very good offer on Soviet Bolt Action models and as I wanted a change of scene (away from scenery) I picked up a set. It is still available on their website at a slightly higher price point, but still good value.
Bolt Action
Bolt Action is the World War 2 (WW2) game from Warlord Games, and has been available for a number of years. There is a good following for the game and a lot of casual and tournament players enjoy the game. Whilst I have not been able to play Peter has, and he has written about it last year.
Some years ago I painted some Soviets and sold them off when I moved house and had no-one nearby who played; and with the release of contrast paints I wanted to try them again.
Pictures
10 Soviet Soldiers (I painted 50 of these)!
Anti-Tank gun teams
NKVD Squad
Command Squad with Radio
Command Squad
How do they play?
It’s another horde army… so ‘en-masse’ and bravely forward with a loud charge! Soviet armies can get units which are very cheap and quantity has a quality all of its own.
Paints Used
The army was mostly done using contrast paints except for the spikey bits on the weapons as I find Contrast doesn’t stay well on sharp edges. This meant that the models were undercoated black with a heavy white follow up to leave a few shadows under the models.
The observant will notice that I’ve not painted the tanks – I know; this is why I have ‘Paint Tanks’ as a 2024 resolution. Hopefully I’ll get to them.
Unfortunately, I also have another box on the go as well – these went so well I picked up a Soviet army box and am half-way through painting them as well… soon I’ll have far too many Soviet men around my hobby room.
Buying a Box
Most FLGS also stock Warlord Games models, or you can go directly to their website. Just remember to select your country before buying anything as they have different websites for different areas (the one linked is for UK).
With the release of Old World many of us are starting or restarting armies for Fantasy. We wanted to share our progress with the community but also provide somewhere where everyone can post there own updates.
With that in mind I thought it may be a good idea to have a slow grow army challenge for 2024. Not everyone can afford to buy an entire army straight away, so the premise is to buy/build and paint one unit every month in line with a specific challenge.
Dave and I are both going to be doing Old World for this, but there’s nothing to stop you following along with any other game system like Age of Sigmar, Kings of War or 40k. There’s also nothing to stop you using old miniatures you’ve had sitting around in your collection for years!
I’ve set up the first few months’ challenges below. If you want to take part and you’d like your work showcased on Woehammer then drop an email to thewoehammer@gmail.com when you’ve completed any of the challenges, or alternatively why not join our friendly discord and message me directly on there?
Challenges
February – Build and paint a heroic (or dastardly) leader for your rag tag army. Yeah, they don’t have any troops yet, but they have ideas! Soon, the masses will know and love them! Additional: Why not try and come up with some fluff surrounding their background? Where are they from? What do they want to achieve?
March – With your leader done, they need some troops to…. well… lead! Build and paint at least 10 models from your Core (Old World), Battleline (Age of Sigmar), or equivalent. Additional: Who are these dudes? Are they your leaders honour guard or perhaps some mercenaries they’ve hired to kick start their (nefarious?) plans?
April – You’ve the start of a budding army! But we need more troops! Perhaps something to give a little ranged threat to the enemy? Or a unit that can scout ahead fast? Build and paint at least 5 models from either a missile or scout type unit (this could be cavalry, or perhaps Giant Eagles for Wood Elves, or a Gyrocopter for Dwarfs?). Additional: Whose your leaders most hated foe and why? Did they suffer some slight at the enemies’ hands? Was a member of their family brutally mudrered by them?
May – Reinforcements! Build and paint at least 10 more models from your Core (Old World), Battleline (Age of Sigmar) or equivalent. Additional: Do you have names for all your units yet? What about your army name?
June – Build and paint another leader unit for your army. Additional: Who is this?! Why are they here? Are they your leaders advisor? Best friend? Confident? Significant other?
July – Build and paint either an artillery piece or elite unit (Special or Rare in Old World). Additional: Why not have a small game with your fledgling army? Perhaps your army has been ambushed on route to collect further reinforcements? Or they’re conducting a raid on a nearby enemy? Let us know the results!
