This is the top three AoS lists for Theatre of War that took place in the US on the 13th and 14th of July. It saw 26 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Soulblight Gravelords
Formation: Tide of Bones & Blades (-1 R on Charge)
Spell Lore: Undeath (7+ CV, 12”: Fight Last, -1 D, 18”: 6+ horde clear/heal – unlimited)
Manifestations: Aethermatic Machineries

Regiments
1- Mannfred von Carstein (410)
– General
Black Knights x2 (320)

2- Vampire Lord (160)
– Lash of the Sire
– Amulet of Screams
Grave Guard x2 (300)
Grave Guard x2 (300)
Deathratttle Skeletons x2 (200)

3- Torgillius the Chamberlain (180)
Deathrattle Skeletons (100)

Craig Smith: For me I love the synergy of Rye’s list – there’s something just really thematic about a Deathrattle army led by a couple of vamps.  As they are all Deathrattle other than the hero’s, they can all benefit from the +1 to rend on the charge plus Mannfred’s +1 atk when he kills a model.  That’ll be key for the Grave Guard and Knights in this list, but could also be interesting on the Skeletons. 

More likely the skeletons are used defensively to sit on objectives with Torgillius nearby using his ability to bring them back while Mannfred/ the Vampire Lord use Deathly Invocation on the Grave Guard/ Knights.

With Lash of the Sire, Black Knights/ Mannfred’s mobility, and the Vampire Lord’s teleport ability, this list should be able to react quickly to threats and grab unprotected objectives.

The use of Aetherwrought Machineries is interesting and useful to shut down ward saves and take out high health units using Quicksilver Swords – probably helpful against Sons and Nurgle.  The charge re-rolls from the Cogs would really help in this battle formation when they’re so reliant on getting the charge in, offensively, for the extra rend.  Also -1 to hit against the wizards from the Cogs would be extremely helpful against Slaanesh and Lumineth in those battle formations.

This list also carries strong counter-charge potential through the Grave Guard, Mannfred and the Knights (using the Cog as needed for re-rolls wholly within 12″), so that’s something your opponent needs to bear in mind and ensure they don’t leave gaps enabling this.

Mannfred’s redeploy into combat ability could also be a great way to use one of the Skeletons units to tie up a hard-hitting or mobile enemy unit, preventing their charge and potentially enabling a counter-charge.

With so many different tools in this list alongside the synergies of being pretty much fully Deathrattle based, I can see how Rye was able to go 5-0.

Battle Formation: Vanari Battlehost
Spell Lore: Lore of Hysh
Manifestation: Krondspine Incarnate
Faction Terrain: Shrine Luminor

General’s Regiment
(230pts) Vanari Lord Regent
-Heroic Trait: Masterful Tactician
(300pts) Vanari Auralan Sentinels
-Reinforced

Regiment
(280pts) Ellania and Ellathor, Eclipsian Warsages
(420pts) Vanari Dawnriders
-Reinforced
(210pts) Vanari Dawnriders
(130pts) Alarith Stoneguard

Regiment
(150pts) Scinari Calligrave
-Artefact of Power: Silver Wand
(280pts) Vanari Auralan Wardens
-Reinforced

2000pts Total

Roland Rivera: While at first glance, this Lumineth list may look like it’s adhering closely to the consensus power picks in the index (lots of Vanari units for -1 to hit, Silver Wand for an extra pip of power level on one of the Wizards, 20 Sentinels as the presumptive Honor Guard pick), it has some interesting tech that merits further discussion.

First among this tech is the choice of manifestation: this army can cast up to 5 spells per Hero phase, so it’s quite interesting to see the Krondspine Incarnate, typically the province of low-magic armies that want to avoid being overwhelmed by enemy manifestations, make an appearance. However, I think it makes a lot of sense here: a Scinari Calligrave cannot fail to summon it, and this list skews aggressive with a Lord-Regent and 15 Dawnriders. That sort of list just wants to keep the way clear for its glorious cavalry charges, and a Krondspine (especially a reliable one) helps with that. There is also a unit of rarely-seen Alarith Stoneguard in this list, though I suspect this choice was largely made to squeeze in one more unit in the allotted points.

All in all, it’s a quite interesting list, and while it is a bit vulnerable to getting bogged down by massed bodies and recursion (as demonstrated by the loss to Soulblight), it has the combination of hitting power and defensive tech to give most armies a hard time.

Slaves to Darkness
Godswrath Warband
Lore of the Damned
Manifestations of Malevolence

Be’lakor, the Dark Master (410)
[General]
– 6 x Varanguard (620)
– 6 x Varanguard (620)
– 3 x Varanguard (310)

1960

Roland Rivera: Seems like Corry’s a gambling man, because boy is this list all-in. With 4 total units on the battlefield, it won’t be covering much ground, but with 3 of those units being 15(!) Varanguard, it will also be pounding through the enemy’s defenses in short order. Their combination of speed, hitting power, and the once-per-game double fight can make it very easy to blast through pretty much anything that you get to charge.

Alongside this pile of heavily armored violence is Be’lakor, who rounds the arsenal out by shutting down key opposing units via The Dark Master as well as being a double caster that can fight a bit in melee. I am a bit surprised to see the Manifestations of Malevolence being chosen here (not a big fan of that Lore), but Realmscourge Rupture can potentially be quite useful for this army if you get the -1 to hit effect for it off.

This list clearly has a weaknesses to durable horde armies that can bog it down (as evidenced by the loss to Soulblight), but most other armies will struggle to survive the sheer amount of damage this list can bring to bear, which means you can go quite far with it if you get the right pairings (as this one did).

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Faction: Seraphon
Formation: Sunclaw Starhost
Spell Lore: Lore of Celestial Manipulation
Prayer Lore: N/A
Manifestation Lore: Morbid Conjuration

General Regiment 1
Slann (280)
Saurus Warriors x 2 – (340)
Temple Guard x 2 – (220)
Kroxigor Warspawned- (220)
Kroxigor – (220)

Regiment 2
Skink Oracle on Troglodon – (280)
– Heroic Trait: Being of the Stars
– Artefact of Power: Incandescent Rectrices
Raptadon Chargers x 2- (280)
Hunters of haunchi- (80)
Hunters of haunchi- (80)

Total: 2000

Xodious: Here we see Adrian Ybarra rocking a Sunclaw Starhost list of the mighty Seraphon in the Theatre of War. The list begins with the Slann complete with a reinforced unit of warriors and guard, a set of Kroxigor and a set of Kroxigor Warspawned. We then see for a 2nd regiment a Skink Oracle on Troglodon who has been outfitted with the Being of the Stars trait and the Incandescent Rectries artefact. More on that in a bit, but the list finishes with a reinforced unit of Raptadon Chargers and 2 sets of Hunters Of Huanchi with dartpipes for taking flanks and terrain features. Finally, the list is rocking the Lore of Celestial Manipulation and the mighty Morbid Conjurations.

Generally speaking, the Temple guard will crowd around the Slann while the warriors push forward. Kroxigors are both on the hunt for their preferred targets, Infantry for the regular, and monsters for the warspawned. Those warspawned might be interested in being close to just about any of the units of the second regiment however, thanks to their Spawn of Sotek passive granting them +1 damage while wholly within 12″ of a skink infantry or calvalry unit. Unfortunately, that means the Oracle on Troglodon wont be able to provide the buff, but that Oracle is still the highlight of the list here today.

To understand, we first need to take a look at what the Oracle can do. First, hes a skink ***wizard(1)*** and as such the slann can cast 1 spell per*any* hero phase through the Oracle. The Oracle has a ranged attack at 15″, D6 shots; 3/3/1/2. Important to add that its a companion weapon, but it does have shoot in combat. Then the Oracle on top has a divining rod (2/4/4/1/d3), The Troglodon’s Talons (2/4/3/1/2 companion), and the Trog’s jaws (3/4/3/1/3 Crit(mortal) and companion). The oracle subtracts 2 from the control scores of enemy units they’re in combat with, and Once per turn in any combat phase (read: every combat phase), the Oracle can select up to 3 enemy units that they’re in combat with and roll a dice for each. On a 3+, it subtracts 1 from the hit rolls of the enemy units attacks for the rest of that turn. Not super killy as far as monsters go, but very good utility!

Now thats pretty good, especially coupled with the dartpipes trying to offer up -1 to wound if they do any damage. What sets this list apart from other seraphon list, is really banking on the last ability of the Troglodon, which heals the oracle D3 at the end of any turn. This is in addition to the artefact Incandescent Rectrices, which heals the equipped unit D3 at the start of each turn! Finally the Heroic trait, Being of the Stars, makes the unit etheral, so this 280pt package of 14 wounds, healing 2d3 each turn, is now on a permanant 4+ armor. Thats a lot of wounds to shift, and it wont be that easy to shift for that matter. You see, the Oracle is in a weird spot right now because its aura for -1 to hit has to be done in melee. Theres a lot of scary units making it into lists right now that can lift a troglodon relatively easily. 10 chosen? 6 Aggradon lancers? The poor skink is toast. But the heroic trait is here to try to keep the Oracle rooted in place.

I have to wonder how the list would perform with the lore of primal jungles. Seraphon, unlike most of the indexes, have 2 options for spell lore. Celestial Manipulation is generally considered the better of the two, but theres a really nice unlimited spell in primal jungles called the Light of Chotec, which, upon being cast on a 6+, rolls a number of dice equal to the number of damage points on a unit. for each 4+, heal 1. Its kinda like a worse rally, but you can target the same unit multiple times. Imagine chewing through 10 wounds on an etheral unit, and then watching them heal 5 or 6, in addition to the 2d3? Brutal, and I think the empowered celestite would really carry the saurus warriors in this list too.

Even so Adrian managed to go 3/2 with the list, losing out to the Slaves to Darkness and Lumineth Realm-Lords. Way to go, Adrian!

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Final Tournament Placings