This is the top three AoS lists for the II GT PETREO that took place in Spain on the 25th and 26th of January 2025. It saw 80 players in teams of 5 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.
I’m back – Peter has finally allowed me to comment again – and it has nothing to do with us being behind on the commentary! For those who don’t know me I played AoS3 extensively but after the birth of our first child and a house move AoS4 has been off the radar a little… With all those provisos out of the way, let’s check out the lists!
The Top Three AoS Lists
Slaves to Darkness Godswrath Warband Drops: 1 Spell Lore – Lore of the Damned Manifestation Lore – Forbidden Power
General’s Regiment Gaunt Summoner (170) • General • Infernal Puppet • Radiance of Dark Glory Chaos Chosen (520) • Reinforced • The Banner of Screaming Flesh Chaos Chosen (520) • Reinforced Chaos Furies (120) Varanguard (660) • Reinforced
Faction Terrain Nexus Chaotica
Statistics don’t lie (…) and Slaves to Darkness are firmly in the 45% – 55% win rate that we like to see in an asynchronous wargame. Patata has pushed them through some tough match-ups with his 3 big blocks being difficult to remove.
The Chosen have a 3+ save, 3 wounds, 3 attacks each and the ability to fight twice in the important combat – it gives the unit strike last, but that doesn’t matter when the enemy is dead.
Meanwhile the Varanguard are also sprinting around at 10″ move, 5 health and 3+ save. They have the same fight twice ability Relentless Killers, and have the reach to destroy anything that is mis-deployed.
You’ll need to bring great rend to do the required number of wounds here, and it is no surprise that Patata’s opponent’s struggled with it.
Flesh-eater Courts Lords of the Manor Drops: 3 Spell Lore – Lore of Madness Prayer Lore – Rites of Delusion Manifestation Lore – Manifested Insanity General’s Regiment Ushoran, Mortarch of Delusion (440) • General Crypt Horrors (280) • Reinforced Morbheg Knights (320) • Reinforced
Hugo grabbed 2nd with another 5-0 (there were 5 players with them in this tournament) using the FEC. FEC are flying high with a win rate of 61% so Hugo is riding a wave here – but the army still needs to be played and he beat a fellow FEC player in the 2nd round to keep his 5-0 chances alive.
Taking up fully one third of his army he has two reinforced units of Morbheg Knights (the newly released unit, and currently out of stock)!
Morbheg Knights from Games Workshop – they’re currently out of stock!!
These are monsters, but only 160 points for 3 so there is a possibility to go MSU if you wanted to give it a go and can get hold of them… Hugo has gone 2 units of 6 though, and I can see why. A reasonable stat line for health and save, is coupled with great movement (12″ – those wings are still strong), mortal wounds on the charge and the ability to retreat and charge. It wasn’t a fun ability to play against in AoS3 so it is ‘Great’ to see it back in AoS4. They also boast Rend 1 across all 5 of their attacks – 3 of which have 2 damage. They will rip through any shielding unit and are unable to be pinned!
Blades of Khorne Khornate Legion Drops: 3 Prayer Lore – Blood Blesssings of Khorne Manifestation Lore – Judgements of Khorne General’s Regiment Realmgore Ritualist (110) • General Blood Warriors (420) • Reinforced Blood Warriors (210)
Regiment 2 Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (440) • Ar’gath, The King of Blades
Faction Terrain Skull Altar
Gosh, I leave the Hobby for 2 years, come back and Blades of Khorne are getting 5-0 at a large tournament. What is this wizardry Skulls! Perfectly positioned at 49% win rate they are definitely beatable, but not in Hector’s capable hands.
It’s great to see an army with so many foot troops doing well, but I want to take a look at the monster in Regiment 2! In AoS3 Bloodthirsters were cheap… so you could have lots … but they didn’t really feel like Gods of War. 440 points is certainly not cheap so it must be doing some heavy lifting in the list – or maybe it’s a Distraction Carnifex.
Well it’s quick at 12″, and with a reasonable health total of 16 on a 4+ save it’ll need a concentrated effort to kill it (no Grot bows!). It has a cheaky shooting attack with it’s lash to reduce or remove charge screens, can make other monsters less effective, and allows Khorne Deamons to use 3 dice on the charge (a mini-Kragnos ability). Once it is in combat — and with the above abilities good luck stopping it — it’s Mighty Axe of Khorne has 6 attacks, rend 2, damage 4!! Add a cheeky Attack aura and this beast is hitting on 2s; wounding on 2s. It’s almost like it’s AoS3 again – but good for Khorne.
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The 13th Primarch novel (novella) takes us to the Dark Angels and their Primarch – Lion El’Jonson.
From the book:
Each primarch is an exemplary being, derived from the Emperor’s own genetic stock to embody a facet of His personality. Their powers are unfathomable, but only one of them is the First. Lion El’Jonson is the paragon of what it is to be a primarch. His Legion, pre-eminent for most of their long history, typify the virtues of temperance, pride, and martial excellency that the Lion embodies. They are the Emperor’s last line and final sanction. They are His Dark Angels.
Now, while the Emperor gathers His mightiest sons for an assault on Ullanor Prime, the Lord of the First instead draws his Legion to the farthest reaches of the known galaxy, seeking to subdue a single rebellious world. Is this but another example of the Lion’s infamous pride, or is there more afoot amidst that graveyard of empires that is the Ghoul Stars, more than the Lion will share even with his own sons?
One of my favourite things in the novella’s and books of the Horus Heresy is hearing about the different alien species the Emperor’s sons meet alien species that will never appear in a rulebook and will never have miniatures. This freedom allows the authors to explore alien species without limitation.
The enemies facing Lion El’Jonson and his Dark Angels are facing the Khrave who are able to take over the minds of weaker species… but in the Dark Angels – and The Lion – they may have finally met their match.
The Khrave are well written, spooky and scary and use psyker powers in some extreme ways – they definitely add peril to the book as the human elements of the Dark Angels fleet and Imperium army cannot be trusted to stand alongside the Space Marines – and so they must fight the enemy – and those members of the fleet/army taken over by the Khrave – on their own.
Guymer also throws in scenes between the Lion and the Emperor – it is always interested to read above the Emperor in these books – and this definitely adds flavour to the Dark Angel’s Primarch…
However the way they kill the Khrave – using weapons only they have access to – is characterful but always leaves the question ‘why not against Horus then…?’ and this is a question I found difficult to overlook.
Overall it’s a good book, with a well written and described enemy which is let down a bit by a disappointing ending.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
As always, if you’re struggling to read a chart, you should be able to right click and then either view or download the image.
Tournaments Included (Since Jul FAQ)
[ Lexby Games ] – Warhammer the Old World, a 2-day Event
A Clash on the Borders
A Foray in Cathay
A War of Grudges
Alpine: Old World
Battle at the Beltway
Battle for GreenHollow Old World
Battle for Yuletide
Battle of Leodis Fields
Battles in the Old World
Bay Area Open Old World event
Beachhead: The Old World
CCBB WARHAMMER: THE OLD WORLD – Singles Grand Tournament
Coventry TOW GT
Coventry TOW GT
DaBoyz GT Rochester 2024 Warhammer The Old World
Durham GT: Talabec Throwdown
Fantasia Fanatic XLVI – The Old World
Forgotten North GT 2024
Gathering of Dragon Hunters
Geekfest – Winter Warzone – The old world
Green Dice Games Winter Ruin Old World GT
Grip Figurspel 2 Day Tournament
Herocon 2024 Old World Tournament
Horrors of the Old World !
Invasion Old World 2024
LSO: The Summer Kriegsort
LVO 2025 Warhammer Old World Champs
Rise of the Chaos Champions
Saffron Fantasy Slam III
Salt Lake Open 2024 – Warhammer: The Old World Grand Tournament
Slaget mellan drakbergen
SoCal Open 2024 – The Old World Tournament
Square Based Open Toronto
Texas Open – Warhammer The Old World Champs
The Affair of Miscasting Wizards
The Great MaW – The Old World GT
The Leicester ToW GT
The LGT Old World GT
The Nottingham TOW GT
The Old World GT at the Renegade Open
The Old World: Throne of Skulls
The Squarehammer “Make Infantry Great Again” GT @ Battlegrounds
TOW Grand Clash 2025
Uprising: The Old World
War for the Old World GT 2
War for the Old World GT 3
War for the Riverlands
War for the Troll Trousers
War in the Heartlands Act 4
Warhammer the old world GT Defcon
GT Win Rates
Firstly, all of these games have occurred since the July 2024 FAQ and have been part of a 2,000pt GT or GT+ event hosted on Best Coast Pairings, Stats & Ladders and Ecksen. Yes, we’re looking to add New Recruit and TourneyKeeper to this data as soon as we can.
Discounting the muster lists with a lower sample size shown in bold, we have seven over-performing and 5 under-performing. Four of the muster list that are overperforming belong to the Tomb Kings of Khemri and Kingdom of Bretonnia. Both of whom have been at the top of the pile since the release of Old World in January last year. While two are the legacy factions of Chaos Dwarfs and Vampire Counts.
At the other end of the table we have (as always) the Empire of Man, Skaven and Orc and Goblin Tribes. Though time till tell yet whether the Empire of Man Arcane Journal has given them the boost they need to climb the table a little.
As much as I’m a GW fanboy, the balancing of Old World leaves something to be desired. Here we’ll hear the pre-Old World players shout about how its not a tournament game etc etc etc. Even if it’s not a tournament game, the game should be balanced as much as possible for all players to have a fairly even shot at winning regardless of whether taking part in competitive play or friendly play. These win rated would suggest that the game itself is fairly unbalanced at present, and if newer players are picking up factions like the Orc and Goblin Tribes, it may put them off if they’re forever fighting an uphill battle against the likes of Tomb Kings of Khemri and the Kingdom of Bretonnia. At this point, the beta rules can’t come soon enough.
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the Age of Sigmar stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Neither to 600-699 rated players. Where we start to see the swell in players possibly chasing the factions with more favourable rules is in players rated less than 600 Elo.
Muster List Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved in the first 5 rounds of games at GT’s or GT+’s.
This merely shows that Warrios of Chaos and Orc and Goblin Tribes are by the most popular factions in the game at present.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving in the first 5 rounds at GT and GT+ events.
The perfect split for each faction, if everything was perfectly balanced across factions would like:
Woehammer Database
To download out Age of Sigmar stats database, click on the button below.
This is the top three AoS lists for The Great MaW that took place in France on the 25th and 26th of January 2025. It saw 40 players in teams of 8 vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament. For even numbers there was a 6th “bye” team that means there are no lists for those rounds.
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.
Regiments of Renown Gotrek Gurnisson (340) Gotrek Gurnisson
Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Wing Drops: 1
General’s Regiment Karazai the Scarred (480) • General Vanguard-Palladors with Starstrike Javelins (480) • Reinforced Vanguard-Palladors with Starstrike Javelins (480) • Reinforced Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (400) • Reinforced Vigilors (130)
Gloomspite Gitz Squigalanche [Lore of the Clammy Dank] [Krondspine Incarnate]
Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (130) [General] [Loontouched] – 40 x Moonclan Stabbas (280) – 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (140) – 20 x Squig Hoppers (340) – 20 x Squig Hoppers (340)
Loonboss (110) [Leering Gitshield] – 20 x Squig Herd (220) – 20 x Squig Herd (220) – 20 x Squig Herd (220)
Bad Moon Loonshrine
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In my second week of the Woehammer ‘How to Paint’ series, we are keeping with Necromunda – it’s what I’m playing at the moment so it’s what I’m painting!
Just a reminder for those new to this series, these won’t be stage by stage and will keep a similar format to the Hobby Updates or yester-year, but they will continue to have the list of paints available.
Necromunda
Is this the best game GW have ever released… well it’s on a par to Warmaster at least and is a great campaign game and fun skirmish adventure. Is it ‘fair’ in any meaningful way?… well no! But who cares it’s more a GM led campaign than anything else. I love it..
Can I say something new about it … sure, but there’s 8 of these articles lined up and I don’t have that kind of imagination.
Underhive Market
The Underhive market is part of the Games Workshop ‘Zone Mortalis’ scenery style and whilst it could be used for 40k this is definitely a Necromunda kit, and it is packed full of line of sight blocking market stalls with trip hazards, gun selling and scattered coins available.
Pictures
A complete Underhive Market attached to a Zone Mortalis tile
A different view – I did add some walls from Necromunda Secundus painted in the same style as the tiles
How do they play?
Necromunda excels with 2 things – line of sight blocking scenery and height, and whilst this kit doesn’t assist with the second one it is great for the first. I have left a few fire lanes on the tile, but if you’re in the market then you’re unlikely to be shot from someone on a different tile and that makes for a better game of Necromunda.
I have glued them onto the tile though as the pieces are a little light and I think they would be easily knocked around and disturbed during play – not ideal if your line of sight blocking terrain moves.
Paints Used
Starting with a Black Undercoat for all pieces I selected different colours for the canvas of the market stalls. I was going for simple but with different colours and in the main I stuck with the colours of the tiles although blue and green did sneak in there as well.
The other items are painted in the same colours, but with a drybrush of leadbelcher in most cases – see the tiles article – to tie it into my Necromunda boards.
Colours used were: Mephiston Red, Kantor Blue, Mechanicus Standard Grey, Orruk Flesh, Rakarth Flesh, Leadbelcher and Balthasar Gold
With generous toppings of Nuln Oil & Agrax Earthshade.
Buying a Box
These are available everywhere, so try your local FLGS first – or ask them to order in for you. If you don’t have a local FLGS then Woehammer has an affiliate link with Element Games which gives us a small kickback to buy more toys. I think this is one of the best value scenery kits for Necromunda at £34 RRP.
In fact I will definitely be buying another one and using the stalls as single pieces to add more interest to other Zone Mortalis Tiles.
We’re into the second week of our Grand Narrative Campaign, which is based on the tournament results of GT events around the world.
These results will feed into a narrative setting that the community creates to allow players and readers to shape a sub-realm created for this campaign. The sub-realm has six regions (also to be named) which are determined by GT results from the following parts of the globe:
North America
Europe
Australia & New Zealand
Scandinavia
UK & Ireland
The Rest of the World
What we don’t have yet is the name of this sub-realm or the six regions within it.
Why not join our Woehammer Narrative Discord Server to help vote and influence the lore of this sub-realms. Perhaps make suggestions for future inclusions in the storyline?
As a reminder, every GT player around the world can earn Progression Points (PP) for their faction and Grand Alliance from the games they play in. For the full breakdown of the campaign, have a butchers at this.
As the dust settles from the first skirmishes, the second week of battle has seen the tides of war begin to take shape. The forces of Order, Chaos, Death, and Destruction have now firmly established their footholds across the warzones, with new alliances strengthening and bitter rivalries forming.
UK & Ireland
In the war-ravaged lands of the UK & Ireland, the warriors of Sigmar stand unshaken. The Stormcast Eternals have surged ahead, their celestial hosts securing territory faster than any rival. Yet, they are far from unchallenged. The Slaves to Darkness have not faltered, their dark crusade pressing ever forward, seeking to corrupt what Order holds dear. Meanwhile, the Ogor Mawtribes have begun their own bloody rampage, plundering and consuming all in their path. The cold-blooded Seraphon and the ancient Sylvaneth continue to weave their own destinies, ensuring this warzone remains unpredictable.
Europe
In Europe, the banners of the Slaves to Darkness fly highest, their dominance growing with each conquered battlefield. The Seraphon have made their presence known, their reptilian warriors launching calculated assaults to push back the tide of darkness. The Flesh-Eater Courts, driven by their insatiable hunger, have surged forward, carving their own grisly empire from the remnants of the fallen. Yet, the Stormcast Eternals still stand, their hammers ringing out defiantly. And from the gloom, the Nighthaunt creep ever closer, their spectral legions preparing for a reckoning yet to come.
North America
A storm unlike any other rages in North America. The Stormcast Eternals have expanded their dominance, their golden warriors striking down foes with the fury of the heavens. But they are pursued by an ever-growing shadow—Slaves to Darkness warbands have mustered in force, their corrupted champions determined to unseat the God-King’s chosen. The Seraphon, ever the great manipulators, have advanced their own designs, their presence now undeniable. Meanwhile, the cursed Flesh-Eater Courts feast upon the fallen, growing in power, and the Blades of Khorne have finally entered the fray in earnest, eager to spill rivers of blood in their god’s name.
Australia & New Zealand
The distant warzones of Australia & New Zealand remain in turmoil, but a single faction has begun to rise. The Slaves to Darkness have emerged as the region’s dominant force, their conquest slow but relentless. The Lumineth Realm-Lords, masters of precise strategy, remain their greatest challengers, their warriors clashing with Chaos for control of key strongholds. The Seraphon, Sons of Behemat, and Flesh-Eater Courts continue their own struggles, but for now, this land teeters on the brink, waiting for a decisive power to take control.
Scandinavia
In the frozen reaches of Scandinavia, the great struggle has begun with the Sylvaneth emerging as the first to take control of the land. The spirits of the wild hold their dominion, pushing back against invaders who dare disturb their slumber. Yet, the Maggotkin of Nurgle have begun to spread their pestilent rot through the land, their filth seeping into even the most sacred glades. The Nighthaunt and Idoneth Deepkin remain ever-watchful, their influence growing steadily, while the airships of the Kharadron Overlords now cast long shadows over the battlefield.
Special Event
This weekend is our first special weekend, and the War Councils are making their first decisions.
Order Strategic Choices
1. A Call to Arms (Progression Boost) Order rallies reinforcements from beyond the realm. One Order faction receives a bonus (×1.5) to their Progression Points for the next week, solidifying their foothold in contested areas.
2. Sanctify the Land (Rival Hindrance) The forces of Order invoke divine power to weaken Chaos‘ influence. One Chaos faction (chosen by the Order players) slows in gaining progression points (x0.5) as they are cleansed from the land.
3. Founding the First Bastion (Lore Unlock – Order Settlement Established) A new stronghold is built in Order’s name. The community gets to name the first fortress or city of the campaign, which will act as a rallying point for Order’s expansion.
4. Astral Intervention (Rival Hindrance) The Slann of the Seraphon alter fate itself. Order selects one non-Chaos faction, and their next week’s points are slightly reduced (x0.8) due to a shift in celestial energy.
Chaos Strategic Choices
1. The Ruinous Tide (Progression Boost)The Dark Gods bless their followers with a surge of strength. One Chaos faction receive bonus Progression Points (x1.5) for the next week, allowing them to expand at an accelerated pace.
2. Desecration of Hope (Rival Hindrance – Order) Chaos targets Order’s expansion efforts, sending cultists and raiders to destroy an Order camp. One Order faction (chosen by Chaos players) slows their progression points (x0.5) as their supplies are destroyed.
3. The Dark Bargain (Lore Unlock – A Chosen Champion is Revealed) One of the Chaos factions gains a new, named Warlord or Prophet, a key figure whose name and backstory will be developed with community input. This character may influence future events.
4. Ritual of Corruption (Rival Hindrance – Any Grand Alliance) A great ritual spreads Chaos corruption across the land. Chaos players vote to weaken another rival faction, lowering their progression points (x0.8) for next week.
Death Strategic Choices
1. The Gathering of the Dead (Progression Boost) The necromancers and vampires raise new legions. One Death faction receives bonus Progression Points (x1.5) next week as their forces swell with new recruits.
2. The Shrouded March (Rival Hindrance – Order or Chaos) The Death Grand Alliance sends its minions to haunt and harass a rival power. One faction from Order or Chaos (chosen by Death players) slows their progression points (x0.5) due to attrition.
3. Grave-Curse of the Ancients (Lore Unlock – Death’s First Great Ritual) A powerful spell is cast, disturbing the balance of life and death. A new landmark is revealed on the map, a place of dark magic that strengthens Death’s future presence in the region.
4. The First Necropolis (Lore Unlock – Death Settlement Established) Death’s forces establish their first great necropolis, where the dead are bound to their eternal masters. The community names the first bastion of undeath, marking the beginning of their rise.
5. Hunger of the Ghouls (Rival Hindrance – Destruction) Flesh-Eater Courts lead a savage campaign against Destruction, weakening a Destruction faction of the players’ choice, causing them to lose progression points (x0.8) as the ghouls feast upon their ranks.
Destruction Strategic Choices
1. The Green Tide Surges (Progression Boost) The warbands of Destruction go on a rampage! One Destruction faction gets bonus Progression Points next week (x1.5), ensuring their presence grows.
2. Smash da Stunties! (Rival Hindrance – Order or Chaos) A major raid is launched against an Order or Chaos supply train. Players vote on which faction to target, causing that faction to slow in their progression (x0.5) points due to lack of supplies.
3. First WAAAGH! Settlement (Lore Unlock – Destruction Fortress Built) The first crude stronghold is built, a towering mass of scrap, bone, and looted stone. The community names the first major settlement of Destruction, which becomes a launchpad for future WAAAGH!s.
4. Beast Hunts & Lootin’ (Progression Boost & Lore Unlock) The Ogors and Sons of Behemat go on a colossal hunt, uncovering a new creature or beast unique to the realm. This adds a unique wildlife element to the campaign while boosting Destruction’s expansion.
5. Da Great Stomp (Rival Hindrance – Death) Destruction’s rise is putting pressure on Death’s domains. One Death faction (chosen by Destruction players) slows their progression points (x0.8) as warbands rampage through their claimed territory.
Join the War Councils
Yet this sub-realm remains nameless, and its regions unclaimed by history. The time has come for the Woehammer community to shape this world. Join the War Council on Discord to cast your vote, submit your ideas, and leave your mark on the campaign. As the tides of war shift, settlements and strongholds will rise, it will be the victors who write the first pages of this realm’s history.
Suggestions So Far
I have had some name suggestions for both the sub-realm and its regions, and I’m going to leave it open for another week to get a few more before I run a poll on the server. So far we have:
Sub-realm Suggestions
We have has some suggest that the regions should mirror their real world counterparts, and have them reflect what makes them interesting in the real world. Names that suggest a clear image of what the regions has to offer and what they are battling for, and that the sub-realm should be a weird and fantastical version of our own.
– Verdanthia – Aetherys
Northern Peninsula (Scandinavia) Name Suggestions
Names that would capture some of the geological features which include great forests, majestic fjords and stoic mountains:
– Timberfjords – Frozenfjords – The Great Frostwoods – Fjordia – Fjordica – Fjordun – The Freezefjords
One suggestion from a player was to allow players to have their points count towards another faction than there own, perhaps they would be acting as mercenaries or they are working against their own leadership?
This is the top three AoS lists for Weekend Warlord 8 – Endless War that took place in Italy on the 18th and 19th of January 2025. It saw 76 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
Cities of Sigmar Ironweld Guild Army Drops: 5 Spell Lore – Spells of the Collegiate Arcane Prayer Lore – Scriptures of Sigmar Manifestation Lore – Aetherwrought Machineries
General’s Regiment Galen ven Denst (170) • General Doralia ven Denst Freeguild Fusiliers (240) • Reinforced
Regiment 4 Callis and Toll (230) Toll’s Companions
Blades of Khorne Khornate Legion Drops: 4 Prayer Lore – Blood Blesssings of Khorne Manifestation Lore – Judgements of Khorne
General’s Regiment Realmgore Ritualist (110) • General
Regiment 1 Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster (420) Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (440) • Ar’gath, The King of Blades
Regiment 2 Slaughterpriest (160) • Favoured of Khorne Bloodreavers (100) Claws of Karanak (110) Claws of Karanak (110)
Regiment 3 Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (440) Flesh Hounds (110)
Faction Terrain Skull Altar
Slaves to Darkness Godswrath Warband Drops: 1 Spell Lore – Lore of the Damned Manifestation Lore – Primal Energy
General’s Regiment Be’lakor, the Dark Master (440) • General Chaos Chosen (520) • Reinforced • The Dread Banner Chaos Furies (120) Chaos Knights (250) Varanguard (660) • Reinforced
Faction Terrain Nexus Chaotica
Roland Rivera: Not many armies can honestly say they can comfortably fit into a 1-drop, but this is certainly one of them. Be’lakor is one of the premium Heroes in the game thanks to his spellcasting, acceptable combat ability and durability, plus his excellent abilities in Spring the Trap and The Dark Master, and he’s accompanied by a whole lot of armored beef as a complement.
A reinforced unit of Varanguard needs little introduction, as it’s one of the most potent hammers in the game, and can be pushed even higher by pledging it to Khorne. However, the most potent unit in my opinion is the Chaos Chosen with the Dread Banner. They have lots of attacks with crit(mortal), can fight twice just as the Varanguard do, and blocking opposing commands makes them better on both offense and defense. Chaos Knights are a do-everything unit that can contribute damage, defense, battle tactics, or simply a unit that can help you complete some battle tactics. Speaking of battle tactics, few units are better at it than Chaos Furies, thanks to their great speed and their ability to fly out of combat.
Overall, this list combines the offensive power of Chaos Chosen, Varanguard, and Chaos Knights with the tricks and utility of Be’lakor and Chaos Furies, and the result is a well-rounded list that is very adept at controlling the flow of the game and dispatching its opponents.
Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($1) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
We’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our Age of Sigmar stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
As always, if you’re struggling to read a chart, you should be able to right click and then either view or download the image.
Tournaments Included (Using December Battlescroll)
2D6 OsloHammer #9 X-Mas!
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament – “Troll Bowl I”
Akron Brew Brawl-AoS GT
AoS Singles Grand Clash 2025
AoS World Pass
Battle for GreenHollow GT AOS
Cake or Death 2025 – The Cakeful Dead
Call to Glory 2025
CaptainCon AoS Event Hosted by Away Games
Cataclysmic Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament Q1
Clash of Clans 5
Columbus Brewhammer ’25
Crossroads Carnage – LVCan’tgO
DaBoyz GT Golden Sprue 2025
Dice of Destiny GT 2025
Everwinter: Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament
Final Equipos CNDKHM AoS
FLG Cherokee Open 2025
Gasts Hjaltar
Geekfest – Winter War Zone – Age of Sigmar
Gods of War V
GT El Mago Demente
Hamburg Major 2025
Haus of Heroes GT
II GT PETREO (Memorial Enric Medina)
LVO 2025 Age of Sigmar Champs
Macao Sigmar Tournament
Midwest Bash 2025 GT
North China Open IV
Norwegian Masters 2024
NPO – Saint of Meow Meow Riverlands Meowdown
Old Man Gaming Open 2025
Partisan Games AOS GT 15th/16th February 2025
Portal Invernal 2025
Prova
Realm of Geddon 2025
Realmshift 2025
Sheffield Slaughter 2025
Sigmar Calls
Southern Smash GT | Age of Sigmar
The Big Bristol Brawl Winter GT
The Forge GT: Year 2
The Lone Star Grand Tournament
The Nottingham AoS GT
The Tracksuit GT
Threshold Invitational VII
Trandermaster
Warzone Atlanta ’25: AoS GT
Weekend Warlord 8 – Endless War
Winter Castle Siege 2025
GT Win Rates
Interestingly, the dying faction of Beast of Chaos have the highest Elo average of all the factions currently playable in Age of Sigmar, this will primarily be because of experienced players having them in their collection and possibly trying to make the most out of them before they are no longer tournament legal.
Disregarding both Beasts of Chaos and Bonesplitterz, our Age of Sigmar stats currently has only three over achieving faction – Flesh-eater Courts with a win rate of 61% , Slaves to Darkness at 56% and Hedonites of Slaanesh at 56% – that’s not bad. While at the other end of the table we’ve three factions under achieving when we include Big Waaagh! with them as the lowest at 26%. Ignoring Big Waaagh! who have extremely low representation, all of these factions are only a percentile percentile outside of the 45-55% green zone (balanced). Flesh-eater Courts have a slightly higher than average Elo rating for their players, which could be marginally inflating their win rates.
Estimated Win Rates if the Player Skill Levels were Equal
That’s a mouthful of title isn’t it!?
Essentially, what I’m trying to do here is work out what the win rates would be if the skill levels of all the players were the same (Yes, I realise this is nearly impossible to calculate – But I’m playing around here).
How it works is by calculating the average Elo of all the players that have had matches since the December battlescroll dropped. This worked out as 428.3. I then calculated how much difference there was between a factions average Elo shown in our original win rate graph to this overall average. The difference between these two figures was then turned into a percentage difference over/under the 428.3 elo. I then increased or decreased their win rate by this percentage (But this isn’t as simple as deducting or adding the percentage different to the win rate – you have to work out for instance what 4% may be of say 53% and then apply that. For Example – 10% of 40% is 4%)
The results suggest that perhaps Flesh-eater Courts and Slaves to Darkness may have an easier time of it than the other factions.
Battle Formation GT Win Rates
This chart only shows the Battle Formations that have achieved 100 games or more in GT play (the number of games shown in brackets).
Flesh-eater Courts have 390+ games in tournament play at GTs and we can see well over half of those games are under the Lords of the Manor (allowing an additional slain model to be returned to their unit on top of whatever the usual ability allows) battle formation. While it’s probably no surprise to many of you that Vanguard Wing for Stormcast Eternals is their top choice – allowing one Vanguard Chamber unit per turn that doesn’t move to teleport anywhere on the battlefield 9″ away from all enemy units on a dice roll of 3+. Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels is also a strong choice for Stormcast Eternal players allowing the players to pick one Ruination Chamber unit each turn to have Ward (5+) for that whole turn.
At the bottom of the table, Bacchanal of Blood isn’t too hot for the Soulblight Gravelords, though it is their most popular option – allowing them to add 1 to casting rolls for friendly Vampire units that are not in combat and adding 1 to wound rolls for combat attacks made by friendly Vampire units that charged in the same turn (see Blood Knights).
They’re by the Disciples of Tzeentch and the Wyrdflame Host (subtract 1 from wound rolls for attacks made by burning enemy units) and the Lumineth Realm-Lords and its Vanari Battlehost (The Lumineth player can use the ‘Power of Hysh‘ ability in addition to the other Facet of War ability used during the battle round).
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the Age of Sigmar stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Neither to 600-699 rated players. Where we start to see the swell in players possibly chasing the factions with more favourable rules is in players rated less than 600 Elo.
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
As we can see, the player base for Beasts of Chaos is largely made up of Elite players, which is adding to their win rate in the charts at the beginning of this article.
Faction Win Rates for Players with sub-400 Elo
The aim of the above chart is to show how the lower rated players of between 300 and 399 elo are performing with the various factions. The figure in brackets denotes the number of games the data is based on.
Sons of Behemat seem to be the more forgiving faction to play in Age of Sigmar at the moment.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved in the first 5 rounds of games at GT’s or GT+’s.
This merely shows that Stormcast and Slaves are by far the most popular factions in the game at present.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving in the first 5 rounds at GT and GT+ events.
The perfect split for each faction, if everything was perfectly balanced across factions would like:
The Fabien Chart
Fabien Barbusse is a top player in the AoS scene and a member of the Woehammer Discord who is one of many who points out any mistakes in the charts before we publish them. He stated he felt the most valuable chart would be a version of the one above, which shows the % of 4+ win results in a 5 game event compared to the other results.
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
Woehammer Database
To download out Age of Sigmar stats database, click on the button below.
To try and keep myself painting regularly, I’ve decided to post a weekly hobby.
This week, I managed to finish the last three models I need for the Old World Event next weekend.
I also managed to get the Pack for our upcoming review of Fallout Factions built. Now just to paint them.
Lots of things going on the site this week. We’ve had the Grand Narrative introduced to the site and the first weeks results published. I’m looking forward to seeing our little sub-realm develop.
This is the top three AoS lists for Sigmar Calls GT that took place in the UK on the 11th and 12th of January 2025. It saw 25 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
Stormcast Eternals Lightning Echelon [Lore of the Storm] [Primal Energy]
Karazai the Scarred (480) [General] – 4 x Stormdrake Guard (640) – 6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (400) – 3 x Praetors (150) – 3 x Aetherwings (80)
Knight-Arcanum (120) • Envoy of the Heavens • Mirrorshield – 5 x Vigilors (130)
Stormreach Portal
Slaves to Darkness Godswrath Warband Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of the Damned Manifestation Lore – Forbidden Power General’s Regiment Be’lakor, the Dark Master (440) • General Chaos Chosen (520) • Reinforced – the banner of screaming flesh Chaos Chosen (520) • Reinforced
Roland Rivera: Since release, the Slaves to Darkness Battletome has split players into 2 major camps: those using Be’lakor to dominate combat with Spring the Trap and control their opponents’ best unit using The Dark Master, and the ones playing aggressively by using the Gaunt Summoner to fling a unit with The Banner of Screaming Flesh (usually Chosen) into combat via the Silver Tower’s setup ability combined with the Banner of Screaming Flesh automatically pledging the unit to Slaanesh (and thus making it capable of charging 3D6″). Pete seems to have looked at those two builds and said “why not both?”
In addition to the 10 Chosen that run around in the Silver Tower, this list runs 10 additional Chosen that are likely performing the function of being a bodyguard/goon squad for Be’lakor. 5 Chaos Knights are an excellent do-it-all unit that can clear screens, run up flanks, contribute in larger combats, or tank some hits thanks to that 3+ save and 20 total health. Last but not least, the Chaos Chariot is nice as a fast, cheap chaff unit.
On the artefacts and traits front, Infernal Puppet combines nicely with Spite-Tongue Curse as an Unlimited Spell and the Gaunt Summoner’s Changestaff to threaten opposing Wizards, and Radiance of Dark Glory is a nice one to remove effects like disease and Burning, as well as keeping Be’lakor upright for longer. Overall, the list is a strong and harmonious combination of the best tools in the Slaves to Darkness Battletome, and it paid off handsomely for Pete here.
Pooches of Khorne Murder Host [Blood Blessings of Khorne] [Judgements of Khorne]
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster (420) [General] – 1 x Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (470) [Halo of Blood] [Favoured of Khorne]
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (440) – 5 x Flesh Hounds (110)
Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne (210) – 5 x Flesh Hounds (110) – 5 x Flesh Hounds (110) – 5 x Flesh Hounds (110)
Skull Altar
1980/2000pts 3 drops
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