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Here’s what the guys and the Woehammer Community have been working on this week.
Woehammer Hobby (1st Oct 23)
All posts by Woehammer
Woehammer Hobby (24th Sept 23)
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Here’s what the guys and the Woehammer Community have been working on this week.
Chat with the Champs: Playing Against Soulblight
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Following on from last week’s article, I asked our resident pro AoS players how they approached their games against Soulblight Gravelords.
Nico Cavada 🇵🇭 (Maggotkin of Nurgle): I’d say the dragon, but being unrendable and it healing is insane. I guess if you can reliably do Mortal Wounds at a safe range I’d go for that first.
Justin Clark 🇦🇺 (Blades of Khorne): Yeah don’t bother grinding out against the big vamps, unfortunately. Drop them in 1 or chaff them up.
Fabien Barbusse 🇺🇲 (Blades of Khorne): Giving advice against SBGL is tricky because there are 3 subfactions that are performing very well and play quite differently:
- Legion of Blood: more elite build with 3+ ethereal and a lot of heal for the monsters
- Vyrkos: bodies spam with 5+ ward, just sitting on objectives
- Legion of Night: teleport and counter charge shenanigans, usually with a lot of bodies as well
Raymond Lane 🇺🇲 (Maggotkin of Nurgle): Kill their heroes. Dent their movement and bile ins with bile piper or blight krieg. Plague claw and stench/geminids are amazing counters. Drones are the best demon choice into them.
Colin Klären 🇩🇪 (Nighthaunt/Nurgle/Sylvaneth): So, for me, I’ve played 5 Times against really good players with Soulblight and won all of them with Nurgle Glottkin, Belakor, Beasts of Nurgle spam and Sylvaneth Alarielle Winterleaf. I‘m playing armies which like to go against close combat armies because of abilities like no pile in, no retreat, counter charge, and so on, which is not only good against Soulblight. In my opinion, our whole meta shifts more to a combat meta with Soulblight, Khorne, OBR, FEC. Maybe there will be a change with Cities in November, but who knows 🤷🏽♂️.
Jeremy Lefebvre 🇺🇲 (Cities/Slaanesh): Kill the killable heros, and try to screen them out of objectives. Try not to get stuck in a grinding combat that is not on an objective, so if they want to stay on the objective, they have to stay in combat and risk losing the objective in the combat phase.
Lance Martin Tan 🇵🇭 (Ironjawz): The match-up for ironjawz isn’t great, but you can collapse on their deathrattle skeletons with the hunt and crush pile-in after to mitigate models from returning next combat phase.
Joshua Bennett 🇺🇲 (Slaanesh): For slaanesh it’s a fantastic matchup. Slaanesh has the speed and dps to be able to deal with the problems.
Keegan Graves 🇺🇲 (Skaven): For me, as a skaven player, I have the body count to contest the objectives against them. I use my guns and ranged mortal wounds to take out the heroes. That’s always the first priority. The second target is grave guard if possible. Clanrats and zombies will just slap each other on the objectives forever, and clanrats usually come out on top. The match-up usually just comes down to proper positioning and being ready to deal with the tricks SBGL brings.
Dalton Kahle 🇺🇲 (Gloomspite/Tzeentch): Goblins have the ability to outmaneuver them and still sit on objectives, I think Troggs will struggle slightly due to less speed, but they also have the damage output to put down a unit a turn of the small stuff, the dragon is where Troggs would struggle.
Aaron Newbom 🇺🇲 (Idoneth/Kruleboyz): I would say the most important thing to understand in terms of fighting SBGL is that they are, at heart, a board control army. They’re seeking to outscore you while you’re trying to grind through legions of dead dudes.
You have to play accordingly. You must be scoring points early. Playing too scared will lose you the game but so will being too aggressive
You’re almost definitely not going to kill enough of them to shut them down. Going super aggro will make it hard for you to stop them from stealing your objectives and steadily beating you on points. Playing too far back does much the same.
Play according to the knowledge that they want to hold board space over you.
There’s no one single trick, and every army is going to have to take that idea and apply it differently, but it’s a good place to start.
Jon Anderson 🇺🇲 (Idoneth/Lumineth): Pretty easy, play Lumineth. Bows? Wrong. Teclis? Straight to jail.
Luis Mendoza 🇲🇽 (Stormcast): Don’t charge to the zombies 😂.
Brett Martin 🇦🇺 (Woehammer Writer): For SCE, it’s Everblaze and/or Longstrikes to deal with long-range mortals. Judicators and Vigilors let everything get a little close. Holy command is as effective as ever. You can use it to reposition a unit away from their slower units. Knight Incantors can blunt their magic quite a bit, and lists with at least 2 should be pretty common.
Luis Mendoza 🇲🇽 (Stormcast): Also, resistant units combined with a solid ward are a good mix to face the inevitable combat with zombies. Position to block the graves is a good start.
Raymond Lane 🇺🇲 (Maggotkin of Nurgle): If you roll enough 5ups you’ll beat anyone and remember grandfather loves you
Walter Brock 🇺🇲 (Ossiarch Bonereapers): For OBR, they have a couple of nice things in their toolbelt. Arkhan casting a 12-inch bubble of no reserves or summons lets him lock down one objective for a bit of time. Arkhan, being good at spells, lets him do a good job of shutting down Soulblight spells. The Soulstealer carrion can stop zombies from contesting objectives when near it. The large amount of recursion lets them pretty much be immune to their zombie damage.
The hard part is when OBR fight them on a 4 or more objective mission. SBGL can play to places that OBR aren’t while being able to strongarm themselves onto objectives with bodies to get the points they need. It’s an uphill walk in the snow both ways, but they have the tools to get there with smart play and a bit of luck.
Peter Holland 🇬🇧 (Woeful Writer): There we have it! Want to ask our pros a question? Perhaps you want to ask a particular pro a question about their faction? Drop them in the comments below, and we’ll do our best to answer them.
Chat with the Champs – Which Battleplan Favours Your Faction?
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With a number of top players now inside our Woehammer Discord, it was suggested to me by a discord member that we should ask them a weekly question in regards to playing their respective factions.
With that in mind, I jumped straight into it this week and asked:
Which battleplan do you think favours your faction and why?
Raymond Lane (Maggotkin of Nurgle): As someone who has played too much Nurgle we generally don’t care about the battle plan… like at all… build list and play into your opponents list.
Colin Klaeren (Maggotkin of Nurgle/Nighthaunt): Playing Nurgle (Glottkin, Be’Lakor, BoN spam) a lot of these times and like Raymond mentioned, most of the time I don’t care about the battleplan. Of course it’s good if the deployment zone is big for generating summoning points. For my list I love ‘No Reward Without Risk‘ because Glottkin can cover most of the objectives very easily. With this list I don’t like battleplans too much where the objectives are spread out too wide.
Raymond: I love me a good Glottkin. You had a plan? I have a Glottkin!
Joshua Bennett (Hedonites of Slaanesh): Sure as hell not ‘Icefields‘! With Pretenders all the missions are great for us except ‘Icefields’. Considering we run and shoot that sucks lol.
Colin: Nighthaunt in the old GHB was an army which didn’t care about battleplans. All were solid. Now it’s a big difference because battleplans like ‘Icefields‘ and ‘Every Step Forward‘ are just horrible for them.
Fabien Barbusse (Blades of Khorne): Playing with Skarbrand I love ‘Spring the Trap’.
Justin Clark (Blades of Khorne): Mine failed the 3D6 9″ rerolled charge this weekend on Spring….
Brett Martin (Ironjawz): For Ironjawz, it’s list dependent. With the Crusha/Goregrunta list it doesn’t really matter because you have so much mobility. For infantry lists, anything that takes objectives away is a blessing and a curse (concentrated enemy but too slow to get to the new objective). And ‘Icefields‘ should die in a fire!
Raymond: I thought ‘Icefields’ would be terrible but every game I’ve played on it simply didn’t care about the run thing.
Colin: I think the 1 on charges is the problematic thing for armies like Nighthaunt for example.
Raymond: Eh, I’ve got wards 🙂
Brett: Nurgle doesn’t run or charge. Orruks don’t walk and only know how to charge. I’ve tried teaching them other tricks, but they really don’t like them.
Colin: I really want to play on ‘Icefields‘ with Beasts of Nurgle spam too….
Raymond: I usually do Rotmire Plaguebearer spam.
Colin: With that it’s totally fine of course!
Raymond: With Nurgle its more about getting reps and knowing your opponents army as well as your own.
Colin: 100% agree.
Brett: Fyreslayers on ‘Icefields‘……
Colin: Fyreslayers on ‘Every Step is Forward‘ sounds really good.
Keegan Graves (Skaven): Skaven’s best battleplan is probably ‘Geomanctic Pulse’. We have good power projection, have a doable turn one tactic on that map and we have bodies to stand and score well.
Fabien: For Khorne it really depends on the list since there are so many archetypes, but the biggest weakness of the army being current battle tactics I’d say battleplans that allow easy surround / intimate are the best for the army.
Aaron Newbom (Idoneth/Orruk Warclans): I would say ‘Spring the Trap‘ is probably best for the Idoneth. Wide spaced out objectives leave people strung out and easy to pick apart. Outflanking Reavers is powerful, but outflanking vs Idoneth isn’t very powerful as you’ll likely just get isolated and ripped apart. It’s definitely one of the better ones for the fish.
As for Kruleboyz it’s gotta be ‘Icefields’. You’re rarely, if ever running, and armies that want to apply heavy pressure to you get punished pretty hard. The ranges on the objectives leaves you with powerful firing lanes, and the narrow board let’s you utilize your auras, screens, and castle very easily.
Peter Dixon (Ogor Mawtribes): Ogors love ‘Geomantic Pulse‘, being exceptionally mobile and counting as a million models on objectives, we can follow the bouncing ball. The same with ‘Nexus Collapse’, where the usual thinking is score less as to control which objectives are lifted. But in my experience, I can just move onto the remaining ones easily unless I get stuck by Murderlusting Khorne units. This is also true on ‘Limited Resources’ where the standard idea is not to over cap your home objectives so as to score them later, but in my games in this battleplan I’ve just rolled up the board ending in my opponents deployment, as that’s where I wanted to be at the end of the game for the Grand Strategy.
Ogors feel a bit over costed currently, but I’ve had reasonable success at the tourneys I’ve attended with the new GHB. That said, Ogors still live and die by the Battle Regiment. This is still the case in my opinion for this GHB, stealing the initiative and deciding who goes first or second is too important for the faction.
I do believe this is the best GHB so far. There’s no clangers of a battleplan, such as ‘Lurkers Below‘ (I had a 100% win rate on that battleplan last season) where it was far too easy to just Stonehorn Monsterous actions onto the 3rd objective and auto win.
Battle of the Blogs – Farewell to Gally Vets
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A few of the Age of Sigmar sites you know and love have got together and organised a little competition between us all. It’s a veritable who’s who of AoS blogging! PlasticCraic, Goonhammer, AoS Shorts, Sprues & Brews, and No Rerolls will be facing off to see who can be crowned champion. Each person taking part is choosing a Galletian Champion, tooling them up and letting them loose on the enemy bloggers! With 5 participants, Woehammer has a strong representation in the tournament. Hopefully, we don’t all go out in the first round!
It’ll be a knockout competition (think, the World Cup). Battles will take place in a 9″ x 9″ space and will be simulated on Tabletop Simulator over on Pete Brizio’s Twitch channel throughout May. The 1st round draw will be live at 11 am on Saturday, 13th May BST.
Brett
My first thought was to go Stormcast, with 19 warscrolls there had to be a contender. A Lord-Castellant fits the bill his output is a little weak. The Celestant-Prime is good but only 3 attacks (he has to be on the board). No to win this we have to look to the future, and the future is Chaos. I present the thing of unspoken nightmares, it has no use for a name, instead it reflects your darkest fears:
With only 7 wounds and a 5+ save, is he mad I hear you ask? The Epitome has 2 spells, Mystic Shield goes without saying and then either Flaming Weapon or Arcane Bolt. In built casting rerolls, Horrible Fascination (within 3” no commands can be issued or received) and 2+ ward against Mortal Wounds.
That’s just the warscroll. Stongest Alone for +1 to hit and wound rolls, now hitting on 2s and wound on 3s. The Crown of Dark Secrets lets you to pick one unit at the start of your hero phase and they will only have 1 attack with their melee weapons. And finally Fuelled by Ghurish Rage for the 3+ ward.
Two ways to run him depending on priority. If our epitome has priority then we’ll take finest hour then cast flaming weapon and overwhelming acquiesce (don’t forget rerolls) before picking our target for the Crown of Dark Secrets. Assuming they’ll throw everything into that attack we’ll activate Fuelled by Ghurish Rage and after a 6” move we’ll charge. If they survive and there is a second round we’ll repeat (except the single use Fuelled by Ghurish rage).
If we don’t go first then we’ll still use Finest Hour and then pray. Before going with the sequence above.
Declan
With the Galletian Champions being foot bosses I had a lot to chose from and – although it may steal Pete’s thunder – I was definitely going for Destruction. But which one – would it be the Orruk Warclans and Big Waaagh which had done me so well, or would it be little Gitz stabbing at knees.
I was very tempted by a Loonboss with his D3 damage, but there was really only one option… go fight, or go home – and do it large! With heads exploding all around – all I would have to do is survive a round of combat (so All Out Defense)… but which chap am I referring to… well it’s got to be the Wurrgog Prophet!
The Wurrgog was why I ran Big Waaagh in 2021 (that and having most of my attacks on 2+/2+ by turn 3). And he can be a monster. I’m sure by now everyone knows his Stare mechanic and with Fuelled by Ghurish Rage he can keep going until he dies and get back up (on a 3+)… then do it all again.
The key is that he must be within 12″ at the start of the hero phase to use his ability so no shenanigans – but he’ll just cast magic instead! Finally the 4+ ward makes his 7 wounds much more like 14 making him even more dificult to kill (so what if most of those 14 wounds are going to be caused by himself).
Patrick
It’s fun to play with a new toy. I recently picked up Blades of Khorne (I’m not a meta-chaser, I swear!) and have been reading and re-reading that book to prep for games. In the spirit of that research, I decided that I wanted to pull in a GC that showed off some of Khorne’s new tech pieces.
Enter: the François, the Bloodmaster.
The bloodmaster, on paper, is a straighforward beast. He’s a daemon priest that brings a couple of abilities to the table. I won’t touch onThe Blood Must Flow, since that will have no bearing on this event. Decapitating Blow borrows from the Kruleboyz book and deals mortal wounds on a hit roll of 6. His warscroll prayer is the equivalent of All-out Attack, but with wound rolls.
I’ve opted to make him a high priest. With no support from other units, it’s vital that his prayers are heard. I’ve also given him Ar’gath the King of Blades, which removes all wards (including Fueled by Ghurish Rage) within 3″. While I wouldn’t normally hand this off to a back-line support piece, it’s going to be extremely useful in this competition, since everyone will take FbGR.
Peter
Let’s be honest, I was always going to be the one who’d pick a Kruleboy.
The only Galletian Champion that could, maybe, possibly, get through a round or two once kitted out would be the Stab-Grot with Killaboss.
This dude can certainly pack a punch!
That’s an average of 0.75 damage before saves! His assistant is also pretty useful, being able to equip the big lug with a boss-hacka and a choice of either a Rusty Flail or skareshield. While two weapons are enticing, the flail would only kick out an average of 0.87 additional damage per turn. While the Skareshield will give our Grot a little more durability with a 3+ save instead of 4+. In number crunching terms, this would mean a – rend 1 damage weapon would have to land 18 attacks to kill him on average rather than 12 with the 4+ save. Granted, it’s unlikely our plucky grot will be facing 1 damage, no rend weapons, but even so.
As for which Subfaction, the choice had basically been made for me. With no shooting, there was no point going Big Yellers, and with a 9″ x 9″ playing area, there was no point going for Grinnin’ Blades. That left the little used Skulbugz. Basically, it forces the enemy to roll a dice before their combat with him. On a roll of 6, they’ll be forced to subtract 1 from their hit rolls.
On to the Artefact, and here a plan started to form in my mind. I went with the Tuskhelm, this would allow our plucky grot to roll a number of dice equal to their charge roll. On each 4+, he’d cause a mortal wound. Nice, right? This then made the choice of Command Trait easier, as I was left with two options that went well with the Tuskhelm. The first was Battle-lust, which would allow him to re-roll his run and charge rolls. Meaning I could try and up the number of dice I’d be rolling 4+ on for the mortals. Or I could go with Slippery Skumbag, which would allow him to retreat and charge in the same turn. I decided on the second, just in case combat went beyond one round, it would mean I had a chance to cause more mortals.
The Aspect of the Champion was a really easy one to make as Fuelled by Ghurish Rage would be the one played by every… single… champion… in the tournament.
That done, it was time to pick a name for our Grot. For this, I let the name generator on Realm of Plastic make the decision:
Ian
So I have decided to stay loyal to my first AoS faction and go with an Arkanaut Admiral. My approach here is to try and shoot them dead before they reach me and settle the grudge with my hammer if I have to. Seems a sensible and business-like approach fitting to a Kharadron Overlord Admiral. Just a shame he’s not allowed to bring his flagship…
Arkanaut Admiral (125)
Sub-faction: Barak-Zon (+1 to hit and wound rolls for melee weapons on the charge)
General
Command Trait: A Scholar and an Arkanaut (Additional Footnote)
Artefact: Masterwrought Armour (5+ Ward Save)
Battle Trait: Grudgebreaker Rounds (+1 Rend on Missile Weapon)
Stick to the Code
Artycle: Settle the Grudges (+1 to Wound Rolls against a Unit)
Amendment: Trust to your Guns (Re-roll 1 hit roll of 1 in your shooting phase)
Footnotes: There’s no Reward without Risk (3D6 for charge rolls)
There’s no Trading with some People (Once per battle, at end of enemy shooting phase, a unit fired upon can shoot back)
The approach here is if I get first turn to basically shoot them dead. As my Masterwork Volley Pistol will be hitting on 3+, Wounding on 2+ (with the artycle) and a rend of -2 on 3 shots (with some re-rolls thrown in for good measure) he has half a chance. There is a potential 6 damage there (averaging about 4 damage without re-rolls) they should be on the ropes. And mixed with my There’s no Trading with some People footnote, I may even cause an upset to an opponent by shooting them in their own phase and then shooting them on the charge! I am seriously hoping for an Indiana Jones moment here…
The additional charge dice is just to make sure the charge roll is less likely to whiff, and I couldn’t see much else of benefit to take. The ward save will be nice and may help with survival against scrawny opponents who rely on mortal wounds to do their damage. We shall see, it will all come down to the dice!
As for a name, well I feel my Path to Glory warlord, Khreld Thundergust, should have a chance to prove himself. Maybe I will add this tournament to his backstory as a fever dream…
Tournament Review: Blood in the Snow
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I recently asked Baz Norman Jr if he’d care to comment on his list from Blood in the Snow on 14th and 15th of January. I also asked him if he’d like to give a run-down of his games as part of that.
As always Baz’s response blew me away, and I thought it deserved an article in it’s own right. So thank you once again Baz!
Peter! Thank you once again for having me on the site. I attended Mark Ward’s Blood in the Snow at Hull’s Angels Gaming Club on the 14th and 15th January 2023. This was my second two day event already of 2023.
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine
– Subfaction: Khailebron
– Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Melusai Ironscale (115)*
– General
– Command Traits: Zealous Orator
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Mindrazor
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
Morathi-Khaine (680)*
The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE
Witch Aelves (115)*
– Hag
– Death Pennant Bearer
– Hornblower
– Paired Sciansá
Witch Aelves (115)*
– Hag
– Death Pennant Bearer
– Hornblower
– Paired Sciansá
Blood Sisters (420)*
– Gorgai
BEHEMOTH
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Horrorghast (40)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1965/2000
I have hit the competitive scene a lot, running Daughters of Khaine (DoK) over the last year so running them again at this event was no surprise to anyone, but what might be a surprise was that it isn’t my usual list.
The list above is a slight variation to the DoK list I ran last weekend on the 7th and 8th January, where I had the absolute pleasure of playing alongside the legends that are Team England at Brotherhood III at Firestorm Games in Cardiff, on Team England’s South team.
So let’s delve into it…
SUB-FACTION – I love my manoeuvrability. I’ve said on previous posts that movement is king, and I wholeheartedly stand by this. Being able to get into positions to threaten enemy units, objectives and push for future turns is huge, so Khailebron was a staple.
GRAND STRATEGY – This list revolves around being in combat, so Bloodthirsty Zealots matched perfectly.
TRIUMPH – At 1,965pts, +1 to wound when I wanted to hit hard just worked.
LEADERS
Melusai Ironscale – Having Khailebron as the sub faction doesn’t make Blood Sisters battleline, and knowing I wanted to run 15 of them meant that it would have to be the Melusai Ironscale as general. The Command Trait was a given at Zealous Orator. Who doesn’t love a 4+ rally? My Artefact of power being Arcane Tome and knowing the spell, Mind Razor. The bonding to the Krondspine provides a +1 to cast within domination range.
Morathi – because its Morathi.
BATTLELINE
Witch Aelves – Two units of 10. These give a decent screen, but also with the run and charge, reroll failed battleshock test, and buckets of attacks, they can still threaten wounded units or chip wounds off when needed. Not to mention being objective grabbers whilst the rest of the army is doing the heavy lifting.
Blood Sisters – One unit of 15. Yes they’ve only got a 5+ save and the DoK 6+ ward save, but that’s where the negatives stop in my opinion. Three attacks base (+1 for the Gorgai), 3’s to hit, 3’s to wound, -1 rend, damage 1, and then the turned to crystal effect after the unit has fought for the first time in a phase. This attack profile alone is spicy, 46 attacks base from this unit. Now we add in and start tuning this unit to another level. Factor in the blood rites table, run and charge from the Ironscale, all out slaughter, mind razor and Fury of the Shadow Queen ability, this unit can suddenly end up having 61 attacks, 2’s to hit with exploding 6’s, 2’s to wound, -2 rend, and 2 damage a piece, then the crystal touch on top… not much can come away from this to be honest.
BEHEMOTH
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur – You’ve probably all heard about it, 480 pts that can’t be auto killed, doesn’t allow retreats, is good, but not broken as there are some easy ways around it, but is still strong, especially coupled with the units above.
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
Horrorghast – I had points left over, easy to cast, can certainly help finish off units if you’ve fluffed a couple dice rolls and left a few models alive.
CORE BATTALION
Battle Regiment – Works for this list, as I normally govern who takes 1st turn.
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Game 1 vs Kruleboyz / Mike Chadderton and Head-on Collision.
Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
– Army Type: Kruleboyz
– Army Subfaction: Grinnin’ Blades
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER
1 x Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (150)
1 x Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (150)
1 x Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha (220)*
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
– Spells: Nasty Hex
1 x Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)**
1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)**
– Spells: Choking Mist
1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)**
– Spells: Sneaky Miasma
BATTLELINE
10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
10 x Gutrippaz (160)**
– Wicked Hacka
10 x Gutrippaz (160)**
– Wicked Hacka
OTHER
6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)**
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)**
3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)**
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
Mike (of Goonhammer fame – Peter) is a great player, we regularly converse over Twitter and I’ve had the pleasure of playing Mike before at Sheffield Slaughter 2022; one of my first bigger events. The result ended in his favour before, so he had that psychological benefit.
I deployed just over 24” away, and being a gentleman, I gave Mike turn 1.
Mike made a few little movement wiggles, buffed up his units with elixirs from the Swampcalla Shamans ready to receive the DoK threat.
My turn 1, and I moved my whole army up to threaten his position and to give him too many threats to deal with all at once if Mike got the priority for turn 2.
Turn 2 dice off. I won priority.
Taking the turn, I knew this was the opportunity I needed to hit his army hard, so I prepped for it. Mind Razored the Shadow Queen, withered key units, Black horrored a Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof, cast the Horrorghast and then at the end of the movement phase, teleported the 15 Blood Sisters 9” away from his Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha and a unit of Gutrippaz.
The shooting phase came and went, with a couple more wounds going onto the already wounded Gnashtoof. Big charge phase inbound. Started with Morathi who was 4” away; into the 2 Gnashtoofs. Krondspine going into a unit of Gutrippaz. 9” long bomb charge required for the Blood Sisters, needed 8 on the dice, due to the Blood Rites table, rolled a 9. Big charge phase ticked off.
The combat phase followed, having Morathi curb stomp the already wounded Gnashtoof, killing it, and making room for her to pile round into some tasty Boltboyz. I started the combat phase with the Blood Sisters to ensure maximum damage. The unit was split between the Vulcha and a unit of Gutrippaz, a couple of Blood Sisters went into the Vulcha, chipping 5 wounds off it, whilst the rest went into the Gutrippaz. Turned to Crystal, which is what I was wanting, all went into the Vulcha, killing it. I did take some damage from other units piling in, and with the misplay of the Horrorghast, 12” is huge! I lost 5 Blood Sisters to battleshock…. lesson here for sure lol
The dust settled from that turn and Mike calculated just over 1000pts lifted in one turn. Solid turn for me.
Being pinned in by Morathi, Krondspine and the Blood Sisters and losing all those units made it really hard for Mike to come back so he played for points and got what could. With me winning turn 3 priority again, the nail in the coffin. We ended the game 32-5 to DoK. So that’s 1 game a piece now Mike….until next time! 😉
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Game 2 vs Sons of Behemat / Rob Anderson and Battlelines Drawn.
Army Faction: Sons of Behemat
– Army Type: Breaker Tribe
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER
1 x Gatebreaker (520)*
– Artefacts: Amberbone Totem
1 x Gatebreaker (520)*
– General
– Command Traits: Monstrously Tough
– Artefacts: Vial of Manticore Venom
1 x Warstomper (450)**
1 x Warstomper (450)**
– Artefacts: Glowy Shield of Protectiness
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
**Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
TOTAL POINTS: (1940/2000)
So no “remove from battlefield and set up again”, but I was playing into the Sons of Behemat; an army that just wants to get in your face and ‘Triple H Pedigree’ slam enemies, which, I am weirdly okay with. I screened out with Morathi-Khaine, the Shadow Queen and the Krondspine. And with the Witch Aelves on the flanks, I gave turn 1 away as before.
Rob moved his 4 big boys up to capture objectives (table quarters in this mission), capped the centre terrain piece with Desecrate and charged one of his Warstompers into a unit of Witch Aelves I had on the flank. He rightfully killed them and chipped 3 wounds off Morathi-Khaine.
My turn 1, I chose Gaining Momentum and committed to lifting the giant that had just slapped Morathi-Khaine and the Witch Aelves. Turn 1 finished, and I had lifted 2 giants.
Turn 2 priority was won by Rob, where he continued with the points increase and reducing Morathi to 6 wounds, and did enough damage to reduce the Krondspine to level 1. Another 5 points for Rob. Seeing the work that happened from the DoK turn 1, turn 2 was no different.
Game 2 finished 26-10 to DoK.
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Game 3 vs Skaven / Duncan Woods and Turf War.
Army Faction: Skaven
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Arch-Warlock (155)
– General
– Command Traits: Deranged Inventor
– Artefacts of Power: Esoteric Warp Resonator
– Spells: More-more-more Warp Power!
Warlock Bombardier (115)*
– Spells: More-more-more Warp Power!
Warlock Engineer (105)**
– Spells: More-more-more Warp Power!
BATTLELINE
Skryre Acolytes (75)***
Skryre Acolytes (75)***
Stormfiends (640)****
– 2 x Windlaunchers and Clubbing Blows
– 2 x Ratling Cannons and Clubbing Blows
– 2 x Shock Gauntlets and Warpstone-laced Armour
BEHEMOTH
Doomwheel (165)
ARTILLERY
Warp Lightning Cannon (150)*
Warplock Jezzails (120)*
Warp Lightning Cannon (150)**
Warplock Jezzails (120)**
OTHER
Doom-Flayer (65)****
Doom-Flayer (65)****
TERRAIN
1 x Gnawhole (0)
1 x Gnawhole (0)
1 x Gnawhole (0)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Grand Battery
**Grand Battery
***Expert Conquerors
****Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Duncan is a loyal member of the GAF gaming group and has been to several of our events run by the Warrior Lodge, and every interaction with Duncs is….how can I describe it….erm….lets just say that he is a character and a gentleman to boot, so I knew this game would be laugh regardless.
Skaven is an army that I’ve not played a lot of to be honest, and with him rocking up with two Warp Lightning Cannons and 6 Stormfiends, I knew I had to be on him asap.
No surprises here when I gave Duncs turn 1 and with me deploying out side of his shooting range, he moved some units up to cap objectives. I was surprised that he didn’t go through the Gnawholes with his 6 Stormfiends and try to shoot off the Blood Sisters turn one….maybe he knew something I didn’t…? My turn 1 was simple, move up, and prep for later turns.
Turn 2 priority went in my favour, meaning that Morathi and the Krondspine could get into position for a charge. I also teleported the Blood Sisters for a supportive charge. Dice rolls went back and forth. Duncs killing his own general and bombardier through Skaven antics finished the game 28-9 to DoK.
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Game 4 vs Hedonites of Slaanesh / James Mackenzie and The Silksteel Nests.
Allegiance: Slaanesh
– Host: Lurid Haze Invaders Host (Host of Chaos)
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
The Contorted Epitome (245)*
– General
– Command Trait: Feverish Anticipation
– Artefact: Oil of Exultation
– Lore of Slaanesh: Hysterical Frenzy
Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (205)*
Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony (440)*
– Lore of Pain and Pleasure: Battle Rapture
Battleline
22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)**
– Reinforced x 1
22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)**
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Hellstriders with Hellscourges (135)*
Units
5 x Blissbarb Seekers (220)*
5 x Centigors (85)*
5 x Centigors (85)*
Endless Spells & Invocations
The Burning Head (20)
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Expert Conquerors
Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 125
Drops: 3
Having not played Hedonites of Slaanesh before, meant I had had to do some homework the previous evening. High manoeuvrability, lots of units, a lot of shots, buffs from Glutos, the hindrance that Sigvald can bring meant this would be new to me, not to mention the 8 available objectives.
I set up so that each of my 4 objectives, had models touching it and gave James turn 1. He was on me straight away, his Blissbarb Archers being screened by the Centigors lifted both units of Witch Aelves that were on either flank. I had to play super aggressive and hit his key units right from the get go, as I was behind on points. Morathi moved up to just behind a building, being 9” from Glutos and the Krondspine moved up ready to ‘eat’ from Centigors. Charges were made and the Warrior Lodge dice rolled well, meaning that my turn 1, Glutos was dead, the Krondspine was in combat doing its thing.
Turn 2 priority was won by James and he played big for points scoring 7 points his turn 2. Bottom of turn 2 the score was 9 to me, 12 to James…
Turn 3 priority was again won by James and he kept on racking up the points, although he was behind with model count, if he could keep scoring points though, that could see him win overall. Turn 3 finished 15 to me and 18 to James.
Turn 4 priority was won by….James again…I must have used up all my priority rolls on day 1! Again more points racking up in James’s favour finishing turn 4 on 20 to me, 24 to James.
Turn 5 priority came and went….finally in my favour. I managed to get into positions in the previous turns to eventually pin him in and lift the pesky Hedonites which were so quick. Game 4 finished 29-24 to DoK. Phew.
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Game 5 vs Sylvaneth / Peter Twigg on Won’t Back Down.
Army Faction: Sylvaneth
– Subfaction: Harvestboon
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS
Warsong Revenant (305)*
– General
– Command Traits: Spellsinger
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing
Celestant-Prime (325)*
BATTLELINE
Tree-Revenants (110)*
Tree-Revenants (110)*
Revenant Seekers (705)**
– Revenant Soulwarden
– 3 x Seeker Banner Bearer
– 3 x Seeker Hornblower
Spiterider Lancers (420)**
– Spiterider Scion
– 2 x Spiterider Standard Bearer
– 2 x Spiterider Hornblower
CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 1975/2000
A little birdy had mentioned to me that Pete wanted revenge from our last meeting from across the table where we were both on table 1, game 5. That last game was also played over Won’t Back Down so things felt similar, even if our lists were different.
Sylvaneth have historically been a challenging match up for me as they’re really nimble and I struggle to pin them down, so knew this match up would be tough, not to mention the fact that Pete had 9 Revenant Seekers and 6 Spiterider Lancers…oh and the Prime!
I did my thing with deployment ensuring that the Witch Aelves were snaked (pun intended!) round the Blood Sisters at 3” just in case the Prime was to come down turn 1, and gave Pete turn 1.
Against the Odds was chosen and he moved units up to threaten, but also to take objectives for a solid 5 VP round.
My turn 1, I did some hero phase shenanigans as usual and ran the buffed Blood Sisters up so they were 5” away from the 9 Revenant Seekers and their pool of 45 wounds. There was no redeploy which I was expecting, even though I had explained the abilities at the start. Charge phase started and the Blood Sisters failed their 5” charge. CP reroll… then I rolled a 8. Here we go! Spending a CP for all out attack and burning my triumph for +1 to wound saw them lift the Revenant Seekers to the wound, nothing more nothing less…. a big dent made.
Turn 2 I got the double turn, which allowed me to move up into position again ready for another charge. The Shadow Queen failed her charge, but the Blood Sisters got another charge off, this time into the 6 Spiterider Lancers but without the Mind Razor buff. Lifting 4 of them meant that Pete could retaliate and then in his turn nip through the woods far away…. Far, far away to the other end of the board…. i.e., my deployment zone lol.
I slowly managed to take the lead with a couple of points difference but at the cost of Morathi dying and we shook hands finishing the game 26-21 to DoK.
Peter: What a result. Thanks again to Baz for sharing his tournament review. Hopefully we can get him on again in the future.
Merry Christmas from Woehammer!
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Thank you all for your support, and a special thank you to our Patrons!
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Top Three AoS Lists for 2D6 Carnage
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This is the Top Three AoS Lists for 2D6 Carnage that took place in Norway on 26th and 27th November. It involved 48 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
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
– Lineage: Legion of Blood
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs:
Leaders
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)
– Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (345)*
– Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435)
– General
– Deathlance
– Command Trait: Sanguine Blur
– Artefact: Soulbound Garments
– Expertise: Martial
– Mount Trait: Foetid Miasma
– Universal Spell Lore: Amethystine Pinions
Battleline
5 x Black Knights (100)**
20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)*
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)*
Units
10 x Blood Knights (390)**
– Reinforced x 1
1 x Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone (80)*
Endless Spells & Invocations
Chronomantic Cogs (70)
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Bounty Hunters
Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 114
Drops: 5
Danny: Do my eyes deceive me? Does that say ‘1st’?! Soulblight have been struggling to rise from the gravesite that Bounty Hunters unceremoniously put them back into, taking a number of podiums recently but pipping the post at a singles event – until now! The route to 1st at first sight looks relatively soft, but the MW output of Kruleboyz can definitely trouble Soulblight, as can the shenanigans of Sylvaneth. Ben here has gone for the ‘double mortarch + VloZD’ archetype, which essentially works as either a giant death star of overlapping buff and de-buff auras (-1 to hit from Neffie, her spell to make something unrendable, CA from Manny for +1 to hit AND wound) or three fast, self sufficient monsters who can harry flanks and generally score well. In Legion of Blood, the VloZD is also able to be ‘Martial, making him slightly more reliable in combat, with Pinions for the extra movement and therefore threat projection.The rest is just good old fashioned objective play. Black knights are fast chaff, the zombies are vulnerable to BH but a ‘small’ squad can mitigate this by hiding in gravesites and popping out onto objectives – super strong on any plan like Silksteel nests or Prize of Gallet – while the Deathrattle do the same job but cheaper and with a smaller footprint. Meanwhile, a brick of 10 Bloodknights act as another potential home for the Mortarch buffs, and can function as a dual-purpose anvil AND hammer. All of this is backed up by some magic tech – the Corpse cart with Lodestone gives off +1 to cast in a 12″ aura (and bizarrely +1 save to zombies…which I can’t see coming in particularly handy) and Cogs protects against miscasts and helps those clutch early auras to go off, giving off plenty of protection if doubled. All in all, it’s a really nice balanced list with some great heroes and huge scoring potential – big up to Benjamin for the rare SBGL 5-0!
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
– Stormhost: Astral Templars (Scions of the Storm)
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Lord-Castellant (155)*
Knight-Draconis (300)*
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts
– Spell: Celestial Blades
Battleline
5 x Liberators (115)*
– Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*
– Drakerider’s Warblade
6 x Stormdrake Guard (1020)*
– Drakerider’s Warblade
– Reinforced x 2
Units
3 x Aetherwings (65)*
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
Additional Enhancements
Holy Command: Call for Aid
Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 107
Drops: 1
Brett: The second of our 5/0 armies from the event and an army that shows the impact of some of the more recent releases. Astral Templars are the monster hunting Stormhost turning off monstrous rampages. It’s a small thing but with the Dragons issuing their own commands and relatively few units (so exposed to a roar) it’s a very solid defensive play.
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Great Nation: Ymetrica
– Mortal Realm: Chamon
– Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours
– Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders
Alarith Stonemage (120)**
– Artefact: Molten Talisman
– Lore of the High Peaks: Unbreakable Stoicism
Scinari Enlightener (170)**
– General
– Command Trait: Loremaster
– Artefact: Silver Wand
– Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh, Protection of Hysh, Total Eclipse
Avalenor, the Stoneheart King (420)**
Battleline
15 x Alarith Stoneguard (360)*
– Stone Mallets
– Reinforced x 2
10 x Alarith Stoneguard (240)*
– Stone Mallets
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Alarith Stoneguard (120)**
– Stone Mallets
Units
5 x Vanari Dawnriders (140)*
– Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh
20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)**
– Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Overwhelming Heat
– Reinforced x 1
Artillery
Vanari Starshard Ballistas (130)
Shrine Luminor(0)
Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Warlord
Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 121
Drops: 9
Alice: Since the launch of the new book the Alarith lists have sort of dwelled on the outskirts but we haven’t seen a ton of effective use for them and this one definitely gets there. All Alarith units, including the stoneguard, Avelnor and the Stonemage here, reduce Rend -1 to 0, making them much harder to defeat with chaff. The Stonemage is a solid caster handing out a bonus attack to the 3 stoneguard. The Enlightener is a general purpose buff bot with 2, possibly 3 spells per turn. Avalendor is here as the hammer, to crash through just about anything in his way.
Alarith Stoneguard are the bread and butter of this list, their damage is fine, nothing mind blowing but 2 attacks per model (3 with the stoneguard) at -1 to Rend Damage 1 with an additional mortal wound on 6s isnt nothing. Their strength comes from the reduction of rend and a 4+ ward against mortals on objectives. Frustratingly difficult to move, once they’re on that point they aren’t moving.
Sentinels are still here of course, that much ranged damage on a 5+ for mortals is too tempting to pass up, with a Ballista to increase their range and do a bit of damage itself.
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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
– Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)
– Artefacts of Power: Skullshard Mantle
Skarbrand (380)
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster (310)
– General
– Command Traits: Mage Eater
Bloodsecrator (125)*
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)*
– Artefacts of Power: The Crimson Crown
Slaughterpriest (100)*
– Hackblade and Wrath-hammer
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice
BATTLELINE
Flesh Hounds (105)*
Flesh Hounds (105)**
Flesh Hounds (105)**
OTHER
Wrathmongers (145)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)
TERRAIN
1 x Skull Altar (0)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Bounty Hunters
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Alice: It genuinely warms my heart to see Khorne lists making a good effort even ahead of the new book. You got the Bloodthirster Flush with 1 of each, including Skarbrand. For the most part there isn’t anything too surprising here, Bloodthirsters bring the beat down, sacrificing 4 blood tithes if they need another swing at the start of the next round. One interesting choice here is the Crimson Crown on the Bloodthirsty of Unfettered Fury so he can use Rejoice in their Slaughter for free for a 6″ pilein.
Supporting them is the Bloodsecrator is frankly far too cheap for what he does, granting an additional attack to each unit within 16″, making those terrifying bloodthirsters even more intimidating. The Slaughterpriest is a token priest, with Blood Sacrifice giving those precious Blood Tithes that can be hard to farm on low drop lists. Flesh House make cheap battleline to hold objectives while Wrathmongers are a solid hammer to round out the list.
Remember to check out Alice’s work on Goonhammer.
Final Tournament Placings
Top Three AoS Lists for Devon Destruction II
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This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Devon Destruction II that took place in the UK on 26th and 27th November. It involved 44 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.
Trying to find the results for other events? Check out our top three lists archive.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Skaven
– Grand Strategy: Arch-corruptors of the Mortal Realms
– Triumphs:
Leaders
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell (325)*
– General
– Command Trait: Diabolical Schemer
– Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy
Plague Priest on Plague Furnace (335)
– Artefact: Blistrevous the Living Cyst
– Noxious Prayers: Rabid-rabid!
Plague Priest (100)*
– Noxious Prayers: Rabid-rabid!
Plague Priest (100)*
– Noxious Prayers: Filth-filth!
Verminlord Corruptor (350)
– Artefact: Blade of Corruption
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Units
20 x Clanrats (100)**
– Rusty Blade
– 2x Standard Bearers
– 2x Standard Bell Ringers
20 x Clanrats (100)**
– Rusty Blade
– 2x Standard Bearers
– 2x Standard Bell Ringers
30 x Plague Monks (270)***
– Foetid Blades
– 3x Standard Bearers
– 3x Plague Harbingers
– Reinforced x 2
30 x Plague Monks (270)***
– Foetid Blades
– 3x Standard Bearers
– 3x Plague Harbingers
– Reinforced x 2
Vermintide (40)
Core Battalions
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Expert Conquerors
***Bounty Hunters
Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 151
Drops: 9
Declan: There’s still a few armies in Age of Sigmar that can genuinely run hordes… and thankfully Skaven remains one of them although it is rarely seen with Stormfiends being a more common choice.
Brandon has done very well to navigate this to a 5-0 helped by the 100 rats (40 Clanrats and 60 Plague Monks), but led by a complement of no less than 5 characters. As a horde player myself – I love this!
The Corrupter can hit like a ton of bricks:
Sure it’s as swingy as a Mangler Squig but with 3+/3+ he’s definitely doing damage on the charge… and will be a good trading piece – especially if opponents forget the Gnawholes (allow teleporting between them – stand near them to stop this!)
Meanwhile the priests are trying to get the Pestilens +1 to wound… which conveniently includes the Corrupter. 2+/2+ with this and all out attack – that’ll make a mess. And in case you think the big characters are all he has, beware of the glass cannons of the Plague Monks. It’s not what it was back in AoS2 but it’ll still catch some people out.
With Filth-filth they are 3+/3+ – a good combat profile – and with +1 attack on the charge they are getting through 1.5 wounds each before saves – and whilst the rend ‘-‘ looks weak they get -2 rend on any 6s to hit.
So, to beat this you need to attack it first… simultaneously whilst hoping Brandon doesn’t know how to use his Clanrats as screens or objective holders – not much chance of that against someone who’s gone 5-0!
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat
– Army Type: Breaker Tribe
– Grand Strategy: Show ’Em Who’s Boss!
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Gatebreaker (520)*
– General
– Command Traits: Monstrously Tough
– Artefacts of Power: Glowy Shield of Protectiness
Warstomper (450)*
– Artefacts of Power: Amberbone Totem
Kragnos (720)**
BATTLELINE
Mancrusher Gargant (150)**
Mancrusher Gargant (150)**
CORE BATTALIONS
*Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent
**Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Danny: Devon was a tournament close to home (literally – a whole bunch of my club were there) – and despite its small size there were some heavy hitting lists. New SoB definitely count as ‘heavy hitting’ too – even though their damage output with the new book got swingier overall, they gained some extra utility and tactical flexibility.
Now, Kragos isn’t exactly ‘new’ but why fix what ain’t broken? What’s cool is that the ‘little’ guys are viable now, and Jon makes good use of their new points cost as objective/battle tactic grabbers. Meanwhile, Kragnos gets escorted by a Warstomper with the Amberbone Totem for a run AND a 3d6 charge (thanks to Krag-daddy) – while the Gatebreaker packs monstrously tough (for +5 wounds) and the Glowy Shield for minus 1 rend to incoming attacks, making the heavy-hitter also extra survivable.
All in all, it’s a simple, but well thought out and clearly effective package, losing only to the shenanigans of LotP and taking down 3 very good armies in the meta right now. Gargants run by my club-mate Cam also finished 4th – proving the big boys are very much back (well, settling) in town! Kudos to Jon!
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes
– Mawtribe: Boulderhead
– Grand Strategy: Enough Grub for All
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders
Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)*
– General
– Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter
– Prayer: Keening Gale
– Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder
Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Metalcruncher
– Universal Spell Lore: Levitate
Battleline
4 x Mournfang Pack (350)*
– Gargant Hackers
– Reinforced x 1
Stonehorn Beastriders (310)*
– Weapon: Blood Vulture
Thundertusk Beastriders (270)*
– Weapon: Blood Vulture
Artillery
Ironblaster (170)*
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 91
Drops: 2
Alice: A classic style Beastclaw Raiders list, consisting of (mostly) mounted cavalry instead of foot troops. boulderhead is a natural choice as it adds 2 wounds to each model and hands out an extra mount trait to the leaders.
Leading the charge are two Frostlords on Stonehorns, which have an extremely nasty attack repertoire. Most notably the 4 attacks from the Frost Spear for Rend -1 Damage 3 and 6 Rock Hard Horns Rend -2 Damage 3 (With an extra point of damage on the charge). These guys also add +1 to charge rolls for any Beastclaw Raiders, which is most of this list, and they do stack if you’re within the bubble for both of them. Beastclaw Raiders live and die by the charge phase, either they all get in on turn 1 or they’re left out in the open to be picked off. If they get that charge, it’s usually going to be over real quick.
Each one is kitted out differently to aid the group as a whole. The General’s mount trait makes it much more hardy, granting it -1 to be wounded against all attacks, potentially saving it against alpha shooting or charging. Touched by the Everwinter lets him function as a priest, with Keening Gale adding 3″ of movement to the Mournfangs so they can keep up with their Masters. The other Frostlord is a Scalpel to take out high defense units. Metalcruncher does D6 mortals to units with a 3+ or better save, and Levitate allows it to bypass any would be screens trying to stop them from getting to the juicy targets in the back row. With the General using the Unstoppable Charge to make a 3D6″ move after charging, it becames damn near impossible to screen them out.
Rounding things off are a Reinforced unit of Mournfangs, Stonehorn and Thundertusk riders. Stonehorn are strong against tougher units, Thundertusk for hordes and Mournfangs for general purpose slaughter. The list struggle in battle tactics and missions requiring Galetian Veterans but solid at cracking through even strong foes. Of course, the meta darling Ironblaster also appears to rain down fire before the charge.
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Army Faction: Legion of the First Prince
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)
– Artefacts of Power: Armour of the Pact
Great Unclean One (495)*
– General
– Command Traits: Ruinous Aura
– Bilesword and Plague Flail
– Artefacts of Power: Fourfold Blade
– Spells: Flaming Weapon, The Master’s Command
Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)*
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Hellforged Sword and Malefic Talons
Changecaster (140)*
– Spells: The Master’s Command
Be’lakor (360)**
– Spells: The Master’s Command
BATTLELINE
Flesh Hounds (105)**
Flesh Hounds (105)**
Plaguebearers (150)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Soulscream Bridge (80)
1 x Chronomantic Cogs (70)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000
Alice: Quick disclaimer going forward, the new Slaves to Darkness book was not used in this tournament so any commentary will be referencing the old book.
The general design for Legion of the First Prince focuses on a strong core of Leaders and going lean on troops. Without their faction buffs, most rank and flank daemons struggle to do more than tarpit, but the faction’s strongest ability is to continuously to summon more so its ok to run a bit lean here. The Take What’s Theirs grand strategy starts making a lot more sense with that in mind.
So what do these heroes contribute? Be’lakor the man himself is an obvious staple, even without his bodyguard rule he’s still an excellent beat stick and The Dark Master is unmatched at locking your opponent’s most dangerous unit down for a unit. The Daemon Prince of Khorne serves one goal (remember we still have the old one here): to use its command ability to halve run and charge rolls. There’s no question why it was changed and I can’t blame someone for wanting to take it for one last run. The Changecaster is an extremely budget priced caster compared to the other daemon leaders and packs a spell that reduces Saves on a unit by 1, which is nice.
Both the Bloodthirster and Great Unclean One are meant to be beat sticks that are also difficult to take down. The Bloodthirster’s Armour of the Pact lets it reroll saves while the Great Unclean One has a 5+ Ward thanks to its command trait (Remember, you don’t get Disgustingly Resilient outside Maggotkin). The Great Unclean one can enflame its sword and use its artefact to do D3 mortals with its flail to do a surprising amount of damage with a hero most armies will struggle to kill. If you get stuck in fighting either of these Greater Daemons you likely will lose after a long, grinding fight
Final Tournament Placings
Top Three AoS Lists for DaBoyz GT 2022
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This is the Top Three AoS Lists for DaBoyz GT 2022 that took place in Texas, USA on 19th and 23th November. It involved 66 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.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos
– Greatfray: Gavespawn
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)***
– Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars
– Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm
Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)***
– General
– Command Trait: Unravelling Aura
– Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Great Bray-Shaman (100)***
– Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Savage Dominion
Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)
– Axe
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Allies
Battleline
30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)**
– 6x Pair of Savage Blade
– 12x Savage Greatblade
– 12x Savage Blade & Arcanite Shield
– Reinforced x 2
10 x Gors (70)**
– Gor-Blades & Beastshields
10 x Gors (70)***
– Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*
– Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Expert Conquerors
***Warlord
Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 210 / 400
Wounds: 157
Drops: 9
Danny: BoC stands for ‘Best of Chaos’ right now. The book as it stands is kluged, retro-fitted and duct-taped together, in a failed attempt to keep its leathery, behooved insides from spilling out all over the winners podium. Peek inside and you’ll find a sludgey morass of keywords, a bunch of new rules sellotaped in and the ability to use the new versions of some other chaos scrolls and the ‘old’ (well, in between…) versions of other stuff like blood-slick ground Khorne Daemon Prince to halve charges/run rolls.
GW are onto a good thing with 3e books and I’m sure the new BoC book will sort this mess out – because it turns out ‘keep the points the same, but give everything +2 rend and a 4+ rally, along with use of the best melee warscrolls from the new Tzeentch book’ kinda makes for a good army – despite the recent points ‘hikes’.
This list takes the usual stuff – a Shaggoth for cheap casting and a platform for the ‘tanglehorn Familiars’ which literally just stops an enemy wizard within 12″ from casting…anything… and access to the Hailstorm spell to halve the move/run/charge rolls of an enemy unit within 21″. Bet you didn’t realise even their lore was broken.
2x 6 Enlightened on Discs on loan from the shiny new Tzeentch portal because apparently everything with a beak and hooves has to stick together? A giant blob of 30 Tzaangors on hoof form a big, buffable blob and summons in god knows what else at a rate of knots.
Nothing in this game is an auto-win and it’s entirely possible to rupture your hamstrings while leaning over a table to push this many models around so congrats to Jiwan for staying standing and getting the 5-0.
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
– Army Type: Ironjawz
– Army Subfaction: Bloodtoofs
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER
1 x Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)
– Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork, Foot of Gork
1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)**
– General
– Command Traits: Touched By The Waaagh!
– Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
– Spells: Bash ’Em Ladz, Flaming Weapon
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
1 x Orruk Warchanter (115)**
1 x Orruk Warchanter (115)**
BATTLELINE
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
BEHEMOTH
1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)
ENDLESS SPELL
1 x The Burning Head (20)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Bounty Hunters
**Command Entourage – Magnificent
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
Edit: We’ve edited the below and removed the reference to the Krondspine being a source of 3d6 charges. Danny was thinking of Kragnos at the time…. he really wants one….
Danny: Ironjawz have definitely struggled this season, due to a one dimensional playstyle and, frankly, their book having been seriously powercrept. However, they can still pile on a whole load of pressure and if you’re not prepared for it, they can start a chain reaction of activations that can end games fast if you can’t tank it.
One of their weaknesses is getting into position – something the Spinedog obviously helps with. The fact it can lock down multiple units also potentially allows the gore-gruntas to choose more favourable engagements and gives them something to chuck into targets that would ordinarily blunt their charges, or of course preventing scary stuff cleaning up the pigs that IJ rely on to do everything.
You don’t have a huge degree of flexibility in a pig-heavy list (which is all IJ can realistically field in this Season) so let’s look at the Maw-krusha, the one thing with tactical choices. Brian has opted for Touched by the Waagh and Arcane Tome combo, giving him the ability to do d3 MWs to a nearby unit (enemy or friendly) and get the same value as a bonus to cast – in this case the +1 to wound spell and flaming weapon (thanks to the magnificent from command entourage) for extra damage when necessary. Of course with Spinedog bonded, he can potentially be up to a +4 to cast!
Spinedog occupies a weird niche atm and may still be controversial, but if it has a home in any army it’s Orruks atm, thematically and in terms of shoring up their weaknesses. And going 5-0 with IJ these days is definitely an accomplishment. It would be great if they didn’t have to rely on the Spinedog to do it, but in the meantime – big gratz to Brian!
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Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords
– Subfaction: Barak-Zilfin
– Grand Strategy: Spend Shares to Make Shares
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Aether-Khemist (90)*
– General
– Command Traits: Collector
– Artefacts of Power: Staff of Ocular Optimisation
Arkanaut Admiral (125)*
Aetheric Navigator (85)*
Aether-Khemist (90)**
– Artefacts of Power: Spell in a Bottle
BATTLELINE
Arkanaut Company (90)*
Arkanaut Company (90)*
Arkanaut Company (90)**
BEHEMOTH
Arkanaut Ironclad (490)*
– Great Volley Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: The Last Word
Arkanaut Ironclad (490)**
– Great Sky Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram
OTHER
Grundstok Thunderers (270)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Randal: Carl is at it again with another strong Kharadron Overlords list. This one tosses Gotrek to the side in favor of taking a second Ironclad. Also gone is the Flare-Pistol, a casualty of being a double Battle Regiment, but the list gains a Volley Cannon and two very important Great Endrinworks in the Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram and The Last Word.
These two powerful mount traits add a level of resiliency to big wiffs from the dice, allowing the two boats to claw back into a game when something goes wrong. The Last Word allows the powerful Volley Cannon to fire at the end of the opponent’s Charge Phase if a unit ends their charge within 3” of that Ironclad making a scary Unleash Hell absolutely devastating, especially to big chaff units. The Ram, roll dice equal to the charge roll with mortal wounds on a 4+, serves as a risky backup plan if a shooting phase does not go well to finish off a unit giving the army a small amount of mortal wounds which the army overwise lacks.
This list is less of an alpha-strike list as his previous list was and more of a control and positioning army. It wants to play cagey, determining when and where engagements happen, and controlling the flow of the game. The big downside is that it is still weak to mortal wounds and has almost no mortal wound output itself. It is still a solid list but is going to require an experienced and knowledgeable pilot as mistakes are going to be harshly punished.
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz
– Option: Gloomspite Gitz
– Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance
– Triumphs:
Leaders
Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig (110)*
– General
– Moon-cutta
– Command Trait: The Clammy Hand
Madcap Shaman (80)*
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)*
Battleline
20 x Shootas (120)*
20 x Shootas (120)*
36 x Squig Herd (420)**
– Reinforced x 2
24 x Squig Herd (280)**
– Reinforced x 1
Units
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75)*
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75)*
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Expert Conquerors
Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 212
Drops: 3
Declan: 4-1… with Gitz. Well done to Anthony for a cracking result. Obviously the key to the army is Kragnos for his ability to charge most monsters off the board, give 3D6 charges to the squig herd (and himself) and generally cause a distraction. But the tech here is the Squig Herds and Sneaky Snufflers. With Expert Conquerors they each count as 3 on objectives (that’s 108 for the full 36 herd). They also rally on a 4+ so that’s where a lot of command points are going.
Then add in the Snufflers for +1 attack for each squig and they are not just an anvil with loads of wounds – they can be a hammer too. I was surprised that they (squig herd) went down in points in November, but definitely worth taking now!
Final Tournament Placings
