You may have been wondering where the stats have been for the last couple of weeks. I’m pleased to say we’ve been working on something a bit special!
We have numerous members in the Woehammer team (39 members at the last count). Not all of these comment on lists. Some help me with graphics, others SEO and some are techy coders. Why am I telling you this?! Well it just so happens that one of the crew has written a piece of code that will allow us to automatically gather the tournament data from various TO websites, such as Best Coast Pairings and Stats & Ladders.
This code, gets us the pairing information, matchup results and lists for each participant at every tournament on these sites. No longer will I have to spend hours recording the data by hand! We click a button and have it all in seconds!
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE STATS?
It means we can get all tournament information for GTs across the globe as well as 1 dayers at the push of a button.
This will mean I’ll be able to provide you with a stats breakdown for GTs and another for RTTs. We can even combine the two into a GW metawatch style report.
As well as this, we’ll also be able to make more detailed breakdowns for each faction. This will include analysing the matchups for each faction and also what enhancements and warscrolls are being regularly taken in lists.
THE BEST THING?
We’re going to make this coding free and available to anyone who wants to use it.
This is the top three AoS lists for Garage Skirmish I that took place in Serbia on the 18th of November. It saw 8 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also, if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover, drop us a comment on this post, and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin – Army Subfaction: Nautilar – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Lotann (110) 1 x Akhelian King (220)* – General – Command Traits: Unstoppable Fury – Bladed Polearm and Falchion – Artefacts: Armour of the Cythai – Mount Traits: Voidchill Darkness 1 x Akhelian Thrallmaster (100)** 1 x Isharann Soulrender (100)** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome 1 x Isharann Tidecaster (130)** – Spells: Hoarfrost
BATTLELINE 20 x Namarti Thralls (110)* – Icon Bearer 3 x Akhelian Ishlaen Guard (170)* 3 x Akhelian Ishlaen Guard (170)* 10 x Namarti Reavers (160)** 10 x Namarti Reavers (160)**
BEHEMOTH 1 x Akhelian Leviadon (400) – Mount Traits: Reverberating Carapace
TERRAIN 1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Vanguard **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1940/2000)
Yuri Vybornov: In my list, I tried to combine all the best options Idoneth have – excluding sharks, which became a popular trend since the last Battlescroll, but will soon disappear again. Also, shark spam, in my opinion, isn’t the most thrilling way to play Idoneth and has some obvious weaknesses. So I decided to try a list of combined arms – my favourite type of list. Important note – i had only a couple of games with this army in the third edition, so I had to think theoretically about building my roster.
Heroes of the idoneth provide major buffs to the already decent units, so I packed five of them – Lotann, Thrallmaster and Soulrender for buffing and reviving, Tidecaster solely to give me access to the second Ritual if need arises (spoiler: it didn’t. Though there are always chances to meet some shooting-heavy lists, such as Hedonites, Kharadron Overlords, and Cities. In such situations, a combination of rituals of Deep-sight and creeping mist could grant me some major advantages). Akhelian King was there to do what Akhelian King does best – slaying stuff. And oh boy, did he deliver some major pain.
I’ve chosen Nautilar solely to make the otherwise lacking Leviadon worth 400 points – I knew that it was a controversial choice for the Enclave, but this sweet rend -3 on damage 4 attacks was needed, in my opinion. I think it paid off, as in all 3 games, the turtle did some heavy-lifting as well.
I also had doubts about 2 units of 3 Ishlaen, though I intended to use them as ultimate objective-grabbers. They did their job very well due to their speed, some consistent damage output, and decent survivability. These guys ain’t no joke, and now I think I will be taking them as the core part of the list as they do their part really well. It’s very easy for them to take control of the objective from other skirmish units – such as skinks, Dawnriders, or even river-trolls they faced in the 1st round of the event.
In all cases, they killed their opponents without losing any models themselves, which is very important, as they were able to continue their play until the end of the battle. After securing the objective, they also had plenty of roles to fulfil – chase down the opponent’s beaten units, assassinate heroes, and even support the main line if need be.
Finally, Namarti are Namarti – reavers were manoeuvrable shooting-support, capable of inflicting some hurt to enemy armies and sometimes even killing charging foes in unleash hell due to their bonuses «to hit». Their colleagues, thralls, backed up by Thrallmaster, Leviadon, Lotann, and Soulrender, were capable of holding their ground pretty well in all three games and inflicting solid damage in return. To round it up, the lists turned out to be quite well-balanced – it has speed, some high rends, weight of dice attacks, decent distance threats, and some decent survivability. The only weaknesses it has are inherited – idoneth strive to deliver and survive mortal wounds and playing with magic in general, which almost proved to be fatal against Seraphon and Lumineth. But their strong sides can mitigate those to some extent for sure.
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Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
LEADERS Sevireth (270)* The Light of Eltharion (230)* Ellania and Ellathor (190)* – Spells: Etheral Blessings, Speed of Hysh Vanari Lord Regent (150)* – Spells: Protection of Hysh, Speed of Hysh Scinari Cathallar (120)** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Total Eclipse Scinari Enlightener (170)** – General – Command Traits: Loremaster – Artefacts of Power: Phoenix Stone – Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard, Protection of Hysh, Speed of Hysh
Milan Popovic: My list has a few important things that make it joker-like. I have Sevireth that is fast and good at distraction and in chasing small heroes down. Bladelords are a good punching unit as well as Light of Eltharion. Dawnriders were in all games used as an additional screen with one unit of wardeners, but their purpose was to chase small units and to give support to Sevireth. Spell diversity I got from the Magnificent of Command Entourage battalion. The list is like a castle moving until I slingshot a unit of bladelords fully buffed that picks up important units and destroys them. Wih Enlightener that can cast speed of hysh if and his Rune of Enthlai it is possible to launch Light of Eltharion as well. It’s a well-rounded list that only suffers from spreading too much. Some small tweaks to the list would make it even more deadly. Better first strike placement with wardens, and maybe trading dawnriders for sentinels could make good change. Also, Sudden Translocation from Ellania and Ellathor makes them unreliable enough.
LEADERS Keeper of Secrets (400)* – General – Command Trait: Hunter Supreme – Shining Aegis – Artefact: Girdle of the Realm-racer – Lore of the Pursuer: Paths of the Dark Prince The Masque (150)** Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (200)* Syll’Esske, the Vengeful Allegiance (200)* – Lore of the Pursuer: Progency of Damnation
UNITS 5 x Seekers (140)* 5 x Seekers (140)* 5 x Seekers (140)* 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (220)* 5 x Slickblade Seekers (220)**
BEHEMOTHS Chaos Warshrine (180)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Vanguard
TOTAL: 1990/2000
Miljan Otovic: The idea behind this list is to play as much as possible to HoS’ main advantage, which is, in my opinion, speed.
So, all units are fast, and the main idea behind it is to concentrate heavily hitting units and take out as many of opponents’ damage dealers as possible – as fast as possible.
For screening and objective grabbing are used Seekers, while everything else is hitting and “pinning” the opponent in the opponent’s zone. Keeping his units and damaged dealers occupied, preferably for a few turns.
Keeper of Secrets and Sigvald are attacking characters (sometimes with Mask too) and destroying support ones on 1st turn if possible.
After that, there is trading between hitting elements of the army, but at that point, it goes in favour of the HoS.
One big drawback for this list is that it is “dice dependent”. Or more “average dependent”, any early skew in opponents’ favor makes victory near impossible. “
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Final Tournament Placings
To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings
I was lucky enough to be able to look at the Imperialis sprues this week, and even put together a couple of the Sicaran tanks!
As you can see, these boys are tiny! But the sprues and build are immaculate. There were no visible mould lines, and the details to the minis are incredible!
The two Sicaran tanks I put together were built from 15 pieces, but they all went together with no problem at all.
My favourite aspect of the build was that each Sicaran tank came with a spare turret so that you could build both weapon options for both tanks. Well done GW! With a 2mm magnet to keep them in place, they’d be even better.
I’m very much looking forward to getting my hands on the boxed set of these and going to town with them!
For those worried about painting such a small scale, I’ll have a guide out shortly after the release, which will go into how easy painting smaller scale miniatures are compared to their larger cousins!
On top of the tanks you get tonnes of troops in the box! The troops have been designed to fit on the sprue so that you can paint them before you remove them. Almost all the troops come as a single piece model and the connection to the sprue is usually at the bottom of their base.
I’ve pre-ordered my copy of the boxed set and can’t wait to get cracking with a legion of Imperial Fists.
The data contained inside this article is only Woehammer’s interpretation. There are differing methods and analyses of the data available from Games Workshop and Honest Wargamer, whose methodology differs slightly from our own.
All of these sources should be viewed as a collective whole to allow you to gather a larger picture of the Age of Sigmar meta. The win rates, while accurate for events we have on record so far, are likely to change in the coming weeks and shouldn’t be the single point of reference for a factions strength.
How Win Rates are Calculated
All of our data is pulled from two day single events. We split all draws between the wins and losses of a faction evenly, as we believe this provides a fair reflection of a factions win rate. For example, as a player, you may achieve 2 wins, 2 losses, and a draw at an event. Some sites will only count the wins towards the faction rate, so in this case, 40% (2/5=0.4). Woehammer includes half of the draws, so our result would be 50% (2.5/5=0.5).
We have also included a confidence interval based on the sample size and their results. This interval has a 95% confidence rate. What does this mean? Essentially, we’re 95% sure that the win rate of the faction will fall inside this band at the release of the next battlescroll.
We have decided to include this as each factions win rates can (and will) fluctuate as more and more players post their results. While the faction win rate may be that specified right now, it is more than likely to change in the future. So when looking at a win rate, take into account the number of players who have posted results, as well as the upper and lower limit of that 95% confidence interval. This will give a good indication of the future win rate of that faction.
Event Submission
If you have organised an event that doesn’t appear in our database and has the following minimum requirements to be included:
Two Day Event
Singles Event
Minimum of 8 players
Then why not complete the form attached and send the results to thewoehammer@gmail.com? We’ll include them the next time we produce the stats.
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament 2023 by Dragonforge & Wartilyo
2D6 Carnage
Sir GT’s-A-Lot
Coventry AoS GT
Farmhammer Brewdog
King Cheese GT
Flying Monkey Con 2023
TM Gaming
Wappler Harvest Gathering
Crucible 2023
North China Open
Mowan Autumn Championship 2023
AoS Champs at the 2023 Michigan GT
Sovereign Smash 2023
Symposium SELWG
Justice Series GT
Fantasia Fanatic XLIV AoS
GAF Jamboree
Suge & Dice Annual AoS Tournament
SoCal Open
Duckstravaganza 2: Battle for the Pond
I. Lay Low the Tyrants Grand Tournament
Malmo Wargaming Weekend 7
Realmgate Rumble
Grudgefest GT 2023
Tetsworth’s War and Treachery (T.W.A.T)
Magical Dominance Saigon Warhammer Age of Sigmar GT
Slambo GT
Realm of Geddon BSK 40
Threshold Invitational II
Battle of the Bend
PNW Masters 2023
Gitz go to War(fare) 2023
Faction Win Rates
As we have now included a confidence interval within our data based on the sample size and results, we have now included all factions within the below tables regardless of their player base.
Soulblight Gravelords and Ossiarch Bonereaper nerfs appear to have worked at first glance, but the Kharadron Overlords who were possibly being held back a little in the last battlescroll have probably benefitted from this power vacuum and find themselves in the top spot.
The Kruleboyz appear to have been put back in their box down at 44% .
Win Rates
You’ll see in the chart above that each faction shows its current win rate as a % inside a text box. The paler green and yellow segments show the margin of error of that win rate. We predict with 95% confidence that the win rate will be within the paler bars upon the release of the next battlescroll. The size of this segment is determined by the number of tournament entries using that faction, the spread of their win rates at competitions and finally how many weeks are estimated to be left until the next battlescroll update.
Using our old format of win rate reporting and removing factions with less than 20 results, we have the following table:
I thought it may be interesting to also view the win rates by month during the battlescroll. This may allow us to see the effect of new Ironjawz or the like on their particular faction. Or it may show whether armies with high win rates are being adapted to by their opposition.
Subfaction and Army of Renown Win Rates
We’ve started having subfactions hit the 20 player min representation, so have taken those factions for the chart above.
ARMIES OF RENOWN
I’ve decided to have a little chart recording their progress as the Battlescroll progresses, they may well track against their own faction as a whole, but I though it would be interesting to see nonetheless.
Player Results by Wins
This graph has at least two purposes. Firstly, it shows the faction popularity by the number of players, and secondly, it breaks down those players’ results in terms of the number of wins they achieve.
Here, we’ve included all the factions that have been played to date, as there is no benefit in removing those with a small sample size.
Faction Popularity
The full list month-by-month is below:
When looking at the above table, bear in mind that this is the worldwide meta, and region to region or even city to city may differ. So while this gives us a general idea of the meta it may not be representative of your local meta.
We’re seeing (as always) a massive spike in the player base of the new tomes that have been released and fall off on the older Tomes. This is to be expected really as competitive players jump around following the “Oooo shiny” method of collecting. They’ll likely always be a strong base for Stormcast Eternals, thanks to them appearing in nearly all beginner army sets, as magazine collections and the feature of many stories in Age of Sigmar.
Players Achieving 5-0 Wins, Tournaments in Winning Positions and 3 Wins from
Out of all the players using that faction (shown in brackets next to the faction name), this graph shows the number achieving a whitewash at a GT with 5 wins from 5. Those achieving 4 wins from 4 after the fourth round and those achieving 3 wins from 3 after the 3rd round. Take into account that those who achieve 5-0 are included in the numbers of 4 wins from 4 and 3 wins from 3. Likewise, those achieving 4 from 4 are included with the 3 from 3 data.
Results Split
This chart tells you which factions are more capable of achieving positive results at tournaments.
Conclusions
If you’re planning your list for a GT, look at the data as a whole. Don’t just look at our data either, look at TSN and also GW. Get a big picture, use these sites as sources to make your own informed opinion on the meta. Think about which armies are popular, as you’ll likely face at least one or two of these armies at some point during an event, especially in the earlier rounds.
Look at those factions that are regularly in a tournament winning position and winning GTs, as these are likely to be your opponents in the later rounds. I believe you should look at building a list that is able to cope with playing the following factions at some point in a GT if you’re looking to compete;
Blades of Khorne
Seraphon
Stormcast Eternals
Soulblight Gravelords
Gloomspite Gitz
But also, if you’re playing a local GT with your club, then bear in mind that meta may be completely different to those given in the stats above. All of what is presented here, should be taken with a pinch of salt, but hopefully it gives you some guidance when it comes to list construction, or even army choice if you’re looking to play Age of Sigmar.
The data contained inside this article is only Woehammer’s interpretation. There are differing methods and analyses of the data available from Games Workshop and Honest Wargamer, whose methodology differs slightly from our own.
All of these sources should be viewed as a collective whole to allow you to gather a larger picture of the Age of Sigmar meta. The win rates, while accurate for events we have on record so far, are likely to change in the coming weeks and shouldn’t be the single point of reference for a factions strength.
How Win Rates are Calculated
All of our data is pulled from two day single events. We split all draws between the wins and losses of a faction evenly, as we believe this provides a fair reflection of a factions win rate. For example, as a player, you may achieve 2 wins, 2 losses, and a draw at an event. Some sites will only count the wins towards the faction rate, so in this case, 40% (2/5=0.4). Woehammer includes half of the draws, so our result would be 50% (2.5/5=0.5).
We have also included a confidence interval based on the sample size and their results. This interval has a 95% confidence rate. What does this mean? Essentially, we’re 95% sure that the win rate of the faction will fall inside this band at the release of the next battlescroll.
We have decided to include this as each factions win rates can (and will) fluctuate as more and more players post their results. While the faction win rate may be that specified right now, it is more than likely to change in the future. So when looking at a win rate, take into account the number of players who have posted results, as well as the upper and lower limit of that 95% confidence interval. This will give a good indication of the future win rate of that faction.
Event Submission
If you have organised an event that doesn’t appear in our database and has the following minimum requirements to be included:
Two Day Event
Singles Event
Minimum of 8 players
Then why not complete the form attached and send the results to thewoehammer@gmail.com? We’ll include them the next time we produce the stats.
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament 2023 by Dragonforge & Wartilyo
King Cheese GT
Flying Monkey Con 2023
TM Gaming
Wappler Harvest Gathering
Crucible 2023
North China Open
Mowan Autumn Championship 2023
AoS Champs at the 2023 Michigan GT
Sovereign Smash 2023
Symposium SELWG
Justice Series GT
Fantasia Fanatic XLIV AoS
GAF Jamboree
Suge & Dice Annual AoS Tournament
SoCal Open
Duckstravaganza 2: Battle for the Pond
I. Lay Low the Tyrants Grand Tournament
Malmo Wargaming Weekend 7
Realmgate Rumble
Grudgefest GT 2023
Tetsworth’s War and Treachery (T.W.A.T)
Magical Dominance Saigon Warhammer Age of Sigmar GT
Slambo GT
Realm of Geddon BSK 40
Threshold Invitational II
Faction Win Rates
As we have now included a confidence interval within our data based on the sample size and results, we have now included all factions within the below tables regardless of their player base.
Soulblight Gravelords and Ossiarch Bonereaper nerfs appear to have worked at first glance, but the Kharadron Overlords who were possibly being held back a little in the last battlescroll have probably benefitted from this power vacuum and find themselves in the top spot.
The Kruleboyz appear to have been put back in their box down at 44% .
Win Rates
You’ll see in the chart above that each faction shows its current win rate as a % inside a text box. The paler green and yellow segments show the margin of error of that win rate. We predict with 95% confidence that the win rate will be within the paler bars upon the release of the next battlescroll. The size of this segment is determined by the number of tournament entries using that faction, the spread of their win rates at competitions and finally how many weeks are estimated to be left until the next battlescroll update.
Using our old format of win rate reporting and removing factions with less than 20 results, we have the following table:
I thought it may be interesting to also view the win rates by month during the battlescroll. This may allow us to see the effect of new Ironjawz or the like on their particular faction. Or it may show whether armies with high win rates are being adapted to by their opposition.
Subfaction and Army of Renown Win Rates
We’ve started having subfactions hit the 20 player min representation, so have taken those factions for the chart above.
ARMIES OF RENOWN
I’ve decided to have a little chart recording their progress as the Battlescroll progresses, they may well track against their own faction as a whole, but I though it would be interesting to see nonetheless.
Player Results by Wins
This graph has at least two purposes. Firstly, it shows the faction popularity by the number of players, and secondly, it breaks down those players’ results in terms of the number of wins they achieve.
Here, we’ve included all the factions that have been played to date, as there is no benefit in removing those with a small sample size.
Faction Popularity
The full list month-by-month is below:
When looking at the above table, bear in mind that this is the worldwide meta, and region to region or even city to city may differ. So while this gives us a general idea of the meta it may not be representative of your local meta.
We’re seeing (as always) a massive spike in the player base of the new tomes that have been released and fall off on the older Tomes. This is to be expected really as competitive players jump around following the “Oooo shiny” method of collecting. They’ll likely always be a strong base for Stormcast Eternals, thanks to them appearing in nearly all beginner army sets, as magazine collections and the feature of many stories in Age of Sigmar.
Players Achieving 5-0 Wins, Tournaments in Winning Positions and 3 Wins from
Out of all the players using that faction (shown in brackets next to the faction name), this graph shows the number achieving a whitewash at a GT with 5 wins from 5. Those achieving 4 wins from 4 after the fourth round and those achieving 3 wins from 3 after the 3rd round. Take into account that those who achieve 5-0 are included in the numbers of 4 wins from 4 and 3 wins from 3. Likewise, those achieving 4 from 4 are included with the 3 from 3 data.
Results Split
This chart tells you which factions are more capable of achieving positive results at tournaments.
Conclusions
If you’re planning your list for a GT, look at the data as a whole. Don’t just look at our data either, look at TSN and also GW. Get a big picture, use these sites as sources to make your own informed opinion on the meta. Think about which armies are popular, as you’ll likely face at least one or two of these armies at some point during an event, especially in the earlier rounds.
Look at those factions that are regularly in a tournament winning position and winning GTs, as these are likely to be your opponents in the later rounds. I believe you should look at building a list that is able to cope with playing the following factions at some point in a GT if you’re looking to compete;
Blades of Khorne
Seraphon
Stormcast Eternals
Soulblight Gravelords
Gloomspite Gitz
But also, if you’re playing a local GT with your club, then bear in mind that meta may be completely different to those given in the stats above. All of what is presented here, should be taken with a pinch of salt, but hopefully it gives you some guidance when it comes to list construction, or even army choice if you’re looking to play Age of Sigmar.
For the month of October we ran a small painting competition on Woehammer, where the winner could claim a set of free Woehammer dice. All the participants had to do was paint an Ork/Orruk model or a model with a Halloween feel or style.
Our winner, as chosen by the Woehammer Discord community was ElevKev with their excellent Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon.
But all the entries were excellent as you can see below!
The data contained inside this article is only Woehammer’s interpretation. There are differing methods and analyses of the data available from Games Workshop and Honest Wargamer, whose methodology differs slightly from our own.
All of these sources should be viewed as a collective whole to allow you to gather a larger picture of the Age of Sigmar meta. The win rates, while accurate for events we have on record so far, are likely to change in the coming weeks and shouldn’t be the single point of reference for a factions strength.
How Win Rates are Calculated
All of our data is pulled from two day single events. We split all draws between the wins and losses of a faction evenly, as we believe this provides a fair reflection of a factions win rate. For example, as a player, you may achieve 2 wins, 2 losses, and a draw at an event. Some sites will only count the wins towards the faction rate, so in this case, 40% (2/5=0.4). Woehammer includes half of the draws, so our result would be 50% (2.5/5=0.5).
We have also included a confidence interval based on the sample size and their results. This interval has a 95% confidence rate. What does this mean? Essentially, we’re 95% sure that the win rate of the faction will fall inside this band at the release of the next battlescroll.
We have decided to include this as each factions win rates can (and will) fluctuate as more and more players post their results. While the faction win rate may be that specified right now, it is more than likely to change in the future. So when looking at a win rate, take into account the number of players who have posted results, as well as the upper and lower limit of that 95% confidence interval. This will give a good indication of the future win rate of that faction.
Event Submission
If you have organised an event that doesn’t appear in our database and has the following minimum requirements to be included:
Two Day Event
Singles Event
Minimum of 8 players
Then why not complete the form attached and send the results to thewoehammer@gmail.com? We’ll include them the next time we produce the stats.
As we have now included a confidence interval within our data based on the sample size and results, we have now included all factions within the below tables regardless of their player base.
Soulblight Gravelords and Ossiarch Bonereaper nerfs appear to have worked at first glance, but the Kharadron Overlords who were possibly being held back a little in the last battlescroll have probably benefitted from this power vacuum and find themselves in the top spot.
The heavy handed approach on the balancing of Hedonites of Slaanesh is showing with their win rate falling to a miserable 43% this week.
Win Rates
You’ll see in the chart above that each faction shows its current win rate as a % inside a text box. The paler green and yellow segments show the margin of error of that win rate. We predict with 95% confidence that the win rate will be within the paler bars upon the release of the next battlescroll. The size of this segment is determined by the number of tournament entries using that faction, the spread of their win rates at competitions and finally how many weeks are estimated to be left until the next battlescroll update.
Using our old format of win rate reporting and removing factions with less than 20 results, we have the following table:
I thought it may be interesting to also view the win rates by month during the battlescroll. This may allow us to see the effect of new Ironjawz or the like on their particular faction. Or it may show whether armies with high win rates are being adapted to by their opposition.
Subfaction and Army of Renown Win Rates
We’ve started having subfactions hit the 20 player min representation, so have taken those factions for the chart above.
ARMIES OF RENOWN
I’ve decided to have a little chart recording their progress as the Battlescroll progresses, they may well track against their own faction as a whole, but I though it would be interesting to see nonetheless.
Player Results by Wins
This graph has at least two purposes. Firstly, it shows the faction popularity by the number of players, and secondly, it breaks down those players’ results in terms of the number of wins they achieve.
Here, we’ve included all the factions that have been played to date, as there is no benefit in removing those with a small sample size.
Faction Popularity
The full list month-by-month is below:
When looking at the above table, bear in mind that this is the worldwide meta, and region to region or even city to city may differ. So while this gives us a general idea of the meta it may not be representative of your local meta.
We’re seeing (as always) a massive spike in the player base of the new tomes that have been released and fall off on the older Tomes. This is to be expected really as competitive players jump around following the “Oooo shiny” method of collecting. They’ll likely always be a strong base for Stormcast Eternals, thanks to them appearing in nearly all beginner army sets, as magazine collections and the feature of many stories in Age of Sigmar.
Players Achieving 5-0 Wins, Tournaments in Winning Positions and 3 Wins from
Out of all the players using that faction (shown in brackets next to the faction name), this graph shows the number achieving a whitewash at a GT with 5 wins from 5. Those achieving 4 wins from 4 after the fourth round and those achieving 3 wins from 3 after the 3rd round. Take into account that those who achieve 5-0 are included in the numbers of 4 wins from 4 and 3 wins from 3. Likewise, those achieving 4 from 4 are included with the 3 from 3 data.
Results Split
This chart tells you which factions are more capable of achieving positive results at tournaments.
Conclusions
If you’re planning your list for a GT, look at the data as a whole. Don’t just look at our data either, look at TSN and also GW. Get a big picture, use these sites as sources to make your own informed opinion on the meta. Think about which armies are popular, as you’ll likely face at least one or two of these armies at some point during an event, especially in the earlier rounds.
Look at those factions that are regularly in a tournament winning position and winning GTs, as these are likely to be your opponents in the later rounds. I believe you should look at building a list that is able to cope with playing the following factions at some point in a GT if you’re looking to compete;
Blades of Khorne
Seraphon
Stormcast Eternals
Soulblight Gravelords
Gloomspite Gitz
But also, if you’re playing a local GT with your club, then bear in mind that meta may be completely different to those given in the stats above. All of what is presented here, should be taken with a pinch of salt, but hopefully it gives you some guidance when it comes to list construction, or even army choice if you’re looking to play Age of Sigmar.
I thought with the release of Games Workshops Meta Article yesterday, what better time to release ours than a day later? You know, jump onthe old band wagon and all that!
The data contained inside this article is only Woehammer’s interpretation. There are differing methods and analyses of the data available from Games Workshop and Honest Wargamer, whose methodology differs slightly from our own.
All of these sources should be viewed as a collective whole to allow you to gather a larger picture of the Age of Sigmar meta. The win rates, while accurate for events we have on record so far, are likely to change in the coming weeks and shouldn’t be the single point of reference for a factions strength.
How Win Rates are Calculated
All of our data is pulled from two day single events. We split all draws between the wins and losses of a faction evenly, as we believe this provides a fair reflection of a factions win rate. For example, as a player, you may achieve 2 wins, 2 losses, and a draw at an event. Some sites will only count the wins towards the faction rate, so in this case, 40% (2/5=0.4). Woehammer includes half of the draws, so our result would be 50% (2.5/5=0.5).
We have also included a confidence interval based on the sample size and their results. This interval has a 95% confidence rate. What does this mean? Essentially, we’re 95% sure that the win rate of the faction will fall inside this band at the release of the next battlescroll.
We have decided to include this as each factions win rates can (and will) fluctuate as more and more players post their results. While the faction win rate may be that specified right now, it is more than likely to change in the future. So when looking at a win rate, take into account the number of players who have posted results, as well as the upper and lower limit of that 95% confidence interval. This will give a good indication of the future win rate of that faction.
Event Submission
If you have organised an event that doesn’t appear in our database and has the following minimum requirements to be included:
Two Day Event
Singles Event
Minimum of 8 players
Then why not complete the form attached and send the results to thewoehammer@gmail.com? We’ll include them the next time we produce the stats.
The above was updated on 27th October 2023 at 15:43 UTC after the donkey who created the spreadsheet didn’t press refresh on his pivot table to update this chart for the week.
As we have now included a confidence interval within our data based on the sample size and results, we have now included all factions within the below tables regardless of their player base.
Soulblight Gravelords and Ossiarch Bonereaper nerfs appear to have worked at first glance, but the Kharadron Overlords who were possibly being held back a little in the last battlescroll have probably benefitted from this power vacuum and find themselves in the top spot.
The heavy handed approached on the balancing of Hedonites of Slaanesh is showing with their win rate falling to a miserable 43% this week.
Win Rates
You’ll see in the chart above that each faction shows its current win rate as a % inside a text box. The paler green and yellow segments show the margin of error of that win rate. We predict with 95% confidence that the win rate will be within the paler bars upon the release of the next battlescroll. The size of this segment is determined by the number of tournament entries using that faction, the spread of their win rates at competitions and finally how many weeks are estimated to be left until the next battlescroll update.
Using our old format of win rate reporting and removing factions with less than 20 results, we have the following table:
Subfaction and Army of Renown Win Rates
We’ve started having subfactions hit the 20 player min representation, so have taken those factions for the chart above.
ARMIES OF RENOWN
I’ve decided to have a little chart recording their progress as the Battlescroll progresses, they may well track against their own faction as a whole, but I though it would be interesting to see nonetheless.
Player Results by Wins
This graph has at least two purposes. Firstly, it shows the faction popularity by the number of players, and secondly, it breaks down those players’ results in terms of the number of wins they achieve.
Here, we’ve included all the factions that have been played to date, as there is no benefit in removing those with a small sample size.
Faction Popularity
The full list month-by-month is below:
When looking at the above table, bear in mind that this is the worldwide meta, and region to region or even city to city may differ. So while this gives us a general idea of the meta it may not be representative of your local meta.
We’re seeing (as always) a massive spike in the player base of the new tomes that have been released and fall off on the older Tomes. This is to be expected really as competitive players jump around following the “Oooo shiny” method of collecting. They’ll likely always be a strong base for Stormcast Eternals, thanks to them appearing in nearly all beginner army sets, as magazine collections and the feature of many stories in Age of Sigmar.
Players Achieving 5-0 Wins, Tournaments in Winning Positions and 3 Wins from
Out of all the players using that faction (shown in brackets next to the faction name), this graph shows the number achieving a whitewash at a GT with 5 wins from 5. Those achieving 4 wins from 4 after the fourth round and those achieving 3 wins from 3 after the 3rd round. Take into account that those who achieve 5-0 are included in the numbers of 4 wins from 4 and 3 wins from 3. Likewise, those achieving 4 from 4 are included with the 3 from 3 data.
Results Split
This chart tells you which factions are more capable of achieving positive results at tournaments.
Conclusions
If you’re planning your list for a GT, look at the data as a whole. Don’t just look at our data either, look at TSN and also GW. Get a big picture, use these sites as sources to make your own informed opinion on the meta. Think about which armies are popular, as you’ll likely face at least one or two of these armies at some point during an event, especially in the earlier rounds.
Look at those factions that are regularly in a tournament winning position and winning GTs, as these are likely to be your opponents in the later rounds. I believe you should look at building a list that is able to cope with playing the following factions at some point in a GT if you’re looking to compete;
Blades of Khorne
Seraphon
Stormcast Eternals
Soulblight Gravelords
Gloomspite Gitz
But also, if you’re playing a local GT with your club, then bear in mind that meta may be completely different to those given in the stats above. All of what is presented here, should be taken with a pinch of salt, but hopefully it gives you some guidance when it comes to list construction, or even army choice if you’re looking to play Age of Sigmar.
You may have seen a few Bolt Action articles floating around on the site recently. Well Dave and I are now diving in with an escalation campaign for ourselves.
These rules are still in draft format and may well change over the next few days/weeks. This article will be kept live with a log of any changes at the top.
They are based almost entirely on Games Workshop’s Crusade system for Warhammer 40k. I’ve also heavily leaned on the Chicago Dice campaign rules. In fact, if you’re in to Bolt Action, I highly recommend you take a look at their site!
Also, check out the Command Post, which provides a fantastic Mission Generator for your games, this was the source of the Missions in this campaign.
The Woehammer Bolt Action Escalation Rules
Pick a nation
When you start an army, all of the units in your Order of Battle must be drawn from a single nation (i.e. Germany, Soviet Union, Hungary etc).
Order of Battle
A player’s Order of Battle is a list of all the units that they have as part of their army. A player’s Order of Battle can consist of any number of units, but each unit must have their weapons, abilities and experience level listed. A starting force cannot exceed 500 points and this is your force’s Supply Limit. The Supply Limit can be increased by playing battles. Make a note of each unit’s weapons, abilities and experience on your Order of Battle.
You can add new units to your Order of Battle at any time, provided that doing so does not exceed your army’s Supply Limit. Once you have added models to your army, you cannot change their equipment without spending Requisition Points to do so. Further models may be added to units at a later date if that unit is not at full strength. All weapons must be decided at the point of purchasing those models.
You can remove units from your Order of Battle at any time, but once you have removed a unit you cannot add it back into your Order of Battle (so any experience, awards etc they have gained, are lost). Removing a unit from your Order of Battle does not affect your Supply Limit (so removing a unit can potentially leave you with the ability to add a new unit to your Order of Battle).
Battle Tally, Requisition Points and Other Information
Each player taking part in the campaign must also have a tally of the number of battles they have played, as well as their current number of Requisition Points (RPs). When you first embark on a campaign and you create an Order of Battle, you will start with 5 RPs. You can also include any other information you want on your Order of Battle, including notable victories or defeats, any vendettas or grudges you feel your army would have, or any additional background that you wish to add to your force or units within it.
Fighting a Battle
Battles are fought between two members of the campaign, at a points level agreed by both parties. The army used in the game must be constructed from units present in your Order of Battle.
Missions
Once you have a Battleplan, you must also roll 2D6 for a mission from the below list. This will act as your secondary objective for the game.
At the end of the game, if you completed your Mission successfully you treat a Defeat result in the scenario being played as a Draw, and a Draw as a Victory. In the cases where both players have succeeded in their Mission, the missions are disregarded when working out which side has won, drawn or lost.
Die Roll (2D6)
Mission
Objective
2
Control the Flanks
At a turn end phase, have one or more friendly units fully within 12″ of each table side edge on the opponent’s half of the table.
3
Decapitation
Kill an enemy officer during the game.
4
Envelopment
At the end of the game you must have a friendly unit fully within 12″ of the opponent’s table edge.
5
Fuel Shortage
A vehicle model must not be given an Advance or Run order for 3 consecutive turns.
6
Hold This
During setup, before deployment, you place an objective marker (roughly 2″ in diameter) within 12″ of your table edge. At the end of every turn, a friendly model must be within 3″ of the objective marker.
7
Keep Up The Pressure
At the end of any turn at least 4 enemy units have at least one pin marker.
8
Probe Defences
The first friendly unit to be pinned must fall back to your own lines to report enemy positions, using consecutive Run orders until it reaches your own table edge.
9
Reckless Bravery
Do not use a Down order during a turn (at turn end phase, none of your units have a Down order next to them).
10
Shock and Awe
At the end of turn 3 you must have 3 or more friendly units fully within the opponent’s table half.
11
Take Prisoners
Defeat an enemy Infantry or Artillery unit in close combat to capture a prisoner. Add the enemy model to your assaulting unit. The prisoner is unarmed. Keep the prisoner alive and under control – at least one model of your unit and the prisoner must survive – to the end of the game.
12
The Mole
Just before beginning the first turn of the game, after all deployment is finished (including snipers, spotters and observers), you place an objective marker representing the hiding resistance operative on the table, following the same setup instructions for the objective in the Hold Until Relieved scenario on page 114 of the Bolt Action Rulebook.
You must be within 6″ of the resistance operative with an Infantry unit, at which point the resistance operative will reveal themselves (place another model on the objective, at which point they join the friendly unit as a regular, pistol armed soldier), if there is no enemy unit within 6″. The operative needs to leave the table by moving into contact with your own table edge.
Experience
When you add a unit to your Order of Battle, it will start with the lowest experience available to it (i.e. if a unit can be bought as Regular or Veterans, then players must choose the Regular unit), the unit will then start the campaign with the minimum number of experience points available to its rank as shown in the table below.
Units can spend their experience points to go up in quality or by improving the unit.
Infantry and Artillery Experience
Battle Experience. At the end of a battle, each unit that survives gains 1 experience point.
Death Dealers. A unit gains 1 experience point for every enemy unit it has destroyed from shooting.
Courageous. A unit gains 3 experience for destroying an enemy unit in assault.
Infantry and Artillery Experience Purchases
Experience Points
Benefit
5
Move up in troop quality (inexp. to reg, reg to vet)
5
Purchase an infantry bonus skill
10
Purchase a second infantry bonus skill
15
Purchase a third infantry bonus skill
Infantry Bonus Skills
Infantry Skill
Effect
Stubborn
If forced to make a morale check, they ignore negative morale modifiers from pin markers. Remember that order tests are no morale checks.
Fieldcraft
Units with Fieldcraft using Hidden Set-up may start the game in Ambush. In addition, in the first turn of the game, all Fieldcraft units treat all Rough Ground and Obstacles as Open Ground for the purpose of movement.
Tough Fighter
When a Tough Fighter scores a casualty in assault against Infantry or Artillery, it can immediately make a second damage roll.
Behind Enemy Lines
When Outflanking, ignore the -1 modifier to the Order test for coming onto the table (American players re-roll this as this skill is already incorporated into your National Rules – Modern Communications)
Resolve
If the unit possess any pins at the end of each turn, roll a single die. On the roll of a 5+, a single pin marker is removed.
First Aid
Every time the unit receives casualties from small arms, rolls a single die. On a roll of 6, one casualty may be ignored. This skill can be used in addition to a medic.
Artillery Bonus Skills
Artillery Skill
Effect
Stubborn
If forced to make a morale check, they ignore negative morale modifiers from pin markers. Remember that order tests are no morale checks.
Mountain Gun
Treats Rough Ground as Open Ground. (Players should discuss before game if they think some terrain does not apply, such as water features, etc)
Prepared Positions
The crew has dug out cover effectively, and counts as having a Gun Shield. If the gun already has a Gun Shield, it counts as providing protection from the front and sides of the gun.
Enhanced Sights
This unit takes no penalty for firing at long range.
Steady
This unit does not suffer a penalty for only having one crew member remaining.
Resolve
If the unit possess any pins at the end of each turn, roll a single die. On the roll of a 5+, a single pin marker is removed.
Officers and HQ Experience
Battle Experience. Officer gains 1 experience for surviving the battle.
Snap to Action. An officer gains up to 1 experience for initiating “You men, snap to action!” which results in an enemy unit taking casualties. (Can be earned once per game).
Lead from the Front. An officer uses a morale bonus to assist friendly unit in a successful order test, morale test or rally. (Can be earned once per game).
Medic! Medic succesfully saves a casualty (Must be a medic and not from First Aid bonus skill). Can be earned up to three times per game.
Officer and HQ Experience Purchases
Experience Points
Benefit
5
Move up in Rank quality (2nd Lieutenant to 1st Leitenant, Captain to Major)
5
Purchase an Officer bonus skill
10
Purchase a second Officer bonus skill
15
Purchase a third Officer bonus skill
Officer and HQ Bonus Skills
Artillery Skill
Effect
Strong Leader
Add 3″ to the morale bonus range of this officer.
In Control
The Officer can remove one pin marker from a unit within its morale bonus range per turn at the cost of an Order.
Cut Throat
The officer is known for their tenacity in combat, as such any units in close quarters can add +1 to their combat rolls.
Skilled Observer
If this Officer is an Artillery Observer or Forward Air Observer, add +1 to their Artillery Barrage Chart, Smoke Barrage Chart or Air Strike Chart roll. Note that a 1, will still count as a Miscalulation or Rookie Pilot.
Skilled Shot
This Officer has a reputation as a crack shot, and such confers a +1 to hit for a single unit within its morale bonus range as that unit tries to emulate the officers skill.
Vehicle Experience
Battle Experience Vehicle gains 1 eperience for surviving the battle.
Death Dealers. Vehicle gains 1 experience for destroying an enemy infantry, artillery or soft-skinned vehicle.
Tank Hunter. The vehicle gains 3 experience for knocking out an enemy armoured vehicle.
Vehicle Experience Purchases
Experience Points
Benefit
5
Move up quality (Inexperienced to Regular, Regular to Veteran)
5
Purchase a Vehicle bonus skill
10
Purchase a second Vehicle bonus skill
15
Purchase a third Vehicle bonus skill
Soft-Skinned Vehicle Bonus Skills
Soft-Skinned Vehicle Skill
Effect
Wheelman
May make an extra pivot as part of an Advance or Run order.
Resolve
If the unit possess any pins at the end of each turn, roll a single die. On the roll of a 5+, a single pin marker is removed.
Forward Scout
This vehicle may make an Advance move (without shooting) after deployment but before the start of Turn 1.
Behind Enemy Lines
When Outflanking, ignore the -1 modifier to the Order test for coming onto the table (American players re-roll this as this skill is already incorporated into your National Rules – Modern Communications)
Shoot n’ Scoot
Can fire then move as part of an Advance order.
Recce
When reversing, either voluntarily or because of a failed order test, a Recce vehicle can reverse at it’s full Advance rate rather than at half rate, and can manoeuvre as if driving forward, i.e. a wheeled vehicle or half-track can make two 90 degree pivots and a tracked vehicle can make a single 90 degree pivot.
Some Recce vehicles can even reverse at their Run rate if they are especially small and manoeuvrable or if they have dual direction steering. These exceptions are indicated in the Army Lists. If they fail an order test, these vehicles will always reverse at a Run rate.
Recce vehicles will also spot hidden enemy at longer ranges than other vehicles – as noted in the rules ofr hidden units.
Armoured Combat Vehicle Bonus Skills
Armoured Combat Vehicle Skill
Effect
Armoured Cupola
This unit does not count as Open-topped when firing its pintle mounted weaponry. If this unit does not have the option to take a pintle mount, re-roll this skill.
Resolve
If the unit possess any pins at the end of each turn, roll a single die. On the roll of a 5+, a single pin marker is removed.
Maximum Impact
Once per game the vehicle may increase the main gun damage modifier by D3. This is selected before the roll To Hit. (Re-roll this skill if vehicle does not have weaponry with a penetration modifier)
Bulldozer
This vehicle always counts as passing the Order Check to Tank Assault another vehicle regardless of the number of Pins. No check is needed, and 1 Pin is removed. (Re-roll this skill if your vehicle is armor 7, as it cannot Tank Assault vehicles).
Lucky
The first time this vehicle takes a penetrating hit, reduce the number rolled by 1 on the Damage Chart. (First time each game)
Recovery Vehicle
Add +1 to the roll to see if this vehicle survives during the Casualties Phase.
Transport Vehicle Bonus Skills
Transport Vehicle Skill
Effect
Wheelman
May make an extra pivot as part of an Advance or Run order.
Resolve
If the unit possess any pins at the end of each turn, roll a single die. On the roll of a 5+, a single pin marker is removed.
Forward Scout
This vehicle may make an Advance move (without shooting) after deployment but before the start of Turn 1.
Getaway Driver
This vehicle can make an Advance move during its activation even if troops have embarked on it this turn.
Dedicated Gunner
This vehicle may fire two weapons instead of one, even when empty. If this vehicle cannot take more than one weapon, re-roll this skill.
First Aid
Every time a friendly Infantry Squad receives casualties from small arms within 6”, roll a single dice. On the role of a 6, one casualty may be ignored. This skill can be used in addition to a medic.
Requisition Points
Requisition Points can be used to purchase Requisitions. These can upgrade your army, or the units within it. Each time you spend a Requisition Point, reduce your total by 1. Any Requisition Points you do not spend are saved and can be used later. As you play more battles, you can accrue additional Requisition Points, but an army can never have more than 5 RP, and any additional Requisition Points after this are lost.
Each time you play a battle you will gain 1 RP after that battle has been completed, regardless of the result.
Requisitions
Increase Supply Limit (1 RP) Purchase this Requisition at any time. Increase your army’s Supply Limit by 50 points.
Fresh Recruits (1 RP) Purchase this Requisition at any time. Select one unit from your Order of Battle. Roll a die for each casualty a unit has received in the campaign so far, on a 2+ a fresh recruit is drafted into the unit to replace it’s unfortunate predecessor. Due to limited manpower, sometimes the replacements you receive will not b the same quality as the troops that were lost. To represent this, if more troops are being replaced than are left in the squad roll a die. On a 4+, the replacements are the same level as the current squad; on a 1-3 the unit loses a single level of experience.
When men are lost from an Infantry Team or Artillery Crew, these troops are replaced immediately (with the replacement being drafted in from another unit in your roster).
Rearm and Resupply (1RP) Purchase this Requisition at any time. Select one unit from your Order of Battle. You can change any weapon options that models in that unit are equipped with, within the weapon limitations as described for that unit in that Nation’s army list.
Repair and Recuperate (1RP) Purchase this Requisition either before, or after a battle. Select one unit from your Order of Battle that has one or more Battle Scars. Select one of that unit’s Battle Scars and remove it from it’s listing on your Order of Battle. By removing a Battle Scar, your Order of Battle Strength will increase by 1.
Casualties
After battle, roll a d6 for every model that was removed during the game. Make your rolls one unit at a time. Do the same for vehicles that were Knocked Out.
For Inexperience models, they survived on a die roll of a 6+
For Regular models, they survived on a die roll of a 5+
For Veteran models, they survived on a die roll of a 4+
Vehicles that were Knocked Out during the game will survive on a 4+ regardless of quality.
If all models from an infantry team or unit die, that unit is wiped out, and it should be removed from your Order of Battle.
Vehicle models that do not survive, are not available for selection in the next game, as a replacement crew is found. Roll a die, on a 4+ the vehicle retains its experience level, on 1-3 it reduces a level in experience.
Territory
After each game, the winning player rolls a D6 and gains that many territories. The losing player gains half that figure (rounding up).
Territories are used to rank the players throughout the campaign.
This is the top three AoS lists for Resurgence that took place in the Philippines on the 7th of October. It saw 10 players vying to be crowned champion in a 3-game tournament.
We’re very lucky to have gotten to know the Wartilyo crew quite well since their GT we covered back in May. When Lance reached out about producing a Top Three for a recent one dayer in the Philippines, I jumped at the chance. Thanks to Lance for sending the information through and to the players for sending their list writeups!
If you would like your 1 dayer to be covered by Woehammer, join our friendly Discord Server and contact Peter.
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
Heneral Custard: The list started out as a copy of Liam Kavanaugh’s list from Gymhammer last July, but tweaked to my playstyle. I swapped out Chainrasps for bigger chunks of Spirit Hosts to act as a more imposing anvil, fit in a second Guardian of Souls to spread around the +1 to wound aura (and to attempt Merciless Blizzards), and put Pendant of the Fellwind on the Krulghast because I like them sticking with the Spirit Hosts. The points drop was also a big help, and with an odd 80 points, Craventhrone Guard could accomplish skirmishing, activating Harridans, and completing the odd Surround and Destroy.
Spirit Hosts with the coherency change plus Hoarfrost have been a really fun way to play them. Coupled with the +1 to Hit and +1 to Wound auras, they’re surprisingly dangerous. Suddenly, they aren’t just batteries for Kurdoss or the Krulghast to fulfill Led into the Maelstrom; they do catch people off guard with their damage output. The 1-inch range proved to be a problem, but this is coming from someone who used to run 9 of them in a unit during the last season as Galletian Veterans. Regardless, when they survive the melee, they’re some of best targets for Bait and Trap, and then immediately Harridans can clean up.
Speaking of Kurdoss, he’s just fun to throw into the fray. I often forget that he steals command points, because all I want to do is throw him at a problem and see if he can go the distance.
I wanted to get more use out of the Banshees anti-magic effect, but I think many Nighthaunt players agree with me that there is a certain joy in telling people what the attack profile is. Depending on the match-up, they either made for good counter charging or just being happy little screens.
All in all, Nighthaunt’s current strength feel like their ability to accomplish battle tactics. With the points drop, most of everyone’s favorite tools are viable, and after seeing a list that was all Bladegheist Revenants, I think the ghosts are going to be alright.
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Commentary by Basa Mogul
Primary idea of the army: 1) Go for magical dominance + blocks of hardy tarpits making way for kroak to blast away
The primary idea of my army is to just step on the objectives and defend them by going for magical dominance in the form of buffs, debuffs, mortal wounds, and unbinding while supporting it with blocks of saurus. The slann is built as a support unit that can turn into a melee warrior (although it didn’t come up because the saurus always survived). The starpriests are also support units that can use merciless blizzards when the situation calls for it. Kroak’s role is to really maximize the magic denial and area denial. One of the main features of the army is the Wizard-finder 20-man spear saurus block that can have a maximum profile of 2″ 40/60A 2s 2s -2 1. Last note, 4+ bites from saurus blocks are no joke.
Notable match-up comments Khorne: The bloodthirster & skullcrusher is damage ok vs saurus, but bloodletters are painful. I will just let them try to do their 5+ spell ignores vs Kroak blasts.
OBR – Nagash: I will try stay away 30in from him, and just buff the team since the rest of the army not too painful. Main goal is to try and wizard-find nagash, and try to dish-out celestial deliverance via arcane vassal while being out of unbind range.
Behemat – I will just tarpit, and then blast with kroak.
Soulblight – I will just stand-on the gravesites, try to counter all spells, and try to do snipe damage on the heroes with kroak.
Nighthaunt – I will overwhelm them with the amount of attack dice to roll. Since they are using MSU, I think kroak will do well against them.
Stormcast – I will try to hide the heroes behind battle line, and protect kroak with all the buffs, if needed.
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BJ Recio: I started the list out with Nagash – the event poster had Nagash sitting on a throne, and as it happened my Nagash was also kit bashed to sit on a throne, so I felt it was fate heh. On a serious note though, what made Nagash worth the 900 points for me was less the 8 spells casting (it’s strong but not that central, I can afford to miscast), but rather the unlimited unbind attempts at +3 roll. That counters the Magical Dominance and Magical mayhem BTs so it seemed like the way to go with the list is battle tactic denial.
There wasn’t a lot of room for OBR units so the bonus command points were not as plentiful, which meant putting in liege kavalos for the free command per turn. Earlier versions of my list used the boneshaper as the general, but Diversionary Tactics didn’t work so well with it because mortisans are slow and hard to position. And I really wanted that command trait to make Bait and Trap and Led Into the Maelstrom hard for my opponent, so I made LK my general.
Battleline-wise, the spear mortek guard with harvester formed the core of my castle, the sword mortek guard was there to grab faraway objectives and force my opponent to split, and the kavalos deathriders were there for my round 1 battle tactic. They’re all expendable because Nagash brings them back half-strength anyway, and I was crematorians so I wanted them to die to deal mortal wounds.
I should note that while the harvester has been nerfed to the ground, it’s 160 points now which for a monster is not bad. The fact that it brings some mortek guard back is more of a bonus than a feature. And since Nagash is there, my opponents tend to think of the harvester as low priority.
Since I did not make my mortisan the general, I couldn’t use Spellcasting Savant as my GS. I went for Overshadow instead, which sucked against Seraphon and their super tough battleline. I anticipated Seraphon to be my weakest matchup overall, since they have bonuses to casting that weakened the point of Nagash’s +3 to unbind rolls. Then I matched against him at random battleplan 1 so I was off my game from the start. I was slightly ahead of him in points but had no chance on my GS. In the future I should consider another GS – maybe Control the Nexus? Still hard.
I did well against other matchups. I knew SBGL is all over right now with hordes of zombies, but between gravetide and the boneshaper’s warscroll spell, plus my harvester-protected mortek guard, I knew I could outlast and wipe those hordes and use the Soul Release spell to force their re-summons to deploy very out of place. Meanwhile, the mirror versus OBR went well because I just tarpitted his Katakros with deathriders buffed by Nagash spells and outscored him by denying BTs and smashing Nagash against his spellcasting savant general.
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Joshua Manalansan: First off, credit for the list and its playstyle goes entirely to Jarod Brown– THE top performing Lumineth Realm-lords player who has pioneered and piloted this list to a 5-0 and 4-1 finish. Much more than that, he has been a mentor to countless players in the Lumineth Discord and is the go-to person for all things Lumineth.
Standouts for this list include Rune of Senthoi, Eltharion, Sevireth, Ellania and Ellathor, double Dawnriders, and double-reinforced Bladelords.
With Rune, Enlightener unbinds on a +4 with the Scinari heroes and Zaitrec. This can be powered up even further with the Optimal Focus realm rule giving another cast and unbind if you go second in the round. Eltharion has one of the best points-to-damage ratios not just in the Lumineth book, but in all of AoS. The twins function as half Enlightener and half Eltharion, growing stronger as the game goes on and getting the bodyguard interaction with the Bladelords. Sevireth just crushes the meta by assassinating Andtorian Locuses, going to the sides of the battlefield, and smashing opponent terrain. Dawnriders are the Swiss army knife of this list. Scores easy points, moves up the board to cast Overwhelming Heat, and provides Speed of Hysh for units that go deep. Bladelords provide the bodyguard rule for our Scinari units and ensures Spellcasting Savant. With Perfect Strike, they will on average deal 9 mortal wounds to whatever they touch.
This list utilizes the Andtorian Acolytes battalion and has overall better usage of primal dice compared to Teclis-based lists. Along with how common Locuses are, the changes to “Look Out, Sir!” and the Sentinel point increase, this list might just be the best way for Lumineth players to tackle the current GHB!
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Final Tournament Placings
To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings
