My last outing with the Gloomspite Gitz ended with a 2-3 result and me playing against Gitz for game 5… so a good result for Gitz although not for most armies; but when it came to deciding which army to use for Warfare (12th – 13th November, 2022) I was very tempted to go back to Big Waaagh as it can smash (and bash) and win a few more games than the Gitz.
But, with the new Battlescroll and the reduction in points for Squig Herd and the Mangler Squig I couldn’t ignore GW’s attempt to make the Gitz playable – so I’ve gone back to them for a second time.
Games Workshop – Battlescroll
I tend to use a lot of Squig Herd models, and this was a significant cost saving for the lads. (100 points for the herd alone). It also meant I could look at an upgrade of my Grot on Giant Squig… (see below)
The List
Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance
Leaders Loonboss on Mangler Squigs (270)***
General Command Trait: Dodgy Character Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance Madcap Shaman (80)*** Artefact: Moonface Mommet Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Madcap Shaman (80)*** Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Battleline 36 x Squig Herd (420)** Reinforced x 2 12 x Squig Herd (140)* 12 x Squig Herd (140)* 10 x Squig Hoppers (180)** 10 x Squig Hoppers (180)**
Units 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105) 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (105) 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75) 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (75) 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)***
This is similar to the previous list with a few small changes. The first is a reduction in the Boingrot Bounders from 10 models (reinforced units) to 5 models. This frees up 210 points to spend on more Gitz… I’ve gone for 2 Madcap Shamans with Hand of Gork to threaten the backfield of my opponent’s objectives. One of the little chaps also has the Moonface Mommet – effectively giving my Herd -1 rend against one unit each turn – not bad for a little chap.
My other big change, allowed by the reduction in points on Squig Herd, is to swap out the Loonboss on Giant Squig with a Loonboss on Mangler Squig. This allows me to assist all the Squigs in combat – a thing I struggled with at Warhammer World.
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
This turns the Squig Herd into 3+/2+ (with the Marshcrawler) and I won’t be low on command points whilst he is alive. And to help with that he is a ‘Dodgy Character’
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
Not helpful against spells, but he can mostly stay out of the way, or rely on the dispelling rolls of him and his mates. This does mean I lose two benefits in the last army. +3″ movement from the Giant Squig and re-roll random movements. But I think this more than makes up for that. At Warhammer World I didn’t advance far beyond my lines and doing damage was the main issue.
Having avoided ‘bottom Chump’ last time with 2 wins, I’m aiming for 2 wins again, but will be trying for 3! Let’s see if my last tournament of the year can be a fun one.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Ragnarok AoS GT that took place in the UK on 5th and 6th November. It involved 32 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: Disciples of Tzeentch Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (180)* – General – Command Trait: Cult Demagogue – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Kairos Fateweaver (435)* Lord of Change (400) – Artefact: The Eternal Shroud – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
UNITS 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)** 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)** 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)**
Ed: This list is a very competent summoning/control list and Ryan is focusing all his resources into that style of play as the best lists tend to. Hosts Arcanum gives automatic unbinds on turns 1, 3 and 5 which has valuable synergy with the Curseling. After successfully unbinding a spell, the Curseling can cast his own spell in the enemy hero phase which teaches him his target’s warscroll spell and, crucially, grants the Tzeentch player a fate point despite having denied his opponent a spell. Add together the Curseling’s in-built ability to re-roll unbinds and the extremely reliable casting/unbinding from the Lord of Change and Kairos and Ryan seems to be throwing down a challenge. “I dare you to cast a spell. I dare you to stop me casting a spell.”
The Curseling also has the Cult Demagogue command trait, which gives double fate points to any spell cast on a double and Tzeentch players can guarantee that by using destiny dice. Then the Fluxmaster’s warscroll spell is a bona fide summoning battery all by itself, and can be thrown through the Umbral Spellportal to ensure maximum gain while keeping him safe and sound behind your screens. Add together the spells from the birds and (even the battleline) and Ryan has the potential to generate a huge amount of summoning points in each turn. Enough to summon whatever he needs to most effectively combat his opponent whether that be bodies, ranged damage, melee damage or just more spellcasters. The force potential and versatility of his summoning really can’t be understated.
Finally between Kairos and the Eternal Shroud artefact, Ryan is recycling his spent destiny dice every round. This means he doesn’t need to be precious about spending them to ensure success on a crucial roll and helps to ensure he will meet his grand strategy of having a combined value of 9 or more in his destiny dice at the end of the game. Removing the chance from a game of chance and simply being able to say “I do this” is strong. It’s easy to see how, in the hands of a good player, this list could do so well.
Double Trouble
We reached out to Ryan who shared a picture of the winning army (above) and commented that understanding your opponent’s list is absolutely key to his strategy, as “one screening mistake and you lose the game”. He also shared that this list is not fun to play against as it is “denial heavy” and I can believe it! It’s looks like a hard list to get right, and not one you play to make friends, but rewarding if you can pull it off. Thanks, Ryan and good luck at LGT! Hopefully we’ll see him in another article soon!
Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Lord of Afflictions (230)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Incubatch – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts of Power: The Splithorn Helm Lord of Plagues (145)*
Ed: The eagle eyed will notice that Luke drew against the previous list, meaning that he was close to taking the event if it weren’t for tiebreakers. That just goes to show how much work Pusgoyle Blightlords do, even after their price hike. People worried, or perhaps hoping, that the age of flies was over should take note: they’re still something to worry about. I’m sure you’re bored to death reading about flies by now though, so I won’t re-tread old ground.
Luke’s special flavour includes a Lord of Plagues and 2 units of Blightkings who can benefit from the Lord of Plague’s +1 attack buff. This really is a list that concentrates it’s power in small, elite groups which can both hold their own and dish it out in equal measures. When you’re playing an army like Nurgle which excels at the attrition game having such a small, focused force like this can be great for speeding up your play and ensuring you get to turn 4 and 5 where your army really comes into its own.
The Mindstealer is a fun touch. It’s 10″ move makes it quite zippy for a Nurgle list, which is good for nabbing an objective while the rest of your Rotbringers gum up the board. It’s -2 bravery aura can help to clear hordes or waste your opponent’s command points on Inspiring Presence. It also gives out a fight-last effect once per round which can be disruptive enough to swing important battles in your favour. Plus, if the opponent uses resources to focus the Mindstealer down it’s only 95 points and it has given a reprieve to your more important units. A worthy unit to fill up those awkward leftover points for any chaos army.
Allegiance: Skaven – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Battleline 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 10 x Night Runners (90)* 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade – 2x Standard Bearers – 2x Standard Bell Ringers 10 x Night Runners (90)**
Declan: Skaven again, but this is a very different one to the one I reviewed last time. This one has none of the Warp Lightning shenanigans, but does have 2 Verminlords and Thanquol. Backed up by 2 Grey Seers and there’s not going to be much difficulty casting the Warp Lightning Vortex. On it’s release it was a very popular spell (particularly with KO players with suspicious bottles), but it’s seen less now. However it’s still good tech as it messes with your opponents move and it’s casting value (8) can make it difficult to dispel, but the Skaven have +1 to cast from their mystical Gnawholes.
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
The damage can take a little of getting used to – and you’ll definitely need to explain it – but it’s played for preventing running.
Alexander has also gone for Flaming Weapon on his two Verminlords meaning he can power one up, send it in, kill stuff, and then repeat with the 2nd Verminlord. It’s a hell of a one-two – especially as Thanquol’s there to make it a ‘one-two-three’. There’s a lack of models (for a Skaven army) and the 9 drop means he’s not choosing to go first or second but that’s fine and Alexander did really well.
Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Option: Grimscuttle Tribes – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dankhold Troggboss (220)**** – Trev the Troggboss – General – Command Trait: Alpha Trogg – Artefact: Glowy Howitz Fungoid Cave-Shaman (95)**** – Freddie the Fungoid – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Madcap Shaman (80)**** – Madcap Max – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)* – The Celestant Slime – Allies
Battleline 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)**
Units 5 x Spider Riders (90)* 3 x Rippa’s Snarlfangs (70)* 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)* – Drummer Dave
Behemoths Skitterstrand Arachnarok (160)* – Big Bert & Nipper
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (20) – Steve the Swamp Trogg Mork’s Mighty Mushroom (40) – Marv the Misunderstood
Declan: Gitz on a 4-1… hurrah! Peter knows how to get my comments and Dominic has not let Skagrott’s Asylum (the WhatsApp Group for Gitz players) down here. Every unit is named — even the Endless Spells. He has Troggs which can hit hard especially as Bounty Hunters and a Marshcrawler and Rippas. The only disadvantage here apart from it still being a weak book is that Bounty Hunters against him – especially those on mounted units – really hurt. You can lose a whole Trogg unit in a turn.
Dominic may have had an interesting first three games dodging most of the worst out there, but he did very well to beat Nurgle in game 5… a battletome that is ripping up tournament results everywhere. In fact his only defeat was to Tzeentch piloted by 1st placed Ryan. Great result Dominic.
Declan (2023) – if you came here looking for 2023 boxes, their article is here!
Battleforce boxes are back after their success in 2020 & 2021. These are a fantastic way to get into a new army or even add to an existing one, but whats inside them and how many points of miniatures do you get?
Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it.Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
Prices have been confirmed for the AoS boxes to be £130, so I wouldn’t expect 40k to be different – Peter. In the meantime I thought our readers would like to know the value of the toys… so see below against each box:
Battleforce Boxset
Cost
RRP
Adepta Sororitas – Sanctorum Guard
£191.00
£130
Adeptus Custodes – Watchers of the Gate
£202.50
£130
Adeptus Mechanicus – Elimination Maniple
£184.50
£130
Imperial Knights – Chainbreaker Lance
£205.00
£130
Death Guard – Council of the Death Lord
£196.00
£130
Thousand Sons – Court of the Crimson King
£201.00
£130
Imperial Fists – Bastion Strike Force
£194.50
£130
Raven Guard – Ravenstrike Battleforce
£195.50
£130
A very similar value in each box, although the Death Guard one is very tempting… don’t tell Sanguinius!
But I can tell you a way of saving even more money by purchasing these at 25% off the recommended retail price! Just visit SCN Hobby World and sign up to their mailing list for 25% off all GW products and 20% Warlord Games products.
Alternatively, if you regularly use Element Games, you can pick them up there… using our affiliate link (for which we receive a small contribution to the site)
So what do you get inside and how much would it cost you normally? All of the points have been given for the basic unit options and include no upgrades, but you can make changes with the way some models are built.
Adeptus Sororitas – Sanctorum Guard
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Morvenn Vahl
280
£35.00
6 Paragon Warsuits
420
£85.00
5 Celestian Sacresants
70
£35.00
10 Battle Sisters
110
£36.00
Total
880
£191.00
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£61.00
Adeptus Custodes – Watchers of the Gate
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Captain General Trajann Valoris
200
£26.00
3 Vertus Praetors on Jetbikes
240
£36.00
3 Allarus Custodians
180
£32.50
15 Custodian Guard
675
£108.00
Total
1,295
£202.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£72.50
Adeptus Mechanicus – Elimination Maniple
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Belisarius Cawl
180
£35.00
2 Kastelan Robots
190
£47.50
Cybernetica Datasmith
40
inc above
6 Kataphron Destroyers
240
£72.00
10 Skitarii Vanguard
90
£30.00
Total
740
£184.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£54.50
Imperial Knights – Chainbreaker Lance
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Knight Preceptor
420
£100.00
2 Helverins
320
£52.50
2 Warglaives
300
£52.50
Total
1,040
£205.00
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£75.00
Death Guard – Council of the Death Lord
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Mortarion, Primarch of Nurgle
450
£95.00
5 Blightlord Terminators
200
£36.00
14 Plague Marines
324
£65.00
Total
974
£196.00
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£66.00
Thousand Sons – Court of the Crimson King
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Magnus the Red
420
£95.00
3 Exalted Sorcerers
300
£36.00
20 Rubric Marines
420
£70.00
Total
1,140
£201.00
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£71.00
Imperial Fists – Bastion Strike Force
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Tor Garadon
135
£26.00
3 Primaris Agressors
120
£32.50
15 Heavy Intercessors
420
£120.00
Upgrade Pack
–
£16.00
Total
675
£194.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£64.50
(*These points may seem low, but the Heavy Intercessors have to pay additional points for Heavy Weapons)
Raven Guard – Ravenstrike Battleforce
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Kayvaan Shrike
135
£26.00
Librarian in Phobos Armour
100
£21.00
10 Primaris Reivers
180
£36.00
2 Invictor Tactical Warsuits
320
£80.00
3 EliminatorsBig Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
75
£32.50
Total
810
£195.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£65.50
So what do you think good value or not? Will you be picking up a set?
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Slambo Grand Tournament that took place in Texas, USA on 5th and 6th November. It involved 65 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: Seraphon – Constellation: Thunder Lizard – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord Kroak (430)** Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)** – Artefact: Fusil of Conflaguration Skink Priest (90)** – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Engine of the Gods (265)*** – General – Command Trait: Prime Warbeast – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Beastmaster – Spell: Hand of Glory – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse
Battleline 20 x Skinks (150)* – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers – Reinforced x 1 10 x Skinks (75)* – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (75)* – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 5 x Saurus Guard (115)**
Behemoths Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)*** Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)*** Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)***
Danny:It’s that man Grigar! Can he be stopped? Evidently not. Playing with ‘old’ points, he’s taken the HQ combo. Interestingly (a relative term when writing about Thunder Lizsts) he’s *tripled* down on Thunder Lizardy goodness with one laser Basti and two meat-shield variants. For 165, their tankiness and base size makes them excellent move blockers and objective grabbers – if they push out a few wounds and a road/stomp into the bargain, so much the better. Amusingly, they’ll only get better once Expert Conqs. dies off.
Lots of skinks make up the battleline, for obvious reasons that we’ve often covered.
So what did he beat and how? (Indulge my guesses) KO would have been dealt with by parking bastis on objectives, whose 1+ saves are generally good at coping with massed rend 1 firepower with little in the way of MWs. DoK I imagine would have straight up melted to Solar Engine firepower, Kroak’s MW output and Horrorghast – that’s a lot of attrition for their fragile frames to deal with even with a 4+ rally. Fyreslayers may have presented a challenge with their ward saves, possible spell ignores and bodies-on-objectives plan – but skinks in Expert Conqs combined with a well-screened Kroak – and ‘Slayer’s lack of ranged threat – clearly put paid to their angry waddling. Hedonites, bless ’em – if they brought any daemons, the Solar Engine would have been damage three against their heaviest hitters. Lumineth would have depended on the list, but if anything can stand up to their magic it’s Kroak, and without their magic-synergy, the old-book often folds.
GG to GG once again. Now do us a favour and go 5-0 with like, an all-Terradon list!
Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Heartwood – Season: The Burgeoning – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Drycha Hamadreth (335)* – Spells: Regrowth, Verdant Blessing Arch-Revenant (120)* – General – Command Traits: Warsinger – Artefacts of Power: Seed of Rebirth
BATTLELINE Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* Tree-Revenants (110)* Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Scythes (500)**
Ethan: Howdy, Ethan here for the Sylvaneth bit and wow is this Matt Robisch list a departure from the regular Sylvaneth structure we’ve seen in the 4-1+ crowd thus far. Heartwood is a relatively standard pick but the Season selection of the Burgeoning is the beginning of a picture showing a more durable, less mobile and less spell dependent Sylvaneth army. This is a list that requires enormous skill to play as it is elite, relatively fragile despite the defensive season and lacks many of the tools such as the Spiteswarm hive and a battlemage which allow for the single-unit Strike and Fade strategy regularly seen which plays like a scalpel, removing a unit a turn as magic support pushes for board control.
Warsinger and the Seed of Rebirth ensure that the Archrevenant has defensive tools to help it survive incidental MWs and shooting while Warsinger makes the large blocks of Kurnoth hunters sufficiently mobile at the same time as sending the gossamids and revenant seekers into overdrive. 6 bows create a sufficient shooting threat to force opponents to approach the sylvaneth force while Gossamid archers support this to threaten 5-wound heroes and to add tech to slow the advance of a variety of shooting lite armies. Looking at Matt’s MUs, he has admittedly had a relatively lucky run, coming up against 5 armies with little to no shooting with which to remove his gossamid archers. This allows for a greater deal of board control than you would expect into armies with the tools to remove them outside of their unleash and retreat charge phase mechanic.
Outside of this, the list is very much what you see on the tin, Drycha is an excellent damage threat in midrange with her shooting profile further disincentivising charges as 30 shots doing MWs on 6s is nothing to sniff at (average of 5 MWs for the mathematician savants in the audience). The Kurnoth hunters with scythes are supported by the Revenant seekers, bringing 1 back a turn and serving as an anvil with 30 wounds on a 3+ base, supplemented by a 6+ ward (and often a mystic shield, I’d hope). This list holds space well compared to most Sylvaneth lists and functions in the absence of spellcasters, demonstrating a different aspect of the Sylvaneth than we’ve seen thus far and perhaps heralding somewhat the direction many will take their Sylvaneth lists as the book starts to mature and players become more willing to experiment.
Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Army Type: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead -‘ Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290) – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Spells: Warding Brand, Ignite Weapons 1 x Bundo Whalebiter (490)*** 1 x Lord-Castellant (155)*** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Warding Brand Ignite Weapon 1 x Battlemage (100)*** – Artefacts: Whitefire Tome – Ghur – Spells: Sear Wounds, Elemental Cyclone, Warding Brand, Crystal Aegis, Ignite Weapons, Roaming Wildfire
BATTLELINE 10 x Flagellants (80)* Prophet 10 x Flagellants (80)** Prophet 10 x Flagellants (80)** Prophet
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
OTHER 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – Stormdrake-Prime – Drakerider’s Warblade
Peter: I reached out to Tom who kindly agreed to give us a quick run down on the way his list works.
Tom Guan: The list does a lot of mortal wounds and good target selection between the dragon and hurricanum shooting, all the casting, and impact hit from the gargant. Let’s it deal with armor fairly well, with conquerer on the flagellants, it can steal objectives pretty well also. I felt like the list had a lot of different play available to it against everything and would play something similar in the future.
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Underguts – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Butcher (135)** – Cleaver – Artefacts: Gnoblar Blast Keg – Spells: Blubbergrub Stench 1 x Hrothgorn (170)** 1 x Tyrant (150)** – General – Command Traits: Mass of Scars – Big Name: Fateseeker – Artefacts: Gruesome Trophy Rack 1 x Blackpowder’s Buccaneers (105)***
BATTLELINE 8 x Leadbelchers (360)* 4 x Leadbelchers (180)* 4 x Leadbelchers (180)*
ARTILLERY 1 x Ironblaster (130) 1 x Ironblaster (130)*** 1 x Ironblaster (130)*** 1 x Ironblaster (130)***
TERRAIN 1 x Great Mawpot (0)
OTHER 20 x Gnoblars (100) 20 x Gnoblars (100) 3 x Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers (170)
Declan: When Peter asked me to comment on an Ogor list for the top 3 series I was happy to oblige… but a little ‘Gut’-ted that they were outside the top 3 – however a 4-1 result is still special with Ogors, so congrats to Bryan on this one.
The US scene has already been a bit strange for Ogors with Ironblasters and Leadbelchers being a lot more common there than on this side of the pond. The approach here is to shoot the world, and then charge and do mortal wounds. However the real tech is in the spell:
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
A low casting value and a bubble make this a great spell when you remember that the Ironblasters have the Rhinox keyword – so they all benefit.
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
And what a benefit. Mortal wounds on a 4+ instead of a 6+ and this is based on the actual charge distance rolled, not what was moved. You also get to shoot with the Ironblasters first. I’ve never known why it hasn’t caught on elsewhere but it is an interesting list that will likely only get better in the new book, where the Ironblaster looks like a beast of a warscroll.
Declan (2023) – if you are looking for the AoS 2023 article you can find it here.
Battleforce boxes had success in 2020 & 2021. These are a fantastic way to get into a new army or even add to an existing one, but whats inside them and how many points of miniatures do you get?
Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it.Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
Prices have been confirmed to be £130 per box – Peter. In the meantime I thought our readers would like to know the value of the toys… so see below against each box:
Battleforce Boxset
Cost
RRP
Daughters of Khaine – Slaughter Coven
£162.50
£130.00
Orruk Warclans – Kruleboyz
£187.50
£130.00
Gloomspite Gitz – Stampeding Squigalanche
£191.50
£130.00
Skaventide – Verminous Host
£206.50
£130.00
Nighthaunt – Legion of Grief
£200.00
£130.00
Slyvaneth – Revenant Wargrove
£211.00
£130.00
Stormcast Eternals – Thunderstrike Spearhead
£198.50
£130.00
There’s a big variation here, with Daughters of Khaine being the lowest price outside the boxset – because a good chunk of them are in the Vanguard box. So a lot depends on the RRP of each Battleforce but there’s likely to be some good deals in there – especially if it’s your army or you’re looking for something new to play with in 2023.
But I can tell you a way of saving even more money by purchasing these at 25% off the recommended retail price! Just visit SCN Hobby World and sign up to their mailing list for 25% off all GW products and 20% Warlord Games products.
Alternatively, if you regularly use Element Games, you can pick them up there… using our affiliate link (for which we receive a small contribution to the site)
So what do you get inside and how much would it cost you normally? I’ve also included the points for the troops as sold, but you can make small changes with the way some of the models are built.
Daughters of Khaine
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Slaughter Queen on Cauldron
315
£47.50
5 Khinerai Heartrenders
95
£35
5 Melusai Blood Sisters
140
Vanguard
5 Doomfire Warlocks
145
Vanguard
10 Witch Aelves
115
£80
Total
810
£162.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£32.50
Orruk Warclans – Kruleboyz
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Gobsprakk – Mouth of Mork
260
£90.00
Swampboss Skumdrekk
290
£35.00
3 Man-Skewer Boltboyz
120
£30.00
10 Gutrippaz
160
£32.50
Total
830
£187.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£57.50
Gloomspite – Squigalanche
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig
105
£24.00
Loonboss on Mangler Squig
270
£52.50
Mangler Squig
250
£52.50
10 Squig Hoppers
180
£32.50
12 Squig Herd
140
£30.00
Total
945
£191.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£61.50
Skaventide – Verminous Host
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell
325
£42.50
Warlork Bombardier
115
£17.50
3 Stormfiends
320
£42.50
40 Clanrats
200
£52.00
40 Plague Monks
180
£52.00
Total
1,140
£206.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£76.50
Nighthaunt – Legion of Grief
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief
340
£30.00
Black Coach
335
£80.00
10 Bladeghast Revenants
175
£30.00
10 Dreadscythe Harridans
160
£30.00
10 Grimghast Reapers
160
£30.00
Total
1,170
£200.00
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£70.00
Sylvaneth – Revenant Wargrove
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Drycha Hamadreth
335
£36.00
2 Treelords
520
£85.00
10 Spite Revenants
210
£60.00
16 Dyads
100-160 (*)
£30.00
Total
1,165 – 1,225
£211.00
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£81.00
(*) – Dryads are in units of 10; but on sprues for 8… not ideal!
Stormcast Eternaals – Thunderstrike Spearhead
Warhammer Community / Games Workshop
Unit
Points
Cost
Knight-Relictor
120
£21.00
3 Annihilators
180
£32.50
10 Vanquishers
220
£37.50
10 Vigilors
340
£37.50
2 Stormdrake GuardsGithizzar Harvester
340
£70.00
Total
1,200
£198.50
RRP
£130.00
Saving
£68.50
So what do you think good value or not? Will you be picking up a set?
General Speaking is a new series on Woehammer, that focuses on the mentality of competitive gamers in Age of Sigmar. How did they start their hobby journey and what kind of thought process goes into their list creation?
This week I talk to Radal Brasher who so far under the current General’s Handbook. Randal has walked away with a 4-1 at the Outlaw Open in July with Kharadron Overlords and a 3-2 at Hammerfest with Cities of Sigmar.
Randal Brasher – The Stats
The Man, the Myth, the Legend…..
Events: 2 Wins: 7 Losses: 3 Win Rate: 70% Current World Woehammer Ranking: 278th Current North America Woehammer Ranking: 151st Current US Woehammer Ranking: 136th
Randal! Thank you for talking to me. I’d like to start by getting a little background to your wargaming history for everyone reading. When did you first start wargaming and what drew you into the hobby?
I got started with Wargaming in 1988 at the ripe old age of 11. I was an avid TTRPG player growing up in a small, conservative town in Texas, my father thought he could refocus my attention to a more wholesome hobby. Namely giant robots blowing each other up. I dabbled with it as a teenager even traveling to some conventions to play, including GenCon in 1993, which diverted my attention to Magic: The Gathering.
Much later in 2001 I got into Warhammer Fantasy Battles playing Bretonnians and Empire in 6th edition and played that for several years until the Bretonnians got their book and they nixed my beloved wedge formations. I dabbled a bit in 40k in 5th and 6th editions, but mostly my hobby time was mostly spent playing Magic earning myself a couple of Pro Tour invites but I never cashed.
That remained really the extent of my foray into wargaming until the COVID Pandemic where I needed something new to keep me busy. Luckily it was right when the 40k Indomitus box came out, and the low(er) cost of entry dragged me back in. After a year of painting, but not playing 40k with anyone other than my son, I started going to our local gaming shop to get games. What I found was a whole bunch of people playing Age of Sigmar and the few 40k players were not interested in playing anything that wasn’t tournament preparation. The community was awesome and welcoming and that is really what drew me in. After being isolated for so long, I think I wanted to be around people more than I cared about the nature of the game. Thus I pivoted to AoS, picking up Kharadron Overlords with zero knowledge of what the army did or how it played, they were just steampunk dwarfs!
Randal’s Kharadron army for the Outlaw Open
Who doesn’t love Steampunk Dwarves! And more recently you’ve been starting to make an impact on the competitive scene. This season alone you went 4-1 with KO at the Outlaw Open and 3-2 at Hammerfest. What got you into the competitive side of the game?
When I got started in AoS had promised my wife that I wouldn’t get into competitive side of the game and would stick to narrative play, that lasted a month. 😛 I’m a competitive person, it is just part of who I am and we both should have known that narrative play was never going to satisfy me as much as high-level tournament play.
My path to playing competitively was odd in that I started off with a whole bunch of local success. Using KO I managed to take down our local Path to Glory League with a 26-4 record, then went 3-0 and 2-0-1 in my first two tournaments. I think this was actually a bad thing as I got my butt kicked badly at my first GT (Hammerfest 2021). It was really difficult to take a step back and realize that I was still a newbie, and that my success was more due to luck than any skill on my part. I thankfully had a wonderful team around me in the Austin Weirdnobz with some of the top players in Texas to help me work through it. Guys like Matt Robisch, Eli Ramos, and Macro Hernandez, who are perpetual 4-1 bracket or better players.
So what was the change between those first few GT’s that you attended and the success you garnered later on? Was there a particular piece of advice you received or was it the way in which you prepped that made the difference?
I kept trying to force my KO list into situations where it was not well positioned and it did not end well. There was a joke going around that Hammerfest 2021 wrecked me as I went 1-2 or 1-1-1 in every local tournament through the end of the year. The only other GT I played in was the Austin Open where I took the exact same list from Hammerfest and dug out a 3-2 but did not leave feeling like I did a good job. In spite of my club doing what they could to get me prepared I was not in the right mental space to understand what I was doing wrong (which was nothing). There is an inherent randomness to wargames and our place in it is to mitigate that randomness. The tools we have available are fairly limited in that respect as well: perfect play, solid lists, practice, but in the end the dice are still the masters of the day. In spite of decades of playing various games that have randomness baked in, dice games have always been tough for me to accept. I am a statistician by trade and knowing the probability of things happening really skews you toward bad risk/reward plays.
The best thing that happened during this timeframe was the realization that list building and theory crafting was just as fun as playing and it is where my real skillset lies. Since then I’ve been helping build and tune lists for our locals. It has been awesome seeing my ideas and work take struggling players to winning records and even a few 4-1 finishes where previously they were happy with a 1-4.
Stormcast Dragons from the Lonestar Open
You mentioned list building, what is your approach to it? Do you set aside a certain number of points for an anvil or a hammer for example or is it around playing on a certain strength?
It tends to be more holistic rather than a step by step process, but the first step is almost always answering, “What do I want this list to do?” Sometimes that can be as simple as, “Unleash a devastating alpha strike.” or could be as complex as, “Execute this obscure gimmick that will pin my opponent in their deployment zone, while winning the attrition game via stacked bravery penalties.”
When helping others theorycraft it is most important to understand what they want to get out of the list when they play it. Asking the above question is just the ground work so that you do not waste time building something that, “It just wins,” when their goal is really, “Do this awesome thing with this centerpiece model I spent a hundred hours painting.” It can be really hard to get there because often players don’t fully understand themselves what it is they want out of a list, but once you get there they will often build themselves.
For me personally, I am a speed freak, I want go fast and I want to go hard. That plays into my army selection to a great extent, and it’s there if you look at the lists I’ve played. Kharadron, Stormcast Dragons, and eventually Tempest Eye, speed and shooting are the hallmarks of what I want to do.
As for filling in the blanks on list building, I like to find some build around piece, and it’s often not a hammer or an anvil, but force multipliers. In my Tempest Eye lists the Hurricanum is the unit everything keys off of, and the entire army exists to exploit the force multipliers while protecting the boss. In my Stormcast lists it was the Knight Incantor/s who provided a level of counterplay and disruption to how an opponent might want to stop whatever it was that was supporting them.
I think this is a great point, as a lot of people may look at the meta and see a certain army with a 60% win rate and think ‘I should play those, they’re winning all the time’. But, that army may not suit them in their play style or aesthetically.
In a way, the old ‘rule of cool’ really does come into it?
Oh the “rule of cool” is always there, sometimes in the foreground but often just underneath the covers. When working with newer players finding out what they want is so rewarding because it often comes down to finding whatever cool thing they want to do and figuring out how to make it work.
It is fairly easy to make a winning list for most armies, but it is far more difficult to do it and still stick with a chosen theme or gimmick. It does bring up a good side note for this, winning while the desired outcome is often not the only or most important outcome of playing the game. I think it is far more important to play something you enjoy, that you can help your opponents enjoy, and win or lose come out of a game/tournament feeling like something special has happened.
It is hard as a highly competitive player to remember this when you are deep into theorycrafting or actually at a tournament in an intense match-up. I know I struggle with it, especially when the dice have it out for me. In the end we have to remember that the wargaming community is mostly middle-age, middle-class folks pushing around painted dolls, the absurdity of it all means we probably shouldn’t take wargaming too seriously.
The ‘Oppressive’ Tempest’s Eye list from Slambo
Amen! So, you’ve also entered a number of one day events under the new GHB, does your approach to these events differ to that of a two day event?
Sometimes. One day events get separated into two different types. There are casual events where playing whatever is just fine and I’ll often bring whatever sounds fun regardless of how good it is, or how good I think it is. Then there are GT prep tournaments where the goal is to stress test a potential GT list. In the former I’ll often try to test out some silly gimmick or play something so off meta that I get raised eyebrows. My go-to army in those cases is Stormcast Eternals, the army has an absurd number of units and almost endless ally options so you can really have fun with it when the stakes are low. For GT prep it is more business as usual and it is time to bring out the nasty to mercilessly crush the opposition.
As for the current GHB I am not a fan. I think the current GHB is OK, but it really highlights how phenomenal GHB 2021 was for the competitive scene. The new GHB really punishes list building as the battle tactics are often so difficult or narrow that many armies cannot consistently score them even if they are winning. Combine that with missions that do not have separation or catch-up mechanics and games look close even when it is a blowout. This leads to considering ability to complete battle tactics when list building. Let me tell you, doing so sucks away a lot of the silliness and coolness that are fun to bake into lists.
Looking forward to the new season already then? Are you booked into any other GT’s under the current GHB? What are your hopes for the remainder of the season?
I am looking forward to Games Workshop’s promise of a new GHB every six months, but if they do this the quality will need to improve from this season. It is to the point that I am playing in the Slambo GT in two weeks and they are using missions from the last GHB, albeit with the current battle tactics/rules, instead of the current one.
Slambo will be my last GT this year, but locally we are going to do some doubles tournaments, maybe something for charity, and try to get a narrative league started. After Slambo my next big tournament will be LVO, hopefully with a new GHB.
GTs tend to happen in bursts I played in three GTs in two months in June/July this year, missing a fourth in the same timeframe due to COVID. I think that is my limit honestly and the six weeks between Hammerfest and Slambo feels too short to do my due diligence. Next year I think things will end up spread out more as the Texas Masters series will be back to its normal schedule and I intend to limit myself to no more than six in-person GTs.
It’s been a pleasure talking to you, all the best for the coming season!
Leaking Games Workshop releases early is a time honoured tradition that goes back almost as long as Games Workshop itself. In the early days leaks would be hand carved into clay tablets which would then be sanded down with rough pumice stone to achieve that classic blurry look. These tablets would be passed around surreptitiously in back rooms by Games Workshop employees who desperately wanted you to think they were cool. A blind eye might be turned to these leaks as they helped to meet annual sales targets by convincing impressionable young players that they were absolutely going to need at least 6 Skaven Doomwheels if they want to win games after Christmas . Plus, if they can just be the first player to get them painted up they can establish themselves as a legendary competitive superstar! Just ask the resident old bloke in your gaming club, he’ll tell you. It’s all true.
These days the internet has made the proliferation of leaks much faster and easier. With players desperate to know what’s next for their army the leakers themselves have naturally become very popular and beloved members of the community (citation needed). No doubt you want to get in on this action, and establish yourself as a Warhammer influencer for about two weeks before Games Workshop’s lawyers bring their righteous fury down upon you. Don’t worry friend, we’re here to clue you in on how to make a traditional Warhammer Leak the right way!
Step One: Source your leak
Everyone and their dogs seem to have the inside scoop on some dramatic changes that are just around the corner these days. But unless you’re mates with a member of the rules team or employed somewhere along the distribution network getting your hands on these coveted titbits might seem impossible. Even those who consider themselves active members of the community must stop and wonder sometimes: “where is everyone getting these spicy hot leads?!” Don’t worry friend, it’s not that you are out of the loop. The secret to a truly great leak is being a total, remorseless liar!
How did this image get in here?
Many of these “leaks” are in fact “creative fabrications”. Often the leaks that inflame the community the most are the ones that don’t hold up to even the briefest moment of scrutiny. But that’s fine because the aim has never been to provide people with useful information. The aim is to accumulate clout through constant crashing waves of hype and outrage. Think of it like Fox News for toy soldiers.
So if you don’t have any genuine information to leak, just make something up and credit it to “a reliable source”. Who could dare doubt you with those credentials?!
Step 2: Write your Leak
In our example, I’ll be leaking an update for the fourth Lumineth Realm-Lords battletome. This is perfect, because the mere insinuation that an elf army may receive yet more support is enough to reduce most Warhammer nerds into a frothy puddle of liquid rage. There’s no need to exhaust ourselves by faking an entire book. Just a couple of “facts” taken completely at random will be enough. Behold.
The only question is how many people will bother to read the filename
This is typical of the type of leak you will see in group chats and facebook posts all around the world. It contains just enough information to tantalise, yet is extremely stingy on the specifics leading the reader to speculate wildly for post after glorious post. Make sure to include rules that are both absolutely ludicrous, and yet totally believable coming from a Games Workshop game. If you really want to seem legitimate, sprinkle a few spelling errors and grammatical mistakes in your text because as everyone knows, leakers can’t read.
Step 3: Tart it up
This step is optional, but highly recommended. If you have any graphic design skills let’s put them to work to add an air of authenticity to your work. If you’ve faked your leak entirely then you’re going to need an extreme close up of the rules so you don’t need to include any pictures of new models. However, faking rules for an existing model will look a lot more legitimate. Through fairly simple photo editing I have transposed a new rule onto the warscroll for Ellania and Ellathor. It’s like fan fiction!
Writing rules is so easy, even I could do it!
As well as adding my creative new rule, I’ve gone ahead and added 1 attack to each of their weapon profiles. Like Bob Ross and his trees, this is just a little treat to myself and any eagle eyed readers who are smart enough to notice the difference, but dumb enough to believe it’s true because they saw it on the internet.
Step 4: Blur the F out of it!
A blurry image isn’t just a leaking tradition – it serves a valuable purpose! By lowering the quality of the image we can reduce the tell-tale signs of our photoshop work and help sell the reader a narrative they’ll believe. This wasn’t a malicious attempt to deceive them in order to gain literally minutes of attention. This comes from a diehard fan who infiltrated Games Workshop headquarters to hastily snap a single photo in between dodging security guards and spike traps!
Your method of blurring is unique to you, like an artist’s signature that tells other leakers who’s responsible for this particular pile of steaming hogswollop. You may choose to reduce the image size and increase compression to create plenty of lovely jpeg artefacts obscuring your slightly off-colour font choice. Personally, I love a good picture of a picture. Channel your inner Facebook aunt who has never heard of the print screen button and simply hold your smartphone up to your monitor.
The perfect crime
Part 5: Revel in the Glory of your Instantly Forgettable Nothingburger
All that’s left to do is post your work to the poorly moderated group chat of your choice and watch the community work itself into a collective blather. Enjoy reading arguments over whether its “Games Workshops latest insult to Kruleboyz players” or “a long overdue update to a neglected battletome”. Once that rumour hits YouTube, you’ve made it! You have successfully incepted the internet, and you can rest safe in the knowledge that your contribution has made the community slightly more annoying to be a part of. Good job weirdo.
Coming soon to a 1h 45m long Youtube video on your feed!
(Please note, this post is intended as satire. Everyone please stop lying for clout. It’s so lame.)
So this is the last week for the overall stats since the start of the new General’s Handbook. Next week we’ll be starting again for the stats from the new Battlescroll.
The Running Stats
This graph shows each faction win rate for the four weeks leading up to the date at the top. This should show the effect of new Battletomes dropping as well as changes players make in adapting to the meta.
Faction Win Rates
The above shows the various factions win rates since the new GHB dropped back in July. You’ll see above that I’ve split the Sons of Behemat, Lumineth and Disciples into two, once for their new books (lines ending 3rd Ed) and the older tome.
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.
Tournaments in Winning Positions / 5-0 Results
This graph simply shows the number of times a faction has started the final round with 4 wins from 4 and also how many 5-0 the factions have achieved.
Win Chance
This shows the chance each faction has of achieving 5-0. This is calculated using the number of players that go 5-0 against the full number of players using that faction.
Like above, this show the chance of getting 4 or more wins (including 5-0).
And finally the chance of going 3+ wins (including 5-0 and 4+).
AOS Hall of Fame
Below is a list of all the players who first achieved a 5-0 with a faction. The list is completed in date order (earliest first).
The only factions still yet to achieve 5-0 are Blades of Khorne, Gloomspite Gitz and Kruleboyz.
These are the player rankings calculated by us at Woehammer using the method described previously. We think this method levels the playing field between those playing factions with a high win-rate and those playing with a low win-rate. Almost like a handicap system in Golf or similar sports.
Calculation Summary
Points are awarded to each player for a win or a draw. Points are calculated for each faction. To calculate a factions win score is a fairly simple process:
Take their current win rate as shown in our weekly AoS Meta article and times this by 5:
e.g. Lumineth Realm-Lords: 51.02% x 5 = 2.6
This is the expected number of wins that faction should achieve in a 5 game GT. Next divide 100 by this value to give a score for each win.
e.g. Lumineth Realm-Lords 100/2.6 = 39.2 per win.
When a player has finished their tournament multiply their result (draws are counted as 0.5) by the score.
e.g. a Lumineth player achieves 2 wins and a draw; 2.5 x 39.2 = 98 points
Current Rankings
The best four results as a total make up a player’s score.
NORTH AMERICA
EUROPE
OCEANIA
WORLD WIDE
My Database
Below is the file for all of the data we hold at Woehammer in regard to GT’s. This has everything from tournament results to player ranking calculations.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Kansas City Open that took place in USA on 29tg and 30th October. It involved 79 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: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Zainthar Kai – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders The Shadow Queen (340)* Morathi-Khaine (340)* Bloodwrack Medusa (130)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 15 x Blood Stalkers (540)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Blood Sisters (280)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)* 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)*
Danny: Gavin Grigar is not an uncommon name to see in these parts, but it’s especially nice to see it followed by a complete lack of Spinedog (RIP)
Turns out two big monsters with a timed-invincibility was quite appealing? Anyway – this list reverts to type, Morathi and the bow sneks, 10 stabbers, and 2×5 Khinerai. In case you’re not familiar with the flygirls – they’re perfectly good for 95 pts as a harassment unit, but their true value comes in unlocking a DoK specific battle-tactic, to drop two of them down and use their ‘fire and move’ ability – so, essentially an auto-score.
The beauty of them in this season is that they’re then perfectly positioned to score Barge Through in the following turn unless the opponent dedicates resources to dealing with them, which would usually pull them out of position in so doing. And if they don’t…they’re probably nicely set up for objective stealing and Desecrate too. It’s a really strong little scoring combo for 190 pts and a lot to deal with while you have slithery hammers coming atcha in the meantime.
GavGar took down not one but two tough mirror matches (including Thomas, below), not one but two SoB and a cheeky Legion list on his way to 5-0 – congrats, and good to see ‘pure’ DoK representing again.
Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts of Power: The Splithorn Helm – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
Peter: Rather than us explaining how Nurgle Flies and a Spinedog work for the umpteenth time. Emma Mangels has kindly agree to share her experiences of the tournament instead. Thank you Emma!
Emma Mangels: Since the battlescroll update did not drop in time for the open I figured I would combine the 2 worst things in the game into 1 list. I am very happy they increased the points, but they unfortunately did not address any of the issues with the flies or krondspine in the recent battlescroll. The toughest game I had was round 2, a fly mirror with Be’lakor. I’ve played 2 mirrors before at ACO, so I’ve already had some reps in mirrors. I knew it was going to be a dice game, and that my chance of making a run for 1st was already gone due to the mirror match (the mirror is low scoring). I used my pregame move to set up for the strongest counterplay, which included pregame moving 4 flies wholly within 6 of a garrisonable terrain piece and using 2×2 flies on other side to lure my opponent in. Yes, that is right, I garrisoned a unit of 4 flies. I gave up some points in the first 2 turns, but it was about securing every advantage I could since his list had the early edge of 1 more fly and the Be’lakor to shut down my Krondspine. Had a wild moment where I sent my level 1 Krondspine into a single fly (was a 4 man unit) to kill or prevent it from rallying next turn. I did 0 damage, it did 5 damage back and I rolled a 5 killing the Krondspine. He then rolled 2 6s on his 3 dice rally and brought back 2 flies. In the end I was able to muscle out a win with a hard choice top of 5 of going for a battle tactic but opening the door to a VERY low but possible chance my opponent could pick up an extra point (idols) to go ahead OR to just drop the tactic and guarantee the win. I elected to secure the win by tying him up with Nurglings I had summoned to prevent Barge and running away with the last fly unit which was an idol to prevent him from taking the +1 point.
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Army Subfaction: Hagg Nar – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Slaughter Queen (130) – Prayers: Sacrament of Blood 1 x Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (270)*** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor – Prayers: Covenant of the Iron Heart 1 x High Gladiatrix (90)*** – Artefacts: Crown of Woe 1 x Melusai Ironscale (115)*** – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator
BATTLELINE 10 x Sisters of Slaughter (135)* – Kruiplash and Bladed Buckler 10 x Sisters of Slaughter (135)* – Kruiplash and Bladed Buckler 30 x Witch Aelves (345)* – Hag – 6 x Death Pennant Bearer – 6 x Hornblower – Sciansá and Bladed Buckler 10 x Blood Sisters (280)** 10 x Blood Sisters (280)**
Danny: ALSO dropping Spinedog – praise be! – is another familiar name. Thomas however has opted for the increasingly (albeit slowly) popular Norathi list variation, dropping the big shadow momma in favour of loads more bodies and overlapping synergies.
There’s a lot more going on than maybe meets the eye to this kind of list. It centers around the Cauldron of Blood with Hag Queen – an excellent utility piece that radiates a +1 save aura and is a ‘tanky’ (in DoK terms – 13 wounds!) platform for some key enhancements – and more importantly, casting Heart of Fury on a 2+ (+1 to prayers from…itself!).
Heart of Fury is utterly key here – reducing melee damage by 1 in an aura – to keeping the big blob (and more besides) of Witches alive. Combined with the 4+ rally, it really takes a lot to chew through them, especially as Thom has opted for bladed bucklers, putting them on a 5+ that also reflects a MW back with a 6+ save roll. While supported by the buffs of the Gladiatrix and the Avatar (including the one riding shotgun on the cauldron), that blob is also putting out 61 attacks at 2/2/-2/1.
The 2x 10 Sisters of Slaughter benefit from all the same buffs, but the reason you take them instead of Witches is their eligibility to fight within 6″ (and pile in the extra 3″) – allowing you some flexibility with activation.
Interesting, Thom has still included the Ironscale, despite not needing her to make sneks battleline to fill that requirement – she’s an odd duck and often known as a ‘snake tax’, but she does have a command ability to allow one of the 2×10 stab sneks to run and charge – combined with their 8″ move, the +1 to both from the Blood Rites in round 2 – thanks to the +1 to Rites from being Hagg Nar – that gives them some serious slitherin’ speed.
This is looking like the new overall ‘shape’ of a Norathi build, and it’s awesome to see just how viable it is. I would love to have seen the mirror with Gavin!
Army Faction: Fyreslayers – Army Subfaction: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)** – General – Command Traits: Blood of the Berzerker – Mount Traits: Coal-heart Ancient 1 x Auric Runemaster (125)** – Artefacts: Volatile Brazier – Prayers: Curse 1 x Battlesmith (150)** – Artefacts: Nulsidian Icon
BATTLELINE 1 x Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Mount Traits: Flame-scale Youngblood 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)* – Hornblower of Grimnir – Karl 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (480)* – Karl – Flamestrike Poleaxe 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)*** – Hornblower of Grimnir – Karl 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)*** – Hornblower of Grimnir – Karl
Peter: As none of us have any real experience with Fyreslayers. Kevin Lathers has agreed to step in and fill in our knowledge gap. Kevin previously wrote a fantastic guide on Fyreslayers which you can read here.
Kevin: Vito’s list is definitely an abnormality in the grand world of Fyreslayer lists. Like any Fyreslayer list, this will play a little different dependent on opponent, it’s the nature of Fyreslayers. A Lofnir list which eschews the normal 3 or 4 magmadroths and only takes two: a Runeson and a Runefather. These are supported with a mix of Vulkite Berserkers and Hearthguard Berserkers.
It still relies on a couple key pieces few Fyreslayers leave home without: A Runemaster chanting the Molten Infernoth for the Grand Strategy; Masters of the Forge may be one of the best GS in the game; and a battlesmith providing its normal role of anti-magic aura and its once per game 5+ ward being extremely powerful into possible double turns.
In play, Vito has a few options at his disposal depending on the opponent and this list is going to be a tide that can wash over anyone underestimating the once per game buffs. Hearthguard Berserkers receive their 4+ ward off any hero, including both magmadroths.
Without a Runesmiter for forward drops, this list will rely on the built in speed of the Magmadroths as well as the Runemaster’s “Ember Storm” prayer to give the Hearthguard or Vulkites run + charge. Further, Vulkites have a built in +1 charge to help get them across the baord.
Vulkites can be both a hammer — having decent damage on the charge with certain runes like the Rune of Searing Heat or Awakened Steel — and a shield, where their fight on death means they turn into an extremely punishing blocker/screen for the Magmadroths. Some of the Vulkites are also in Expert Conquerors forcing opponents to deal with them where they can further act as a quagmire of pain.
Heathguard Berserkers hit very hard and, with Magmadroths being there to provide their ward aura, are freed from the shackles of a foot hero. They can also be given run and charge to keep up with the droths and provide an incredible hammer, netting 10 mortal wounds on average. Or they can be left to guard the backline providing a threat that few things want to deal with.
And all this is followed up with a Runefather which can not only buff the surrounding units with more attacks, but can fight twice once per game. The multitide of infantry shields means the Runefather can be positioned to make full use of the fight twice ability. If played right this ends up with the an incredible wombo combo: The Runefather goes in, pops his Lord of the Lodge ability, the Hearthguard Berserkers charge in getting more swings for 14-16 mortal wounds on average, and the Vulkites come in with a whopping four attacks each under the aura. Meanwhile the Runefather can fight twice into something beefy or important or even into multiple units. If applied at just right time this could feasibly table an opponent or at least remove all of their key pieces.
