This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Realm of Geddon 2023 that took place on the 4th and 5th February. It involved 14 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As a reminder, as this tournament has less than 20 players, there won’t be any comments from the Woehammer guys here. This frees up their time for the bugger tournament write ups.
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:
Leaders Kairos Fateweaver (440)** Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (180)** – General – Command Trait: Cult Demagogue – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Fatemaster (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)** – Lore of Change: Fold Reality Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
Battleline 10 x Tzaangors (180)** 10 x Tzaangors (180)** 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (110)** 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Despoilers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (220)* – General – Command Trait: Idolator Lord – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Prayer: Heal Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (195)* – Axe – Wings – Command Trait: Bolstered by Chaos – Artefact: Helm of Many Eyes – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
Battleline 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 10 x Chaos Chosen (480)*** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Ensorcelled Banner: The Banner of Screaming Flesh – Reinforced x 1
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Khailebron – Mortal Realm: Ulgu – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Morathi-Khaine (350)* The Shadow Queen (350)*
Battleline 15 x Blood Stalkers (540)** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Blood Sisters (300)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Witch Aelves (120)* – Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)** 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)**
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Quest of Champions (Heat 1) that took place in the UK on the 4th and 5th February. It involved 30 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: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Underguts – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Icebrow Hunter (120) 1 – General – Command Traits: Voice of the Avalanche – Aspect: Leadership of the Alpha 1 x Slaughtermaster (140) 2 – Artefacts: Gruesome Trophy Rack – Spells: Blubbergrub Stench 1 x Bloodpelt Hunter (140) 3 1 x Bloodpelt Hunter (140) 3
BATTLELINE 2 x Frost Sabres (80) 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)** – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
ARTILLERY 1 x Ironblaster (200)* 1 x Ironblaster (200)** 1 x Ironblaster (200)***
OTHER 20 x Gnoblars (120)*** 20 x Gnoblars (120)***
Did you think Ogors were just Ironblasters and giant cows at ramming speed? Think again! Rory here leans heavily into the new season’s Galletian Champ rule by taking four of them – and Ogors happen to have an excellent selection to choose from.
In this instance, Rory starts with an Icebrow hunter – relatively unremarkable save for the fact they make Frost Sabres battleline as a General, and can also deepstrike along with one said unit of chill-cats. So already you can see the scoring potential – now add in two Bloodpelt hunters who are relatively slappy, invisible while in cover and can move at the end of an opponent’s movement phase (if 9″ away) – starting to feel insecure about your objectives?
Rory also opts to spread the meat-by-square inch between three msu Mournfang rather than packing it into one large Frosthorn, no doubt further aiding with the scoring heavy and board control game plan.
I mean, yes, sure, there are also three ironblasters and 40 Gnoblars – but the rest of the list is a really cool, Seasonal spin that shows off the Ogors’ diverse hero roster and really plays a balanced game of AoS – as evinced by taking down a motley crew en route to the 5-0: Slaves; Tzeentch; Ogors and Sylvaneth, all of whom ask very different questions, to which this list had all the answers!
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)* – General – Command Trait: Daemonspark – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)* – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
Battleline 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (110)*
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (360)* – Reinforced x 1 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
On to the second place list now and the one that pushed Rory, the eventual winner, the hardest, missing out on a 5-0 by only one battle tactic. Speaking to Sam after the event, it was the “Cast 3” tactic that just let him down with another book tactic being available and probably the easier option. While we’re talking about matchups, Sam also had an epic battle against Peter and his 9 (yes 9!) Revenant Seekers, so clearly Sam knows his Tzeentch!
Onto the list itself, Sam went for a one-drop list for this event and doesn’t plan to go back to more drops any time soon! The ability (most of the time) to make your opponent take the first turn and potentially come within range of those spells is excellent and, even if your opponent retains priority into turn 2 they have a really difficult choice: give it away and take Kairos bombarding you with spells into oblivion OR allow opponent to take advantage of the ‘going second’ battleplan bonuses.
Speaking of bonuses to going second, one of the MVPs of the list are the Enlightened on Discs. Lots of attacks with all of the profiles and with a couple of buffs on them and debuffs on opponent, they’re not going away any time soon. With the help of Destiny Dice, they could have a guaranteed 28″ threat range (move 16″ + 12″ charge) to reach out and wipe out whatever it touches. Combo that move with a double turn and you’ve got a unit that can take out two of your opponent’s key pieces and still be hanging around causing mayhem.
In terms of spells, Sam is a little limited in numbers, but Kairos knows all of the Lore of Change and the Gaunt Summoner (a Galletian Champion, by the way) knows all of the Lore of Fate. Combined with the Fluxmaster generating those Fate Points with his spell, it’s not unreasonable to be able to put 10 Blue Horrors down every turn.
Overall, a fab list that has given me a lot to think about in terms of how I build my own Tzeentch list (featured twice in the ‘L’ column of this rundown!) and one that I’m sure Sam will have a tonne of success with in the future.
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Keening Gale – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Slaughtermaster (140)* – Lore of Gutmagic: Molten Entrails – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Tyrant (150)* – Big Name: Deathcheater
Battleline 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture
A little more of a traditional Ogor list here from Peter – with a big ol’ Frostlord, your top tier value Tyrant, and two large-and-in-charge Stonehorn Beastriders. It’s a pin and pressure list, the likes of which many of you will be familiar with by now – with one Ironblaster for a little sniping and lots of mortals on the charge.
One unit of Ironguts stomp along for the ride to double-fight and mince whatever is stupid enough to let them catch up to them. A good, honest, hungry list that avoids spamming anything but is still more than capable of just boxing you in and scoring you out!
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Battlemage (100)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Warding Brand – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Lore of Whitefire: Ignite Weapons Luminark of Hysh with White Battlemage (270)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Sear Wounds – Lore of Whitefire: Warding Brand Nomad Prince (110)** – General – Command Trait: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Ignite Weapons – Lore of Whitefire: Warding Brand – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Battleline 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Crystal Aegis – Lore of Whitefire: Sear Wounds 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Crystal Aegis – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist 20 x Eternal Guard (240)** – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Vanguard-Palladors (400)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins – Reinforced x 1 3 x Demigryph Knights (170)* – Lance and Sword 6 x Vanguard-Palladors (400)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (30)
For the wildcard list at this event we have Freddie Leggett’s Cities of Sigmar list, variations of which he has been playing with great success over the last few months. Freddie not only specialises in being an absolute top bloke and lovely guy (David Wymer and I were fighting over who would get to ‘grudge’ Freddie round 1 – David got round 1; I got round 5) but also in taking units that most generals wouldn’t take and making them work.
The joke at the event was that it was the Eternal Guard who were the linchpin of the army, especially with the new Galletian battalion, it’s really the Palladors that make this list tick with the help of the Hallowheart wizards.
With the combination of spells Freddie has at his disposal, the unit of 6 can redeploy instead of move anywhere on the battlefield with Ride the Winds Aetheric at which point they can open up with their shooting attacks that all have +1 to wound. They can then attempt a 9″ charge, which is actually a 7″ charge thanks to the Battlemage of Ghur. The +1 to wound buff also helps in the fight phase and with All out Attack, this means that they’re all hitting and wounding on 2s. When they are hit back, they can have a -1 to hit from the Luminarch, have a bonus to their save with Mystic Shield and All out Defence (3+, ignoring rend -1) and, if the opponent does wound the Palladors, another spell turns them into little fluffy Magmadroths and bounce mortal wounds back on 4s. If a Sisters of the Thorn unit is nearby, they can boost the spell ignore for Hallowheart up to a 4+ to mean that not even magic can reliably clear them (I have personal experience of that).
But it’s okay. They did some damage and it took more resources than you’d like to take care of them, but they’ve been lifted now. Then Freddie sends in the second unit of 6!
Well done, Freddie, for a fab list, a great 4-1 and a huge congratulations on being named Captain of the UN Worlds Team. Fingers crossed the stars align to have you lead the team, maybe even with 12 Palladors along for the Ride Aetheric.
This is the top three AoS lists for CaptainCon that took place in the USA on the 4th and 5th of February. It involved 17 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As mentioned earlier this week, this tournament has less than 20 players. Therefore, we won’t add any comments onto this past, and I’ll save our commentators’ brain power for the bigger events.
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: Kharadron Overlords – Army Subfaction: Barak-Zilfin – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (80) 1 x Arkanaut Admiral (140)* – Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha 1 x Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (160)* – Artefacts: Staff of Ocular Optimisation 1 x Aether-Khemist (90)* – General – Command Traits: Collector – Artefacts: Spell in a Bottle 1 x Aetheric Navigator (100)** – Artefacts: Svaregg-Stein ‘Illuminator’ Flarepistol
BATTLELINE 10 x Arkanaut Company (90)** – Company Captain – Light Skyhook and Gun Butt – Skypike – Aethermatic Volley Gun and Gun Butt – Volley Pistol 10 x Arkanaut Company (90)** – Company Captain – Light Skyhook and Gun Butt – Skypike – Aethermatic Volley Gun and Gun Butt – Volley Pistol 1 x Arkanaut Frigate (240)** – Heavy Sky Cannon – Great Endrinworks: Malefic Skymines
BEHEMOTH 1 x Arkanaut Ironclad (490)** – Great Volley Cannon – Great Endrinworks: The Last Word
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
OTHER 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (260)* – Honour Bearer – Gunnery Sergeant – Grundstok Mortar – Double-barrelled Aethershot Rifle – Gun Butt and Drillbill – 2 x Aethercannon – 2 x Aetheric Fumigator – 2 x Decksweeper 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (160)** – Sky Cannon – Great Endrinworks: Zonbarcorp ‘Debtsettler’ Spar Torpedo
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
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Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Army Subfaction: Helon – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Archmage Teclis (700)* – General 1 x Scinari Cathallar (110)* – Artefacts: Silver Wand – Spells: Total Eclipse – Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha 1 x Scinari Loreseeker (160)* – Spells: Overwhelming Heat
BATTLELINE 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Overwhelming Heat 5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)* – Windspeaker Seneschal – Standard Bearer 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – High Warden – Spells: Speed of Hysh
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Rune of Petrification (60)
TERRAIN 1 x Shrine Luminor (0)
OTHER 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Speed of Hysh
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Meatfist – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Kragnos (720) Tyrant (150)* – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Big Name: Brawlerguts Tyrant (150)* – Artefacts of Power: Gryph-feather Charm – Big Name: Brawlerguts Tyrant (150)* – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master – Big Name: Brawlerguts Tyrant (150)** – General – Command Traits: Killer Reputation – Big Name: Deathcheater , Brawlerguts
At Woehammer, we try and bring you the top three army lists from every GT around the globe. However, with the increase in the number of tournaments, this is becoming increasingly difficult.
So, instead, what we’re going to do in the future is still provide all the top 3 lists for GT’s (we’re aware of), but for events with less than 20 players we won’t be providing our unusual army commentary.
Hopefully, this should save us time but also still give you all the top lists that we did before.
What I am working on however, is a breakdown of all the top performing armies for each faction. So you’ll be able to see how many drops they use on average, how the points are split between leaders, battleline, Behemoths etc, which Battalions they’re using and so on.
Now I just need to find a nice way to present it…..
There have been inquiries regarding the calculation of our win rates. The key difference between us and Honest Wargamer is that we take into account draws, whereas Honest Wargamer/TSN only considers wins. Our calculation method involves counting draws as a 0.5 win and 0.5 loss. This can lead to slight differences in our rates compared to those of HWG/TSN. For instance:
A player with 2 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses would have a 40% win rate using the HWG/TSN method (2 divided by 5 = 40%). In our method, we would count 2 wins and half a win from the draw, which equals 2.5 wins. Divided by 5, the player would have a 50% win rate.
The Honest Wargamer/TSN also have access to many more tournament results than ourselves via their large fan base. This does mean that we may not have the same amount of tournament data as HWG/TSN. However, we will try and source the information if we’re aware a tournament exists.
We believe that having multiple perspectives on win rates is beneficial, and both methods have their own merits. If you want to view the great work by Ziggy and Rob’s team, visit the Honest Wargamer website.
Faction Win Rates
So I’m pretty sure this will be the last week of stats under the old GHB. We’v already had tournaments this week with the new one, so we should start to see their stats flowing in only a couple of weeks. Again, I will only publish factions that reach the point of having 20 players use them at GT’s.
In the end only two factions have not had 20 players:
Bonesplitterz (13 Players)
Big Waaagh! (16 Players)
Win Rates
Beasts of Chaos have improved again with their win rate. Going from 62.73% up to 64.67%. This means the margin between the top and bottom factions has increased to 28.57% (64.67% – 36.10%).
So when comparing this gap to the first half of the season:
Either way you look at this, it has definitely been Beasts of Chaos‘ Handbook!
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.
As always the entry army Stormcast Eternals, proves to be the most popular faction, leading Ogor Mawtribes and Sylvaneth.
Players Achieving 5-0 Wins
Although Beasts of Chaos have the highest win rate, this has not translated into the number of 5-0 results. Ogor Mawtribes and Stormcast Eternals are joint top here, with 7 a-piece.
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+).
A Death Korps of Krieg Astra Militarum Story by Steve Lyons
After the Christmas break, I find myself getting back to work, but it does have an advantage – time to listen to great audio books. And who doesn’t love a bit of Astra Militarum / Imperial Guard. These tend to be the books that are most commonly released by Black Library and it was Gaunt’s Ghosts that relaunched Black Library!
Krieg by Steve Lyons (Black Library)
From the book:
Krieg is a dead world.
Fifteen hundred years ago, it declared its independence from the Imperium of Man, and paid the price. One loyal soul defied its treacherous rulers, and laid the world to waste. From these ashes emerged a unique fighting force, forged and tempered in nuclear fire…
Today, the Death Korps of Krieg lay siege to a captured hive city on the outskirts of the system-spanning Octarius War, in a desperate attempt to secure the cordon that stops untold masses of Orks and Tyranids from spilling out into the Imperium at large. The Korpsmen are relentless, ruthless, implacable, and unstoppable, even in the face of a war that seems unwinnable. How far will they go to achieve victory, and is history doomed to repeat itself?
Krieg is a two interwoven stories about the Death Korp of Krieg. The first is a current siege of a captured hive city, the second is the origin story of the regiments. And – for me at least – the origin story is the most interesting half of the book. Of course, the current day story has Orks, Tryanids, brave (or reckless) Imperial Guard, Cadians fighting alongside Death Korp troops… and an Inquisitor; but the origin story is new (to me at least) and is a great explanation of how Krieg is where it is now.
And where is it now; well it’s a dead world in the middle of nuclear winter but still able to produce regiments of renown to fight for the Emperor in all fields of the eternal war for survival. They have their rebreathers, lasguns, greatcoats, but most importantly their bravery – which could almost be called fanaticism… if that didn’t go against the Emperor.
In the past, Krieg is fighting a vicious civil war against traitors to the Emperor, and Colonel Jurten is fighting them despite being outnumbered and outgunned. The origin story included in Krieg is essential his story as well as the origin story of the regiment. And I loved it – it fits in very well with the Warhammer 40k background – it’s not good (Jurten himself talks about degrees of evil), but it does show the lengths the Imperium will go-to to keep itself alive and reminds the reader that there are no ‘good guys’ in the Warhammer 40k universe – just a lot of bad things happening and being forced on people.
And so it asks the question – ‘could you?’ or ‘could we?’; which was asked so much in 50s and 60s science fiction after the bombs were dropped on Japan in our own world. This is probably why I like Krieg so much.
This is the Top Eight AoS Lists for the Las Vegas Open that took place in Nevada, USA, on 27th, 28th, and 29th January. It involved a massive 324 players, all vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
We’re particularly lucky this week as six of the top eight players agreed to give us comments on how their lists work. On top of this, we’ve also got comments from the Head Judge at LVO, Gareth Thomas.
So, thank you to; Jiwan Noah Singh, Kaleb Walters, Gavin Grigar, Cody Saults, Nate Trentanelli and Gareth Thomas for all agreeing to give us your thoughts.
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95) – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*** – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)*** – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy Grashrak Fellhoof (150)*** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Battleline 30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)** – 30x Pair of Savage Blade – Reinforced x 2 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (0)***
Jiwan Noah Singh: The heroes all serve a function against different matchups, and with the Gavespawn ability, they can then serve a secondary function when they die.
The general has to be the Tzaangor Shaman to unlock Galletian Veterans for the big block, but also has the extremely helpful big cast once per game, and moves 16/19” if I need to go hold and up a huge threat. Mostly, I used the big cast for the bull spell, but in other matchups, I considered he would have used tendrils of atrophy to break armor stacking. His speed let’s him get there for that short ranged spell.
Grashrak gives out the +3 move, and because he can pass wounds, it is helpful against ranged threats who losing the move bonus would be difficult against. His spell is also a super combo with Gavespawn if I need to lift a gargant or something in one activation.
The shoggoth was there for his spell and having a starting monster, and the pre-phase move made anyone worried about that going off have to deploy really far back.
Beastlord was the newest addition but was a pretty fun vehicle for the gnarlblade. With run and charge, he moves 15” on an auto run, so throwing him across and 18” deployment means he can also make people worry about making me take top, for small only investment on my part. Additionally, if he got his attacks off and the bull was on something, it was a less likely but still redundant plus to wound, or hit and wound.
Gors are 10 potentially deepstriking bodies on a 4+ in combat for 70 points. They also have plus to run and pile in, which is so strange that it just confuses people when you tell them, but it is actually helpful.
Tzaangor are 60 wounds, have mortal banners, can zoom across the board and fight something with a billion attacks, but also rally on 4+. I generally deploy them in a cloud, all about 1” from each others bases, to maximize the board space, but also to be able to pull them out of 3” against things that shut down inspiring, and if I need to rally, recharge, ect. Let’s me save bodies if I pull them out of coherency too, which I did intentionally several times to be able to rally again.
The rest of the list is enlightened, in blocks of 6, in bounty hunters. These have tons of uses and can pump out massive damage. Turning off all our defense is like another rend in many cases. So with the fight last bull running around, some plus to hit (always try to end on damned if you can) from multiple sources, and the throwing an extra attack on them from a spawn, they are such a threat that an opponent must deal with them. When you stack a plus to hit, going second, and gavespawn attacks, I know of very few things with that output. And at 2/3 rend no cp, few things can eat it with saves.
The beasts summoning on top of all the threats to kill or hold things, and ability to run a hero into something, die, and lock them up, meant that in almost all my games I can lose tons of things and still keep taking points. I built in some tech to deal with specific matchups that concerned me, most of which didn’t happen, but in general it’s a 5 turn army with a ton of flexibility and lots of different things going on. Good proving ground usage was hugely helpful with the ability to summon Galletian Veterans, and the output meant the main armies I expected to see, Ogors, Gargants, Nurgle, Nighthaunt, all had something that was a big problem for them that I didn’t mind sacrificing.
That’s pretty much it.
That, and having distractingly beautiful hair, that helped too.
This list – piloted by Nicholas ‘Scooter’ Walters – is testament to the difference reps and familiarity with an army can make. Even if that army is considered underpowered.
Scooter nearly went all the way with what is a pretty common IJ list, with a sneaky ally in the shape of the Fungoid Shaman for the extra CP generation. I mean, it’s an ‘obvious’ list – but if you watch back the stream of Scooter playing Gavin Grigar’s Cities list for example, you can see the difference skill and knowing the intricacies – the limits, the averages – of your army can make. Keeping the Maw Krusha back until it’s absolutely needed – knowing when to smash that ‘Destroyer’ button on the foot boss – and making all the right calls with your pigs are all key to playing IJ well.
Even though the list will be hurt by losing bounty hunters, making the pigs half as effective, the inclusion of the Megaboss makes sense going into the new season – he’s a great, durable and fighty Galley champ. The speed and activation potential with smashing/bashing of the feral hogs will never go out of style.
Ironjaws might be suffering from a lack of units and power creep these days but Scooter is out here to prove that if you love your army, and you’re prepared to stick with it and get the reps in, ‘the meta’ be damned, you too can damn well near win LVO.
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Guild of Summoners – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Magister (120)* – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate – Incarnate is Bound to the Magister Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (150) – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch
Battleline 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Tzaangors (180)* – 10x Pair of Savage Blade
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Tome of Eyes (40) Umbral Spellportal (80) Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Kaleb Walters: My main goal was to create a Swiss Army Knife style list. Bring as many solutions to the answers in my faction as possible.
Reason For Family: Guild of Summoners: 1 FREE Battle Tactic: Summon Lord of Change. LOC have 14 wounds, -1 Rend shots, 18 inch range, movement 12, +1 To casting for all Tzeentch casters, -1 to hit naturally and monstrous rampage abilities. While other families have more flexibility, the norm is to summon Blue Horrors that have 20 wounds, Movement 5, shoot 12 inches at 0 rend but have good board presence.
List Design: Min Max: Minimum Battleline Maximum Hero’s/Monster Damage. My list is designed to castle up and react to the deployment of my opponent. By staying low drop I normally have the option to decide how I want to engage. I either sacrifice my Acolytes (120pt a unit) to an alpha strike list, or I position aggressively with a front and center incarnate primed to go wild and level up. Either formation still allows me to throw powerful spells that can turn off Command abilities and unleash a possible 15 mortal wounds at 27 inches or more. In addition, as the game goes on, I become more magically dominant with the additional LOC while reducing the overall strength of my opponent.
The next part of my list design is increasing/ reducing my opponents armor. I have 2 spells & 1 Endless spell that can reduce my opponents armor and with the rend stacking of the Acolytes or the LOC natural -1 Rend shots and of course the already powerful incarnate -2/-3 rend I am able to turn normal attacks into Mortal Wound equivalent attacks.
I also know the future with my lame sauce guaranteed Grand Strategy & Destiny Dice…….
Opportunities of The Design: I have a difficult time dealing with Hordes and / or armies that can summon cheap disposable models on a mission with more than 4 objectives. I also find it difficult to face armies like KO that can stay outside my threat range and then engage on their terms.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Tempest’s Eye – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)* – General – Command Trait: Hawk-eyed – Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles Arkanaut Admiral (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Eagles: Aura of Glory Battleline 20 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)* 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*
Units 20 x Arkanaut Company (180) – 2x Light Skyhooks – 2x Aethermatic Volley Guns – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1
Core Concept Bring guns… lots of guns. We recently had 2 books introduced into the meta (Ogors and Slaves to Darkness), and the resurgence of some old foes (Dragons, Ironjaws and Nurgle), that generate a ton of kill pressure and melee engagement on Turn 1. Tempest’s Eye combats this with great Turn 1 buffs (+1 Save/+3 Move) and efficient shooting (+1 Hit/+1 Wound) supplemented by a healthy number of mortal wounds (Hurricanum, Dracoth Breath). All these elements together are hopefully enough to keep even the scariest melee threats at bay.
Strengths Shooting Volume from Crossbowmen, Tempestors and Arkanauts combined with force multipliers centering around the Hurricanum (+1 Hit/+1 Wound). Adaptable Tech from the Admiral (+1 Rend/Ward Removal/Charge Debuff). Drop Control (2 Drops) typically allows the list to immediately threaten a double turn and forces your opponent to make hard decisions on Turn 1. Horrorghast allows the list to hit crucial damage break points against large units such as Tzaangors, Chosen, or Blood Sisters or spread damage across multiple units for greater efficiency.
Weaknesses 1 Drop armies or specifically being disconnected from the double turn, which forces the list to overextend and expose its firebase. Melee armies whose movement outranges the threat ranges of the list’s shooting units. Middling mobility limits the army’s ability to play proactively and aggressively.
Takeaways and Closing Thoughts As fun as it was to throw buckets of dice, the list has some glaring weaknesses that I was able to mostly avoid due to some fortunate pairings over the course of the weekend, but it does have undeniable strengths and when the list wins it really wins. Enjoy responsibly!
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480) – General – Command Traits: Mighty Waaagh! Leader – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)* – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist
BATTLELINE Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Shootas (120)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Cody Saults: Ironjawz, for me, was the only choice for LVO this year. My standard approach to tournaments is to not play the same game everyone else is expecting to play. With GV being a thing, and folks running bounty hunters, 2 drops kept me tied or out dropping every opponent, and with the list’s raw damage potential, it has the potential to cripple opponents before they get a chance to interact with your units. Second consideration, with a tournament with as many rounds as LVO potentially has for those who do well, avoiding burnout is key. The list only has 4 unit profiles, which helps with keeping rules front of mind and always knowing your options.
The Maw Crusher is an absolute engine for this list, as Skull-Shaking Bellow allows you to spread Mighty Destroyers out to multiple targets, which helps with board control and damage potential. Its melee profiles allow it to put out a punishing amount of wounds, while its solid armor save prevents it from being an easy removal target. Moreover, it has several ways to help clear screens to make sure you get to your target. Its shooting attack is only 4 potential wounds at rend 1, and very short range, but combine that with the impact hits from the pigs, and enhanced stomp monstrous action, the crusher stands a very good chance of clearing screens and getting to the target it truly wants. A quick Finest Hour passing to your opponent’s turn, with an All Out Defense means that even after they deal their damage, they will continue to gum up the works for your opponent, while taking a monstrous amount of extra attention to move. Having 2 allows for redundancy, protect the one in the most vulnerable position, and then respond with the second. The mighty destroyers move means they are never out of position, as if they clear targets and need to pivot to another flank, they almost always have the movement to get there.
Gore Gruntas also represent a solid damage investment, as buffed by the Warchanta, and under the Iron Jaws WAAGH, there is very little in the game they can’t chew through. I went with two units of three, and one of six. The 2 three-man units can take buffs and present good screen clearance in matchups where the opponent has good screening, and for matchups you don’t need the initial sacrificial salvo, they can be used for fast objective grabbing, or counter skirmishing. The post-combat movement abilities from Bloodtoofs also allow for re-establishing screens or locking up units safely.
Warchantas are a must in any IJ list, as they can pass out solid damage bonuses to units about to be in combat, give out charge bonuses, and even heal a key couple of wounds. They have a surprising amount of beef for small characters, and receiving their own buffs can dish it right back.
The last inclusion in the list was shootas, an easy inclusion to give me some cheap screens. Shootas in 20 man squads can be strung out to prevent enemy outflank or deep strike, and the nets, positioned well, can punish an opponent for under-committing resources to remove them or what they are near.
All in all, the list was tailored with so much mobility and relatively low drops to force an opponent to play defensively. This works out either way for us, as the number of hard to remove wounds makes sure they stay in their deployment zone while we grind down their units. Every unit in the army punches up, able to drag down more costly targets, with the post combat mobility to shift our positions, removing the need to choose between damage and objectives.
All in all, the list performed well. The meta we had until the GHB transition had a lot of lists with hard DPS checks, and this list put out enough damage to meet that need and then some.
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired,Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95)* – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 6 x Dragon Ogors (290)*** – 2x Paired Ancient Weapons – 4x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 3 x Dragon Ogors (145)*** – 1x Paired Ancient Weapons – 2x Draconic War glaives
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)* 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*** – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480) – Allies
It’s the ‘other’ BoC list from LVO! As you can see, it damn near went as far as Noah’s, losing only to Scooter’s incredibly well piloted IJ list.
It’s a relatively normal archetype – with the usual 3 HQs for their wide variety of utility – the Dragon Ogor Shaggoth especially proving critical due to his incredible warscroll spell (heal d3 to a Dragon Ogor and give them re-roll wounds) and the Dragon Ogor scroll allowing re-rolls of 1s while near him.
A mix of Ungors for super cheap and speedy (+3″ thanks to the Bray Shama) trading pieces (once the rend starts stacking) and the more out-of-the-box Dragon Ogors make up the battleline – offering speed, punch, and plenty of board control.
Beyond that, it’s basically ‘the spindog’ syndrome. 6 Enlightened on Discs also provide an absolute missile – if you read any of these, you know by now they’re an absolute staple of BoC lists.
The body count, speed, and Spinedog allow Rigolet to care less about dictating first, and so he packs in bounty hunters plus a warlord for additional utility. A savage list that will operate very differently (and be like, double the cost) with the new book – but there you have it!
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Reikenor the Grimhailer (190)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Krulghast Cruciator (150)* Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (150)* – General – Command Trait: Spiteful Spirit – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)*
Units 10 x Craventhrone Guard (180)* – Reinforced x 1
Nate Trentanelli: The list began as a bit of a joke to include two famously “bad” units in the Black Coach and the Craventhrone Guard- or “Crossboos” as they’ve come to be known by. I decided that I couldn’t possibly take Top Nighthaunt in the ITC this season without ever having actually played these units. Not wanting to have no chance during games, I peppered in some more useful units in the Hexwraiths and the Krulghast- staples of Nighthaunt armies.
I’ve gone for an Arcane Tome Knight of Shrouds here for one reason. With his Command Trait “Spiteful Spirit”, when he takes damage in the Combat phase he will roll a number of dice equal to his wounds characteristic and do a mortal wound to all enemy units within 6” for each 4+ he rolls. Quite the useful little bomb. To make things even better, Arcane Tome makes him a wizard, allowing him to be moved by Lauchon. Almost guaranteeing a turn 1 charge wherever I want to maximize his chances of doing mortal wounds. Reikenor with his +3 to cast will almost guarantee Lauchon goes off.
Hexwraiths do what hexwraiths do – nearly unmatched speed to pin opponents in their deployment zones. With 4 units of them, I can either overload my opponent turn 1 with all 20, or simply move block them turn after turn. It may lose me all my hexwraiths, but I’ve functionally disallowed my opponent from actually scoring any objective points.
2 units of Chainrasp exist solely for 2 battle tactics. Start them in the underworld and bring them down on a turn. You don’t have a good battle tactic option. Put both in your opponents deployment zone for an easy Barge Through Their Lines with a bonus for 2 GVs. The next turn take Desecrate Their Lands for another Battle Tactic. 2 complete for no effort.
The unit of Craventhrone Guard I also put in the underworld. Though their damage output is poor, it is something Nighthaunt don’t really have access to anywhere else – shooting. Even that small amount of extra damage is noticeable and useful. They are also a great distraction piece, and the Spectral Bolts ability to shoot through terrain is better than it seems. I know, I know. It’s Crossboos. Trust me. They will work.
Last is the Black Coach. It really is the AoS equivalent to a tank. It’s base size makes it terrific at blocking key areas. With the Craventhrone Guard shooting it’s actually quite easy to power it up as well. Allowing you to shoot with the Craventhrone Guard first, slay 5 models from a screen, and fire the Black Coach into the thing you really wanted to shoot for 3D3 mortal wounds. Alternatively, keeping it on its 4+ ward makes it truly crazy at tanking. Keeping it in the Krulghast bubble also gives it -1 damage for even more craziness. It’s shocking how survivable it is.
The Mortalis Terminexus gives you the flexibility to heal your heroes and Black Coach or use it more as I did, which is an aggressive mortal wound bomb. 26” total threat range from casting is great, and it can pump out quite a bit of chip damage.
All together, the armies Battle Traits of Ethereal and Wave of Terror combine to make even the weakest looking unit truly scary. Roll enough 8s on the charge, and even Kragnos will fall to simple chainrasp. The army has 5 different units that do D3 mortals on a 2+ on the charge. Don’t underestimate how much that is. Simple averages tell you that’s about 8 mortal wounds. Which, by the way, you can retreat and do all over again every turn.
Because of the movement of this army- Hexwraiths, Lauchon heroes, Black Coach teleports, and Underworld Reserves – you can be anywhere and everywhere. Movement wins games, and it’s no surprise to me that most of my opponents had issues with catching me. Even if it they were close, you can simply use one unit to block for the rest to move to safety. Keep your units alive until the exact moment your opponent is out of position. And then pounce all at once. Be careful not to allow your opponent to single out units and be careful. You don’t pull your units away from each others support. Aggressive movement with supporting units will win you games.
Happy haunting!
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Metalcruncher – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Prayers: Pulverising Hailstorm Butcher (140)* – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails Huskard on Stonehorn (400)* – Blood Vulture – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Prayers: Keening Gale
Camaron has my thanks (but not quite my sword) for not taking any Ironblasters! What he’s taken instead is loads of big, angry cows! It’s almost a completely pure Beastclaw Raider army – love to see it.
This list essentially asks ‘can you handle 5 cows swamping you’, and the answer was ‘no’ for everyone other than Kaleb’s Tzeentch, who were able to puncture those super tough hides with his sneaky magic MW output.
Enhancement wise – which is where the tactics are in a list like this – you’ve got Metalcruncher on the Frostlord for dealing with tanky 3+ saves, along with Touched by Everwinter to make him into a priest and able to cast the excellent MW AoE ‘Pulverising Hailstorm’. The Huskard gets the Rockmane Elder (-1 to wound in melee).
A pack of Gnoblars act as a cheap add-on screen that still fits into the battle reg – crucial for a pressure list like this – in order to dictate first and almost certainly give it away every time to make an absolutely devastating round of turn 2 charges and a hopeful end-it-there double.
Big gratz to Camaron for losing only in the shadow round to a legendary player and a bad match-up.
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Head Judge – Thomas
Acting as Head Judge at LVO 2023 was a thrilling experience. I should begin by thanking both Front Line Gaming, and Scott Reed, the Head TO, for organizing such an amazing event.
LVO 2023 was the largest Age of Sigmar tournament in the world, by far, and 50% larger than previous LVOs. Whilst being involved in such a large event was a great experience, the logistics of organizing 325 players did throw up some challenges. To start, the release of the Battlescroll with new points one week before the list deadline (and after our rules cut-off) was a bit disruptive. We had to ensure that every player knew that we would be using the new points, and yet we still had quite a few lists submitted with the old points. Equally, we had to ensure that every player knew that we would not be using the new GHB, which was released the day after lists were due (and one week after rules cutoff). Of course, there were still a few players who submitted lists assuming the new GHB (comically enough, there was one player who we could not contact until round 1 to let them know that their Aspect of the Champion and Sharpshooter battalion had to go!).
The rest of the pre-event organization was handled by FLG and Scott, so my preparations beforehand were minimal. But I have been involved with the running of 36 events in the past 18 months and know that quite of bit of prep work is involved.
Due to the large number of players, LVO did not use the standard AoS GT format of 5 rounds. Instead, we used 5 rounds followed by a 3rd day of single elimination rounds for top 8 players. This year, 9 players went 5-0 which required us to run a Shadow Round 6th game for the players in 8th and 9th place to determine which of them would advance to Day 3.
The first five rounds were pretty straight forward from a rules judging point of view. The pack used at LVO, produced by Scott Reed, borrowed from the OTTD Generic Pack, which is something I was heavily involved in creating. Many of the players at LVO already have experience attending events that use the OTTD system, which helped keep rules and scoring questions to a minimum. When tricky questions did arise, I was able to fall back to the aosfaq.com website and team to provide answers.
The pressure as Head Judge only really started during the Shadow Round, which was the first round where we introduced active judging (where a judge watches the entire game and points out rules mistakes before and whilst they are made). Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a one-sided blowout – the choice to use Mighty and Cunning proved problematic when one player had essentially all GV and the other essentially none. Lesson learned! The only rules issue that cropped up was when one of the players declared Desecrate their Lands on a Defensible terrain piece. I had to remind him that you can only control Defensible terrain pieces by garrisoning them – the standard 3” rule does not apply. He was able to declare another terrain piece instead.
Day 3 was where the real excitement as Head Judge began, which entailed three rounds of active judging among the best players in the world. I was fortunate enough that James O’Brien who was a contender, had not made it to day 3, but as an experienced TO and judge was willing to jump in and judge half of the games.
When judging the final 8 of a 325-player event, there is really very little stress. These are fantastic players with a huge amount of experience and, more importantly, great sportsmanship. There was no confrontation to deal with, and all players played with intent at all times, meaning there were no disagreements to intervene with. If anything, I had to prevent players from giving too much benefit to their opponents!
Instead, the rule of table judging was just handling the occasional line-of-sight judging, pointing out often forgotten rules such as you need to jump into a garrison to control it (even the top players didn’t know that rule!) and mostly sitting back and watching some fantastic Warhammer being played. The biggest drama, up until the end of the final game, that is, was during the first round, when one of the games ended in a complete tie. With single elimination, a tie is not an option. It was also not something we had prepared for. Fortunately, the two players were able to agree that under any tie-break rules, there would be a clear winner. Of course, I couldn’t end without talking about that final game. What a game! I could watch both Noah and Scooter play Warhammer all day. Scooter is one of the great personalities to watch, and Noah is a fantastic human being. And their game was so close.
I suppose I should talk about the ending… By the end of the final game, the players had been through 3 days of extensive Warhammer. All with the backdrop of Las Vegas. I think it is fair to say that both players (and Judge) were drained. The game came down to control of an objective. Noah had a chaos spawn on it, Scooter had a goblin shaman. They fought in combat, but neither could kill the other (Scooter made the 4+ ward save to keep his Shaman alive on one wound – much to the crowd’s delight!). It was a great moment!
Of course, the spawn has 5 wounds, and so is worth 2 points on an objective, and the Shaman only has 4 wounds, so it is worth 1. But we were all too exhausted to notice. Noah assumed the Shaman was worth 2. Scooter assumed the spawn was worth 1 and I failed to notice the mistake (oh so easy to assume all heroes in the game are going to be 5 wounds or more!). That meant that they were tied on points, and Scooter won the match on battle tactics scored. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that we caught the mistake – where we had not considered that the Shaman was only 4 wounds (a friend texted me – thank you!). The way both players handled the turnaround in decision is a credit to them both. The level of joy each felt at the other being declared the winner was heartwarming.
The final, and LVO in general, left no doubt that Age of Sigmar has a fantastic community. And I am proud to be part of it.
This one has taken a while! But I’m pleased to say that all of the warscrolls for Slaves to Darkness have now been translated into Datacards.
Reading the Datacards
Each Datacard has three distinct sections; Charge Chance, Resilience and Average Damage Output.
Charge Chance
This graph shows the move and charge distances each unit can achieve and shows the chance of them achieving this distance as a percentage.
Resilience
This table shows how much damage would be required on average to destroy the unit. This is split into the various rend types most commonly found in Age of Sigmar. For example, the unit shown in the image above would need 18 damage from -2 rend weapons for the enemy to have a chance at destroying it.
This can be cross-referenced with another units average damage output to see what kind of damage they’ll do to it.
Average Damage Output
This simply shows how much damage on average the unit is expected to inflict after saves against the various save types. If there are multiple load-out choices, then these are shown separately, as is any missile damage.
This is the top three AoS lists for the GT Wargame Garrison Madrid that took place in Spain on the 27th and 28th of January. It involved 20 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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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: Seraphon – Army Type: Coalesced – Army Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Engine of the Gods (300) – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Prayers: Curse 1 x Lord Kroak (450)* – Spells: Stellar Tempest 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)* – Aspects of the champion: Tunel master 1 x Skink Priest (120)* – Prayers: Heal 1 x Saurus Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur (200)** – General – Command Traits: Prime Warbeast – Celestite Greatblade – Artefacts: Fusil of Conflagration – Mount Traits: Beastmaster 1 x Knight-Zephyros (100)**
Do comets rain on the plain in Spain? They do when Kroak is around! He’s fallen a little out of fashion recently in favour of the no-name, whipper-snapper Slann, but he still does the job, as evidenced here – supported by the ubiquitous Engine, Priest, Astrolith (even more important for Special K given his spammable but short range spell) and…
checks notes
A Scar-Vet on Carnosaur!? Fair play to the lad, with their recent points drops they just might cut the mustard as a fast, whiffy but potentially killy monster. Of course, now we’re into the new season, we see the inevitable allied Knight-Zephyros, who is just a stone-cold scoring piece due to her constant teleporting.
Overall, a pretty interesting twist on the Lizards with their new points, and a good result for Alfonso. Get ready to see a lot more of the little Azyros…
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Hosts Duplicitous – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Curseling (180)* – General – Command Traits: Cult Demagogue – Spells: Shield of Fate, Arcane Suggestion – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (140)* – Spells: Shield of Fate, Arcane Suggestion 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)** 1 x Magister (120)** – Spells: Shield of Fate, Glimpse the Future 1 x Changecaster (150)** – Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Levitate, Bolt of Tzeentch
BATTLELINE 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Pink Horror Hornblower – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Pink Horror Hornblower – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Split and Split Again
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (70) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Daemonic Simulacrum (70)
The future is here with the new GHB, and the future is pink…at least as far as Disciples of Tzeentch are concerned. With Bounty Hunters gone away, Pink Horrors are very much back on the menu as one of the top tarpits in the game, and Juanma has taken 3 x 10 Pinks to really maximise their board control. In addition, by choosing the sub-faction Host Duplicitous, an enemy can be prevented from retreating if the Tzeentch unit has 10 or more models, keeping them in place for some incoming spells. Host Duplicitous can also bring back 5 Pink Horrors once per game on a 4+, but it’s only once per battle regardless of how many units are destroyed and there’s no re-roll: this is Tzeentch, not Gitz!
Pink Horrors are also an excellent screen for the Galletian Champions that want to be slinging spells from the back lines while scoring battle tactics for not being dead and there is one unit for each of the Champions: Curseling, Magister and Changecaster, with the option to summon in additional Changecasters if necessary. The importance of keeping those Pinks around for as long as possible is clear from the Shield of Fate spell cropping up three times on the list to try and get that 5+ ward save. Arcane Suggestion can also be helpful here, with one of the options that Tzeentch players can pick being to reduce hit and wound rolls by 1. Park the Changecaster or Kairos wholly within 12” of a unit of Pinks, then there is an additional -1 to hit on the unit, meaning that All Out Attack would be wasted. Though still only with a 5+ save, a 5+ save followed by a 5+ ward with -1 to hit and wound makes those little daemons hang around a lot longer than they should. A really hammer unit like 10 chosen can still get through them with double fight, but then they’ll be well within spell range and with no 5+ ward against mortals on their warscroll, that’s a trade that favours the Tzeentch player significantly.
In terms of the tech on each Champion, the Curseling general has Cult Demagogue as their command ability, meaning that a double on the dice makes the first casting roll unbindable (and worth a bonus fate point). While lesser (more honest?) armies would roll the dice, Tzeentch can just pick two Destiny Dice and, even if it’s a pair of twos, the casting value 8 Arcane Sacrifice would still go off. The Curseling also has what seems to be the Aspect of the Champion of choice (at least so far): Tunnel Master. This Aspect allows a model to redeploy anywhere on the battlefield outside of 9” of the enemy during the movement phase instead of moving normally. With some armies, this could leave a hero isolated, but Tzeentch can just summon up some Horrors to be the bodyguard for this unit. On some of the new battle plans, that could mean an extra point here or there to turn a loss into a win or at least a draw in close games.
On the subject of close games, Juanma did really well going 3.5/5 with their only loss being against Teclis and Lumineth Realm Lords and even that was only with an 11-9 differential score (that is, a 1-2 point scoring difference at the end of the game). Three more points across two games could have been enough for the 5-0 at the event, underlining what a great weekend Juanma and the Disciples had.
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Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Army Subfaction: The Quicksilver Dead – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – General – Command Traits: Cloaked in Shadow – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Seal of Shyish – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)* – Chill Blade – Artefacts: Pendant of the Fell Wind – Spells: Shademist 1 x Spirit Torment (120)* 1 x Lady Olynder (340)* – Spells: Shademist
BATTLELINE 5 x Hexwraiths (170)* – Hellwraith 20 x Dreadscythe Harridans (320)** – Slasher Crone 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)** – Slasher Crone 6 x Spirit Hosts (260)**
BEHEMOTH 1 x Black Coach (290) – Reaper Scythe
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord **Galletian Veterans
TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)
Nice little twist on Nighthaunt, with the less seen Quicksilver Dead. The list also saw the return of the Black Coach and Lady Olynder, both of whom haven’t had a lot of airing with the Scarlet Doom lists. The Nighthaunt face off against Scarlet Doom in round 4, saw a stalemate so we can’t say which is better yet.
Still, other than Olynder, we have all of the usual suspects to increase the Harridan’s resistance. They’re still a great warscroll, so 30 is no hardship, especially with the points increase on Bladegheist. Harridan’s are a bit harder to use, but ideally, you want to get them close and charge. Preferably after inflicting some wounds through either mortals or ranges (another reason for the Black Coach). Charge or shoot a unit with the Black Coach and then hit it with the Harridans, they will now be hitting and wounding on 3s, and cause -1 on to wound rolls, adding protection for themselves, and the Black Coach.
A well thought out list, and fun to play. Bringing some different models to the table, Andres is to be commended.
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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Vyrkos Dynasty – Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Vampire Lord (140) – General – Command Traits: Pack Alpha – Spells: Soulpike 1 x Belladamma Volga (200)* – Spells: Spirit Gale 1 x Necromancer (130)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Overwhelming Dread – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Vampire Lord (140)* – Spells: Amethystine Pinions – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240)* 10 x Dire Wolves (130)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 10 x Dire Wolves (130)*
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
OTHER 20 x Grave Guard (280)* – Seneschal – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Hornblower – Great Wight Blade
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
2-2-1 is an odd scoreline, and those must have been some nail-biting games! Guillermo has opted for a slightly heavier GC presence than Soulblight would normally bother with, packing double vamp lords, which makes sense as their Tome Celestial battle tactics are definitely not going to help them with scoring this season.
Now that bounty hunters have gone the way of the dodo, blobs of zombies are back on the menu! Dire Wolves continue to be fantastic either way – and here backed up by Belladamma for the fluffy (pun intended) bodyguard rule they provide.
Sadly, there’s a Spinedog – but to be fair to the ‘Blight, they’re in a tough spot in the new season due to their fragile and slow GCs – until the new book comes out, we may see them struggle, so kudos to Guillermo for a strong finish out of the gate.
This is the top three AoS lists for the March to War that took place in the UK on the 21st and 22nd of January. It involved 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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There once was a man from Wales, Who brought four cannons with tails, Some gnoblars as screens, Absolute scenes, He danced to his opponent’s wails.
This list was using old points – with updated points, it’ll run about 150 ish over. Wonder if three Ironblasters will get the job done instead of four!
All credit to Luke, however, who’s a great player from the illustrious Team LIT – Sylvaneth, Disciples, and LRL – would all have been tricky match ups too. Be curious to see what he can do with the big bois in the new season!
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Harvestboon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Season: The Reaping – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Warsong Revenant (305)** – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Deepwood: Treesong
Battleline 9 x Revenant Seekers (705)* – Reinforced x 2 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)** 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)**
Units 5 x Gossamid Archers (220)** Gotrek Gurnisson (485)* – Allies
Mathmallow is back with the tree attack! His list is considerably different to the one he went 5-0 with recently – variety is the spice of life after all.
He’s dropped big momma and her chad-stag for the absolute bare minimum of an HQ – taking just a Warsong rev, tricked out with magic boosting enhancements to provide a MW cannon.
He invests the points savings into a mahoosive Revenant Seeker blob – reasoning (no doubt correctly) that this will just be an unkillable swarm of half anvil-half-hammer models.
The usual 2x tree revs for scoring. and his trademark 5 Gossamids make up most of the rest of the list, leaving just enough room for a little addition…Gotrek! He doesn’t show up much these days but having played against him in another Sylvaneth list, I can tell you that a psychotic, murderous and nigh on unkillable dwarf marching up the mid-board while stuff teleports and flies around you is rather a tricky proposition.
Losing only to Churchus’ cannonade, it’s a nasty, eggs-in-two-baskets Sylvaneth list that I can see being hugely oppressive to play against. Sylvaneth players would do well to take a leaf out of this book!
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
LEADERS Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155) – General – Command Trait. Master of Magic – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)** – Artefact Seed of Rebirth – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades
UNITS 10x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 6x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* 6x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* 6x Dragon Ogors (290)* – 6x Draconic War glaives 6x Dragon Ogors (290)** – 6x Draconic Crushers 1x Cockatrice (110)** 1x Cockatrice (110)
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Bounty Hunters **Battle Regiment
Total Points: 2000/2000
‘Ere we go, ‘ere we go, ‘ere we go again. All of the Dragon Ogres all of the time. Doubling down with our favourite Tzaangors on Discs (ToDs) to zoom about the place and lay some extra hurt down with the last flourish of Bounty Hunters. A couple of Ungor screens to hold off the eager. The list is built around the Dragon Ogre Shaggoths, moving up and buffing the Dragon Ogres while the ToDs and Cockatrice zip around scoring (or for the ToDs removing tasty snacks). Lots of threats, not a lot of fat. The list isn’t relying on summoning (no large units of sacrifices) but will still earn primordial points fast enough to summon a few times in an average match, particularly with the Cockatrices ability to pick up extra. Geminids backed by Master of Magic is a clever inclusion. It’s a great spell used for it’s ability to block areas as much as what it does.
A surprise 3rd round loss to the Beastclaw Raiders, surprise, mostly because you never see 5 of the big fellas together. With buffs, though, the Stonehorn are very tacky, have lots of wounds, and hit hard enough to remove most or all of Nick’s units in single turn. The screens are ripe to be torn apart before the charge as well, with the limited attack high damage range of the Beastclaws. Otherwise, he saw off most of the meta challenges (IJ ironsunz may not be meta… yet).
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Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Thryng – Grand Strategy: Masters of the High Airs – Triumphs: Inspired
Missing the Incarnate and Purple Sun of previous Kharadron lists, James has chosen to give his Dwarves fight on death (on a 4+). This Kharadron list wants to mix it up. And shoot. Doubling down on that approach is the Admiral with Flaming Weapon giving him a Rend -2, 4 damage weapon. With one company of Arkanauts in Eternal Conquerors to act as bodyguards for the Admiral and probably some bait. It gets around an issue for Kharadron in holding objectives, particularly early, when they want to be in the air if possible. Otherwise, the remainder of the list is around their considerable shooting, giving a superior “overwatch” for the ground units. Mostly, that seems to have worked especially into the slower armies, but fire and fade appears to have been an issue.
His last round was a real life shoot out at the ok coral, with the Underguts bringing only Leadbelchers and Ironblasters versus the gunships. Scoring was low across the board, and neither would have much left by the end.
