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Top Three AoS Lists for GAF Jamboree

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This is the top three AoS lists for Lay low the GAF Jamboree that took place in the UK on the 21st and 22nd of October. It saw 28 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.

If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?

Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.

The Top Three AoS Lists

Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin
– Army Subfaction: Fuethán
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Lotann (110)*
1 x Isharann Tidecaster (130)**
– General
– Command Traits: Teachings of the Túrscoll
– Artefacts: Rune of the Surging Gloomtide
– Spells: Steed of Tides

BATTLELINE
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)*
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)*
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)*
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)*
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (Bloodthirsty Shiver) (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon Launcher
– Barbed Hooks and Blades

BEHEMOTH
1 x Akhelian Leviadon (400)**
– Mount Traits: Reverberating Carapace

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Jon Anderson: Admittedly a bit of deja vu for me on this one, good friend of mine Mike Stewart has taken the building blocks of the Fuethan sharknado list I went undefeated with at Southern Fried Gaming Expo and improved upon it. Going undefeated and earning himself a ticket to represent England at the World Championships of Warhammer.

The changes to the Fuethan enclave in the most recent balance pass have seen a surge in the lists playability as well as representation. Who’d have thought that if you let people play the Jaws theme during deployment and offer them a reasonable path to victory that they’d flock to it. The reach of the list is almost unparalleled, with each of the satellite platforms shooting 24″ it’s easy to encircle your opponent and poke at their armor until the time is right.

At two drops and 1990 points letting Mike play for a wound triumph, the list is fairly straightforward in the list building stage. However, on the table, the list plays the current edition exceptionally well. Utilizing the Spellcasting Savant Grand Strategy is a questionable decision in a GT setting given her low wound count. However, in a teams environment, I think it has more play.

I’d like to see the Leviadons “Ancient” mount trait reduce all rend by 1 so that we could see some variety as I’m unsure ive ever seen it or “Denizen of the Darkest Depths” used.

Mike battled through a relatively stable field of opponents to earn his undefeated result, taking wins over: Beasts of Chaos, Sons of Behemat, Stormcast Eternals, Ogor Mawtribes, and Maggotkin of Nurgle. The pairings gods were undoubtedly in Mikes corner, and I couldn’t be happier for him.


Great list, and congratulations to Mike on the undefeated finish.

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Army Faction: Sylvaneth
– Subfaction: Gnarlroot
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumph: Inspired
– Seasons of War: The Dwindling

LEADERS
Branchwych (110)*
– Spells: Hoarfrost, Verdant Blessing
Warsong Revenant (300)*
– General
– Command Traits: Spellsinger
– Artefacts of Power: The Vesperal Gem
– Spells: Verdant Blessing, Verdurous Harmony

BATTLELINE
Dryads (100)*
Dryads (100)*
Tree-Revenants (110)*

OTHER
Spiterider Lancers (380)
Gossamid Archers (420)*
Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatswords (440)*

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Overall this is a straightforward Sylvaneth, but I like it in the sense that it isn’t trying to be too clever. What it DOES do, is lean into the inherently exponential value of reinforcing its key pieces.

Unusually, they’ve opted for the Lancer variant of the bug-cavalry, which I find very interesting as conventional wisdom states that the recursion and general durability of Seekers makes them the preferred pick. But that’s the problem with conventional wisdom eh! Lancers have fight first of course, making them a much more offensively oriented unit, and I wonder if they operated in tandem with the also quite unusual reinforced Gossamids.

Gossamids are traditionally used as a fire’n’fade screen and good source of chip damage, but reinforcing them gives them fairly serious spike damage potential and makes them more resilient to chip damage – allowing for more rally dice and whatnot. Potentially they were used to keep up with the Lancers as a mobile (and horribly frustrating to charge) screen, and then hang around nearby for a legit unleash hell threat after a Lancer charge.

The other pieces in the list are just good old fashioned value and aren’t going out of fashion anytime soon, but overall a fairly unusual Sylvaneth list that clearly did the business, showing there’s life in some oft-maligned units yet!

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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat
– Army Type: Stomper Tribe
– Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble!
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Warstomper (450)*
– General
– Command Traits: Monstrously Tough
– Artefacts: Club of the First Oak
1 x King Brodd (520)*
1 x Kraken-Eater (480)*
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
1 x Rabble-Rowza (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)**

OTHER
5 x Gobbapalooza (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)**
12 x Squig Herd (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)**
10 x Squig Hoppers (Braggit’s Bottle-snatchaz) (500)**

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Bosses of the Stomp
**Regiment of Renown

TOTAL POINTS: (1950/2000)

Pete Brizio smashed out a strong 4-1 with Sons of Behemat guest-starring Braggit’s Bottle-Snatchaz. Although we live on opposite sides of the world, I consider Pete a personal friend: we both love Destro armies and sneakers (I prefer Adidas and he’s more into Nike), and I’ve occasionally found that people think we are one and the same person despite me never having played a game of Warhammer on English soil. The confusion is possibly not helped by the fact that I run the Plastic Craic blog and Pete B was briefly a member of the writing team over there.

So, for clarity: I’m Peter Atkinson, and this 4-1 was achieved by Pete Brizio. I’m the one that runs Plastic Craic. He’s the one that runs the Just Roll 6s Twitch stream. So that’s Pete A and Pete B, or maybe you could call him Beta Peter.

So, how does the list work? As we noted when these guys first dropped, Sons of Behemat is the natural home for this Regiment of Renown both in terms of maximizing the positive tech that the Regiment brings, and shoring up inherent weaknesses in Sons of Behemat:

  • The wee man makes Monsters run and charge, and the whole of your army is Monsters.  Easy to miss on the first read through, but it triggers each time you pick a Monster – so they all will benefit. 
  • The big knock on the Rabble Rowza is that moving towards him all the time really works more smoothly when you can teleport him up the field.  The Regiment just lets you dump him there and crack on. 
  • Gobbapalooza gives two casts and unbinds so you can pump out Mystic Shield and some clutch unbinds with your PMDs (in addition to any you might get from Arcane Tome).  Their own warscroll spells (for CA disruption and a neg 1 to hit aura) are dope, too. 
  • This is all in addition to each of the units in the Regiment just being quite good in their own right. 

What we really love about this Regiment in Sons is that it gives you a couple of things the army is crying out for:

  • Screens. You get screens.
  • A couple of Battle Tactics are unlocked. This is crucial for Sons of Behemat, whose book tactics are somewhat crap.

The following BTs become significantly easier with the Bottle-Snatchaz:

Magical Dominance. Otherwise impossible without Arcane Tome, and you often don’t want to shove a full quarter of your army on the backboard out of unbind range.

Intimidate the Invaders. You have full control over how many units pop up outside of your territory, and it also makes it easier to get your mid-paced Giants wholly out too. 10” isn’t that fast when they’re dragging a 5” base behind them and need to get wholly outside; so running and charging gives you the extra movement from doing both (making it more probable), as well as removing the cost to the army of running for your BT and then wasting their output because you can’t charge (making it more desirable).

Surround and Destroy: Similar to above, this just flows so much better with the Bottle-Snatchaz because of how you’re allocating your resources around the board. You can probably run a couple of Megas far enough (but only probably), and then have ~1000 points standing around on board edges scratching their arses, instead of being where they want to be which smashing stuff on objectives. Mancrushers with their 8” base move are an even worse bet. So yes, you can score it with pure Giants, but it’s both far easier and far less disruptive to your army’s flow if you use the Bottle Snatchaz to do it instead.

So that’s the Regiment of Renown and why you use it. That leaves you 1500 points for a bunch of Giants, and given the fragility of the Gloomspite units, you really need these guys to anchor the list and dominate the primaries. For that reason, Pete has gone with the the Crouching Gargant, Hidden Stonehorn build we talked about when the book dropped.

Doubling him up with the 40-wound giga-chad, King Brodd himself continues that theme, and that leaves one slot. I’d probably go for the really basic option here and chuck in a Gatebreaker with Amulet of Destiny, but Pete’s gone for the Kraken-eater with Mystic Shield. Take your pick, but that’s the template: 3 Megas plus the Bottle-Snatchaz, in a two-drop package with an extra Artefact available.

Is it more competitive than Brodd’s Stomp? Possibly, but I don’t think there’s much in it. I prefer the latter because there’s still something cool about an army of nothing but Megas – that’s a major part of the appeal of running Sons for a lot of people – and it pisses me off no end that so many pieces of faction terrain can be Smashed to Rubble with little to no impact on their core functionality (because it’s written into the Battle Traits rather than the warscroll). So, for me there’s a lot of value in physically bouncing Gnawholes or Gnarlmaws off your opponent’s head, but I reluctantly accept that doesn’t necessarily make the army better. Adidas are still better than Nike though.

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Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords
– Subfaction: Grundstok Expeditionary Force
– Grand Strategy: Acceptable Profit Margin
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Aether-Khemist (100)*
– Artefacts of Power: Aetheric Nullifier
Aetheric Navigator (100)**
– General
– Command Traits: Back On Your Feet!
– Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust

BATTLELINE
Grundstok Thunderers (480)*
– Gunnery Sergeant
– 3 x Honour Bearer
– 3 x Grundstok Mortar
– 3 x Aethercannon
– 3 x Aetheric Fumigator
– 3 x Decksweeper
Grundstok Thunderers (320)*
– Gunnery Sergeant
– 2 x Honour Bearer
– 2 x Grundstok Mortar
– 2 x Aethercannon
– 2 x Aetheric Fumigator
– 2 x Decksweeper
Grundstok Gunhauler (170)*
– Sky Cannon
Grundstok Gunhauler (170)*
– Sky Cannon
Grundstok Gunhauler (170)*
– Sky Cannon
Grundstok Thunderers (320)**
– Gunnery Sergeant
– 2 x Honour Bearer
– 2 x Grundstok Mortar
– 2 x Aethercannon
– 2 x Aetheric Fumigator
– 2 x Decksweeper
Grundstok Gunhauler (170)**
– Sky Cannon

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Carl Stokes: Here we have a look at the power of the (pre-errata) Grundstock Expeditionary Force. Obviously, the way this army plays has changed a great deal, but the core mechanics remain relatively unchanged. By giving up any attempt at close combat, this entire army gets to shoot twice on a 4+ EVERY time they make a shooting attack. Unleash hell? Regular shooting? Yeah, that’s two opportunities to hit that sweet sweet 4+ and turn your opponent’s models into a fine haze of plastic and resin.
Bringing 25 thunderers means that you’ll have the ability to concentrate overwhelming firepower basically anywhere on the table and 3 units means that you’re really shooting with approximately 38 “thunderer equivalents” since you’ll have 3 chances to roll a 4+ in the shooting phase. That’s… a lot of damage.

In the pre-errata world, these thunderer units could be teleported around the battlefield by the grundstock haulers, giving them unparalleled maneuverability and guaranteeing that there’d be no escape from their guns. Thankfully, this has since been changed. Even without the teleporting tricks, 4 gunhaulers (shooting as 6 gunhauler equivalents) can provide a great deal of supporting fire and character hunting to help clear out the smaller units you wouldn’t want to waste a round of shooting from the thunderers on.

Otherwise, this list goes as light as possible on the characters, bringing an anti-magic navigator that lets the thunderers rally on a 4+, and a khemist to make their shooting that much more deadly.

This list lives and dies by its shooting, so any lists that can bring a strong anti-shooting item/trait is going to be extremely hard to deal with. Things like aura of sterility present an almost insurmountable obstacle for this style of army, and fast chunky monsters can also be a challenging matchup. That being said, there are few problems that can’t be solved by an unreasonable volume of fire, and it’ll be interesting to see where the Grundstock Expeditionary Force ends up in this post-errata world.

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/V1FLU20VQV

Age of Sigmar, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Meta Analysis, Peter Holland

Woehammer Stats

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You may have been wondering where the stats have been for the last couple of weeks. I’m pleased to say we’ve been working on something a bit special!

We have numerous members in the Woehammer team (39 members at the last count). Not all of these comment on lists. Some help me with graphics, others SEO and some are techy coders. Why am I telling you this?! Well it just so happens that one of the crew has written a piece of code that will allow us to automatically gather the tournament data from various TO websites, such as Best Coast Pairings and Stats & Ladders.

This code, gets us the pairing information, matchup results and lists for each participant at every tournament on these sites. No longer will I have to spend hours recording the data by hand! We click a button and have it all in seconds!

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE STATS?

It means we can get all tournament information for GTs across the globe as well as 1 dayers at the push of a button.

This will mean I’ll be able to provide you with a stats breakdown for GTs and another for RTTs. We can even combine the two into a GW metawatch style report.

As well as this, we’ll also be able to make more detailed breakdowns for each faction. This will include analysing the matchups for each faction and also what enhancements and warscrolls are being regularly taken in lists.

THE BEST THING?

We’re going to make this coding free and available to anyone who wants to use it.

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Big Waaagh!, Blades of Khorne, Chaos, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Gloomspite Gitz, King's Gitz, Knights of the Empty Throne, Orruk Warclans, Reapers of Vengeance, Slaves to Darkness, The Woehammer Crew, Top three lists, Tournaments

Top Three AoS Lists for Smash To Rubble II

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This is the top three AoS lists for Smash To Rubble II that took place in Serbia on the 3rd and 4th of November. It saw 23 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: Orruk Warclans
– Army Type: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumph: Indomitable

LEADERS
Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (100)*
– Spells: Choking Mist
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)*
– Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (120)**
– General
– Command Traits: Supa Sneaky
– Artefacts of Power: Mork’s Eye Pebble
– Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
Orruk Warchanter (120)***
– Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat
Wurrgog Prophet (170)***
– Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Spells: Hoarfrost
Swampboss Skumdrekk (280)***

BATTLELINE
Gutrippaz (450)**
– Gutrippa Drummer
– Gutrippa Boss
– Wicked Stikka
– 2 x Gutrippa Hornblower
– 3 x Gutrippa Banner Bearer
Orruk Brutes (140)**
– Brute Boss
– Gore-choppa
– Boss Klaw & Brute Smasha
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Hobgrot Slittaz (80)***
– Scrap Totem Bearer
– Noise-maker
– Hobgrot Boss

OTHER
Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)**
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Brute Ragerz (200)**
– 6 x Chain-smasha
Ironskull’s Boyz (80)**

CORE BATTALIONS
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment
***Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Big Waaagh again here, but with some nice little tweaks to the usual Pig and Brute heavy core!

Firstly, and this makes my heart sing, we have a Gnashtoof, with Mork’s Eye Pebble for some early shooting resistance (a 5+++ ward bubble against ranged attacks) which definitely helps to mitigate one of the obvious counters to the techy but relatively fragile army. There’s also the named Sludgeraker, who has the usual Kboyz synergy with the triple Gutrippa blob, which functions as a giant objective holder or mid-board roadblock that can also throw out a tonne of MWs.

Running around behind the phalanx of skare-shields are a cheeky reinforced Ragerz unit – who’re quickly becoming popular as a small-footprint missile, and for good reason.

A really interesting spin on BWaagh that managed to deal with the tankiness of Koatl’s Claw (those Gutrippaz MWs would come in handy there), the meta-darlings Khorne and a heavy hitting varanaguard list – impressive!

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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness
– Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Artifact: Chaos Familiar
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Varanguard (560)*
– General
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– 6 x Fellspear
Be’lakor (340)*
– The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed

BATTLELINE
Chaos Knights (220)*
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Doom Knight
– Hornblower
– Standard Bearer
– Cursed Lance
Varanguard (280)*
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– 3 x Fellspear
Chaos Knights (440)*
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Doom Knight
– Cursed Lance
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
– Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 1960/2000

Roland Rivera: Be’lakor has become a popular inclusion in Empty Throne lists of late in order to give that style of list a bit more spellcasting muscle as well as tactical depth, and this list is the latest example of how that approach can be successful. It enables this list to go light on chaff (not a Cultist unit as far as the eye can see), and instead focus on running a daunting lineup of cavalry hammers that can run through virtually any opponent.

While the list’s clear all-star is the 6 Khorne Fellspear Varanguard, the 10-man Nurgle Knights make for an anvil with a ton of punch, and the unreinforced Knights and Varanguard units make for useful complementary hammers that can swing key combats. Last but not least, the Chaos Sorcerer is also here to provide potent buffs to make it all run smoothly. As with other lists in this style, we see a deep triumph bid to have a strong chance at an on-demand charge reroll in Bloodthirsty.

The potency in this list lies in its reliability: it has picked a specialty and honed it to a razor’s edge, and is thus very good at executing its gameplan to devastating effect.

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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz
– Gittish Horde: King’s Gitz
– Grand Strategy: Chasing the moon
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Skragrott, The Loonking (230) **
Loonboss (90) *
– General
– Command Trait: The Clammy Hand
Madcap Shaman (70) **
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost

Battleline
15 x Boingrot Bounderz (450) **
– Reinforced x 2
5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150) **
40 x Moonclan Stabbas (240) *
– Reinforced x 1

Units
5 x Gobbapalooza (170) **
– Spell1: Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (140) *
5 x Sporesplatta Fanatics (90) **
6 x Rockgut Troggoths (340) **
– Reinforced x 1

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

Total: 1970 / 2000

Lodivicus: Whew! It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen much other than variations of the Jaws of Mork core lists placing. Here we have a Da King’s Gitz ‘soup’ list, which really is a bit of a welcome change for me to write about. I can’t completely escape the parallels to those lists, though, as it does contain most of the core we’ve seen in those builds at the moment. Skragrott, a Madcap Shaman with Moonface Mommet and Hoarfrost, Gobbapalooza, Sneaky Snufflers, Boingrot Bounderz and the Bad Moon Loonshrine. But I’ll take what I can get!

Let’s start with the subfaction choice, Da King’s Gitz. This simply allows us to reroll the dice roll when using the Bad Moon Loonshrine’s Moonclan Lairs ability. However, when combined with the Loonboss’ Clammy Hand command trait, it means you can make two Moonclan Lair rolls, both with rerolls. That’s potential for some pretty reliable recursion coming out of the shrine!

The Loonboss adds ‘mortals on 6s to wound in addition’ whenever he issues the All-out Attack command to a friendly Moonclan unit. I suspect he is primarily here to follow around the Stabbas and to contribute to their output (especially in conjunction with Hoarfrost) but could also buff any of the other Moonclan units in the list.

The forty Stabbas act as objective controllers (contesting an objective within 9” while they have twenty or more models) and still can have respectable output when fully buffed up (with Hoarfrost, All-out Attack from the Loonboss, Moonface Mommet on the target, and an extra attack from Sporesplatta Fanatics). With a lucky Looncap Mushrooms roll (from the Sneaky Snufflers), you could get them yet another attack each in addition to a 5+ ward.

Sporesplatta Fanatics with their pregame move and Spore Cloud ability make excellent screens for a fairly low price tag. It’s common to use them as a screen in early turns and then return half of them from the Loonshrine when they die to offer extra attacks later with their Puffshroom Frenzy ability.

Six Rockgut Troggoths are another hammer (along with Bounderz) and offer more durability (decent saves, decent wounds, and native 5+ wards) to the list as well. They benefit a lot from the +1 attack buffs that are present in the list.

Congratulations, Oleg, on battling back to a 3rd place finish after dropping a game to Daughters of Khaine in round 1. It’s really nice to see a Gitz ‘soup’ list doing so well.

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Allegiance: Blades of Khorne
– Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: The Blood Legions March

Leaders
Bloodsecrator (120)* as Private Leonard “Gomer Pyle”
– Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust
Dromm (180)* as Sergeant “Cowboy” Evans
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice, Unholy Flames
Slaughterpriest (110)* as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
– General
– Command Traits: High-priest of Khorne
– Bloodbathed Axe
– Artefacts of Power: The Crimson Plate
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct
Valkia the Bloody (140)** as Sergeant “Animal Mother”
Bloodmaster (110)** as Sergeant J. T. “Joker” Davis
– Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
– Prayers: Bloodbind, Witchbane Curse
Skulltaker (120)** as Corporal “Eightball”

Battlelines
8 x Claws of Karanak (100)
8 x Claws of Karanak (100)
10 x Bloodreavers (80) – Meatripper Axes (everyone)*
10 x Bloodreavers (80)**
10 x Bloodreavers (80)
10 x Bloodreavers (80)
10 x Bloodreavers (80)
10 x Bloodreavers (80)

Units
Karanak (140) as Private First Class “Rafterman”
5x Wrathmongers (140)
Gorechosen of Dromm (180)
6x Furies (80)

Endless Spells and Innvocations
1 x Wrath-Axe (70)
1 x Bleeding Icon (50)
1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord

Total: 1990 / 2000

Roland Rivera: Most Reapers of Vengeance lists go heavy on Daemons, especially Bloodthirsters, to take advantage of the bonus to hit for Daemons against Heroes, but here we have a list opting for the road less traveled (in fact, I’m not sure why they chose Reapers at all). Of all the units in the army, only the Bloodmaster, Skulltaker, and Karanak are Daemons!

Instead, this is opting for the increasingly-popular approach to Khorne lists, which is to flood the board with expendable units (Bloodreavers and Claws of Karanak, in this case). You usually see that paired with some big hitters to win key combats (such as Skullreapers), but this list has opted to handle it by committee, running tons of Priests with the full complement of Invocations to maximize the utility of the Hero phase. The Bloodmaster and Skulltaker can also serve as Hero assassins once the battle has been joined, as lone Heroes can find it easy to slip past screens and they are decently punchy for their points. They can easily take out a Hero that has been softened up by the Invocations, for example.

Even by the techy standards of Khorne, this feels like a finesse list that is difficult to pilot well, but Sergei seems to have been up to the task, as I find a 3-1-1 result from a list that does not have a clearly identifiable hammer to be fairly impressive.

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/WTFBPGFHE0

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Chaos, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Godseekers Host, Hedonites of Slaanesh, Idoneth Deepkin, Lumineth Realm-Lords, Nautilar, Order, Peter Holland, Top three lists, Tournaments, Zaitrec

Top Three AoS Lists for Garage Skirmish I (RTT)

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This is the top three AoS lists for Garage Skirmish I that took place in Serbia on the 18th of November. It saw 8 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.

If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?

Also, if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover, drop us a comment on this post, and we’ll have a look at it for you.

The Top Three AoS Lists

Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin
– Army Subfaction: Nautilar
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Lotann (110)
1 x Akhelian King (220)*
– General
– Command Traits: Unstoppable Fury
– Bladed Polearm and Falchion
– Artefacts: Armour of the Cythai
– Mount Traits: Voidchill Darkness
1 x Akhelian Thrallmaster (100)**
1 x Isharann Soulrender (100)**
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
1 x Isharann Tidecaster (130)**
– Spells: Hoarfrost

BATTLELINE
20 x Namarti Thralls (110)*
– Icon Bearer
3 x Akhelian Ishlaen Guard (170)*
3 x Akhelian Ishlaen Guard (170)*
10 x Namarti Reavers (160)**
10 x Namarti Reavers (160)**

BEHEMOTH
1 x Akhelian Leviadon (400)
– Mount Traits: Reverberating Carapace

TERRAIN
1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Vanguard
**Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: (1940/2000)

Yuri Vybornov: In my list, I tried to combine all the best options Idoneth have – excluding sharks, which became a popular trend since the last Battlescroll, but will soon disappear again. Also, shark spam, in my opinion, isn’t the most thrilling way to play Idoneth and has some obvious weaknesses. So I decided to try a list of combined arms – my favourite type of list. Important note – i had only a couple of games with this army in the third edition, so I had to think theoretically about building my roster.

Heroes of the idoneth provide major buffs to the already decent units, so I packed five of them – Lotann, Thrallmaster and Soulrender for buffing and reviving, Tidecaster solely to give me access to the second Ritual if need arises (spoiler: it didn’t. Though there are always chances to meet some shooting-heavy lists, such as Hedonites, Kharadron Overlords, and Cities. In such situations, a combination of rituals of Deep-sight and creeping mist could grant me some major advantages). Akhelian King was there to do what Akhelian King does best – slaying stuff. And oh boy, did he deliver some major pain.

I’ve chosen Nautilar solely to make the otherwise lacking Leviadon worth 400 points – I knew that it was a controversial choice for the Enclave, but this sweet rend -3 on damage 4 attacks was needed, in my opinion. I think it paid off, as in all 3 games, the turtle did some heavy-lifting as well.

I also had doubts about 2 units of 3 Ishlaen, though I intended to use them as ultimate objective-grabbers. They did their job very well due to their speed, some consistent damage output, and decent survivability. These guys ain’t no joke, and now I think I will be taking them as the core part of the list as they do their part really well. It’s very easy for them to take control of the objective from other skirmish units – such as skinks, Dawnriders, or even river-trolls they faced in the 1st round of the event.

In all cases, they killed their opponents without losing any models themselves, which is very important, as they were able to continue their play until the end of the battle. After securing the objective, they also had plenty of roles to fulfil – chase down the opponent’s beaten units, assassinate heroes, and even support the main line if need be.

Finally, Namarti are Namarti – reavers were manoeuvrable shooting-support, capable of inflicting some hurt to enemy armies and sometimes even killing charging foes in unleash hell due to their bonuses «to hit». Their colleagues, thralls, backed up by Thrallmaster, Leviadon, Lotann, and Soulrender, were capable of holding their ground pretty well in all three games and inflicting solid damage in return. To round it up, the lists turned out to be quite well-balanced – it has speed, some high rends, weight of dice attacks, decent distance threats, and some decent survivability. The only weaknesses it has are inherited – idoneth strive to deliver and survive mortal wounds and playing with magic in general, which almost proved to be fatal against Seraphon and Lumineth. But their strong sides can mitigate those to some extent for sure.

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Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Subfaction: Zaitrec
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant

LEADERS
Sevireth (270)*
The Light of Eltharion (230)*
Ellania and Ellathor (190)*
– Spells: Etheral Blessings, Speed of Hysh
Vanari Lord Regent (150)*
– Spells: Protection of Hysh, Speed of Hysh
Scinari Cathallar (120)**
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Total Eclipse
Scinari Enlightener (170)**
– General
– Command Traits: Loremaster
– Artefacts of Power: Phoenix Stone
– Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard, Protection of Hysh, Speed of Hysh

BATTLELINE
Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)
– High Warden
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat, Protection of Hysh
Vanari Bladelords (360)
– Bladelord Seneschal
– Sunmetal Dual Blades
Vanari Dawnriders (120)
– Steedmaster
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat, Speed of Hysh

OTHER
Vanari Dawnriders (120)
– Steedmaster
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat, Speed of Hysh

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Hyshian Twinstones (30)
1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
1 x Quicksilver Swords (60)

TERRAIN
1 x Shrine Luminor (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Andtorian Acolytes

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Milan Popovic: My list has a few important things that make it joker-like. I have Sevireth that is fast and good at distraction and in chasing small heroes down. Bladelords are a good punching unit as well as Light of Eltharion. Dawnriders were in all games used as an additional screen with one unit of wardeners, but their purpose was to chase small units and to give support to Sevireth. Spell diversity I got from the Magnificent of Command Entourage battalion. The list is like a castle moving until I slingshot a unit of bladelords fully buffed that picks up important units and destroys them. Wih Enlightener that can cast speed of hysh if and his Rune of Enthlai it is possible to launch Light of Eltharion as well. It’s a well-rounded list that only suffers from spreading too much. Some small tweaks to the list would make it even more deadly. Better first strike placement with wardens, and maybe trading dawnriders for sentinels could make good change. Also, Sudden Translocation from Ellania and Ellathor makes them unreliable enough.

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Allegiance: Slaanesh
– Host: Godseekers
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Selfish Desire
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADERS
Keeper of Secrets (400)*
– General
– Command Trait: Hunter Supreme
– Shining Aegis
– Artefact: Girdle of the Realm-racer
– Lore of the Pursuer: Paths of the Dark Prince
The Masque (150)**
Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (200)*
Syll’Esske, the Vengeful Allegiance (200)*
– Lore of the Pursuer: Progency of Damnation

UNITS
5 x Seekers (140)*
5 x Seekers (140)*
5 x Seekers (140)*
5 x Blissbarb Seekers (220)*
5 x Slickblade Seekers (220)**

BEHEMOTHS
Chaos Warshrine (180)*
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
– Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Vanguard

TOTAL: 1990/2000

Miljan Otovic: The idea behind this list is to play as much as possible to HoS’ main advantage, which is, in my opinion, speed.

So, all units are fast, and the main idea behind it is to concentrate heavily hitting units and take out as many of opponents’ damage dealers as possible – as fast as possible.

For screening and objective grabbing are used Seekers, while everything else is hitting and “pinning” the opponent in the opponent’s zone. Keeping his units and damaged dealers occupied, preferably for a few turns.

Keeper of Secrets and Sigvald are attacking characters (sometimes with Mask too) and destroying support ones on 1st turn if possible.

After that, there is trading between hitting elements of the army, but at that point, it goes in favour of the HoS.

One big drawback for this list is that it is “dice dependent”. Or more “average dependent”, any early skew in opponents’ favor makes victory near impossible. “

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

Best Coast Pairings

Age of Sigmar, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kieron Bailey

Going Fo(u)rth With Age of Sigmar

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As we approach the halfway point of the current GHB, it’s natural to think about what might be coming next season. But instead of just a new GHB, we’re expecting to see 4th Edition Age of Sigmar and all that brings. Will Malerion and Umbraneth make an appearance? Will Armies of Renown continue to be a thing? And will Bonesplitters actually make it to 4th edition at all?

I don’t have the answers to any of those questions, but get your tinfoil hats at the ready as I take a deepish dive into what the lovechild of 3rd Edition Age of Sigmar and 10th Edition 40k might look like, at least in terms of how you win games.

While the games of 40k I have played so far in 10th have convinced me that AoS is by far the more fun, better balanced and cooler way to play Warhammer, I have really enjoyed the randomness of drawing cards for secondary objectives and the gameplay that goes along with that. Big Waaagh is currently undergoing a Renaissance at the moment because of how easy it is to build into scoring 5 battle tactics, but what might AoS look like with cards for battle tactics that are drawn each round?

As a ‘Greatest Hits’ of sorts, I went back to the battle tactics for previous GHBs, dumped Endless Expropriation for being rubbish, and the result was 24 battle tactics, 9 focused on killing and the other 15 focused on manoeuvring:

NameDescription
Gaining MomentumPick 1 enemy unit of the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if that unit is destroyed during this turn and you control more objectives that your opponent at the end of this turn.
An Eye for an EyeYou complete this battle tactic if 1 or more friendly units were destroyed in the previous tun and 1 or more enemy units are destroyed during this turn.
Desecrate their LandsPick 1 terrain feature or faction terrain feature that is partially or wholly within enemy territory. You complete this battle tactic if you control that terrain feature at the end of that turn.
This One’s MinePick 1 enemy unit on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if that unit is destroyed during this turn by an attack made by the model picked to be your general.
A Matter of HonourPick 1 enemy 9 wound or less hero on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if that unit is destroyed during this turn by an attack made by a friendly 9 wound or less hero.
Lead the AssaultYou complete this battle tactic if at least 2 of the objectives you control are in enemy territory and are each contested by a friendly 9 wound or less hero.
United OffencePick 1 objective controlled by your opponent. You complete this battle tactic if you control that objective and 2 or more friendly 9 wound or less heroes are contesting that objective at the end of the turn.
Cunning ManoeuvrePick 1 friendly 9 wound or less hero on the battlefield that is more than 3” from all enemy units. You complete this battle tactic if, at the end of the turn, that 9 wound or less hero is more than 3” from all enemy units and is contesting an objective you control that is wholly outside your territory.
Intimidate the InvadersYou complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if there are more friendly units wholly outside your territory than there are friendly units within your territory.
ReprisalYou complete this battle tactic if an enemy unit that destroyed a friendly general earlier in the battle is destroyed in this turn.
Magical DominanceYou complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if a friendly Wizard unit successfully casts 1 or more spells and none of the spells cast by any units in your army were unbound.
Magical MayhemPick 1 enemy unit on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if that unit is destroyed by damage inflicted by a spell or the abilities of an endless spell.
Bait and TrapYou complete this battle tactic if 2 or more friendly units retreated this turn and 2 or more different friendly units made a charge move this turn.
Led into the MaelstromYou complete this battle tactic if 1 or more friendly Heroes and 1 or more friendly Battleline units each made a charge move this turn and at least 1 of those units is within 3” of an enemy unit at the end of their turn.
Surround and DestroyPick 3 different friendly units on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if each of those units is wholly within 6” of a different battlefield edge and 2 or more of those units are wholly outside your territory.
Barge Through Enemy LinesYou complete this battle tactic if there are 2 or more units from your starting army wholly within your opponent’s territory at the end of this turn.
Broken RanksPick 1 Battleline unit from your opponent’s starting army on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if that unit was destroyed during this turn by a Monster.
ConquerPick 1 objective marker on the battlefield that your opponent controls. You complete this battle tactic if you control that objective marker at the end of this turn.
Slay the WarlordYou complete this battle tactic if the model chosen to be your opponent’s general is slain during this turn or was slain on a previous turn.
Ferocious AdvancePick 3 different units from your starting army on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if all of the units you picked run in the following movement phase and finish that run within 3” of each other.
Bring It Down!Pick 1 enemy Monster on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if that enemy unit is destroyed during this turn.
Aggressive ExpansionPick 2 objective markers that are not wholly within your territory. You complete this battle tactic if you control both objective markers are the end of this turn.
Monstrous TakeoverPick 1 Monster from your starting army on the battlefield. You complete this battle tactic if that Monster is contesting an objective marker that you control at the end of this turn and that objective marker is not contested by an enemy Monster.
Savage SpearheadYou complete this battle tactic if there are 2 or more Monster wholly within your opponent’s territory at the end of this turn.

In addition to these, the Faction Specific battle tactics would also be added for a ‘deck’ of 30 battle tactics that could be drawn.

As with 40k, you would draw three in your first hero phase and at the start of any hero phase where you had less than three. You would be able to spend a CP OR a heroic action to redraw one card at the start of the hero phase. Any tactics scored from the above list would score you two points; any Faction tactic would score you one point. At the end of your turn, you would be able to discard any or all of your cards for a single CP and could hold on to any cards that you wanted. If you could complete all 3 battle tactics drawn every turn, that would result in 30 secondary points, but the cap would be 25 points. For the primary scoring, we could use the standard Hold 1, Hold 2, Hold More, Kill 1, Kill More, for a maximum of 25 points. The maximum score in each game, therefore, could be 50 points…or would it?

One of the mechanics 10th Edition 40k has introduced is the idea of a Gambit – an all or nothing play to turn around a one-sided battle. Now Sigmar already has a similar mechanic built in – the potential double turn – but I think that Gambits could work in AoS too.

As with 40k, a player could choose at the end of turn 3 to forgo scoring any more points on the primary and instead, try to score their Gambit for 15 points. Building on the rules already in place, the Gambit would require the player to choose two Faction Grand Strategies and achieve both at the end of the game. If they do, then their maximum score is 55 as there are 5 more points available to a Gambit than 2 more turns of maximum primary points. The situations where players may choose to do this is if they are down on the primary or secondary scoring or, if they may be even, but can see that their opponent will start to dominate the board as the game goes on and would rather risk 15 points for the Gambit rather than maybe only eke out another 6 or so points through turns 4 and 5.

But what if you don’t want to rely on drawing cards and want to know what tactics you want to play at the start of the matchup? Instead, you could choose two tactics from either your Faction tactics or the standard pack and aim to try and achieve them each turn for 2 points each to a maximum of 20. This does mean that you cannot score as highly as if you’re willing to take a gamble but you are more in control of these. A Skaven friend of mine suggested that he would have 3 Plague Priests run in a circle holding hands for five turns (i.e. Ferocious Advance) while constantly chanting at each other (Crescendo of the Diseased Choir) to get the full 20 points available. And while hilarious and quite on brand for those crazy Pestilens rats, you would only need to kill one of those Priests to stop both tactics being scored.

I’ve decided to hijack Kieron’s article with some of the rumours I’ve heard as well. Why not go all in on the salt now….

Essentially, the starter box next year may be Stormcast against Skaven and will also be in conjunction with a range refresh for Skaven ala Seraphon, Cities and Flesh-eater style. Perhaps we’ll finally get those plastic Gutter Runners? Part of me suspects they’ll change the style slightly to perhaps differentiate from any Old World Skaven, much like we’ve seen with Kharadron and Fyreslayers. But like I said, Salt.

Chorfs (Chaos Duardin/Dwarf) could well see their little fat feet stamp into the Realms next edition as well. Perhaps not near release, but maybe a year or so into the edition.

So there we are. The possible future for AoS or a fever dream of nonsense that not even tin-foil hats can keep you safe from? Let us know in the comments below!

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Blisterskin, Crematorians, Death, Fangs of Sotek, Fantasy, Flesh-Eater Courts, Games Workshop, Lumineth Realm-Lords, Order, Ossiarch Bonereapers, Seraphon, The Woehammer Crew, Top three lists, Tournaments, Zaitrec

Top Three AoS Lists for the Magical Dominance Saigon Warhammer Age of Sigmar GT 2023/2

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This is the top three AoS lists for the TMagical Dominance Saigon Warhammer Age of Sigmar GT 2023/2 that took place in Vietnam on the 3rd and 4th of November. It saw 22 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: Flesh-eater Courts
– Grand Court: Blisterskin
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Abhorrant Archregent (240)*
– General
– Command Trait: Hellish Orator
– Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation
Abhorrant Archregent (240)*
– Lore of Madness: Spectral Host
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (450)**
– Artefact: Eye of Hysh
– Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite
– Lore of Madness: Blood Feast
Abhorrant Ghoul King (170)**
– Lore of Primal Frost: Rupture

UNITS
3 x Crypt Flayers (180)**
10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)**
10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)**
10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)**
3 x Crypt Flayers (180)**

BEHEMOTHS
Royal Terrorgheist (260)**

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
Cadaverous Barricade (20)

TERRAIN
1 x Charnel Throne (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL: 1980/2000

Hanna Leppänen: This list is an interesting one! Blisterskin is not the most typical subfaction, but it gives +2″ move to all Blisterskin units and a teleport CA for flying units. The Hero section of this list looks rather typical with double Archreagents providing 2 casts each and summons. Goose King aka Aborrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist providing a good mobile hammer (especially when buffed up) and Foot King for that +1 A spell and 10 Ghouls summon. Spellcasting Savant is a good GS, especially with Flayers, who I think are playing a major role in this list, transporting the heroes and being super mobile.

Overall, this list is a neat take on how FEC can be super control heavy (this was earlier this year seen particularly in Morgaunt lists). Lots of movement, movement shenanigans, screens, and zoning pieces prevent armies from getting where they want to go, with a huge threat of Goose King and Terrorgheist looming around (possibly teleporting with Blisterskin CA).

The list plays vastly different to the typical “99” horrors lists seen around. It doesn’t hit hard apart from the terrorgheists, but it provides a lot of hard to counter, mobile pieces that can screen the Terrorgheist and bully the back lines. Flayers can carry the non-flying heroes surprisingly far when needed, and while they’re definitely in the short end of the recent changes FEC got in Dawnbringers, they can do work, especially against the squishier targets. The 2 Terrorgheists do the heavy lifting of this list, while summons and fast flayers outmanouver and threaten out of position units.

This all being said, this kind of list requires very good positioning to function well, so very well done to Trung for getting his 5-0 with the list!

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Army Faction: Seraphon
– Army Type: Starborne
– Army Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek
– Grand Strategy: Continuous Expansion
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Slann Starmaster (290)*
– General
– Command Traits: Lord of Celestial Resonance
– Spells: Hoarfrost, Comet’s Call
1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)*
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
1 x Lord Kroak (410)**
1 x Skink Starseer (150)**
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Cosmic Crush
1 x Skink Starpriest (130)**
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Speed of Huanchi

BATTLELINE
10 x Skinks (90)
– Skink Alpha
– Boltspitter
– Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler
10 x Skinks (90)
– Skink Alpha
– Boltspitter
– Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler
10 x Saurus Warriors (180)
– Saurus Warrior Alpha
– Icon Bearer
– War-drummer
– Celestite Spear
5 x Saurus Guard (140)**
– Icon Bearer
– War-drummer
– Saurus Guard Alpha

BEHEMOTH
1 x Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (180)

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (50)
1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)

TERRAIN
1 x Starborne Realmshaper Engine (0)

OTHER
5 x Hunters of Huanchi with Starstone Bolas (80)
– Hornblower
– Huanchi’s Claw
– Chameleon Skink Alpha

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Aaaah, Starborne. Last time I commented on a Starborne list, I just made a glib limerick. And I can’t exactly top that. So this time, I’m just going to speculate idly on what could be done in terms of internal balance to mix things up a little.

Firstly, kill ‘Lord of Celestial Resonance’. Just straight up delete it from the book. It’s so far and away the most competitive pick of Command Traits as to render the rest meaningless. Sure, there was that one no-Slann list at War in the Heartlands that just happened to go 5-0, and he’s a complete legend, but of course the rest of us mere mortals want double the star power for just playing the game. Delete that command trait and we’d see some experimentation with the others – plus, as a result, the Slann’s points could probably drop a little which would also make him much more viable in Coalesced lists.

Next, re-write the Dracothian’s Tale sub-faction rules. As it stands it’s fairly pointless as I see it – the army gives you teleporting, you want stuff on the board for generating star power and screening your Star Power Generators – and there’s even a handy artifact (which this list hasn’t even bothered to take) for bringing stuff in outside of 7″ as opposed to 9″. So what does Draco Tail actually offer? Change it to something like – I don’t know, it buffs Chotecs and Terradons, or makes monsters a bit better somehow so that it can function as the ‘wizard lizards with fighty friends’ playstyle.

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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Subfaction: Crematorians
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Liege-Kavalos (180)
– General
– Command Traits: Mighty Archaeossian
– Artefacts of Power: Lode of Saturation
Katakros (500)*
Mortisan Boneshaper (140)*
– Spells: Reinforce Constructs
Mortisan Soulmason (160)*
– Spells: Hoarfrost

BATTLELINE
Kavalos Deathriders (190)*
– Necrophoros
– Mortek Hekatos
– Nadirite Blade
Mortek Guard (260)*
– Mortek Hekatos
– Nadirite Blade
– 2 x Necrophoros
– 2 x Soulcleaver Greatblade
Mortek Guard (260)*
– Mortek Hekatos
– Nadirite Blade
– 2 x Necrophoros
– 2 x Soulcleaver Greatblade

BEHEMOTH
Gothizzar Harvester (160)*

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Bone-tithe Shrieker (60)
1 x Soulstealer Carrion (40)

TERRAIN
1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Ossiarch Cohort

TOTAL POINTS: 1950/2000

Roland Rivera: An interesting note about the Ossiarch Bonereapers 3rd edition tome is that the first list to earn 5-0 honors used the Crematorians subfaction. Clarificatory changes to the timing of the Gothizzar Harvester’s ability (which made it markedly worse) resulted in it falling out of favor, but recent points cuts to the Harvester and to Mortek Guard have made it an appealing option once again.

This list features an interesting General choice in the Liege-Kavalos, which has been kitted out to be an immovable object with the combination of Mighty Archaeossian (which gives it a 3+ ethereal save) and Lode of Saturation (which gives it a base 5+ Ward). Because this list is Mortek Guard-centric, a Soulmason is a strong choice thanks to the Soul-Guide spell. These choices join a Boneshaper and Katakros, which are common inclusions in most OBR lists.

As for the troops themselves, this list features 2 units of 20 Morteks that it will seek to get into combat, as well as 5 Kavalos Deathriders as an efficient skirmisher unit. Lastly, a Harvester provides a potent source of secondary healing for the Mortek as well as a cheap, decently hitty Monster to Roar into combat with.

Last but not least, the list includes some endless spells in the Bone-Tithe Shrieker (to combat wards) and the Soulstealer Carrion (to combat cheap objective grabbers). You don’t often see these spells in OBR lists with how tight their points situation currently is, but the pilot here clearly felt that they were needed, and who am I to argue?

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Lumineth Realm-Lords
Great Nation: Zaitrec
Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
Triumph: Indomitable
Army Points: 1970

Leaders
Enlightener (170)*
– General
– Command Trait: Loremaster
– Artefact: Rune of Senthoi
– Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard, Speed of Hysh, Protection of Hysh
Cathallar (120)*
– Spells: Total Eclipse, Hoarfrost
Sevireth (270)**
Calligrave (110)**
– Spells: Etheral Blessing, Overwhelming heat
The Light of Eltharion (230)**
Bannerblade (80)***

Battleline
10 x Vanari Bladelords (120)***
– Bladelord Seneschal
10 x Vanari Bladelords (120)***
– Bladelord Seneschal
10 x Wardens (150)**
– High Warden
– Spells: Total Eclipse, Solare Flare
5 x Dawnriders (120)
– Steedmaster
– Standard Bearer
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat, Speed of Hysh

Other
5 x Dawnriders (120)
– Steedmaster
– Standard Bearer
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat, Speed of Hysh

Endless Spells
– Hyshian Twinstones (30)
– Gravetide (30)
– Quick Silver Swords (60)

Terrain
1 x Shrine Luminor (0)

Battalions:
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Warlord
***Wizard-finders of andtor

So we’ll be honest, we’re not too sure how this list works and didn’t want to give duff information. If you think you know how it works, why don’t you let us know in the commbelow?

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/BHTP5CA9M6

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Destruction, Fantasy, Fuethan, Games Workshop, Gloomspite Gitz, Heartwood, Idoneth Deepkin, Jaws of Mork, Order, Sons of Behemat, Sylvaneth, The Woehammer Crew, Top three lists, Tournaments

Top Three AoS Lists for Vault Wars 2023

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This is the top three AoS lists for tLay low the Tyrants Grand Tournament that took place in the US on the 21st and 22nd of October. It saw 54 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: Sons of Behemat
– Tribe: King Brodd’s Stomp
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumph: Inspired

Leaders/Battleline
King Brodd (520)
– General
– Command Trait: Big Eater
Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (500)
– Artefact: Brand of the Gargant
Warstomper Mega-Gargant (450)
Kraken-Eater Mega-Gargant (500)

Total: 1950 / 2000

Jeremy Hauck: Sons of Behemat are a menace to your local and grand tournament meta alike. With an imposing ability to control objectives using their Mightier Makes Rightier ability, few armies can hope to control the battlefield better than the lords of monsters. The core army boasts a suite of unique monstrous actions that display their dominance in the realm of Ghur. 

A recent addition to the ongoing narrative, Dawnbringers, boasts a few exciting ways to play your towering monsters: King Brodd’s Stomp.With King Brodd’s Stomp (KBS), gargant players can enjoy new commands, artifacts, battle tactics, an unprecedented defense of their King, Brodd, and a devastating way to interact with terrain, Smash it all to Bits. 

Walker Snapp recently displayed mastery of this army with his 5 and 0 at Vault Wars 2023. Walker employed the “one of everything” style of list writing for Sons of Behemat.

He has opted to have King Brodd be his general, and armed him with Big Eater, a command trait that allows Mega-Gargants wholly within 12” of this general to heal up to D3 wounds if that Mega-Gargant killed any models with melee attacks during the combat phase. Additionally, leaning into the offensive prowess of the Gatebreaker, has armed this gargant with his only artefact of power: The Brand of the Gargant. This scorching club allows the bearer to strike-first in the combat phase if this unit has made an unmodified charge roll of 8+.

His Warstomper Mega-Gargant is deployed for its horde clearing capabilities, gaining extra attacks for each model within 3” of the beast. 

His Kraken-Eater Mega-Gargant likely played goalie for his team, with the unique ability to move objectives up to 2D6 inches in all of Walker’s hero phases. 

Sons of Behemat have the uncanny ability to play both offense and defense tremendously. With bombastic attack profiles, 1950 points to consistently gain access to his powerful Triumph of +1 to wound, and the capability of a lucky 8+ inch charge to strike first on offense, Walker’s list positions itself to bring the fight to the enemy.

Within KBS, while any other gargant is within 3 inches of King Brodd, he also has an absolutely insane 5+ ward. Bringing this type of wound mitigation to his already absurd 40 wounds means jamming Brodd down the enemies front lines is a surefire way to get consistent damage out of the King all game long. 

Coupled with this the new Smash to Bits ability, which gives a hilariously swingy ranged attack that, in my experience, is just as likely to do 0 damage as it is to do 18, the Sons of Behemat are no slouch when it comes to output. 

But even more powerful than this output is the unique ability to transform the landscape of the game, as the only army that can currently remove terrain from the board. It can’t be undervalued that if your opponent has hidden a critical piece of their army behind terrain, it only takes a simple 2+ roll to remove that obstacle. 

And when it comes to mobility, their new Monstrous action, bespoke to KBS, is The King’s Stomp: the ability to fly 3d6 inches after making a charge turns the Mega-Gargant into a locomotive that crashes into the unsuspecting target hiding behind their screens. 

Walker has opted out of taking the arcane tome, foregoing access to the easy battle tactic of Magical Dominance. This, perhaps, telegraphs to his opponent that he intends to play aggressively. Though, as mentioned above, perhaps there was just nothing that could be done to meet his fury.

Additionally, this general has opted to make King Brodd his general instead of taking advantage of his Warmaster status. This author sees this as a less than optimal choice, as 2 generals seem better than one. With the caveat, it is hard to argue with his success. 

Sons of Behemat feel like a powerful choice in the current meta. In my experience, there are few armies that feel like a hard counter to the army. If anything, even your worst matches feel like a 50-50 chance of victory if the dice fall your way. Walker put up an impressive display, going into some of the more dangerous match ups for Sons of Behemat, and came out on top. Keep stompin’ boyz.

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Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin
– Enclave: Fuethan
– Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide

Leaders
Akhelian King (220)**
– General
– Bladed Polearm
– Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury
– Artefact: Arcane Tome
– Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness
Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers (110)**
Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (330)*
– Allies

Battleline
1 x Bloodthirsty Shiver Akhelian Allopex (150)*
– Razorshell Harpoon
1 x Bloodthirsty Shiver Akhelian Allopex (150)*
– Razorshell Harpoon
1 x Bloodthirsty Shiver Akhelian Allopex (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon
1 x Bloodthirsty Shiver Akhelian Allopex (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon
1 x Bloodthirsty Shiver Akhelian Allopex (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon
1 x Bloodthirsty Shiver Akhelian Allopex (150)**
– Razorshell Harpoon

Behemoths
Akhelian Leviadon (400)**
– Mount Trait: Reverberating Carapace

Endless Spells & Invocations
Aethervoid Pendulum (40)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000

Jon Anderson: I’ve written on the Fuethan sharknado list a few times, so I’d like to focus on the things that are different here than in the standard list.

Reducing the total count of sharks to six is a bold decision as you start losing the critical mass of being omnipresent in regards to your board presence. It worked for pauliswright, but I’d be hesitant to do so.

Choosing “The Creeping Gloomtide” as the grand strat was the initial take during the early iterations of list building but I ended up moving away from it because “Deny Trespassers” is a fairly easy battle tactic and denying yourself access to it is never fun.

I understand the “why” behind the aether void pendulum, but I think the bloodthirsty triumph has more value especially given the propensity to cast mystic shield with the arcane tome.

The shining points here though are celestant prime and the Akhelian King being reliable sources of rend 3 which the list needs in order to punch through thick armor.

Lotann continues to impress, and if you’re interested in running the Fuethan list he is one of the first things id include.

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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz
– Gittish Horde: Jaws of Mork
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Loonboss on Mangler Squigs (340)*
– General
– Command Trait: Fight Another Day
– Artefact: Loonstone Teefcaps
Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (110)*
Fungoid Cave-Shaman (110)*
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Loonboss (90)**

Battleline
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (300)*
– Reinforced x 1
20 x Moonclan Stabbas (120)*
36 x Squig Herd (420)**
– Reinforced x 2

Units
5 x Gobbapalooza (170)
– Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork

Behemoths
Mangler Squigs (260)**

Endless Spells & Invocations
Umbral Spellportal (80)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Wizard-Finders of Andtor

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000

Lodivicus: What do we have here? Another unconventional Squigs list placing in the top 3 at an event? Yes please! The core of the list contains a lot of what we’ve been seeing place well lately.  Squig Herd, Boingrot Bounderz, Squigboss with Gnasha-Squig, and Gobbapalooza anchor the Jaws of Mork core, as usual. The significantly more survivable Fungoid Cave-Shaman takes the place of the more common Madcap Shaman as the Moonface Mommet and Hoarfrost wizard. But after that there are some monsterous differences from the majority of the lists we’ve been seeing…

First off, Manglers! And not just one but two! With their run and charge from Lunar Squigs, the Giant Boing! monstrous action, and the extra attack on their Huge Fang-filled Gobs from Jaws of Mork they are almost certainly getting where they want to go and dealing solid damage once there.  If the base model wasn’t enough, the Loonboss on Mangler Squigs equipped with Loonstone Teefcaps gets an additional point of rend on his Gobs attacks, can Bite Da Moon to add to Squig’s wound rolls, and can use his Fight Another Day command trait to get to safety after he attacks.  The Manglers together are a pricey 600 points (likely contributing to why we haven’t been seeing them very often) but they are indeed a formidable threat.

Second, Moonclan Stabbas add some needed objective control and fulfil the battleline requirements of the list since so many points have been spent on the Manglers. While in the past it wasn’t uncommon to see Stabbas in Jaws of Mork, it has trended away from including them lately in favor of more Squig Herd or Bounderz.

Third, the Loonboss with his I’m Da Boss, Now Stab ‘Em Good! ability can give any Moonclan unit mortals on 6s to wound in addition to their normal attacks when he issues them All Out Attack. In this list, that’s everything besides the Squig Herd, as they can’t receive commands.

Lastly, and here’s where it gets really intriguing to me, the Umbral Spellportal. I can’t remember the last time I saw Umbral Spellportal in a Gitz list. With the only wizards being the Fungoid Cave-Shaman and Gobbapalooza, I suspect Joe was using this to get the Shroomancer’s Fungoid Cloud into optimal position (coordinating with the launch of the Squig units) or to allow the Fungoid Cave-Shaman to catch more units in his Spore Maws from relative safety.

Congratulations Joe! Thank you for showing us some out of the box thinking with this one, I know it’s got my wheels turning. I bet it was a blast, both for you to play and for your opponents to play against.

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Allegiance: Sylvaneth
– Glade: Heartwood
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Seasons of War: The Reaping

Leaders
Warsong Revenant (300)*
– General
– Command Trait: Spellsinger
– Artefact: The Vesperal Gem
– Lore of the Deepwood: Treesong
Branchwych (110)*
– Lore of the Deepwood: Verdurous Harmony
Knight-Incantor (120)**
– Allies

Battleline
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)**
20 x Dryads (200)**
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatswords (440)**
– Reinforced x 1

Units
6 x Spiterider Lancers (380)**
– Reinforced x 1
3 x Aetherwings (70)**
– Allies

Behemoths
Treelord (230)**

Endless Spells & Invocations
Spiteswarm Hive (40)

Core Battalions
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000

This is a cool grab-bag list with some interesting allied tech – the knight-Incantor is a solid source of an auto-unbind, something that can be especially clutch in this season. Unusually, this list also opts for Lancers over Seekers – although it’s something I’m starting to see here and there – although a fast source of fight-first is not exactly hard to understand the appeal of. It allows a concerted hammer blow with the 6 Sword-noth, sped up by the Spiteswarm, to reliably pincer attack and cause a big swing in the table state, even if it gives up the longer-term durability and recursion that Seekers offer.

Also love to see the cheeky inclusion of a Treelord, who’re increasingly popular as ‘turn off pile-in’ tech, which could wreak havoc with an opponent’s plans to counter-attack and can generally just cause movement blocking.

Again, I wonder how often we’ll see ‘variety’ lists like this once Belthanos is tournament legal, but in the meantime it’s cool to see a wider range of the Sylvaneth book getting some table time!

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/tNDzWTMEj6

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Barak Urbaz, Blades of Khorne, Chaos, Death, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kharadron Overlords, Knights of the Empty Throne, Order, Ossiarch Bonereapers, Petrifex Elite, Reapers of Vengeance, Slaves to Darkness, The Woehammer Crew, Top three lists, Tournaments

Top Three AoS Lists for the TTB OPEN 2023

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This is the top three AoS lists for the TTB OPEN 2023 that took place in Norway on the 28th and 29th of October. It saw 22 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: Slaves to Darkness
– Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (340)*
– The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)*
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost

Battleline
6 x Varanguard (560)*
– 6x Fellspear
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Reinforced x 1
3 x Varanguard (280)*
– 3x Fellspear
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
3 x Varanguard (280)*
– 3x Fellspear
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
9 x The Unmade (80)*
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
5 x Chaos Knights (220)*
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Ensorcelled Banner: The Banner of Rage

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1970 / 2000

Roland Rivera: A classic ABC (Always Be Charging) Slaves to Darkness list, this list leverages the power and consistency of Khorne Fellspear Varanguard to the max by running a bunch of them (12, to be exact) in Knights of the Empty Throne, where they all get to run and charge. Complement them with a bit of control in Be’lakor, a caster with Daemonic Speed to make their threat range even bigger, some Unmade to make sure people can’t Redeploy away from your charges, some Knights as a Swiss army knife/cleanup crew, and just dare your opponents to stop you (most of them can’t).

There was a somewhat interesting choice made in the supporting Heroes, however. Instead of spending every last one of his 2000 points, Geir Vedeld (a Slaves to Darkness pilot with proven bona fides) decided to suit an Exalted Hero up with an Arcane Tome and instead angle for a triumph bid. An interesting choice that I can see the logic behind (this build lives and dies by making its charges), and I’d be interested to know how often it resulted in a critical charge reroll. Overall, if you’re looking to build a fast, aggressive, and effective Slaves to Darkness list, here’s your blueprint.

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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Army Subfaction: Petrifex Elite
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Liege-Kavalos (180)
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
1 x Katakros (500)
1 x Mortisan Ossifector (120)
– General
– Command Traits: Dark Acolyte
– Spells: Empower Nadirite Weapons

BATTLELINE
5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade
10 x Mortek Guard (130)
– Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Soulcleaver Greatblade
– Nadirite Blade
3 x Immortis Guard (220)

TERRAIN
1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)

OTHER
4 x Morghast Archai (220)
– Spirit Halberd
2 x Morghast Archai (220)
– Spirit Halberd

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Walter Brock: We’re looking at an OBR list that went 4-1.  Choosing Petrifex Elite to make The Immortis Guard and Morghasts harder to kill in combat.  Spellcasting Savant is the go-to Grandstrat having so much synergy with Immortis guard.

The liege Kavalos with Arcane shield provides an extra cast to put up arcane shield so the Ossifector can put up Nadirite weapons. The liege also provides extra attacks making any unit hit harder.  Altogether a power army multiplier.

Katakros is the big man providing all the value.  Giving everything +1 to hit and +1 to save makes all units run at maximum efficiency.  Combo with the other buffs that the list can provide, and a simple 10-person unit could even kill gods.

The Ossifector is the Glue that holds everything together.  The Grand Strat is tied to this thing.  It buffs Morghasts with extra rend.  Has a 9-inch bubble of +1 to wound and Dark Acolyte to get a battle tactic very easily.  Everything that this little guy gives is pure gas, but if it somehow dies.  A lot of good things go away. 

A unit of 5 Deathriders is a standard seen in most lists. Providing a battle tactic and being a fast uni. Deathriders can do many things from being a screen to clogging up the key piece of the opponent.  The imagination is the limit of what Deathriders can do.

A unit of 10 Mortek guard.  Act as easy filler to reach 3 battlelines. Can be a cheap screen or act as a unit to block off back line deep strikes.  While not the most stellar inclusion for the list. They can provide a lot of unspoken support for the list that nothing else really wants to do.

Three Immortis guard Unlock an easy battle tactic for OBR and help protect the Ossifector so getting the Grandstrat is more likely.

The two units of Morghasts are the stars of the show.  These units provide large amounts of Damage. Are incredibly fast and shut down commands. Whatever these guys get into will usually die.  Katakros buffing their ability to hit.  The Ossifector buffing the Rend and wound rolls, and Empower Weapons going onto a unit plus the extra attacks from the liege makes a unit of Morghasts able to take down almost any unit in the game.

This list is very good at getting its buffs reliably and dealing large amounts of damage while being difficult to kill thanks to Petrifex Elite and Katakros.  A very well-rounded list. Well done to this player.

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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
– Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (310)
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (310)
– Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
Skarbrand (380)
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster (300)*
– General
– Command Traits: Firebrand
– Artefacts of Power: Halo of Blood
– Prayers: Killer Instinct
Bloodmaster (110)*
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh
Slaughterpriest (110)*
– Bloodbathed Axe
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice
– Nullstone Adornments: Polished Nullstone Pebble

BATTLELINE
Flesh Hounds (100)
Flesh Hounds (100)
Flesh Hounds (100)
Bloodreavers (80)
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Blood Chieftain
– Meatripper Axe
Bloodreavers (80)
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Blood Chieftain
– Meatripper Axe

TERRAIN
1 x Skull Altar (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Command Entourage
– Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000

Roland Rivera: The big boys are back in town! This is another instance of a Khorne player pushing all their chips into the center of the table with the 4-Bloodthirster build, and this pilot was in quite a gambling mood, as he chose to roll with 2 Bloodthirsters of Insensate Rage, whose damage can be inconsistent but has huge spike potential. Those two slot machines were paired with Skarbrand’s steady output and a Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster to tie the room together via activation tricks to make combat sequencing easier.

As you’d imagine for a list with 4 300+ point models, everything else in the list reolves around supporting the big guys. Flesh Hounds and Bloodreavers pressure objectives and can be cashed in for Blood Tithe in a pinch, and a couple of Priests will sit in the back line and provide buffs (or perhaps a bit of direct damage in the form of Blood Boil). Overall, this list is highly specialized, but the thing it does is good enough to be a strong choice in an all-comers tournament.

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Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords
– Army Subfaction: Barak-Urbaz
– Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies
– Triumphs: Inspired
– Stick To The Code (Amendments): Trust To Your Guns
– Stick To The Code (Artycles): Honour is Everything, Settle the Grudges
– Stick To The Code (Footnotes): Without Our Ships, We Are Naught

LEADER
1 x Arkanaut Admiral (140)*
– General
– Command Traits: Ex-Grundstok
1 x Aetheric Navigator (100)*
– Artefacts: Voidstone Orb
1 x Aether-Khemist (100)*
– Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon

BATTLELINE
10 x Grundstok Thunderers (160)*
– Gunnery Sergeant
– 2 x Honour Bearer
– 2 x Grundstok Mortar
– 2 x Aethercannon
– 2 x Aetheric Fumigator
– 2 x Decksweeper
10 x Arkanaut Company (90)*
– Company Captain
– Light Skyhook and Gun Butt
– Skypike
– Volley Pistol
– Aethermatic Volley Gun and Gun Butt
10 x Arkanaut Company (90)*
– Company Captain
– Light Skyhook and Gun Butt
– Skypike
– Volley Pistol
– Aethermatic Volley Gun and Gun Butt
1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)*
– Sky Cannon

BEHEMOTH
1 x Arkanaut Ironclad (500)*
– Great Sky Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: The Last Word
– The Admiral’s Flagship: The Admiral’s Flagship

OTHER
1 x Gotrek Gurnisson (480)*

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Carl Stokes: Another day, another KO list featuring everyone’s Old World remnant! This Gotrek list takes a slightly different approach than many others in that, rather than take one large thunderer block, it takes a slightly smaller one in order to afford a gunhauler.

I’ve already made it abundantly clear why I think Gotrek is an incredible addition to KO armies in previous write-ups so won’t wax poetic on this one, but safe to say that I think he patches a lot of the intrinsic weaknesses of KO while allowing the army to retain their core identity as a mobile firebase.

The usual cadre of characters provides support/disruption while 20 arkanauts screen in the early game before transitioning to objective holders in the mid/late game. A single gunhauler provides another way to score battle tactics and threaten little wizards while being juuuust tough enough to pin targets in place for Gotrek. The gunhauler is another excellent way to hunt down those pesky Andtorian Loci that can cause KO all sorts of problems.

But as usual, the backbone of the list lies in the 10 thunderers and Ironclad that ferries them around. The thunderers are a very tough unit that’s extremely prickly at close range and can be juiced to ridiculous levels by the characters. Generally, the classic approach to this list is to take the single unit of 15 but as the meta shifts towards more anti-shooting, the decision here was made to prioritize mobility to improve the matchup into lists that have a strong anti-shooting presence.

Will that be the case moving forward? Nobody can tell for sure, but the ability of KO to quickly adapt to a changing metagame by drawing on their ally pool and the various different skyports while still being able to easily achieve their many battle tactics is one of the many things that makes them a top-tier army.

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/JN5ULW3GE4

Age of Sigmar, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Meta Analysis, Peter Holland, Tournaments

AoS Meta Stats W/Ending 11th November 2023

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Disclaimer

The data contained inside this article is only Woehammer’s interpretation. There are differing methods and analyses of the data available from Games Workshop and Honest Wargamer, whose methodology differs slightly from our own.

All of these sources should be viewed as a collective whole to allow you to gather a larger picture of the Age of Sigmar meta. The win rates, while accurate for events we have on record so far, are likely to change in the coming weeks and shouldn’t be the single point of reference for a factions strength.

How Win Rates are Calculated

All of our data is pulled from two day single events. We split all draws between the wins and losses of a faction evenly, as we believe this provides a fair reflection of a factions win rate. For example, as a player, you may achieve 2 wins, 2 losses, and a draw at an event. Some sites will only count the wins towards the faction rate, so in this case, 40% (2/5=0.4). Woehammer includes half of the draws, so our result would be 50% (2.5/5=0.5).

We have also included a confidence interval based on the sample size and their results. This interval has a 95% confidence rate. What does this mean? Essentially, we’re 95% sure that the win rate of the faction will fall inside this band at the release of the next battlescroll.

We have decided to include this as each factions win rates can (and will) fluctuate as more and more players post their results. While the faction win rate may be that specified right now, it is more than likely to change in the future. So when looking at a win rate, take into account the number of players who have posted results, as well as the upper and lower limit of that 95% confidence interval. This will give a good indication of the future win rate of that faction.

Event Submission

If you have organised an event that doesn’t appear in our database and has the following minimum requirements to be included:

  • Two Day Event
  • Singles Event
  • Minimum of 8 players

Then why not complete the form attached and send the results to thewoehammer@gmail.com? We’ll include them the next time we produce the stats.

Event Submission TemplateDownload

Data Overview

Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor (Sept 2023)

Tournaments Included:

  • Trouble at Mill
  • Invasion AoS 2023
  • Broken Ranks Q3 Illinois
  • King Gizzard and the Blizzard Wizards
  • Wardolly Weekend 5
  • LGT AoS Single
  • Gran Tourneo Huertano Individual de Murcia
  • End Times Grand Tournament 2023
  • Tough Castle 2023
  • Woehammer AoS GT II
  • Kippers Melee 2023
  • Age of Sigmar GT: US Open Tampa
  • Battle Rage Ballerup 2023
  • Palladium Games Age of Sigmar GT
  • Age of Sigmar Grant Tournament @XPG
  • Hobart Hammer Grand Tournament 2023
  • Ragnarok: Autumn 2023
  • Halloween Hoedown
  • TTB Open 2023
  • Raccoon Rumble 2023
  • Smash to Rubble II
  • Total Escape Games Winter Warhammer Smash
  • Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament 2023 by Dragonforge & Wartilyo
  • 2D6 Carnage
  • Sir GT’s-A-Lot
  • Coventry AoS GT
  • Farmhammer Brewdog
  • King Cheese GT
  • Flying Monkey Con 2023
  • TM Gaming
  • Wappler Harvest Gathering
  • Crucible 2023
  • North China Open
  • Mowan Autumn Championship 2023
  • AoS Champs at the 2023 Michigan GT
  • Sovereign Smash 2023
  • Symposium SELWG
  • Justice Series GT
  • Fantasia Fanatic XLIV AoS
  • GAF Jamboree
  • Suge & Dice Annual AoS Tournament
  • SoCal Open
  • Duckstravaganza 2: Battle for the Pond
  • I. Lay Low the Tyrants Grand Tournament
  • Malmo Wargaming Weekend 7
  • Realmgate Rumble
  • Grudgefest GT 2023
  • Tetsworth’s War and Treachery (T.W.A.T)
  • Magical Dominance Saigon Warhammer Age of Sigmar GT
  • Slambo GT
  • Realm of Geddon BSK 40
  • Threshold Invitational II
  • Battle of the Bend
  • PNW Masters 2023
  • Gitz go to War(fare) 2023

Faction Win Rates

As we have now included a confidence interval within our data based on the sample size and results, we have now included all factions within the below tables regardless of their player base.

Soulblight Gravelords and Ossiarch Bonereaper nerfs appear to have worked at first glance, but the Kharadron Overlords who were possibly being held back a little in the last battlescroll have probably benefitted from this power vacuum and find themselves in the top spot.

The Kruleboyz appear to have been put back in their box down at 44% .

Win Rates

You’ll see in the chart above that each faction shows its current win rate as a % inside a text box. The paler green and yellow segments show the margin of error of that win rate. We predict with 95% confidence that the win rate will be within the paler bars upon the release of the next battlescroll. The size of this segment is determined by the number of tournament entries using that faction, the spread of their win rates at competitions and finally how many weeks are estimated to be left until the next battlescroll update.

Using our old format of win rate reporting and removing factions with less than 20 results, we have the following table:

I thought it may be interesting to also view the win rates by month during the battlescroll. This may allow us to see the effect of new Ironjawz or the like on their particular faction. Or it may show whether armies with high win rates are being adapted to by their opposition.

Subfaction and Army of Renown Win Rates

We’ve started having subfactions hit the 20 player min representation, so have taken those factions for the chart above.

ARMIES OF RENOWN

I’ve decided to have a little chart recording their progress as the Battlescroll progresses, they may well track against their own faction as a whole, but I though it would be interesting to see nonetheless.

Player Results by Wins

This graph has at least two purposes. Firstly, it shows the faction popularity by the number of players, and secondly, it breaks down those players’ results in terms of the number of wins they achieve.

Here, we’ve included all the factions that have been played to date, as there is no benefit in removing those with a small sample size.

Faction Popularity

The full list month-by-month is below:

When looking at the above table, bear in mind that this is the worldwide meta, and region to region or even city to city may differ. So while this gives us a general idea of the meta it may not be representative of your local meta.

We’re seeing (as always) a massive spike in the player base of the new tomes that have been released and fall off on the older Tomes. This is to be expected really as competitive players jump around following the “Oooo shiny” method of collecting. They’ll likely always be a strong base for Stormcast Eternals, thanks to them appearing in nearly all beginner army sets, as magazine collections and the feature of many stories in Age of Sigmar.

Players Achieving 5-0 Wins, Tournaments in Winning Positions and 3 Wins from

Out of all the players using that faction (shown in brackets next to the faction name), this graph shows the number achieving a whitewash at a GT with 5 wins from 5. Those achieving 4 wins from 4 after the fourth round and those achieving 3 wins from 3 after the 3rd round. Take into account that those who achieve 5-0 are included in the numbers of 4 wins from 4 and 3 wins from 3. Likewise, those achieving 4 from 4 are included with the 3 from 3 data.

Results Split

This chart tells you which factions are more capable of achieving positive results at tournaments.

Conclusions

If you’re planning your list for a GT, look at the data as a whole. Don’t just look at our data either, look at TSN and also GW. Get a big picture, use these sites as sources to make your own informed opinion on the meta. Think about which armies are popular, as you’ll likely face at least one or two of these armies at some point during an event, especially in the earlier rounds.

Look at those factions that are regularly in a tournament winning position and winning GTs, as these are likely to be your opponents in the later rounds. I believe you should look at building a list that is able to cope with playing the following factions at some point in a GT if you’re looking to compete;

  • Blades of Khorne
  • Seraphon
  • Stormcast Eternals
  • Soulblight Gravelords
  • Gloomspite Gitz

But also, if you’re playing a local GT with your club, then bear in mind that meta may be completely different to those given in the stats above. All of what is presented here, should be taken with a pinch of salt, but hopefully it gives you some guidance when it comes to list construction, or even army choice if you’re looking to play Age of Sigmar.

Running 8 Week Average Win Rate Since May 2022

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Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Chaos, Death, Destruction, Dhom-Hain, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Gloomspite Gitz, Idoneth Deepkin, Jaws of Mork, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Mortis Praetorians, Order, Ossiarch Bonereapers, The Woehammer Crew, Top three lists, Tournaments

Top Three AoS Lists for the SoCal Open

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This is the top three AoS lists for the SoCal Open that took place in the US on the 21st and 22nd of October. It saw 37 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: Idoneth Deepkin
– Subfaction: Dhom-Hain
– Grand Strategy: Dominion of the Deep Ones
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Isharann Tidecaster (130)*
– General
– Command Traits: Teachings of the Túrscoll
– Spells: Hoarfrost
Battlemage (100)*
– Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur)
Akhelian Thrallmaster (100)**
Eidolon of Mathlann Aspect of the Storm (300)**
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
Akhelian Thrallmaster (100)**

BATTLELINE
Namarti Thralls (220)**
– Icon Bearer
Namarti Thralls (220)**
– Icon Bearer
Namarti Thralls (110)**
– Icon Bearer

BEHEMOTH
Akhelian Leviadon (400)**
– Mount Traits: Reverberating Carapace

OTHER
Akhelian Allopexes (150)**
– Retarius Net Launcher, Barbed Hooks and Blades
Akhelian Allopexes (150)**
– Retarius Net Launcher, Barbed Hooks and Blades

TERRAIN
1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000

Peter Holland: A few weeks ago our very own Aaron Newbom won the SoCal Open with a Dhom-Hain list. He wrote an entire tournament breakdown for us of the event and you can read that here.

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Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle
– Army Subfaction: Befouling Host
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADER
1 x Skabbik Plagueseeker (140)*
1 x The Glottkin (580)**
– Spells: Rancid Visitations
1 x Sloppity Bilepiper (120)**
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
1 x Poxbringer (130)**
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Spells: Fleshy Abundance

BATTLELINE
20 x Plaguebearers (120)**
10 x Plaguebearers (120)**
10 x Plaguebearers (120)**
10 x Plaguebearers (120)**

TERRAIN
1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)
1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)

OTHER
3 x Nurglings (100)*
3 x Nurglings (100)*
6 x Furies (80)*
6 x Furies (80)*
5 x Skabbik’s Plaguepack (140)*

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1930/2000)

Roland Rivera: At this point in the season, seeing a Glottkin Nurgle list do well isn’t much of a surprise – Nurgle’s favored mortal servants have been on quite the run as of late. However, this list has a couple of interesting twists to it. First among them is the Befouling Host subfaction and the Poxbringer General to give the summoning a bit more oomph. Second is the deep triumph bid – going 70 points under is not a trivial commitment. The reason why this list is doing so is to add a bit of an insurance policy on the Blightkrieg charges, as Bloodthirsty is the only way to get a reroll on them. Last but not least, this list is using its Ally allowance fairly extensively with 2 units of Furies and Skabbik’s Plaguepack, all of which are here to screen and put forward pressure on objectives.

Beyond them, this is very meat-and-potatoes Nurgle – lots of Plaguebearers to dominate the board, a Sloppity Bilepiper to shut off pile-ins, Nurglings to pester enemy deployment and rack up extra Contagion points. But hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I think Alec’s additions give a nice bit of depth to the classic Nurgle Glottkin gameplan, and were probably a real factor in securing the 5-0 finish.

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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers
– Army Subfaction: Mortis Praetorians
– Grand Strategy: Barren Icescape
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADER
1 x Katakros (500)*
1 x Arkhan the Black (380)**
1 x Liege-Kavalos (180)**
– General
– Command Traits: Mighty Archaeossian
– Artefacts: Lode of Saturation
1 x Mortisan Boneshaper (140)**
– Artefacts: Artisan’s Key
– Spells: Hoarfrost

BATTLELINE
5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)*
– Mortek Hekatos
– Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade
30 x Mortek Guard (130)*
– Mortek Hekatos
– 3 x Necrophoros
– Nadirite Blade
– 3 x Soulcleaver Greatblade
2 x Morghast Archai (220)*
– Spirit Halberd

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage
– Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Walter Brock: Today we are looking at a list that went 4-1 with Mortis Praetorians. Praetorians allow a unit to potentially counter charge after an enemy unit has finished a charge. This has many possible applications that lead to incredibly powerful moments to swing the tide of battle. From stopping key enemy charges to denying battle tactics. The praetorians’ counter charge is only limited by the players imagination.
Instead of Spellcasting Savant this player opted for Barren Icescape. This option makes sense since there is no Locus in the list.

We start off with the Katakros and Arkhan double trouble pairing. We have seen this before and will again. These two are a deadly duo that cover each other’s weaknesses and buff each other’s strengths. From Katakros buffing everything up to 11 with his +1 hit and save aura. To Arkhans Spell casting to support the army with buff spells and stop key enemy spells. The synergies between these two are incredibly deadly and I could go on and on about how powerful these two works together if allowed, but we would be here all day.

Next is whats one of the toughest to kill models in the game. A liege Kavalos with the Lode stone Relic and Might Archaeossian command trait. The combination of the two lets the Liege ignore all negative save modifiers and gains +1 to its ward saves. With a command point for a 5+ ward a liege can achieve a 2+ “ethereal” save and a 4+ ward. This combination makes the liege tanky enough to go places that even Katakros and Arkhan Might fear. Top it off with the command ability to give a unit +1 attack and the liege brings a lot to the table for this list.
A boneshaper with Artisans key and Hoarfrost. With katakros, Arkhan and the Boneshaper. This list could potentially bring back 12 Mortek Guard with just the healing abilities alone each OBR hero phase. Hoarfrost on top of all the buffs that the other characters bring can make any unit perform far and above their weight class.

Deathriders are a very powerful all rounder unit. Capable of multiple roles. From screening to protecting the back field or even denying the opponent the ability to move on an objective. They have an answer for almost any situation.

30 Mortek Guard. A giant block of 30 is a threat to behold. With all the buffs added you can easily engage multiple units with these Mortek units, and they can take out multiple units with their one fight. Imagine 30 Mortek. Hitting on 2s and 5s to hit, gain an additional hit. Wounding on 2s at rend 2. Each model has three attacks a piece. That will bring down almost any target they reach. On top of that they have incredible defensive capabilities. Beinh able to potentially ignore negative modifiers due to their command ability. Or all out defense, or a 5+ ward plus the healing mentioned before. This makes Mortek guard incredibly hard to take down.

Lastly is a unit of 2 Archai. This unit’s biggest value is from its no command aura. Being able to stop enemy commands can easily turn the tides of battle. Turning off all out defense and unleash hell. Make it so a unit can’t pass their battle shock. This unit stops the enemies plans dead in their tracks and lets the Bonereapers keep trucking along.

This list ends up as a four drop with a command entourage and a battle regiment. Opting to go for the extra relic. Well done to this player.

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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz
– Gittish Horde: Jaws of Mork (squig +1 atk on charge)
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Skragrott, The Loonking (230)**
Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (110)***
– General
– Command Trait: The Clammy Hand (Loonshrine roll x2)
Madcap Shaman (70)*
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet (12” start combat 1 unit -1 save)
– Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Webspinner Shaman (65)*
– Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard

Units
24 x Squig Herd (280)***
– Reinforced x 1
24 x Squig Herd (280)***
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (300)**
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150)**
5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150)**
5 x Gobbapalooza (170)**
– Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance
1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (170)**

Core Battalions
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment
***Battle Regiment

Total: 1975 / 2000

Lodivicus: The Jaws of Mork core trend continues! The currently trending core consists of Skragrott, a Madcap Shaman (with Moonface Mommet and Hoarfrost), a Squigboss, Squig Herd, Boingrot Bounderz, Gobbapalooza and the Bad Moon Loonshrine. The quantity of the battleline units varies a bit from list to list, as we see here. Tad chooses two single reinforced Squig Herd (as opposed to one double reinforced unit) and he cuts back the large Bounderz unit to a single reinforced unit to do so. So rather than rehash the core, as we’ve done in previous commentaries, let’s have a look at what the rest of the points are spent on.

A popular choice, the Webspinner Shaman (on foot) is a 65 point Blizzard wizard with a native 5+ ward. He pairs up with the Madcap Shaman as the two Andtorian Loci of the list and together they unlock the Andtorian Acolyte battalion for (hopefully) more primal dice.

In his version, Tad chose offense over defense by forgoing the more common Sneaky Snufflers in favor of the Kruleboyz troggoth cousin, the Marshcrawla Sloggoth. His 18” aura of +1 hit rolls for attacks made with melee weapons is a huge boon to the output of the list, but in particular the Squig Herd units as they can’t receive commands like All Out Attack.

Congratulations Tad on going 4-1 (only losing in round 5 to the Dhom-Hain Deepkin) and continuing this Gitz trend. It will be interesting to see how the meta adjusts to account for this type of list and if it continues to gather steam.

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/RCF92KDBUK