This is the top three AoS lists for that took place in the US on the 1st and 2nd of February 2025. It saw 42 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Gloomspite Gitz Troggherd Drops: 3 Spell Lore – Lore of the Clammy Dank Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
General’s Regiment Skragrott, the Loonking (230) • General Rockgut Troggoths (380) • Reinforced
Regiment 1 Trugg, the Troggoth King (380) Rockgut Troggoths (380) • Reinforced
Lodivicus: We’re back! And it’s been some time since we’ve seen a Gitz 5-0. So let’s jump right into the breakdown.
Like most Gitz lists in the 4th edition, we start with a Rockgut core. This time, however, Johnathan turned the dial up to 10. Everything in the list (barring Skragrott) is a Troggoth. So the obvious play is to run the Troggherd battle formation for the extra healing.
The three Rockgut units are the core of the list, doubling as both anvil and hammer, and are truly a menace to try to kill.
Trugg and his Malfunctioning Leystone ability act as both a buff piece and another hammer.
Skragrott is there primarily for Moon control and to be a two cast wizard, making use of his manifestation lore, Sneaky Distraction, and Fangz of Da Bad Moon primarily.
The Dankhold Troggboss uses it’s Shepherd of Destruction ability to give +1 attacks to Troggoths and can do pretty good output himself. With Loontouched, he is a Wizard(1), and the Clammy Cowl subtracts -1 to hit for all attacks that target him.
The Dankhold Troggoth uses its Wade and Smash ability as a positioning tool and to contribute a little bit of mortal damage in the process and allows him to pick and choose the battles he wants to fight.
So, how does it play? Well, depending on the matchup, it generally runs as a castle or split castle army that takes objectives and doesn’t give them back. A pure grinder style list that wants to fight it out on top of the circles.
The slightly unexpected thing in this particular build is that Johnathan chose to make it a 3 drop instead of making it a 2 drop. I’d imagine he was hoping to double up on Honor Guard abilities by doing so.
Congrats to Jonathan on the First Place 5-0!
Flesh-eater Courts | Lords of the Manor Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of Madness Prayer Lore – Rites of Delusion Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
Regiments of Renown Stumblefoot Gargant (180) Mancrusher Gargant
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This is the top three AoS lists for the Boise Cup 2024! that took place in the US on the 27th and 28th of July. It saw 34 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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Regiments General’s Regiment Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind (350 Points) • General Hurakan Spirit of the Wind (240 Points) Hurakan Windchargers (340 Points) • Reinforced
Jon Anderson: Good friend of mine Jarod Brown demonstrated why even if I never pick up the shiny elves again, they’re in good hands. His list is designed around the Hurakan Temple and demonstrates a healthy balance between ranged threat projection and melee anvil play. Coming in qtat 2000 points and 3 drops, it offers a well-rounded approach to the Boise Cup.
In the General’s Regiment we have Sevireth serving as the warmaster and right out the gate of fourth edition we see how Sev provides significant mobility and offensive capability. Despite the fact his movement was nerfed, he returns his powerful attacks and it makes him an effective isolated threat on the battlefield. But what’s better than one fox? Why not two? The Hurakan Spirit of the Wind complements Sevireth by adding more high throughput, in a small package and enhances the overall fluidity of your army allowing for dynamic repositioning and flanking opportunities. The Windchargers were reinforced which obviously boosts their total health pool and effectiveness, but I quite like having a single stack of 10 roos to act as a mobile missile platform to snipe out units reinforced with wards or bodyguards.
In his first regiment we have the Vanari Lord Regent with the Masterful Tactician trait. The VLR provides essential flexibility and enhances the Dawnriders to fully engage the nuclear option when the need arises. Jarod has an ever stalwart pack of Vanari Wardens which serve as a defensive lynchpin, and all around home plate defender.
Whoever it was at GW that goty email about trading one of my horcruxes for sparing my Vanari Dawnriders going into fourth edition, I’ll be sure to let you pick your item next time we meet. It’s rare that a scroll is debuted and universally praised as “one of the best cavalry options of all time”. I mean, these guys are up there with Living City Fulms, 2nd Ed eels, Primetime varanguard- it’s just the kind of rock you build your church on. High on the Dawnriders. Very high. I also can appreciate the inclusion of the Ballista. It’s nice of Alan to help move product that’s probably accumulated dust in GW warehouses.
Last but not least is our resident Manifestation machine, the calligrave. Rock solid choice, just a shame you have to be off in your own regiment.
Regiments General’s Regiment Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (230 Points) • General Grave Guard (300 Points) • Reinforced Torgillius the Chamberlain (180 Points)
Regiment 1 Necromancer (140 Points) • Amulet of Screams • Lash of the Sire Dire Wolves (140 Points) Dire Wolves (140 Points) Dire Wolves (140 Points)
Regiments of Renown The Summerking’s Entourage 700 Cryptguard Morbheg Knights Ushoran, Mortarch of Delusion
Connor Irwin: Thomas Guan is at it again with a new iteration of his winning Soulblight Gravelords list from Tacoma. Let’s break it down.
Starting at the bottom we see the Summerking’s Entourage. This is an interesting pick and adds a monster with serious punch, Wizard (2) and very powerful buffing synergies with Morbheg Knights and Cryptguard. Ushoran has his Epicenter of Delusion ability from his warscroll, which helps add to their effectiveness depending on the needs of the moment. He gets a 12″ aura of extra +1 attacks by default thanks to the RoR and comes equipped with a pair of powerful spells, Deranged Transformation and Glimpse of Delusion. The former is an excellent buff for either of his entourage and the latter is an awesome spell if an enemy beatstick is unlucky enough to be in combat range of something that the opponent would like to keep on the table. The cherry on top is the Shroudcage Fragment rampage, which lets Ushoran pick up to three enemies in combat and give them fight-last if he rolls over their control characteristic. While not great into monsters and control piece heroes, this ability is fantastic and is a force multiplier that plays nicely with the rest of the list. Add this to the command shenanigans from the Cryptguard and the punching power of the Knights and the value is clear.
Next we have the meat of the list and a familiar set of units: Belladama, Torgillius, a necromancer, 30 Direwolves and reinforce Grave Guard. The necromancer carries the Amulet of Screams Artefact and the Lash of the Sire Command Trait, which helps counter magic and pushes those slower units around. There are four casts between them, a couple excellent spells for control, damage and debuffing and a cheeky double activation. All this is designed to bog down the opponent in wounds, deny board position and primary control, and throw a zillion dice at problems until they’re not problems anymore. Almost forgot to mention the formation! Deathmarch adds rend to the Grave Guard when they charge, which plays nicely with whatever Honour Guard rule he decides to give them.
In a meta that is rapidly evolving into an arms race of reinforced cavalry this list takes a unique and technical approach that can find success in the hands of a skilled general. Congrats again to Thomas for an excellent showing. I look forward to seeing what he digs up for the next trip to the podium.
Grand Alliance Destruction Gloomspite Gitz Troggherd 2000 Points Limit Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of the Clammy Dank Manifestation Lore – Dank Manifestations Regiments General’s Regiment Skragrott, the Loonking (220) • General Dankhold Troggoth (180) Fellwater Troggoths (180) Gobbapalooza (150) Rockgut Troggoths (340) • Reinforced
Regiment 1 Trugg, the Troggoth King (360) Dankhold Troggboss (220) • Loontouched • The Clammy Cowl Rockgut Troggoths (170) Rockgut Troggoths (170)
Faction Terrain Bad Moon Loonshrine
Lodivicus: Lodi here, back with another Gitz commentary, this time with Russ Tanner’s 3rd place (4-1) finish. Congratulations Russ. The growing trend in Gitz right now is featuring Rockguts heavily and using the trio of Skragrott, Trugg, and a Dankhold Troggboss as your heroes. Russ’ build veers a little off of the path as it only features 12 Rockguts instead of the 18 (or more) we’re starting to see become more prevalent. Rather than rehash the part of the list we all know, let’s focus on what he did differently and how he spent the points.
There’s three main differences that jump out:
Dankhold Troggoth – The Dankhold Troggoth is a relatively hard-hitting monster with magical resistance, but his biggest boon is his Wade and Smash rampage ability. In any combat phase, if he’s in combat, he can move 6” as long as he stays in combat. Then he rolls a d3 and on a 2+, does that amount of mortals to an enemy within 1”. The important part here is the movement and positioning advantages, often allowing him the flexibility to pick and choose the combats he would like to be in.
Fellwater Troggoths – The Fellwater Troggoths are known for their Noxious Vomit ranged attack (and passive ability). The ranged attack itself is quite short-range and somewhat variable in its reliability, but if you allocate any damage points to an enemy unit, then the passive ability kicks in. This is what you take them for! -1 to the enemy’s save rolls and ignoring positive modifiers to that unit. This can allow your Rockguts to crack some serious saves!
Gobbapalooza – The Gobbapalooza have so much going for them. They are a pretty easy inclusion in any Gitz list. Wizard (1) with 15 health and a ward (which varies from 4+ to 6+ depending on battle round) is excellent for 150 points in AoS Fourth Edition. They aren’t unique, don’t take a hero slot in your regiments, can cover a massive area with the Sneaky Distraction spell, and can count up to 13 points on an objective (when under the Moon). It’s just a really amazing toolbox unit. But if that wasn’t enough, the gravy is their Know-Wotz abilities, which are all great support abilities. On a 3+, you can choose between +1 to run/charge to a friendly unit, +1 to your rend characteristic of a friendly unit, or making a visible enemy unit within 12” unable to use commands. All excellent in the right circumstances, with the biggest downside being needing to roll that 3+.
The list is a bit less tanky/grindy than the more prevalent ‘moar Rockguts’ style lists but makes up for it in flexibility/versatility. This is the type of list that both newer and experienced Trogg players can enjoy as it offers a little bit of everything!
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Fish: Hey all! I’m here today with Lodivicus to go over the faction review for some mushroom crazed maniacs. Gloomspite can be semi-segregated into a few different armies and play styles. I’m more familiar with the Gobbos and Spiders so I will be covering those while Lodi takes Squigs and Troggs.
Before we get into it. Let me drop my bonafides, below is the army I have painted and brought to several tourneys. It’s got 100 count em one hundred individual goblins. Now let’s get into it!
Lodi: Thanks for the introduction and welcome to the team Fish. Our readers will likely recognize me from our 3rd Edition Top 3 articles over the past year or so. I am a Gitz main player, with the majority of my experience in the Squigs, Troggs and Goblin sides, either monotype or mixing two of the three. Sorry spiders, I never seem to have luck at the casino!
Lore
The Gitz are a diverse array of Greenskins, Squigs, Spiders, and Troggoths (the Age of Sigmar equivalent of trolls). They all live and thrive in the Gloomspite, the various deep underground places in every realm. Occasionally these groups stop their internecine squabbles to come to the surface and wreak havoc under the light of DA BAD MOON as it rockets low across the Mortal Realms. As much a god as a celestial body, turning people to mushrooms and all other manner of atrocities the bad moon glides through the sky trailing madness and destruction in its wake.
Fish: The Gitz are a diverse array of Greenskins, Squigs, Spiders, and Troggoths (the Age of Sigmar equivalent of trolls). They all live and thrive in the Gloomspite, the various deep underground places in every realm. Occasionally these groups stop their internecine squabbles to come to the surface and wreak havoc under the light of DA BAD MOON as it rockets low across the Mortal Realms. As much a god as a celestial body, turning people to mushrooms and all other manner of atrocities the bad moon glides through the sky trailing madness and destruction in its wake.
Playstyle
Fish: Goblins – Depending on the units selected you can have a couple of different playstyles. Generally when using goblins you will be aiming to have a main force of goblins that receive layered buffs and work with a compilation of units from the whole army. Goblin focused armies tend to pull units from all different types from across the faction. Generally having buffed goblins moving up the centre board with casters backing them up and larger more powerful units of Troggs, Squigs, or Spiders shoring up the weaknesses that goblins have.
The spider focused faction has unfortunately been taken out behind the shed and shot. However, if you want to play these incredible models, you can! They are going to focus on multiple centrepiece spiders with smaller units harassing and scoring. They can hit hard with mortals but generally won’t be able to handle a punch back. You need to hit and avoid return damage, so picking engagements is crucial. It’s also a great subfaction if you like casinos and gambling on mortals with your vicious viscous venomous varmints (no spider words begin in V dammit)
Lodi: Troggs are the slow-moving but quite hard-hitting anvil of Gloomspite Gitz. Between their health scores, good saves, and the amount of regeneration they can do, they can be quite a formidable force to try to destroy. They are also quite punchy but can be quite swingy in output as well. Typically, they are a ‘stand on circles’ type list, tanking incoming damage and counter punching to keep control of the objectives.
Squigs are a wild mix of glass cannon cavalry, monsters, and hordes. They don’t have high rend values and the majority of their weapons have the companions rule, but they make up for that with sheer volume of attacks and Crit Mortals (provided by the Squigboss) as well as potentially great movement (its variable).
Battle Traits
Fish: The Gloomspite battle trait revolves around them chasing the Bad Moon across the board. Each type of unit receives a different buff while under the light of the bad moon. Troggs get more durable, Spiders spike mortals easier, Squigs can reroll move dice, and Goblins get plus three to the control score (wow). The Bad Moon has a chance to move at the start of every battle round and CAN move off the board losing you access to your battle trait. There are a few ways to produce the light without the moon though, which we will get into later. For Spiders, Squigs and Troggs the light is going to be huge so ensure you place your units in the best way and timing to take full advantage of its benefits. Goblin players, it’s mostly going to be niche use cases. A 40 stack of gobbos is already going to be hard to over take at control 40 if you can fit ’em all on the objective.
Lodi: Just something to add, it is noteworthy that while a +3 control score has limited value on big units of gobbos it can have much more noticeable effects on smaller units or Moonclan heroes. For example, it can take Skragrott (or really any non-Squig Moonclan hero) from a control 2 to a control 5.
Subfaction Traits
Fish: Spiderfang Stalktribe – This battle formation lets you drag an additional unit into reserves and set it up wholly within 12” of the Skitterstrand. Note that since it is “using” the same ability, like the skitterstrand it must ALSO be outside of 9”. I can see this playing well in bringing along a unit of spiderfang spider riders to score points. Unfortunately it’s unlikely you will be able to bring in another Arachnarok due to the fact that each one could fit an apple pie. Go ahead and try putting two apple pies outside of 9”. I mean look at this thing, it’s massive.
Moonclan Skrap: End of YOUR turn choose three non-squig moonclan units (some form of goblin essentially) and roll a d3, on a 2+ deal equivalent mortal wounds. This one is nice! A little extra damage is something Goblins appreciate a lot. Adding onto that a 40 stack of goblins at -1 to hit with sneaky snufflers potentially giving a 5+ ward is going to be hard to shift in a single turn. Meaning you will likely be able to maximise returns on this trait regularly.
Lodi: Troggherd – Each time a friendly Troggoth unit uses a FIGHT ability, heal d3. While technically a little nerf from the previous edition this is huge, especially for your higher health units. Keeping your Trogg walls around is a priority and this helps a lot. Between your normal regeneration and this Herd Healing passive ability, you can heal a lot of incoming damage. It will force your opponent to commit hard (and often over commit) to kill your chonky units.
Squigalanche Each time a friendly Squig unit charges, add 1 to its Gob attacks for the rest of the turn. This should be familiar to most squig players as it remains virtually untouched from 3rd edition. A substantial increase in output for all your bouncy meatballs, and one of very few things that can affect the Gobs (companions weapons) as it calls it out directly. It’s noteworthy to mention even the Squigboss’ Gnasha-Squig can be affected if you are forced into a late game situation where he needs to charge.
Spells
Fish: You have one general spell lore (Lore Of the Clammy Dank) with three unique spells. This Spell lore is mostly going to focus on Debuffing and repositioning.
Spore Maws: Goes off on a 7, choose three enemies within 12” of the caster and do d3 mortals on a 2+. It’s a nice damage spell but has the downside of needing to put your caster within shooting and charging distance, which is a negative when every wizard is massively squishy barring the Webspinner on Arachnarok.
Sneaky Distraction: Goes off on a 7, -1 to hit for all enemies wholly within 12” of the caster. Again, this is putting relatively squishy casters in danger. However it is a good overlapping buff with the stabbas innate ability to give -1 to hit to infantry units. Meaning if they do give the unit all out attack they will still be hitting at -1. Durability spells go a long way in this army.
Hand of Gork: Guess what, it goes off on a 7. Pick a friendly unit wholly within 12” of the caster and not in combat, move them to a spot wholly within 24” of said caster and more than 9” from all enemies. Repositioning is always good, the issue here being the restriction placed on it by the wholly within 24” making it hard to make huge movements. Still it’s always good especially since you always have access to it, and Troggs need to move too.
Lodi: That’s a pretty fair summary really. I would like to add a couple things to consider, however. As we’ll see in heroic traits later, we can use Loontouched to make a hero a Wizard(1) so some of the negatives Fish just mentioned are less scary if your wizard is a more tanky hero like a Troggboss, for example. Also of note, Sneaky Distraction is our unlimited cast spell, so depending on your list makeup you could potentially have several bubbles of -1 hit.
Manifestations: Dank Manifestations has some good ones and some less good ones, but you don’t have to pick and choose, we can get lots of casts.
Fish: Let’s reverse order this here and start with what is in my opinion best to worst.
Malevolent moon: Goes off On a 7, standard wholly within 12” and outside of 9” if I don’t say this, assume it’s the same in the others. This spell can’t fight or deal damage, it’s here for one purpose. It gives out the light of the bad moon to units wholly within 12”, in 4th edition we have lost some ways of giving out the light if and when the moon orbits away. That makes each source precious, and this guy will help to prop up the fantastic saves of troggs, the damage output of spiders, and the mobility of Squigs. It gives you back your battle trait when it leaves, what more need be said.
Scrapskuttle’s Arachnacauldron: Another simple powerful benefit. Choose a wizard within 1” and add one to its power level. Huge for a faction that has many cheap one cast wizards, you could also pump Skraggy to 3, or layer buffs on a Webspinner Shaman on a big spider with his bonus to cast.
Morks Mighty Mushroom: This one goes off on a 6 and is static so can’t move, however you can place it right on enemies. Its ability lets you deal mortals in the shooting phase to three units within 6” of it, rolling a dice for each model within 6” and doing a mortal on a 5+. Useful for screening and zoning while also giving out decent mortals into hoards.
Scuttletide: Goes off on a 6, same placement rules as regular. This one kind of sucks, it has the ability to do mortals in combat with 8 terrible attacks. Its big thing is giving only itself a 4+ ward when wholly within 12” of a big spider, but you can just banish it’s dumbass on a 7+. It’s free so it’s not worthless.
Lodi: I agree, Fish offers a pretty accurate assessment here on most of these. The only thing I’d really like to add is that I’m not nearly as down on Scuttletide as he is. It’s still a large base to take up space and use for screening. If you can get it off with a Magical Intervention during the opponent’s turn (he doesn’t unbind it) it can be quite a difficult screen to remove in later phases if it has the 4+ ward. It’s situational, sure, but can be pretty useful in the right setups.
Enhancements
Artefacts
Fish: You have three Troglodytic (A word I doubt any unit in this faction could pronounce) treasures.
Backstabbers Blade: Once per battle at the end of any turn pick an enemy hero in combat with this unit and roll a dice, on a 2+ deal that many mortals. For me this one is super situational. It’s possible that you could kill a foot hero with this, but it requires you to have whiffed on killing it in the combat phase. Besides the Troggboss (who has better treasures to choose) you don’t really want to leave any of our heroes in combat if you can help it. Maybe useful on a Shaman on a big spider or Loonboss for some added damage in an emergency.
Leering Gitshield: For every unmodified 1 to hit on this model the attacking unit takes a mortal. I can see this being decently usefuĺ on a Troggboss that has been kitted out for durability and healing every fight phase. Whittle ’em down while they take you to pound town, at least until you heal to full and take them on the same trip.
The Clammy Cowl: -1 to hit rolls that target this unit. Simple and solid. If you want to make a big unit or a mighty hero you take this one, especially if you aren’t planning on taking a Wizard or Stabbas for their -1s to hit.
Lodi: Backstabber’s Blade is a pooper. A once per battle ability that still requires a 2+ to go off to get 2-6 mortals. Save yourself the trouble, skip it!
Leering Gitshield is situational at best, as Fish pointed out, not a lot to add here.
The Clammy Cowl is, in my mind, always the pick. -1 hit is strong this edition, especially the ones that also apply to ranged attacks, like this one.
Heroic Traits
Fish: Blessings of the Bad Moon, and man they are some good blessings hallelujah.
Fight Another Day: any combat phase roll a dice, on a 3+ retreat like the movement phase and take no mortals. A fantastic get out of jail free card for our squishier heroes like Loonbosses and Shamans, or to do free mortals with a Loonboss on mangler squigs and not get hit back.
Loontouched: make a hero a wizard (1), if it’s a wizard already give it +1 to cast. Great utility piece for troggoth or squig armies that don’t want to make regiment slots for a wizard. I’m not sure the plus to cast is worth it on any of the smaller wizards since the spell lore is maxing out at 7 anyhow.
The Clammy Hand: whenever a Gitz unit wholly within 12” of the bearer makes a rally command make 3 additional d6 rolls. Another great utility piece. This one is going to work in almost any list now that you can rally to heal big units like Arachnaroks. Rallying back 3 additional Goblins or Squigs is fantastic, and in a Trogg list those three additional may push you over the 5w edge in bringing back a Trogg. Extra recursion is always great for Gitz.
Lodi: Where we seemingly lacked for choices in Artefacts, we’ve made up for it in Heroic Traits. All three of these are great in the right lists.
Fight Another Day offers movement shenanigan possibilities and is an instant durability boost (assuming you roll that 3+ anyways). Having the option to evade combat before fights happen, always great.
Loontouched is amazing in an edition full of problematic Manifestations. Durable wizards pay premium points, where we can take an otherwise efficient/durable hero and make it a wizard. It’s the Gloomspite equivalent of old Arcane Tome, fantastic!
The Clammy Hand is no slouch either. 50% more powerful Rally? Yes please! Lost a squig herder along the way? Rally him back and get back to recursion. And don’t forget that Rally can be used for healing now too!
Units
Fish: Starting from least impressive (sorry spiders) we will work our way up. Heroes and then individual units.
Spiders: Largely okay datasheets failed by humongous bases and poor rules support, let’s get into it.
Scuttle boss on gigantic spider: A much needed medium hero needed to support spider rider cavalry… wait he’s gone? Just like no replacement piece gone? Listen I’m not going to harp on all the units lost especially because of incredible themed stuff like Grinkraks’s looncourt and all the other warbands that got banished to legends. HOWEVER, this guy was a pretty integral part of many spiderfang lists, it’s a real shame that he was sent off with no substitute. Pardon the interlude, now to the actual warscrolls.
Webspinner Shaman: A surprisingly expensive 4 wound Wizard at 140 points. He brings a lot of good utility with his warscroll Spell allowing a spiderfang unit wholly within 12” of him to run and charge/shoot. He himself is slow at a move of only 6” however the spider slingshot ability is really good allowing him to teleport to a spiderfang or terrain piece within 18” of him. I suspect he will see some play in spiderfang lists because he brings good utility with his spell and movement enabling him to score battle tactics. I don’t rate him highly but he can open up another regiment if you don’t want to take the following hero.
Webspinner Shaman on Arachnarok spider: Everything the regular webspinner wishes he was. This guy is only 180 points more expensive than the on foot webspinner, at quadruple the wounds and a 4+ save. This guy can be good in melee, can give out fights last to enemy infantry heroes with his rampage, AND gives a +1 to cast to all spiderfang wizards wholly within 12”. This is the hero to go for in spiderfang considering you get a spider and a wizard at a massively reduced cost compared to buying either individually. You do lose out on the run and charge since this guy has no warscroll spell but he buffs the on foot guy anyway so you can and should take both. This guy also has great synergy with Cauldron for his bonus to casting. NOTE: You cannot have a unit affected by the same passive twice as per the core rules, so two off these guys holding chitinous hands won’t be +2 to cast. (Core Rules 5.3 The Rules of One)
Spider riders: Fast and cheap these guys are 5 models for 110 moving at 10” with The ability to fly over terrain. A fantastic scoring piece that will prop up the slower subfactions like Troggs. In melee they don’t function like most cavalry, getting absolutely nothing on the charge. These guys won’t be killing anything so don’t think about it, but they are good at their role being fast flankers peppering units with weak shooting and scoring battle tactics. They also have a nice control 2 each, which other cavalry (Snarlfang) lack.
Skitterstrand Arachnarok: I suspect you will see this guy pop up in a lot of lists, if only because he is the only way to unlock the spiderfang formations trait. Take one to teleport himself and a unit of spider riders into the backline. You are unlikely to be able to fit two big spiders out of deepstrike so don’t make a battle plan around it. The rampage is pretty nice being able to move through infantry units on a 3+ and then dealing mortals. I can see him being used to snipe foot lords you are worried about as they won’t be able to hide behind infantry screens. This is similar to power through but allows you to do it before you attack which is a big bonus.
Arachnarok with Spiderfang warparty: Only 30 points more than the skitterstrand. For those 30 points you get 10 4+, 5+ attacks with no rend damage one. You also lose the teleport and gain a mortals on charge ability. This big lad will likely be taken for the simple reason that he has the best control of all the spiders, he is double that of any of the other Arachnarok so is needed to contest objectives.
Arachnarok spider with flinger: this spider is the most expensive non hero spider. Being only 10 points more than the warparty at 290 he is actually pretty decently priced in comparison. You keep all the extra attacks and get a ranged attack of d3 at 24” it’s not likely to do any damage, but its special ability will allow you to halve movement of anything you hit with the flinger on a 2+. He also gives minus -1 attacks to companion weapons of any unit that charges him on a 3+. I would take at least 1 for the utility. Could see play outside of mono spider as well for his ability to debuff movement and harm big monsters.
Goblins: Flood the board and take points
Skragrott the Loonking: he’s the centrepiece of any mono goblin list. He is a warmaster so must be your general, but his Regiment options allow him to bring a Moonclan Agitator and ANY Gloomspite Gitz meaning he is a good choice to make soup lists and I expect him to see play in a lot of lists for that reason alone. He is fairly expensive at 220 points. Those points are able to get you guaranteed redeploy of 4 when near him, a warscroll spell that has the possibility of spiking 12 mortal wounds into something (averaging closer to 5 in general) and his exclusive ability to command the moon once per game. The moon ability alone is fairly game changing, it ensures that on your big turn you can have the moon where you need it to be. Spiders,Squigs and Troggs all really want to stay in the light of the bad moon on their big go turn. He is also a two cast wizard which is great in the current manifestation heavy season. The major issue with him is he lost his ability to give out light of the bad moon from 3rd and they took his save from a 5+ to +6 up, he also no longer has a bonus to cast on his datasheet. He does have a 4+ ward but on only 6 wounds with a 6+ save it means basically anything in the game is likely to kill him only needing to get twelve damage through at -1 rend on average to kill him. Make sure you keep him well enveloped in the multiple layers of -1 to hit the faction can give out.
Fungoid cave shaman: 100 points for a power level 1 wizard is a pretty sweet deal, he also has the ability to pump it to power level 2 once a game, if you are willing to turn a list into three drops you can pretty easily take this guy In addition to a loonboss and Skragrott. He’s cheap and you don’t have to cry when he dies pushing up the board giving out -1 to hit within 12” of him protecting big blocks of whatever you want to stick around. He is unfortunately not a Moonclan Agitator. He lost his fart goblin attack which is a shame for the comedy of the faction.
Loonboss: If you are taking big blocks of goblins he’s your Git. Decently fighty at 5 attacks 4+4+ with rend one and a big damage d3, and allowing a big block of 40 Stabbas to fight directly after him(any non-Hero Moonclan infantry really, but it’s really not great on Shootas) . He is a perfect target for -1 to hit and the extra rally enhancement. His special ability allows him to roll a dice and on a 2+ either return d6 models to or add 1 wound to the wound rolls of a moonclan infantry wholly within 12” of him. Useful for keeping Stabbas in shape and dealing damage, or pumping up the shots from a big block of shootas. He also oddly enough has a 4+ save and a 6+ ward which is huge for goblins.
Stabbas: The anvil of the goblin forge. Listen these guys don’t do much fantastically, 2 attacks each at 4+5+ with no rend damage one. 5 inch move and a 5+ save, with the ability to give enemy infantry -1 to hit in combat on a 3+. But you know what? They are massively cheap, 140 points gets you 20 models on the five up save, the more Models you have the better layered buffs become. You can have a 40 man unit with -1 to hit, +1 to wound, +1 rend, a 5+ ward and an extra attack on each weapon. That’s 120 Attacks, you’re likely to get 30 of those through without all out attack. Based on the weight of the dice you should be able to drag down most things that get tar pitted into this unit. Oh and morale doesn’t exist anymore so you have to kill all 40 damn goblins, with the guarantee for 1cp I’m bringing 20 back at the end of the turn baby.
Shootas: Stabbas at range. 2 ranged attacks at 18 inches, layer the same buffs on them and pin prick the enemy to death. Important to note they have no shoot in combat and an even worse melee profile so you can’t rely on taking more than one of these reasonably. You can guarantee a 4” redeploy on them with Skragrott though. Don’t let them get locked in melee if you can help it.
Loonsmasha Fanatics: made of paper with a 6+ save and only five wounds on a unit they are a supremely fragile suicide unit. The gimmick of these guys is you can hide them at the beginning of the game during the deployment phase and then in ANY movement phase you can release them placing them wholly within 6” of a moonclan unit of more than 10 models and outside of 9” any enemies. The fact they have fights first make them a very dangerous tech piece at 140 points. Release them in your movement phase and you protect a fragile dangerous unit from dying in the hero phase from spells, release them in the enemy movement phase and you can block movement or threaten a dangerous counter charge unit. I should mention the weapon profile of each model is d6 attacks with 4+3+ rend 2 damage d3, yeah they are swingy but they average some really fantastic damage numbers into most things. Just don’t put them into monsters, a rampage or mortals will turn these guys into a fine green mushroom smelling mist.
Sporesplatta fanatics: These guys have a similar profile to Loonsmashas with a worse damage profile and losing the ability to hide them in other units. They have a really great passive of being able to add +1 attacks to a moonclan unit wholly within 12” and -1 attacks characteristic of enemy units in combat with them. Here’s the issue, they don’t have fights first and can’t hide. That means that in an edition that is shaping up to be dominated by the hero phase any half decent player is going to focus down this incredibly fragile unit, and if they don’t get it in that phase they will certainly get it in the shooting phase. It might be worth running one but I can’t see them sticking around long enough to do their job against a competent player that understands what they can do.
Sneaky snufflers: You will be seeing at least one of these in many lists, and likely always in a goblin list. 6 models with 2 health a 5+ save and a 5+ ward for 140 is pretty sweet, more importantly they provide a really really good buff for a moonclan unit wholly within 12” once a turn (per army meaning that two snuffies in your army can’t each do the ability) roll a dice and add one if under the light of the bad moon, on a 3+ the unit has a 5+ ward on a 6+ add 1 to the attacks characteristic of melee weapons. This is a huge buff to a giant block of Stabbas giving 40 models a bonus attack. Always take one of these in a goblin list.
Snarlfang riders: a fast cavalry unit that is going to be mainly used for harassing and threatening points and battle tactics. 130 points gets you 5 models at 2 health a piece with a 12” move and 5+ save. They come with some piddly shooting and no bonus damage on the charge for their melee weapons. These guys can’t and won’t attack as cavalry so will see play only for objectives. Once per turn (per army) ability allows them to make a free move of d6 if not in combat. Here’s the issue with this unit, Spider Riders do it better. These guys cost 20 points more and have half the control, they also don’t fly over terrain. I’d give up that bonus 2” of move for all the savings you get with Spider Riders. A genuine stinker of a unit in my opinion.
Gobbapalooza: Let’s wrap up my section with genuinely my favourite unit for Goblins. Not only are these some of the best models in Age of Sigmar, they have a pretty crazy warscroll. So, starting off you pay 150 points for this unit. That gives you 5 models with 3 wounds a piece, they have a 4+ ward save that goes down by one each round. Surprisingly a decent melee profile 5 attacks 4+4+ but -1 rend and damage d3. Here is the kicker for these guys, their ability allows you to make a roll in your hero phase and on a 3+ you can choose one of three effects. +1 to run and charge +1 to rend, or an enemy unit within 12” can’t use commands, the best part is this isn’t a limited ability so multiple Gobbapaloozas’ could use it every turn. My favourite part of this unit however is it’s a power level 1 wizard that isn’t a hero, the applications of that are huge since you can’t stack as many as you want to get the extra casts. I love these guys.
Lodi: Troggs – The Trogg Wall of Gitz. ‘nuff said.
Trugg: The Troggoth King himself, centrepiece of the Troggs. His Malfunctioning Leystone ability is the main thing you are taking him for. Six possibilities, three that affect himself only (takes d3 mortal damage/can unbind as if he had Wizard(1)/5+ward) and three that also buff Troggoth units wholly within 12” (+1 attacks to melee weapons/+1 to the rend characteristic of melee weapons/-1 hit rolls for shooting attacks that target friendly Troggoth units). He’s also a pretty hard hitting, but inconsistent due to lower number of attacks, monster with reasonable durability and good healing. It’s also noteworthy that he’s a hero that can take a Dankhold Troggboss in his regiment and can take any Gloomspite Gitz units as well, without even being a warmaster (and being forced to be your general).
Dankhold Troggboss: The other Troggoth hero, the Troggboss’ schtick is his Shepherd of Destruction rampage ability (if he’s in combat, roll a 3+ to get +1 to the attacks characteristic of melee weapons used by friendly Troggoth units while they are within his combat range). A really good boost to output if you can get that 3+! Like Trugg, he’s a pretty hard hitting monster with reasonable durability and good healing, just a scaled down (but cheaper) version. He’s also resistant to magic.
Dankhold Troggoth: This is essentially the non-hero version of a Dankhold Troggboss except that he’s a couple health less, but has more consistent output. His rampage is Wade and Smash, which allows him to move around a bit in combat and do a little bit of mortal damage.
Fellwater Troggoths: Fellwaters are the first of two types of Troggoth Infantry. Their main gimmick is their Noxious Vomit ability where if they allocate any damage with their ranged attack, that enemy becomes drenched in vomit (-1 save and can’t benefit from positive modifiers to save rolls). They are a good utility piece but are not very durable (5+ save, no ward) so use them sparingly.
Rockgut Troggoths: The meat and potatoes core of any Trog list, the Rockguts are one of the best scrolls in Gitz in my opinion. With a base 4+ save (3+ under the Moon), 5+ ward, and 5 Health Rockguts are unbelievably survivable for their points. When in doubt, add more Rockguts!
Squigs: Where Troggoths are anvils, Squigs are … not! Squigs are glass cannons who do their output with volume of attacks. They aren’t durable at all, so you’ll need to set up effective trades.
Loonboss on Mangler Squigs: The Loonboss on Mangler Squigs is the hero big monster of the squig side. If you are taking him, you are likely doing it for the Bite Da Moon (+1 wound for Gob attacks wholly within 12”) ability. His output otherwise is pretty abysmal for his points. Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig: Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig is a fighty little cavalry hero. His schtick is Let’s Get Bouncin’ (which allows another Squig cavalry unit to fight immediately after he fights and they get +1 hit when they do so). Unfortunately, since it doesn’t call out an exception to the Companions weapons specifically, it will only give +1 hit to non-Companions weapons, so is pretty limited in its benefit. The immediately fight portion can be pretty good though.
Squigboss with Gnasha-Squig: The key to making Squig lists get through good saves, the Squigboss can give Crit(Mortal) to Squig units Gob attacks on a 2+. It’s once per turn (army) in your hero phase and only lasts the turn instead of the round, but it’s a huge help to solve armor and/or increase output. He can instead give a Squig unit +3” of movement, but it would be situational how often you’d be willing to give up the mortals for that.
Mangler Squigs: The non-hero version of Mangler Squigs is similar to the hero version, except instead of buffing squigs the Mangler Squig uses Giant Boing rampage to do some movement shenanigans to snipe small heroes out. Again, not great output for the points currently.
Squig Herd: Squig Herd are the ‘swarms’ of the Squig universe. While significantly nerfed from their 3rd edition version, they have also gotten much cheaper. They still have good recursion and good output, but between Beast (max control score of 1) and Companions ability on their Fang-filled Gob they have some new downsides as well. Its noteworthy that they have also been dropped to 1 health now (from the 2 they had previously) so they won’t last like they did before. Send them as missiles, don’t expect them to last, bring more out of the Loonshrine.
Squig Hoppers: The ‘light cav’ of Squigs, Hoppers are fast moving missiles. The can Boing! Boing! Boing! for some mortal damage in flyover attacks, which actually is pretty great against faction terrain or some manifestations. If you take a reinforced unit you can get 40 health, snuffle it for 5+ ward, and that’s about as durable as a Squig unit gets now. I find myself always taking one unit in a Squig list.
Boingrot Bounderz: The ‘heavy cav’ of Squigs, Bounderz are a little slower than Hoppers but still quick. They get +1 damage on their charge on their lances, but due to smaller unit sizes are only a little more punchy than other Squig units. They are affordably priced, and make great flankers/second wave units though. You’ll see lots of these!
The rest: Rabble-Rowza – The Rabble-Rowza is a ‘moonclan agitator’ so can be included in regiments that allow for those, which is a boon to list building. Between Secret Tunnels and Emerge from the Depths he can deep strike and then use his Neh Neh Na-Neh Neh! Can’t Catch Me! ability to allow a beast unit or monster to run and charge for the turn as long as it ends closer to him then it began. Can be pretty good if your list has a reasonable amount of beasts or monsters.
Bad Moon Loonshrine: The faction terrain piece, the Loonshrine provides the Light of the Moon in a 12” bubble which is really great. The best ability it has is Moonclan Lairs though. For 1CP once per turn(army) at the end of your turn you can pick a destroyed non-hero, non-monster, non-war machine unit and return a half sized replacement unit wholly within 12” of the Loonshrine (and outside of 3” of enemy units). It’s free, it’s awesome, take it!
