Rise of the Everchosen took place in Emgilia-Romagna on 18th and 19th June. It involved 32 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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.
Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER Bloab Rotspawned (300) – Spells: Rancid Visitations Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm Orghotts Daemonspew (300)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment **Hunters of the Heartlands
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Declan: Ah Nurgle… the new hotness and it’s easy to see why (it may not be; I had it explained to me over the weekend). I have now played a similar list and this is just great into the meta. Large numbers of low damage attacks means Seraphon Thunder Lizard don’t benefit from their allegiance and any debuffs (-1 attack etc…) have no benefit either.
Added to that they are lightning quick with a pre-game move and the Overpowering Stench stops command abilities being used nearby. So no all-out-defense or inspiring presence. It’s a great army which we are seeing a lot of at the moment.
Advertisements
Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Dolorous Tocsin – Incubatch – Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm Lord of Afflictions (210)*
Declan: I should have looked ahead. Sorry; but there’s not a lot different here – just more of the same because the same is good. When a player spends 1,540 points on one warscroll it may show a problem… but not for GW model selling.
There’s no criticism of the players though – it’s a good army and gives a good shot at 4-1s and 5-0s. If that’s your aim why wouldn’t you want to take one of the best armies available?
Advertisements
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Type: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Varanguard (560)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Command Traits: Inescapable Doom – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Artefacts of Power: Grasping Plate Varanguard (560)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore (270)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spells: Mask of Darkness
BATTLELINE Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Untamed Beasts (70)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Untamed Beasts (70)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
BEHEMOTH Chaos Warshrine (215)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Prayers: Heal
CORE BATTALIONS – *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Declan: Ah Varanguard – hard as nails; hit like freight trains and are leaders so they can do great work into some of the missions as well. It’s great to see StD doing well though – this is not a net-list that is smashing up the tournament scene and a 4-1-0 result is impressive.
The Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore is often substituted by a Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Foot, but the Manticore allows him to keep up with the Varanguard – and ensure the army hits like a freight train – all at the same time.
The Battleline choices are also cheap as chips (as a Gitz player I would kill for Battleline this cheap) and they are not bad. Great addition for screening so Manuelle can chose who goes first or second with his 1 drop.
Advertisements
Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Army Type: Baleful Lords – Grand Strategy: Beastmaster – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Bloodsecrator (125)* Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)* – General – Command Trait: Thirst for Carnage – Artefact: Black Brass Crown Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280) Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280) Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280) Skarbrand (380)
BATTLELINE 10 Blood Reavers (80)* 10 Blood Reavers (80)* 10 Blood Reavers (80)* 1 Slaves to Darkness Chaos Spawn (55)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 1 Slaves to Darkness Chaos Spawn (55)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Declan: Ah Khorne… a fighting force in a game of fighting – they’ll be smashing up the tables right. Unfortunately not – GW struggle with making Khorne good enough that they can reliably kill but not so that they win everything… and they’ve got the balance wrong so often.
The Bloodthirsters are only 280 points so are really throw away models (a Mangler Squig Loonboss is 290) so don’t expect too much from them – in this force is Skarbrand who does the work. 6″ pile in; and fighting well if he didn’t fight in the last battleround. Unfortunately most people know this now and either kill or avoid him – poor chap!
It’s been a long while since I have managed to pen down one of these, life and laziness are insurmountable stumbling blocks on occasion it seems. Today I am running my Harlequins against the might of the Dark Angels 1st Company. Harlequins is an army I am still very much learning but having a ton of fun doing so. Turns out speed is quite fun to play with, who knew? Beware of horrendous decision making inside, not advised for sensitive viewers or children.
Harlequin List (Light Saedath Battalion):
2x Troupe Masters (1 with Cegorach’s Rose, Favoured of Cegorach, Player of the Light, 1 with Foot in the Future, Veiled King and the Storied Sword)
Death Jester with Rift Ghoul and Eye of the Laughing God
My opponent is the Defender. I start by moving his bottom right objective down and away from his home. Above all I need him to not sit in his deployment and score hundreds of points on Stubborn Defiance, Banners and the Primary by not interacting. (note we played it here as selecting secondaries before moving objectives, since the timing seems to coincide in the book.) He then moves his home objective back and behind obscuring, and my home objective to be more exposed. I finish off by moving top left back to make it harder for his durable but slow obsec bricks to get there. My priority objective is my bottom left objective, his is the bottom right.
My opponent, showing exactly 0 respect for my army, deploys it all on the line, determined to push those blocks of brutal bodies forward as quickly as 5″ movement and advance rolls allow. He combat squads the maximum Bladeguard Veterans squad and one 10 man Terminator squad. On my side, each boat has a troupe squad inside, with my 3 characters starting embarked. (Sad Solitaire noises. No one ever wants to allow him in a boat). I deploy everything that cannot be obscured 5″ back from the line, to ensure that I am not taking any unnecessary stormbolter fire.
We roll off and my opponent goes first. I elect not to phantasm, as I am hidden from 90% of his shooting not worried about whole 5 missiles he’ll fire off this turn.
Battle Round 1:
My opponent moves out aggressively, raising a sole banner on his home objective, and settling in with a 5 man terminator squad to score stubborn defiance. Anything with a missile launcher does not advance. Between light saedath (cannot be hit on an unmodified 1-3 outside of 12″) and some lackluster rolling he only manages a single wound on my bottom starweaver from his whole army. Turns out I was right about not worrying about some desultory missile fire. Narrator: He was not right. That single wounds goes unsaved and rolls a 6 for damage to blow up my boat. Oof. Classic Aeldari arrogance gets some beautifully poetic comeuppance
On my turn I move the dismounted troupe squad to my home objective. They perform RND (they pass the roll, but this was unnecessarily risky). I *move the two northern transports up to the top-left objective, my Veiled King and Death Jester transports to within fusion range of the terminator squad, and I line up my voidweaver on the same. One boat with just troupes touches into the center objective, and I stage my bikes behind the ruin to get into his deployment next turn.
After the 14x shuriken cannons, 5 fusion pistols, 4 neuro disruptors, 2 shuriken pistols, 3x prismatic cannon and one Death Jester shrieker cannon opens up on the 5 man terminator squad in the open, the thrice damned sergeant still stands. I fire and fade my voidweavers back behind obscuring. My opponent scores 3 points on grind, while I get my 3 on stranglehold. We both score the mission 3 points.
End of Battle Round 1:
Harlequins 6 : 6 Deathwing
Battle Round 2:
He scores 1 point on banners, 2 on stubborn defiance and 8 on primary. His bottom right Bladeguard raise a banner. The Deathwing move aggressively into the middle. He lines up charges into my starweaver on the middle objective with his jump chaplain and the terminators. His bottom 10 man terminator squad move towards my home objective as fast as their stumpy legs allow. In the north, his hero-sergeant and the 3 man Bladeguard goes into the starweavers. His rapid advance leaves a very convenient 25mm hole next to his Ravenwing Apothecary… My Solitaire starts salivating from his hidden position on my home ruin.
Between shooting and charges he fails to blows up any more of my boats in the north. His jumppack chaplain charges my central starweaver. I use the light saedath strat to move it just far enough to still edge onto the far border the objective, but far enough to make the charge for his terminators unfeasible. After some consideration between my bikes and boat, the chaplain ends up going after the boat. I elect to take armor saves to kill the boat, disembarking the troupes inside onto the point to give me a 12 on primary in my coming turn. He gets his 3 on the mission.
My turn 2 I move aggressively in the North. One squad of troupes disembark and performs RND. The downside of my 12 on primary is I cannot flip the middle objective for Deadly Performance, so reckon I need to make a play for his home objective. (In hindsight, I made a massive mistake here. I had 2 easy kills in shooting, and I could have fire and faded the bikes into his deployment to get my deadly performance. I did not need to FnF the voids, just get a narrow angle on the terminator sergeant and the bladeguard. I already had stranglehold locked down, and I did not have enough to take down the terminator squad far enough to out obsec him on his home if all the charges did not hit).
I kill the chaplain with shooting from the troupe squad, the bladeguard and terminator sergeant (finally the damnable nerd eats it) evaporate from the weight of most of my armies shooting. 1 terminator dies on his home objective to the troupes and the Death Jester in the boat. I disembarked the rose queen to guarantee the bladeguard dies, but she ends up not being needed. I fail the 5″ charge into his home objective with my troupes in the centre even with a reroll, but I left 2 toed into the middle to keep my stranglehold intact in case of this exact situation. My horrifically misplayed skyweavers get brutalised by the terminators. RIP skyweavers. You deserved better. My blitzing solitaire thoroughly and effortlessly rips through the exposed apothecary, but gets killed straight through his -1 to hit, no rerolls, 3++ invuln with a luck reroll due to his singular inability to pass even a single save whenever he happens to fight bladeguard.
End of the round I score my 3 on stranglehold and 4 on RND. I miss deadly performance due to incredible stupidity (its definitely not real stupidity, just part of the carefully crafted clown performance. Definitely. Maybe.) but thankfully he also misses grind. We both got our 3 on the mission
End of Battle Round 2:
Harlequins 28 : 20 Deathwing
Battle Round 3:
My opponent still has so much BEEF on the board its honestly scary. He scores 3 on stubborn defiance, 2 on banners and 8 on primary. He finally takes the centre with the one 10 man brick, while his 5 man bladeguard saunter back over to his home to help stem the tide coming next turn. His southern 10 man brick continue their trudge to my home objective.
They knock out a voidweaver, while the centre squad kill the boat next to them and utterly annihilates the 4 troupes on the centre objective. The 4 man on his home kills 2 disembarking troupes (I’ve been very lucky on my disembarking models not dying). He scores his 3 on the mission.
My turn 3 I get 8 on primary. I embark the troupes on my top left and the rose queen back into boats. In the top middle I have a boat very precisely placed to get the 5 man troupes just over 6 inches from the centerline after a disembark and move to get my 3rd quarter for RND. I collapse everything else in range on his home objective. Between the fusion and neuro pistols, the DJ lending his cannon and rift ghoul mortals, and finally the veiled king and the 2 troupe squads swinging into them, the terminators are knocked out. I take down his bannner and cap his stubborn defiance scoring. The Veiled King gets back into the starweaver with the Curtain Falls. Fighting someone just to hop back into a boat is totally fair and balanced and I love every minute of it. With his apothecary dead I can start working on whittling down his bricks too, with the voids taking down 2 marines.
End of the round he scores his grind, I get my 3 on the mission, 4 on RND and 3 apiece on stranglehold and deadly performance.
End of Battle Round 3:
Harlequins 49 : 39 Deathwing
Battle Round 4:
I’ve got a decent lead here, but I am fast running out of material and ways to deal with the terminator bricks that don’t involve a tape measure. He scores 1 banner and 8 on primary, but 0 on stubborn defiance. He spreads the center brick between the middle and his home objective, while the southern brick finally gets close to my home objective (a mere 1″short, but he decides he wants the shooting and will just charge me to get on the point. If I run away with the light strat at least he costs me primary).
He kills 2 troupes with bolter fire in the north. In the south he bounces off the voidweavers, and the troupes on the point runs away so his terminators are stuck outside my objective. The bladeguard mince my Death Jester, boat and the troupes on his home objective. The Veiled King does not roll a one to die on disembark and I cry from happiness.
My turn 4 I score only 4 on primary. I run the troupes back onto my home objective to flip it for Deadly Performance. In the North I commit the remaining 3 man, the rose queen onto the terminators. I advance the Veiled King to try and knock his bottom right Bladeguard off their points factory as a bit of a hail Mary.
On my home objective I get a bit lucky with the void weavers and the troupes, and bring the terminators down to 4 models. The Veiled King manages to kill only one Bladeguard (he feels real bad into transhuman), while the remaining 2 knock him down to a single wound. In the North I kill 4 out of 5 bladeguard after fusions and melee, and the rose queen gets back into the boat. We both get our 3 on the mission. He gets 3 on grind, while I get my 3 apiece on stranglehold and deadly performance.
End of Battle Round 4:
Harlequins 62 : 54 Deathwing
Battle Round 5:
He scores a 1 on banners and an 8 on primary. He does not get his Stubborn Defiance thanks to the “consecutive command phases”requirement. Keeping it to a 5 has been massive for me.
His southern terminators obliterate my troupes on my home objective, and park themselves in light cover. In the north he gets as many terminators as possible onto his home objective. The lone bladeguard kills 2 troupes. My Veiled King on the bottom right kills another bladeguard before dying. He scores 3 on the mission
My final turn I yet again display my staggering stupidity by going for an entirely unnecessary play. I score my primary on the bottom of the turn, so the smart thing to do have been to disembark the troupes on my top left, advance the transport onto the centre and just take my 8. Instead I try to go for the 12 AND try to deny my opponents grind. In order to accomplish either of these I need to get very lucky, accomplishing both is a pipe dream.
My voidweavers jet forward onto the objective. My lone transport gives himself options into the sole surviving bladeguard on my opponents home objective and the terminators on mine. The boat on the top left toes into the centre objective while giving the troupes inside range to the terminators on my home. The rose queen disembarks and advances to try for a 7″ charge into the bladeguard on the bottom right. I’m trying to do way too many things here with low odds of success instead of consolidating my efforts. Going for a 12 on primary but dropping to a 4 if I fail, trying to deny grind but guaranteeing it if I bounce, trying for my 3 points priority objective AND trying knock down my opponents last banner.
In the north the lone fusion troupe kills the BGV, while in the south two transports, 2 voidweavers and the 5 man troupe squad inside the centre objective boat kills 3 terminators. The rose queen predictably fails her charge with a reroll. The voidweavers charge, fails to do any damage and gets a boat blown up for their effort.
I score 4 on primary, 3 on deadly performance, but I miss my stranglehold. My opponent scores grind them down and 1 more on his banner.
End of Battle Round 5:
Harlequins 69: 68 Deathwing
Post game
Whoooof that was close. I played my Deadly performance very badly, and similary there was no reason for me not to put a de-meched troupe squad back into deepstrike to get my 12 on RND, especially once it was clear that squad is about to get punked (looking at you home objective boys). I am happy with the secondaries I picked, but there is definitely some improvements to be made in my execution of them. This was my first game fielding a 2 man bike squad as utility. I really liked having them as an option, but I threw them away for no gain, and I missed getting a free 3 points with them early game with a Fire and Fade play. Having them survive later to help the Veiled King clear the bladeguard would have cemented a very comfortable victory.
I also really like the 3 man void weavers still, even after the substantial nerf, but they suck a lot of CP. In this match I think I could’ve afforded to be a lot more cavalier with them. My opponent never really did a whole lot of damage even when he could line up the missile launchers. Especially in the early rounds I think I could have just played angles with them and forgoed the FnF to keep the CP to keep my troupes dealing mortals at full clip.
All in all this game was a lot of fun and a good learning experience. This Deathwing list is a bit of a gatekeeper in my opinion, but if you just let it be it can and will score high just for existing. Disrupting my opponents scoring is a playstyle I very much enjoy, but I think it highlights my own “playing the mission” with this list needs some more reps.
Thank you kindly for reading, I would love to hear your thoughts on the clash!
1 Chaos Lord on Karkadrakk 5 Chaos Knights 10 Chaos Warriors 16 miniatures, including a mounted hero and five cavalry
One of the best things about the Start Collecting! boxes are the savings, which are usually great. In this case, (as of 18/06/22 in GBP) the box is £65… What do you save, you may ask…. Well, that’s a bit of a complicated question, the Chaos Lord on Karkadrakk isn’t available in any other way and the newer knight and warrior models are also only available in this set…. Oof.
Aside from this, these sculpts are push-fit and the two units do not include options for either banners or standard bearers which you will want. This means that, in order to have units working at their full potential some conversion is needed, which isn’t brilliant for a starter set presumably aimed at beginners.
There are some minor options available – two head options for the Karkadrak Lord and head options for the warriors (male and female which is cool). There’s also the option to build a Doom Knight champion, with a Doom Flail, for the Chaos Knights to give extra Doom.
Unfortunately, the nature of the kit does mean that only one of the four potential Chaos Warrior option weapon fits is available, as these are hand weapon and shield warriors only. In addition, only the lance option is available for the Knights (other than the aforementioned Doom Knight option).
The push-fit nature of the sculpts does also present a bit of a tricky painting problem as there are some hard to reach bits and sub-assembly may be a bit fiddly.
These sculpts are excellent though, very dynamic but close enough to the originals to fit nicely in in with the rest of the range. They also don’t have markings for any specific god so can be painted to suit your taste in appalling extra-dimensional overlord or overlords. A great update to classic sculpts.
As mentioned, the Chaos Lord on Karkadrak sadly isn’t available in any other set and so there really isn’t any way to give yourself much variety if you wished to run more than one…. though I don’t know why you would.
A separate Chaos Warrior regiment set, with the older sculpts, is available direct from GW at £35 for sixteen(!) warriors. The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that this isn’t a good number as the minimum unit size is ten, so you will have more hotdogs than buns. On the flip-side, whilst these are older and more static sculpts, which were designed to rank up for Warhammer Fantasy, they are multipart and do have banner and musician options.
This older kit can be built with either shields or two hand weapons but if you want halberds or great weapons you will need to spend a bit of money. GW used to make upgrade kits for these options but have discontinued them, sad to say. It is possible to make some quite convincing halberdiers though by using the spears from the separate Chaos Knight kit, if you choose to build your Knights with Ensorcelled Weapons.
For separate Chaos Knights, with the older sculpts, you will need to find £36 for ten. YMMV on this but I don’t think this is terrible value though I do really like the aesthetic of the kits. This multipart offers all of the build and command options and fits in reasonably well alongside the Start Collecting! knights, though perhaps not so well aesthetically as the warriors.
Who or What are Slaves to Darkness then?
The Chaos Gods are the ‘Big Bad’ of the setting and have had a huge trove of lore written about them over decades, so please forgive the rough edges of what follows…..
These are extra-dimensional representations of mortal drives and emotions become self-aware and turned up to eleven. These ‘Gods’ destroyed the Old World (does this mean GW is actually Chaos Undivided?) and are intent on corrupting the Mortal Realms and doing it all again. The Chaos Gods are reflections of mortal drives and emotions and seek to drive mortals further and further down the path of dedicating themselves to those drives and emotions. There are separate books for those purely aligned to a single God and their Daemonic footsoldiers. The Slaves to Darkness book is more for those who are still holding their cards close to their chest before playing a hand they can’t win. Chaos Undivided is the worship of all of the Chaos Gods, if you enjoy buffet food for some reason then this may be the option for you.
Slaves to Darkness are the (largely) mortal worshippers of Chaos Gods who are still sampling the buffet and have not yet dedicated themselves (entirely) to a single God, though they may have a Mark which bestows some Godly favours.
Unit Review
Chaos Lord on Karkadrakk
This got a slight points drop after the book was released from a slightly bonkers 250 to a slightly less bonkers 225.
Our Karkadrak can move 9″ and comes on a 90 by 52mm base which can be useful in blocking off an enemy move and generally being a bit annoying.
At 9 wounds Look Out Sir! is available, with a 3+ save and a 5+ mortal wound save this is moderately survivable but can’t stand with any serious melee threats for too long. Your healing options in Slaves are limited so be aware that, if focused, this Lord will go down quick. This is a sad truth of Slaves, in my opinion, your generic Lords are not the melee terrors they were in The World That Was and if you try to use them like they are you will suffer.
The Karkadrak does have a plethora of attack profiles though – five with a total of 13 attacks!
These aren’t great though, most are zero rend with six at -1. Your Karkadrak does have a heal effect with their axe, if it slays an enemy with the weapon it can heal D3. On the charge the Karkadrak can deal D3 damage to each enemy unit within 1″ on a 2+
The Karkadrak may be best described as a moderate utility buff hero and not an anvil or a beat stick. What buffs though….? Well, Slaves units receive buffs from nearby heroes with the same Mark. Plus, the Karkadrakk has a Command Ability which buffs Chaos Knights and Chariots wholly within 18″ giving them reroll charges and +1 to hit. This means that, if you wish to lean into Knights and Chariots, the Karkadrak can be a fun addition.
Chaos Knights
These are currently 170 points for a five and sadly often used more like semi-survivable chaff rather than delivering the hammerstrike you may be wishing for, I am afraid you need to look to Varanguard for that.
Knights have a 10″ move which is OK for cavalry and a 75 by 42mm base. Knights also have a 4+ save and a 5+ mortal wound save with 3 wounds. Their big bases are helpful for screening but again they won’t survive prolonged attention.
Command options include a champion, standard bearer and musician. The Doom Knight champion gets an extra attack and can take a flail with a 2″ range and D6 attacks. IMHO both the Ensorcelled Weapons and Cursed Lances outclass this but YMMV.
The Standard Bearer (1 in 5) adds plus one bravery giving a potential bravery 8, it’s free so you take it but I do usually find this unit is either OK or just blows up….
The Hornblower musician (1 in 5) adds plus 1 to run and charge rolls, which is always a great buff.
Knights are apparently scary *cough*, so their Horrifying ability subtracts one Bravery from enemy units with a model within 1″…. ahem.
Are they actually scary though? Well, with Ensorcelled Weapons they’re putting out 3 3+ 3+ -1 rend 1 D attacks…. plus the 2 4+ 4+ – 1 D attacks from the horses. We have the lance variant from the Start Collecting box though which gives us buffs on the charge (2 damage and -2 rend) but is less effective in a prolonged melee grind with only 2 attacks and hitting on 4s.
Knights sadly don’t do great damage and can’t really take a punch.
Chaos Warriors
These clock in at a whopping 200 points for ten. They do have 2 wounds though and taking mark of Tzeentch can help their resilience, which really spikes in units of ten or more though (+1 to save taking them to 3+) so if you are looking for that you will need to pile in 400 points or lose it quickly.As mentioned, Warriors have a range of weapon options – Hand weapon and shield, Great Weapon, dual hand weapon, halberd and dual wield.
We all know dual wield should be the correct option, with a dove fly-by, but sadly only giving reroll hits and losing the mortal wound repelling ability of the shield (5+ MW ignore) simply isn’t worth it.
Great Weapons are another cool choice but again the loss of the shield is a huge blow, though the pip of rend is nice.
Halberds give us a 2″ reach, compensating for the 32mm girth, with the trade off of a 4+ rather than 3+ to wound and may be a nice option for a large block of warriors, allowing more to attack.
The only option in our start collecting box though is hand weapon and shield, giving 2 3+ 3+ 0 rend 1 D attacks, I haven’t found Warriors very killy in any variation but they can do some work against light armour and can be considered an OK anvil.
As mentioned, Warriors have a range of weapon options – Hand weapon and shield, Great Weapon, dual hand weapon, halberd and dual wield.
Points mean prizes
At the time of writing the Start Collecing! box clocks in at a fairly respectable 595 points and immediately fills our core requirements for a 1k game of a hero and two battleline.
Should you buy multiples of this set?
Well, in the current meta definitely not (and possibly not even one….). They are fantastic models though and really give the heavy metal theme of Slaves to your army. You will have a bit of a samey feel to your army though due to the lack of variety in poses and will need to do some work to create your command models.
So, a 1K army list might look like this:
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (225) – General – Artefact: Mark of the High-favoured – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Ravagers Command Trait: Master of Deception Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135) – Ravagers Command Trait: Bolstered by Hate – Spell: Mask of Darkness 10 x Chaos Warriors (200) – Hand Weapon & Shield – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 5 x Chaos Knights (170) – Cursed Lance – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Chaos Warriors (200) – Hand Weapon & Shield – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 9 x Untamed Beasts (70) – Mark of Chaos: Khorne
This makes good use of our box and adds in a wizard with a teleport and an extra couple of wounds, courtesy of Bolstered by Hate. Our Karkadrak Lord now has an 18″ range on their Aura of Chaos and so can buff your Khorne units from further away, in addition Master of Deception subtracts 1 from hit rolls of melee attacks directed their way.
An extra block of warriors gives our wizard a body guard and a nice target for their teleport spell to go objective grabbing. Untamed Beasts round out our points and are a good cheap screen with a cheeky pre-game move.
Untamed Beasts
A nice trick in Ravagers is the ability to summon in models via the General which you can rotate through your heroes. This summoning is more impactful in smaller games and the ability to bring in ten marauders is very nice. You will need to pick these up though to effectively round out your list (I would suggest twenty marauders) but these models will be useful as you expand to 2000 points.
All in all I think this is a nice fluffy list which will be fun and meets our heavy metal theme from the Start Collecting! box.
What will it cost?
Set
GBP £
USD $
EUR €
AUD $
Start Collecting: Slaves to Darkness
£65
$110
€85
$165
Battletome: Slaves to Darkness (2nd Ed)
£27.50
$45
€35
$70
Chaos Sorcerer Lord
£11
$16.50
€13.25
$22
Chaos Warriors
£35
$60
€45
$75
Untamed Beasts
£42.50
$70
€55
$110
Total
£181
$301.50
€233.25
$442
With the above you’ll end up with 10 additional Warriors for when you look to expand to 2,000 points. You’ll also have a Warcry warband, which is nice. As always, shop around. You’ll be able to find retailers who’ll offer 15-20% off the prices above. If you live in the UK sign up to SCN Hobby World and join their mailing list, with them you’ll receive 25% off GW prices!
If you want pure metal though, buy a second Start Collecting! and use everything from both, excepting the second Karkadrak….. I am not saying it’s great on the table but you can turn the volume up to eleven and headbang your way to a 0-5.
So, is it a buy?
Overall, I would say yes…. it was a buy for me. I picked one of these up and use all of the units in most of my Slaves to Darkness lists. They look cool, especially if you like the heavy metal aesthetic and are a truly great reimagining of classic Warhammer Fantasy units. They do currently lack a bit of juice on the tabletop but who knows what a new book and a shaken up meta might bring……
Speaking of which, with a new Battletome coming for them later this year, it’s likely they’ll also receive a new Vanguard boxed set much like the other factions.
But, until then prepare your claim for whiplash injuries and bellow to the uncaring skies “For The Everchosen”!
The Justice Series 2 Dayer took place in England, UK on 11th and 12th June. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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.
Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgles – Army Subfaction: Befouling Host – Grand Strategy: Predator’s Domain
LEADER Great Unclean One (495)* – General – Command Traits: Nurgling Infestation – Doomsday Bell and Plague Flail – Artefacts: The Witherstave – Spells: Flaming Weapon Lord of Afflictions (210)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Magnificent Buboes Lord of Afflictions (210)* Plague Priest (85)** – Prayers: Heal Horticulous Slimux (225)***
BATTLELINE Beasts of Nurgle (110)** Beasts of Nurgle (110)** Beasts of Nurgle (110)** Beasts of Nurgle (110)** Beasts of Nurgle (110)*** Beasts of Nurgle (110)***
Danny: Nurgle nurgs as Nurgles does. That is to say, a giant slab of quivering filth – aka Great Unclean One – seems to be seeing more and more play recently. What he lacks in speed (and hygiene) he more than makes up for in tankiness and utility – in this list, with the Witherstave and flaming weapon he’s definitely specced towards sheer pain.
A standard smattering of buff Lords and then Beasts of Nurg spam make this effectively an MSU anvil list with one huge, waddling hammer. Nurgle aint going nowhere fast – metaphorically and figuratively.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Zainthar Kai – Mortal Realm: Ulgu – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs:
Leaders Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (270)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe – Prayer: Catechism of Murder Morathi-Khaine (340)* The Shadow Queen (340)*
Battleline 10 x Blood Stalkers (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blood Sisters (140)* 5 x Blood Sisters (140)*
Behemoth Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400) – Allies
Danny: I was wondering when nu-DoK would show up! Despite everyone hating on stab-sneks, this is one of the first splashes the new and improved book has really made. Zainthar Kai make sneks battleline and fight on death, and the Hag Queen on Cauldron is rocking the already iconic combo of ‘rally on a 4+’ and Crown of Woe which shuts down inspiring presence and rally in a 9″ aura, extendable to 14″ once the model itself kills something. It’s a bit of a shame in terms of internal balance that these two picks seem so pushed – you’d be kinda mad not to take Zealous Orator I think.
It does however go kinda light on sneks in favour of what I think we can now legit call a meta-terror, the Krondspine, which is basically another Morathi. So, three Morathis in a list give the normally fragile Daughters a lot of staying power to go along with the killing blows.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Tempest’s Eye – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs:
Leaders Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (280)* – Artefact: Patrician’s Helm – Lore of Eagles: Aura of Glory Runelord (100)* – General – Command Trait: Hawk-eyed – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Sorceress (95)* – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles
Battleline 30 x Irondrakes (510)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Longbeards (105)* – Ancestral Weapons & Shields – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) 15 x Freeguild Outriders (330)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Dreadspears (90)*
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Danny: Cities, with added Krondspine, and 30 Irondrakes for loooooads of rend 1 decent shooting. And Freeguild Outriders for less good but much faster shooting. Cities lists like this are kind of interesting in that they never look that great on the surface – but between cost efficient battleline, massed firepower and a good pilot, they can clearly still perform. Until their new book finally gives the faction some actual limitations to have to work around.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King (210)* Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)* 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 6 x Spirit Hosts (250)* – Reinforced x 1
Danny: Nu-spooks as Scarlet Doom, aka the ones who do loads of mortals when they charge you, are starting to creep up the tournament rankings as the sub-faction of choice. They’ve also gone for the one drop battle regiment to, I would imagine (albeit as a non-Nighthaunt expert) force the opponent to go first, setting up a turn 1 flurry of big charges, hoping to proc loads of charge mortals and pin everything in place thanks to their charge debuffs. There’s a lot of subtle synergy between heroes too, and I can see this being a really tough list to actually play the game against – kudos and Kurdoss!
Our second guest commentator this week is Boondocksgame, also from our Discord chat.
Wargames for Warriors took place in Utah, USA on 11th and 12th June. It involved 22 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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.
Allegiance: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumphs:
Leaders Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)** – General – Lore of Ruinous Sorcery: The Master’s Command Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)** – Axe – Mark of Chaos: Khorne The Contorted Epitome (255)** – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Artifact: Fourfold Blade Kairos Fateweaver (435) – Lore of Ruinous Sorcery: The Master’s Command
Battleline 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 5 x Flesh Hounds (105)**
Boon: Ah yes. The Be’Lakor/Kairos/Khorne Daemon Prince combo. About as close as you can get to playing a blue deck in Age of Sigmar. With Be’Lakor shutting down the big threat on the board with what I call his ‘No’ ability, Kairos telling mages no and then eating any endless spells that get through, and the Daemon prince reducing charges by half it is hard to get into the army to deal damage. And lets not forget about the massive tarpit that are Horrors. Knocking out a large chunk in one swing only for your opponent to put down double the amount of models that you just killed is really something on morale. Glad I didn’t have to play this list.
Advertisements
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khelt Nar – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS The Shadow Queen (680) Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Crown of Woe Morathi-Khaine (680)* Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (270)* – Prayers: Sacrament of Blood
Boon: It’s really hard to take someone seriously when they push around a cart that has someone T-posing on it. Little bit easier when they rain down arrows on you and then a giant snake lady who is at the same time not a giant snake lady is beating your face in. Blood Stalkers dealing Mortals from range with Melusia and Blood Sisters dealing with melee. Getting a little of the best of both worlds with this list and in a terrifying yet oddly arousing way. Morathi call me sometime.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Spirit Torment (115)***
Battleline 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*** 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*** 20 x Grimghast Reapers (320)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Grimghast Reapers (320)** – Reinforced x 1
Units 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)** 2 x Chainghasts (95)***
Boon: Spooky ghosts are back… AND THEY”RE PISSED!!! Glad to see Nighthaunt up at the top with their new book. A LOT of auras being thrown around, or I guess floated around, and frankly I find them even more terrifying than the fact that they are ghosts. Gonna have to call someone if they get too close to me…
Advertisements
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Archaon the Everchosen (860)* – Aura of Chaos: Tzeentch – Ravagers Command Trait: Master of Deception – Spell: Ruinous Vigour – Spell: Binding Damnation Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)** – General – Command Trait: Unquestioned Resolve – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Ravagers Command Trait: Unquestioned Resolve – Spell: Binding Damnation – Spell: Mask of Darkness Gaunt Summoner on Disc of Tzeentch (230)* – Ravagers Command Trait: Master of Magic – Spell: Whispers of Chaos – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist Darkoath Chieftain (85)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Ravagers Command Trait: Skilled Leader Bloodsecrator (125)** – Allies Bloodstoker (85)* – Allies
Battleline 16 x Iron Golems (150)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Reinforced x 1 8 x Scions of the Flame (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 1 x Chaos Chariots (100)** – Greatblades – Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Units 10 x Splintered Fang (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Boon: The absolute massive chaos lad comes in at a respectable 6th. Having Be’Lakor come higher than him might put a damper on his ‘Notice me senpais’ competition he’s in for the favor of the chaos gods but like it’ll be ok, probably. A tough as nails hero to take down with a good supporting cast to back him up it’ll be no time before he’s winning his ‘friendly’ competition with Be’Lakor.
Peter: Today we’re doing something a little different with out top three. I invited members of our Discord chat to take part and we had a few victims, I mean volunteers. First up is fellow Chump member Kieron Bailey.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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 Game Knight GT was held in Ontario, Canada on the 11th and 12th June, nestled snuggly between the Great Lakes of Huron and Erie and the great cities of Detroit and Toronto. It was a 12 person event with two undefeated armies, but only one 5-0.
Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin – Subfaction: Mor’phann
LEADERS Isharann Soulrender (120) – General – Command Traits: Teachings of the Túrscoll Isharann Soulscryer (150) – Artefacts of Power: Rune of the Surging Gloomtide – Prayers: Curse – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Lotann (115)
TERRAIN 1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0) 1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)
TOTAL POINTS: 1985/2000
Kieron: That 5-0 belongs to Jordan Duncan of Season of War fame (not to be confused with *Seasons* of War, the new Sylvaneth sub-sub faction). The early games with the new Idoneth book on his channel featured a range of options from the new book, going to a pure Mor’phann list earned his first clean sweep with the new book. Along the way, Jordan amassed quite a trophy cabinet, defeating Kragnos twice, Sons of Behemat, a full dragon list and Legion best pals, Be’lakor and Kairos.
Jordan left his sharks and turtles in the ocean for this one, leaning heavily into Namarti with 20 Reavers, a frankly terrifying 30 Thralls, a pair of 10 Reavers and then 10 Thralls to round off the troops.
While the sharks and turtles may have been left at home, a Krondspire Incarnate joined the raiding party. The army was led by a trifecta of buffing characters with an Ishrann Soulrender, an Ishrann Soulscryer and Lotann, with these three leaders bringing the army together.
The Soulrender uses his Lurelight ability in the battleshock phase to bring D3 models back to those big units of Thralls or Reavers, but with an additional 3 on top because the army is Mor’phann. The Soulrender also has the Teachings of Turscroll as their artefact, allowing the order of the tides to be reversed, crucially meaning that the whole IDK army gets to fight first in turn 2 instead of having to wait until turn 3 for that honour. This gives Jordan the option to step on the gas early on if he wants to.
But how do those 50 Namarti get across the board – with the help of the Soulscryer, of course. The Soulscryer can drop in (or should that be surface?) anywhere outside of 9″ of an enemy unit and he can take two friends/units with them. They can also casually toss out a second Gloomtide Shipwreck down with the Rune of Surging, giving a second potential garrison for the smaller units of Reavers to pepper the enemy with, while giving any Deepkin unit a 5+ ward if they are wholly within 6″.
The third leader of the raiding party is Lotann, doing solid work adding +1 to wound in melee and allowing a ritual to be taken, probably either the 5+ ward on Namarti to still have that protection further away from the shipwrecks or +1 to run and charge, probably depending on whether the tides are reversed or not.
Other aspects of the list to take note of is the Thralls Warscroll ability to do +1 damage on each of their attacks when the enemy has a wound characteristic of 3 or more…which was everything Jordan faced from round 3 onwards! In addition, possibly in place of a Smash King or another unit, we have an Incarnate. Apart from being an incredibly tough monster that can go toe-to-toe with Kragnos (and probably did for at least a turn!), it keeps Jordan as a one-drop, controlling when a potentially devastating double turn can take place. The Krondspire Incarnate also prevents enemies from retreating too, so there’s no escaping the relentless advance of the Idoneth High Tide.
All in all, a great showing for Jordan and his list.
Advertisements
Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Beast Master – Triumphs: Inspired
Kieron: Next up is Patrick Allen’s Sons of Behemat list and while Jordan was busy manoeuvring around close to a hundred IDK, Patrick was moving his four models around: Kragnos, two Gatebreakers and a Mancrusher in a Breaker Tribe force. He went 3-2 overall, with his only losses coming to Zach’s third place Ogor Mawtribes in round 1 and then Jordan’s Deepkin round 4. Spare a thought for James Henderson and his OBR who, after facing Jordan in the first round, ran into Patrick’s Sons the game two!
With both Gatebreakers being pretty (and appropriately) destructive anyway, Patrick seems to have leant into survivability with his big boys, with the general being Monstrously Tough to take him up to 40 wounds and also taking the Enchanted Portcullis for a 6+ ward, making him closer to 45-50 wounds. His fellow Gatebreaker also has a ward save, in the form of the Amulet of Destiny. While the premium 5+ ward Amulets were taken off the shelves several months back, a 6+ ward is nothing to be sniffed at on a model with so many wounds, making the second Gatebreaker have an effective 40 wounds for an opponent to have to chew through. While Kragnos has a lot fewer wounds, he also has a much better armour save along with a 6+ ward and protection against enemy spells. With these three together, there are well over 100 wounds to try and get through with Kragnos and the Gatebreakers counting for 30 (at full wounds) and 20 models on an objective meaning that you can’t just sneak one away from them.
Finally, the Mancrusher is running around being by far the least threatening unit Patrick had (and the easiest to kill) while still being dangerous in its own right. You can’t really focus on the Mancrusher as then there’s no way you will have enough damage output to attempt to at least severely wound one of the big three. If you don’t as The End of Empires has justifiably drawn your attention, then the Mancrusher can be grabbing objectives and bashing battleline.
While Sons are nowhere near as common as they used to be, Patrick showing that they can still take down podiums at least.
Leaders Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)* Frostlord on Stonehorn (430) – Artefact: Brand of the Svard – Mount Trait: Metalcruncher Icebrow Hunter (125)* – General – Command Trait: Lord of Beasts Firebelly (125)* – Lore of the Sun-Eater: Billowing Ash Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Old Granitetooth – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 2 x Frost Sabres (55)** 2 x Frost Sabres (55)** 2 x Frost Sabres (55)**
Kieron: As mentioned above, Zach Ahrens came in third with an interesting tweak to a Beastclaw Raiders list that, while taking some Mawtribes units, allows the list to squeeze in two Frostlords on Stonetooths along with Kragnos for some mortal wound on the charge insanity. Zach went 3-2 also, beating Patrick in round one, but losing to Mike’s Bonesplitters (see below) in round two with the second loss coming to Jordan in the final round.
Starting with the general, Zach went with an Icebrow Hunter with the Boulderhead compulsory Command Trait Lord of Beasts, but more importantly, allowing Zach to take Frost Sabres as really cheap battleline. He also featured a Firebelly with Billowing Ash, a really cool model that, while tricky to get off, creates an aura of -1 to hit within 12″ of him. By keeping the cost down on these units, Zach could pour all of those points into the big three threats of this list, Kragnos and two Frostlords.
Each of Kragnos and the Frostlords are decent threats on their own (easily scoring bonus points for being monsters too) but it is when they synergise together that the magic happens. On the charge, Ogors roll a dice for each inch of charge they roll on the dice, with a 6+ causing a mortal wound. If you’re a monster, and the Frostlords are, this improves to a 4+. The Granitetooth Frostlord adds 1 to charge rolls (while also taking the Arcane Tome to get their spears up to damage 4) and Frostlords have a command ability where you can re-roll the charge for other Beastclaw Raiders units, in this case, both Frostlords. Then add Kragnos into the mix and you can roll 3D6 for those charges to decide how many dice you roll for mortal wounds. In addition, the general’s mount trait is Metalcruncher, which does an additional D6 mortal wounds if the enemy unit has an armour save of 4+ or better and then he could stomp on top of that too. Combined, you’d probably expect 18MWs in the charge phase with the two Frostlords combined, but the general on his own could do as many as 28MWs! With Kragnos himself doing up to 36 MWs against monsters, it’s no surprise that Zach was able to defeat Patrick’s Sons of Behemat army and Jordan Siler’s Dragon list.
All in all, a really well thought-out list that allows the most powerful units available to work together well.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Bonesplitterz – Warclan: Icebone – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs:
Leaders Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks – Lore of the Savage Beast: Power of the Were-boar Maniak Weirdnob (100)* – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks – Lore of the Savage Beast: Power of the Were-boar Savage Big Boss (65)* – General – Command Trait: Great Hunter Savage Big Boss (65)** Savage Big Boss (65)** Savage Big Boss (65)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 10 x Savage Boarboys (280)*** – Stikkas – Reinforced x 1 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)* – Stikkas 5 x Savage Boarboys (140)** – Stikkas
Units 10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 4 x Savage Big Stabbas (160) – Reinforced x 1 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)* 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)**
Core Battalions *Warlord **Warlord ***Hunters of the Heartlands
Kieron: The fourth list we’re looking at today is Mike Simeon’s Bonesplitters list, which also went undefeated, but Mike sadly couldn’t make the second day. It’s a shame as you may have seen Mike on Bulldog Hammer’s battle reports and he recently defeated Jordan’s Sylvaneth on Season of War using the exact same list he took to this tournament.
Not many Bonesplitters armies are out there at the moment, with them making up less than 1% of AoS 3.2 meta according to the excellent Honest Wargamer stats from Ziggy and Rob, but with a very healthy win rate of 56%, albeit from a very small sample size.
The list revolves around putting too many wounds on the table with 189 wounds to get through BEFORE the 6+ ward the whole army has that can be increased to a 4+ ward whole army once per battle for the whole phase. You’ll need to be able to do over 200 damage to table this army.
It will also be coming at you quite fast with 40 pigs coming high speed at you, with the option for half of the Bonesplitters units to make a pre-game move of 8″, thanks to the general’s Great Hunter ability that increases the standard pre-game move from 5″. The bigger units of boarboys (of both types) both have Hunters of the Heartlands so that All-out Attack can go off, increasing the number of hits they get in order to maximise the Icebone sub-faction ability to do mortal wounds on 6s to wound. The stabbas can also do work, with the larger unit doing 12 attacks that hit and wound on 3s with -2 rend and 2 damage, which is no joke. That can be increased by Power of the Were-boar to give an extra attack and increase run and charge. The other support spells can increase the rend on all the boarboy tusks and making an enemy fight last via Gorkamorka’s War Cry that is inscribed in the Arcane Tome of the Savage Ork Boss that is carrying it (though probably more pictures than words!).
The Savage Ork Bosses also have a neat trick in that after fighting, they can nominate another unit to fight before the enemy…which could be another Savage Ork Boss! Combined with the fight last from Gorkamorka’s War Cry, all four Bosses could fight and two units of boarboys before the enemy gets to attack back.
The best has been left until last and that is, of course, the Wurrgog Prophet, often the only Bonesplitters representative in a Big Waaagh, who can decide not to cast spells, but go full on Paddington Bear and do a ‘hard stare’ at the enemy. Essentially, you choose an enemy unit within 12″ and, on a 3+ you do D3 mortal wounds. At this stage you could stop, but where’s the fun in that! Instead, you can roll the dice again and do D3 mortal wounds on a 3+ BUT D6 mortal wounds to yourself on a 1-2. You can keep doing this until one of the following is true: the enemy unit is dead; you decide to stop; the Wurrgog blows his head up with the staring! To help with the third one, you usually see the prophet with Glowin’ Tattooz to increase his ward save to 4+, giving you an effective 14 wounds to try and do infinite mortals wounds to an enemy!
And that’s the list. Very different, with lots of fun combos to pull off and, with mounted battleline being what seems to be the Holy Grail of list creation going into the new GHB, could be a sneaky contender to be one of the winners of the new book. Great trailblazing, Mike!
On the weekend Games Workshop finally announced new Vanguard sets, 3 in total, Skaven, Daughters of Khaine and Nighthaunt. Ahead of the weekend pre-orders, we at Woehammer thought reviewing it would be a good idea and spent some time deciding if it offered a good way to begin a Nighthaunt army.
What’s in the box?
Slot
Unit
Leader
Knight of Shrouds
Battleline
20 x Chainrasps
Battleline
10 x Grimghast Reapers
Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts
Vanguard: Nighthaunt
34 Miniatures with one small Hero (HQ), and 33 melee troops all of which are battleline coming to a total of 645 points.
Purchased individually these models would be AUD$320 without discount, and all indications are that it will be priced at AUD$190, which makes it great value.
Set
GBP £
USD $
EUR €
AUD $
Knight of Shrouds
£21
$35
€27
$55
Chainrasps
£52
$84
€68
$140
Grimghast Reapers
£30
$50
€40
$77
Spirit Hosts
£18
$32
€23
$48
Total
£121
$201
€158
$320
Vanguard: Nighthaunt
£80
$130
€105
$190
This set has the battlelines to meet requirements for 750, 1000 or 2000 point games (not recommended) and best of all you could buy multiple copies. Except for the Knight of Shrouds these are staple units you would see in many competitive lists.
With the Chainrasps to act as anvil and the Grimghast to provide the hammer the 2 work well together and also compliment the Knight of Shrouds ability to allow sequential activation. Combined with Nighthaunt’s allegiance ability to fall back and charge every turn it’s very easy to supercharge the Grimghast with a 3rd attack creating a serious threat.
The Spirit Host offer good value through their number of attacks, 6s autowound for Nighthaunt giving 3 autowounds per attack on average. They also serve as a bodyguard granting a hero within 3” a 3+ ward with the Spirit Hosts taking the damage. This is essential if you are going to use the Knight of Shrouds ability
The choice of hero for the box is the biggest issue. The Knight of Shrouds abilities don’t really work well with the other units, his warscroll includes free Redeploy and Unleash Hell. For an army with almost no ranged damage. Nighthaunt live and die with their wizards and the Guardian of Souls would have been a better choice. His mounted brother, the Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed, is superior; granting an All out Attack for free. Compared to the Grey Seer included in the Vanguard:Skaven set it seems like a weaker choice.
Other criticism are minor, the units are more old school Nighthaunt and really only work well in 2 processions (Sub factions) – Emerald Host and Grieving Legion. Bladegheist Revenants would have had more options than the Grimghast. None of the new scuplts (Craventhrone Guard, Scriptor Mortis or Awlach the Drowner) are included and as a direct match up, it is weaker than the other Vanguard boxes released on the same schedule. That said this box is more of an option for multiple copies than the other 2 (although 2 Warpfire Cannons might not be terrible).
Overall this is a solid basis for a Nighthaunt Army. All it needs is your choice of heroes and it’s time to assert Nagash’s claim to the realm.
Mawtribes Massacre: Annihilation took place in England, UK on 11th and 12th June. It involved 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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.
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: Pillars of Belief – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Lord-Relictor (145)* – General – Command Trait: High Priest – Artefact: Mirrorshield – Prayer: Translocation Lord-Commander Bastian Carthalos (300)*
Battleline 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 5 x Vindictors (130)* 5 x Vindictors (130)*
Units 6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)* – Reinforced x 1 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – Drakerider’s Warblade – Reinforced x 1
Danny: Longstrikes go brrr. Dragons go raaawr. Relictor flings them around and Bastion is a distraction carnifex that’s also a beat-stick. It’s been done before and it will be very interesting to see if lists like this still function in the forthcoming GHB meta. I kinda hope not, just for a change!
Leaders Orruk Megaboss (140)** – Artefact: Destroyer Orruk Warchanter (115)* Fixing beat Orruk Warchanter (115)* Get em beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)** – Boss Choppa and Rip-roof Fist – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers- 1x Drummer- 2x Shields- champ 5 x Orruk Ardboys(85)* – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers- 1x Drummer- 2x Shields- champ 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas- champ w/ boss klaw and brute smasha – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1
Units 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas- champ 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas- champ 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Jagged Gore-hackas- champ
Danny: The tried and tested core of 2 Warchanters, a murder-cabbage, and loads of feral hogs (with an added Megaboss on foot and a nice big blob of killy battleline Brutes) make for a great early pressure list. A cheeky emerald lifeswarm makes an unusual appearance but it’s a great endless spell, so why the hell not? Another list archetype that in light of the forthcoming battleline rules will likely want to put way more points into battleline blobs (and Brutes stonks definitely go up due to their ability to steal objectives of n number of 1 wound infantry).
Advertisements
Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Bloab Rotspawned (300)** – Lore of Malignance: Rancid Visitations – Lore of Malignance: Magnificent Buboes Festus the Leechlord (150)** – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease – Lore of Malignance: Cloying Quagmire Lord of Afflictions (210)** – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm Orghotts Daemonspew (300)**
Battleline 20 x Plaguebearers (300)** – Reinforced x 1 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)* 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)*
Core Battalions *Hunters of the Heartlands **Warlord
Danny: Nurgle, but they’re tried to avoid spam, bless ’em, by running the full gamut of battleline options and two giant walking filth piles. The usual Drowned Men sub-faction allows for pre-game movement to accelerate the hurt and pressure they can pile on. Blightking stonks – given they’re supremely tanky infantry models – are about to go WAY up.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Greyfyrd – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)* – General – Command Trait: Blood of the Berzerker – Artefact: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve – Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient Auric Runemaster (125)* – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Auric Flamekeeper (90)* Auric Runeson (80)* – Ancestral War-axe – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir Battlesmith (150)* – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon
Battleline 10 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (320)** – Broadaxes – Reinforced x 1 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (480)** – Poleaxes – Reinforced x 2 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)** 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)*
Endless Spells & Invocations Runic Fyrewall (55)
Core Battalions *Warlord **Hunters of the Heartlands
Danny: Good to see Fyreslayers continue to find their bare, sooty, blood-stained feet, with a list here mixing up bezerkers with go-wide Vulkites. Hoo boy is THIS kinda list about to get a lot scarier with the new 1/2″ double rank rule. The single ‘Droth will always be a great option, and the suite of Fyreslayer heroes throw out a panoply of buffs that keep the swathes of battleline very much alive, and frenziedly kicking (and chopping)!
Sunshine Coast Open took place in England, UK on 11th and 12th June. It involved 74 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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.
Declan: To say Seraphon have done well in AoS3 is an understatement of the year. Chris has not taken Thunder Lizard, but has gone for magic. In order to compensate for the slightly reduction in survivability there’s an Incarnate! I don’t know how many of these we’ll see but they are nigh on impossible to kill in one turn (there are a few ‘instant kill’ abilities that can do it). It’ll be interesting how many Incarnate’s we’ll see given their high price point.
If I do play one soon I’ll be able to add some additional comments!! Well done to Chris – Seraphon may be the best army out there (or perhaps second), but to take them to a 5-0 still requires a high level of skill.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – General – Command Trait: Cloaked in Shadow Guardian of Souls (150)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (115)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
Battleline 30 x Bladegheist Revenants (525)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)* 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)* 6 x Spirit Hosts (250)* – Reinforced x 1
Matt rocks up undefeated with what must be the new Nighthaunt… how do I know – he’s got the Black Coach and is taking Nighthaunt! From one player in the UK with the Coach to three in one list at the Champions event this weekend, things have certainly changed for the ghostly bois!
No crossbow lads for Matt despite GW trying to flog them; but he has gone Bladegheists instead – and loads of them. They must be good to have gone 4-1-0 and the debuffs to opponents will be helping to keep them alive.
Advertisements
Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin – Enclave: Ionrach – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: None
Leaders Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers (115)* Akhelian Thrallmaster (110)** Akhelian King (250)* – General – Bladed Polearm – Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 3 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (195)* 3 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (195)* 20 x Namarti Reavers (340)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)** 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)** 10 x Namarti Thralls (130)** 10 x Namarti Thralls (130)** 3 x Akhelian Ishlaen Guard (195)*
Faction Terrain Gloomtide Shipwreck
Total Points: 2,000
Declan Hazel has taken another of the new army releases, and like my recent comments there are reavers and thralls… lots of them! The reavers are the shooty ones, and although they have shorter range than the LRL Sentinels, they do move — and quick! — so expect them to grab some objectives whilst shooting you off the board.
It’s good to see different armies emerging since the release of the new book, but I would much prefer to see better internal balance (like Seraphon), than the famine & feast of the last two IDK books. Great work by Hazel!
Advertisements
Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Option: Glogg’s Megamob – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dankhold Troggboss – Trev (240)* – General – Command Trait: Shepard of Idiotic Destruction – Artefact: Aetherquartz-studded Hide Fungoid Cave-Shaman – Freddie the Fungoid (95)** – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Madcap Shaman – Madcap Max (80)** – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth – Mr Marvin Brute (180)* – Allies
Battleline 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (290)*** – Reinforced x 1 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)*** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (155)**
Units 5 x Spider Riders (100)* 3 x Rippa’s Snarlfangs (70)* 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth – Drummer Dave (150)*
Behemoths Aleguzzler Gargant – Gary (165)*
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head – Steve the Swamp Trogg (20)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment **Warlord ***Hunters of the Heartlands
Declan – Peter has clearly listened to my comments about his last secret pick and gone down the list somewhat. And I’m surprised he only had to get to 10th to get a Gitz list. Dominic managed the holy grail of 2 draws… a result that’s probably rarer than a straight 5-0; and all with Troggs. As Stuart Hodges (Trogg) will tell us – Troggs are the best and Dominic has proven this with a Trogg list whose only allies are the Marshcrawler and MireBrute. This means it’s all Troggs, all the time.
To cement my opinion of Dominic being a genius amongst Troggs, he’s also got an Aleguzzler, Rippas & Spider Riders. Remember the Aleguzzler falls over on any double to charge (welcome back to AoS1… which everyone thought dead!) and Spider Riders with poison arrows in the fluff — but none anywhere near the army. I think the lads leave them at home to prevent friendly fire. Great list, and a frankly superb result. Well done Dominic — and more of these please Peter!
San Diego Open took place in California, USA on 11th and 12th June. It involved 74 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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.
Danny: Sometimes a Seraphon list comes along that makes me do a little ‘whoop’ because it has something new to talk about! This list has the usual core HQ, but goes off piste by taking 6 Terradons! These super fast moving (16″) ‘tiny dragons’ pop up here and there because they can drop a once per game d3 mw bomb (aka ‘rocks’) over a unit they move over on a 4+. So a unit of 6 can zoom over something important and do an average of 6 mws. It even packs the Terradon Chief who makes the Terradons do their MWs on a 2+ instead of a 4+. That changes the maths to (checks calculations…) a boat load! 2 cheap-as-chips Ark Bastiladons form a durable objective grabbing core while the rest does what Seraphon do. But props for an unusual list that no doubt caught a few people off-guard on the way to 5-0.
Advertisements
List name: Definitely not Gavin’s 2022 LVO list
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Living City – Mortal Realm: Ghyran – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Doralia ven Denst (115)* Sorceress (95)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Leaves: Ironoak Skin Freeguild General (100)* – City Role: General’s Adjutant
Battleline 30 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (315)* – Reinforced x 2 See it is different! He took crossbows. 10 x Freeguild Handgunners (105)* 10 x Dreadspears (90)* – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models)
Units 4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)** – Reinforced x 1 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)** – Drakerider’s Lance – Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment **Hunters of the Heartlands
Danny: It’s hard to write about Cities lists, mainly because they have so many damn options. As you might guess from the list name, this one has been tried and tested and revolves around the great Living City trait of shooting units being able to move after shooting, which makes them all surprisingly fast and agile, and no doubt leads to many shenanigans and gnashing of teeth and whiffing of charges. Doralia also makes a cameo for wizard sniping, there’s a Sorceress for very cheap magic support, and a few other little tricks. Oh yeah, and 4 Fulminators and 4 Stormdrake Guard. Just a little kicker there. Just imagining playing this list gives me more of a headache than trying to remember what all the random cities units do!
Advertisements
Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Army Type: Living City – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (280)* – Spells: Lifesurge Celestant-Prime (325)** Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (280)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Ironoak Skin
BATTLELINE Longbeards (105)* – Ancestral Weapon and Gromril Shield Longbeards (105)* – Ancestral Weapon and Gromril Shield Longbeards (105)** – Ancestral Weapon and Gromril Shield
Danny: pops some headache meds Ok, another 5-0 Cities list with a bunch of odd units that synergise in a hundred ways I’m probably missing. At a glance, it’s a really smart list already – a sneaky unit of Khinerai who can now drop out of reserves, fire then move 6″ make for some very cheeky objective grabbers, while the Fulminators and Celestant Prime offer pure, fast moving hammers who wouldn’t have a huge amount of trouble taking down a gargant by themselves. Then there’s the artillery – 3 Celestial Hurricanums – who on top bracket roll 3 dice each and do d3 mortals on a 2+ and give out a 10″ +1 hit aura each – that’s a lot of CP saved with careful positioning over the course of a game. The Longbeards are a tanky battleline choice at a budget cost of 105 too. Is it thematic though? Is it fuck, dwarves would be well sus of all that human magic flying over their heads!
Advertisements
Allegiance: Bonesplitterz – Warclan: Drakkfoot – Grand Strategy: Get Dem Bones! – Triumphs:
Leaders Savage Big Boss (65)** – General – Command Trait: Great Hunter Wurrgog Prophet (150)** – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry Wurrgog Prophet (150)** – Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Battleline 10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (155)* 10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (155)* 10 x Savage Orruks (165)* – Chompas
Units 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80) 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (20)
Core Battalions *Hunters of the Heartlands **Warlord
Danny: Big. Stabbas. Lots. And Lots. Of. Big. Stabbas. I don’t normally applaud spam lists but going 4-1 at a major with Savage Orruks right now – no Big Chadnos in sight! – is definitely a feat. Props to the double Wurrgog too for what assuredly would be a series of hilarious staring contests and heart-stopping dice rolls (for this list’s opponents).
It’s clever, but it is hilarious. And bloody successful!
