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The Top Three AoS Lists

Soulblight Gravelords
Formation: Tide of Bones & Blades (-1 R on Charge)
Spell Lore: Undeath (7+ CV, 12”: Fight Last, -1 D, 18”: 6+ horde clear/heal – unlimited)
Manifestations: Aethermatic Machineries

Regiments
1- Mannfred von Carstein (410)
– General
Black Knights x2 (320)

2- Vampire Lord (160)
– Lash of the Sire
– Amulet of Screams
Grave Guard x2 (300)
Grave Guard x2 (300)
Deathratttle Skeletons x2 (200)

3- Torgillius the Chamberlain (180)
Deathrattle Skeletons (100)

Craig Smith: For me I love the synergy of Rye’s list – there’s something just really thematic about a Deathrattle army led by a couple of vamps. As they are all Deathrattle other than the hero’s, they can all benefit from the +1 to rend on the charge plus Mannfred’s +1 atk when he kills a model. That’ll be key for the Grave Guard and Knights in this list, but could also be interesting on the Skeletons.

More likely the skeletons are used defensively to sit on objectives with Torgillius nearby using his ability to bring them back while Mannfred/ the Vampire Lord use Deathly Invocation on the Grave Guard/ Knights.

With Lash of the Sire, Black Knights/ Mannfred’s mobility, and the Vampire Lord’s teleport ability, this list should be able to react quickly to threats and grab unprotected objectives.

The use of Aetherwrought Machineries is interesting and useful to shut down ward saves and take out high health units using Quicksilver Swords – probably helpful against Sons and Nurgle. The charge re-rolls from the Cogs would really help in this battle formation when they’re so reliant on getting the charge in, offensively, for the extra rend. Also -1 to hit against the wizards from the Cogs would be extremely helpful against Slaanesh and Lumineth in those battle formations.

This list also carries strong counter-charge potential through the Grave Guard, Mannfred and the Knights (using the Cog as needed for re-rolls wholly within 12″), so that’s something your opponent needs to bear in mind and ensure they don’t leave gaps enabling this.

Mannfred’s redeploy into combat ability could also be a great way to use one of the Skeletons units to tie up a hard-hitting or mobile enemy unit, preventing their charge and potentially enabling a counter-charge.

With so many different tools in this list alongside the synergies of being pretty much fully Deathrattle based, I can see how Rye was able to go 5-0.

Battle Formation: Vanari Battlehost
Spell Lore: Lore of Hysh
Manifestation: Krondspine Incarnate
Faction Terrain: Shrine Luminor

General’s Regiment
(230pts) Vanari Lord Regent
-Heroic Trait: Masterful Tactician
(300pts) Vanari Auralan Sentinels
-Reinforced

Regiment
(280pts) Ellania and Ellathor, Eclipsian Warsages
(420pts) Vanari Dawnriders
-Reinforced
(210pts) Vanari Dawnriders
(130pts) Alarith Stoneguard

Regiment
(150pts) Scinari Calligrave
-Artefact of Power: Silver Wand
(280pts) Vanari Auralan Wardens
-Reinforced

2000pts Total

Roland Rivera: While at first glance, this Lumineth list may look like it’s adhering closely to the consensus power picks in the index (lots of Vanari units for -1 to hit, Silver Wand for an extra pip of power level on one of the Wizards, 20 Sentinels as the presumptive Honor Guard pick), it has some interesting tech that merits further discussion.

First among this tech is the choice of manifestation: this army can cast up to 5 spells per Hero phase, so it’s quite interesting to see the Krondspine Incarnate, typically the province of low-magic armies that want to avoid being overwhelmed by enemy manifestations, make an appearance. However, I think it makes a lot of sense here: a Scinari Calligrave cannot fail to summon it, and this list skews aggressive with a Lord-Regent and 15 Dawnriders. That sort of list just wants to keep the way clear for its glorious cavalry charges, and a Krondspine (especially a reliable one) helps with that. There is also a unit of rarely-seen Alarith Stoneguard in this list, though I suspect this choice was largely made to squeeze in one more unit in the allotted points.

All in all, it’s a quite interesting list, and while it is a bit vulnerable to getting bogged down by massed bodies and recursion (as demonstrated by the loss to Soulblight), it has the combination of hitting power and defensive tech to give most armies a hard time.

Slaves to Darkness
Godswrath Warband
Lore of the Damned
Manifestations of Malevolence

Be’lakor, the Dark Master (410)
[General]
– 6 x Varanguard (620)
– 6 x Varanguard (620)
– 3 x Varanguard (310)

1960

Roland Rivera: Seems like Corry’s a gambling man, because boy is this list all-in. With 4 total units on the battlefield, it won’t be covering much ground, but with 3 of those units being 15(!) Varanguard, it will also be pounding through the enemy’s defenses in short order. Their combination of speed, hitting power, and the once-per-game double fight can make it very easy to blast through pretty much anything that you get to charge.

Alongside this pile of heavily armored violence is Be’lakor, who rounds the arsenal out by shutting down key opposing units via The Dark Master as well as being a double caster that can fight a bit in melee. I am a bit surprised to see the Manifestations of Malevolence being chosen here (not a big fan of that Lore), but Realmscourge Rupture can potentially be quite useful for this army if you get the -1 to hit effect for it off.

This list clearly has a weaknesses to durable horde armies that can bog it down (as evidenced by the loss to Soulblight), but most other armies will struggle to survive the sheer amount of damage this list can bring to bear, which means you can go quite far with it if you get the right pairings (as this one did).

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This is the top three AoS lists for Thunderstrike GT II that took place in Canada on the 20th and 21st of July. It saw 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Grand Alliance Chaos
Slaves to Darkness
Godswrath Warband
2000 Points Limit
Drops: 1
Spell Lore – Lore of the Damned
Manifestation Lore – Krondspine Incarnate

Regiments
General’s Regiment
Archaon, the Everchosen (890)
• General
Chaos Chosen (500)
• Reinforced
• 1x Khorne
Chaos Furies (100)
Chaos Warriors (200)
• 1x Nurgle
Varanguard (310)
• 1x Khorne

Faction Terrain
Nexus Chaotica

Roland Rivera: Archaon is off to a roaring start in 4th edition, and I couldn’t be happier to see the big guy dominating tables once again! While he still costs a ton of points, his innate durability, speed, spellcasting ability and ability to deal with opposing manifestations (both through his Three-Headed Titan rampage and by summoning the Krondspine Incarnate) make him a formidable center to build your army around.

Alongside him is a sampler platter of some of Slaves to Darkness’ best units: Chosen and Varanguard are potent hammers (especially when marked Khorne, as these are), Chaos Warriors are efficient, durable infantry that do more damage than you’d think, and Furies are a premier chaff unit that can frustrate melee opponents by just running away before they can be killed in combat.

Another benefit to Archaon is that because he costs so many points, he can get all of the other units in his army into his regiment, making this list a 1-drop. While this has some downsides (Priority Target is AMAZING against you, for example), this works best with Archaon’s Eye of Sheerian ability, since a 1-drop will have choice of turn against the vast majority of lists out there. In most cases, you will choose to go second and potentially set up an early double turn (one in which you still get to pick a Battle Tactic) and try to seize an early advantage.

All in all, I think this list is the rare confluence of good and fun, and I’m excited to see it do well in the early going in 4th edition.

Grand Alliance Death
Soulblight Gravelords
Bacchanal of Blood
2000 Points Limit
Drops: 3
Spell Lore – Lore of Undeath
Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration

Regiments
General’s Regiment
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (410)
• General
Grave Guard (300)
• Reinforced

Regiment 1
Prince Vhordrai (480)
Deathrattle Skeletons (200)
• Reinforced
Fell Bats (90)

Regiment 2
Necromancer (140)
• Lash of the Sire
• Orb of Enchantment
Deathrattle Skeletons (100)
Dire Wolves (140)
Dire Wolves (140)

Craig Smith: This is a very interesting list to look at and I imagine may have been confusing to a lot of opponents mainly because in Bacchanal of Blood you’d usually expect to see more vampires and with Prince Vhordrai, usually some Blood Knights, so some may have been off guard from the start.

Let’s look at the offensive strengths. +1 to cast from the battle formation for Mannfred and Vhordrai that’s 3 casts all at +1 to cast per turn, which is awesome when trying to get the manifestations out and also for Vhordrai giving himself strike-first through his spell, ‘Quickblood’. Combine that with Mannfred rolling 3+ for his strike-first on the charge, and a well placed ‘Prison of Grief’ for a strike-last on whoever the Grave Guard are fighting, and you can easily make sure all your hammers are attacking before the units they are engaged with.

You’ve then got ‘Vanhel’s Danse Macabre’ allowing Deathrattle to fight twice but second time with strike-last, so probably on Grave Guard as well, and you can soon see how this list could go 4-1.

Defensively, with that much chaff it could be hard to get to hammers, if positioned well, and possible to guard against deep striking making life difficult for your opponent. This also provides opportunities to deny tactics through the mobility of the wolves (who can run and charge) and the bats (who can retreat and charge), plus Mannfred allowing a redeploy into combat. Lots of ways to get your opponent engaged in combat with units they don’t want in combat.

Grand Alliance Death
Soulblight Gravelords
Bacchanal of Blood
2000 Points Limit
Drops: 3
Spell Lore – Lore of Undeath
Manifestation Lore – Krondspine Incarnate

Regiments
General’s Regiment
Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (460)
• General
Blood Knights (460)
• Reinforced

Regiment 1
Prince Vhordrai (480)
Deathrattle Skeletons (200)
• Reinforced
Deathrattle Skeletons (100)

Regiment 2
Cado Ezechiar, The Hollow King (180)
Kosargi Nightguard (120)

Connor Irwin: An excellent performance by Cort Barker and Soulblight Gravelords at Thunderstrike shows off the powerful synergies on the vampire side of the army. The Bacchanal of Blood is a popular choice for the boost to vampire casting alone, with the extra +1 to wound on charges for when your vampires need to bring the pain. This list is designed to see just how much mayhem a reinforced unit of blood knights with extra attacks, damage, 2″ move and ethereal saves can cause.

Starting at the bottom, untethered from his dynastic aversion last edition, Cado is a versatile wizard that can easily get up to a +3 to cast if he finds a place of power. Perfect for pushing out that Krondspine every hero phase to clog up the table and gobble up the manifestation meta. Kosargi Nightguard on this list is an interesting choice, I’m guessing they served as babysitters for wayward vampire wizards and stole objectives and tactics where they could for a reasonable price tag.

Next there’s big Prince Vhodrai, a warmaster that sits this one out thanks to Neferata at the top of the list, this terrifying beatstick has the very important job of keeping those blood knights wholly within 12″ every time they score a kill. Feeding them +1 buffs to attack, damage and 2″ movement gets their output up to silly levels in short order. Sharing that battalion are a couple of units of deathrattle skeletons, which are perfectly serviceable screens and later objective stealers for their price tag and great tarpits when reinforced. Their ability to add models at the end of the turn means that if you leave even one of these guys standing they’re going to recharge very quickly.

At the top of the list there’s the queen and her knights. Neferata is a great utility piece that can surprise in combat in a big way by yeeting off prize pony heroes that take wounds from her Akmet-har on a 5+. Having used this on Be’lakor myself in the past, it’s awesome. She also adds durability to nearby units with a -1 to hit aura, but they’ve cut this down to 6″ now so the bubble is pretty tight. Her best use on this list is keeping her warscroll spell, Dark Mist, active on those reinforced blood knights. With a rend-proof 3+ save they will be very hard to move. Giving them one of the honor guard buffs, likely priority target, is just the icing on the cake.

Hats off to Cort for great generalship and a brutal list that shows off how vampire synergies make a bloody mess of the battlefield in 4th edition.

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