This is the top three AoS lists for War Under the Mountain that took place in Australia on the 25th and 26th of March. It involved 19 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this event had less than 20 players attending there won’t be any list comments here as the guys will be concentrating on the larger events of the week.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Zon – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Honour Is Everything – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
Leaders Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Aetheric Navigator (85)** – Artefact: Voidstone Orb
Battleline 6 x Skywardens (260)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Skywardens (260)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Skywardens (260)* – Reinforced x 1
Other Units 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)** – Main Gun: Sky Cannon – Gunhauler Modifications: Coalbeard’s Collapsible Compartments 3 x Endrinriggers (120)** 3 x Endrinriggers (120)*
Behemoths Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon Arkanaut Frigate (300)** – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Battleline 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Hag Queen (120)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master – Prayers of Khainite Cult: Crimson Rejuvenation Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (320) – Allies Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (300)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor – Prayers of Khainite Cult: Sacrament of Blood
Battleline 15 x Blood Sisters (450)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Blood Stalkers (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blood Sisters (150)*
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
Leaders Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (260)* Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290) – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble – Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (130)* – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Eye-biter Ash Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)* – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)* – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Murknob with Belcha-banna (80)*** – Aspect of the Champion: TunnelMaster
Battleline 20 x Gutrippaz (300)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 20 x Hobgrot Slittaz (160)** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)**
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
This is the top three AoS lists for Stockholm Slaughter 9 took place in Sweden on the 18th and 19th of March. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Vostarg – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Auric Runefather (120)* – General – Command Trait: Fury of the Fyreslayers Auric Runemaster (130)*** – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** Battlesmith (150) – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Auric Runesmiter (120) – Forge Key – Prayer: Ember Storm
UNITS 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (450)* – Poleaxes 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (480)** 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)** 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)**
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Cabalists – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Daemonic Speed Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield – Spells: Binding Damnation – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (195)** – General – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Command Traits: Not to be Denied – Daemonic Axe – Wings – Artefacts of Power: Helm of the Oppressor – Spells: Daemonic Speed
BATTLELINE Corvus Cabal (80)* Corvus Cabal (80)* Chaos Knights (460)** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Flail – Ensorcelled banner: The Eroding Icon
OTHER Chaos Chosen (480)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Exalted Champion – 2 x Icon Bearer – 2 x Skull Drummer – Ensorcelled banner: The Banner of Screaming Flesh Ogroid Theridons (380)** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Thorakon – Goroan Great Axe – 2 x Banner Bearer – 2 x Charge-caller
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Soulscream Bridge (80)
Leaders Orruk Megaboss (140)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm (Galletian Champion) – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeat: Killa Beat
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas 5 x Spider Riders (90)* 5 x Spider Riders (90)
This is the top three AoS lists for the Guts & Glory Club Tournament that took place in the USA on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 48 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
You may be aware of our recent collaboration with Stormkeep and presenting out stats on YouTube. We’ll Mrigank of Stormkeep fame has managed an impressive 5-0, but not with Stormcast as you’d expect, but Bonereapers! I’ll let Mrigank explain the list.
Mrigank Jha: So pivoting away from the traditional Arkhan Magic + Infantry based lists , this list doesn’t focus on hordes of Mortek Guard. Roar makes them vulnerable and the meta has too many ranged horde killers (Ogors, Skaven, Stormcast, LRL). So, keeping the 2×6 stalkers for Blenders, this list goes towards Catapults. All out Defence and Armor may make it seem weak, but the special ammo is what is important. Ogors, LRL, and Gitz, the three big bad, are fairly low bravery, and Gitz in particular, has small wound heroes. Being able to wreck a giant Grot unit or Squigherd unit. Taking out Gnoblars entirely the same way is amazing. Sniping a Sentinel Captain to turn off empower, and in case of a Slaves to Darkness matchup, sniping an Ensorcelled Banner is amazing. Stalkers are amazing with Mystic shield and re roll saves on defence or additional rend and damage on offence (can increase rend even further with Bludgeon) So, for my matches, I mainly did that. Use catapults at key targets, and push Mortek guard out early as Stalker screens. Stalkers to counterattack. Necromantic Mastery (heroic action) with Bone Tithe Shrieker to add 1 to hit rolls and stop Inspiring Presence and Rally. In instances of where your opponent leaves a GC out in the open, the special ammo can help you snipe it on a lucky roll. You can also use this one to break coherency in entire units strung out as screens
I faced LRL, Ogors, Anvilgard Cites, Skaven and Gitz. The Catapult range and threat meant they often chose to target it instead of my other threats , the ones that take objectives and its fairly difficult to kill catapults with 12 W 4+ save and reducing a rend. I used the Kavalos as a fast threat, objective taker, Mortek guard as screens / first line of defense, and stalkers to get into the thick of it.
Leaders The Contorted Epitome (240)* – General – Command Trait: Feverish Anticipation – Artefact: Oil of Exultation – Host Option: General – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh (210)* – Host Option: General Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony (440)* – Lore of Pain and Pleasure: Battle Rapture Infernal Enrapturess, Herald of Slaanesh (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Slaanesh: Born of Damnation
Battleline 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 11 x Blissbarb Archers (140)** 11 x Blissbarb Archers (140)**
Other 1 x Cockatrice (105)* 1 x Cockatrice (105)*
Endless Spells and Invocations Mesmerising Mirror (60) Wheels of Excruciation (80) Dreadful Visage (70)
Old book HoS take the podium! With a new book around the corner east to forget, this is just a current, often nerfed, HoS list. It has all of the stars, Sigvald, Epitome, and Glutos, with a lot of Blissbarb. Blissbarb are as much the heart of the list as the heroes, ok archery and a fantastic source of Depravity Points (DP). The Epitome build is very tanky (for HoS) with an extra wound and one of the new Ghurish enhancements – Fuelled by Ghurish Rage (once per battle 3+ ward). Add in the Flaming Weapon, and it’s still a very dangerous unit.
Back to the DP – Hedonites are really a summoning army, everything is fragile (not Glutos), just now they can use Revel in Pain as well while they have the points. You’re forced into an unenviable choice of removing units (Generating DP) or heroes (and being shot) – very hedonistic. With the Cockatrice to act as blockers, objective getters and generally be pains it’s a very annoying army that can react to most situations. The list even has 2 ways to snipe out Galletian Champions – Galletian Sharpshooters for all of the Blissbarb and Mesmering Mirror, swingy but if it goes off…. Both of the other spells do mortal wounds as well based on 6 dice. Dreadful Visage is very effective against screens etc, if it does damage it reduces Bravery by 1. Orcs hate it.
That combination of threats was very effective. Laron’s opponents had limited or no shooting, that shooting was frequently shorter ranged. Combined with effective heroes and the mortal wound output it’s hard to counter unless played just right. That Epitome is a thing of nightmares….
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Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Zilfin – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Aether-Khemist (90)** – General – Command Trait: Collector – Artefact: Spell in a Bottle Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (160)** – Artefact: Staff of Ocular Optimisation – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Arkanaut Admiral (140)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Gotrek Gurnisson (480)
Battleline 10 x Arkanaut Company (90)* – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 10 x Arkanaut Company (90)* – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 10 x Arkanaut Company (90)** – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns
Units 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (260)* – 2x Aetheric Fumigators – 2x Decksweepers – 2x Aethercannons – 1x Grundstok Mortars – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Arkanaut Ironclad (490) – Main Gun: Great Volley Cannon – Great Endrinworks: The Last Word
One last hurrah for the old book, this time around we’re lucky enough to have Carl’s comments on hid list
Carl Stokes: This was the final ride of the Warp Lightning Vortex in KO and I was determined to send it off with a bang! I’ve always felt that KO struggle into high tempo combat heavy armies that can either shrug off the heaps of rend -1 shooting I can bring to bear and/or close the gap in one turn to crack open my boats.
Enter Gotrek.
He completely changes the way opponents have to think about KO. The things I used to be very concerned about (Kragnos, Varanguard, Mawkrushas) are now the armies I feel extremely favored into. Gotrek forces combat armies to forfeit the alpha strike into my boat bunker and allow me to seize the initiative and dictate the flow of the game.
With old KO rules, this also meant that forcing me to go first just allowed me to perfectly lob a WLV into my opponent’s backfield and then hide the Ironclad behind a layer of 10 Thunderers and a Khemist who would guarantee my opponent was at -1 to hit in close combat. And of course, should they fail to kill the Thunderers and Khemist, a very angry dwarf was right around the corner…
The best part is how easily this list transitions to the new book! Not only is this archetype alive and well, but because the warp lightning vortex becomes a free soulscream bridge and a few characters are easily swapped around, I can add 5 more new and improved Thunderers (that rally on a 4+) to the list and make it a one-drop. I’m always trying to spread the Gospel of Gotrek and I think the new KO tome will really demonstrate his utility in the faction.
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Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts – Check Header – Grand Court: Blisterskin – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Abhorrant Archregent (240) – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Abhorrant Archregent (240) – General – Command Trait: Hellish Orator – Artefact: The Dermal Robe – Lore of Madness: Spectral Host Abhorrant Ghoul King (170)* – Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (450)* – Artefact: Eye of Hysh – Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Varghulf Courtier (160)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Battleline 9 x Crypt Flayers (540)** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)** 10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)*
FEC is a statistical anamoly – both Metawatch and TSN have them as a 50%+ faction, we have them at about 43% win rate. Who’s right? Well we don’t write about them that often so there aren’t that many podiums in the events we cover. But that could just be the low player representation.
Anyway the list, this is the “list” or the most common way we see FEC. A double reinforced Crypt Flayer unit with 2 x Crypt Ghoul screens, Terrorgheist, Archregents and Ghoul Kings. This gives the widest range of spells and summoning. It can summon, during the battle, up to another 9 Crypt Flayers and 20 serfs – this is really a 2660 point list. That’s key to beating them – don’t commit too early, force your opponent to bring most of their units onto the table so you don’t face an overwhelming force in Turn 2 or 3. Not taking Chronomatic Cogs is an interesting choice.
FEC really needs to get their buffs off (adding up to 4 attacks and a 5+ ward) so Cogs is almost mandatory. Only losing to Fyreslayers though is a testament to what the faction is capable of. Roll well and the Flayers are terrifying, very hard to kill and rally really well. In the matchups here they’ve taken down almost everything including Varanguard. With the new book announced it’s likely we’ll see more interest in the faction and enjoy those damn Flayers.
This is the top three AoS lists for Sparkle Party Deathmatch VIII that took place in the USA on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 52 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Lineage: Legion of Blood – Grand Strategy: Vampiric Conquerors – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (350)* – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour Vampire Lord (140)** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Expertise: Arcane – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Lauka Vai, Mother of Nightmares (280)*** – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale
Battleline 5 x Black Knights (100)*** 5 x Black Knights (100)*** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)* 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)*
Units 10 x Blood Knights (400)*** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Grave Guard (280)** – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1 1 x Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone (80)*
Some of our readers may remember that we interviewed Jeremy Veysseire some time ago on General Speaking. We reached out once more, and ever the gentleman, Jeremy agreed to give us a rundown of his list.
Jeremy Veysseire: The important thing about the Legion of Blood army I played at Sparkle Death party is that it was designed originally roughly 1 year ago to counter the hyper aggressive meta that was around Maggotkin Flies, Dragons and Ironjawz through the following important mechanics of Neferata’s spell allowing a unit of mine to ignore negative modifiers to saves (aka REND) for either Neferata and the Blood Knights on a 3+ save platform making them easily 2+ save during the crucial fights and the minus 1 to hit Aura from Neferata’s Command Ability, the reduction in attacks to 1 unit with the book spell. The additional mechanics that were more of a bonus such as the Bravery Reduction, the additional models fleeing and the Horrorghast combo really punished in some cases Dragons and the flies themselves since my army does not do straight raw damage per say but more of this “I will kill you by a thousand slow cuts while you scream for the hills.”
So we fast forward to Spark Death Party, why bring this army since the meta has evolved so much since then? Well, I wanted to see if the combo was a good counter to Gitz, Slaves and Mawtribes, which all fit those hyper aggressive archetypes. The difference being that all of those armies have abilities to deal out a lot more MW consistently than the previous meta (yes, even more than dragons) and still punch very hard. I made some tweaks by incorporating Lauka Vai and the Corpse Cart for the +1 to cast aura, hoping that in some games I could get Lauka Vai’s spell off allowing me to really control how my opponent could choose the engagement and the additional thought process was if the Gitz armies went deep in Squig Herd since they can’t reroll charges, it could potentially stop them when they want to charge.
Now lets cover some of the additional combos in the list that are less obvious, Levitating Blood Knights to always be able to move any enemy units when they retreat and plant themselves easily where they want while removing terrain to clunk them up. Making the Grave Guards Sworn protectors allows me the ability to do another Battle Tactic “A Matter of Honor” with them and just in the off chance I can get them to activate in the Hero Phase with the Vampire Lord. Lauka Vai’s MW on the Charge really allows me to sometimes get Neferata out of combat or lets me remove a GC consistently with her as she can be kind of a surgical strike unit and she provides the Blood Knights coverage if Neferata fails to cast her spell.
At the event itself, I played in order into FEC, Fyreslayers, Mawtribes, Gitz, Cities of Sigmar. My first 4 matchups were exactly the type of army I wanted to face, aggressive melee armies and man oh man did the combo work. Some highlights, keep Gotrek debuffed with less attacks and half charges while the army picked up everything else around him, into Mawtribes watching Stonehorn hit on 5’s with Neferata’s minus 1 to hit, into Gitz watching BK just absolutely lock units up and the Black Knights blocking avenues up the board. Neferata slayed a Terrorgheist, a Phoenix, a Grimwrath, and terrified the Heroes on Stonehorn with her dagger. The army obviously got to play the type of armies it was designed to fight into and it did incredibly well due mostly to its ability to keep my opponent’s army locked away and debuffed as I cut him ever so slightly to drain him of his life essence like perhaps…a Vampire. But honestly, all it took was probably a non Static shooting army like KO or Seraphon to just ruin my day. What a great last ride for this army before the new battletome.
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Army Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Lord-Castellant (160)* – Artefacts: Quicksilver Draught – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Lord-Relictor (150)*** – General – Command Traits: High Priest – Prayers: Translocation 1 x Battlemage (100)**** – Ally – Realm: Ghur
BATTLELINE 5 x Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows (190)** – Judicator-Prime – Thunderbolt Crossbow 5 x Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows (190)** – Judicator-Prime – Thunderbolt Crossbow 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (240)**** 5 x Drakespawn Knights (110)**** – Dread Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower
OTHER 10 x Protectors (440)* – Protector-Prime – 4 x Starsoul Mace 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)** – Raptor-Prime 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (170)*** – Stormstrike Axe and Tempestuous Spear
Total Points: 1990/2000 Total Drops: 10 Total Units: 10 Total Wounds: 109
Through our friends at Stormkeep, we were able to reach out to Stark and ask if he’d give us a rundown of his list. Thanks again, Stark, for the comments, I’m sure we’ll be hearing from you again in the future!
Stark Pister: This list is a natural evolution of my HaXbows list from last season, with which I topped out at 4-1. Last season I played 15 Judicators + 3 Longstrikes in a 3 drop with double chariot bounty hunters and so this list pulls back on the shooting and chariots for a more durable anvil/hammer in the block of 10 protectors to fit the more midboard grind battleplans of this season.
In my opinion the strongest Stormcast lists tend to be mixed arms builds with durable screens protecting efficient shooting and high damage melee hammers to riposte threats that try to get through the screens to threaten the shooting, all supported by minimal characters since our faction synergies tend to be minimal. I tend to build my tournament lists with this a general philosophy as the balanced nature allows the flexibility to deal with most types of opponents. In a similar vein, I try to have units with diverse types of damage to have the tools to minimize polarized matches. I find Stormcast’s incredibly deep roster tends to provide the options to really customize what you want available in any given meta.
This new season presents a lot of opportunities and a lot of challenges for Stormcast lists. Fortunately, our main minimal support characters are all GCs (except Gardus). One of our big strengths is the ability to snipe out small enemy buff heros and now that is even better with enemy GC’s being critical for half the non-book tactics and several battle plans, incentizing use of the Sharpshooter battalion. However, they balanced sharpshooters well by forcing it to be 3 required units so you can’t be very low drop. High drops can be problematic for shooting armies because an early double can allow melee to close the gap and for opposing shooting to gain the upper hand in output, so this needs to be compensated for somehow. Longstrikes make the perfect GC hunters, and with scions, translocate, and Thunderbolt volley, they provide very flexible turn one threat that helps offset those high drops. The added threat of the Judicators forces conservative screening of heros while they efficiently clear those screens from a safe distance.
The Gallatian Command battalion provides the opportunity for a very strong combo in Stormcast when used alongside a Galatian Champion with the Quicksilver Draught and the new Tunnel Master makes it easy to set up even with a hero like the Castellant who wants to be on the board in the hero phase for his ability. More importantly, it allows the combo to be down at the start of the game as part of your initial deployment castle, and with the help of the Relictor, it can be anywhere it needs to be on turn one. This allows you to defend from alpha strike armies that choose to go first against you (or the rare person you outdrop), while being able to get them buffed and into the optimal position when given top of one. Lord Castellant is the perfect hero for this job not just because of his ability to buff them to a 1+ save but critically because he has a 40mm Gryph Hound that enables the whole 10 block to fit within the 2.5″ bubble to allow them to strike first with him when someone charges them. This provides a HUGE deterrent to hitting your midbaord castle from the front and specifically acts as protection of your main melee hammer against the double turn.
The Ghur Battlemage helps make up for the paladin speed issues in the mid game and pairs well with the Relictor for melee units in general throughout. I often lead with Mystic shield on one of the screens to help with weathering the potential double as well, before flipping to wildform to go on the offensive. He also provides the bare minimum magic defense, which coupled with heroic willpower and the relictor Dispel at least let you disrupt the low hanging fruit.
The efficient battleline slots provide the opportunity to pick up an all-star screen in the Drakespawn Knights, who pair well with the Chariot to safely claim objectives and pin large threats until their buffs are down. The Chariot even has vanguard battalion to reroll its first charge outside of hero range. Because the battleline are the riposte and ranged units, they can easily stay back to protect heros from shooting for a while.
Another critical consideration this season has been the battle tactics. The teleporting GC lineup and Sworn Bodyguard paladins make most of the new ones achievable with some planning, though This One’s Mine is rarely an option. Hammerstrike Assault and Draconith Desctruction can be good backup options, albeit riskier that come in handy against armies where killing the one thing needs to be your focus anyway. The spicy Drakespawn pick can even sneak a late game Pioneers of the Realms.
Shoutouts to my mentor Matt Beasley for helping refine the list and forcing me to get reps in (and for lending the Drakespawn), to my painting mentor Ricky Fischer whose squigs I beat in round 5 to finish the tournament, and to the whole of Dimensional Cascade. Special thanks to my partner Larc for the unending support of my unbelievably-high-time-commitment hobbies.
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Be’lakor (355) – Spells: Binding Damnation 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore (265)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Daemonic Speed – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Spells: Chaotic Conduit – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Leadership of the alpha 1 x Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)* – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
BATTLELINE 3 x Varanguard (290)* – 3 x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Chaos Knights (460)* – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Another notch on Be’lakor’s bedpost! If you’ve not met him on the table before, Be’lakor’s man schtick is being able to stop a key unit from doing stuff (on a 3+ each phase) until your next hero phase. He’s been hotly debated in (all 9) S2D player circles because, while he offers a great amount of short-term control, which potentially allows you varanguard/10 knights (as in this list) to do their work, it’s also entirely possible that you roll a few crucial 2s, and then you’ve basically paid 355 pts for a not very durable, not very killy and kinda fast hero.
He has been cropping up recently though, suggesting that, overall, he’s worth it for the time he buys the hammers to do their work. Ricky here has actually gone for KOTET, which will allow the two units of knights, the Varanguard, and the Sorcerer on Manticore to all make up plenty of ground by running and charging. Obviously, that’s going to allow a fair bit of early pressure, especially with daemonic power being cast on 3d6 with a re-roll by the Manticore Sorc, allowing one unit to charge with 3d6 as well. I imagine the spell-portal is also there to allow the Manticore’s warscroll spell – one of the few good offensive spells S2D has access to – to reach out across the board to soften stuff up.
Finally, we have an Exalted Hero, who is utterly garbage, but only 100 points, and I imagine it is mainly there for GC based scoring.
Taking down one of the two mirrors and also managing to chew through NH and a monster heavy Ogor list means this is a great result with a techy list from Ricky!
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Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Army Type: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Battlemage (100)* – General’s Adjutant – Spells: Roaming Wildfire, Ignite Weapons – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Freeguild General (100)* – General – Command Traits: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade 1 x Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)* – Spells: Ignite Weapons, Sear Wounds 1 x Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (320)** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Sear Wounds, Flaming Weapon 1 x Lord-Arcanum (140)** – Spells: Warding Brand, Roaming Wildfire
BATTLELINE 20 x Freeguild Handgunners (200)* – Marksman – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Piper – Long Rifle 20 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)* – General’s Retinue – Marksman – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Piper 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)* – Standard Bearer – Marksman – Piper 10 x Flagellants (80)** – Prophet 10 x Freeguild Guard (80)** – Sergeant – Standard Bearer – Drummer – Freeguild Halberd 10 x Freeguild Guard (80)** – Sergeant – Drummer – Standard Bearer – Freeguild Halberd
Once you get one player comment, you can often get two or three from the connections those players have. That was the case here as well when Stark said he could reach out to Louis-Philippe for his comments.
Louis-Philippe: The Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix should only have Flaming Weapon (The mistake has been spot before start of the tourney and opponents were dully advise).
Game plan: First of all, AoS is a dice game. Luck is part of the game, but careful planning can sway the odds in your favour. …sometime 😛
Flagellants are there for the easy ‘’Sanctify’’ battle tactic T1 (White dwarf). Since I always let my opponent go first (I was lucky not to face a 1 drop), he usually doesn’t kill anything. So that was a free one turn 1. (Aside from game 4, where the battleplan didn’t favour that BT (Position Over Power). Fun fact, that was the only game my opponent concentrated on his resource to kill my flagellant on his T1.
This list has 4 (double, cause Hallowheart) casters, meaning an 8 cast hero phase T1. The Hallowheart command ability lets you take D6 mortals for the same amount in casting bonus. Meaning this list is usually casting at +1, if not +2 or +3, but could reach a whopping +9! and since all your spells are cast on 6s (aside Flaming weapon) unless your opponent is able to unbind, everything goes flying out. Fun fact (not so fun for my opponent): In my 4th round T1 hero phase, I was casting with a +5 from that command ability since my phoenix failed all his ward saves. Got to heal 3 wounds back with Sear Wounds though.
I mostly face Melee lists (Fireslayer, Skaven (night/gutterrunners), Nighthaunt, nurgles (beast), Soulbright Grave lord)
So, the plan was to deploy away from their charge range. For the skaven, I deployed my shooting units 3’’ aways from the front of my shaft unit, so his deepstriking rats only had my shaft to shoot at (and my Fulminators which they killed with mortals). He also charged my shaft with his deceiver (one of them failed the charge). His deceiver didn’t like mortals from magic bottom of 1 (and the other rats didn’t like my shooting).
As for the Soulbright, well Jeremy is impressive, tactics wise and had a bit of luck, he stole initiative T2, forcing me to move forward by burning my ‘’back’’ objective, and had Neferata do 1 wound (yes only 1 unsaved wound to my Phoenix, mind you it was the dagger that got through, Phoenix was at 11 health, he rolled a 5… pouf no more Phoenix).
Units : The goal was to use the Freeguild Guards and Flagellants as chaff around the Handgunners and Crossbowmen. My general and the battle mage from Ghur had to be close to each other for the adjutant rule and my general was in the middle of the range unit, providing +1+1 with his CP and a 18’’ wholly whiting immune to bravery. The Phoenix was there to act as tarpit and increase survivability (if there’s any) of the chaff unit since his -1 wound bubble affects any enemy unit within range. Fulminators are there to act as a menace, which they did great since most of my opponents were scared of them and diverted resource to deal with them. Finally, th Lord-Arcanum was there to :
Be an extra GV
Give 1 more (possibility of 2) HP to the fulminators
But mostly give 6’’ more movement range on the Quicksilver Swords, which make them a 20’’ threat range on cast (remember the casting bonuses I talked about earlier)
Battleplans : R1-Prize of Gallet R2-Ours for the taking R3-Only the Worthy R4-Position over power R5-Jaws of gallet.
Possible upgrade : Swap ‘’Tunnel Master’’ from the battlemage to the Lord-Arcanum.
This is the top three AoS lists for Silverstream Smackdown 2 that took place in New Zealand on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 26 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Heartwood – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Warsong Revenant (300)* – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of the Deepwood: The Dwellers Below Treelord Ancient (330)* – Lore of the Deepwood: Verdurous Harmony Arch-Revenant (120)* – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
UNITS 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Scythes (500)* 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* 3 x Revenant Seekers (240)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS Spiteswarm Hive (40)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1980/2000
This solid list from Lee Wilmot is almost a who’s who of Sylvaneth mainstays. The TLA and WSR combination allows aggression from turn 1, using the free tree placement to enable maximum value Warsong bombs followed by either use of the new realmspell Teeth of Gallet, or Dwellers below for better value on horde units like Squigs or massed cultists. This hero combo works with the strike and fading Kurnoth hunters – buffed by the Spiteswarm Hive – and the revenant seekers to ensure the Sylvaneth hammer is kept healthy and outputting maximum damage while the bows sit on a back objective and pick off wounds, or soften up targets, at artillery ranges. Tree revenants sneak off to pick up objectives and provide shooting protection for the warsong and archrevenant, little scamps that they are.
This lists’ real value is in how few truly poor matchups it has, it is a one drop, can alpha decently and loves the double turn, can score 5/5 Battle tactics consistently and really gives opponents few opportunities to interact with the list on their own terms. Even against lists which push the sylvaneth for board space early, like KotET and BoC the Sylvaneth units are often durable enough to weather the early storm and punch out, or alternatively simply relocate key pieces to safer locations and return to playing the objective game. Well done to Lee on his piloting – 5 games of sylvaneth is quite exhausting and mistakes are heavily punished – he’s done excellently to manage the tournament win with a 4-1-0!
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Darkwalkers – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Doombull (160)* – General – Command Trait: Bestial Cunning – Artefact: Brayblast Trumpet – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Great Bray-Shaman (95)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
UNITS 10 x Ungors (80)* – Mauls & Half-Shields 20 x Ungor Raiders (230)* 6 x Bullgors (390)* – Pairs of Axes 10 x Ungor Raiders (115)* 6 x Beasts of Chaos Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (430)*
BEHEMOTHS Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1980/2000
Brett: With the new book Beasts haven’t set the world on fire but are providing consistent results even if a little back from their recent peak. Jimmy has gone with the Ungors and a Doombull which aren’t common picks but they have their reasons. The Ungors (and Ungor Raiders) are relatively cheap and meet battleline leaving enough points for an Incarnate. That’s important. With BoC’s herdstone increasing rend on turns 2 and 4 you don’t want to commit too early. Because BoC can ambush (deploy to reserve and bring them on in the first or second round) and fade into the shadows (teleport from within 9″ of the board edge to another location 9″ from the board edge and 9″ from enemy units) they can hide very well. But to do that you need something for your opponent to focus on – the Incarnate.
They need at least 2 rounds to do that and that means you can wait until you have at least -1 rend on everything to commit. The Tzaangors can still score a Battle Tactic first round (Desecrate seems likely) while your opponent tries to deal with the Incarnate. If they don’t then he can make their life hell pretty quickly. Still the list might be a little slow without the teleport. They have access to book tactics which are pretty competitive. The Doombull’s had a bit of a glow up, one of his most useful talents is a command that allows a unit to charge in the combat phase – avoiding unleash hell. He’s a Tunnel Master (teleport) and can use his trumpet to summon Ugors (or raiders) to the cause. The Bray Shaman is along to provide exploding 6s. If anything is alive to reach -3 rend from the Bullgors or Doombull (turn 4) pretty much nothing on the opponents army is going to survive.
Only drawing to Sylvaneth and otherwise winning all of his matches is a great effort. Sylvaneth with their fire and fade, mortal wounds and desire to make you come to them is a solid counter. Otherwise an unblemished run with a new books is a great effort.
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Allegiance: Skaven – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
LEADERS Verminlord Corruptor (350)* – General – Command Trait: Devious Adversary – Artefact: Blade of Corruption – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Grey Seer (120)* – Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy Master Moulder (90)* – Artefact: Rabid Crown – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
UNITS 20 x Clanrats (100)* – Rusty Blade – 1 x Standard Bearers – 1 x Standard Bell Ringers 20 x Clanrats (100)** – Rusty Blade – 1 x Standard Bearers – 1 x Standard Bell Ringers 6 x Rat Ogors (420) 10 x Gutter Runners (200)** 10 x Gutter Runners (200)**
We’re honoured to have Skaven aficionado and all-around top bloke Kieren Coates join our team. Kieren is well known on the tournament circuit down under and has featured in past editions of our top three. Who better to talk about the ratmen than him?!
Kieren Coates: A classic mixed arms MSU list with the unique twist of no clan Skryre, the list features 6 independently operating threats able to choke up the board while dealing surprisingly large amounts of damage.
Opting against the 1 drop race, the list has no issues in being forced to go first with 6 rat ogres able to hop through a gnawhole with death frenzy, mystic shield, +1 to wound and +3 to charge, leaving it with an impressive 82% chance to land its charge with one reroll.
If youre able to piece through 36 wounds of pure rat meat, that will fight on death to trade back you may just be unlucky enough for the Master Moulder to roll a 3+ upon the units death to bring the whole pack back to life again for round 2
Even beyond the alpha rat ogres, there is still 20 gutter runners skirmishing with ranged mortals, 2 hell pits ready to clear out any hordes or MSU which are not able to piece through 14 wounds in one swing, one of which is likely to get a mutation for 16 wounds at a 4+ save. at only 210 points, it’s incredibly efficient, and when it dies for some unfortunate souls, it has a 1/3 chance to come back to life with D6 wounds ready to swing again.
If you do manage to hit through respawning, death frenzied rate ogres, skirmished gutter runners and horde clearing hell pits, you still have to deal with the big boss which is the verminlord corruptor with the blade of corruption, 2D6 + 2 attacks (with command trait), often hitting at 2’s, 2’s, -2 rend, 2 damage with 6’s to wound being a whopping rend 3 damage 6. Did I mention he has another horde clearing spell to back up the two hell pits?
Once youre through all of that the real humble MVP of skaven, 40 clanrats for 200 points holding the objectives still need to be dealt with, healing D3 clanrats per pack in every battleshock phase.
Overall it’s lots of melle power with chance to revive, horde clearing power and MSU skirmish combined that many lists cant manage to crack through – well done to Locky
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Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin – Enclave: Nautilar – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Sokatra, Leviadon Keeper (140)* Isharann Tidecaster – Lore of the Deeps: Steed of Tides – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Allopleuron The Turtle Emperor (250)* Akhelian King – General – Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury – Bladed Polearm – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
UNITS Turtle Trappers (170)* 10 x Namarti Reavers
BEHEMOTHS Archelon the Ancient (460)* Akhelian Leviadon – Mount Trait: Ancient – Idoneth Deepkin Battleline (Enclave: Nautilar) Carbonemys the Cleaver (460)* Akhelian Leviadon – Idoneth Deepkin Battleline (Enclave: Nautilar) Definitely also a Turtle (480)* Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur – Allies
Monster mash hasn’t been the soup of the day for a couple seasons, so it’s nice to see a few heavies make their way back into the Idoneth’s menu. The turtles are going to be very heavy hitters, especially in Nautilar where they count as batteline and get a monstrous action increasing the rend on two of their weapon profiles to -3. Ancient is present to get some extra durability out of the first turtle, but both are there to absorb damage and dish it back out.
The third “turtle” is a krondspine. The addition of the Arcane tome means that the incarnate can be bonded to either the King or the Tidecaster, depending on what the match requires. The lack of druability on Idoneth’s heroes also opens up the option of getting the Incarnate as afar away from the friendly units as possible then just shrugging your shoulders when the bonded hero eventually dies.
Past there the list is self-explanatory. The King does King things. The Tidecaster casts some tides (Steed of, specifically). The reavers fill out the last battleline slot, and act as a decent harassing unit, with the ability to make good use of the turtles’ auras.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Midtcon GT that took place in Denmark on the 4th and 5th of March. It involved 20 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Oakenbrow – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired – Burgeoning
Leaders Warsong Revenant (300)* – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Deepwood: Treesong – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Treelord Ancient (330)* – Lore of the Deepwood: Regrowth Spirit of Durthu (350)** – Artefact: Greenwood Gladius Knight-Zephyros (100)** – Allies Battlemage (100)** – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Allies
Sylvaneth are really putting their roots down recently – and the nice thing is it’s still with a variety of lists – it seems like a great season for them, which is allowing people to flex their list building muscles with them and still do well.
Sune here has gone big tree heavy – with two hero trees and a full complement of treelord battleline. Durthi with the Gladius just absolutely slaps, and when such a threat is backed up by an Ancient (for a source of auto-forest at the start of the game) and a Warsong Rev for nasty casting through said forest (usually) – it’s a hell of a pincer movement.
Making full use of some allied tech, not only has Sune employed the now fairly standard Ghurish battlemage for the additional charge bonus, but he’s also rocking a Zephyros, who is just an absolute bargain basement GC who can also teleport.
Overall, I can see the root to victory for this list just being so many hyper-mobile scoring threats backed up by a killer Durthu that it’s overwhelming trying to keep up. Gratz to Sune on the evil tree 5-0.
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Host of the Everchosen – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (355)* – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
Battleline 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Reinforced x 1 15 x Chaos Chosen (720)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Ensorcelled Banner: The Banner of Screaming Flesh – Reinforced x 2
A rare HOTE list! Often overlooked in favour of Cabalists casting shenanigans or the battleline and run/charge of KOTET, a HOTE list really wants something to take advantage of that 5+ rally – aaaand 15 Chosen might just be the unit to do it!
Interestingly, Jon has Marked the Chosen as Slaanesh – *outside* of Legion, meaning he’s committing to their native -1 rend being enough, combined with their weight of attacks, to act as the list’s main hammer. HOTE offers a free second banner – so as well as the ubiquitous Eroding Icon on the pinning unit of Knights, he’s taken the Slaanesh banner on the Chosen for an additional attack on the charge – quite possibly relying on the mortal fishing to deal with more heavily armoured targets.
I suppose Be’lakor – whiffy and unreliable as he’s likely to be – does offer the option of locking down the Chosen’s natural predator for a turn or two, allowing them to clean everything else up – although I do struggle to see the logic of not even being able to roll on the EotG table with such a heavy investment of a unit – still, it worked out, and congrats to Jon for a great result!
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Vostarg – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Battlesmith (150)** – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Battlesmith (150)** – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Auric Runesmiter (120)*** – General – Runic Iron – Command Trait: Master Priest – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Auric Runesmiter (120)*** – Runic Iron – Artefact: Volatile Brazier – Prayer: Ember Storm Auric Runesmiter (120)*** – Runic Iron – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (330)** – Allies
Battleline 20 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (320)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (320)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (320)* – Reinforced x 1
Kevin Lathers: Now we see how far someone can skew a Fyreslayer list. Gustav has decided to deal with Fyreslayer’s innate slowness by just being able to deepstrike nearly the entire army. This list also lacks the usual Flamekeepers which accompany Vulkite Berserkers in nearly all Vostarg lists.
Between the Celestant-Prime, who can not only deepstrike but guarantee a charge, and three Runesmiters, Gustav can deepstrike all but two units in the list. Vulkites further benefit from this with their built-in +1 to charge rolls, thus making it an 8 on the roll to make a charge out of deepstrike. Twenty of them in GV is quite potent as well, even without the usual Flamekeepers.
I’m not certain how Gustav played things, but it seems the typical action would be to deepstrike two units of Vulkites and a battlesmith, along with the Celestant, leaving another brick with a battlesmith on the field; or deepstrike all three Vulkites and use Tunnel Master to bring a smith closer. In both cases this ends up performing almost like a pseudo-Beasts of Chaos list, only with a lot more wounds on the field and the ability to fight on death.
Once your opponent is boxed-in by warded up blocks of Vulkites and their big-daddy Celestant, holding objectives should be easy enough for the remaining group. It also retains the option of just sitting on an objective with the battlesmiths and making the opponent have to move the vulkites off in order to score anything, which can be daunting with 40 wounds under a 5+/6+ ward and the ability to rally on 4+’s.
Anything that can punch its way out of this is going to prove formidable and without Flamekeepers the Vulkites lose their incredibly hard punch-back ability, fighting on death more than once, and their combat phase charging. Further, having two battlesmiths eats up a lot of points that could move toward other heroes or more Vulkites. This list is sacrificing a lot for its strategy. This may have resulted in the two losses to both Ogors and Big Waagh who, depending on their build, should have no trouble weathering the storm and fighting their way out.
Still, it’s an interesting list with a great performance. Definitely an interesting way to take Fyreslayers.
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead – Triumphs: N/A
Battleline 30 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (300)* – 1 x Marksman – 3 x Standard Bearer – 3 x Piper – Reinforced x 2 10 x Freeguild Guard (80)* – Swords and Shields – 1 x Sergeant – 1 x Standard Bearer – 1 x Drummer 10 x Flagellants (80)* – City Role: Honoured Retinue – 1 x Prophet
Units 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – 1 x Drakerider’s Lance (Stormdrake-Prime) – 3 x Drakerider’s Warblade – Reinforced x 1 Gotrek Gurnisson (480)* – Allies
With a new book almost here, Adam has proven there is still life in one of the oldest, and probably never the strongest battletomes. In the end, it’s a pretty conventional approach, drawing on really mobile Stormcast allies (Dragons, of course). 3 very magical and small heroes leave a lot of room for a real hero, and Gotrek, at his current 480 points, fits well. Hallowheart really helps the wizards. Each gets an extra spell. That means 2 instances of +1 to wound (Ignite), a heal (Sear Wounds), 4+ ward (Warding Brand), and a mortal wound ward. Soulscream gives a useful teleport if required, and everything is in a Battle Regiment to give options for the initial priority.
The army is really planning to castle. The heroes are effectively buff machines, mostly for the Crossbowman. The Flagellants and Guard are there to screen, and Gotrek can prowl around, ready to pounce on anything that trys to deal with them. They can stand and deliver (with 2 shots each) at 24″ with a fantastic unleash hell. There is still the option to Wildform Gotrek and send him through the Soulscream bridge to harrass something important. And all the while, the Drakes are there to cap and harrass your enemy. With Breathe and Lance, they are very dangerous and hard to manage. Adam lost to fire and fade (Sylvaneth), who really make you go to them, a weakness. And a faction that out castles castles, Fyreslayers. 6th is a very respectable result for cities.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Straigyt Edge Wargaming GT that took place in Sweden on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 14 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
Leaders Swampboss Skumdrekk (290)* Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Murknob with Belcha-banna (80)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Killaboss on Corpse-Rippa Vulcha (220)** – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex Skragrott, The Loonking (160)* – Allies
Battleline 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70) The Burning Head (30)
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Mortal Realm: Hysh – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (355)* – The Lore of the Damned: Binding Damnation 6 x Varanguard (580)* – General – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Battleline 10 x Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Reinforced x 1 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 9 x The Unmade (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (340)* Mortisan Soulmason (120)* – Lore of Mortisans: Empower Nadirite Weapons Mortisan Boneshaper (110)* – General – Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefact: Godbone Armour – Lore of Mortisans: Reinforce Battle-shields – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Battleline 30 x Mortek Guard (420)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 2 30 x Mortek Guard (420)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 2 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (170)* 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (170)*
This is the top three AoS lists for the Rumble in the Rockies that took place in Canada on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots
LEADERS The Shadow Queen (700) Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Crown of Woe – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Morathi-Khaine (700)***
Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Type: Godseekers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Bladebringer, Herald on Exalted Chariot (230) – Spells: Flaming Weapon 1 x The Contorted Epitome (240)* – Spells: Hysterical Frenzy – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Lord of Pain (130)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Battle Rapture 1 x Be’lakor (355)*
BATTLELINE 22 x Blissbarb Archers (280)* 10 x Symbaresh Twinsouls (260)* 10 x Symbaresh Twinsouls (260)* 5 x Hellstriders with Claw-spears (120)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70) 1 x Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (50)
Tournament that took place in the UK on the 25th and 26th February. It involved 74 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
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Warhammer World: Matched Play Event (UK) – 74 Players
Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Greyfyrd – Mortal Realm: Aqshy – Grand Strategy: Master of the Forge – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Auric Runefather (120)* – General – Command Trait: Spirit of Grimnir – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** Battlesmith (150)*** – Artefact: Nulsidian Icon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Auric Runemaster (130)*** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Auric Runesmiter (120)*** – Runic Iron – Prayer: Ember Storm
Battleline 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (450)* – Poleaxes – Reinforced x 2 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (480)** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (160)** 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)***
Peter: We previously mentioned that the flamekeeper charge was in the hero phase. This has been corrected to the combat phase.
Mike Stewart (of Team England fame) is on a personal mission to establish Fyreslayers as a meta-threat, and by Grimnir’s beard, he’s doing it.
There’s a surprising amount of tech and overlapping buffs in effect with this Fyreslayers list. The lynchpin to it all is the double Flamekeepers, who gain the ability to unleash a range of buffs depending on how many units have died nearby. Perhaps the most devastating of these options are a +1 damage effect to a unit, and the ability to make a unit charge in the combat phase – meaning a scary unit of 15 Hearthguard can suddenly threaten you in your OWN turn, which can make positioning/trading well for the opponent a complete nightmare.
To keep up on board control, given FS limited movement options, Mike has opted for a metric tonne of Vulkites. They’re not impressive on their own, but they provide excellent fodder for the Flamekeepers, and with their volume of attacks can still make for a great target for the +1 damage buff – or to just charge something and yoink the objective they thought they’d just taken, with relative impunity. Additionally, with Curse on the Runemaster, if it goes off, then the 30 Vulkites can pretty reliably just nuke something into oblivion with mortals.
Knowing a player of Mike’s calibre, I’m sure there’s all manner of extra sneaky plays baked into his list, but I think that covers the top line – a deceptively fast (with the out of phase charges) list full of ‘surprise hammers’ that creates plenty of ‘damned if you do/don’t’ scenarios for the opponent. Great work!
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: Jaws of Mork – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)* – General – Command Trait: The Clammy Hand – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Grinkrak The Great (190)* Skragrott, The Loonking (160)* – Lore of the Moonclans: Nikkit!Nikkit! Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (80)** Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (80)**
Battleline 20 x Moonclan Shootas (125)* 20 x Moonclan Shootas (125)* 36 x Squig Herd (360)** – Reinforced x 2 36 x Squig Herd (360)** – Reinforced x 2
Units 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)* 6 x Grinkrak’s Looncourt (0)* 5 x Gobbapalooza (145)** – Spell1: Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)**
Declan: Well it seems like Squigs are the go-to option from the new Gloomspite Gitz book at the moment and another 5-0 registered. It great that there are so many squig armies already painted or getting painted – good to see the ladz getting their time at the top. Simon has taken a lot of units that recent readers will have seen, but he’s got some new ones as well. The Gobbapalozza makes an appearance, and it is great to see it. The models were always georgous, but apart from some hardcore Gitz Players (looking at Nathan of Honest Wargamer fame), they were rarely used. They are now more streamlined and able to hand out additional rend to shooting units – hence the 2 units of Moonclan Shootas here.
Simon has also taken the new underworld warband which – Grinkrak the Great – who can give models the chance to fight on death. Great for the large units of Cave Squigs in Simon’s army. You’ll need shooting to deal with this, and even so, D3 Cave Squigs will come back for each herder in the unit. But they do run away with no command abilities possible.
It continues to be a great list, but I do worry about the Cave Squig’s chances long-term against shooting armies. Only time will tell as people get more experience playing with and against the new book.
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Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Blessed Sons – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Be’lakor (355) 1 x Lord of Plagues (140)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Gift of Disease – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Bloab Rotspawned (320)* – Spells: Blades of Putrefaction 1 x Lord of Afflictions (230)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Incubatch – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm 1 x Orghotts Daemonspew (320)**
Ed: What an interesting and extremely top-heavy list! With only 630pts spent on battleline and a mere 25 models on the board, this list favours an intelligent approach where every piece needs to be played correctly. While 2 Maggoth Lords and 10 blightkings can both take and put out a decent amount of wounds they lack the footprint to reliably hold objectives on their own which means that Marco would be leaning heavily on the techy elements of his list and superior positioning to control the board. With a list like this, it doesn’t do to play cagey and reactively. You need to be aggressive and take decisive, perhaps risky, actions to get the best results.
This list has a lot of ways to inflict extra disease points to help supplement his damage output. If he chooses his battles carefully, Marco has the tools to remove important units from his opponent’s army with surgical precision. But he’d need to be cautious never to leave himself open to reprisal because with only 25 models in your whole army, even minor losses can cause big problems. Be’Lakor can neuter a particularly troublesome threat once per game if the dice are on your side. The Lord of Plagues with Tunnel Master is a troublesome Galletian Champion too – harder to put down than the average foot hero and thus requiring extra investment on the part of an opponent to deny your opportunity for battle tactics.
Surprisingly this list leans kind of heavily on magic. Bloab, Be’lakor and a Lord of Plagues with an Arcane Tome. They all have access to some great spells that really maximize this list’s potential but Nurgle is not a strong competitor in the magic game. Marco may have been lucky that his path to glory didn’t pit him against some of the wizardly boogiemen that are common right now like Tzeentch or Teclis.
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Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Liege-Kavalos (160)* – General – Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefact: Helm of the Ordained Mortisan Soulmason (120)* – Lore of Mortisans: Arcane Command Mortisan Boneshaper (110)* – Artefact: Godbone Armour – Lore of Mortisans: Drain Vitality – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
UNITS 6 x Necropolis Stalkers (340)** – 2 x Dread Falchions 6 x Necropolis Stalkers (340)** – 2 x Dread Falchions 10 x Mortek Guard (140) – Nadirite Blade and Shield 10 x Mortek Guard (140)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (180) – Nadirite Blade and Shield
Alice: This season, Ossiarch Bonereapers really have to work with what they have. With only 2 Galetian Champions in the army, neither exactly standouts, they often have to compensate in other ways. The lone boneshaper exists to pick up a few battle tactics, and has a pretty nice horde clearing spell.
The primary lineholders are the mortek guard, with the Deathriders acting as outriders to grab some objectives and score the faction’s unique battletactic. The units really holding the list up are the Necropolis Stalkers, which benefit heavily from the Galetian Vets battalion so both ranks can attack. In precision stance they can hit with 20 Rend -2 Damage 2 attacks from the primary weapon, and 6 Rend -3 Damage 3 attacks from the special Dread Falchions. While fully buffed from the Soulmason they can reroll 1s and get a bonus attack per model from the Liege. Few things can face a fully buffed unit of these alive and live to tell the tale.
The Crawlers round off the list with the only shooting attacks in the army. While the Rend 0 shots can miss often, that 5 damage will absolutely chunk anything it successfully does hit.
