This is the top three AoS lists for No Holds Barred that took place in Australia on the 10th and 11th of June. It involved 46 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: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – General – Command Traits: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefacts of Power: Gryph-feather Charm – Spells: Arcane Suggestion Curseling (200)* – Spells: Shield of Fate – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
OTHER Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (180)
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Tome of Eyes (40) 1 x The Burning Head (30)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Legion of Blood – Grand Strategy: Lust For Domination – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (440) – General – Deathlance – Command Trait: Doomed Minions – Artefact: Cloak of Mists and Shadows – Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (440)** – Deathlance – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (390) – Lore of the Deathmages: Waste Away Necromancer (90)* – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)* 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)*
UNITS 16 x Askurgan Trueblades (360)** – Reinforced x 1
CORE BATTALION *Battle Regiment **Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1975 / 2000
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: Jaws of Mork – Grand Strategy: Protect da Shrine! – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER Grinkrak The Great (190)** Madcap Shaman (70)* – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (100)** – General – Command Trait: The Clammy Hand Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (100)** – Tunnel master
BATTLELINE 10 x Boingrot Bounderz (280)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (125)* 36 x Squig Herd (390)* – Reinforced x 2 24 x Squig Herd (260)* – Reinforced x 1
UNITS 5 x Gobbapalooza (160) – Spell1: Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork 6 x Grinkrak’s Looncourt (0)** 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (130) 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)* – Allies
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Warlord
TOTAL: 1955 / 2000
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Beasts of Chaos Tzaangor Shaman (115)* – General – Command Trait: Bestial Cunning – Artefact: Brayblast Trumpet – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Doombull (180)* – Artefact: Slitherwrack Helm – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Great Bray-Shaman (95)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
BATTLELINE 10 x Ungor Raiders (115)*** 10 x Ungor Raiders (115)*** 10 x Ungors (80)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (80) – Mauls & Half-Shields
UNITS 6 x Beasts of Chaos Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (430)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Bullgors (420)** – Axes & Bullshields – Reinforced x 1 10 x Beasts of Chaos Tzaangors (170)** 10 x Beasts of Chaos Tzaangors (170)**
This is the top three AoS lists for the Norwegian Masters that took place in Norway on the 21st and 22nd of January. It involved 24 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: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)* – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)* – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)* – Shortspears & Half-Shields
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Tzaangors (350)* – 20x Pair of Savage Blade – Reinforced x 1
Is Beasts the most metal faction? I always feel like it is (might be the horns), which might explain our first 2 lists, or maybe it’s just how strong they are at the moment. With solid summoning, quality attacks, and the number of bodies, it’s a challenging faction for anyone right now. And then there is the buffed Herdstone, granting -1 Rend board wide and -2 from round 3. Danny has gone all in for the Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (dubbed TED from now), making their main attack a Rend 2, Damage 2 at (and 19 from the unit). That moves 16″ getting them just about anywhere. They have a quirk that improves their to wound to 2+ if they go second.
And really, that’s the list, 3 small heroes to max points for the TED units, 3 x 10 man(?) Ungor units, screens and scoring, and a big unit of Tzaangors. Those Tzaangors are a threat in their own right, but their most likely use if for generation of primordial points for summoning. It’s not hard to generate 3 points or another 10-man Ungor unit every turn with a little luck. Great approach with the leaders. They are all casters and equipped more for control than buffing damage. Ghost mist to hopefully restrict shooting and Hailstorm to protect a TED from being charged. With bounty hunters, Herdstone rend, and reroll wounds (Wild Rampage), those TEDs can be terrifying. The Dragon Ogre is a solid brick and can move up to support the TEDs.
This list starts with 162 and can bring more on throughout the game. With high-quality attacks and extreme mobility, it is very hard to stop it scoring and equally from denying you your scoring opportunities. With a relatively easy book Grand Strategy, it’s no surprise Danny was able to max his score in 2 rounds. He had the most trouble with Maggotkin, whose Mortal Wound output and durability hurt, and Lumineth. Rend reduction is great when that’s your opponent’s thing. It’s always fun. How will they go in the new book?
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Artefact: Horn of the Tempest – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Vicious Stranglethorns Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)* – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Battleline 9 x Dragon Ogors (435)*** – 9x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 2 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)* 10 x Ungor Raiders (80) 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)*** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Tzeetch (360)*** – Reinforced x 1
It is very similar to the previous list with TEDs bringing the hurt, but this time, a big unit (double reinforced) of Dragon Ogres to synergise with the Ogre Shaggoth. The Shaggoth is built for damage this time with Sundering Blades to boost the Ogres. At the same time, there isn’t a big unit of Tzaangors for sacrificing, mostly likely Ungor Raiders were feeling the blade. Ungor Raiders aren’t a bad screen either, bringing the chance of chip damage via an unleash hell, except they only hit on 5+. In comparison to Danny’s list, this has a little less summoning (maybe), less mobility but a much bigger punch.
Although Kristoffer only maxed his score once, he was scoring better overall than Danny until the Lumineth struck. If I had to guess, I’d say the Dragon Ogors died to shooting fairly early, leaving the army without the ability to control scoring as effectively. That and the reduction of Rend -1 or -2 to 0 means most of this army hits Ymetrica Lumineth like wet noodles. Ungor Raiders and Ungors would be lucky to inflict more than chip damage all game. Solid performance overall and the punishment dealt to others, at least mean Kris won the war if not the Battle.
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords – Great Nation: Ymetrica – Mortal Realm: Chamon – Grand Strategy: No place for the weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Alarith Stonemage (120)** – Artefact: Molten Talisman – Lore of the High Peaks: Unbreakable Stoicism Scinari Enlightener (170)** – General – Command Trait: Loremaster – Artefact: Silver Wand – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh, Protection of Hysh, Total Eclipse Avalenor, the Stoneheart King (420)**
Battleline 15 x Alarith Stoneguard (360)* – Stone Mallets – Reinforced x 2 10 x Alarith Stoneguard (240)* – Stone Mallets – Reinforced x 1 5 x Alarith Stoneguard (120)** – Stone Mallets
Units 5 x Vanari Dawnriders (140)* – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh 20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300) – Spell1: Lore of Hysh: Overwhelming Heat – Reinforced x 1
And here is the nemesis list for the 1st and 2nd place Beasts lists. With the new book (what’s with another book for the Lumineth already and not Seraphon or Kharadon?), we’ve seen the switch to Stoneguard from Wardens. This list has a bit of everything to support the 30 Stoneguard with Dawnriders, Sentinels, and even a Ballista (much more useful in Lumineth than Stormcast). The list works by overlapping buffs. The Stoneguard are best within 12″ of the Stoneking. He can grant each of the Stoneguard units with +1 attack. The Stoneking wants to remain within 12″ of the Stonemage, so he always fights on the top of his table. The Enlightener is freer with 18″ range on key spells to reach the Stoneguard with Speed or Protection of Hysh (double movement or 5+ ward). The Enlightener doubles up on his freedom with the Twinned Tether ability, which reflects wounds. He can only cast it (CV 6) if he has cast a Lore of Hysh spell. Once a turn, he can guarantee a cast of 9, situational but a possible defensive tactic. Of course, you can put him in the shrine and make sure he has rerolls.
Hate high elves yet? Those Stoneguard have rend reduction (better than a 3+ save since it turns of both Rend -1 and -2), a 4+ mortal wound save and can have a 5+ ward. The Stoneking grants them another attack, and the Stonemage can give one unit mortals in addition on a 5+ instead of the normal 6+. For the big unit, that is an extra 7.5 MW. And then there is the indirect mortal wound shooting of the Sentinals (still 30″ range due to the Ballista) and the swingy but potentially vicious 30/36″ range of the Ballista. It’s a great army that is active in all phases and very dangerous. It has a weakness, though, in that it is slow and it needs the buffs. Individually, the units can be brought down. We see that in the scoring, his first round was a max 20 against a relatively slow Stormcast List, but afterwards, solid but low scoring games. He was still only 2 points behind 2nd because his one loss was very close.
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Allegiance: Kruleboyz – Warclan: Grinnin’ Blades – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)* – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble – Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (260)** Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)** – Lore of the Swamp: Sneaky Miasma Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105)* – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex
Battleline 10 x Gutrippaz (160)* 10 x Gutrippaz (160)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)**
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
This list is almost identical to the one I run. To be fair, there isn’t much variation in Kruleboyz lists. Usually, 3 units of Boltboyz inflict mortal wounds from afar. A snatchaboss who buffs nearby units with poison, allowing the Kruleboyz Orruk units to cause add an additional mortal wound on those 6+ rolls. A sprinkling of Shamans who can also buff Kruleboyz Orruk units, allowing them to cause mortals on 5+ as well as 6+ to hit. Then Hobgrots and Gutrippaz to act as screens and objective cappers.
The elephant in the room (or should that be vulcha) is Gobsprakk. This guy is great, I’ve had lots of success with him purely from his mortal wounds on dispels (D3 standard D6 with an unbinding roll of 10+). I almost took down a GUO with his dispels alone when playing against Ed. His ability is so good, you’ll often find that your opponent won’t even cast unless absolutely necessary. Especially after suffering those D6 mortals for the first time.
Gobsprakk may be a good choice in the new handbook. He’ll allow you to cause the mortal wounds on casters in the enemy army even if they’re Galletian Champions…. if they choose not to cast, they’ve wasted points on their casters. He’s not great in combat. He’ll do 4 damage on average to units with a 6+ save.
The whole lot is wrapped up into two big posionous Battle Regiment packages. Wirh a nice Grinnin’ Blades bow on top, preventing the opponent from seeing you from more than 12″ away.
As a Kruleboyz player, you’ll always want the choice of priority on the first turn, with most Krulebros choosing to go 2nd to try and neuter any opponent early doors with two rounds of poisonous bolts. Of course Alpha-Strike armies love Kruleboyz and eat them for breakfast.
I’m just hoping that the revitalised Gitz book will give the Kruleboyz some punch through their Allies.
Well done Christian on managing to put in such a great performance with Kruleboyz.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the SoCal Masters Grand Tournament that took place in Texas, USA on 7th and 8th January. It involved 10 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: Beasts of Chaos – Army Subfaction: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)** – Spells: Hailstorm, Sundering Blades 1 x Tzaangor Shaman (135)** – General – Command Traits: Dominator – Artefacts: Blade of the Desecrator – Spells: Vicious Stranglethorns, Wild Rampage 1 x Grashrak Fellhoof (150)** – Spells: Savage Dominion, Wild Rampage
BATTLELINE 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Brayhorn – Banner Bearer – Ungor Blade and Half-shield 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Banner Bearer – Brayhorn – Ungor Blade and Half-shield 30 x Tzaangors (525)*** – Twistbray – 2 x Icon Bearer – 2 x Brayhorn Blower – 4 x Tzaangor Mutant
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Wildfire Taurus (70) 1 x Ravening Direflock (30)
OTHER 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)* 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)* 1 x Tuskgor Chariots (65)* 5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (150)**
Danny: Beasts of Chaos are finally running scared….of their new book. Because it contains at least the possibility of them being balanced.
In the meantime, you have something like this. In case you’re unfamiliar with how BoC work, let’s just say they do everything, with loads of bodies that punch above their weight (thanks to the Herdstone which gives rend that stacks by battle round and a 4+ rally emanating in an increasingly large aura by battle round) coming in from board edges when you least want them to.
For those who are experienced in such matters, let’s look to the innovations in this list. Well, it takes Grashrak Fellhoof and his merry band of Despoilers for a spin, on loan from Underworlds – who allows Brayherd units (i.e. most of the stuff in the list) to get…+3 to their movement…and a tasty spell for d3 mortals and +1 to hit for all units into that target. In true BoC fashion, that would probably be good value enough on its own but the 5 Despoilers in tow act as a bodyguard/ablative wounds too.
Beyond the usual ‘borrowing’ of the best stuff from the new Tzeentch book, the list also includes a token Tuskgor chariot. You don’t see those every day! But for 65 pts it’s a 10″ move, 6 wound on a 4+ piece with minor chip damage – but it’s 65 pts and moves 10″, who cares what else it does. The things BoC have access to for under 75 pts never ceases to amaze me.
Wishlist from the new book: change everything. Yes the models are old and ugly but their rules don’t need to match.
Of course – kudos to the general, as no army can win without skill. And there’s a lot to remember with BoC.
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Gregory Brewer 3/0/2
Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un – Spells: Bash ’Em Ladz – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Orruk Warchanter (115)* Orruk Warchanter (115)*
Brett: Two things Ironjawz don’t love; huge screens (that they don’t clear on the first attempt) and lots of rend. Beasts bring both. Greg bounced back from a first round loss to the eventual winner before losing again in the 4th round to Kruleboyz (KB). Mortal wounds can be an issue for Ironjawz and 21 Boltboyz in 2 x 9 and a 3 man create some problems. Greg’s tried to increase damage output by taking Bash ’em ladz (+1 to wound rolls) but it’s not reliable with the high casting value. This list trys uses the Mawcrusha and 6 Goregruntas as the dynamic damage combination with the Krondspine as a 3rd threat/pining piece. Unfortunately, screens and MW shooting is a tough ask for a melee army. With poisons and MW those Boltboyz are removing a pig or two with Unleash Hell.
Other than his 2 losses though Ironjawz punished his opponents. Krondspine works great in the list either pining something important or distracting attacks from the Mawcrusha. 6 Gore gruntas have likewise proven to be a good foil to the Mawcrusha either supporting a push on one flank or allowing board wide pressure. Teleporting ardboyz is another effective distraction opportunity. Everyone knows the alpha strike but the inclusion of Krondspine and the larger Goregrunta unit give more subtlety and give options. It’s a matter of choice whether you take the Shaman for the teleport or not, it’s a very effective distraction/scoring mechanism.
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Gardus Steel Soul (150)* Lord-Castellant (155)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Spell: Celestial Blades
Battleline 5 x Vanquishers (110)* 5 x Vanquishers (110)* 5 x Vanquishers (110)*
Units 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)** – Drakerider’s Warblade – Reinforced x 1 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)** – Drakerider’s Warblade – Reinforced x 1
Brett: If there is one thing Stormcast have in spades, other than dragons, it’s Battleline units. Vanquishers are seeing some more use but usually a single unit, taking 3 is a bit of a risk but worth it if there are horde armies around. Drop one onto an unprotected objective and even if your opponent removes them they will attack on death, they have the Thunderstrike keyword as well give their Blaze of Glory an extra dice. Easier to shift with only a 4+ but damaging to deal with. No holy command is shown but if it was Call to Aid (likely) then that dead unit is going to return (only once per battle). Otherwise we have Gardus for a 5+ ward within 12″ and the Lord Castellant (who we’ll probably be seeing even more often as a Galletian Champion). Generally he’d put both buffs (+1 to save and +1 to wound) on a unit before it was sent into harms way.
Still there are issues, the Drakes have a lot of wounds but are hard to give cover from shooting, they can easily get out of buff range, redeploy can ruin charges and with high rend they will wilt. Evan recovered from 2 losses in the opening rounds, losing to a SCE list with a lot of shooting and Krondys (with Thudershock to wreck those charges and leave you exposed to the shooting). The second loss was to Maggotkin, damage output is a continuing issue for SCE and you don’t really want to be near them very long or the mortals pile up. Solid mobile list very reflective of where SCE is right now.
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Army Faction: Fyreslayers – Subfaction: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Auric Runemaster (125)* – General – Command Traits: Avatar of Vulcatrix – Artefacts of Power: Volatile Brazier – Prayers: Heal Auric Runesmiter (135)* – Runic Iron – Prayers: Prayer Of Ash Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)*
BATTLELINE Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Mount Traits: Coal-heart Ancient Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Mount Traits: Flame-scale Youngblood Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Mount Traits: Lava-tongue Adult Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)* – Karl – Hornblower of Grimnir Vulkite Berzerkers with Fyresteel Handaxes (170)* – Karl – Hornblower of Grimnir
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Runic Fyrewall (40) 1 x Horrorghast (40) 1 x Molten Infernoth (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Magmic Battleforge (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Alice: There’s really only two ways to build Fyreslayers: Berzerker spam and Magmadroth Spam, but it comes with the territory of having a limited number of models.
That said…this one is interesting. Lofnir lets you bring Magmadroths as battleline, and juices them up to boot with extra wounds and mount traits. They’re a solid work horse monster that can do some solid damage output and horde clearing, a task Fyreslayers frequently struggle with. The Runesmiter and Runemaster support the army with powerful prayers, including the important Infernoth for Mortal Wound output and the Fyrewall to protect important units and objectives. Also key, the Runesmiter can tunnel a Magmadroth in 9″ away from the enemy, with bonuses to charge thanks to a supercharged rune granted through the army’s Heroic Action.
The Celestial Hurricanum is an interesting ally, it helps cover two of the Fyreslayer’s biggest weaknesses: Lack of Wizards and Ranged Mortal Wounds. A solid choice for artillery support. Rounding it off it can cast the Horrorghast, a powerful way to clear out a few extra models from large hordes by blocking Inspiring Presence.
With the release of the Battlescroll: Galletian Reinforcements I’ve been able to go back through the data from the release of the General’s Handbook and tidy everything up. In doing so, I though it may be cool to give you a run-down of how each faction performed under the current General’s Handbook until the Battlescroll took effect.
The data used for analysing these results was taken from 110 Grand Tournaments between 3rd July 2022 and 6th November 2022.
Beasts of Chaos
Region Comparison – Popularity
Beasts of Chaos saw their highest popularity in Scandinavia with 4.3% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while at the opposite end of the world the uptake was only 1.6% in Oceania
Region Comparison – Win Rates
Their popularity in Scandinavia transferred to their regional win rates as well with 69.2%. While players in North America had to make do with 57.5%.
Subfaction Analysis
Subfaction
Players
Win Rate
Allherd
38
64.63%
Gavespawn
35
60.06%
Darkwalkers
8
56.10%
Unknown
34
58.53%
Faction Total
115
60.82%
Allherd sees the most success and also the most popularity with the 38 players achieving a combined win rate of 64.6%. Darkwalkers drags the faction total down being the least successful faction with 58.5%.
Top 10 Beasts of Chaos Players
You may notice that some players have a better World/Nation ranking than players above them in this table. This is due to players playing with multiple factions. These players have been ranked on their top 4 Beasts of Chaos results only.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the SoCal Open that took place in USA on 22nd and 23rd October. It involved 45 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: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – holy command: thunderbolt volley – Grand strat- no place for the weak
LEADERS Celestant-Prime (325) Knight-Draconis (300) – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Thunderous Presence – Spells: Flaming weapon Slann Starmaster (265)
OTHER Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240) Aetherwings (65)
Battle Regiment
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Everblaze Comet (90) 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (40)
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Declan: Partying like it’s early 2022! Dragons and Longstrikes are back, but Ramon’s brought a Slaan as well. An interesting choice which shows the strength in depth within Order. Particularly with Stormcast Eternals.
The Celestant Prime is kept in reserve until needed so Ramon’s early turns are about the Dragons and Endless Spells and then when you’re reeling… bang goes the Prime. Its Prime Time!
Brett: Something to look out for, Thunderbolt Volley with the Longstrikes (edited). Real opportunity to remove a screen just about anywhere and then introduce the Prime.
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Army Faction: Beasts of Chaos – Army Subfaction: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Sundering Blades 1 x Tzaangor Shaman (135)** – General – Command Traits: Dominator – Artefacts: Blade of the Desecrator – Spells: Wild Rampage – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Grashrak Fellhoof (150)** – Spells: Wild Rampage
BATTLELINE 30 x Tzaangors (525)* – 3 x Icon Bearer – 3 x Brayhorn Blower – 6 x Tzaangor Mutant – Pair of Savage Blades 10 x Ungors (65)* – Brayhorn – Banner Bearer – Ungor Blade and Half-shield 10 x Ungors (65)* – Brayhorn – Banner Bearer – Ungor Blade and Half-shield
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (40) 1 x Ravening Direflock (30) 1 x Wildfire Taurus (70)
OTHER 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)*** 5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (150)***
Declan: A list from before the Battlescroll, it’s still great although now more expensive. A great swansong for this version by Matt, but don’t expect Beasts to stop getting 5-0s. I still think they are very good.
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Army Subfaction: Winterleaf – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Arch-Revenant (120)* 1 x Branchwych (130)* – Artefacts: Acorn of the Ages – Spells: Verdant Blessing, Regrowth 1 x Warsong Revenant (305)* – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts: The Vesperal Gem – Spells: Verdurous Harmony, Verdant Blessing 1 x Celestant-Prime (325)*
Declan:it’s great to see a proper submarine effort and Roberto has done well here. It’s easy to get disheartened but he didn’t. Sylvaneth are difficult to get to 5-0 so a 4-1 is a great result.
Again showing the versatility of Order with Allies from Stormcast and it Prime Time again. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone full Destruction!!
Brett: Combining the Prime and Gossamid is a brave change, that’s equivalent to 6 more Kurnoth or Durthu. Always good to see something new and Roberto almost pulled it off. If you are planning on using the Prime it’s always worth remembering that you have 300+ points off the table for 2 or 3 rounds. It’s hard to make his cost up, the Prime works well with Stormcast because they are often short of units after round 3.
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumph: bloodthirsty
LEADERS Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz – Spells: Gorkamorka’s War Cry Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Breaka-boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)* – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Flaming Weapon Orruk Warchanter (115)** Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha (240)** – General – Command Traits: Supa Sneaky – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un Orruk Megaboss (140)** – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer
BATTLELINE Orruk Ardboys (255)*** – Ardboy Boss – 3 x Waaagh! Drummer – 3 x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – 6 x Orruk-forged Shield Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – Ardboy Boss – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer – Waaagh! Drummer – Ardboy Boss – 2 x Orruk-forged Shield
OTHER Orruk Gore-gruntas (170) – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)* – Boltboy Boss Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Boltboy Boss
Declan: Talking of Destruction, Aaron came in 6th with a 4-1. His Big Waaagh list takes the Kruleboyz and the points increases and decreases nett out in the new Battlescroll.
Aaron’s Big Waaagh works in most phases so there’s no hiding with the Boltboyz giving much needed range support and the Wurgogg staring down the world. Another great result.
Brett: The weakness of both Boltboyz and the Wurgogg is combat, they need to be screened. Screens don’t come much heavier than 15 Ardboys, that’s tough to deal with.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Quest of Champions Final that took place in the UK on 22md and 23rd October. It involved 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
We have covered all of the previous four heats on Woehammer where players competed for a place in the finals. The system was devised by Dan from the Warrior Lodge in the UK and it makes for great competition each year. If you want to catch up on the games, the event was covered by Dice and Ducks on their YouTube channel.
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: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Beastlord (95)* – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)**** – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Great Bray-Shaman (100)**** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Savage Dominion
Battleline 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)*** – 3x Paired Ancient Weapons – 3x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)*** – 3x Paired Ancient Weapons – 3x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 5 x Centigors (85)* 5 x Centigors (85)**** 20 x Bestigors (250)*** – Reinforced x 1 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (95)*
Danny: Freddie Leggett has a point to prove – and that point is ‘nerf Beasts’. The man even admitted himself after this event – his 3rd 5-0 with BoC in the self-proclaimed ‘Cygor meta’ – and far as we know, his wish is about to be granted… but in the meantime, you gotta take your hat off to the guy for running quite so rampant.
Beasts have a few things going for them. Not least of which is sheer numbers and efficiency. Dragon Ogors are just a brutally good hammer for their points – and in true 2nd edition fashion the Shaggoth allows them to re-roll 1s to hit, making their high volume of attacks uber reliable.
Ungors are fairly bad, but at 65 pts they’re one of the cheapest screens/battleline taxes going – they also make excellent Herdstone fodder, meaning a cheap way to rack up plenty of summoning points. Whereas Bestigors and Centigors fill out the niches of speed and slow good quality of attacks on a 4+ respectively.
The techy-cherry on top of this swarm is the two monsters, who each gain a unique monstrous action. The Cygor can try for an endless spell dispel – and if successful heal itself equal to the roll, making itself particularly tanky in this spell heavy meta. Whereas the Jabber can worsen the save of an enemy hero by 1 on a 2-5 or 2 on a 6 until the following combat phase – meaning even rend 1 weapons can utterly melt a priority target. Meanwhile the Mindstealer Sphiranx has a good chance of making something fight last.
It’s all tied together by the just all round great enhancements of Gavespawn. No one thing is particularly frightening on its own but the combined offensive weight and significant numbers of summoned models just tend to utterly overwhelm and establish massive board presence.
Good point, well made Freddie – time to put BoC out to pasture!
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Host of the Everchosen (Sixth Circle) – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Archaon the Everchosen (860)* – Aura of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Call to Glory Chaos Lord (120)* – Reaperblade & Daemonbound Steel – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Mask of Darkness
Battleline 3 x Varanguard (280)* – Ensorcelled Weapon and Warpsteel Shield – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 3 x Varanguard (280)* – Ensorcelled Weapon and Warpsteel Shield – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
Danny: With leaks of the new tome flooding the interwebs and the current Tome languishing at the bottom of the win-rate pile, Toby Meadows drops this bombshell on us – a 2nd place Archaon list! To be fair, it’s not a huge deviation from pretty much the only viable Slaves build at the moment.
Archaon is a big, tanky-ass utility provider, who is himself supported by the two lords for more buffs than you can shake a stick at. His role is usually as a super hard to shift distraction carnifex who can roll smaller units, making him a tricky tactical proposition. Meanwhile, 2 squads of Tzeentch marked Varanguard – meaning they’re re-rolling 1s to save on a nat 3+, and doing +1 damage in the 6th circle – act as twin hammers. 3 squads of super-bargain Iron Golems work on the board and objective control game – they hit more like pillow golems, but they’re a super cheap source of wounds on a 4+ with a natural +1 if they didn’t move.
And that cheeky kitty shows up again for the fight last shenanigans!
Big kudos to Toby as this list, while strong, is definitely suffering from being behind the times overall and takes a great degree of tactical acumen to pilot well. Losing only to the insane volume of attacks and bodies of 1st place Freddie is a great achievement.
Danny: It’s Mike Stewart. It’s Seraphon. It’s double Bastiladons with a Purple Sun. And even that couldn’t beat Freddie. Ok i’ll throw you a bone if you’re not familiar with Seraphon lists – Slann provides magical domination, the Bastiladons can be buffed to re-roll 1s, have +1 to hit and do additional mortals on 6s. If the Engine manages to get Curse off on something (6s to hit do mws) and the Sun is nearby to make each shot rend 2 – and in Thunder Lizards, one of them can use a command ability to firre twice…it’s gonna burn. And Beasts still beat it.
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Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts – Grand Court: Morgaunt – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Abhorrant Archregent (245)*** – Artefact: The Dermal Robe – Lore of Madness: Spectral Host Abhorrant Ghoul King (165)*** – Lore of Madness: Miasmal Shroud Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (445)** – Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite – Lore of Madness: Blood Feast Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)*** – General – Command Trait: Savage Chivalry – Artefact: Decrepit Coronet – Mount Trait: Razor-clawed – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)** Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)**
Battleline 30 x Crypt Ghouls (255)* – Reinforced x 2 20 x Crypt Ghouls (170)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Crypt Ghouls (85)***
Danny: So, FEC aren’t eating good these days – so 6th place is a big achievement and sure to score highly on our Woehammer scoring system. This is really a ‘ghouls for days’ list – each of those ghoul squads can come back on a 4+ … as many times as you like! They’re underwhelming in general but with bounty hunters can still bring the weight of dice pain, and if you roll well can represent a fairly overwhelming amount of board control over the game. Backed up by the King on ‘Gheist and his well known spike damage potential, plus a slightly less royal zombie dragon, it’s a classic ‘swamp and chomp’ (yes I just coined that term) list that must have scored fantastically to end 6th with 3-1-1.
Well done to Tom, and please, James Workshop, for the love of all that’s unholy give this faction some new models and rules.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Fantasia Fanatic XLII Tournament that took place in Sweden on the 1st and 2nd October. It involved 38 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: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)** – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars Great Bray-Shaman (100)** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Viletide Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)** – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Battleline 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)** – 6x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 10 x Ungors (65) – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 20 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (350)* – 8x Savage Greatblade – 12x Savage Blade & Arcanite Shield – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1
Declan: As we do more and more Top Three lists for AoS, two things are starting to happen. We see similar armies and we start to see the same names… and Ronya is one of those names. Ronya has gone for a Tzaangor based Beasts of Chaos army, but this works in the same way as most Beats of Chaos armies. There’s massive rend from the Herdstone, and summoning from the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth hurting himself (and then healing). It’s been a great army since the White Dwarf update and remains good.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leader Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish – Bonded to Krondspine Krulghast Cruciator (150)*
Battleline Spirit Torment (115)* 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)* 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)**
Behemoth Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Declan: Let’s be fair, Nighthaunt are good – they give debuffs on the charge (after retreating), and if you don’t kill whole units they come back – very quickly. And what would make them better? Anders has the answer with a Krondspire Incarnate. Yet another model in the army that is difficult to kill (in fact he is impossible), the Incarnate also discourages opponents using their Endless Spells – a double benefit.
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Allegiance: Sylvaneth – Glade: Gnarlroot – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Alarielle the Everqueen (840)** Warsong Revenant (305)** – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Artefact: The Vesperal Gem – Lore of the Deepwood: Treesong Spirit of Durthu (370) – Artefact: Greenwood Gladius Arch-Revenant (120)**
Battleline 10 x Dryads (100)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
Endless Spells and Invocations Spiteswarm Hive (40)
Declan: Marcus was 4-0 going into the final game and lost to Ronya… not bad at all and thoroughly earning the third place. This Slyvaneth army is different to others I have seen, in that Alarielle is making an appearance. At 840 points Marcus did well to get value out of them and I have to be honest I’m not 100% sure how he did it. Sure Alarielle is good, but she’s also a point sink. I imagine there was a lot of teleporting through trees, charging and teleporting back (either with Durthu or Alarielle); but Marcus did well to concentrate on the Battle Tactics and grabbing the wins.
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Allegiance: Bonesplitterz – Warclan: Drakkfoot – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Mork’s Boney Bitz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks Wardokk (80)* – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry Savage Big Boss (65)**** – General – Command Trait: Great Hunter
Battleline 10 x Savage Orruks (165)** – Chompas 10 x Savage Orruks (165)** – Chompas 10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (155)***
Units 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)*** 5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (145)*** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)* 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)**** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)**** 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)****
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)**** – Allies
Declan: Another 4-1 but this time it’s Bonesplitters. They have definitely overcome the initial doubters after the release of the Orruk Warclans book where some thought it was the third army behind Kruleboyz…! Bonesplitters are now fighting it out with Big Waaagh for 2nd place.
2 Wurgogg Prophets put up 12″ range bubbles that you have to brave to enter and the Krondspire Incarnate puts out even a larger one! Sure the Incarnate makes this army, but it’s available for everyone and helping even the top armies so no reason Bonesplitterz can’t benefit.
The thing that helps this army in the meta is Drakkfoot:
Games Workshop and Wahapedia
Ward rolls are common in the top armies – Nurgle and Nighthaunt spring to mind. And turning them off can make a big difference. However as is always the way with theory, Dennis avoided them all – oh well! He did very well to beat what was in front of him for a 4-1.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Kings in the North Grand Tournament, the northernmost Warhammer Tournament, that took place in Tromso, Norway on 13 and 14 August. It involved 31 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament. I had to do a bit of research because I didn’t know where Troms og Finnmark was, I knew the separate counties but not that they’d been joined. And having just found it I’ve discovered they are going to separate it all over again, I wonder if I can make it over there before it happens.
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: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Guardian of Souls (150)*** – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Krulghast Cruciator (150)*** Spirit Torment (115)*** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish
Battleline 30 x Bladegheist Revenants (525)* – Reinforced x 2 30 x Bladegheist Revenants (525)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Chainrasps (110)** 10 x Chainrasps (110)** 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)**
Units 3 x Fell Bats (75)***
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Brett: I’m running a little late this week so I am going to keep this shorter than normal (or try to). First up we have travelled to Tromso in Norway for Kings in the North which claims to be the most Northerly Tournament in the world. And now I want to go. No one went 5/0, Ben winning with a 4 wins and a draw. The list was similar to a few we’ve seen do well recently for Nighthaunt. The normal 3 heroes with Krulghast (-1 damage), Guardian and Spirit Torment for spells and returning models. Making the Spirit Torment General is a little unusual, Master of Magic is really good and having that reroll every round is very good. Acrane Tome to make the Spirit a wizard so 2 spells and 2 unbinds/dispels. The spells and artefacts all check out.
Running 2 x 30 blocks of Bladegheist is also unusual and difficult to cover with the heroes in this list. Normally lists sacrifice some of the hammer unit to get heroes that can buff them. It’s hard to overstate how devestating those 30 strong units are with 90 to 120 attacks. Rend isn’t important with that many dice. Chainrasps and Spirit Hosts are Eternal Conquerers – I don’t think enough people have been using them enough, it can be risky but paid off here. The Fell Bats are a great move, they replace Hexwraiths as a super fast unit to grab an objective or harrass a unit or even screen/block. Very useful to have in any list.
Take notice of the Grand Strategy – I don’t know how many times it was scored but it means Ben was looking to kill all of your Battleline every time. Really top notch performance in an interesting tournament and good to see some changes to a solid list.
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360) Bloab Rotspawned (300)* – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm
Battleline 4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)** – Reinforced x 1 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
Brett: Nurgle, loaded up with Blightlords and 3 big baddies, this is not a list to make friends but is brutally efficient. Drowned Men for an 8″ pre-game move and resonable casting with Bloab and Be’Lakor giving 3 casts. This list is meant to make things very difficult. It’s generally a good idea to focus fire as much as possible but there are 2 units (Bloab and Be’Lakor) that need to be focused but which do you take first. Chip damage isn’t effective against Be’Lakor if he can kill things near him. And both are mobile, for very elite armies that can be a problem if they split their focus. The Blightlords are capable of independent action as well, the combination makes it hard for an opponent to deny Battle Tactics.
His one loss was to a Beasts of Chaos Dragon Ogre army. Big chunky beasts that can absorb the disease mortals and hit back hard enough to over come the save, wounds and wards of the Blightlords (or Be’Lakor). This is another great army that is seeing a lot of play for good reasons. It’s also interesting to play with mobility and output.
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Vicious Stranglethorns Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)* – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)*** – Mauls & Half-Shields 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)* – 3x Paired Ancient Weapons – 3x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)** – 3x Paired Ancient Weapons – 3x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 3 x Dragon Ogors (125)* – 3x Paired Ancient Weapons
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)** – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Chronomantic Cogs (40) Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
Brett: Beasts of Chaos have seen a strong return to the competitive scene, King in the North included several armies. A few people don’t like the older models that make up the bulk of hte army but they are fairly unique and dynamic. The Herdstone isn’t shown but I’ll assume it was part of the army. All of the leaders are wizards (3 casts/dispels), beyond their interesting warscroll spells they debuff opponent’s saves, increase rend and do mortal wounds. He’s taken Chronomantic Cogs for rerolls to clutch spells or dispels (one per turn), since none of the wizards have bonuses to cast. The Dragon Ogre units are durable and mobile bringing a lot of potential damage with them as well.
The Tzaangor have extreme mobility (16″ and fly) and reasonable attacks. Sticking to the interesting warscrolls of previous editions though they have a special moral rule that means they lose an extra model if they fail moral. They gain a reroll to hit and wound rolls if they attack after an enemy unit within 3″ attacks first. Risky with a bravery of 6. The Ungors are cheap screens but contribute to the 164 wounds this army brings. In a meta where 100pt armies are the midpoint the is something to be said for bringing a lot of additional wounds. As an army that brings good quality attacks with amazing rend it’s not surprising when they struggle into an army that switches off rend (Nighthaunt).
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Subfaction: Hallowed Knights – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance
LEADERS Gardus Steel Soul (150)** Runelord (95)** Knight-Relictor (140)** – General – Command Traits: High Priest – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Celestial Blades – Prayers: Translocation Battlemage (100)***
Brett: There were quite a few Stormcast armies in the event, this was the highest placed. As a faction it remains one of the most played although maybe only middling power. People play a wide range of subfactions which is in contrast to most other factions. This is an interesting take, Hallowed Knights to make Gardus a thing. He provides 5+ ward to Hallowed Knight units. I’m assuming that Gardus would stay near the Protectors, they move slowly enough to make it worthwhile. Otherwise the mages are Cities units, the Battlemage is here for his Realm spell – Wildform – that gives +2 to run and charge. The Knight Relictor is taken over the Lord, the rank difference doesn’t apply to Prayers so that’s 5 points saved. However the Knight doesn’t have +1 to chants that the Lord does.
The choice of Hallowed Knights makes it harder to achieve battleline. Liberators are cheap screens, objective holders but they are very vunerable to Bounty Hunters. The Vanquishers have the same stateline as the Liberators without the shield but they gain attacks from the size of the unit they face (up to 4 attacks into a unit of 10). Unreinforced Raptors with Longstrikes – suggests that the Holy Command is Thunderbolt Volley. Aetherwings give +1 to hit a unit within 12″ to the Raptors. A lot of variety but outside of the Chariot and Aetherwings there is little mobility and that may have cost Simen.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Shropshire Slaughter: Telford Onslaught AoS GT that took place in England, UK on 30th and 31st July. It involved 32 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: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Allherd – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Dominator – Artefact: Blade of the Desecrator – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades Great Bray-Shaman (100)** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)*** – Allies
Battleline 6 x Dragon Ogors (250)* – 6x Paired Ancient Weapons – Reinforced x 1 10 x Ungors (65)* – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)* – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 1 x Cockatrice (95)* 1 x Cockatrice (95)* 1 x Cockatrice (95)** 1 x Cockatrice (95)** 1 x Cockatrice (95)** 1 x Cockatrice (95)** 1 x Cockatrice (95)** 1 x Cockatrice (95)*** 1 x Cockatrice (95)*** 1 x Cockatrice (95)***
Endless Spells & Invocations Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)
Brett: Beast of Chaos fresh (?) from their Tome Celestial update in the new infantry meta, at least according to GW, with a full monster list. Imagine being at the table, first round, and your opponent starts unpacking this. Finally a chance for Yndrasta to shine. If you are SCE anyway. It happened to Dan in the last round.
With the Tome Celestial changes the Herdstone now provides a board wide -1 rend in turns 1 and 2 and then -2 from turn 3. The Cockatrice plays into this ability, it’s main attack has no rend but on the charge increases from 4 to 8 attacks. With 12″ move and fly they are hard to screen or stop from charging. As monsters themselves they aren’t subject to monstrous rampages (other than Titanic struggle) and aren’t Galletian Veterans. They also get access to Primal Roar – an extra summoning point and possibly 3. Potentially they could summon a Chimera a turn. Nice. Rally can return models on a 4+ (not 6+) within 12″ of the stone as well.
That lets you game the Bravery characteristic as well, you can render them virtually immune to battleshock and pull from the front removing them from combat. Rally them at the start of your turn and you have a very short charge to get them back into combat. The Dragon Ogors re-roll hit rolls of 1 within 12″ of the General as well. They are a little short on spell casting, Belakor doubles the number of spells/cast himself. There are few buffs to casting here so Geminids (casting on a 6) is a good choice putting out MW and stopping commands. Sundering Blades on the Shaggoth suggests he was kept forward most of the time (an additional Rend within 18″). Tendrils of Atrophy is more situational, the Bray-Shaman doesn’t want to get too close.
Lots of monsters to push up the board and, without Hunters in the Heartland available anymore, able to switch off commands at will. That makes taking damage both more likely and more risky. On top of that12″ movement with -1 Rend board wide, which near the Shaggoth was -2 and then -3, makes this very hard to contain. Structuring the army to fit into Battle Regiment battalion. A good example of a skew list taking advantage of the rules, well done on getting Beasts all the way to No 1.
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Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords – Great Nation: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind (345)* Hurakan Spirit of the Wind (265)* Scinari Loreseeker (170)* – General – Command Trait: Fast Learner – Artefact: Gift of Celennar – Extra Spell: Total Eclipse – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light
Battleline 20 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (290)* – Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh – Reinforced x 1 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light 30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (510)* – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh – Reinforced x 2
Brett: Big block of Sentinels, Wardens everywhere, Sevireth, Loreseeker and a Hurakan Spirit of the Wind. All of the favourites with Chronomatic Cogs and a Lifeswarm. The Lifeswarm making it much harder to remove those Sentinels.
I think most people know how this list works; Cogs is unusual but overall variations of this list have been around for a while. Battle regiment to try and go first (giving up the double), make sure you get Cogs out (for rerolls), apply Power of Hysh on the Sentinels and then use Lofted shot to fire 30″ ignoring terrain and line of sight. The plan is to get 5+’s for mortal wounds (around 12 per volley). Power of Hysh can be cast multiple times, here both the Sentinels and 20 man Wardens will probably cast it most turns. The two smaller Warden teams are screens that can also push out a bit to apply Lambent Light. That gives the Sentinels +1 to hit against one unit.
The Loreseeker, 20 man Warden and Sentinals are all hammers in this set up and very dangerous. Given his mobility the Loreseeker is a great choice for Lambent Light as well. The Sentinals extra spell is Speed of Hysh to double their movement if they are threatened or about to be out of range. It’s an effective list and played well into most of the armies until he met Dan. Dan’s army, they are team mates, is a counter to shooting lists. The Cockatrice are individual units so the wounds don’t carry across but you need the full 30 Sentinels to be sure of killing one with MW.
Since they fly it’s very hard to stop them reaching the Sentinels and from round 3 onwards they instakill Sentinels (rend -2 into a 5+ save). The Grand Strategy is an interesting choice, Lumineth aren’t the most interactive army and yet his GS requires him to have 2 units in the enemies territory. That said both Loremaster and Sevireth can easily accomplish that. With infantry and hordes more common will we see a Lumineth return?
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Lord of Afflictions (210)*** – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm Harbinger of Decay (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease Festus the Leechlord (150)* – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease Orghotts Daemonspew (300)*
Battleline 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)**** 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)**** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)**
Units 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (110)*** 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (110)***
Endless Spells & Invocations Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)
Brett: Interesting variation on the popular Blightking/Blightlord armies we’ve started to see a fair bit in Season 1. More heroes and a mix of castle and some mobility through the Blightlords and Lord of Affliction. Also interesting to see a return to the high number of drops as if they didn’t care about turn order.
Aaron has chosen to take limited spell casting but included Geminids for that MW and command prevention utility. The spells double down on the rolling castle by increasing how many disease points are handed out. The Lord of Afflictions will provide his normal redeploy/teleport like abilities to the Blightlord allowing them to fly with him. That maximises their usefulness in Bounty Hunters. Festus provides heals, mostly to the Blightkings. Orghotts and the Beasts are a threat in themselves able to control an area and deny it due to their attacks and disease production. The Harbinger is a very interesting inclusion, his two warscroll abilities farm CP and deny commands.
Interesting approach, this is still a list that is going to try to outlast you but includes a reasonable mobile punch. With all of the big boys on the table they are going to take some time to kill and apply disease points all of the time making them a tough opponent.
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Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Tame the Land – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480) – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (115) – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Warchanter (115) – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105) – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex Wurrgog Prophet (150) – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85) 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85) 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)
Units 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170) – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170) – Jagged Gore-hackas 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240) – Reinforced x 1
Brett: Alex has been talking about his Big Waagh lists for most of this year taking the best of Ironjawz and increasing their flexibility with Kruleboyz. Double warlord for mount traits. Does it work? Is it fun? I suggest you look up Alex in discord (AosCoach) to find out.
The Mawcrusha build is interesting, instead of the IJ approach of Destroyer and Fast ‘Un, Alex has built the Mawcrusha with Arcane Tome for the teleport. He’s then given his mount Mean ‘Un increase the damage done by stomp. The Break-Boss has Fast ‘Un to get it into the enemy quicker, in the end it’s only moving 10″ though without might destroys. Warchanters to hand out ++1 damage and increase the charge of the Gore-gruntas, the Shaman for poisons on the Boltboyz and finally the Wurrgog for his nasty stare. If you can pull it off it’s a very tough list to counter. Going with Tame the Land is a tough call to, you almost need to table your opponent to control all of the objectives outside your territory. It can also spread your army fairly wide.
Unfortunately I think people are beginning to have a good handle on Boltboyz. They need to move (it can be only 1″) to use Hasty Shot and even then with poison they only average 8MW or a dead Cockatrice. But if it was Stormdrakes or Fulminators then they would either not remove a model or only take one. And die the next turn. With only 24″(or 12″ on hasty) it’s hard to keep them out of trouble with out a lot of screens. I think that’s what the ‘ard boyz are doing, but that’s 345+ points tied up. Still it’s innovative army and has some solid punch. If the Wurggog goes off it will remove something important and provide space for the Breaka Boss/Mawcrusha to wreck face. Which is always fun.
Final Tournament Placings
The full tournament results can be found on tabletop.to
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for World tSports Champions that took place in Nottingham, USA on 2nd and 3rd July. It involved 16 players from the world over, vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
This tournament was organised by the fantastic guys at Honest Wargamer.
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
Declan: Ronya qualified for the World Tsports Event by using Nighthaunt – exclusively – getting incredible results with what was considered to be a weaker army. So during Worlds she took the same army… but with a new book!
I watched the final of Ronya against Mike and she played very well, with the Nighthaunt now being great in the hands of an expert. I have played against the new book once, and it is very good. If you don’t kill whole units, they quickly come back, can retreat and charge and give debuffs on the charge – including -1 to hit, -1 save, and strike last. If you are charged by multiple units these really stack up quickly.
Nighthaunt still have their ward save as well, so if these spike you can fail to kill them… over attack and charge with everything!
Congratulations to Ronya, it was great watching her play with an army she’s used all year. I wonder if she’ll stick with them into GHB22 or take the opportunity to try something new.
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Declan: Mike finished the season as the top ranked player with all 6 of his qualifying results coming as Seraphon with 4 5-0s! But for Worlds he’s pivoted effortless to IdK and did exceptionally well to qualify despite losing his first game in the group. Qualifying on tie-break for the top 4 bracket, he then beat Beasts before being beaten by Ronya’s Nighthaunt.
Mike has gone for a Battle Regiment to get 1 drop and chose who goes first or second, allowing him to set-up for a double turn or get an alpha-strike in. His army has a bit of everything including some shooting, striking first in the third turn, and an Akhelian King who is 40 points cheaper than a Loonboss on Mangler Squig — wow… what value!
IdK are not easy to play with as they are glass cannons, but they are very strong cannons – be careful of charging in turn 3! Well done to Mike as well, top ranked player in GHB21 and 2nd at Worlds. What a year for him.
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Declan: Ah Beasts of Chaos – a perfect example of what can happen to a low ranked army if it gets a good white dwarf article / update. And Beasts did! Massive rend, good summoning, and lots and lots of Dragon Ogres! I watched Ole’s game against the Thunder Lizards on the Saturday and it was great to see how he dealt with the Seraphon – swamping the objectives and summoning Chimeras to finish people off.
Ole is a player who switches armies around, and it is no surprise to see him doing well with a different army!
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Declan: 4-1 at the Worlds. Well done to Phil with Slaves to Darkness. Sure it is Archaon in a Host of the Everchosen list. Varanguard are great support units for Archaon, but it is the big guy who does the heavy lifting here. Able to auto-kill other models into his sword, fight twice, and with immense movement. I have managed to kill him before, but my normal approach is to ignore him — not an easy method.
It’s great to see variety at the Worlds and one of the main characters of Age of Sigmar making an appearance.
