Category Archives: Reapers of Vengeance

Top Three AoS Lists for Realmgate Rampage II

This is the top three AoS lists for Realmgate Rampage II that took place in the USA on the 4th and 5th of March. It involved 37 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: Slaves to Darkness
Subfaction: Cabalists
– Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
General
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Daemonic Speed
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Daemonic Speed

BATTLELINE
Chaos Knights (460)*
Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Doom Knight
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
– Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon
The Unmade (80)*
Corvus Cabal (80)*

OTHER
Chaos Chosen (480)*
Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Exalted Champion
– 2 x Icon Bearer
– 2 x Skull Drummer
Varanguard (580)*
Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– 6 x Fellspear

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Soulscream Bridge (80)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Peter: I reached out to Anthony to see if he would be able to give us some info on how this list works. The legend kindly responded:

Anthony: So I mostly just lifted the list from Big Phil Marshall, with a few tweaks to marks. The army has 3 key pieces, with a bit of utility to support them. First, the block of 10 Nurgle-marked Knights with the Eroding Icon is incredibly tough to shift, while also able to do a fair bit of damage on the charge. Next are two hammer units: 10 Khorne Chosen, and 6 Khorne Varanguard with spears. I chose to go with Khorne on both units because, for the most part, these units perform threat removal duty, and I want those threats gone immediately. Plus, it means you get even more value if you use the ability to activate a second time in the combat phase on the turn that they charged. All three units are 30 wounds on a 3+ save, but have drastically different roles, and you can further enhance with the 2 Sorcerer Lords. There are quite a few spells that you want to get off, hence the choice of adding Arcane Tome, Master of Magic, and being in Cabalists. Lastly, Corvus Cabal is a nice piece to be able to save and snag an objective after the battlelines shift, the Unmade help ensure that the units you want to charge cannot redeploy away and make the charge harder, and the bridge increases your threat range immensely.

Being one drop means you decide first turn in most cases. A typical game sees you giving away the turn, although you do have the speed to rush across the board to hit your opponent before they can set up any of their buffs if they misdeploy in an egregious way. The other advantage of going second is that it allows your Sorcerer Lord to use both the heroic action for 3d6 cast and 3d6 for rolling on the Eye of the Gods table. You want to be rolling for that early and often. Getting an 11-12 on 3d6, rerolling one die isn’t too unlikely, but it’s still something that relies on rolling, and all it takes is your sorcerer lords getting killed off to remove your ability to achieve your Grand Strategy. I typically use the Knights to block areas of the board off from my opponent and initiate trades. It will cost most armies more value to remove this unit than the 460 points that the knights cost, and the Chosen and Varanguard hit hard enough that most things will struggle to survive contact with them. You’re looking to value trade more efficiently than your opponent, which is what the Slaves to Darkness do incredibly well.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
– Stormhost: Knights Excelsior (Scions of the Storm)
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Karazai, The Scarred (550)*
Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (330)*
Lord-Imperatant (170)*
General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Spell: Celestial Blades
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master

Battleline
3 x Annihilators (180)*
3 x Annihilators (180)*
3 x Annihilators (180)*

Units
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
3 x Praetors (140)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 75
Drops: 1

Peter: We reached out to Joseph, who kindly offered a quick synopsis on how his list works.

Joseph: Use the longstrikes the aoe mortals and the charge mortals from the annilators to punch large holes in their army’s screens and key buff pieces. Then go for the kill with the prime and Karazai.

Brett: Joseph undersells his list a bit, there is a bit of tech in how he has set up the list to do exactly what he says it will. There is a Lord Imperatant to make sure those Annihilators only have a 7″ charge. Best case that’s 3 turns of skyfalling. The list is Knights Excelsior to give a Paladin unit +1 to hit and wound on top of being battline. The Annihilators don’t have Grandhammers so cheaper (by 60pts) and more durable. Rerollable 7″ charge that does D3 mortals on arrival, more mortals on the charge (on a 4+) and then hits on 2+, wounds on 2+, saves on 2+. Even if they don’t wipe a screen some will probably survive the counter attack. It also makes dropping 2 units in a turn more palatable, even if the second fails it’s 9″ charge it may survive to try again.

The Longstrikes have Thunderbolt Volley (and aren’t reinforced) to give a turn of double shooting. Praetors to bodyguard Karazi in the early game (he out paces them) wraps up the troops. After that the Lord Imperatant has Tunnel Master for a sneaky teleport and celestial blades just in case something needs help with wounding (melee weapons only). And lastly the Celestant Prime for another hammer mid to late game (when Karazai is normally running out of steam).

Not without it’s risks, in the end there are only 75 wounds in the list and it needs to dictate the engagement. Karazai is more rarely chosen because he is vulnerable to mortal wounds generally. Being a one drop army helps, Joseph will dictate the first round activation in most games. Competing well against combat armies, Joseph faced down a Tzeetch army which is a tall order for an army with almost no denies.

Advertisements

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
Army Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours!
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Skarbrand (390)
1 x Archaon (860)*
1 x Bloodsecrator (130)*
General
– Command Traits: Mage Eater
– Artefacts: Skullshard Mantle
– Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
1 x Slaughterpriest (100)*
Bloodbathed Axe
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice

BATTLELINE
10 x Blood Warriors (160)*
– Icon Bearer
– Chaos Champion
– Goreglaive
– Goreaxe and Gorefist
10 x Bloodreavers (80)*
Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Chieftain
– Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (80)*
Chieftain
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Meatripper Axe
10 x Bloodreavers (80)*
Chieftain
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Meatripper Axe

TERRAIN
1 x Skull Altar (0)

OTHER
1 x Cockatrice (105)*

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1985/2000)

A lot of armies in Age of Sigmar can be broken down into units of hammers and anvils. This is a useful distinction, since it gives a quick idea of what role a unit needs to play, why you would include them in your list, and what to expect from your opponent’s force. Blades of Khorne do not work this way.

Blades can be better broken into three categories: independent operators, tech pieces, and drones. In Samuel’s case, he has brought a balance of the three, with a skew towards independent operators.

In this list, the idependents are Archaeon and Skarbrand. Both are meant to be beatstick intimidation pieces with minor buffs to other units. Archaeon is the only wizard in Samuel’s list, and he will see some benefit from Mystic Shield, but the known spell are limited since Khorne does not have a spell lore (for obvious reasons). Skarbrand is an excellent intimidating force, and only opponents that have never faced him before will risk damaging him without being positive that he will die. At his lowest bracket (his best) he can guarantee 8 mortal wounds with his axe, Carnage. While he can’t score VP from killing a Galletian Champion, he can certainly deny his opponent a few battle tactics through the use of the rare rule: “you can just pick that one up.”

The Bloodsecrator, Slaughterpriest, and Cockatrice are Samuel’s tech pieces. The first provides two useful auras (forcing Wizards to re-roll successful casting attempts and providing Blades of Khorne units +1 attack). The second gives access to prayers (Blood Sacrifice in this case, allowing early blood tithe gains) and invocations (which Samuel has elected to leave at home). The Cockatrice brings a particularly interesting ability that is one of the few in this list that will benefit Archaeon. If the Cockatrice manages to ping some mortal wounds on an opponent, that unit can only hit on 6s in that combat phase. This can be used to either protect Archaeon and Skarbrand from the beatings Samuel’s opponents are surely going to throw at them, or can be used to add some additional protection for his drones.

A note for the above units: Skarbrand, the Bloodsecrator, and the Slaughterpriest can all be used at summoning points for daemon units. Khorne is in a great spot right now, partially because the summoning mechanic allows them to pull a GC out of thin air onto an objective for the measly cost of 2 blood tithe points. This allows for some seriously flexible scoring, ecen into the late game, assuming you have a hero or skull alter and some blood tithe points burning a hole in your pocket.

Back on the subject of drones, Samuel has chosen to take the mortal flavor of drone: 10 blood warriors and 30 blood reavers. The blood warriors’ 2 wounds and 4+ somehow make them one of the most durable units in the book (about equal with Mighty Skullcrushers), which is saying something. The blood reavers are fast and will die as soon as they connect with something, providing some early blood tithe points.

All around a deceptively technical list, and one that was piloted to a great 4-1.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts
– Grand Court: Blisterskin
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs:

LEADERS
Abhorrant Archregent (240)*
Artefact: The Dermal Robe
– Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (450)*
– General
– Command Trait: Hellish Orator
– Artefact: Eye of Hysh
– Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite
– Lore of Madness: Spectral Host
Crypt Infernal Courtier (130)*

UNITS
9 x Crypt Flayers (540)**
10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)**
10 x Crypt Ghouls (80)*

BEHEMOTHS
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)
Allies

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Galletian Veterans

TOTAL: 2000/2000
WOUNDS: 83
DROPS: 7

Declan: Well I’m the first to admit that I’m not an expert in Flesh Eater Courts, but I have fought them a few times and this one has a Incarnate of Ghur – so there’s that. Frederic has gone for the 4-1 that’s difficult to pull off known as the submarine (LWWWW); and it’s a great result with a difficult army to use. This one is all about close assault, the Krondspine, Terrorgheist and Crypt Flayers.

Despite the increase in cost (480 points from 400 points in the latest balance update), the Krondspine is still good, and as he doesn’t die until the end of the turn so when it’s in combat you can guarantee it will dish out damage.

Games Workshop via Wahapedia

This allows teleporting Ghouls and gives the Terrorghiest a useful -1 to be hit with the Eye of Hysh, not to mention his warscroll ability to summon more Crypt Flayers. The Archregent can do the same, but also comes with a great utility spell:

Games Workshop via Wahapedia

It’s easy to cast and – crucially – lasts to the next hero phase. This means Frederic can make one awesome unit a turn with additional D3 attacks in combat. Sure, he may roll a 1, but you’ll never forget it if you’re on the other end of a 3 on a Terrorgheist or Crypt Flayers.

The army certainly has potential, but Frederic must have commanded it well to get a 4-1; they’re still not common with FEC.

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three Aos Lists for Small Town Throwdown: Smoke on the Water

Tournament that took place in the USA on 25th and 26th February. It involved 30 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?

Small Town Throwdown: Smoke on the Water (US) – 30 Players

Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
Army Type: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
– Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat
Skragrott, the Loonking (160)*
Orruk Megaboss (140)**
Wurrgog Prophet (170)**
Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Spells: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Wurrgog Prophet (170)**
Artefacts of Power: Gryph-feather Charm
– Spells: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
– Aspects of the Champion: Abhorrant Ghoul King

BATTLELINE
Moonclan Stabbas (125)*
Moonclan Boss
– Bad Moon Icon Bearer
– Gong Basher
– Stabba
– 3 Barbed Nets
Orruk Ardboys (80)**
Orruk Ardboys (240)***
Ardboy Boss
– 3 x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer
– 3 x Waaagh! Drummer
– 6 x Orruk-forged Shield
Orruk Brutes (450)***
Brute Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Orruk Brutes (150)***
Brute Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Galletian Veterans

TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000

Big Waaagh have been taking a bit of a back seat recently, with not many people playing it; but it’s great to see Gregory still repping it and grabbing the elusive 5-0 here. Big Waaagh is great, and often taken by people with Ironjawz armies who want to run a Wurgogg Prophet… and what has Gregory done? He’s taken 2! Great work here.

He’s also taken Skragrott which is interesting as he loses his access to the Gloomspite magic lore, and his Warmaster ability. However his spell (Fangs of Da Bad Moon) still has the potential to cause damage. I wouldn’t have considered it myself… but its an interesting shout.

The rest of the army is an Ironjawz core, with 15 Ardboyz and 15 Orruk Brutes as the reinforced units. They hit hard and the Brutes can cause great damage with the +1/+1 to hit/wound and extra damage from the Orruk Warchanter. Interestingly there’s no MawKrusha here, but that’s likely because of Galletian Champions – its good to see a GHB make some changes to army selection.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Khorne
Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Charge

Leaders
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)*
Artefact: Armour of Scorn
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (300)***
General
– Command Trait: Mage Eater
– Artefact: Skullshard Mantle
Skarbrand (390)
Slaughterpriest (100)*
Prayer: Blood Sacrifice
Skarr Bloodwrath (110)*
Slaughterpriest (100)**
Prayer: +1 to hit
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master

Battleline
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)***
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)***
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)**

Units
9 x The Unmade (80)*

Behemoths
Cygor (210)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Wrath-Axe (70)
Skulls (50)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Vanguard
***Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Drops: 8

Peter: We’re lucky that for such a small site, we’re followed by some of the competitive players in the US and UK. As such, Gareth agree to share how his list worked for the event (though remember, this won’t apply for long with the release of the new book imminently).

Gareth: I’ve been running the same variation of this list for a few years now. I don’t play many tournaments and don’t have the brain power to change lists too much, so I just tinker around the edges. This latest iteration was a change from the list I was running last season. I removed a Khorne Daemon Prince and an Incarnate, and put in a Cygor, a second Slaughterpriest, Skarr, the Unmade, and the incantations.

The list is built primarily around the idea of giving your opponent headaches and making them doubt every move they make. Khorne has possibly more tricks than any other army right now, and this list is built to take advantage of all of them.

First let’s start with the anti-magic element, which, as with any Khorne army, is extremely strong. First off, the list has 8 unbinds; 1 from each Slaughterpriest, 1 from each unit of Flesh Hounds, 2 from the Cygor, and 1 from the Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury wearing the Skullshard Mantle. Although none of these unbinds have any bonuses to unbind the Skullshard Mantle does have the neat little rule that an unmodified roll of an 8 automatically unbinds the spell, and the caster suffers D6 MW. If you save that unbind for a wizard who has one or two wounds left, it can throw doubt into your opponent over whether they want to chance it. Rolling an 8 is only a 14% chance, but in their mind, it is much higher.

Secondly, we have the Skull Altar, which causes any miscast to do D6 MW instead of D3 MW to the caster. Came in particularly handy this weekend in one of my games: a Master of Magic rerolled a miscast into a miscast, and then promptly died!

Thirdly, we have the use of 2 blood tithe points to auto stop a spell. Note that this is not an unbind, so even if the caster has a rule that says their cast can not be unbound, we can still use 2 blood tithe to say NO!

Fourthly, we have the Hexgorger Skulls. A handy incantation that has two nice rules – wizards within 12” get a -2 to cast debuff, plus if they’re within 8” and they roll an unmodified 8 to cast, the spell is unsuccessful, the caster, and any other wizards within 12” suffer D6 MW, and the wizard can no longer cast that spell for the rest of the game! Again, that 8 is only 14%, but in their mind, it is much larger.

Fifth, we have the ignore-magic on a 6. Any time any of your units are affected by a spell or endless spell, you can ignore its effects on a 6 (and you gain a blood tithe!). In one famous game against a Teclis-Sentinel list a few months back, Teclis managed to put Searing White Light through a portal to cause D3/D6 MW to my whole army during turn 1. I rolled well, and he caused a total of 4 MW across my whole army, and I gained 5 blood tithe. Thanks!

Finally, there is the Cygor’s ability. Any time a spell is successfully cast by a wizard within 30” of the Cygor, that wizard suffers 1 MW. Now that isn’t going to dent a huge monster-hero-wizard like, say Teclis, but I faced both Gitz and Skaven this weekend, and both had 5 wound wizards with two casts a turn. Quite a few times, I was willing to not even attempt an unbind, preferring to chip off 20% of their health for free. Again, it puts doubt into your opponent’s mind – “How much do I really need to cast this spell?”

The next trick we have is the use of blood tithe. Prior to this GHB, I almost exclusively used blood tithe for hero phase move and hero phase fight. That’s changed a little now that Galletian Champions are important – our ability to summon one for just 2 blood tithe is pretty great, so I’ve been doing that a lot.
Before going into detail on blood tithe, let’s talk about Skarr. He’s in the list for one reason and one reason only – to die. He has an amazing ability that once he is dead, at the end of any movement phase (including your opponents) you can roll two dice and, on an 8,+ he comes back alive, anywhere on the board, 9” away from enemy units. That’s an amazing tech piece. I try to kill him as early as possible, and then during each of my opponent’s movement phases just take out my 9” stick and start measuring things, just to put doubt into their mind about where they can or cannot move safely.

Of course, to make sure he dies early, you need ways to kill him. That’s where he ties into blood tithe. One of my Slaughterpriests has the Blood Sacrifice prayer, which allows you to target a friendly BoK unit and cause them D3 MW in return for a blood tithe point. I was lucky that in four of my five games over the weekend, I had mystical in my deployment zone.

I placed the Skull Altar (which allows priests to re-roll prayers) within 8” of the mystical terrain, placed Skarr inside the Altar, and the Priest on the mystical. Turn 1 sacrifice Skarr, gain a tithe, and give him D3 MW. Then, since he is in the Skull Altar he can chant to bring out the Wrath-Axe, I use the Axe to cause another D3 MW on Skarr, and possibly another D3 with its secondary damage ability. Generally, this killsthis kills him, meaning I get 2 blood tithe (1 from his death, 1 from the sacrifice) in my first hero phase.

The blood tithe are then used later in the game as either a threat – using 3 to move the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage or Skarbrand in my hero phase, giving them a much larger threat range, or, more commonly, to deny battle tactics. In your opponent’s hero phase they declare a battle tactic that involves killing something , and so you counter that by moving the thing they need to kill, out of range or behind a screen. Or, if you’re in combat in their hero phase, you spend 4 blood tithe to fight and generally cause carnage to their carefully laid out plans.
Finally, there’s the summoning aspect. Many of the new GHB battleplans or battle tactics require GCs to be on an objective for extra points or to score the tactic. Rarely are they “starting army” GCs. The ability to just summon one onto an objective for just 2 blood tithe (a Blood Master) is fantastic. Particularly if you pair it with Skarr’s revival. End of your movement phase, you revive him on to one objective, and then use him to summon a GC on to either the same objective or sometimes a second one!

Now let’s talk about the actual units that do stuff during the game. The Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury is there for one reason and one reason only – his command ability. At the start of the combat phase he can issue his command and all friendly BoK daemon units can pile-in 6”, and it’s the good 6” pile-in, meaning they can do it even if they’re outside of 3”. Note that this is an aura, but since the book is so old, none of the affected daemon units count as receiving a command ability, so are able to use other abilities at the same time. This is huge. Having, essentially, your whole army able to pile-in 6” is bonkers good. I very rarely charge any of my daemons during a game. Just move them to 3.1” away from their target unit, and then pile-in 6”.
This has multiple benefits. First if you’re going against a monster, they cannot roar you (although the reverse is also true – you cannot perform a monstrous rampage). Second, you avoid any unleash hell. Third you can play activation games – although you’re going to fight with every single one of your units, your opponent is only able to activate their units which are within 3”, which is very often none (you activate first, put in a Bloodthirster, it kills the unit, it’s your opponent’s activation, they have nothing within 3”, so then you activate with your next 6” pile-in, and so on).

The 6” pile-in also interacts with the other tech piece in a Reapers of Vengeance list – all daemons have the start-of-combat-phase command ability to fight twice, and it’s an immediate fight twice. Note this command ability can only be used if you are within 3” of an enemy. The general idea is that you pile-in 6” with a Rage thirster or Skarbrand into two units, kill a bunch of stuff in one unit on the first fight, and then activate a second time, again going 6” to kill another unit. That second 6” pile-in often allows you to jump over a screen to target something more juicy.
The Fury thirster is not that great in combat itself, typically doing only 5 or so wounds. But it does have a neat shooting attack – 4 attacks 3s/3s/-1/D3dmg that can kill a solo support hero or chip off some wounds from a screen etc.

Skarbrand is there to kill big monsters/heroes. It is relatively easy to keep Skarbrand at maximum rage for rounds 2-5. When at maximum rage, he does a guaranteed 8 MW per activation with his Carnage axe, and then has 9 attacks with Slaughter that are 4s/3s/-2/3dmg. That 4s to hit is horrible, even with the Locus of Fury ability that allows re-rolls of 1s to hit. We can mitigate that somewhat with either an All-Out-Attack (with the 6” pile-in he won’t have been roared), or earlier in the turn by using the Killing Frenzy prayer on him to give him +1 to hit. Skarbrand generally kills most heroes or does enough damage to seriously wound. If you’re going against multiple units, or a tough monster, you can use the double activate ability on him to cause a guaranteed 16 MW (with the potential of 24 or 32), and have 18 attacks.

Most seasoned Khorne players are surprised to see I don’t have a Bloodsecrator or Wrathmongers in my list. Either of these units give Skarbrand an extra attack, which works on Carnage, causing him to do a guaranteed 16 MW per activation instead of 8. That’s obviously a very nice buff, but I find Skarbrand generally kills everything he touches anyway, or is scary enough that people avoid him. Plus I hate the aesthetic of Khorne Mortals, so try to have as few mortals in my list as possible. Even my priests and Skarr are converted to look more daemon-like!

The Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage is the real scary piece in the army. His job is to clear hordes and support heroes. Particularly useful in this season where both are common. His basic attack profile is 5 attacks, 4s/2s/-2/D6dmg. That D6 damage is painful, as is the 4s to hit. But, he has this one little rule that changes everything. Any 6s to wound cause 4 MW (at top bracket) to all enemy units within 8” of him. That’s bonkers. If you roll two 6s, you’re doing 8 MW. That’s enough to kill most support heroes. And 8” with a largeish base is a big area. Couple it with the 6” pile-in and a double activation, and you can wreak havoc. I tend to use Killing Frenzy (+1 to hit prayer) and the double activation on him more than on Skarbrand. 3s to hit RR1s is actually fairly consistent to get enough hits through to then get one or two 6s to wound per activation.
In my first game this weekend I faced the dreaded squig heavy Gitz list. Gitz have lots of over-lapping buffs, so tend to want to castle. They also have lots of support heroes. My Rage thirster killed 60 models in one combat phase.

Next is the Cygor. Although I’ve already spoken about his great anti-magic potential, he’s also a pretty handy monster. I tend to like monster-mash lists, so when I knew I had to include more GC in my list this season, I was looking for a non-leader monster to throw in. Cygor is the perfect match. 16 wounds means he’s tanky (even with the 5+ save). His flat 5dmg shooting attack is pretty good at finishing off a unit or solo support hero. He’s also decent in combat. For magic heavy armies he’s a good distraction. He usually is the first thing to die in my army (other than Skarr), but that means that my ‘Thirsters are not being targeted, which is fine by me!
The Unmade are included for their debuff aura. Any enemy units within 12” (which is a crazy range for a unit of 9 models) can not redeploy or rally. Redeploy is the bane of the 6” pile-in. If you run your Bloodthirsters up the table, counting on the 6” pile-in to get into combat, a 4” redeploy kills you. Unmade for 80 points is a bargain to stop that. Also, with so many 4+ rallies in the game now, stopping that is handy, too!

The only remaining piece to describe is the Wrath-Axe. As well as being there to potentially first turn kill Skarr, it is handy to just have around all game doing chip damage and move blocking. Although incantations can be moved through as if they aren’t there, you still can not end a move on top of them. The Wrath-Axe has a large base, and being able to put it on one side of your army to prevent anyone charging from that side is pretty handy.

My choice of 2nd artefact is probably worth some discussion. Many Khorne players swear by Ar’gath, the King of Blades, as the artefact of choice on a Rage Thirster. This weapon gives changes the to-hit profile on the Rage Thirster from 4s to hit to 2s to hit. But only when targeting heroes. Since I generally use Skarbrand to hit big heroes and use Rage to target hordes (hoping to kill support heroes with the booms), I don’t like this choice.
Harvester of Skulls is another choice – increase the number of attacks from 5 to 6 per activation. That’s a decent choice. An extra attack means more chances to get that 6 to wound. There’s also The Crimson Crown. This army is very command point dependent, so being able to use a command for free once per round is very useful. I can definitely see the attraction of that on the Fury Thirster. But I go for Armour of Scorn on my Rage. This gives him a 6+ ward, but 4+ wards against magic MW. I want my Rage thirster to live, and that 6+ ward is the nice little extra toughness to keep him alive a little longer. I’m very sympathetic to those who prefer Crimson Crown or Harvester of Skulls though.I’m pretty happy with this list at the moment, although with a new book on the horizon I think last weekend was probably my last competitive outing with it. Across two RTTs and the GT, I’m 10-1 with the list, which is pretty decent!

Advertisements

Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin
Enclave: Nautilar
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Akhelian King (250)*
General
– Bladed Polearm
– Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury
– Artefact: Potion of Hateful Frenzy
– Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness
Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers (110)*
Battlemage (100)*
Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
– Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
– Allies

Battleline
6 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (360)*
Reinforced x 1
20 x Namarti Reavers (340)**
Reinforced x 1
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
Akhelian Leviadon (460)*
Mount Trait: Ancient

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Galletian Sharpshooters

Total: 1960 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 100 / 400
Wounds: 97
Drops: 4

Lotann + Leviadon + Big Namarti Parties are the soup of the day for Idoneth. The combination is a great way to improve the Namarti (Reavers or Thralls) in both offense and defense. The Leviadon provides an aura giving Namarti +1 to hit so long as the target is within 12″ of the Leviadon. With the Leviadon’s large base size, that 12″ is generous. He also provides a +1 to save aura in the same zone, meaning that the Namarti may be able to hold back and reap the benefits of the save and hit bonuses from the turtle while enjoying a bonus to wound from Lotann. Ultimately, a squad of 20 will be firing 40 arrows hitting on 2s, wounding on 2s, with rend -1 and 1 damage.

The King and Morsarr Guard are here to do King and Morsarr Guard things. Both like to move fast to get in their opponents’ faces. Both like to hit insanely hard for their cost. Both like to die if you sneeze near them while unsupported. a 6-strong unit of Morsarr can blend large blobs of chaff units using their once-per-game mortal wound bomb, and the king is one of the best duellists in the game. Careful positioning can lead to a blistering number of attacks, and on-demand strike first is nothing to sniff at.

Advertisements

Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness
Army Subfaction: Legion of the First Prince
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Centaurion Marshal (145)*
– Artefacts: The Conqueror’s Crown
1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Chaotic Conduit
– Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
1 x Eternus, Blade of the First Prince (235)*
1 x Be’lakor (355)***
Spells: Daemonic Speed

BATTLELINE
24 x Chaos Legionnaires (330)**
6 x Furies (90)**
6 x Furies (90)***

BEHEMOTH
1 x Chaos Warshrine (185)***
– Prayers: Curse
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh

OTHER
1 x Cockatrice (105)*
3 x Gorebeast Chariots (345)***
Exalted Charioteer
– 3 x Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Galletian Veterans
***Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Legion of the First prince is starting to establish itself as ‘the third way’, after Cabalists and KOTET, and for good reason – it’s a much harder and more subtle sub-faction to get your head around. It does some offer some baked in synergy – and Kyle here (for the first time in this column that I’ve seen) has leant all the way into the fluffy, synergistic version.

The core fluff of a Legion list is the overlapping benefits to taking Be’Lakor, the Centaurion, Eternus, Legionnaires (double reinforced in this instance) and plenty of furies. The synergies are thus: Legionnaires gain +1 to wound while near Be’Lakor (making them a pretty respectable sub-hammer while relatively durable for their points); Eternus gets +1 to his ‘comes back from the dead’ roll while Be’lakor is still alive – and he gains a free CP while near either Legionnaires or Furies – the latter being more likely to keep up with him while Legionnaires guard Be’lakor; lastly, the Marshal allows the big blob of Legionnaires to rally on a 5+.

The rest of the list is worth commenting on to – it’s an early example of allying in the Cockatrice from the new Beasts book, for ability on a 4+ after one of its shots connects to make the enemy unit hit on 6s – which as you can imagine, could wildly swing the outcome of a key engagement – and at only 105 pts, it’s not a hugely risky gamble.

Ths list lost only to a no-doubt more traditional Slaves list, and again to Khorne – who love lists like this without ranged threats – with the most notable win being the on-form Sylvaneth for a 3-2, which is a good result with both a highly thematic and off-meta list. Gratz Kyle!

Top 3 Lists BCP Megapost 26th February 2023

I thought as Woehammer often struggles to get all the event results out for any given week, it may be a good idea to do one post with all of the lists we intended to cover.

Below, you’ll find all the top three lists this week (that we’re aware of), along with my wildcard choices. We will post individual event results as well, and I will link them to the results below where possible.

Events

  • Warhammer World: Matched Play Event Top 3 Article: Here
    • 1st – Fyreslayers (Greyfyrd)
    • 2nd – Gloomspite Gitz (Jaws of Mork)
    • 3rd – Maggotkin of Nurgle (Blessed Sons)
    • Wildcard – Ossiarch Bonereapers (Petrifex Elite)
  • Cherokee Open Top 3 Article: Here
    • 1st – Gloomspite Gitz (Jaws of Mork)
    • 2nd – Stormcast Eternals (Hammers of Sigmar)
    • 3rd – Lumineth Realm-Lords (Helon)
    • Wildcard – Skaven
  • Small Town Throwdown: Smoke on the Water Top 3 Article: Here
    • 1st – Big Waaagh!
    • 2nd – Blades of Khorne (Reapers of Vengeance)
    • 3rd – Idoneth Deepkin (Nautilar)
    • Wildcard – Slaves to Darkness (Legion of the First Prince)
Advertisements

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)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Runic Fyrewall (40)

Core Battalions
*Galletian Command
**Galletian Veterans
***Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Aspect of the Champion

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 162
Drops: 10

Advertisements

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)**

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 250
Drops: 2

Advertisements

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)**

BATTLELINE
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)**
Blightlord
– Icon Bearer
– Sonorous Tocsin Bearer
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)**
Blightlord
– Icon Bearer
– Sonorous Tocsin Bearer
10 x Rotmire Creed (130)**

TERRAIN
1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)

Advertisements

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

ARTILLERY
Mortek Crawler (200)
Mortek Crawler (200)

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
Bone-tithe Shrieker (50)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Galletian Veterans

ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS
Artefact

TOTAL: 1980/2000

Advertisements

Cherokee Open (US) – 79 Players

Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz
Army Subfaction: Jaws of Mork
– Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Squigboss (80)*
Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (160)*
Spells: Itchy Nuisance
1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)*
– General
– Command Traits: The Clammy Hand
– Artefacts: Staff of Sneaky Stealin’
– Spells: The Hand of Gork

BATTLELINE
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (280)
Bounder Boss
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (280)*
– Bounder Boss
36 x Squig Herd (360)**
12 x Squig Herd (120)**

BEHEMOTH
1 x Mangler Squigs (260)

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Scrapskuttle’s Arachnacauldron (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)

OTHER
1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Galletian Veterans

TOTAL POINTS: (1940/2000)

Advertisements

Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals
Army Type: Scions of the Storm
– Army Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Holy Commands: Thunderbolt Volley
– Holy Commands: Call for Aid
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Bastian Carthalos (300)**
1 x Lord-Relictor (150)**
Prayers: Translocation
1 x Lord-Castellant (160)**
General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Thundershock
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master

BATTLELINE
4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (480)**
5 x Liberators (120)***
Liberator-Prime
– Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield
– Grandweapon
5 x Liberators (120)***
Liberator-Prime
– Grandweapon
– Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield
5 x Liberators (120)***
Liberator-Prime
– Grandweapon
– Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield

OTHER
3 x Aetherwings (70)*
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
Raptor-Prime
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
Raptor-Prime

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Galletian Sharpshooters
**Warlord
***Galletian Veterans

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Advertisements

Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords
Army Subfaction: Helon
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Archmage Teclis (700)*
1 x Scinari Calligrave (110)*
Spells: Overwhelming Heat
– Aspects of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
1 x Scinari Cathallar (110)*
General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts: Silver Wand
– Spells: Total Eclipse

BATTLELINE
5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)*
Windspeaker Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)*
– Windspeaker Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)*
– High Sentinel
– Spells: Protection of Hysh
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)*
High Warden
– Spells: Etheral Blessings
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)*
High Warden
– Spells: Solar Flare

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)
1 x Rune of Petrification (60)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Advertisements

Army Faction: Skaven
Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADER
1 x Verminlord Deceiver (420)
Artefacts: Shadow Magnet Trinket
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
1 x Verminlord Warbringer (400)*
General
– Command Traits: Devious Adversary
– Artefacts: Warpstone Charm
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
1 x Grey Seer (120)**
Spells: Skitterleap
1 x Grey Seer (120)**
Spells: Skitterleap
Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
1 x Thanquol (430)**
– 4 x Warpfire Projectors
– Spells: Skitterleap

BATTLELINE
10 x Night Runners (90)*
Nightleader
20 x Clanrats (100)*
Clawleader
– 2 x Clanrat Standard Bearer
– 2 x Clanrat Bell-ringer
– Rusty Blade
20 x Clanrats (100)*
Clawleader
– 2 x Clanrat Standard Bearer
– 2 x Clanrat Bell-ringer
– Rusty Blade

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Warp Lightning Vortex (80)
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)
1 x Lauchon the Soulseeker (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Gnawhole (0)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)

Advertisements

Small Town Throwdown: Smoke on the Water (US) – 30 Players

Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
Army Type: Big Waaagh!
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
– Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat
Skragrott, the Loonking (160)*
Orruk Megaboss (140)**
Wurrgog Prophet (170)**
Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Spells: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Wurrgog Prophet (170)**
Artefacts of Power: Gryph-feather Charm
– Spells: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
– Aspects of the Champion: Abhorrant Ghoul King

BATTLELINE
Moonclan Stabbas (125)*
Moonclan Boss
– Bad Moon Icon Bearer
– Gong Basher
– Stabba
– 3 Barbed Nets
Orruk Ardboys (80)**
Orruk Ardboys (240)***
Ardboy Boss
– 3 x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer
– 3 x Waaagh! Drummer
– 6 x Orruk-forged Shield
Orruk Brutes (450)***
Brute Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Orruk Brutes (150)***
Brute Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Galletian Veterans

TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000

Advertisements

Allegiance: Khorne
Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Charge

Leaders
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)*
Artefact: Armour of Scorn
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (300)***
General
– Command Trait: Mage Eater
– Artefact: Skullshard Mantle
Skarbrand (390)
Slaughterpriest (100)*
Prayer: Blood Sacrifice
Skarr Bloodwrath (110)*
Slaughterpriest (100)**
Prayer: +1 to hit
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master

Battleline
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)***
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)***
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)**

Units
9 x The Unmade (80)*

Behemoths
Cygor (210)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Wrath-Axe (70)
Skulls (50)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Vanguard
***Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Drops: 8

Advertisements

Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin
Enclave: Nautilar
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Akhelian King (250)*
General
– Bladed Polearm
– Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury
– Artefact: Potion of Hateful Frenzy
– Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness
Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers (110)*
Battlemage (100)*
Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
– Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
– Allies

Battleline
6 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (360)*
Reinforced x 1
20 x Namarti Reavers (340)**
Reinforced x 1
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
Akhelian Leviadon (460)*
Mount Trait: Ancient

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Galletian Sharpshooters

Total: 1960 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 100 / 400
Wounds: 97
Drops: 4

Advertisements

Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness
Army Subfaction: Legion of the First Prince
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Centaurion Marshal (145)*
– Artefacts: The Conqueror’s Crown
1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Chaotic Conduit
– Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
1 x Eternus, Blade of the First Prince (235)*
1 x Be’lakor (355)***
Spells: Daemonic Speed

BATTLELINE
24 x Chaos Legionnaires (330)**
6 x Furies (90)**
6 x Furies (90)***

BEHEMOTH
1 x Chaos Warshrine (185)***
– Prayers: Curse
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh

OTHER
1 x Cockatrice (105)*
3 x Gorebeast Chariots (345)***
Exalted Charioteer
– 3 x Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Galletian Veterans
***Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Top Three AoS Lists for Battle at the Brook

This is the top three AoS lists for the Battle at the Book that took place in Australia on the 18th and 19th of February. It involved 55 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: Maggotkin of Nurgle
Subfaction: Blessed Sons
– Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Orghotts Daemonspew (320)****
Bloab Rotspawned (320)***
Lore of Malignance: Blades of Putrefaction
Lord of Blights (150)***
General
– Command Trait: Grandfather’s Blessing
– Artefact: Nightflyer Cloak (Galletian Champion)
– Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Plague Priest (100)***
Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
– Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal

Battleline
10 x Rotmire Creed (130)*
10 x Rotmire Creed (130)*
10 x Rotmire Creed (130)*
10 x Plague Monks (90)**
Foetid Blades
– 1x Standard Bearers
– 1x Plague Harbingers
15 x Plague Censer Bearers (270)**
Reinforced x 2

Units
10 x Ungor Raiders (80)****
3 x Nurglings (100)***
10 x Ungor Raiders (80)****
1 x Chaos Chariot (100)****
Mark of Chaos: Nurgle

Core Battalions
*Galletian Sharpshooters
**Galletian Veterans
***Warlord
****Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 10

Patrick… Patrick – wow… what an off-the-wall selection. There’s stuff in here I didn’t even know could join Nurgle, let alone seen before. The Ungor Raiders with Sharpshooters is a great shout to give a little reach and allow the sniping of characters to continue unabated. Their 6″ move before the game allows them to effortlessly pivot to the role of ‘screens’ if facing a lower drop alpha strike army – and that is likely as Patrick has 10 drops.

Then there’s all the Rotmire Creed units which do…. I don’t know!

Games Workshop via Wahapedia

Well, who knew… more shooting units in a Nurgle army in a game system where they (GW) can’t balance shooting correctly. These guys also give out disease tokens and then give them within 3″ as well (albeit with a recent Errata which is included above). The Warcry warbands have made some chaos builds different with spamming lots of them, and – whilst I would prefer GW kept them out of the Age of Sigmar game – they never will and if you’ve got access to it, and it’s good, use it!

Well done to Patrick – a great, different army and not one that I’ve seen before.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness
Damned Legion: Legion of the First Prince
– Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Theddra Skull-Scryer (160)**
The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
– The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit
– Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)*
Artefact: The Conqueror’s Crown
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)*
Mark of Chaos: Undivided

Battleline
20 x Splintered Fang (200)**
Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Reinforced x 1
9 x Corvus Cabal (80)
Mark of Chaos: Undivided
9 x Corvus Cabal (80)
Mark of Chaos: Undivided

Units
10 x Chaos Chosen (480)**
Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Ensorcelled Banner: The Dread Banner
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Varanguard (580)**
2x Ensorcelled Weapon
– 4x Fellspear
– Mark of Chaos: Undivided
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Godsworn Hunt (0)**
10 x Chaos Warhounds (80)*
Allies

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 80 / 400
Wounds: 135
Drops: 7

This list has some interesting tech – typical of the topsy-turvy (in relation to the American/European meta at least) – but it does still rely on the current standard core: a blob of Chosen, a blob of Varanguard, and a Sorc lord to cast Daemonic power/Conduit for that sweet first turn battle tactic.

Where things deviate is, first and foremost, the list being in Legion – an oft-discussed and rarely seen sub-faction allowing for granular moving around of Marks to fit the board-state. It means giving up the extra casts of Cabalists or the runs/charges of KOTET, but the flexibility it offers is immense.

Continuing the techy picks is the Underworld band of Theddra, who brings a nice (if short range) -1 to wound spell and 10 ablative bodyguard wounds in her Godsworn hunt. Two cheapo Exalted offer GC flexibility and cheap chances at Apotheosis – i.e. rolling on the Eye of the Gods table to become a Daemon Prince, which represents a ‘free’ 80 points if it goes off – or otherwise just ideally stacking decent buffs on a cheap chassis.

A reinforced blob of Splintered Fang brings a large, reliable MW output option and a cheeky 10 chaos warhounds act as a fast, very cheap screen – potentially to keep up with the Varanaguard and act as a buffer.

Overall, a really interesting spin on the current Slaves meta that was able to take down some tough matchups – but interestingly lost to the more standard Cabalists mirror! Either way, big up to Michael for trying (and succeeding!) with something outside the box.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Nighthaunt
– Procession: Emerald Host
– Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Kevin (100)*
Cairn Wraith
Guardian of Souls (150)*
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Midnight Tome
– Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish
– Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Krulghast Cruciator (150)*
Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind
Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)**
Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
Lord Executioner (130)**
Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Spirit Torment (120)**

Battleline
20 x Chainrasps (220)
Reinforced x 1
3 x Spirit Hosts (130)***
3 x Spirit Hosts (130)***

Units
20 x Dreadscythe Harridans (320)***
Reinforced x 1
4 x Myrmourn Banshees (100)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Mortalis Terminexus (80)

Core Battalions
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Command Entourage – Magnificent
***Galletian Veterans

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Artefact

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 95
Drops: 11

Solid change up to the lists we see for the faction. It almost looks like a pre 3rd Ed battletome. Two units of Spirit Hosts and solid blocks of both Chainrasps and Dreadscythe Harridans to cause problems, but the real meat of the list is the Heroes. That’s not something we’ve been saying about Nighthaunt a lot lately. We have the normal Guardian of Souls, Spirit Torment, and Krulghast to return models to larger units and reduce incoming damage. The Guardian of Souls has been buffed with Fuelled with Ghurish Rage to grant D3 heal and a once per game 3+ ward. I think we will see this a fair bit for the Guardian. They are easily picked up and are crucial. It goes further with auto cast (once per game) for an endless spell and Seal of Shyish (5+ ward).

We aren’t seeing the Cairn Wrath (Kevin) at all, and Lady Olynder is pretty uncommon. Kevin is a bit of a sleeper. His attacks are based on the number of enemy models within 3″. When you are facing Nighthaunt, Soulblight, and Beasts of Chaos, that can be a very nasty surprise. There is nothing wrong with the unit, but Lady Olynder is almost the same cost as 20 Bladegheist (and more than 20 Dreadscythe or Grimghast). What she does do is heal in the hero phase, debuffs, and turns off commands and mortal wounds. There are issues with the reliability of some of these, but if the heroes are clustered around the Chainrasps and Dreadscythes, it can be crucial.

The ranged mortals are a disincentive to getting close (with only 7 wounds she isn’t robust but can hurt in melee). Forcing your opponent to be circumspect can be useful, particularly when your Host talent is to cause D3 mortal wounds to 2 to 4 units every round. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s an average of 10 wounds over 5 rounds. Emerald Host probably isn’t receiving the attention it deserves, but when most armies are 100 to 130 wounds, causing an average of 20 to 40 wounds without risk is pretty important. Even if you assume most games end round 4, that is still an average of 16 wounds. Enough to kill most MSU battleline and a lot of heroes and monsters. And it triggers Murderous Bloodlust (+1 to hit and wound for Dreadscythes).

If you look closely, the whole list has a number of sources of mortal wounds and is really built around making a Murderous Bloodlust trigger, including the Motalis Terminatus. The list looks to outlast and outscore you, and it worked except against Pat’s Maggotkin, another list built to outlast.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Khorne
Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Bloodsecrator (130)*
Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Bloodstoker (80)**
General
– Command Trait: Mage Eater
– Artefact: Skullshard Mantle
Bloodstoker (80)*
Skarbrand (390)**
Slaughterpriest (100)*
Prayer: Bronzed Flesh
Skarr Bloodwrath (110)**

Battleline
10 x Bloodreavers (80)*
Meatripper Axes
10 x Bloodreavers (80)**
Meatripper Axes
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)**

Units
10 x Wrathmongers (280)**
Reinforced x 1
9 x Corvus Cabal (80)*
Allies
9 x The Unmade (80)**
Allies
6 x Mighty Skullcrushers (320)**
Ensorcelled Axes
– Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations
Wrath-Axe (70)

Faction terrain x 1

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 160 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 2

The polar opposite in terms of lists to the Nighthaunt are the recently popular mortal Blades of Khorne. Blood Tithe points are the key to Blades of Khorne – they gain one for every unit that is destroyed. Keeping a steady flow of points is vital, allowing summoning and the granting of boons. It doesn’t matter whose units die, just that something does. Then you should understand that half of this list is just here to die. The Bloodreavers, Unmade and Corvus Cabal, can do damage in the attack, but they’ll explode when struck back. The Bloodstoker can get them there faster, and the Bloodsecrators grant extra attacks. But they are better with the Wrathmongers (who will give other units more attacks) or the Skullcrushers.

The Skullcrushers are a solid anvil. They hit reasonably hard if supported, but they are a 5 wound, 3+ save unit. On the charge, a block of six causes D3 mortals on impact instead of 1 per model. It’s really important to drop one from as far away as possible. The Slaughter Priest is a source of dispels, blessings, and mortal wounds. He can summon the Wrath-Axe for more ranged mortals. That leaves Skarbrand and Skarr. Skarbrand needs no introduction: reroll charges and appalling amounts of damage to anything, not Nighthaunt. Still, for 390 points, he can die fairly easily. Skarr is a lot of fun. He has 5 attacks minimum but can increase it to the number of enemy models within 3″. He grants fight on death to Wrathmongers (who give him an extra attack), and if he dies, he returns to the battlefield on an 8+ (on 2D6).

And that’s the list, a whole lot of things that want to get to you fast, either to kill you or be killed. Unfortunately, they don’t really play the mission well, relying on beating an opponent to death.

Final Tournament Placings

Hedonites of Slaanesh – Faction Review (Jul-Nov ’22)

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.

Hedonites of Slaanesh

Region Comparison – Popularity

Hedonites of Slaanesh saw their highest popularity in Scandinvia with 2.3% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while in the UK & Ireland the uptake was only 1.1%.

Region Comparison – Win Rates

North America saw their highest win rate with just over 50%, while players in Oceania could only manage 31.6%.

North America was the location of the Hedonites of Slaanesh only 5-0 result piloted by Anthony Trentanelli.

Subfaction Analysis

SubfactionPlayersWin Rate
Lurid Haze3450.61%
Godseekers Host1242.50%
Faultless Blades542.31%
Scarlet Cavalcade140.00%
Pretenders Host520.00%
None/Unknown954.44%
Faction Total6646.47%

Lurid Haze was the only subfaction in which players ended the first half of the season with a win rate inside the 45-55% bracket.

Top 10 Hedonites of Slaanesh 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 Hedonites of Slaanesh results only.

Like what we do? Why not buy us a Kofi?

Blades of Khorne – Faction Review (Jul-Nov ’22)

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

Blades of Khorne saw their highest popularity in Oceania with 4.9% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while at the opposite end of the world the uptake was only 1.3% in Scandinavia.

Region Comparison – Win Rates

Their popularity in Oceania transferred to their regional win rates as well with 52.5%. While players in Europe could only manage 37.3%.

Scandinavia was the location of the Blades of Khorne only 5-0 result piloted by Eirik Hilbom.

Subfaction Analysis

SubfactionPlayersWin Rate
Goretide1052.00%
Baleful Lords651.67%
Reapers of Vengeance7350.56%
Bloodlords250.00%
Flayed230.00%
None/Unknown827.50%
Faction Total10148.49%

Although Goretide appears to have the most successful win rate, they were by far not the most popular faction, with the vast majority of players choosing Reapers of Vengeance as their go to.

Top 10 Blades of Khorne 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.

Like what we do? Why not buy us a Kofi?

Top Three AoS Lists for 2D6 Carnage

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for 2D6 Carnage that took place in Norway on 26th and 27th November. 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.

The Top Three AoS Lists

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
Lineage: Legion of Blood
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)
Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (345)*
Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435)
General
– Deathlance
– Command Trait: Sanguine Blur
– Artefact: Soulbound Garments
– Expertise: Martial
– Mount Trait: Foetid Miasma
– Universal Spell Lore: Amethystine Pinions

Battleline
5 x Black Knights (100)**
20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)*
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)*

Units
10 x Blood Knights (390)**
Reinforced x 1
1 x Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone (80)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
Chronomantic Cogs (70)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Bounty Hunters

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 114
Drops: 5

Danny: Do my eyes deceive me? Does that say ‘1st’?! Soulblight have been struggling to rise from the gravesite that Bounty Hunters unceremoniously put them back into, taking a number of podiums recently but pipping the post at a singles event – until now! The route to 1st at first sight looks relatively soft, but the MW output of Kruleboyz can definitely trouble Soulblight, as can the shenanigans of Sylvaneth. Ben here has gone for the ‘double mortarch + VloZD’ archetype, which essentially works as either a giant death star of overlapping buff and de-buff auras (-1 to hit from Neffie, her spell to make something unrendable, CA from Manny for +1 to hit AND wound) or three fast, self sufficient monsters who can harry flanks and generally score well. In Legion of Blood, the VloZD is also able to be ‘Martial, making him slightly more reliable in combat, with Pinions for the extra movement and therefore threat projection.The rest is just good old fashioned objective play. Black knights are fast chaff, the zombies are vulnerable to BH but a ‘small’ squad can mitigate this by hiding in gravesites and popping out onto objectives – super strong on any plan like Silksteel nests or Prize of Gallet – while the Deathrattle do the same job but cheaper and with a smaller footprint. Meanwhile, a brick of 10 Bloodknights act as another potential home for the Mortarch buffs, and can function as a dual-purpose anvil AND hammer. All of this is backed up by some magic tech – the Corpse cart with Lodestone gives off +1 to cast in a 12″ aura (and bizarrely +1 save to zombies…which I can’t see coming in particularly handy) and Cogs protects against miscasts and helps those clutch early auras to go off, giving off plenty of protection if doubled. All in all, it’s a really nice balanced list with some great heroes and huge scoring potential – big up to Benjamin for the rare SBGL 5-0!

Advertisements

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
Stormhost: Astral Templars (Scions of the Storm)
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Lord-Castellant (155)*
Knight-Draconis (300)*
General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts
– Spell: Celestial Blades

Battleline
5 x Liberators (115)*
Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*
Drakerider’s Warblade
6 x Stormdrake Guard (1020)*
Drakerider’s Warblade
– Reinforced x 2

Units
3 x Aetherwings (65)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Holy Command: Call for Aid

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 107
Drops: 1

Brett: The second of our 5/0 armies from the event and an army that shows the impact of some of the more recent releases. Astral Templars are the monster hunting Stormhost turning off monstrous rampages. It’s a small thing but with the Dragons issuing their own commands and relatively few units (so exposed to a roar) it’s a very solid defensive play.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
Great Nation: Ymetrica
– Mortal Realm: Chamon
– Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours
– 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

Artillery
Vanari Starshard Ballistas (130)
Shrine Luminor(0)
Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 121
Drops: 9

Alice: Since the launch of the new book the Alarith lists have sort of dwelled on the outskirts but we haven’t seen a ton of effective use for them and this one definitely gets there. All Alarith units, including the stoneguard, Avelnor and the Stonemage here, reduce Rend -1 to 0, making them much harder to defeat with chaff. The Stonemage is a solid caster handing out a bonus attack to the 3 stoneguard. The Enlightener is a general purpose buff bot with 2, possibly 3 spells per turn. Avalendor is here as the hammer, to crash through just about anything in his way.

Alarith Stoneguard are the bread and butter of this list, their damage is fine, nothing mind blowing but 2 attacks per model (3 with the stoneguard) at -1 to Rend Damage 1 with an additional mortal wound on 6s isnt nothing. Their strength comes from the reduction of rend and a 4+ ward against mortals on objectives. Frustratingly difficult to move, once they’re on that point they aren’t moving.

Sentinels are still here of course, that much ranged damage on a 5+ for mortals is too tempting to pass up, with a Ballista to increase their range and do a bit of damage itself.

Advertisements

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)
Artefacts of Power: Skullshard Mantle
Skarbrand (380)
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster (310)
General
– Command Traits: Mage Eater
Bloodsecrator (125)*
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)*
Artefacts of Power: The Crimson Crown
Slaughterpriest (100)*
Hackblade and Wrath-hammer
– Prayers: Blood Sacrifice

BATTLELINE
Flesh Hounds (105)*
Flesh Hounds (105)**
Flesh Hounds (105)**

OTHER
Wrathmongers (145)**

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Skull Altar (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord
**Bounty Hunters

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Alice: It genuinely warms my heart to see Khorne lists making a good effort even ahead of the new book. You got the Bloodthirster Flush with 1 of each, including Skarbrand. For the most part there isn’t anything too surprising here, Bloodthirsters bring the beat down, sacrificing 4 blood tithes if they need another swing at the start of the next round. One interesting choice here is the Crimson Crown on the Bloodthirsty of Unfettered Fury so he can use Rejoice in their Slaughter for free for a 6″ pilein.

Supporting them is the Bloodsecrator is frankly far too cheap for what he does, granting an additional attack to each unit within 16″, making those terrifying bloodthirsters even more intimidating. The Slaughterpriest is a token priest, with Blood Sacrifice giving those precious Blood Tithes that can be hard to farm on low drop lists. Flesh House make cheap battleline to hold objectives while Wrathmongers are a solid hammer to round out the list.

Remember to check out Alice’s work on Goonhammer.

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for Gourds of War GT

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Gourds of War FT that took place in Texas, USA on 12th and 13th November. 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: Lumineth Realm-lords
Subfaction: Zaitrec
– Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours

LEADERS
Sevireth (320)
Scinari Cathallar (110)**
General
– Command Traits: Loremaster
– Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand
– Spells: Protection of Hysh, Solar Flare, Total Eclipse
The Light of Eltharion (240)**
Vanari Lord Regent (170)**
Spells: Protection of Hysh

BATTLELINE
Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)**
High Warden
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat
Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)**
High Warden
– Spells: Solar Flare
Vanari Auralan Sentinels (450)**
High Sentinel
– Spells: Total Eclipse

OTHER
Vanari Bladelords (130)*
Bladelord Seneschal
Vanari Dawnriders (140)*
Steedmaster
– Standard Bearer
– Spells: Speed of Hysh
Vanari Dawnriders (140)*
Steedmaster
– Standard Bearer
– Spells: Speed of Hysh

TERRAIN
1 x Shrine Luminor (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Bounty Hunters
**Battle Regiment

Ed: Dustin’s List seems simple at first glance, but it is a deceptively hard list to run. All his units have the potential to be stars depending on match ups and battle plans, but they are fragile. You need to be thinking at least a turn ahead to ensure your key pieces are in the right place ahead of time. It is a common mantra that “Games are won in the movement phase”, and I feel like Dustin’s list takes this to heart with his highly manoeuvrable choice of units. Don’t leave an objective open around Dustin!

The Zaitrec subfaction gives all wizards a +1 to casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls. That added reliability is key for getting off important spells, particularly Power of Hysh which represents a huge increase in damage and Protection of Hysh which keeps your army alive.

After so long on the bench, it’s nice to see Eltharion included in a list that’s performing well. As a mid-level threat with a small presence on the table he is often able to fly under the radar until he connects with something important. He is much more reliable since the new battletome, and has been referred to as a Diet-Gotrek – although mortal wounds will bring him down very quickly.

To have achieved 5 wins with this list, Dustin must have played wonderfully. It is an army with a high skill ceiling and an extremely techy set of core mechanics. It’s not your typical netlist army that can be copied by a novice and still do fairly well. But if you’re looking to improve your skills, playing a list like this is a good challenge to test your mastery of strategic buff placement, unit positioning and long term thinking.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty
– Mortal Realm: Shyish
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (955)**
Wight King on Skeletal Steed (110)**
General
– Command Trait: Rousing Commander
– Artefact: Fragment of the Keep

Battleline
5 x Blood Knights (195)*
5 x Blood Knights (195)*
5 x Blood Knights (195)*
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)**
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)**

Endless Spells & Invocations
Umbral Spellportal (80)
Purple Sun of Shyish (90)

Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Battle Regiment

Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 88
Drops: 4

Edited: Sorry I somehow forgot (it’s wishful thinking…) that Blood Knights aren’t summonable! That’s what you get for re-reading Nagash’s scroll after a 1-dayer when your brain is mush. Post is now accurate!

Danny: It’s Nagash! Again! What is happening??

Well, there’s a fairly standard core at play here, with 3x msu Blood Knights in Kastelai providing a roaming set of both tanky AND killy – especially in bounty hunters – fast movers. Aaron will have had the option of layering them up or splitting them off for board control, and either way the Wight King on Steed is a relatively budget general acting as a ‘Rousing Commander’ caddy – which allows the best of the Kastelai ‘kill a unit and gain a buff based on its type’ effects to pop off once per battle ‘for free’, as it were. And the battleline is rounded out by the 2x msu Deathrattle are cost-efficient grave-site lurkers.

So in this context, Nagash seems to really be offering the magical dominance. He can’t buff Blood Knights in the same way Mannfred/Coven Throne etc can, but with Spellportal (and no Cogs – living dangerously!) he can stay at a safe range and shut down a lot of the usual magic threats that would ordinarily threaten the Blood Knights. Soulblight have some excellent debuffs too.

So overall, your opponent has a tough choice. Try and take down Nagash – not easy unless you have excellent ranged firepower – or focus down the Blood Knights and leave the magic powerhouse at liberty. Clearly making his opponent make tough choices paid off, with a brutal anti-aelf campaign, losing only to Zaitrec LRL who could probably stand up to the magic and shut down most of Nagash’s utility. Big congrats to Aaron for the 4-1 with Nagash!

Advertisements

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)
Artefacts of Power: Skullshard Mantle
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)
Skarbrand (380)*
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)**
Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades
Bloodsecrator (125)**
General
– Command Traits: Mage Eater
Slaughterpriest (100)**
Bloodbathed Axe
– Prayers: Resanguination

BATTLELINE
Bloodletters (110)*
Bloodreaper
– Gore-drenched Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
Flesh Hounds (105)*
Gore Hound
– Burning Roar
Bloodletters (110)*
Bloodreaper
– Hornblower
– Bloodsoaked Banner Bearer

OTHER
Karanak (150)*

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Skull Altar (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1985/2000

Peter: Our new colleague, Alice, needs no introduction! You may know her as Ragnarok Angel, the lead AoS writer for Goonhammer. Alice has kindly offered her skills and expertise to help us with top three commentary.

Alice: Blades of Khorne is a real underdog that is often underestimated when faced (Source: Me being the receiving end of it not too long ago). “It’s a bad book, the changes to priest nerfed them!” you say and you aren’t wrong, but piloted by a skilled player and a far too eager opponent, Khorne can put out a lot of damage.

Reapers of Vengeance is still considered the best subfaction, Devour the Craven causes D3 extra models to run on a failed battleshock which is fine but the real meat is the Leave None Alive command ability, allowing a Daemon model to fight a second time. When you look at the quadruple Bloodthirsters, you start to see the profit here.

On top of this, the change to Blood Tithes so they no longer burn all their points at once has had a bigger impact on the faction than is generally understood. For 4 Blood Tithe points, a unit can fight at the beginning of the Hero phase, including your opponent’s, before your opponent has had a chance to set up their buffs. That means a Bloodthirster fighting potentially three times in a single turn of gameplay, assuming something even survives that many hits.

The Bloodthirsters are the showstoppers, but rounding off the list is some decent anti-magic. The forced artefact is a 2+ shrug for spells, which while not ideal is still really good at forcing an enemy wizard to choose different targets. The mandatory Mage Eater is much better, allowing the General, Karnak and Flesh Hounds to unbind spells and even do Mortal Wounds with the General and Karnak. Hexgorger Skulls force -2 to casts, and can potentially cause more mortal wounds. It won’t stop an overwhelming number of spells, which explains the one loss against Lumineth, but it’ll shut down armies with only a handful of crucial spells.

When brought together it creates a list that is just incredibly difficult to engage in close combat. If you fight a Bloodthirster you better go first and you better win because if it hits you on the kick back it’ll kill most things. A blunt instrument, but a reliable one, as Khorne would wish.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts
Grand Court: Blisterskin
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Abhorrant Archregent (245)**
Artefact: The Dermal Robe
– Lore of Madness: Blood Feast
Abhorrant Ghoul King (165)**
Lore of Madness: Miasmal Shroud
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (445)*
General
– Command Trait: Hellish Orator
– Artefact: Eye of Hysh
– Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite
– Lore of Madness: Spectral Host
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)**
Lore of Madness: Monstrous Vigour

Battleline
9 x Crypt Flayers (540)*
Reinforced x 2
10 x Crypt Ghouls (85)*
10 x Crypt Ghouls (85)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 97
Drops: 4

Peter: Another new writer, and perhaps a familiar name to those on the Canadian tournament circuit. Jake Seguin is currently ranked 20th in Canada.

Jake: Don’t call it a renaissance, but things have been looking up of late for our favourite Bretonnian roleplayers. Harnessing both the power of the Incarnate and the frightening damage and recursion of max-size Knight units, a few ghoulish generals have successfully piloted an off-meta army to notable tournament success. Eddy Andrews ascends to abhorrent greatness with his take on a Blisterskin list that foregoes the Incarnate in favour of expanding his royal family with the oft-overlooked King on Zombie Dragon.

You’ll find much of the familiar FEC architecture here: an Archregent, the King on Terrorgheist, and MSU ghouls to fill the battleline slots. What the Zombie Dragon lacks in the spiky mortal wound output of his batty brother, he makes up for in force multiplication. His signature spell (at only a CV of 6) provides a 16” wound reroll bubble for friendly FEC units, juicing the double-fighting Flayers to incredible heights of carnage and closing his own average damage gap significantly with the Terrorgheist.

With 36 wounds, a natural 6+ ward, and conditional access to a 5+ ward from the Terrogheist, the Flayers are sporting some real beef to complement their reach and offence. As FEC can now get an additional Muster from any hero courtesy of White Dwarf, any failed attempt to remove this unit can become a game-losing swing. It may fall short of turning water into wine, but a single hero phase can certainly turn one remaining Flayer into nine. Presenting a tough force allocation dilemma and providing the frail FEC army with an actual anvil, 9 Flayers can threaten to take over any matchup where there isn’t a strong Bounty Hunters threat opposite them.

The four Kings will cast their respective buff spells, supercharge something with up to +4 attacks and run+charge, and slam into the enemy until someone is tabled. Leveraging the ability to summon up to four units from any board edge, the list is also deceptively wide and can play a more cagey objective game if the situation calls for it. While flesh-eating enthusiasts will continue to debate the merits of Blisterskin over Feast Day/Crusading Army until the next End Times, Eddy decided that the army-wide +2 movement and teleport utility was worth giving up his first artefact slot. Instead, he took a Command Entourage for the dermal robe, giving his Archregent that extremely important casting buff in a list where he couldn’t fit Cogs.

Excellent work by Eddy, who only dropped his last two games to the eventual 1st and 3rd-place finishers.

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for the Shakespeare Invitational 2022

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Shakespeare Invitational that took place in the UK on 29th and 30th October. 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: Stormcast Eternals
Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Stormkeep)
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Lord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)*
General
– Celestine Hammer
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts
– Spell: Celestial Blades
Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (325)*
Slann Starmaster (265)*
Allies

Battleline
5 x Liberators (115)*
Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
5 x Liberators (115)*
Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield
4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*
Reinforced x 1

Units
3 x The Farstriders (90)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
Everblaze Comet (90)
Horrorghast (40)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Holy Command: Call for Aid

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 265 / 400
Wounds: 80
Drops: 1

Peter: Owen is one of those players that places consistently well, as proven by the Woehammer player rankings where Owen now sits 10th Worldwide.

Here we’ve got two big hammers in the form of the Lord-Celestant on Stardrake and Celestant-Prime. The latter of which can twiddle his thumbs in reserve until you need him. An allied Slann Starmaster who’s purpose is to dominate the magic phase with its ability to cast three spells and unbind three spells (from anywhere on the table).

What better to protect 1,090 points of heroes than two units of Liberators and some Dracothian Guard Fulminators. The Fulminators can kick out an average of 48 damage before saves which, I might add, are all at rend -2 AND thats without the Lord-Celestant giving them +1 to wound rolls through Celestial Blades….. On top of that each model in the unit (6), has a 50% chance of causing D3 mortals to units within 12″. My assumption is for the Liberators to cap objectives who, because the army is Stormkeep, count as three models each on an objective AND have a 6+ near an objective thanks to being Hammers of Sigmar. Meanwhile the Fulminators ride around smashing face.

The unit of Farstriders can be quite nifty at taking far flung objectives or setting up elsewhere on the battlefield to harass the enemy backlines with chip damage.

We’ll down to Owen for going 5-0!

Advertisements

Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
Great Nation: Ymetrica
– Grand Strategy: Alarith Aftershock

Leaders
Alarith Stonemage (120)
– General
– Command Trait: Unyielding Toughness
– Lore of the High Peaks: Unbreakable Stoicism
– Lore of the High Peaks: Living Fissure
Alarith Stonemage (120)
Artefact: Molten Talisman
– Lore of the High Peaks: Unbreakable Stoicism
– Lore of the High Peaks: Living Fissure
Avalenor, the Stoneheart King (420)***
Scinari Calligrave (115)***
Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
– Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh
Scinari Calligrave (115)***
Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh
– Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh

Battleline
15 x Alarith Stoneguard (360)*
Reinforced x 2
10 x Alarith Stoneguard (240)**
Reinforced x 1
10 x Alarith Stoneguard (240)**
Reinforced x 1
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*
5 x Tree-Revenants (110)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
The Burning Head (20)
Lauchon the Soulseeker (30)

Core Battalions
*Expert Conquerors
**Bounty Hunters
***Command Entourage – Magnificent

Additional Enhancements
Spell

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 126
Drops: 10

Ed: The Alarith models got some tasty buffs in the new Lumineth tome, so it’s not suprising to see a list that leans heavily into those units do well.  In the Ymetrica subfaction everything except the Calligraves and the Tree-Revenents ignore rend of -1 or -2 and since Stoneguard and Avalenor have save characteristics of 4+ and 3+ respectively, they can be tough nuts to crack. They hit pretty hard too and synergize well together too, a wonderful way to build an army if you fancy dipping your toe into those crystal clear Hyshian waters. The Stonemages add crucial support to this list, allowing Avalenor to fight on his top bracket regardless of wounds taken and adding rend to the Stoneguard’s weapons. Having two of them just means that Matthew can spread those buffs around where they are most needed.

“Don’t leave the objective unattended…”

The allied Tree-Revenants are something I’ve been seeing in a lot of lists now that Sylvaneth are a valid ally. As Galetian Veterans who can teleport and pile-in 6″ they make up for the slow pace of all those Stoneguard and open up a lot of creative objective play.  By putting them in Expert conquerors Matthew has 2 adaptive units great for taking advantage of poor positioning and seizing control of objectives without putting his heavy hitters out of position. It’s a great investment for now, but it remains to be seen how valuable they will be when the next GHB drops and the focus moves away from battleline infantry.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Lumineth Realm-lords
Great Nation: Ymetrica
– Grand Strategy: Alarith Afterschock
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Avalenor, the Stoneheart King (420)
The Light of Eltharion (240)
Archmage Teclis and Celennar, Spirit of Hysh (700)**
Alarith Stonemage (120)**
General
– Command Trait: Tectonically Attuned
– Artefact: Molten Talisman
– Lore of the High Peaks: Unbreakable Stoicism
Scinari Calligrave (115)**
Artefact: Silver Wand
– Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh

Battleline
5 x Alarith Stoneguard (120)*
Stone Mallets
5 x Alarith Stoneguard (120)*
Stone Mallets
5 x Alarith Stoneguard (120)*
Stone Mallets

Endless Spells & Invocations
Rune of Petrification (40)

Core Battalions
*Expert Conquerors
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 79
Drops: 8

Ed: Herohammer at it’s best! A whopping 1,595 points of Shanee’s list is made up of heroes, with only 360 points allocated for the mandatory 3 units of battleline.  Like Matthew, Shanee has gone for Stoneguard in Ymetrica for her infantry units meaning they are extremely defence anvils with decent output. However, to go 4W/1L with such a spartan list attests to Shanee’s skill as a player. There isn’t a lot of room for error when one mistake can cost you a quarter of your list or deny you crucial victory points with so few models on the board to play the objectives.  I would love to have watched over her shoulder during one or two of her games and see her approach.

Teclis obviously provides some of the best magic power in the game, providing a 5+ ward save and a variety of utility options that can change to suit your match up. Also, between his Searing Storm of White Light warscroll spell and the Rune of Petrification this list features a lot of multi-target mortal wound output which will tear through multiple small units or anything without a ward save. Avalenor and Eltharion provides a pair of powerful beat-sticks to clean up anything unlucky enough to find itself stuck to the Stoneguard anvils. Finally the Stonemage and Calligrave are support pieces which synergize well with the rest of the list. While the stonemage keeps Avelenor fighting at his best in tough times, the Calligrave is the perfect steward to sit in the Shrine Luminor in the early game dispensing free command points and casting/unbinding rerolls from atop his floating assault waterfall. Fantasy games are weird.

Drive this floating rock closer, I want to hit them with my stave!
Advertisements

Allegiance: Khorne
Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)
Allies
Skarbrand (380)
Bloodsecrator (125)**
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)**
Artefact: Khartoth the Bloodhunger
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)
General
– Command Trait: Mage Eater
– Artefact: Skullshard Mantle
Slaughterpriest (100)**
Prayer: Blood Sacrifice

Battleline
5 x Flesh Hounds (105)*
5 x Flesh Hounds (105)*
5 x Flesh Hounds (105)**
10 x Bloodreavers (80)*
Reaver Blades

Endless Spells & Invocations
Hexgorger Skulls (50)

Core Battalions
*Expert Conquerors
**Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 360 / 400
Wounds: 107
Drops: 10

Kieron: After getting absolutely demolished by a Boomthirster in a recent game, part of my therapy is to write up the feedback from this wildcard list! This list includes a trio of Bloodthirsters: a Boomthirster that does 4 mortal wounds as AoE damage on each 6 to wound; the angriest Bloodthirster there is, Skarbrand, who will also do a ton of mortal wounds on top of 9 damage 3 attacks; then a third Bloodthirster who allows Daemon units to fight from 6″ away, which synergises well with the Reaper of Vengeance sub-faction Command Ability to fight twice.

Put this all together and you can auto-run the Boomthirster 16″ and then pile in 6″, avoiding Unleash Hell, do up to 20 mortal wounds to all enemy units within 8″…pile in up to another 6″ and then do it again. And all of those mortal wounds are in addition to the D6 damage from the Great Axe of Khorne. Then Skarbrand can attack if there’s anything left alive on the board by this point as the Daemon Weapon Khartoth the Bloodhunger allows the bearer to activate out of sequence at the start of the command phase on a 4+. It is at this point that you give your by now weeping opponent the choice of who to fight with next.

There’s also a Bloodsecrator to give each of those angry red monsters an extra attack and make casting more difficult. The Hexgorger Skulls complement making depending on magic against Khorne a risky business by subtracting 2 from all casts and potentially wiping a spell from a wizard’s mind if not killing them outright. It’s also a prayer, so unless you also have a priest, the only way to get rid of it is to detonate it with one of your casters.

The list also has ready access to the Barge Through Enemy Lines bonus point with its speedy Flesh Hounds and access to summoning through Blood Tithe points and to cap everything else of there is Be’Lakor poised and ready to shut down a unit at a key moment where a battle tactic is at stake.

If an opponent can take out the AoE mortal wound threat early on, they can probably cope with the other threats and the list lost to two Stormcast Eternals lists that had the tools to do exactly that. If not…more Blood for the Blood God!

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for AoS @MOAB 2022

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for AoS @MoAB 2022 that took place in New South Wales, Australia on 1st and 2nd October. It involved 44 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: Idoneth Deepkin
Enclave: Ionrachet
– Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADERS
Akhelian King (250)*
General
– Bladed Polearm
– Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury
– Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness
Eidolon of Mathlann, Aspect of the Sea (325)*
Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of the Deeps: Steed of Tides
– Incarnate bonded
Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers (115)*

UNITS
6 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (390)*
Reinforced x 1
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)*
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)*
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (165)*
Retarius Net Launcher

BEHEMOTH
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)*
Allies

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 76
Drops: 1

Brett: Sitting right in the middle with a win rate of 50%, Idoneth are performing well and feature frequently on the podium, but not normally number 1. 5 wins in a bigger event is certainly a credit to the general. Joel’s doing things a bit differently as well, including Morrsarr (Eels) as a key part. With Legacy of Glory from Ionrach the Eels gain either run and charge or fallback and charge in addition to whatever the Tides are providing. 4 clear hammers (Akehlian King, Eidolon, Morrsarr and Krondspine) means there is a lot to deal with. The Reavers add solid shooting, flexibility to garrison the Shipwreck (not clear if it was here). While Lotaan has a really solid aura for a list that tends to castle, +1 to wound rolls for melee within 12″ making even Reaver melee something to consider.

The core though are those 6 eels having the ability to run and charge or fallback on the charge. It is easier to set up a fall back and charge to avoid a redeploy so having it is really strong. On the charge their Voidspear goes to -2 rend and 2 damage. Use the Krondspine backed by Reavers to pin one side of you attack and hit them with the Eels. If something needs dealing with both the King and Eidolon can act independently. Joel’s scored well throughout including all battle tactics and grand strategies with 27 as his lowest score. The last 2 rounds were against top 10 opponents with Big Waagh (Ironjawz heavy backed by BoltBoyz) and Khorne (both Bloodthirsters and Skarbrand.)

Advertisements

Allegiance: Sons of Behemat
Tribe: Breaker Tribe (Fierce Loathing: Bossy Pants and Clever Clog)
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (525)*
General
– Command Trait: Louder than Words
– Artefact: Vial of Manticore Venom (Universal Artefact) (fortcrusha flail)
Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (525)*
Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (525)*
Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
– Bonded to incarnate

Behemoths
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)
Allies

Core Battalions
*Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent

Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 105
Drops: 4

Brett: Sons have really started to tower in the last couple of months, this is a very popular list in Season 1. 3 Gatebreakers (ranged attack) with a Krondspine in Breaker Tribe being especially peeved by heroes and wizards. Bosses of stomp with an extra artefact, in this case Manticore Venom and Tome with the Flaming Weapon. Very aggressive option as opposed to the tanky builds that we frequently see. The Incarnate is almost as difficult to remove as a gargant and gives good protection against Endless Spells. Dares your opponent to risk levelling the Incarnate? Terrenance’ scores were more volatile than Joel’s and he dropped 2 battle tactics which was enough to make him 2nd even with his 5/0.

Advertisements

Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle
Army Subfaction: Drowned Men
– Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration

LEADER
1 x Be’lakor (360)
1 x Lord of Afflictions (210)*
General
– Command Traits: Overpowering Stench
– Incubatch
– Dolorous Tocsin
– Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm
1 x Orghotts Daemonspew (300)*

BATTLELINE
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
Dolorous Tocsin
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
Dolorous Tocsin
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
Dolorous Tocsin
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
Dolorous Tocsin
5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)*
Blightlord
– Icon Bearer
– Sonorous Tocsin Bearer

TERRAIN
1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw (0)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Brett: Variation on the very popular (especially in the UK) Nurgle Blightlord/Blightking list. Be’Lakor is now a common inclusion as a great combat wizard in his own right, combined here with Orghotts and Lord of Afflications. Tom has gone with a block of Blightkings instead of a group of 4 Blightlords to free up points for Be’Lakor/Orghotts. The heroes are 870pts or 44% of the list value. The Blightkings are slow but can give a lot of board control (base stats give 60 effective wounds – 20 wounds, 4+ save and 5+ ward). Otherwise everything is moving 8″ and spewing disease points/mortal wounds everywhere. It’s a flexible list that is hard to concentrate force against. While a shooting army might drop 2 x Blightlords that would mean you aren’t shooting the deamon princes.

Overall Tom and Terrance (2nd) were very close on score scoring 23 tactics and all grand strategies on the day but Tom lost to Terrance in the 3rd round. That’s a possible weakness of the smaller Blightlord units, a Gargant can deal with those pretty easily but the reverse isn’t true.

Advertisements

Army Faction: Blades of Khorne
Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance
– Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance

LEADERS:
Khaen, Harvester of Skulls.”
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295)
Artefacts of Power: Skullshard Mantle
Oryx, Bane of Aqshy.”
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)
Artefacts of Power: Deathdealer
Skarbrand, the Exiled One.”
Skarbrand (380)**
Rakhan, The Red.”
Slaughterpriest (100)**
Hackblade and Wrath-hammer
– Prayers: Bronzed Flesh
Khargos, the Destroyer.”
Bloodsecrator (125)**
General
– Command Traits: Mage Eater
– Artefacts of Power: Skullshard Mantle
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur

BATTLELINE:
Bloodreavers (80)*
Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Chieftain
– Meatripper Axe
Bloodreavers (80)*
– Chieftain
– Icon Bearer
– Hornblower
– Meatripper Axe
Flesh Hounds (105)*

BEHEMOTH:
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)

OTHER:
Wrathmongers (145)**

TERRAIN:
Skull Altar (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Expert Conquerors
**Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
DROPS: 10

Brett: The extra list is an example of what Khorne is capable of now. It’s a hero list from the outset concentrating on the awesome power of Skarbrand with both Bloodthirsters. Doubling down with a Krondspine and only relatively small weak screening/action units (maybe not the Wrathmongers). The Flesh hounds have decent mobility to grab objectives in early rounds otherwise these units are mostly protecting the big boys and giving blood tithe points when they die. Khorne has some of the cheapest daemon summoning available (the can to it with 2 points). That cheap unit dies easily and refunds the cost, or you can unlock some very strong abilities if you don’t summon.

Krondspine is mostly a distraction in this list forcing you to split your attention, if you can focus fire it’s not that hard to drop either Bloodthirster or Skarbrand. His only loss was to Joel (1st) whose shooting/melee combination was too much to handle. Otherwise the lack of bodies appears to have reduced his scores across the board and saw Blake take 20 battle tactics. Still a really strong performance from a faction that even 4 months ago no one was really running.

Final Tournament Placings