Category Archives: Disciples of Tzeentch

Top Three AoS Lists for XPG Age Of Sigmar GT

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This is the top three AoS lists for XPG Age Of Sigmar GT that took place in Canada on the 9th and 10th of March. It saw 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.

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The Top Three AoS Lists

Army Faction: Sylvaneth
– Subfaction: Heartwood
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumph: Inspired
– Seasons of War: The Dwindling

LEADERS
Spirit of Durthu (350)
– Artefacts of Power: Greenwood Gladius
Drycha Hamadreth (300)
– Spells: Regrowth, Verdant Blessing
Belthanos (360)
Warsong Revenant (270)
– General
– Command Traits: Spellsinger
– Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing

BATTLELINE
Dryads (100)
Dryads (100)
Tree-Revenants (110)
Namarti Reavers (160)
Namarti Reavers (160)

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40)

TOTAL POINTS: 1950/2000

A…K: A very interesting list from Jordan that makes great use of Belthanos’ force multiplying capabilities by going down the multi-hammer archetype. Durthu and belthanos are an excellent tag team, 11″ of movement + charge on a high damage platform like durthu is nothing to sniff at. The list also sports Drycha, who’s impressively self-sufficient and perfectly capable of bullying smaller units/sniping characters with her deadly ranged flitterflies. She is also able to remain self-sufficient with Regrowth and the threat of a deadly unleash hell.

The warsong rev general, fresh off its points cut, provides one of the best savant bids out there whilst opening up the board with Verdant blessings and spiteswarm hive charges all from the safety of your deployment zone.

Finally, and most intriguingly, the Namarti Reaver allies are a wonderful little tech piece. Sylvaneth often struggle to reliably deal damage with large portions of their army with the focus on strike and fading key pieces. The namarti are able to alleviate some of this burden by opening up additional avenues of consistent damage at up to 26″ range, helping to strip screens, provide chip damabe and bait All out defence in conjunction with Drycha’s shooting. They are a steal at just 320 points for the lot while not relying on an arch revenant in the same way that Kurnoth bows in a similar role might.
The list also wields 45 ablative wounds spread across 5 units, which grants it an uncharacteristic level of board presence for a Sylvaneth army.

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Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts
– Grand Court: Hollowmourne
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs:


Leaders
Abhorrant Archregent (150)**
– General
– Command Trait: Feverish Scholar
– Lore of Madness: Deranged Transformation
Abhorrant Archregent (150)**
– Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
Marrowscroll Herald (100)***
Marrowscroll Herald (100)*

– Artefact: Charnel Vestments
– Prayer: Charnel Conviction


Battleline
3 x Crypt Horrors (130)***
3 x Crypt Horrors (130)***
3 x Crypt Horrors (130)***


Units
20 x Royal Beastflayers (220)***
– Reinforced x 1
20 x Royal Beastflayers (220)*
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Crypt Flayers (320)*
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Morbheg Knights (300)***
– Reinforced x 1


Endless Spells & Invocations
Chalice of Ushoran (50)

Core Battalions
*Wizard Finders
**Andtorian Acolytes
***Battle Regiment

Total: 2000 / 2000

Jake: This is a list that I’ve played frankly too many times at this point, and was designed to strike the right balance between objective control and power projection. With half my reinforcement points in Serfs and half in Knights, the core gameplay pattern is fairly simple: sit behind a massive wall of Serfs to score primary; jump over said wall with flying Knights to counterpunch and do battle tactics. Get charged and then charge – peak Warhammer!

Of course, this is aided by the extreme efficiency of the Royal Beastflayer blocks, who have outgrown their utility role of only suppressing Monsters and are pound-for-pound the best tarpit in the book. Their interaction with Chalice of Ushoran and the Archregent’s Countless Servants (as a unit with multi-wound models that nonetheless count as 1 wound) offers them eye-watering recursion potential. Many lists simply don’t have the raw damage required to cleanly remove them, and it’s always a tragedy when that happens – the five or so remaining models quickly balloon back to their full 20, choking out the objectives. There are plenty of tricks you can do with Beastflayers due to their unique footprint and the fact that all the damage comes from 6 models, so I find they are a joy to play with on the table.

I’ve opted to use a 6-block of Morbheg knights as my primary damage delivery system, as they are fairly buff agnostic, fast, and offer a source of mortals. Previous versions of the list used a second block of Morbhegs, but I have made the call to switch them for Flayers. This decision has aged well: Flayers open up a bespoke battle tactic, make numerous other battle tactics easier, allow you to move your Feeding Frenzy aura far upfield, and do significant damage in shooting, often drawing out a crucial All-Out Defense. I round out my list with two copies of the best Abhorrant and the best Courtier, respectively. Because my recursion is mostly passive or from the chalice, I am freed up to skip Cruel Taskmaster and make an Abhorrant my General, securing access to the very reliable Spellcasting Savant.

Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Army Subfaction: Guild of Summoners
– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
– Triumphs: Inspired


LEADER
1 x Curseling (200)*
– General
– Command Traits: Cult Demagogue
– Spells: Shield of Fate, Merciless Blizzard
1 x Changecaster (140)*
– Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud
– Spells: Hoarfrost, Merciless Blizzard
1 x Be’lakor (340)**
1 x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (150)**

– Spells: Arcane Suggestion, Glimpse the Future
1 x Tzaangor Shaman (130)**
– Spells: Arcane Suggestion, Glimpse the Future


BATTLELINE
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)
– Kairic Adept
– Pair of Cursed Blades
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)
– Kairic Adept
– Pair of Cursed Blades
10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)**
– Iridescent Horror
– Pink Horror Icon Bearer
– Pink Horror Hornblower
– Split and Split Again


ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (50)
1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
1 x Tome of Eyes (40)


OTHER
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (180)


CORE BATTALIONS:
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Warlord


TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Kieron Bailey: A good 4-1 outcome with a variation on what a lot of Tzeentch lists are turning to (including mine!) which is buffing spells with a combat threat to back it up. Most chosen spells are focused on buffing your own units so it totally cuts out any spell ignores from Khorne or Null Myriad. In addition, with Cult Demagogue, the Curseling can auto-cast any of its spells using a pair of Destiny Dice that have the same number and it cannot be unbound. This can guarantee a Blizzard goes off or a Shield of Fate to make the Enlightened Hammer piece a bit more survivable. Usually this might only happen once a game, but with the Eternal Shroud potentially regenerating Destiny Dice, it might be a few times across the game that this trick can be pulled off.

While potentially being able to generate 9 Fate Points to summon a Lord of Change in their first hero phase, it’s probably easier to go for Magical Dominance with the Curseling as with 9 Destiny Dice, you’ll have a couple of doubles. Then turn 2 is when Big Bird appears followed by one or two other Tzeentch battle tactics and then a nice, straightforward Intimidate the Invaders with the Grand Strategy as the icing on the cake.

What the Tzeentch player needs is time for all of this to come together and the Pink Horrors partly do this (though 50 wounds on a mostly 6+ save isn’t as good as it was at the start of 3rd) but Belakor is the trump card here, allowing a key unit to be shut down for one or maybe two turns, possibly preventing a battle tactic and presenting chaos with the victory.

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Allegiance: Skaven
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Grey Seer (110)*
– General
– Command Trait: Shaman of the Chilled Lands
– Artefact: Skavenbrew
– Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell (240)**
– Lore of Ruin: Skitterleap
Lord Skreech Verminking (370)*
Master Moulder (80)*

Battleline
20 x Clanrats (100)**
– Rusty Blade
– 1x Standard Bearers
– 1x Standard Bell Ringers
20 x Clanrats (100)**
– Rusty Blade
– 1x Standard Bearers
– 1x Standard Bell Ringers
4 x Rat Ogors (260)*
– Reinforced x 1
4 x Rat Ogors (260)*
– Reinforced x 1

Units
5 x Plague Censer Bearers (100)*
5 x Plague Censer Bearers (100)*

Behemoths
Hell Pit Abomination (180)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

Total: 1970 / 2000

Kieren Coates: Ridge has come through with a real mixed bag of skaven, focused on lots of bodies across the board and playing for points.

Starting off with the first choice is shaman of the chilled lands on the grey seer, enabling spellcasting savant as the grand strategy to score it if the grey seer is alive. With a 3+ bodyguard on the seer, -1 to be hit at range and melle next to clanrats, and the ability to scurry away this little caster is harder to kill than his warscroll may suggest.

However, it’s not a simple option, as with 8 rat ogors in the list, the loss of consistency from Hordemaster on the Master Moulder is sorely missed, however Ridge has opted for the stronger grand strategy which is respectable in a control style list.

With 8 rat ogors, 10 censors, a hell pit, skreech and jaws it has enough damage to clear most lists which dont respect its output, while having plenty of wounds and recursion to clog up the board for a long fight.

Well done on the 4-1!

Final Tournament Placings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/K6q3hkUqA0

Disciples of Tzeentch – Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor

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All the data used in the charts on this article are drawn from events that have been hosted on Best Coast Pairings, Stats & Ladders and Ecksen using the points and FAQs from Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor published in September 2023.

This chart shows the faction popularity, using the number of players using them at events.

The Combined win rate chart shows the overall win rate for these subfactions. This is the most comparable data to GW’s own metawatch articles. The figure in brackets shows the number of games featuring that subfaction the data is drawn from.

The above shows the win rates for each subfaction at GT events. These are events of single player tournaments of 2,000 points per player spread over a minimum of 5 rounds. This would be considered the most competitive view, with many of the players being experienced and looking to optimise their lists.

RTT/Casual shows the win rates for events that are not classified as a GT event. This could be doubles, teams, narrative, but mostly revolves around single day events known as RTTs.

The nitty gritty of a faction! This chart shows the win rate for lists where the specified warscroll has been included in the players list. The figure in brackets shows the number of games that featured the warscroll.

This shows the source of the Grand Strategy used in the players’ games, whether they are from the Battletome or the General’s Handbook.

Here you can see both the win rate of each Grand Strategy when it was used, as well as the popularity of the strategies.

Like our Grand Strategy source chart, this shows the same information but for Command Traits.

Once again, we can see the win rate of each Command Trait when used in players’ lists. The figure in brackets shows the number of games where that Command Trait was used.

Finally, we have the win rates for Endless Spells when included in lists.

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Disciples of Tzeentch Battletome Review

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Lore

The Disciples of Tzeentch are a faction within the Chaos pantheon in Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Dedicated to the Changer of Ways, Tzeentch, they embody the essence of change, magic, and manipulation. Led by powerful sorcerers and daemonic entities, they seek to unravel the fabric of reality and reshape it according to their whims. With a focus on sorcery, cunning, and intricate schemes, the Disciples of Tzeentch manipulate events from the shadows, often orchestrating complex plots that span years. In battle, they employ a diverse array of arcane powers and otherworldly creatures, leveraging their mastery over magic to outmanoeuvre and outwit their foes. However, their allegiance comes with a price, as Tzeentch is known for his ever-shifting plans and unpredictable nature, making loyalty to the Changer of Ways a precarious endeavour.

Battle Traits

Starting with the Battle Traits, Disciples of Tzeentch have a range of powerful and flavourful rules that really help define your army and shape list building. The first one, Arcane Armies allows an auto-cast of Tzeentch Endless Spell and it cannot be unbound until Turn 2 at the earliest. While somewhat out of sequence, it’s a good opportunity to go through those Warscrolls now to decide how good this rule actually is.

Tome of Eyes

The cheapest is also the one that I think is the best, due to the change to Chronomantic Cogs during 3rd edition. For 40 points, you can reroll casting roles (only) and thrown in is a spell that can do D3 mortals wounds and reduce bravery by 1 for the rest of the battle. For most efficiency, put it on Kairos and get to re-roll all three of his spells, potentially useful for a particular Book Battle Tactic. The Endless Spell follows around the model it is ‘bound’ to, so can also be used to sneakily screen off a portion of base, preventing all melee attacks being able to get in.

Burning Sigil

Next up, is the Endless Spell that I think is the coolest: Burning Sigil. It has a range of 18” and then at the end of the movement phase, you roll a dice for every unit within 9”, even friendly units. On a 4+, the unit takes D3 mortal wounds and if a model dies, you can add a spawn within 3” of the unit (only once per activation though). This is fantastic for shutting down shooting units as they find themselves in combat and have took overkill the spawn instead. It can be amazing to shut down charges too: I once popped a spawn down within 3” of a unit of Brutes, a Mawkrusha and some Pigs that were about to ruin my screen. Instead, they just ate a lot of magic next hero phase. It is pricey, at 70pts though, and with some armies, it’s practically useless. Face Beastclaw Raiders and it’s doing nothing as they have too many wounds; Khorne might die but a) they might ignore, earning Bloodtithe and b) they’ll kill the spawn quickly anyway…stop me if you’ve heard this one, earning Bloodtithe! 

Daemonic Simulacrum

Again for 70pts, you have an Endless Spell that probably does 3 mortal wounds (9 dice and 5+s) or 5 mortal wounds to wizards (9 dice and 4+s). Waste of a slot – take Aethervoid Pendulum or Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws instead.

Summoning

Disciples of Tzeentch are a summoning army, with summoning or Fate Points being earned whenever a spell is cast, friendly and enemy. This can have an interesting effect on armies that depend on casting as if they do go through with the cast, they make summoning easier but at the same time, it might also make the Tzeentch player allow some spells to be cast for the same reason. There are several Daemon units that can be summoned, but the three you are most likely to see are 10 Blue Horrors for 10 Fate Points; 10 Pink Horrors for 20 Fate Points; a Lord of Change (the generic one, not Kairos!) for 30 Fate Points. There is a sub-faction that allows for Lords of Change to be summoned on a 9 the first time and then on an 18 each time after that BUT you can only summon Lords of Change. Lore-wise, the Guild of Summoners (the sub-faction in question), aims to summon NINE Lords of Change at once to bring about something appropriately apocalyptic. At 2k points and 5 turns, the most you can get on the table is 8, so look for a Guild of Summoners mirror match to check the veracity of the prophesy! The summoning is fine, but is severely overshadowed by Seraphon Starborne summoning as they get summoning points for existing and for casting their own spells and unbinding the opponent’s. 

Change Covens

I’ve mentioned one of the Change Covens or sub-factions already, so let’s dive into those now, starting with the Big Bird fans, Guild of Summoners.

Guild of Summoners

GoS is definitely one of the competitive options, allowing you to summon and almost 400pt model, relatively easily for only 9 Fate Points. Many GoS lists feature Kairic Acolytes as battleline, and they can cast a spell each; with a certain Command Ability, you get an extra 3 Fate Points and then the spell in Arcane Armies counts too – that’s 8 Fate Points already. In addition, there’s a Book Battle Tactic for doing this. However, there are a couple of buts. The biggest one is that only Arcanite (i.e. mortal) wizards can summon. Lose those and no more summoning. Having the space to fit those big bases in can be tricky too. The other catch is that the Lords of Change are casting from the same pool of spells and they are not good in combat, even with a sword and flaming weapon. Therefore, take the Rod of Sorcery for some shooting chip damage and an Endless Spell like Aethervoid Pendulum or Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws.

Host Arcanum

The other competitive option, and the one you take if you want to take the very cool Screamers as battleline and be able to summon in Horrors (among other units, but mainly Horrors) is Host Arcanum. Another bonus from Host Arcanum is that you can unbind a spell without rolling dice rounds 1, 3 and 5. And why those three? What does 1+3+5 make?

And the rest…

Host Duplicitous has a cool gimmick where units can’t fall back and can bring 5 Pinks back on a 4+ once per game. Theoretically, 30 Pinks could tarpit a whole army as it would 150 wounds BUT that costs almost 800points and 10 Chosen fully buffed could take that out in a couple of combat phases. Eternal Conflagration gives extra rend to magical ranged attacks and have Flamers as battleline. 9 Flamers will put you back about 600 points and will die to a stiff breeze. The last two are Kairic and Tzaangor based and unless you have a particular army in mind for verrrrry casual games, skip these.

Coalition Options

Disciples of Tzeentch can play nicely with Slaves to Darkness, able to take two units out of every four from the other battletome and get along with Beasts of Chaos okay, able to take one out of every four from this book. As to the units you would want to take, they’ll probably all be melee units as melee is somewhere that Tzeentch can struggle with, though various hues of Tzaangor do have a good punch still. 

For Slaves to Darkness, six Varanguard are an excellent choice, with some Chaos Chosen also being an option. Six Ogroids can also do tremendous work with their great axes and look really cool alongside an Ogroid Thaumaturge. 20 Chaos Warriors can be a decent anvil if you don’t want to use Pinks, especially as all of these units will be able to receive the Shield of Fate spell buff, giving them a 5+ ward and a potential spell ignore too. With Mystic Shield, All out Defense AND a 5+ ward, those Warriors will be tricky to remove. Having a melee threat is really important as there are lots of matchups that can neutralise the magic threat, for example, Khorne. A couple of more techy pieces from the S2D range include the Cockatrice to potentially mean that enemy melee only hits on 6s and the Mindstealer Sphiranx for fight last (though to make that worthwhile you’re going to want two melee threats!). Of the Warcry Warbands, Corvus Cabal are good for deepstriking as Tzeentch has (almost) no way of teleporting short of Soulscreen Bridge. Untamed Beasts could be useful to look at for a pregame move. Last but not least, for those people who have more friends than they know what to do with, there is Belakor. His spells will add to Fate Point generation, and there’s always The Dark Master ability aka ‘Belakor says no’ to potentially shut down unit activations.

For Beasts of Chaos, melee hammers such as Dragon Ogres or Bullgor certainly have a place and Ungor can do a good job as a screen at a very reasonable price.

Locus of Change

Pretty handy rule here for keeping your Daemon units alive in the form of Locus of Change. Really straightforward in as much as if a Daemon unit is wholly within 12” of a Daemon hero (e.g. Lord of Change or Gaunt Summoner) then they are -1 to hit in melee.

Master of Destiny

And the final Battle Trait is Mastery of Destiny which gives you Destiny Dice. You roll nine at the beginning of the game and then you can use the result of one of these dice INSTEAD OF rolling. They can’t be used for every dice roll but can be used for:

Casting

Unbinding

Dispelling

Run

Charge

Hit

Wound

Save

Damage characteristic of missile or magic weapon (not for magic damage, sadly)

Battleshock

For the above rolls that need two dice, you need to use two Destiny Dice and your Coalition units cannot benefit from them at all.

In terms of gaining more dice, Kairos allows you to add one at the start of each hero phase; there is a spell that adds one; there is a relic that gives and extra dice for unmodified hit rolls of a 6; there is a command ability that allows a dice’s value to be changed; there is a relic that allows you to roll a dice each time a Destiny Dice is used and on a 5+, you can roll a new one. This last relic (The Eternal Shroud) can be useful for doing something with the 1s and 2s you have rolled as you can use them for run rolls or any other roll that doesn’t really matter to try and generate a better outcome. However you are generating them, the number you have cannot exceed nine. Therefore, a good trick if you’re going second is to find a pre-text to use a low roll up, such as for a save roll you couldn’t make anyway or by taking a battleshock test that won’t result in models running, even on a 6. Then, when Kairos activates his ability to generate a dice in the Hero phase, you get another try at rolling for a better dice.

Managing your Destiny Dice is key to victory as Tzeentch, particularly as the Grand Strategy, Master of Destiny, needs you to have a total of nine or more on Destiny Dice at the end of the game (e.g. a 2, a 3 and a 4). They can be tremendously powerful when used at the right time. I’ll share two examples to illustrate this. In a game against Beastclaw Raiders, I think I’ve screened well enough, but a Stonehorn manages to get into Kairos and would have turned him into a puff of feathers if not for Destiny Dice. I slow rolled the first couple of saves (i.e. one at a time) and then used almost half of the rest of my Destiny Dice to save the rest. Kairos lived (well, for a couple more turns at least!). An aggressive example is with Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc, who move 16” with fly. My opponent had screened quite well, but because I had a couple of high Destiny Dice, I could guarantee an 11” charge to rip apart several key support characters that shifted the whole game in my favour.

Battle Tactics

Tzeentch are blessed with some pretty good Book Battle Tactics that can all be achieved, albeit with some list construction choices needed to allow them to happen.

Call for Change

To achieve this tactic you need to summon a Lord of Change, which is very difficult for most Covens as it costs 30 Fate Points but simple for Guild of Summoners as they only need nine Fate Points. Being able to achieve this tactic so easily is one of GoS’s strengths competitively and you will complete this tactic if you take this sub-faction.

Mass Conjuration

Casting three spells that are not unbound with the same character is what is required here. It doesn’t specify Kairos Fateweaver as the character as, when the book came out, Wizards could take the Arcane Tome as a relic to get an extra cast, meaning that there were a few options to achieve this tactic. As things currently stand, however, it is Kairos only who can achieve this. There is a bit of risk with this one, but if Tome of Eyes is attached to Kairos and he is out of unbind range, it’s a relatively safe bet.

Ninefold Dismantlement

Kill a unit with nine or more models or a hero/monster with a wounds characteristic of nine or more. Very straightforward one as even if you only do the final wound to a 10 wound model, the battle tactic is achieved.

Tides of Anarchy

Take an objective from an opponent with nine or more models. Again, really easy to do unless you are pinned in your deployment zone for the whole game. 

Reckless Abandon

You need to successfully complete a charge with a mortal Tzeentch unit that started the turn 18” away from all enemy units. I have completed this one before, but the only unit that can really do it is a Magister on Disc and then the Magister gets squished shortly afterwards. Don’t bother with this one.

So in summary, two all sub-factions will be able to do; three that one of them will; one that Kairos can do but is situation dependent and one that’s just too much of a faff. Many armies would kill for an array that good! 

Grand Strategies

Dominate Arcane Nexus

Don’t choose this.

Preponderance of Fate

Don’t choose this.

Realm of Magic

Don’t choose this.

Master of Destiny

Choose this! Having nine on your Destiny Dice at the end of the game is ENTIRELY uninteractive as your opponent can do nothing to stop you. If you fail this strategy, Tzeentch is throwing you into the Well of Eternity next.

So to bring Battle Tactics and Grand Strategies together, a Tzeentch player is positioned to score well on these, with an expectation, short of an early tabling of scoring 10+ points on these. The challenge, therefore, is in the primary scoring of holding objectives, so make sure you build your lists with that in mind.

Command Abilities

There are two flavours on offer here, Daemon heroes and Mortal ones, with there being a few good ones but maybe Mortal Command Abilities just edging it.

Daemon Heroes

Arch Sorcerer

Know two extra spells from the Daemon spell lore, Lore of Change. Lords of Change/Kairos know all of the spells anyway and the Lore of Change is the weaker of the two, so give this one a pass.

Daemonspark

Once per game 3 Fate Points, which sounds underwhelming, but can help guarantee turn 1 summoning. If you have a Daemon general, this is probably your choice.

Incorporeal Form

5+ spell ignore…meh. You’re Tzeentch: unbind the spell!

Nexus of Fate

Can re-roll the result of a Destiny Dice at the start of each hero phase. Lots of fun, but there are better options.

Arcanite Heroes

Arcane Sacrifice

Add 9” to spell range by inflicting a wound to a nearby friendly unit. 27” cast is great, especially with some of the amazing spells from the Lore of Fate…but it’s only one spell and how long will you be 27” away from your target? One turn? 

Arch Sorcerer

Same as above but for Lore of Fate. Now, Lore of Fate is the better spell Lore but Gaunt Summoners exist and knowing two is not the same as casting two. Best on a Cursling if you’re going to take it as he does have two casts.

Cult Demagogue

If the FIRST casting roll is a double, even a double 2, the spell is successful, regardless of the casting value and cannot be unbound. In addition, you get 2 Fate Points for this spell. Spells that cannot be unbound are absolute money, so this is probably the pick of the bunch. Rolled a bunch of 2s for your Destiny Dice? Despair not if you have Cult Demagogue!

Illusionist

Subtract 1 from hit rolls that target your general. The most robust character that can take this has 8 wounds on a 4+. This Command Ability won’t save him.

Nexus of Fate

Copy and paste from above with same comments.

Soul Burn

Unmodified rolls of a 6 in meleedo one mortal wound on addition. Could not be more underwhelming. No model has enough attacks to make this proc often enough and you don’t want your characters in melee.

Artefacts of Power

As above, one basket for Daemons another for their Mortal summoners.

Daemon Heroes

Beacon of Mutability

Add 1 to wound rolls for Daemon units wholly within 9” of the bearer. Screamers are the only Daemon unit we want in combat and they go 16” and potentially charge another 12” into the distance. Simply won’t come off enough for the investment of an artefact.

Blade of Fate

Pick one of the bearer’s melee weapons…skip! Even Lords of Change with swords are decidedly mediocre and you’d need to hit with an unmodified roll of a 6 to be able to generate a Destiny Dice.

Nine-Eyed Tome

Re-roll casting, unbinding and dispelling. Fantastic value on a Gaunt Summoner to get to re-roll two casts; pop Tome of Eyes on Kairos and that’s 5 spells you’re re-rolling. It’s almost like Cogs never changed!

Pyrofyre Staff

Pick one of the bearer’s melee weapons…skip! Even worse that Blade of Fate so don’t waste your time with it.

Eternal Shroud

Each time a Destiny Dice is used, on a 5+, you can roll another dice and put it back in. Very good and the go-to when Chronomantic Cogs still offered full re-rolls. With Kairos, the Destiny Dice Spell and this, you can legitimately expect to have access to 15+ Destiny Dice per game. Definitely worth a look.

Warpfire Blade

Pick one of the bearer’s melee weapons…skip! In the Lore for Lords of Change it explains how they basically kite opponents, hurling spells at them as they fly backwards, desperately trying to stay out of melee range…so I am clueless as to why half the Daemon relics are versions of combat weapons. In comparison, one (ONE!) of the eight Blades of Khorne relics, Daemon and Mortal alike, features “pick one of the bearer’s melee weapons.”

Mortal

Ambition’s End

Once per battle, a Wizard within 1” of the bearer takes the battle round number of wounds. Rubbish.

Changeblade

Pick one of the bearer’s melee weapons…seriously?!

Daemonheart

Ambition’s End but for all units and not just Wizards. Slightly less rubbish, but still rubbish.

Secret Eater

Pick one of the bearer’s weapons…I’m going to actually consider this one for a moment before rejecting it as it can be a missile weapon and the Cursling has a D6 attacks missile weapon. Roll an unmodified hit roll of 6 and roll yourself up a Destiny Dice if you have fewer than nine. But is it better than re-rolling spells or getting Destiny Dice back just for spending them (on a 5+ anyway)? No.

Spiteful Shield

Two mortal wounds back on an unmodified save roll of a 6. Great on a melee hero, of which Tzeentch have none…

Timeslip Pendant

Fight for a second time but at the end of the phase. Unlikely to need to kill something enough while that unit will not kill you when they activate. Not terrible, but same problem as Secret Eater – nowhere near best-in-slot.

TL;DR your command trait is likely Daemonspark or Cult Demagogue and your artifact is probably Nine-Eyed Tome.

Spells

This is where a lot of the flavour comes from with Tzeentch, with a huge variety of spells to consider. The Tzeentch Endless Spells have already been looked at, but with look at the Tzeentch Spell Lores, Notable Warscroll Spells and Notable Endless Spells too.

Lore of Change (Daemon Spells)

Lords of Change and Kairos know all of these, which gives a lot of flexibility. Also worth mentioning at this point that if you are wholly with 18” of a big bird, you get +1 to casting, unbinding and dispelling and it stacks.

Bolt of Change

18”, CV7, D6 MWs. Bread and butter mortal wound spell and will be one of your most commonly cast spells. Really useful for popping heroes that are otherwise hidden by the Look Out Sir character targeting rules. Only slight downsides are the inherent variability of a D6 damage roll and the Lore of Fate has the same spell and you can only cast Bolt of Change from one of the disciplines and not both.

Fold Reality

18”, CV7, Recursion spell. Do you have Screamers in your lists in units of 6 or 9? If so, you want this spell. If successfully cast, choose one Daemon unit wholly within 18” and visible and roll a dice. On a 1, everything went wrong and the unit is sent back to whence it came. But on a 2+, you get this many models back. On a unit of nine Screamers that your opponent has whittled down to one or two, bringing back six with this spell is pretty crushing (and low risk for you as the 1 in 6 chance of being destroyed isn’t that impactful if there is only a single model left anyway). It does work on Horrors, but only Brimstones so only useful on them in very fringe circumstances. No restrictions on whether you are in engagement range either, which is another strong positive.

Treason of Tzeentch

18”, CV7, Damage/debuff spell. Pick a unit with two or more models (as they have to turn on each other, see) and roll the number of dice that there are in the unit and every 6 is a mortal wound. In addition, subtract 1 from hit rolls for this unit. It’s fine, but probably either a very situational spell or one that you use in Guild of Summoners when all of the other spells have been cast!

Tzeentch’s Firestorm

12”, CV8, Nine dice; 6s D3MWs. Really exciting spell on paper…that almost always does 2 mortal wounds. Cast Arcane Bolt and then charge instead!

Unchecked Mutation

18”, CV6, D3MWs and then maybe +D3MWs. An alright spell here and one that far outshines Tzeentch’s Firestorm at least on the one or two wound models that will proc the second D3MWs. 

Lore of Fate (Mortal Spells)

The Gaunt Summoner (both varieties) know all of these, despite being a Daemon and having their chosen spell have to come from the Lore of Change, or any spells specific to a season of AoS. The spells are generally very good, which is why I almost always start with a Gaunt Summoner in my lists.

Arcane Suggestion

18”, CV8, Debuff Variety Pack

Arcane Suggestion gives you a range of debuffs to inflict. Either not being able to issue it receive commands; -1 to hit and wound; -1 from save rolls (note that this does not change armour characteristic or AP of a unit so can stack with rules that do affect those). Great spell and one that you’re likely to want to cast every turn. Turning off Inspire Bravery for key units is massive; -1 to hit and wound, potentially coupled with Locus of Change so that even All out Attack doesn’t cancel the -1; reducing saves is always awesome. 

Bolt of Tzeentch

18”, CV7, D6 MWs. As above, but the Mortal variant that cannot be cast with the Daemon version.

Glimpse the Future

CV7, Gain a Destiny Dice. Great fill-in spell for when there’s not a particular spell effect you want, but you DO want the Fate Points. Why not grab an extra Destiny Dice!

Infusion Arcanum

CV5, Buffing spell. +1 to hit +1 to wound for attacks made by the caster. Actually very cool and works great on the Cursling as it takes him to 2s/2s on missile and main melee profiles…but it’s not worth missing out on the others for, unfortunately.

Shield of Fate

18”, CV6, Varying strength buff. If you have 1-3 Destiny Dice, a selected unit gets a 6+ ward. If you have 4-6 Destiny Dice, a selected unit gets a 5+ ward. If you have 7-9 Destiny Dice, a selected unit gets a 5+ ward AND a 4+ spell ignore. Just like Arcane Sacrifice, you will be wanting to cast this one pretty much every turn. Get your sequencing right if you have three or six Destiny Dice and cast Glimpse the Future first, if you can.

Treacherous Bond

9”, CV5, bodyguard spell. Pick a unit wholly within 9” of the caster and can pass off wounds, instead of taking a ward save, on a 3+ when the unit is within 9”. Note the difference: wholly when cast, to one model when effect takes place – just don’t take that one model first!

Notable Warscroll Spells

There are a lot of Warscroll Spells, but I’m just going to look at the ones you’ll find yourself using a bit more often.

Infernal Gateway

18”, CV8, Nine dice, starts on 3+ are MWs. Fantastic fantastic spell that legitimately has a good chance of one-shotting any foot hero unlucky enough to find themselves in range of this. The one downside is that Kairos and Lords of Change now share this as their Warscroll spell, which is why you hardly ever see a starting army with two big birds.

Blue Fire of Tzeentch

18”, CV8, Nine dice, 5+ are MWs. Kind of like Infernal Gateway-lite and cast by the Fluxmaster. The bonus to this spell and why the Fluxmaster was very hard to get hold of for a bit when the book dropped is that for each mortal wound caused you get an extra Fate Point, i.e. 3MWs = three Fate Points from the spell and one Fate Point from the cast. If you have a plan built upon summoning, this spell is hugely helpful to that plan.

Glean Magic

30”, CV4, Copy Homework spell. When the Cursling unbinds a spell, they can immediately cast Glean Magic, even in the opponent’s hero phase and attempt to take a copy of a spell on the opponent’s Warscroll that the Cursling would then be able to cast. For example, you can copy Kroak’s Celestial Deliverance spell (though only cast it once, Tzeentch is not an Order faction) because it just does damage to a unit, but you can’t copy the Alchemite Warforger’s Blazing Weapon spell as this names Cities of Sigmar units as the recipients of the spell. The opposing Wizard still knows the spell, but might see it coming back at them. A fun spell and a good way of earning some more Fate Points. 

Infernal Flames

12”, CV7, Damage spell. Not cast very often, but the Gaunt Summoner does have a horde clearance spell that rolls the number of dice in the unit and causes a mortal on a 5+. Not why you’re taking the Gaunt Summoner, but handy to have if you run into 60 zombies.

Choking Tendrils

18”, CV7, Damage and healing spell. The Ogroid Thaumaturge has a nifty variant of Bolt of Tzeentch that also does D6 damage but also allows the Ogroid to heal a wound for each model slain by the spell.

Bolt of Change

18”, CV7, Damage/transformation spell. Both varieties of Magister can hurl out this spell that causes D3 MWs, with the option of turning a model into a spawn if one is killed, in much the same way as the Burning Sigil. They operate independently, however, and you can theoretically generate two spawn a turn with both at your disposal. Think hard about whether it benefits you to have a spawn though. Will it give an enemy unit free movement via a charge? Might it add a Bloodtithe point? Could it be an easy battle tactic for my opponent? Going against Khorne, the answer is almost always yes to all three of these, so such take the wounds and leave it there!

Sudden Warp-portal

18”, CV8, Teleportation spell with hoops to jump through. Even if you know Tzeentch quite well, you’re probably not that familiar with Sudden Warp-portal as it can only be cast by Ephilim the Unknowable, a Warhammer Underworlds release. Hoop number one is casting it as 8 is not straightforward, but then it gets very Tzeentchian. You must pick a unit that is wholly within 18” of Ephilim, within 6” of an objective AND 3” from enemy models. Okay, tricky, but doable, you may be thinking. We’re not finished yet. The unit must then be set up again within 6” of an objective and 9” from enemy models and then cannot move in the following movement phase. If being able to drop a unit in your opponent’s backfield is so key to your plan, take 2 units of Corvus Cabal for the same price and probably greater utility.

Notable Endless Spells

Aethervoid Pendulum

8” + 8”, CV6, D6 MWs. On a 2+, D6 MWs caused on every unit that it flew over or ended with 1” off but it must move in a straight line and it can cause them to friendly units too. Great damage dealer.

Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws

8” + 3D6”, CV6, Variable MWs. You roll the 3D6 distance (re-rolling if desired – below 10 is a good indicator) and it moves that far and one unit it crosses or ends up within an inch of takes the difference in movement characteristic and the 3D6 roll in damage. Most units move 6”, so on average, that’s 5MWs, which isn’t bad. It’s also a pretty big base for move blocking.

Umbral Spellportal

18”, CV5, Extra range spell. When it is cast, you place one end next to the wizard you want to send a spell through and another in a strategic location that allows you to get range and visibility on a target as long as both ends are wholly with 18” of the caster. Then, when the portal is used the ‘other’ end is where all the measurements happen from. Combos really well with Infernal Gateway but is not cheap, so is not as commonly seen as it once was.

Warscrolls

Kairos Fateweaver/Lord of Change

I’ll look at these two together as you will rarely have both in a starting list and they do have very similar Warscrolls. They both have fly, move 12”, are Daemon monsters and share the same Warscroll spell as mentioned above: Infernal Gateway. They offer a great buff, Beacon of Sorcery, adding +1 to casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls when wholly within 18”, which does stack. They are also excellent at casting and unbinding as, when rolling the casting dice, you can turn the lowest dice into the highest dice, i.e. a 6 and a 1 is actually a 12, +1 for Beacon of Sorcery, making a CV of 13. They can also steal an Endless Spell instead of dispelling it.

Now to the differences. Kairos is a three cast whereas the Lord of Change is only two, so if you plan on attempting the Mass Conjuration battle tactic, Kairos is your guy. Kairos also gives an additional buff in as much as you get to roll an extra Destiny Dice at the start of your hero phase of you have less than nine. Neither are particularly great in combat, maybe able to beat up on a screening or skirmishing unit, but not much else. The Lord of Change, however, does have the option to take a 2D6 ranged attack that hits and wounds on 3s, for -1 and 1 damage, which isn’t terrible and the option you’ll most likely see.

Of the two, I tend to go for Kairos for the extra utility, but if you need to save on points and Mass Conjuration isn’t part of your plans, it’s a good place to make points savings.

Gaunt Summoner (on Disc)

More than Kairos or a Lord of Change, the Gaunt Summoner is my most auto-take and, while the Disc version gives an extra wound, better save and is faster, I usually go for the foot version to save points and be screenable. The reason he is so good is that he is a two cast wizard, with +1 to cast innately, which also stacks with Beacon of Sorcery. You can also be flexible with your casts as he knows all of the Lore of Fate. This combination makes Arcane Sacrifice succeed more often than not, despite being CV8. You also get to choose a bonus spell from the Lore of Change for added flexibility. If you are screening with Horrors, he also adds -1 to hit them from Locus of Change. His Warscroll spell is also notable in that it can be great for Horde clearance. There are two rules that he has that I rarely use: Silvered Portal and Lords of the Silvered Towers. Silvered Portal allows up to two Tzeentch units (so could be coalition unit) to be ‘in’ the Gaunt Summoner to be deployed as reserves at the end of a movement phase, wholly within 9” of the Gaunt Summoner and more than 9” from other enemy models. A Gaunt Summoner on Disc obviously gives you more reach on this, but would be somewhat exposed afterwards. Could be great for getting units forward quickly and, if they are Disciples of Tzeentch, you can guarantee the charge with Destiny Dice. But. You won’t get to buff the unit as they weren’t on the battlefield during the hero phase and, depending on what is inside the Gaunt Summoner, there could be half your points invested in an, at best, 6 wound character on a 4+ save. Finally, while you never want your Gaunt Summoner in combat or having to shoot, he’s not useless. The missile attack is 3 attacks, 3s, 3s, -1, 1 damage at 18” and the melee profile is 2 attacks, 3s, 3s, -2, D3.

Magister (on Disc)

As with the Gaunt Summoner, the Magister of Disc gets extra movement, an extra wound, a better save and one of the coolest models in the Disciples of Tzeentch range. It also allows the battle tactic of Reckless Abandon. It does suffer from the same targeting issues from being on disc, so you’ll probably more often see on foot. The Warscroll spell, Bolt of Change, can turn models into spawn, which is very fun and often strategically useful and he can potentially go from a one cast to a two cast wizard. The first spell has to be successfully cast and not unbound and then you can gamble on casting a second spell. If the second spell is a double, either the Magister blows himself up or turns into a spawn. Probably only use if you have a need for the spell rather than just randomly casting – unless you’re one Fate Point short of a summon you need, particularly if you need a Lord of Change for your battle tactic. At that point, it’s probably best to use Destiny Dice to guarantee the cast and the tactic. Above, I said the Gaunt Summoner is not useless at shooting/fighting… the Magister is! Almost better to save you and your opponent the one minute of your lives you are never getting back by not even rolling the attacks!

Curseling

A very interesting Warscroll, the Curseling. He’s a two cast wizard, with a very unique spell, Glean Magic, that is explained in more detail above. He can also re-roll unbinding and dispelling rolls to make it more likely to get the counter-spell version of Glean Magic off. He’s got good armour, at 3+, but only had 5 wounds and no ward (without buffing spells that probably want to go elsewhere). He’s low-key okay at range, with D6 attacks at 18” 3s, 3s, -1, 1 damage; and has 4 attacks, 3s, 3s, -1 2 damage AND D6 attacks, 4s, 4s, -, 1 damage. If you can justify it, the spell Infusion Arcanum adds +1 to all these hit rolls. Generally speaking, if you have a Gaunt Summoner to take care of your key buff spells and/or you have Endless Spells that need casting or the extra spell bonus from the Command Entourage or Warlord batallions, Infusion Arcanum isn’t as much of a luxury.

Ogroid Thaumaturge

The big, blue angry magic bull! Has a great default Warscroll spell as a D6 damage spell is almost always useful, meaning that his chosen spell can be a bit more buff orientated. Infusion Arcanum is a good potential spell here if you want him to get stuck in, though no range attack to buff as well. Of all the heroes, the Thaumaturge is the one you’d be happiest throwing into combat as he has 8 wounds on a 4+ save and the Warscroll spell can heal him. He’s also a bit of a bully to your more standard battleline, screening units with 3 attacks, 3s, 3s, -1, D3 damage; 2 attacks, 3s, 3s, -2, 3 damage; 4 attacks, 3s, 3s, -, 1 damage. In addition, if any wounds were allocated earlier in the phase, you get +1 to hit and wound. This final ability means that the Ogroid is a good candidate for the Timeslip Pendant as, when he gets to fight again, some wounds were probably taken, meaning that the second set of attacks are more efficient than the first.

Fluxmaster

A Herald of Tzeentch on Disc who is pretty mediocre apart from the speed of the disc, potentially allowing a summons to pop up in an awkward spot or to spread the Locus of Change to some swarming Screamers harassing your enemy’s deployment (and being able to issue them orders as they are not elite) and their Warscroll spell. The spell does cause mortal wounds, but is more of a Fate Point generator than anything else as each wound is an extra Fate Point. If successfully cast, a return of 3-5 Fate Points is not unreasonable, which is close to a Lord of Change across a whole game, even if you aren’t Guild of Summoners. It is a difficult spell to cast, but the Fluxmaster also has a once per game re-roll of a cast with an additional +3 to whatever the outcome is.

The characters so far will be the backbone of most hero slots in most lists, with the Ogroid, Magister and Curseling being particularly key to Guild of Summoners lists as they are where the summoning comes from. Next, are a variety of characters that might have a niche role they can play in your list. I’ll focus on what makes each a bit different.

Changecaster

A relatively easy character to summon who can reduce save rolls by 1 with his Warscroll spell and has the same once per battle re-roll mechanic as the Fluxmaster, who is basically the same character but on a disc. 

Fateskimmer

The most VIP of the Heralds of Tzeentch, being pulled on a Screamer Sleigh. Tougher than the Fluxmaster with some combat punch. The spell just isn’t as good as the Fluxmaster as it is an AoE spell from measured from himself and needs to be danger close for it to really work.

Fatemaster

A dude of a disc who can’t cast spells, can’t really fight, but does buff the wound roll Disciples of Tzeentch wholly within 9”. Possibly useful for this mythical Flamer build…but you’re investing so many points in buffing units that won’t hang around long enough to justify the investment.

Blue Scribes

Can choose any spell from Lore of Change or Fate and cast it on a 2+ and it cannot be unbound. Good ability and flexibility, but on a disc, so character screening is an issue.

The Changeling

Can be set up in your opponent’s deployment 3” away from enemy models, but has no Warscroll spell, despite being a two cast wizard, and can choose to debuff hit rolls and halve the movement of a unit. 5 wounds on a 5+ means that he’ll be The Deadling next turn though.

Tzaangor Shaman

Cheap and mobile with a spell to potentially increase numbers of standard Tzaangor units. If you have lots of these, maybe worth it. Can be used for Guild of Summoners summoning too.

Ephilim the Unknowable

If you’re taking him, it’s for the Sudden Warp-portal teleport spell described above.

Vortemis the All-seeing

Magister with a worse Warscroll spell. Don’t bother.

Pink Horrors

Probably one of the most iconic and maybe most hated units in AoS! You start with 10 Pinks as standard and those can split into 20 Blue Horrors, who then split into 20 Brimstone Horror bases. So in total, that’s 50 wounds. Very awkward unit to shift by trying to chip away at it as there end up being more of the unit than there was to begin with. Also, nothing counts as being slain until Brimstones start being lifted off the table. This is actually good news for opponents of Tzeentch as it means that you can only Rally Brimstones and not Pink Horrors! 

The problem they’ve had more recently is that there are plenty of units who can just go in and clear 50 wounds on, at best, a 5+ save ignoring rend -2 and a 5+ ward, even if the attacking unit has -1 to hit and wound from Arcane Sacrifice. Might be better off with a unit of, for example, Kairic Acolytes, who will die MUCH quicker, but you can have two separate units for about the same price, meaning that the whole unit isn’t wiped out in one phase.

But what else can they do? Well, on a 3+ for each banner you get a Fate Point for free; they have a lot of shots, with the Eternal Conflagration sub-faction adding rend -1 to those attacks. With some additional spell support that could be even better. The highest volume of shots you can get is when you have all Blue Horrors, with all Brimstones being the ‘best’ (in heavily inverted commas!) combat option. 

They can do great work and if your opponent has a couple of hammers that you can cripple early on, then it does become difficult to shift them. In addition, if you can get to 20 Fate Points and return 10 Pink Horrors to the board, the colour will drain from your opponent as they have to chew through those wounds again.

Theoretically, they can be taken in units of 30, but it becomes difficult for a Daemon character to stay wholly within 12” for Locus of Change and it’s a big investment in one unit that isn’t realistically going to cause much damage. It is 150 wounds, but please don’t underestimate how tiring it is, swapping Pinks to Blues and Blues to Brims. Depending on table height and battleplan, you might need a chiropractor over the weekend. And speaking of deliberately inflicting pain for fun, watch out for Pink Horrors vs. Slaanesh. They will be on maximum Depravity in no time at all as the chew through 50 wounds of Horrors in double quick time!

Kairic Acolytes 

The other and probably more common battleline option for Disciples of Tzeentch are cheap, a little bit shooty and a little bit fighty. When at 9 or more models they can cast a spell that adds -1 rend to their shooting attacks. This can be cast multiple times by different units and be passed onto another Kairic Acolytes unit. For example, with three Kairics as your battleline, two outer units could buff a central unit that buffs itself for -3 rend shooting attacks. It is only one attacks, 4s, 3s, -, 1 damage though. You do get Fate Points from these spells though and your opponent will be unlikely to attempt to unbind them, so useful to cast at the start of the Hero phase to track Fate Point generation. A smart opponent will simply try to kill a couple from each unit and that’s the casting done with though. Most times they are build with shields for a 6+ ward, but don’t rely on these guys hanging around too long on a 5+ save. They can fight a little bit, but the ceiling on damage is 13, with everything hitting, wounding and going through. 

Tzaangors

Currently the most effective way of running these is with a Pair of Savage Blades along with a couple of mutants. With their run and charge ability, this generates 33 Savage Blade attacks on 3s, 3s, -, 1 damage (though only 1” range, even on the Greatblades, so you’ll struggle to get this efficiency). On top of this, there’s 20 beak attacks on 4s, 3s, -, 1 damage. They’re also 2 wounds on a 5+, so while not tanky by any stretch of the imagination, adding Mystic Shield, All out Defense and Shield of Fate has them at 4+ ignoring rend +1 with a 5+ ward. Also debuff the unit most likely tasked with killing them with Arcane Sacrifice, and they’ll hang around for longer than your opponent would like. Their final ability is a nice bonus on top. Ornate Totems allows you to pick a unit within 18” and then roll as many dice as there are Wizards (friendly and enemy) within (not wholly within) 9”. On 4+, you do a mortal wound. If you have three such banners in range of your more than likely 3-5 Wizards…that’s probably about 8 mortal wounds to something that probably isn’t screening very well any more. There’s also no targeting restrictions, so a foot character within range is probably not long for this world! It is done at the start of your hero phase so can be done before battle tactics are chosen.

Jade Obelisk

The last of the standard battleline options is a Warcry Warband whose gimmick is that have a 4+ save that cannot be modified up or down. They still only have 10 wounds though and their other ability, smashing an enemy terrain feature to rubble is a bit too niche to justify these. I have not experimented thoroughly though, so maybe a unit of 20 could do some damage with their Mason’s Tools and their double Obelisk Bearer to bring back a model each at the end of the combat phase.

Screamers (Host Arcanum)

Super-fast skysharks that also cause mortal wounds when they fly over another unit (move, charge or fallback), Screamers are the best one of the better melee options that Tzeentch have. They can do great work as 16” move objective grabbers and harassers in minimum sized units, with 3 attacks each that hit and wound on 3s at -1 rend and 1 damage. As conditional Battleline in a double reinforced pack of nine is where they can start to do some damage. Passing over a target unit with all nine should do 4-5 mortal wounds, and then when you charge (which can be turbocharged by Destiny Dice) you get to do another 4-5 before the attacks even start. With 27 attacks coming in, while -1 rend may bounce off tankier units, they will shred anything on a 5+ or even 4+ save. They’re also not easy to wipe out in one go as there at 27 wounds in a unit of nine. Just be careful if you need to issue them orders as they’re not elite and don’t have a champion, so it will need to come from a hero. If your opponent does manage to kill most of them, the Fold Reality spell can bring up to six of them back allowing them to go again with close to maximum efficiency even if the unit is left with only one alive (very worthwhile having a sneaky Rally here first).

Flamers (Eternal Conflagration)

Every Tzeentch player at some point looks through their Battletome and looks at the Flamer Warscroll and starts to wonder whether it can do work. At maximum efficiency, with a Fatemaster for +1 to wound, an Exalted Flamer for an extra attack and the rend -1 stacked with another buff, Arcane Sacrifice, for example, to make the attacks effective rend -2 you get: 36 attacks at 18”, hitting on 3s, wounding on 2s, -2 rend and D3 damage. But what I’ve just described takes half of your army to pull off, so it should be pretty good! You can also use Fold Reality on this unit and bring Flamers back…if they aren’t all wiped out in one attack as they’re only two wounds each on a 4+ save. So enjoy that shooting phase…it’s probably the only one you’re going to get! 

Burning Chariots/Exalted Flamer

Both of these buff Flamers with an extra attack when in range and are similar to each other in as much as the Burning Chariot is an Exalted Flamer on a Disc that is pulled by two Screamers. The ranged attack is similar to that of Flamers, but is 4s and 3s rather than the other way around, which is slightly better and the Screamers do most of the melee work for the Burning Chariot variety. It would be cool to see these on the table but they are about the same price if not more than a Stormstrike Chariot at half the wounds, worse save, weaker combat and shooting and no mortals on impact.

Chaos Spawn

You’ll get more use out of an Endless Spell. If you want some spawn, bring them in via spells – don’t make them part of the original army. If you want something cheap that can get on points and can’t fit in Screamers, add coalition Furies.

Ephilim’s Pandaemonium/Eyes of the Nine

These come with their respective characters, Ephilim and Vortemis – you’re not taking them for their own Warscrolls.

Tzaangor Enlightened/on Disc 

The Disc bird/goat-kin get most of the headlines and rightly so, but the on foot variant are worth considering too. Both types of Enlightened have 3 attacks with their 2” spears, hitting on 4s, wounding on 3s, rend -1 and damage 2. However, if you are going second in a battle round, they wound on 2s. They are also elite, so can issue All out Attack for themselves. Time for their next ability – they prevent command abilities being received within 3”. This is huge as it means that the rend -1 is effectively rend -2 and maybe even rend -3 if Arcane Sacrifice was successfully cast on the target unit. It also helps make the unit more survivable too. They also both get a beak attack each that isn’t anywhere near as good, but could chip a wound away here or there. The Disc version gets fly, 16” move, an extra wound and an extra D3 Disc attacks that hit on 4s, 3s, -1, D3 damage. With Destiny Dice helping with charges, that’s a potential 28” threat range for the Discs and 18” for the on foot. Clearly the Disc versions are better but are they 100% better? At the time of writing, the on Foot versions are exactly half the points of the Disc versions, which really start to ask some questions about which ones should be in the list or not. Or just take both! The Discs for an early raid behind enemy lines and the on Foot version for lurking behind screens, ready to compete with their faster kin ones the screens part ways.

Tzaangor Skyfires

In a unit of three, you get four shots at 24” from a Disc that moves 16” that hit on 4s and ignore negative modifiers, wound on 3s at rend -1 but ignore positive modifiers to saves (i.e. the save is, at best, at rend -1) for D3 damage. Any hits of 6 automatically go to D3 mortal wounds. The way that Destiny Dice interact with these is worth going through. Let’s imagine that we have a six wound character that we can shoot at (we’re ignoring the -1 from Look Out Sir, but are close enough to ignore other rules) and we have a 6 and two 5s in Destiny Dice at our disposal for this attack. We slow roll the hit rolls and if we have no 6s by the fourth roll, we use our 6 to cause D3 mortal wounds. We cannot use a 5 to make this 3 mortal wounds. The Destiny Dice rules say that we can use them for the damage of missile or melee attacks. No wound roll or save roll was made to allocate damage with, so Destiny Dice can’t be used. However, we roll a 4 for two mortal wounds, two saves were failed and after rolling for one damage with the first dice, we use one of the 5s to make second damage, damage 3. In total, 6 wounds and the character is dead. Before the changes to targeting, Skyfires used to be a lot stronger, but on balance, I think Tzeentch players are happier not having their characters levelled by Thunderers from 18” away!

Sample Lists

List 1 – Classic Tzeentch

Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Subfaction: Hosts Duplicitous
– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
– Triumph: Indomitable

LEADERS
Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)*
– General
– Command Traits: Daemonspark
– Artefacts of Power: Nine-Eyed Tome
– Spells: Unchecked Mutation
Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)*
– Spells: Infusion Arcanum
Fluxmaster (180)**
– Artefacts of Power: The Eternal Shroud
– Spells: Fold Reality
Kairos Fateweaver (440)**
Magister (140)**
– Spells: Glimpse the Future

BATTLELINE
Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)*
– Iridescent Horror
– Pink Horror Icon Bearer
– Pink Horror Hornblower
– Split and Split Again
Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)*
– Iridescent Horror
– Pink Horror Icon Bearer
– Pink Horror Hornblower
– Split and Split Again
Kairic Acolytes (120)*
– Kairic Adept
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
– Scroll of the Dark Arts
– Vulcharc
– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
1 x Tome of Eyes (40)
1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

 – Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch

– Subfaction: Hosts Duplicitous

– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny

– Triumph: Indomitable

LEADERS

Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)*

– General

– Command Traits: Daemonspark

– Artefacts of Power: Nine-Eyed Tome

– Spells: Unchecked Mutation

Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)*

– Spells: Infusion Arcanum

Fluxmaster (180)**

– Artefacts of Power: The Eternal Shroud

– Spells: Fold Reality

Kairos Fateweaver (440)**

Magister (140)**

– Spells: Glimpse the Future

BATTLELINE

Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)*

– Iridescent Horror

– Pink Horror Icon Bearer

– Pink Horror Hornblower

– Split and Split Again

Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)*

– Iridescent Horror

– Pink Horror Icon Bearer

– Pink Horror Hornblower

– Split and Split Again

Kairic Acolytes (120)*

– Kairic Adept

– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield

– Scroll of the Dark Arts

– Vulcharc

– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS

1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)

1 x Tome of Eyes (40)

1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)

CORE BATTALIONS

*Battle Regiment

**Command Entourage

– Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

When I first started playing Tzeentch, this is very similar to what I was playing. Lots of casters generating a tonne of points, with Umbral Spellportal getting into awkward places and the Jaws chomping anyone they could get near. 20 Pinks for strong early screening and Host Duplicitous to be just within engagement range of enemies so they couldn’t run away, while being within 18” of the magical maelstrom that was about to be unleashed!

List 2 – Guild of Summoners Melee Twist

 – Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch

– Subfaction: Guild of Summoners

– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny

LEADERS

Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)*

– Artefacts of Power: Nine-Eyed Tome

– Spells: Unchecked Mutation

Magister (140)*

– Spells: Glimpse the Future

Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)*

– General

– Command Traits: Cult Demagogue

– Spells: Shield of Fate

BATTLELINE

Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)*

– Iridescent Horror

– Pink Horror Icon Bearer

– Pink Horror Hornblower

– Split and Split Again

Kairic Acolytes (120)*

– Kairic Adept

– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield

– Scroll of the Dark Arts

– Vulcharc

– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield

Kairic Acolytes (120)*

– Kairic Adept

– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield

– Scroll of the Dark Arts

– Vulcharc

– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield

OTHER

Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)*

– Aviarch

Varanguard (560)*

– 6 x Fellspear

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS

1 x Tome of Eyes (40)

CORE BATTALIONS

*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

As more and more of the meta became anti-magic, I started to look at options where I could leverage damage in good matchups, but the heavy lifting could be done by my own melee units that I could target with buffs. Here, we have a one-drop list that is looking to take second turn and use the Enlightened’s bottom of the turn buff to delete something important. No Lord of Change to begin with, but looking to summon one in either turn one or two. Varanguard a speedy threat ready to be fully buffed up and sent in do some heavy work and screening while magic missiles come from the rear. Should also be able to score three book tactics without much effort.

List 3 – Screamers

 – Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch

– Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum

– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny

– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS

Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)

– Artefacts of Power: Nine-Eyed Tome

– Spells: Fold Reality

Curseling (200)

– General

– Command Traits: Cult Demagogue

– Spells: Shield of Fate

Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)

– Spells: Infusion Arcanum

BATTLELINE

Screamers of Tzeentch (330)

Screamers of Tzeentch (220)

Screamers of Tzeentch (110)

Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)

– Iridescent Horror

– Pink Horror Icon Bearer

– Pink Horror Hornblower

– Split and Split Again

OTHER

Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)

– Aviarch

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS

1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)

1 x Tome of Eyes (40)

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

No big bird in this lists either to be able to get the full 18 Screamers into the list. One unit of nine that is the focus for Fold Reality and defensive buffs, with smaller units able to bully threats on the flank. Enlightened with their 28” threat range always ready to pounce on any opportunities. Not Guild of Summoners, so summoning of extra Screamers or Horrors is an option.

Conclusion

So there we have it – Disciples of Tzeentch. A challenging army to play well, but one with plenty of options available to a player willing to dig through the Battletome (and that of Slaves to Darkness and Beasts of Chaos) for some good combinations to work. An extremely strong Grand Strategy and good Book Tactics mean that if you can score the primary, you’ll be in most games, with a magical double turn potentially able to cripple your opponent. And, if you do lose a battle, smile enigmatically and simply repeat the Tzeentch motto, “just as planned”!

Age of Sigmar Meta Stats (12th February 2024)

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Below are the up to date win rates for Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor as at 12th February 2024.

For a complete breakdown, including Faction Popularity, Wins in Succession and Subfaction Win Rates, visit our Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor stats page

To support us and help keep our site ticking over, why not visit our Patreon page?

Age of Sigmar Meta Stats (5th February 2024)

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Below are the up to date win rates for Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor as at 28th January 2024.

For a complete breakdown, including Faction Popularity, Wins in Succession and Subfaction Win Rates, visit our Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor stats page

To support us and help keep our site ticking over, why not visit our Patreon page?

Age of Sigmar Meta Stats (28th January 2024)

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Below are the up to date win rates for Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor as at 28th January 2024.

For a complete breakdown, including Faction Popularity, Wins in Succession and Subfaction Win Rates, visit our Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor stats page

To support us and help keep our site ticking over, why not visit our Patreon page?

Top Three AoS Lists for the Unified Tournament Circuit AOS Finals

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This is the top three AoS lists for the Unified Tournament Circuit AOS Finals that took place in the US on the 13th and 14th of January. It saw 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.

If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?

Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.

The Top Three AoS Lists

Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Army Subfaction: Guild of Summoners
– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
– Triumphs: Inspired


LEADER
1 x Magister (140)*

– Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Hoarfrost
1 x Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)**
– Spells: Arcane Suggestion, Glimpse the Future
1 x Lord of Change (380)**
– General
– Command Traits: Daemonspark
– Staff of Tzeentch and Rod of Sorcery
– Artefacts: Nine-Eyed Tome
– Spells: Levitate, Ghost-mist
1 x Magister (140)**
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Shield of Fate
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur


BATTLELINE
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*

– Kairic Adept
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
– Scroll of the Dark Arts
– Vulcharc
– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
– Kairic Adept
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
– Scroll of the Dark Arts
– Vulcharc
– Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
10 x Tzaangors (180)*
– Twistbray
– Icon Bearer
– Brayhorn Blower
– 2 x Tzaangor Mutant
– Pair of Savage Blades
10 x Chaos Marauders (90)*
– Icon Bearer
– Barbarian Drummer
– Marauder Chieftain
– Barbarian Axe and Darkwood Shield


BEHEMOTH
1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*


ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (70)


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


TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
– Army Type: Ironjawz
– Army Subfaction: Bloodtoofs
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Inspired


LEADER
1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)

– Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat
1 x Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)
– Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (450)*
– General
– Command Traits: Hulking Brute
– Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist
– Artefacts: Destroyer
– Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)*
– Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat
1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)*


BATTLELINE
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*

– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
10 x Orruk Brutes (280)*
– Brute Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
– 2 x Gore-choppa


CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)

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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords
– Army Type: Vyrkos
– Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses
– Triumphs: Indomitable


LEADER
1 x Kritza (110)*

– General
-Command Trait: Spore Trackers
– Artefacts: Ulfenkarni Phylactery
1 x Torgillius the Chamberlain (180)*
– Spells: Waste Away
1 x Necromancer (100)**
– Spells: Fading Vigour


BATTLELINE
10 x Dire Wolves (150)*

– Doom Wolf
10 x Dire Wolves (150)*
– Doom Wolf
40 x Deadwalker Zombies (150)**
40 x Deadwalker Zombies (150)**
20 x Deadwalker Zombies (150)**
20 x Deadwalker Zombies (150)**


OTHER
3 x Fell Bats (90)*
20 x Grave Guard (160)**

– Seneschal
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– 2 x Hornblower
– Great Wight Blade


CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment


TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat
– Army Type: King Brodd’s Stomp
– Grand Strategy: Overshadow
– Triumph: Inspired


LEADERS
Gatebreaker (500)
King Brodd (520)
Warstomper (450)

– General
– Command Traits: Big Eater
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
Warstomper (450)


TOTAL POINTS: 1920/2000

Final Tournament Placings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/DKz0zZZZzZ

Age of Sigmar Meta Stats (23rd January 2024)

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Below are the up to date win rates for Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor as at 23rd January 2024.

For a complete breakdown, including Faction Popularity, Wins in Succession and Subfaction Win Rates, visit our Battlescroll: Tactics of Andtor stats page

To support us and help keep our site ticking over, why not visit our Patreon page?

Top Three AoS Lists for The Forge GT

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This is the top three AoS lists for The Forge GTthat took place in the US on the 6th and 7th of January. It saw 36 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: Gloomspite Gitz
– Army Subfaction: King’s Gitz
– Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Dankhold Troggboss (210)*
– General
– Command Traits: Alpha Trogg
– Artefacts: Glowy Howzit
1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)*
1 x Madcap Shaman (70)*
– Artefacts: Moonface Mommet
– Spells: The Hand of Gork

BATTLELINE
20 x Moonclan Shootas (120)
20 x Moonclan Shootas (120)
5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150)
5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150)
6 x Rockgut Troggoths (170)*
6 x Rockgut Troggoths (170)*

TERRAIN
1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)

OTHER
10 x Loonsmasha Fanatics (110)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: (1950/2000)

My first commentary of the New Year for Gitz and it’s a King’s Gitz list! This type of ‘soup’ list isn’t as common lately, but as you can see, it still can perform to quite a high level. On to the list!

The Dankhold Troggoth general (with his popular defensive focused Alpha Trogg/Glowy Howzit combination) and two single reinforced units of Rockgut Troggoths are the meaty core of this list. Functioning as part hammer, part anvil they do the majority of the heavy lifting.

The two Boingrot Bounderz units typically act as fast, hard-hitting flankers (allowing you access to a wider range of battle tactics). In this list, they can also be good frontline trading units setting up the Rockguts for maximum destruction and, in a pinch, they are affordable enough they can even be used as screens.

The two Moonclan Shootas units offer some additional ranged support but are primarily there as your objective scorers. The hard-hitting, strikes-first, reinforced Loonsmasha Fanatics will appear out of one of these units at the most inopportune for the opponent. They are an absolute glass cannon, particularly when their variable attack count spikes.

The Madcap Shaman and Skragrott provide the spell casting and utility for the list. The Madcap’s Moonface Mommet artefact (-1 save debuff) and Hand of Gork spell (teleport) are his two biggest contributions. Where Skragrott has so much utility, if you don’t know what he does, it’s probably easier to just have you check out his warscroll!

Congratulations to Matt on his first place finish to open up the New Year!

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Army Faction: Nighthaunt
– Subfaction: The Emerald Host
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Awlrach the Drowner (150)*
Dreadblade Harrow (110)**
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
Spirit Torment (120)***
Spirit Torment (120)***
Krulghast Cruciator (150)***

BATTLELINE
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Chainrasps (100)*
– Dreadwarden
Grimghast Reapers (150)***
– Extoller of Shyish
Grimghast Reapers (150)***
– Extoller of Shyish

OTHER
Chainghasts (90)**
Bladegheist Revenants (160)***

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment
***Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Ramon Silva: That third drop is the charm!

5-0 with NH in the current meta is much more than 2nd place in my heart. Amazing job, Paul Wilmes!

The list breakdown is pretty much selling the 8th season of ‘rasps’ is the new spam, with a small death star of reapers and revenants. A couple of spirited revivers (which is torment for these guys), a krul thing to reduce damage (not), and a travelling boatman.

Finished off with a teleporting spellcaster for one of everyone’s favorite grand strategies of the season, to be down to good positioning.

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Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords
– Subfaction: Zaitrec
– Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Scinari Calligrave (110)*
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard
Scinari Cathallar (120)*
– General
– Command Traits: Shaman of the Chilled Lands
– Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand
– Spells: Speed of Hysh
Archmage Teclis (740)**
The Light of Eltharion (230)**

BATTLELINE
Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)**
– High Warden
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat
Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)**
– High Warden
– Spells: Speed of Hysh
Vanari Bladelords (240)**

OTHER
Hurakan Windchargers (140)**

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Hey everyone, back at it with another shiny elf list review. This time around, we’re centred around the Zaitrec subfaction. The inclusion of Scinari Calligrave and Scinari Cathallar adds both offensive and supportive spellcasting capabilities to the force. With the Merciless Blizzard and Speed of Hysh spells at their disposal, they can control engagements and enhance the overall mobility of the army. Furthermore, the Calligraves’ ability to OPG makes an area of the field a haven for your casters, and troops alike can’t be understated.

Big Teclis at the centre is always a respectable choice, though given his substantial point cost, you do start running low on bodies. That being said, though, Teclis brings unparalleled countermagic prowess, and his ability to securely score Magical Dominance all by his lonesome means he enables multiple battle tactics with his inclusion. The Light of Eltharion, aka The Butcher of Tor Yvresse, adds another layer of versatility, giving a consistent source of rend 3 to ensure the list can handle various threats effectively. It’s worth noting that Eltharion also gets around the new and improved Look Out Sir due to his shooting ability not being a missile weapon. Snipe those heroes!

At battleline we have two sets of Wardens and a big brick of Bladelords providing the foundation, with the Wardens bringing a copy of Overwhelming Heat and a redundant Speed of Hysh it’s likely that you’ll always be able to utilize the mobility the latter provides. Bladelords usually operate as a bodyguard in their five man units, but as a 10 man brick their a solid choice for a hammer. With both perfect strike or the horde clearing mode offering a consistent amount of damage regardless of what the situation calls for. A great tech piece is the Hurakan Windchargers as they adds mobility and a fast-attack element to the army, and if truth be told it’s the reach piece that I’d be playing if I were looking for one. The Umbral Spellportal and Aethervoid Pendulum as Endless Spells provide additional strategic options, enhancing the list’s overall flexibility and damage output through the hero phase.

Taking the Andtorian Acolytes and Battle Regiment as their Battalions means that you are a nice and tidy 3 drops coming in at 2000 points on the nose. Well done and good showing.

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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Army Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum
– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
– Triumphs: Indomitable

LEADER
1 x Magister (140)*
– General
– Command Traits: Arcane Sacrifice
– Spells: Glimpse the Future, Arcane Suggestion
1 x Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)*
– Spells: Shield of Fate, Glimpse the Future
1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)**
1 x Ephilim the Unknowable (190)**
– Spells: Tzeentch’s Firestorm, Unchecked Mutation
1 x Fateskimmer (150)**
– Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Hoarfrost

BATTLELINE
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)
– Kairic Adept
– Scroll of the Dark Arts
– Vulcharc
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)
– Kairic Adept
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
– Scroll of the Dark Arts
– Vulcharc
– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
10 x Ungors (80)
– Brayhorn Blower
– Banner Bearer
– Halfhorn
– Pitted Blade
20 x Jade Obelisk (130)**

BEHEMOTH
1 x Chaos Warshrine (180)
– Prayers: Heal

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (70)
1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
1 x Tome of Eyes (40)

OTHER
4 x Ephilim’s Pandaemonium (190)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Without a dedicated Tzeentch writer, we opened up the commentary to members of our Discord. The Heroic Zammy from.club Wartilyo in the Philippines stepped up to the plate.

‐————-

Zammy: Overall, the list generates a lot of fate points by casting spells while controlling the hero and movement phase.
– List is also surprisingly tough to shift using destiny dice and buffs to protect the jade obelisk block.
– I assume he summons fluxmaster/blue horrors for screens and more spells.
– list locks down enemy in deployment with magister + bolt of change + arcane sacrifice and burning sigil to summon chaos spawn
– casts 9-10 spells a turn
– threatens open objectives with a teleporting unit, ephilim’s pandaemonium

Heroes
– Having the magister as the general is really interesting. If it kills something with its Bolt of Change spell, a chaos spawn spawns, and having arcane sacrifice on this makes is a 27″ chaos spawn summoning platform.
– Ogroid thaumaturge is more of a support piece here with a glimpse for the shield of fate for destiny dice and wards
– Kairos, as usual, is our big mortal canon. He gets Tome of Eyes to protect him from double 1’s. Unfortunately, it’s hard to keep it on the board because of how easy it is to dispel.
– Ephilim and the pandaemonium threaten any backline objectives left open. They’re our one teleporting unit with limited teleports to and from objectives. It’s also a mortal wound platform for turns when it can’t teleport
– Fateskimmer for a mobile blizzard platform with destiny dice generation

Final Tournament Placings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/sbjDlFCouv

Top Three AoS Lists for Sir GT’s-A-Lot

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This is the top three AoS lists for Sir GT’s-A-Lot that took place in Canada on the 3rd and 4th of November. It saw 25 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: Ogor Mawtribes
– Army Subfaction: Meatfist (+1 to MW charge dice rolls)
– Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder (more units in enemy deployment at end)
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Firebelly (120)*
– Spells: Billowing Ash (12” -1 to hit bubble)
1 x Slaughtermaster (140)*
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard (4d6 MW)
1 x Hrothgorn Mantrapper (180)**
1 x Tyrant (150)**
– General
– Command Traits: Killer Reputation (two big names)
– Artefacts: Splatter-cleaver (12” heal d3 bubble when dmg caused)
– Big Name: Brawlerguts , Deathcheater (monster charge and 5+ ward)
1 x Tyrant (150)**
– Artefacts: Flask of Stonehorn Blood (once per game 3+ ward)
– Big Name: Brawlerguts (monster charge)

BATTLELINE
4 x Leadbelchers (160)
– Thunderfist
4 x Leadbelchers (160)
– Thunderfist
4 x Leadbelchers (160)
– Thunderfist

TERRAIN
1 x Mawpit (0)

OTHER
5 x Gorger Mawpack (220)
5 x Gorger Mawpack (220)
5 x Gorger Mawpack (220)
20 x Gnoblars (120)
3 x Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers (180)**

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Andtorian Acolytes (3+ for magic dice)
**Warlord (additional artifact)

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Roland Rivera: It’s always a pleasure to see Meatfist Ogors at the top tables, especially when it’s bringing something new and interesting. This list certainly fits that bill, as it has invested heavily in the new Gorger Mawpacks. These units are roughly comparable to Ogor Gluttons based on the raw warscroll, but they bring some interesting potential utility in that they can shut off commands for units near them, and also threaten to deepstrike into enemy territory. This adds some nice tactical depth to the typical Always-Be-Charging Meatfist lists.

The Mawpacks are complemented by some interesting units. You don’t see Leadbelchers often these days, but they profile well in Meatfist where they have a bit of extra punch on the charge and let Reuben save points for his Mawpacks. Hrothgorn Mantrapper is a similarly uncommon inclusion, which I presume is there for further commitment to the deepstrike threat strategy. Between the 3 Mawpacks and Hrothgorn, I can imagine it would be quite difficult to properly zone this list out on all possible fronts.

Speaking of screens, that’s definitely what the Gnoblars do for this list, which is important because there are quite a few Heroes here that could benefit from being covered for a turn or two, including the Tyrants that are set up for big charges and the casters who purport to buff the team. All in all, this seems like a fun list, and I’ll be interested to see if Mawpacks continue to make a splash going forward.

Wow. Now this is how you go off-meta. There are some stalwarts of the Meatfirst meta present – the Firebelly is pretty much an auto-take these days due to his -1 to hit bubble spell, as is the Slaughtermaster for his potential to hand out +1 to wound to a unit and take blizzard. Tyrants are fairly common too, due to their ability to get to 3s on their MW rolls based on charge dice. There’s also a unit of Gnoblars, who’re still one of the best screens going due to their non-trivial and passive MW output.

From there, it’s all bets are off. Reuben has gone for the cheapest possible battleline fillers of 3x 4 Leadbelchers – who, it should still be noted – are capable of putting out a good amount of ranged chip and screen clearing damage, especially if they don’t move. The points savings have gone entirely on THREE units of Gorger Mawpacks. The new unit on the block, Mawpacks, looks fairly underwhelming and overcosted on paper to me – but there’s always value to a deepstriking unit. Additionally, their warscroll ability to shut down command abilities on a 5+ is per unit, meaning if they were all in range of something, that’s 3 attempts. It’s good utility that becomes a heck of a lot more reliable in a group – and they’re still a wound dense unit with plenty of rend 1, damage 2 attacks after their charge mortals.

Hrothgorn sneaks into the list too as, I imagine, a deepstriking ‘Surround and Destroy’ scorer, rounding out a HIGHLY sneaky and bizarre list that managed to beat two Khorne lists, meaning it’s surely no joke. A huge congrats to Reuben for a 5-0 with a list. I would have called a meme if I hadn’t seen the results!!

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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
– Army Type: Kruleboyz
– Army Subfaction: Big Yellers
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Indomitable


LEADER
1 x Gobsprakk (240)
1 x Breaka-boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)
– General
– Command Traits: Supa Sneaky
– Artefacts: Mork’s Eye Pebble
– Mount Traits: Smelly ’Un
1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (100)*
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard
1 x Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (100)*
– Spells: Merciless Blizzard
1 x Swampboss Skumdrekk (280)**


BATTLELINE
10 x Gutrippaz (150)**
– Gutrippa Banner Bearer
– Gutrippa Drummer
– Gutrippa Boss
– Wicked Stikka
9 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (360)**
– Boltboy Boss
9 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (360)**
– Boltboy Boss
10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)**
– Scrap Totem Bearer
– Hobgrot Boss
– Noise-maker
10 x Gutrippaz (150)**
– Gutrippa Drummer
– Gutrippa Banner Bearer
– Gutrippa Boss
– Wicked Stikka


CORE BATTALIONS:
*Andtorian Acolytes
**Battle Regiment


TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

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

LEADER
1 x Fungoid Cave-Shaman (110)*
– General
– Command Traits: The Clammy Hand
– Artefacts: Staff of Sneaky Stealin’
– Spells: Hoarfrost
1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)*
1 x Squigboss (110)*

BATTLELINE
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (150)*
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (150)*
36 x Squig Herd (140)*
20 x Moonclan Stabbas (120)*
– Bad Moon Icon Bearer
– Gong Basher
– 3 Barbed Nets
– Stabba

BEHEMOTH
1 x Mangler Squigs (260)*

TERRAIN
1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)

OTHER
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (140)*

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Lodivicus: Does the current Jaws of Mork core trend continue? Yes, but with some twists! Almost all of the currently trending core units are here (Skragrott, a Squigboss, Sneaky Snufflers, Squig Herd, Boingrot Bounderz, and the Bad Moon Loonshrine). The list drops the more common Madcap Shaman (with Moonface Mommet and Hoarfrost) and replaces it with the more expensive, but typically more survivable Fungoid Cave Shaman (with a Staff of Sneaky Stealing and Hoarfrost). It also drops the Gobbapalooza entirely from the more ‘meta’ build.

So what are the other twists?

First off, the big one, the Mangler Squigs. While still pretty uncommon, we’re starting to see these appear occasionally. Their ability to jump over front lines (with their Giant Boing! monstrous rampage) and get at key pieces of the opposing army is quite valuable (especially in a GHB season of little wizards). As a behemoth, it is also instrumental in making the list fit into a single battle regiment battalion. While quite effective in the role, Mangler Squigs are fairly expensive points wise. I suspect it would take a small points reduction for this to become a more common choice.

Second, the Boingrot Bounderz are being run as two single reinforced units as opposed to one double reinforced and one (or more) regular units. While likely being a playstyle change as much as anything, it’s noteworthy composition wrinkle as it also contributes to allowing him to play as the 1 drop list.

Third, the inclusion of Stabbas. With so many points tied into his meatball monster, I suspect Brandon includes the Stabbas primarily as objective holders, but could also be used to screen if the matchup dictates it. The -1 hit from Netters can also be hugely valuable in the right circumstances.

Lastly, the most uncommon inclusion in the list is the triumph choice of Bloodthirsty. Indomitable is almost universally the triumph choice in a Gloomspite Gitz list, but playing only 10 points below the limit, I doubt this had much impact.

Congratulations to Brandon on his 3rd place finish, with Big Waaagh being his only loss of the event.

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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Army Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum
– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
– Triumphs: Inspired


LEADER
1 x Lord of Change (380)
– General
– Command Traits: Daemonspark
– Staff of Tzeentch and Baleful Sword
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
1 x Fluxmaster (180)*
– Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud
– Spells: Hoarfrost
1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)*
1 x Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)*

– Spells: Shield of Fate


BATTLELINE
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
– Kairic Adept
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
– Scroll of the Dark Arts
– Vulcharc
– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
– Kairic Adept
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
– Scroll of the Dark Arts
– Vulcharc
– 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
10 x Tzaangors (180)*
– Brayhorn Blower
– Twistbray
– 2 x Tzaangor Mutant
– Pair of Savage Blades and Vicious Beak


ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Tome of Eyes (40)

OTHER
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (180)*

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

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Final Tournament Placings

To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/UNW7L4NFNG

Woeful Wargaming