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.
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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
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:
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)
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)*
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.
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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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 EndlessSpells 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)
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”!
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)
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
This is the top three AoS lists for Merry SquigmAOSs 2023 that took place in the US on the 2nd and 3rd of December. It saw 10 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
With less than 20 players we won’t be commenting on each list indificually
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: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)* – General – Command Traits: Daemonspark – Artefacts: Nine-Eyed Tome – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Magister (140)* – Spells: Shield of Fate 1 x Tzaangor Shaman (130)** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x Tzaangor Shaman (130)** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
BATTLELINE 10 x Jade Obelisk (130) 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)** – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)** – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Daemonic Simulacrum (70) 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (50)
OTHER 6 x Ogroid Theridons (300)** – Thorakon – 2 x Banner Bearer – 2 x Charge-caller – Goroan Great Axe 6 x Ogroid Theridons (300)** – Thorakon – Banner Bearer – Charge-caller – Goroan Great Axe
Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Subfaction: King’s Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Skragrott, the Loonking (230)* – Spells: The Hand of Gork Dankhold Troggboss (210)* – General – Command Traits: Alpha Trogg – Artefacts of Power: Glowy Howzit Madcap Shaman (70)* – Artefacts of Power: Moonface Mommet – Spells: Hoarfrost
BATTLELINE Boingrot Bounderz (150) Moonclan Stabbas (120) – Moonclan Boss – Bad Moon Icon Bearer – Gong Basher – Stabba – 3 Barbed Nets Moonclan Stabbas (120) – Moonclan Boss – Bad Moon Icon Bearer – Gong Basher – Stabba – 3 Barbed Nets Rockgut Troggoths (340) Rockgut Troggoths (340) Boingrot Bounderz (150)
OTHER Loonsmasha Fanatics (110) Loonsmasha Fanatics (110)
CORE BATTALIONS *Command Entourage – Magnificent
TOTAL POINTS: 1950/2000
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Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords – Subfaction: Barak-Zon – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Stick To The Code (Amendments): Always Take What You Are Owed – Stick To The Code (Artycles): Honour is Everything – Stick To The Code (Footnotes): There’s No Reward Without Risk
LEADERS Aetheric Navigator (100) – Artefacts of Power: Voidstone Orb Arkanaut Admiral (140) – General – Command Traits: Stormcaller Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90) – Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon
BATTLELINE Arkanaut Company (90) – Company Captain – Light Skyhook and Gun Butt – Skypike – Volley Pistol – Aethermatic Volley Gun and Gun Butt Endrinriggers (240) – Mizzenmaster Endrinriggers (240) – Mizzenmaster
BEHEMOTH Arkanaut Frigate (300) – Heavy Sky Cannon – Great Endrinworks: Prudency Chutes – The Admiral’s Flagship: The Admiral’s Flagship Arkanaut Frigate (300) – Heavy Sky Cannon
OTHER Gotrek Gurnisson (480)
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Army Subfaction: Harvestboon – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Inspired – Seasons of War: The Reaping
LEADER 1 x Belthanos (360) 1 x Arch-Revenant (120) – General – Command Traits: Warsinger 1 x Branchwych (110) – Artefacts: The Vesperal Gem – Spells: Verdurous Harmony, Verdant Blessing
BATTLELINE 3 x Spiterider Lancers (190) 6 x Revenant Seekers (230) 3 x Spiterider Lancers (190)
OTHER 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Scythes (250) 3 x Aetherwings (70)
This is the top three AoS lists for Duckstravaganza 2: Battle For the Pond that took place in the US on the 21st and 22nd of October. It saw 36players 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 Lord of Change (380) – General – Command Traits: Daemonspark – Staff of Tzeentch and Rod of Sorcery – Artefacts: Nine-Eyed Tome – Spells: Levitate 1 x Magister (140) – Spells: Arcane Suggestion 1 x Magister (140) – Spells: Shield of Fate
BATTLELINE 11 x Blissbarb Archers (170) 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 – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Tzaangors (180) – Twistbray – Icon Bearer – Brayhorn Blower – 2 x Tzaangor Mutant – Pair of Savage Blades and Vicious Beak – Pair of Savage Blades
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (70) 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
OTHER 6 x Varanguard (280) – 6 x Fellspear
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
Kieron Bailey: With the prevalence of Khorne and Null Myriad in the meta, combined with the challenge to magical dominance offered by Seraphon and various Nagash builds, the number of Tzeentch lists in the wild has dropped off somewhat as this GHB continues. One person who has continued to push around the servants of the Architect of Fate is the Lord of Change himself, Kaleb Walters. But while this list does still opt for Guild of Summoners for an extra battle tactic on command (summoning a Lord of Change), Kaleb’s customary Krondspine is absent from this list, replaced instead with 6 Varanguard.
In terms of the overall army construction, the army is a one-drop, allowing Kaleb to give away first in many matchups, get the enemy in range and then blast them with spells, maybe get the double and then do it all over again. The Varanguard might be able to activate three times in two turns due to their warscroll ability Relentless Killers. Being a one-drop is always a dilemma for Tzeentch as they need the casts to get the summoning points, but don’t really want to have that extra drop if they can avoid it. Kaleb’s elegant solution is to take two Magisters on Foot who can potentially cast two times each. Add the two casts from the Kairics, the two casts from the Lord of Change (with full re-rolls thanks to the Nine-Eyed Tome), the autocast Sigil from Arcane Armies and three fate points from Daemonspark, that’s twelve fate points to bring in that Lord of Change with.
The spells chosen also are a nod to the anti-magic of Khorne and Null Myriad as two out of three affect the Tzeentch units, therefore no spell ignores can be made. Shield of Fate can be put on the Varanguard, meaning that they have a 4+ ward against mortal wounds and a 5+ against all other wounds AND a spell ignore of a 4+ if the spell is cast while Kaleb has seven or more Destiny Dice. Add a Mystic Shield and All Out Defense and those Varanguard are a nightmare to get through. The chosen spell that affects others is the very flexible Arcane Suggestion that can shut off commands, subtract 1 from hit and wound rolls or subtract 1 from save rolls, maximising the impact of the charging Varanguard.
Other units that Kaleb have taken all complement the Varanguard well, with 42 ranged shots pummelling any screens and then 43 attacks from the run and charge Tzaangor finishing off whatever is left. While the Varanguard are not Disciples of Tzeentch so can’t auto charge with Destiny Dice, they certainly won’t have to be committed to taking out any chaff.
The list might be frustrated somewhat by hordes, but Suffocating Gravetide will help with that, in addition to the Sigil of Tzeentch and Bolt of Change from either of the Magisters popping up Spawns within 3″ of units that take damage. While the Spawns themselves probably won’t do a tonne of damage, they will pin those hordes in place if they aren’t killed in the ensuing combat phase.
All in all, a great twist on a Tzeentch list, congratulations to Kaleb and I’m now off to get some Varanguard off eBay!
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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: Hoarfrost 1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (450)* – General – Command Traits: Hulking Brute – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts: Destroyer 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)*
BATTLELINE 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 10 x Orruk Brutes (140)* – Brute Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka – 2 x Gore-choppa
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)
Roland Rivera: Here’s an interesting Ironjawz list earning a podium result, which have been few and far between for the faction of late. Interestingly, it does not feature any of the units in the new Ironjawz supplement. What it does feature, however, is 4 big scary combat units in the Maw-krusha, 10 Brutes, and 2 units of 6 Gore-gruntas. Those units all have a ton of hitting power, and will put a hole in your opponent’s army if you deliver them properly.
The big combat units are complemented by an interesting selection of support Heroes. Warchanters are no surprise, of course, but a Weirdnob lets the list make use of primal dice offensively by giving the list a Hail Mary shot at Hoarfrost, which can be quite a potent offensive buff. Furthermore, it features an interesting Ally choice in Skragrott, which is decently durable, helps ease the burden on the list’s command points and has an interesting offensive spell.
The list is a bit light on chaff and other complementary units, but who needs that when you can just crash into the enemy with overwhelming force? That’s the approach this list took, and it seems to have done well.
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Army Faction: Kharadron Overlords – Subfaction: Grundstok Expeditionary Force – Grand Strategy: Acceptable Profit Margin – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Aether-Khemist (100)* Aether-Khemist (100)* Aetheric Navigator (100)* – Artefacts of Power: Aetheric Nullifier Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (170)** – General – Command Traits: Entrenchment Expert – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
BATTLELINE Grundstok Gunhauler (170)* – Sky Cannon Grundstok Gunhauler (170)** – Sky Cannon Grundstok Gunhauler (170)** – Sky Cannon Grundstok Thunderers (480)** – Gunnery Sergeant – 3 x Honour Bearer – 3 x Grundstok Mortar – 3 x Aethercannon – 3 x Aetheric Fumigator – 3 x Decksweeper Grundstok Thunderers (480)** – Gunnery Sergeant – 3 x Honour Bearer – 3 x Grundstok Mortar – 3 x Aethercannon – 3 x Aetheric Fumigator – 3 x Decksweeper
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1940/2000
Carl Stokes: So this list is very much the classic approach to the Grundstock Regiment of Renown. You’ve got the thunderers, the gunhaulers to tote them around, and the khemists to turn them into unstoppable killing machines. Interestingly, there’s no admiral in the list, but they’re not very important here since you don’t have a flagship. A fast flying endrimmaster is an interesting addition, but since arcane tome lets him cast mystic shield on the thunderers and allows KO to get that sweet sweet magical dominance battle tactic, he’s an excellent dwarf-of-all-trades that can provide some flexibility in an otherwise very straightforward list.
The mechanics of this list are very straightforward and honestly, not particularly interesting. The army moves insanely fast (pre-nerf) and shoots harder than anything else in the game. A 50% chance to double the shots of 15 thunderers allows KO to ace basically any unit in the game. And then they get to try for double shots again during unleash hell…
What’s much more interesting is looking at the matchups and seeing what conclusions we can draw about this style of army and the KO book as a whole.
It’s no secret that KO is an extremely powerful book in a game that heavily emphasizes asymmetric threat extension (I hurt you and you’re not allowed to hurt me back) and movement (objectives, battle tactics, etc). This army of renown exemplifies the best of both worlds, where the cheapest boat in the book can ferry the largest threat in the book anywhere they need to go.
So let’s see how this played out: Darkwalkers is an extremely interesting matchup where Frank would have had to do an excellent job balancing the removal of extremely mobile chaff units while still keeping his movement tight to avoid the ol’ “shaman rips a unit out of position where it then gets eaten by something scary” play that BoC specialize in. Here, I could see the flying endrinmaster really pulling his weight, being able to clear out ungor units while the thunderer blocks dare anything to get in blastin range. Gunhaulers are also excellent here, as they’re fantastic and blowing up squishy infantry units/characters.
Slaves to Darkness is an honest army (except for Belakor). Strong saves, good melee, and horribly unprepared for this KO build. Varanguard can’t do much against a double volley (possibly quadruple after unleash hell) from the thunderers, and gunhaulers can clear screens (with the endrinmaster). Ironjawz, being the only loss, is also not surprising in the slightest. KO, as a book, is very susceptible to fast chunky melee threats, and that’s exactly what IJ are. Frank’s list doesn’t really play for the double turn and KO shooting is relatively short ranged, which means that being doubled by a Mawkrusha and friends could easily result in an unstoppable green tide sweeping away poor innocent dawi. IJ have enough movement and shenanigans to end up in combat immediately, and even a few surviving pigs can be an enormous threat to KO.
Slaanesh can’t really deal with massed 3+ armor units that outmove, outshoot, and outcompete them for objectives. D3 MW from temptation dice don’t matter to a 30 wound thunderer unit that just removes your army immediately.
And finally, seraphon can pose some trouble for traditional KO that rely on the admiral and maybe one khemist to make the army hum along. This is not traditional KO. I’d imagine pretty much anything seraphon brought to the table just got immediately removed by the thunderers and that sprinkling some mortal wounds around the units simply couldn’t reduce their efficacy in a meaningful way.
In short, although GW recognized that this army of renown was horribly unbalanced and made some sweeping changes to their power, it’s nice to see that we didn’t end up in a “10th ed Aeldari” situation with AoS. Good work to Admiral Sylvester for upholding the honor of the fleet and congratulations on a very successful Grundstock Expedition!
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Army Faction: Fyreslayers – Army Subfaction: Greyfyrd – Grand Strategy: Masters of the Forge – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Auric Runemaster (130) – Prayers: Heal 1 x Arch-Revenant (Elthwin’s Thorns) (310)* 1 x Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)** – General – Command Traits: Blood of the Berzerker – Artefacts: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve – Mount Traits: Coal-heart Ancient 1 x Battlesmith (150)** – Artefacts: Nulsidian Icon 1 x Auric Runemaster (130)** – Artefacts: Volatile Brazier – Prayers: Heal 1 x Auric Flamekeeper (90)*** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome
BATTLELINE 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)** – Fyresteel War-pick and Bladed Slingshield 15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (160)*** – Berzerker Broadaxe 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (150)*** – Fyresteel War-pick and Bladed Slingshield
INVOCATION 1 x Molten Infernoth (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Magmic Battleforge (0)
OTHER 5 x Gossamid Archers (Elthwin’s Thorns) (310)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Regiment of Renown **Warlord ***Wizard-finders of Andtor
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Kevin Lathers: This list is a what I like to call a “dual threat” list. A big block of Hearthguard Berserkers (HGB) to hold down an objective or two (dependent on map) and a Runefather with all the things in order to make him a single turn absolute monster where he will kill almost anything in the game.
This allows the list to function as a sort of split pushing list or as a castle army and capable of fluidly shifting between either. If the shield vulkites and/or HGB can shield the runefather until he has the right opening, he can remove the key pieces of the opponents army in one round of combat.
Of course, the list will struggle against anything with multiple smaller threats or anything that can not only ignore wards, but then effectively do huge damage to the HGB to instantly lift them (such as Sigvald!).
The inclusion of Elthwin’s thorns, instead of a second flamekeeper or Grimhold exile (run+charge on the HGB), is clearly for easy tactics. Fyreslayers struggle immensely with tactics and this can go a long way to shoring that up while also providing a mobile threat piece that opponents can’t just roam around doing whatever it wants.
Final Tournament Placings
To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings
This is the top three AoS lists for the Northern Ireland GT that took place in Northern Ireland on the 5th and 6th of August. It involved 40 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Legion of Night – Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Mannfred von Carstein Mortarch of Night (380) – Lore of the Deathmages: Waste Away Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (460)* – Deathlance – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale Vampire Lord (140)** – General – Command Trait: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Artefact: Morbheg’s Claw – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale Necromancer (100)** – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Battleline 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 10 x Dire Wolves (140)* 10 x Dire Wolves (140)*
Other 20 x Grave Guard (300)* – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells and Invocations Suffocating Gravetide (30) Malevolent Maelstrom (30)
Danny Wadeson: First off, let me congratulate Solomon Morrow, not just on 1st place but also on actually kinda having a vampire esque name. Love to see it.
The list is Legion of Night, known primarily for its teleporting, Morbheg Claw wizards who can zip in, nuke a fool with Blizzard (and this one knows all the spells thanks to Shaman of the Chilld Lands) and then TP back out in the opponent’s hero phase – sneaky!
It’s also got Mannfred, who has multiple shenanigans and doesn’t see enough play in his own faction, along with your usual smattering of MSU deadwalkers, the usual VloZD and Graveguard brick, who’re a little more appropriately costed these days but still a fantastic hammer.
Assuming you’ve heard of Soulblight before, there’s not much else to comment on here other than it being quite interesting to see msu zombies. But it has Mannfred in, so I’m happy – I’d love to know how many times he counter-charged with fight first to disrupt the opponent’s plans!
Army Faction: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Barren Icescape – Triumph: Indomitable
Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (160)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Kairos Fateweaver (440)* – Lore of Change: Fold Reality Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (180) – Artefact: The Eternal Shroud – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Battleline 10 x Tzaangors (180)* – 10x Pair of Savage Blade 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 10x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 10x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives
Other 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (360)* – Reinforced x 1
3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (110)*
Endless Spells & Invocations Chronomantic Cogs (50) Daemonic Simulacrum (70) Tome of Eyes (40)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 2000 / 2000
Kieran Bailey: Just as I settle in to write the words, “now Tzeentch can use the spell Rupture to make the Incarnate go wild” I look down the rest of the list and realise that there isn’t actually a Krondspine! Atta boy, David!
So what do we actually have. Well, there’s the Guild of Summoners with their easy to score ‘Call for Change’ Battle Tactic (Summon a Lord of Change) that means that the Tzeentch player had an excellent chance of scoring 10 points for Battle Tactics and 3 points for the Grand Strategy, which is an excellent start to any game.
Leading this force there is the still very good Kairos, though overpriced – 25 points more than Kroak? Come on GW?! Along with the Eternal Shroud allowing Fate Dice to come back, Kairos’ one per turn means there should be plenty of ways to tip the odds in his favour.
One place where those odds being tipped could be handy is when sending in the Enlightened on Disc. If you can guarantee a charge and buff up the flying bird-goats with Hoarfrost then they will be able to do a truly epic amount of damage, particularly if their target’s save is reduced by one with the Arcane Sacrifice spell. The Enlightened also prevent command abilities being used in the fight phase, so could be fighting at effectively rend -4.
Another piece of tech that has become more powerful with the change to Cogs is the Tome of Eyes as this gives you the re-rolls back, though only on one caster – probably Kairos. It’s also not a predatory spell, so can get around limitations on casting those.
The only blemish on David’s path to 4-1 was a Khorne matchup that is very difficult for any magic heavy army and, in fact, most armies at the moment. Congrats on an excellent result, David – may many more come in future!
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Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin – Subfaction: Nautilar – Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Akhelian King (240)* – General – Command Traits: Unstoppable Fury – Bladed Polearm and Falchion – Artefacts of Power: Potion of Hateful Frenzy – Mount Traits: Voidchill Darkness Eidolon of Mathlann Aspect of the Storm (300)* – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust
BATTLELINE Akhelian Leviadon (430)* – Mount Traits: AncientAkhelian Morrsarr Guard (340)* – Standard Bearer – Musician – Lochian Prince Akhelian Ishlaen Guard (170)* – Standard Bearer – Musician – Lochian Prince
OTHER Akhelian Allopexes (300)* – Alpha Allopex – Razorshell Harpoon Launcher, Barbed Hooks and Blades Akhelian Allopexes (150)* – Retarius Net Launcher, Barbed Hooks and Blades
This is the top three AoS lists for Notorious GT III that took place in New Zealand on the 19th and 20th of August. It involved 37 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Legion of Night – Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses – Triumphs: N/A
Leaders Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)* – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale Vampire Lord (140)* – Artefact: Morbheg’s Claw – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Vampire Lord (140)* – General – Command Trait: The Bait – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost
Battleline 30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (300)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Dire Wolves (140)* 3 x Fell Bats (80)
Units 5 x Black Knights (130)* 20 x Grave Guard (300)* – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1 5 x Black Knights (130)*
Behemoths Mortis Engine (210)*
Endless Spells & Invocations Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (50)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 2000 / 2000
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Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Hagg Nar – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe Morathi-Khaine (350)* The Shadow Queen (350)*
Battleline 15 x Blood Sisters (450)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Witch Aelves (110)* – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives 10 x Witch Aelves (110)* – Pairs of Sacrificial Knives
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1970 / 2000
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs:
Leaders Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (200)* – General – Command Trait: Cult Demagogue – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate Magister (140)* – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (150)* – Artefact: The Eternal Shroud – Lore of Primal Frost: Rupture – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch Tzaangor Shaman (130)** – Lore of Fate: Glimpse of Future – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
Battleline 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)** – 7x Pair of Cursed Blades – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)** – 7x Pair of Cursed Blades – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)** – 7x Pair of Cursed Blades – 3x Cursed Glaives 20 x Tzaangors (360)** – 20x Pair of Savage Blade – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)** – Allies
This is the top three AoS lists for Death and Riches that took place in Australia on the 5th and 6th of August. It involved 48 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Seraphon – Constellation: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant (General lives) – Triumphs: Inspired (+1 to wound)
LEADERS Lord Kroak (410)* Skink Starseer (150)** – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard (4d6 mortals) – Spell: Speed of Huanchi (skink unit hero phase move) Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* Slann Starmaster (275)** – General – Command Trait: Lord of CelestialResonance (2 ccp for cast/dispel/unbind) – Spell: Drain Magic (-1 unbind boardwide, herophase dispels) – Lore of Primal Frost: Rupture(Turn E.S. or incarnate wild) Terradon Chief (100)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
BATTLELINE 10 x Skinks (90)* – Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs 5 x Saurus Guard (140)* 5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)*
INCARNATES Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
ENDLESS SPELLS AND INNVOCATIONS Malevolent Maelstrom (30) Suffocating Gravetide (30)*
Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Fluxmaster (180) – Artefacts of Power: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Rupture Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (160)* – General – Command Traits: Arcane Sacrifice – Spells: Arcane Suggestion – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Curseling (200)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
BATTLELINE 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 Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc- 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
BEHEMOTH Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Daemonic Simulacrum (70) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
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Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – General – Command Trait: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Orruk Megaboss (140)*** – Artefact: Destroyer Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Wurrgog Prophet (170)* – Artefact:Glowin’ Tattooz – Loreof Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (240)**
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)** – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)** – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80) – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers 10 x Orruk Ardboys (160)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers – Reinforced x 1 10 x Orruk Brutes (280)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340) – Jagged Gore-hackas – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Geminids of Uhl-Gysh(50) Malevolent Maelstrom (30)
Core Battalions *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord ***Wizard-Finders of Andtor
This is the top three AoS lists for 2D6 Oslohammer #5 that took place in Norway on the 15th and 16th of July. It involved 22 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: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork 1 x Wurrgog Prophet (170)* – Artefacts: Glowin’ Tattooz – Spells: Hoarfrost 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 Gobsprakk (240)*** 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)*** 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)***
BATTLELINE 5 x Orruk Brutes (140)** – Brute Boss – Boss Klaw & Brute Smasha – Jagged Gore-hacka 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)** 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)***
OTHER 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)** – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka