This is the Top Eight AoS Lists for the Las Vegas Open that took place in Nevada, USA, on 27th, 28th, and 29th January. It involved a massive 324 players, all vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

We’re particularly lucky this week as six of the top eight players agreed to give us comments on how their lists work. On top of this, we’ve also got comments from the Head Judge at LVO, Gareth Thomas.

So, thank you to; Jiwan Noah Singh, Kaleb Walters, Gavin Grigar, Cody Saults, Nate Trentanelli and Gareth Thomas for all agreeing to give us your thoughts.

Quick Jump Menu

1st – Jiwan Noah Singh (Beasts of Chaos)
2nd – Nicholas Walters (Ironjawz)
3rd – Kaleb Walters (Disciples of Tzeentch)
4th – Gavin Grigar (Cities of Sigmar)
5th – Cody Saults (Ironjawz)
6th – Rigolet Thibault (Beasts of Chaos)
7th – Nate Trentanelli (Nighthaunt)
8th – Camaron A Hallford (Ogor Mawtribes)
Head Judge – Gareth Thomas

The Top Three AoS Lists

Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos
– Greatfray: Gavespawn
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Beastlord (95)
– Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade
Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)***
– Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars
– Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm
Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)***
– General
– Command Trait: Unravelling Aura
– Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy
Grashrak Fellhoof (150)***
– Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage

Battleline
30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)**
– 30x Pair of Savage Blade
– Reinforced x 2
10 x Gors (70)**
– Gor-Blades & Beastshields
10 x Gors (70)**
– Gor-Blades & Beastshields

Units
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (0)***

Endless Spells & Invocations
Wildfire Taurus (70)

Terrain
1 x Herdstone

Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters
**Expert Conquerors
***Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 159
Drops: 10

Jiwan Noah Singh: The heroes all serve a function against different matchups, and with the Gavespawn ability, they can then serve a secondary function when they die.

The general has to be the Tzaangor Shaman to unlock Galletian Veterans for the big block, but also has the extremely helpful big cast once per game, and moves 16/19” if I need to go hold and up a huge threat. Mostly, I used the big cast for the bull spell, but in other matchups, I considered he would have used tendrils of atrophy to break armor stacking. His speed let’s him get there for that short ranged spell.

Grashrak gives out the +3 move, and because he can pass wounds, it is helpful against ranged threats who losing the move bonus would be difficult against. His spell is also a super combo with Gavespawn if I need to lift a gargant or something in one activation.

The shoggoth was there for his spell and having a starting monster, and the pre-phase move made anyone worried about that going off have to deploy really far back.

Beastlord was the newest addition but was a pretty fun vehicle for the gnarlblade. With run and charge, he moves 15” on an auto run, so throwing him across and 18” deployment means he can also make people worry about making me take top, for small only investment on my part. Additionally, if he got his attacks off and the bull was on something, it was a less likely but still redundant plus to wound, or hit and wound.

Gors are 10 potentially deepstriking bodies on a 4+ in combat for 70 points. They also have plus to run and pile in, which is so strange that it just confuses people when you tell them, but it is actually helpful.

Tzaangor are 60 wounds, have mortal banners, can zoom across the board and fight something with a billion attacks, but also rally on 4+. I generally deploy them in a cloud, all about 1” from each others bases, to maximize the board space, but also to be able to pull them out of 3” against things that shut down inspiring, and if I need to rally, recharge, ect. Let’s me save bodies if I pull them out of coherency too, which I did intentionally several times to be able to rally again.

The rest of the list is enlightened, in blocks of 6, in bounty hunters. These have tons of uses and can pump out massive damage. Turning off all our defense is like another rend in many cases. So with the fight last bull running around, some plus to hit (always try to end on damned if you can) from multiple sources, and the throwing an extra attack on them from a spawn, they are such a threat that an opponent must deal with them. When you stack a plus to hit, going second, and gavespawn attacks, I know of very few things with that output. And at 2/3 rend no cp, few things can eat it with saves.

The beasts summoning on top of all the threats to kill or hold things, and ability to run a hero into something, die, and lock them up, meant that in almost all my games I can lose tons of things and still keep taking points. I built in some tech to deal with specific matchups that concerned me, most of which didn’t happen, but in general it’s a 5 turn army with a ton of flexibility and lots of different things going on. Good proving ground usage was hugely helpful with the ability to summon Galletian Veterans, and the output meant the main armies I expected to see, Ogors, Gargants, Nurgle, Nighthaunt, all had something that was a big problem for them that I didn’t mind sacrificing.

That’s pretty much it.

That, and having distractingly beautiful hair, that helped too.

Allegiance: Ironjawz
– Warclan: Bloodtoofs
– Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Orruk Megaboss (140)
– Artefact: Destroyer
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)*
– General
– Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist
– Command Trait: Hulking Brute
– Artefact: Armour of Gork
– Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
Fungoid Cave-Shaman (95)
– Allies

Battleline
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– Reinforced x 1
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– Reinforced x 1

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Bounty Hunters

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 95 / 400
Wounds: 13
Drops: 9

This list – piloted by Nicholas ‘Scooter’ Walters – is testament to the difference reps and familiarity with an army can make. Even if that army is considered underpowered.

Scooter nearly went all the way with what is a pretty common IJ list, with a sneaky ally in the shape of the Fungoid Shaman for the extra CP generation. I mean, it’s an ‘obvious’ list – but if you watch back the stream of Scooter playing Gavin Grigar’s Cities list for example, you can see the difference skill and knowing the intricacies – the limits, the averages – of your army can make. Keeping the Maw Krusha back until it’s absolutely needed – knowing when to smash that ‘Destroyer’ button on the foot boss – and making all the right calls with your pigs are all key to playing IJ well.

Even though the list will be hurt by losing bounty hunters, making the pigs half as effective, the inclusion of the Megaboss makes sense going into the new season – he’s a great, durable and fighty Galley champ. The speed and activation potential with smashing/bashing of the feral hogs will never go out of style.

Ironjaws might be suffering from a lack of units and power creep these days but Scooter is out here to prove that if you love your army, and you’re prepared to stick with it and get the reps in, ‘the meta’ be damned, you too can damn well near win LVO.

Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Change Coven: Guild of Summoners
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)*
– General
– Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion
Kairos Fateweaver (440)*
Magister (120)*
– Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate
– Incarnate is Bound to the Magister
Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (150)
– Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch

Battleline
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
– 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield
– 3x Cursed Glaives
10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
– 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield
– 3x Cursed Glaives
10 x Tzaangors (180)*
– 10x Pair of Savage Blade

Behemoths
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
– Allies

Endless Spells & Invocations
Tome of Eyes (40)
Umbral Spellportal (80)
Purple Sun of Shyish (90)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 480 / 400
Wounds: 72
Drops: 2

Kaleb Walters: My main goal was to create a Swiss Army Knife style list. Bring as many solutions to the answers in my faction as possible.

Reason For Family: Guild of Summoners: 1 FREE Battle Tactic: Summon Lord of Change. LOC have 14 wounds, -1 Rend shots, 18 inch range, movement 12, +1 To casting for all Tzeentch casters, -1 to hit naturally and monstrous rampage abilities. While other families have more flexibility, the norm is to summon Blue Horrors that have 20 wounds, Movement 5, shoot 12 inches at 0 rend but have good board presence.

List Design: Min Max: Minimum Battleline Maximum Hero’s/Monster Damage. My list is designed to castle up and react to the deployment of my opponent. By staying low drop I normally have the option to decide how I want to engage. I either sacrifice my Acolytes (120pt a unit) to an alpha strike list, or I position aggressively with a front and center incarnate primed to go wild and level up. Either formation still allows me to throw powerful spells that can turn off Command abilities and unleash a possible 15 mortal wounds at 27 inches or more. In addition, as the game goes on, I become more magically dominant with the additional LOC while reducing the overall strength of my opponent.

The next part of my list design is increasing/ reducing my opponents armor. I have 2 spells & 1 Endless spell that can reduce my opponents armor and with the rend stacking of the Acolytes or the LOC natural -1 Rend shots and of course the already powerful incarnate -2/-3 rend I am able to turn normal attacks into Mortal Wound equivalent attacks.

I also know the future with my lame sauce guaranteed Grand Strategy & Destiny Dice…….

Opportunities of The Design: I have a difficult time dealing with Hordes and / or armies that can summon cheap disposable models on a mission with more than 4 objectives. I also find it difficult to face armies like KO that can stay outside my threat range and then engage on their terms.

Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar
– City: Tempest’s Eye
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)*
– General
– Command Trait: Hawk-eyed
– Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles
Arkanaut Admiral (140)*
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of Eagles: Aura of Glory
Battleline
20 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)*
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*
10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*

Units
20 x Arkanaut Company (180)
– 2x Light Skyhooks
– 2x Aethermatic Volley Guns
– Reinforced x 1
4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)*
– Reinforced x 1
4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)*
– Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations
Horrorghast (70)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1960 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 125
Drops: 2

Gavin Grigar

Core Concept
Bring guns… lots of guns. We recently had 2 books introduced into the meta (Ogors and Slaves to Darkness), and the resurgence of some old foes (Dragons, Ironjaws and Nurgle), that generate a ton of kill pressure and melee engagement on Turn 1. Tempest’s Eye combats this with great Turn 1 buffs (+1 Save/+3 Move) and efficient shooting (+1 Hit/+1 Wound) supplemented by a healthy number of mortal wounds (Hurricanum, Dracoth Breath). All these elements together are hopefully enough to keep even the scariest melee threats at bay.

Strengths
Shooting Volume from Crossbowmen, Tempestors and Arkanauts combined with force multipliers centering around the Hurricanum (+1 Hit/+1 Wound). Adaptable Tech from the Admiral (+1 Rend/Ward Removal/Charge Debuff). Drop Control (2 Drops) typically allows the list to immediately threaten a double turn and forces your opponent to make hard decisions on Turn 1.
Horrorghast allows the list to hit crucial damage break points against large units such as Tzaangors, Chosen, or Blood Sisters or spread damage across multiple units for greater efficiency.

Weaknesses
1 Drop armies or specifically being disconnected from the double turn, which forces the list to overextend and expose its firebase. Melee armies whose movement outranges the threat ranges of the list’s shooting units. Middling mobility limits the army’s ability to play proactively and aggressively.

Takeaways and Closing Thoughts
As fun as it was to throw buckets of dice, the list has some glaring weaknesses that I was able to mostly avoid due to some fortunate pairings over the course of the weekend, but it does have undeniable strengths and when the list wins it really wins. Enjoy responsibly!

Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
– Army Type: Ironjawz
– Subfaction: Bloodtoofs
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumph: Indomitable

LEADERS
Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)
– General
– Command Traits: Mighty Waaagh! Leader
– Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist
– Artefacts of Power: Destroyer
– Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
– Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (120)*
– Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat
Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)*
– Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist

BATTLELINE
Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)*
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*
– Gore-grunta Boss
– Jagged Gore-hacka
Shootas (120)*

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Cody Saults: Ironjawz, for me, was the only choice for LVO this year. My standard approach to tournaments is to not play the same game everyone else is expecting to play. With GV being a thing, and folks running bounty hunters, 2 drops kept me tied or out dropping every opponent, and with the list’s raw damage potential, it has the potential to cripple opponents before they get a chance to interact with your units. Second consideration, with a tournament with as many rounds as LVO potentially has for those who do well, avoiding burnout is key. The list only has 4 unit profiles, which helps with keeping rules front of mind and always knowing your options.

The Maw Crusher is an absolute engine for this list, as Skull-Shaking Bellow allows you to spread Mighty Destroyers out to multiple targets, which helps with board control and damage potential. Its melee profiles allow it to put out a punishing amount of wounds, while its solid armor save prevents it from being an easy removal target. Moreover, it has several ways to help clear screens to make sure you get to your target. Its shooting attack is only 4 potential wounds at rend 1, and very short range, but combine that with the impact hits from the pigs, and enhanced stomp monstrous action, the crusher stands a very good chance of clearing screens and getting to the target it truly wants. A quick Finest Hour passing to your opponent’s turn, with an All Out Defense means that even after they deal their damage, they will continue to gum up the works for your opponent, while taking a monstrous amount of extra attention to move. Having 2 allows for redundancy, protect the one in the most vulnerable position, and then respond with the second. The mighty destroyers move means they are never out of position, as if they clear targets and need to pivot to another flank, they almost always have the movement to get there.

Gore Gruntas also represent a solid damage investment, as buffed by the Warchanta, and under the Iron Jaws WAAGH, there is very little in the game they can’t chew through. I went with two units of three, and one of six. The 2 three-man units can take buffs and present good screen clearance in matchups where the opponent has good screening, and for matchups you don’t need the initial sacrificial salvo, they can be used for fast objective grabbing, or counter skirmishing. The post-combat movement abilities from Bloodtoofs also allow for re-establishing screens or locking up units safely.

Warchantas are a must in any IJ list, as they can pass out solid damage bonuses to units about to be in combat, give out charge bonuses, and even heal a key couple of wounds. They have a surprising amount of beef for small characters, and receiving their own buffs can dish it right back.

The last inclusion in the list was shootas, an easy inclusion to give me some cheap screens. Shootas in 20 man squads can be strung out to prevent enemy outflank or deep strike, and the nets, positioned well, can punish an opponent for under-committing resources to remove them or what they are near.

All in all, the list was tailored with so much mobility and relatively low drops to force an opponent to play defensively. This works out either way for us, as the number of hard to remove wounds makes sure they stay in their deployment zone while we grind down their units. Every unit in the army punches up, able to drag down more costly targets, with the post combat mobility to shift our positions, removing the need to choose between damage and objectives.

All in all, the list performed well. The meta we had until the GHB transition had a lot of lists with hard DPS checks, and this list put out enough damage to meet that need and then some.

Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos
– Greatfray: Gavespawn
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired,Indomitable

Leaders
Beastlord (95)*
– Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade
Great Bray-Shaman (100)*
– Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*
– General
– Command Trait: Unravelling Aura
– Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm

Battleline
10 x Ungors (65)**
– Mauls & Half-Shields
10 x Ungors (65)**
– Mauls & Half-Shields
6 x Dragon Ogors (290)***
– 2x Paired Ancient Weapons
– 4x Draconic War glaives
– Reinforced x 1
3 x Dragon Ogors (145)***
– 1x Paired Ancient Weapons
– 2x Draconic War glaives

Units
10 x Ungor Raiders (80)**
10 x Ungor Raiders (80)*
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)***
– Reinforced x 1

Behemoths
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)
– Allies

Endless Spells & Invocations
Ravening Direflock (30)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Expert Conquerors
***Bounty Hunters

Additional Enhancements
Triumph

Total: 1945 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 480 / 400
Wounds: 129
Drops: 11

It’s the ‘other’ BoC list from LVO! As you can see, it damn near went as far as Noah’s, losing only to Scooter’s incredibly well piloted IJ list.

It’s a relatively normal archetype – with the usual 3 HQs for their wide variety of utility – the Dragon Ogor Shaggoth especially proving critical due to his incredible warscroll spell (heal d3 to a Dragon Ogor and give them re-roll wounds) and the Dragon Ogor scroll allowing re-rolls of 1s while near him.

A mix of Ungors for super cheap and speedy (+3″ thanks to the Bray Shama) trading pieces (once the rend starts stacking) and the more out-of-the-box Dragon Ogors make up the battleline – offering speed, punch, and plenty of board control.

Beyond that, it’s basically ‘the spindog’ syndrome. 6 Enlightened on Discs also provide an absolute missile – if you read any of these, you know by now they’re an absolute staple of BoC lists.

The body count, speed, and Spinedog allow Rigolet to care less about dictating first, and so he packs in bounty hunters plus a warlord for additional utility. A savage list that will operate very differently (and be like, double the cost) with the new book – but there you have it!

Allegiance: Nighthaunt
– Procession: Emerald Host
– Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Reikenor the Grimhailer (190)*
– Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
Krulghast Cruciator (150)*
Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (150)*
– General
– Command Trait: Spiteful Spirit
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon

Battleline
5 x Hexwraiths (170)**
5 x Hexwraiths (170)**
5 x Hexwraiths (170)**
5 x Hexwraiths (170)*
10 x Chainrasps (110)*
10 x Chainrasps (110)*

Units
10 x Craventhrone Guard (180)*
– Reinforced x 1

Behemoths
Black Coach (290)*

Endless Spells & Invocations
Lauchon the Soulseeker (50)
Mortalis Terminexus (80)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Bounty Hunters

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 101
Drops: 4

Nate Trentanelli: The list began as a bit of a joke to include two famously “bad” units in the Black Coach and the Craventhrone Guard- or “Crossboos” as they’ve come to be known by. I decided that I couldn’t possibly take Top Nighthaunt in the ITC this season without ever having actually played these units. Not wanting to have no chance during games, I peppered in some more useful units in the Hexwraiths and the Krulghast- staples of Nighthaunt armies.

I’ve gone for an Arcane Tome Knight of Shrouds here for one reason. With his Command Trait “Spiteful Spirit”, when he takes damage in the Combat phase he will roll a number of dice equal to his wounds characteristic and do a mortal wound to all enemy units within 6” for each 4+ he rolls. Quite the useful little bomb. To make things even better, Arcane Tome makes him a wizard, allowing him to be moved by Lauchon. Almost guaranteeing a turn 1 charge wherever I want to maximize his chances of doing mortal wounds. Reikenor with his +3 to cast will almost guarantee Lauchon goes off.

Hexwraiths do what hexwraiths do – nearly unmatched speed to pin opponents in their deployment zones. With 4 units of them, I can either overload my opponent turn 1 with all 20, or simply move block them turn after turn. It may lose me all my hexwraiths, but I’ve functionally disallowed my opponent from actually scoring any objective points.

2 units of Chainrasp exist solely for 2 battle tactics. Start them in the underworld and bring them down on a turn. You don’t have a good battle tactic option. Put both in your opponents deployment zone for an easy Barge Through Their Lines with a bonus for 2 GVs. The next turn take Desecrate Their Lands for another Battle Tactic. 2 complete for no effort.

The unit of Craventhrone Guard I also put in the underworld. Though their damage output is poor, it is something Nighthaunt don’t really have access to anywhere else – shooting. Even that small amount of extra damage is noticeable and useful. They are also a great distraction piece, and the Spectral Bolts ability to shoot through terrain is better than it seems. I know, I know. It’s Crossboos. Trust me. They will work.

Last is the Black Coach. It really is the AoS equivalent to a tank. It’s base size makes it terrific at blocking key areas. With the Craventhrone Guard shooting it’s actually quite easy to power it up as well. Allowing you to shoot with the Craventhrone Guard first, slay 5 models from a screen, and fire the Black Coach into the thing you really wanted to shoot for 3D3 mortal wounds. Alternatively, keeping it on its 4+ ward makes it truly crazy at tanking. Keeping it in the Krulghast bubble also gives it -1 damage for even more craziness. It’s shocking how survivable it is.

The Mortalis Terminexus gives you the flexibility to heal your heroes and Black Coach or use it more as I did, which is an aggressive mortal wound bomb. 26” total threat range from casting is great, and it can pump out quite a bit of chip damage.

All together, the armies Battle Traits of Ethereal and Wave of Terror combine to make even the weakest looking unit truly scary. Roll enough 8s on the charge, and even Kragnos will fall to simple chainrasp. The army has 5 different units that do D3 mortals on a 2+ on the charge. Don’t underestimate how much that is. Simple averages tell you that’s about 8 mortal wounds. Which, by the way, you can retreat and do all over again every turn.

Because of the movement of this army- Hexwraiths, Lauchon heroes, Black Coach teleports, and Underworld Reserves – you can be anywhere and everywhere. Movement wins games, and it’s no surprise to me that most of my opponents had issues with catching me. Even if it they were close, you can simply use one unit to block for the rest to move to safety. Keep your units alive until the exact moment your opponent is out of position. And then pounce all at once. Be careful not to allow your opponent to single out units and be careful. You don’t pull your units away from each others support. Aggressive movement with supporting units will win you games.

Happy haunting!

Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes
– Subfaction: Boulderhead
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)
– General
– Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Mount Traits: Metalcruncher
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
– Prayers: Pulverising Hailstorm
Butcher (140)*
– Cleaver
– Spells: Molten Entrails
Huskard on Stonehorn (400)*
– Blood Vulture
– Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder
– Prayers: Keening Gale

BATTLELINE
Stonehorn Beastriders (310)*
– Blood Vulture
Stonehorn Beastriders (310)*
– Blood Vulture
Thundertusk Beastriders (270)*
– Blood Vulture

OTHER
Gnoblars (120)*

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Camaron has my thanks (but not quite my sword) for not taking any Ironblasters! What he’s taken instead is loads of big, angry cows! It’s almost a completely pure Beastclaw Raider army – love to see it.

This list essentially asks ‘can you handle 5 cows swamping you’, and the answer was ‘no’ for everyone other than Kaleb’s Tzeentch, who were able to puncture those super tough hides with his sneaky magic MW output.

Enhancement wise – which is where the tactics are in a list like this – you’ve got Metalcruncher on the Frostlord for dealing with tanky 3+ saves, along with Touched by Everwinter to make him into a priest and able to cast the excellent MW AoE ‘Pulverising Hailstorm’. The Huskard gets the Rockmane Elder (-1 to wound in melee).

A pack of Gnoblars act as a cheap add-on screen that still fits into the battle reg – crucial for a pressure list like this – in order to dictate first and almost certainly give it away every time to make an absolutely devastating round of turn 2 charges and a hopeful end-it-there double.

Big gratz to Camaron for losing only in the shadow round to a legendary player and a bad match-up.

Head Judge – Thomas

Acting as Head Judge at LVO 2023 was a thrilling experience. I should begin by thanking both Front Line Gaming, and Scott Reed, the Head TO, for organizing such an amazing event.

LVO 2023 was the largest Age of Sigmar tournament in the world, by far, and 50% larger than previous LVOs. Whilst being involved in such a large event was a great experience, the logistics of organizing 325 players did throw up some challenges.
To start, the release of the Battlescroll with new points one week before the list deadline (and after our rules cut-off) was a bit disruptive. We had to ensure that every player knew that we would be using the new points, and yet we still had quite a few lists submitted with the old points. Equally, we had to ensure that every player knew that we would not be using the new GHB, which was released the day after lists were due (and one week after rules cutoff). Of course, there were still a few players who submitted lists assuming the new GHB (comically enough, there was one player who we could not contact until round 1 to let them know that their Aspect of the Champion and Sharpshooter battalion had to go!).

The rest of the pre-event organization was handled by FLG and Scott, so my preparations beforehand were minimal. But I have been involved with the running of 36 events in the past 18 months and know that quite of bit of prep work is involved.

Due to the large number of players, LVO did not use the standard AoS GT format of 5 rounds. Instead, we used 5 rounds followed by a 3rd day of single elimination rounds for top 8 players. This year, 9 players went 5-0 which required us to run a Shadow Round 6th game for the players in 8th and 9th place to determine which of them would advance to Day 3.

The first five rounds were pretty straight forward from a rules judging point of view. The pack used at LVO, produced by Scott Reed, borrowed from the OTTD Generic Pack, which is something I was heavily involved in creating. Many of the players at LVO already have experience attending events that use the OTTD system, which helped keep rules and scoring questions to a minimum. When tricky questions did arise, I was able to fall back to the aosfaq.com website and team to provide answers.

The pressure as Head Judge only really started during the Shadow Round, which was the first round where we introduced active judging (where a judge watches the entire game and points out rules mistakes before and whilst they are made). Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a one-sided blowout – the choice to use Mighty and Cunning proved problematic when one player had essentially all GV and the other essentially none. Lesson learned! The only rules issue that cropped up was when one of the players declared Desecrate their Lands on a Defensible terrain piece. I had to remind him that you can only control Defensible terrain pieces by garrisoning them – the standard 3” rule does not apply. He was able to declare another terrain piece instead.

Day 3 was where the real excitement as Head Judge began, which entailed three rounds of active judging among the best players in the world. I was fortunate enough that James O’Brien who was a contender, had not made it to day 3, but as an experienced TO and judge was willing to jump in and judge half of the games.

When judging the final 8 of a 325-player event, there is really very little stress. These are fantastic players with a huge amount of experience and, more importantly, great sportsmanship. There was no confrontation to deal with, and all players played with intent at all times, meaning there were no disagreements to intervene with. If anything, I had to prevent players from giving too much benefit to their opponents!

Instead, the rule of table judging was just handling the occasional line-of-sight judging, pointing out often forgotten rules such as you need to jump into a garrison to control it (even the top players didn’t know that rule!) and mostly sitting back and watching some fantastic Warhammer being played.
The biggest drama, up until the end of the final game, that is, was during the first round, when one of the games ended in a complete tie. With single elimination, a tie is not an option. It was also not something we had prepared for. Fortunately, the two players were able to agree that under any tie-break rules, there would be a clear winner.
Of course, I couldn’t end without talking about that final game. What a game! I could watch both Noah and Scooter play Warhammer all day. Scooter is one of the great personalities to watch, and Noah is a fantastic human being. And their game was so close.

I suppose I should talk about the ending… By the end of the final game, the players had been through 3 days of extensive Warhammer. All with the backdrop of Las Vegas. I think it is fair to say that both players (and Judge) were drained. The game came down to control of an objective. Noah had a chaos spawn on it, Scooter had a goblin shaman. They fought in combat, but neither could kill the other (Scooter made the 4+ ward save to keep his Shaman alive on one wound – much to the crowd’s delight!). It was a great moment!

Of course, the spawn has 5 wounds, and so is worth 2 points on an objective, and the Shaman only has 4 wounds, so it is worth 1. But we were all too exhausted to notice. Noah assumed the Shaman was worth 2. Scooter assumed the spawn was worth 1 and I failed to notice the mistake (oh so easy to assume all heroes in the game are going to be 5 wounds or more!). That meant that they were tied on points, and Scooter won the match on battle tactics scored. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that we caught the mistake – where we had not considered that the Shaman was only 4 wounds (a friend texted me – thank you!).
The way both players handled the turnaround in decision is a credit to them both. The level of joy each felt at the other being declared the winner was heartwarming.

The final, and LVO in general, left no doubt that Age of Sigmar has a fantastic community. And I am proud to be part of it.

Final Tournament Placings

For the full tournament placings visit BCP.