This is the top three AoS lists for the Emerald City Open III that took place in the USA on the 19th and 20th of August. It involved 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
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: Blades of Khorne – Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery
LEADERS Bloodmaster (110)* – Artefact: Halo of Blood – Prayers: Bloodbind, Curse Bloodsecrator (120)* Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne (160)* Realmgore Ritualist (110)** – Prayers: Blood Sacrifice, Killer Instinct Slaughterpriest (110)** – Bloodbathed Axe – Prayers: Blood Sacrifice, Witchbane Curse – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)** – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades – Prayers: Bloodbind, Heal
BATTLELINE Blood Warriors (190) – Goreaxe and Gorefist Claws of Karanak (100)* Flesh Hounds (100)* Bloodletters (360)**
OTHER Wrathmongers (140)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50) 1 x Wrath-Axe (70) 1 x Bleeding Icon (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Skull Altar (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Subfaction: Bloodlords – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Slaughterpriest (110)* – Bloodbathed Axe – Prayers: Killer Instinct Be’lakor (340)* Bloodsecrator (120)* Bloodmaster (110)** – Artefacts of Power: Halo of Blood – Prayers: Blood Sacrifice Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)*** – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades – Prayers: Bloodbind
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Wizard-finders of Andtor ***Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Meatfist – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Firebelly (120)* – Spells: Billowing Ash (12″ bubble of -1 to hit) Frostlord on Stonehorn (460)* – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder (-1 to wound) Slaughtermaster (140)* – General – Command Traits: Shaman of the Chilled Lands (Knows all lore of primal frost) – Spells: Blood Feast (+1 melee attack. Applicable to Gluttons and Ironguts)
BATTLELINE Ogor Gluttons (240)* – Crusher – Bellower – Tribal Banner Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar (-1 to wound against shooting only) – Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades Ironguts (240)* – Gutlord – Bellower – Rune Maw Bearer (6+ spell shrug) Ironguts (240)* – Gutlord – Bellower – Rune Maw Bearer (6+ spell shrug) Ogor Gluttons (240)* – Crusher – Bellower – Tribal Banner Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar (-1 to wound against shooting only) – Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades
ARTILLERY Ironblaster (200)*
OTHER Gnoblars (120)* (D3 Mortals on a 4+ for each more an enemy unit finishes within 6″ of this unit, including charges, pile in etc.) – Groinbiter
TERRAIN 1 x Great Mawpot (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Curseling (200)* – General – Command Traits: Cult Demagogue – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)* – Artefacts of Power: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Hoarfrost Kairos Fateweaver (440)*
BATTLELINE Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (260)* – 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 Screamers of Tzeentch (220)*
OTHER Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch (360)* – Aviarch Cockatrice (120)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (50)
This is the top three AoS lists for the Threshold Invitational that took place in the Netherlands on the 15th and 16th of July. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this event had less than 20 players attending there won’t be any list comments here as the guys will be concentrating on the larger events of the week.
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: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs:
Leaders Magister (140)** – General – Command Trait: Cult Demagogue – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)** – Artefact: Nine-Eyed Tome – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard – Knows Lore of Fate Kairos Fateweaver (440)* – Knows Lore of Change
Battleline 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (260)* – Split and split again 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (260)* – Split and split again 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (360)* – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Burning Sigil of Tzeentch (70) Tome of Eyes (40) Umbral Spellportal (80)
Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Urbaz – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs:
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Settle The Grudges – Artycle: Honour is Everything – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: Without Ships We Are Naught
Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Army Subfaction: Heartwood – Grand strategy: Overshadow – Triumph: Inspired – Season of War: The Reaping
LEADER 1 x Arch-Revenant (120)* – General – Command Traits: Warsinger – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Verdant Blessing 1 x Battlemage (100)* – Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur) 1 x Alarielle the Everqueen (820)* – Spells: Verdant Blessing
BATTLELINE 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (460)* – Huntmaster 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* – Huntmaster 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* – Scion – Glade Banner Bearer – Waypipes – Protector Glaive 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)* – Scion – Glade Banner Bearer – Waypipes – Protector Glaive
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
Drops: 1
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
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Allegiance: Seraphon – Constellation: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Realmshaper Guardians – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Lord Kroak (410)* – Spell: Drain Magic Slann Starmaster (275)* – General – Command Trait: Higher State of Consciousness – Spell: Comet’s Call Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) Gotrek Gurnisson (480)* – Allies
Battleline 10 x Saurus Warriors (180)* – Clubs 5 x Saurus Guard (140)* 5 x Saurus Guard (140)* 10 x Skinks (90)* – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (90) – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers
Endless Spells & Invocations Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (50)
This is the top three AoS lists for the US Open Tacoma that took place in the United States on the 15th and 16th of July. It involved 97 players vying to be champion.
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: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Mortis Praetorians – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Arkhan the Black (380) Katakros (460) Mortisan Boneshaper (140) – General – Command Traits: Dark Acolyte – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Drain Vitality
Walter Brock: With the new season Ossiarch Bonereapers have started out of the gate running. This list uses Mortis Praetorians as the sub faction of choice, which allows a unit to counter charge after an enemy unit finishes a charge within 12”. This has a lot of potential things it can do. From stopping other units from charging, to taking objectives from the opponent when otherwise the objectives would have been lost. For mortis Praetorians the sky’s the limit when it comes to the crazy things it can do.
Spell casting savant means the Boneshaper needs to survive until the end of the game to score the grand strat. Because of the Immortis Guard can take hit for it. That means the opponent will need to chew through a lot of tanky models just to stop the grand strat.
Arkhan and Katakros are a two man wonder show. Each being able to heal three different units wholly within 24. Combine that with the Shapers Key and you could potentially return 4 Immortis guard each of your command phases, not to mention all the other things that can be healed too. Katakros has his very powerful Aura of +1 save and +1 hit. Arkhan is a spell casting master at +2 to cast and deny with three casts and unbinds. While also knowing all the lore spells. I could go on and on about what these two do, but we might actually be here all day
Dark acolyte gives the shaper access to an easy battle tactic with a powerful spell of the users choice. On top of it having a very potent healing ability.
Going into the units. Death riders grant access to a solid battle tactic while being able to play multiple roles in a list from screens to taking objectives or even trying to snipe out small heros with there impact hits. These add a lot of options and flexibility to an OBR gameplan.
Immortis Guard and are the Anvil and the hammer. They are very hard to take out. They can’t be ignored most of the time and they demand your attention. Being a 2+ save with katakros’s command ability and then you can stack defensive spells like mystic shield and reinforce construct makes them very difficult to take down. Now add all the healing abilities and it adds up to what feels like an immovable object. They also come with a once per game fight again so they can smack things around incredibly hard.
Stalkers are a unit with multiple choices. They can move fast with their command ability. They can become as tanky as Immortis guard in combat. They can even go full damage mode and take out large threats. They do a good job at rounding out the list and add another tool to the OBR arsonal. Well done to this player
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Army Faction: Seraphon – Army Type: Starborne – Army Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Lord Kroak (410)* 1 x Skink Starseer (150)* – Spells: Speed of Huanchi, Merciless Blizzard 1 x Skink Oracle on Troglodon (270)** – Spells: Cosmic Crush, Speed of Huanchi 1 x Slann Starmaster (275)** – General – Command Traits: Lord of Celestial Resonance – Artefacts: Spacefolder’s Stave – Spells: Comet’s Call, Hoarfrost 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)**
BATTLELINE 5 x Saurus Guard (140)* – Saurus Guard Alpha – Icon Bearer – War-drummer 5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)* – Raptadon Charger Alpha – Icon Bearer – Hornblower 5 x Raptadon Chargers (150)* – Raptadon Charger Alpha – Icon Bearer – Hornblower} 5 x Drakespawn Knights (110)* – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Dread Knight 10 x Skinks (90)* – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (30) 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30) 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (50)
It’s dooble-forg, with a Trog – just like the ‘good’ ‘old’ days. In fairness, I’ve always been bullish on the Trog as a utility piece – even when it’s not being used as a kamikaze spell portal, it has an excellent warscroll spell (halving charges is not to be underestimated), a clutch -1 to hit aura (one of the strongest defensive effects in the game), built-in healing, some modest spike damage potential and the Terror ability – what’s not to love?
We also see double Chargers here, which I’m also a big fan of – point for point they’re the best output in Starborne, and with Speed of Huanchi can be an absolute rocket. I’m guessing the allied Drakespawn are essentially a cheap and equally fast screen for them with that sweet 3+ save, but either way they won’t be long for this world…
With 5 wins, over what looks on the surface to be about the toughest variety of opponents going – such as the shifty BoC, anti-magic Khorne, swarming Gitz, and TWO SBGL – it’s clear that this list and Stark’s generalship truly adhere to The Great Plan!
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Army Faction: Beasts of Chaos – Army Subfaction: Darkwalkers – Grand strategy: Desecrating Brayherd
LEADER 1 x Doombull (180)* – General – Command Traits: Bestial Cunning – Artefacts: Bleating Gnarlstaff 1 x Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Artefacts: Brayblast Trumpet – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Be’lakor (340)*
BATTLELINE 10 x Ungors (80) 10 x Ungors (80) 9 x Bullgors (630) – Warheard Drummer – Warheard Banner Bearer – Bloodkine – Cleaving Axe and Bullshield
BEHEMOTH 1 x Chaos Gargant (150)
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (50)
OTHER 20 x Ungor Raiders (260)* 10 x Ungor Raiders (130)* CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Roland Rivera: This Beasts of Chaos list, piloted by Worlds Team USA member Jiwan Noah Singh, is trying to do one thing: deliver a giant blob of Bullgors to the spot where they can do the most damage. To that effect, everything in this list is geared around getting them there. The Doombull General has the Bestial Cunning command trait to set up a full deepstrike within 7″, the Bray-Shaman has Hoarfrost to counteract their base 4+ to hit, the Chaos Gargant projects an aura of -1 save, and the Ungor Raiders provide volume shooting to clear screens and expose juicy targets. It also has a potent spell in Geminids of Uhl-Gysh to soften up the target by stripping them of the ability to use commands. The Bulls themselves straddle the line between offense and defense by wielding Axes & Shields – the difference in offense is not large, and a 4+ save can give them enough staying power to survive a counter-attack and crush a second target.
Speaking of survival, the list also has a potent disruption piece in Be’lakor, which can potentially neuter an enemy hammer long enough for your Bullgors to crush it, or prevent reprisals against the Bullgors once they have delivered their payload. It also has access to some emergency bodies via the Brayblast Trumpet, which can be used to summon another unit of Ungor Raiders for more shooting, or a unit of Gors to impose strikes-last in some matchups. Last but not least, a couple of Ungor units serve as cheap objective grabbers and screens for your Heroes or the Bullgors. All in all, this is a highly technical list that walks on a razor’s edge, but in the hands of a skilled pilot (as it was here), it can be devastatingly effective.
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)* 1 x Ephilim the Unknowable (190)** – Spells: Unchecked Mutation 1 x Fluxmaster (180)** – Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Magister (140)*** – General – Command Traits: Arcane Sacrifice – Spells: Arcane Suggestion 1 x Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)*** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
BATTLELINE 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Ungors (80)** – Brayhorn Blower – Banner Bearer – Halfhorn – Pitted Blade
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (70) 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
OTHER 4 x Ephilim’s Pandaemonium (190)** 6 x Furies (80)** 6 x Furies (80)**
Kieron: So new GHB; new list building in this Tzeentch offering from Joe Krier with tonnes to unpack. Let’s start with what looks familiar. The Grand Strategy is the same, Master of Destiny, because there is absolutely no reason to take anything different, especially with Kairos returning a Destiny Dice once per turn and The Eternal Shroud returning them on a 5+ whenever they are used. Most Tzeentch lists tend to lean towards the sub-factions Guild of Summoners or Hosts Arcanum, with Hosts Arcanum being Joe’s choice here for an auto-unbind battle rounds 1, 3 and 5. Merciless Blizzard on a ridiculously high amount (but without a Primal Super-cast) – just unbind it. Bunch of chaff about to be buffed to the moon with Hoarfrost – Tzeentch says no.
When we look at the characters, Kairos is a staple of many lists and does work (just not in combat – hard to hit something if you can only see into the past or the future!). Magister on foot gets the benefit from not being able to be shot when close enough to another unit and can debuff a unit/turn into a spawn from an extended range with Arcane Sacrifice. Fluxmaster carries the Shroud and also is a good choice for Hoarfrost as they have the once per game re-roll with +3 to the cast and it is unlikely to be in range turn 1 of its warscroll spell for extra Fate Points for summoning (although see comments on Endless Spells below). Gaunt Summoner on foot is a great, flexible piece and with its innate +1 to cast hopefully buffed by Kairos to +2 it makes Merciless Blizzard more likely to go off, without having to sacrifice any of the spells you are taking the summoner with. Then it gets a bit funky!
Ephilim the Unknowable is a very appropriately named character as many of you are wondering who he is! He is an Underworlds one-cast wizard who has an entourage of 4 little freaky dudes – his Pandaemonium – that he can sacrifice for +2 to cast for a phase and then bring back some of a subsequent hero phase instead of casting. This little package costs 190 points, which is a lot, with a Curseling being only 10 points more and offering more immediate utility with re-rolling of unbinds. The only reason you would take him is because of his spell and the way it combines with other spells. While Lumineth have a teleport spell, Seraphon have a teleport heroic action and even Tzeentchian sorcerers in Slaves to Darkness have a pseudo-teleport, Disciples of Tzeentch don’t have one that completes in the same hero phase…until now. Ephilim allows a Tzeentch unit to be teleported 9″ away from the enemy, allowing Kairos to operate at maximum efficiency or putting the Gaunt Summoner in striking position for Merciless Blizzard. There are one or two restrictions though…seven to be precise:
Casts on an 8
Teleporting unit must be wholly within 18″
And visible to Ephilim
And within 6″ of an objective
And more than 3″ away from an enemy
And set up 9″ or more away
And be able to be placed within 6″ of an objective
It’s restriction 7 that really bites but the potential tactical advantage if it goes off is pretty huge. If you want to get hold of Ephilim and his Pandaemonium, time to get your converting skills on as I can’t find him anywhere!
That’s the characters covered: now onto the units. Joe has gone for three units of Kairics, cheap battleline that can add a couple of spells in for Fate Point generation and, if they pool their spells into one Kairic unit, can get up to rend -3 shooting. Still only 10 shots, but its something. They can also do chip damage on enemy wizards who cast within 18″, causing a mortal wound on a 4+ and maybe setting up the ‘kill with magic’ battle tactic. Even more chaff like are the Ungor Raiders with their pre-game move getting board control and maybe setting up space for Ephilim to do his thing. The last units are 6 Furies, who haven’t seen that much of an outing since the heady days of Legion of the First Prince and the least interactive army in history! They are fast, allowing Surround and Destroy to be an easy turn 1 tactic and have a neat warscroll ability that allows them to run away instead of fighting. They probably won’t last long, but long enough for the casters to get within 18″ and then annihilate whatever was being roadblocked. It’s a similar principle to the Krondspine – just slow down the enemy while scoring points.
Finally, the Endless Spells. Burning Sigil is a great spell to be able to set up T1 with their Arcane Armies rule that can potentially get a spawn created in your opponent’s lines. It is unlikely to do much damage, but it slows everything else down. Combine with the Magister’s spell that can do the same and the Ungors and the Furies, it’s going to take a while to get to the juicy stuff in this Tzeentch list. The next one is Umbral Spellportal which some feel is more of a luxury pick at 80 points, especially as the range at which the portal can be used has come down. Lots of good spells to potentially go through this though in the early game, with Kairos’ warscroll spell a great choice to snipe a key character, the Fluxmaster to build up some summoning or, potentially, the next Endless Spell (although damage would be delayed a turn.) The final Endless Spell is Aethervoid Pendulum, which can carve through units for D6 mortal wounds in its 8″ movement. Tzeentch really don’t like being rushed by multiple units as single-target damage is where they excel, so this spell helps cover up that weakness for a cheap 40 points.
No discussion of a Tzeentch book is complete without at least a passing reference to Disciples of Tzeentch’s superpower – Grand Strategy and Battle Tactics. As Joe showed, going over 20 points for every battle apart from his one loss, Tzeentch are good at scoring. The Grand Strategy is in the bag and then there are at least 7 Battle Tactics that are straightforward to complete (book tactics and GHB), with a couple others that are doable, if more risky, for example casting 3 with Mass Conjuration. However, even here, keep Kairos out of range of unbinds, spank 6 Destiny Dice and pick easy spells, it’s a battle tactic that the Tzeentch player is in control of.
Overall, a Tzeentch list that wants to keep you at arms length, until it doesn’t, and then smashes you into little bits with its mortal wound output. Great performance from Joe, also managing to dodge Khorne and any sneaky Null Myriad players on his path to victory!
This is the top three AoS lists for II CN – II GT de CAT that took place in Spain on the 25th and 26th of March. It involved 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Krulghast Cruciator (150)** – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Guardian of Souls (150)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (120)** Lord Executioner (130)** – Artefact: Tuskhelm (Galletian Champion) Veremord’s Shamblers – Corpse Cart with Balefire Brazier (180)**** – Allies
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)*** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)*** – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)* – Dreadwarden 10 x Chainrasps (110)* – Dreadwarden
Units 20 x Veremord’s Shamblers – Deadwalker Zombies (0)**** – Allies 2 x Chainghasts (90)* 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (100)*
Kel Pigg: A nighthaunt lists takes 5-0, while not an impossible task Nighthaunt have not been doing as well in this season as many originally believed they would so it’s great to see a strong performance.
Marc took a relatively standard Scarlet Doom list taking 40 Bladegheist revenants and having all the nighthaunt aura tech in play, offensives from the guardian of souls and the chainghasts and defensively from the cruxiator and the banshees, giving him the added benefit of being able to shrug off some of the more pesky spells.
Uniquely, though, Marc decided to bring out one of the new regiments of renown. This has been a hotly debated topic in nighthaunt for when this regiment is good, but looking at his list, Marc may be going for more of a counter strike playstyle. The regiment of renown for death gives you access to a corpse cart and some zombies. The corpse cart subtracts 1 from wound rolls within 9 and reduces enemy cast rolls by 1 within 18. But special to the regiment, the corpse cart also reduces the enemy ward and save rolls by 1 within 12 of it. Adding a nice bit of both offensive and defensive tech to a scarlet doom army. The only problem is that the corpse cart only has a movement of 4, meaning it’s needing 4+ runs just to keep up with the base movement of nighthaunt.
That’s why I believe Marc most likely let his opponent hit his line first, absorbed most of the damage with his cavalcade of defensive tech, and then, on his turn, really pushed back hard. His opponent matchup was mostly melee, so they would play into the strengths of this list, and personally, I believe it would be difficult to overcome. But all in all, Marc had an effective list using the new regiment and really showed off it’s potential.
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Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Blessed Sons – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Orghotts Daemonspew (320) 1 x Lord of Plagues (140)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Gift of Disease – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Lord of Afflictions (230)* – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Incubatch – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts: The Splithorn Helm 1 x Be’lakor (355)* – Ally 1 x Bloab Rotspawned (320)** – Spells: Magnificent Buboes
Alice: A very interesting off-shelf model for Nurgle. Very Herohammer friendly, with only 20 infantry models these guys are hoping to win through magical might.
Blightkings are resiliant enough, and Orghotts, the Lord of Afflictions and Lord of plagues can fight alongside them very well. Bloab and the Rotmire Creed offer support from the rear, peppering opponents with debuffs and Disease Points.
Be’lakor is here to do what he always does: Shut down the enemy’s most powerful tool for a turn (possibly two if they get a double) and then scrap with the rest if they can. Even if they fail to do significant damage, pinning down a major threat is reward enough.
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)* 1 x Curseling (180)* – General – Command Traits: Cult Demagogue – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Shield of Fate – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Magister (120)* – Spells: Glimpse the Future – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
BATTLELINE 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Iridescent Horror – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again 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
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Tome of Eyes (40) 1 x Shards of Valagharr (40)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
So it’s a Krondspine list, Jim, but not as we know it! The changes from the Kaleb inspired lists of previous weeks are that it’s Host Arcanum rather than Guild of Summoners, cutting out the Call for Change battle tactic (summoning a Lord of Change) but allowing for a variety of units to be summoned (probably Horrors still!). It also features a different Endless Spell, with Shards of Valagharr being a useful tech piece to slow the enemy down if they try to go around the Incarnate to get to you.
In terms of other spells, The Curseling has Shield of Fate that they can cast on a double, or two Destiny Dice of the same value, and it can’t be unbound. Combined with the -1 to hit in melee on the Pinks from a Daemon character being in range, a 5+ ward can really increase the survivability of these screens. It might seem a small thing, but keeping those Pinks alive and standing on circles just drains the opponent of points, not only on the primary, but also with battle tactics as well. Add in a Krondspine pinning the enemy in place and you’ve got a recipe for victory.
In terms of opponents, Jordi clearly knows how to pilot his Tzeentch, taking out the Helon Lumineth Realm Lords boogeyman, Teclis and all, on the way to third place. Their only loss was to Marco’s second place list that you will find just above. Nice work, Jordi!
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Army Faction: Beasts of Chaos – Subfaction: Quakefray – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Doombull (160)** – General – Command Traits: Bestial Cunning – Artefacts of Power: Slitherwrack Helm – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Beasts of Chaos Tzaangor Shaman (115)*** – Spells: Tendrils of Atrophy Great Bray-Shaman (95)**** – Artefacts of Power: Brayblast Trumpet – Spells: Tendrils of Atrophy Great Bray-Shaman (95)**** – Spells: Viletide Great Bray-Shaman (95)**** – Spells: Viletide
Alice: A powerful mix of hordes and elites. Tzaagors and Gors supported by a whopping a Tzaangor Shaman and a whopping three Great Bray Shaman. Hey at that cheap why not right? The gors hold a solid role as cannon fodder while Tzaangors can do the same, but actually put back a bit of bites
The Cygors and Doombull are the hammer, meant to come in once the enemy has tied themselves up with cheaper chaff. All in all an interesting approach to beasts.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Lords AoS Tournament that took place in Vietnam on the 25th and 26th of March. It involved 8 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this event had less than 20 players attending there won’t be any list comments here as the guys will be concentrating on the larger events of the week.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Quicksilver Dead – Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Guardian of Souls (150)*** – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist – Lore of the Underworlds: Spectral Tether Krulghast Cruciator (150)*** – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish – Lore of the Underworlds: Spectral Tether Spirit Torment (120)*** Spirit Torment (120)* Tomb Banshee (90)*
UNITS 20 x Dreadscythe Harridans (320)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)*** 8 x Myrmourn Banshees (200)** 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)** 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)**
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Knights Excelsior (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: Survivor’s Instinct – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Knight-Incantor (120)*** – Spell: Celestial Blades Lord-Imperatant (170)*** Lord-Relictor (150)*** – General – Command Trait: High Priest – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Spell: Lightning Blast – Prayer: Translocation – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
UNITS 3 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (240)** 3 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (240)** 3 x Aetherwings (70)*** 3 x Aetherwings (70)*** 5 x Vanquishers (110)** 5 x Vanquishers (110)** 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)* 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)* 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Holy Command: Call for Aid Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley
TOTAL: 2000/2000
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADERS Kairos Fateweaver (440)** Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)** – Artefact: The Eternal Shroud – Lore of Change: Unchecked Mutation Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (355)* – Allies
UNITS 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7 x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3 x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7 x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3 x Cursed Glaives 3 x Tzaangor Skyfires (190)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS Chronomantic Cogs (70) Umbral Spellportal (80) The Burning Head (30)
Leaders Warsong Revenant (300)* – General – Command Trait: Spellsinger – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Deepwood: Verdurous Harmony – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master The Lady of Vines (290)* – Lore of the Deepwood: Verdurous Harmony Spirit of Durthu (350)* – Artefact: Greenwood Gladius Arch-Revenant (120)*
Battleline 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Scythes (250) 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatswords (250) 3 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatbows (230)* 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Realm of Geddon 2023 that took place on the 4th and 5th February. It involved 14 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As a reminder, as this tournament has less than 20 players, there won’t be any comments from the Woehammer guys here. This frees up their time for the bugger tournament write ups.
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: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs:
Leaders Kairos Fateweaver (440)** Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (180)** – General – Command Trait: Cult Demagogue – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Fatemaster (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)** – Lore of Change: Fold Reality Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
Battleline 10 x Tzaangors (180)** 10 x Tzaangors (180)** 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (110)** 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Despoilers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (220)* – General – Command Trait: Idolator Lord – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Prayer: Heal Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (195)* – Axe – Wings – Command Trait: Bolstered by Chaos – Artefact: Helm of Many Eyes – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
Battleline 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 10 x Chaos Chosen (480)*** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Ensorcelled Banner: The Banner of Screaming Flesh – Reinforced x 1
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Khailebron – Mortal Realm: Ulgu – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Crown of Woe – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Morathi-Khaine (350)* The Shadow Queen (350)*
Battleline 15 x Blood Stalkers (540)** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Blood Sisters (300)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Witch Aelves (120)* – Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)** 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)**
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Quest of Champions (Heat 1) that took place in the UK on the 4th and 5th February. It involved 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Underguts – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Icebrow Hunter (120) 1 – General – Command Traits: Voice of the Avalanche – Aspect: Leadership of the Alpha 1 x Slaughtermaster (140) 2 – Artefacts: Gruesome Trophy Rack – Spells: Blubbergrub Stench 1 x Bloodpelt Hunter (140) 3 1 x Bloodpelt Hunter (140) 3
BATTLELINE 2 x Frost Sabres (80) 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)** – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
ARTILLERY 1 x Ironblaster (200)* 1 x Ironblaster (200)** 1 x Ironblaster (200)***
OTHER 20 x Gnoblars (120)*** 20 x Gnoblars (120)***
Did you think Ogors were just Ironblasters and giant cows at ramming speed? Think again! Rory here leans heavily into the new season’s Galletian Champ rule by taking four of them – and Ogors happen to have an excellent selection to choose from.
In this instance, Rory starts with an Icebrow hunter – relatively unremarkable save for the fact they make Frost Sabres battleline as a General, and can also deepstrike along with one said unit of chill-cats. So already you can see the scoring potential – now add in two Bloodpelt hunters who are relatively slappy, invisible while in cover and can move at the end of an opponent’s movement phase (if 9″ away) – starting to feel insecure about your objectives?
Rory also opts to spread the meat-by-square inch between three msu Mournfang rather than packing it into one large Frosthorn, no doubt further aiding with the scoring heavy and board control game plan.
I mean, yes, sure, there are also three ironblasters and 40 Gnoblars – but the rest of the list is a really cool, Seasonal spin that shows off the Ogors’ diverse hero roster and really plays a balanced game of AoS – as evinced by taking down a motley crew en route to the 5-0: Slaves; Tzeentch; Ogors and Sylvaneth, all of whom ask very different questions, to which this list had all the answers!
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)* – General – Command Trait: Daemonspark – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)* – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
Battleline 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (110)*
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (360)* – Reinforced x 1 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
On to the second place list now and the one that pushed Rory, the eventual winner, the hardest, missing out on a 5-0 by only one battle tactic. Speaking to Sam after the event, it was the “Cast 3” tactic that just let him down with another book tactic being available and probably the easier option. While we’re talking about matchups, Sam also had an epic battle against Peter and his 9 (yes 9!) Revenant Seekers, so clearly Sam knows his Tzeentch!
Onto the list itself, Sam went for a one-drop list for this event and doesn’t plan to go back to more drops any time soon! The ability (most of the time) to make your opponent take the first turn and potentially come within range of those spells is excellent and, even if your opponent retains priority into turn 2 they have a really difficult choice: give it away and take Kairos bombarding you with spells into oblivion OR allow opponent to take advantage of the ‘going second’ battleplan bonuses.
Speaking of bonuses to going second, one of the MVPs of the list are the Enlightened on Discs. Lots of attacks with all of the profiles and with a couple of buffs on them and debuffs on opponent, they’re not going away any time soon. With the help of Destiny Dice, they could have a guaranteed 28″ threat range (move 16″ + 12″ charge) to reach out and wipe out whatever it touches. Combo that move with a double turn and you’ve got a unit that can take out two of your opponent’s key pieces and still be hanging around causing mayhem.
In terms of spells, Sam is a little limited in numbers, but Kairos knows all of the Lore of Change and the Gaunt Summoner (a Galletian Champion, by the way) knows all of the Lore of Fate. Combined with the Fluxmaster generating those Fate Points with his spell, it’s not unreasonable to be able to put 10 Blue Horrors down every turn.
Overall, a fab list that has given me a lot to think about in terms of how I build my own Tzeentch list (featured twice in the ‘L’ column of this rundown!) and one that I’m sure Sam will have a tonne of success with in the future.
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Keening Gale – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Slaughtermaster (140)* – Lore of Gutmagic: Molten Entrails – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Tyrant (150)* – Big Name: Deathcheater
Battleline 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture
A little more of a traditional Ogor list here from Peter – with a big ol’ Frostlord, your top tier value Tyrant, and two large-and-in-charge Stonehorn Beastriders. It’s a pin and pressure list, the likes of which many of you will be familiar with by now – with one Ironblaster for a little sniping and lots of mortals on the charge.
One unit of Ironguts stomp along for the ride to double-fight and mince whatever is stupid enough to let them catch up to them. A good, honest, hungry list that avoids spamming anything but is still more than capable of just boxing you in and scoring you out!
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Battlemage (100)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Warding Brand – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Lore of Whitefire: Ignite Weapons Luminark of Hysh with White Battlemage (270)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Sear Wounds – Lore of Whitefire: Warding Brand Nomad Prince (110)** – General – Command Trait: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Ignite Weapons – Lore of Whitefire: Warding Brand – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Battleline 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Crystal Aegis – Lore of Whitefire: Sear Wounds 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Crystal Aegis – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist 20 x Eternal Guard (240)** – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Vanguard-Palladors (400)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins – Reinforced x 1 3 x Demigryph Knights (170)* – Lance and Sword 6 x Vanguard-Palladors (400)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (30)
For the wildcard list at this event we have Freddie Leggett’s Cities of Sigmar list, variations of which he has been playing with great success over the last few months. Freddie not only specialises in being an absolute top bloke and lovely guy (David Wymer and I were fighting over who would get to ‘grudge’ Freddie round 1 – David got round 1; I got round 5) but also in taking units that most generals wouldn’t take and making them work.
The joke at the event was that it was the Eternal Guard who were the linchpin of the army, especially with the new Galletian battalion, it’s really the Palladors that make this list tick with the help of the Hallowheart wizards.
With the combination of spells Freddie has at his disposal, the unit of 6 can redeploy instead of move anywhere on the battlefield with Ride the Winds Aetheric at which point they can open up with their shooting attacks that all have +1 to wound. They can then attempt a 9″ charge, which is actually a 7″ charge thanks to the Battlemage of Ghur. The +1 to wound buff also helps in the fight phase and with All out Attack, this means that they’re all hitting and wounding on 2s. When they are hit back, they can have a -1 to hit from the Luminarch, have a bonus to their save with Mystic Shield and All out Defence (3+, ignoring rend -1) and, if the opponent does wound the Palladors, another spell turns them into little fluffy Magmadroths and bounce mortal wounds back on 4s. If a Sisters of the Thorn unit is nearby, they can boost the spell ignore for Hallowheart up to a 4+ to mean that not even magic can reliably clear them (I have personal experience of that).
But it’s okay. They did some damage and it took more resources than you’d like to take care of them, but they’ve been lifted now. Then Freddie sends in the second unit of 6!
Well done, Freddie, for a fab list, a great 4-1 and a huge congratulations on being named Captain of the UN Worlds Team. Fingers crossed the stars align to have you lead the team, maybe even with 12 Palladors along for the Ride Aetheric.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the 2D6 Oslohammer tournament that took place in Norway on 27th and 28th December. It involved 20 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Battleline 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)* – Reinforced x 1
Units 10 x Protectors (450)* – 4x Starsoul Maces – Reinforced x 1 6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)* – Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Additional Enhancements Holy Command: Call for Aid
Brett: Classic 3rd edition Stormcast army made up of 1st and 2nd edition units. Absolutely nothing here with the Thunderstrike Keyword. Geir has chosen Scions of the Storm here mostly for the Vanguard Raptors I think, it’s standard for SCE armies to keep them safe from their opponents shooting. The Battlemage and Lord Relictor can team up and grant teleport (Translocation) and a 7″ charge (Wildform grants +2 to move, run and charge). They can do that from outside of deny range, that can drop either the Fulminators or the Protectors close to your ranged units unless you have very good screens. Both can eat an Unleash Hell through either wounds (4 x Fulminators is 24 wounds at 3+, Protectors are 30 wounds at 2+) or saves.
Ideally the Knight Incantor gives the Fulminators +1 to wound rolls (Celestial Blades) before they are teleported to within 7″. They still have a shooting attack and then do 3 damage on the charge. Defensively the Lord Relictor has Thundershock to subtract 1 from the opponents wound rolls and the Liberators as screens and objective holders. The Holy Command, Call for Aid returns a Redeemer unit (the Liberators) outside of 9″ of enemy models and within 12″ of a Hero unit.
So long as those criteria are met you can place them anywhere on the board. Situationally, it’s great for moving a screen, protecting a hero or grabbing an objective. At at the worst it gives you back 10 wounds of Galletian Veterans. Looking at the opponents they really don’t have the answers. Only one of the Ogor lists included multiple Ironblasters and Leadbelchers but both units are badly outranged by the Vanguard Raptors. Fulminators would average 20 wounds on the charge into the Bladegheist and there are no screens in that army to prevent it. Combinde with the shooting it’s likely that they are gone in one turn. And for anything more durable, the Protectors and Raptors can all do mortal wounds in abundance. Without something like the teleport/fight on death of DoK or mortal wound shooting this is a hard list to counter directly. It has elements that want to hold back and pound you and others that are trying to get at you. Importantly, through Scions and Translocation, they have mobility on top of durability.
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Army Faction: Seraphon – Army Type: Coalesced – Army Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Engine of the Gods (285)** – General – Command Traits: Prime Warbeast – Artefacts: Incandescent Rectrices – Mount Traits: Beastmaster – Prayers: Curse 1 x Skink Priest (120)*** – Prayers: Heal 1 x Slann Starmaster (285)*** – Artefacts: Fusil of Conflagration – Spells: Stellar Tempest 1 x Celestant-Prime (325)***
BATTLELINE 10 x Skinks (75)* – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 10 x Skinks (75)* – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 5 x Saurus Guard (115)***
BEHEMOTH 1 x Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)** 1 x Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)** 1 x Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)**
Danny: Seraphon are in an interesting place at the moment – in the last year they’ve received new rules (Tome Celestial) and two rounds of point hikes (with more coming in the new GHB) – and yet they still occupy a strange space of having some busted 2e style rules in both good and bad ways, awful internal balanced and absolutely the ability to take down tournaments.
Here, Tom takes a relatively common spin on things – a core of the Engine of the Gods which just offers insane utility for its price, along with the ‘buff core’ of a Slann and Priest – supplemented by the lizards’ favourite ally, C-Prime. Seraphon in general have a good mixed phase output but lack something that can really hit hard and fast in melee – hence the big shiny boi’s inclusion.
Thunder Lizard battleline units are, as usual, built around the minimum taxation, which we see here with 2x 10 skinks and the Saurus guard to help keep the Slann alive.
And then we have the bastiladons. Double Bastis have fallen out of favour recently due to their lack of objective play but Tom opts for 3, 1 of which is the bargain-basement CHONK loadout – basically it’s a tonne of wounds on a 1+ save with -1 damage for 165 pts.
Now, you look at the the path to 2nd – double Disciples? One of the only armies able to out-magic a Slann? Top of the win-rate pile? And then you remember Bastiladons do +1 damage to chaos daemons. Losing to Ogors makes sense, as the shooting output in Underguts is easily enough to just blast through any lizard capable of holding an objective.
Without spoiling anything, let’s just also say this list gets WREKT by the incoming points changes. I don’t know where Seraphon go from there that isn’t a ditch until their new book to be honest, but for now, gratz to Tom for a podium finish¬!
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (175)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Magister (120) – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate – Bonded to Krondspine Kairos Fateweaver (435)* Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)* – Lore of Change: Fold Reality
Battleline 6 x Screamers of Tzeentch (200)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)* 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives
Kieron: New book; same old Krondspine holding the line for Disciples of Tzeentch. Despite the points increase, Krondspines are still useful for Tzeentch as a combat anvil that can hold units in place long enough for the mortal wound hammer says hello (and goodbye shortly after!). Arcane Suggestion from the Ogroid can also make the Krondspine’s attacks more potent by reducing the armour of what it is currently trying to eat OR make what it is trying to eat less effective in combat by subtracting one from hit and wound rolls. Coupled with Mystic Shield and All Out Defense, that monster is probably hanging around for an annoying period of time. Another sneaky tricky the Tzeentch player can pull is to have the Magister, to whom the Krondspine is bonded, kill themselves by first casting a spell and then casting a second that is a double, guaranteed by the Destiny Dice. Instead of turning the Magister into a spawn, the Tzeentch player can choose to slay the Magister, turning the Krondspine wild for run and charge and +1 to hit. On top of that, if the Magister cast an Endless Spell, Burning Sigil, for example, the Krondspine can then eat that spell to go up a level. Please note, however, this cannot be done with the spell automatically cast at the start of the game with Arcane Armies until battle round 2 at the earliest.
In terms of the rest of the list, Screamers are very fast and can be brought back to full strength with the Fold Reality spell that both Kairos and the Fluxmaster can cast, but not as effective as they could potentially be in a unit of 9…but that would ruin the list composition as there would not be three battleline units. The 9 could have been handy for the only battleplan Danny failed to win – Lurkers Below – to be able to speed on to that third objective for the auto-win. As it happened, the second place army of Tom Kenneth Solli managed the auto-win instead (hence the 20-0 loss), the Celestant-Prime potentially being a great bit of tech to hold back in Azyr until that key turn to swoop in and snatch the opponent’s home objective and meet the auto-win conditions.
Otherwise, Danny cleaned up very effectively, with the next closest result being a 7 to 8 point victory over Nurgle and then 15+ margins of victory in every other battle. The ability to generate 2 spawn a turn (through Burning Sigil and the Magister’s warscroll spell) would have probably been key shutting down the Kruleboyz Boltboyz in Round 5 but the most impressive result has to be against the 7 dragons of Stian Engebretsen with their 4+ ignore magic ability on their warscroll, meaning that Danny had to beat them in other ways and not just magic (or was aided by some unlucky dice rolls from Stian!) It would be interesting to see what would have been the outcome were Lurkers Below not included in the pack as a 5-0 could have been on the cards. With this battleplan being one of the 6 carried forward into next season’s General’s Handbook, it’ll be interesting to see if it continues to be a bit of a wild card battleplan.
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Awlrach the Drowner (175)* Guardian of Souls (150)*** – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Krulghast Cruciator (150)*** Spirit Torment (115)*** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish
Battleline 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 30 x Bladegheist Revenants (525)** – Reinforced x 2 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)***
Units 3 x Fell Bats (75)* 3 x Fell Bats (75)* 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)** 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)**
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Declan: Despite an increase in points and a reduction in power Eirik is still rocking the purple sun in this Nighthaunt army and it’s great to see it still getting use. The main benefit here is not the mortal wounds on a 1 (but that’s fun), it’s the -1 rend to all units within range… an effect that doesn’t change ethereal saves of the Nighthaunt. So all the benefit, none of the disadvantages – it’s a great piece of tech!
From Games Workshop / Wahapedia
And that’s before the Nighthaunt start charging to really rack up those negatives to armour saves (or increases to rend if you prefer)
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
Those 8-9 really hurt, but when you consider you can drop a level, it’s really 8+ (almost 42% before re-rolls). I’ve given my opinion on this before, but there doesn’t seem to be a FAQ and Nighthaunt players have definitely paid with their time in the wilderness (what is it with the non-Stormcast box armies? – Bloodbound, Nighthaunt, Kruleboyz!)
The army itself is all about the Bladegheists – if you can kill them in one turn (or in a double) then you’ve likely won… but wow what a unit to have to kill. And if it charges you, with any small units and characters also charging expect to have no armour. And how do you beat a Nighthaunt army… shooting! None-the-less great work from Eiric on a 4-1. I think Nighthaunt are much closer to a 3-2 army so he’s done well to get 4th here.
With the release of the Battlescroll: Galletian Reinforcements I’ve been able to go back through the data from the release of the General’s Handbook and tidy everything up. In doing so, I though it may be cool to give you a run-down of how each faction performed under the current General’s Handbook until the Battlescroll took effect.
The data used for analysing these results was taken from 110 Grand Tournaments between 3rd July 2022 and 6th November 2022.
Disciples of Tzeentch
Region Comparison – Popularity
2nd Edition Player %
Disciples of Tzeentch saw their highest popularity in North America with 1.3% of players choosing the faction for tournament play, while in Scandinavia the faction wasn’t even chosen.
Region Comparison – Win Rates
2nd Edition Win Rates
Oceania saw a massive win rate of 80.0% for the Disciples of Tzeentch, while UK & Ireland could only manage 46.0%.
2nd Edition Book Results
3rd Edition Book Results
North America and Europe were the only locations where 5-0 were achieved. under the 2nd edition tome. While Oceania id the only region so far where the 5-0 has been achieved with the 3rd edition tome.
Subfaction Analysis
Subfaction
Players
Win Rate
Hosts Duplicitous
7
68.42%
Hosts Arcanum
28
55.94%
Guild of Summoners
2
50.00%
Eternal Conflagration
3
40.00%
None/Unknown
3
63.33%
Faction Total
43
57.24%
Results under the 2nd Edition Battletome
Subfaction
Players
Win Rate
Cult of the Transient Form
1
100.00%
Pyrofane Cult
3
60.00%
Hosts Duplicitous
7
59.09%
Hosts Arcanum
16
55.13%
Guild of Summoners
6
50.00%
Eternal Conflagration
9
30.00%
None/Unknown
2
60.00%
Faction Total
44
52.43%
Results under the 3rd Edition Battletome
With the Tzeentch book coming out part way through the first half of the season, the effect was interesting. Under 2nd Edition their win rate was at a slightly unhealthy 57.2%, this then dropped to 52.4% under the 3rd edition book.
Top 10 Disciples of Tzeentch Players
You may notice that some players have a better World/Nation ranking than players above them in this table. This is due to players playing with multiple factions. These players have been ranked on their top 4 Disciples of Tzeentch results only.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Leicester City AoS GT that took place in the UK on 3rd and 4th December. It involved 28 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.
Pre-Tournament Analysis
I thought I’d add a bit about the meta at the event before we jump into the meat of the article. If this is popular I’ll continue doing this on future top three articles.
Ranked Players
Below shows the players already ranked in our Woehammer rankings form events before the Leicester GT.
Of the 28 players, 21 Players had already taken part in at least 1 GT before this event, with the highest ranked player (Phil Marshall) being 1st in the UK and currently 2nd in the World. Remember these rankings are based on our own handicapped rankings system explained here.
Faction Breakdown
The Leicester GT had a fairly close representation of the current meta with a few notable exceptions. No Sylvaneth armies where present despite this currently being the 2nd favourite faction with players. Like wise there was also no representation of Ogor Mawtribes or Kharadron Overlords at this event.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 6 (560)* – General – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Command Trait: Inescapable Doom – Artefact: Grasping Plate – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 6 (560)** – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Artefact: Corrupted Nullstone – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Mask of Darkness Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spell: Mask of Darkness
Battleline 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 8 x Iron Golems (75)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
Units 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (95)*
Behemoths Chaos Warshrine (215)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Prayer1: Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
Phil Marshall: Knights of the Empty Throne – How does it work? In Knights of the Empty Throne, you are able to take Varanguard as Heroes, the first unit which is your general has Inescapable Doom and Grasping plate, meaning it can pile 6 inches and you cant retreat from this unit, the other unit has Corrupted Nullstone which is an auto unbind.
The list is designed around two units of six Varanguard with the Mark of Tzeentch which allows the re-rolls of 1s to armour saves and gives units a 5+ spell ignore. Then you’ll look to really capitalise on these mechanics with other buff pieces in the army, which include two Sorcerer lords. Sorcerer lords have a built in mechanic called Orcular Visions which gives a unit +1 to save (this ability can stack), they are also wizards so offer the ability to cast mystic shield, demonic power (re-roll all hits and wounds) and mask of darkness (teleport).
The final buff piece is the Warshrine, the prayer for Tzeentch is +1 save and a 4+ spell ignore, the only other prayer that may be used is Undivided which allows a unit to re-roll all hits and wounds. On top of this the Warshrine has an aura of 6+ ward which degrades as it takes damage. With all of these buff pieces it allows you to essentially make an unkillable unit (or two) of Varanguard. You can get +6 to your save re-rolling 1s once per game (oracular visions twice, mystic shield, Tzeentch Prayer, all out defence and finest hour), on top of this you can have a 4+ 5+ 5+ spell ignore as the Varanguard have a warscroll ability for spell ignore, mark of tzeentch grants spell ignore and then an additional spell ignore from the warshrine.
As a result there are very few things that can deal with these units once they have the buffs on, you need to be able to do mass mortal wounds in the shooting and combat phase, otherwise there is a strong likelihood that you will never do any damage to this unit. I tend to evaluate the main threats of my opponents army and see how they have deployed, if I can capatalise on getting my general into the bulk of it and keeping them locked in combat for as long as possible. The rest of the list is designed to be very hard to kill with four units of iron golems who get +1 to their save if they havent made a normal move, meaning before rend they will be a 3+ re-rolling 1s.
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (180)* – General – Command Trait: Cult Demagogue – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Kairos Fateweaver (435) Lord of Change (400)* – Artefact: The Eternal Shroud – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
Battleline 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)** 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)** 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)**
Kieron: Ryan is the captain of Team Malta and a combination of one of the finest Tzeentch players in the world and one of the nicest people you’re ever likely to meet. Speaking to him at the event about his list writing and tactics, he explained that he’s very confident in his approach and then plays the list repeatedly – around 350 reps with the current iteration, losing very few games along the way. The only downside – headaches after each match due to the mental load of channelling the will of The Changer of Ways. Malta has a relatively small AoS scene and there’s only so many times a person can take a beat down from Ryan, no matter how charming he while doing so, and games on TTS don’t really allow for the precision of measurements that cause aforementioned headaches.
Onto the list itself and it has somewhat of a retro charm about it with two big birds: a combo that, while clearly effective in the right hands, is seen less frequently due to Kairos and the Lord of Change sharing the same warscroll spell now instead of Kairos having his own spell. The Lord of Change offers a good amount of shooting with the Rod of Sorcery and can do some work with a damage 3 Staff of Tzeentch thanks to the Flaming Weapon buff. Together, they give everything within range +1 to cast each, meaning that Ryan can afford to leave Cogs at home in favour of Horrorghast.
The list can also expect to generate over the magic number of 10 fate points a turn, meaning that 10 blue horrors should be summoned every turn. When talking to Ryan about Screamers, I explained I was excited about how fast they could go and his response was that a Fluxmaster moving 22” and then summoning 9” away is even faster!
The final little wrinkle for this list (valid for the next month or so at least) is the fact that all Ryan’s battleline are Expert Conquerors – annoying enough for the 10 Kairics to count as 30, but absolutely infuriating on the Pink Horrors that start off counting as 30, but peak at counting as 60 until the 31st wound is done to the unit, at which point it starts the slow decline back to counting as 3 and then counting as dead!
It clearly worked, with Ryan achieving the maximum possible differential on Day One, with the only loss being into the event’s eventual winner, Phil Marshall, and a tonne of 2+ re-rerolling 1s saving throws and an equally hefty amount of spell ignores and wards.
Kieron: And so on to the third placed army, piloted by the very dry Toby Resnick, including the named units “An Undercosted Priest”, “Kroak’s Ablative Wounds” and the “Raveshaper Engine”, which is like a “Realmshaper Engine” but with flashy LEDs that are operated by remote control depending on who wins priority. I almost felt sorry for the Seraphon player on the table next to us at Leicester as they jealously eyed up the craziest terrain piece you’ll ever see!
The list itself has a couple of lovely converted chariots that are really good at zipping around the board early game while one of the Engine of the Gods or the Bastiladon is double activating with one of the 5+ CP Toby generally has to play with each turn. Cogs consolidates Kroak’s absolute magical supremacy with a double miscast pretty much being the only way that Kroak fails a spell and, usually, the unbind required when a spell does go off is double figures or flat out impossible. “Big Frog Goes Ribbit Ribbit” indeed.
All the other buffs that Seraphon players can dish out are also present here, with re-rolling 1s, run and shoot, +1 to hit in addition to the normal All out Attack etc. buffs that can be added. Skinks running about the place, doing all the dirty jobs that score the points while the bigger immediate threats (particularly the resurrecting Engine of the Gods – 50% of the time, it comes back with full wounds every time) draw the enemy’s attention away.
I’m sure once Ryan had finished with the paracetamol, Toby was ready for some with the number of rules he has to keep in his head, even with more tokens than models to help him keep track. While one of the Order Battletomes from the latest Roadmap is probably another Lumineth book (maybe two!), it would be great to have a Seraphon book to combine some of these into the Warscrolls themselves and make it so players like Toby can fly their Dino Flag and not feel a bit guilty about it.
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Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts – Grand Court: Morgaunt – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Abhorrant Archregent (245)** – Artefact: The Dermal Robe – Lore of Madness: Spectral Host Abhorrant Archregent (245)** – Lore of Madness: DerangedTransformation Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)* – General – Command Trait: Savage Chivalry – Artefact: Decrepit Coronet – Mount Trait: Razor-clawed – Lore of Madness: Miasmal Shroud Varghulf Courtier (160)**
Battleline 20 x Crypt Ghouls (170)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Crypt Ghouls (170)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Crypt Ghouls (170)* – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Crypt Flayers (360)* – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Chalice of Ushoran (50)
Brett: Flesh eater courts is still centred around their heros and lean on their summoning and buffs to make their other units dangerous. They reward a patient player who is happy to screen the heroes and summon more models early game before striking out. 3 Abhorrants (one mounted and 2 foot) and the Varghulf at the heart of the list and maybe a little unusually 3 x 20 Crypt Ghouls. Bounty Hunters can tear through these quickly and a lot of lists have minimised them. 3 Wizards granting fly to 1 to 3 units (Spectral Host) however if they can fly (like the dragon) then granting run and charge, additional movement (Deranged Transformation) and lastly a small MW spell with the chance of affecting opposing hit and wound rolls (Miasmal Shroud).
Spectral Host on the Zombie Dragon gives up to 20″ of movement + a charge at the top of first turn if they go first. Try not to leave room for it to land near something important early game. Then there is the summoning, a Serf unit is Crypt Ghouls, Knight is 3 Crypt Flayers/Horrors and a Courtier is a Varghulf Courtier. Each Archreagent can summon 20 Serfs or 3 Knights or a Courtier every turn. The Ghoul King can only summon Courtiers. This is a command ability so forcing them to use CP can help but it is done at the end of the movement phase. The Courtiers are both mobile threat and healers rolling 6 dice and healing Serfs on a 2+ and Knights on a 5+ within 10″ (as well as themselves if they kill a model).
As a Morguant host the Serfs can return once destroyed at full strength (4+). It’s a 50% chance that you can kill a screen and achieve very little. All of this is just to build the scene, the army can afford to wait but with the ability to snipe something with either the Flayers or the Zombie Dragon. If they get their buffs off it’s possible for most of the army to reroll 1s to hit if they are close to the Serfs. And those serfs, while they don’t hit hard, can easily get to 3 attacks each making them a reasonable threat to anything with a 4+ save. They’re cheap and trade really well. Castling though means they can struggle to score well in early rounds if you don’t feed them units and tactics. Shooting obviously is a weakness as are ranged Mortal Wounds from spells (they have a lot of denies though). Stretching them out and making them react to you is a good tactic as well.
Simon lost to a Soulblight army with a lot of mobility (Blood Knights, Dire Wolves) and Grave Guard. They were able to hold Simon scoreless. The other loss was to a Seraphon Thunder Lizard with Kroak. Kroak can deny pretty much all of their magic while the Solar Engine Bastiladon tears big holes. Seraphon are a hard counter to the army and very difficult to deal with.