This is the top three AoS lists for the Ragnarok AoS Ironman that took place in the UK on the 12th and 13th of August. 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: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Legion of Night – Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (900)* Vampire Lord (140)* – General – Command Trait: Unbending Will – Artefact: Morbheg’s Claw – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Abhorrant Archregent (240)* – Allies
Battleline 6 x Fell Bats (160)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Fell Bats (80)* 3 x Fell Bats (80)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)*
Battleline 3 x Skywardens (130)** 3 x Skywardens (130)** 3 x Skywardens (130)** 3 x Skywardens (130)**
Units 6 x Endrinriggers (240)* – Reinforced x 1 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)** – Main Gun: Drill Cannon – Gunhauler Modifications: Coalbeard’s Collapsible Compartments
Behemoths Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon Arkanaut Frigate (300)** – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon
Core Battalions *Wizard-Finders of Andtor **Battle Regiment
Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: Badsnatchers – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Dankhold Troggboss (210)* – Chupa the Chosen – General – Command Trait: Alpha Trogg – Artefact: Speaky-skull Fetish Madcap Shaman (70)** – Madcap Max – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: Itchy Nuisance Madcap Shaman (70)** – Webby & Wilson – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
Battleline 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (340) – Reinforced x 1 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (340) – Reinforced x 1 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (170) 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (120)
Units 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150) 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150) 1 x Dankhold Troggoths (190)* – Fiona Fellwater 5 x Gobbapalooza (170) – Pink-a-Palooza – Spell1: Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Mortal Realm: Aqshy – Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory – Triumphs: Inspired,Inspired
Leaders Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)** – Artefact: The Conqueror’s Crown – Mark of Chaos: Undivided Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)** – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Nullstone Adornment: Polished Nullstone Pebble Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Battleline 6 x Varanguard (580)** – 3x Fellspear – 3x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 3 x Varanguard (290)** – 3x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 3 x Varanguard (290)** – 3x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 3 x Varanguard (290)* – 3x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 1 x Chaos Chariot (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 1 x Chaos Chariot (80) – Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Core Battalions *Vanguard **Overlords of Chaos – Expert
This is the top three AoS lists for the Goonhammer Open that took place in the USA on the 19th and 20th of August. It involved 15 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
Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: The Scales Balanced – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Mortisan Soulmason (160) – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Arkhan the Black (380)* Liege-Kavalos (180)* – General – Command Traits: Diversionary Tactics Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Hoarfrost
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Nightmare Predator (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory
LEADERS Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Spells: Hoarfrost Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Artefacts of Power: Chaos Familiar – Spells: Chaotic Conduit
BATTLELINE Corvus Cabal (80)* Corvus Cabal (80)* Varanguard (580)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 6 x Fellspear Varanguard (580)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 6 x Fellspear Chaos Knights (440)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Army Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120) – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat 1 x Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90) – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Megaboss on Maw-krusha (450)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un 1 x Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)*
BATTLELINE 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka 10 x Orruk Brutes (140)* – Brute Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka – 2 x Gore-choppa
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
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Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Filthbringers – Grand Strategy: Control the Nexus
This is the top three AoS lists for the Age of Ropecon that took place in Finland on the 29th and 30th of July. It involved 22 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Army Subfaction: Skullfiend Tribe Grand Strategy: Slaughter The Sorcery
LEADER 1 x Bloodsecrator (120)* 1 x Slaughterpriest (110)* – Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Killer Instinct – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust 1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)* – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts: Ar’gath, the King of Blades – Prayers: Killer Instinct, Bloodbind 1 x Skarbrand (380)** 1 x Bloodmaster (110)** – Prayers: Witchbane Curse, Blood Sacrifice
BATTLELINE 10 x Bloodreavers (80)* 10 x Blood Warriors (190)** 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** 10 x Skullreapers (190)** 8 x Claws of Karanak (100)**
INVOCATION 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50) 1 x Wrath-Axe (70)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Not that we really though it would, but it’s good to see that the slight nerfs – which were fair enough, especially to Murderlust – haven’t stopped Khorne from having a good time against some tough opponents. Anttu here has brought the ‘mortals with double thirster back-up’ archetype, and it’s one close to my heart. Usually, the main choice with this kind of list is whether you double down on a big blob of Blood Warriors or go more MSU – and Anttu has opted for the latter here, with 5 battleline units.
The Reavers and Blood Warriors are staples, and the Claws of Karanak are, for my money, still one of the best units in the army, especially in the new season where turn 1 tactics are difficult for Khorne – their pre-game move makes Surround and Destroy a lot more viable. With the points saved by having less Blood Warriors or Crushers, for example, the list packs in a 3rd hammer in the form of 10 Skullreapers, who haven’t seen much love overall but represent a good wound density and the potential for a really decent number of MWs – plus in Skullfiend tribe they gain extra value by being battleline (useful for battle tactics) and the possibility of gaining fight first with a good charge roll.
It’s a great, balanced list that shows off a good amount of warscrolls and took down some serious armies en route to 1st and looks super fun to play.
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Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts – Subfaction: Morgaunt – Grand Strategy: Growing Kingdom – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)* – Mount Traits: Razor-clawed – Spells: Blood Feast, Flaming Weapon Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)* Crypt Ghast Courtier (70)* Abhorrant Archregent (240)** – General – Command Traits: Savage Chivalry – Artefacts of Power: Decrepit Coronet – Spells: Hoarfrost, Spectral Host Abhorrant Archregent (240)** – Spells: Deranged Transformation, Hoarfrost Abhorrant Ghoul King (170)** – Spells: Levitate, Merciless Blizzard
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Chalice of Ushoran (50)
TERRAIN 1 x Charnel Throne (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Warlord **Andtorian Acolytes
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Hanna recently joined our Discord server to tell us about Finland’s Ropecon AoS GT, and we jumped at the chance to have her comment about her second placed list at the same time!
Hanna Leppänen: This list is based around lots of summoning and recursion with two Archreagents summoning 20 Beastflayers each and Ghoul King another 10 Beastflayers or 10 Crypt Ghouls. The Morgaunt subfaction lets you bring a Serf -keyworded unit (Beastflayers or Crypt Ghouls) back immediately when they die on a 4+, with the cost of a command point. Add in 2 Crypt Ghast Courtiers, a summoned Varghulf from the Zombie Dragon GK, and potential Heroic Action using muster (6 dice in your hero phase, for every 2+ you can return a Serf to a unit). With Varghulf and Heroic Action you can bring back a Crypt Horror model instead on a roll of 5+ if you wish).
The Recursion means that you have to kill a unit outright to prevent them from mustering back, and even then there is a chance the unit comes back full health wholly within 6″ of a table edge, 9″ away from opponent models. This means you can lose an objective if you’re not careful on your turn. There is the usual restriction of only one of each command per phase, so only one unit can be brought back each phase. The command itself can be used by any model capable of issuing a command. Old books have weird, janky rules and FEC is a prime example of this. Worth to note is that Muster rules allow models to be stringed out and you can muster one unit to get it within 10″ of another source of muster. Chalice of Ushoran is another thing that brings back models at the end of turn, so it can also lead to some weird interactions with objective control, especially on your turn.
Crypt Ghouls and Horrors (also Flayers which are not present in this list) have new warscrolls in Dawnbringers book 1, making Crypt Ghouls more streamlined to play with (re-roll 1’s change to -1 rend when near heroes and 5+/6+ auto-wound instead +1A). Unfortunately this breaks the Morgaunt Bloody Loyalty ability since the Boundless Ferocity ability is always in effect (used to be +1 attacks when over 20 models, Morgaunt Bloody Loyalty gave it on a unit of 10+ when near Courtiers). Crypt Horrors got +1 attacks and – 1 rend near Heroes. Crypt Horrors don’t benefit from Morgaunt CA, but they give you access to the “United Court” battle tactic and are a reasonably punchy unit, especially when buffed. Overall the changes didn’t change the damage numbers too much, but made both less tedious to play.
There is something to be said about FEC spellcasting. Andtorian Acolytes gives extra primal dice on a 3+ at the start of the hero phase, which helps with getting FEC spells off. Most FEC spells are buffs that can lead to a lot of damage with +1/+D3 Attacks and Zombie Dragon 16″ bubble of re-roll wound rolls. Hoarfrost is exceptionally good spell for FEC units, whose biggest downfall is – to hit debuffs with most things having 4+ to hit as baseline. 30 buffed up Crypt Ghouls do quite a lot of damage, especially if you use Feeding Frenzy on them. FEC warscroll spells are great, so for most spellcasters the spell choices were picked to be situational at best, Spectral Host giving the option for ZD to have run & charge, Deranged Transformation giving Horrors +4″ move and Merciless Blizzard for a Hail Mary BT if nothing else was available.
The MVP’s of this list were definitely the Serfs, with Beastflayers being excellent tarpits against damage 2 monsters and Ghouls who do tons of damage when buffed a bit. The list power projects really well and makes it hard to play against since there are multiple threats that don’t fold to an average backline objective holder.
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Allegiance: Interns to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne (run and charge for mounted units) – Mortal Realm: Aqshy – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount (160)* (strike first when he charges, grants it to knights) – General – Command Trait: Idolater Lord (Priest) – Artefact: The Conqueror’s Crown (Enemy models with < 3 wounds cannot contest objectives w/in 6″) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle (-1 to wound in melee) – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse (6’s to hit are MW in addition) Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (340)* (Can shut down a unit for 1-2 turns) – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed (3D6 charge for mounted units) Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* (can give +1 to hit and wound to a unit) – Mark of Chaos: Undivided (reroll Eye of the Gods) – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost (D3 to replace melee profile Hit, wound, or rend to that value)
Battleline 10 x Chaos Knights (440)* (Tanky) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle (-1 to wound in melee) – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon (reduce rend by 1 from melee attacks) – Reinforced x 1 18 x Spire Tyrants (140)* (immune to battleshock when within 3″ of enemy) – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle (-1 to wound in melee) – Reinforced x 1 3 x Varanguard (290)* (Killy, can fight twice once per game) – 3x Fellspear (+1 to wound and rend on the charge) – Mark of Chaos: Khorne (+1 Attack on the charge) 22 x Blissbarb Archers (320)* (Ranged death, 41 shots, 18″ 3+/3+/-1/1) – Reinforced x 1
Units 3 x Ogroid Theridons (160)* (Smashy glass cannons) – Mark of Chaos: Khorne (+1 Attack on the charge)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1970 / 2000
Slaves to Darkness have settled quite comfortably into the ‘also rans’ groove in recent months, with a ‘woops all Varanguard’ or ‘Archaon + HOW MANY Splintered Fang!?’ skew lists occasionally nabbing a cheeky podium – and their recent shot in the arm from the battlescroll seems to have been more of a little jab to the foot.
But! Here we have Damien mixing things up in a way I’ve not seen before but makes a lot of sense. He’s brought Be’lakor, who’s become a relative staple of S2D lists to help them out with control, and the usual must-takes of a Sorceror and 10 Nurgle knights. What’s more surprising is a reinforced blob of Spire Tyrants – presumably because they’re just so cheap now and make for a good pile of bodies, also with -1 to wound from the Nurgle mark via Idolator Lord on the Mounted Lord – who also carries the Conquerors Crown for a cheeky objective stealing play and the abililty to bestow fight-first on the knights, allowing for a double activation with the cavalry units.
He’s also packed in a reinforced unit of Blissbards on loan from Slaanesh, who aren’t cheap but still offer a good volume of reliable shooting attacks that Slaves just otherwise have no access to – plus, I bet they look good in black. The final notable pick is the now bargain-basement Theridons, who are squishy and un-synergistic as always but for 160 pts can bring some absolute pain if they do make it into combat.
Beating out Seraphon twice and KO means the path to 3rd was fraught with real danger, but this list seems to have had the bodies, speed and staying power to handle some serious ranged threat. Big kudos to Damien for an imaginative and successful Slaves list!
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumph: Inspired – Holy command: Call for aid
LEADERS Knight-Incantor (120)* – General – Command Traits: Eater of Magic – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Lord-Castellant (160)* – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome Battlemage (100)* – Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur) Lord-Relictor (150)** – Prayers: Translocation
Brett: Stormcast (SCE) have been a rarity for us lately, overtaken by more recent books, but they are still a solid faction, just not the easiest to play. The new GHB may help them with primal dice to buff their otherwise lacklustre casting and the Knight Incantor’s guaranteed deny. No surprises with Liví’s list having one then as well as the Lords Relictor, Castellant and a Battlemage. Essentially, the standard leadership group for SCE. Livi likes living on the edge, taking a 5 wound hero to set up a chance (on a 5+) of removing a spell from their opponent with Eater of Magic. Then doubling down with Merciless Blizzard.
4 leaders means Andtorian Acolytes is easily filled and primal dice are available on 3+. That small change means at least one extra primal dice in the course of a game. With Blizzard needing a 12 to cast that’s a strong bonus. The rest of the list is fairly standard, 4x Tempestors as the hammer unit backed by Retributors and Stormdrake. The Stormdrake’s mobility is their key asset while the Retributors and the Tempestors can benefit (once down) from the combination of Translocation (Lord Relictor) and Wildform (Battlemage) to get anywhere on the board with +2 to charge. That’s better than the Lord Imperatant’s 7″ strat because you can drop just outside 9 (say 9.2″), preventing redeploy but still having an effective 7″ charge.
Price drops (from 140 to 120) on Sequitors have seen them return to lists. They can do a surprising amount of mortal damage and can be a threat. More unusually, Livi has chosen to take Vanquishers, probably to save 20 points for Endless Spells. This is why the Lord Castellant has Arcane Tome. He has a built-in Mystic Shield with his lantern, leaving him free to deploy an Endless Spell. And in a move for innovation, this list has 2 Endless Spells to make up for the lack of ranged. Firstly, the Pendulum for a chance to snipe small heroes and cause annoying wounds and also Gravetide for some more anti horde. As always, the weakness for SCE is scoring from turn 3 onwards when they finally wear down your units. Being able to return a Battleline unit (Call for Aid) helps of course, especially Sequitors, that means you can return a threatening unit.
Solid hammers and a lot of answers make this a tight list in the end and allowed a solid recovery from the first round loss. Great work taking SCE this close to the podium.
This is the top three AoS lists for Border War 2023 that took place in the Albury, Australia on the 29th and 30th of April. It involved 43 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.
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Settle The Grudges – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
LEADERS Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Aetheric Navigator (85)* – Artefact: Voidstone Orb Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90)*
BATTLELINE 9 x Endrinriggers (360)* – 1x Grapnel Launchers – Reinforced x 2 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)* – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (270)* – 2x Aetheric Fumigators – 2x Decksweepers – 2x Aethercannons – 2x Grundstok Mortars – Reinforced x 1
UNITS 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)* – Main Gun: Sky Cannon – Gunhauler Modifications: Zonbarcorp ‘Debtsettler’ Spar Torpedo
BEHEMOTHS Arkanaut Ironclad (500)* – Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon – Major Installation: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram
CORE BATTALION *Battle Regiment
Total: 2000 / 2000
Sometimes, it pays off to lean into the highlights of a new Battletome, and Luca Foerster’s Barak Zilfin Kharadron Overlords list does this perfectly. One of the biggest loses to Kharadron Overlords was the loss of Aethergold in the new book, which was often used for an on-demand +1 to wound, Luca offsets this by taking the new Settle The Grudges Artycle which gives all Kharadron Overlords units a static +1 to wound against a target chosen at the start of the game. Less versatile, for sure, but often more impactful when multiple units are needed to ensure that something is made dead.
Luca starts things off with a classic Admiral taking Stormcaller and Leadership of the Alpha. Stormcaller allows for the rerolling of dice from the Navigator’s Read the Winds ability, which I will talk about in a moment. He follows that up with an Endrinmaster with Endrinharness, which pays the tax of allowing Endrinriggers to be battleline. Lastly, for heroes, he has taken a Navigator who gets an unbind/dispel and is carrying a Voidstone Orb, which is a once per game Artefact that will auto-unbind a spell. A powerful deterrent against trying to snipe heroes with spells or setting up crippling -1 to hit/wound auras. However, the real power of the Navigator is its Read the Winds ability, which allows it to roll six dice and then choose an effect. It can choose to either pick an enemy unit for each “one” it rolls to deal d3 mortal wounds and half movement until its next hero phase or for each “six” pick a friendly Boat and immediately normal move it D3+3 inches. The extra movement is great, but the real value is crippling fast enemy units, and combined with the reroll from the Admiral’s Stormcaller ability it can flat out win games by crippling the opponent’s ability to advance up the board to contest objectives or complete battle tactics. Sometimes, the best way to win is to not allow your opponent to play, and I especially feel for the poor Sons of Behemat player who ran afoul of this.
Moving onto his troop selection, Luca has taken a sample of the Kharadron mainstays. He has a double reinforced unit of Endrinriggers, which brings a bucket of rend -2 to the game both at range and in melee. They can also heal the boats, but that is just a bonus. The native rend -2 is the real benefit here. Next up, we have a common theme within Kharadron in this edition, the extremely efficient reinforced Thunderers with Special Weapons. They bring a massive amount of firepower at shotgun range, but back that up with a native 3+ save, 20 wounds, debuffs, and even mortal wounds in melee. They are a classic, “Move Me” objective holder with just enough range that they can not be ignored. A unit of Arkanauts rounds out the troop selection.
To finish off the list, Luca brought one of each of the Kharadron boats. An Ironclad toting around the Battle Ram to combo with the once per game 3d6 charge from his Footnote, a battleline Frigate courtesy of Barak Zilfin, and a cheeky Gunhauler to give the larger boats a 6+ ward save and a fast mover to cap objectives later in the game. He packages all of this into a one-drop Battle Regiment at an even 2000 points.
This is a classic list that can do well at range and in melee. It presents a difficult challenge for opponents as the Battletome Battle Tactics allow it to avoid interaction but greatly punishes opponents who spread out to score their own. Combined with Luca’s outstanding play, I pity the poor souls who had to face it.
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – Artefact: Vial of Manticore Venom (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder Frostlord on Thundertusk (400) – Mount Trait: Matriarch Huskard on Thundertusk (330)* – Blood Vulture – Mount Trait: Rimefrost Hide – Prayer: Keening Gale Icebrow Hunter (120)* – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Prayer: Pulverising Hailstorm – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
BATTLELINE 6 x Mournfang Pack (510)* – Gargant Hackers – Reinforced x 2 2 x Frost Sabres (80)* 2 x Frost Sabres (80)*
We’ve an absolute legend joining our team for the top three comments this week.
Peter Atkinson (AKA Plastic Craic) has recently made a return with a revamped website and a crack team of top AoS gamers to help him!
Peter Atkinson: Thanks for having me on gents – long time listener, first time caller.
“It’s gotta be Little Lisa Simpson, Springfield’s answer to a question NOBODY ASKED!”
– Ned Flanders
Well he’s pulled one out of the bag here, hasn’t he? The Thundertusk answers the question nobody asked, namely “how can I do chip damage to a chaff unit in the shooting phase?”. The whole point of shooting is that you get to pick where the damage goes, but the limitations around where (and how much) the Thundertusk can apply its output are usually seen as crippling in the hands of most players.
Well, up steps The Mayor to show he’s not most players.
The Factory-standard Frostlord is of course present, with the Manticore Venom artefact being a slightly unorthodox pick, but all Stonehorns will take consistency of output where they can get it. I like it. In fact, I might just copy it.
Then Mat goes off script with the double Tusks: one as a Frostlord for the 3+ save and at least some kind of melee output, and the other packing the 5++ ward Trait. Coupled with the Boulderhead extra wounds and neg -1 to wound on the big lad, Mat has layered up the durability buffs in this army, but he’s done the same with his charge bonuses too. Both Frostlords add stacking +1s to charge in an aura, and the 3rd Mount Trait does the same (for Thundertusks only), so they’re all supporting each other to charge at +2” or +3”. It won’t boost the charge mortals, but it can blow the game wide open with some unexpected long bombs.
And how about those Mournfang? He has the prayer for extra movement on them, so with dual Frosties nearby and their native plus 1” to charge, they’re often gonna be zipping around at +3” to move and +3” to charge. This unit is a ride-on lawnmower, and your army is the mole poking its head out of the ground.
They give zero fucks about overwatch too, so with all their charge mortals added in, KO might not be as scary as you think; and speaking of KO, those Thunderers make a prime target for Thundertusk shooting. You don’t want the pricks rallying back, but bringing them into combat means they can’t use Rally anyway.
In fact, expensive combat units with good saves are where Thundertusks want to be generally, and there’s a lot of that in the meta right now; so if they will ever have a time to shine this is it. They won’t go too badly into Khorne’s Mighty Skullcrushers for example, with a double-tap putting enough mortals into them that a decent charge or two could clean them up without even worrying about that stupid 0+ save. OBR springs to mind too.
In practice though, I think I’d use the Thundertusks just as often to bludgeon through a support hero. 2 mortals, another 2 mortals, Blood Vulture, bam. That’s a 5-wound hero gone. The chances of spiking off a 6-wound hero are not trivial, and across two turns of shooting it’s very likely they’re toast. Efficient sniping? No, but sometime’s a Tyrant’s gotta do what a Tyrant’s gotta do. And something like a Krulghast or Death Frenzy can just switch off your win condition, so efficiency goes out the window at that point and you just do what you have to.
The kitty cats are an ace in the hole, popping up to secure Desecrate and then (because they can’t be shot in cover) usually forcing a far-more-expensive combat unit to hit reverse gear and clear them up. They’re not half bad at soaking up a mortal-wound overwatch too.
I know Mat has owned this army for aeons but it rarely sees the tabletop in competitive play. So I’ll be honest, I looked at this list and thought Mat was bringing a palette-cleanser pick for his hometown GT, so he could relax into his games with no pressure.
Well the more you look at it, the better it gets. It’s surprisingly strong into a couple of dominant new books and you write it off at your peril. Strutting onto the podium with such a unique list is a great achievement – well done mate.
If you found this write-up informative, check out our site over at Plastic Craic where we’re smashing out regular, high-quality Age of Sigmar coverage. See you there.
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Archaon the Everchosen (860)* – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed Chaos SorcererLord (120)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Chaos Familiar – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit
BATTLELINE 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 5x Fellspear – 1x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 5 x Chaos Knights (220)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Ensorcelled Banner: The Blasted Standard
Ok folks, we’ve reached the Slaves sass threshold. What that means is we’ve now seen enough good results, with similar-enough lists, in a short enough time period, that I get to be a little bitch about them.
So what we have here is lots of the two good units in the book (cavalry) in the sub-faction that makes cavalry able to run and charge, with Archaon slapped on top for good measure. Archaon does offer a lot of tactical flexibility thanks to his picking a mark before deployment and not in the list building stage, and even though he’s always been frustratingly easy to kill and frustratingly bad at killing when I’ve run him, when he inevitably gets the Nurgle mark he’s definitely an annoying man-mountain that can stomp an objective while the 6 Varanguard do their thing.
I’ve also spotted that the Chaos Knights have been marked Tzeentch so that they can be yoinked around a bit by the Tzeentch Sorceror Lord. I wonder if that ever actually went off? At least it’s new!
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Karazai, The Scarred (550)* Lord-Castellant (160)* – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm (Galletian Champion) Lord-Relictor (150)* – General – Command Trait: High Priest – Prayer: Translocation – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (480)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Liberators (120)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 10 x Vanquishers (220)* – Reinforced x 1
UNITS 6 x Praetors (280)* – Reinforced x 1
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Holy Command: Call for Aid
Joel’s a really knowledgeable Stormcast Player and has been running a version of this list for most of the edition. You can check out the development of the list and how it plays on his channel Measured Gaming. Some of the most entertaining Battle Reps you’ll watch, but I warn you, it’s very definitely NSFW.
The concept is simple, go first and jam Karazai into something. He is either going to be a wrecking ball or serve as a fantastic distraction (you can’t let him run around). There are still 2 Galetian Champions for battle tactics, the Lord Castellant is one of the strongest here, with a 5+ ward to make him harder to shift. Scions of the Storm lets you get him where you want him if you keep him off the board. There is the choice of either the Vanquishers or the Fulminators to accompany him. 7 Units, only half are allowed in the storm chamber, giving a few options. The Praetors are along to provide their bodyguard to Karazai. Staying close to Karazai is the trick though.
The Praetors are probably a surprise for anyone who hasn’t played against them. With 3 attacks and 2 damage, they have solid output, especially into 4+ and 5+ saves. If your army relies on a big block of something or a couple of models, Karazai is your worst nightmare. Most of the lists Joel faced suffered from that issue or would struggle to affect Karazai as MSU (Bladegheists). If you have a lot of threats and enough units though, you can overwhelm this list and score where they aren’t. I’ll let Kieron cover how the Skaven list worked against Karazai. I’m predicting disposable clan rats helped clog up the works.
If you have the chance it’s worth watching how Joel plays this list, it’s fun if nothing else. He’s also one of the few people that seem to be perfectly fine with the standard Liberator.
This is the top three AoS lists for the The Icebreaker GT by Renegade Gaming that took place in the USA on the 15th and 16th of April. It involved 39 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: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Verminlord Deceiver (420)* – General – Command Traits: Devious Adversary – Artefacts: Shadow Magnet Trinket – Spells: Flaming Weapon 1 x Slynk Skittershank (220)* 1 x Deathmaster (140)* – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Deathmaster (140)** 1 x Deathmaster (140)** 1 x Deathmaster (140)**
BATTLELINE 5 x Gutter Runners (100)** 5 x Gutter Runners (100)** 5 x Gutter Runners (100)** 5 x Gutter Runners (100)**
OTHER 5 x Gutter Runners (100)* 5 x Gutter Runners (100)* 4 x Skittershank’s Clawpack (220)* 5 x Gutter Runners (100)* 5 x Gutter Runners (100)**
Kieren Coates:This is the skaven list you get to point to when someone tries to tell you that clan eshin isn’t viable, the deathmaster is the worst warscroll in the book and mono-clan skavens is no longer viable
You now finally get to show them that you can indeed go 5-0 with your favourite ninja rats, but you might just need to be positioning like a madman to do so
With triple clan eshin the army gets board wide +1 to hit and wound in melle against heroes, and everything but your deceiver and 4 assasins can start off the board – sadly assasins can’t hide in gutter runners for whatever reason, GW fix this now!
Gutter runners have surprising mortal output at 3 shots per model with 6’s doing mortals, leading to a higher output per point than sentinels – and with 40 of them you’re looking at 120 shots with an average of 20 mortals per turn – before accounting for the extra 9 average mortals from assasins or slynk shooting in addition
Combine that with deepstrike and MSU positioning to clog the board and you’ve got a mean alpha to block the opponent in while slynk and the deceiver can surgically remove key pieces with a 6 inch deepstrike or teleport respectively
It takes a madman to pilot most skaven lists, and it takes one especially insane to run full eshin – well done on the 5-0 and for showing the naysayers everywhere just how viable off meta skaven builds can be.
LEADERS Dankhold Troggboss (200)* – General – Command Trait: Loonskin – Artefact: Glowy Howzit Skragrott, The Loonking (210)* – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)* – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 60 x Moonclan Shootas (375)** – Reinforced x 2 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (125)*** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (160)** 3 x Fellwater Troggoths (160)** 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)*** – Reinforced x 1
UNITS 10 x Loonsmasha Fanatics (220)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (130)***
I’m going to start by saying I’m happy I wasn’t facing this from across the table. The core is the Troggoths, of course, regenerating as soon as they’ve fought (Glogg’s Megamob). You need to carefully manage your activations, but each turn 2 units will regenerate each turn before you can hit them. After the Troggoths, your eye is drawn to the Shootas – 120 attacks, only half will hit, but even with low quality attacks, you are probably rolling against 20 wounds. Into a 3+ save that’s still an average of 7 wounds. They threaten any GC, and you can’t hide your GCs ( Galletian Sharpshooters).
The smart play is to remove them of course, from Turn 3, they are a serious threat to damaged units. With a 4+ l that’s a tall ask, 50% of everything you kill is going to return (on average) up to a maximum of 10. That means without very serious effort, they will be a problem for 2 or 3 turns at a minimum. Their probably hiding some Loonsmashas as well making charging and combat no sure thing. The Stabbas can control an objective from 9″ away unless you weaken them. And both Skragrott and the Fungoid have teleport to drop them somewhere annoying.
An annoying, sticky list with the ability to be everywhere you aren’t as well as out stay and out score you. No surprise it’s gone 5/0/0, it’s a little more of a surprise that the Skaven outscored him but both lists are just good at the game. They play the missions really well without needing to destroy the opponent.
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Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Nar – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Inspired
KHARADRON CODE – Artycle: Settle The Grudges – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
LEADERS Runelord (100)* – Allies Arkanaut Admiral (125)** – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Artefact: Celestium Burst-grenade – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90) Brokk Grungsson Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar (220)* Aetheric Navigator (85)* – Artefact: Voidstone Orb
BATTLELINE 6 x Endrinriggers (240)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (270)*** – 2x Aetheric Fumigators – 2x Decksweepers – 2x Aethercannons – Reinforced x 1 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)*** – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)* – 1x Skypikes – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns
BEHEMOTHS Flagship (300)** – Arkanaut Frigate – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon – Frigate Regittings: Magnificent Omniscope Arkanaut Frigate (300)** – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon
We’re lucky in that we have developed a number of relationships with top players around the globe. Some names that comment on here fairly regularly, such as Kieren Coates, Joshua Bennett, Kel Pigg, and Kevin Lathers, to name but a few. Jeremy Veysseire can now be added to this select crowd, and for those who are unaware, Jeremy has his own YouTube channel where he breaks down tactics in Age of Sigmar. Go subscribe!
Jeremy Veysseire: Hello everyone, thanks for Woehammer for letting me break down this KO army for you all. Let’s jump right into it. This Barak-Nar packs a mixture of punch and shooting, some core highlights:
• 4 Rolls of a 4+ for extra CP during their turn. (KO can be CP hungry) • +1 to Wound (Melee and Shooting) against 1 enemy unit for the entire game • 2D6 Run on 1 Unit a turn. • Once per game 3D6 Charge. • +1 Attack to all Barak-Nar units in combat within 12” of Brokk if he charges. (Massive buff to the Endrinriggers) • Runelord is granting you an additional unbind at +2 and Blessing a unit for 6+ ward. • Rerolling Navigator Reading the Winds (Stormcaller, Huge Value!) • Once per game, Autounbind (Voidstone) • Oncer per game on a 2+ remove Wards from an enemy unit during that shooting phase (Celestium Burst-Grenades) • 70-point deficit for a near guarantee of +1 to Wound Triumph and prevent Indomitable Gitz builds.
Now, with those core concepts explained, let’s go over some overall packages. You have 1 Melee Frigate and 1 Shootey Frigate; the melee frigate is built around the 14” movement frigate (Magnificent Omniscope) with the Endrinriggers (no special weapons for more melee), Brokk, the Endrinmaster and the Admiral since the Boat is the Flagship thus the Admiral can give that boat a free CA per turn. The Shooty Frigate is built around the 10 Sharpshooting Thunderers and the Navigator as a great support platform to the melee one as it can effectively assist in clearing screens or pressuring heroes that provide some form of force multiplier. With the Celestium Burst-Grenade in the pack pocket, you can really have an effective take down turn of a specific target, especially with the +1 to Wound Artycle. One of the biggest highlights in this list is that while there are only 2 frigates, Brokk’s shooting profile is basically another frigate worth, so that melee frigate is very multiphase functional. There is a lot of magic defence between the Runelord, the Navigator, and the Voidstone, helping that KO power shut down key powers. The Runelord provides another low risk GC for some of the GHB battle tactics and provides a potential 6+ ward on a frigate early in the game. The Arkanaut make great screens and deckchair backfield units while able to move forward as the Frigate clear pressure upfront.
Thomas had an interesting path to 3rd place with a loss starting against Corey Anderson’s STD Host of the Everchosen with Be’Lakor, Eternus and Chosens. My guess is that perhaps Be’Lakor’s once per game shutdown mechanic was able to shut down the Thunderers long enough while the Cockatrice were able to debuff the Endrinriggers hitting on 6’s. He even perhaps suffered a double turn from his opponent since he had the choice of turn order. His second round opponent was a classic Hallowed knights list with a mixture of Dragons and some shooting piloted by Colin Jarrell, it honestly looked like an ideal list for Thomas to face as the majority of the SCE army has a hard time to set tempo against his superior shooting and melee. His third round opponent was a Kruelboyz list with Kragnos piloted by Isaac Kangas, and I can only imagine that this game was like shooting fish in a barrel (no offiense to Isaac). His round 4 opponent was a Hedonites army packed with Heroes, Slickblade Seekers and some Blissbard Archer piloted by Hugh Cunningham, I am curious to know how the game went personally but looking at the unit selection and not knowing the mission, either Hugh ran out of pressure early in the game or couldn’t catch the boats as they were raining death from above since it would appear very hard for that specific hedonite build to generate depravity in that match up to counter some of the teeth of that KO list. His final round opponent was an Ogor Boulderhead build piloted by Logan Wendt with 4 Stonehorns (1 Frostlord, 1 Huskard, 2 Normal) and 3 packs of Mournfang. I can only imagine that the removal of the Stornehorn and halving movement speed to various units made it easy for Thomas to control the tempo of the game early on. It would take a serious gungho approach by Logan to oversaturate his shooting targets and bank for a double to catch the boats.Ov
erall Thomas had a 4-1 record with a very good all comers KO list that plays multiple phases of the game. Congrats to him, and I wish the best of luck for the next event!
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (200)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Warp Reality Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Warp Reality – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE Chaos Knights (440)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Flail – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon Varanguard (580)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – 6 x Ensorcelled Weapon Varanguard (580)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 6 x Fellspear
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (50)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Loyal readers of this column may be starting to notice certain trends with successful Slaves lists. At this point to be frank, we should probably rename them ‘Slaves to Varanguard’. But what’s a competitive player to do when faced with a super efficient cavalry unit that can fight twice and be battleline in a sub-faction that allows them to run and charge?
I mean, literally the only unusual pick here is the Geminids, a cute little ploy to turn off commands to stop those pesky redeploys and whatnot while the Varanguard bear down on them.
Solutions to list variety? I don’t think Varanguard need or deserve a nerf – they’re already expensive and fairly vulnerable to any decent amount of attacks with any kind of rend – soon as they lose a few models, and their own low volume of attacks starts to tell. I think the rest of the book just needs a better reason to be taken to be honest, but with the warscrolls and lack of synergies the way they are, I’m not sure pure points adjustments will do the job…
Either way, well done to Daniel here for wins over some super strong factions!
This is the top three AoS lists for A Gathering of Might that took place in the UK on the 18th and 19th of March. It involved 27 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Helon – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Archmage Teclis (700)* Scinari Cathallar (110)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand – Spells: Speed of Hysh – Aspects of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Scinari Loreseeker (160)* – Spells: Overwhelming Heat
BATTLELINE Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – High Warden – Spells: Etheral Blessings Hurakan Windchargers (130)* – Windspeaker Seneschal – Standard Bearer Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Speed of Hysh
OTHER Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)* – High Sentinel – Spells: Etheral Blessings
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Rune of Petrification (60)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Jon Anderson: Sticking to the old ways of the Sith is David Jack piloting the Helon Castle to an undefeated finish. With a pinch of his own spice we have a Scinari Loreseeker making its presence known allowing David to play scenarios with spread objectives to a more effective manner.
The Rune of Petrification has really grown on me over the past month or so. What a great Endless Spell for its cost. Personally, I have found that more Windchargers equals more control but this nets you an extra wizard so the defense for the pick is there. Well done David.
Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Skragrott, the Loonking (160)* Dankhold Troggboss (200)** – General – Command Traits: Loonskin – Artefacts of Power: Glowy Howzit
Staring at this list and thinking it looks really familiar and didn’t I just write about it? Only to realise it was this list and I lost my work. Anyway, I’m ignoring my cognitive decline and focusing on the list – back to the future in many ways. Before the new book, the most successful Gitz lists were Troggoths (Trolls). Great to see they are still viable and show this is a good book, with decent internal balance allowing a lot of builds. Anyway, this time, trolls with ‘shrooms.
As usual, this is about layering buffs on the Trolls and letting them punch on. Starting with the Sporesplatter, +1 attack for friendly units within 9″. Their Spore Cloud is tricky to use but makes them one of the best screening units in the game, letting them screen both charges and shooting (with careful positioning). Gobbapalooza brings all the buffs to the yard. Every round, you get to choose from +1 run/charge, +1 to hit and wound, -1 rend. They also have 2 unique spells to either turn off commands for an enemy unit or make a unit -1. And they have a teleport spell (Hand of Gork). They can give a unit +1 run/charge and then gate them to outside 9 for an 8″ charge. They are an almost auto, including their ability to react and only 145 pts. They have a worsening ward (starting a 4+ and gone by round 4) to make you commit them early.
Skragrot is another almost auto include – 2 spells with an innate +1 to cast/dispell and knows all of the Moonclan spells. Then there is the Dankhold Troggboss, everything a Dankhold brings (4+ ward against spells, MW on within 3″, Crushing Grip and when he gives other Trolls all out attack they get an extra attack. Good on the Dankholds (2 attacks with potential for 6 damage from each), better on the Rock Trolls (6 extra attacks on a 6 Troll unit). With heals and damage, you have 4 hammers, but of course, on a 4+ save. Even with reduced spell effects (4+ and 5+ wards to magic) , it hurts them they can wilt. With only an average unbuffed potential damage of 15 per 6 Rock Troggoths are going to take more than a turn to guarantee a kill on anything too big.
A solid counter to most of the armies around now where 10 wounds are going to drop an MSU unit. The Trolls will struggle with either the Krondspine or something that can either fight on death or fight twice, preventing their heal between phases. And that happened with DoK here. The Blood Sisters will easily lift a Troggoth unit a round. Without some luck, it’s a tough match-up.
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Warp Reality Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spells: Levitate, Warp Reality – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Warp Reality
BATTLELINE Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Doom Knight – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon Varanguard (870)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 4 x Ensorcelled Weapon – 5 x Fellspear Varanguard (290)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – 3 x Ensorcelled Weapon
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
James Workshop likes to talk about internal balance in their recent – and welcome! – Meta Watch dis – and Slaves to Darkness are a prime example of what happens when it’s out of whack. The list pioneered by Big Phil has seen plenty of copycats, and a few tweaks here and there recently – and now this Phil (Little Phil?) has gone 4-1, losing only to the current boogeyman of Helon Lumineth, with what can only be described as a twist aimed at having even less warscrolls to remember.
We start off with an additional Sorc Lord compared to Big Phil’s archetype for a grand total of three of the buggers. And don’t ask me why one of them is marked as Slaanesh. Little Phil then replaces the Chosen – because two legs bad, four legs good in Knights of the Empty Throne, allowing for mounted units to run and charge and Varanguard to be battleline – with loads more Varanguard! Including a rather hilarious double-reinforced block marked as Khorne. So yeah, that’ll hurt. We also see a min unit of Nurgle Varanguard for a smaller, tankier missile to give options, while the usual 10 blob of Nurgle Knights lead the way as a pinning device and screen for the V-guard.
And that’s it, really. How does it play? Charge. Double fight. Profit. I can only imagine the Helon list was able to adequately screen the initial knight charge and hit back with enough mortals (which Helon has a habit of doing…) to buy them time – especially if they won the double – to then whittle down the Varanguard at range – despite their 4++, they’re still vulnerable to weight of dice or simply being hit first. I mean, you’d think a large blob of fast wounds with a 4++ vs. mortals would be one of the few things capable of tangling with Helon, but there you go! A great effort nonetheless, and further fuel on the ‘Slaves book = 3 warscrolls’ fire.
Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khailebron – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Melusai Ironscale (120)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Mindrazor – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Morathi-Khaine (700)* The Shadow Queen (700)*
This is the top three AoS lists for War Under the Mountain that took place in Australia on the 25th and 26th of March. It involved 19 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: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Zon – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Honour Is Everything – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: There’s No Reward Without Risk
Leaders Arkanaut Admiral (125)* – General – Command Trait: Stormcaller – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Aetheric Navigator (85)** – Artefact: Voidstone Orb
Battleline 6 x Skywardens (260)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Skywardens (260)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Skywardens (260)* – Reinforced x 1
Other Units 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)** – Main Gun: Sky Cannon – Gunhauler Modifications: Coalbeard’s Collapsible Compartments 3 x Endrinriggers (120)** 3 x Endrinriggers (120)*
Behemoths Arkanaut Frigate (300)* – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon Arkanaut Frigate (300)** – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Battleline 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine – Temple: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Hag Queen (120)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master – Prayers of Khainite Cult: Crimson Rejuvenation Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (320) – Allies Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (300)* – General – Command Trait: Zealous Orator – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor – Prayers of Khainite Cult: Sacrament of Blood
Battleline 15 x Blood Sisters (450)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Blood Stalkers (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blood Sisters (150)*
Units 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)* 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (100)*
Leaders Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (260)* Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290) – Artefact: Mork’s Eye Pebble – Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (130)* – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Eye-biter Ash Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)* – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)* – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Murknob with Belcha-banna (80)*** – Aspect of the Champion: TunnelMaster
Battleline 20 x Gutrippaz (300)*** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 20 x Hobgrot Slittaz (160)** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)**
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
This is the top three AoS lists for Sparkle Party Deathmatch VIII that took place in the USA on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 52 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Lineage: Legion of Blood – Grand Strategy: Vampiric Conquerors – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (350)* – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour Vampire Lord (140)** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Expertise: Arcane – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Lauka Vai, Mother of Nightmares (280)*** – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale
Battleline 5 x Black Knights (100)*** 5 x Black Knights (100)*** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)* 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)*
Units 10 x Blood Knights (400)*** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Grave Guard (280)** – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1 1 x Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone (80)*
Some of our readers may remember that we interviewed Jeremy Veysseire some time ago on General Speaking. We reached out once more, and ever the gentleman, Jeremy agreed to give us a rundown of his list.
Jeremy Veysseire: The important thing about the Legion of Blood army I played at Sparkle Death party is that it was designed originally roughly 1 year ago to counter the hyper aggressive meta that was around Maggotkin Flies, Dragons and Ironjawz through the following important mechanics of Neferata’s spell allowing a unit of mine to ignore negative modifiers to saves (aka REND) for either Neferata and the Blood Knights on a 3+ save platform making them easily 2+ save during the crucial fights and the minus 1 to hit Aura from Neferata’s Command Ability, the reduction in attacks to 1 unit with the book spell. The additional mechanics that were more of a bonus such as the Bravery Reduction, the additional models fleeing and the Horrorghast combo really punished in some cases Dragons and the flies themselves since my army does not do straight raw damage per say but more of this “I will kill you by a thousand slow cuts while you scream for the hills.”
So we fast forward to Spark Death Party, why bring this army since the meta has evolved so much since then? Well, I wanted to see if the combo was a good counter to Gitz, Slaves and Mawtribes, which all fit those hyper aggressive archetypes. The difference being that all of those armies have abilities to deal out a lot more MW consistently than the previous meta (yes, even more than dragons) and still punch very hard. I made some tweaks by incorporating Lauka Vai and the Corpse Cart for the +1 to cast aura, hoping that in some games I could get Lauka Vai’s spell off allowing me to really control how my opponent could choose the engagement and the additional thought process was if the Gitz armies went deep in Squig Herd since they can’t reroll charges, it could potentially stop them when they want to charge.
Now lets cover some of the additional combos in the list that are less obvious, Levitating Blood Knights to always be able to move any enemy units when they retreat and plant themselves easily where they want while removing terrain to clunk them up. Making the Grave Guards Sworn protectors allows me the ability to do another Battle Tactic “A Matter of Honor” with them and just in the off chance I can get them to activate in the Hero Phase with the Vampire Lord. Lauka Vai’s MW on the Charge really allows me to sometimes get Neferata out of combat or lets me remove a GC consistently with her as she can be kind of a surgical strike unit and she provides the Blood Knights coverage if Neferata fails to cast her spell.
At the event itself, I played in order into FEC, Fyreslayers, Mawtribes, Gitz, Cities of Sigmar. My first 4 matchups were exactly the type of army I wanted to face, aggressive melee armies and man oh man did the combo work. Some highlights, keep Gotrek debuffed with less attacks and half charges while the army picked up everything else around him, into Mawtribes watching Stonehorn hit on 5’s with Neferata’s minus 1 to hit, into Gitz watching BK just absolutely lock units up and the Black Knights blocking avenues up the board. Neferata slayed a Terrorgheist, a Phoenix, a Grimwrath, and terrified the Heroes on Stonehorn with her dagger. The army obviously got to play the type of armies it was designed to fight into and it did incredibly well due mostly to its ability to keep my opponent’s army locked away and debuffed as I cut him ever so slightly to drain him of his life essence like perhaps…a Vampire. But honestly, all it took was probably a non Static shooting army like KO or Seraphon to just ruin my day. What a great last ride for this army before the new battletome.
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Scions of the Storm – Army Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Lord-Castellant (160)* – Artefacts: Quicksilver Draught – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Lord-Relictor (150)*** – General – Command Traits: High Priest – Prayers: Translocation 1 x Battlemage (100)**** – Ally – Realm: Ghur
BATTLELINE 5 x Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows (190)** – Judicator-Prime – Thunderbolt Crossbow 5 x Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows (190)** – Judicator-Prime – Thunderbolt Crossbow 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (240)**** 5 x Drakespawn Knights (110)**** – Dread Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower
OTHER 10 x Protectors (440)* – Protector-Prime – 4 x Starsoul Mace 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)** – Raptor-Prime 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (170)*** – Stormstrike Axe and Tempestuous Spear
Total Points: 1990/2000 Total Drops: 10 Total Units: 10 Total Wounds: 109
Through our friends at Stormkeep, we were able to reach out to Stark and ask if he’d give us a rundown of his list. Thanks again, Stark, for the comments, I’m sure we’ll be hearing from you again in the future!
Stark Pister: This list is a natural evolution of my HaXbows list from last season, with which I topped out at 4-1. Last season I played 15 Judicators + 3 Longstrikes in a 3 drop with double chariot bounty hunters and so this list pulls back on the shooting and chariots for a more durable anvil/hammer in the block of 10 protectors to fit the more midboard grind battleplans of this season.
In my opinion the strongest Stormcast lists tend to be mixed arms builds with durable screens protecting efficient shooting and high damage melee hammers to riposte threats that try to get through the screens to threaten the shooting, all supported by minimal characters since our faction synergies tend to be minimal. I tend to build my tournament lists with this a general philosophy as the balanced nature allows the flexibility to deal with most types of opponents. In a similar vein, I try to have units with diverse types of damage to have the tools to minimize polarized matches. I find Stormcast’s incredibly deep roster tends to provide the options to really customize what you want available in any given meta.
This new season presents a lot of opportunities and a lot of challenges for Stormcast lists. Fortunately, our main minimal support characters are all GCs (except Gardus). One of our big strengths is the ability to snipe out small enemy buff heros and now that is even better with enemy GC’s being critical for half the non-book tactics and several battle plans, incentizing use of the Sharpshooter battalion. However, they balanced sharpshooters well by forcing it to be 3 required units so you can’t be very low drop. High drops can be problematic for shooting armies because an early double can allow melee to close the gap and for opposing shooting to gain the upper hand in output, so this needs to be compensated for somehow. Longstrikes make the perfect GC hunters, and with scions, translocate, and Thunderbolt volley, they provide very flexible turn one threat that helps offset those high drops. The added threat of the Judicators forces conservative screening of heros while they efficiently clear those screens from a safe distance.
The Gallatian Command battalion provides the opportunity for a very strong combo in Stormcast when used alongside a Galatian Champion with the Quicksilver Draught and the new Tunnel Master makes it easy to set up even with a hero like the Castellant who wants to be on the board in the hero phase for his ability. More importantly, it allows the combo to be down at the start of the game as part of your initial deployment castle, and with the help of the Relictor, it can be anywhere it needs to be on turn one. This allows you to defend from alpha strike armies that choose to go first against you (or the rare person you outdrop), while being able to get them buffed and into the optimal position when given top of one. Lord Castellant is the perfect hero for this job not just because of his ability to buff them to a 1+ save but critically because he has a 40mm Gryph Hound that enables the whole 10 block to fit within the 2.5″ bubble to allow them to strike first with him when someone charges them. This provides a HUGE deterrent to hitting your midbaord castle from the front and specifically acts as protection of your main melee hammer against the double turn.
The Ghur Battlemage helps make up for the paladin speed issues in the mid game and pairs well with the Relictor for melee units in general throughout. I often lead with Mystic shield on one of the screens to help with weathering the potential double as well, before flipping to wildform to go on the offensive. He also provides the bare minimum magic defense, which coupled with heroic willpower and the relictor Dispel at least let you disrupt the low hanging fruit.
The efficient battleline slots provide the opportunity to pick up an all-star screen in the Drakespawn Knights, who pair well with the Chariot to safely claim objectives and pin large threats until their buffs are down. The Chariot even has vanguard battalion to reroll its first charge outside of hero range. Because the battleline are the riposte and ranged units, they can easily stay back to protect heros from shooting for a while.
Another critical consideration this season has been the battle tactics. The teleporting GC lineup and Sworn Bodyguard paladins make most of the new ones achievable with some planning, though This One’s Mine is rarely an option. Hammerstrike Assault and Draconith Desctruction can be good backup options, albeit riskier that come in handy against armies where killing the one thing needs to be your focus anyway. The spicy Drakespawn pick can even sneak a late game Pioneers of the Realms.
Shoutouts to my mentor Matt Beasley for helping refine the list and forcing me to get reps in (and for lending the Drakespawn), to my painting mentor Ricky Fischer whose squigs I beat in round 5 to finish the tournament, and to the whole of Dimensional Cascade. Special thanks to my partner Larc for the unending support of my unbelievably-high-time-commitment hobbies.
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Be’lakor (355) – Spells: Binding Damnation 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore (265)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Daemonic Speed – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Spells: Chaotic Conduit – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Leadership of the alpha 1 x Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)* – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
BATTLELINE 3 x Varanguard (290)* – 3 x Daemonforged Blade – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Chaos Knights (460)* – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Another notch on Be’lakor’s bedpost! If you’ve not met him on the table before, Be’lakor’s man schtick is being able to stop a key unit from doing stuff (on a 3+ each phase) until your next hero phase. He’s been hotly debated in (all 9) S2D player circles because, while he offers a great amount of short-term control, which potentially allows you varanguard/10 knights (as in this list) to do their work, it’s also entirely possible that you roll a few crucial 2s, and then you’ve basically paid 355 pts for a not very durable, not very killy and kinda fast hero.
He has been cropping up recently though, suggesting that, overall, he’s worth it for the time he buys the hammers to do their work. Ricky here has actually gone for KOTET, which will allow the two units of knights, the Varanguard, and the Sorcerer on Manticore to all make up plenty of ground by running and charging. Obviously, that’s going to allow a fair bit of early pressure, especially with daemonic power being cast on 3d6 with a re-roll by the Manticore Sorc, allowing one unit to charge with 3d6 as well. I imagine the spell-portal is also there to allow the Manticore’s warscroll spell – one of the few good offensive spells S2D has access to – to reach out across the board to soften stuff up.
Finally, we have an Exalted Hero, who is utterly garbage, but only 100 points, and I imagine it is mainly there for GC based scoring.
Taking down one of the two mirrors and also managing to chew through NH and a monster heavy Ogor list means this is a great result with a techy list from Ricky!
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Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Army Type: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Battlemage (100)* – General’s Adjutant – Spells: Roaming Wildfire, Ignite Weapons – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Freeguild General (100)* – General – Command Traits: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade 1 x Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)* – Spells: Ignite Weapons, Sear Wounds 1 x Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (320)** – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Sear Wounds, Flaming Weapon 1 x Lord-Arcanum (140)** – Spells: Warding Brand, Roaming Wildfire
BATTLELINE 20 x Freeguild Handgunners (200)* – Marksman – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Piper – Long Rifle 20 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)* – General’s Retinue – Marksman – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Piper 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)* – Standard Bearer – Marksman – Piper 10 x Flagellants (80)** – Prophet 10 x Freeguild Guard (80)** – Sergeant – Standard Bearer – Drummer – Freeguild Halberd 10 x Freeguild Guard (80)** – Sergeant – Drummer – Standard Bearer – Freeguild Halberd
Once you get one player comment, you can often get two or three from the connections those players have. That was the case here as well when Stark said he could reach out to Louis-Philippe for his comments.
Louis-Philippe: The Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix should only have Flaming Weapon (The mistake has been spot before start of the tourney and opponents were dully advise).
Game plan: First of all, AoS is a dice game. Luck is part of the game, but careful planning can sway the odds in your favour. …sometime 😛
Flagellants are there for the easy ‘’Sanctify’’ battle tactic T1 (White dwarf). Since I always let my opponent go first (I was lucky not to face a 1 drop), he usually doesn’t kill anything. So that was a free one turn 1. (Aside from game 4, where the battleplan didn’t favour that BT (Position Over Power). Fun fact, that was the only game my opponent concentrated on his resource to kill my flagellant on his T1.
This list has 4 (double, cause Hallowheart) casters, meaning an 8 cast hero phase T1. The Hallowheart command ability lets you take D6 mortals for the same amount in casting bonus. Meaning this list is usually casting at +1, if not +2 or +3, but could reach a whopping +9! and since all your spells are cast on 6s (aside Flaming weapon) unless your opponent is able to unbind, everything goes flying out. Fun fact (not so fun for my opponent): In my 4th round T1 hero phase, I was casting with a +5 from that command ability since my phoenix failed all his ward saves. Got to heal 3 wounds back with Sear Wounds though.
I mostly face Melee lists (Fireslayer, Skaven (night/gutterrunners), Nighthaunt, nurgles (beast), Soulbright Grave lord)
So, the plan was to deploy away from their charge range. For the skaven, I deployed my shooting units 3’’ aways from the front of my shaft unit, so his deepstriking rats only had my shaft to shoot at (and my Fulminators which they killed with mortals). He also charged my shaft with his deceiver (one of them failed the charge). His deceiver didn’t like mortals from magic bottom of 1 (and the other rats didn’t like my shooting).
As for the Soulbright, well Jeremy is impressive, tactics wise and had a bit of luck, he stole initiative T2, forcing me to move forward by burning my ‘’back’’ objective, and had Neferata do 1 wound (yes only 1 unsaved wound to my Phoenix, mind you it was the dagger that got through, Phoenix was at 11 health, he rolled a 5… pouf no more Phoenix).
Units : The goal was to use the Freeguild Guards and Flagellants as chaff around the Handgunners and Crossbowmen. My general and the battle mage from Ghur had to be close to each other for the adjutant rule and my general was in the middle of the range unit, providing +1+1 with his CP and a 18’’ wholly whiting immune to bravery. The Phoenix was there to act as tarpit and increase survivability (if there’s any) of the chaff unit since his -1 wound bubble affects any enemy unit within range. Fulminators are there to act as a menace, which they did great since most of my opponents were scared of them and diverted resource to deal with them. Finally, th Lord-Arcanum was there to :
Be an extra GV
Give 1 more (possibility of 2) HP to the fulminators
But mostly give 6’’ more movement range on the Quicksilver Swords, which make them a 20’’ threat range on cast (remember the casting bonuses I talked about earlier)
Battleplans : R1-Prize of Gallet R2-Ours for the taking R3-Only the Worthy R4-Position over power R5-Jaws of gallet.
Possible upgrade : Swap ‘’Tunnel Master’’ from the battlemage to the Lord-Arcanum.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Straigyt Edge Wargaming GT that took place in Sweden on the 11th and 12th of March. It involved 14 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.
Leaders Swampboss Skumdrekk (290)* Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Murknob with Belcha-banna (80)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Killaboss on Corpse-Rippa Vulcha (220)** – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex Skragrott, The Loonking (160)* – Allies
Battleline 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 10 x Gutrippaz (150)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)* 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
Units 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1 6 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)** – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70) The Burning Head (30)
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne – Mortal Realm: Hysh – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (355)* – The Lore of the Damned: Binding Damnation 6 x Varanguard (580)* – General – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
Battleline 10 x Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon – Reinforced x 1 5 x Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 9 x The Unmade (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (340)* Mortisan Soulmason (120)* – Lore of Mortisans: Empower Nadirite Weapons Mortisan Boneshaper (110)* – General – Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefact: Godbone Armour – Lore of Mortisans: Reinforce Battle-shields – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Battleline 30 x Mortek Guard (420)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 2 30 x Mortek Guard (420)* – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 2 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (170)* 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (170)*
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for God’s of War 3 that took place in Italy on the 11th and 12th of February. It involved 84 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
The rankings for this tournament included other points that played around with the usual order of lists. We therefore decided to base the top 3 lists on the traditional method of wins and then battle points.
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: Idoneth Deepkin – Army Subfaction: Mor’phann – Grand Strategy: Dominion of the Deep Ones – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty LEADER 1 x Isharann Tidecaster (140) – Artefacts: Rune of the Surging Gloomtide – Spells: Steed of Tides – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Akhelian Thrallmaster (110)* – General – Command Traits: Lord of Storm and Sea 1 x Isharann Soulrender (120)* 1 x Lotann (110)*
BATTLELINE 20 x Namarti Thralls (260)* – Icon Bearer 20 x Namarti Thralls (260)* – Icon Bearer 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)** – Icon Bearer 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)** – Icon Bearer 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)** – Icon Bearer
BEHEMOTH 1 x Akhelian Leviadon (460)* – Mount Traits: Reverberating Carapace
Just in case it isn’t obvious by the time I finish this segment, I really love Idoneth Deepkin. They are the perfect army full of the best models with no bad builds, and you will never convince me otherwise. Luca’s list shines a spotlight on a handful of excellent units and clearly uses them to their greatest effect.
Let’s start with heroes. Luca has opted to leave the classic Murderking at home to fill in more slots for GCs. They are also focusing their heroes on the ability to buff and support their key units rather than shine by themselves. The Tidecaster brings two Isharann Rituals, the Thrallmaster is remarkably versatile (and has pretty decent solo damage output as well), the Soulrender keeps those Namarti alive, and Lotann provides some amazing buffs when stacked up with other heroes.
The Namarti thralls and reavers are supported by these heroes in key ways. Sticking the Tidecaster in a boat to give Riptide the widest possible reach, then pick your favorite Thrall unit and stick all of the remaining heroes into the middle. At that point the Soulrender is going to be resurrecting 4 to 6 Thralls per battleshock phase, the Thrallmaster is going to provide exploding 6’s to hit, Lotann provides +1 to wound, the Leviadon gives +1 to hit…
You see where this is going. Assuming the chosen unit doesn’t get destroyed on their way to their destination (which obviously didn’t happen, given Luca’s first place win) the 20 thralls will force a massive number of Rend -1 saves. And if it does happen that the thrall unit gets destroyed on the way to their destination, Luca has a backup castle right behind the first. On top of all this, Luca has 30 Sharpshooter Reavers running around the board as fast as (or faster) than other armies’ cavalry all the while able to pick off enemy GCs before they have the chance to score battle tactics.
All-in-all, this is an excellent showing from an army that we don’t get to see in top 3 articles very often, and Luca did an excellent job piloting them to a 5-0 win and first place!
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Guardian of Souls (150)** – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Krulghast Cruciator (150)** – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon Lord Executioner (130)*** – General – Command Trait: Hatred of the Living – Artefact: Slitter – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Spirit Torment (120)** Spirit Torment (120)
Battleline 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (180)* 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (180)* 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)***
No Harridans, no Hexwraiths, just a single-minded focus on some of the most effective murder machines Nighthaunt has. By now, everyone knows the Bladegheist trick, an extra attack on the charge. With Lightshard, that means up to 5 attacks as well as mortal wounds from the charge (Scarlet Doom ability). This is a variation on the 2 blocks of 30 Bladegheist that we saw early in last season. This list deals with one of the weaknesses of the 60 Bladegheist list by giving both more units and a non-trivial screen. The weakness, of course, is only 10 wounds for 180 points. They can issue discorporate on themselves to take advantage of a 5+ ward increased their effective wounds 30%. But even without rend, a 10/13 wound unit is pretty easy to pick up.
Unfortunately unless you have a double pile in/fight rule (Terrorgheist I see you) the unit that removes the screen is really only a trading piece with one of the large units likely to take advantage of your clearing the screen. Elite armies can’t afford that trade too often. The normal buffing heroes are here, Kruleghast gives -1 damage, and Guardian of Souls with 2 Spirit Torments to return models every turn. The Lord Executioner build is cute and very threatening, but with only 5 wounds, he can be removed a bit too easily to rely on. It will take a little effort, though, with his standard wards and once per game 3+ wards.
If combined with the Spirit Hosts, it will take quite a bit to shift him. He’s not a Megaboss but with Slitter (chance to one shot small heroes) and Hatred of the Living he’s a nasty bomb waiting for something to get too close. The points increase cost this list dearly – in Season 2, it costs more than 100 more than Season 1 neatly removing the Purple Sun (and other helpful spells). With a mix of defensive and offensive buffs and choices, this is still a very aggressive list that aims to win by destroying you more than playing for points. Isolated any of the core units are pretty weak. The lower Battlescore (still 5 and 0) reflects that it’s a bit harder to score in Season 2 just by killing your opponent. It’s still fun though.
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount (170)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Cursed Warhammer Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Daemonic Speed – Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Spells: Chaotic Conduit
BATTLELINE Chaos Knights (230)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance Chaos Knights (460)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Cursed Lance – 2 x Hornblower – 2 x Standard Bearer – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon Varanguard (290)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 3 x Ensorcelled Weapon Varanguard (290)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 3 x Fellspear Varanguard (290)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – 3 x Fellspear
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Slaves to Darkness players (myself included) are quickly finding that the new book has some definite power, even if from a fairly limited selection of warscrolls and allegiance abilities. However, the combos that do work, work.
Meme has kept things simple and leaned into a ‘2e Slaves but with no Archaon’ list, with loads of cavalry in Knights of the Empty Throne, which makes mounted units able to run and charge, and Varanguard battleline. Also, be aware, the 5+ Varanguard rally only applies if the GENERAL is a Varanguard model.
Slaves HQ picks are quickly consolidating to a lean selection of 1-2 Lords, with at least being the Sorcerer as we have here, for access to the fantastic Daemonic Power (+1 to hit and wound) spell, that he can cast on 3d6 thanks to a heroic action – hence the Arcane Tome and Master of Magic – also crucial to getting ‘Daemonic Speed’ off for those 3d6 charges.
Troop wise, Chaos Knights are rapidly showing Nurgle to be their favourite mark, so they can act as durable pinning pieces. Meme has them backed up by 3x msu Khorne Varanguard, as savage guided missiles, with each unit being able to fight twice.
You can probably see how it works – a wall of super hard to kill knights with run+3d6 charge to box you in, and death squads of Varanguard with – if all the buffs go off – 4 attacks each, 2/2/-3/2!
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Stormkeep – Subfaction: Hallowed Knights – Triumph: Inspired – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Their
LEADERS Lord-Castellant (160)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact of Power: Arcane Tome – Spell: Starfall Gardus Steel Soul (170)*** Knight-Zephyros (100)*** – Artefact of Power: Mirrorshield – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Krondys (550)*** – Spell: Thundershock
BATTLELINE 15 x Vindictors (390)* – Vindictor-Prime – 3 x Azyrite Signifier 5 x Vanquishers (110)** – Vanquisher-Prime 5 x Vanquishers (110)*** – Vanquisher-Prime
OTHER 3 x Aetherwings (70)** 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)** – Raptor-Prime
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Everblaze Comet (90)
With the news that small heroes were the focus of Season 2, SCE players rejoiced and began sorting through their 40 heroes for Galletian Champions to take up the challenge. And very quickly realised that despite only average performance, they’d gotten a nerf. The same 3 or 4 foot heroes that were already in the list were there for a reason. However, both the Knight Zephyros and the Knight Azyros. especially the Knight Zephyros, made a return. Only 6″ move, but he can teleport instead of move on top of run and charge. Only 5 wounds but equipped with Mirrorshield (can’t be shot unless you are within 9″) and Subborn as a Rhinox makes him both a great backfield but also a great unguarded objective unit. Really though this is the Krondys show with a supporting cast of heroes.
Both the Castellant and Steel Soul bring useful buffs (+1 to save and a 12″ 5+ ward). While Krondys is the big hammer, the Vindictors are a hammer in their own right. They are part of the Galletian Command battalion with the Castellant. You can expect them to hang around with a 2+ save. You can expect them to do an average of 5 mortal wounds at full strength (15 models), they need to lose 3 models before battleshock is an issue. They also fight on death, so combat is a real concern. They are part of an anti horde approach, including Starfall and the Vanquishers (they get more attacks the more models they face). At the same time, as including a hero that can snipe objectives, Ambrogio included some real snipers.
Aetherwings are not just spotters (+1 to hit for longstrikes if the target is within 12″ of them). They can, of course, take objectives or push scoring opportunities. The Longstrikes are a good choice for sniping out Galletian Champions. A well thought out list with solid scoring opportunities and the ability to apply pressure, including through remote mortal wounds (Raptors, Everblaze Comet, and Starfall) that will punish any horde or army that castles. 13th is low for a 4 and 1 record, demonstrating SCE’s frequent mobility issue and its impact on scoring.
