This is the top three AoS lists for the Montreal GT that took place in Canada on the 16th and 17th of September. It involved 60 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: Kharadron Overlords – Army Subfaction: Barak-Mhornar – Grand Strategy: Rule the Skies – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty – Stick To The Code (Amendments): Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Stick To The Code (Artycles): Honour is Everything – Stick To The Code (Footnotes): There’s No Reward Without Risk
LEADER 1 x Aetheric Navigator (100)* 1 x Arkanaut Admiral (140)* – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust 1 x Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (170)* – General – Command Traits: Stormcaller – Artefacts: Phosphorite Bomblets
BATTLELINE 9 x Endrinriggers (120)* – Mizzenmaster 6 x Endrinriggers (120)* – Mizzenmaster 3 x Endrinriggers (120)* – Mizzenmaster
BEHEMOTH 1 x Arkanaut Ironclad (500)* – Great Sky Cannon – Great Endrinworks: Prudency Chutes
OTHER 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)* – Sky Cannon 1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (170)* – Sky Cannon
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)
Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Army Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Skarbrand (380)* 1 x Bloodmaster (110)** – Prayers: Killer Instinct, Blood Sacrifice – Nullstone Adornments: Pouch of Nulldust 1 x Slaughterpriest (110)** – Bloodbathed Axe – Prayers: Bronzed Flesh, Bloodbind 1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)** – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts: Ar’gath, the King of Blades – Prayers: Unholy Flames, Killer Instinct
BATTLELINE 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)* 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)* 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)* 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)* 8 x Claws of Karanak (100)*
INVOCATION 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (50) 1 x Wrath-Axe (70)
TERRAIN 1 x Skull Altar (0)
OTHER 3 x Mighty Skullcrushers (210)** – Skullhunter – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Bloodglaive 3 x Mighty Skullcrushers (210)** – Skullhunter – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Bloodglaive
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)
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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Legion of Blood – Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (460) – General – Command Traits: Doomed Minions – Deathlance – Artefacts of Power: Cloak of Mists and Shadows – Spells: Vile Transference Prince Vhordrai (470) – Spells: Vile Transference Neferata (400)* – Spells: Waste Away
BATTLELINE Deadwalker Zombies (120)* Deadwalker Zombies (120)* Dire Wolves (140)* – Doom Wolf Dire Wolves (140)* – Doom Wolf Dire Wolves (140)* – Doom Wolf
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Spells: Hoarfrost, Warp Reality Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Warp Reality Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (200)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)** – General – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Command Traits: Idolater Lord – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield – Prayers: Heal Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield – Artefacts of Power: The Conqueror’s Crown Exalted Hero of Chaos (90)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield
BATTLELINE Splintered Fang (200)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh Splintered Fang (200)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh The Unmade (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh Chaos Knights (220)* – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle – Doom Knight – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Cursed Lance – Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon The Unmade (80)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh Splintered Fang (200)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh Splintered Fang (200)** – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
This is the top three AoS lists for Macki Wojny GT3 that took place in Poland on the 4th and 5th of August. It involved 70 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
I found this tournament last minute, so I’m afraid there’s no commentary here, but I couldn’t resist sharing a Kruleboyz list as soon as I could (and one that isn’t Grinnin’ Blades or includes Gobsprakk).
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 Archmage Teclis (740)* – General Scinari Cathallar (120)* – Artefacts of Power: Phoenix Stone – Spells: Merciless Blizzard The Light of Eltharion (230)*
BATTLELINE 10x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – High Warden – Spells: Etheral Blessings 10x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)* – High Warden – Spells: Speed of Hysh 5x Vanari Dawnriders (120)* – Standard Bearer – Steedmaster – Spells: Speed of Hysh
BEHEMOTH Alarith Spirit of the Mountain (340)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Rune of Petrification (60) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
TERRAIN 1 x Shrine Luminor (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000 1 drop
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Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts – Subfaction: Hollowmourne – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000 DROPS: 1
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Subfaction: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Command Traits: Idolater Lord – Spells: Hoarfrost – Prayers: Heal – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 1 x Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 1 x Infernal Enrapturess (120)*** 1 x Be’lakor (340)** – Spells: Binding Damnation 1 x Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (150)*** – Daemonic Axe – Trophy Rack – Artefacts: The Conqueror’s Crown – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
UNITS 9 x The Unmade (80)** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 9 x Spire Tyrants (70)** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 20 x Splintered Fang (200)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 20 x Splintered Fang (200)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 20 x Splintered Fang (200)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 10 x Splintered Fang (100)*** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle 6 x Furies (80)** 1 x Cockatrice (120)**
Allegiance: Kruleboyz – Warclan: Big Yellers – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth (180)* – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (290)** – General – Command Trait: Supa Sneaky – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Choking Mist Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (100)** – Lore of the Swamp: Nasty Hex
Battleline 9 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (360)** – Reinforced x 2 – Boltboy Boss 9 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (360)** – Reinforced x 2 – Boltboy Boss 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)** – Boltboy Boss
Units 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)* – Hobgrot Boss – Sulphuric Scrap-grenades – Scrap Totem Bearer – Noise-maker 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (120)** – Allies – Moonclan Boss – Bad Moon Icon Bearer – Gong Basher – Stabba – 3x Barbed Net 5 x Sporesplatta Fanatics (90)* – Allies 5 x Sporesplatta Fanatics (90)* – Allies
This is the top three AoS lists for CROSSROADS CARNAGE 1 that took place in the USA on the 8th and 9th of July. It involved 32 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: Slaves to Darkness – Subfaction: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Archaon (860)* – Spells: Daemonic Speed, Warp Reality Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)* – General – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Command Traits: Idolater Lord – Rune-etched Blade and Chaos Runeshield – Prayers: Heal Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Artefacts of Power: Chaos Familiar – Spells: Chaotic Conduit, Warp Reality – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE Splintered Fang (200)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh Splintered Fang (200)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh Splintered Fang (200)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh Chaos Knights (220)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Doom Knight – Cursed Lance – Ensorcelled Banner: The Blasted Standard Corvus Cabal (80)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Mortis Praetorians – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Katakros (440)* Mortisan Boneshaper (120)* – General – Command Traits: Aura of Sterility – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Reinforce Constructs – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Bone-tithe Shrieker (50)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
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Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: Barak Urbaz – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Settle The Grudges + honor is everything – Amendment: Prosecute Wars With All Haste – Footnote: Without Our Ships We Are Naught
Leaders Aether-Khemist (80)** Arkanaut Admiral (125)** – General – Command Trait: Ex-Grundstok – Artefact: Celestium Burst-grenade Aetheric Navigator (85)** – Artefact: Voidstone Orb – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (90) Gotrek Gurnisson (480) – Allies
Battleline 10 x Arkanaut Company (100)* -1 leader – 1x Light Skyhooks – 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns 15 x Grundstok Thunderers (405)* -1 leader – 3x Aetheric Fumigators – 3x Decksweepers – 3x Aethercannons – 3x Grundstok Mortars – Reinforced x 2 3 x Endrinriggers (120)* – 1x Drill Launcher -1 leader with rivet gun and saw -1 rivet gun saw
Behemoths Arkanaut Ironclad (500) -admirals flagship – Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon – Major Installation: Prudency Chutes
Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin – Army Subfaction: Mor’phann – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Isharann Tidecaster (140)* – Spells: Steed of Tides – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Isharann Soulrender (120)* – Artefacts: Rune of the Surging Gloomtide 1 x Eidolon of Mathlann Aspect of the Sea (325)* – General – Command Traits: Endless Sea Storm – Spells: Steed of Tides
BATTLELINE 20 x Namarti Reavers (340)* – Icon Bearer 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)* – Icon Bearer 20 x Namarti Thralls (260)* – Icon Bearer
BEHEMOTH 1 x Akhelian Leviadon (460)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (90) 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (70)
This is the top three AoS lists for the Brewdog AoS GT that took place in the UK on the 4th and 5th of March. It involved 40 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (355)* – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Command Trait: Idolator Lord – Prayer: Heal – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate
Battleline 30 x Splintered Fang (300)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Reinforced x 2 20 x Splintered Fang (200)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – Reinforced x 1 9 x The Unmade (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
Units 6 x Varanguard (580)* – 6x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Reinforced x 1
I’ve known of Geir for a while now. Some of you may remember that he attended the Honest Wargamers World Championship event last year. Geir is a high performing player in Scandinavia and so it’s nice to see him come to the UK to compete. I was personally very keen to get Geir’s comments on his list after following his performances for a while, I jumped at the chance to reach out to him.
Geir Vedeld: This is a very well-balanced list. It works well offensively and defensively. It is relatively fast with good damage output, with both mortal wounds, high volume of attacks and potentially high rend on the charge from Varanguard. It has a large footprint with high body count and wounds. Plenty of screening possibilities and supports different playing options into different matchups.
Ravagers When you play Splintered Fang and Cultists, Ravagers for the “Rally the Tribes” ability is very strong. I chose Idolator Lord instead of Master of Magic because I want to give a mark to the Splintered Fang. Slaanesh being a natural choice with the +1 to run/charge and the Run & Charge from the Command Ability. With only Move 6”, the list would not be fast enough imo.
Heroes It is a 5-cast 5-unbind list, ideally getting 4 spells off: Demonic Power, Demonic Speed, Mystic shield and bridge. Arcane Bolt on Be’lakor for the last cast. Fair to say: The bridge is there for 3 reasons: the threat early game, the possibility to heavy flank early game, and also mobility late game. I would never send my Varanguard crashing blindly into the enemy T1 unless I know I the benefits are high. But the Bridge is very difficult for the opponent to deal with, particularly lists without many screens.
The warscroll spell of the Chaos Sorcerer Lord is one of the strongest in the game. No-brainer really. The Heroic Action with the 3d6 cast gives reliability for the most important spells. Taking 2 CSLs to ensure “Rally the Tribes”.
Be’lakor is there for the following reasons: 1) Stop God-like characters and high-point units, 2) Defensively to protect my Varanguard when they charge in early, 3) Monster and Roar for the no-rend Splintered Fang, 4) Taking objectives alone, being stronger than most MSU, and 5) 2-cast mage.
Battleline 50 Splintered Fangs (30+20) has a very high output for 500 points. It gives the list board presence, mortal wounds, volume attacks, screens, recursion stagger strategy in gameplay, etc. Feels almost like playing Soulblight 😊. Lots of options come from those two units if you play them correctly.
9 Unmade are in my head a no-brainer in most S2D lists atm. The option to shut down redeploy when you rely on charging as your main output is truly strong. They are easily killed – but similarly easily rallied.
Units The Varanguard is probably the most important unit in the list. It needs the spell support, and it needs the support of Be’lakor. I either keep them behind the lines for countercharge, I bridge them with 3d6 charge to lock down the enemy or heavy flank with them. With the protection of Be’lakor on the heaviest countercharge piece in the other army, I feel I can use their utility quite well. Also, with mystic shield and demonic power they get the 1+ save from All Out Defence and are still 2+/2+ when they are charged themselves.
The Chaos Gargant is selected for these purposes: 1) Roar together with the Fangs, 2) -1 save with the no-rend Fangs, and 3) it keeps the list one-drop as it fills a spot in the Battle Regiment reserved for none. Against deep striking / teleporting armies, it can screen my backline. Pretty neat and useful!
The list has a lot more utility than described here. Happy to discuss over a beer. Enjoy trying it out for yourself. It is not necessarily an obvious 5-0 list into all tournaments, but it is difficult to play against when the general knows to utilize it.
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Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz – Gittish Horde: Jaws of Mork – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Loonboss (85)** – General – Command Trait: The Clammy Hand – Artefact: Nightflyer Cloak (Galletian Champion) Madcap Shaman (70)** – Artefact: Moonface Mommet – Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (80)**** Skragrott, The Loonking (160)** Grinkrak The Great (190)***
Battleline 30 x Squig Hoppers (540)*** – Reinforced x 2 60 x Moonclan Shootas (375)* – Reinforced x 2 20 x Moonclan Shootas (125)*
Units 6 x Grinkrak’s Looncourt (0)* 5 x Loonsmasha Fanatics (110)**** 5 x Loonsmasha Fanatics (110)**** 6 x Sneaky Snufflers (110)**
Nathan is the vice captain of AoS Team Scotland, and his lists have appeared before in a number of our articles. This event had some true top-class players taking part. Nathan was also kind enough to share the design thoughts behind his list.
Nathan: Squig hoppers can threaten a huge distance and only ever need around half the unit to go in an kill something with 5-6 attacks a hopper, 6s to hit do a mortal in addition from squig boss and loonboss all out attack is 6s to wound is a mortal in addition too. Rest of the unit trails back to Grinkrak for fight on death and to allow me to remove casualties to break coherency and rally back at will.
60 shootas can actually do a lot of damage at 3s to hit and 5s to wound with all out attack. If I get hand of gork off I can get them denying massive swathes of the table to deny space and buy more time for hoppers. Also rally back tricks on them.
2 x 60 wound bricks that occupy large amount of the table and don’t really die.
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Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (160)* 1 x Dankhold Troggboss (200)** – General – Command Traits: Loonskin – Artefacts: Glowy Howzit
BATTLELINE 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)* 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)* 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (320)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Malevolent Moon (80)
TERRAIN 1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)
OTHER 5 x Sporesplatta Fanatics (90)* 5 x Gobbapalooza (145)* 2 x Dankhold Troggoths (360)**
As you can see, we’ve been extremely lucky in getting comments from not one, not two, but all four players featured in today’s article. Sean is a long time Gitz player, and has actually tabled Sons of Behemat with the old book!
Sean: The idea was to use Skraggrot, the Molevelant Moon and the shrine to accomplish the grand strategy keeping the Troggboss at the back under the light of the moon but within range to use the all out attack for the extra attacks for the dankholds. The Gobbapoloza and the sporesplatta fanatics are there to buff up the rockguts, giving out extra rend or charge bonus combined with the -1 to hit bubble. Skraggrot is used mostly to ensure that by turn 3, I have the moon covering the board, so I get the save bonus across all my troggoth units. The realm command was really useful at times for units that had ended up stuck in combat for even more additional attacks. The main aim was to move up and survive the initial charge from my opponent and use all the additional attacks to clear the unit before moving forward to tag the objectives.
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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Vyrkos Dynasty – Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Necromancer (130)* – General – Command Traits: Pack Alpha – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Invigorating Aura, Prison of Grief, Spectral Grasp – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Belladamma Volga (200)**** – Spells: Amaranthine Orb, Invigorating Aura, Soulpike Radukar the Wolf (140)*** – Spells: Amethystine Pinions, Invigorating Aura, Spirit Gale Torgillius the Chamberlain (90)*** – Spells: Decrepify, Fading Vigour, Invigorating Aura Gorslav the Gravekeeper (80)***
BATTLELINE Dire Wolves (260)** Dire Wolves (260)** Dire Wolves (130)** Dire Wolves (130)** Dire Wolves (130)*** Dire Wolves (130)****
Finally, but by no means least, we have the fantastic Cara Newby. When I saw this list, I had to include it as the Wildcard. A shed tonne of Wolves, Kosargi Nightguard and almost all of the Cursed City characters. What’s not to love!
Cara: So the list is very much themed around the Vyrkos bloodline of vampire and wolves, it was designed for attending the Brewhammer event in the Brewdog Brewery. Which was the concept for it all, really. But let’s be honest when looking at the new Dynasty that came out with the latest soulblight book and the Cursed City game, who hasn’t considered leaning into it and doing a full wolf list! That image of eighty wolves charging through snow,howling in the night, is just great, and I feel this list brings it to life quite well.
The main points of the army are speed, board space control and wounds, and endless amounts of wounds. While they only have a 5+ save and 6+ ward save you wouldn’t think wolves can last but with the 2 wounds each a basic unit for their points is 20 wounds and comes back with 10 wounds through gravesite or Gorslav after they died. The whole list is 210 wounds total and with 160 of being wolves, so another potential 80 wounds extra.. Coming to a grand total of 290 wounds, potentially. (maybe a few extra wolves too from Belladama’s lycan curse spell)
With two blocks of twenty wolves for holding the line and larger fighting blocks, then four units of tens for screens, mobility around flanks, it forms a solid core to the army. Now you might say, but what about damage? While each wolf only has two attacks base 4’s and 4’s it doesn’t seem much. But on the charge, they auto get +1,+1.. And the doomwolf getting an extra attack helps a lot, especially as most of the units are in Gally Veterans so they can fight through each other. In fact, you can have a Doomwolf per ten models, so in the larger units, there are two making a unit of twenty wolves on the charge, an impressive 42 attacks hitting on 3’s and wounding on 3’s. But that’s just the start of the damage because of the buffs the hero’s can give out to their puppies, all combined with the majority of the army being a move of 10 inches , so getting a bulk of the force of those units into combat isn’t too hard. But combat doesn’t win games, it can lead to it but its points that do that and this is where the wolves really shine a unit of ten can occupy a lot of space on an objective and stop an opponent getting on it, a unit of twenty can easily fill an objective and have some spare over the edge.
So what does the rest of the list do and help these simple goals you could say.
Belladama is a key piece being naturally a +1 wizard with two spell casts herself, both her warscroll spells are great , with under the killing moon being an almost auto want cast as it gives off a 12” aura of 6’s on hits explode into two hits for soulblight models. LycanCurse is a great spell for tying up units you want to charge so they can’t redeploy or suffer an unleash hell from (not to mention you get to place the replacement wolves before models are removed, so there is even a chance of bringing supporting heroes or other units into combat behind the original target.) She can pass off wounds to wolves nearby combined with her 4+ save and 9 wounds, she can be very hard to kill. Her command ability ‘pack alpha’ can give a unit of wolves that ability to pile/fight in 6 inches, just like a zombie unit so with a solid run a unit of wolves can get across that table first turn and into combat and again not suffer an unleash hell, but I will caution it isn’t a charge so you don’t get the on charge bonuses for the wolves, so best done with a ten wolf unit, to delay the opponent. Oh, did I mention she counts as a general too?
Radukar the Wolf again is mostly a buff piece with his command ability used at the start of the combat phase, giving off a +1 attack to all soulblight units wholly within 18”. He again is tough to kill as he can pass off wounds to his nightguard on a 2+, who are permanently next to him in this list. While he can fight and cause damage, his main focus is being that buff piece hence the Pinions spell to get him where he needs to be, and when he is there launching off spirit gale at the enemy for some range damage. (especially into low brav armies, like gitz). Again he counts as a general as well!
Torgillius is a cheap little necromancer and generally lives right next to Radukar , giving the army that 4+ chance of an extra command point (this army can be a very command point hungry one to get all the buffs you want up, so anything that helps is good!) as well as an extra spell. Throwing out his debuff spells at nearby enemies (which you cast depends on what you’re facing and would be best at the time) as he is generally in the thick of packs of wolves who are doing the fighting. He can last longer than expected with his 4+ ward save, but combat is not really where you want him to be.
Gorslav The Gravekeeper doesn’t really need much explanation, he is there for another hero and one who can make sure you bring back a unit a turn and with a bit more flexibility in there you bring them back as it isn’t fixed to gravesites. He can survive pretty long if still nearby the wolves as they are deadwalkers, but again, combat isn’t where you want him to be.
The actual picked general is just a lowly necromancer, but again provides that vital buffing role of being able to make a summonable unit fight twice.Command trait wise pack alpha gives him a way of giving out a free command per turn again helping with the command point usage for the army a great deal. Having the arcane tome he can cast that and also get an extra spell off , I went with movement debuffing spells for him mostly as they are good range and anything slowing down your opponent while your fast army moves around is good. He has tunnel master for those quick grabs of objectives and getting out of trouble, but generally lives near the rest of the heroes in the thick of things, passing off wounds again to nearby troops. He also has his sworn bodyguard nearby in case anyone tries to hunt him down, making him even more survivable. The last of the units I have is a reinforced unit of night guard who are not only a great looking model but with four wounds each and a 5+ save and 5+ ward, they can tank not bad.. But their main ability is to cause pain, nearby Radukar they get one extra attack, bringing them to three, 3’s and 3’s , -1 rend and 2 damage a swing 2” reach.. And when Radukar uses his command ability, which you pretty much do most turns, they go up to 4 each.. So that’s 32 damage for the unit potentially, which really adds a punch. For such a small unit.
Finally the horrorghast is there to try and take advantage of chip damage from the force as there are no major hitters, but with the auto ability of reducing bravery from being nearby deadwalkers/deathrattle which soulblight have.. Even high bravery things can lose larger numbers to battleshock and with SB having 10 across the board, it affects the list little. Especially as keeping the points low (1930) to get that indomitable triumph, while that itself is good.. The main purpose of low points is to stop your opponent having that triumph instead or even two triumphs if they have leaned into it.
So to sum up with all the buffs working.. A unit of twenty wolves can have 3 attacks each (+1 for doomwolf) hitting on 3’s with exploding 6’s.. Wounding on 3’s then fighting twice. So a potential of 124 attacks, all while flooding the board and objectives with a presence and space occupying, restricting your opponent’s movements. As a General rule , two or three units of wolves are in the grave to start with, simply because it can be hard to fit them in the deployment zones and also provide that threat of coming up behind enemy lines. With that threat, people are forced to either ignore it or keep units back to stop it, either way it is a good thing.
The list does pretty well but it isn’t fast to move around the army and takes dedication and practice to keep things moving at a pace and make sure you can maximize buff’s. Hard opponents are ones where chip damage really doesn’t do much to their force or they have really high armour saves/ wards. Or indeed if they just hit so hard it doesn’t matter what you had that unit is dead.. Such as a big block of varanguard (but thats where screening with smaller units is key)
Thanks for reading if you have made it this far!
Miss Cara Newby,
Proud member of the Farmhammer Podcast team and part of the Scottish AoS scene.
DANNY Ok, so first question for you, Phil – you’ve been on a few shows (like Coach’s) to talk about your thoughts on the whole book. But since then, I know you’ve played a whole bunch of test games, putting theory into practice. How many have you played since the book came out, and have any of your theories/feelings changed since the plastic has hit the table?
PHIL I have played a “couple” of games with the new book. Based on my spreadsheets, I have played 67 games with the new book, of which 13 of them are with the new GHB. My initial thoughts on the book was that Host of the Everchosen and Ravagers were going to be Damned Legions that I was going to lean into the most. Hosts is still really appealing for access to the second banner. The 5+ rally I thought was really strong but is also very situational as your army wants to be grinding it out in combat.
Ravagers, I think, have huge potential within a teams setting by maximising on cultists, splintered fang mostly but is something that I think will struggle in singles play. Having played a few games with both (11 with Hosts and 7 with Ravagers) I soon felt that the army felt quite reliant on its spell casting to elevate it to the level that I want it to play at, the army needs it spells to come off to really show its pure power. The Heroic action Draw on Power tends to be the go to heroic action and with this come the sacrifice of additional CP for what is quite a CP hungry army, at least with the new GHB going second will allow multiple heroic actions.
Since working this out, I have found myself playing purely Cabalists and have got in 49 games with them with two losses to Laurie & Sylvaneth and Mike Wilson with that horrid Hexwraith list. Both of which were close games. The power of casting 5 spells (in my builds) on 3D6 all but assures for a successful magic phase and even armies like Tzeentch struggle to shut you down, even if they welcome the 5 fate points, they dont like a fully buffed unit of Chosen having a 5″ charge through a soulscream bridge with Levitate.
DANNY Haha, yes, just a couple! I’ve played a slightly more humble 10 games (8 in new season) with the new book but I can totally see what you mean about HOTE – it’s hard to play into the rally while doing what the army wants to do. And yeah, Cabalists is where I’ve landed too – like you say, being able to actually plan around your casting and mitigate our lack of range/MWs with endless spells etc is clutch. Fascinating early thoughts, thank you. Since playing those 67 games, what’s your overall vibe on the book? Are you happy with the tools it has? At a high level, how do you think it’s balanced internally and externally?
I know you’ve said Splintered Fang seem to stick out internal AND external balance wise – they seem pretty obviously ‘off’ – but are there any other army rules or units that are standing out for better/worse to you?
PHIL Overall, I am happy with where the book has landed. We all knew the save stacking was going to disappear and as were all the re-rolls that we had. I am sure a lot of non slaves to darkness players are pretty happy about this! The new book really suits the way I like to play, which is very much an aggro play style. Your models will now die but will do a mass amount of damage in the process. With regards to the tools it has on offer, the lists that I have been focused on are still really reliant on the sorcerer lords and hard-hitting elite units such as Chosen and Knights. These units are quite pricey but are worth every point for me. The addition of the ensorceled banners is great and gives so much to these elite units with either the survive-ability of the nurgle banner or the heavy hitting prowess of the khorne or slaanesh banner.
What helps is that we still also have very cheap battle line options with the cultists that do a great job for their points costs, particularly the Unmade and Corvus Cabal for me. In terms of the questions regarding the internal/external balance. As I stated, a lot of people are going to be much happier playing against this book as you will actually see models get taken off the table. The army is a lot more “honest” now, its a combat army that hits like a train, has a good save, but isn’t immune to rend 5, for example.
People are going to hate me, I don’t actually think the splintered fang are as much of an issue as everyone thinks with them, yes they do MWs on 6s to hit and wound on a 2+. A unit of 30 with no buffs other than khorne on the charge is 96 attacks, which averages 16MWs and 26 saves at no rend. They are then bravery 6, 5+ save, movement 6. Good players will be able to deal with them before they get there.
Units that I think have really stood out for me are Chosen, which may sound stupid after playing with Varanguard for so long. The double fight mechanic can never be overlooked, especially as they dont need to be within 3″ for it to trigger, and with a 2″ reach, it can be quite devastating if people don’t screen correctly. These with a soulscream bridge are super scary when casting all spells on 3d6. The unit in Khorne averages 12 damage and 7MWs against a 2+ unrendable save on the first activation. For me, there isn’t much in the game that can stand up to this unit double fighting. The other unit for me is Knights. Initially, I was looking at them as big damages sources as MSU and was running warriors in Nurgle with the banner.
Now I have moved to a big unit of knights with the nurgle banner as they can add an extra dynamic to the list to what the warriors gave, they give that double edge with being able to deal damage and also grind out your opponents, I often use them to pin in my opponents and clear away all the screens turn 1 to leave open avenues for my chosen to get bridged in and do damage.
Big miss for me is Archaon, and I hate to say it, as he and I had such a bromance last year. But at 860, he’s over costed. He has some great abilities with no inspiring or rally, but he just doesnt do enough consistent damage to warrant the price tag anymore, he is also keyword locked into a subfaction that offers him no benefits and also potentially hampers the army you take in it. As you then start struggling to fully utilise the double banners. If you could take him in Ravagers and perform the heroic action attributed to them, then Archaon may be back in my list buidling.
DANNY Sorceror Lords definitely do a lot of heavy lifting, don’t they? And amen in terms of the chaff – I’m so impressed with how they’ve managed to make almost all of the Warcry cultist units have their own identity and role. Horns of Hashut don’t jump off the page, but even they have a ranged anti-chaff attack and decent tankiness for their points. Cypher Lords and Tarantulos – and this is a shame because they both look so cool – are two of the less inspiring ones, but otherwise, it’s a great selection.
On that note – haha I think you’d have to say worse than that about the Splintered Fang for me to hate you – they’re a hot topic but I’m with you – they have great output on paper but we all know games aren’t won on paper. Chosen are the new darlings for sure, right? I know you’re making hay with the Khorne allies while the sun shines – but I think even once that ends, with Undivided mark and the Dread Banner I’ve found it’s super reliable to get them to rend 2-3 and a few other super useful buffs too.
Nurgle Knights as a pinning device is very interesting – given they hit on 4s (frustrating!), this sounds like a great way to run them. And I also hard agree with you on Archaon – I know how much it must hurt you to say that!! – in my test games with him, he’s super fun but yeah, his damage output is actually super swingy and poor overall, and agree the key word locking is frustrating as it really limits the tactical options of both him and some of the ‘lesser’ sub-factions.
So, let’s double down on sub-factions quickly. We know Cabalists is strong. HOTE and KOTET both have very clear and obvious benefits and play styles. But do you think there’s any untapped potential in LotP, Ravagers, or Despoilers?
Despoilers seems to me like the faction for ‘oh you’re an old player with loads of daemon princes and monsters – here’s a way you can kinda use them together – but just seems utterly non competitive given what monsters and daemon princes in the book are like.
PHIL For me I actually think Ravagers have the ability to be very good on the table, there are a lot of strong cultist units in the book and with the culmination of also a good allies pool, could pose a real threat on the table top, especially with the heroic action to bring back half a unit. Imagine killing a unit of splintered fang after its just done 26 MWs and forced 49 armour saves [EDITOR’s NOTE: Obvs there’s since been the FAQ to disallow Khorne heroes buffing Slaves units, but you get the point] with the right khorne pieces bloodstoker & bloodsecrator with the charge, then they come back in your hero phase and you get to do half of that all over again! The fact that they come down in the hero phase and you are able to move after is another huge benefit. I was playing some test games with them with Archaon and having them fight on death as well.
Once the Khorne allies go, I think we are more likely to see a transition to Slaanesh to aid their delivery to where they want to be, run and charge, throw in a warshrine and charge 3d6 and you will be able to get the across the board pretty reliably. You might even see a Daemon Prince with a trophy rack to aid them against the chip damage!
Legion of The First Prince is an interesting one. It’s not one that I would focus on the allies pool too much or even Belakor. I instead would really lean into the eye of the gods and look to roll as much as you can on the table with a unit of 10 Chosen or 6 Varanguard, with the ability to give one of these the mark of your choice each turn it really gives great utility to react to what is happening in a game. I played my friend the other day with 10 Chosen with the dread banner and he is rolling on the eye of the gods up to 3 times a turn, think by turn 3 his Chosen were rend 4, plus 3 to charge and 6+ Ward. There is definitely scope there! But are they better than the other banners? Time will tell.
I will be honest, Despoilers. Read it, didn’t look into it. I am sure Simon Weakley will come up with some mental list surrounding a bunch of Daemons Princes but I dont think that there scroll is the strongest out there, the fact that the best ability is an heroic action is frustrating. The fact that you can add 2 wounds to all your Daemon Princes and Monsters is nice, with a 3+ save on the princes and 6+ Ward. You effectively become 14 wounds. There are some nice command traits you can use that make the princes a bit more tanky or fighty, but it really isn’t a legion i would be leaning into.
DANNY Yeah Despoilers definitely seems like the biggest miss, mainly due to how limited Daemon Princes are like you say – I’ve had success with one as a utility platform (trophy wracks keeping blobs of Chosen/Warriors safe, turning off wards, extra heroic action etc) but more than one seems likea huge trap.
Ok – I’d love to get your thoughts on something more philosophical – and that’s why are the coolest looking units in the book so mediocre? Daemon Prince, the iconic Chaos Warshrine, both ‘beasts (Mutalith and Slaughter), Ogroid Myrmidon – and I’m going to throw the Chaos and Exalted lords in there even though they have obvious scoring utility in the new season. Why did the rules writers take their foot of the gas on them – or do they have potential? Seems to me, if nothing else, the Myrmidon and chaos lords have utterly boring scrolls and essentially rely on lucky EotG rolls to become semi-useful late game, when most foot heroes in the game have some kind of fun buff/command ability etc.
The Muta/Slaughter beasts seem almost there but lack the things you’d expect – no decent rend on a giant Khorne monster, most of the Mutalith effects being super poor and relying on having a Tzeentch wizard nearby (which you don’t want as Gaunt summoner sucks and the Tzeentch mark also sucks) – etc etc. Am I missing something with these guys? They’re my biggest let downs in the book, and even though we have enough stuff to be competitive, it feels like there’s a lot of missed design/fun potential here. Thoughts?
PHIL For me, I think two of the MVPs of the last book in the Chaos Lord & The Warshrine are a detriment of their own success. For a long period of time, you saw both these models in the vast majority of lists. The Warsrhine for me is the biggest miss, though, as this book feels like you want to be mixing and matching sub factions, and locking its ability to the keyword it’s assigned is a feels bad. Particularly, as Slaanesh for me feels the only really viable mark for the 3D6 charge. My lovely Mindstealer was quickly moved from auto, including to the bin, with the removing of its awesome ability and the monster keyword! Both the Slaughter & Mutalith Vortex beasts are warscrolls I quickly passed over, as you say the lack of rend on the Slaughter Beast and the Mortilth Vortex Beast having cool abilities but the chances of them coming off cant be assured in the slightest.
However, I actually like the Gaunt Summoner! He is a two cast wizard, knows the full spell (which allows him to know levitate), and naturally plus 1 to cast. The summoner gives options with spell casting, but I feel he is slightly over costed at 210 points. But, I have used in some Host of The Everchosen lists that I have been trialling as that second banner keeps eyeing me up!
DANNY Yeah I think you’re right, GW have mostly smashed it out of the park with 3e books feeling very thematic etc, but they do seem to have a pattern of hammering stuff too much down that stood out before. My issue is that it’s not a points issue necessarily, but a frustrating design issue. And yeah I totally agree on the Gaunt Summoner being over-costed – he’s a great magic option for the reasons you say, but the fact the Tzeentch Mark is so weak and him being so fragile for the points means it just feels way too risky to me to ever really include. But sure, outside of Cabalists, he gives you some magic phase flexibility.
OK, final questions! At the current points, what tier (or take a guess at average win-rate for the season) would you put the book in – for most normal (but competitive) players? What do you think our red match ups are?
PHIL For me I think the book is in between A & B tier, I think the win rate will very much the same at around 45%, people used to be able to get away with mistakes if they got the save stacking right, whereas now its not as forgiving, which sounds stupid considering the army has a base 3+ save, but with only one mystic shield and all out defense we need to think carefully of where it needs to go. The army packs even more of a punch now, so when you go in and it goes right, it will smash people away. The biggest reds for me are Lumineth, Tzeentch, and anything with mass AOE mortal wounds.
We are so reliant on our heroes and spell casting, so if opponents have a way of getting around the new Galletian Champions rules, it’s going to cause a massive issue and really lowers the effectiveness of the list. Tzeentch and Lumineth can both do this very well through magic. The next red is Nighthaunt, they can just turn off the fact that the army is 3+ save with the charge debuffs and with the cruciator reducing damage it becomes really hard as we have no way of taking out these pieces at range really without allying in units.
DANNY Legendary. I can believe that – I also think some of the design failings we spoke about combined with the eliteness just means we won’t be able to keep up with the board control of certain armies – looking at you with a side-goat-eye new BoC book and maybe even Gitz.
Ok, I think that about wraps it up, much as I’d love to ask you endless questions, I know you have a small tournament over in the US shortly to prepare for….
[Post-script] That little tournament was LVO – at which Phil went 4-1, losing only to 3rd place Kaleb’s Tzeentch, by 1 point!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Summer of Sigmar Grand Tournament that took place in Tempe, Arizona, USA on the 6th and 7th of August. It involved 16 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament. This was their inagural event and they have a venue that can handle quite a few more. Lets hope we see it grow in coming years.
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: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Morathi-Khaine (680)* The Shadow Queen (680)* Bloodwrack Medusa (130)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Shadow Stone – Spells: Mindrazor
Brett: Another army eschewing the archers for the stabby queens reflecting the new battletome. 5 Blood Sister units including a double reinforced group of bounty hunter murder elves, fun. Rounding out the list the Bloodwrack Medusa is the General and Khinerai Heartrender for mobile threat. Ultimately this is a 6 drop list, a reasonable chance that they won’t decide first turn.
The high drops is a facet of having the Blood Sisters split between Bounty Hunters and Expert Conquerors. It’s not clear if the event allowed book traits (which the Khinerai play into really well) or just GHB however the list provides coverage for any outcome. Zainthar Kar is required to make the Blood Sisters battle line and the opportunity for 35 Blood Sisters. Mind Razor and Shadow Stone (+1 to casting) to try to get an additional -1 rend. Ignoring effects from Blood Rites (like +1 to wound) those 15 Blood sisters can expect 38 hits (exploding 6s) and 24 wounds – 48 into Galletian Veterans. With 2 wounds, 5+ save and 6+ (can be 5+) ward you have to devote real resources to shifting blood sisters. Zainthar Kar gives them fight on death, removing the large unit without shooting would be dicey.
Shadow Queen/Morathi are another hard nut, 3 spells across the 6 known to DoK. Those spells read like some of the best across multiple books including increased rend, rebuffs and a teleport. The Melisa only has one cast but 2 dispels. Enough to cause issues for a magic army. And it looks like that’s what’s happened with the army taking all flavours of elf and some star crossed lizards to take the event 5/0
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Type: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Take Whats Theirs – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Chaos Lord (120)*** – General – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Command Traits: Eternal Vendetta – Reaperblade and Daemonbound Steel – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Whispers of Chaos Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)*** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Command Traits: Bolstered by Hate – Spells: Mask of Darkness Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)*** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Blasphemous Cuirass – Spells: Mask of Darkness – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
BATTLELINE Untamed Beasts (70) – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Chaos Knights (170)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Doom Knight – Cursed Lance and Chaos Runeshield Chaos Knights (170)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Standard Bearer – Hornblower – Doom Knight – Cursed Lance and Chaos Runeshield Chaos Warriors (400)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Aspiring Champion – Chaos Hand Weapon and Chaos Runeshield – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Hornblower Chaos Warriors (400)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Aspiring Champion – Chaos Hand Weapon and Chaos Runeshield – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Hornblower
Brett: Good to see a Slaves to Darkness army make the podium in a 2 day event particularly as Ravagers. No Archeon, Be’Lakor or even a manticore just Lords, Sorcerors and even a Chaos Warriors. Effective here with a 4/0/1 result, the only loss being to the winner.
Taking Tzeentch as the chaos mark increases resilience with reroll 1s on saves and a 5+ ward against spells. On a 20 strong block of Chaos Warriors (in Eternal Conquerers) that’s a real problem to shift. While in a unit > 10 they have a 3+ save and a 5+ ward (half ward – it’s only against Mortal Wounds) with the shields. That’s 120 effective wounds (Rend 0). Their weaknesses is movement at 5” unless Mask of Darkness is available on a Chaos Sorcerer and both do. They are helped on the run and charge by the Hornblower. The Knights are hammers, they want to charge using their 10″ mobility. They to have +1 to run and charge from the Hornblowers.
The Chaos Lord is a combat hero with reroll wound rolls (and reroll hits against Order) and has a MW spell in leui of a ranged weapon. Lastly there is Krondspine. He’s fast moving and capable of deleting things quickly. Bold move, he costs enough to limit your choices in either troops or heros, Tyler choose to take weaker heroes. Ravagers was a good choice allowing additional traits. After that this list is all about getting those blocks of Warriors onto objectives and keeping them there by using the Knights. Krondspine is about taking down a deathstar or important hero.
Looking his path through the event, the StD list would struggle to deal enough damage to the Warriors, as would most of the other lists. The mobility of the DoK army we just looked at combined with DoK book Battle Tactics (which you can’t interact with well) obviously caused the army to struggle but otherwise this is a really well thought out approach and well deserved result.
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Gnarlroot – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Warsong Revenant (305)** – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Spells: Verdant Blessing, Verdurous Harmony Treelord Ancient (360)** – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing
OTHER Revenant Seekers (235)* – Seeker Banner Bearer – Seeker Hornblower – Revenant Soulwarden Spiterider Lancers (420)* – Spiterider Scion – 2 x Spiterider Standard Bearer – 2 x Spiterider Hornblower Gossamid Archers (220)** – Flitwing Scion
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40) 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
CORE BATTALIONS *Bounty Hunters **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Brett: An interesting variation of Sylvaneth and a brave move to take all of the new units. With, it has to be said, the Purple Sun. The mobility of Tree-Revenants with the 3 overgrown terrain pieces from the start of the battle, makes them one of if not the best unit in the army at the moment. They are amazing at securing Battle Tactics.
This army has all of the new Sylvaneth units from the Revenant Seekers to Spiterider Lancers and Gossamid Archers. I haven’t seen an army with all of them before and like most of us don’t have a lot of experience with them. The Seekers and Lancers provide a lot of mobility outside of teleports which is something Sylvaneth struggle with a bit. They offer some quality attacks, without buffs I worry about the amount of damage they do but it’s reasonable. The ability to return a model of the Seekers is great in this army – the Lancers and everything else have 5 wounds or less and can be returned. Return 2 Spiteriders in a game and you’ve almost recovered the cost.
The Gossamids are a frustrating unit, they are vunerable to shooting with only a 12″ range. They need to be hidden which doesn’t make sense given their anti combat role (retreat when charged). But they have a role where you teleport them to an objective (or near one) that has a thin force on it. You can even open an objective to a Tree Revenant by pulling a combat unit away. That’s not to forget the Treelord Ancient and Wargsong. With the Arcane Tome they have 4 spells, both are deicated to Awakended Wyldwoods (expect at least another per turn) and then buffing the impact of the woods. As Gnarlwood they also get improved casting near Wyldwoods. Another interesting army from this event.
One of the interesting impacts of this approach is its hard for an army like Ironjawz to identify an alpha strike target. Even if they get the Warsong it’s not going to put you on the back foot too much. Other than the winner’s evil Blood Sister’s list he was unbeaten through the event taking both combat and shooting armies.
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Army Faction: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Kairos Fateweaver (435) – Spells: The Master’s Command Be’lakor (360)* – Spells: The Master’s Command The Contorted Epitome (245)* – General – Command Traits: Ruinous Aura – Artefacts of Power: Fourfold Blade – Spells: Flaming Weapon, The Master’s Command – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (70) 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (70)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
Brett: I grabbed this one just because we aren’t seeing a lot of Legion of the First Prince armies right now. This is a very interesting take including some heavy hitters (Belakor and Fateweaver) with Krondspine rather than another Deamon Prince/Greater Deamon. I’m a fan of the Contorted Epitome, love to see it in the army. Mobile, lots of casting and so dangerous in combat.
Fateweaver brings a lot, 3 casts, auto dispell of 1 endless spell and the ability to change dice for casting, unbinding or dispell rolls. That’s before gift of change. Plaguebearers are a good choice for objectives, Bloodletters are cheap but fragile. If they charge or are teleported though they can mess up some archers. Belakor and the Krondspine don’t need an introduction nor does the Purple Sun. The Umbral Spellportal is an autotake in a Tzeetch army or if Fateweaver is in the army.
This, to me, is a really fun army. A few small troop units and 4 big, fun models with lots of abilities to toy with your opponent. He lost his last 3 rounds but I bet they were still fun. Hitting a Bastilidon with Belakor and Fateweaver sounds like fun to me, the same about putting an Epitome into small heroes from any factions.
Our second guest commentator this week is Boondocksgame, also from our Discord chat.
Wargames for Warriors took place in Utah, USA on 11th and 12th June. It involved 22 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.
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.
Allegiance: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumphs:
Leaders Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)** – General – Lore of Ruinous Sorcery: The Master’s Command Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)** – Axe – Mark of Chaos: Khorne The Contorted Epitome (255)** – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Artifact: Fourfold Blade Kairos Fateweaver (435) – Lore of Ruinous Sorcery: The Master’s Command
Battleline 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 5 x Flesh Hounds (105)**
Boon: Ah yes. The Be’Lakor/Kairos/Khorne Daemon Prince combo. About as close as you can get to playing a blue deck in Age of Sigmar. With Be’Lakor shutting down the big threat on the board with what I call his ‘No’ ability, Kairos telling mages no and then eating any endless spells that get through, and the Daemon prince reducing charges by half it is hard to get into the army to deal damage. And lets not forget about the massive tarpit that are Horrors. Knocking out a large chunk in one swing only for your opponent to put down double the amount of models that you just killed is really something on morale. Glad I didn’t have to play this list.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Khelt Nar – Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS The Shadow Queen (680) Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Crown of Woe Morathi-Khaine (680)* Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (270)* – Prayers: Sacrament of Blood
Boon: It’s really hard to take someone seriously when they push around a cart that has someone T-posing on it. Little bit easier when they rain down arrows on you and then a giant snake lady who is at the same time not a giant snake lady is beating your face in. Blood Stalkers dealing Mortals from range with Melusia and Blood Sisters dealing with melee. Getting a little of the best of both worlds with this list and in a terrifying yet oddly arousing way. Morathi call me sometime.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Spirit Torment (115)***
Battleline 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*** 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*** 20 x Grimghast Reapers (320)** – Reinforced x 1 20 x Grimghast Reapers (320)** – Reinforced x 1
Units 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)** 2 x Chainghasts (95)***
Boon: Spooky ghosts are back… AND THEY”RE PISSED!!! Glad to see Nighthaunt up at the top with their new book. A LOT of auras being thrown around, or I guess floated around, and frankly I find them even more terrifying than the fact that they are ghosts. Gonna have to call someone if they get too close to me…
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Ravagers – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Archaon the Everchosen (860)* – Aura of Chaos: Tzeentch – Ravagers Command Trait: Master of Deception – Spell: Ruinous Vigour – Spell: Binding Damnation Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)** – General – Command Trait: Unquestioned Resolve – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Ravagers Command Trait: Unquestioned Resolve – Spell: Binding Damnation – Spell: Mask of Darkness Gaunt Summoner on Disc of Tzeentch (230)* – Ravagers Command Trait: Master of Magic – Spell: Whispers of Chaos – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist Darkoath Chieftain (85)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Ravagers Command Trait: Skilled Leader Bloodsecrator (125)** – Allies Bloodstoker (85)* – Allies
Battleline 16 x Iron Golems (150)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Reinforced x 1 8 x Scions of the Flame (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch 1 x Chaos Chariots (100)** – Greatblades – Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Units 10 x Splintered Fang (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne 10 x Splintered Fang (75)** – Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Boon: The absolute massive chaos lad comes in at a respectable 6th. Having Be’Lakor come higher than him might put a damper on his ‘Notice me senpais’ competition he’s in for the favor of the chaos gods but like it’ll be ok, probably. A tough as nails hero to take down with a good supporting cast to back him up it’ll be no time before he’s winning his ‘friendly’ competition with Be’Lakor.
