This is the top three AoS lists for the Battle at the Book that took place in Australia on the 18th and 19th of February. It involved 55 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: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Blessed Sons – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs:
Leaders Orghotts Daemonspew (320)**** Bloab Rotspawned (320)*** – Lore of Malignance: Blades of Putrefaction Lord of Blights (150)*** – General – Command Trait: Grandfather’s Blessing – Artefact: Nightflyer Cloak (Galletian Champion) – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Plague Priest (100)*** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
Battleline 10 x Rotmire Creed (130)* 10 x Rotmire Creed (130)* 10 x Rotmire Creed (130)* 10 x Plague Monks (90)** – Foetid Blades – 1x Standard Bearers – 1x Plague Harbingers 15 x Plague Censer Bearers (270)** – Reinforced x 2
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)**** 3 x Nurglings (100)*** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)**** 1 x Chaos Chariot (100)**** – Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
Patrick… Patrick – wow… what an off-the-wall selection. There’s stuff in here I didn’t even know could join Nurgle, let alone seen before. The Ungor Raiders with Sharpshooters is a great shout to give a little reach and allow the sniping of characters to continue unabated. Their 6″ move before the game allows them to effortlessly pivot to the role of ‘screens’ if facing a lower drop alpha strike army – and that is likely as Patrick has 10 drops.
Then there’s all the Rotmire Creed units which do…. I don’t know!
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
Well, who knew… more shooting units in a Nurgle army in a game system where they (GW) can’t balance shooting correctly. These guys also give out disease tokens and then give them within 3″ as well (albeit with a recent Errata which is included above). The Warcry warbands have made some chaos builds different with spamming lots of them, and – whilst I would prefer GW kept them out of the Age of Sigmar game – they never will and if you’ve got access to it, and it’s good, use it!
Well done to Patrick – a great, different army and not one that I’ve seen before.
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Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness – Damned Legion: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Follow the Path to Glory – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Theddra Skull-Scryer (160)** – The Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh – The Lore of the Damned: Chaotic Conduit – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)* – Artefact: The Conqueror’s Crown – Mark of Chaos: Undivided Exalted Hero of Chaos (100)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Battleline 20 x Splintered Fang (200)** – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Reinforced x 1 9 x Corvus Cabal (80) – Mark of Chaos: Undivided 9 x Corvus Cabal (80) – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
Units 10 x Chaos Chosen (480)** – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Ensorcelled Banner: The Dread Banner – Reinforced x 1 6 x Varanguard (580)** – 2x Ensorcelled Weapon – 4x Fellspear – Mark of Chaos: Undivided – Reinforced x 1 5 x Godsworn Hunt (0)** 10 x Chaos Warhounds (80)* – Allies
This list has some interesting tech – typical of the topsy-turvy (in relation to the American/European meta at least) – but it does still rely on the current standard core: a blob of Chosen, a blob of Varanguard, and a Sorc lord to cast Daemonic power/Conduit for that sweet first turn battle tactic.
Where things deviate is, first and foremost, the list being in Legion – an oft-discussed and rarely seen sub-faction allowing for granular moving around of Marks to fit the board-state. It means giving up the extra casts of Cabalists or the runs/charges of KOTET, but the flexibility it offers is immense.
Continuing the techy picks is the Underworld band of Theddra, who brings a nice (if short range) -1 to wound spell and 10 ablative bodyguard wounds in her Godsworn hunt. Two cheapo Exalted offer GC flexibility and cheap chances at Apotheosis – i.e. rolling on the Eye of the Gods table to become a Daemon Prince, which represents a ‘free’ 80 points if it goes off – or otherwise just ideally stacking decent buffs on a cheap chassis.
A reinforced blob of Splintered Fang brings a large, reliable MW output option and a cheeky 10 chaos warhounds act as a fast, very cheap screen – potentially to keep up with the Varanaguard and act as a buffer.
Overall, a really interesting spin on the current Slaves meta that was able to take down some tough matchups – but interestingly lost to the more standard Cabalists mirror! Either way, big up to Michael for trying (and succeeding!) with something outside the box.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Kevin (100)* Cairn Wraith Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)** – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Lord Executioner (130)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Spirit Torment (120)**
Battleline 20 x Chainrasps (220) – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)*** 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)***
Units 20 x Dreadscythe Harridans (320)*** – Reinforced x 1 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (100)***
Solid change up to the lists we see for the faction. It almost looks like a pre 3rd Ed battletome. Two units of Spirit Hosts and solid blocks of both Chainrasps and Dreadscythe Harridans to cause problems, but the real meat of the list is the Heroes. That’s not something we’ve been saying about Nighthaunt a lot lately. We have the normal Guardian of Souls, Spirit Torment, and Krulghast to return models to larger units and reduce incoming damage. The Guardian of Souls has been buffed with Fuelled with Ghurish Rage to grant D3 heal and a once per game 3+ ward. I think we will see this a fair bit for the Guardian. They are easily picked up and are crucial. It goes further with auto cast (once per game) for an endless spell and Seal of Shyish (5+ ward).
We aren’t seeing the Cairn Wrath (Kevin) at all, and Lady Olynder is pretty uncommon. Kevin is a bit of a sleeper. His attacks are based on the number of enemy models within 3″. When you are facing Nighthaunt, Soulblight, and Beasts of Chaos, that can be a very nasty surprise. There is nothing wrong with the unit, but Lady Olynder is almost the same cost as 20 Bladegheist (and more than 20 Dreadscythe or Grimghast). What she does do is heal in the hero phase, debuffs, and turns off commands and mortal wounds. There are issues with the reliability of some of these, but if the heroes are clustered around the Chainrasps and Dreadscythes, it can be crucial.
The ranged mortals are a disincentive to getting close (with only 7 wounds she isn’t robust but can hurt in melee). Forcing your opponent to be circumspect can be useful, particularly when your Host talent is to cause D3 mortal wounds to 2 to 4 units every round. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s an average of 10 wounds over 5 rounds. Emerald Host probably isn’t receiving the attention it deserves, but when most armies are 100 to 130 wounds, causing an average of 20 to 40 wounds without risk is pretty important. Even if you assume most games end round 4, that is still an average of 16 wounds. Enough to kill most MSU battleline and a lot of heroes and monsters. And it triggers Murderous Bloodlust (+1 to hit and wound for Dreadscythes).
If you look closely, the whole list has a number of sources of mortal wounds and is really built around making a Murderous Bloodlust trigger, including the Motalis Terminatus. The list looks to outlast and outscore you, and it worked except against Pat’s Maggotkin, another list built to outlast.
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Allegiance: Khorne – Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Battleline 10 x Bloodreavers (80)* – Meatripper Axes 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)**
Units 10 x Wrathmongers (280)** – Reinforced x 1 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* – Allies 9 x The Unmade (80)** – Allies 6 x Mighty Skullcrushers (320)** – Ensorcelled Axes – Reinforced x 1
The polar opposite in terms of lists to the Nighthaunt are the recently popular mortal Blades of Khorne. Blood Tithe points are the key to Blades of Khorne – they gain one for every unit that is destroyed. Keeping a steady flow of points is vital, allowing summoning and the granting of boons. It doesn’t matter whose units die, just that something does. Then you should understand that half of this list is just here to die. The Bloodreavers, Unmade and Corvus Cabal, can do damage in the attack, but they’ll explode when struck back. The Bloodstoker can get them there faster, and the Bloodsecrators grant extra attacks. But they are better with the Wrathmongers (who will give other units more attacks) or the Skullcrushers.
The Skullcrushers are a solid anvil. They hit reasonably hard if supported, but they are a 5 wound, 3+ save unit. On the charge, a block of six causes D3 mortals on impact instead of 1 per model. It’s really important to drop one from as far away as possible. The Slaughter Priest is a source of dispels, blessings, and mortal wounds. He can summon the Wrath-Axe for more ranged mortals. That leaves Skarbrand and Skarr. Skarbrand needs no introduction: reroll charges and appalling amounts of damage to anything, not Nighthaunt. Still, for 390 points, he can die fairly easily. Skarr is a lot of fun. He has 5 attacks minimum but can increase it to the number of enemy models within 3″. He grants fight on death to Wrathmongers (who give him an extra attack), and if he dies, he returns to the battlefield on an 8+ (on 2D6).
And that’s the list, a whole lot of things that want to get to you fast, either to kill you or be killed. Unfortunately, they don’t really play the mission well, relying on beating an opponent to death.
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.
This is the Top Eight AoS Lists for the Las Vegas Open that took place in Nevada, USA, on 27th, 28th, and 29th January. It involved a massive 324 players, all vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
We’re particularly lucky this week as six of the top eight players agreed to give us comments on how their lists work. On top of this, we’ve also got comments from the Head Judge at LVO, Gareth Thomas.
So, thank you to; Jiwan Noah Singh, Kaleb Walters, Gavin Grigar, Cody Saults, Nate Trentanelli and Gareth Thomas for all agreeing to give us your thoughts.
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95) – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*** – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)*** – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy Grashrak Fellhoof (150)*** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Battleline 30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)** – 30x Pair of Savage Blade – Reinforced x 2 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (0)***
Jiwan Noah Singh: The heroes all serve a function against different matchups, and with the Gavespawn ability, they can then serve a secondary function when they die.
The general has to be the Tzaangor Shaman to unlock Galletian Veterans for the big block, but also has the extremely helpful big cast once per game, and moves 16/19” if I need to go hold and up a huge threat. Mostly, I used the big cast for the bull spell, but in other matchups, I considered he would have used tendrils of atrophy to break armor stacking. His speed let’s him get there for that short ranged spell.
Grashrak gives out the +3 move, and because he can pass wounds, it is helpful against ranged threats who losing the move bonus would be difficult against. His spell is also a super combo with Gavespawn if I need to lift a gargant or something in one activation.
The shoggoth was there for his spell and having a starting monster, and the pre-phase move made anyone worried about that going off have to deploy really far back.
Beastlord was the newest addition but was a pretty fun vehicle for the gnarlblade. With run and charge, he moves 15” on an auto run, so throwing him across and 18” deployment means he can also make people worry about making me take top, for small only investment on my part. Additionally, if he got his attacks off and the bull was on something, it was a less likely but still redundant plus to wound, or hit and wound.
Gors are 10 potentially deepstriking bodies on a 4+ in combat for 70 points. They also have plus to run and pile in, which is so strange that it just confuses people when you tell them, but it is actually helpful.
Tzaangor are 60 wounds, have mortal banners, can zoom across the board and fight something with a billion attacks, but also rally on 4+. I generally deploy them in a cloud, all about 1” from each others bases, to maximize the board space, but also to be able to pull them out of 3” against things that shut down inspiring, and if I need to rally, recharge, ect. Let’s me save bodies if I pull them out of coherency too, which I did intentionally several times to be able to rally again.
The rest of the list is enlightened, in blocks of 6, in bounty hunters. These have tons of uses and can pump out massive damage. Turning off all our defense is like another rend in many cases. So with the fight last bull running around, some plus to hit (always try to end on damned if you can) from multiple sources, and the throwing an extra attack on them from a spawn, they are such a threat that an opponent must deal with them. When you stack a plus to hit, going second, and gavespawn attacks, I know of very few things with that output. And at 2/3 rend no cp, few things can eat it with saves.
The beasts summoning on top of all the threats to kill or hold things, and ability to run a hero into something, die, and lock them up, meant that in almost all my games I can lose tons of things and still keep taking points. I built in some tech to deal with specific matchups that concerned me, most of which didn’t happen, but in general it’s a 5 turn army with a ton of flexibility and lots of different things going on. Good proving ground usage was hugely helpful with the ability to summon Galletian Veterans, and the output meant the main armies I expected to see, Ogors, Gargants, Nurgle, Nighthaunt, all had something that was a big problem for them that I didn’t mind sacrificing.
That’s pretty much it.
That, and having distractingly beautiful hair, that helped too.
This list – piloted by Nicholas ‘Scooter’ Walters – is testament to the difference reps and familiarity with an army can make. Even if that army is considered underpowered.
Scooter nearly went all the way with what is a pretty common IJ list, with a sneaky ally in the shape of the Fungoid Shaman for the extra CP generation. I mean, it’s an ‘obvious’ list – but if you watch back the stream of Scooter playing Gavin Grigar’s Cities list for example, you can see the difference skill and knowing the intricacies – the limits, the averages – of your army can make. Keeping the Maw Krusha back until it’s absolutely needed – knowing when to smash that ‘Destroyer’ button on the foot boss – and making all the right calls with your pigs are all key to playing IJ well.
Even though the list will be hurt by losing bounty hunters, making the pigs half as effective, the inclusion of the Megaboss makes sense going into the new season – he’s a great, durable and fighty Galley champ. The speed and activation potential with smashing/bashing of the feral hogs will never go out of style.
Ironjaws might be suffering from a lack of units and power creep these days but Scooter is out here to prove that if you love your army, and you’re prepared to stick with it and get the reps in, ‘the meta’ be damned, you too can damn well near win LVO.
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Guild of Summoners – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Magister (120)* – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate – Incarnate is Bound to the Magister Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (150) – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch
Battleline 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Tzaangors (180)* – 10x Pair of Savage Blade
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Tome of Eyes (40) Umbral Spellportal (80) Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Kaleb Walters: My main goal was to create a Swiss Army Knife style list. Bring as many solutions to the answers in my faction as possible.
Reason For Family: Guild of Summoners: 1 FREE Battle Tactic: Summon Lord of Change. LOC have 14 wounds, -1 Rend shots, 18 inch range, movement 12, +1 To casting for all Tzeentch casters, -1 to hit naturally and monstrous rampage abilities. While other families have more flexibility, the norm is to summon Blue Horrors that have 20 wounds, Movement 5, shoot 12 inches at 0 rend but have good board presence.
List Design: Min Max: Minimum Battleline Maximum Hero’s/Monster Damage. My list is designed to castle up and react to the deployment of my opponent. By staying low drop I normally have the option to decide how I want to engage. I either sacrifice my Acolytes (120pt a unit) to an alpha strike list, or I position aggressively with a front and center incarnate primed to go wild and level up. Either formation still allows me to throw powerful spells that can turn off Command abilities and unleash a possible 15 mortal wounds at 27 inches or more. In addition, as the game goes on, I become more magically dominant with the additional LOC while reducing the overall strength of my opponent.
The next part of my list design is increasing/ reducing my opponents armor. I have 2 spells & 1 Endless spell that can reduce my opponents armor and with the rend stacking of the Acolytes or the LOC natural -1 Rend shots and of course the already powerful incarnate -2/-3 rend I am able to turn normal attacks into Mortal Wound equivalent attacks.
I also know the future with my lame sauce guaranteed Grand Strategy & Destiny Dice…….
Opportunities of The Design: I have a difficult time dealing with Hordes and / or armies that can summon cheap disposable models on a mission with more than 4 objectives. I also find it difficult to face armies like KO that can stay outside my threat range and then engage on their terms.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Tempest’s Eye – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)* – General – Command Trait: Hawk-eyed – Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles Arkanaut Admiral (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Eagles: Aura of Glory Battleline 20 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)* 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*
Units 20 x Arkanaut Company (180) – 2x Light Skyhooks – 2x Aethermatic Volley Guns – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1
Core Concept Bring guns… lots of guns. We recently had 2 books introduced into the meta (Ogors and Slaves to Darkness), and the resurgence of some old foes (Dragons, Ironjaws and Nurgle), that generate a ton of kill pressure and melee engagement on Turn 1. Tempest’s Eye combats this with great Turn 1 buffs (+1 Save/+3 Move) and efficient shooting (+1 Hit/+1 Wound) supplemented by a healthy number of mortal wounds (Hurricanum, Dracoth Breath). All these elements together are hopefully enough to keep even the scariest melee threats at bay.
Strengths Shooting Volume from Crossbowmen, Tempestors and Arkanauts combined with force multipliers centering around the Hurricanum (+1 Hit/+1 Wound). Adaptable Tech from the Admiral (+1 Rend/Ward Removal/Charge Debuff). Drop Control (2 Drops) typically allows the list to immediately threaten a double turn and forces your opponent to make hard decisions on Turn 1. Horrorghast allows the list to hit crucial damage break points against large units such as Tzaangors, Chosen, or Blood Sisters or spread damage across multiple units for greater efficiency.
Weaknesses 1 Drop armies or specifically being disconnected from the double turn, which forces the list to overextend and expose its firebase. Melee armies whose movement outranges the threat ranges of the list’s shooting units. Middling mobility limits the army’s ability to play proactively and aggressively.
Takeaways and Closing Thoughts As fun as it was to throw buckets of dice, the list has some glaring weaknesses that I was able to mostly avoid due to some fortunate pairings over the course of the weekend, but it does have undeniable strengths and when the list wins it really wins. Enjoy responsibly!
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480) – General – Command Traits: Mighty Waaagh! Leader – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)* – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist
BATTLELINE Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Shootas (120)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Cody Saults: Ironjawz, for me, was the only choice for LVO this year. My standard approach to tournaments is to not play the same game everyone else is expecting to play. With GV being a thing, and folks running bounty hunters, 2 drops kept me tied or out dropping every opponent, and with the list’s raw damage potential, it has the potential to cripple opponents before they get a chance to interact with your units. Second consideration, with a tournament with as many rounds as LVO potentially has for those who do well, avoiding burnout is key. The list only has 4 unit profiles, which helps with keeping rules front of mind and always knowing your options.
The Maw Crusher is an absolute engine for this list, as Skull-Shaking Bellow allows you to spread Mighty Destroyers out to multiple targets, which helps with board control and damage potential. Its melee profiles allow it to put out a punishing amount of wounds, while its solid armor save prevents it from being an easy removal target. Moreover, it has several ways to help clear screens to make sure you get to your target. Its shooting attack is only 4 potential wounds at rend 1, and very short range, but combine that with the impact hits from the pigs, and enhanced stomp monstrous action, the crusher stands a very good chance of clearing screens and getting to the target it truly wants. A quick Finest Hour passing to your opponent’s turn, with an All Out Defense means that even after they deal their damage, they will continue to gum up the works for your opponent, while taking a monstrous amount of extra attention to move. Having 2 allows for redundancy, protect the one in the most vulnerable position, and then respond with the second. The mighty destroyers move means they are never out of position, as if they clear targets and need to pivot to another flank, they almost always have the movement to get there.
Gore Gruntas also represent a solid damage investment, as buffed by the Warchanta, and under the Iron Jaws WAAGH, there is very little in the game they can’t chew through. I went with two units of three, and one of six. The 2 three-man units can take buffs and present good screen clearance in matchups where the opponent has good screening, and for matchups you don’t need the initial sacrificial salvo, they can be used for fast objective grabbing, or counter skirmishing. The post-combat movement abilities from Bloodtoofs also allow for re-establishing screens or locking up units safely.
Warchantas are a must in any IJ list, as they can pass out solid damage bonuses to units about to be in combat, give out charge bonuses, and even heal a key couple of wounds. They have a surprising amount of beef for small characters, and receiving their own buffs can dish it right back.
The last inclusion in the list was shootas, an easy inclusion to give me some cheap screens. Shootas in 20 man squads can be strung out to prevent enemy outflank or deep strike, and the nets, positioned well, can punish an opponent for under-committing resources to remove them or what they are near.
All in all, the list was tailored with so much mobility and relatively low drops to force an opponent to play defensively. This works out either way for us, as the number of hard to remove wounds makes sure they stay in their deployment zone while we grind down their units. Every unit in the army punches up, able to drag down more costly targets, with the post combat mobility to shift our positions, removing the need to choose between damage and objectives.
All in all, the list performed well. The meta we had until the GHB transition had a lot of lists with hard DPS checks, and this list put out enough damage to meet that need and then some.
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired,Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95)* – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 6 x Dragon Ogors (290)*** – 2x Paired Ancient Weapons – 4x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 3 x Dragon Ogors (145)*** – 1x Paired Ancient Weapons – 2x Draconic War glaives
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)* 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*** – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480) – Allies
It’s the ‘other’ BoC list from LVO! As you can see, it damn near went as far as Noah’s, losing only to Scooter’s incredibly well piloted IJ list.
It’s a relatively normal archetype – with the usual 3 HQs for their wide variety of utility – the Dragon Ogor Shaggoth especially proving critical due to his incredible warscroll spell (heal d3 to a Dragon Ogor and give them re-roll wounds) and the Dragon Ogor scroll allowing re-rolls of 1s while near him.
A mix of Ungors for super cheap and speedy (+3″ thanks to the Bray Shama) trading pieces (once the rend starts stacking) and the more out-of-the-box Dragon Ogors make up the battleline – offering speed, punch, and plenty of board control.
Beyond that, it’s basically ‘the spindog’ syndrome. 6 Enlightened on Discs also provide an absolute missile – if you read any of these, you know by now they’re an absolute staple of BoC lists.
The body count, speed, and Spinedog allow Rigolet to care less about dictating first, and so he packs in bounty hunters plus a warlord for additional utility. A savage list that will operate very differently (and be like, double the cost) with the new book – but there you have it!
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Reikenor the Grimhailer (190)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Krulghast Cruciator (150)* Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (150)* – General – Command Trait: Spiteful Spirit – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)*
Units 10 x Craventhrone Guard (180)* – Reinforced x 1
Nate Trentanelli: The list began as a bit of a joke to include two famously “bad” units in the Black Coach and the Craventhrone Guard- or “Crossboos” as they’ve come to be known by. I decided that I couldn’t possibly take Top Nighthaunt in the ITC this season without ever having actually played these units. Not wanting to have no chance during games, I peppered in some more useful units in the Hexwraiths and the Krulghast- staples of Nighthaunt armies.
I’ve gone for an Arcane Tome Knight of Shrouds here for one reason. With his Command Trait “Spiteful Spirit”, when he takes damage in the Combat phase he will roll a number of dice equal to his wounds characteristic and do a mortal wound to all enemy units within 6” for each 4+ he rolls. Quite the useful little bomb. To make things even better, Arcane Tome makes him a wizard, allowing him to be moved by Lauchon. Almost guaranteeing a turn 1 charge wherever I want to maximize his chances of doing mortal wounds. Reikenor with his +3 to cast will almost guarantee Lauchon goes off.
Hexwraiths do what hexwraiths do – nearly unmatched speed to pin opponents in their deployment zones. With 4 units of them, I can either overload my opponent turn 1 with all 20, or simply move block them turn after turn. It may lose me all my hexwraiths, but I’ve functionally disallowed my opponent from actually scoring any objective points.
2 units of Chainrasp exist solely for 2 battle tactics. Start them in the underworld and bring them down on a turn. You don’t have a good battle tactic option. Put both in your opponents deployment zone for an easy Barge Through Their Lines with a bonus for 2 GVs. The next turn take Desecrate Their Lands for another Battle Tactic. 2 complete for no effort.
The unit of Craventhrone Guard I also put in the underworld. Though their damage output is poor, it is something Nighthaunt don’t really have access to anywhere else – shooting. Even that small amount of extra damage is noticeable and useful. They are also a great distraction piece, and the Spectral Bolts ability to shoot through terrain is better than it seems. I know, I know. It’s Crossboos. Trust me. They will work.
Last is the Black Coach. It really is the AoS equivalent to a tank. It’s base size makes it terrific at blocking key areas. With the Craventhrone Guard shooting it’s actually quite easy to power it up as well. Allowing you to shoot with the Craventhrone Guard first, slay 5 models from a screen, and fire the Black Coach into the thing you really wanted to shoot for 3D3 mortal wounds. Alternatively, keeping it on its 4+ ward makes it truly crazy at tanking. Keeping it in the Krulghast bubble also gives it -1 damage for even more craziness. It’s shocking how survivable it is.
The Mortalis Terminexus gives you the flexibility to heal your heroes and Black Coach or use it more as I did, which is an aggressive mortal wound bomb. 26” total threat range from casting is great, and it can pump out quite a bit of chip damage.
All together, the armies Battle Traits of Ethereal and Wave of Terror combine to make even the weakest looking unit truly scary. Roll enough 8s on the charge, and even Kragnos will fall to simple chainrasp. The army has 5 different units that do D3 mortals on a 2+ on the charge. Don’t underestimate how much that is. Simple averages tell you that’s about 8 mortal wounds. Which, by the way, you can retreat and do all over again every turn.
Because of the movement of this army- Hexwraiths, Lauchon heroes, Black Coach teleports, and Underworld Reserves – you can be anywhere and everywhere. Movement wins games, and it’s no surprise to me that most of my opponents had issues with catching me. Even if it they were close, you can simply use one unit to block for the rest to move to safety. Keep your units alive until the exact moment your opponent is out of position. And then pounce all at once. Be careful not to allow your opponent to single out units and be careful. You don’t pull your units away from each others support. Aggressive movement with supporting units will win you games.
Happy haunting!
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Metalcruncher – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Prayers: Pulverising Hailstorm Butcher (140)* – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails Huskard on Stonehorn (400)* – Blood Vulture – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Prayers: Keening Gale
Camaron has my thanks (but not quite my sword) for not taking any Ironblasters! What he’s taken instead is loads of big, angry cows! It’s almost a completely pure Beastclaw Raider army – love to see it.
This list essentially asks ‘can you handle 5 cows swamping you’, and the answer was ‘no’ for everyone other than Kaleb’s Tzeentch, who were able to puncture those super tough hides with his sneaky magic MW output.
Enhancement wise – which is where the tactics are in a list like this – you’ve got Metalcruncher on the Frostlord for dealing with tanky 3+ saves, along with Touched by Everwinter to make him into a priest and able to cast the excellent MW AoE ‘Pulverising Hailstorm’. The Huskard gets the Rockmane Elder (-1 to wound in melee).
A pack of Gnoblars act as a cheap add-on screen that still fits into the battle reg – crucial for a pressure list like this – in order to dictate first and almost certainly give it away every time to make an absolutely devastating round of turn 2 charges and a hopeful end-it-there double.
Big gratz to Camaron for losing only in the shadow round to a legendary player and a bad match-up.
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Head Judge – Thomas
Acting as Head Judge at LVO 2023 was a thrilling experience. I should begin by thanking both Front Line Gaming, and Scott Reed, the Head TO, for organizing such an amazing event.
LVO 2023 was the largest Age of Sigmar tournament in the world, by far, and 50% larger than previous LVOs. Whilst being involved in such a large event was a great experience, the logistics of organizing 325 players did throw up some challenges. To start, the release of the Battlescroll with new points one week before the list deadline (and after our rules cut-off) was a bit disruptive. We had to ensure that every player knew that we would be using the new points, and yet we still had quite a few lists submitted with the old points. Equally, we had to ensure that every player knew that we would not be using the new GHB, which was released the day after lists were due (and one week after rules cutoff). Of course, there were still a few players who submitted lists assuming the new GHB (comically enough, there was one player who we could not contact until round 1 to let them know that their Aspect of the Champion and Sharpshooter battalion had to go!).
The rest of the pre-event organization was handled by FLG and Scott, so my preparations beforehand were minimal. But I have been involved with the running of 36 events in the past 18 months and know that quite of bit of prep work is involved.
Due to the large number of players, LVO did not use the standard AoS GT format of 5 rounds. Instead, we used 5 rounds followed by a 3rd day of single elimination rounds for top 8 players. This year, 9 players went 5-0 which required us to run a Shadow Round 6th game for the players in 8th and 9th place to determine which of them would advance to Day 3.
The first five rounds were pretty straight forward from a rules judging point of view. The pack used at LVO, produced by Scott Reed, borrowed from the OTTD Generic Pack, which is something I was heavily involved in creating. Many of the players at LVO already have experience attending events that use the OTTD system, which helped keep rules and scoring questions to a minimum. When tricky questions did arise, I was able to fall back to the aosfaq.com website and team to provide answers.
The pressure as Head Judge only really started during the Shadow Round, which was the first round where we introduced active judging (where a judge watches the entire game and points out rules mistakes before and whilst they are made). Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a one-sided blowout – the choice to use Mighty and Cunning proved problematic when one player had essentially all GV and the other essentially none. Lesson learned! The only rules issue that cropped up was when one of the players declared Desecrate their Lands on a Defensible terrain piece. I had to remind him that you can only control Defensible terrain pieces by garrisoning them – the standard 3” rule does not apply. He was able to declare another terrain piece instead.
Day 3 was where the real excitement as Head Judge began, which entailed three rounds of active judging among the best players in the world. I was fortunate enough that James O’Brien who was a contender, had not made it to day 3, but as an experienced TO and judge was willing to jump in and judge half of the games.
When judging the final 8 of a 325-player event, there is really very little stress. These are fantastic players with a huge amount of experience and, more importantly, great sportsmanship. There was no confrontation to deal with, and all players played with intent at all times, meaning there were no disagreements to intervene with. If anything, I had to prevent players from giving too much benefit to their opponents!
Instead, the rule of table judging was just handling the occasional line-of-sight judging, pointing out often forgotten rules such as you need to jump into a garrison to control it (even the top players didn’t know that rule!) and mostly sitting back and watching some fantastic Warhammer being played. The biggest drama, up until the end of the final game, that is, was during the first round, when one of the games ended in a complete tie. With single elimination, a tie is not an option. It was also not something we had prepared for. Fortunately, the two players were able to agree that under any tie-break rules, there would be a clear winner. Of course, I couldn’t end without talking about that final game. What a game! I could watch both Noah and Scooter play Warhammer all day. Scooter is one of the great personalities to watch, and Noah is a fantastic human being. And their game was so close.
I suppose I should talk about the ending… By the end of the final game, the players had been through 3 days of extensive Warhammer. All with the backdrop of Las Vegas. I think it is fair to say that both players (and Judge) were drained. The game came down to control of an objective. Noah had a chaos spawn on it, Scooter had a goblin shaman. They fought in combat, but neither could kill the other (Scooter made the 4+ ward save to keep his Shaman alive on one wound – much to the crowd’s delight!). It was a great moment!
Of course, the spawn has 5 wounds, and so is worth 2 points on an objective, and the Shaman only has 4 wounds, so it is worth 1. But we were all too exhausted to notice. Noah assumed the Shaman was worth 2. Scooter assumed the spawn was worth 1 and I failed to notice the mistake (oh so easy to assume all heroes in the game are going to be 5 wounds or more!). That meant that they were tied on points, and Scooter won the match on battle tactics scored. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that we caught the mistake – where we had not considered that the Shaman was only 4 wounds (a friend texted me – thank you!). The way both players handled the turnaround in decision is a credit to them both. The level of joy each felt at the other being declared the winner was heartwarming.
The final, and LVO in general, left no doubt that Age of Sigmar has a fantastic community. And I am proud to be part of it.
This is the top three AoS lists for the GT Wargame Garrison Madrid that took place in Spain on the 27th and 28th of January. It involved 20 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Seraphon – Army Type: Coalesced – Army Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Engine of the Gods (300) – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Prayers: Curse 1 x Lord Kroak (450)* – Spells: Stellar Tempest 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)* – Aspects of the champion: Tunel master 1 x Skink Priest (120)* – Prayers: Heal 1 x Saurus Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur (200)** – General – Command Traits: Prime Warbeast – Celestite Greatblade – Artefacts: Fusil of Conflagration – Mount Traits: Beastmaster 1 x Knight-Zephyros (100)**
Do comets rain on the plain in Spain? They do when Kroak is around! He’s fallen a little out of fashion recently in favour of the no-name, whipper-snapper Slann, but he still does the job, as evidenced here – supported by the ubiquitous Engine, Priest, Astrolith (even more important for Special K given his spammable but short range spell) and…
checks notes
A Scar-Vet on Carnosaur!? Fair play to the lad, with their recent points drops they just might cut the mustard as a fast, whiffy but potentially killy monster. Of course, now we’re into the new season, we see the inevitable allied Knight-Zephyros, who is just a stone-cold scoring piece due to her constant teleporting.
Overall, a pretty interesting twist on the Lizards with their new points, and a good result for Alfonso. Get ready to see a lot more of the little Azyros…
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Hosts Duplicitous – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Curseling (180)* – General – Command Traits: Cult Demagogue – Spells: Shield of Fate, Arcane Suggestion – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master 1 x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (140)* – Spells: Shield of Fate, Arcane Suggestion 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)** 1 x Magister (120)** – Spells: Shield of Fate, Glimpse the Future 1 x Changecaster (150)** – Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Levitate, Bolt of Tzeentch
BATTLELINE 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Pink Horror Hornblower – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Pink Horror Hornblower – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Split and Split Again 10 x Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)* – Pink Horror Hornblower – Iridescent Horror – Pink Horror Icon Bearer – Split and Split Again
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Chronomantic Cogs (70) 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Daemonic Simulacrum (70)
The future is here with the new GHB, and the future is pink…at least as far as Disciples of Tzeentch are concerned. With Bounty Hunters gone away, Pink Horrors are very much back on the menu as one of the top tarpits in the game, and Juanma has taken 3 x 10 Pinks to really maximise their board control. In addition, by choosing the sub-faction Host Duplicitous, an enemy can be prevented from retreating if the Tzeentch unit has 10 or more models, keeping them in place for some incoming spells. Host Duplicitous can also bring back 5 Pink Horrors once per game on a 4+, but it’s only once per battle regardless of how many units are destroyed and there’s no re-roll: this is Tzeentch, not Gitz!
Pink Horrors are also an excellent screen for the Galletian Champions that want to be slinging spells from the back lines while scoring battle tactics for not being dead and there is one unit for each of the Champions: Curseling, Magister and Changecaster, with the option to summon in additional Changecasters if necessary. The importance of keeping those Pinks around for as long as possible is clear from the Shield of Fate spell cropping up three times on the list to try and get that 5+ ward save. Arcane Suggestion can also be helpful here, with one of the options that Tzeentch players can pick being to reduce hit and wound rolls by 1. Park the Changecaster or Kairos wholly within 12” of a unit of Pinks, then there is an additional -1 to hit on the unit, meaning that All Out Attack would be wasted. Though still only with a 5+ save, a 5+ save followed by a 5+ ward with -1 to hit and wound makes those little daemons hang around a lot longer than they should. A really hammer unit like 10 chosen can still get through them with double fight, but then they’ll be well within spell range and with no 5+ ward against mortals on their warscroll, that’s a trade that favours the Tzeentch player significantly.
In terms of the tech on each Champion, the Curseling general has Cult Demagogue as their command ability, meaning that a double on the dice makes the first casting roll unbindable (and worth a bonus fate point). While lesser (more honest?) armies would roll the dice, Tzeentch can just pick two Destiny Dice and, even if it’s a pair of twos, the casting value 8 Arcane Sacrifice would still go off. The Curseling also has what seems to be the Aspect of the Champion of choice (at least so far): Tunnel Master. This Aspect allows a model to redeploy anywhere on the battlefield outside of 9” of the enemy during the movement phase instead of moving normally. With some armies, this could leave a hero isolated, but Tzeentch can just summon up some Horrors to be the bodyguard for this unit. On some of the new battle plans, that could mean an extra point here or there to turn a loss into a win or at least a draw in close games.
On the subject of close games, Juanma did really well going 3.5/5 with their only loss being against Teclis and Lumineth Realm Lords and even that was only with an 11-9 differential score (that is, a 1-2 point scoring difference at the end of the game). Three more points across two games could have been enough for the 5-0 at the event, underlining what a great weekend Juanma and the Disciples had.
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Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Army Subfaction: The Quicksilver Dead – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – General – Command Traits: Cloaked in Shadow – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Seal of Shyish – Aspects of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)* – Chill Blade – Artefacts: Pendant of the Fell Wind – Spells: Shademist 1 x Spirit Torment (120)* 1 x Lady Olynder (340)* – Spells: Shademist
BATTLELINE 5 x Hexwraiths (170)* – Hellwraith 20 x Dreadscythe Harridans (320)** – Slasher Crone 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)** – Slasher Crone 6 x Spirit Hosts (260)**
BEHEMOTH 1 x Black Coach (290) – Reaper Scythe
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord **Galletian Veterans
TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)
Nice little twist on Nighthaunt, with the less seen Quicksilver Dead. The list also saw the return of the Black Coach and Lady Olynder, both of whom haven’t had a lot of airing with the Scarlet Doom lists. The Nighthaunt face off against Scarlet Doom in round 4, saw a stalemate so we can’t say which is better yet.
Still, other than Olynder, we have all of the usual suspects to increase the Harridan’s resistance. They’re still a great warscroll, so 30 is no hardship, especially with the points increase on Bladegheist. Harridan’s are a bit harder to use, but ideally, you want to get them close and charge. Preferably after inflicting some wounds through either mortals or ranges (another reason for the Black Coach). Charge or shoot a unit with the Black Coach and then hit it with the Harridans, they will now be hitting and wounding on 3s, and cause -1 on to wound rolls, adding protection for themselves, and the Black Coach.
A well thought out list, and fun to play. Bringing some different models to the table, Andres is to be commended.
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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Vyrkos Dynasty – Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Vampire Lord (140) – General – Command Traits: Pack Alpha – Spells: Soulpike 1 x Belladamma Volga (200)* – Spells: Spirit Gale 1 x Necromancer (130)* – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Overwhelming Dread – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Vampire Lord (140)* – Spells: Amethystine Pinions – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
BATTLELINE 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (240)* 10 x Dire Wolves (130)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)* 10 x Dire Wolves (130)*
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
OTHER 20 x Grave Guard (280)* – Seneschal – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Hornblower – Great Wight Blade
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
2-2-1 is an odd scoreline, and those must have been some nail-biting games! Guillermo has opted for a slightly heavier GC presence than Soulblight would normally bother with, packing double vamp lords, which makes sense as their Tome Celestial battle tactics are definitely not going to help them with scoring this season.
Now that bounty hunters have gone the way of the dodo, blobs of zombies are back on the menu! Dire Wolves continue to be fantastic either way – and here backed up by Belladamma for the fluffy (pun intended) bodyguard rule they provide.
Sadly, there’s a Spinedog – but to be fair to the ‘Blight, they’re in a tough spot in the new season due to their fragile and slow GCs – until the new book comes out, we may see them struggle, so kudos to Guillermo for a strong finish out of the gate.
This is the top three AoS lists for the Northern Masters that took place in Scotland on 21st and 22nd January. It involved 16 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: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Underguts – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Bloodpelt Hunter (140)** Butcher (140)** – General – Cleaver – Command Trait: Reluctant Rabble-rouser – Artefact: Gruesome Trophy Rack – Lore of Gutmagic: Blubbergrub Stench Huskard on Stonehorn (400)** – Blood Vulture – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate
Battleline 4 x Leadbelchers (170)* 4 x Leadbelchers (170)* 6 x Ogor Gluttons (260)* – Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades
Regular readers of this column (and if you’re not – why??) may remember some previous 1st place Ogor lists – and they may also recall that my response to them is, at kindest, best called ‘sassy’.
Well, dear reader, I hope you like your sass piled high. Because even after the recent minor points hikes, we’re still looking down the meaty barrel of three giant shooting platforms with a 30″ 2x 4/2/-2 for D3+3 dmg (and +1 rend for 3 total in Underguts) profile and an arguably even scarier ‘short range’ (i.e. 12″ with a 9″ move factoring in the new Hungry rule) profile for 10 attacks at 3/3/-2/2 (that’s inc. Underguts bonus). Sass is my coping mechanism.
They’re supported by the typical 20 Gnoblar blob that do mortals (even post-FAQ…) each time you end any kind of move near them, 2 units of rend 2 Leadbelchers and a blob of Gluttons so greedy they’re prepared to literally eat lead – at least that’s my head-canon for why missile attacks are -1 to wound into them.
Rounding things off are a sneaky Bloodpelt Hunter, a support Butcher and the typical enhancement stacked Stonehorn – in this instance a lesser known Huskard, who enjoys a -1 to hit in melee ability, a healing prayer a +1 to wound prayer and the perennial Rockmane Elder mount trait for -1 to wound – good luck killing him, you’re going to need it.
Andrew’s route to 5-0 included the famously weak in melee Idoneth, that Kruleboyz faction with the rubbish rule that you can’t see them beyond 12″, a newly-extremely-expensive Thunder Lizard list, some Stormcast (who I imagine the Ogors opening like tin-cans) and the notoriously easy to kill Nurgle.
In all seriousness, gratz to Andrew as those were likely some tough opponents to beat out with such an elite army, but Ogors definitely still have the tools to continue their ravenous rampage it seems.
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Indominatable
Leaders Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Father of the Storm – Artefact: Horn of the Tempest – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)* – Axe – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Allies
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 9 x Dragon Ogors (435)*** – 6x Paired Ancient Weapons – Reinforced x 2 6 x Dragon Ogors (290)*** – 6x Paired Ancient Weapons – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*** – Reinforced x 1 3 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (180)* 1 x Mindstealer Sphiranx (95)* – Allies
It’s Beasts of Chaos with 9 Enlightened on Disks. What do you want me to say? Their new book is about a month away, which will hopefully give me something new to write about.
It’s just all so old and janky. They get their own stuff, possibly the old Chaos stuff (depending on whether the event was allowing the technically illegal until yesterday Slaves tome) and the best of the new Tzeentch stuff, all propped up by a wildly over-tuned Tome Celestial.
GW are looking down from their ivory tower at these lists and holding their noses while the new book slowly hoofs its way into public existence to shake its wiry mane and proclaim, ‘Beasts are dead! Long live Beasts!’ Only they decided not to update the model range because fugly models are the price you pay for putting lipstick on a pig-monster. Pearls before swine? This metaphor is as broken and mixed up as the Beasts book itself.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Spirit Torment (120)*** Guardian of Souls (150)*** – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (120)*** Krulghast Cruciator (150)*** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)* 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)** 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (180)**
The Scarlet Doom terror strikes again, ticking all of the boxes, 50 Bladegheists, Myrmourn Banshees for spell shenanigans Spirit Hosts for Bodyguards, and Hexwraiths for mobility and a cast of minor, interesting heroes. The Grimghast are rarer, and there are no Chainrasps to the disappointment of true Nighthaunt fans. For anyone who doesn’t know this list, it will flow across the board, ignoring your high quality, high rend attacks, and striking fear into your units. With Hexwraiths to take any exposed objectives. The Guardian of Souls and Spirit Torments will return models (mostly to the Bladegheist) each turn, and Krulghast is an auto include for his damage reduction.
It controls the centre well, holding a back objective as well and ticks off Battle Tactics (or did, Season 2 might be different). However, if an opponent can lift one of Bladegheist units in a turn, then this army will struggle. To do that reliably, you need a lot of relatively low quality attacks (1 damage). Unfortunately, the 2nd (Tempestors and Drakes) and 5th (Dragon Ogres) round opponents had the means to shut down our heroes. Great performance and another army it will be interesting to see how they go in Season 2 after being a clear leader in the last 6 months.
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Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Army Type: Stormkeep – Army Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable – Holy Command: Pray for Aid
LEADER 1 x Celestant-Prime (330)* 1 x Drakesworn Templar (400)* – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Tempest Axe – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Celestial Instincts – Spells: Celestial Blades 1 x Slann Starmaster (290)*
BATTLELINE 4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (480)* 5 x Liberators (120)* – Liberator-Prime – Grandweapon – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield 5 x Liberators (120)* – Liberator-Prime – Grandweapon – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Everblaze Comet (90) 1 x The Burning Head (30)
OTHER 3 x The Farstriders (90)*
BATTLE REGIMENT *
TOTAL POINTS: (1950/2000)
Some real surprises here, a magic heavy (for Stormcast) list with 3 big heroes backed by a single big hammer unit and solid screens. There are not a lot of units, but extreme mobility/flexibility, and it does away with the need for a teleport in the list. The Drakesworn Templar works either as a hammer or an anvil for the Fulminators. With his ranged attacks (Unleash Hell) and the Tempest Axe reducing pile-ins, he is a dangerous anvil that takes serious force to move with a 4+ save. With the points drop in the latest GHB, we might see more of him. And if castled near the Slann (18”) he is granting +1 to cast on top of the Slann’s +1. With plenty of ranged Mortal wounds on offer (Comet’s Call, Burning Head and Everblaze Comet), this is a surprisingly deadly ranged army. Celestial Blades to give the Fulminators a well-deserved 2+ to wound.
The tricks don’t end there, Stormkeep making the Liberators effectively Galletian Veterans (count as 3 on objectives) while still in a Battle Regiment – Scions isn’t really useful in this list. Hammers of Sigmar for the blue and gold and a handy 6+ ward on objectives. Along with Call to Aid to return a unit of Liberators if necessary. And finally, there is the Celestant-Prime to remove something important and the equally mobile Farstriders. A very cheap unit with an inbuilt teleport. They aren’t likely to do a lot of damage, but they have a 12” range attack as well as melee, potentially creating a lot of issues for a lightly defended point. All of this is just to say this is a very flexible army that is difficult to counter. Reflecting that approach, Stu had 4 very close games, only losing or winning by a handful of points, tense close fought battles. This list would do well in a teams format, and with a little luck, it could have gone 5 and 0 (the 2 loses were by 1 and 3 pts). With the new GHB here now, it would be interesting to see where this list goes,
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the 2D6 Oslohammer tournament that took place in Norway on 27th and 28th December. It involved 20 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Battleline 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)* – Reinforced x 1
Units 10 x Protectors (450)* – 4x Starsoul Maces – Reinforced x 1 6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)* – Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Additional Enhancements Holy Command: Call for Aid
Brett: Classic 3rd edition Stormcast army made up of 1st and 2nd edition units. Absolutely nothing here with the Thunderstrike Keyword. Geir has chosen Scions of the Storm here mostly for the Vanguard Raptors I think, it’s standard for SCE armies to keep them safe from their opponents shooting. The Battlemage and Lord Relictor can team up and grant teleport (Translocation) and a 7″ charge (Wildform grants +2 to move, run and charge). They can do that from outside of deny range, that can drop either the Fulminators or the Protectors close to your ranged units unless you have very good screens. Both can eat an Unleash Hell through either wounds (4 x Fulminators is 24 wounds at 3+, Protectors are 30 wounds at 2+) or saves.
Ideally the Knight Incantor gives the Fulminators +1 to wound rolls (Celestial Blades) before they are teleported to within 7″. They still have a shooting attack and then do 3 damage on the charge. Defensively the Lord Relictor has Thundershock to subtract 1 from the opponents wound rolls and the Liberators as screens and objective holders. The Holy Command, Call for Aid returns a Redeemer unit (the Liberators) outside of 9″ of enemy models and within 12″ of a Hero unit.
So long as those criteria are met you can place them anywhere on the board. Situationally, it’s great for moving a screen, protecting a hero or grabbing an objective. At at the worst it gives you back 10 wounds of Galletian Veterans. Looking at the opponents they really don’t have the answers. Only one of the Ogor lists included multiple Ironblasters and Leadbelchers but both units are badly outranged by the Vanguard Raptors. Fulminators would average 20 wounds on the charge into the Bladegheist and there are no screens in that army to prevent it. Combinde with the shooting it’s likely that they are gone in one turn. And for anything more durable, the Protectors and Raptors can all do mortal wounds in abundance. Without something like the teleport/fight on death of DoK or mortal wound shooting this is a hard list to counter directly. It has elements that want to hold back and pound you and others that are trying to get at you. Importantly, through Scions and Translocation, they have mobility on top of durability.
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Army Faction: Seraphon – Army Type: Coalesced – Army Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Engine of the Gods (285)** – General – Command Traits: Prime Warbeast – Artefacts: Incandescent Rectrices – Mount Traits: Beastmaster – Prayers: Curse 1 x Skink Priest (120)*** – Prayers: Heal 1 x Slann Starmaster (285)*** – Artefacts: Fusil of Conflagration – Spells: Stellar Tempest 1 x Celestant-Prime (325)***
BATTLELINE 10 x Skinks (75)* – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 10 x Skinks (75)* – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 5 x Saurus Guard (115)***
BEHEMOTH 1 x Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)** 1 x Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)** 1 x Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)**
Danny: Seraphon are in an interesting place at the moment – in the last year they’ve received new rules (Tome Celestial) and two rounds of point hikes (with more coming in the new GHB) – and yet they still occupy a strange space of having some busted 2e style rules in both good and bad ways, awful internal balanced and absolutely the ability to take down tournaments.
Here, Tom takes a relatively common spin on things – a core of the Engine of the Gods which just offers insane utility for its price, along with the ‘buff core’ of a Slann and Priest – supplemented by the lizards’ favourite ally, C-Prime. Seraphon in general have a good mixed phase output but lack something that can really hit hard and fast in melee – hence the big shiny boi’s inclusion.
Thunder Lizard battleline units are, as usual, built around the minimum taxation, which we see here with 2x 10 skinks and the Saurus guard to help keep the Slann alive.
And then we have the bastiladons. Double Bastis have fallen out of favour recently due to their lack of objective play but Tom opts for 3, 1 of which is the bargain-basement CHONK loadout – basically it’s a tonne of wounds on a 1+ save with -1 damage for 165 pts.
Now, you look at the the path to 2nd – double Disciples? One of the only armies able to out-magic a Slann? Top of the win-rate pile? And then you remember Bastiladons do +1 damage to chaos daemons. Losing to Ogors makes sense, as the shooting output in Underguts is easily enough to just blast through any lizard capable of holding an objective.
Without spoiling anything, let’s just also say this list gets WREKT by the incoming points changes. I don’t know where Seraphon go from there that isn’t a ditch until their new book to be honest, but for now, gratz to Tom for a podium finish¬!
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (175)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Magister (120) – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate – Bonded to Krondspine Kairos Fateweaver (435)* Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)* – Lore of Change: Fold Reality
Battleline 6 x Screamers of Tzeentch (200)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)* 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives
Kieron: New book; same old Krondspine holding the line for Disciples of Tzeentch. Despite the points increase, Krondspines are still useful for Tzeentch as a combat anvil that can hold units in place long enough for the mortal wound hammer says hello (and goodbye shortly after!). Arcane Suggestion from the Ogroid can also make the Krondspine’s attacks more potent by reducing the armour of what it is currently trying to eat OR make what it is trying to eat less effective in combat by subtracting one from hit and wound rolls. Coupled with Mystic Shield and All Out Defense, that monster is probably hanging around for an annoying period of time. Another sneaky tricky the Tzeentch player can pull is to have the Magister, to whom the Krondspine is bonded, kill themselves by first casting a spell and then casting a second that is a double, guaranteed by the Destiny Dice. Instead of turning the Magister into a spawn, the Tzeentch player can choose to slay the Magister, turning the Krondspine wild for run and charge and +1 to hit. On top of that, if the Magister cast an Endless Spell, Burning Sigil, for example, the Krondspine can then eat that spell to go up a level. Please note, however, this cannot be done with the spell automatically cast at the start of the game with Arcane Armies until battle round 2 at the earliest.
In terms of the rest of the list, Screamers are very fast and can be brought back to full strength with the Fold Reality spell that both Kairos and the Fluxmaster can cast, but not as effective as they could potentially be in a unit of 9…but that would ruin the list composition as there would not be three battleline units. The 9 could have been handy for the only battleplan Danny failed to win – Lurkers Below – to be able to speed on to that third objective for the auto-win. As it happened, the second place army of Tom Kenneth Solli managed the auto-win instead (hence the 20-0 loss), the Celestant-Prime potentially being a great bit of tech to hold back in Azyr until that key turn to swoop in and snatch the opponent’s home objective and meet the auto-win conditions.
Otherwise, Danny cleaned up very effectively, with the next closest result being a 7 to 8 point victory over Nurgle and then 15+ margins of victory in every other battle. The ability to generate 2 spawn a turn (through Burning Sigil and the Magister’s warscroll spell) would have probably been key shutting down the Kruleboyz Boltboyz in Round 5 but the most impressive result has to be against the 7 dragons of Stian Engebretsen with their 4+ ignore magic ability on their warscroll, meaning that Danny had to beat them in other ways and not just magic (or was aided by some unlucky dice rolls from Stian!) It would be interesting to see what would have been the outcome were Lurkers Below not included in the pack as a 5-0 could have been on the cards. With this battleplan being one of the 6 carried forward into next season’s General’s Handbook, it’ll be interesting to see if it continues to be a bit of a wild card battleplan.
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Awlrach the Drowner (175)* Guardian of Souls (150)*** – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Krulghast Cruciator (150)*** Spirit Torment (115)*** – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish
Battleline 5 x Hexwraiths (160)* 30 x Bladegheist Revenants (525)** – Reinforced x 2 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)***
Units 3 x Fell Bats (75)* 3 x Fell Bats (75)* 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)** 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)**
Endless Spells & Invocations Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Declan: Despite an increase in points and a reduction in power Eirik is still rocking the purple sun in this Nighthaunt army and it’s great to see it still getting use. The main benefit here is not the mortal wounds on a 1 (but that’s fun), it’s the -1 rend to all units within range… an effect that doesn’t change ethereal saves of the Nighthaunt. So all the benefit, none of the disadvantages – it’s a great piece of tech!
From Games Workshop / Wahapedia
And that’s before the Nighthaunt start charging to really rack up those negatives to armour saves (or increases to rend if you prefer)
Games Workshop via Wahapedia
Those 8-9 really hurt, but when you consider you can drop a level, it’s really 8+ (almost 42% before re-rolls). I’ve given my opinion on this before, but there doesn’t seem to be a FAQ and Nighthaunt players have definitely paid with their time in the wilderness (what is it with the non-Stormcast box armies? – Bloodbound, Nighthaunt, Kruleboyz!)
The army itself is all about the Bladegheists – if you can kill them in one turn (or in a double) then you’ve likely won… but wow what a unit to have to kill. And if it charges you, with any small units and characters also charging expect to have no armour. And how do you beat a Nighthaunt army… shooting! None-the-less great work from Eiric on a 4-1. I think Nighthaunt are much closer to a 3-2 army so he’s done well to get 4th here.
29th December 2022 – Update to correct name on Chainrasps
29th December 2022 – Correction to the damage output of Bladegheist Revenants
It’s taken a while, but thanks to the help of Patrick our first faction data cards are now ready!
We’ve started with Nighthaunt but have a lot of others in the pipeline and close to completion.
Each card shows the following information:
Resilience – Specifies how much damage is requited at the various rend values to destroy the unit or to destroy the unit via battleshick (if this is possible).
Threat Range – This will tell you how far the unit can move and then charge. If the unit had any missile weapons, then the card will also show how far the unit can move and then shoot.
Average Damage Output – The main focus of each card, this shows how much damage a unit should cause (as an average) to each of the save values. I.e. how much damage is unsaved.
Leaders
Awlrach the Drowner Cairn WraithDreadblade HarrowGuardian of SoulsKnight of ShroudsKnight of Shrouds on Ethereal SteedKrulghast CruciatorKurdoss ValentianLady OlynderLord ExecutionerNagashReikenor the GrimhailerScriptor MortisSpirit TormentThe Briar QueenTomb Banshee
Battleline
ChainraspsGrimghast ReapersHexwraithsSpirit Hosts
Behemoth
Black Coach
Other
Bladegheist RevenantsChainghastsCraventhrone GuardDreadscythe HarridansGlaivewraith StalkersMyrmourn BansheesThorns of the Briar Queen
Who’s Next?
Next up will be the Slaves to Darkness. Keep an eye out!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Frozen Empires 2022 that took place in Northern Ireland on 10th and 11th December. It involved 18 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: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Winterbite – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Bloodpelt Hunter (140)*** – Artefact: Gruesome Trophy Rack Icebrow Hunter (120)*** – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)*** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Units 12 x Ogor Gluttons (530)* – Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades – Reinforced x 1 4 x Mournfang Pack (350)* – Gargant Hackers – Reinforced x 1 2 x Frost Sabres (80)** 2 x Frost Sabres (80)** 2 x Frost Sabres (80)** Ironblaster (170)
Declan: New book 5-0… take a bow Mike Wendel. I mean Mike’s a good player before a new book and this has done nothing but help… but he’s not paid attention to the Internet so only 1 Ironblaster (doesn’t he know that 4 are needed).
This list is actually very similar to some pre book release but with the benefits that they’ve all gained. It’s great to see Ogor Gluttons now being used. They are great models and the reach (2″) means they can now contribute in a fight. Mike has made them and the Mournfang Bounty Hunters as well so not a lot of Galatian Veterans are standing their way.
Add to this the stonehorn and 3×2 Frost Sabres and he’s got another hammer unit and some cats which just have to be killed, although you really want to concentrate on tue big guys.
So, how to beat it… well at this stage don’t get drawn against Mike is a great start, but as with everything target priority, screens and keep your eyes on the battle tactics. You don’t have to kill it all to win! (Although it would help!)
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (115)* Krulghast Cruciator (150)* – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Units 30 x Bladegheist Revenants (525)** – Reinforced x 2 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)** 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)** 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)*** 5 x Hexwraiths (160)*** 5 x Hexwraiths (160)*** 2 x Chainghasts (95)* Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Declan: Well Solomon has definitely paid attention to the Nighthaunt release. Step 1 find the best scroll in the book (Bladegheists) step 2 assemble 60 of then, step 3 charge! What’s truly impressive here is he’s got through 60 of them without wanting to throw the whole army away! A true test of patience.So don’t think you’ll out wait Soloman…. the patience of a bird watcher lies in his soul! (Probably big vicous birds of prey… or seagulls!)
As I’ve said before be careful of the charge and the retreat and charge and the characters… in fact this army is just screaming for you to take the 4 Ironblasters and shoot it off the board. And that’s the limitation of this army. It’ll smash Kragnos off tur board, but struggles against serious shooting. Is that good for the meta? I don’t know but it’s an interesting way to balance them.
So well played to Soloman. I still think 5-0 is very difficult with them despite bei
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Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm) – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Lord-Relictor (145)* – Prayer: Translocation Lord-Relictor (145)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Spell: Thundershock – Prayer: Divine Light
Units 2 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (220)* 2 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (220)* 5 x Liberators (115)** – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 5 x Liberators (115)** – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)*** 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)*** 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)*** 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)**** 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)**** 1 x Stormstrike Chariot (165)**** Horrorghast (40)
Brett: It’s Ben Hur with dragons down to the chariots having priests to whip them into a frenzy before the race. 6 Chariots, how do you even deploy them all, you don’t you can always bring them from the heavens with Scions of the Storm. Anchored by Liberators and the Relictors (for teleports) but the rest of the army moves a minimum of 10″. Tempestors can be played a few ways being mobile but the dual ranged weapons can’t be ignored. They can be translocated and shoot you before tempting you charge as well and they are pretty durable. And that’s the trick here, for a Stormcast Army this is a lot of wounds (128) most of which has a 3+ save and is really durable. Itcan take objectives quickly and tie up multiple units.
There’s nothing that will do a lot of damage in a turn but it takes a lot to kill a chariot (12W) and they can wear down a unit over a couple of turns after their initial impact hits with their 11 attacks. Call for Aid is the Holy Command really giving the list 3 units of Liberators. The HQs are unusual, only the 2 Relictors, the General is built for both offense and defense with Divine Light (reroll hit rolls of one) and Thundershock (subtract 1 from opposing wound rolls from one Unit). Colin dropped only one game (against Tzeetch whose spells would have been very effective) and even beat second. Solik\d, maybe a bit dour but an effective list that is hard to play into. Your best options are to exploit the thin screens and try to tie up the Chariots. Stop the charges if you can.
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Allegiance: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Legion: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (340)* Liege-Kavalos (170)* – General – Command Trait: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefact: Godbone Armour
Units 20 x Mortek Guard (280)** – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 1 20 x Mortek Guard (280)** – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 1 20 x Mortek Guard (280)** – Nadirite Blade and Shield – Reinforced x 1 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)* – Nadirite Spear and Shield 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)* – Nadirite Spear and Shield Mortek Crawler (200)* Nightmare Predator (60)
Patrick: Ossiarch are in a tough spot, completitvely. Anyone who has played them (or against them) knows that the Bonereapers aren’t really playing the same version of AoS that everyone else is, and that isn’t a good thing. Their competitive win rate sits just below the 45% “happy zone.”
That being said, Alan led them to the top 10 at this event, and showed off one of the more straightforward lists, and how it can be effective. Starting off, Petrifex Elite is an excellent subfaction to improve the resiliency of the army, reducing the rend of all incoming attacks by 1. Then you have Arkhan the Black, who can pull double duty by being an effective support wizard and also reviving destroyed models.
And there will be plenty of models destroyed! With 60 Morteks pressed into a Bounty Hunters battalion, these units will crawl across the board, steadily increasing the threat presence on the battlefield. They will benefit strongly from the fact that they are Gallatian Vets, getting to fight in two ranks, and with their small bases you can expect to see at least 10 models from a unit getting to make their attacks.
Countering the army’s slow pace, there are two units of Deathriders led by a Liege-Kavalos to help screen objectives and push some damage back on the opponent. The predator will arrive bound to Arkhan, targeting an enemy hero and giving the opponent one more threat to worry about. The Mortek Crawler also assists in pushing the threat range of the army by providing some much needed ranged damage while the Guard keeps the opponent in place.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Big Bristol Brawl that took place in the UK on 3rd and 4th December. It involved 41 players (Including our very own Danny) vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
Pre-Tournament Analysis
I thought I’d add a bit about the meta at the event before we jump into the meat of the article. If this is popular I’ll continue doing this on future top three articles.
Ranked Players Below shows the players already ranked in our Woehammer rankings form events before the Bristol GT.
11 Players had already taken part in 1 GT before this event, with the highest ranked player (Luke Churchus) being 22nd in the UK. Remeber these rankings are based on our own handicapped rankings system explained here.
Faction Breakdown
The Bristol Brawl saw an unusually high number of Daughters, Blades of Khorne and Slaanesh armies, with all three seeing double their expected representation based on the current worldwide meta.
On the flip side of this, the tournament saw no representation from Ironjawz, Slaves, Cities, Kharadron and Big Waagh where we would have expected at least one army to be present.
Of the high win rate factions Beast of Chaos and Disciples are as expected while Ogor Mawtribes and Soulblight see a slightly higher number than compared to the meta.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (955)* Spirit Torment (115)* – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*
Declan: Greg has been using Nagash since AoS3 dropped, and quite a bit before that. In early AoS3, there was a period we met 3 or 4 times and he beat me every time with a Soulblight version…. here he has taken Nighthaunt instead which allows him to use the Nighthaunt alleginace abilities on the charge and back it up with Nagash’s magic dominance.
Games Workshop / Wahapedia
When they charge the Bladegheists are almost certain to roll 4+ and get one of the debuffs on the table. But the truly frightening thing is that these debuffs stack. I’m not a fan of the mechanism, but it’s the core of how Nighthaunt work and it is scary when a 10+ is rolled followed by a few 8+ (because you can always go down the table).
There’s no denying that Nagash is the centrepiece though and – although he is seen as weaker in the last update – he can still take on an army (and at 955 points he needs to). I’d love to tell you how to kill him, but the truth is I still don’t know but I imagine it’s got something to do with mortal wounds (preferably at range). It’s definitely not a Mangler Squig (last time I charged one in, I did no wounds to Nagash).
If you’ve not met him before he lives up to his role as the Lord of the Undead… with 8 spell casts, all with bonuses and the piece de la resistance… Arcane Bolt as many times as you like. (see you’ll be glad you brought the ranged mortal wounds. He’s a beast and sometimes the best thing to do is get ahead on points, stand on objectives and hope he and the Bladegheists can’t shift you. Good luck; you’ll need it!
Games Workshop / Wahapedia
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)** – General – Command Trait: Blood of the Berzerker – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir – Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient Battlesmith (150)** Battlesmith (150)**
Battleline Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Artefact: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve – Magmadroth Trait: Flame-scale Youngblood Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Magmadroth Trait: Lava-tongue Adult Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)** – Ancestral War-axe
Edit: The maximum number of Magmadroths you can take in a Lofnir list is six, not five as the comment below eludes to.
Ethan: This Lofnir list leans on heavy on the idea that more is more, taking as many magmadroths as you can fit in 2000 points. It’s obviously an effective strategy, having worked out well for Alex, with his only loss being Hagg Nar where I can only predict Morathi’s unkillable rules made for a major issue for an army so light on units.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Boulderhead
LEADER 1 x Kragnos (720) 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)* – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Prayers: Heal(🎶Living on a Prayer🎵) 1 x Butcher (135)* – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails
BATTLELINE 2 x Mournfang Pack (175)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 1 x Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Blood Vulture 2 x Mournfang Pack (175)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)
Danny: Andy helped me out with our Ogor Tome Review – so it’s awesome and very interesting to see him go 4-1 and 3rd at this highly competitive event – WITHOUT cannons or Gnoblars. Andy has basically stuck with this tried and tested core of a Frostlord backed by Kragnos – the big(ger) man offering 3d6 charges for those sweet 3d6 MWs on the charge, along with a huge pressure piece while the Frostlord, specced out with Arcane Tome + Flaming weapon for more reliable damage and Touched by the Everwinter to also make him a priest with the ability to heal himself – or Kragnos. So he’s doing it all. Another ‘big cow’ joins the pressure party as the first battleline pick.
Two units of Mournfang fill out the tax, allowing for some excellent objective play, hardly inconsiderable damage and their new and improved resistance to shooting attacks.
Andy also included a Butcher for some utility spell casting and to babysit the mawpot, although he informed me that he regretted including him overall as he always ended up out of range to be useful and felt like wasted points overall.
Andy had a tough route to 4-1, remaining on top table most of the event, taking a big win against IDK to kick off, followed by a tough Blood Knight list, then the Kroak list that beat me, a grudge match over the ‘new’ 4x Ironblaster + leadbelcher Ogor list before finally losing to the event’s winner Greg. The amount of pressure this list can put out can clearly only be resisted by unrendable ghosts with Nagash bringing loads back and shunting fistfuls of MWs through Kragnos’ 2+ save – definitely a counter to what is otherwise clearly a list that very few armies in the game can really withstand.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Army Subfaction: Hagg Nar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts: Crown of Woe(hammer) 1 x Morathi-Khaine (680)* 1 x The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Sciansá and Bladed Buckler 15 x Blood Sisters (420)* – Gorgai 10 x Blood Stalkers (360)* – Krone
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)
OTHER 9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (150)* – Shroud Queen 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)* – Shryke
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)
Danny: It me! First things first, I’m working on an in-depth tourney report including some deeper thinking on my list and a breakdown of the games, so for now I’ll give you the digest of HOW the list works rather than get bogged down in the why.
It’s relatively simple – a twist on the Morathi on the bowsnakes. I took 15 spears and 10 bows to lean more heavily into the reliable MWs. Witch aelves are a cheap screen and battleline pick with bladed bucklers for some hopeful clutch saves and mortal wound bouncing. I took Ironscale to make the sneks battleline and enable the run+charge for some key threat projection, but also because I wanted Hagg Nar to speed up Blood Rites, which saves me loads of CP and helps Morathi perform a lot better in early rounds (when she’s still alive!)
This event didn’t allow book battle tactics, so instead of a 2nd squad of Khinerai, I opted for Shadowstonkers, who are also just a relatively tanky and super mobile scoring piece.
Jaws rounds out the list as a spare point filler and another source of MWs against slower targets that my spear sneks might be scared or unable to get into. It’s all wrapped up in a one drop bat reg because this list really, really wants to avoid getting doubled. Of course, sometimes you come up against another 1 drop in round 5 and lose the roll-off….more on that and other exciting, brain-melting moments in my full report.
Want to say a quick but big kudos to both the organisers (Alex and Jonny) from our club, Sigmar’s Pilgrims, and to all my opponents and everyone else there – it was a hugely competitive field but the vibe was friendly and jolly as all hell – a fantastic, super hard fought event!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the South Coast Series Southampton that took place in the UK on 22nd and 23rd October. It involved 23 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Gardus Steel Soul (150)* Knight-Draconis (300)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Thunderous Presence – Spell: Thundershock – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate
Battleline 5 x Liberators (115)* – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield – 1x Grandweapons 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – Drakerider’s Lance – Reinforced x 1 2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)* – Drakerider’s Lance
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)* – Allies
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Additional Enhancements Holy Command: Call for Aid
Brett: Almost all of the dragons list with a Krondspine. Mobility and some decent punch, I like how Matt has dangled the MSU Liberators there just so you can kill something easily. That he can summon on to an objective or block a point with Call for Aid (return the Liberators once slain). Gardus for his 5+ ward, most likely near the 4 Stormdrakes, Knight Draconis so the Drakes are battle line. Hallowed Knights giving a 50/50 fight on death. This list can control a lot of the board, a 4 man drake unit can span 20″. The drakes can move 12″ and shoot 12″ making first turn priority important. He can dangle the Krondspine as a target and engage at will. The Knight Draconis is likely to stay close to the big drake unit as well for Thundershock to control the charge phase.
Depending on match up and mission going first might even be an advantage with this list, Blaze of Glory and fight on death is going to punish any successful attacks on the drakes. As the only 5/0 and with really high scores Matt tabled a number of his opponents. And that’s what this list really needs to do, in the early turns remove as many hammers as possible then clean up. The drake’s 9 wounds and profile make them very hard to shift. For opponents, what do you go after? None of his opponents had a lot of shooting or ranged shooting with MWs, the first list with drakes had pairs matching into the 4 drake unit. Hint – that doesn’t work well even with teleports.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave – Triumphs:
Leaders Krulghast Cruciator (150)** – General – Command Trait: Cloaked in Shadow – Artefact: Beacon of Nagashizzar Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (340)** – Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (115)** – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Battleline 10 x Chainrasps (110)*** 10 x Chainrasps (110)*** 5 x Hexwraiths (160) 5 x Hexwraiths (160) 5 x Hexwraiths (160) 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)* 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)* 10 x Grimghast Reapers (160)* 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)***
Brett: Nice to see Emerald Host back (and not Scarlet Doom) which means a few changes to the unit list. Emerald host slowly withers the opponent. This list plays into that, lots of units which take longer to clear (big hitting units don’t carry over their damage as far). Then Lady Olynder can once per battle brings back D6 models in every unit (they are all summonable). The Beacon also returns 1 model to each summonable unit (all of these). That will let the army stick around longer and score more. Mortalis Terminexus plays really well into this strategy as well (either heal or mortal wounds). There is still the Spirit Torment to help a unit that is being pressured and Krulghast for the damage debuff.
It’s great to see something different from Nighthaunt. Lots of options here with great speed from the Hexwraiths. It’s weakness is probably into something durable that does a lot of damage or the first round list he ran into. It would have removed a minimum of 2 units a turn and the Grimghasts are good, but not likely to kill Fulminators. Lady Olynder is vulnerable to long range shooting as well.
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Army Subfaction: Petrifex Elite – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Arkhan the Black (340)** – Spells: Protection of Nagash 1 x Liege-Kavalos (170)** – General – Command Traits: Mighty Archaeossian – Artefacts: Godbone Armour
BATTLELINE 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Mortek Hekatos – 2 x Necrophoros – Nadirite Blade and Shield 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Mortek Hekatos – 2 x Necrophoros – Nadirite Blade and Shield 20 x Mortek Guard (280)* – Necrophoros – Mortek Hekatos – Nadirite Blade and Shield 5 x Kavalos Deathriders (190)** – Mortek Hekatos – Necrophoros – Nadirite Spear and Shield
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Nightmare Predator (60)
TERRAIN 1 x Bone-tithe Nexus (0)
OTHER 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (175)** – Dread Falchions 3 x Necropolis Stalkers (175)** – Dread Falchions
Brett: Arkhan and 3 x 20 blocks of Mortek. Need to say more? They aren’t going to go far but you aren’t going to shift them either. Deathriders and Necropolis Stalkers give a little more manoeuvrable but this is an army that is going to spread out slowly and dare you to charge. And that works (see Ironjawz above). Beasts of Chaos overwhelmed them through a combination of strong rend and bodies (including summoning). The first round draw is more interesting, the Tzeentch list is essentially Horrors and Flamers, hard to kill and a lot of shooting. But they’d have to come into range (charges) and it had less bodies than this list. The ability to control more of the board and force your opponent into an unfavourable match up is the way this list grinds out wins.
Brett: Not a particularly techy list, Ironjawz with a Mawcrusha and Rogue Idol, 2 Warchanters and a mix of 12 gore-gruntas and ardboyz. In true orcish style, it either went off like a frog in a sock or didn’t quite get over the bar. Ironjawz struggle against armies that can bury them or screen them with cheap bodies, the pigs damage isn’t as prodigious as you might like. If you can feed screens to the Mawcrusha and Idol and pepper them with MWs as both of the Chaos lists did here you have a good chance. Still not an easy list to play against, particularly with how quickly the Idol can reach you, priority is key here. With only one Mawcrusha Matt hasn’t had to worry about giving himself another artefact. Interesting way Matt’s mixed tanky (Hulking Brute) and damage (Mean ‘Un) on the Mawcrusha.
This is still a solid Orruk list that can take a tournament (or close to) depending on the day and opponents.
