This is the top three AoS lists for 11.tes Scheunenrangeln that took place in Germany on the 20th and 21st of January. It saw 38 players vying to be crowned champion over 5 rounds.
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: Khorne – Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Slaughterpriest (110)* – Prayer: Killer Instinct – Nullstone Adornment: Pouch of Nulldust Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (310) – Artefact: Halo of Blood Skarbrand (380)*** Valkia the Bloody (140)** Slaughterpriest (110)** – Prayer: Blood Sacrifice Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (310)** – General – Command Trait: Firebrand – Artefact: A’rgath the King of Blades – Prayer: Bloodbind
Battleline 10 x Bloodreavers (80)** – Meatripper Axes 8 x Claws of Karanak (100)*** 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)***
Allegiance: Seraphon – Constellation: Fangs of Sotek – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Slann Starmaster (290)* – General – Command Trait: Lord of Celestial Resonance – Artefact: Spacefolder’s Stave – Spell: Comet’s Call Lord Kroak (410)** Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)** Skink Starseer (150)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Skink Starseer (150)* – Lore of Celestial Manipulation: Speed of Huanchi Pontifex Zenestra (180)** Matriarch of the Great Wheel – Allies
Battleline 10 x Skinks (90)** – 1 x Champion – Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 5 x Saurus Guard (140)** – 1 x Champion – 1 x Musician – 1 x Standard Bearer 5 x Saurus Guard (140)** – 1 x Champion – 1 x Musician – 1 x Standard Bearer 5 x Raptadon Charger (150)** – 1 x Champion – 1 x Musician – 1 x Standard Bearer
Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Army Subfaction: The Emerald Host Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight LEADER 1 x Dreadblade Harrow (110)* – General – Command Traits: Spiteful Spirit 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)** – Chill Blade – Artefacts: Midnight Tome – Spells: Shademist 1 x Lady Olynder (270)** – Spells: Spectral Tether 1 x Krulghast Cruciator (150)**
BATTLELINE 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)** 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)** 10 x Chainrasps (100)** – Dreadwarden 10 x Chainrasps (100)** – Dreadwarden
BEHEMOTH 1 x Black Coach (270)* – Reaper Scythe 1 x Black Coach (270)** – Reaper Scythe
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Mortalis Terminexus (80)
OTHER 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)* – Spectral Standard Bearer – Craven Huntmaster 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)* – Spectral Standard Bearer – Craven Huntmaster 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)* – Craven Huntmaster – Spectral Standard Bearer
This is the top three AoS lists for The Forge GTthat took place in the US on the 6th and 7th of January. It saw 36 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Gloomspite Gitz – Army Subfaction: King’s Gitz – Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Dankhold Troggboss (210)* – General – Command Traits: Alpha Trogg – Artefacts: Glowy Howzit 1 x Skragrott, the Loonking (230)* 1 x Madcap Shaman (70)* – Artefacts: Moonface Mommet – Spells: The Hand of Gork
BATTLELINE 20 x Moonclan Shootas (120) 20 x Moonclan Shootas (120) 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150) 5 x Boingrot Bounderz (150) 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (170)* 6 x Rockgut Troggoths (170)*
TERRAIN 1 x Bad Moon Loonshrine (0)
OTHER 10 x Loonsmasha Fanatics (110)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1950/2000)
My first commentary of the New Year for Gitz and it’s a King’s Gitz list! This type of ‘soup’ list isn’t as common lately, but as you can see, it still can perform to quite a high level. On to the list!
The Dankhold Troggoth general (with his popular defensive focused Alpha Trogg/Glowy Howzit combination) and two single reinforced units of Rockgut Troggoths are the meaty core of this list. Functioning as part hammer, part anvil they do the majority of the heavy lifting.
The two Boingrot Bounderz units typically act as fast, hard-hitting flankers (allowing you access to a wider range of battle tactics). In this list, they can also be good frontline trading units setting up the Rockguts for maximum destruction and, in a pinch, they are affordable enough they can even be used as screens.
The two Moonclan Shootas units offer some additional ranged support but are primarily there as your objective scorers. The hard-hitting, strikes-first, reinforced Loonsmasha Fanatics will appear out of one of these units at the most inopportune for the opponent. They are an absolute glass cannon, particularly when their variable attack count spikes.
The Madcap Shaman and Skragrott provide the spell casting and utility for the list. The Madcap’s Moonface Mommet artefact (-1 save debuff) and Hand of Gork spell (teleport) are his two biggest contributions. Where Skragrott has so much utility, if you don’t know what he does, it’s probably easier to just have you check out his warscroll!
Congratulations to Matt on his first place finish to open up the New Year!
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Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Subfaction: The Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Awlrach the Drowner (150)* Dreadblade Harrow (110)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome Spirit Torment (120)*** Spirit Torment (120)*** Krulghast Cruciator (150)***
5-0 with NH in the current meta is much more than 2nd place in my heart. Amazing job, Paul Wilmes!
The list breakdown is pretty much selling the 8th season of ‘rasps’ is the new spam, with a small death star of reapers and revenants. A couple of spirited revivers (which is torment for these guys), a krul thing to reduce damage (not), and a travelling boatman.
Finished off with a teleporting spellcaster for one of everyone’s favorite grand strategies of the season, to be down to good positioning.
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Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Scinari Calligrave (110)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Scinari Cathallar (120)* – General – Command Traits: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand – Spells: Speed of Hysh Archmage Teclis (740)** The Light of Eltharion (230)**
BATTLELINE Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)** – High Warden – Spells: Overwhelming Heat Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)** – High Warden – Spells: Speed of Hysh Vanari Bladelords (240)**
OTHER Hurakan Windchargers (140)**
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
Hey everyone, back at it with another shiny elf list review. This time around, we’re centred around the Zaitrec subfaction. The inclusion of Scinari Calligrave and Scinari Cathallar adds both offensive and supportive spellcasting capabilities to the force. With the Merciless Blizzard and Speed of Hysh spells at their disposal, they can control engagements and enhance the overall mobility of the army. Furthermore, the Calligraves’ ability to OPG makes an area of the field a haven for your casters, and troops alike can’t be understated.
Big Teclis at the centre is always a respectable choice, though given his substantial point cost, you do start running low on bodies. That being said, though, Teclis brings unparalleled countermagic prowess, and his ability to securely score Magical Dominance all by his lonesome means he enables multiple battle tactics with his inclusion. The Light of Eltharion, aka The Butcher of Tor Yvresse, adds another layer of versatility, giving a consistent source of rend 3 to ensure the list can handle various threats effectively. It’s worth noting that Eltharion also gets around the new and improved Look Out Sir due to his shooting ability not being a missile weapon. Snipe those heroes!
At battleline we have two sets of Wardens and a big brick of Bladelords providing the foundation, with the Wardens bringing a copy of Overwhelming Heat and a redundant Speed of Hysh it’s likely that you’ll always be able to utilize the mobility the latter provides. Bladelords usually operate as a bodyguard in their five man units, but as a 10 man brick their a solid choice for a hammer. With both perfect strike or the horde clearing mode offering a consistent amount of damage regardless of what the situation calls for. A great tech piece is the Hurakan Windchargers as they adds mobility and a fast-attack element to the army, and if truth be told it’s the reach piece that I’d be playing if I were looking for one. The Umbral Spellportal and Aethervoid Pendulum as Endless Spells provide additional strategic options, enhancing the list’s overall flexibility and damage output through the hero phase.
Taking the Andtorian Acolytes and Battle Regiment as their Battalions means that you are a nice and tidy 3 drops coming in at 2000 points on the nose. Well done and good showing.
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Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Magister (140)* – General – Command Traits: Arcane Sacrifice – Spells: Glimpse the Future, Arcane Suggestion 1 x Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – Spells: Shield of Fate, Glimpse the Future 1 x Kairos Fateweaver (440)** 1 x Ephilim the Unknowable (190)** – Spells: Tzeentch’s Firestorm, Unchecked Mutation 1 x Fateskimmer (150)** – Artefacts: The Eternal Shroud – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Hoarfrost
BATTLELINE 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120) – Kairic Adept – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120) – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Ungors (80) – Brayhorn Blower – Banner Bearer – Halfhorn – Pitted Blade 20 x Jade Obelisk (130)**
BEHEMOTH 1 x Chaos Warshrine (180) – Prayers: Heal
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (70) 1 x Aethervoid Pendulum (40) 1 x Tome of Eyes (40)
OTHER 4 x Ephilim’s Pandaemonium (190)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Without a dedicated Tzeentch writer, we opened up the commentary to members of our Discord. The Heroic Zammy from.club Wartilyo in the Philippines stepped up to the plate.
‐————-
Zammy: Overall, the list generates a lot of fate points by casting spells while controlling the hero and movement phase. – List is also surprisingly tough to shift using destiny dice and buffs to protect the jade obelisk block. – I assume he summons fluxmaster/blue horrors for screens and more spells. – list locks down enemy in deployment with magister + bolt of change + arcane sacrifice and burning sigil to summon chaos spawn – casts 9-10 spells a turn – threatens open objectives with a teleporting unit, ephilim’s pandaemonium
Heroes – Having the magister as the general is really interesting. If it kills something with its Bolt of Change spell, a chaos spawn spawns, and having arcane sacrifice on this makes is a 27″ chaos spawn summoning platform. – Ogroid thaumaturge is more of a support piece here with a glimpse for the shield of fate for destiny dice and wards – Kairos, as usual, is our big mortal canon. He gets Tome of Eyes to protect him from double 1’s. Unfortunately, it’s hard to keep it on the board because of how easy it is to dispel. – Ephilim and the pandaemonium threaten any backline objectives left open. They’re our one teleporting unit with limited teleports to and from objectives. It’s also a mortal wound platform for turns when it can’t teleport – Fateskimmer for a mobile blizzard platform with destiny dice generation
As you may have noticed, we’re very behind on our Top Three lists. So, to correct this, we’ll be posting top threes over the next couple of weeks without comments. Many of the lists you’ll have already seen in past articles, so hopefully, you won’t miss the comments too much!
This is the top three AoS lists for Grudgefest GT 2023 that took place in Canada on the 28th and 29th of October. It saw 28 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumph: Indomitable (battleshock)
LEADERS Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – General – Command Traits: Shaman of the Chilled Lands (All Lore of Frost Spells) – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork (Teleport) Wurrgog Prophet (170)* (Zap Daddy with the eye lasers) – Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz (4+ ward) – Spells: Hoarfrost Gobsprakk (240)** (d3 or d6 mortals when he unbinds and is Kruleboyz Loremaster) Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat (d3 Heal) Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat (3d6 charge) Megaboss on Maw-krusha (450)*** – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist (3+ save) – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer (+3 damage to bearers melee weapon once per game) – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un (once per game hero phase move)
BATTLELINE Gutrippaz (150)** (-1 to be hit from non Hero/ non monsters) – Gutrippa Hornblower (+1 charge) – Gutrippa Banner Bearer (+1 Bravery) – Gutrippa Boss – Wicked Stikka Orruk Brutes (280)*** – Brute Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka – Boss Choppa Orruk Brutes (140)*** – Brute Boss – Boss Choppa – Jagged Gore-hacka
OTHER Brute Ragerz (200)*** (built in run and charge) – 6 x Mighty Gore-hacka
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
Big Waagh is seriously enjoying a resurgence at the moment, off the back of recent battlescrolls aimed at making battle tactic scoring easier for both Kruleboyz and Ironjawz – forgetting, perhaps, that BW had access to both sets…
But here we have an enjoyable, slightly off-meta version of the most comp Orruk-All-Star list. The auto-picks such as Wurrgog, Gobsprakk, Warchanter and Maw-krusha and 15 Brutes are there of course. But then we also have a cheeky Gutrippaz unit, whose -1 to hit if you’re not a hero/monster can still make them an effective screen with some MW potential. And we also see the inclusion of a reinforced Ragerz unit, whose built in run and charge has obvious threat potential and synergy with Waagh point generation.
Overall, the list has a tonne of scoring play and a good amount of bodies and trade up potential. Waagh is BIG these days for a reason.
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Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Subfaction: Heartwood – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Bloodthirsty – Seasons of War: The Dwindling
LEADERS Spirit of Durthu (350)* – Artefacts of Power: Greenwood Gladius Warsong Revenant (300)** – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts of Power: The Vesperal Gem – Spells: Treesong, Verdant Blessing Treelord Ancient (330)** – Spells: Flaming Weapon, Verdant Blessing Battlemage (100)** – Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur)
What Sylvaneth often historically lack is a really good, fast, durable objective bully – I say historically because Belthanos is about to terrorise the entire meta… but in the meantime, a good solution is to ally in a unit of Tempestors, who compliment the strike/fade gameplan nicely.
The rest of the list is now the standard core for Sylvaneth and isn’t much to write home about, but the core tools are still clearly capable of causing trouble for even the strongest meta armies – beating Soulblight and Waagh, despite the one loss to Khorne who just have the tools to shut down all the utility casting of the Treelord Ancient and WSR.
A great pre-Belthanos result, probably the last list we see without him for… ever? Kudos to James!
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Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Subfaction: The Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (130)* – General – Command Traits: Spiteful Spirit – Artefacts of Power: Soulfire Ring Reikenor the Grimhailer (170)* – Spells: Lifestealer Lord Executioner (120)* Guardian of Souls (150)** – Chill Blade – Artefacts of Power: Midnight Tome – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Lady Olynder (270)** – Spells: Seal of Shyish Spirit Torment (120)**
Kieren Coates: Now heres a skaven list with some wild additions no-one saw coming – showing the true versatility of the skaven book we have many units coming back from the grave including the deathmaster, skyre acolytes, plague monks, and both warpfire thrower and ratling gun weapon teams.
With a list looking like its been pulled out of 2021, it plays similarly to its old counterpart, but now the screaming bell no longer gives battleshock immunity like the good ol days, but now the furnace does instead!
The list has explosive melle output, demonstrated by its round 5 win taking down sons of behemat. 3×20 plague monks buffed with death frenzy and hoarfrost will trade down almost any unit in the game, combined with backup ranged support from 10 acolytes, a ratling gun and endless spells to provide output from a distance.
Running the age old strategy of buffing plague monks, giving them death frenzy and sending them in to die it brings the output, but with the modern addition of blizzard, hoarfrost, and triple masterclan it has far better consistency not only in getting them in, but also aggressively countering anything that dares to charge your frontline.
for 180 points you get 20 plague monks, which on the charge, rabid rabid hit for an impressive 120 attacks, even at 0 rend thats still a lot of damage.
However with death frenzy enabled on the counter killing all 20 models, thats 240 attacks for the combat from only 180 points of models, youre going to be taking some heat and with hoarfrost up its a certain death sentence.
The deathmaster with gnawbomb lets once per game any terrain piece next to the deathmaster to be turned into a gnawhole, so if required expect the list to suddenly flip to one area of the map as plague monks pour out, with +1 to charge and triple masterclan giving them incredible consistency of landing their charge and taking out their intended target.
The list has explosive melle, clanrats for chaffing, ranged output from spells – My only fear would be having the bulk of your wounds on 6+ armour saves, the likes of Blissbarbs, KO, Fusilers and sentinels might just throw you down from a distance if youre not careful enough.
Shouldnt be a problem though for Nic piloting to a 4-1 showing he knows how to keep the rats safe when he needs to, and send them to certain death when its even more important and the timing is right – Well done
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Final Tournament Placings
To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings
As you may have noticed, we’re very behind on our Top Three lists. So, to correct this, we’ll be posting top threes over the next couple of weeks without comments. Many of the lists you’ll have already seen in past articles, so hopefully, you won’t miss the comments too much!
This is the top three AoS lists for Raccoon Rumble 2023: Age of Sigmar that took place in Germany on the 3rd and 4th of November. It saw 166 players vying to be crowned champion in a 6-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: Big Waaagh! – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs:
Leaders Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork (240)** Orruk Warchanter (120)*** – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)** – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)* – General – Command Trait: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Wurrgog Prophet (170)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost – Artefact: Glowin Tattooooooz
Battleline 10 x Orruk Brutes (280)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 10 x Orruk Brutes (280)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 5 x Orruk Brutes (140)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 1x Gore Choppas 5 x Orruk Brutes (140)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 1x Gore Choppas
Units 10 x Hobgrot Slittaz (80)** 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas
Allegiance: Gloomspite Gitz Gittish Horde: King’s Gitz Grand Strategy: Chasing the Moon Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Skragrott, The Loonking (230)* Webspinner Shaman (65)** Lore of Primal Frost: Hoarfrost Squigboss with Gnasha-squig (110)** General Command Trait: The Clammy Hand Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
Battleline 15 x Boingrot Bounderz (450)* Reinforced x 2 15 x Boingrot Bounderz (450)* Reinforced x 2 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (120)* 20 x Moonclan Stabbas (120)
Units 5 x Loonsmasha Fanatics (110)* 5 x Loonsmasha Fanatics (110) 5 x Gobbapalooza (170)* Spell1: Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Leaders Great Unclean One (430)* – General – Plague Flail & Doomsday Bell – Command Trait: Nurgling Infestation – Artefact: The Witherstave – Lore of Virulence: Fleshy Abundance Sloppity Bilepiper, Herald of Nurgle (120)** Poxbringer Herald of Nurgle (130)* – Lore of Virulence: Fleshy Abundance
Battleline 30 x Plaguebearers (360)** – Reinforced x 2 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (100)* 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (100)* 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (100)* 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (100)** 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (100)** 1 x Beasts of Nurgle (100)**
Units 3 x Plague Drones (200)* 3 x Nurglings (100)**
Roland Rivera: A very straightforward Nurgle list, this one is trying to do one thing and one thing only: clog the board with a bunch of hard-to-kill bodies and dominate the objectives. The singleton Beasts of Nurgle run interference while the Plaguebearers occupy the center of the board. The Nurglings pressure backfields and rack up contagion points in order to summon even more Daemons
In the Hero department, The Great Unclean One provides support in the form of Fleshy Abundance (for extra Wounds on the Plaguebearer brick) and The Witherstave (for more efficient disease damage), and Monstrous Rampages by virtue of being a Hero Monster. The Poxbringer provides a backup Fleshy Abundance caster, and the Sloppity Bilepiper has the usual pile-in denial shenanigans to give other melee armies fits.
While the gameplan is simple, the success is laudable – this sort of list was not considered to be a serious contender just a few months ago. This result, aided by the Battlescroll shaving down the points on most of the units in the list, clearly argues otherwise.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs:
Leaders Dreadblade Harrow (110)** – General – Command Trait: Terrifying Entity Guardian of Souls (150)** – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Krulghast Cruciator (150)** Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (270)* – Lore of the Underworlds: Spectral Tether
Battleline 10 x Chainrasps (100)** 10 x Chainrasps (100)** 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)** 3 x Spirit Hosts (130)**
Units 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)* 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)* 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)*
This is the top three AoS lists for the Michigan GT that took place in the US on the 7th and 8th of October. It involved 90 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Meatfist – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Tyrant (150)* – General – Command Traits: Killer Reputation – Big Name: Brawlerguts , Fateseeker 1 x Tyrant (150)* – Big Name: Brawlerguts 1 x Slaughtermaster (140)** – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (460)** – Artefacts: The Seat of Alvagr – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder 1 x Firebelly (120)** – Spells: Billowing Ash
BATTLELINE 6 x Ogor Gluttons (240)** – Bellower – Crusher – Tribal Banner Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar – Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades 4 x Ironguts (240)** – Gutlord – Bellower – Rune Maw Bearer 6 x Ogor Gluttons (240)** – Crusher – Bellower – Tribal Banner Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar – Paired Ogor Clubs or Bluntblades
Well. Well well well. What have we got here? It looks like a well balance, non-skewy Meatfist list without Kragnos! And it’s only gone and gone 5-0!
So let’s try and break down how. The first obvious synergy is the two Brawlerguts Tyrants in Meatfists – what this means in practice is they’re doing charge mortals equal to on 3+s on dice equal to their charge roll. So that’s already a spicy little duo of pot-bellied rockets. The Firebelly is enjoying a bit of a resurgence in this season, mainly because of his Billowing Ash spell, which is a 12″ aura of -1 to hit, which is obviously fantastic and can now more reliably forced through with primals. You’ve also got the typical FloSH because it just represents too much utility and threat projection to leave home without.
Making up the ‘meat’ of the list are 2 units of gluttons and some Ironguts, who all received points drops recently making them much more viable. And with the +1 to charge mortal rolls from their sub-faction, are all looking for 4+ (while they’re over 2 models). The foot lads can be surprisingly slappy, and the Ironguts mean a once per game double-fight activation where necessary to tip the scales.
Rounding out the list and fitting nicely into a 2-drop, are two little bits of fun tech. Gnoblars are perennially fantastic screens who can punish people for getting close with yet more sneaky mortals, and the lone Gorger is an off-board piece for helping score Surround/Destroy or threatening a back objective. They also have the additional tech for turning off battleshock immunity and rally if they’re engaged, which in concert with another charge can potentially be devastating.
All told, the list clearly just works. It’s big, it’s slightly clever, and it’s frankly very honest. Love to see it going 5-0.
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Army Faction: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Arch-corruptors of the Mortal Realms – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Grey Seer (120)* – Spells: Skitterleap, Merciless Blizzard 1 x Grey Seer (120)* – Spells: Hoarfrost, Death Frenzy 1 x Lord Skreech Verminking (370)** 1 x Plague Priest (100)** – Prayers: Rabid-rabid! 1 x Verminlord Warbringer (380)** – General – Command Traits: Devious Adversary – Artefacts: Warpstone Charm – Spells: Flaming Weapon, Levitate 1 x Plague Priest (100)** – Prayers: Heal
BATTLELINE 20 x Clanrats (100) – Clawleader – 2 x Clanrat Standard Bearer – 2 x Clanrat Bell-ringer – Rusty Blade 20 x Clanrats (100) – Clawleader – 2 x Clanrat Standard Bearer – 2 x Clanrat Bell-ringer – Rusty Blade 10 x Plague Censer Bearers (90) 10 x Plague Censer Bearers (90)
BEHEMOTH 1 x Hell Pit Abomination (180)
OTHER 1 x Warp-Grinder (60)**
CORE BATTALIONS: *Andtorian Acolytes **Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
Keegan Graves: Essentially the list is built around superior combat tricks, counter charging, and threat saturation. I have 5 units that do good damage in melee, and 3 that do ranged mortal wounds from spells and prayers. Then the list is designed around enabling those damage sources.
Three clawsteps ahead is the strongest ability in the skaven battletome, by far. It gives the list so much consistency in movement, and so much flexibility in the combat phase. The extra pile ins, combined with 3” melee on the verminlords, fight on death, and the consistent charges, allows me to pick good activations to get the best value out of my melee troops, as well as extending my melee threat ranges significantly. This also combos well with the warp grinder, who usually deep-strikes a unit of censers to the battlefield, ready to fish for a 9” charge. With 3 clawsteps I essentially get 3 tries for the 9”, 1 with a prior unit, and the censers themselves with a reroll.
The plague priests and wizards give my army essentially a 13” kill box. Skreechs warscroll spell and the great plagues especially can gun down something with an average of 15 mortal wounds when I focus the two. It helps with dissuading people from charging my lines, as well as clearing space for my units to charge.
The list, simply put, just pumps out damage, everything in the army hits like a ton of bricks, from the verminlords to the hellpit to the censer bearers. The list can snowball very fast and is designed to secure games in the first 2-3 turns, to make up for skaven struggling on the tactic side.
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Lord of Afflictions (230)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Shield of Growths The Glottkin (580)* – Lore of Malignance: Blades of Putrefaction
Units 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (240)* – 1x Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (240)* – 1x Dolorous Tocsin 20 x Plaguebearers (240)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Rotmire Creed (300)* – Reinforced x 1 1 x Pusgoyle Blightlords – Single (120)*
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1950 / 2000
Roland Rivera: Another week, another Glottkin list with a podium result – seems like that points cut is making quite the impact. The metagame shifting to be more melee-centric doesn’t hurt, either. This list is an interesting spin on using the Glottkin, however, as Drowned Men is usually not the subfaction chosen for that sort of list, as going heavy on Pusgoyle Blightlords typically burns through your points allotment in a hurry. However, with a bit of compromising on his Fly count, Raymond has made it work.
This list has paired The Glottkin with some interesting dance partners, as it features both a reinforced unit of Plaguebearers (useful for pinning opponents in place with big blobs of bodies) and Rotmire Creed (useful for peppering the opponent with shooting). It also features a Lord of Afflictions with Overpowering Stench as a way to shut off commands.
In summary, this list seems to be the result of mashing the two best-performing styles of Nurgle together to see what happens, but the end result seems to be strong enough to perform well.
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Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs:
Leaders Krulghast Cruciator (150) – General – Command Trait: Terrifying Entity Guardian of Souls (150)* – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist Guardian of Souls (150)* – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (270)** – Lore of the Underworlds: Spirit Drain
Units 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (160)** 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (160)** 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (160)** 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (160)** 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (160)** 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (90) 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (90) Black Coach (270)
Craig Ellis: In terms of support there are 2 GoS with their excellent +1 to wound aura, healing spell & one with Merciless Blizzard (extra primals needed from the acolytes battalion) & Shademist (-1 to be wounded on a unit) on the other making a unit extra hard to kill. This durability is helped with the Krulghast -1 to damage in melee aura. The Generals command trait extends the Aura of Dread trait to 6” away, meaning he’s extending the range of denying Inspiring Prescence, helping with battle tactics and also adding a bit more damage (Lady O’s lifting the veil ability adds +1MW if the enemy is terrified!) Lady O herself provides that once-per-battle bringing back models to every unit in the army to keep stuff around a bit longer, and a 5+ Command Ability deny from 12” away to help deny crucial Redeploys or AoD’s. Her Lifting the Veil is great for sniping foot heroes (don’t roll a 1!). The spirit drain spell she’s been given adds to the anti-horde theme. All of this helps charge up the Black Coach, as the dice ticks up every time a model dies within 12”, meaning he’s going to be getting multiple attempts in the game to unleash the 3d3 MW rocket from the Coach, with its Evocation of Death ability. The Suffocating Gravetide is the cherry on top for those hordes, providing a serious threat to large model count units, as well as being a giant base for controlling enemy movement. The main weakness is staying in power. If he gets drawn into any attritional lengthy combats, he’s going to lose. Anything getting a successful alpha into this is going to put some serious hurt in, too. Careful deployment is required as there aren’t too many screens unless you count the banshees. It’s will require careful positioning to strike at the right time without being left open to the double turn.
It’s aggressive, has high output, scores well, and doesn’t care about the Nighthaunts main weakness, being its susceptibility to the hit back. Very nice.
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Final Tournament Placings
To view all of the results for the tournament please follow the link below to Best Coast Pairings
This is the top three AoS lists for Summer Slaughter that took place in the United States on the 22nd and 23rd of July. It involved 113 players vying to be champion in a 5 round tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch – Army Subfaction: Guild of Summoners – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (160)* – Spells: Glimpse the Future, Hoarfrost – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur 1 x Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)** – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Arcane Suggestion 1 x Lord of Change (380)** – General – Command Traits: Daemonspark – Staff of Tzeentch and Rod of Sorcery – Artefacts: Nine-Eyed Tome – Spells: Ghost-mist, Flaming Weapon 1 x Magister (140)** – Spells: Rupture, Merciless Blizzard
BATTLELINE 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – 3 x Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield 10 x Tzaangors (180)* – Twistbray – Icon Bearer – Brayhorn Blower – 2 x Tzaangor Mutant – Pair of Savage Blades 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – Kairic Adept – Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield – Scroll of the Dark Arts – Vulcharc – Cursed Glaive and Arcanite Shield
BEHEMOTH 1 x Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Umbral Spellportal (80) 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (80) 1 x Burning Sigil Of Tzeentch (70)
Kieron Bailey: Kaleb Walters, the Lord of Lords of Change is at it again with yet another 5-0 and event victory in the bag. There are some Kaleb staples in this list: Guild of Summoners, a Krondspine, Kairics as screens that are just annoying enough to be a pain and a Lord of Change in place of Kairos.
Added to this are some tweaks added by the new GHB in the shape of all three new spells being represented. Hoarfrost in addition to Tzaangor could result in 30 rend -3 attacks from a unit that can run and charge; Merciless Blizzard for a close-range magical shotgun and, much to the relief of the Magister the Krondspine is bonded to, the spell Rupture can make the Krondspine go wild without having to kill the Magister using Destiny Dice. Just in case you haven’t come across this trick before, not only do you get the +1 to hit and run and charge but you can feed it the Umbral Spellportal each turn to keep it at top level for the whole game.
The Lord of Change load out also is a tip of the hat to the nerf to Chronomantic Cogs, with the Nine-eyed Tome being used to give the Big Bird full re-rolls to cast along with Daemonspark to give Kaleb a real headstart to getting the 9 Fate Points needed for a Lord of Change T1.
The other real strength of this list is its ability to pump up the rend in a variety of ways. We’ve already covered Hoarfrost, but the Ogroid also has Arcane Suggestion, with one of the options being to reduce the armour save by one of an enemy and then there’s the Purple Sun to subtract one from save rolls.
To summarise, you have a list that can really throttle the damage it can do, with a range of battle tactics at its disposal (all book tactics are achievable with this build) and driven by a general at the height of his powers. The end result – another well-deserved trophy for Kaleb!
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Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant
LEADERS Katakros (460)* Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Empower Nadirite Weapons Mortisan Soulmason (160)* – General – Command Traits: Dark Acolyte – Spells: Hoarfrost
Walter Brock: Today, we are looking at a Null Myriad list. Null Myriad has been popping up for a while this season, and we can expect them to be a staple for Bonereaper lists. An important thing to note is that Katakros is Mortis Preatorians so he will not be able to benefit from the 2+ spell ignore while wholly within 9” of a Mortisan hero, but proper positioning can easily mitigate that.
The Grand strategy of choice is spell casting savant. Combining this with the Immortis Guard. Means that pretty much almost half the list must die before the General can even die.
Katakros is a powerhouse. Giving a massive 24” bubble on +1 to hit and +1 to save makes everything in the list better and perform above their weight. Katakros himself is no slaker either in melee. He starts slow, but when he takes damage, he gets better and better. When he sees an enemy hero, he gets to work and acts at the most “fighty profile” being able to take down even the toughest of targets.
The Boneshaper bringing the artisans key allows it to potentially use its healing ability twice. Combining this with Katakros’s healing ability could allow this list to revive four Immortis guard a turn. Boneshaper uses its ability twice and Katakros can pick both Immortis units. Its war scroll spell is also very powerful for clearing large units. Rolling a dice for every model in a unit and doing a mortal for every 5+ can lead to very large amounts of damage.
The Soulmason helps cranks the army up and over the hill for list support. Masons know every spell in the Bonereapers lore so they can take Hoarfrost without giving anything up in return. They have two casts and could potentially get more casts of their war scroll spell “Soul- guide” at the end of the hero phase. Giving a Deathrider or Mortek unit +1 to wound. Dark acolyte causes their first spell from the Ossiarch Lore not stoppable. Imagine a unit of death riders hitting on twos, wounding on threes, at a potential Rend three because of hoarfrost and exploding 5s to hit for the riders because of Empower nadorite. Ouch.
The Deathriders can do many things. From acting as screen to taking very far objective. With the above-mentioned combo they can hit incredibly hard. With the ability to do mortal wounds on the charge, being able to charge over models with three or less wounds for a command ability and having a 6” inch pile in on the charge they can get into vary hard to reach places and snipe out important models or get into places that are very inconvenient for an opponent.
Lastly, we arrive on the Immortis Guard. Two whole units of these beasts of bone. These take the hurt and can dish them out in Return. Being able to bodyguard for heros is very powerful and means that the important support models usually won’t die until the models they are supporting are already gone. Just be careful, the Immortis’s bodyguard ability is not optional. Meaning a player might be able to get around the Immortis and hit the Boneshaper or Mason in the back and find it easier to do damage to Immortis that way.
All of this fits nicely inside a battle Regiment. Giving the Bonereapers player most of the time the option of deciding who will go first. A very cool list and very hard to take down. Well done to this player!
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Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Army Subfaction: The Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Fright or Flight – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)* – Artefacts: Midnight Tome – Spells: Seal of Shyish 1 x Reikenor the Grimhailer (170)* – Spells: Shademist 1 x Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (130)* – General – Command Traits: Spiteful Spirit – Artefacts: Arcane Tome
BATTLELINE 10 x Hexwraiths (360) – Hellwraith 5 x Hexwraiths (180) – Hellwraith 5 x Hexwraiths (180) – Hellwraith 5 x Hexwraiths (180) – Hellwraith
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Lauchon the Soulseeker (50) 1 x Mortalis Terminexus (80)
OTHER 10 x Craventhrone Guard (160) – Craven Huntmaster – 2 x Spectral Standard Bearer 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80) – Craven Huntmaster – 2 x Spectral Standard Bearer 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80) 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (90)* 4 x Myrmourn Banshees (90)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
We’ve little in the way of Nighthaunt specialists at the Woe Towers, so I asked for Nighthaunt volunteers from our friendly discord, and Craig was up for the challenge! We’ll no doubt be hearing more from Craig in the future!
Craig Ellis: at this, a 5-0 Nighthaunt list! I’ll preface the breakdown by pointing out this was piloted by Nate Trentanelli who, as the #1 Nighthaunt player in the world, should probably start with a 500pt handicap or something. Anyway, on to the list, and this list is absolutely bonkers.
Running the subfaction Emerald host means he’ll pick D3+1 units at the start of the battle and at the end of each battle round can do D3 Mortal Wounds (on a 2+) to each of them. This is going to be great to put on those pesky Andtorian Loci to chip away and start finishing them off by Round 3 or 4. Fright or Flight as the Grand Strategy is pretty standard at this point and easily achieved due to the mobility of this list.
He’s gone magic heavy with the heroes in this list, clearly trying to make use of the Primal mechanic and the excellent utility in the NH spell lore. The Guardian of Souls is an AL and carries the Midnight Tome artefact, which autocasts an endless spell once per battle that cannot be unbound. Seal of Shyish will provide a 5+ ward to a nearby unit for added tankiness for holding objectives and his built in warscroll spell can heal (or resurrect) up to d6.
Reikenor the Grimhailer is an underrated caster who can get +3 to cast in exchange for taking a MW. This means he’s going to be getting Shademist off pretty reliably for that sweet -1 to Wound on a unit, making that objective holding bubble that much tougher to shift. He’ll also be great for hunting down wizards with his 14″ movement and bonus to attacks with Fellreaper for fighting priests and wizards. Then there’s the Knight of Shrouds on Steed, which is a bit of an off meta pick (which this list specialises in!). He has the Arcane Tome to make him a wizard (as well as an AL), which means he can jump for a ride with Lauchon the Bringy Dinghy (which you’re autocasting with the GoS). The 12″ movement of the KoSoES means you’re pretty much getting into combat with whatever you want in turn 1. He has a decent combat profile, meaning he’s going to be making short work of any annoying screens or enemy ALs. The command trait Spiteful Spirit means he’s going to be rolling a d6 for each wound on his wounds characteristic and for each 4+ will be a MW for every unit within 6″. Adding wounds to his characteristic throughout the battle with the Sword of Stolen Hours ability means this can get real nasty, real fast. The trigger for this is that he has to take damage and not die, but as long as you pick targets wisely, this can be wicked.
As for the Units. Hexwraiths (25 of them!) and 20 Crossboos. I mean, why wouldn’t you!? The Hexwraiths are going to be scattering, capping objectives, scoring tactics, doing impact hits on the charge, and just generally giving the opponent a lot to think about. The ability to move up to 30″ in a turn means they’re going to be wherever they want to be, and having 4 separate units of them is just going to give the opponent nightmares. Whilst they’re figuring out how to deal with that, he has 3 units of Craventhrone Guard blobbing up, getting made more tanky by spells and just generally being a bit of a pain to shift and doing chip damage with shooting attacks. The ability to put up to 3 units in the grave at the start of the battle also means these can pop up anywhere on the field outside of 9″ for some extra chip damage. Two blocks of Myrmourn Banshees provide spell eating capability to shore up one of the main weaknesses here (taking MWs) and being a decent melee hammer in their own right. The Mortalis Terminexus provides an additional Mortal Wound threat to round off the high MW damage theme this army has going on. It can also reverse time, meaning it can provide healing for his heroes as required. The aim here is to remove the opponents’ support & tech pieces early on to reduce threats. It just so happens that wins versus Khorne, Kruleboyz, OBR & SBGL (x2) all armies that are prone to being reliant on auras and buffs from small foot heroes, wizards & priests. With the added impetus on ALs in this GHB means this list has been tailor-made to carefully dismantle an armies’ tricks & capabilities rather than fight a pitched battle in the middle. To win with this clearly takes skill & intrinsic knowledge of the movement abilities and just the sheer ability to force your opponent into mistakes by giving them too many decisions to make. Nate is clearly a master of the army, and to go 5-0 with this is absolute genius. Well done!
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Army Faction: Sons of Behemat – Army Type: Breaker Tribe – Grand Strategy: Make the Land Tremble! – Triumphs: Inspired – Fierce Loathings: Bossy Pants and Clever Clogs
LEADER 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – General – Command Traits: Monstrously Tough – Artefacts: Glowy Shield of Protectiness 1 x Gatebreaker (500)* – Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon 1 x Kraken-Eater (480)* – Artefacts: Extra-calloused Feet
BATTLELINE 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)** 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)** 1 x Mancrusher Gargant (140)**
CORE BATTALIONS: *Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent **Footsloggas – Swift
TOTAL POINTS: (1900/2000)
Our next commentator needs no introduction! You’re probably on his discord and have watched all of his videos on the YouTubes. Coach is, as you’re all aware, a big Gargants fan, so I asked him if he’d be interested in commenting on this list and telling us a bit about Gargants in the new GHB.
G’day Stompers, let’s break down the deep options available to us Sons of Behemat players and how this list works.
Sons are in an interesting spot in the meta with the Generals Handbook ‘23. The latest Woehammer meta stats have shown that Sons of Behemat have a strong win rate but low representation at tournaments. We can’t play with Andtorian Locus (GW can we PLEASE ally some 70pt wizard) which not only stops me from Hoarfrosting my Gate-Breaker’s flail down to a 2+ to Hit but also restricts how many GHB battle tactics we can score. If you want to do well, you’ll need to build a list that makes the most of your Battletome BT’s.
The list starts with 2x Gate Breaker Mega Gargants who deals the most damage compared to the counterparts. Gate Breakers have recently enjoyed a points discount which has helped this list all but secure the +1 to wound Triumph at 1,900 points as it’s critical to getting the most out of their flail attack.
Sons power comes from staying alive as most armies struggle to claim an objective off a Mega Gargant. Monstrously Tough command trait adds +5 wounds to the General and the Glowy Shield of Protection will ignore rend -1 attacks and bounce some mortal wounds back on a save roll of a 6.
While we don’t get access to Hoarfrost or Merciless Blizzards we do get access to Primal Magic Dice and the Hand-carved Nullstone Icon is a great selection as it allows one of the Megas to attempt to unbind 1 spell or dispel 1 endless spell each round. Put some primal magic dice behind that unbind without fear of a primal miscast, and each time you unbind/dispel with this unit you’ll get 1 additional unbind.
Why not take a 4th Mega Gargant you might ask? The 3 independent Mancrushers bring a lot to a Sons army.
They can be left on an objective and will counting as 10 which makes it hard to steal from deep strikes and requires commitment to claim it off us.
In Breaker Tribe you can issue Ramming Speed to a Mancrusher for a 3D6” charge which brings greater consistency to your charge phase, be used to score Bait and Trap or Led into the Maelstrom battle tactic, as well as a few cheeky mortal wounds to your opponent when completing that charge.
Make the Land Tremble! grand strategy requires a unit to run or charge each turn and in a 4 Mega Gargant list you can find this hard to achieve if you’re grinding it out in combat.
Gargant players hate units that ignore rend and with ethereal vampire lords on zombie dragons or in the case of David’s first 2 matches, a really unfortunate double Nighthaunt match up, the Gate-Breakers come into their own with the ultimate gamble in Pulverising Strike where you trade your attacks for 1 single dice roll. If you can roll a 4+, 1 unit within 3” will suffer 4D6 mortal wounds. With the inconsistent attack profiles in Sons, this attack is worth the gamble because you’ll likely do more damage than trying to grind it out without rend.
I’d be curious to hear from David on the value that the Kraken Eater brought and if the army would have performed better with a Warstomper to clear the hordes or King Brodd with his 40 wounds and incredibly valuable set of prayers. Well done on stomping a mudhole mate!
This is the top three AoS lists for the Dwellers Below AoS GT that took place in Canada on the 15th and 16th of July. It involved 20 players vying to be champion.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Merciless Blizzard Mortisan Soulreaper (110)* – General – Command Traits: Show of Superiority – Spells: Hoarfrost Katakros (460)**
Roland Rivera: A new season is upon us, and the Ossiarch Bonereapers are off to a great start with a tournament win. This list showcases one of the Bonereapers’ competitive advantages in this Wizard-focused season in Null Myriad, which gives units a 2+ spell ignore when within 9″ of Arkhan or one of their Mortisans. While this benefit might require some positional fiddling with some of the larger unit, it combines with the buffs and recursion provided by Katakros (who notably does NOT benefit from the Null Myriad spell ignore) and the Mortisan Boneshaper to make a potent defensive bulwark that covers the army’s advance (which is important, as this list is on the slow side).
And once they get into melee, they are quite formidable. A 30(!) man unit of Mortek Guard with the aforementioned buffs and recursion backing them up can own the middle, Immortis Guard are formidable on offense and defense, and Kavalos Deathriders are a very efficient utility unit that can screen or provide reach to threaten Heroes or finish off wounded units. Of course, any combat army worth its salt has access to some strong buffs, and this list is no exception. Katakros’ +1 to hit and +1 to save bubble is the bedrock most Bonereapers lists are built on, and Hoarfrost is very nice on large blobs of Mortek, as it is a way to make them wound on 2+, which is something that a mere +1 to wound could not accomplish.
An interesting choice in this list is the use of the Andtorian Acolytes Battalion. While this Battalion increases the drop count for the list, the extra primal dice are very important because both the Boneshaper and the Soulreaper are pretty mediocre casters, so they need all the help they can get in getting some of the tougher spells off (Hoarfrost casts on an 8, and Blizzard needs a whopping 12 to go off). All in all, Null Myriad Bonereapers lists look to be strongly positioned into the coming metagame, and I expect to see more of it going forward.
Army Faction: Cities of Sigmar – Army Type: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)* – Spells: Roaming Wildfire, Elemental Cyclone, Sear Wounds 1 x Battlemage (100)* – General’s Adjutant – Spells: Merciless Blizzard, Ignite Weapons, Elemental Cyclone – Magic of the Realms: Pha’s Protection (Hysh) 1 x Battlemage (100)* – Spells: Crystal Aegis, Warding Brand, Hoarfrost – Magic of the Realms: Wildform (Ghur) 1 x Anointed on Frostheart Phoenix (320)** – General – Command Traits: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade – Artefacts: Whitefire Tome – Spells: Ignite Weapons 1 x Sorceress (90)** – Spells: Rupture, Ignite Weapons, Sear Wounds
BATTLELINE 20 x Phoenix Guard (340)* – Keeper of the Flame – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Drummer 20 x Phoenix Guard (340)** – Keeper of the Flame – 2 x Standard Bearer – 2 x Drummer 30 x Darkshards (330)** – Guardmaster – 3 x Standard Bearer – 3 x Hornblower
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Malevolent Maelstrom (30) 1 x Horrorghast (60)
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Codrin: The new Cities of Sigmar battletome is getting close, and the pheonix guard are sadly going away when this book arrives, but Matt Kowalyk’s Hallowheart list is putting the Aelves to good use.
This list builds on a core that has been actually quite popular during AoS 2.0 – beginnings of 3.0, and seems well adapted to the new GHB rules.
This army is very synergistic, and almost all of its pieces benefit from being close to each other.
The backbone of the army are the two big blocks of Pheonix Guard that can get buffed to the heavens. They fare well in big formations due to their 25mm bases and 2″ reach halberds. A 4+ save and 4+ ward makes them quite durable while also packing a punch.
Potential buffs that could go on a unit like this are as follows:
Reroll wound rolls from a command ability coming from the Anointed on Frostheart Pheonix
-1 to be hit (Battlemage’s Pha’s protection spell) and – 1 to be wounded (from the Pheonix’s aura)
Dish out mortal wounds on a 4+, each time a model from this unit dies (ability coming from the Warding Brand spell)
The Hurricanum plays a very important role in this list, using it to suffer wounds in the hero phase for buffing the casting rolls of friendly wizards, while dishing out a significant number of mortal wounds through its shooting attacks, warscroll spell and the faction spells he’s been granted.
Sorceress and Darkshards are yet again an example of good synergies exploited to the maximum in this list. Thus this shooting unit can be given run and shoot (command ability of the Sorceress) and can potentially imbue their attacks with +1 to hit (if in the aura of the Hurricanum) and +1 to wound (from Ignite Weapons spell). To sum it up, we are looking at a unit with a range of 28″ that will put out 61 attacks, hitting on 3+ and wounding on 3+.
The malevolent maelstrom and aethervoid pendulum are very good and reliable additions that add to mortal wounds output this list has.
In a nutshell, we have an amazingly durable castle with walls made out of super buffed halberd wielding elves all while a storm of spells, mortal wounds and arrows are hitting enemies with surgical precision.
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Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh – Army Type: Pretenders – Grand Strategy: Selfish Desire – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Contorted Epitome (210)* – General – Command Traits: Strength of Godhood – Artefacts of Power: The Crown of Dark Secrets – Spells: Hoarfrost – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Glutos Orscollion (480)* – Spells: Born of Damnation Sigvald (200)*
Joshua Bennett: Welcome readers to another event, Dwellers below, where we take a look at Slaanesh in the new GHB. Mitch Khwaja took 3rd in this event with the Pretenders subfaction. (not much has changed it seems) but with a breath of fresh air even though there are still three units of them its not a mass amount of the archers. This list likes models that are very hard to take down. The contorted is the general in this list. Even though losing Fueled by Gurish Rage hurts her effectiveness in combat, she still packs one heck of a punch. This list has her listed with the new hoarfrost spell that we can safely assume will be in every list that has a wizard that can take it.
The interesting part about this list is the Incarnate that is bound to the contorted. Where typically your opponent wants her dead as soon as possible this becomes a little more problematic when doing so causes the incarnate to go wild. Which is already going to be doing well with the obvious rise in endless spells that we are going to be seeing in this new GHB. The issue with the incarnate is that you can not pick it up in one turn, you have to wait at least two combats to kill it and by that time it may have already caused too much damage to your army.
Now the third issue you have to deal with when going up against this list is the Glutos. Not only is he super tanky with the ability to heal a ton of wounds, he also scales in power as the turns progress. Gaining new abilities at the start of each turn alongside the ever growing abilities of the Slaanesh army the more depravity the army gains. The other issue with him is that he is a great support for any Slaanesh army as he gives a minus one to hit for any enemy 12 inches around him. Stack that with the -1 to hit caused by depravity not even All out attack can help you.
Then the ever faithful blissbarb archers. Even at MSU you’re still looking at 60 shots at a thirty inch threat range hitting on twos wounding on threes. These units will still punish an army and can cripple hammers giving the list the edge that it needs. You also have to worry about not getting caught up into glutos and the incarnate which allows two units to tank your main hammers while the archers chip away from afar.
Last but not least you have the twin souls that reduce the number of attacks that you can throw into this army, tag that alongside the potentially -2 to hit your not having fun as a melee army trying its best to chew through this list.
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Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Army Subfaction: The Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Dismantle the Brave
LEADER 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)* – Chill Blade – Spells: Hoarfrost 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)* – Chill Blade – Spells: Merciless Blizzard 1 x Spirit Torment (120)** – General – Command Traits: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts 1 x Spirit Torment (120)*** – Artefacts: Beacon of Nagashizzar
BATTLELINE 10 x Chainrasps (100)** 10 x Chainrasps (100)** 6 x Spirit Hosts (260)** 20 x Grimghast Reapers (300)**
BEHEMOTH 1 x Black Coach (270)*** – Reaper Scythe
OTHER 2 x Chainghasts (90)*** 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (170)*** 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (170)***
Kel Pigg: Going into the new ghb with nighthaunt is something that should be applauded. While the army recently received some love in the form of some internal balancing that made some underutilized a touch cheaper the problem is that nighthaunt lost a lot going into this GHB. From the loss of galatian veterans in all forms, the recent arcane tome change, and even the loss of the previous ghb heroic action most players do not have a positive outlook going into this ghb. Michael here plans to prove that wrong!
His list follows a standard infantry hammer list that was common in the previous edition and has to make some concessions for the things we lost that I listed above. Using chainrasps and grimghast reapers Michael can get around needing galatian veterans and still fighting in two ranks. He also brings two units of harridans but they are left in 10 mans as it is still manageable to get that many into melee range using different methods. His big switch up here is bringing the black coach. A unit that nighthaunt players have all been dying to take off their shelf and put back onto their table it just now might be it’s time to shine. The black coach has dropped recently in points again but really it’s value to any nighthaunt list is in its tactic. It allows nighthaunt players to have one solid book tactic that they can rely on in any game and possibly one they could get on turn 1, albeit not the easiest turn 1 tactic.
2 spirit torments might be the standard for an infantry based nighthaunt list but 2 guardian of souls is something new. Likely a change to match the season the guardian of souls is the only nighthaunt wizard that isn’t unique, meaning he can get those juicy lore of frost spells, and that’s just what Michael did opting for hoarfrost and blizzard and hoping those primal dice will carry those spells home.
All in all the list is a modern ghb version of a recognizable nighthaunt standard and one we are likely to see other variations of. Only time will tell.
This is the top three AoS lists for Ironweld that took place in the USA on the 27th and 28th of May. It involved 57 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Short Announcement
As a group, we’re finding it increasingly difficult to find the time to write commentary on the tournaments as they crop up. You may have seen this through a few days where there isn’t an article posted at all.
To combat this, the decision has been made to publish the top three without comments. Where possible, writers will then revisit in the future to add comments if they feel its necessary.
I’m sorry that this is the route we’ve had to take. The only other option in the shirt term would have been to stop producing top 3 articles, but we really didn’t want to do that.
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: Slaanesh – Host: Pretenders – Grand Strategy: Glutton for Depravity – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Contorted Epitome (190)*** – General – Command Trait: Strength of Goodhood – Artefact: The Crown of Dark Secrets – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage Shardspeaker of Slaanesh (125)*** – Lore of the Magnificent: Born of Damnation – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master The Masque (140)***
Battleline 22 x Blissbarb Archers (300)* – Reinforced x 1 11 x Blissbarb Archers (150)* 10 x Daemonettes (125)**
Units 10 x Myrmidesh Painbringers (290)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (200)*** 5 x Slickblade Seekers (200) 1 x Cockatrice (105) 10 x Ungors (80)* – Shortspears & Half-Shields 6 x Furies (90)**
Another win for Slaanesh, leaning heavily on the depravity generation of Blissbarb but with a lot of different parts from the Heroes to the units themselves. Pretenders again with Glutton for Depravity as the Grand Strategy. That means that if you can control the depravity generation, they won’t summon – but the list is designed to push hard and generate a lot of DP quickly. Starting with the heroes, the Contorted Epitome is built as a GC slayer, turning off your melee and increasing its damage. Nothing too unusual. The Shardspeaker is generating extra DP but is also built to take an objective and battle tactic if the opportunity is there. The Masque is unique and has a very aggressive ploy if you are willing to gamble on going first. With 12 drops, I think Anthony was planning to be given first turn most times.
Both kinds of Seekers for objective control, harassing units, and if pushed screens. The Painbringer are the obvious Euphoric Killers targets. After that, though, the list departs from the normal. The Cockatrice lost the Monster keyword but is still a very mobile annoying piece to deal with. Damage 2 attacks and 8 wounds make it a problem to kill even without Rend. The Furies have a similar role, or you could think of them like Heartrenders. Very quick units for Battle Tactics, screens, and generally annoying. The draw did Anthony no favours, but the varied list had a lot of answers. It may look unusual, but everything has a roll in the list.
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Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Legion of Blood – Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Neferata (390)* – Spells: Waste Away Vampire Lord (130)* – Spells: Spirit Gale – Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (440)** – General – Command Traits: Doomed Minions – Deathlance – Artefacts of Power: Cloak of Mists and Shadows – Spells: Vile Transference
BATTLELINE Deathrattle Skeletons (255)** – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer
OTHER Fell Bats (85)* Blood Knights (460)* – Standard Bearer – Kastellan – Templar Lance Corpse Cart (70)* – Unholy Lodestone – Corpse Lash
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)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (150)* – General – Command Trait: Spiteful Spirit – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
Battleline 10 x Hexwraiths (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Hexwraiths (180)* 5 x Hexwraiths (180)* 5 x Hexwraiths (180)* 5 x Hexwraiths (180)*
Units 10 x Craventhrone Guard (180)** – Reinforced x 1 5 x Craventhrone Guard (90)** 5 x Craventhrone Guard (90)**
Endless Spells & Invocations Lauchon the Soulseeker (50)
Ghost cavalry attacks. Following the latest releases and battlescroll, Nighthaunt has fallen back into the pack. It’s no surprise that Nate is back with an unusual list. It plays into the current meta well with significant shooting (short range but ignores cover and lines of sight) and small mobile unit. It’s a complete 180 from the Bladegheist or Harridan lists. This list is outscoring you more than destroying you. Still, Reikenor or the Knight of Shrouds are capable in combat. And can take advantage of Lauchon (combat spell casters).
Bouncing off Stormcast, their natural enemy, the army dominated most of the current threats, including Gravelords and Khorne. I don’t think it’s a list that just anyone can use, but it’s an interesting option. With Emerald’s Host constant mortal wounds and their frequent small attacks, it can wear down or bog down key units. Mobility is key, or if you are the opponent, trying to stop the Hexwraith scattering. Concentrating on the Craventhrone may be a bit of a trap even with their shooting. With only a 12″ range, you can play around them
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Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Subfaction: Kastelai – Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Prince Vhordrai (470)* – Lore of the Vampires: Spirit Gale Vampire Lord (130)* – General – Command Trait: Swift and Deadly – Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm (Galletian Champion) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Lord Executioner (130)* – Allies
Battleline 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (115)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (115)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (115)* 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (115)*
Units 3 x Fell Bats (85)* 16 x Askurgan Trueblades (360)** – Reinforced x 1 16 x Askurgan Trueblades (360)** – Reinforced x 1
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.
