This is the top three AoS lists for Border War 2024 that took place in Australia on the 3rd and 4th of August 2024. It saw 26 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Ogor Mawtribes Prophets of the Gulping God 2000 Points Limit Drops: 3 Spell Lore – Lore of Maw-magic Prayer Lore – Everwinter Prayers Manifestation Lore – Krondspine Incarnate
Regiment 2 Tyrant (180) • Gruesome Trophies • Touched by the Everwinter Frost Sabres (70) Frost Sabres (70)
Faction Terrain Great Mawpot
Carson Whitlock: Looks like Mitch has seen success bringing all the goodies! We see that he’s brought a Tyrant along to get access to some tactic-scoring frost sabres, who has both the Gruesome Trophies artefact for a 12″ bubble of +1 to hit against heroes and monsters, and the “Touched by the Everwinter” trait to get access to both more obscuring terrain, and a good old fashion mortal wound bomb via Pulverizing Hailstorm. In addition to the Tyrant, we also see the standard picks of 1 Slaughtermaster and 1 Butcher to maximize buffs with a +1 to cast from Prophets of the Gulping God.
Mitch has both a 12 block of Gluttons AND an 8 block of Ironguts in his general’s regiment, which gives him plenty of good options for using the Honour Guard Ability. No doubt that +1 to hit and wound came in handy on those Gluttons against all those ghosts Mitch swatted away in rounds 4 and 5! Lastly, we see a Gorger Mawpack ready to drop in as an easy Take Their Land piece that cannot be ignored! With 26 attacks at rend 2 into Infantry, Gorgers make a great zoning piece in your opponent’s backline that they either have to allocate serious resources to deal with, or run away and let them take whatever they’re standing on.
Congratulations to Mitch on the win!
Nighthaunt Death Stalkers 2000 Points Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of the Underworlds Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
Regiments General’s Regiment Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (880 Points) • General Dreadblade Harrows (160 Points) Dreadblade Harrows (160 Points) Hexwraiths (320 Points) • Reinforced
Regiment 1 Guardian of Souls (140 Points) • Ruler of the Spectral Hosts • Lightshard of the Harvest Moon Bladegheist Revenants (300 Points) • Reinforced
Fittsy: Here we go with another Nighthaunt list, but this time we’ve got the less popular but no less scary Nagash and boos variant. We start with the classics: Death Stalker for run/retreat and charge, Morbid Conjuration, and a hero with Ruler and Lightshard for 2 OPBs of a +1 attack bubble and return a unit at half strength. Nagash is a nice couple with Morbid to get those out quickly… In this case, Zak has even taken a Guardian for another cast and as the token artefact and trait bearer. We’ve also got 2 units of Dreadblades in the General’s regiment who are notoriously difficult to catch with their teleport being in both turns. Good luck getting through the Hexwraiths to score the battle tactic!
Nagash plus Ruler of the Spirit Hosts makes this a tough matchup for most armies as the reinforced units of Hexwraiths and Bladegheists are almost certainly coming back if you can’t take out big ol’ Nagash or the Guardian first. Border War boasts a seriously competitive scene with some of the best of Australia’s best fighting over the top tables. Yak has gone undefeated up until the last match against Ogor’s who can be a tough matchup for Nighthaunt.
Regiments of Renown Saviours of Cinderfall (230) Callis and Toll Toll’s Companions
Roland Rivera: While I don’t think Teclis is the must-have choice he has been for the bulk of Lumineth’s time in Age of Sigmar, he’s still plenty good, and it is thus not much of a surprise to see a list prominently featuring him on the podium.
As with most Lumineth lists, this list goes heavy on the Vanari, as their passive -1 to hit debuff from Shining Company is absolutely crippling to many armies, and that combined with magical backup from Teclis and some high-quality shooting from a reinforced blob of Sentinels is a very tough nut to crack. These units are complemented by a very versatile piece in the Ydrilan Riverblades as well as highly efficient defensive bodies in the Saviours of Cinderfall. Needless to say, the choice of a potent Wizard in Teclis also necessitates some potent spells for him to cast, and leveraging his high autocast ability with Morbid Conjuration is a match made in heaven.
Apart from all of these meat-and-potatoes unit choices, an interesting piece of tech is the Bannerblade with the Waystone; this once-per-game teleport combined with the Bannerblade’s solid native control stat and control-boosting passive can make snatching objectives seemingly out of nowhere.
All in all, this list has a deep lineup of tricks, but enough combat stats to survive long enough to apply them. Great result by Joel on this one.
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A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 3,428 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
Bathurst GT 2024
Border Wars 2024
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Feed the Horde
Feud on the Fens 2024
Fylleslaget 2024
Galactic Age of Sigmar Store Championship
Gateway Open
GoldCon 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Hereford Invitational ’24
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Medhammer GT 2024 – Golden Dawn II
Mile High Open 2024
Nashcon GT 2024
NI GT 2024
North China Open III
Old Town Roar in ’24
Oslohammer #8
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Saga Hammer
Salt Lake Open
Show Me Showdown
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Tales in the Wood XI GT
The Dojo Open GT
Salt City GT
Warrior Lodge – Summer Lodge 2024
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
AOS Saigon GT
GT Win Rates
We’ve only three factions not yet meeting the criteria for reliable data. With both Beasts of Chaos and Bonesplitterz both being expected. However, Kharadron Overlords are perhaps more of a suprise with only 78 GT games so far.
Nighthaunt‘s win rate has fallen since the 4th edition release and this would be expected with the number of players using the faction increasing week on week. However, they’re still sitting pretty on top of the pile at 63%.
Lumineth Realm-Lords are also a little too strong at 60%. Both Disciples of Tzeentch and Soulblight Gravelords are less of a concern, with both being only slightly beyond the green zone of 45-55%.
Perhaps a little worrying in the bottom ranked factions is Flesh-eater Courts who have generally a higher average of Elo for the players using them, yet a poor win rate at 41%. The same can be said for Khorne at 42% as well.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Two of the players with 700+ Elo are playing Flesh-eater Courts, the faction with the lowest win rate currently. Two others are playing Skaven, the third worst win rate.
Both Nighthaunt and Lumineth have a larger number of 600+ rated players, and this in turn could be responsble in part for their stats being skewed.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Nighthaunt with their Win Rate. Nighthaunt have a win rate of 63%, however 23 players of the 93 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving at GT and GT+ events.
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than loss’s).
Wanna win?! Play Bonesplitterz….
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
This is the top three AoS lists for Age of Ropecon 2024 that took place in Finland on the 20th and 21st of July. It saw 22 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
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Regiment 1 Guardian of Souls (140 Points) • Ruler of the Spectral Hosts • Lightshard of the Harvest Moon Bladegheist Revenants (300 Points) • Reinforced Craventhrone Guard (200 Points) • Reinforced
Regiment 2 Guardian of Souls (140 Points)
2000 Points Spell Lore – Lore of the Underworlds Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
Fittsy: This list has taken 1st undefeated across 5 games, which is a strong showing this early in a new edition. Nighthaunt has a benefit here in terms of operating in a relatively simple manner and hasn’t shifted too far from it’s earlier strengths. Nighthaunt is operating well currently with units costed relatively low and a lot of good warscrolls to throw out on the table. As a Hexwraith fan myself, I’m liking where Anttu has gone with this list.
Along with taking Reikenor, a unit of Dreadblades, and 25 Hexwraiths, which is a really solid core, we see a few really interesting choices in this list. Expectedly, it’s a deathstalkers list which fits the Hexwraiths and Reikenor really well (honestly, right now, it fits all of the army but the high move on those fellas can really capitilise on the retreat and charge). Morbid Conjurations is a really strong pick here with not only Reikenor but 2 additional Guardians of Souls. This gives the army a potential 4 casts a turn to get those manifestations out as quickly as possible. It does, however, take the list to 3 drops instead of 2, but it looks like this trade-off has really worked for Anttu. One of the 2 Guardians has the combo of Ruler of the Spirit Hosts and Lightshard of the Harvest Moon, which, in my opinion, are the strongest options in today’s game. They’re both “easy” to use, giving you a turn where everything gets +1 attack with 12” and being able to bring back half a unit of Hexwraiths or Bladegheists.
The reinforced unit of Craventhrone guard is popping up in lists… especially after Mason Knox’s performance at Tacoma. They help to force the opponent to take into account their shooting, which ignores negatives to hit and can shoot at non-visible units. This can help to really take advantage of the board state with a list like this, which can be wherever you want on the board.
This list has a good mix of units bringing some damage from the Bladegheists, the tanking and movement of the Hexwraiths, the harrying of the Craventhrone, and Reikenor who flies around the battlefield potentially bringing the pain to Wizards and Priests.
Keegan Graves: So with this list. He appears to be using the pestilins units to tie up big hammers and problem units, then using his long-range shooting to eliminate the threats.
The corruptor is a decent fast melee threat that can throw a -1 to be wounded prayer on the stormfiends. It turns that unit into an impressive anvil that also deals crazy melee damage.
Roland Rivera: An army that is light on casting (by Lumineth standards), this list has a few interesting picks in The Light of Eltharion (one of the few foot combat Heroes that lives up to his billing) and a Spirit of the Mountain, which is usually seen in dedicated Alarith lists but can moonlight as a counterpuncher for Vanari lists pretty effectively. This list is also rocking a Krondspine Incarnate, which is a bit unusual but has excellent synergy with the Scinari Calligrave (who cannot fail to summon it).
These interesting picks complement what looks like a fairly consensus Vanari shell: lots of Dawnriders, a 20-block of Sentinels that is the presumptive Honor Guard pick, some Wardens to screen, and casters to help support your troops with magic.
These sorts of lists are very well-rounded, and (as the record shows) tough for enemies to beat, between Shining Company’s -1 to hit debuff and all of the buffs that the Lumineth lore and Wizard warscroll spells give them access to. This framework is potent enough to accomodate many potential variations, with this list being one of the more successful ones in this early stage of the edition.
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This is the top three AoS lists for the US Open Tacoma that took place in the US between the 19th and 21st of July. It saw 84 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?
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Regiments General’s Regiment Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (410 Points) • General Black Knights (320 Points) • Reinforced Grave Guard (300 Points) • Reinforced
Regiment 1 Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (230 Points) Dire Wolves (140 Points) Dire Wolves (140 Points) Torgillius the Chamberlain (180 Points)
Regiment 2 Necromancer (140 Points) • Lash of the Sire • Orb of Enchantment Dire Wolves (140 Points)
Connor Irwin: Thomas Guan’s excellent showing at Tacoma is a testament to generalship first, but also the versatility of the Soulblight Gravelords toolbox. This list is all about using mobility and table control to create bad matchups and efficient exchanges, all while scoring tactics reliably. The choice of Deathstench Drove formation leans fully into that plan, allowing for mortal damage and repositioning of direwolves at the end of *every turn*.
Starting from the bottom, the necromancer is a cheapish wizard with an outsized impact, Lash of the Sire adds mobility at the start of Soulblight turns and the Orb of Enchantment artefact provides another way to mess with combat activation. That last point couples nicely with giving double activation to a nearby unit. He’s surprisingly difficult to dislodge despite his meager health and save thanks to the bodyguard ward he enjoys, so what you think is an easy lift might turn into a big mistake.
Belladama and Torgillius leading three units of direwolves is the unbeating heart of this list. The wolves have the speed and footprint to be where they’re needed and exclude enemies from objectives even if they can’t contest them effectively due to the Beast ability. Bella’s warscroll spell mitigates that control problem and adds punch, but the fact that wolves require a concerted effort to lift all 20 wounds and avoid anti-infantry weapon effects makes them a surprisingly durable chaff unit. Belladama enjoys the same bodyguard ward as the necromancer, but has a far better health and save profile, and sports two wizard power to boot. Torgilllius contributes an extra round of evocation healing, an oddly strong shooting profile, and a powerful debuff spell, feeding into the wolves and other eligible units and adding yet more durability. Expect to see this package on a lot of lists.
At the top of the list there’s Mannfred and his hammers. No slouch in combat himself and able to win the activation game on 3+, this lets his other abilities shine: Reploying a unit into combat and adding attacks to nearby units if he kills models. For example, this allows him to neuter a charging hammer by redeploying a disposable unit of wolves up into them, forcing a savee opponent to have to settle for longer charges they might fail. It’s hauntingly similar to murderlust at the bargain price of one command point. Brutal. Add to that a countercharge threat from Mannfred or one of his cohort hammers and you’re in business.
Not to go unmentioned, grave guard, even with their reduced damage potential, pack a punch with crit mortals on a ludicrous number of attacks. Add to that another 5+ ward to infantry heroes like Torgillius or the necromancer and the value is very high.
Finally we come to Black Knights. 30 health worth of mobile punching power that benefits from most of the tech this list has to offer. Hard to understate how much of a glow-up this unit has received in 4th edition so it’s nice to see them immediately making an impact. They’re the perfect unit to pair with Mannfred when he needs to reach out and crush someone.
Ah, the morbid manifestation lore. This list includes 6 casts, with only two of them reserved for powerful warscroll spells, so you can guess what’s going to be coming out every hero phase possible. Not that the other spells are slouches, but the purple sun gives Soulblight a particular edge due to the lackluster attack profiles that wolves and black knights have.
This was an excellently planned and piloted list, showing the world that Soulblight Gravelords are still a force to be reckoned with.
Grand Alliance Death Nighthaunt Death Stalkers 2000 Points Limit Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of the Underworlds Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
Regiment 1 Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (180) • Ruler of the Spectral Hosts • Lightshard of the Harvest Moon Dreadblade Harrows (160) Dreadblade Harrows (160) Hexwraiths (320) • Reinforced
Fittsy: This is one of the first big placings for NH and has secured Mason infamy as one of the first to leverage the strengths of Nighthaunts current faction strength. He only lost to Tom Guan (one of the best players in the world) by a narrow margin to a strong SBGL list, 42-40.
This list has been named the Daryl Braithwaite list by AoS Coach after the song Horses, which is an Australian classic. You can go and listen to it here while you read the rest of this commentary:
This list is really focussed on the Hexwraiths and Harrows which are 2 of the strongest warscrolls available right now and from the Nighthaunt perspective they’re very well costed (and everyone else is asking why they’re so cheap). Harrows will guarantee tactics for you without committing other elements of your army, allowing you to make choices that will help you win the game over 5 turns. They’re also unrivalled for stealing objectives and blocking opponents’ tactics due to their ability to teleport in both your and the opponent’s movement phases! This leaves the rest of the army to pin and harry the opponent. This is what the Hexwraiths are excellent at, especially in Death Stalkers allowing them to run and charge or retreat and charge. The Hexwraiths are fast, tanky, and can throw a bit of damage out, potentially sniping softer units if the opponent can’t protect them.
Reikenor brings a good caster to get the Morbid Conjurations out and can really put some serious damage onto wizards and priests, plus he’s fast, which suits this list really well. With only Reik, this leaves this list with less casting than other strong armies currently, but it looks like this concession is really working for Mason. The KoSoS is roving around buffing the horses and adding an extra attack once a game in a 12” bubble as well as bringing back an entire unit with the Heroic Trait… bringing back 15 wounds of Hexwraiths can be vicious but it’s also valuable on the Harridans if they’ve been thrown into a combat to do some damage on a tanky unit but have been wiped in return.
The Craventhrone Guard an interesting choice, especially in a reinforced unit… it does help to force opponents to think about protecting squishy heroes with their ability to shoot at units which aren’t visible and ignoring minuses to hit. They synergise well in this list, helping to proc the Dreadscythe Harridans buff against wounded units.
Two drops gives you a good chance to make the decision of who is taking the first turn. It potentially allows you to choose to take the double with an army like this, which can hit hard into the targets you want to with this highly mobile army.
Even if we expect to see points increases, Mason himself has mentioned dropping the Harrows, but there are some other options there too to change this list slightly whilst still maintaining its power.
You can hear more from Mason himself from 2:00:00 here:
Grand Alliance Order Seraphon Shadowstrike Starhost 2000 Points Limit Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of Celestial Manipulation Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
Gerald Warren: Brice Koppin’s list pushes heavily into the mobility aspects available to Seraphon. Shadowstrike Starhost allows for up to three SKINK INFANTRY or SKINK CAVALRY, in this case the Raptadon Chargers and Skink Starseer, to move D6″ in your shooting phase. This allows for additional movement after an opponent redeploy and could also be used to force a covering fire into a unit of your choosing. Additionally, their is no restriction that would not allow units that ran to benefit from this battle formation. Beastmaster also adds 2″ to the Move characteristic of the cavalry units in this list, as long as they are wholly within 12″ of the Starseer. This is a Passive bonus, meaning it would also apply to a retreats and the movement ability from Shadowstike Starhost. Another 2″ of movement can be gained if the Sotek the Deliverer Asterism is chosen during the Deployment phase. Couple all of these movement bonuses with the Celestial Manipulation Lore spell Speed of Haunchi, which allows a unit to Run and still Shoot and/or Charge and a unit of Raptadon Chargers could move up to 28″ before making a charge!
The list can also maximize use of Itzl the Tamer for Crit (2 Hits) on the Raptadon and Aggradon Companions. Both cavalry unit types gain an additional point of damage on the charge, which paired with exploding sixes to hit on the companions can quickly ramp up the damage of these units in the following combat phase. Target priority is of great importance for the Chargers as their 3 health and 5+ save can make them a bit less durable then their Aggradon Lancer counterparts, but into low save and/or low health units, they can readily dispatch the unit or disable it to the point of not being destroyed in the return combat.
Seraphon still capitalizes on spell casting as the Slann Starmaster is natively +1 to cast rolls and can use its warscroll spell to give the Skink Starseer +1 to cast rolls as well. Paired with a Place of Power and Tepok the Seer, both Wizards in this army.
could be +3 on their cast, though this is not likely optimal for the list. Even with a +1 to cast rolls on both Wizards, the reduction of bonuses to unbind in 4th Edition means that the 5 total casts per hero phase are more likely to succeed. The Coatl Familiar Artefact of Power additionally increases this chance for one spell cast per game, adding a D6 to cast roll for the Slann, offering a potential for locking in a critical spell cast. This continues to amplify the movement this list wants to play into with Speed of Haunchi, as mentioned above. Lore of Celestial Manipulation also has a spell to reduce the rend of melee weapons on an enemy unit, which can help your cavalry last much longer in combat, though it’s 12″ range has to be accounted for. For damage output, Comet’s Call (a “horde breaker” spell) can put a fair amount of mortal damage into a unit with 10+ models, increasing the chance that a Cavalry unit can finish the job. The Morbid Conjuration Manifestations only further increase the ability to reduce movement counterplay, output more damage, and reduce enemy unit save rolls.
Finally, the list makes good use of recursion abilities offered by the Slann and the Rally ability. The Slann allows you to roll a D6 in each of your Hero Phases that on a 4+ allows for the return of a destroyed unit at half strength, rounding up. This is potentially 5 chances to return 2-3 Raptadon Chargers, 3 Aggradon Lancers, or 10 Warriors. With all of the infantry and cavalry units in this list having Musicians, Rally is fairly efficient at bringing back destroyed models, though less so with the Aggradon Lancers.
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This is the top three AoS lists for the Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide event that took place in the USA on the 20th and 21st of July. It saw 22 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Nighthaunt Death Stalkers- retreat /run +charge 2000 Points Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of the Underworlds Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
Regiments General’s Regiment Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (300 Points) • General Black Coach (260 Points) Bladegheist Revenants (300 Points) • Reinforced Chainrasps (200 Points) • Reinforced Dreadscythe Harridans (300 Points) • Reinforced
Regiment 1 Awlrach the Drowner (160 Points) Dreadblade Harrows (160 Points) Hexwraiths (160 Points) Lord Executioner (150 Points) • Ruler of the Spectral Hosts (OPB- half strength unit return) • Lightshard of the Harvest Moon (OPB- +1 atks NH wholly 12”)
Fittsy: Tad Baten has an interesting list for us today with a few key differences to some of the other high performing Nighthaunt lists roaming the top tables at Tournaments.
It starts with the classic choices of Death Stalkers for run/retreat and charge, which is a powerful option with the current state of Nighthaunt’s warscrolls and points. It’s no surprise to see Morbid Conjuration here. This list is rocking 2 drops, which seems to be the trend for Nighthaunt lists in general. This helps to open up a potential double early. Rounding out the common picks, we see both Ruler of the Spirit Hosts and Lightshard on an Executioner.
We’ve got the single unit of Dreadblade Harrows to secure tactics and block the opponents tactics along with being able to steal objectives in the opponents turn. We’ve got the Black Coach here, which can also teleport in your turn (if not in combat) to bring a block of wounds in where your opponent doesn’t want it! It also has the bonus of potentially bringing the Lord Executioner back after it’s been slain if the Coach can wipe out a unit. It can also throw out some ranged damage to help get the Harridans their bonus in Combat. Speaking of Harridans, we’ve seen lists with a reinforced unit of them or a reinforced unit of Bladegheists. They’re both great units in combat, especially if buffed with the Lightshard for an extra attack. Having both really gives the opponent something to worry about and can bring some really handy damage. They’re coupled with Awlrach, who can bring them with him in a teleport, which ends only 7” away from the enemy! I think this is a really nice combo, and it’s going to make it hard for your opponent to move up the board and protect against this and the other teleports in the army.
For the other heroes, I really like to see the Executioner, especially carrying the artefact and trait as he’s durable and tough to take out in combat along with Lady O propping up the list from the magical side with 2 casts and reducing control scores nearby.
We haven’t seen too many Chainrasps around, but taking advantage of a reinforced unit keeps this army at 2 drops and brings it to exactly 2000 pts.
Slaves to Darkness Godswrath Warband 2000 Points Drops: 2 Spell Lore – Lore of the Damned Manifestation Lore – Morbid Conjuration
Regiment 1 Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount (180 Points) • Nurgle • Radiance of Dark Glory • Realmwarper’s Twist Rune
Faction Terrain Nexus Chaotica
Roland Rivera: This list is very focused on its strategy: it wants to run its opponents down with elite cavalry, and present unappealing targets for the countercharge. It accomplishes the former by running a ton of Varanguard and a Chaos Lord on Daemonic unit to give a unit (likely the 6-man Varanguard unit) a +1 to wound buff. The latter is accomplished by Be’lakor (which can give your units strike-first when charged into) and the Mindstealer Sphiranx (which can give opposing units strike-first when get too close).
In addition to its buff to wound, the Daemonic Mount Lord is also carrying a healing aura in the Radiance of Dark Glory, as well as some niche tech in the Realmwarper’s Twist-Rune. Be’lakor also has The Dark Master to give this list a bit more control power.
Overall, while this list is very focused on its goals, it has enough inherent power to make it fairly likely to accomplish them. Armies that can bog your elite cavalry down with screens, manifestations, and big bags of bodies have a shot against you, but 12 Varanguard will run roughshod most other opponents.
Ossiarch Bonereapers Mortisan Council Lore of Ossian Sorcery Horrors of the Necropolis 2000/2000pts 3 drops
Mortisan Soulmason 160 [Helm of Tyranny] [Diversionary Tactics]
Mortisan Ossifector 120 – 4 x Morghast Archai 540
Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis 500 [General] – 6 x Immortis Guard 400 – 1 x Mortek Crawler 280
Walter Brock: With a new edition comes new lists. Here was a very short list, but a very potent one. Starting off we have Katakros himself with a Mortek Crawler and 6 Immortis guard. Katakros has many special rules that they could probably cover a whole article by himself. From blocking commands. To increase the saves of friendly units. Katakros dials what units are in the OBR list up to 11. He is one of the few things in the game that allow save stacking to exist. The immortis guard is an ideal bodyguard unit to protect the heroes. Turning Katakros into a 2+ save and 4+ ward bulwark that can tank almost any threat headed his way. The Mortek crawler is an excellent target for priority target and can dish out excellent damage and fight last from a safe position.
The real hammer and threat of the list is the 4 Archai being led by an Ossifector. Morghasts are one of the most lethal units with their extremely high-quality attacks. With the potential to make wizards +1 to cast and being a 2+ save with Katakros’s command. Archai are a serious threat and damage tank. The Ossifector while not doing much, gets to help the Mortek crawler apply fight last more reliably and give extra rend to the Archai. Finally, the list is rounded out by a Soul Mason all by itself. Firstly, this lets the player drop the mason alone and does not give the opponent important deployment information. Diversionary tactics and Helm of the Tyrand let the mason ruins the opponents plans with disruption of charges and control score. All of this sits in the Mortisan council battle Formation. Which will let the Mason and Ossifector get spells off more reliably. While Short. This list is packed with a bunch of potent tools that when used correctly. Can dismantle the opponents gameplan and remove any major threats to the list.
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A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 1,228 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
GT Win Rates
Nighthaunt are very strong right out of the gate with a 67% win rate (falling 1% from last week). However, they’re player base is perhaps a little stronger when compared to the other factions such as Skaven and Stormcast (You can see this analysis in the next segment).
Likewise with Lumineth Realm-Lords and Soulblight Gravelords, a few 500+ Elo (including two 700+ rated for Lumineth) rated players are using this faction at tournaments in 4th, which would perhaps explain their inflated win rate.
Perhaps a little worrying in the bottom ranked factions is Flesh-eater Courts who have generally a higher average of Elo for the players using them, yet a poor win rate at 42%. The same can be said for Khorne as well.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
I’ve cross-referenced the players that have taken part in GT’s with our Elo Rating we have for that player at the beginning of that tournament.
The purpose of this is to start to get an idea of which factions the high rated players are favouring. If a faction has both a high win rate and a large number of high rated players, this could show their affect on that factions win rate.
Skaven‘s player base is made up mostly of players ranked 499 or less with only 3 players rated at 500+. This would go someway to explaining their lower win rate.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Soulblight Gravelords with their Win Rate. Soulblight Gravelords have a win rate of 60%, however 10 players of the 23 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Interestingly, we talked earlier about how Skaven has mostly a lower rated player base, with 3 players rated 500+, have a look at the above and notice how many players managed 4 wins…
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than loss’s).
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 1,228 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
GT Win Rates
Nighthaunt are very strong right out of the gate with a 68% win rate. However, they’re player base is perhaps a little stronger when compared to the other factions such as Skaven and Stormcast. You can see this analysis in the next segment.
Likewise with Lumineth Realm-Lords and Soulblight Gravelords, a few 500+ Elo (including two 700+ rated for Lumineth) rated players are using this faction at tournaments in 4th, which would perhaps explain their inflated win rate.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
I’ve cross-referenced the players that have taken part in GT’s with our Elo Rating we have for that player at the beginning of that tournament.
The purpose of this is to start to get an idea of which factions the high rated players are favouring. If a faction has both a high win rate and a large number of high rated players, this could show their affect on that factions win rate.
Skaven‘s player base is made up mostly of players ranked 499 or less with only 3 players rated at 500+. This would go someway to explaining their lower win rate.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Soulblight Gravelords with their Win Rate. Soulblight Gravelords have a win rate of 62%, however 10 players of the 22 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Interestingly, we talked earlier about how Skaven has mostly a lower rated player base, with 3 players rated 500+, have a look at the above and notice how many players managed 4 wins…
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than loss’s).
My name is Fitts and I like to say Awoooo when I’m charging in AoS and this is my story (actually, it’s a faction review for the 4th Edition rules but that just doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way)…
You may have seen some of my Kharadron articles around but I started my own personal AoS journey with Nighthaunt. When looking at factions, I was down to either them or Ogors (by Ogors I mean Stonehorns) and in the end I went with Nighthaunt, in part because they looked like a good way to get into painting again after a 20 odd year break. Back when I started there were 2 heroes, 2 troops, and a Monster… and that was it. It was an odd choice for an army at the time! As we all know, Nighthaunt got a fantastic expansion in terms of new models, lore, and army rules going into 2nd Edition!
Nighthaunt have been my main army ever since and I’ve dabbled in Skaven and Kharadron Overlords but I’ve always come back to my friendly ghosts. I’ve taken them to tournaments over the last 6 years and have persevered with them through thick and thin with my highlight being taking 3rd place in my first GT with Emerald Host before the combat range buffs. I took an off-meta list during a tough time for Nighthaunt but I enjoyed that uphill climb with them.
My end of 3rd ed NH army was a wacky list but worked well for me
Anyway enough about me and Nighthaunt, let’s get into the spirit of things and dive down into the depths of the faction as it is today!
(Abbreviations: I’ll try to use full names where I remember in the article but Knight of Shrouds and Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed will be shortened to KoS and KoSoS respectively! I might drop a NH in for Nighthaunt from time to time too. Ah, I’ll also just use Bladegheists and Harridans.)
Who are the Nighthaunt?
A bunch of ghosts who are pretty pissed about the world. They might be pissed at their enemies or they might be pissed at Nagash, sometimes I think they’re just angry about being ghosts. During the Soul Wars, Nagash took the feral masses of spirits haunting all corners of the realms and weaponised them against his enemies. He raised Lady Olynder to be his Mortarch of Grief to lead the forces of the Nighthaunt. Nighthaunt have had some good presence in battles from time to time and I really enjoyed their involvement in the stories prior to the start of 3rd edition… especially in the joint assault with the Ossiarch Bonereapers on the all-points.
To be fair, the individual lore of the ghost factions is a little sparse and at times I’ve found it hard to make my own stories about my Nighthaunt battles. I like to take the perspective that many of the forces may legitimately think they’re the good guys (sounds a bit like FEC I know) defending souls or territories against the forces of order, chaos, and destruction. I like how that ties in with stories like those around “Nagash: The Undying King” where it gives a bit of an impression about life in Shyish and how the forces of Death tie in with the realm and Nagash, himself.
Why Play Nighthaunt?
Do you hate needing to walk around terrain? Play Nighthaunt. Do you hate needing to do maths to figure out what your save roll is? Play Nighthaunt. Do you think ghosts are cool? Play Nighthaunt. There’s plenty more reasons to jump on the Nighthaunt Coach and play them as an army. Personally, I do love the models ever since laying my eyes on the Spirit Hosts I’ve wanted to have some. They can be a tricky army to assemble with some of the models being notoriously difficult (Spirit Hosts and Hexwraiths) and others having some rather nasty seams (Bladegheists and Grimghast Reapers). On the other hand they really let you paint them how you want and there are some nice options out there for quick schemes and some really nice complicated schemes. From a gameplay perspective, they are relatively fluid on the tabletop and the breadth of warscrolls can let you play in a variety of ways. They’re often touted as a good beginner army because of fly and ignore rend (I do find it hard to play other armies where I can’t just walk over the top of my own units) but are also an army that tends to see success at tournaments with players who dedicate their time to get the reps in with the army. They can ironically feel a bit fragile when it comes to being hit with lots of attacks or mortals. With the new edition, the Nighthaunt feel has changed again a little and if you like the new options, now is a great time to start haunting your opponents.
This great shot of Lady Olynder and friends is from Johnny Juhlin from the NH FB group!
Battle Traits
Ethereal – “What’s your rend?” Oh, I ignore it. It can lead to a bit of feels bad for the opponent but ignoring -3 rend and dodging big damage is a great feeling when it pays off.
Discorporate – a 5+ ward just as handy as ever… will be better on larger units (as now NH isn’t as inclined to go towards MSU as it was in 3rd). The downside I see is the higher demand on the Command Points than before.
Wave of terror – this is a new and somewhat confusingly written rule. It’s quite nice though being able to take a unit in combat and make a charge roll to then charge them into another unit or just using it as an extra pile in or triggering the Auras of Dread it is also nice! It’ll get less use if taking the retreat and charge battle formation but a bonus rule is a bonus rule.
Auras of Dread
These are reliable debuffs which you trigger when charging in your own turn. Their each single use across the army so you can’t stack them and their also only useable in your own turn. What is great is that it’s largely controllable where you use them (especially with retreat and charge)
Shriek can be tricky to get off because of needing to have more models which looks good on hordes of chainrasps but otherwise might not be coming up as often as you’d like except against heroes and monster lists. This is particularly important because where you often want a -1 is on big blocks of troops throwing out lots of attacks which most ghosts are allergic too (since a large number of attacks with low rend makes the ethereal less useful).
The other 2 are limited by the number of pieces you will have to potentially proc them, less inclined to take a high number of heroes and cavalry/warmachine is limited (although there are a few heroes who can use this one too.
Battle Formations
Vanishing Phantasms
Really nice for teleporting units around, this is a good pick but the others look better. Could be nice on a reinforced unit of Craventhrone Guard who can then teleport around each turn… On the other hand we have access to the teleporting with Coach, Dreadblade Harrows, and Awlrach already. This could also be interesting if you want to try and build up a super mobile army where most of the army is teleporting each turn. However, a wily opponent will be locking you into combats which will be painful to retreat out of.
Hunters of the Accursed
This is a bit of a replacement for the Emerald Curse but can only pick heroes and need to have friendly heroes within 12” which reduces its viability. However… it’s possible to change the targets end of every turn. Every turn! So it’s happening twice a battle round if you’re able to keep those requirements fulfilled (edited 28/07).
Death Stalkers
Run and charge plus retreat and charge… this is a winner. The run and charge is very nice for lots of the units… especially faster ones such as Hexwraiths or the Coach and Bladegheists who want to always make charges. Retreat and Charge was one of Nighthaunts best tricks in 3rd and with this Battle formation it still can be. Expect to see this used a lot, especially with competitive lists.
Procession of Death
This is the one to take if you want a Black Coach or two backed up by lots of infantry units. This goes nicely together with Chainrasps, Grimghast Reapers, and Spirit Hosts who have high wound density per point.
The Black Coach is an amazing model and it’s great to see a Battle FOrmation based around it (pic care of TabletopWars via the NH FB group)
Heroic Traits
A bit of a funny one here is that you may struggle to choose who should get the heroic trait because our named heroes are pretty tasty, leaving less slots free for those non-uniques in our lists.
Ruler of the Spirit Hosts (RotSH)
This one is great and I’ll be taking this on a decently tanky hero like the KoSoS or the Krulghast. Bring back half a unit for a command point… that’s just good value. Bringing back 10 Bladegheists or 5 Hexwraiths will be particularly good. It will paint a big target on that hero though.
Cloaked in Shadow
This one is nice for reducing damage into one of your heroes… that’s nice on it’s own but it’s effectiveness is increased for the general itself helping to make those battle tactics more difficult. I think I will try this on a KoSoS with 20 Hexwraiths in a General’s Regiment
Terrifying Entity AKA The other one
You can do two Aura of Dread abilities but it’s not going to come up as often and I don’t think I’ll be taking this even if it has some utility.
One of my favourite Nighthaunt pics! Credit: Games Workshop
Artefacts
Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
+1 attack on all melee units for all Nighthaunt units within 12”… this is simply solid. There will be a few lists where this has less impact but it’s a good choice for many lists.
Covetous Familiar
This one is retaliating against enemy units in combat… this can be nice on a hero who is going to go in and get in combat like the Executioner / KoS / KoSoS. Will be very good against some opponents but against plenty of armies this will only have a minor effect.
Soulfire ring
Maybe good on an Executioner to keep it healing up. The hero needs to kill a model which just doesn’t happen as much as you’ll want and is useless into some matchups.
Spell Lore
Shademist
-1 to wound on a unit. Solid. Especially on blocks of Rasps or reinforced Hexwraiths. Also useful in the opponents phase to mess with them trying to kill one of your units. It’s also until start of your next turn so if you’ve got a few wizards you’ll be able to get this onto quite a few units with “unlimited”. Pretty nice!
Spirit Drain
Generic army specific, roll for every model in a unit and do a mortal on a 5+. Handy sometimes.
Spectral Lure
This used to be the GoS’ signature spell… now everyone has it, and it makes having some wizards with the option to cast this. At a 6+ again, it’s nice to potentially cast in the opponents turn.
Manifestation Lore
All casting on a 6+ is pretty good. Makes it easier to get these out and mess with your opponent in their turn.
Mortalis Terminexus
I love a +1 on a charge… this one couples well with the retreat and charge or the teleports available in the army. Unfortunately it only works in your own turn but it also has an optional heal (3) which is pretty nice.
Vault of Souls
It’s a static manifestation but has a chance to do some nice damage if you can get it lobbed in behind the enemy’s front line it’s got a good chance to do some decent mortal wound damage.
Shyish Reaper
On a charge it gets 3 attacks with 3+ 2+ 2 4 which can make some owies but otherwise it’s just there to get in the way of the enemy with a decent base size.
PSA: The Manifestations don’t get ethereal as they’re not treated as a unit for that!
My favourite in 3rd Ed and my favourite in 4th Ed!
Units
I won’t go through every unit in this article… but as I splurged out my thoughts on the page it’s turned out to be quite a few! I’ve tried to focus on combos and the things which have stood out to me as I’ve read the warscrolls over and over again 😀
Cairn Wraith and Grimghast Reapers
The Grimghast Reapers really want to fight into infantry with 5 or more models where they start to get quite dangerous… on top of that the Cairn Wraith when in combat gives out an extra attack to all Grimghast Reaper units within 12”. I can understand why people are excited to put this on the table. I’m excited to have a reason to use the first AoS model I ever painted again and I’ll definitely be trying this out!
On the other hand, I don’t think they’re as good as plain Bladegheists… can form a defensive line as their skills aren’t charge dependent. I will play around with both and I’m sure we’ll see trends in the meta.
Bladegheists
I just like Bladegheists… from back when I was deep striking units of 5. I almost always have them in my lists. People know that they’re dangerous on the charge and that helps to force a decision onto the opponent. You can’t talk about Bladegheists without bringing Harridans up. I prefer to keep my buffs simple so Bladeys are my pick. Also I just really like the model. Feel free to use Harridans too!
Have a problem unit in your enemy’s army? I prescribe a liberal application of Bladegheists! These ones come from Matteo Pavani over on the NH FB group
Awlrach and Bladegheists
Want to make Bladegheists (or Harridans) better.. bring our old friendly boatman. I’m happy to get this combo going… both thematically with the 2 nautical units but also being able to drop them in outside of 7” which with the Mortalis Terminexus can bring it down to 6” charges. This’ll give an early teleporting threat that later enables objective grabbing. Awlrach can get bogged down and become ineffective if he ends up in combat so try to avoid that where possible (or use it to bait your enemy into attacking him or moving where you want them to… use your weaknesses to your advantage, my fellow gheists). It is only in your turn though so let me introduce you to…
Dreadblade Harrows
So… they teleport in both your turn and your opponents turn. I only see one decision to make here, 2 units of 2 each or 1 unit of 4. Oh yeah, they also can teleport out of combat.
A fantastic Reikenor painted by one of the original NH fanatics, great fella, and dedicated NH Admin: Kain Fincher
Reikenor
Ouch! Reikenor got seriously dangerous in combat, especially if he starts to get into enemy wizards or priests. He’s still got his candles and now they can give him an extra power level… also, he’ll often play aggressively forwards so he’s great to try and get manifestations out in the middle of the enemy.
Hexwraiths
Talking about ghosts riding ghost horses… These fellas with a good move and 3 wounds are going to be great. They form a block of about 15” across when set up sideways and will be really hard to shift.
This won’t be the first time I build a force around Hexwraiths 😉
Black Coach and foot heroes
On the theme of horsey units, The Black Coach now has an ability to resurrect dead friendly heroes if it kills an enemy unit. I feel like if I want to lean into this, I’d go for quite a few foot heroes, 2 coaches, and the Cavalcade Battle Formation. I think this could result in a strong build… I’m just not quite sure what it is yet.
Glaivewraith Stalkers
Nah, I’m just kidding… but they did get better when pulling off a charge and I find myself slotting them in here and there because of their low points. I’m not going to build my lists around them.
Spirit Hosts
Their role hasn’t changed since 3rd but how it works has gotten better. Now they throw out a 4+ ward on infantry heroes (bummer that it doesn’t work on the Cavalry and Warmachine heroes). This is just generally interesting especially for buddies like the Guardian of Souls who needs to be in combat range now for the +1 wound buff.
Myrmourn Banshees
Not as fantastic at eating up spells as they were… they’ve now become a threat to low wound casters and might give your opponent a tough decision or another as when they unbind they dish out D3 mortal damage.
Nagash and Lady Olynder discussing tactics on this amazing display board from JoJo (via the NH FB group)
I guess I have to mention the two following characters:
Nagash
He pretty much makes up half an army if you choose him. I’m not a big character player so this doesn’t lend itself towards my playstyle. Lots of people do find him favourable and I see him featured in a lot of the lists. He looks like he might combo well with the potential flooding the board with Hexwraiths.
Lady Olynder
Lady O looks interesting… in a way that I’m not finding myself drawn to her but she’ll definitely have use especially when used to reduce control scores. Grief Stricken is good but I feel like other spells will just be a higher priority. She is a good potential Manifestation Caster with 2 casts and she’s hard to take down.
Overall considerations
There are some clear winners from the new warscrolls and I’ve got a clear personal bias. In our Nighthaunt Facebook group, we had an interesting table posted which helps to give an idea of the points vs combat effectiveness. Showing both wounds per point and damage per point. This of course isn’t the be all and end all of whether a unit will be effective and some unit abilities will make them shine regardless (there’s also a little typo under the Glaivewraiths, I’ll update this if there is a new version).
From a wounds perspective Hexwraiths are killing it… I do expect a points adjustment there as couple with their huge move they’re a fantastic unit. On the damage side, it’s a pick your flavour scenario of Bladegheists or Dreadscythe Harridans where the Grimghasts shine when they’ve got their buffs up but that is more restrictive than the other 2.
My ghastly additions to my army in 2023!
Sample Lists
Fitts’ “I want to use these units” List v0-1 (1970 points)
Army: Nighthaunt – Battle Formation: Death Stalkers – Spell Lore: Lore of the underworlds – Manifestation Lore: Cthonic Sorceries
REGIMENT 1 Hero: Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (180) – Heroic Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – General Unit 1: 10 Hexwraiths (320) – reinforced Unit 2: 10 Hexwraiths (320) – reinforced
REGIMENT 2 Hero: Awlrach the Drowner (160) Unit 1: 20 Bladegheist Revenants (300) – reinforced Unit 2: 10 Chainrasps (100) Unit 3: 2 Dreadblade Harrows (160)
REGIMENT 3 Hero: Reikenor the Grimhailer (210) Unit 1: 10 Chainrasps (100) Unit 2: 4 Myrmourn Banshees (120) TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)
I’ve thrown in a lot of my favourite warscrolls and combos from the unit review up above. Honestly, I think most of my considerations got captured up there. The general is going to get a lot of heat… but on the other hand it’s also a regiment that is really hard to shift and if they want to kill one of the units off it’s going to take them quite a bit of work. I’d play the Bladegheists really aggressively with Awlrach with the plan to bring them back with Ruler of the Spirit Hosts. At the same time, the Hexwraiths are going to be getting up on objectives and making things tough for my opponent. I’m a bit unsure about the Chainrasps… it’s 2 units of 10 instead of the Hexwraiths to give myself some better screening but I don’t like the way the points land and I’ll play around with this for a bit (always at least 4 games for me) before looking to optimise it further. My best thought would be another unit of Myrmourns or the Pyregheists.
Looks like I’m going to need to paint up an Awlrach! Here’s one from the NH FB group by Rob Bush!
I’m only one fella with a pretty biased point of view so I got Lakey (an old mate and fellow Admin of the Nighthaunt Facebook group) from Lakey Wargames to throw me a list and he’s definitely given me something tasty for this article!
Army: Nighthaunt – Battle Formation: Cavalcade Of Death – Spell Lore: Lore of the underworlds – Manifestation Lore: Krondspine Incarnate
REGIMENT 1 Hero:Lady Olynder – 300 – General Unit 1: 20 Dreadscythe Harridans – 300 – reinforced Unit 2: 8 Myrmourn Banshees – 240 – reinforced
REGIMENT 2 Hero: Reikenor The Grimhailer – 210 Unit 1: 2 Dreadblade Harrows – 160 Unit 2: 3 Spirit Hosts – 130
REGIMENT 3 Hero: Tomb Banshee – 150 – Heroic Trait: Ruler Of The Spectral Hosts – Artefact of power: Lightshard Of The Harvest Moon Unit 1: 10 Chainrasps – 100 Unit 2: 10 Chainrasps – 100 TOTAL POINTS: (1950/2000)
From Lakey himself: “The idea behind the list is to have a really strong centre in the form of the Harridans, Banshees and BC. These will be supported by the Tomb ĺ will be trying to shut off commands on any key units coming in to engage them. Lady O will be there to support and make sure controlling is going in our favour. Reikenor will be there to bring his strong magic support and try and get the incarnate into play ASAP (I opted to stay 50pts down to get the extra CP turn one to get a shot at casting on the enemy turn too) He and the incarnate will be able to provide a strong flanking punch as and where needed due to good movement speed and set up potential. The Harrows will be looking to teleport in and score help scores, take the flanks, and take their land. After that, depending on how the game is going, they will be able to lend a hand in capture weight and fighting aside the others. Two units of rasps are there for cheap screens/objective holders and just general fodder. Because there’s so much strong stuff going in on the middle, I felt I needed more bodies in the list. I bought Spirit Hosts because it just feels wrong to not bring some. But they only benefit the Banshee, so they might not be worth it. But we shall see.”
End of the article
Having gone back and forth over the new abilities and warscrolls… I really think that Nighthaunt have legs (ironic I know). They can be built into a couple of different options and feel like they’ve got a few good tricks out there. I think there will be a good variety of lists performing well in tournaments in the near future… I’d even hazard a guess that we’ll need to see Nighthaunt get a few point increases. Get out there and start haunting your local scene and have fun making “Awoooo” noises when you charge!
This is the top three AoS lists for the UKTC AoS Birmingham Teams that took place in the UK on the 25th and 26th of January. It saw 30 players in teams of 5 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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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: Indomitable
Leaders Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (330)* – General – Command Trait: Firebrand – Artefact: Halo of Blood – Prayer: Killer Instinct – Prayer: Unholy Flames Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne (120)* – Prayer: Blood Sacrifice – Prayer: Bloodbind – Nullstone Adornment: Pouch of Nulldust Skarr Bloodwrath (110)* Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (330)** – Artefact: A’rgath the King of Blades Bloodsecrator (130)** Slaughterpriest (120)** -Bloodbathed Axe – Prayer: Bronzed Flesh – Prayer: Killer Instinct
Battleline 20 x Blood Warriors- Gore fists (380) Goreglaive x 2 Banner x 2 5 x Flesh Hounds (100) -Gorehound 5 x Flesh Hounds (100) -Gorehound
Units 6 x Furies (90)* – Allies 6 x Furies (90)** – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Wrath-Axe (70)
Terrain 1 x Skull Altar (0)
Core Battalions *Warlord **Warlord
Additional Enhancements Prayer Artefact
Total: 1970 / 2000
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: A Soul to Claim – Triumphs: None
Leaders Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (860)* Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Midnight Tome – Lore of Primal Frost: Merciless Blizzard
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (320)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (160)* 10 x Bladegheist Revenants (160)*
Leaders Akhelian King (220)* – General – Bladed Polearm – Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury – Artefact: Potion of Hateful Frenzy – Mount Trait: Savage Ferocity Volturnos, High King of the Deep (220)* Isharann Soulscryer (130)** – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse – Nullstone Adornment: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon
Battleline 3 x Akhelian Ishlaen Guard (160)* 6 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (320)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (160)* 3 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (160)* 3 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (160)* 20 x Namarti Reavers (320)** – Reinforced x 1 10 x Namarti Thralls (110)**
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment **Wizard-Finders of Andtor
This is the top three AoS lists for the Bay Area Open 2024 GT that took place in the US on the 25th and 26th of January. It saw 24 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Massive thank you to Tarul who both ran the event and provided Woehammer with the comments from the players!
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: Blades of Khorne – Army Subfaction: Bloodlords – Grand Strategy: Slaughter of Sorcery – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne (160)* – Artefacts: Halo of Blood – Prayers: Bronzed Flesh 1 x Slaughterpriest (120)* – Bloodbathed Axe – Prayers: Unholy Flames – Nullstone Adornments: Hand-carved Nullstone Icon 1 x Bloodsecrator (130)* 1 x Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (350)** – General – Command Traits: Firebrand – Artefacts: Mark of the Bloodreaper – Prayers: Killer Instinct
BATTLELINE 30 x Bloodletters (180)** – Bloodreaper – 3 x Icon Bearer – 3 x Hornblower 5 x Flesh Hounds (100)** 10 x Bloodreavers (90)** – Blood Chieftain – Icon Bearer – Hornblower – Reaver Blades 10 x Bloodreavers (90)** – Icon Bearer – Hornblower – Blood Chieftain – Reaver Blades
ARTILLERY 1 x Skull Cannon (130)
INVOCATION 1 x Hexgorger Skulls (60) 1 x Wrath-Axe (70)
TERRAIN 1 x Skull Altar (0)
OTHER 5 x Wrathmongers (150)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Warlord **Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)
Congratulations to Thomas for winning the tournament with 4 wins and a draw! Thomas drew with 2nd place – Tad Baten – in his 4th game, but narrowly edged out the tournament win based on Margin of Victory differential. After the tournament, Thomas gave me an in-depth write-up on his list:
“My main goal was to get a single squad of blood letters to do an unstoppable tide of mortal wounds in theory. My subfaction – Bloodlords – lets bloodletters do mortals on a hit roll of 5+ (as opposed to native 6+) when they charge. When buffed with the Wrathmongers (+1 attack to units wholly within 8”) and the Bloodsecrator (once per game +1 to attacks boardwide), they potentially throw 120 dice, averaging 40 mortal wounds if all models get into combat. Did it happen? Hell no! Real life is way too cumbersome for that to ever happen. Did I roll a bunch of dice and do a ton of damage? Absolutely!
The key strengths of the list are the 30 bloodletters and the bloodthirster of unfettered fury. 30 bloodletters throw a ridiculous number of dice unbuffed and buffed, are hard to chunk through (60 wounds), and can resurrect to keep them fighting longer after they should be gone (rally + Herald on Bloodthrone’s prayer recovering D6 Bloodletters). Meanwhile, the Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury hands out a 3D6 charge and provides a hero-phase move (Killer Instinct) through his prayer (Firebrand command trait turns him into a priest) to get the bloodletters exactly where they need to go. Once the bloodletters are done with his buffs and enemy debuffs (-1 to hit), the bloodthirster can use his prayer to cap backline objectives, pick off key targets, or stay within debuff ranges.
The key to success with Khorne is to use their insane reactions- murderlust (D6” hero phase movement) and Brass Skull Meteor (throw 8 dice – 5+ does a MW, or 3+ if the unit has 10+ models or a wounds characteristic of 10+).
The unsung heroes of the list go to the smaller units. Bloodreavers and flesh hounds are excellent chaff, capping points with Khorne’s inbuilt movement and guaranteeing easy Turn 1 surround and destroys / objective grabs with killer instinct. Meanwhile, the skull cannon at worst forces out a CP for All out Defence, but in best case clears out a screen for bloodletters to charge a juicy backline unit (thanks to the Bloodthirster’s 3D6 charge). And of course, don’t forget Khorne’s powerful invocations (hexgorger skulls and wrath axes), thrown by the slaughterpriest from the Bloodthrone to harass wizards (hexgorger skulls) and units (wrath axes) alike!
Shoutout to everyone who played at the BAO this year. Every game that I played this weekend was a great time, and I look forward to playing everyone again once 4th ed drops!”
Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Army Subfaction: Quicksilver Dead(no wards vs harridans) – Grand Strategy: Overshadow – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Guardian of Souls (150)* – General – Command Traits: Shaman of the Chilled Lands – Chill Blade – Artefacts: Midnight Tome(auto cast endless spell OPG) – Spells: Seal of Shyish 1 x Krulghast Cruciator (160)** 1 x Spirit Torment (120)* 1 x Kurdoss Valentian (190)** 1 x Dreadblade Harrow (110)**
BATTLELINE 20 x Chainrasps (100)* – Dreadwarden 20 x Dreadscythe Harridans (150)* – Slasher Crone 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (150)* – Slasher Crone 10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (150)** – Slasher Crone 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)** – Craven Huntmaster – Spectral Standard Bearer 5 x Craventhrone Guard (80)** – Craven Huntmaster – Spectral Standard Bearer
BEHEMOTH 1 x Black Coach (260)** – Reaper Scythe
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
Tad pulled an impressive 2nd place with his Nighthaunt list, also going 4-0-1 (W-L-D)!
Quicksilver Dead gives his 40 Dreadscythe Harridans the ability to ignore wards, allowing them to deal out a devastating amount of damage (41 attacks per 10 harridans, hitting on 3+/3+/0/1 if the enemy unit is damaged or missing a model, and of course hitting with extra rend if Nighthaunt gets those juicy unmodified 9+ charges). To help the initial chip for his harridans, he uses his MSU unit of craventhrone guard (affectionately called crossboos), gravetide, and even the Black Coach’s inbuilt 3D3 nuke/charge mortals. Like most death armies, his list is quite tanky – Kruleghast provides a tasty -1 to damage debuff aura within 12”, Nighthaunt’s passive gives ethereal (unmodifiable saves), while the spirit torment and the guardian of souls provide resurrection to the list (bringing back 3 ghosts per turn and D6 ghosts if their warscroll spell is cast, respectively).
After the tournament, I asked Tad what made his list special- here are his thoughts:
“The army is built to do battle tactics and score well on primary. The artefact midnight tome scores magical dominance, the coach and harrow easily secure the surround and destroy, and the inclusion of the Black Coach provides an easy Nighthaunt battle tactic as well. Now, I just have to do 2 of the following – bait and trap, led into the maelstrom, or intimidate the invaders- to easily score 5 battle tactics every game.
Killing is not necessarily the primary focus of the list, which does have the downside of the grand strategy (Overshadow requires for all enemy battleline to be killed), which can make certain matchups more difficult to make up the point differential.
The reach buff of harridans (2” now!) and their ignore ward with buckets of dice is very flexible. People struggle to math-hammer vs nighthaunt, making target priority and splitting attacks a fun mini game forcing opponents into bad decisions.
With regards to unit selection, the crossboos are cheap screens that proc damage to trigger the harridan’s +1/+1 bloodlust and power up the coach (5 models dying or fleeing gives it a 4++ ward). Coach’s impact hits further help proc harridans’ bonus and is an insane anvil when powered up to an unmodifiable 4+ save and 4++ ward as many of my opponents saw.”
Army Faction: Flesh-eater Courts – Army Subfaction: Gristlegore – Grand Strategy: Expand the Kingdom – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER 1 x Ushoran (460) – Spells: Deranged Transformation 1 x Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (420)* – General – Command Traits: Master of the Menagerie – Artefacts: The Grim Garland – Mount Traits: Venerated Zombie Dragon – Spells: Flaming Weapon 1 x Abhorrant Ghoul King (120)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
BATTLELINE 20 x Crypt Ghouls (160)* 20 x Crypt Ghouls (160)* 1 x Royal Zombie Dragon (240)* 1 x Royal Zombie Dragon (240)*
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Suffocating Gravetide (30)
TERRAIN 1 x Charnel Throne (0)
OTHER 3 x Morbheg Knights (150)*
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1980/2000)
Rounding out our top 3 is Michael Burch, rocking his Flesh-eater Courts Gristlegore list for an impressive 4 victories and only 1 defeat to the tournament winner, Thomas.
Gristlegore is FEC’s monster mash subfaction, making Zombie Dragons battleline. Zombie Dragons are fearsome threats, having a strong melee profile, inbuilt deepstrike, and anti-inspiration (i.e. forced battleshock tests in the battleshock phase within 3”). Most importantly, the Abhorrent Ghoul King on Zombie Dragon’s command trait – Master of the Menagerie – lets any FEC abhorrent revive a ZD at half-HP (once per Zombie Dragon) by spending 6 noble deeds (FEC heroes get 1 noble deed per prayer/spell cast or 1 damage allocated to an enemy unit by melee attacks). Since Usharon and the AGKoZD both fight and cast spells, you better be ready for the dragons to make a surprise secondary appearance. Coupled with the Defenders of the Realm delusion – +1 to save for FEC units contesting objectives they control – Zombie Dragons become surprisingly fast hanvils and a massive headache for their opponents.
Here are Michael’s thoughts on the list:
“Being a monster-focused list, the GKoZD is the closest thing to a lynchpin. His mount trait (+1 to the hit of monsters, both shooting and melee), command trait (revive monsters with FEC’s summon loyal guard battle trait) and the Grim Garland artefact (-2 to the bravery of units within 9”, stacking with Usharon’s -1 to bravery and the bloodcurling shriek monstrous action for ANOTHER -2 to bravery) synergize really well with the list. FEC dragons have some of the best shooting – D6 attacks of 2/3/1/3 or 3/3/1/3 (depending on the mount trait buff) make dragons not only deadly in combat but also a very dangerous unit at range as well. Their deepstrike and 14” movement opens a lot of options to outflank my opponents too.
We can’t forget Usharon either. Being able to pick a secondary delusion really balances the list, allowing me to switch between +1 to wound vs monsters for monster matchups (Sons of Behemat) or simply allowing me to get +1 to run and charge to increase my threat range. Mix together his combat ability to make units fight last coupled with GKoZD’s -1 to bravery and the dragons turning off the Inspiring Presence command (auto-pass battleshock) makes even bravery 10 units start to shake in their boots when the bravery check is needed!
Ghouls fill in what the list needs – a screen and objective holders so that my monsters can do what they do best – fight and harass.
Morbheg knights are handy flex units with the ability to turn off unleash hell and also have fast movement (12”) to play a key role in accomplishing battle tactics and objective grabbing.
Lastly, the ghoul king on foot had some fun tech. You could use his inbuilt hero phase 3D6 charge spell to lock down opponents that would otherwise redeploy or unleash hell. Worst comes to worst, he’s always a potent Blizzard Wizard¹”
¹@Michael: I just learned that apparently you can’t cast Blizzard if you moved earlier in the phase
Army Faction: Sylvaneth – Army Subfaction: Dreadwood – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty – Seasons of War: The Reaping
LEADER 1 x Branchwych (100)* – Spells: Hoarfrost, Verdant Blessing 1 x Branchwych (100)* – General – Command Traits: Spellsinger – Artefacts: The Vesperal Gem – Spells: Verdurous Harmony, Verdant Blessing 1 x Belthanos (360)**
BATTLELINE 15 x Spite-Revenants (80)** 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)** 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)** 5 x Tree-Revenants (110)**
BEHEMOTH 1 x Treelord (230)**
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Spiteswarm Hive (40)
TERRAIN 1 x Awakened Wyldwood (0)
OTHER 3 x Spiterider Lancers (180) 6 x Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatswords (210)**
