This is the Top Three AoS Lists for God’s of War 3 that took place in Italy on the 11th and 12th of February. It involved 84 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
The rankings for this tournament included other points that played around with the usual order of lists. We therefore decided to base the top 3 lists on the traditional method of wins and then battle points.
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The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin
– Army Subfaction: Mor’phann
– Grand Strategy: Dominion of the Deep Ones
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER
1 x Isharann Tidecaster (140)
– Artefacts: Rune of the Surging Gloomtide
– Spells: Steed of Tides
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
1 x Akhelian Thrallmaster (110)*
– General
– Command Traits: Lord of Storm and Sea
1 x Isharann Soulrender (120)*
1 x Lotann (110)*
BATTLELINE
20 x Namarti Thralls (260)*
– Icon Bearer
20 x Namarti Thralls (260)*
– Icon Bearer
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
– Icon Bearer
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
– Icon Bearer
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**
– Icon Bearer
BEHEMOTH
1 x Akhelian Leviadon (460)*
– Mount Traits: Reverberating Carapace
TERRAIN
1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)
CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment
**Galletian Sharpshooters
TOTAL POINTS: (1970/2000)
Just in case it isn’t obvious by the time I finish this segment, I really love Idoneth Deepkin. They are the perfect army full of the best models with no bad builds, and you will never convince me otherwise. Luca’s list shines a spotlight on a handful of excellent units and clearly uses them to their greatest effect.
Let’s start with heroes. Luca has opted to leave the classic Murderking at home to fill in more slots for GCs. They are also focusing their heroes on the ability to buff and support their key units rather than shine by themselves. The Tidecaster brings two Isharann Rituals, the Thrallmaster is remarkably versatile (and has pretty decent solo damage output as well), the Soulrender keeps those Namarti alive, and Lotann provides some amazing buffs when stacked up with other heroes.
The Namarti thralls and reavers are supported by these heroes in key ways. Sticking the Tidecaster in a boat to give Riptide the widest possible reach, then pick your favorite Thrall unit and stick all of the remaining heroes into the middle. At that point the Soulrender is going to be resurrecting 4 to 6 Thralls per battleshock phase, the Thrallmaster is going to provide exploding 6’s to hit, Lotann provides +1 to wound, the Leviadon gives +1 to hit…
You see where this is going. Assuming the chosen unit doesn’t get destroyed on their way to their destination (which obviously didn’t happen, given Luca’s first place win) the 20 thralls will force a massive number of Rend -1 saves. And if it does happen that the thrall unit gets destroyed on the way to their destination, Luca has a backup castle right behind the first. On top of all this, Luca has 30 Sharpshooter Reavers running around the board as fast as (or faster) than other armies’ cavalry all the while able to pick off enemy GCs before they have the chance to score battle tactics.
All-in-all, this is an excellent showing from an army that we don’t get to see in top 3 articles very often, and Luca did an excellent job piloting them to a 5-0 win and first place!
Allegiance: Nighthaunt
– Procession: Scarlet Doom
– Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours!
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders
Guardian of Souls (150)**
– Lore of the Underworlds: Seal of Shyish
Krulghast Cruciator (150)**
– Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Lord Executioner (130)***
– General
– Command Trait: Hatred of the Living
– Artefact: Slitter
– Aspect of the Champion: Fuelled by Ghurish Rage
Spirit Torment (120)**
Spirit Torment (120)
Battleline
10 x Bladegheist Revenants (180)*
10 x Bladegheist Revenants (180)*
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)*
– Reinforced x 1
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (360)*
– Reinforced x 1
3 x Spirit Hosts (130)***
Units
4 x Myrmourn Banshees (100)**
Core Battalions
*Galletian Veterans
**Warlord
***Vanguard
Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 99
Drops: 11
No Harridans, no Hexwraiths, just a single-minded focus on some of the most effective murder machines Nighthaunt has. By now, everyone knows the Bladegheist trick, an extra attack on the charge. With Lightshard, that means up to 5 attacks as well as mortal wounds from the charge (Scarlet Doom ability). This is a variation on the 2 blocks of 30 Bladegheist that we saw early in last season. This list deals with one of the weaknesses of the 60 Bladegheist list by giving both more units and a non-trivial screen. The weakness, of course, is only 10 wounds for 180 points. They can issue discorporate on themselves to take advantage of a 5+ ward increased their effective wounds 30%. But even without rend, a 10/13 wound unit is pretty easy to pick up.
Unfortunately unless you have a double pile in/fight rule (Terrorgheist I see you) the unit that removes the screen is really only a trading piece with one of the large units likely to take advantage of your clearing the screen. Elite armies can’t afford that trade too often. The normal buffing heroes are here, Kruleghast gives -1 damage, and Guardian of Souls with 2 Spirit Torments to return models every turn. The Lord Executioner build is cute and very threatening, but with only 5 wounds, he can be removed a bit too easily to rely on. It will take a little effort, though, with his standard wards and once per game 3+ wards.
If combined with the Spirit Hosts, it will take quite a bit to shift him. He’s not a Megaboss but with Slitter (chance to one shot small heroes) and Hatred of the Living he’s a nasty bomb waiting for something to get too close. The points increase cost this list dearly – in Season 2, it costs more than 100 more than Season 1 neatly removing the Purple Sun (and other helpful spells). With a mix of defensive and offensive buffs and choices, this is still a very aggressive list that aims to win by destroying you more than playing for points. Isolated any of the core units are pretty weak. The lower Battlescore (still 5 and 0) reflects that it’s a bit harder to score in Season 2 just by killing your opponent. It’s still fun though.
Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness
– Subfaction: Knights of the Empty Throne
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS
Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount (170)*
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Cursed Warhammer
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
– General
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Daemonic Speed
– Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)*
– Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh
– Spells: Chaotic Conduit
BATTLELINE
Chaos Knights (230)*
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Doom Knight
– Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Cursed Lance
Chaos Knights (460)*
– Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
– Doom Knight
– Cursed Lance
– 2 x Hornblower
– 2 x Standard Bearer
– Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon
Varanguard (290)*
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– 3 x Ensorcelled Weapon
Varanguard (290)*
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– 3 x Fellspear
Varanguard (290)*
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– 3 x Fellspear
CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 1970/2000
Slaves to Darkness players (myself included) are quickly finding that the new book has some definite power, even if from a fairly limited selection of warscrolls and allegiance abilities. However, the combos that do work, work.
Meme has kept things simple and leaned into a ‘2e Slaves but with no Archaon’ list, with loads of cavalry in Knights of the Empty Throne, which makes mounted units able to run and charge, and Varanguard battleline. Also, be aware, the 5+ Varanguard rally only applies if the GENERAL is a Varanguard model.
Slaves HQ picks are quickly consolidating to a lean selection of 1-2 Lords, with at least being the Sorcerer as we have here, for access to the fantastic Daemonic Power (+1 to hit and wound) spell, that he can cast on 3d6 thanks to a heroic action – hence the Arcane Tome and Master of Magic – also crucial to getting ‘Daemonic Speed’ off for those 3d6 charges.
Troop wise, Chaos Knights are rapidly showing Nurgle to be their favourite mark, so they can act as durable pinning pieces. Meme has them backed up by 3x msu Khorne Varanguard, as savage guided missiles, with each unit being able to fight twice.
You can probably see how it works – a wall of super hard to kill knights with run+3d6 charge to box you in, and death squads of Varanguard with – if all the buffs go off – 4 attacks each, 2/2/-3/2!
Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals
– Army Type: Stormkeep
– Subfaction: Hallowed Knights
– Triumph: Inspired
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Their
LEADERS
Lord-Castellant (160)*
– General
– Command Trait: Master of Magic
– Artefact of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spell: Starfall
Gardus Steel Soul (170)***
Knight-Zephyros (100)***
– Artefact of Power: Mirrorshield
– Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox
Krondys (550)***
– Spell: Thundershock
BATTLELINE
15 x Vindictors (390)*
– Vindictor-Prime
– 3 x Azyrite Signifier
5 x Vanquishers (110)**
– Vanquisher-Prime
5 x Vanquishers (110)***
– Vanquisher-Prime
OTHER
3 x Aetherwings (70)**
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)**
– Raptor-Prime
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Everblaze Comet (90)
CORE BATTALIONS
* Galletian Command
** Galletian Sharpshooters
*** Warlord – Artefact
UNIQUE ENHANCEMENT – HOLY COMMAND
Steadfast March
TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000
With the news that small heroes were the focus of Season 2, SCE players rejoiced and began sorting through their 40 heroes for Galletian Champions to take up the challenge. And very quickly realised that despite only average performance, they’d gotten a nerf. The same 3 or 4 foot heroes that were already in the list were there for a reason. However, both the Knight Zephyros and the Knight Azyros. especially the Knight Zephyros, made a return. Only 6″ move, but he can teleport instead of move on top of run and charge. Only 5 wounds but equipped with Mirrorshield (can’t be shot unless you are within 9″) and Subborn as a Rhinox makes him both a great backfield but also a great unguarded objective unit. Really though this is the Krondys show with a supporting cast of heroes.
Both the Castellant and Steel Soul bring useful buffs (+1 to save and a 12″ 5+ ward). While Krondys is the big hammer, the Vindictors are a hammer in their own right. They are part of the Galletian Command battalion with the Castellant. You can expect them to hang around with a 2+ save. You can expect them to do an average of 5 mortal wounds at full strength (15 models), they need to lose 3 models before battleshock is an issue. They also fight on death, so combat is a real concern. They are part of an anti horde approach, including Starfall and the Vanquishers (they get more attacks the more models they face). At the same time, as including a hero that can snipe objectives, Ambrogio included some real snipers.
Aetherwings are not just spotters (+1 to hit for longstrikes if the target is within 12″ of them). They can, of course, take objectives or push scoring opportunities. The Longstrikes are a good choice for sniping out Galletian Champions. A well thought out list with solid scoring opportunities and the ability to apply pressure, including through remote mortal wounds (Raptors, Everblaze Comet, and Starfall) that will punish any horde or army that castles. 13th is low for a 4 and 1 record, demonstrating SCE’s frequent mobility issue and its impact on scoring.
Final Tournament Placings
For the full tournament listing visit Best Coast Pairings.