Legion of Night is seeing the most success on the GT tournament with a win rate of 55%, while at the RTT level Avengorii Dynasty seems to be the most powerful subfaction at 60%. Meanwhile players using Kastelai Dynasty appear to be struggling at both tournament formats, both being at sub 40% win rate.
Legion of Blood is by far the most popular subfaction at both tournament formats, and perhaps the larger numbers of players for this subfaction will be dragging their win rate down slightly as player skill gets diluted over a larger population.
Here we can see how the subfaction players generally perform at GTs. The grey bar shows how many players achieve 0 to 2 wins at a GT, if this is less than 50%, then that faction has a positive win rate, as shown in the yellow bar (those players who achieve 3 or more wins), the blue segment shows those who achieve 4 or more wins, and finally the green segment shows the percentage of players who go on to win all 5 games.
This chart can show a lack of balance via results, if all factions were perfectly balanced (along with player skills) then the opposing bars (i.e. 5-0 and 0-5, 3-2 and 2-3) should be the same length.
FACTION MATCHUPS
Note that these stats are across all game formats.
Daughters of Khaine, Fyreslayers and Ironjawz prove to be the easiest factions for Soulblight players to defeat, while Beasts of Chaos, Kharadron Overlords and Blades of Khorne appear to be the most difficult.
ROUND PERFORMANCE
Soulblight Players appear to have mostly a 50/50 outcome from most of their matches throughout a tournament, all being within the 45-55% win rate.
However, at RTT level the Soulblight players appear to have a harder time in rounds 1 and 2, with the victories leaning towards their opponents.
WARSCROLL PERFORMANCE
Right click & view image to view the table in its full scale
This chart shows the win rates of lists which include the warscroll (in Blue) compared to those that don’t (in Orange).
WARSCROLLS NOT USED
Deintalos the Exile
Exiled Dead
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This is the top three AoS lists for the Whitburn Wipeout GT that took place in the UK on the 25th and 26th of August. It involved 46 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: Droning Guard – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Lord of Afflictions (230)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench Sloppity Bilepiper, Herald of Nurgle (120)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (330)* – Allies
Battleline 6 x Plague Drones (400)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Plague Drones (200)* 3 x Plague Drones (200)* 3 x Plague Drones (200)* 3 x Plague Drones (200)*
Units 3 x Nurglings (100)
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1980 / 2000
Army Faction: Ossiarch Bonereapers – Subfaction: Null Myriad – Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Arkhan the Black (380) Katakros (460)* Mortisan Boneshaper (140)* – General – Command Traits: Dark Acolyte – Artefacts of Power: Artisan’s Key – Spells: Drain Vitality
Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Kastelai – Grand Strategy: Crimson Larder – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Prince Vhordrai (470) – Spells: Soulpike Vengorian Lord (280)* – General – Command Traits: Undead Bladelord – Artefacts of Power: Fragment of the Keep – Spells: Spirit Gale Vampire Lord (140)* – Spells: Merciless Blizzard
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 Wardolly Weekend that took place in Australia on the 18th and 19th of March. It involved 16 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (330) Gardus Steel Soul (170)* Lord-Castellant (160)** – Artefact: Mirrorshield – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Lord-Relictor (150)* – General – Command Trait: High Priest – Prayer: Translocation – Aspect of the Champion: Stubborn as a Rhinox Yndrasta, The Celestial Spear (280)*
Battleline 5 x Liberators (120)** – Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield 5 x Vindictors (130)* 10 x Sequitors (240)** – 5x Stormsmite Greatmaces – Reinforced x 1
Units 5 x Retributors (210)** 5 x Retributors (210)***
Leaders Vengorian Lord (280) – General – Command Trait: Rousing Commander – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Prince Vhordrai (460) – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions Radukar the Beast (310) Vampire Lord (140) – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Battleline 10 x Blood Knights (400) – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blood Knights (200) 5 x Blood Knights (200)
Allegiance: Ironjawz – Warclan: Ironsunz – Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours! – Triumphs:
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Artefact: Destroyer – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Megaboss (140)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Orruk Warchanter (120)** Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)** – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)** – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (80)* – 1x Gorkamorka Glyph Bearers 5 x Orruk Brutes (150)* – Pair of Brute Choppas – 1x Gore Choppas
Units 6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Pig-iron Choppas – Reinforced x 1
This is the Top Three AoS lists for Borderlands 2k Bash that took place at Borderlands Comics and Games in Greenville, SC on November 19th. There were a total of 12 players competing in this three-round event.
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: Underguts – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)* – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder Butcher (135)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails Slaughtermaster (135)* – Artefacts of Power: Gruesome Trophy Rack – Spells: Blubbergrub Stench
Patrick: When the Ogor Mawtribes Battletome was released it was a fair assumption that some unit spamming/abuse would come out of the new book. Tobias made this assumption as well and decided to test the waters by dropping as many Ironblasters as he could on the table. “Ironblasters are awesome,” Tobias told me. “I’m not playing Ogors because I want to play greenish stunted gitz… So none of that in my list.” He is also taking advantage of the -1 to wound from Rockmane Elder, providing some extra beef on the Stonehorn.
His Ironblasters played well into all of his matchups, although with some minor difficulty into Idoneth Deepkin due to shooting restrictions that the army carries with it. His Ironblasters killed Bloab Rotspawn in the first round of his second match. Two units firing the long range shot were able to remove him from across the table, and went on to table his Nurgle opponent by the bottom of round 2. “They will be a meta pick. If I had a big event I’d run them, but they weren’t great fun.” It may be too early to say if the warscroll needs some adjustments, but I think at the very least we will see a points increase in the future.
Congratulations to Tobias on his win, and we hope to see more lists from him in the future (the upcoming Cherokee GT, perhaps?).
Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Kastelai Dynasty – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER Manfred Von Carstein (380) – Spells: Fading Vigour Vengorian Lord (280) – General – Command Traits: Swift and Deadly – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep – Spells: Invigorating Aura, Amethystine Pinions Belladamma Volga (200) – Spells: Vile Transference
BATTLELINE 10 x Blood Knights (390)* – Kastellan – Standard Bearer 10 x Blood Knights (390)* – Kastellan – Standard Bearer 5 x Blood Knights (195)* – Kastellan – Standard Bearer 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer – Champion’s Mace or Halberd 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer – Champion’s Mace or Halberd
Patrick: “After narrowing down to Soulblight, I went back and forth between a horde of Zombies and Skeletons and a mixed armes list like we have ssen across the meta. However, I thought ‘I own 25 Blood Knights,’ why not run all of them.” And run them, he did, to great effect. The list sees Manfred and a Vengorian Lord bringing buffs and spellcasting to round out his list, as well as some Expert Conqueror Skeletons for objective maintenance. Manfred’s base size came in especially handy due to his unique command ability, providing +1 to hit and wound wholly within 12”. His base size and careful positioning meant that Stuart could have at least 2 units of 10 knights with 2+/2+, -1 rend, and 2-3 damage lances.
Belladomma works to provide a quality fighter to deal with chaff units. Her ability to turn salin models into Dire Wolves worked in Stuart’s favor to keep the board saturated with threats, and can be used to bait an opponent’s dispel attempt to make room for casting from Mannfred and the Vengorian Lord.
Army Type: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER Bloab Rotspawned (320) – Spells: Gift of Disease Orghotts Daemonspew (320) Lord of Afflications (230) – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Incubatch – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts of Power: The Splithorn Helm
BATTLELINE 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 10 x Plaguebearers (150)** 10 x Plaguebearers (150)**
Patrick: Jake’s Nurgle list was tooled to the event. “With Prize of Gallet on the list it was going to be incredibly hard to score if I went first.” This meant that he had to break away from his original list (which included no Galletian Veterans) and build in two units of Plaguebearers. They are cheaper than Blightkings, and in this instance would perform the same duty. That left three units of flies, one to deep strike with the Lord of Affliction and one to Drowned Men across the table and lock his opponent down.
Jake feels that some better deployment of Bloab could have kept him alive longer. Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws would have done a lot of work into Tobias’s chaff units, and he may have been able to get a better performance in the third round. “Mawtribes are gross now,” he told me, but he is happy with the list and his performance. “The list did what I expected it too. Flies and Jaws eat the grunts and you aim the Maggoth lords at their heroes.”
He made some final notes in our conversation as well. “Nurgle is fine, the thing that bothers me the most is the lists that are winning are the same archetype. I’d love to see a non-Drowned Men win rate. The issue is everything in that book just pushed it towards that load out. Better units, better artefacts into the best subfaction.” His next event will see the use of a Great Unclean One in more close-range battleplans, one of which will include a “no deep strike” rule.
Army Type: Seraphon – Army Type: Coalesced – Army Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER Skink Starpriest (130)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Fusil of Conflagration – Spells: Levitate
Patrick: This list is the perfect example of why I love one-day events. The fact that large prizes generally aren’t on the line means that people will be more willing to accommodate casual crowds and test off-meta lists. Jon’s list fits this perfectly.
“The idea…was to make a bad list” Jon told me during a discussion. The Greenville AoS community tends to be newer or more casual players than he normally plays. He didn’t want to create a list that would completely shut other players out. Jon told me “I like the idea of giant lizards stomping around, and this was the only time I would ever actually run them at an event.” Dread Saurians will certainly feel robust in a Thunder Lizard list, but overall they won’t accomplish very much. They’re an ideal unit for new players to feel good dumping wounds into without getting punched back too hard, but players also need to be sure to watch the Skinks, since it would be easy to focus on the big intimidating models while Jon’s battleline consistently scores VP. It’s a lesson in threat assessment and target priority for new players.
While Jon didn’t win the event, he certainly accomplished his goals. Hopefully we see more people approach play with this attitude in event in the future.
Note: Jon did not compete in the final round due to matchups. He was scheduled to face someone he plays multiple times a week, and he decided to give them a chance to play a different opponent (not to mention it is a pain to move three Dread Saurians around).
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Gourds of War FT that took place in Texas, USA on 12th and 13th November. It involved 18 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords – Subfaction: Zaitrec – Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours
LEADERS Sevireth (320) Scinari Cathallar (110)** – General – Command Traits: Loremaster – Artefacts of Power: Silver Wand – Spells: Protection of Hysh, Solar Flare, Total Eclipse The Light of Eltharion (240)** Vanari Lord Regent (170)** – Spells: Protection of Hysh
BATTLELINE Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)** – High Warden – Spells: Overwhelming Heat Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)** – High Warden – Spells: Solar Flare Vanari Auralan Sentinels (450)** – High Sentinel – Spells: Total Eclipse
OTHER Vanari Bladelords (130)* – Bladelord Seneschal Vanari Dawnriders (140)* – Steedmaster – Standard Bearer – Spells: Speed of Hysh Vanari Dawnriders (140)* – Steedmaster – Standard Bearer – Spells: Speed of Hysh
TERRAIN 1 x Shrine Luminor (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Bounty Hunters **Battle Regiment
Ed: Dustin’s List seems simple at first glance, but it is a deceptively hard list to run. All his units have the potential to be stars depending on match ups and battle plans, but they are fragile. You need to be thinking at least a turn ahead to ensure your key pieces are in the right place ahead of time. It is a common mantra that “Games are won in the movement phase”, and I feel like Dustin’s list takes this to heart with his highly manoeuvrable choice of units. Don’t leave an objective open around Dustin!
The Zaitrec subfaction gives all wizards a +1 to casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls. That added reliability is key for getting off important spells, particularly Power of Hysh which represents a huge increase in damage and Protection of Hysh which keeps your army alive.
After so long on the bench, it’s nice to see Eltharion included in a list that’s performing well. As a mid-level threat with a small presence on the table he is often able to fly under the radar until he connects with something important. He is much more reliable since the new battletome, and has been referred to as a Diet-Gotrek – although mortal wounds will bring him down very quickly.
To have achieved 5 wins with this list, Dustin must have played wonderfully. It is an army with a high skill ceiling and an extremely techy set of core mechanics. It’s not your typical netlist army that can be copied by a novice and still do fairly well. But if you’re looking to improve your skills, playing a list like this is a good challenge to test your mastery of strategic buff placement, unit positioning and long term thinking.
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Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty – Mortal Realm: Shyish – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (955)** Wight King on Skeletal Steed (110)** – General – Command Trait: Rousing Commander – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep
Battleline 5 x Blood Knights (195)* 5 x Blood Knights (195)* 5 x Blood Knights (195)* 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)**
Endless Spells & Invocations Umbral Spellportal (80) Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Edited: Sorry I somehow forgot (it’s wishful thinking…) that Blood Knights aren’t summonable! That’s what you get for re-reading Nagash’s scroll after a 1-dayer when your brain is mush. Post is now accurate!
Danny: It’s Nagash! Again! What is happening??
Well, there’s a fairly standard core at play here, with 3x msu Blood Knights in Kastelai providing a roaming set of both tanky AND killy – especially in bounty hunters – fast movers. Aaron will have had the option of layering them up or splitting them off for board control, and either way the Wight King on Steed is a relatively budget general acting as a ‘Rousing Commander’ caddy – which allows the best of the Kastelai ‘kill a unit and gain a buff based on its type’ effects to pop off once per battle ‘for free’, as it were. And the battleline is rounded out by the 2x msu Deathrattle are cost-efficient grave-site lurkers.
So in this context, Nagash seems to really be offering the magical dominance. He can’t buff Blood Knights in the same way Mannfred/Coven Throne etc can, but with Spellportal (and no Cogs – living dangerously!) he can stay at a safe range and shut down a lot of the usual magic threats that would ordinarily threaten the Blood Knights. Soulblight have some excellent debuffs too.
So overall, your opponent has a tough choice. Try and take down Nagash – not easy unless you have excellent ranged firepower – or focus down the Blood Knights and leave the magic powerhouse at liberty. Clearly making his opponent make tough choices paid off, with a brutal anti-aelf campaign, losing only to Zaitrec LRL who could probably stand up to the magic and shut down most of Nagash’s utility. Big congrats to Aaron for the 4-1 with Nagash!
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Army Faction: Blades of Khorne – Subfaction: Reapers of Vengeance – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280) – Artefacts of Power: Skullshard Mantle Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (295) Skarbrand (380)* Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (280)** – Artefacts of Power: Ar’gath, the King of Blades Bloodsecrator (125)** – General – Command Traits: Mage Eater Slaughterpriest (100)** – Bloodbathed Axe – Prayers: Resanguination
Peter: Our new colleague, Alice, needs no introduction! You may know her as Ragnarok Angel, the lead AoS writer for Goonhammer. Alice has kindly offered her skills and expertise to help us with top three commentary.
Alice: Blades of Khorne is a real underdog that is often underestimated when faced (Source: Me being the receiving end of it not too long ago). “It’s a bad book, the changes to priest nerfed them!” you say and you aren’t wrong, but piloted by a skilled player and a far too eager opponent, Khorne can put out a lot of damage.
Reapers of Vengeance is still considered the best subfaction, Devour the Craven causes D3 extra models to run on a failed battleshock which is fine but the real meat is the Leave None Alive command ability, allowing a Daemon model to fight a second time. When you look at the quadruple Bloodthirsters, you start to see the profit here.
On top of this, the change to Blood Tithes so they no longer burn all their points at once has had a bigger impact on the faction than is generally understood. For 4 Blood Tithe points, a unit can fight at the beginning of the Hero phase, including your opponent’s, before your opponent has had a chance to set up their buffs. That means a Bloodthirster fighting potentially three times in a single turn of gameplay, assuming something even survives that many hits.
The Bloodthirsters are the showstoppers, but rounding off the list is some decent anti-magic. The forced artefact is a 2+ shrug for spells, which while not ideal is still really good at forcing an enemy wizard to choose different targets. The mandatory Mage Eater is much better, allowing the General, Karnak and Flesh Hounds to unbind spells and even do Mortal Wounds with the General and Karnak. Hexgorger Skulls force -2 to casts, and can potentially cause more mortal wounds. It won’t stop an overwhelming number of spells, which explains the one loss against Lumineth, but it’ll shut down armies with only a handful of crucial spells.
When brought together it creates a list that is just incredibly difficult to engage in close combat. If you fight a Bloodthirster you better go first and you better win because if it hits you on the kick back it’ll kill most things. A blunt instrument, but a reliable one, as Khorne would wish.
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Allegiance: Flesh-eater Courts – Grand Court: Blisterskin – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Abhorrant Archregent (245)** – Artefact: The Dermal Robe – Lore of Madness: Blood Feast Abhorrant Ghoul King (165)** – Lore of Madness: Miasmal Shroud Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (445)* – General – Command Trait: Hellish Orator – Artefact: Eye of Hysh – Mount Trait: Gruesome Bite – Lore of Madness: Spectral Host Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon (430)** – Lore of Madness: Monstrous Vigour
Battleline 9 x Crypt Flayers (540)* – Reinforced x 2 10 x Crypt Ghouls (85)* 10 x Crypt Ghouls (85)*
Peter: Another new writer, and perhaps a familiar name to those on the Canadian tournament circuit. Jake Seguin is currently ranked 20th in Canada.
Jake: Don’t call it a renaissance, but things have been looking up of late for our favourite Bretonnian roleplayers. Harnessing both the power of the Incarnate and the frightening damage and recursion of max-size Knight units, a few ghoulish generals have successfully piloted an off-meta army to notable tournament success. Eddy Andrews ascends to abhorrent greatness with his take on a Blisterskin list that foregoes the Incarnate in favour of expanding his royal family with the oft-overlooked King on Zombie Dragon.
You’ll find much of the familiar FEC architecture here: an Archregent, the King on Terrorgheist, and MSU ghouls to fill the battleline slots. What the Zombie Dragon lacks in the spiky mortal wound output of his batty brother, he makes up for in force multiplication. His signature spell (at only a CV of 6) provides a 16” wound reroll bubble for friendly FEC units, juicing the double-fighting Flayers to incredible heights of carnage and closing his own average damage gap significantly with the Terrorgheist.
With 36 wounds, a natural 6+ ward, and conditional access to a 5+ ward from the Terrogheist, the Flayers are sporting some real beef to complement their reach and offence. As FEC can now get an additional Muster from any hero courtesy of White Dwarf, any failed attempt to remove this unit can become a game-losing swing. It may fall short of turning water into wine, but a single hero phase can certainly turn one remaining Flayer into nine. Presenting a tough force allocation dilemma and providing the frail FEC army with an actual anvil, 9 Flayers can threaten to take over any matchup where there isn’t a strong Bounty Hunters threat opposite them.
The four Kings will cast their respective buff spells, supercharge something with up to +4 attacks and run+charge, and slam into the enemy until someone is tabled. Leveraging the ability to summon up to four units from any board edge, the list is also deceptively wide and can play a more cagey objective game if the situation calls for it. While flesh-eating enthusiasts will continue to debate the merits of Blisterskin over Feast Day/Crusading Army until the next End Times, Eddy decided that the army-wide +2 movement and teleport utility was worth giving up his first artefact slot. Instead, he took a Command Entourage for the dermal robe, giving his Archregent that extremely important casting buff in a list where he couldn’t fit Cogs.
Excellent work by Eddy, who only dropped his last two games to the eventual 1st and 3rd-place finishers.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Invasion AOS 22 Tournament that took place in Kristiansand, Norway, on the 17th and 18th September. It involved 44 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: Seraphon – Army Type: Starborne – Army Subfaction: Fangs of Sotek – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)** – Artefacts: Serpent God Dagger 1 x Slann Starmaster (265)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Spells: Stellar Tempest 1 x Skink Priest (90)** – Prayers: Heal 1 x Skink Starpriest (130)*** – Spells: Hand of Glory
BATTLELINE 30 x Skinks (225)* – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter and Moonstone Club 5 x Saurus Guard (115)*** – Saurus Guard Alpha – Wardrummer – Stardrake Icon Bearer 10 x Skinks (75)*** – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler 10 x Skinks (75)*** – Skink Alpha – Boltspitter – Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler
BEHEMOTH 1 x Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek (165)***
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (70) 1 x Horrorghast (40)
OTHER 8 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)* 8 x Salamander Hunting Pack (280)*
Comments: Fangs of Sotek continues it’s long run as a great list taking another 5/0 and 1st. This time there is no Kroak and only one Bastilidon but there are two terrifyingly large Salamander Hunting Packs. Otherwise it’s a fairly conventional list with one large (30) Skink unit and 2 x 10 skinks, 5 Saurus Guard (bodyguards), Astrolith, Starmaster, Starpriest and priest. 2 Endless Spells to take advantage of the strong spell casting – Horrorghast and Purple Sun. Noted elsewhere this works well as a combination with Fangs but increasing rend (for the Ark and Skinks) and making battleshock tests terrifying. Back to the Salamanders, each has 2 Salamanders with their 7 attacks, 4 ranged, all hitting/wounding on 3s with -2 rend and D3 damage, 6s do D3 mortal wounds. For each pack that’s an average of 8 damage + 3 MWs. But that could spike as high 21 MWs (extremely unlikely).
Again another list that really wants to make you come to them, the salamanders will stay behind Skinks where feasible to limit charges. Mostly avoid the 30 Skink block. For the most part Tom’s opponents had either limited shooting or limited range leaving them exposed to the Skinks/Salamanders. KO might have had the best of it but Skinks can be teleported or summoned aiding scoring and blocking ships. Good result.
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Allegiance: Skaven – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Comments: Skaven in 2nd place with a rational list, still has a Warlock for humor but staying safe with solid heroes and clanrat/stormfiend battle line. The only endless spell is Cogs, that leaves point to run 2 x Verminlords and a Grey Seer with the now standard battleline. No Gnawholes listed but I assume some were taken. The Warpgrinder works as a Gnawhole for a single unit that can be placed in reserve with the Warpgrinder and placed at the end of a movement phase. You place the extra unit within 13″ of the Warpgrinder and 9″ from the enemy. Stormfiends to the rear? Like most Skaven lists there is a lot going on, the Grey Seer brings a mini Purple Sun (MWs and -1 to hit rolls for 1 unit).
The Deceiver has his dreaded skitterleap for a teleport that leaves him 6″ from enemies and Warbringer can grant fight on death for 3 units. This is a great combo, you can be aggressive with both the Stormfiends and Deceiver while holding the centre with the Warbringer and granting the Clannrats fight on death. The Warpgrinder teleport, with clanrats also gives some exciting options for scoring. He’s won qgainst very stiff competition with the 3 hammers and his options. That includes beating both flavours of DoK and an Annihilator SCE list.
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Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs:
Leaders Prince Vhordrai (455) – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435) – General – Deathlance – Command Trait: A Craving for Massacre – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep – Mount Trait: Foetid Miasma – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)** – Lore of the Deathmages: Decrepify
Battleline 5 x Blood Knights (195)* 5 x Blood Knights (195)* 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)**
Units 10 x Grave Guard (140)** – Great Wight Blades
Comments: Really solid SBGGL effort, running 3rd after a 3rd round loss to Benjamin (2nd) and his evil Skaven. Who has the moral high ground between Chaos and Death? A selection of the best units in the codex with Blood Knights, Grave Guard, 3 really nasty Vampire Lords and a zombie dragon. 3 Behemoths, all dragons, are the primary hammers. The list doesn’t need to castle though – Mannfred works well with the Blood Knights with Vigour of Undeath (12″ aura of +1 to hit and wound). Prince Vhordrai works with the Vampire Lord giving the Vampire Lord the ability to fight in the hero phase. They massive movement (starts at 14″) so it’s hard to screen them out. All of the units gain a ward near a gravesite, try to fight them further than 12″ from gravesites if possible.
As always with SBGL controlling the gravesites becomes increasingly important. They can summon units back through them or use them to summon reserves. The 2 units of Skeletons and the Grave Guard can all be returned at half strength making it a bit like whack a mole trying to keep them down. I feel the 6″ charge from the Deceiver and the Warbringer’s fight on death for adjacent units would have been the keys to bluntening the impact of the dragons. It’s a remarkable list and 4/1 is a good result, in line with similar SBGL performances we’ve seen recently.
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired,Inspired
Leaders Great Bray-Shaman (100)** – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: ViciousStranglethorns Great Bray-Shaman (100)** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*** – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade – Lore of Dark Storms: Sundering Blades
Battleline 20 x Bestigors (250)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bestigors (250)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Ungors (65) – Mauls & Half-Shields
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)*** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)*** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)*** 1 x Chaos Spawn (55)**
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400) – Allies – Bonded to Tzaangor Shaman Cygor (125)
Comments: A genuine horde list, makes me wonder why Expert Conquerors wasn’t one of the battalions. 87 models altogether with 4 small heros and a Krondspine. The spells are a mix of MWs and buffing spells (special mention to Wild Rampage – reroll melee wound rolls but -1 to your saves). Cogs and Ravening Direflock are the chosen endless spells, Cogs is interesting, most of the chosen spells have casts around 5 and 6 but this list is short on buffs for casting. Ravening Direflock prevents non BoC units within 12″ from using Rally or Inspiring Presence. That’s not bad for 50 points. I’m assuming that there is a Herdstone in the list but not shown.
This is a list that seeks to outlast it’s opponent,then clap back from Turn 3 onwards. Board wide they are -1 rend until Turn 3 when it becomes -2 rend. Bestigors from Turn 3 are -3 rend total. The play here then is to screen using the Ungors (both kinds) while the Bestigors stay close to the Herdstone for Rally on 4+ (starts at 12″ and increases 6″ per turn). The leaders can pray on the Ungor for additional Primordial Points that allowing summoning more units. Krondspine plays really well into this strategy – your opponent can’t ignore it and sometimes will concentrate early damage on Krondspine. That increases the number of other units that make it to Turn 3.
It worked really well here against armies that had smaller units with good saves. Against -3 rend even a 3+ save looks weak. Then there is the Skaven. Their hammer units would be removing 3 units from this list in a turn. The fight on death is really punishing as well, BoC have few wounds and poor saves so their increased rend most likely leads to their quicker death. Clever build and a deserving 4/1.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Midtcon Grand Tournament that took place in Denmark on 3rd and 4th September. It involved 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
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Stormhost: Astral Templars (Scions of the Storm) – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (325)* Lord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)* – General – Celestine Hammer – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Scintillating Trail – Spell: Thundershock Slann Starmaster (265)* – Allies
Battleline 5 x Vindictors (130)** 3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins 3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)** – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins
Units 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)*
Danny: Beating off a tough slew of opponents is Casper’s slight variation on the new SCE hotness, aka ‘many mortals at range’.
The list, which is quickly becoming adopted world-over, does what it looks like. Allying in the Slann gives reliable access to the big frog’s warscroll spell for d3 mortals to up to d6 units, the C-Prime does them at range or starts in reserve to act as a missile-duelist. The Stardrake is a durable platform with 4 rend 3, 2 damage ranged attacks at 30″ AND gives ‘friendly wizards’ (aka the Slann) +1 to cast. The Longstrikes – you know what they do, and the Palladors act as teleporting guerrilla fighters for scoring and doing extra ranged chip damage.
It’s a brutal new archetype and I imagine we’ll see it do well for a while yet while people react – although it’s unclear how much you can react to such a reliable ranged barrage!
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Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty,Bloodthirsty
Leaders Bloab Rotspawned (300) – Lore of Malignance: Gift of Disease Orghotts Daemonspew (300)* Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: The Splithorn Helm Gutrot Spume (170)*
Battleline 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)*** 5 x Putrid Blightkings (250)*** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)** 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)**
Danny: Nurgle representing in Denmark with the increasingly popular ‘Double maggoths and mixed Blight troops’ archetype. It’s simple but effective, as both Maggoths offer a wide variety of mixed phase damage and utility, while the Blightkings tank all manner of punishment and the Blightlords fulfill the objective grabbing/pinning role.
Nurgle aren’t going anywhere fast, literally and figuratively.
Danny: It’s the Maw Krusha and 20-50 feral hogs. Honestly in this season it’s their only competitive build, which is sad, but hey at least it _can_ still compete, which is more than can be said for 90% of the Orruks book.
It’s also a seasonal issue – the damage bounty hunters can do to Brutes just renders them pointless. Same goes for Ardboyz, who offer plenty of utility as cheap screens in Big Waagh but again seem redundant for IJ. So, not blaming anyone for running this list other than GW for what has been proved in hindsight to be a real lack of imagination with the joint-first 3e Tome.
Leaders Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380) – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour Neferata, Mortarch of Blood (365) – Lore of the Deathmages: Decrepify Vengorian Lord (280)** – General – Command Trait: Rousing Commander – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep – Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Battleline 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** 10 x Blood Knights (390)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Blood Knights (195)* 5 x Blood Knights (195)*
Danny: As predicted, the re-rise of SBGL is upon us! Double Mortarchs or MSU chaff with Coven Throne have proven effective, but this unusual list from Martin opts for Neferata and plenty of Blood Knights – if her spells go off she can make them insanely tanky, with ignoring rend and a command ability for a -1 to hit aura – she also brings some spike damage potential herself.
3x msu Deathrattle support as excellent grabbers who can pop out or back up from grave-sites, with the Vengo lord acting as a mobile, mixed phase general to be a home for artifacts/command traits.
A highly objective play focused list and good to see SBGL doing well again!
Here are the AoS Meta Stats for all the Grand Tournaments that have taken place between Monday 4th July and Sunday 10th July 2022. These are all the GT’s that I can locate on Tabletop.to or BestCoastPairing, if you know of any others please send me a link and I’ll add them.
Once again, another quiet week, with only 3 Grand Tournaments.
Kingdom of Skrappa Spill – England/UK 28 Players – Generals Handbook: Pitched Battles 2022-23 Season 1
Position
Faction
Subfaction
Result
1st
Cities of Sigmar
Hallowheart
5-0-0
2nd
Daughters of Khaine
Khailebron
4-0-1
3rd
Cities of Sigmar
Hammerhal
4-0-1
4th
Skaven
4-0-1
5th
Maggotkin of Nurgle
3-1-1
6th
Seraphon
Thunder Lizard
3-1-1
7th
Daughters of Khaine
Khailebron
3-0-2
8th
Daughters of Khaine
Hagg Nar
3-0-2
9th
Nighthaunt
3-0-2
Kingdom of Skrappa Spill
Grand Alliance Stats
These stats reflect the last four weeks of GT’s that we’re aware of at Woehammer.
303 players (-182) took part in 12 GT’s (-4) over the last four weeks.
Grand Alliance
Win Rate
Armies
% Share of Armies
5-0 Wins
4+ Wins
Chaos
56.4%
62
20.46%
5
20
Order
51.0%
149
49.17%
4
21
Death
43.8%
50
16.50%
1
6
Destruction
43.8%
42
13.86%
0
3
Chaos continue to lead the way in the win rates, dropping only slightly from 56.7% last week to 56.4% this week. While Order pick up the most number of armies represented and most 4+. Chaos steal the crown this week for most 5-0’s.
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Faction Stats
The below stat show the results for those factions represented by 5 armies or more only.
Faction
Win Rate
Armies
% Share of Armies
5-0 Wins
0-5 Losses
Slaves to Darkness
72.2%
6
1.98%
1
1
Beasts of Chaos
63.1%
13
4.29%
2
0
Nighthaunt
61.3%
17
5.61%
1
0
Blades of Khorne
60.0%
5
1.65%
0
0
Sylvaneth
58.5%
13
4.29%
0
0
Cities of Sigmar
57.1%
17
5.61%
1
1
Seraphon
56.3%
24
7.92%
2
1
Kharadron Overlords
55.0%
6
1.98%
1
1
Big Waaagh!
54.0%
5
1.65%
0
0
Maggotkin of Nurgle
53.8%
21
6.93%
1
2
Bonesplitterz
51.5%
7
2.31%
0
0
Lumineth Realm-Lords
50.0%
12
3.96%
0
0
Daughters of Khaine
50.0%
17
5.61%
0
1
Sons of Behemat
50.0%
8
2.64%
0
0
Idoneth Deepkin
47.8%
18
5.94%
0
0
Sons of Behemat
48.5%
21
4.33%
0
1
Skaven
46.7%
6
1.98%
1
0
Legion of the First Prince
46.7%
6
1.98%
0
1
Stormcast Eternals
45.6%
26
8.58%
0
3
Ogor Mawtribes
44.8%
6
1.98%
0
1
Fyreslayers
43.0%
16
5.28%
0
1
Flesh-eater Courts
40.0%
5
1.65%
0
0
Soulblight Gravelords
37.8%
18
5.94%
0
2
Gloomspite Gitz
33.3%
6
1.98%
0
0
Ironjawz
32.8%
7
2.31%
0
2
Ossiarch Bonereapers
27.0%
10
3.30%
0
2
Slaves to Darkness and Blades of Khorne continue their run of good form in experienced hands. While the new battletomes of Nighthaunt and Sylvaneth can also be seen in the +55% area. Daughters of Khaine are smack in the middle with a perfect 50% win rate. While Skaven are beginning to climb.
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Subfactions
All factions listed below have been represented at tournaments by at least 5 players.
Faction
Subfaction
Win Rate
Armies
% Share of Armies
5-0 Wins
0-5 Losses
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Drowned Men
69.1%
11
3.63%
1
0
Nighthaunt
Scarlet Doom
67.6%
7
2.31%
0
0
Beasts of Chaos
None
61.4%
7
2.31%
1
0
Cities of Sigmar
Living City
57.1%
7
2.31%
0
0
Seraphon
Thunder Lizard
55.7%
21
6.93%
2
1
Sons of Behemat
Breaker Tribe
53.4%
6
1.98%
0
0
Stormcast Eternals
Hallowed Knights
52.9%
7
2.31%
0
0
Fyreslayers
Lofnir
51.7%
6
1.98%
0
0
Nighthaunt
Emerald Host
48.3%
6
1.98%
0
0
Lumineth Realm-Lords
Zaitrec
48.1%
11
3.63%
0
0
Daughters of Khaine
Zainthar Kai
47.1%
7
2.31%
0
1
Legion of the First Prince
46.7%
6
1.98%
0
1
Skaven
46.7%
6
1.98%
1
0
Soulblight Gravelords
Vyrkos Dynasty
43.3%
6
1.98%
0
0
Stormcast Eternals
Hammers of Sigmar
42.3%
15
4.95%
0
3
Soulblight Gravelords
Kastelai Dynasty
38.6%
7
2.31%
0
1
Fyreslayers
Greyfyrd
35.2%
9
2.97%
0
1
Ossiarch Bonereapers
Petrifex Elite
27.5%
8
2.64%
0
1
Drowned Men continue to lead the way with a win rate of 69.1% despite Maggotkin overall only having a win rate of 53.8%. Nighthaunt and Scarlet Doom find themselves near the top now as predicted by Danny some weeks ago. Meanwhile at the bottom of the table Ossiarch Bonereapers/Petrifex Elite are the only subfaction below 30% win rate.
Interestingly Fyreslayers have Lofnir (6 PLayers) with a win rate of 51.7% and the more popular Greyfyrd (9 Players) at 35.2%, are people playing the wrong subfaction?
Next Week
I’ll have graphs. Because nothing says stats like some graphs…..
Here are the AoS Meta Stats for all the Grand Tournaments that have taken place between Monday 27th June and Sunday 3rd July 2022. These are all the GT’s that I can locate on Tabletop.to or BestCoastPairing, if you know of any others please send me a link and I’ll add them.
Once again, another quiet week, with only 3 Grand Tournaments. Two of these were run using the new GHB, while the other was just a little event called the World tSports Champions…..
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Grand Tournaments
Ranked from largest to smallest.
From the Ashes – Scotland/UK 22 Players – Generals Handbook: Pitched Battles 2022-23 Season 1
As promised last week, I’ve changed the stats to reflect the last four weeks of GT’s that we’re aware of at Woehammer. Also if you read all the way to the end of the article I have a little surprise for you!
485 players took part in 16 GT’s over the last four weeks.
Grand Alliance
Win Rate
Armies
% Share of Armies
5-0 Wins
4+ Wins
Chaos
56.7%
94
19.38%
6
27
Order
50.7%
218
44.95%
8
34
Death
45.8%
82
16.91%
2
11
Destruction
45.0%
91
18.76%
0
8
Chaos continue to lead the way in the win rates. While Order pick up the most number of armies represented, most 5-0’s and most 4+. When you compare army share to the number of battletomes each Grand Alliance possess you can see that Order are overrepresented, while Chaos are vastly under represented:
Grand Alliance
Battletomes
Battletome %
Actual Rep %
Order
9
37.50%
44.95%
Chaos
7
29.17%
19.38%
Death
4
16.67%
16.91%
Destruction
4
16.67%
18.76%
What can we take away from this? Perhaps that Order factions are more appealing than Chaos? New players gravitate towards Order? The Chaos range needs updated miniatures? Or all of the above?
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Faction Stats
The below stat show the results for those factions represented by 5 armies or more only.
Faction
Win Rate
Armies
% Share of Armies
5-0 Wins
0-5 Losses
Beasts of Chaos
67.1%
14
2.89%
2
0
Legion of the First Prince
61.5%
13
2.68%
0
0
Slaves to Darkness
61.1%
6
1.24%
0
1
Seraphon
59.7%
30
6.19%
5
2
Blades of Khorne
56.7%
6
1.24%
0
0
Maggotkin of Nurgle
56.6%
35
7.22%
3
2
Bonesplitterz
55.4%
10
2.06%
0
0
Cities of Sigmar
54.2%
24
4.95%
2
1
Daughters of Khaine
52.8%
22
4.54%
0
2
Nighthaunt
52.2%
32
6.60%
1
2
Idoneth Deepkin
51.8%
23
4.74%
1
0
Flesh-eater Courts
51.7%
6
1.24%
0
0
Lumineth Realm-Lords
51.5%
21
4.33%
0
0
Kharadron Overlords
51.4%
7
1.44%
0
1
Sylvaneth
49.1%
11
2.27%
0
1
Sons of Behemat
48.5%
21
4.33%
0
1
Soulblight Gravelords
47.1%
28
5.77%
1
1
Stormcast Eternals
47.1%
60
12.37%
0
4
Ogor Mawtribes
47.1%
28
2.89%
0
1
Ironjawz
44.7%
16
3.30%
0
1
Kruleboyz
44.3%
11
2.27%
0
1
Hedonites of Slaanesh
44.3%
7
1.44%
0
0
Skaven
43.0%
9
1.86%
1
0
Big Waaagh!
41.3%
8
1.65%
0
0
Fyreslayers
39.5%
20
4.12%
0
2
Gloomspite Gitz
30.9%
11
2.27%
0
1
Ossiarch Bonereapers
28.2%
16
3.30%
0
2
Factions in Bold are those with 3rd Edition Battletomes published before or during this time period
I’ve highlighted all those faction win rates in red which are outside of the parameters that players have stated would make the game roughly balanced (45-55%).
I’m looking at the bottom of the table as I’m writing this, and its hard not to overlook Fyreslayers, Gloomspite Gitz and Ossiarch Bonereapers with win rates of less than 40%! Gloomspite Gitz are getting their new book this year, so hopefully we’ll see that improve. Fyreslayers have been mugged by Games Workshop rules writers, and it just shows how awful that book is. I feel for long term Fyreslayers players…
At the top of the table Beasts of Chaos now currently lead the way with a win rate of 67.1%! They’ve gone from trash tier to S tier in the space of 3 months. Slaves to Darkness are a bit of an anomaly at the top there, and this is primarily driven by a few high level players who vastly our performed the faction this month, much like Anthony Trentanelli did a few weeks ago with Skaven. Maggotkin of Nurgle and Seraphon win rates have both dropped, but its too early to tell why, as the new rules for Seraphon only really came into effect last week.
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Subfaction Stats
Faction
Subfaction
Win Rate
Armies
% Share of Armies
5-0 Wins
0-5 Losses
Beasts of Chaos
None
70.0%
5
1.03%
1
0
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Drowned Men
68.0%
20
4.12%
2
0
Legion of the First Prince
61.5%
13
2.68%
0
0
Nighthaunt
Scarlet Doom
60.0%
11
2.27%
0
0
Beasts of Chaos
Gavespawn
60.0%
6
1.24%
0
0
Seraphon
Thunder Lizard
59.6%
28
5.77%
4
2
Bonesplitterz
Drakkfoot
58.3%
6
1.24%
0
0
Cities of Sigmar
Living City
57.7%
13
2.68%
2
0
Ogor Mawtribes
Boulderhead
56.0%
5
1.03%
0
0
Kharadron Overlords
Barak-Zilfin
53.3%
6
1.24%
0
1
Idoneth Deepkin
Mor’Phann
53.3%
6
1.24%
1
0
Lumineth Realm-Lords
Zaitrec
52.9%
15
3.09%
0
0
Sons of Behemat
Breaker Tribe
52.8%
15
3.09%
0
0
Idoneth Deepkin
Nautilar
51.3%
8
1.65%
0
0
Ironjawz
Ironsunz
50.0%
6
1.24%
0
1
Daughters of Khaine
Hagg Nar
50.0%
7
1.44%
0
1
Stormcast Eternals
Astral Templars
50.0%
6
1.24%
0
0
Daughters of Khaine
Zainthar Kai
49.2%
12
2.47%
0
1
Stormcast Eternals
Hammers of Sigmar
48.8%
33
6.80%
0
2
Soulblight Gravelords
Vyrkos Dynasty
48.0%
10
2.06%
0
0
Soulblight Gravelords
Kastelai Dynasty
45.5%
11
2.27%
0
1
Stormcast Eternals
Hallowed Knights
44.7%
15
3.09%
0
1
Kruleboyz
Big Yellers
43.4%
8
1.65%
0
1
Skaven
43.0%
9
1.86%
1
0
Fyreslayers
Lofnir
42.9%
7
1.44%
0
1
Hedonites of Slaanesh
Lurid Haze
42.0%
5
1.03%
0
0
Ironjawz
Bloodtoofs
41.7%
10
2.06%
0
0
Nighthaunt
Emerald Host
41.5%
13
2.68%
0
2
Big Waaagh!
41.3%
8
1.65%
0
0
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Befouling Host
40.0%
7
1.44%
1
1
Fyreslayers
Greyfyrd
35.8%
12
2.47%
0
1
Ossiarch Bonereapers
Petrifex Elite
28.8%
15
3.09%
0
2
Gloomspite Gitz
25.0%
8
1.65%
0
1
Factions in Bold are those with 3rd Edition Battletomes published before or during this time period
Maggotkin of Nurgle are a bit of a strange faction. While you have one of the meta leading Subfactions inside the tome with Drowned Men (68.0%, at the bottom of the pack you have Befouling Host (40.0%). It’s not an irregularity either as 7 players have played that subfaction and one claimed 5 wins at an event and another 5 losses. This suggests to me that while Drowned Men is a simple list to play, Befouling Host is completely the opposite and requires good memory and skill from the pilot.
After almost a year of publication now, both Stormcast and Orruk Warclan battletomes are beginning to show a little lag behind the other updated factions (apart from Fyreslayers of course). As the first of the Battletomes perhaps this has played into their stats slightly as the rules writers learn from their mistakes (apart from Fyreslayers of course) when writing the newer tomes.
Scarlet Doom shows that its the faction of choice for a reason in the new Nighthaunt battletome (60.0%) however, its still early days for this battletome and the other factions could be more complicated to pick up and play. However 60.0% win rate for any subfaction is too high and so they may need a future nerf at some point.
Going forwards as the weeks go on, I’ll be keeping an eye out for Grinin’ Blades beginning to get some more play with their updated allegiance abilities after not being placed at all due to all the Kruleboyz players choosing Big Yellers – this will change. I expect to see them nearing the 50% mark and above. Likewise with Skaven, I expect them to begin climbing the rankings as their new rules come into effect.
THE SUPRISE
I said I had a surprise, and here it is!
Woehammer will be doing a player ranking system for the new General’s Handbook based on the Elo system used by Chess.
Who gets ranked?
Everyone who takes part in a two day event using the General’s Handbook: Pitched Battles Season 1 2022-23. Each week I’ll update the scores of the players as they happen and post them in a separate rankings post which will be published every Saturday.
All players will begin with a rating of 1,000 at the beginning of the season, player ratings will be carried over into season 2 and beyond in the future.
I’ve included the current rankings below (there’s only been two GT’s using the new Handbook) which includes everyone at present. However, I will limit this to the top 20 as more players are ranked. The full downloadable player rankings will be available on the site to download next weekend.
