Category Archives: Legion of Night

Top Three AoS Lists for CaptainCon 2023

This is the top three AoS lists for CaptainCon that took place in the USA on the 4th and 5th of February. It involved 17 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.

As mentioned earlier this week, this tournament has less than 20 players. Therefore, we won’t add any comments onto this past, and I’ll save our commentators’ brain power for the bigger events.

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: Kharadron Overlords
Army Subfaction: Barak-Zilfin
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (80)
1 x Arkanaut Admiral (140)*
Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
1 x Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (160)*
Artefacts: Staff of Ocular Optimisation
1 x Aether-Khemist (90)*
General
– Command Traits: Collector
– Artefacts: Spell in a Bottle
1 x Aetheric Navigator (100)**
– Artefacts: Svaregg-Stein ‘Illuminator’ Flarepistol

BATTLELINE
10 x Arkanaut Company (90)**
Company Captain
– Light Skyhook and Gun Butt
– Skypike
– Aethermatic Volley Gun and Gun Butt
– Volley Pistol
10 x Arkanaut Company (90)**
Company Captain
– Light Skyhook and Gun Butt
– Skypike
– Aethermatic Volley Gun and Gun Butt
– Volley Pistol
1 x Arkanaut Frigate (240)**
Heavy Sky Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: Malefic Skymines

BEHEMOTH
1 x Arkanaut Ironclad (490)**
Great Volley Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: The Last Word

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (90)

OTHER
10 x Grundstok Thunderers (260)*
Honour Bearer
– Gunnery Sergeant
– Grundstok Mortar
– Double-barrelled Aethershot Rifle
– Gun Butt and Drillbill
– 2 x Aethercannon
– 2 x Aetheric Fumigator
– 2 x Decksweeper
1 x Grundstok Gunhauler (160)**
Sky Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: Zonbarcorp ‘Debtsettler’ Spar Torpedo

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Warlord
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Advertisements

Army Faction: Lumineth Realm-lords
Army Subfaction: Helon
– Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
1 x Archmage Teclis (700)*
General
1 x Scinari Cathallar (110)*
Artefacts: Silver Wand
– Spells: Total Eclipse
– Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
1 x Scinari Loreseeker (160)*
Spells: Overwhelming Heat

BATTLELINE
20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)*
High Sentinel
– Spells: Overwhelming Heat
5 x Hurakan Windchargers (130)*
Windspeaker Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (150)*
High Warden
– Spells: Speed of Hysh

ENDLESS SPELL
1 x Umbral Spellportal (80)
1 x Rune of Petrification (60)

TERRAIN
1 x Shrine Luminor (0)

OTHER
20 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (300)*
High Sentinel
– Spells: Speed of Hysh

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1990/2000)

Advertisements

Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes
Subfaction: Meatfist
– Grand Strategy: The Day is Ours!
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Kragnos (720)
Tyrant (150)*
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
– Big Name: Brawlerguts
Tyrant (150)*
Artefacts of Power: Gryph-feather Charm
– Big Name: Brawlerguts
Tyrant (150)*
Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
– Big Name: Brawlerguts
Tyrant (150)**
General
– Command Traits: Killer Reputation
– Big Name: Deathcheater , Brawlerguts

BATTLELINE
Leadbelchers (170)**
Thunderfist
Leadbelchers (170)**
Thunderfist
Leadbelchers (170)**
Thunderfist

OTHER
Gnoblars (120)**

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Lauchon the Soulseeker (50)

TERRAIN
1 x Great Mawpot (0)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Advertisements

Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords
Army Type: Legion of Night
– Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Necromancer (130)*
Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Fading Vigour, Invigorating Aura
Vampire Lord (140)*
Spells: Amethystine Pinions, Invigorating Aura
– Aspects of the Champion: Tunnel Master
Wight King (90)*
General
– Command Traits: Above Suspicion
Mannfred Von Carstein (400)**
Spells: Invigorating Aura, Overwhelming Dread

BATTLELINE
Grave Guard (280)*
Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
– Great Wight Blade
Grave Guard (140)*
Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Great Wight Blade
Dire Wolves (130)*
Grave Guard (140)**
Seneschal
– Standard Bearer
– Hornblower
– Great Wight Blade

OTHER
Black Knights (100)*
Myrmourn Banshees (100)**
Blood Knights (200)**
Fell Bats (70)**

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Chronomantic Cogs (70)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for the London GT

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the London GT that took place in the UK on 1st and 2nd October. It involved 76 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: Daughters of Khaine
Temple: Zainthar Kai
– Grand Strategy: Bloodthirsty Zealots
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
The Shadow Queen (340)
Morathi-Khaine (340)
Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (270)
General
– Command Trait: Zealous Orator
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of Shadows: Mindrazor
– Prayer: Sacrament of Blood

Battleline
15 x Blood Sisters (420)*
Reinforced x 2
10 x Witch Aelves (115)*
Pairs of Sacrificial Knives
10 x Witch Aelves (115)*
Pairs of Sacrificial Knives

Behemoths
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)
– Allies

Core Battalions
*Bounty Hunters

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 400 / 400
Wounds: 81
Drops: 7

Danny: Darren Watson is a beast, unbeaten in 15 games and 3 GTs. He brought his DoK out for the HUGE London GT, opting for a relatively close to the chest but clearly brutally effective list centered around a double reinforced blob of stab sneks and the Spinedog.

The piece you don’t usually see at tournies these days is the Hag Queen on Cauldron. It’s a great piece full of utility – the Avatar riding shotgun is plenty killy and the Queen offers a prayer and separate ability to bump something up the Blood Rites table – meaning two units can go up 1, or you can double down on one unit…such as giving the 15 sneks +1 to hit and wound from BR 2. Better yet, it projects a +1 save aura and acts as the tankiest platform available to DoK for the Zealous Orator (4+ rally) trait. Arcane Tome obvs completes the combo, allowing something in the army to benefit from the Krondspine’s +1 – which makes getting Mindrazor – a completely devastating spell to get off (or not, as it’s CV 8) on stabbers – so getting it down to a 7 is potentially game changing.

It will be interesting to see if this list survives the rumoured incoming Spinedog nerfs. Either way, it’s a powerful archetype, clearly able to take down the sheer volume of bodies BoC can field (twice!) and the movement and MW output of Fangs of Sotek. A huge tournament to win for Darren and the snek-ladies.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle
Subfaction: Drowned Men
– Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)*
Allies
Lord of Afflictions (210)*
General
– Command Trait: Overpowering Stench
– Artefact: The Splithorn Helm
– Dolorous Tocsin
– Incubatch

Battleline
4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)*
2x Dolorous Tocsin
– Reinforced x 1
4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)*
2x Dolorous Tocsin
– Reinforced x 1
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
1x Dolorous Tocsin
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
1x Dolorous Tocsin

Units
3 x Nurglings (105)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 360 / 400
Wounds: 130
Drops: 1

Danny: Flies, and Be’lakor to probably shut down your one key piece with any hope of dealing with them. One of my club-mates faced Hadrien in the first round as KO, with predictable results – however he did say that Hadrien was frustratingly lovely and skilled as an opponent.

Flies were called out in the recent Metawatch article with good reason, and will clearly see nerfs soon – it will be interesting to see if they go as far as touching the Drowned Men pre-game move too. Either way, this exact list is probably not long for this world, with good reason – it’s completely oppressive and very, very few lists have any kind of answer to it.

Still, credit to Hadrien for 2nd at such a big event and for being a great competitor and a gentleman while he crushed dreams.

Advertisements
Advertisements

Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords
Sky Port: Barak Zilfin
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Aether-Khemist (90)**
General
– Command Trait: Collector
– Artefact: Spell in a Bottle
Arkanaut Admiral (125)*
Arkanaut Admiral (125)**
Artefact: Staff of Ocular Optimisation
Aetheric Navigator (85)**
Artefact: Svaregg-Stein Illuminator Flarepistol

Battleline
10 x Arkanaut Company (90)*
1x Skypikes
– 1x Light Skyhooks
– 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns
10 x Arkanaut Company (90)*
1x Skypikes
– 1x Light Skyhooks
– 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns
10 x Arkanaut Company (90)*
– 1x Skypikes
– 1x Light Skyhooks
– 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns

Units
10 x Grundstok Thunderers (270)*
2x Aetheric Fumigators
– 2x Decksweepers
– 2x Aethercannons
– 1x Grundstok Mortars
– Reinforced x 1

Behemoths
Arkanaut Ironclad (490)*
Main Gun: Great Volley Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: The Last Word
Arkanaut Ironclad (490)
Main Gun: Great Volley Cannon
– Great Endrinworks: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram

Endless Spells & Invocations
Rune of Petrification (40)

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Command Entourage – Magnificent

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 108
Drops: 5

Danny: KO have gone from zeroes to heroes after a steady trickle of FAQs and generic enhancement tweaks have meant they can play the ‘3rd edition’ game properly now.

With an extreme paucity of unit types to choose from, there’s only so much flex and variations on the theme of ‘FLYING GUNS’ KO can manage, but this one doubles down on the Ironclad – the biggest, most flying of guns possible. One is endowed with The Last Word, allowing for double unleash hell – which is generally a good way to avoid there being a combat phase at all – while the other has installed the Dealbreaker Ram, allowing for a roll of dice equal to the charge roll, with 4+ doing a mortal. An amusing contrast of tactical roles – one you don’t want to get busy with, the other wants to charge in to finish off a weakened unit with a clutch of mortals.

Beyond that, there’s one very interesting piece of tech in the list. Usually, the Spell in a Bottle (a free cast of an endless spell that can’t be unbound) is stuffed full of Purple Sun for the extra rend (which, given KO are a majority rend 1 army, they love) or the warp lightning vortex – yep, ‘Any endless spell can be chosen (all restrictions are ignored)’. But Stephen has opted for the LRL endless spell ‘Rune of Petrification’ which has a 6″ aura of mortals on a 4+ and -1/-1 from run and charge rolls – presumably a handy way to slow down threats and cause key charges to fail, so the double-Ironclads can go to work from a safe range.

With some big wins against tough opponents, Stephen rightly takes 3rd, further cementing KO as back in the gunning (I mean, running) for a spot in the A tier of armies.

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
Lineage: Legion of Night
– Mortal Realm: Shyish
– Grand Strategy: Vampiric Conquerors
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)*
Lore of the Deathmages: Decrepify
Necromancer (125)*
General
– Command Trait: Unbending Will
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
Vampire Lord (140)*
Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions

Battleline
30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (240)**
Reinforced x 2
10 x Dire Wolves (135)**
10 x Dire Wolves (135)**

Units
5 x Blood Knights (195)*
1 x Corpse Cart with Balefire Brazier (80)*
20 x Grave Guard (280)*
Great Wight Blades
– Reinforced x 1
20 x Grave Guard (280)*
Great Wight Blades
– Reinforced x 1

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
**Expert Conquerors

Total: 1990 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 153
Drops: 4

Danny: We’ve talked before about how Soullblight are enjoying a resurgence – and while they’re not quite cracked the podium recently, in London or otherwise, they’re creeping closer. James here was in winning position – losing only to the eventual winner, which set him down the table a fair way.

He’s opted for a nice balanced list of tech – the ever-popular Mannfred for utility and teleporting/move blocking shenanigans, with some cheap supporting heroes behind a big blob of skellies and two units of our favourite, undead fluffy friends, the Dire Wolves.

Skellies are often run MSU as cheap chaff who can pop back out of a gravesite – but the blob of 30, combined with their ability to bring back models that have died in the same phase on a 4+, before they attack – can make them truly resilient objective grabbers. Think you’ve killed 25? Well, on average 12 of them are coming back and now the unit counts for 51 on the objective again! No doubt this unit was supported with the corpse cart, projecting a -1 to wound aura, making them a bony nightmare to chew through.

Elsewhere of note is the DOUBLE Graveguard brick – 2 units of 20 – that would be putting out silly damage when supported by one or both the foot heroes.

Two big hammers, one giant anvil, some furry fast objective grabbers and screens – it’s a quality list and 10th feels like a harsh result when it came so close to winning the whole thing – big congrats to James!

Final Tournament Placings

Top Three AoS Lists for Dice & Ducks: Decimation

This is the Top Three AoS Lists for Dice and Ducks: Decimation that took place in the UK on 27th and 28th August. It involved 16 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.

Dice and Ducks is the new YouTube channel run by the fantastic Ben Bailey of Hobby Room fame. Dice and Ducks are a fantastic commentary service for events around the UK. In fact you can catch up with five games from Decimation for free on their YouTube channel. While you’re there I urge you to subscribe and show some love.

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: Sons of Behemat
Army Type: Taker Tribe
– Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Kraken-Eater (490)*
General
– Command Traits: Very Acquisitive
– Artefacts of Power: Glowy Lantern
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
– Spells: Flaming Weapon
Gatebreaker (525)*
Artefacts of Power: Vial of Manticore Venom Gatebreaker (525)*
Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Flaming Weapon

BEHEMOTH
(SPINEDOG) Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Bosses of the Stomp – Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1940/2000

Peter: There is a theory among some at Woehammer that the Sons are (despite appearances) going to be the leading faction going forwards. Not only that, but that this is the list that will lead the way.

With a Krondspine attached the a kraken the opponent is going to have to seriously consider where they want to focus their attention. Either way they go, they’ll be struggling to cope with the opposite side of that coin. Two Mega-Gargant with additional thanks to flaming weapons and another that has an easier time thanks to the vial of Manticore venom.

It’ll be interesting to see how often this list starts to crop up.

Advertisements

Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine
Subfaction: Khailebron
– Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Morathi-Khaine (680)**
The Shadow Queen (680)**
Melusai Ironscale (115)**
General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Spells: Mindrazor

BATTLELINE
Blood Sisters (280)*
Gorgai
Blood Sisters (140)*
Gorgai
Blood Stalkers (540)**
Krone
Khainite Shadowstalkers (150)**

OTHER
Khinerai Heartrenders (95)**

CORE BATTALIONS
*Bounty Hunters
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

Danny: It’s Morathi and the Bow Snakes! Backed up by 10 and 5 Blood Sisters and Shadowstalkers and a unit of Heartrenders, for teleporting objective/scoring plays. Simple, but effective – and a 3 drop means it’ll still have a good chance of dictating turn order. Shadowstalkers, despite their nerf in the new book, are becoming increasingly common – probably because, while Heartrenders are great for dropping down and being a nuisance, Shadowstalkers ability to teleport _every_ turn makes them that more flexible, and their 11 wounds on a 4+ makes them able to take a hit, whether while scoring or as an emergency snek-screen.

This list understandably beat Kboyz, Skaven, Sons and Khorne, but Fangs of Sotek probably confounded the stab sneks and could handle Morathi with plenty of ranged chip damage.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
Lineage: Legion of Night
– Mortal Realm: Shyish
– Grand Strategy: Vampiric Conquerors
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)
Lore of the Deathmages: Decrepify
Necromancer (125)*
General
– Command Trait: Unbending Will
– Artefact: Arcane Tome
– Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
Vampire Lord (140)*
Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions

UNITS
5x Blood Knights (195)*
1x Corpse Cart with Balefire Brazier (80)*
30x Deathrattle Skeletons (240)**
10x Dire Wolves (135)**
10x Dire Wolves (135)**
20x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades
20x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Expert Conquerors

TOTAL: 1990/2000

Danny: Legion of Night is a relatively off-meta pick for Soulblight these days, so it’s nice to see it being picked alongside Mannfred, which is thematically appropriate, and doing well with an unusual list.

The aforementioned Manny is a familiar sight and an excellent all-round utility piece. But he’s rarely backed up by _30_ Deathrattle, who everyone said were too fragile against bounty hunters to reinforce, and have thus been typically run in msu given their cheap, cheap cost of 80 pts making them a cost-effective screen. Deathrattle can bring back models on a 4+ when they activate though – so having a unit big enough to take a hit and activate 2nd means there’s a good chance they regen plenty before the end of the phase – combo that with Expert Conqs and unless you super-commit and wipe the entire squad (30 wounds on a 4+ with AoD, with a ward of 6 re-rolling 1s, and quite possibly some debuffs such as -1 to wound from the corpse cart) – you can see how it might be tricky to steal an objective off them.

The next unusual element of this list is not Graveguard, as they’re a standard hammer, but simply taking two bricks of them. And why not? They’re so good! Going lighter on Blood Knights (just the token 5, you’d be mad not to take any) frees up the points needed, and now there are two scary blobs, either/both of which can be buffed to Shyish and back by the Necromancer, vampire lord AND Manny’s CA (+1 hit and wound).

A nice spin on things that performed brilliantly, losing only to Khorne, who might have their weaknesses, but do not count ‘a shit load of attacks and 6″ pile ins’ among them.

Advertisements

Allegiance: Big Waaagh!
Grand Strategy: Waaagh!
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)
General
– Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist
– Command Trait: Heroic Stature
– Artefact: Armour of Gork
– Mount Trait: Mean ‘Un
Orruk Warchanter (115)
Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)
Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
– Lore of the Weird: Foot of Gork
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)
Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Wurrgog Prophet (150)
Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Wardokk (80)
Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry

Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)****
Jagged Gore-hackas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Gutrippaz (180)****
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)****
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Bounty Hunters
****Expert Conquerors

Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Artefact

Total: 1955 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 1 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 148
Drops: 13

Danny: Big Waagh are now one of the least represented factions at tournament level, and I can see why – first book of the edition syndrome (I know it was a twin with Stormcast, but one twin is always technically born first…) and their meta-lists have a high skill floor. So it’s great to see them hanging on in there.

This list represents what is looking like the way to go with Big Waagh for this season – msu ‘Ardboyz. They’ve always been a cost-effective package, and while vulnerable to Bounty Hunters, enough of them in msu format still asks some hard questions of your opponent in terms of target priority.

They’re backed up here by the seemingly entrenched HQ combo, although spicily, Thomas here also throws in a Wardokk with the ‘fight last’ spell as an additional tech piece – something the Wurrgog also has access to but rarely uses given his laser-eyes are so clutch.

Now for the elephant in the room. Or should I say, the Gutrippaz in the bin. Yes, this list takes a unit of Gutrippaz. With no support. Why? Let’s ask Thomas. Someone, please ask Thomas. The only thing I can think of is that they’re in Expert Conquerors as a way to count as 30 and, y’know, if their janky ability goes off -1 to hit against 20 wounds isn’t too bad. I guess?

Either way, congrats for a clutch place in the top 5 with an odd duck of a list that took down some difficult match ups!

Final Tournament Placings

For the full tournament lists and Placings see tabletop.to.