This is the top three AoS lists for the G&T GT that took place in the UK on the 4th and 5th of March. It involved 8 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
As this was a small event, with less than 20 players, there will be no comments on the lists from Woehammer writers as they concentrate on the larger 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
Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Bloodpelt Hunter (140)* – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Huskard on Thundertusk (330)* – Blood Vulture – Mount Trait: Rimefrost Hide – Prayer: Pulverising Hailstorm Slaughtermaster (140)* – Lore of Gutmagic: Molten Entrails Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Heal – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Quakefray – Grand Strategy: Protect the Herdstone – Triumphs:
Leaders Doombull (160)* – General – Command Trait: Bestial Cunning Great Bray-Shaman (95)* : The Knowing Eye – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Great Bray-Shaman (95)* – Artefact: Brayblast Trumpet – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Primal Dominance
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Quest of Champions (Heat 1) that took place in the UK on the 4th and 5th February. It involved 30 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
If you like what we’re doing, why not join our Patreon and help keep it going?
Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Underguts – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Indomitable
LEADER 1 x Icebrow Hunter (120) 1 – General – Command Traits: Voice of the Avalanche – Aspect: Leadership of the Alpha 1 x Slaughtermaster (140) 2 – Artefacts: Gruesome Trophy Rack – Spells: Blubbergrub Stench 1 x Bloodpelt Hunter (140) 3 1 x Bloodpelt Hunter (140) 3
BATTLELINE 2 x Frost Sabres (80) 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)** – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
ARTILLERY 1 x Ironblaster (200)* 1 x Ironblaster (200)** 1 x Ironblaster (200)***
OTHER 20 x Gnoblars (120)*** 20 x Gnoblars (120)***
Did you think Ogors were just Ironblasters and giant cows at ramming speed? Think again! Rory here leans heavily into the new season’s Galletian Champ rule by taking four of them – and Ogors happen to have an excellent selection to choose from.
In this instance, Rory starts with an Icebrow hunter – relatively unremarkable save for the fact they make Frost Sabres battleline as a General, and can also deepstrike along with one said unit of chill-cats. So already you can see the scoring potential – now add in two Bloodpelt hunters who are relatively slappy, invisible while in cover and can move at the end of an opponent’s movement phase (if 9″ away) – starting to feel insecure about your objectives?
Rory also opts to spread the meat-by-square inch between three msu Mournfang rather than packing it into one large Frosthorn, no doubt further aiding with the scoring heavy and board control game plan.
I mean, yes, sure, there are also three ironblasters and 40 Gnoblars – but the rest of the list is a really cool, Seasonal spin that shows off the Ogors’ diverse hero roster and really plays a balanced game of AoS – as evinced by taking down a motley crew en route to the 5-0: Slaves; Tzeentch; Ogors and Sylvaneth, all of whom ask very different questions, to which this list had all the answers!
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Hosts Arcanum – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (230)* – General – Command Trait: Daemonspark – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Fluxmaster, Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (170)* – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
Battleline 10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch (110)*
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (360)* – Reinforced x 1 9 x Corvus Cabal (80)* – Mark of Chaos: Undivided
On to the second place list now and the one that pushed Rory, the eventual winner, the hardest, missing out on a 5-0 by only one battle tactic. Speaking to Sam after the event, it was the “Cast 3” tactic that just let him down with another book tactic being available and probably the easier option. While we’re talking about matchups, Sam also had an epic battle against Peter and his 9 (yes 9!) Revenant Seekers, so clearly Sam knows his Tzeentch!
Onto the list itself, Sam went for a one-drop list for this event and doesn’t plan to go back to more drops any time soon! The ability (most of the time) to make your opponent take the first turn and potentially come within range of those spells is excellent and, even if your opponent retains priority into turn 2 they have a really difficult choice: give it away and take Kairos bombarding you with spells into oblivion OR allow opponent to take advantage of the ‘going second’ battleplan bonuses.
Speaking of bonuses to going second, one of the MVPs of the list are the Enlightened on Discs. Lots of attacks with all of the profiles and with a couple of buffs on them and debuffs on opponent, they’re not going away any time soon. With the help of Destiny Dice, they could have a guaranteed 28″ threat range (move 16″ + 12″ charge) to reach out and wipe out whatever it touches. Combo that move with a double turn and you’ve got a unit that can take out two of your opponent’s key pieces and still be hanging around causing mayhem.
In terms of spells, Sam is a little limited in numbers, but Kairos knows all of the Lore of Change and the Gaunt Summoner (a Galletian Champion, by the way) knows all of the Lore of Fate. Combined with the Fluxmaster generating those Fate Points with his spell, it’s not unreasonable to be able to put 10 Blue Horrors down every turn.
Overall, a fab list that has given me a lot to think about in terms of how I build my own Tzeentch list (featured twice in the ‘L’ column of this rundown!) and one that I’m sure Sam will have a tonne of success with in the future.
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Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Ready for Plunder – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Frostlord on Stonehorn (450)* – General – Command Trait: Touched by the Everwinter – Keening Gale – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Slaughtermaster (140)* – Lore of Gutmagic: Molten Entrails – Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master Tyrant (150)* – Big Name: Deathcheater
Battleline 2 x Mournfang Pack (170)* – Culling Clubs and Hackers with Ironfists Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Weapon: Blood Vulture
A little more of a traditional Ogor list here from Peter – with a big ol’ Frostlord, your top tier value Tyrant, and two large-and-in-charge Stonehorn Beastriders. It’s a pin and pressure list, the likes of which many of you will be familiar with by now – with one Ironblaster for a little sniping and lots of mortals on the charge.
One unit of Ironguts stomp along for the ride to double-fight and mince whatever is stupid enough to let them catch up to them. A good, honest, hungry list that avoids spamming anything but is still more than capable of just boxing you in and scoring you out!
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Hallowheart – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Battlemage (100)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Warding Brand – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Lore of Whitefire: Ignite Weapons Luminark of Hysh with White Battlemage (270)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Sear Wounds – Lore of Whitefire: Warding Brand Nomad Prince (110)** – General – Command Trait: Veteran of the Blazing Crusade – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Ignite Weapons – Lore of Whitefire: Warding Brand – Aspect of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Battleline 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Crystal Aegis – Lore of Whitefire: Sear Wounds 5 x Sisters of the Thorn (130)* – Hallowheart 2nd Spell: Crystal Aegis – Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist 20 x Eternal Guard (240)** – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) – Reinforced x 1
Units 6 x Vanguard-Palladors (400)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins – Reinforced x 1 3 x Demigryph Knights (170)* – Lance and Sword 6 x Vanguard-Palladors (400)* – Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins – Reinforced x 1
Endless Spells & Invocations The Burning Head (30)
For the wildcard list at this event we have Freddie Leggett’s Cities of Sigmar list, variations of which he has been playing with great success over the last few months. Freddie not only specialises in being an absolute top bloke and lovely guy (David Wymer and I were fighting over who would get to ‘grudge’ Freddie round 1 – David got round 1; I got round 5) but also in taking units that most generals wouldn’t take and making them work.
The joke at the event was that it was the Eternal Guard who were the linchpin of the army, especially with the new Galletian battalion, it’s really the Palladors that make this list tick with the help of the Hallowheart wizards.
With the combination of spells Freddie has at his disposal, the unit of 6 can redeploy instead of move anywhere on the battlefield with Ride the Winds Aetheric at which point they can open up with their shooting attacks that all have +1 to wound. They can then attempt a 9″ charge, which is actually a 7″ charge thanks to the Battlemage of Ghur. The +1 to wound buff also helps in the fight phase and with All out Attack, this means that they’re all hitting and wounding on 2s. When they are hit back, they can have a -1 to hit from the Luminarch, have a bonus to their save with Mystic Shield and All out Defence (3+, ignoring rend -1) and, if the opponent does wound the Palladors, another spell turns them into little fluffy Magmadroths and bounce mortal wounds back on 4s. If a Sisters of the Thorn unit is nearby, they can boost the spell ignore for Hallowheart up to a 4+ to mean that not even magic can reliably clear them (I have personal experience of that).
But it’s okay. They did some damage and it took more resources than you’d like to take care of them, but they’ve been lifted now. Then Freddie sends in the second unit of 6!
Well done, Freddie, for a fab list, a great 4-1 and a huge congratulations on being named Captain of the UN Worlds Team. Fingers crossed the stars align to have you lead the team, maybe even with 12 Palladors along for the Ride Aetheric.
This is the Top Eight AoS Lists for the Las Vegas Open that took place in Nevada, USA, on 27th, 28th, and 29th January. It involved a massive 324 players, all vying to be crowned champion in a 5-game tournament.
We’re particularly lucky this week as six of the top eight players agreed to give us comments on how their lists work. On top of this, we’ve also got comments from the Head Judge at LVO, Gareth Thomas.
So, thank you to; Jiwan Noah Singh, Kaleb Walters, Gavin Grigar, Cody Saults, Nate Trentanelli and Gareth Thomas for all agreeing to give us your thoughts.
Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95) – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)*** – Artefact: Tanglehorn Familiars – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos (135)*** – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Tendrils of Atrophy Grashrak Fellhoof (150)*** – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage
Battleline 30 x Tzaangors of Beasts of Chaos (525)** – 30x Pair of Savage Blade – Reinforced x 2 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields 10 x Gors (70)** – Gor-Blades & Beastshields
Units 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)* – Reinforced x 1 5 x Grashrak’s Despoilers (0)***
Jiwan Noah Singh: The heroes all serve a function against different matchups, and with the Gavespawn ability, they can then serve a secondary function when they die.
The general has to be the Tzaangor Shaman to unlock Galletian Veterans for the big block, but also has the extremely helpful big cast once per game, and moves 16/19” if I need to go hold and up a huge threat. Mostly, I used the big cast for the bull spell, but in other matchups, I considered he would have used tendrils of atrophy to break armor stacking. His speed let’s him get there for that short ranged spell.
Grashrak gives out the +3 move, and because he can pass wounds, it is helpful against ranged threats who losing the move bonus would be difficult against. His spell is also a super combo with Gavespawn if I need to lift a gargant or something in one activation.
The shoggoth was there for his spell and having a starting monster, and the pre-phase move made anyone worried about that going off have to deploy really far back.
Beastlord was the newest addition but was a pretty fun vehicle for the gnarlblade. With run and charge, he moves 15” on an auto run, so throwing him across and 18” deployment means he can also make people worry about making me take top, for small only investment on my part. Additionally, if he got his attacks off and the bull was on something, it was a less likely but still redundant plus to wound, or hit and wound.
Gors are 10 potentially deepstriking bodies on a 4+ in combat for 70 points. They also have plus to run and pile in, which is so strange that it just confuses people when you tell them, but it is actually helpful.
Tzaangor are 60 wounds, have mortal banners, can zoom across the board and fight something with a billion attacks, but also rally on 4+. I generally deploy them in a cloud, all about 1” from each others bases, to maximize the board space, but also to be able to pull them out of 3” against things that shut down inspiring, and if I need to rally, recharge, ect. Let’s me save bodies if I pull them out of coherency too, which I did intentionally several times to be able to rally again.
The rest of the list is enlightened, in blocks of 6, in bounty hunters. These have tons of uses and can pump out massive damage. Turning off all our defense is like another rend in many cases. So with the fight last bull running around, some plus to hit (always try to end on damned if you can) from multiple sources, and the throwing an extra attack on them from a spawn, they are such a threat that an opponent must deal with them. When you stack a plus to hit, going second, and gavespawn attacks, I know of very few things with that output. And at 2/3 rend no cp, few things can eat it with saves.
The beasts summoning on top of all the threats to kill or hold things, and ability to run a hero into something, die, and lock them up, meant that in almost all my games I can lose tons of things and still keep taking points. I built in some tech to deal with specific matchups that concerned me, most of which didn’t happen, but in general it’s a 5 turn army with a ton of flexibility and lots of different things going on. Good proving ground usage was hugely helpful with the ability to summon Galletian Veterans, and the output meant the main armies I expected to see, Ogors, Gargants, Nurgle, Nighthaunt, all had something that was a big problem for them that I didn’t mind sacrificing.
That’s pretty much it.
That, and having distractingly beautiful hair, that helped too.
This list – piloted by Nicholas ‘Scooter’ Walters – is testament to the difference reps and familiarity with an army can make. Even if that army is considered underpowered.
Scooter nearly went all the way with what is a pretty common IJ list, with a sneaky ally in the shape of the Fungoid Shaman for the extra CP generation. I mean, it’s an ‘obvious’ list – but if you watch back the stream of Scooter playing Gavin Grigar’s Cities list for example, you can see the difference skill and knowing the intricacies – the limits, the averages – of your army can make. Keeping the Maw Krusha back until it’s absolutely needed – knowing when to smash that ‘Destroyer’ button on the foot boss – and making all the right calls with your pigs are all key to playing IJ well.
Even though the list will be hurt by losing bounty hunters, making the pigs half as effective, the inclusion of the Megaboss makes sense going into the new season – he’s a great, durable and fighty Galley champ. The speed and activation potential with smashing/bashing of the feral hogs will never go out of style.
Ironjaws might be suffering from a lack of units and power creep these days but Scooter is out here to prove that if you love your army, and you’re prepared to stick with it and get the reps in, ‘the meta’ be damned, you too can damn well near win LVO.
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Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch – Change Coven: Guild of Summoners – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Ogroid Thaumaturge (170)* – General – Command Trait: Arcane Sacrifice – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Fate: Arcane Suggestion Kairos Fateweaver (440)* Magister (120)* – Lore of Fate: Shield of Fate – Incarnate is Bound to the Magister Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch (150) – Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch
Battleline 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Kairic Acolytes (120)* – 7x Cursed Blade & Arcanite Shield – 3x Cursed Glaives 10 x Tzaangors (180)* – 10x Pair of Savage Blade
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480)* – Allies
Endless Spells & Invocations Tome of Eyes (40) Umbral Spellportal (80) Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Kaleb Walters: My main goal was to create a Swiss Army Knife style list. Bring as many solutions to the answers in my faction as possible.
Reason For Family: Guild of Summoners: 1 FREE Battle Tactic: Summon Lord of Change. LOC have 14 wounds, -1 Rend shots, 18 inch range, movement 12, +1 To casting for all Tzeentch casters, -1 to hit naturally and monstrous rampage abilities. While other families have more flexibility, the norm is to summon Blue Horrors that have 20 wounds, Movement 5, shoot 12 inches at 0 rend but have good board presence.
List Design: Min Max: Minimum Battleline Maximum Hero’s/Monster Damage. My list is designed to castle up and react to the deployment of my opponent. By staying low drop I normally have the option to decide how I want to engage. I either sacrifice my Acolytes (120pt a unit) to an alpha strike list, or I position aggressively with a front and center incarnate primed to go wild and level up. Either formation still allows me to throw powerful spells that can turn off Command abilities and unleash a possible 15 mortal wounds at 27 inches or more. In addition, as the game goes on, I become more magically dominant with the additional LOC while reducing the overall strength of my opponent.
The next part of my list design is increasing/ reducing my opponents armor. I have 2 spells & 1 Endless spell that can reduce my opponents armor and with the rend stacking of the Acolytes or the LOC natural -1 Rend shots and of course the already powerful incarnate -2/-3 rend I am able to turn normal attacks into Mortal Wound equivalent attacks.
I also know the future with my lame sauce guaranteed Grand Strategy & Destiny Dice…….
Opportunities of The Design: I have a difficult time dealing with Hordes and / or armies that can summon cheap disposable models on a mission with more than 4 objectives. I also find it difficult to face armies like KO that can stay outside my threat range and then engage on their terms.
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Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Tempest’s Eye – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Mighty Beachhead – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage (290)* – General – Command Trait: Hawk-eyed – Lore of Eagles: Strike of Eagles Arkanaut Admiral (140)* – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Eagles: Aura of Glory Battleline 20 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (200)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)* 10 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (100)*
Units 20 x Arkanaut Company (180) – 2x Light Skyhooks – 2x Aethermatic Volley Guns – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1 4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)* – Reinforced x 1
Core Concept Bring guns… lots of guns. We recently had 2 books introduced into the meta (Ogors and Slaves to Darkness), and the resurgence of some old foes (Dragons, Ironjaws and Nurgle), that generate a ton of kill pressure and melee engagement on Turn 1. Tempest’s Eye combats this with great Turn 1 buffs (+1 Save/+3 Move) and efficient shooting (+1 Hit/+1 Wound) supplemented by a healthy number of mortal wounds (Hurricanum, Dracoth Breath). All these elements together are hopefully enough to keep even the scariest melee threats at bay.
Strengths Shooting Volume from Crossbowmen, Tempestors and Arkanauts combined with force multipliers centering around the Hurricanum (+1 Hit/+1 Wound). Adaptable Tech from the Admiral (+1 Rend/Ward Removal/Charge Debuff). Drop Control (2 Drops) typically allows the list to immediately threaten a double turn and forces your opponent to make hard decisions on Turn 1. Horrorghast allows the list to hit crucial damage break points against large units such as Tzaangors, Chosen, or Blood Sisters or spread damage across multiple units for greater efficiency.
Weaknesses 1 Drop armies or specifically being disconnected from the double turn, which forces the list to overextend and expose its firebase. Melee armies whose movement outranges the threat ranges of the list’s shooting units. Middling mobility limits the army’s ability to play proactively and aggressively.
Takeaways and Closing Thoughts As fun as it was to throw buckets of dice, the list has some glaring weaknesses that I was able to mostly avoid due to some fortunate pairings over the course of the weekend, but it does have undeniable strengths and when the list wins it really wins. Enjoy responsibly!
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Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Ironjawz – Subfaction: Bloodtoofs – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480) – General – Command Traits: Mighty Waaagh! Leader – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer – Mount Traits: Fast ’Un Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Warchanter (120)* – Warbeats: Get ’Em Beat Megaboss on Maw-krusha (480)* – Boss Choppa and Rip-toof Fist
BATTLELINE Orruk Gore-gruntas (340)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)* – Gore-grunta Boss – Jagged Gore-hacka Shootas (120)*
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Cody Saults: Ironjawz, for me, was the only choice for LVO this year. My standard approach to tournaments is to not play the same game everyone else is expecting to play. With GV being a thing, and folks running bounty hunters, 2 drops kept me tied or out dropping every opponent, and with the list’s raw damage potential, it has the potential to cripple opponents before they get a chance to interact with your units. Second consideration, with a tournament with as many rounds as LVO potentially has for those who do well, avoiding burnout is key. The list only has 4 unit profiles, which helps with keeping rules front of mind and always knowing your options.
The Maw Crusher is an absolute engine for this list, as Skull-Shaking Bellow allows you to spread Mighty Destroyers out to multiple targets, which helps with board control and damage potential. Its melee profiles allow it to put out a punishing amount of wounds, while its solid armor save prevents it from being an easy removal target. Moreover, it has several ways to help clear screens to make sure you get to your target. Its shooting attack is only 4 potential wounds at rend 1, and very short range, but combine that with the impact hits from the pigs, and enhanced stomp monstrous action, the crusher stands a very good chance of clearing screens and getting to the target it truly wants. A quick Finest Hour passing to your opponent’s turn, with an All Out Defense means that even after they deal their damage, they will continue to gum up the works for your opponent, while taking a monstrous amount of extra attention to move. Having 2 allows for redundancy, protect the one in the most vulnerable position, and then respond with the second. The mighty destroyers move means they are never out of position, as if they clear targets and need to pivot to another flank, they almost always have the movement to get there.
Gore Gruntas also represent a solid damage investment, as buffed by the Warchanta, and under the Iron Jaws WAAGH, there is very little in the game they can’t chew through. I went with two units of three, and one of six. The 2 three-man units can take buffs and present good screen clearance in matchups where the opponent has good screening, and for matchups you don’t need the initial sacrificial salvo, they can be used for fast objective grabbing, or counter skirmishing. The post-combat movement abilities from Bloodtoofs also allow for re-establishing screens or locking up units safely.
Warchantas are a must in any IJ list, as they can pass out solid damage bonuses to units about to be in combat, give out charge bonuses, and even heal a key couple of wounds. They have a surprising amount of beef for small characters, and receiving their own buffs can dish it right back.
The last inclusion in the list was shootas, an easy inclusion to give me some cheap screens. Shootas in 20 man squads can be strung out to prevent enemy outflank or deep strike, and the nets, positioned well, can punish an opponent for under-committing resources to remove them or what they are near.
All in all, the list was tailored with so much mobility and relatively low drops to force an opponent to play defensively. This works out either way for us, as the number of hard to remove wounds makes sure they stay in their deployment zone while we grind down their units. Every unit in the army punches up, able to drag down more costly targets, with the post combat mobility to shift our positions, removing the need to choose between damage and objectives.
All in all, the list performed well. The meta we had until the GHB transition had a lot of lists with hard DPS checks, and this list put out enough damage to meet that need and then some.
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Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos – Greatfray: Gavespawn – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired,Indomitable
Leaders Beastlord (95)* – Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade Great Bray-Shaman (100)* – Lore of the Twisted Wilds: Wild Rampage Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (155)* – General – Command Trait: Unravelling Aura – Lore of Dark Storms: Hailstorm
Battleline 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 10 x Ungors (65)** – Mauls & Half-Shields 6 x Dragon Ogors (290)*** – 2x Paired Ancient Weapons – 4x Draconic War glaives – Reinforced x 1 3 x Dragon Ogors (145)*** – 1x Paired Ancient Weapons – 2x Draconic War glaives
Units 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)** 10 x Ungor Raiders (80)* 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc of Beasts of Chaos (360)*** – Reinforced x 1
Behemoths Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (480) – Allies
It’s the ‘other’ BoC list from LVO! As you can see, it damn near went as far as Noah’s, losing only to Scooter’s incredibly well piloted IJ list.
It’s a relatively normal archetype – with the usual 3 HQs for their wide variety of utility – the Dragon Ogor Shaggoth especially proving critical due to his incredible warscroll spell (heal d3 to a Dragon Ogor and give them re-roll wounds) and the Dragon Ogor scroll allowing re-rolls of 1s while near him.
A mix of Ungors for super cheap and speedy (+3″ thanks to the Bray Shama) trading pieces (once the rend starts stacking) and the more out-of-the-box Dragon Ogors make up the battleline – offering speed, punch, and plenty of board control.
Beyond that, it’s basically ‘the spindog’ syndrome. 6 Enlightened on Discs also provide an absolute missile – if you read any of these, you know by now they’re an absolute staple of BoC lists.
The body count, speed, and Spinedog allow Rigolet to care less about dictating first, and so he packs in bounty hunters plus a warlord for additional utility. A savage list that will operate very differently (and be like, double the cost) with the new book – but there you have it!
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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)* Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (150)* – General – Command Trait: Spiteful Spirit – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Battleline 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)** 5 x Hexwraiths (170)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)* 10 x Chainrasps (110)*
Units 10 x Craventhrone Guard (180)* – Reinforced x 1
Nate Trentanelli: The list began as a bit of a joke to include two famously “bad” units in the Black Coach and the Craventhrone Guard- or “Crossboos” as they’ve come to be known by. I decided that I couldn’t possibly take Top Nighthaunt in the ITC this season without ever having actually played these units. Not wanting to have no chance during games, I peppered in some more useful units in the Hexwraiths and the Krulghast- staples of Nighthaunt armies.
I’ve gone for an Arcane Tome Knight of Shrouds here for one reason. With his Command Trait “Spiteful Spirit”, when he takes damage in the Combat phase he will roll a number of dice equal to his wounds characteristic and do a mortal wound to all enemy units within 6” for each 4+ he rolls. Quite the useful little bomb. To make things even better, Arcane Tome makes him a wizard, allowing him to be moved by Lauchon. Almost guaranteeing a turn 1 charge wherever I want to maximize his chances of doing mortal wounds. Reikenor with his +3 to cast will almost guarantee Lauchon goes off.
Hexwraiths do what hexwraiths do – nearly unmatched speed to pin opponents in their deployment zones. With 4 units of them, I can either overload my opponent turn 1 with all 20, or simply move block them turn after turn. It may lose me all my hexwraiths, but I’ve functionally disallowed my opponent from actually scoring any objective points.
2 units of Chainrasp exist solely for 2 battle tactics. Start them in the underworld and bring them down on a turn. You don’t have a good battle tactic option. Put both in your opponents deployment zone for an easy Barge Through Their Lines with a bonus for 2 GVs. The next turn take Desecrate Their Lands for another Battle Tactic. 2 complete for no effort.
The unit of Craventhrone Guard I also put in the underworld. Though their damage output is poor, it is something Nighthaunt don’t really have access to anywhere else – shooting. Even that small amount of extra damage is noticeable and useful. They are also a great distraction piece, and the Spectral Bolts ability to shoot through terrain is better than it seems. I know, I know. It’s Crossboos. Trust me. They will work.
Last is the Black Coach. It really is the AoS equivalent to a tank. It’s base size makes it terrific at blocking key areas. With the Craventhrone Guard shooting it’s actually quite easy to power it up as well. Allowing you to shoot with the Craventhrone Guard first, slay 5 models from a screen, and fire the Black Coach into the thing you really wanted to shoot for 3D3 mortal wounds. Alternatively, keeping it on its 4+ ward makes it truly crazy at tanking. Keeping it in the Krulghast bubble also gives it -1 damage for even more craziness. It’s shocking how survivable it is.
The Mortalis Terminexus gives you the flexibility to heal your heroes and Black Coach or use it more as I did, which is an aggressive mortal wound bomb. 26” total threat range from casting is great, and it can pump out quite a bit of chip damage.
All together, the armies Battle Traits of Ethereal and Wave of Terror combine to make even the weakest looking unit truly scary. Roll enough 8s on the charge, and even Kragnos will fall to simple chainrasp. The army has 5 different units that do D3 mortals on a 2+ on the charge. Don’t underestimate how much that is. Simple averages tell you that’s about 8 mortal wounds. Which, by the way, you can retreat and do all over again every turn.
Because of the movement of this army- Hexwraiths, Lauchon heroes, Black Coach teleports, and Underworld Reserves – you can be anywhere and everywhere. Movement wins games, and it’s no surprise to me that most of my opponents had issues with catching me. Even if it they were close, you can simply use one unit to block for the rest to move to safety. Keep your units alive until the exact moment your opponent is out of position. And then pounce all at once. Be careful not to allow your opponent to single out units and be careful. You don’t pull your units away from each others support. Aggressive movement with supporting units will win you games.
Happy haunting!
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (450) – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Metalcruncher – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Prayers: Pulverising Hailstorm Butcher (140)* – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails Huskard on Stonehorn (400)* – Blood Vulture – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Prayers: Keening Gale
Camaron has my thanks (but not quite my sword) for not taking any Ironblasters! What he’s taken instead is loads of big, angry cows! It’s almost a completely pure Beastclaw Raider army – love to see it.
This list essentially asks ‘can you handle 5 cows swamping you’, and the answer was ‘no’ for everyone other than Kaleb’s Tzeentch, who were able to puncture those super tough hides with his sneaky magic MW output.
Enhancement wise – which is where the tactics are in a list like this – you’ve got Metalcruncher on the Frostlord for dealing with tanky 3+ saves, along with Touched by Everwinter to make him into a priest and able to cast the excellent MW AoE ‘Pulverising Hailstorm’. The Huskard gets the Rockmane Elder (-1 to wound in melee).
A pack of Gnoblars act as a cheap add-on screen that still fits into the battle reg – crucial for a pressure list like this – in order to dictate first and almost certainly give it away every time to make an absolutely devastating round of turn 2 charges and a hopeful end-it-there double.
Big gratz to Camaron for losing only in the shadow round to a legendary player and a bad match-up.
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Head Judge – Thomas
Acting as Head Judge at LVO 2023 was a thrilling experience. I should begin by thanking both Front Line Gaming, and Scott Reed, the Head TO, for organizing such an amazing event.
LVO 2023 was the largest Age of Sigmar tournament in the world, by far, and 50% larger than previous LVOs. Whilst being involved in such a large event was a great experience, the logistics of organizing 325 players did throw up some challenges. To start, the release of the Battlescroll with new points one week before the list deadline (and after our rules cut-off) was a bit disruptive. We had to ensure that every player knew that we would be using the new points, and yet we still had quite a few lists submitted with the old points. Equally, we had to ensure that every player knew that we would not be using the new GHB, which was released the day after lists were due (and one week after rules cutoff). Of course, there were still a few players who submitted lists assuming the new GHB (comically enough, there was one player who we could not contact until round 1 to let them know that their Aspect of the Champion and Sharpshooter battalion had to go!).
The rest of the pre-event organization was handled by FLG and Scott, so my preparations beforehand were minimal. But I have been involved with the running of 36 events in the past 18 months and know that quite of bit of prep work is involved.
Due to the large number of players, LVO did not use the standard AoS GT format of 5 rounds. Instead, we used 5 rounds followed by a 3rd day of single elimination rounds for top 8 players. This year, 9 players went 5-0 which required us to run a Shadow Round 6th game for the players in 8th and 9th place to determine which of them would advance to Day 3.
The first five rounds were pretty straight forward from a rules judging point of view. The pack used at LVO, produced by Scott Reed, borrowed from the OTTD Generic Pack, which is something I was heavily involved in creating. Many of the players at LVO already have experience attending events that use the OTTD system, which helped keep rules and scoring questions to a minimum. When tricky questions did arise, I was able to fall back to the aosfaq.com website and team to provide answers.
The pressure as Head Judge only really started during the Shadow Round, which was the first round where we introduced active judging (where a judge watches the entire game and points out rules mistakes before and whilst they are made). Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a one-sided blowout – the choice to use Mighty and Cunning proved problematic when one player had essentially all GV and the other essentially none. Lesson learned! The only rules issue that cropped up was when one of the players declared Desecrate their Lands on a Defensible terrain piece. I had to remind him that you can only control Defensible terrain pieces by garrisoning them – the standard 3” rule does not apply. He was able to declare another terrain piece instead.
Day 3 was where the real excitement as Head Judge began, which entailed three rounds of active judging among the best players in the world. I was fortunate enough that James O’Brien who was a contender, had not made it to day 3, but as an experienced TO and judge was willing to jump in and judge half of the games.
When judging the final 8 of a 325-player event, there is really very little stress. These are fantastic players with a huge amount of experience and, more importantly, great sportsmanship. There was no confrontation to deal with, and all players played with intent at all times, meaning there were no disagreements to intervene with. If anything, I had to prevent players from giving too much benefit to their opponents!
Instead, the rule of table judging was just handling the occasional line-of-sight judging, pointing out often forgotten rules such as you need to jump into a garrison to control it (even the top players didn’t know that rule!) and mostly sitting back and watching some fantastic Warhammer being played. The biggest drama, up until the end of the final game, that is, was during the first round, when one of the games ended in a complete tie. With single elimination, a tie is not an option. It was also not something we had prepared for. Fortunately, the two players were able to agree that under any tie-break rules, there would be a clear winner. Of course, I couldn’t end without talking about that final game. What a game! I could watch both Noah and Scooter play Warhammer all day. Scooter is one of the great personalities to watch, and Noah is a fantastic human being. And their game was so close.
I suppose I should talk about the ending… By the end of the final game, the players had been through 3 days of extensive Warhammer. All with the backdrop of Las Vegas. I think it is fair to say that both players (and Judge) were drained. The game came down to control of an objective. Noah had a chaos spawn on it, Scooter had a goblin shaman. They fought in combat, but neither could kill the other (Scooter made the 4+ ward save to keep his Shaman alive on one wound – much to the crowd’s delight!). It was a great moment!
Of course, the spawn has 5 wounds, and so is worth 2 points on an objective, and the Shaman only has 4 wounds, so it is worth 1. But we were all too exhausted to notice. Noah assumed the Shaman was worth 2. Scooter assumed the spawn was worth 1 and I failed to notice the mistake (oh so easy to assume all heroes in the game are going to be 5 wounds or more!). That meant that they were tied on points, and Scooter won the match on battle tactics scored. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that we caught the mistake – where we had not considered that the Shaman was only 4 wounds (a friend texted me – thank you!). The way both players handled the turnaround in decision is a credit to them both. The level of joy each felt at the other being declared the winner was heartwarming.
The final, and LVO in general, left no doubt that Age of Sigmar has a fantastic community. And I am proud to be part of it.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Christmas Special that took place in the UK on 17th and 18th December. It involved 8 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: Ogor Mawtribes – Mawtribe: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Frostlord on Stonehorn (445) – Mount Trait: Metalcruncher Huskard on Thundertusk (330) – General – Blood Vulture – Command Trait: High Priest – Mount Trait: Rimefrost Hide – Prayer: Keening Gale Frostlord on Stonehorn (445) – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon
Danny: When you take the new Ogor book to an 8 player, xmas themed event, you are essentially roleplaying. The Mawtribes like it best where its chilly, they love a good ol’ festive feast, and they have lots of reindeer Stonehorns to pull fat men with beards into the action, delivering ‘presents’ as necessary, and claiming their cookies’n’milk tithe as they go. It’s the only explanation for their being 3 OM players – just under half the field.
Thomas’s interpretation of the christmas myth packs 3 big beasties – who, let’s be honest, just generally ram into you and do very bad things in a variety of slightly different ways. They’re backed up by Yhetees who can run and charge while within 15″ of a Thundertusk, and are eligible to fight within 6″ – and two more non-hero murder-reindeer. Boy oh boy does this list want to deliver you your presents, forcibly and fast! Hope his opponents felt festive while being very roughly sleighed!
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Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin – Enclave: Briomdar – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Akhelian King (250)* – General – Bladed Polearm – Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness – Lore of the Deeps: Steed of Tides Isharann Soulscryer (150)* – Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse Scinari Loreseeker (160)* – Allies
Battleline 20 x Namarti Reavers (340)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Namarti Reavers (340)* – Reinforced x 1 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)* 10 x Namarti Reavers (170)*
Units 2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)*
Endless Spells & Invocations Horrorghast (40) Purple Sun of Shyish (90)
Patrick: The fact that half the lists at this event where the new golden child of AoS goes to show how versatile the Idoneth can be. The standard Murderking and Namarti Reavers are present, keeping the core of the army to a consistently powerful turn 2 and 3. This list would see a major advantage at an Ogor-heavy event, since the Ironblasters can’t take you off the table turn 1 if you aren’t on the table to begin with. A relatively small cadre of units will start on the board, while Briomdar allows the Soulscryer to keep three units to the side, who can come in at an advantageous moment.
This list deviates from the norm by taking advantage of some strong reinforcement units. The Scinari Loreseeker is going to make life difficult since it can be deployed up the board turn one, and at 160pts makes a decent sacrificial unit, since any ranged attacks would have to target him. His distance from the rest of the army also means that he’s siting on a 3+ save, and if he deploys in cover and uses all-out-defense he’s on a 3+ ignoring 2 points of Rend. The Fulminators round out the list by providing a relatively quick, tough unit that can consistently deal mortal wounds, which is something that Idoneth lack.
Overall this list has a high skill level to play well, but Kieron played well, and I imagine frutrated their opponents to no end.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Subfaction: Underguts
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)* – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder Butcher (135)*** – General – Command Traits: Gastromancer – Tenderiser – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Blubbergrub Stench
Danny: Now, Leighton has opted for a slightly different kind of Christmas spirit, choosing to deliver coal to all the naughty children on the other side of the board from afar with great prejudice, from 3 Ironblasters and a unit of Leadbelchers, in the sub-faction that gives extra rend to ranged attacks, which let’s just say doesn’t take a tactical genius to see the appeal of.
In his defense, he also definitely does not leave the elves on the shelf (well, they’re more like mountain goblins but you get my drift) capable of doing d3 mortals to stuff within 6″ at the end of any move action, which the recent FAQ decided was clearly easily understood by all and not in the least bit troubling on a 20 body 100 pt unit.
A Stonehorn is also there because why wouldn’t you? And he’s got a Butcher for company, whipping up all the trimmings for those hungry Ironguts and packing Blubbergrub Stench, allowing Rhinox units to be treated as Monsters, which gives them all sorts of cool shit. Oh – did you forget that Ironblasters are pulled by Rhinoxes? Oh yes – now they roll dice equal to their charge roll + 2 and do MWs on 6s after pumping you full of lead, just in case a small part of your body was still twitching, cold and alone in the dirt.
Also 2 units of Ironguts waddle around just obliterating anything they get into combat with with 3 rend 2 damage 3 attacks each and a once per game double fight.
I wonder if GW just really wanted to see lots of Ogors around xmas (and under various xmas trees, preferable wrapped up…) because it certainly is their season!!
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)* – General – Command Trait: Blood of the Berzerker – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir – Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Magmadroth Trait: Flame-scaleYoungblood Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Magmadroth Trait: Lava-tongue Adult Auric Runemaster (125)* – Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal Gotrek Gurnisson (485)* – Allies
Battleline 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (160)* 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (160)*
Brett: When the book dropped I thought we’d see a lot more Lofnir/Magmadroth lists, but it seems Lofnir lodge hid it’s secrets well. Greyfyrd is a bit more common, probably down to the difficulty in assembling 3 to 6 Magmadroths. Runeson on a Magmadroth is battleline in Lofnir, there are 4 battlelines in the army. They’re expensive, but a Magmadroth has as many wounds as a Mawcrusha (18), and have a better breath weapon. But their damage output isn’t as impressive. And the Runeson is no Megaboss. In Lofnir each Magmadroth gains a mount trait (up to 3 anyway) and they come with burning blood just in case you wound 1 in melee. The biggest advantage of Lofnir and Magmadroths is the additional mobility they bring. But that mobility makes it easy to outstrip your support (Vulkites and Runemaster). If you aren’t careful it’s easy for an army to engage each as separate pieces instead of an army.
The same is true of Gotrek, great model but with only 4″ of movement he can be played around. And that slow movement means scoring is hard and they are vulnerable to shooting. Jon lost to 2nd and 3rd who had a lot of firepower. Jon also drew with Rob in his 3rd round, notable against Tzeetch. Durable with some fun tricks it will be interesting to see what the next GHB offers Fyreslayers who don’t love the current missions and Galletian Veterans. With very few warscrolls the centre of most armies with either Vulkites (1W with a 4+ save) or Hearthguard (2W, 4+ save) who suffer against bounty hunters.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Big Bristol Brawl that took place in the UK on 3rd and 4th December. It involved 41 players (Including our very own Danny) 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.
Pre-Tournament Analysis
I thought I’d add a bit about the meta at the event before we jump into the meat of the article. If this is popular I’ll continue doing this on future top three articles.
Ranked Players Below shows the players already ranked in our Woehammer rankings form events before the Bristol GT.
11 Players had already taken part in 1 GT before this event, with the highest ranked player (Luke Churchus) being 22nd in the UK. Remeber these rankings are based on our own handicapped rankings system explained here.
Faction Breakdown
The Bristol Brawl saw an unusually high number of Daughters, Blades of Khorne and Slaanesh armies, with all three seeing double their expected representation based on the current worldwide meta.
On the flip side of this, the tournament saw no representation from Ironjawz, Slaves, Cities, Kharadron and Big Waagh where we would have expected at least one army to be present.
Of the high win rate factions Beast of Chaos and Disciples are as expected while Ogor Mawtribes and Soulblight see a slightly higher number than compared to the meta.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Allegiance: Nighthaunt – Procession: Scarlet Doom – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (955)* Spirit Torment (115)* – General – Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon
Battleline 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 20 x Bladegheist Revenants (350)* – Reinforced x 1 3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*
Declan: Greg has been using Nagash since AoS3 dropped, and quite a bit before that. In early AoS3, there was a period we met 3 or 4 times and he beat me every time with a Soulblight version…. here he has taken Nighthaunt instead which allows him to use the Nighthaunt alleginace abilities on the charge and back it up with Nagash’s magic dominance.
Games Workshop / Wahapedia
When they charge the Bladegheists are almost certain to roll 4+ and get one of the debuffs on the table. But the truly frightening thing is that these debuffs stack. I’m not a fan of the mechanism, but it’s the core of how Nighthaunt work and it is scary when a 10+ is rolled followed by a few 8+ (because you can always go down the table).
There’s no denying that Nagash is the centrepiece though and – although he is seen as weaker in the last update – he can still take on an army (and at 955 points he needs to). I’d love to tell you how to kill him, but the truth is I still don’t know but I imagine it’s got something to do with mortal wounds (preferably at range). It’s definitely not a Mangler Squig (last time I charged one in, I did no wounds to Nagash).
If you’ve not met him before he lives up to his role as the Lord of the Undead… with 8 spell casts, all with bonuses and the piece de la resistance… Arcane Bolt as many times as you like. (see you’ll be glad you brought the ranged mortal wounds. He’s a beast and sometimes the best thing to do is get ahead on points, stand on objectives and hope he and the Bladegheists can’t shift you. Good luck; you’ll need it!
Games Workshop / Wahapedia
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Allegiance: Fyreslayers – Lodge: Lofnir – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (360)** – General – Command Trait: Blood of the Berzerker – Artefact: Axe of Grimnir – Magmadroth Trait: Coal-heart Ancient Battlesmith (150)** Battlesmith (150)**
Battleline Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Artefact: Master Rune of Unbreakable Resolve – Magmadroth Trait: Flame-scale Youngblood Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe – Magmadroth Trait: Lava-tongue Adult Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)* – Ancestral War-axe Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (320)** – Ancestral War-axe
Edit: The maximum number of Magmadroths you can take in a Lofnir list is six, not five as the comment below eludes to.
Ethan: This Lofnir list leans on heavy on the idea that more is more, taking as many magmadroths as you can fit in 2000 points. It’s obviously an effective strategy, having worked out well for Alex, with his only loss being Hagg Nar where I can only predict Morathi’s unkillable rules made for a major issue for an army so light on units.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Boulderhead
LEADER 1 x Kragnos (720) 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)* – General – Command Traits: Touched by the Everwinter – Artefacts: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Rockmane Elder – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Prayers: Heal(🎶Living on a Prayer🎵) 1 x Butcher (135)* – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails
BATTLELINE 2 x Mournfang Pack (175)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist 1 x Stonehorn Beastriders (310)* – Blood Vulture 2 x Mournfang Pack (175)* – Skalg – Culling Clubs and Hackers and Ironfist
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1960/2000)
Danny: Andy helped me out with our Ogor Tome Review – so it’s awesome and very interesting to see him go 4-1 and 3rd at this highly competitive event – WITHOUT cannons or Gnoblars. Andy has basically stuck with this tried and tested core of a Frostlord backed by Kragnos – the big(ger) man offering 3d6 charges for those sweet 3d6 MWs on the charge, along with a huge pressure piece while the Frostlord, specced out with Arcane Tome + Flaming weapon for more reliable damage and Touched by the Everwinter to also make him a priest with the ability to heal himself – or Kragnos. So he’s doing it all. Another ‘big cow’ joins the pressure party as the first battleline pick.
Two units of Mournfang fill out the tax, allowing for some excellent objective play, hardly inconsiderable damage and their new and improved resistance to shooting attacks.
Andy also included a Butcher for some utility spell casting and to babysit the mawpot, although he informed me that he regretted including him overall as he always ended up out of range to be useful and felt like wasted points overall.
Andy had a tough route to 4-1, remaining on top table most of the event, taking a big win against IDK to kick off, followed by a tough Blood Knight list, then the Kroak list that beat me, a grudge match over the ‘new’ 4x Ironblaster + leadbelcher Ogor list before finally losing to the event’s winner Greg. The amount of pressure this list can put out can clearly only be resisted by unrendable ghosts with Nagash bringing loads back and shunting fistfuls of MWs through Kragnos’ 2+ save – definitely a counter to what is otherwise clearly a list that very few armies in the game can really withstand.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Army Subfaction: Hagg Nar – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumph: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Melusai Ironscale (115)* – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts: Crown of Woe(hammer) 1 x Morathi-Khaine (680)* 1 x The Shadow Queen (680)*
BATTLELINE 10 x Witch Aelves (115)* – Hag – Death Pennant Bearer – Hornblower – Sciansá and Bladed Buckler 15 x Blood Sisters (420)* – Gorgai 10 x Blood Stalkers (360)* – Krone
ENDLESS SPELL 1 x Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws (60)
OTHER 9 x Khainite Shadowstalkers (150)* – Shroud Queen 5 x Khinerai Heartrenders (95)* – Shryke
CORE BATTALIONS: *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: (1995/2000)
Danny: It me! First things first, I’m working on an in-depth tourney report including some deeper thinking on my list and a breakdown of the games, so for now I’ll give you the digest of HOW the list works rather than get bogged down in the why.
It’s relatively simple – a twist on the Morathi on the bowsnakes. I took 15 spears and 10 bows to lean more heavily into the reliable MWs. Witch aelves are a cheap screen and battleline pick with bladed bucklers for some hopeful clutch saves and mortal wound bouncing. I took Ironscale to make the sneks battleline and enable the run+charge for some key threat projection, but also because I wanted Hagg Nar to speed up Blood Rites, which saves me loads of CP and helps Morathi perform a lot better in early rounds (when she’s still alive!)
This event didn’t allow book battle tactics, so instead of a 2nd squad of Khinerai, I opted for Shadowstonkers, who are also just a relatively tanky and super mobile scoring piece.
Jaws rounds out the list as a spare point filler and another source of MWs against slower targets that my spear sneks might be scared or unable to get into. It’s all wrapped up in a one drop bat reg because this list really, really wants to avoid getting doubled. Of course, sometimes you come up against another 1 drop in round 5 and lose the roll-off….more on that and other exciting, brain-melting moments in my full report.
Want to say a quick but big kudos to both the organisers (Alex and Jonny) from our club, Sigmar’s Pilgrims, and to all my opponents and everyone else there – it was a hugely competitive field but the vibe was friendly and jolly as all hell – a fantastic, super hard fought event!
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for the Epic Level Showdown that took place in Georgia, USA on 24th and 25th September. It involved 35 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: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
Leaders Be’Lakor, the Dark Master (360)* – Allies Lord of Afflictions (210)* – General – Command Trait: Overpowering Stench – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of Malignance: Rancid Visitations
Battleline 10 x Plaguebearers (150)* 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)* – 1x Dolorous Tocsin 4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)* – 2x Dolorous Tocsin – Reinforced x 1 4 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)* – 2x Dolorous Tocsin – Reinforced x 1
Brett: We’ve seen the Nurgle Blightlord’s a lot in Season 1, they deny the missions well more than play them well, but to look at this list and think it’s like that would be a mistake. To start with Be’lakor is heading the list (even if he isn’t the general) and it has Plaguebearers and Nurglings even. That’s right there are Galletian Veteran’s in this list. On top of that we have Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws, the mechanics of this spell are brilliant (roll 3D6 and subtract the target unit’s movement, take the difference as mortal wounds). 3 casts/dispels with Arcane Tome and Rancid Visitations, an anti horde mortal wound spell. Be’lakor is a skill pick, 20% of your army and he can hit really hard but he only has 14 wounds on a 4+ and degrades quickly.
You need to pick your time to commit him and I feel like the durable Blightlords compliment him well. Commit them to the early scoring/battle tactics and bluntening your opponents thrust before swooping in. It might even open up a This One’s Mine which can help a lot with your scoring. The Blightlords are just an effective unit, 8 wounds and 11 attacks each and mortal wounds on the charge and at the end of combat. With disease points they grind units down through a combination of resilience (5+ ward and heal a wound every round) and steady damage. The Nurglings are a natural for either taking an unprotected objective or completing Desecrate the Lands with their Hidden Infestations (they don’t deploy until the end of your first movement phase and must be outside of your deployment).
They arrive 3″ away from Terrain so it will be the next turn before they can do Desecrate. It’s a unique take on a pretty common solution and able to access pretty much all battle tactics (particularly from the GHB). Great work going 5/0 and proving the there is depth to Nurgle.
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Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin – Subfaction: Mor’phann – Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS Akhelian King (250)* – General – Command Traits: Unstoppable Fury – Bladed Polearm and Falchion – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Mount Traits: Voidchill Darkness – Spells: Flaming Weapon – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Isharann Soulscryer (150)* – Prayers: Curse Isharann Soulrender (120)*
Brett: Another different take on the popular infantry heavy Idoneth list. Instead of a 20 or 30 model units Jon is running his Reavers in 10 model trading units. The Thralls are still in a double reinforced unit. The Soulscryer is one reason for the smaller units, they are much easier to Deep Strike. One can garrison the shipwreck as well. The Soulscryer can take 2 units with him and redeploy at the end of the movement phase within 6″ of the edge of the battlefield and outside of 9″ from an enemy unit. Great for battletactics and sniping important things. The Soulrender is returning units with Lurelight. The King has all of the upgrades which include Unstoppable Fury (+2 attacks for each unit within 3″ in High Tide), Arcane Tome/Flaming Weapon (+1 damage) and Voidchill Darkness (-1 hit to enemy attackers).
Rounding out the list are Krondspine and the Shipwreck.Krondspine is interesting choice but helps before High Tide (turn 3) when Idoneth has fight first available before dropping into Ebb Tide where they can retreat and charge (or shoot). Krondspine gives you an offensive threat that needs to be dealt with. Supported by Reavers and even the King from turn 2 it’s a serious threat, even better if it’s still around in turn 3. The small units of Reavers can make effective use of the Tides of Death, there is less on the line if you run and shoot with a small unit that will most likely be taken out next turn. An interesting take on Idoneth that ran very well and scored well throughout, in the end losing to our winner in the final round. No surprises really, Jon is one of the top ranked players in the world.
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Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness – Army Type: Knights of the Empty Throne – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs
LEADERS Varanguard (560) – General – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Command Traits: Inescapable Doom – Daemonforged Blade and Warpsteel Shield – Artefacts of Power: Grasping Plate Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spells: Mask of Darkness Slaves to Darkness Daemon Prince (210)* – Mark of Chaos: Khorne – Hellforged Sword and Malefic Talons Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore (270)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Spells: Mask of Darkness – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
BATTLELINE Untamed Beasts (70)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Untamed Beasts (70)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch Untamed Beasts (70)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
BEHEMOTH Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400) Chaos Warshrine (215)* – Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch – Prayers: Heal
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Brett: Knights of the Empty Throne (without Archaon) being run here by one of the top 10 players in the world (tough crowd in Georgia). Although there is no Archeon it’s still a hero based list and possibly a prelude to what the end of the year may look like with the new book. Only 2 casts/dispels but with both the Krondspine (Endless Spell protection and massive melee threat) and the Warshrine (Behemoth priest). Both Sorcerers know Mask of Darkness (teleport for Mortal units). Everything except the Daemon Prince is Tzeetch marked (reroll save rolls of 1 for everything except the Incarnate and Untamed Beasts) and a 5+ ward against the effects of magic. Varanguard as general with Inescapable Doom (no retreat within 3″) and Grasping Plate (6″ engagement range and 6″ pile in). We’ll assume they are 6th Circle for the extra damage on the charge.
Playing this well takes some considered action, there are 4 solid hammers but they work best with overlapping buffs. Khorne Marked Daemon Prince has the 18″ halve charge and run rolls, he is best close to something important that you don’t want charged. The Krondspine doesn’t benefit from the armies buffs so can act independently but it’s also strong anti endless spell protection. Varanguard are a mobile threat as is the Sorcerer on Manticore but committing them too early could be a mistake. The Untamed Beasts and Sorcerers are mortals and can be teleported with Mask of Darkness. Great for those Battle Tactics. The Sorceror’s can use Eye of the Gods at the end of the turn if they kill a unit. Probably not something to play into, the Sorcerer’s can be removed relatively easily – even the 12 wounds on a 4+, but something to take advantage of
The ideal set up is probably to have the Sorcerer cast Demonic Power (reroll hits and wounds) on the Varanguard before launching them. Keep the Daemon Prince near to the Varanguard to prevent the counter charge. In earlier turns screen with the Untamed Beasts (both the Prince and Manticore fly so can go over the screen if necessary). Initially everything is likely to stay close to the Warshrine for the 6+ ward, particularly if there is much shooting in the enemy’s list. The loss to Lumineth just highlights the issues Slaves have as a melee army that is relatively slow moving with long range mortal wound shooting. Lumineth in particular aren’t likely to push into to you to score giving little room to react to their shooting, 2 turns across open ground is uncomfortable.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Type: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADERS Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)* – General – Metalcruncher – Lord of Beasts – Brand of the Svard Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)*
Brett: Do you like a quick movement phase without the distraction of a lot of units (and models)? But Gargants don’t float your boat then get on Ogors, mini, hungrier Gargants looking for their next meal. They also look pretty angry rather than slow witted so that’s something (I always wanted Ogres as a playable race in Warcraft). With a new book coming there is some light at the end of the tunnel, at the moment Ogors are languishing with a 42% winrate with fairly low representation. I’m going with this must have been a Battle Regiment not Bounty Hunters because Bounty Hunters is only 3 units max. Anyone 2 Generals since Kragnos is no one’s servant (he counts as a General).
The Frostlord has Metalcruncher (D6 MW to a unit within 3″ at start of combat) and as a Boulderhead, Lord of Beasts (1″ extra movement) and Brand of Svard (+1 to hit with melee weapons). Kragnos is handing out his 18″ charge with 3D6 rolls. The Gluttons get an extra 2″ move if they are more than 3″ from all enemy units (they’re hungry) and everything does mortal wounds on the charge. Kragnos is unique there where he makes a charge with different profiles if it is against units or a single monster. His Bellowing Roar as he gets wounded is always funny, in a bad way. If you see Ogors you know they are going to concentrate on stomping you, if they are with Kragnos they will be fairly compact.
Michael recovered really well from his early round losses, eventually finishing higher than both of his opponents. As expected scoring was an issue with 6 dropped tactics and 2 dropped Grand Strategies through the weekend. Congratulations on bringing a pretty unique list.
This is the Top Three AoS Lists for TURNAJ O NÁČELNÍKA OPIČÍCH HOR that took place in the Czech Republic on 13th and 14th July. It involved 24 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: Coalesced – Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Continuous Expansion – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS Engine of the Gods (265) – General – Command Traits: Prime Warbeast – Prayers: Curse Skink Oracle on Troglodon (270) – Artefacts of Power: Fusil of Conflagration – Mount Traits: Beastmaster – Spells: Hand of Glory – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Lord Kroak (430)* – Spells: Stellar Tempest Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)* Skink Priest (90)* – Prayers: Curse
BATTLELINE Saurus Guard (115)* Saurus Guard (115)* Saurus Warriors (105)* – Saurus Warrior Alpha – Celestite Club and Powerful Jaws – 2 x Stardrake Icon Bearer – 2 x Wardrummer
BEHEMOTH Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)*
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Umbral Spellportal (70)
TERRAIN 1 x Realmshaper Engine (0)
CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Danny: The list is entirely built around maximum threat projection from Kroak. I imagine the Spellportal is for turn 1 spell spam while the Oracle and Krondspine get into position, the former to pin threats while the latter grabs objectives and acts as a mobile Spellportal.
16″ with the Astrolith bearer from wherever the Spell-portal or Oracle is – assuming Kroak is sitting pretty next to the portal – might end up with the option of pumping at his 3x scroll spell anywhere that’s meaningful on the board.
Having the Krondspine bound to the Oracle also gives it a better chance of getting Portal set up T1 for Kroak to spam through so he doesn’t have to use up one of his.
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Army Faction: Daughters of Khaine – Subfaction: Zainthar Kai – Grand Strategy: Bloodbath – Triumph: Inspired
LEADERS High Gladiatrix (90)** – General – Command Traits: Zealous Orator – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome – Spells: Steed of Shadows, The Withering – Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur Morathi-Khaine (680)** The Shadow Queen (680)**
Danny: Running the Krondspine with Morathi is a riff on the Gotrek combo in that it gives a usually super fragile faction two big utility hammers that are also super-anvils.
Krondspine lacks Gotrek’s pure combat prowess but offers DoK a rare source of a bonus to cast and, more crucially, a way to pin or block key threats to their squishy core of blood sisters/stalkers. In this case, it’s bound to a Gladiatrix – their cheapest hero – with a Tome, meaning it just snakes in under the points limit.
The rest – a 15 blob of double shooting sneks with zealous orator to keep them coming back – is standard fare now, but no less effective for it. The only loss coming from Nurgle suggests a lack of scoring potential or pure damage ceiling – but either way a great result with a streamlined list.
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Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords – Sky Port: None – Mortal Realm: Ghur – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
Kharadron Code – Artycle: Master The Skies – Amendment: Always Take What You Are Owed – Footnote: Without Our Ships We Are Naught
Leaders Aether-Khemist (90)* – General – Command Trait: Collector – Artefact: Spell in a Bottle Aetheric Navigator (85)* – Artefact: Voidstone Orb Arkanaut Admiral (125)** – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar (325)*
Units 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 10 x Grundstok Thunderers (270)** – Reinforced x 1 Arkanaut Ironclad (490)** – Main Gun: Great Volley Cannon – Great Endrinworks: The Last Word Arkanaut Frigate (250) – Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon
Danny: Until the last set of FAQs, KO were struggling in a meta that rewarded save-stacking and objective play – for the obvious reasons they don’t have access to much rend or objective play. But the Purple Sun changes everything, given they can auto-cast it from Spell in a Bottle. Turns out giving access to an additional pip of rend to an army that revolves entirely around ranged threat projection changes the script.
The Celestant-Prime proves a perennial and valuable ally, offering a targeted, bankable melee scalpel thanks to his auto-charge out of reserves.
All told, KO are having a proper renaissance – even though they’re still badly in need of their _actual_ book being brought in line with 3e, it’s great to see generals finding creative workarounds and getting some serious results in the meantime.
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Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Boulderhead – Grand Strategy: Take What’s Theirs – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (430) – General – Command Traits: Lord of Beasts – Artefacts: Brand of the Svard – Mount Traits: Old Granitetooth 1 x Huskard on Thundertusk (335) – Blood Vulture – Mount Traits: Alvagr Ancient – Prayers: Pulverising Hailstorm 1 x Frostlord on Stonehorn (430) – Mount Traits: Metalcruncher
Peter: I chose an Ogors list today as we don’t see too many of these. Frostlords and Huskards always hit like a tonne of bricks causing on average 16.2 damage before saves! Boulderhead gives the big boys an extra wound and a mount trait for every Stonehorn or Thundertusk.
It’s a quick army with the slowest units moving 9″ a turn, and with high wounds and high saves all round it’s surprisingly durable as well.
They’ll want to get in your face as quickly as they can to take advantage of their high damage outputs.
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.
Here are the AoS Meta Stats for all the Grand Tournaments that have taken place between Monday 20th June and Sunday 26th June 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.
There were only 2 Grand Tournaments last week, a quiet week! But both have 32 players with a nice mix of factions.
64 players took part in 2 GT’s over the last week.
Grand Alliance
Win Rate
Armies
% Share of Armies
5-0 Wins
4+ Wins
Chaos
55.6%
9
14.1%
0
4
Order
53.7%
30
46.9%
2
6
Death
50.0%
10
15.6%
0
1
Death
39.3%
15
23.4%
0
1
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
Seraphon
80.0%
5
7.9%
2
0
Lumineth Realm-Lords
60.0%
5
7.9%
0
0
Soulblight Gravelords
40.0%
5
7.9%
0
0
With very few tournaments this week there’s not enough data to draw reliable win rates from.
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Subfaction Stats
Next week, I’ll have built up four weeks worth of data and at this point I will transition the stats over four weeks rather than a single week. This will helpfully give us more reliable data. At some point I’ll go backwards as well to the start of AoS 3.
