Peter: Today we’re doing something a little different with out top three. I invited members of our Discord chat to take part and we had a few victims, I mean volunteers. First up is fellow Chump member Kieron Bailey.

Before I jump into the Top Three, 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.

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 Game Knight GT was held in Ontario, Canada on the 11th and 12th June, nestled snuggly between the Great Lakes of Huron and Erie and the great cities of Detroit and Toronto. It was a 12 person event with two undefeated armies, but only one 5-0.

Army Faction: Idoneth Deepkin
– Subfaction: Mor’phann

LEADERS
Isharann Soulrender (120)
– General
– Command Traits: Teachings of the Túrscoll
Isharann Soulscryer (150)
– Artefacts of Power: Rune of the Surging Gloomtide
– Prayers: Curse
– Bonding: Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur
Lotann (115)

BATTLELINE
1x Namarti Reavers (340)
2x Namarti Thralls (390)
Namarti Reavers (170)
Namarti Thralls (130)
Namarti Reavers (170)

BEHEMOTH
Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)

TERRAIN
1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)
1 x Gloomtide Shipwreck (0)

TOTAL POINTS: 1985/2000

Kieron: That 5-0 belongs to Jordan Duncan of Season of War fame (not to be confused with *Seasons* of War, the new Sylvaneth sub-sub faction). The early games with the new Idoneth book on his channel featured a range of options from the new book, going to a pure Mor’phann list earned his first clean sweep with the new book. Along the way, Jordan amassed quite a trophy cabinet, defeating Kragnos twice, Sons of Behemat, a full dragon list and Legion best pals, Be’lakor and Kairos.

Jordan left his sharks and turtles in the ocean for this one, leaning heavily into Namarti with 20 Reavers, a frankly terrifying 30 Thralls, a pair of 10 Reavers and then 10 Thralls to round off the troops.

While the sharks and turtles may have been left at home, a Krondspire Incarnate joined the raiding party. The army was led by a trifecta of buffing characters with an Ishrann Soulrender, an Ishrann Soulscryer and Lotann, with these three leaders bringing the army together.

The Soulrender uses his Lurelight ability in the battleshock phase to bring D3 models back to those big units of Thralls or Reavers, but with an additional 3 on top because the army is Mor’phann. The Soulrender also has the Teachings of Turscroll as their artefact, allowing the order of the tides to be reversed, crucially meaning that the whole IDK army gets to fight first in turn 2 instead of having to wait until turn 3 for that honour. This gives Jordan the option to step on the gas early on if he wants to.

But how do those 50 Namarti get across the board – with the help of the Soulscryer, of course. The Soulscryer can drop in (or should that be surface?) anywhere outside of 9″ of an enemy unit and he can take two friends/units with them. They can also casually toss out a second Gloomtide Shipwreck down with the Rune of Surging, giving a second potential garrison for the smaller units of Reavers to pepper the enemy with, while giving any Deepkin unit a 5+ ward if they are wholly within 6″.

The third leader of the raiding party is Lotann, doing solid work adding +1 to wound in melee and allowing a ritual to be taken, probably either the 5+ ward on Namarti to still have that protection further away from the shipwrecks or +1 to run and charge, probably depending on whether the tides are reversed or not.

Other aspects of the list to take note of is the Thralls Warscroll ability to do +1 damage on each of their attacks when the enemy has a wound characteristic of 3 or more…which was everything Jordan faced from round 3 onwards! In addition, possibly in place of a Smash King or another unit, we have an Incarnate. Apart from being an incredibly tough monster that can go toe-to-toe with Kragnos (and probably did for at least a turn!), it keeps Jordan as a one-drop, controlling when a potentially devastating double turn can take place. The Krondspire Incarnate also prevents enemies from retreating too, so there’s no escaping the relentless advance of the Idoneth High Tide.

All in all, a great showing for Jordan and his list.

Army Faction: Sons of Behemat
– Army Type: Breaker Tribe
– Grand Strategy: Beast Master
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
Kragnos (720)
Gatebreaker (525)*
– General
– Command Traits: Monstrously Tough
– Artefacts: Enchanted Portcullis
Gatebreaker (525)*
– Artefacts: Amulet of Destiny

BATTLELINE
Mancrusher Gargant (170)

CORE BATTALIONS:
*Bosses of the Stomp

TOTAL POINTS: (1940/2000)

Kieron: Next up is Patrick Allen’s Sons of Behemat list and while Jordan was busy manoeuvring around close to a hundred IDK, Patrick was moving his four models around: Kragnos, two Gatebreakers and a Mancrusher in a Breaker Tribe force. He went 3-2 overall, with his only losses coming to Zach’s third place Ogor Mawtribes in round 1 and then Jordan’s Deepkin round 4. Spare a thought for James Henderson and his OBR who, after facing Jordan in the first round, ran into Patrick’s Sons the game two!

With both Gatebreakers being pretty (and appropriately) destructive anyway, Patrick seems to have leant into survivability with his big boys, with the general being Monstrously Tough to take him up to 40 wounds and also taking the Enchanted Portcullis for a 6+ ward, making him closer to 45-50 wounds. His fellow Gatebreaker also has a ward save, in the form of the Amulet of Destiny. While the premium 5+ ward Amulets were taken off the shelves several months back, a 6+ ward is nothing to be sniffed at on a model with so many wounds, making the second Gatebreaker have an effective 40 wounds for an opponent to have to chew through. While Kragnos has a lot fewer wounds, he also has a much better armour save along with a 6+ ward and protection against enemy spells. With these three together, there are well over 100 wounds to try and get through with Kragnos and the Gatebreakers counting for 30 (at full wounds) and 20 models on an objective meaning that you can’t just sneak one away from them.

Finally, the Mancrusher is running around being by far the least threatening unit Patrick had (and the easiest to kill) while still being dangerous in its own right. You can’t really focus on the Mancrusher as then there’s no way you will have enough damage output to attempt to at least severely wound one of the big three. If you don’t as The End of Empires has justifiably drawn your attention, then the Mancrusher can be grabbing objectives and bashing battleline.

While Sons are nowhere near as common as they used to be, Patrick showing that they can still take down podiums at least.

Allegiance: Ogor Mawtribes
– Mawtribe: Boulderhead
– Grand Strategy: Beast Master
– Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders
Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)*
Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)
– Artefact: Brand of the Svard
– Mount Trait: Metalcruncher
Icebrow Hunter (125)*
– General
– Command Trait: Lord of Beasts
Firebelly (125)*
– Lore of the Sun-Eater: Billowing Ash
Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)**
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Old Granitetooth
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon

Battleline
2 x Frost Sabres (55)**
2 x Frost Sabres (55)**
2 x Frost Sabres (55)**

Core Battalions
*Command Entourage – Magnificent
**Battle Regiment

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 70
Drops: 5

Kieron: As mentioned above, Zach Ahrens came in third with an interesting tweak to a Beastclaw Raiders list that, while taking some Mawtribes units, allows the list to squeeze in two Frostlords on Stonetooths along with Kragnos for some mortal wound on the charge insanity. Zach went 3-2 also, beating Patrick in round one, but losing to Mike’s Bonesplitters (see below) in round two with the second loss coming to Jordan in the final round.

Starting with the general, Zach went with an Icebrow Hunter with the Boulderhead compulsory Command Trait Lord of Beasts, but more importantly, allowing Zach to take Frost Sabres as really cheap battleline. He also featured a Firebelly with Billowing Ash, a really cool model that, while tricky to get off, creates an aura of -1 to hit within 12″ of him. By keeping the cost down on these units, Zach could pour all of those points into the big three threats of this list, Kragnos and two Frostlords.

Each of Kragnos and the Frostlords are decent threats on their own (easily scoring bonus points for being monsters too) but it is when they synergise together that the magic happens. On the charge, Ogors roll a dice for each inch of charge they roll on the dice, with a 6+ causing a mortal wound. If you’re a monster, and the Frostlords are, this improves to a 4+. The Granitetooth Frostlord adds 1 to charge rolls (while also taking the Arcane Tome to get their spears up to damage 4) and Frostlords have a command ability where you can re-roll the charge for other Beastclaw Raiders units, in this case, both Frostlords. Then add Kragnos into the mix and you can roll 3D6 for those charges to decide how many dice you roll for mortal wounds. In addition, the general’s mount trait is Metalcruncher, which does an additional D6 mortal wounds if the enemy unit has an armour save of 4+ or better and then he could stomp on top of that too. Combined, you’d probably expect 18MWs in the charge phase with the two Frostlords combined, but the general on his own could do as many as 28MWs! With Kragnos himself doing up to 36 MWs against monsters, it’s no surprise that Zach was able to defeat Patrick’s Sons of Behemat army and Jordan Siler’s Dragon list.

All in all, a really well thought-out list that allows the most powerful units available to work together well.

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz
– Warclan: Icebone
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs:

Leaders
Wurrgog Prophet (150)*
– Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Power of the Were-boar
Maniak Weirdnob (100)*
– Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Glowy Green Tusks
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Power of the Were-boar
Savage Big Boss (65)*
– General
– Command Trait: Great Hunter
Savage Big Boss (65)**
Savage Big Boss (65)**
Savage Big Boss (65)**
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
– Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboys (280)***
– Stikkas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Savage Boarboys (140)*
– Stikkas
5 x Savage Boarboys (140)**
– Stikkas

Units
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (290)***
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (290)***
– Reinforced x 1
4 x Savage Big Stabbas (160)
– Reinforced x 1
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)**

Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Warlord
***Hunters of the Heartlands

Additional Enhancements
Spell
Artefact

Total: 1970 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 189
Drops: 14

Kieron: The fourth list we’re looking at today is Mike Simeon’s Bonesplitters list, which also went undefeated, but Mike sadly couldn’t make the second day. It’s a shame as you may have seen Mike on Bulldog Hammer’s battle reports and he recently defeated Jordan’s Sylvaneth on Season of War using the exact same list he took to this tournament.

Not many Bonesplitters armies are out there at the moment, with them making up less than 1% of AoS 3.2 meta according to the excellent Honest Wargamer stats from Ziggy and Rob, but with a very healthy win rate of 56%, albeit from a very small sample size.

The list revolves around putting too many wounds on the table with 189 wounds to get through BEFORE the 6+ ward the whole army has that can be increased to a 4+ ward whole army once per battle for the whole phase. You’ll need to be able to do over 200 damage to table this army.

It will also be coming at you quite fast with 40 pigs coming high speed at you, with the option for half of the Bonesplitters units to make a pre-game move of 8″, thanks to the general’s Great Hunter ability that increases the standard pre-game move from 5″. The bigger units of boarboys (of both types) both have Hunters of the Heartlands so that All-out Attack can go off, increasing the number of hits they get in order to maximise the Icebone sub-faction ability to do mortal wounds on 6s to wound. The stabbas can also do work, with the larger unit doing 12 attacks that hit and wound on 3s with -2 rend and 2 damage, which is no joke. That can be increased by Power of the Were-boar to give an extra attack and increase run and charge. The other support spells can increase the rend on all the boarboy tusks and making an enemy fight last via Gorkamorka’s War Cry that is inscribed in the Arcane Tome of the Savage Ork Boss that is carrying it (though probably more pictures than words!).

The Savage Ork Bosses also have a neat trick in that after fighting, they can nominate another unit to fight before the enemy…which could be another Savage Ork Boss! Combined with the fight last from Gorkamorka’s War Cry, all four Bosses could fight and two units of boarboys before the enemy gets to attack back.

The best has been left until last and that is, of course, the Wurrgog Prophet, often the only Bonesplitters representative in a Big Waaagh, who can decide not to cast spells, but go full on Paddington Bear and do a ‘hard stare’ at the enemy. Essentially, you choose an enemy unit within 12″ and, on a 3+ you do D3 mortal wounds. At this stage you could stop, but where’s the fun in that! Instead, you can roll the dice again and do D3 mortal wounds on a 3+ BUT D6 mortal wounds to yourself on a 1-2. You can keep doing this until one of the following is true: the enemy unit is dead; you decide to stop; the Wurrgog blows his head up with the staring! To help with the third one, you usually see the prophet with Glowin’ Tattooz to increase his ward save to 4+, giving you an effective 14 wounds to try and do infinite mortals wounds to an enemy!

And that’s the list. Very different, with lots of fun combos to pull off and, with mounted battleline being what seems to be the Holy Grail of list creation going into the new GHB, could be a sneaky contender to be one of the winners of the new book. Great trailblazing, Mike!

Final Tournament Placings